Have an apple little girl?
Research from the University of Auckland found the DNA code that makes the red pigment in apple flesh. The pigments that are made by most plants are called anthocyanins, and they include making an array of colours from red to purple to blue. Anthocyanins are also powerful antioxidants. This means that as we exploit the pigments to make apples prettier, we are also improving their nutrition! Scientists are implanting the pigment into the flesh and skin if the apples.
Hole in the Ozone is no laughing matter
Nitrous oxide is the most dangerous greenhouse gas to our ozone says New Zealand research published in August in Science magazine. This is quite a breakthrough considering nitrous oxide is not covered by the Montreal Protocol, which is an international protocol designed to cut the use of ozone-depleting substances like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Nitrous oxide is made from agriculture, and the authors of the research suggest that restricting N2O emissions can increase recovery of the Earth’s ozone layer, and assist with combating climate change. The authors calculated that if N2O levels continue to increase at current rates, by 2050 they would cause more than 30 per cent of the ozone depletion that was caused by CFCs at their peak in 1987 due to CFCs.
Things are looking sunnier
A team of Australian and US researchers have set a new record for solar cell efficiency. Their multi-cell array were 43% efficient which beats the previous world record by whopping 0.3%. University of New South Wales (UNSW) Professor Martin Green, led the Aussie contribution to the record breaking design. Solar cells only convert a fraction of the energy from sunlight into electricity because the particles in sunlight have different energy, and some of these energies aren’t enough to free up electrons in the solar cells and create energy. This cell combines five different cells that are matched to different energies in the light. "Each cell has the maximum efficiency for one particular colour," says Green. Using filters, the solar cell splits the incoming light into its different wavelength bands and sends it to the different cells.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Episode S2E10: Space
This week on the Petri Dish, we're heading for the stars and the land of science fiction. We've got:
Science News
Remember This Fact?: Gravity
Science Controversy: The Asian Space Race
Science Interview: Dr. Lawrence Krauss, astrophysicist and author, who is also helping us out with our Film of the Week, Star Trek.
Enjoy!
Science News
Remember This Fact?: Gravity
Science Controversy: The Asian Space Race
Science Interview: Dr. Lawrence Krauss, astrophysicist and author, who is also helping us out with our Film of the Week, Star Trek.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Science News 25/8/09
Getting out of the cold
A new study from the University of Newcastle has revealed that ice ages may have ended because warmer summers in the northern and southern hemispheres. We’ve thought for a while that wobbles in the Earth's orbit push the ice-age cycle but we were in the cold trying to explain why. When the Earth tilts in higher angles it increases the amount of solar energy reaching the hemisphere's poles,which is where the glacial ice sheets are positioned. This makes summers warmer in both hemispheres and causes the ice sheets to collapse. While the theory was around for a while it was never proven.The recent research looked at the ancient chemicals changes in tiny amounts of uranium found in stalagmites in an Italian cave to create a timescale of when the ice sheets collapsed, ending the second last ice age. The study was published in the prestigious scientific journal Science.
The pterodactyl has landed
Research from the University of California published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, describes in unprecedented detail how the pterodactyl landed. From fossilised footprints found at the Late Jurassic site in France palaeontologists can see that the pterodactyl first touched the ground with both clawed hind feet. The claws were then dragged along the ground as the animal landed, and the pterodactyl became slightly airborne before touching the ground again with its hind feet. The bird then put its winged forelimbs on the ground, took a short step with its back legs, changed its forelimbs and began to walk normally. Pretty amazing that we know all this detail when you remember that the animal took to the Late Jurassic skies - 161 to 145 million years ago.
T-rex gets his lips done
A new study of the remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex that roamed Earth 68 million years ago has confirmed that proteins from blood and bone, tendons, or cartilage were in fact the T. Rex’s. The findings will be published in the Sept. issue of the Journal of Proteome Research. A first analysis of the fossil T.rex said that they proteins, but other studies came along and poo-pooed the results. The new study confirms the results and reports the finding of T- rex collagen.
Dinosaurs go laser
Researchers from the University of Manchester have reconstructed the bodies of five dinosaurs, including two T. rex and analysed them using laser technology. One of the dinosaurs they constructed, the Acrocanthosaurus atokensis was a large predatory dinosaur that looked like T. rex but it had large spines on its back and roamed the earth earlier than its famous cousin. The team used laser scanning technology to devise 3D models of the prehistoric creatures. Their program allows the scientists to calculate how fat dinosaurs were, and more specifically the weight of their specific body segments. This will be used to analyze body movements of the dinosaurs and even track the evolution of their different walking styles.
A new study from the University of Newcastle has revealed that ice ages may have ended because warmer summers in the northern and southern hemispheres. We’ve thought for a while that wobbles in the Earth's orbit push the ice-age cycle but we were in the cold trying to explain why. When the Earth tilts in higher angles it increases the amount of solar energy reaching the hemisphere's poles,which is where the glacial ice sheets are positioned. This makes summers warmer in both hemispheres and causes the ice sheets to collapse. While the theory was around for a while it was never proven.The recent research looked at the ancient chemicals changes in tiny amounts of uranium found in stalagmites in an Italian cave to create a timescale of when the ice sheets collapsed, ending the second last ice age. The study was published in the prestigious scientific journal Science.
The pterodactyl has landed
Research from the University of California published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, describes in unprecedented detail how the pterodactyl landed. From fossilised footprints found at the Late Jurassic site in France palaeontologists can see that the pterodactyl first touched the ground with both clawed hind feet. The claws were then dragged along the ground as the animal landed, and the pterodactyl became slightly airborne before touching the ground again with its hind feet. The bird then put its winged forelimbs on the ground, took a short step with its back legs, changed its forelimbs and began to walk normally. Pretty amazing that we know all this detail when you remember that the animal took to the Late Jurassic skies - 161 to 145 million years ago.
T-rex gets his lips done
A new study of the remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex that roamed Earth 68 million years ago has confirmed that proteins from blood and bone, tendons, or cartilage were in fact the T. Rex’s. The findings will be published in the Sept. issue of the Journal of Proteome Research. A first analysis of the fossil T.rex said that they proteins, but other studies came along and poo-pooed the results. The new study confirms the results and reports the finding of T- rex collagen.
Dinosaurs go laser
Researchers from the University of Manchester have reconstructed the bodies of five dinosaurs, including two T. rex and analysed them using laser technology. One of the dinosaurs they constructed, the Acrocanthosaurus atokensis was a large predatory dinosaur that looked like T. rex but it had large spines on its back and roamed the earth earlier than its famous cousin. The team used laser scanning technology to devise 3D models of the prehistoric creatures. Their program allows the scientists to calculate how fat dinosaurs were, and more specifically the weight of their specific body segments. This will be used to analyze body movements of the dinosaurs and even track the evolution of their different walking styles.
Episode S2E9: Paleontology
This week on the Petri Dish, we're digging up the ancient past:
Science News
Science Interview: Dr. Scott Sampson, paleontologist
Science Controversy: Primordial soup
Film of the Week: Frankenstein
Science News
Science Interview: Dr. Scott Sampson, paleontologist
Science Controversy: Primordial soup
Film of the Week: Frankenstein
Science News 17/8/09
Shy and dry
In the past research has found a strong association with alcohol problems and socially anxious people. People who suffer from social phobia are 2-3 times more likely to develop problems with alcohol abuse and/or alcohol dependence. Researchers from Macquarie University have developed a new treatment for adults that addresses both problems simultaneously. Dr Lexine Stapinski who is coordinating the new program, says many people believe that alcohol relaxes them but actually excessive drinking increases agitation and anxiety. This is because it can lead to a reliance on alcohol. The program developed by researchers at Macquarie offers participants 10 individual cognitive behavioural therapy sessions at no cost. 10.6 per cent of Australians have problems with social phobia while 18.9 per cent of the population drink alcohol at harmful levels, according to the most recent ABS National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing.
Alcohol weakens muscles
A study from Massey University found that if you use your muscles strenuously and then go for a bit of drink your muscles won’t repair themselves very well. The message to the research is simple: “If you’re there to perform, you shouldn’t be drinking alcohol.” Mr Barnes got recreational sportsmen and tested their muscle performance after a strenuous resistance training session, which was followed by either a moderate amount of alcohol in juice or the same energy content in juice alone. 36-hours and 60 hours later the athletes’ performance was measured. Muscles were nearly twice as weak after the alcohol, shows that if you drink even moderate levels of alcohol after you use your muscles strenuously you are impairing your ability to recover.
Early binging leads to early babies
Research from WA shows that pregnant women who drink more than one to two standard drinks per occasion and more than six standard drinks per week increase their risk of having a premature baby, even if they stop drinking before the second trimester. It’s thought that stopping alcohol consumption before the second trimester may trigger an inflammatory response leading to preterm birth. Not surprisingly the incidence of preterm birth was highest among women who binged (9.5 per cent) or drank heavily. But even if the mother stopped drinking before the second trimester (13.6 per cent) babies were born preterm, compared women who did not drink during pregnancy, here less than 6 per cent had preterm births. A Western Australian study took a random sample of 4719 women who gave birth in WA between 1995 and 1997. Women were asked how often they drank alcohol, and the amount of alcohol they consumed in each occasion and the types of alcohol they drank.
The study was published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in January.
In the past research has found a strong association with alcohol problems and socially anxious people. People who suffer from social phobia are 2-3 times more likely to develop problems with alcohol abuse and/or alcohol dependence. Researchers from Macquarie University have developed a new treatment for adults that addresses both problems simultaneously. Dr Lexine Stapinski who is coordinating the new program, says many people believe that alcohol relaxes them but actually excessive drinking increases agitation and anxiety. This is because it can lead to a reliance on alcohol. The program developed by researchers at Macquarie offers participants 10 individual cognitive behavioural therapy sessions at no cost. 10.6 per cent of Australians have problems with social phobia while 18.9 per cent of the population drink alcohol at harmful levels, according to the most recent ABS National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing.
Alcohol weakens muscles
A study from Massey University found that if you use your muscles strenuously and then go for a bit of drink your muscles won’t repair themselves very well. The message to the research is simple: “If you’re there to perform, you shouldn’t be drinking alcohol.” Mr Barnes got recreational sportsmen and tested their muscle performance after a strenuous resistance training session, which was followed by either a moderate amount of alcohol in juice or the same energy content in juice alone. 36-hours and 60 hours later the athletes’ performance was measured. Muscles were nearly twice as weak after the alcohol, shows that if you drink even moderate levels of alcohol after you use your muscles strenuously you are impairing your ability to recover.
Early binging leads to early babies
Research from WA shows that pregnant women who drink more than one to two standard drinks per occasion and more than six standard drinks per week increase their risk of having a premature baby, even if they stop drinking before the second trimester. It’s thought that stopping alcohol consumption before the second trimester may trigger an inflammatory response leading to preterm birth. Not surprisingly the incidence of preterm birth was highest among women who binged (9.5 per cent) or drank heavily. But even if the mother stopped drinking before the second trimester (13.6 per cent) babies were born preterm, compared women who did not drink during pregnancy, here less than 6 per cent had preterm births. A Western Australian study took a random sample of 4719 women who gave birth in WA between 1995 and 1997. Women were asked how often they drank alcohol, and the amount of alcohol they consumed in each occasion and the types of alcohol they drank.
The study was published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in January.
Episode S2E8: Alcohol
This week on the Petri Dish, we're talking about alcohol:
Science News
Remember This Fact?: Whati s alcohol and how do we get drunk?
Science Myth: Drunken rages
Science Interview: Alcohol and depression
Film of the Week: The Hangover
Science News
Remember This Fact?: Whati s alcohol and how do we get drunk?
Science Myth: Drunken rages
Science Interview: Alcohol and depression
Film of the Week: The Hangover
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Science News 11/8/09
Magnetic dreaming
A study published this year found a connection between bizarre dreams, and the Earth's magnetic field. The Perth researcher Darren Lipnicki, recorded his dreams over eight years, and correlated them to extremes in local geomagnetic activity. He recorded 2387 written accounts during his teenage years. He scored is dreams on a bizarreness scale of 1 -5. Dreams that scored a three could happen, but were unlikely. For example: "A friend is in the backyard of my house, building a wooden platform atop of 7-foot high stilts." While 5 on the scale were dreams that Lipnicki had little or no connection with reality: "I was stranded on a foreign coastline with a monkey that spoke English and a woman that suddenly became small, almost doll-sized. Then I was at home." Why would these extremes influence our dreams? According to past studies low geomagnetic activity increases the production of the melatonin, which is a hormone that helps set the body's circadian clock.
You have a snoring face
Earlier this year researchers from the University of Sydney created a new method to analyse digital photographs of faces to determine an individual's risk of developing Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA). Four per cent of Australian middle-aged men and two per cent of middle-aged women suffer from OSA syndrome. The disease is caused by the upper airways closing during periods of interrupted sleep. Previous methods of diagnosis were costly and involved a specialist.
