A gut bacterium that attacks dengue and malaria pathogens and their mosquito vectors

Just like those of humans, insect guts are full of microbes, and the microbiota can influence the insect's ability to transmit diseases. A study published on October 23rd in PLOS Pathogens reports that a bacterium isolated from the gut of an Aedes mosquito can reduce infection of mosquitoes by malaria parasites and dengue virus. The bacterium can also directly inhibit these pathogens in the test tube, and shorten the life span of the mosquitoes that transmit both diseases.



George Dimopoulos and colleagues from Johns Hopkins University, USA, had previously isolated Csp_P, a member of the family of chromobacteria, from the gut of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes (which transmit dengue fever) in Panama. In the present study, they examined its actions on both mosquitoes and pathogens, and the results suggest that Csp_P might help to fight malaria and dengue fever at different levels.


The researchers added Csp_P to sugar water fed to mosquitoes and found that the bacteria are able to quickly colonize the gut of the two most important mosquito disease vectors, namely Aedes aegypti and Anopheles gambiae (the latter transmit malaria). Moreover, the presence of Csp_P in the gut reduced the susceptibility of the respective mosquitoes to infection with the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum or with dengue virus. And even without gut colonization, exposure to Csp_P through food or breeding water shortened the lifespan of adult mosquitoes and mosquito larvae of both species.


When the researchers tested whether Csp_P could act against the malaria or dengue pathogens directly, they found that the bacterium, likely through production of toxic metabolites, can inhibit growth of Plasmodium at various stages during the parasite's life cycle, and also abolish dengue virus infectivity. In addition, Csp_P can inhibit growth of many other bacteria.


The authors suggest that these toxic metabolites could potentially be developed into therapeutic drugs for malaria and dengue. Overall, they conclude that "its broad-spectrum anti-pathogen properties together with its ability to kill mosquitoes make Csp_P a particularly interesting candidate for the development of novel control strategies for the two most important vector-borne diseases, and they therefore warrant further in-depth study."




Story Source:


The above story is based on materials provided by PLOS . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.



Rapid test to diagnose severe sepsis

A new test, developed by University of British Columbia researchers, could help physicians predict within an hour if a patient will develop severe sepsis so they can begin treatment immediately.



Sepsis, a syndrome caused by infection, leads to organ failure and is responsible for up to five million deaths annually. There are 18 million cases of sepsis worldwide every year.


The discovery could cut back on the lengthy diagnostic time usually required to confirm if a patient is suffering from sepsis and increase the odds that they will respond to treatment.


"We identified a gene signature that is associated with the eventual diagnosis of sepsis and subsequent organ failure," says Bob Hancock, a professor in UBC's Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology who co-authored this study with John Boyd, a physician at St Paul's Hospital and an assistant professor at UBC. "We can test for this genetic signature as soon as the patient arrives in the emergency ward."


A typical diagnosis can take 24 to 48 hours but with this new test, physicians could start treating patients almost immediately.


The new test for the genetic signature, published recently in the journal EBioMedicine, would take as little as one hour and identified 96 per cent of patients who were at the very early stages of sepsis.


"With sepsis, every hour counts," says Hancock. "The treatment involves aggressive antibiotics but the most potent drugs can't be administered until a diagnosis is confirmed because of the risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria."


The findings also reveal a potential misunderstanding about the disease. Until now sepsis has been treated as an inflammatory disease but more than 30 clinical trials of anti-inflammatory drugs for sepsis have failed. The gene signature identified by Hancock and his colleagues relates to a special type of immune suppression called cellular reprogramming and suggests that treating inflammation in sepsis is a bad idea.




Story Source:


The above story is based on materials provided by University of Faculty of Science British Columbia . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.



Filling a Gap: Bellcomm’s 1968 Lunar Exploration Program


Pete Conrad begins his descent to the lunar surface during Apollo 12, a near-twin of Bellcomm's mission LLM-2.

Pete Conrad begins his descent to the lunar surface during Apollo 12, a near-twin of Bellcomm’s mission LLM-2. NASA



Bellcomm, Inc., based near NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, was carved out of Bell Labs in 1962 to provide technical advice to NASA’s Apollo Program Director. The organization rapidly expanded its bailiwick to support nearly all NASA Office of Manned Space Flight advance planning.


