Bisarbeat

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Google puts Shackleton and Scott's Antarctic huts online

Images of the Antarctic huts used by polar explorers Sir Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott have been posted online as part of the latest extension to Google's Maps service. The prefabricated wooden cabins were erected in 1908 and 1911 respectively, and were used as bases for the men's attempts to reach the south pole.

Users can navigate the 360-degree photographs to see some of the kit and supplies used by both expeditions. The locations appear well-preserved. The buildings have benefited from ongoing conservation work by the New Zealand-based Antarctic Heritage Trust, which co-operated with Google on the project. Both structures had previously appeared on the World Monuments Watch List of the most endangered sites in the world.

Shackleton's hut is located at Cape Royds, where the explorer and nine other team members left their ship, the Nimrod, to stay during the winter. It still houses about 5,000 of the team's personal possessions including books, clothing and canned food, which have been preserved by the cold temperatures.

Shackleton's expedition was the first to climb the volcano Mount Erebus, but bad weather and diminished supplies caused them to turn back about 156km (97 miles) before reaching the south pole. Nevertheless this was the furthest south anyone had reached at the time and the group returned to the UK as heroes.

Scott's base at Cape Evans was erected three years later and still contains more than 8,000 artefacts from his doomed adventure. Scott's hut still contains many items of food abandoned when his team set out to the pole. Boxes of Tate sugar cubes, Heinz Tomato Ketchup bottles and clothing can be seen in the uploaded pictures from the location.

Scott and four others did reach the pole in January 1912 but found they had been beaten to there by a Norwegian party led by Roald Amundsen. The members of Scott's party died as a result of the freezing conditions during their return journey. Google said it had carried out the fish-eye lens photography project to provide school children and others with an "insight into how these men lived for months at a time".

In addition to the two huts it has also added images of the Ceremonial South Pole - where flags can be seen planted by the various teams that reached the spot - as well as the Cape Royds Adelie Penguin Rookery.

US approves HIV-prevention drug Truvada

US health regulators have for the first time approved a drug to prevent HIV infection. Truvada can be used by those at high risk of infection and anyone having HIV-infected partners. Studies showed the drug reduced the risk of contracting HIV by up to 73%.

Some health workers and groups active in the HIV community opposed a green light for the once-daily pill. There have been concerns the circulation of such a drug could engender a false sense of security and mean people will take more risks. There have also been fears that a drug-resistant strain of HIV could develop.

In a statement, the FDA stressed that the drug should be used as part of a "comprehensive HIV prevention plan", including other methods and regular HIV testing. In May, an advisory group of health experts recommended approval for the pill.

Truvada, made by California-based Gilead Sciences, is already backed by the FDA to be taken with existing antiretroviral drugs for people who have HIV. Studies from 2010 showed that Truvada reduced the risk of HIV in healthy gay men - and among HIV-negative heterosexual partners of HIV-positive people - by between 44% and 73%.

Michael Barton of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, said there was good trial evidence that the drug could significantly cut the risk of the infection being passed on, but only if the tablets are taken consistently.

Many of the men in the trials did not take the drug regularly enough to get the full protection. He said that, in most circumstances, it would be better to treat the HIV-positive partner in the couple rather than focus on the HIV-negative one. "We know that for HIV-positive people if they consistently take antiretroviral drugs and their viral load is suppressed for them it's almost impossible to transmit the virus."

Antiretroviral drugs will also prolong their life. But he said the new drug might be useful in situations where, for example, a woman has a partner with HIV who is unwilling to take antiretrovirals or use other methods. Truvada is approved in the UK for the treatment of HIV, but not prevention.

Types of HIV drug treatment