Dreaming the world in black and white
Studies from 1915 to the 1950s suggested that the vast majority of dreams are in black and white. But from the 60s and beyond results suggested that up to 83% of dreams contain some colour. Not so coincidentally in this period there was a from black-and-white film and TV and widespread Technicolor. Eva Murzyn from the University of Dundee, UK found that only 4.4% of the under-25s' dreams were black and white, and the over-55s who'd had access to colour TV and film during their childhood dreamed in monochrome just 7.3% of the time. This is compared to around 25% of the over-55s who had only had access to black-and-white media in their child hood who reported dreaming in black and white. According to Murzyn, eventhough the children would only have spent a few hours a day watching TV or films, because their attention and emotional engagement was increased while they were watching the footage, it would have had a bigger impact on their development.
A study published this year found a connection between bizarre dreams, and the Earth's magnetic field. The Perth researcher Darren Lipnicki, recorded his dreams over eight years, and correlated them to extremes in local geomagnetic activity. He recorded 2387 written accounts during his teenage years. He scored is dreams on a bizarreness scale of 1 -5. Dreams that scored a three could happen, but were unlikely. For example: "A friend is in the backyard of my house, building a wooden platform atop of 7-foot high stilts." While 5 on the scale were dreams that Lipnicki had little or no connection with reality: "I was stranded on a foreign coastline with a monkey that spoke English and a woman that suddenly became small, almost doll-sized. Then I was at home." Why would these extremes influence our dreams? According to past studies low geomagnetic activity increases the production of the melatonin, which is a hormone that helps set the body's circadian clock.
You have a snoring face
Earlier this year researchers from the University of Sydney created a new method to analyse digital photographs of faces to determine an individual's risk of developing Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA). Four per cent of Australian middle-aged men and two per cent of middle-aged women suffer from OSA syndrome. The disease is caused by the upper airways closing during periods of interrupted sleep. Previous methods of diagnosis were costly and involved a specialist.
Dreaming the world in black and white
Studies from 1915 to the 1950s suggested that the vast majority of dreams are in black and white. But from the 60s and beyond results suggested that up to 83% of dreams contain some colour. Not so coincidentally in this period there was a from black-and-white film and TV and widespread Technicolor. Eva Murzyn from the University of Dundee, UK found that only 4.4% of the under-25s' dreams were black and white, and the over-55s who'd had access to colour TV and film during their childhood dreamed in monochrome just 7.3% of the time. This is compared to around 25% of the over-55s who had only had access to black-and-white media in their child hood who reported dreaming in black and white. According to Murzyn, eventhough the children would only have spent a few hours a day watching TV or films, because their attention and emotional engagement was increased while they were watching the footage, it would have had a bigger impact on their development.
Episode S2E7: Dreams and Nightmares
This week on the Petri Dish, we're delving into the Freudian world of dreams and nightmares. Put on your pyjamas and get comfortable for:
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What are dreams?
Science Myth: Do girls have wet dreams?
Science Controversy: Can you die from sleep deprivation?
Film of the Week: Nightmare on Elm Street
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What are dreams?
Science Myth: Do girls have wet dreams?
Science Controversy: Can you die from sleep deprivation?
Film of the Week: Nightmare on Elm Street
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Science News 4/8/09
Bee yourself
University of Otago researchers have a found a clue to explain how honey bee queen's control her workers. Two years ago the researchers discovered that queen bees release a pheromone that blocks young bees’ ability to remember unpleasant experiences in the brain and predict punishment. Now - Professor Alison Mercer and Dr Kyle Beggs, have identified the molecular target of this pheromone. The pheromone activates one of three honey bee dopamine receptors. This changes how dopamine signals in the brain and the behaviour of young bees. Why make the chemical? It stops worker bees becoming revolutionary! The queens’ pheromones have unpleasant effects; like impairing motor activity. By not remember how mean the queen can be stops young bees from become aversive so they keep protecting the queen and the colony.
Targeting pancreatic cancer
A Western Australian Institute for Medical Research team has created a molecule that can target a type of pancreatic tumour, and attract the body’s immune system to the cancer. An inflammatory agent is shoved into the molecule using nanotechnology, which targets tumours and attracts millions of immune cells to attack and kill the tumour. Excitingly the coating of the capsule heads to pancreatic tumours specifically – so it will only attract immune cells to the cancer site! Clinical trials may begin in 5-10 years, depending on pharmaceutical company interest.
Bridging the gap
A researcher from Queensland University of Technology can monitor changes in vibrations that will identify weak spots in bridges. It can detect if the bridge is damaged and even locate where the damage is in the structure. The method detects vibrations, this data is collected and fed into a computer model which could identify any damage in the bridge.
University of Otago researchers have a found a clue to explain how honey bee queen's control her workers. Two years ago the researchers discovered that queen bees release a pheromone that blocks young bees’ ability to remember unpleasant experiences in the brain and predict punishment. Now - Professor Alison Mercer and Dr Kyle Beggs, have identified the molecular target of this pheromone. The pheromone activates one of three honey bee dopamine receptors. This changes how dopamine signals in the brain and the behaviour of young bees. Why make the chemical? It stops worker bees becoming revolutionary! The queens’ pheromones have unpleasant effects; like impairing motor activity. By not remember how mean the queen can be stops young bees from become aversive so they keep protecting the queen and the colony.
Targeting pancreatic cancer
A Western Australian Institute for Medical Research team has created a molecule that can target a type of pancreatic tumour, and attract the body’s immune system to the cancer. An inflammatory agent is shoved into the molecule using nanotechnology, which targets tumours and attracts millions of immune cells to attack and kill the tumour. Excitingly the coating of the capsule heads to pancreatic tumours specifically – so it will only attract immune cells to the cancer site! Clinical trials may begin in 5-10 years, depending on pharmaceutical company interest.
Bridging the gap
A researcher from Queensland University of Technology can monitor changes in vibrations that will identify weak spots in bridges. It can detect if the bridge is damaged and even locate where the damage is in the structure. The method detects vibrations, this data is collected and fed into a computer model which could identify any damage in the bridge.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Episode S2E6: The Sweetest Thing
This week on the Petri Dish:
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What is diabetes?
Science Myth: Sugar makes children hyper
Science Controversy: Sugarcane farming is bad for the environment
Film of the Week: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What is diabetes?
Science Myth: Sugar makes children hyper
Science Controversy: Sugarcane farming is bad for the environment
Film of the Week: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Science News 28/7/09
Trees are going camo
Researchers at the University of Wellington in New Zealand this week uncovered a tree that camouflages to protect itself from predators. The leaves of the New Zealand native Araliaceae tree changes colour as it matures. And scientists believe the reason it does this was to protect itself from an the moa, a giant flightless bird that became extinct 750 years ago. To show the changes are was due to the moa the team compared Araliaceae leaves to samples from a similar species of tree, that are on a island 800 km from New Zealand, where there are no Moas.
Aloe boys
Aloe vera fights cavities and bacteria as effective as commercial toothpaste says research published in May/June 2009 issue of General Dentistry. The study compared the bacteria-fighting ability of an aloe vera tooth gel to two commercially popular toothpastes and found that the aloe vera tooth gel controlled cavity-causing organisms as well as commercial toothpaste. Why? Aloe latex contains anti-inflammatory chemicals. And, it is less harsh on teeth because it doesn’t have the abrasive elements typically found in commercial toothpaste. But! Watch out! Not all aloe vera tooth gel has the medicinal form of aloe vera – products must use gel located in the center of the aloe vera plant to be effective
Evolution is heating up
Mammals that live in the tropics evolve faster than their counterparts from cooler climates. According to a study published in July from the University of Auckland, which looked at biodiversity over prolonged evolutionary periods, there is much more biodiversity in warmer areas like the tropics. The results show that species occupying warmer climates have almost 50 per cent more DNA evolution relative to those in cooler climates. This is pretty interesting because some scientists did not believe that climate could possibly have any bearing on mammal evolution given their constant body temperatures.
Researchers at the University of Wellington in New Zealand this week uncovered a tree that camouflages to protect itself from predators. The leaves of the New Zealand native Araliaceae tree changes colour as it matures. And scientists believe the reason it does this was to protect itself from an the moa, a giant flightless bird that became extinct 750 years ago. To show the changes are was due to the moa the team compared Araliaceae leaves to samples from a similar species of tree, that are on a island 800 km from New Zealand, where there are no Moas.
Aloe boys
Aloe vera fights cavities and bacteria as effective as commercial toothpaste says research published in May/June 2009 issue of General Dentistry. The study compared the bacteria-fighting ability of an aloe vera tooth gel to two commercially popular toothpastes and found that the aloe vera tooth gel controlled cavity-causing organisms as well as commercial toothpaste. Why? Aloe latex contains anti-inflammatory chemicals. And, it is less harsh on teeth because it doesn’t have the abrasive elements typically found in commercial toothpaste. But! Watch out! Not all aloe vera tooth gel has the medicinal form of aloe vera – products must use gel located in the center of the aloe vera plant to be effective
Evolution is heating up
Mammals that live in the tropics evolve faster than their counterparts from cooler climates. According to a study published in July from the University of Auckland, which looked at biodiversity over prolonged evolutionary periods, there is much more biodiversity in warmer areas like the tropics. The results show that species occupying warmer climates have almost 50 per cent more DNA evolution relative to those in cooler climates. This is pretty interesting because some scientists did not believe that climate could possibly have any bearing on mammal evolution given their constant body temperatures.
Episode S2E5: Duplicity
We're back! After our mid-season break, the Petri Dish is back with more of the science you all love so much.
To celebrate our return, this week on the Petri Dish, we have:
Science News
Remember This Fact?: Binary numbers
Film of the Week: The Dark Knight
Further Thoughts
People with questions or concerns about schizophrenia, multiple personalities or bipolar disorders can get more information at sane.org, headspace.org.au and beyondblue.org.au.
To celebrate our return, this week on the Petri Dish, we have:
Science News
Remember This Fact?: Binary numbers
Science Controversy: Bipolar disorder
Science Myth: Schizophrenia means you have multiple personalitiesFilm of the Week: The Dark Knight
Further Thoughts
People with questions or concerns about schizophrenia, multiple personalities or bipolar disorders can get more information at sane.org, headspace.org.au and beyondblue.org.au.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Science News S2E4
Quantum Computers
A team at Yale University has created the world’s first solid state quantum processor, leading us another step closer to building a quantum computer.
The researchers manufactured two artificial atoms, or qubits ("q-bits"). While each qubit is actually made up of a billion aluminum atoms, it acts like a single atom that can occupy two different energy states. These states are akin to the "1" and "0" or "on" and "off" states of regular bits employed by conventional computers. Because of the counterintuitive laws of quantum mechanics, however, scientists can effectively place qubits in a "superposition" of multiple states at the same time, allowing for greater information storage and processing power.
The team is now trying to attach more qubits to the processor, which exponentially increases the processing power of the chip. A quantum computer, which would run thousands of times faster and with more processing power than our current computers, is still a long way off though.
Schrodinger’s Cat Helps Find Oil
Oxford University scientists have created a “quantum cat”. Schrodinger’s cat was a thought experiment that said that, if a cat sealed into a box with a poison that might or might not kill it, behaved like a subatomic particle, the cat would be alive and dead at the same time.
The quantum cat made at Oxford University is a star shaped atom where all of the 10 atoms are in the same spin state (that is, spinning the same way) and entangled (so if one changes its spin, they all do).
The cat is very sensitive to tiny fluctuations in magnetic fields, which change the spin of the cat. This means it can detect tiny changes that correspond to under sea deposits of oil or gas, or make ultra-high tech security, or help in other scientific experiments.
DNA Sequencing Through Quantum Tunnelling
DNA is a long sequence of Cs, Gs, As and Ts. Reading these sequences is vitally important to biochemistry and genetic science, as well as to modern medicine.
Bringing the power of DNA sequencing to every individual will require new, affordable technologies to help mine the wealth of information DNA can provide concerning morphology, hereditary traits and predisposition to disease. Standard biochemical sequencing is slow and extravagantly expensive.
Quantum tunneling is when a particle, say an electron, can cross a barrier, when, according to classical physics, it does not have enough energy to do so. That means that if you get an electrode close enough to a piece of DNA, electrons from the DNA can jump to the electrode and cause a measureable current. The Cs and Gs in DNA have slightly stronger chemical bonds, which make it harder for the electrons to tunnel to the electrode and cause a smaller current.
So theoretically, the new quantum sequencing can be done simply by running an electrode up the DNA and measuring the current as it passes over the DNA bases, instead of the slow, expensive processes used to sequence DNA currently.
