On the Record

“At the end of 2.5 years and $1.5 billion or more, it is not clear what has been accomplished.”

Some members of a NASA task group question the success of the space shuttle's return-to-flight programme.

“They were cold and wet, had no equipment or weapons and were surrounded by hungry polar bears.”

A Norwegian official describes the plight of three Polish scientists whose boat was wrecked 1,000 km from the North Pole. The trio fended off the bears long enough to be rescued.

Source: Chicago Tribune

Overhyped

Addiction

There's no such thing as a quick fix for heroin addiction. But some doctors offer fast detoxification — costing up to US$15,000 — in which the patient is given an addiction-fighting drug while under general anaesthetic. Many have warned against such expensive programmes — and with good reason, says a study in which heroin addicts were given one of three treatments. Those who went through rapid detox fared no better than those getting traditional outpatient drugs, and faced the extra risks of anaesthesia (E. D. Collins et al. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 294, 903–913; 2005). The way out of addiction remains far more difficult than the way in.

Number crunch

The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases surveyed some 3,500 US adults about HIV vaccine research and found:

73% feel it is important to support HIV vaccine research personally.

24% don't know whether vaccines being tested can cause HIV infection — or incorrectly believe that they do.

18% believe an HIV vaccine already exists and is being kept a secret.

Source: M. A. Allen et al. J. Acq. Immun. Def. Syn. doi:10.1097/01.qai.0000174655.63653.38 (2005).