Eyespy: September 2005

The “Fungal Tree of Life” has been growing steadily for two years, and recently received a boost from two new computer programs. One program validates and assembles new fungal DNA data, while the other gathers known sequences from public archives. Numerous fungal family trees exist independently of one another, sometimes overlapping or conflicting. With the aid of these new computer programs, data can be integrated from old and new sources, and its validity can be tested against existing sequences. One 588 species fungal tree is now published, but researchers hope to have 1500 species tied together by 2006 (Science 2005;309:374).

Eyespy remembers with a smile the movie Airplane! and Leslie Nielsen's turn as a doctor on the unfortunate flight. By way of an innovative course, Nielsen, among others, can have official training for those “Is there a doctor here?” moments. Clinical Considerations in Aero-medical Transport and Virgin Atlantic offer a one day course entitled “Medical Emergencies in Flight.” The course is designed for doctors who want to learn about diagnosis and management of medical emergencies on aeroplanes. Sessions cover topics from oxygen availability and altitude physiology to aeroplane medical equipment and evacuation. The course, which has been running for six years, takes place at …