Quantum Hurricanes in Really Cold Gas
When gas gets really cold, they spontaneously spin up into tiny quantum mechanical hurricanes. It’s not really of any practical value, but it is an interesting new fact about the way the universe works. It is, in fact, just cool.
A team at Yale University has created the world’s first solid state quantum processor, leading us another step closer to building a quantum computer.
The researchers manufactured two artificial atoms, or qubits ("q-bits"). While each qubit is actually made up of a billion aluminum atoms, it acts like a single atom that can occupy two different energy states. These states are akin to the "1" and "0" or "on" and "off" states of regular bits employed by conventional computers. Because of the counterintuitive laws of quantum mechanics, however, scientists can effectively place qubits in a "superposition" of multiple states at the same time, allowing for greater information storage and processing power.
The team is now trying to attach more qubits to the processor, which exponentially increases the processing power of the chip. A quantum computer, which would run thousands of times faster and with more processing power than our current computers, is still a long way off though.
Schrodinger’s Cat Helps Find Oil
Oxford University scientists have created a “quantum cat”. Schrodinger’s cat was a thought experiment that said that, if a cat sealed into a box with a poison that might or might not kill it, behaved like a subatomic particle, the cat would be alive and dead at the same time.
The quantum cat made at Oxford University is a star shaped atom where all of the 10 atoms are in the same spin state (that is, spinning the same way) and entangled (so if one changes its spin, they all do).
The cat is very sensitive to tiny fluctuations in magnetic fields, which change the spin of the cat. This means it can detect tiny changes that correspond to under sea deposits of oil or gas, or make ultra-high tech security, or help in other scientific experiments.
DNA Sequencing Through Quantum Tunnelling
DNA is a long sequence of Cs, Gs, As and Ts. Reading these sequences is vitally important to biochemistry and genetic science, as well as to modern medicine.
Bringing the power of DNA sequencing to every individual will require new, affordable technologies to help mine the wealth of information DNA can provide concerning morphology, hereditary traits and predisposition to disease. Standard biochemical sequencing is slow and extravagantly expensive.
Quantum tunneling is when a particle, say an electron, can cross a barrier, when, according to classical physics, it does not have enough energy to do so. That means that if you get an electrode close enough to a piece of DNA, electrons from the DNA can jump to the electrode and cause a measureable current. The Cs and Gs in DNA have slightly stronger chemical bonds, which make it harder for the electrons to tunnel to the electrode and cause a smaller current.
So theoretically, the new quantum sequencing can be done simply by running an electrode up the DNA and measuring the current as it passes over the DNA bases, instead of the slow, expensive processes used to sequence DNA currently.
Quantum Hurricanes in Really Cold Gas
When gas gets really cold, they spontaneously spin up into tiny quantum mechanical hurricanes. It’s not really of any practical value, but it is an interesting new fact about the way the universe works. It is, in fact, just cool.
Episode S2E4: Quantum Mechanics
This week on the Petri Dish, we're giving up coherency and talking about the weirdness that occurs in high level phyics. Be sure to tune in: this episode will expand your mind!
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What are atoms made of?
Science Myth: The universe makes sense
Science Controversy: What is dark matter?
Film of the Week: Stargate
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What are atoms made of?
Science Myth: The universe makes sense
Science Controversy: What is dark matter?
Film of the Week: Stargate
Monday, July 6, 2009
S2E3- Spoken Like a Gentlemen
Just a taster of what is on tonight's show, and so we might just leak the topics and this evenings science new. Also we would like to thank Dan Vo for his musical selection, Opera-ising the Petri-dish for this very special episode.
This week we will be talking about whether or not it is possible for everyone to have perfect pitch, whether we can loose our voice, and if we can be hypnotised by someones voice like Ulysses was by the Sirens in the epic poem The Odyssey. But first some Science News.
Whales on Broadway
The songs of a Blue Whale were heard in New York by Cornell University and were able to confirm the voice at a distance of 70 miles. This news is important since the Blue Whale is an endangered species, and by them being detected closer to the City suggests that they are increasing in number.
Voice Recognition
Scientists from Mastik University found that while listening to people speak, dependent on the person and the subject matter, different brain patterns emerge. It showed that speak, sound and subject can be identified via a Neural Fingerprint. It is hoped that this will help with computer automated speech recognition systems.
Im Sorry who's Calling
The first case of someone born without the ability to recognise voices. A 65 year-young woman was reported in by the University College of London was reported with the rare condition known as Phonagnosia and is usually Associated with strokes and Brain Damage. She is able to identify emotion and tone in voices, as well as appreciate music, though she is unable to identify who the voice is.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
S2E2: Insects
This week on the Petri Dish:
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What is an insect?
Science Myth: Flies fly north for the winter.
Science Controversy: Insecticide usage.
Film of the Week: Starship Troopers
Further Thoughts
In his seminal poem, If, Rudyard Kipling said, "Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it." It's a thought that's cropped up in a lot of societies (especially in religions) over history: the Earth belongs to us.
Unfortunately, in reality, the Earth does not belong to us. The world probably belongs to bacteria, but even just within the animal kingdom, we aren't the masters of the world. The world belongs to insects.
There are somewhere between 6 and 10 million species of insect on Earth, only about a million of which have been described. According to some estimates, 90% of the differing visible life forms on earth are insects.
To talk numbers, there are approximately 2,200 species of praying mantis, 5,000 dragonfly, 20,000 grasshopper, 82,000 true bug, 120,000 fly, 110,000 bees, wasp, ant and sawfly, 170,000 butterfly and moth, and 360,000 beetle species described to date (and remember there are 6 to 10 times that waiting to be described). There are so many species of beetle that, when asked if anything could be concluded about the Creator from the study of creation, J. B. S. Haldane said, "An inordinate fondness for beetles."
In contrast, there are only about 5,400 species of mammal.
Insects range in size from 0.14 mm (the fairyfly) to 57 cm long (a stick insect). The largest overall, though (as in, the heaviest and the bulkiest) are the Goliath beetles, which can be 11 cm long but weigh up to 50 g. The biggest insect in history is a species of dragonfly named Meganeura, which had a wingspan of 75 cm. They are the only class of animals (except birds and bats) that can fly, and can have more complex societies than any animal except humans.
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What is an insect?
Science Myth: Flies fly north for the winter.
Science Controversy: Insecticide usage.
Film of the Week: Starship Troopers
Further Thoughts
In his seminal poem, If, Rudyard Kipling said, "Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it." It's a thought that's cropped up in a lot of societies (especially in religions) over history: the Earth belongs to us.
Unfortunately, in reality, the Earth does not belong to us. The world probably belongs to bacteria, but even just within the animal kingdom, we aren't the masters of the world. The world belongs to insects.
There are somewhere between 6 and 10 million species of insect on Earth, only about a million of which have been described. According to some estimates, 90% of the differing visible life forms on earth are insects.
To talk numbers, there are approximately 2,200 species of praying mantis, 5,000 dragonfly, 20,000 grasshopper, 82,000 true bug, 120,000 fly, 110,000 bees, wasp, ant and sawfly, 170,000 butterfly and moth, and 360,000 beetle species described to date (and remember there are 6 to 10 times that waiting to be described). There are so many species of beetle that, when asked if anything could be concluded about the Creator from the study of creation, J. B. S. Haldane said, "An inordinate fondness for beetles."
In contrast, there are only about 5,400 species of mammal.
Insects range in size from 0.14 mm (the fairyfly) to 57 cm long (a stick insect). The largest overall, though (as in, the heaviest and the bulkiest) are the Goliath beetles, which can be 11 cm long but weigh up to 50 g. The biggest insect in history is a species of dragonfly named Meganeura, which had a wingspan of 75 cm. They are the only class of animals (except birds and bats) that can fly, and can have more complex societies than any animal except humans.
A clarification
When Wendy was referring to the energy from radioactive material she said that electrons were releasing the energy. In fact, the energy released from radioactive material is from protons and neutrons in the nucleus, the core of the atom.
Also, Denise asked us about selective pressure.
DNA are the body's instructions, telling the body what colour our eyes, hair or skin should be. These final products are called phenotypes. In evolution, pressures from our environment put pressure on the phenotypes, not the DNA directly. The phenotypes that can survive do, and pass on their genes. The phenotypes that can't survive die out, so the species overall slowly changes to the more suitable genotypes and phenotypes. This is how evolution affects our genes.
Also, Denise asked us about selective pressure.
DNA are the body's instructions, telling the body what colour our eyes, hair or skin should be. These final products are called phenotypes. In evolution, pressures from our environment put pressure on the phenotypes, not the DNA directly. The phenotypes that can survive do, and pass on their genes. The phenotypes that can't survive die out, so the species overall slowly changes to the more suitable genotypes and phenotypes. This is how evolution affects our genes.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
S2E1: Science News
Hearing black balloons
Scientists from Curtin University of Technology are using thousands of acoustic sensors to hear global warming. Usually these sensors are used to monitor nuclear weapons testing by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation. The scientists will be able to hear ice breaking from the giant icesheets of the South Pole. The aim of the research is to see if we can monitor changes in the ice shelf through sound. So far the results have not been successful – but by god it’s a cool idea. Dr Alexander Gavrilov says “This is very promising research which may provide a practical and cost-effective way of monitoring the impact of climate change on Antarctica.” Plus, analyzing the data over the past six years has revealed a strong seasonal cycle in the intensity and frequency of noise events located in Antarctica.
Patchy cures
A radioactive skin patch might be new way to treat skin cancer. Researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine published results this week using a patch with radioactive phosphorus that can deliver radiation to the cancer site. The small study of 8 adult patients with basal cell carcinoma on the face, but no cancer elsewhere elected to try the patch instead of surgery or radiation. The patches were custom-made to the shape and size of each patient's skin cancer lesions. And applied on the cancer sites for three hours and then reapplied to each site two more times on subsequent days. After three months biopsies of the sites revealed no residual cancer. But the phosphorous used has a limited range. It’s fairly weak so does not reach the bone or underlying blood vessels.
The power of proteins!
Today Monash University researchers discovered a protein, called PLZF, that is an important player in the body's immune response to disease. Interferon activates PLZF and a bunch of genes that are important in protecting us against viral infections – like swine flu! Interferon is naturally made when we are infected with a virus or cancer. It is being used to treat many diseases at the moment like hepatitis, cancer and MS.
Scientists from Curtin University of Technology are using thousands of acoustic sensors to hear global warming. Usually these sensors are used to monitor nuclear weapons testing by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation. The scientists will be able to hear ice breaking from the giant icesheets of the South Pole. The aim of the research is to see if we can monitor changes in the ice shelf through sound. So far the results have not been successful – but by god it’s a cool idea. Dr Alexander Gavrilov says “This is very promising research which may provide a practical and cost-effective way of monitoring the impact of climate change on Antarctica.” Plus, analyzing the data over the past six years has revealed a strong seasonal cycle in the intensity and frequency of noise events located in Antarctica.
Patchy cures
A radioactive skin patch might be new way to treat skin cancer. Researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine published results this week using a patch with radioactive phosphorus that can deliver radiation to the cancer site. The small study of 8 adult patients with basal cell carcinoma on the face, but no cancer elsewhere elected to try the patch instead of surgery or radiation. The patches were custom-made to the shape and size of each patient's skin cancer lesions. And applied on the cancer sites for three hours and then reapplied to each site two more times on subsequent days. After three months biopsies of the sites revealed no residual cancer. But the phosphorous used has a limited range. It’s fairly weak so does not reach the bone or underlying blood vessels.
The power of proteins!
Today Monash University researchers discovered a protein, called PLZF, that is an important player in the body's immune response to disease. Interferon activates PLZF and a bunch of genes that are important in protecting us against viral infections – like swine flu! Interferon is naturally made when we are infected with a virus or cancer. It is being used to treat many diseases at the moment like hepatitis, cancer and MS.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Episode 16: Superheroes
This week on the Petri Dish, we're wearing our underwear on the outside and talking about superheroes.
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What is a mutation?
Science Myth: Can radioactive things give you cancer?
Science Controversy: Designer babies
Film of the Week: Hollow Man
And happy birthday to our producer Kane too!
Further Thoughts
Homosexuality and the major publishing houses for super hero comics do not have a particularly close relationship for most of their history. In fact, the Comics Code Authority forbade any direct reference to LGBT themes until 1989, for fear of corrupting the youth who read the comics.
Despite that, there seems to have been a lot of subtle innuendo in comics before then. Or maybe I just have a filthy mind, or standards of appropriate behaviour have changed in the last 40 years. The relationship between Batman and Robin, for example, has always seemed a little... unconventional, for example. In fact, the character of Aunt Harriet (Dick Grayson's/Robin's aunt) was invented in 1964 purely to reduce the possiblity of "unfortunate implications" coming from an athletic batchelor living with his (batchelor) butler and gymnast ward. But Batman, especially in the 60s, was always very camp anyway. Introducing a maiden aunt character wasn't going to help.
