BRIAN BERLETIC—Gene therapy is a revolutionary breakthrough in human healthcare. It has cured previously incurable diseases including cancers and rare genetic disorders, and it possesses the potential to cure many more types of diseases and conditions claiming the lives of our loved ones today and in the future. But why haven’t you heard about it despite it being covered extensively in the Western media? Where are the treatments and why aren’t they more accessible? What can we do about this obstruction of human progress and the impediment to saving human life?
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Russia is developing a hybrid nuclear reactor that uses both nuclear fusion and fission, said head of leading nuclear research facility. The project is open for international collaboration, particularly from Chinese scientists.
A hybrid nuclear reactor is a sort of stepping stone to building a true nuclear fusion reactor. It uses a fusion reaction as a source of neutrons to initiate a fission reaction in a ‘blanket’ of traditional nuclear fuel.The approach has a number of potential benefits in terms of safety, non-proliferation and cost of generated energy, and Russia is developing such a hybrid reactor, according to Mikhail Kovalchuk, director of the Kurchatov Research Center.
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P. GREANVILLE—Ever since I first saw it decades ago, Dr Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet, released by Warner Bros. in 1940 (with a screenplay that included John Huston among the talented writers), has struck me as one of the most memorable and noble films in Hollywood’s inventory of biopics. The word that defines this film is uplifting. Edward G. Robinson, an unforgettable actor of immense range, is simply magnificent in his portrayal of Ehrlich. As the anonymous author of the retrospective appreciation we publish below correctly notes, he is virtually absorbed by the role: “Robinson is wonderful in Dr Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet, disappearing into the character of Paul Ehrlich in a way that, given the strength and distinctiveness of his own personality, is quite remarkable.” The rest of the cast is equally outstanding.
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CHARLES GRAEBER—Allison didn’t do it all, and he didn’t do it alone. But there’s little doubt that the now 70-year-old scientist’s work tipped the balance in a 100-year scientific debate. Allison’s work cracked open the door; subsequent breakthroughs have kicked it wide. The result is a fundamental course correction in the direction of cancer research and treatment and a groundswell of scientific talent and R&D dollars being funneled into a formerly discredited field of pursuit.
The war on cancer is not over; we have not achieved a full and total cure, and so far the handful of cancer immunotherapy drugs available have demonstrated robust and durable results in a minority of patients. But we have undeniably turned a corner in our understanding of the disease—what many scientists believe to be a “penicillin moment” in our quest for the cure.
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P. GREANVILLE—We don’t know whether this article is a case of unwarranted stock “boosterism” or genuine cause for celebration, even the harbinger of a new age of medicine, a medicine in which “slash and burn” will not be the default modalities to combat dreadful diseases like cancer, but whatever the reality, the concepts outlined by the author in this report are indeed tremendously exciting, and worth wide public discussion.
Before discussing the mater further, do note that Kluth states in one of his closing paras that progress in this immensely promising field has been slow because investors have been few and unenthusiastic about pouring capital into ventures that might not see a return for decades, a clear indictment of the capitalist way of medicine, not to mention bad governance of public and private institutions. Indeed, if such is the case, where is the NIH and the richly endowed universities conducting basic research or charities such as the American Cancer Society (ACS)? Are public monies dedicated to this? Are other governments around the world also pursuing these lines of inquiry? If not, why not?
