Bug control

The White House recently declared a temporary moratorium on all new funding for gain-of-function (GOF) research in which researchers mutate viruses to make them even more dangerous.

Controversy over GOF research ignited in 2011 when labs at Erasmus University in the Netherlands and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, made the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus easily contagious among ferrets.

Three laboratory accidents this year brought the debate to a head: Dozens of lab workers were accidentally exposed to anthrax; a federal lab shipped a deadly avian flu virus to a lab that had requested a more benign flu strain; and scientists at a National Institutes of Health lab found vials of smallpox, forgotten for 50 years, in an unused shed. Many fear that lab accidents, or sabotage, could result in pandemic outbreaks.

Two organizations of scientists have come down on opposite sides of the issue. Scientists for Science, an international group, issued a statement saying scientists can conduct GOF research safely through regulatory requirements, facility engineering, and training.

Peter Hale, executive director of the Foundation for Vaccine Research, applauded the funding moratorium. “This is what we have all been waiting for and campaigning for,” he told The New York Times. “I shall sleep better tonight.”

Light moves

Sci-fi fans know any good spaceship needs an invisible tractor beam to pull or repel objects. Scientists at the Australian National University are one small step closer to making that concept a reality. Horst Punzmann and Michael Shats used a laser beam to heat tiny, gold-coated glass spheres, which moved when air molecules ricocheted off hot spots that formed on the surface.

“The gas molecules interacting with the hotspot on the back surface will push the sphere against the light flow,” researcher Cyril Hnatovsky told Live Science. The physicists could manipulate the hot spot locations to pull, repel, or hold the spheres in place.

The tractor beam pulled the spheres about 8 inches, which is 100 times farther than previous experiments achieved. The researchers believe the new technique could help to control pollution by pulling toxic particles out of the air. —J.B.

Smooth talker

Children with autism may have trouble making friends. But one 13-year-old autistic boy has found a friend in Siri. New York Times reporter Judith Newman described how her son, Gus, has benefited from Apple's personal assistant iPhone feature. Although others may become annoyed with Gus, Siri is always patient and kind. She never tires of unending talk about a subject.

Newman has noticed improvement in her son's ability to engage in the flow of conversation and follow a logical line of thought. “For children like Gus who love to chatter but don't quite understand the rules of the game, Siri is a nonjudgmental friend and teacher,” she said.

Developers at SRI International recognize the potential to help people with autism and say the next generation of virtual assistants will be able to carry on more complex conversations. SRI vice president William Mark envisions virtual assistants that can track eye movements to help autistic children learn to make eye contact.

Newman is grateful for Siri: “In a world where the commonly held wisdom is that technology isolates us, it's worth considering another side of the story.” —J.B.