(For some interpretations of this style of comic, and to show I'm not alone in my interpretation of this, see http://www.superdickery.com/. Especially the Seduction of the Innocent and Suffering Sappho! galleries. Really, go and look. They're hilarious.)
Even later, when we returned to the grim-and-gritty Batman of nineties comics, the Tim Burton films or the more recent Christopher Nolan films (starring Christian Bale), the character retained an air of sexuality sublimated into vigilante crime fighting. The Joker has always shown an unhealthy interest in Batman that has sometimes (The Dark Knight Returns or Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, for example) been overtly shown as psuedo-sexual. Of course, the fact that he's a villain is hardly presenting homosexual attraction in a good light.
The first openly gay character in DC was Extrano, which, (insultingly?) is Spanish for "strange" (in fairness though, it may just be a reference to Marvel's Dr. Strange). And what a flamingly gay stereotype he was. Extrano first appeared in 1987. Marvel introduced the character Northstar in 1979, who was intended to be gay from his first appearance but wasn't actually outed until 1992.
Overt lesbian superheroes and supervillains are much harder to find. They're much more likely to be bisexual, and more likely to be villains than heroes. The Dark Queen in Barbarella, Mystique and Destiny in X-Men, and Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy in Batman are all implied to be lesbians (although, since Mystique can change her sex, that's a bit more complex). Perhaps because the authors and readers of mainstream comics are more likely to be male than female, the idea of a depraved bisexual villainess is more appealing than a normal, bi or lesbian heroine? That may explain why there are so many more gay heroes than lesbian heroes too.
Perhaps the earliest oblique reference to trans issues in comic books was Madame Fatal in 1940, a former stage actor who lived alone (which is a stereotype so transparent that it barely deserves the term "oblique reference"). To rescue his daughter from kidnappers, he dressed as an old woman so the criminals would underestimate him. Then he found he liked it, and Madame Fatal's vigilante career was born. Unfortunately, Madame Fatal later died off-screen (after DC bought the licence to the character), and has only reappeared a few times since in joking references to the character's cross dressing.
If there's a common theme running through these characters, it's that most of them, especially in earlier strips, were conceived of as joke or parody characters. Their non-mainstream attributes were used mockingly, or as a symptom of their villainy. Partly this may because most comics are written in America, aimed at adolescent boys, and needs to bypass conservative censors. None of these three groups are well known for their appreciation of LGBT issues.
Even in more politically aware eras, where there are far more gay heroes (still no lesbians though), they do seem to attract more abuse than their straight conterparts. I don't want to seem over-sensitive about this, since superheroes go through some pretty rough experiences generally, but I'm not the only one to have noticed this. Perry Moore (executive producer of the Chronicles of Narnia, amongst other things), was so incensed when Northstar was killed in 3 different continuities in the space of one month, once by the hero Wolverine, that he made a list of all the LGBT characters in these comics and what had happened to them.
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/10/0081728
He also wrote a young adult novel, Hero, trying to present a gay teenaged super hero in a more positive light. Still no lesbians though.
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What is a mutation?
Science Myth: Can radioactive things give you cancer?
Science Controversy: Designer babies
Film of the Week: Hollow Man
And happy birthday to our producer Kane too!
Further Thoughts
Homosexuality and the major publishing houses for super hero comics do not have a particularly close relationship for most of their history. In fact, the Comics Code Authority forbade any direct reference to LGBT themes until 1989, for fear of corrupting the youth who read the comics.
Despite that, there seems to have been a lot of subtle innuendo in comics before then. Or maybe I just have a filthy mind, or standards of appropriate behaviour have changed in the last 40 years. The relationship between Batman and Robin, for example, has always seemed a little... unconventional, for example. In fact, the character of Aunt Harriet (Dick Grayson's/Robin's aunt) was invented in 1964 purely to reduce the possiblity of "unfortunate implications" coming from an athletic batchelor living with his (batchelor) butler and gymnast ward. But Batman, especially in the 60s, was always very camp anyway. Introducing a maiden aunt character wasn't going to help.
(For some interpretations of this style of comic, and to show I'm not alone in my interpretation of this, see http://www.superdickery.com/. Especially the Seduction of the Innocent and Suffering Sappho! galleries. Really, go and look. They're hilarious.)
Even later, when we returned to the grim-and-gritty Batman of nineties comics, the Tim Burton films or the more recent Christopher Nolan films (starring Christian Bale), the character retained an air of sexuality sublimated into vigilante crime fighting. The Joker has always shown an unhealthy interest in Batman that has sometimes (The Dark Knight Returns or Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, for example) been overtly shown as psuedo-sexual. Of course, the fact that he's a villain is hardly presenting homosexual attraction in a good light.
The first openly gay character in DC was Extrano, which, (insultingly?) is Spanish for "strange" (in fairness though, it may just be a reference to Marvel's Dr. Strange). And what a flamingly gay stereotype he was. Extrano first appeared in 1987. Marvel introduced the character Northstar in 1979, who was intended to be gay from his first appearance but wasn't actually outed until 1992.
Overt lesbian superheroes and supervillains are much harder to find. They're much more likely to be bisexual, and more likely to be villains than heroes. The Dark Queen in Barbarella, Mystique and Destiny in X-Men, and Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy in Batman are all implied to be lesbians (although, since Mystique can change her sex, that's a bit more complex). Perhaps because the authors and readers of mainstream comics are more likely to be male than female, the idea of a depraved bisexual villainess is more appealing than a normal, bi or lesbian heroine? That may explain why there are so many more gay heroes than lesbian heroes too.
Perhaps the earliest oblique reference to trans issues in comic books was Madame Fatal in 1940, a former stage actor who lived alone (which is a stereotype so transparent that it barely deserves the term "oblique reference"). To rescue his daughter from kidnappers, he dressed as an old woman so the criminals would underestimate him. Then he found he liked it, and Madame Fatal's vigilante career was born. Unfortunately, Madame Fatal later died off-screen (after DC bought the licence to the character), and has only reappeared a few times since in joking references to the character's cross dressing.
If there's a common theme running through these characters, it's that most of them, especially in earlier strips, were conceived of as joke or parody characters. Their non-mainstream attributes were used mockingly, or as a symptom of their villainy. Partly this may because most comics are written in America, aimed at adolescent boys, and needs to bypass conservative censors. None of these three groups are well known for their appreciation of LGBT issues.
Even in more politically aware eras, where there are far more gay heroes (still no lesbians though), they do seem to attract more abuse than their straight conterparts. I don't want to seem over-sensitive about this, since superheroes go through some pretty rough experiences generally, but I'm not the only one to have noticed this. Perry Moore (executive producer of the Chronicles of Narnia, amongst other things), was so incensed when Northstar was killed in 3 different continuities in the space of one month, once by the hero Wolverine, that he made a list of all the LGBT characters in these comics and what had happened to them.
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/10/0081728
He also wrote a young adult novel, Hero, trying to present a gay teenaged super hero in a more positive light. Still no lesbians though.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Episode 15: Radiothon Science News
Being lonely is leaving you cold
Last year Psychologists Chen-Bo Zhong and Geoffrey Leonardelli from the University of Toronto found that social exclusion literally make us feel cold. The researchers divided volunteers into two groups. One group recalled a personal experience in which they had been socially excluded—rejection from a club, for example. The other group recalled an experience where they were accepted. The researchers then made the volunteers estimate the room temperature. Those thinking about a socially isolating experience gave lower estimates of the temperature.
In a similar study by the same authors published in the September issue of Psychological Science last year the “unpopular” volunteers who were ostracized during a computer game were more likely than the others to want either hot soup or hot coffee. Their research suggests that warm chicken soup may be a coping mechanism for social isolation.
Spanish soup stops stress
In 2004 Tufts University in Boston found that volunteers eating a type of vegetable soup called gazpacho twice a day had lower stress-related molecules in their blood after just 7 days. Gazpacho is a, a Mediterranean-style cold soup of uncooked vegetables including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, onions, garlic, oil, and seasonings.
So why is it reducing stress molecules? Researchers reckon that it’s the vitamin C in the veggies doing the work. Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant, but this study suggested that the soup might do more than just reduce free radicals in the body. Vitamin C prevents the development of things in your body involved in abnormal inflammation and oxidative stress. After a week of consuming the soup consistently, the volunteers had a significant decrease in blood concentrations of prostaglandin E2, made during inflammation and influences immune responses. They also had less of a molecule called monocyte chemotactic protein-1, which has been found in high concentrations in artery-clogging plaques.
Vitamin C is also found in Brain tissue. Increased concentrations of vitamin C in cells of human brain tissue improve the function of lysosomes. Lysosomes break down and eliminate waste products. Scientists now know that the function of lysosomes decreases as people age.
Lets make some honey
Professor Tom Seeley of Cornell University, has discovered that animals that live in communities make decisions collective when it comes to new real estate, food hunting and decision makings. Seeley has been observing the behavioural patterns of honey bees and noted that when moving house, honey bees would send out older scouts to find a new home, and would indicate that it is a good sot by dancing over the spot followed by other bees coming to inspect the new property.
These decisions are not just for finding new homes but it is also used in things such as finding appropriate flowers and also many other life/death making decisions. These rituals are also observed in insects such as ants and locusts.
Trilobite Orgy
Researchers from the El Insituto de Geologia Economica in Spain have discovered that trilobites mated en masse and used its number for protection. This finding was published in the May edition of Geology, the paper describes the behaviours of these ancient creatures – thought to be related to lobsters and spiders. Fossil records and findings have indicated that these ancient animals would moult together similar ot that of horseshoe crabs and that mass moulting also could indicate that these animals mated en masse to for safety.
Fossils of trilobites are found en masse and usually under larger animals, with their old shells, which suggest that they may stick together as they are more vulnerable in their soft shell state.
Gay Marriage Bans Linked to rise in HIV Rate
In the US, it has been found that an intolerant society towards gay marriage, can raise HIV infection by about 4 in 100,000 people. The study used data from the General Social Survey (GSS) which tracked attitudes in America over the past 4 decades.
The overall data found that from 1970-1990 as tolerance increased, there was a 1 per 100,000 people decrease in HIV cases, and when laws were passed to allow gay marriage, there was a dip in the number of cases, by 4 in 100,000 people.
Mialon, the economist who did the study stated that “intolerance is deadly, Bans on Gay Marriage codify intolerance, causing more people to shift to underground sexual behaviours that carry more risk.
Logging online Prevents Teens from Logging OFF.
According to the University of Alberta researchers, teenagers aren’t going to councillors or calling the youth hotlines, but instead going online for emotional support. The University had set up an anonymous thread site, where teenagers could go onto talk about how they were feeling.
Volunteers monitored the site, leaving encouraging messages, and found that students were leaving encouraging messages for each other. The study also found that teenagers who previously logged onto the dite for support started writing support for others, and shows the power of an online community to be a meaningful peer-based support system.
Not edible, but soup news
The discovery of a salty, acidic soup that could have supported life on Mars was named Breakthrough of the Year by Science in 2004. The researchers from NASA, who discovered the breakthrough, used their soup-a finding to suggest that Mars was once a wet, warm place and could have been capable of supporting life billions of years ago. The Opportunity rover found a bedrock at Eagle crater on Meridiani Planum that suggests a cyclical wet-and-dry history. But four years later, in 2008 a new analysis of the Martian soup suggested that the water was too salty to support life as we know it.
New Galaxy on a feeding frenzy
Astronomers from the Carnegie Insitution for Science in Pasadena, California, have discovered a giant parcel of gas and stars that is about half the diameter of the milky way and is about 12.9 billion light years away from earth
This object is thought to have been formed about 800 million years after the big bang, which is estimated to be about 6% of the universes current age. The blob is at the stage of feeding frenzy, taking in gases around it. It is not certain whether this is a new galaxy or if the glowing object is gas heated by a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy.
No more whining
Low to moderate drinking of red wine reduces causes of mortality, says a new study from the University of Queensland. Researchers reviewed recent findings on polyphenols found in red wine. Data will be published in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research; the review is also available at Early View. The breadth of benefits found in the mixture of bioactive compounds in red wine includes cancer prevention, protection of the heart and brain from damage, reducing age-related diseases such as inflammation, reversing diabetes and obesity.
Last year Psychologists Chen-Bo Zhong and Geoffrey Leonardelli from the University of Toronto found that social exclusion literally make us feel cold. The researchers divided volunteers into two groups. One group recalled a personal experience in which they had been socially excluded—rejection from a club, for example. The other group recalled an experience where they were accepted. The researchers then made the volunteers estimate the room temperature. Those thinking about a socially isolating experience gave lower estimates of the temperature.