In a January 1968 report, Bellcomm planners N. Hinners, D. James, and F. Schmidt proposed a mission series designed to fill a gap which they felt existed in NASA’s lunar exploration schedule between the first piloted Apollo lunar landing and later, more advanced Apollo Applications Program (AAP) flights. The trio declared that their plan was “based upon a reasonable set of assumptions regarding hardware capability and evolution, an increase in scientific endeavor, launch rates, budgetary constraints, operational learning, lead times, and interaction with other space programs,” as well as “the assumption that lunar exploration will be a continuing aspect of human endeavor.”


They envisioned a series of 12 lunar missions in four phases. Phase 1, Apollo Lunar Landing Missions, would span the period from 1969 through 1971. The five Phase 1 flights would launch at least six months apart to give engineers and scientists adequate time to learn from each mission’s accomplishments and apply knowledge gained to subsequent missions. They would begin with Lunar Landing Mission (LLM)-1, the first Apollo landing.


The LLM-1 Lunar Module (LM) lander would alight on a flat, relatively smooth basaltic plain known as a mare (Latin for “sea”). The maria, which appear as mottled gray areas on the moon’s white face, cover about 20% of the Earth-facing Nearside hemisphere.


For LLM-1 and the other Phase 1 missions, the LM would have several back-up mare landing sites. Almost any mare would do for LLM-1, Hinner, James, and Schmidt contended, because the first mission would emphasize engineering, not science. LLM-1 would test the LM, lunar space suits, and other exploration systems ahead of more ambitious Phase 1 missions. If all went as planned, the LLM-1 crew would stay on the moon for 22 hours and carry out two moonwalks.


The LM used in the five Phase 1 missions would carry up to 300 pounds of payload to the lunar surface. For all five missions, this payload would include geologic tools for gathering up to 50 pounds of lunar rocks and dirt for return to Earth. LLM-2 through LLM-5 would, in addition, each deploy an Apollo Lunar Scientific Experiment Package (ALSEP) geophysical station. LLM-2, LLM-3, LLM-4, and LLM-5 astronauts would perform geological traverses on foot to spots “several thousand meters” from the LM while the CSM Pilot in lunar orbit photographed the moon’s surface and operated remote sensors.


LLM-1 would follow a “free-return” flight path that would guarantee that the Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM) and attached LM would loop around the moon and return to Earth in the event that the CSM’s Aerojet-General-built Service Propulsion System (SPS) main engine failed en route to the moon. The SPS was meant to adjust the CSM/LM combination’s course during flight to and from the moon, slow the CSM and LM so that the moon’s gravity could capture them into lunar orbit, and boost the CSM out of lunar orbit for return to Earth. The Bellcomm planners noted that the free-return trajectory would help to ensure crew safety but would greatly limit the percentage of the moon’s surface that LLM-1 could reach.


LLM-2 would, like LLM-1, be restricted by a free-return trajectory and a stay-time of 22 hours at a mare landing site. The LLM-2 astronauts would, however, carry out three moonwalks and deploy the first ALSEP, thus enabling them to accomplish more scientific exploration than the LLM-1 astronauts.


LLM-3, the third mission of Lunar Exploration Program Phase 1, would abandon the free-return trajectory so that it could attempt to reach a fresh crater on a mare. The crater would, Hinners, James, and Schmidt explained, act as a natural “drill hole” that would expose ancient rocks from deep inside the moon for sampling. The astronauts would perform three moonwalks during a surface stay that would last longer than 22 hours but less than 36 hours. LLM-4 would be similar to LLM-3, but would be targeted to a mare “wrinkle ridge.”


LLM-5, the final Phase 1 flight, would see an LM spend 36 hours at a mare site bordering a highlands region. The highlands of the moon, visible as the light-colored areas on the moon’s disk, are ancient cratered terrain. The LLM-5 astronauts would perform four moonwalks.


