URBANA, Ill. -- The brains of 12 University of Illinois men and women are the stars of a new calendar set to hit campus bookstore shelves this fall.\nThe 2006 calendar, called "Big Brains," will feature artistically enhanced brain scans of campus administrators, faculty, staff and students.\nThe 12 calendar models are having their brains scanned by magnetic resonance imaging. The images for each individual will also highlight a particular brain region or function that each person uses in his or her job.\nGraphic artist Pat Mayer of Urbana is using the scans to create an artistic interpretation of each person's brain function.\n"It's trying to figure out how do I incorporate the science, how do I incorporate the personality of the person and make it something I'd like to hang on my wall," Mayer said.\nFor example, the brain image of university President B. Joseph White's assistant will emphasize an area of the brain used for multitasking.\nThe scan of Chancellor Richard Herman's brain will feature blood vessels to illustrate how he is connected to all areas of the campus.\nAnd the illustration for a food science professor will consist of layered images of her brain arranged in the shape of the food pyramid.\nThe calendar is expected to be in bookstores around Thanksgiving.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Somewhere in the Amazon there might be flora and fauna that hold the key to curing diseases ranging from cancer to multiple sclerosis.\nThat, at any rate, is the dream. But the reality is that the search for the next miracle drugs is being hampered by a deep Brazilian suspicion of "biopiracy."\nSome politicians, retired generals and Web sites seem convinced that the world's biggest rain forest is crawling with biopirates scooping up seeds, leaves and animal blood samples whose genetic code might deliver the next miracle drug.\nThe government has imposed strict regulations which apply to both Brazilians and foreigners, but foreigners are more likely to get arrested. Over the past decade more than 30 have been detained, and their research samples confiscated or destroyed.\nThe Amazon rain forest is thought to contain at least 30 percent of all plant and animal species on the planet, most of them not catalogued. At the same time, loggers and farmers are shrinking its area at a rate equivalent to six football fields a minute.\nBut scientists say the rules are so stringent and overzealously enforced that it has become impossible to ship samples abroad for analysis, reducing research to a crawl and driving many scientists to move their research to Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru.
Biopiracy fears hinder research \nin Amazon forests
URBANA, Ill. -- The brains of 12 University of Illinois men and women are the stars of a new calendar set to hit campus bookstore shelves this fall.\nThe 2006 calendar, called "Big Brains," will feature artistically enhanced brain scans of campus administrators, faculty, staff and students.\nThe 12 calendar models are having their brains scanned by magnetic resonance imaging. The images for each individual will also highlight a particular brain region or function that each person uses in his or her job.\nGraphic artist Pat Mayer of Urbana is using the scans to create an artistic interpretation of each person's brain function.\n"It's trying to figure out how do I incorporate the science, how do I incorporate the personality of the person and make it something I'd like to hang on my wall," Mayer said.\nFor example, the brain image of university President B. Joseph White's assistant will emphasize an area of the brain used for multitasking.\nThe scan of Chancellor Richard Herman's brain will feature blood vessels to illustrate how he is connected to all areas of the campus.\nAnd the illustration for a food science professor will consist of layered images of her brain arranged in the shape of the food pyramid.\nThe calendar is expected to be in bookstores around Thanksgiving.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Somewhere in the Amazon there might be flora and fauna that hold the key to curing diseases ranging from cancer to multiple sclerosis.\nThat, at any rate, is the dream. But the reality is that the search for the next miracle drugs is being hampered by a deep Brazilian suspicion of "biopiracy."\nSome politicians, retired generals and Web sites seem convinced that the world's biggest rain forest is crawling with biopirates scooping up seeds, leaves and animal blood samples whose genetic code might deliver the next miracle drug.\nThe government has imposed strict regulations which apply to both Brazilians and foreigners, but foreigners are more likely to get arrested. Over the past decade more than 30 have been detained, and their research samples confiscated or destroyed.\nThe Amazon rain forest is thought to contain at least 30 percent of all plant and animal species on the planet, most of them not catalogued. At the same time, loggers and farmers are shrinking its area at a rate equivalent to six football fields a minute.\nBut scientists say the rules are so stringent and overzealously enforced that it has become impossible to ship samples abroad for analysis, reducing research to a crawl and driving many scientists to move their research to Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru.