In a similar study by the same authors published in the September issue of Psychological Science last year the “unpopular” volunteers who were ostracized during a computer game were more likely than the others to want either hot soup or hot coffee. Their research suggests that warm chicken soup may be a coping mechanism for social isolation.
Spanish soup stops stress
In 2004 Tufts University in Boston found that volunteers eating a type of vegetable soup called gazpacho twice a day had lower stress-related molecules in their blood after just 7 days. Gazpacho is a, a Mediterranean-style cold soup of uncooked vegetables including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, onions, garlic, oil, and seasonings.
So why is it reducing stress molecules? Researchers reckon that it’s the vitamin C in the veggies doing the work. Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant, but this study suggested that the soup might do more than just reduce free radicals in the body. Vitamin C prevents the development of things in your body involved in abnormal inflammation and oxidative stress. After a week of consuming the soup consistently, the volunteers had a significant decrease in blood concentrations of prostaglandin E2, made during inflammation and influences immune responses. They also had less of a molecule called monocyte chemotactic protein-1, which has been found in high concentrations in artery-clogging plaques.
Vitamin C is also found in Brain tissue. Increased concentrations of vitamin C in cells of human brain tissue improve the function of lysosomes. Lysosomes break down and eliminate waste products. Scientists now know that the function of lysosomes decreases as people age.
Lets make some honey
Professor Tom Seeley of Cornell University, has discovered that animals that live in communities make decisions collective when it comes to new real estate, food hunting and decision makings. Seeley has been observing the behavioural patterns of honey bees and noted that when moving house, honey bees would send out older scouts to find a new home, and would indicate that it is a good sot by dancing over the spot followed by other bees coming to inspect the new property.
These decisions are not just for finding new homes but it is also used in things such as finding appropriate flowers and also many other life/death making decisions. These rituals are also observed in insects such as ants and locusts.
Trilobite Orgy
Researchers from the El Insituto de Geologia Economica in Spain have discovered that trilobites mated en masse and used its number for protection. This finding was published in the May edition of Geology, the paper describes the behaviours of these ancient creatures – thought to be related to lobsters and spiders. Fossil records and findings have indicated that these ancient animals would moult together similar ot that of horseshoe crabs and that mass moulting also could indicate that these animals mated en masse to for safety.
Fossils of trilobites are found en masse and usually under larger animals, with their old shells, which suggest that they may stick together as they are more vulnerable in their soft shell state.
Gay Marriage Bans Linked to rise in HIV Rate
In the US, it has been found that an intolerant society towards gay marriage, can raise HIV infection by about 4 in 100,000 people. The study used data from the General Social Survey (GSS) which tracked attitudes in America over the past 4 decades.
The overall data found that from 1970-1990 as tolerance increased, there was a 1 per 100,000 people decrease in HIV cases, and when laws were passed to allow gay marriage, there was a dip in the number of cases, by 4 in 100,000 people.
Mialon, the economist who did the study stated that “intolerance is deadly, Bans on Gay Marriage codify intolerance, causing more people to shift to underground sexual behaviours that carry more risk.
Logging online Prevents Teens from Logging OFF.
According to the University of Alberta researchers, teenagers aren’t going to councillors or calling the youth hotlines, but instead going online for emotional support. The University had set up an anonymous thread site, where teenagers could go onto talk about how they were feeling.
Volunteers monitored the site, leaving encouraging messages, and found that students were leaving encouraging messages for each other. The study also found that teenagers who previously logged onto the dite for support started writing support for others, and shows the power of an online community to be a meaningful peer-based support system.
Not edible, but soup news
The discovery of a salty, acidic soup that could have supported life on Mars was named Breakthrough of the Year by Science in 2004. The researchers from NASA, who discovered the breakthrough, used their soup-a finding to suggest that Mars was once a wet, warm place and could have been capable of supporting life billions of years ago. The Opportunity rover found a bedrock at Eagle crater on Meridiani Planum that suggests a cyclical wet-and-dry history. But four years later, in 2008 a new analysis of the Martian soup suggested that the water was too salty to support life as we know it.
New Galaxy on a feeding frenzy
Astronomers from the Carnegie Insitution for Science in Pasadena, California, have discovered a giant parcel of gas and stars that is about half the diameter of the milky way and is about 12.9 billion light years away from earth
This object is thought to have been formed about 800 million years after the big bang, which is estimated to be about 6% of the universes current age. The blob is at the stage of feeding frenzy, taking in gases around it. It is not certain whether this is a new galaxy or if the glowing object is gas heated by a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy.
No more whining
Low to moderate drinking of red wine reduces causes of mortality, says a new study from the University of Queensland. Researchers reviewed recent findings on polyphenols found in red wine. Data will be published in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research; the review is also available at Early View. The breadth of benefits found in the mixture of bioactive compounds in red wine includes cancer prevention, protection of the heart and brain from damage, reducing age-related diseases such as inflammation, reversing diabetes and obesity.
Episode 15: Alphabet Soup Radiothon
This week, we're doing something special on the Petri Dish.
JOY is a community radio station providing a voice for the LGBTIQ community (Q-munity?) in Melbourne, and around the world at joy.org.au. We don't receive government funding, and there is a limit to the amount of sponsorship we are allowed to accept (only 5 minutes per hour!). Basically, JOY runs on the smell of an oily rag, and we need your support to stay on air.
The Petri Dish, like most of JOY's programmes, are staffed (although "fuelled" might be a better word) by volunteers. We do this because we're enthusiastic about science, about JOY, and about the LGBTIQ community.
If you enjoy the Petri Dish and all the other programmes that JOY brings to you as much as we enjoy bringing them to you, show your support for queer independent media by becoming a JOY member. If you do it before Sunday 21/6, you could be in the running to win an enormous number of fantastic (but non-science related) prizes! That's how much we value your support.
To everyone who has already joined up or renewed their memberships, thank you for your support.
And a very special thank you to everyone who listens to the Petri Dish! Remember, we always want to hear what you have to say, by texting in, ringing, emailing, or leaving posts on this blog.
Thanks again, and now: back to the science!
JOY is a community radio station providing a voice for the LGBTIQ community (Q-munity?) in Melbourne, and around the world at joy.org.au. We don't receive government funding, and there is a limit to the amount of sponsorship we are allowed to accept (only 5 minutes per hour!). Basically, JOY runs on the smell of an oily rag, and we need your support to stay on air.
The Petri Dish, like most of JOY's programmes, are staffed (although "fuelled" might be a better word) by volunteers. We do this because we're enthusiastic about science, about JOY, and about the LGBTIQ community.
If you enjoy the Petri Dish and all the other programmes that JOY brings to you as much as we enjoy bringing them to you, show your support for queer independent media by becoming a JOY member. If you do it before Sunday 21/6, you could be in the running to win an enormous number of fantastic (but non-science related) prizes! That's how much we value your support.
To everyone who has already joined up or renewed their memberships, thank you for your support.
And a very special thank you to everyone who listens to the Petri Dish! Remember, we always want to hear what you have to say, by texting in, ringing, emailing, or leaving posts on this blog.
Thanks again, and now: back to the science!
Episode 14: Sound
This week on the Petri Dish:
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What is a sound wave?
Science Controversy: Should we have scientific research into preventing deafness?
Science Myth: Does angry music make you angry?
Film of the Week: Street Fighter
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What is a sound wave?
Science Controversy: Should we have scientific research into preventing deafness?
Science Myth: Does angry music make you angry?
Film of the Week: Street Fighter
Episode 14: Science News
Kidding around
Research released this week from LaTrobe Uni shows that Children with imaginary friends are better at learning to communicate than other children. The appropriately named psychologist,b Dr Evan Kidd, looked at 44 children, 22 of which had imaginary friends. Those with imaginary friends were better able to get their point across than were children of the same age who did not have one. Why? Dr. Kidd reckons that Children with imaginary friends have a lot of practice at inventing interactions between their imaginary friends and themselves. Dr Kidd further established that the benefits of imaginary companions are long lasting. University students with an imaginary friend in childhood were more creative, more achievement oriented, and more emotionally responsive than students who didn’t have one.
Bright eyes
Our mood changes the way that we see, says a study from the University of Toronto. Adam Anderson, professor of psychology says that good and bad moods change the way our visual cortex operates.When we are happy our visual cortex takes in more information, while negative moods lead to tunnel vision. The study appears in the Journal of Neuroscience. They found this out using fMRI to scan how the visual cortex in the brain processes sensory information in different moods.
Taylor W. Schmitz, Eve De Rosa, and Adam K. Anderson. Opposing Influences of Affective State Valence on Visual Cortical Encoding. Journal of Neuroscience, 2009; 29 (22): 7199 DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5387-08.2009
Weak sounds
Evolutionary psychologist John Neuhoff in Ohio asked participants were asked to listen to a tone moving toward them and press a button when they thought the sound had was directly in front of them. Nearly everyone pushed the button too early, but individuals with greater upper body strength and/or stronger cardiovascular systems waited longer to push the button. In general, women pushed the button sooner than their typically larger, stronger male counterparts-- though both groups perceive receding sounds equally.
Research released this week from LaTrobe Uni shows that Children with imaginary friends are better at learning to communicate than other children. The appropriately named psychologist,b Dr Evan Kidd, looked at 44 children, 22 of which had imaginary friends. Those with imaginary friends were better able to get their point across than were children of the same age who did not have one. Why? Dr. Kidd reckons that Children with imaginary friends have a lot of practice at inventing interactions between their imaginary friends and themselves. Dr Kidd further established that the benefits of imaginary companions are long lasting. University students with an imaginary friend in childhood were more creative, more achievement oriented, and more emotionally responsive than students who didn’t have one.
Bright eyes
Our mood changes the way that we see, says a study from the University of Toronto. Adam Anderson, professor of psychology says that good and bad moods change the way our visual cortex operates.When we are happy our visual cortex takes in more information, while negative moods lead to tunnel vision. The study appears in the Journal of Neuroscience. They found this out using fMRI to scan how the visual cortex in the brain processes sensory information in different moods.
Taylor W. Schmitz, Eve De Rosa, and Adam K. Anderson. Opposing Influences of Affective State Valence on Visual Cortical Encoding. Journal of Neuroscience, 2009; 29 (22): 7199 DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5387-08.2009
Weak sounds
Evolutionary psychologist John Neuhoff in Ohio asked participants were asked to listen to a tone moving toward them and press a button when they thought the sound had was directly in front of them. Nearly everyone pushed the button too early, but individuals with greater upper body strength and/or stronger cardiovascular systems waited longer to push the button. In general, women pushed the button sooner than their typically larger, stronger male counterparts-- though both groups perceive receding sounds equally.
Episode 13: Winter
This week on the Petri Dish:
Science News
Science Myth: Can you catch a cold when you're cold?
Science Controversy: Is Antarctica melting?
Remember This Fact?: Why do seasons occur?
Film of the Week: The Day After Tomorrow
Science News
Science Myth: Can you catch a cold when you're cold?
Science Controversy: Is Antarctica melting?
Remember This Fact?: Why do seasons occur?
Film of the Week: The Day After Tomorrow
Episode 13: Science News
Leaf it to me
Plants to grow HIV medication: This week research published from St George's, University of London describes a new protein that can kill the HIV, it then demonstrates how this protein could be produced in large quantities, to make it affordable for people in developing countries. The researchers combined two proteins that have been shown to kill the virus. Combined the proteins are more effective at killing HIV. In creating this fusion scientists designed synthetic DNA that would make the protein, and they introduced this DNA into plant cells.
Sexton et al. Design, expression, and characterization of a multivalent, combination HIV microbicide. The FASEB Journal, 2009; DOI: 10.1096/fj.09-131995
Inflaming the flu
This week researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine found that a drug used for treating rheumatoid arthritis reduces severe illness and death in mice exposed to the Influenza A virus. But why? They propose that changing the response of the body's immune system to influenza infection may reduce the severe symptoms of the influenza virus. The mice were effectively vaccinated against influenza A, and then infected with it. The mice didn't become as sick, recovered much faster and had much less damage to the lungs, compared to mice that weren't given the drug. Researchers said that the arthritis drug does not affect the immune system's early response to the virus – the fast attack in the lungs,, but it prevents "memory" T-cells from overreacting. "It's this overactive immune response that can make you feel sick – and can also lead to pneumonia," she says.
Teijaro et al. Costimulation Modulation Uncouples Protection from Immunopathology in Memory T Cell Responses to Influenza Virus. The Journal of Immunology, 2009; 182 (11): 6834 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.0803860
The mercury is rising
RMIT University researchers have used nanotechnology to create a sensor that can measure mercury, which is one of the world’s most toxic substances. The sensor uses tiny flecks of gold are nano-engineered that attract mercury particles. Industrial processes release a complicated mix of volatile compounds, which interfere with monitoring mercury concentrations. The RMIT researchers altered the surface of the gold, making hundreds of tiny nano-spikes. Each one of these are about 1000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. It’s been known since ancient times that gold attracts mercury, but a regular gold surface doesn’t absorb much vapour and any measurements it makes are inconsistent.