The Bellcomm planners’ four Phase 2 missions – which they called the Lunar Surface Exploration Missions – would commence about two years after LLM-5 and would span t1972-1973. Modifications to Apollo hardware and procedures in Phase 2 would permit in-depth exploration of specific unique sites selected for scientific interest. Hinners, James, and Schmidt proposed, for example, that NASA alter Earth-moon flight time or time spent in lunar orbit prior to landing to permit the LM spacecraft to reach a specific site even if launch from Earth were delayed up to several days.


Phase 2 CSMs would carry a selection of remote sensors to test their feasibility ahead of Phases 3 and 4. The lunar-surface astronauts would perform six moonwalks at each site and draw upon up to 1300 pounds of landed payload.


Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin works beside the mission's Lunar Roving Vehicle, the first to reach the moon. Apollo 15 shared features of Bellcomm's Phase 2 missions.

Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin works beside the mission’s Lunar Roving Vehicle, the first to reach the moon. Beginning with Apollo 15, NASA deviated from Bellcomm’s proposed Lunar Exploration Program. NASA



The first Phase 2 mission, LLM-6, would see an Extended LM (ELM) spend three days at Tobias Mayer in Oceanus Procellarum. The LLM-6 astronauts would deploy an ALSEP and explore on foot a sinuous rille (canyon), a dome (possible volcano), and a fresh crater with a surrounding dark halo (possible volcanic vent). LLM-7 would be similar to LLM-6, but would land at a linear rille site designated I-P1.


LLM-8 would see the introduction of the Lunar Flying Unit (LFU), a one-person rocket flyer. Bellcomm targeted the expedition to the Flamsteed Ring, an ancient crater mostly submerged by lava during the formation of the extensive mare Oceanus Procellarum. At the time Hinners, James, and Schmidt selected it, however, it was suspected of being a “ring dike,” an extrusive volcanic feature. LLM-9, similar to LLM-8, would visit Fra Mauro, a site known for its potentially volcanic domes and rilles.


Phase 3 would comprise a single Lunar Orbital Survey and Exploration Mission in 1974. By spending 28 days (one lunar day-night period) in lunar polar orbit, an augmented Apollo CSM could pass over the entire lunar surface in daylight once. A solar-powered sensor module based on a planned AAP Earth-resources observation module would replace the LM. The CSM would deploy a scientific subsatellite and leave the sensor module behind in lunar orbit to continue scientific studies after the astronauts departed for Earth.


Phase 1 and 2 missions would gather “ground truth” data. These would allow the Phase 3 mission’s results to be interpreted in preparation for intensive surface exploration in Phase 4.


Phase 4′s Lunar Surface Rendezvous and Exploration Missions (1975-76) would each require two Saturn V rockets, two augmented CSMs, an LM-derived unmanned Lunar Payload Module (LPM) carrying 8000 pounds of cargo, and an augmented ELM carrying one LFU. LLM-10 and LLM-11 together would make up the first of two such “Dual Launch” missions in Phase 4.


LLM-10 would deliver an unmanned LPM to either Hyginus Rille or the Davy crater chain. The LLM-10 crew, orbiting the moon on board their augmented CSM, would remotely control the LPM’s final approach to the landing site to ensure that it could set down within 100 meters of a predetermined target point. Before returning to Earth, the LLM-10 astronauts would “photo locate” the landed LPM from lunar orbit and release a lunar-orbiting science subsatellite.


LLM-11, the second mission of Phase 4′s first Dual Launch pair, would see two astronauts wearing advanced “hard” space suits land their ELM near the LPM for a two-week stay. They would draw on the LPM’s four tons of cargo to conduct in-depth exploration of their complex landing site.


LPM cargo would include surface transport systems: specifically, one LFU with tanks of extra propellants and a one-man, 2000-pound Local Scientific Survey Module (LSSM) moon rover. Other cargo would include a spare hard suit; a core drill attached to the LPM for obtaining a 100-foot drill core; an LSSM-transportable drill for obtaining 10-foot cores at scattered sites; additional life support consumables for the LLM-11 augmented ELM; and an advanced geophysical station with a 10-year design life.


Hinners, James, and Schmidt targeted the second Dual Launch expedition (LLM-12 and LLM-13), the last missions of their Lunar Exploration Program, to the Marius Hills, a site popular with Apollo planners for its many domes and other features of possible volcanic origin. They anticipated that, after the second Phase 4 landing crew returned to Earth, even more ambitious moon missions – perhaps using new-design spacecraft, not the CSM and LM – would follow.


