Hand (de)sanitizer?
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) uncovered a nasty little additive in some Puerto Rican hand sanitizers: bacteria. The FDA warned consumers to use neither Bee-Shield Hand Sanitizer nor MD Quality Hand Sanitizer -- which are only distributed in the Caribbean territory -- because the two products may contain Burkholderia cepacia, a bacterium that can cause serious infections if used on cut or abraded hands. No adverse effects resulting from use of the products have yet been reported to the agency.

Image: US Navy

NIGMS listens
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) has asked scientists for a little feedback on their wants and needs. The center, part of the National Institutes of Health, will be accepting comments from academics, postdocs, industry types, and others on how it can better build and sustain America's biomedical workforce. You can leave your comment on the NIGMS website until April 21st, or you can attend one of four regional stakeholder meetings the institute is holding throughout the country in April, May, and June.

NIGMS talks
Meanwhile, NIGMS director Jeremy Berg schooled Capitol Hill staffers last Friday (5th March) about the crucial role of basic science and studying model organisms in developing medical breakthroughs. "You can't translate things you don't understand," Berg said. Surely this can't hurt the center's chances for getting a little boost in Congressional appropriations...

Image: Mehmet Karatay via Wikimedia Commons

Lab destroyed by flood
A crucial elephant behavior lab in Kenya was destroyed last week by floods that swept through the country. Observers reported seeing computers and irreplaceable research documents hanging from tree limbs and mired in mud when the flood waters receded, according to the BBC

Can DNA crack art heist?
And finally, DNA may be the last hope to solve a 20-year-old mystery surrounding the most costly art theft in history. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is resubmitting some samples collected in 1990 at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, after thieves made off with 13 irreplaceable works of art -- including three Rembrandts and a Vermeer -- valued at $250-300 million. Though the FBI is remaining mum on what materials are being re-scanned for detectable DNA, the Boston Globe reported on Thursday (4th March) that it may be the duct tape used to tie up the museum's two night watchmen that early March morning two decades ago.


Related stories:

Ribosome researchers win Nobel
[7th October 2009]

Giants and men
[1st May 2009]

Oldest forensic DNA sample obtained
[5th November 2008]

Researcher alleges CDC cover-up
[15th June 2005]