Doctors Testing Nicotine Vaccine That Could One Day Prevent Smoking

A team led by Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, chairman and professor of Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in the Big Apple, have tested a vaccine that protects the brain from nicotine.

CBS News reports:

Much like vaccines for diseases that create antibodies to fight infection, the vaccine creates antibodies against nicotine. However, previous attempts at similar vaccines have failed because within a few weeks the antibodies are gone, which won't exactly help people stay smoke-free.

Crystal's team developed a vaccine that contains a virus consisting of a genetic sequence they engineered from a nicotine antibody, and injected it into the liver of mice. The injection genetically modifies the liver to churn out nicotine antibodies, along with other cells it typically makes, thus providing a nicotine antibody "factory" in the body...

The antibodies then work by targeting the nicotine cells within seconds of exposure and preventing them from reaching receptors in the brain that provide the "chill out" feeling, as Crystal called it.

The vaccine, which Crystal says could be tested on humans within a few years, would most likely be a preventative measure. Using it while trying to quit would, in essence, be like quitting cold turkey, and who needs a shot for that?

A Look At Both Sides Of Ohio's Marriage Equality Fight: VIDEO

Like so many other places in the States, Ohio is currently embroiled in a fierce debate over marriage equality.

The Buckeye State banned same-sex nuptials with their own DOMA back in 2004. With other states and DC pass their own marriage laws, and President Obama endorsing equality, activists are now making a concerted effort to overturn that law and bring Ohio into the 21st century.

As part of their coverage of the ongoing battle, Columbus' WBNS-10 looked at two sides of the cultural divide. First up, David and Mark Cunningham, a gay couple who have been together for 20 years, have two children and are legally married in Connecticut. The rights bestowed there, of course, don't transfer across state lines, meaning the men are given the short end of the marriage stick. For example, if Mark dies, David doesn't get his pension.

On the other side, naturally, are conservative activists like National Organization for Marriage worker Jonathan Baker, who offers a familiar argument against Mark and David's union: "We believe the definition of marriage is important because it brings together two halves of humanity. It brings together a man and a woman, a mother and a father, that they are best suited to raise a child. We understand it doesn't always work out that way, but that is the best model."

While this all may sound rote to those of us who follow the LGBT scene, for many viewers in and around Columbus, it may all be new, and help give them some new insight into a debate that so often seems reserved for the coasts. And it can remind people on the coasts that there are countless LGBT people in the middle of the country who need support, too.

Watch WBNS-10's report AFTER THE JUMP.

Tyler Clementi's Parents Sit Down With NBC: 'Sin Needs To Be Taken Out Of Homosexuality'

For the first time since his 2010 suicide, Tyler Clementi's parents are sitting down for a formal interview to discuss the young man's life and death.

In an interview with NBC News' Lester Holt, Tyler's father, James, admits Tyler had issues with depression that led to his suicide, but also insists that roommate Dharun Ravi's spying "was the straw that broke the camel's back."

Jane Clementi agrees, telling Holt that the "humiliation" of having his private sex life tweeted and shared was too much for her son to bear. "“I think it was – it was the humiliation that his roommates and his dorm mates were watching him in a very intimate act and that they were laughing behind his back," she says. "The last thing that Tyler looked at before he left the dorm room for the bridge was the Twitter page, where Ravi was announcing Tyler's activities."

Mrs. Clementi also opens up about how her son, who had only come out to her a few weeks before his death, changed her view of homosexuality.

She says the news [of Tyler's homosexuality] "shocked" her, in part because of her strong Christian faith.  Since then she says she’s gone from "point A" in her beliefs "to point B."

"Was that point A, the point of 'homosexuality is a sin?'" asked Holt.
"Well, yes," Mrs. Clementi answered. "And of trying to just accept it."

She said she also realizes that Tyler may have misread her reaction during their conversation. He later texted a friend that his mother had rejected him after he came out to her.

"It just was like a dagger," Mrs. Clementi said. "And that took me a long time to process. Because I did not think I had rejected him."

The interview airs tomorrow night. Judging from the short clip included AFTER THE JUMP, I recommend you keep a hanky close…

Watch NBC's teaser AFTER THE JUMP.

Sneaky Robot Cheats At Rock, Paper, Scissors: VIDEO

Engineers in Japan have built a robot hand that can "beat" any human any time at any game of rock, paper, scissors. How does it do it?

According to New Scientist, the sneaky machine has a high-speed camera that monitors humans' wrist and finger movement to beat us to the punch — or, rather, beat us to the paper.

It seems like a vanity device at the moment, but Sara Reardon reports that this development could help with some robotic sleuthing in the future.

The robot's visual recognition program needs only one millisecond to figure out which shape your hand will take, and choose the one that will beat you.
…
This kind of high speed vision may have a more practical use than arming robots so they'll always get to bat first at robot baseball. Robots can recognize speech in real time by the forms the human mouth takes, cooperate with humans performing precision tasks that take two, and maybe intervene in an accident before it happens. The janken game is an early example of what Oku's lab calls "meta-perception": the Sherlock Holmes-like ability of machines to pick up information humans would miss.

Watch the robot in action AFTER THE JUMP!

Anti-Gay Lawmaker's Picture Will Remain On High School's Wall Of Fame

Most of us know Stacey Campfield as the Tennessee State Senator who championed the homophobic "Don't Say Gay" bill earlier this year. To the faculty at Vestal High School in New York, Campfield is an alum, and one worthy of being included in the school's Wall of Fame.

Despite protests from students, faculty and parents who oppose Campfield's discriminatory politics, the school says Campfield's picture will indeed remain on display.

"You may be surprised to know that we have heard from many, many people, including students, who understand and agree with our position [to keep the picture]," said school board President Kim Myers. "Many who feel intimidated and fearful to publicly state their approval for fear of being labeled a bigot or anti-gay. When you attempt to shout down opposing voices, who is the bully?"

Myers also told the gathered crowd that Campfield's picture was put up long before he became a voice for conservative causes, and also pointed out that the picture of another graduate wasn't removed after his name was tarnished. That student was OJ Simpson.

Judge Smacks Down Student Who Said She Wouldn't Counsel Gay People

In 2010, Jennifer Keeton was studying to be a counselor at Augusta State University — that is until she told her teachers that she would tell LGBT people that they can be cured of their "identity confusion."

The school gave her the boot and Keeton promptly sued, claiming administrators were discriminating against her religious beliefs. Judge Randal Hall today disagreed.

From the ruling, via Patheos:

Keeton’s conflation of personal and professional values, or at least her difficulty in discerning the difference, appears to have been rooted in her opinion that the immorality of homosexual relations is a matter of objective and absolute moral truth.

The policies which govern the ethical conduct of counselors, however, with their focus on client welfare and self-determination, make clear that the counselor’s professional environs are not intended to be a crucible for counselors to test metaphysical or moral propositions. Plato’s Academy or a seminary the Counselor Program is not; that Keeton’s opinions were couched in absolute or ontological terms does not give her constitutional license to make it otherwise.
…
Keeton’s allegations do not show that imposition of the remediation plan was substantially motivated by her personal religious views. The plan was instead imposed “because she was unwilling to comply with the ACA Code of Ethics.”

Judge Hall also reminded Keeton that "when someone voluntarily chooses to enter a profession, he or she must comply with its rules and ethical requirements."