Plants to grow HIV medication: This week research published from St George's, University of London describes a new protein that can kill the HIV, it then demonstrates how this protein could be produced in large quantities, to make it affordable for people in developing countries. The researchers combined two proteins that have been shown to kill the virus. Combined the proteins are more effective at killing HIV. In creating this fusion scientists designed synthetic DNA that would make the protein, and they introduced this DNA into plant cells.
Sexton et al. Design, expression, and characterization of a multivalent, combination HIV microbicide. The FASEB Journal, 2009; DOI: 10.1096/fj.09-131995
Inflaming the flu
This week researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine found that a drug used for treating rheumatoid arthritis reduces severe illness and death in mice exposed to the Influenza A virus. But why? They propose that changing the response of the body's immune system to influenza infection may reduce the severe symptoms of the influenza virus. The mice were effectively vaccinated against influenza A, and then infected with it. The mice didn't become as sick, recovered much faster and had much less damage to the lungs, compared to mice that weren't given the drug. Researchers said that the arthritis drug does not affect the immune system's early response to the virus – the fast attack in the lungs,, but it prevents "memory" T-cells from overreacting. "It's this overactive immune response that can make you feel sick – and can also lead to pneumonia," she says.
Teijaro et al. Costimulation Modulation Uncouples Protection from Immunopathology in Memory T Cell Responses to Influenza Virus. The Journal of Immunology, 2009; 182 (11): 6834 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.0803860
The mercury is rising
RMIT University researchers have used nanotechnology to create a sensor that can measure mercury, which is one of the world’s most toxic substances. The sensor uses tiny flecks of gold are nano-engineered that attract mercury particles. Industrial processes release a complicated mix of volatile compounds, which interfere with monitoring mercury concentrations. The RMIT researchers altered the surface of the gold, making hundreds of tiny nano-spikes. Each one of these are about 1000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. It’s been known since ancient times that gold attracts mercury, but a regular gold surface doesn’t absorb much vapour and any measurements it makes are inconsistent.
Episode 12: Emotions
This week on the Petri Dish:
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What are emotions?
Science Controversy: Should people take anti-anxiety pills?
Science Myth: Do rage blackouts actually happen?
Film of the Week: Invasion
Science News
Remember This Fact?: What are emotions?
Science Controversy: Should people take anti-anxiety pills?
Science Myth: Do rage blackouts actually happen?
Film of the Week: Invasion
Episode 12: Science News
Depressed about not fitting into your genes
The University of WA claim to have found a gene that increases a man’s risk of depression. Results were published in the May issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology. The gene is a version of the C-reactive protein (CRP) gene and surprisingly it is not linked to increased levels of CRP, which is a protein found in the blood in response to inflammation. Why would the gene variation lead to depression? Researchers believe it might lead to a deficiency in individuals’ ability to address physical changes that happen to the body as a response to a stressful event. So, takes the body longer to be restored into full health. Researchers tested blood samples of 3,700 men over 65. 4.9 per cent of the sampled men showed clinically significant symptoms of depression.
Reaching new heights
New research from ANU says that tall people earn more. Five centimeters of height increases your salary $950 per year. Contrary to popular belief and studies from the US and Germany, being overweight or obese does not affect salary.
Attachments of the sex offenders
New Australian research is breaking stereotypes about the personality of sex offenders. Researchers from the University of NSW compared a sample of sex and non-sex offenders. The research found that sex offenders often displayed attachment styles just as secure as the non-offenders. In the past it was believed that sex offenders had insecure attachments when they were growing up – and this lead to poor intimacy skills.
The University of WA claim to have found a gene that increases a man’s risk of depression. Results were published in the May issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology. The gene is a version of the C-reactive protein (CRP) gene and surprisingly it is not linked to increased levels of CRP, which is a protein found in the blood in response to inflammation. Why would the gene variation lead to depression? Researchers believe it might lead to a deficiency in individuals’ ability to address physical changes that happen to the body as a response to a stressful event. So, takes the body longer to be restored into full health. Researchers tested blood samples of 3,700 men over 65. 4.9 per cent of the sampled men showed clinically significant symptoms of depression.
Reaching new heights
New research from ANU says that tall people earn more. Five centimeters of height increases your salary $950 per year. Contrary to popular belief and studies from the US and Germany, being overweight or obese does not affect salary.
Attachments of the sex offenders
New Australian research is breaking stereotypes about the personality of sex offenders. Researchers from the University of NSW compared a sample of sex and non-sex offenders. The research found that sex offenders often displayed attachment styles just as secure as the non-offenders. In the past it was believed that sex offenders had insecure attachments when they were growing up – and this lead to poor intimacy skills.
Episode 11: Space
This week on the Petri Dish:
Science News (at 1:30 on the podcast)
Science Controversy: Can we live on Mars? (5:39)
Remember This Fact?: What is a star? (11:34)
Science Myth: Do black holes exist?
Film of the Week: Star Trek
Science News (at 1:30 on the podcast)
Science Controversy: Can we live on Mars? (5:39)
Remember This Fact?: What is a star? (11:34)
Science Myth: Do black holes exist?
Film of the Week: Star Trek
Episode 10: Viruses
This week on the Petri Dish:
Remember This Fact?: What is a virus? (at 1:19 on the podcast)
Science News (9:11)
Science Controversy: Are the swine flu clamp downs justified? (14:30)
Science Myth: Is PEP a morning after pill for HIV? (26:17)
Film of the Week: 28 Days Later (31:03)
Remember This Fact?: What is a virus? (at 1:19 on the podcast)
Science News (9:11)
Science Controversy: Are the swine flu clamp downs justified? (14:30)
Science Myth: Is PEP a morning after pill for HIV? (26:17)
Film of the Week: 28 Days Later (31:03)
Episode 9: Sex
This week on the Petri Dish, we're getting hot and heavy on the topic of sex.
Science News (at 1:28 on the podcast)
Remember This Fact?: Pregnancy and the Pill (5:08)
Science Myth: Do girls produce a hormone that emotionally attaches them to their sexual partners? Do men not produce it? (11:08)
Science Controversy: Do abortions decrease the crime rate? (16:27)
Film of the Week: Junior (22:58)
Science News (at 1:28 on the podcast)
Remember This Fact?: Pregnancy and the Pill (5:08)
Science Myth: Do girls produce a hormone that emotionally attaches them to their sexual partners? Do men not produce it? (11:08)
Science Controversy: Do abortions decrease the crime rate? (16:27)
Film of the Week: Junior (22:58)
Episode 9: Science News
It’s as easy as Hep C
Research released on Monday by the University of NSW found that up to 70 percent of Hepatitis C patients could be cured, if they got treatment quickley. But if they didn’t act there is a risk of chronic liver infection. It is estimated that more than 300,000 Australians are infected with chronic hepatitis C. But less than two percent receive treatment. The most common routes of infection include infected needles and sexual transmission. The international study involved 702 patients from Australia, and 194 from New Zealand, Canada, Thailand, Argentina and Mexico. All had hepatitis C genotype 1– the most difficult to treat.
Mending Menopause
University of Adelaide has published research showing that menopausal women are abandoning hormone replacement therapy, preferring alternative remedies. The study surveyed 953 women over 40. HRT usage fell from 22 percent in 2000 to 11.8 in 2008. While menopausal women see alternative therapy as a safer option the authors noted that many of these treatments have not been tested for long term safety.
When two is better than one
Most animals have separate and defined sexes. But, some animals from plants to fishes, start off their lives as one sex and then switch to the another. This process is called sequential hermaphroditism, and according to Yale scientists, this is an adaptive advantage. But not too many animals do it. Why? We don’t know – possibly because the time or energy it takes to change sex make hermaphroditism unfeasible for most animals.
Sexy songs
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, found that teenagers who preferred popular songs with degrading sexual references were more likely to engage in intercourse or in pre-coital activities. These findings were reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, in April. 711 students in year nine were interviewed. Those with the most exposure were more than twice as likely to have had sexual intercourse. In the US there are over 750,000 teenage pregnancies each year and up to 25 percent of all female adolescents in the US having sexually transmitted infections.
Research released on Monday by the University of NSW found that up to 70 percent of Hepatitis C patients could be cured, if they got treatment quickley. But if they didn’t act there is a risk of chronic liver infection. It is estimated that more than 300,000 Australians are infected with chronic hepatitis C. But less than two percent receive treatment. The most common routes of infection include infected needles and sexual transmission. The international study involved 702 patients from Australia, and 194 from New Zealand, Canada, Thailand, Argentina and Mexico. All had hepatitis C genotype 1– the most difficult to treat.
Mending Menopause
University of Adelaide has published research showing that menopausal women are abandoning hormone replacement therapy, preferring alternative remedies. The study surveyed 953 women over 40. HRT usage fell from 22 percent in 2000 to 11.8 in 2008. While menopausal women see alternative therapy as a safer option the authors noted that many of these treatments have not been tested for long term safety.
When two is better than one
Most animals have separate and defined sexes. But, some animals from plants to fishes, start off their lives as one sex and then switch to the another. This process is called sequential hermaphroditism, and according to Yale scientists, this is an adaptive advantage. But not too many animals do it. Why? We don’t know – possibly because the time or energy it takes to change sex make hermaphroditism unfeasible for most animals.
Sexy songs
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, found that teenagers who preferred popular songs with degrading sexual references were more likely to engage in intercourse or in pre-coital activities. These findings were reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, in April. 711 students in year nine were interviewed. Those with the most exposure were more than twice as likely to have had sexual intercourse. In the US there are over 750,000 teenage pregnancies each year and up to 25 percent of all female adolescents in the US having sexually transmitted infections.
Episode 8: Carbon
This week on the Petri Dish:
Science News (at 1:10 on the podcast)
Remember This Fact?: What is carbon? (4:57)
Science Controversy: Does your individual carbon footprint matter? (11:12)
Science Myth: Does burnt toast cause cancer? (20:45)
Film of the Week: Diamonds Are Forever (26:45)
Science News (at 1:10 on the podcast)
Remember This Fact?: What is carbon? (4:57)
Science Controversy: Does your individual carbon footprint matter? (11:12)
Science Myth: Does burnt toast cause cancer? (20:45)
Film of the Week: Diamonds Are Forever (26:45)
Episode 7: The Brain
This week on the Petri Dish:
Science News (at 2:00 on the podcast)
Science Controversy: Should we use animal models to study the brain? (5:25)
Remember This Fact?: What is a neuron? (21:35)
Science Myth: When you hit your head, do you get brain damage? (27:36)
Film of the Week: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (34:28)
Science News (at 2:00 on the podcast)
Science Controversy: Should we use animal models to study the brain? (5:25)
Remember This Fact?: What is a neuron? (21:35)
Science Myth: When you hit your head, do you get brain damage? (27:36)
Film of the Week: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (34:28)
Episode 7: Science News
The travelling tumour
If cancer cells don’t have a particular protein, it might enable them to move through healthy body tissue, which is the first step to spreading and causing disease and death. Scientists from University of Heidelberg published results this week showing that a when SCAI protein was working it inhibited the movement and spread of tumor cells in laboratory tests. But, if the protein wasn’t functioning, cancer cells travelled much more effectively through the model of tissues in the human body.Journal reference:1. Brandt et al. SCAI acts as a suppressor of cancer cell invasion through the transcriptional control of β1-integrin.
Nature Cell Biology, 2009; DOI: 10.1038/ncb1862
Anti-cancerous pot plants
Researchers from Spain have provided evidence that cannabinoids, the active ingredient in marijuana (THC) might kill human brain cancer cells. THC killed human brain cancer cell lines by encouraging the cancer cells to eat themselves up in a process called autophagy. THC was given to mice with human tumors. The mice showed decreased tumor growth and the established tumor cells began killing themselves through autophagy. Journal reference:1. Salazar et al. Cannabinoid action induces autophagy-mediated cell death through stimulation of ER stress in human glioma cells.
Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2009; DOI: 10.1172/JCI37948
Wake up and smell the coffee, but how?
Research from Rockefeller University suggests that we don’t smell by inhaling all at once. The wind blows odors in all different directions, leaving it up to the brain to put them back in their place. The researchers analyzed the brain activity of locusts as they smelled different odors that were created and released for varying durations and intervals. Different neurons picked up the different components of the odors. The brain then encodes the time that these neurons are activated and for how long, and from this pattern understands what it is smelling.
If cancer cells don’t have a particular protein, it might enable them to move through healthy body tissue, which is the first step to spreading and causing disease and death. Scientists from University of Heidelberg published results this week showing that a when SCAI protein was working it inhibited the movement and spread of tumor cells in laboratory tests. But, if the protein wasn’t functioning, cancer cells travelled much more effectively through the model of tissues in the human body.Journal reference:1. Brandt et al. SCAI acts as a suppressor of cancer cell invasion through the transcriptional control of β1-integrin.