They were, of course, incorrect; lunar exploration did not become “a continuing aspect of human endeavor.” The earliest Apollo landing missions (Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 13, and Apollo 14) were roughly equivalent to Bellcomm’s LLM-1, LLM-2, and LLM-3; Apollo 15, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17 were, however, shaped by the certain knowledge that lunar exploration would soon be ended. They became unlike any of Bellcomm’s proposed missions as NASA sought to accomplish as much lunar exploration as possible before time and money ran out.


References


“A Lunar Exploration Program – Case 710,” N. W. Hinners, D. B. James, and F. N. Schmidt, TM-68-1012-1, Bellcomm, January 5, 1968.



Filling a Gap: Bellcomm’s 1968 Lunar Exploration Program


Pete Conrad begins his descent to the lunar surface during Apollo 12, a near-twin of BellComm's mission LLM-2.

Pete Conrad begins his descent to the lunar surface during Apollo 12, a near-twin of BellComm’s mission LLM-2. NASA



Bellcomm, Inc., based in Washington, DC, near NASA Headquarters, was carved out of Bell Labs in 1962 to provide technical advice to NASA’s Apollo Program Director. The organization rapidly expanded its bailiwick to support nearly all NASA Office of Manned Space Flight advance planning.


In a January 1968 report, Bellcomm planners N. Hinners, D. James, and F. Schmidt proposed a mission series designed to fill a gap which they felt existed in NASA’s lunar exploration schedule between the first piloted Apollo lunar landing and later, more advanced Apollo Applications Program (AAP) flights. The trio declared that their plan was “based upon a reasonable set of assumptions regarding hardware capability and evolution, an increase in scientific endeavor, launch rates, budgetary constraints, operational learning, lead times, and interaction with other space programs,” as well as “the assumption that lunar exploration will be a continuing aspect of human endeavor.”


They envisioned a series of 12 lunar expeditions in four phases. Phase 1, Apollo Lunar Landing Missions, would span the period from 1969 through 1971. The five Phase 1 flights would launch at least six months apart to give engineers and scientists adequate time to learn from each mission’s accomplishments and apply knowledge gained to subsequent missions. They would begin with Lunar Landing Mission (LLM)-1, the first Apollo landing.


The LLM-1 Lunar Module (LM) lander would alight on a flat, relatively smooth basaltic plain known as a mare (Latin for “sea”). The maria, which appear as mottled gray areas on the moon’s white face, cover about 20% of the Earth-facing Nearside hemisphere.


For LLM-1 and the other Phase 1 missions, the LM would have several back-up mare landing sites. Almost any mare would do for LLM-1, Hinner, James, and Schmidt contended, because the first mission would emphasize engineering, not science. LLM-1 would test the LM, lunar space suits, and other exploration systems ahead of more ambitious Phase 1 missions. If all went as planned, the LLM-1 crew would stay on the moon for 22 hours and carry out two moonwalks.


The LM used in the five Phase 1 missions would carry up to 300 pounds of payload to the lunar surface. For all five missions, this payload would include geologic tools for gathering up to 50 pounds of lunar rocks and dirt for return to Earth. LLM-2 through LLM-5 would, in addition, each deploy an Apollo Lunar Scientific Experiment Package (ALSEP) geophysical station. LLM-2, LLM-3, LLM-4, and LLM-5 astronauts would perform geological traverses on foot to spots “several thousand meters” from the LM while the CSM Pilot in lunar orbit photographed the moon’s surface and operated remote sensors.


LLM-1 would follow a “free-return” flight path that would guarantee that the Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM) and attached LM would loop around the moon and return to Earth in the event that the CSM’s Aerojet-General-built Service Propulsion System (SPS) main engine failed en route to the moon. The SPS was meant to adjust the CSM/LM combination’s course during flight to and from the moon, slow the CSM and LM so that the moon’s gravity could capture them into lunar orbit, and boost the CSM out of lunar orbit for return to Earth. The Bellcomm planners noted that the free-return trajectory would help to ensure crew safety but would greatly limit the percentage of the moon’s surface that LLM-1 could reach.


