dead zones

This morning I attended the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's rally to Save the Bay. The rally was a lead-up to today's meeting of the Executive Council of the EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program. On Oct. 29, the CBF, along with its allies, filed a notice of intent to sue the EPA for its failure to enforce the federal Clean Water Act and clean up the Bay by 2010 as it promised in a 2000 agreement.

There were a few hundred people gathered outside Union Station, most wearing symbolically black shirts with the words, "The Bay is Slowly Dying" and chanting "Don't Delay! Save the Bay!"

It's Friday, so let’s start with some good news. Researchers from the University of Florida’s College of Pharmacy recently discovered a compound they dubbed “largazole,” produced by microscopic cyanobacteria, that inhibits cancer cell growth.

Although many common medications are derived from compounds found in nature (penicillin immediately comes to mind), few efforts have focused on discovering such products in marine environments. Hendrik Luesch, the study’s principal investigator, says that “The opportunities for marine drug discovery are spectacular.”