Nature Cell Biology, 2009; DOI: 10.1038/ncb1862
Anti-cancerous pot plants
Researchers from Spain have provided evidence that cannabinoids, the active ingredient in marijuana (THC) might kill human brain cancer cells. THC killed human brain cancer cell lines by encouraging the cancer cells to eat themselves up in a process called autophagy. THC was given to mice with human tumors. The mice showed decreased tumor growth and the established tumor cells began killing themselves through autophagy. Journal reference:1. Salazar et al. Cannabinoid action induces autophagy-mediated cell death through stimulation of ER stress in human glioma cells.
Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2009; DOI: 10.1172/JCI37948
Wake up and smell the coffee, but how?
Research from Rockefeller University suggests that we don’t smell by inhaling all at once. The wind blows odors in all different directions, leaving it up to the brain to put them back in their place. The researchers analyzed the brain activity of locusts as they smelled different odors that were created and released for varying durations and intervals. Different neurons picked up the different components of the odors. The brain then encodes the time that these neurons are activated and for how long, and from this pattern understands what it is smelling.
Episode 6: Water
This week on the Petri Dish:
Science News (at 1:50 on the podcast)
Science Controversy: Where should we be getting our water from? (6:40)
Science Myth: Do you need to drink 8 glasses of water a day to be healthy? (16:26)
Remember This Fact?: Why do we urinate? (24:10)
Film of the Week: The Little Mermaid (31:35)
Science News (at 1:50 on the podcast)
Science Controversy: Where should we be getting our water from? (6:40)
Science Myth: Do you need to drink 8 glasses of water a day to be healthy? (16:26)
Remember This Fact?: Why do we urinate? (24:10)
Film of the Week: The Little Mermaid (31:35)
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Episode 6: Science News
Krilling time
Turbulence in the ocean, which is caused by the wind, tides and currents, helps gases and nutrients move in the waters. Research published today in Science magazine suggests that tiny ocean organisms as small as krill contribute to this turbulence. Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division and Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that schools of krill moving through the water column to feed create large turbulence patches.
Vapouring the earth
Water vapour that is released into the atmosphere has a significant effect on climate change. Through burning fossil fuels, rising temperatures are increasing the amount of evaporation from our watery planet. This evaporated contributes additional global warming. This was released in February’s issue of Science magazine, by Andrew Dessler of Texas A&M University and Steven Sherwood of the University of New South Wales, who worked together to prove this once controversial idea.
Sexing up Water
Plastic mineral water bottles in Germany contaminate drinking water with estrogenic chemicals, says a study from the Goethe University in Germany. The researchers studied 20 brands of mineral water available in Germany – nine bottled in glass, nine bottled in plastic and two bottled in composite packaging (paperboard boxes coated with an inner plastic film). They found that estrogenic compounds were leaching out of the plastic packaging and into the water in 60% of the samples. Mineral waters in glass bottles were less estrogenic than waters in plastic bottles. These chemicals can actually function inside the body, and lead to the increased development of embryos in the New Zealand mud snail. Results were published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research in March 27, 2009.
Wagner et al. Endocrine disruptors in bottled mineral water: total estrogenic burden and migration from plastic bottles. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2009; DOI: 10.1007/s11356-009-0107-7
Turbulence in the ocean, which is caused by the wind, tides and currents, helps gases and nutrients move in the waters. Research published today in Science magazine suggests that tiny ocean organisms as small as krill contribute to this turbulence. Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division and Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that schools of krill moving through the water column to feed create large turbulence patches.
Vapouring the earth
Water vapour that is released into the atmosphere has a significant effect on climate change. Through burning fossil fuels, rising temperatures are increasing the amount of evaporation from our watery planet. This evaporated contributes additional global warming. This was released in February’s issue of Science magazine, by Andrew Dessler of Texas A&M University and Steven Sherwood of the University of New South Wales, who worked together to prove this once controversial idea.
Sexing up Water
Plastic mineral water bottles in Germany contaminate drinking water with estrogenic chemicals, says a study from the Goethe University in Germany. The researchers studied 20 brands of mineral water available in Germany – nine bottled in glass, nine bottled in plastic and two bottled in composite packaging (paperboard boxes coated with an inner plastic film). They found that estrogenic compounds were leaching out of the plastic packaging and into the water in 60% of the samples. Mineral waters in glass bottles were less estrogenic than waters in plastic bottles. These chemicals can actually function inside the body, and lead to the increased development of embryos in the New Zealand mud snail. Results were published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research in March 27, 2009.
Wagner et al. Endocrine disruptors in bottled mineral water: total estrogenic burden and migration from plastic bottles. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2009; DOI: 10.1007/s11356-009-0107-7
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Episode 5: Youth Week
Skin is the largest human organ. It is made of two main layers; the inner skin (dermis) and the thin outer skin epidermis. It’s also made of proteins, like collagen which gives the skin its structure and elasticity. A scientific review of wrinkles made in 2008 thought that collagen losing its structure was the key to the appearance of aging skin.
In humans collagen is very stable, and unlike other cells of the body that are constantly dying and replicating, collagen cells will hang around for a long time (approximately 30 years) without being replaced. This is partly because humans only make a few enzymes that can breakdown collagen. The fact that collagen is stable and doesn’t breakdown quickly seems like a good thing, but it isn’t.
Old collagen starts develops alterations, and becomes what scientists call, “fragmented collagen”. Fragmented collagen causes wrinkles, which also leads to skin tearing and bruising easier than it otherwise would.
Fibroblasts are cells that make collagen. In young skin, fibroblasts attach to collagen and stretch. When they stretch fibroblasts make more collagen, and stop producing enzymes that would breakdown collagen. But as collagen becomes more and more fragmented the fibroblasts can’t attach to it anymore. This means fibroblasts shrink instead of stretching, and because they can’t stretch, they can’t make new collagen. The fibroblasts also start making more enzymes will break down collagen.
What can we do?
Since collagen fragmenting is the main cause of wrinkles, therapies that build up collagen have been shown to reduce wrinkles most effectively. Retinoic acid and retinol, a form of Vitamin A, was one of the first treatments on the market that was shown to do this. These products put new collagen into aged skin, which but also encourages fibroblasts to attach to collagen and stretch. This naturally encourages a positive cycle of collagen growth.
While moisturisers might help reduce wrinkles, they are still, and always will be a part of life. If you live long enough, you will get them. But hey, at least you’ve lived.
There haven’t been too many studies showing the effectiveness of vitamin B as an anti-aging ingredient, and even less long term studies. But a few small ones show significant improvements in fine lines and wrinkles in two weeks. In a study where a group of middle-aged women applied topical niacinamide B3 daily to one side of their face and compared it to the other side as a control for 12 weeks, there were reduced fine lines and wrinkles, spots, red blotchiness, and skin yellowing.
In one study, a product with 5% vitamin C applied to one forearm of volunteers and placebo to the other forearm for 6 months lead to increased expression of collagen, and a protein that inhibits enzymes that breakdown collagen. **This is because Vitamin C is broken down to vitamin D, which is used for the production of Melanin (the stuff that helps you tan), and is a major component in the formation of collagen.**
-Wendy Zukerman
**(added after episode airing)
In humans collagen is very stable, and unlike other cells of the body that are constantly dying and replicating, collagen cells will hang around for a long time (approximately 30 years) without being replaced. This is partly because humans only make a few enzymes that can breakdown collagen. The fact that collagen is stable and doesn’t breakdown quickly seems like a good thing, but it isn’t.
Old collagen starts develops alterations, and becomes what scientists call, “fragmented collagen”. Fragmented collagen causes wrinkles, which also leads to skin tearing and bruising easier than it otherwise would.
Fibroblasts are cells that make collagen. In young skin, fibroblasts attach to collagen and stretch. When they stretch fibroblasts make more collagen, and stop producing enzymes that would breakdown collagen. But as collagen becomes more and more fragmented the fibroblasts can’t attach to it anymore. This means fibroblasts shrink instead of stretching, and because they can’t stretch, they can’t make new collagen. The fibroblasts also start making more enzymes will break down collagen.
What can we do?
Since collagen fragmenting is the main cause of wrinkles, therapies that build up collagen have been shown to reduce wrinkles most effectively. Retinoic acid and retinol, a form of Vitamin A, was one of the first treatments on the market that was shown to do this. These products put new collagen into aged skin, which but also encourages fibroblasts to attach to collagen and stretch. This naturally encourages a positive cycle of collagen growth.
While moisturisers might help reduce wrinkles, they are still, and always will be a part of life. If you live long enough, you will get them. But hey, at least you’ve lived.
There haven’t been too many studies showing the effectiveness of vitamin B as an anti-aging ingredient, and even less long term studies. But a few small ones show significant improvements in fine lines and wrinkles in two weeks. In a study where a group of middle-aged women applied topical niacinamide B3 daily to one side of their face and compared it to the other side as a control for 12 weeks, there were reduced fine lines and wrinkles, spots, red blotchiness, and skin yellowing.
In one study, a product with 5% vitamin C applied to one forearm of volunteers and placebo to the other forearm for 6 months lead to increased expression of collagen, and a protein that inhibits enzymes that breakdown collagen. **This is because Vitamin C is broken down to vitamin D, which is used for the production of Melanin (the stuff that helps you tan), and is a major component in the formation of collagen.**
-Wendy Zukerman
**(added after episode airing)
Tonight's episode of the petri-dish for youth week is on the fountain of youth, and one of tonight's segments is on the genes which causes aging, here is a taster of what is going to be on tonight.
1A Cynthia Kenyon was looking at the genes, which cause aging in a little worm called Caenorhabditis elegans, which has had all of its genes, mapped out, it’s a really basic multi-cellular life-form, they can tell its full cellular lineage. So they thought that they would find the gene that causes aging. And the weirdest thing is that they found some….
The gene is called Daf-2 and when daf-2gets changed, and then worms live twice as long. From 14 to 28 days. When daf2 is damaged, than the worm lives twice as long, so this gene is increasing the rate of aging in the worms.
How does this gene cause aging?
Daf2 receptor squashes the activity of Daf16, causing aging. So you inhibit daf 2, and Daf16 is liberated, and does 100 little good things by up regulating the cellular stress-response, such as resistance to oxidative stress, thermo-tolerance, resistance to hypoxia, antimicrobial and metabolic genes, which makes the worms aging slow down.
So the daf-2 insulin like IGF-1 receptor is a protein, that floats around in the blood, and causes maturation, in C elegans. Bringing them to sexual maturity, and then after this continues to cause what we call ageing. So daf-1 binds to daf-2 It does this through the binding to a tyrosine receptor on the surface of the cell, this triggers an intracellular protein pathway, which continues into the nucleus of the cell, where daf-16 gets inhibited. Which otherwise would be running around transcribing other genes.
They have found analogues for these genes in humans, but scientists are still unsure if they will have the same effect as on the worms.
Why do we have this gene that makes us age?
So the purpose of a gene is so that it passes on its genes to the next generation, so a gene which may help an increased production of offspring, or is closely associated with this would be more likely to survive. But within a species, no only are you competing for a mate, but your also competing for food. So in a population, where the older generations don’t die off, and continue to float around, there might not necessarily be mates for the following generations, as the old males and females could be whole shotting all of the genes. And so this decreases the slow evolution that would take place for a changing environment.
So the populations where there weren’t any dying off, there was no genetic diversity, and when mass extinctions came through, the animals who would be able to evolve through subsequent generations, without any of the much older generations winding back their variation, and without having to feed the older generation would have had an edge than the immortal populations didn’t, giving them a much more evolutionary stable strategy then the undying. [Kind of like the Mayans expending all of their recourses due to an enormous population].
For more information on evolutionary stable strategies try the book “The Selfish Gene”, by Richard Dawson pub 1976
References
1Nature 424, 277-283 (17 July 2003) | doi:10.1038/nature01789; Received 17 December 2002; Accepted 7 May 2003; Published online 29 June 2003
Tonight's show is on @10pm on Joy 94.9FM or stream live on Joy
If you miss tonight's show it will be available via podcast accessible on the front page.
Feel free to email us on thepetridish@joy.org.au or tweet us by adding #pdish in your message
-Kane Day, Producer of "The Petridish"
Friday, April 3, 2009
Episdoe 5: Science News
High risk of STIs before women hit 21
Women are diagnosed with more sexually transmitted infections by age 21 than between ages 21 and 32, says a study from the University of Otago published the international journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases yesterday. Men, on the other hand had higher rates of diagnoses between 21 to 26. Plus, for 21 year olds diagnoses for women were nearly three times higher than for men.