LLM-2 would, like LLM-1, be restricted by a free-return trajectory and a stay-time of 22 hours at a mare landing site. The LLM-2 astronauts would, however, carry out three moonwalks and deploy the first ALSEP, thus enabling them to accomplish more scientific exploration than the LLM-1 astronauts.


LLM-3, the third mission of Lunar Exploration Program Phase 1, would abandon the free-return trajectory so that it could attempt to reach a fresh crater on a mare. The crater would, Hinners, James, and Schmidt explained, act as a natural “drill hole” that would expose ancient rocks from deep inside the moon for sampling. The astronauts would perform three moonwalks during a surface stay that would last longer than 22 hours but less than 36 hours. LLM-4 would be similar to LLM-3, but would be targeted to a mare “wrinkle ridge.”


LLM-5, the final Phase 1 flight, would see an LM spend 36 hours at a mare site bordering a highlands region. The highlands of the moon, visible as the light-colored areas on the moon’s disk, are ancient cratered terrain. The LLM-5 astronauts would perform four moonwalks.


The Bellcomm planners’ Phase 2 Lunar Surface Exploration Missions would commence about two years after LLM-5. The four missions would span the years 1972-1973. Modifications to Apollo hardware and procedures in Phase 2 would permit in-depth exploration of specific unique sites selected for scientific interest. Hinners, James, and Schmidt proposed, for example, that NASA alter Earth-moon flight time or time spent in lunar orbit prior to landing to permit the LM spacecraft to reach a specific site even if launch from Earth were delayed up to several days.


Phase 2 CSMs would carry a selection of remote sensors to test their feasibility ahead of Phases 3 and 4. The lunar-surface astronauts would perform six moonwalks at each site and draw upon up to 1300 pounds of landed payload.


Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin works beside the mission's Lunar Roving Vehicle, the first to reach the moon. Apollo 15 shared features of Bellcomm's Phase 2 missions.

Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin works beside the mission’s Lunar Roving Vehicle, the first to reach the moon. Apollo 15 shared features of Bellcomm’s Phase 2 missions. NASA



The first Phase 2 mission, LLM-6, would see an Extended LM (ELM) spend three days at Tobias Mayer in Oceanus Procellarum. The LLM-6 astronauts would deploy an ALSEP and explore on foot a sinuous rille (canyon), a dome (possible volcano), and a fresh crater with a surrounding dark halo (possible volcanic vent). LLM-7 would be similar to LLM-6, but would land at a linear rille site designated I-P1.


LLM-8 would see the introduction of the Lunar Flying Unit (LFU), a one-person rocket flyer. Bellcomm targeted the expedition to the Flamsteed Ring, an ancient crater mostly submerged by lava during the formation of the extensive mare Oceanus Procellarum. At the time Hinners, James, and Schmidt selected it, however, it was suspected of being a “ring dike,” an extrusive volcanic feature. LLM-9, similar to LLM-8, would visit Fra Mauro, a site known for its potentially volcanic domes and rilles.


Phase 3 would comprise a single Lunar Orbital Survey and Exploration Mission in 1974. By spending 28 days (one lunar day-night period) in lunar polar orbit, an augmented Apollo CSM could pass over the entire lunar surface in daylight once. A solar-powered sensor module based on a planned AAP Earth-resources observation module would replace the LM. The CSM would deploy a scientific subsatellite and leave the sensor module behind in lunar orbit to continue scientific studies after the astronauts departed for Earth.


Phase 1 and 2 missions would gather “ground truth” data. These would allow the Phase 3 mission’s results to be interpreted in preparation for intensive surface exploration in Phase 4.


Phase 4′s Lunar Surface Rendezvous and Exploration Missions (1975-76) would each require two Saturn V rockets, two augmented CSMs, an LM-derived unmanned Lunar Payload Module (LPM) carrying 8000 pounds of cargo, and an augmented ELM carrying one LFU. LLM-10 and LLM-11 together would make up the first of two such “Dual Launch” missions in Phase 4.


