September 15, 2022  Sangy Panicker Just as starting assumptions matter, words matter. Why? Because language shapes discourse, dialogue, understanding, and opinion. Hence, accurate terms and terminology are critical. And what does this mean in the context of animal research? It means dropping tired old labels and phrases in favor of more apt ones.  Continuing to use the term “animal rights” is linked to perpetuating the misperception that scientists/researchers are not concerned with or do not care about animal welfare — that only individuals and entities who subscribe to the notion ..read more

September 7th 2022 Scientists, educators, and students are returning to school this month. Across university campuses, researchers welcome the next generation of scientists as they continue studies to advance knowledge and contribute to society by delivering new understanding of the universe. For some scientists and educators this means research to understand health and disease, with the goal of improving human and animal quality of life and confronting global challenges that affect us all. As the worldwide rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines have shown, having fast progress in the face of a worl ..read more

September 6, 2022 As students return to college campuses this month, many are eager to embark on new research opportunities, or to pick up where they left off last year. Likewise, their research mentors are eagerly anticipating the start of a new academic year. Much of this anticipation is rooted in training the next generation of scientists. Predictably, anti-animal research groups across the country are capitalizing on back-to-school as an opportunity to promote their extremist views in an effort to gain supporters. These groups, which oppose any use of animals by humans for any reason, are ..read more

September 2, 2022 In a new article in The Conversation, three Speaking of Research committee members write about how primate research can advance understanding of Alzheimer’s Disease. The topic is an important one, affecting many people.  The authors write: “As of 2022, an estimated 6.5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, an illness that robs people of their memories, independence and personality, causing suffering to both patients and their families. That number may double by 2060. The U.S. has made considerable investments in Alzheimer’s research, having allocated US$3.5 billion ..read more

August 26th 2022 Jeremy D. Bailoo Did you know that the study of animals often leads to a host of other applications beyond cures for humans? One field in particular, that of bio-inspired designs, often receives far less attention than it should—but is an amazing example of how the study of animals can lead to the application of such knowledge in research and development to solve technical problems and to develop technical inventions and innovation. For example, we recently wrote about how decades of study of woodpeckers informed the design characteristics of sport safety devices, such as helm ..read more

August 25th 2022 Gallup recently released their annual poll of Americans on moral issues, covering a wide range of topics including animals research and testing. Similar to past years, 52% of Americans view testing and research on animals as morally acceptable. (This contrasts with other uses of animals: 60% view buying or wearing clothing made of animal fur as morally acceptable, and 38% view cloning animals as morally acceptable.) Image source: Gallup. However, as with most everything related to animal-based research, context matters. Readers of our blog know that the types of questions that ..read more

Case Study- Zambia. An Interview with Marshall Mweshi, an HIV/AIDS information advocate and affiliate with the Network of Zambian People Living with HIV (NZP+) 8/19/2022 James N. Nkhoswe and Renée Hartig Yesterday we posted on the current situation with living with HIV/AIDS, discussing how treatments are coming to fruition but COVID-19, red-tape, religion, and poverty are creating bottlenecks for getting those treatments to patients. Today we interview Marshall Mweshi, an HIV/AIDS information advocate.  Q: What is the name of the organization that you work with? The Network of Zambia ..read more

August 18, 2022 James N. Nkhoswe and Renée Hartig Part 1: Shall we speak of today’s reality in regards to HIV/AIDS? Disease often knows no boundaries. Long a worldwide issue, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), a virus that damages the immune system and weakens the body’s ability to fight infections and disease, can lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), unless treated. AIDS is marked by a severe decrease in white blood cells, namely the immune system’s CD4 helper T cells, which HIV attacks. This cascade of events renders the body useless in fighting off bacterial and other viral i ..read more

8/17/22 Speaking of Research It is estimated that 20 Americans die each day because of the unavailability of organs for transplant. Now, scientists are hoping to solve the organ crisis by researching the question: Can death be reversed? The thought-provoking study by researchers at Yale School of Medicine begins to question the inevitability of death. The team, led by neuroscientist Nenad Sestan, reported last week in Nature that the function of specific molecular and cell processes could be restored in pigs, 1 hour after the animals had died by cardiac arrest.  Photo credit: Steve Evans ..read more

Sometimes an exciting research finding is quickly attacked by the internet because it was done #InMice. But some of the most exciting discoveries have resulted from studies  #InMice. And some things #InMice, like their lungs, hearts, livers, and bladders, are surprisingly more similar to humans than we may assume. It’s also just fun to learn about how other animals have adapted to their unique environments. It may just even open our eyes to understanding the world from their point of view.  Source: UC Berkeley News Let’s consider whiskers, for example. You may have noticed the whiske ..read more