Behavioural risks for sexually transmitted infections were also investigated. By the time they were 21, about eight out of 10 of both women and men had had more than one sexual partner. Condom s were reportedly used 'always' or 'usually' by more than half of women and men up to age 21 and by about 20 to 40 per cent in the later age periods.
Unsurprisingly, there was a strong correlation between having more sexual partners and sexually transmitted infections.
When frogs don’t croak
A study from Victoria University has found some mighty old frogs in Maud Island. According to the study two males are reaching at least 35 and 37 years, and a female is at least 34 years old. And they still haven’t croaked.
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/home/about/newspubs/news/ViewNews.aspx?id=2607&newslabel=
These aren’t vegemite kids.
The national MBF Healthwatchsurvey found that 22% of parents interviewed said their children skip breakfast on three to five school days of each week, and a further 20% skip breakfast on one or two school days. The remaining 58% of parents said their school aged children always ate breakfast before school. In the past, research has shown that skipping breakfast leads to reduced learning, attention and poor choices in food for the rest of the day. Children who skip breakfast are also more likely to be overweight. Asked why their children missed out on breakfast before school, just over half (51.6%) of parents said there was no time because of the pressures of being late for school or work or because of sleeping in.
http://researchaustralia.org/content/documents/Media%20Release_24%20Mar%2009_MBF_School%20kids%20wag%20breakfast.pdf
Women are diagnosed with more sexually transmitted infections by age 21 than between ages 21 and 32, says a study from the University of Otago published the international journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases yesterday. Men, on the other hand had higher rates of diagnoses between 21 to 26. Plus, for 21 year olds diagnoses for women were nearly three times higher than for men.
Behavioural risks for sexually transmitted infections were also investigated. By the time they were 21, about eight out of 10 of both women and men had had more than one sexual partner. Condom s were reportedly used 'always' or 'usually' by more than half of women and men up to age 21 and by about 20 to 40 per cent in the later age periods.
Unsurprisingly, there was a strong correlation between having more sexual partners and sexually transmitted infections.
When frogs don’t croak
A study from Victoria University has found some mighty old frogs in Maud Island. According to the study two males are reaching at least 35 and 37 years, and a female is at least 34 years old. And they still haven’t croaked.
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/home/about/newspubs/news/ViewNews.aspx?id=2607&newslabel=
These aren’t vegemite kids.
The national MBF Healthwatchsurvey found that 22% of parents interviewed said their children skip breakfast on three to five school days of each week, and a further 20% skip breakfast on one or two school days. The remaining 58% of parents said their school aged children always ate breakfast before school. In the past, research has shown that skipping breakfast leads to reduced learning, attention and poor choices in food for the rest of the day. Children who skip breakfast are also more likely to be overweight. Asked why their children missed out on breakfast before school, just over half (51.6%) of parents said there was no time because of the pressures of being late for school or work or because of sleeping in.
http://researchaustralia.org/content/documents/Media%20Release_24%20Mar%2009_MBF_School%20kids%20wag%20breakfast.pdf
Ep4- Stem cells 101
What is a Stem cell?
Our body has many different kinds of cells, skill, muscle, blood cells. These are called specialized cells because, just like when choose our careers and begin to specialize into professions, these cells have decided their future paths. Stem cells are unspecialized cells, they can develop into any kind of cell. Stem cells remain unspecialized until a signal from the body tells them to turn into specific cells like a heart, nerve, or skin cell. Stem cells can become one of more than 200 specialized cells in the body. So they can keep becoming different kinds of specialized cells.
What classes of stem cells are there?
There are three classes of stem cells: totipotent, multipotent, and pluripotent.
• Totipotent: stem cell that has the potential to become any cell in the body.
• Pluripotent: stem cells can become any cell except those needed to develop a fetus.
• Multipotent. stem cells that have alread started to specialize a little, so they can only become a small number of different cell types
Where do stem cells come from?
Pluripotent stem cells are found in the human embryo after approximately five days of development. Cells from embryos can be used to create pluripotent stem cell "lines". Multipotent, mature stem cells, are found in many areas of the body including bone marrow, blood stream, cornea and retina of the eye, parts of your teeth, liver, skin, gastrointestinal tract, and pancreas.
Why do scientists want to use stem cell lines?
Once a stem cell line is made from a cell in the body, it is immortal, so it can keep on dividing and specializing into new cells forever. This means that scientists can use the lines for transplantation (i.e. transplant stem cells that will become liver cells into a diseased liver) or treat diseases.
-Wendy Zukerman
Our body has many different kinds of cells, skill, muscle, blood cells. These are called specialized cells because, just like when choose our careers and begin to specialize into professions, these cells have decided their future paths. Stem cells are unspecialized cells, they can develop into any kind of cell. Stem cells remain unspecialized until a signal from the body tells them to turn into specific cells like a heart, nerve, or skin cell. Stem cells can become one of more than 200 specialized cells in the body. So they can keep becoming different kinds of specialized cells.
What classes of stem cells are there?
There are three classes of stem cells: totipotent, multipotent, and pluripotent.
• Totipotent: stem cell that has the potential to become any cell in the body.
• Pluripotent: stem cells can become any cell except those needed to develop a fetus.
• Multipotent. stem cells that have alread started to specialize a little, so they can only become a small number of different cell types
Where do stem cells come from?
Pluripotent stem cells are found in the human embryo after approximately five days of development. Cells from embryos can be used to create pluripotent stem cell "lines". Multipotent, mature stem cells, are found in many areas of the body including bone marrow, blood stream, cornea and retina of the eye, parts of your teeth, liver, skin, gastrointestinal tract, and pancreas.
Why do scientists want to use stem cell lines?
Once a stem cell line is made from a cell in the body, it is immortal, so it can keep on dividing and specializing into new cells forever. This means that scientists can use the lines for transplantation (i.e. transplant stem cells that will become liver cells into a diseased liver) or treat diseases.
-Wendy Zukerman
Monday, March 30, 2009
Ep 4- Taster: stem cells
As a taster of what will be on in tomorrow nights episode of the Petridish at 10pm on Joy 94.9FM here is the annotation of one of the segments, Science News. Also if you are a twitter user, insert #pdish into your message and we can track it, and follow through summize
Reversing Birth Defects
During neural development, when there are prenatal teratogon (substances which cause neural damage) act diffusely through the brain. The University of Jerusalem [30.12.08] in mice, by inserting stem cells into the brain, were able to overcome damage as the stem cells migrated to the site of the damage tissue and differentiated to repair the region.
The mice who were exposed to pesticides and heroin while pregnant offspring are generally heavily retarded, but once treated with direct neural stem cell transplantation into the neural stem behavioural tests showed normality as well the brain chemistry recovering to normal.
This brings us closer to overcoming brain damage done during maturation can be reversed, giving hope to parents who may have been exposed to teragons during pregnancy.
Not Just a Product
Research at the University of California [28.1.09] has found that they could program pluripotent stem cells into precursors of the germ-line cells that produce sperms and eggs. This could answer issues of infertility caused by injury or disease.
Reprogrammed Skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) now give a method for the production of germ-line cells, but there are major differences between those of iPS and Human embryonic Stem cells (HES), which means that further investigation is needed to determine what the differences mean in the way of fertility, and functionality of the resultant gametes. Because of this further research is necessary before the new found results are to be implemented.
Not All a Good Thing
According to Wiley-Blackwell [5.11.08] published in Clinical and Transitional Science:
“Breast and other cancers are maintained through a population of cancerous stem cells.”
This statement came out in relation to the over expression of cyclin d1 being an over expressed protein in stem cell based cancers such as nodule breast cancer. The role that has been found for this is now giving way to better treatment and understanding “By specifically targeting…[them] we hope to reduce the reoccurrence and improve therapy” says Pestell.
Lindsay et al ErbB2 Induces Notch 1 Activity and Function in Breast Cancer. Clinical and Translational Science, 2008;1 (2):107D01: 10.1111/j.1752-8062.2008.00041.x
Stem Cells Used in Cure for Type 1 Diabetes
Published in Developmental Cell, Baylor College of Medicine [17.3.2009] have found a gene which can induce insulin production.
Neurogenin3 is delivered by a disarmed virus (which attacks the liver) causes blood sugar to plummet to their correct level, but this doesn’t work with mature liver cells, but with the stem cells around the portal vein (called islet cells) and trigger them to start producing insulin.
The virus used in the study on mice may however be harmful to people, and so more refinement is needed before human testing.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Episode 3: Cookies and Addiction
How we Get Addicted
A reward circuit with a stress response primarily causes addiction, which is in part is due to a connection between the Amygdala and the Nucleus Accumbins.
The Amygdala is apart of the limbic system, which is situated in the brain near the blood supply, and so due to its proximity to the blood supply, it is very sensitive to changes in blood sugars, and other changes, and is used for emotional learning. The Nucleus Accumbins sits in the frontal lobe, and has an important role when it comes to fear, laughter, pleasure and placebo responses.
So the Nucleus accumbins alters your mood in response to thought of stimulus, and the Amygdala is directly impacted by stimuli.
The two sections are very closely associated,, the main function of the 2 of these is to get us to learn what is good and bad for survival. [explanation:] so sweet cookies give us sugar, the amygdala records that the sugar has increased, the nuclease accumbins, knows that we had a cookie, so if we go out and get more cookies, we wil get more sugar spikes.
The neurotransmitter that is associated with this is DOPAmine, so things that can cause an increase in a DOPAminergic response (fancy word) can trigger a positive association with the substance. So Heroin, which acts like Dopamine, or Cocaine, which blocks its re-uptake increase the response, giving positive re-enforcement, can create a neural cycle of addiction. the problem with this is that in the Amygdala, dopamine is also used for a pleasure response, and when there is a lot of something, your body tries to even itself out, so it tries to achieve homeostasis.
So your Brain tries to make itself less sensitive to dopamine, and so the threshold response is decreased, so the amount needed to get the same kind of hit is more than previous time.
Also the Brain can stop producing dopamine, which is also important in things like controlling inhibitory movements, and so can cause Parkinson disease if there is isn't enough.
Also chemicals can be released to that block dopamine from binding as a neurotransmitter, this can cause permanent depression.
Barbiturates also induce the release of glutamate's in high concentrations that starts to kill off the neurons, which should be causing the overproduction, but glutamate's are in-discriminate, and also take out other surrounding neurons, so it can cause a myriad of neural disorders.
It doesn't necessarily take multiple goes to cause this; a single hit can cause addiction
New information on Addiction
There are also genetic factors that attribute to addictions,
According to the April 2009 Nature Review Genetics, the university of Virginia and the University of Michigan found several genes associated with multiple addictions.
Now there are several genes already been identified with addiction, such as modifications of the:
GABRA2
ANKK1
Neurotoxin 1 & Neurotoxin 2
But 3 new ones have been found, and there is an overlapping in different addiction types to different genetic markers such as:
CHRNA 5
CHRNA 3
CHRNB4
ssociations made between them, now with a mapping of where these addictions are, means personalized treatments can now be constructed to ease treatments. But the reasons for why these markers cause the addictions are still unknown.
Can the Cookie Monster Become Addicted to Cookies??
So sweet cookies give us sugar, the amygdala records that the sugar has increased, the nuclease accumbins, knows that we had a cookie, so if we go out and get more cookies, we will get more sugar spikes.
So the cookie monsters compulsive eating of the cookies means that sugar rush that the cookie monster got from his 1 cookie is now not nearly as effective as giving him his sugar rush (kinda like your first cup of coffee), and so he needs to eat more and more cookies. Each time with the positive sugar reinforcement and the insulin hit. And when he doesn't get a cookie, he seems down, and when there are cookies directly in front of him, like the age demographic who he is representing, 3-6 years of age, he doesn't contemplate the guilt of how much time he will have to go to the gym, to burn of the calories that he will be getting from the cookies, as opposed to the potassium and thiamine that he would be getting from a banana.
The problem with his unhealthy cookie addiction is for starters the crazy sugar in insulin spikes that he would be having, so insulin receptors after getting knocked around for so long, (40 years of compulsive cookie cravings) can induce type 2 diabetes.
Because the Brain is kept at a constant sugar level, the way in which the brain recognizes the change in sugar levils in the blood is through an increase in insulin, the hormone released by the liver to induce glucose uptake when levels increase. Because of this, hits of insulin are what give you sugar cravings, which glucagons release, giving the alternative stress response. This can result in a sugar addiction, and whith the stong association with coockies, can result in a cookie addiciton
Now that he is the healthy eating monster, he is eating wholegrain breads and broccoli, which are low GI foods, which when he eats them he gets a small sugar hit, but not as big as when he eats a cookie, but the way that the sensors for blood sugar levels work, because they based in homeostasis, unlike direct dopaminergic responses, he is able to lower the amount of sugar that he needs to get this crazy rush, and so overcome his sugar addiction 1 day at a time.
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