LLM-10 would deliver an unmanned LPM to either Hyginus Rille or the Davy crater chain. The LLM-10 crew, orbiting the moon on board their augmented CSM, would remotely control the LPM’s final approach to the landing site to ensure that it could set down within 100 meters of a predetermined target point. Before returning to Earth, the LLM-10 astronauts would “photo locate” the landed LPM from lunar orbit and release a lunar-orbiting science subsatellite.


LLM-11, the second mission of Phase 4′s first Dual Launch pair, would see two astronauts wearing advanced “hard” space suits land their ELM near the LPM for a two-week stay. They would draw on the LPM’s four tons of cargo to conduct in-depth exploration of their complex landing site. LPM cargo would include surface transport systems: specifically, one LFU and a one-man, 2000-pound Local Scientific Survey Module (LSSM) moon rover. It would also include extra LFU propellants to permit multiple flights. Other cargo would include a spare hard suit; a core drill attached to the LPM for obtaining a 100-foot drill core; an LSSM-transportable drill for obtaining 10-foot cores at scattered sites; additional life support consumables for the LLM-11 augmented ELM; and an advanced geophysical station with a 10-year design life.


Hinners, James, and Schmidt targeted their second Dual Launch expedition (LLM-12 and LLM-13) to the Marius Hills, a site popular with Apollo planners for its many domes and other features of possible volcanic origin. They anticipated that, after the second Phase 4 landing crew returned to Earth, even more ambitious lunar missions – perhaps using new-design spacecraft, not the CSM and LM – would soon follow. They were, of course, incorrect; lunar exploration did not become “a continuing aspect of human endeavor.” The earliest Apollo landing missions (Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 13, and Apollo 14) were equivalent to Bellcomm’s LLM-1, LLM-2, and LLM-3; Apollo 15, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17 were, however, shaped by the certain knowledge that lunar exploration would soon be ended, so became unlike any of Bellcomm’s proposed missions.


References


“A Lunar Exploration Program – Case 710,” N. W. Hinners, D. B. James, and F. N. Schmidt, TM-68-1012-1, Bellcomm, January 5, 1968.



The Fire Phone Is Officially a Failure


One of the unique features on the Fire Phone is “Dynamic Perspective.” Inside certain apps, this visual trick is applied to give onscreen objects a sense of depth and a 3-D look.

One of the unique features on the Fire Phone is “Dynamic Perspective.” Inside certain apps, this visual trick is applied to give onscreen objects a sense of depth and a 3-D look. Ariel Zambelich/WIRED



Amazon’s Fire phone now only costs $1 if you buy it with a 2-year AT&T contract. When it launched a few months ago, it was $199. If only it had been priced at $1 when it launched in July, perhaps it wouldn’t have been such a failure.


Although Amazon isn’t releasing official numbers on units sold, the company did mention in its Q3 report today that it’s taking a $170 million charge on inventory commitments, and that the massive hit is largely due the Fire phone’s dismal sales. The company said it’s currently stuck with $83 million worth of unsold Fire phones. That’s a whole lot of phones sitting in warehouses, looking for good homes.


The Fire phone had potential, and could have at least broken even. But it started out with a few key (and seemingly obvious) mistakes. Most critically, it was overpriced for what it offered. Even with the one-year membership of Amazon Prime (valued at $99), it failed to deliver what consumers want: quality apps on quality hardware. By loading the phone with a stripped-down, custom version of Android, Amazon limited Fire users to a small app store and its own pre-installed software. Also, the phone feels cheap and flimsy when compared to an iPhone or other similarly priced Android devices.


To offset those shortcomings, Amazon loaded the Fire phone with a colorful and flashy interface that uses four cameras to give the homescreen a 3D-ish trick called “Dynamic Perspective.” The Fire phone also got another trick: Firefly, a custom app that helps you buy things by just pointing the camera at the object you want to load into your Amazon cart.


Although interesting on a technical level, the gimmicks didn’t pay off. The Dynamic Perspective trick is not particularly attractive. And Firefly is just plain creepy, too close to advertising. Smartphones have become a combination of a little black book, an entertainment device, and a social companion, so paying $200 for a phone who’s only real unique feature was to serve as a vehicle for buying things was a non-starter.


The Fire phone’s product page at Amazon lists over 3,000 user reviews, mostly negative—the average rating is two out of five stars.



Uber Delivers Flu Shots: How On-Demand Tech Can Actually Do Good


A nurse preparing to give a patient a shot on May 10, 2009.

A nurse preparing to give a patient a shot on May 10, 2009. David Cheskin/PA Wire



As Ebola panic rages anew, a much more contagious virus that actually kills tens of thousands in the US every year is on its way back: the flu.


Flu is most dangerous to the most vulnerable—small children, the elderly, the immuno-compromised—and every responsible adult should get a flu shot to help keep the germ from spreading. Typically, this involves a trip to the doctor or a local drug store. But on Thursday, in Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C., there was another option that didn’t even involve leaving the house: Uber.


At midday in these cities, Uber added on-demand flu shots to its standard menu of on-demand ride options. With the Uber app, users could call for a registered nurse, who would arrive to administer a flu shot at an indoor location of their choosing. The shots were free, and one request was good for shots for up to 10 people. The company also says it will donate $5 per shot given to Red Cross vaccination efforts for children.


Uber has a long track record of using novelty deliveries to generate publicity, and its flu shot campaign is partly about publicity, too. But while ice cream, burgers, and kittens are mostly fluffy marketing, flu shots are actually important. And while the Ebola scare has raised the specter of mass transportation as a vector for disease, Uber’s on-demand vaccines offer a compelling hint at how the 21st century’s hyper-efficient logistics networks could also be vehicles for delivering better public health.


A one-day vaccination drive in three cities won’t on its own deliver a knockout blow to the spread of flu. (We’ve asked Uber how many shots were given, and we’ll update you with a number when we hear back.) But the example it sets of using an app-based on-demand service to promote not just consumer instant gratification but an actual public good is one that should inspire others to undertake similar experiments. It’s easy to get cynical about how often the powerful technology so many of us have in our pockets is used for trivial ends. A reminder of its potential to help keep us healthy and safe offers a better ideal toward which technologists who want to claim the title of “innovator” should aim.



Bentley Bolsters Its Racing Reputation With a $337K Beast




Please be careful, the rep says as he hands over the keys: This is the only one we’ve got. A few minutes later I’m tearing through the backroads outside of Sonoma, California, delighting in the rumble of a twin turbocharged V8 tuned to propel the quickest car Bentley has ever made and one of the fastest I’ve ever driven. There are reminders all over the car—on the hood, rear, steering wheel, and all four wheels—that this is in fact a Bentley. But it doesn’t fully compute.


Yes, the British luxury brand has racing heritage, but it’s hardly Ferrari or McLaren. These days, it’s best known for making grand touring cars worth more than the average house. Yet my ride for the afternoon, the Continental GT3-R, is a two-seater that runs from 0 to 60 in under four seconds.


Over the past 15 years or so, Bentley has been working to rebuild its credibility as a racing company. That’s a reputation it fully deserved back in the day, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times between 1924 and 1930, and making cars so appreciated that they were the models of choice for James Bond in Ian Fleming’s novels. The company’s best known model was the “Blower Bentley,” nicknamed for the supercharger that amped up the power of its 4.4-liter engine. In 1931, after getting into financial trouble, the company was sold to Rolls-Royce, a change that did it no good. For the next five decades, the Bentley name was used mostly on rebadged Rolls-Royces, and the brand’s link with performance faded. Sales and quality suffered, especially when Rolls collapsed financially in 1971, forcing the British government to nationalize its jet engine business and sell off the motoring branch.


In the 1980, under new ownership (along with Rolls), things at Bentley started to get better with the introduction of the Mulsanne (a distinct model from the current Mulsanne), named for a stretch of the Le Mans racetrack. In 1998, Volkswagen bought Bentley, and the brand got back into racing at Le Mans in 2001, winning the race in 2003. That same year, Bentley introduced the Continental GT, at the time the world’s fastest four-seater. Since then, the brand’s lineup has diversified to include three models, each with a pile of variations.


0824-Bently-GT3-10

Josh Valcarcel/WIRED



The Race-Inspired GT3-R


Now, Bentley wants to keep reminding its customers of its racing pedigree—both past and present— to improve its overall reputation and increase its appeal to young buyers coming into their trust funds. One way it’s doing it is with the Continental GT3-R. The $337,000, limited edition ride is a pseudo race car, plunked halfway between the Continental GT V8 grand tourer and the Continental GT3, the Bentley that competes in real races.


It’s a rejiggered version of the four-seat GT V8. Bentley kept that car’s 4.0-liter, twin turbocharged V8 engine, but retuned it for drivers with an irresponsible streak. The GT3-R produces 572 brake horsepower, a 17 percent bump over the GT V8’s 500, all of it going to the rear wheels. It delivers 518 pound-feet of torque, compared to 487 in the GT V8. Bentley changed up the gear ratios to keep the car in each gear longer, improving acceleration.


While the GT V8 runs from 0 to 60 mph in an impressive 4.6 seconds, the 2.4-ton GT3-R does it in just 3.6. That’s faster than the new Corvette. Yet as I discovered on the wonderfully empty Sonoma roads that divide one vineyard from the next, even at 90 mph (an electronic limit Bentley wisely put on its only test car), the car feels solid, in control, and yes, comfortable. It was the blur of grapes in my peripheral vision and the roar of the engine that reminded me what was actually happening. Come off the throttle quickly and the reward is an exhaust burble (that’s unburnt fuel moving through the titanium exhaust, but it sounds great).


0824-Bently-GT3-03

Josh Valcarcel/WIRED



Bentleys are all about indulgence, whether it’s the champagne bucket and massage seats in the Mulsanne or the neck warmers and 600 horsepower in the Continental GT Speed convertible. The GT3-R offers a “Sport” mode that won’t upshift until the engine hits 6,300 RPM. Since the V8 delivers peak horsepower at 6,000 RPM, you get to feel its full wrath each time your wingtip (made, of course, from the skin of a famous crocodile) hits the accelerator. If you elect to use the wheel-mounted shifter paddles instead of automatic mode, the car won’t play nanny and override your decision to redline the engine. Dialed back into Drive mode, the GT3-R is positively civilized.


It’s surprisingly nimble, too. On corners, the torque vectoring system—a first for Bentley—uses the rear brake to pull in the front of the car, minimizing understeer. The bushings are made with more metal and less rubber to make them firmer. The 16.5-inch carbon ceramic brakes on the front wheels are the biggest on any production car on the planet and in one stop can absorb 10 megajoules of energy (enough to power a house for hours).


To boost performance and give the look of a racing car, Bentley slapped on a carbon fiber front splitter and rear wing to improve airflow and generate more downforce, which helps keep the car on the ground. The body, like that of the GT V8, is made of steel and aluminum. Scoops in the hood help release air pressure and bring cool air into the engine.


The performance numbers are bolstered by changes the 221-pound drop in weight from the GT V8 to the GT3-R. The interior is spartan compared to what you find in other Bentleys. Wood accents, gone. Backseat, gone. Too heavy. The front seats are thinner than usual. It doesn’t matter, because 1) you still get high-grade, diamond-quilted alcantara faux leather and a suede-wrapped steering wheel; and 2) any luxury that would diminish the caviar-spitting thrill that comes with the car is not a luxury I want.


Even with the weight loss, the extra power means GT3-R owners will be spending a lot more time at the gas station, or sending their servants to take care of it. The Bentley will go just 13 miles on a gallon of gas (premium, preferably containing gold flakes) in the city, and 20 on the highway. Drive it like the ascot-wearing hooligan the car’s designed for, and it’s a safe bet the mpg numbers will dip even lower. Those hooligans won’t care. And they likely won’t care that they can’t customize it however they want, or even change the color. Bentley is making just 300 units of the car, which it sees more as a collector’s item than a personal vehicle that reflects the individual customer. It’s good as is, and anyone who doesn’t like British racing green shouldn’t have it anyway.


The GT3-R is not a practical vehicle. Its poster won’t adorn the bedroom walls of the nation’s 12-year-olds. It’s damn impressive anyway and I’m glad it exists. Bentley would never say so, but it’s kind of a muscle car—one that can actually handle turning. It’s nimble, fast, and loud, but can offer a smooth ride and just enough luxury for when you feel like being coddled.