The Curious Case of Bees

Honeybees are an incredibly important part of our agriculture system.  Millions of them are transported throughout the United States to pollinate crops on both coasts.  The bees are very valuable, performing an estimated $57 billion worth in ecosystem services, namely pollination.  While honeybees have become a cornerstone of our agriculture, they are also an invasive species to North America.  They were originally brought over from Europe and compete with native species of bees such as the Blue Orchid Bee.  Recently, the bees have been dying due to a “mysterious disease” that started in 2007.  This disease, dubbed the colony collapse disorder, had scientists desperately trying to find a cure because if the bees were wiped out, the crop yields would decrease by huge amounts.  The scientists discovered links between the disease and pesticides and overwork.  In conclusion, we dodged a bullet because the elimination of honeybees could have been disastrous in many ways.

 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=the-curious-case-of-bees-09-04-02

Can Trees Save Us from Climate Change?

Humans have caused global climate change and the driving force has always been CO₂ emissions.  The solution to this may seem simple, plant more trees. CO₂ is essentially plant food.  It is an incredibly important part of photosynthesis, a process that sustains all life on earth.  However, planting trees is not the best long-term solution.   Trees die, decompose, and in turn release huge amounts of CO₂ into the atmosphere.  Trees are a good short term solution but we want to pull CO₂ from the atmosphere permanently rather than have it re-introduced within a tree’s life cycle.  One way we could really decrease our yearly CO₂ emissions is by cutting down on cutting trees.  Deforestation is the second biggest source of CO₂ emissions and stopping this would be a better solution than planting. 30 billion metric tons of CO₂ enter our atmosphere every year and stopping deforestation could be a huge factor in reversing the current climate change.

 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=can-trees-save-us-from-climate-chan-09-04-24

Can Genetically Modified Crops Feed the World?

Genetically modifying crops was started hundreds of years ago, through selective breeding.  However, today’s genetic modification of crops involves inserting foreign DNA into plants to help them outcompete weeds, and produce “natural” insecticide.  This relatively new method of genetically modifying crops has raised health concerns around the world.  Advocates for GM plants claim that they can potentially feed the entire world.  A study conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists says that the previous statement is untrue.  The study shows that GM crops do not produce higher yields than traditionally selective bred crops.  According to them, increased crop yields have been due to improved farming techniques or traditional selective breeding.  This is not to say that GM crops are useless.  The Biotechnology Industry Organization has shown that GM crops can greatly increase yields in developing countries where pesticides are hard to come by.

 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=can-genetically-modified-crops-feed-09-04-16

Can Swine Flu Be Blamed on Industrial Farming?

Virologists have named Edgar Hernandez, a five year old kid from La Gloria, Mexico, as patient zero; meaning they think he was the first human to contract the H1N1 strain of flu, A.K.A. Swine Flu.  Virologists have also determined that the H1N1 strain is a combination of many older flu strains that usually develop in pigs.  Why do these two facts lead us to believe swine flu was created from Industrial Farming?  Well, when factory-farming keeps pigs in such close quarters, the pigs are doped with antibiotics, and in total generate a monstrous pile of waste.  These three qualities of factory farming are perfect for breeding disease.  La Gloria is home to nearly a million pigs on a nearby factory farm.  However, the blame cannot be placed on La Gloria’s pigs as no trace of the H1N1 strain was found among the pigs.  It is also unclear how the virus has been able to jump to humans.  The virus is rumored to have been created in a factory farm in the 1990’s.  They have not discovered how the virus jumps to humans but virologists now know that factory farmed pigs help breed the disease.

 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=can-swine-flu-be-blamed-on-industri-09-05-01

Preventing the swine flu spread: The search for a fast vaccine proves elusive

Since this is all I seem to be able to think of in recent days, I thought I would scare everyone else too!

Swine flu is not a new disease. It was first identified in 1930, and the most recent outbreak was in the 1970's, when soldiers from Fort Dix were infected. A Swine flu vaccine was added to the general seasonal flu shot in the 70's, but each year the shot uses a different cocktail of flu strains. Many people are asking the question why don't the pharmaceutical companies just re- release the old vaccine. Unfortunately, this year's Swine flu is not the same as the one from the 70's. Flu viruses mutate and change, and this strain is especially different because it is part avian, pig, and human. The proper name for this moments flu is called H1N1 virus, which though shares the same nomenclature as the strain from the 1918 pandemic, is not the same.
The World Health Organization's decision to raise the threat of Swine flu to a five on a six point scale, has created media sensationalism. The threat of a global pandemic is serious, but simple measure can be taken by each of us to prevent the disease's spread: wash your hand with soap and hot water, avoid contact with potentially infected people, and do not travel to Mexico. It is comforting to know that two medicines continue to be effective against the virus, Tamiflu and Relenza.
The only scary thing about this flu strain is that those who have died have been healthy, young-adults (though this was in Mexico), which is not the typically affected age group.

Most Distant Known Object in the Universe

On April 23, NASA’s Swift satellite discovered what proved to be the new record holder for most distant object in the universe from Earth: a gamma-ray burst emanating from a region of space 13.035 billion light-years from our home planet. The 10-second flash of highly energetic radiation, dubbed GRB 090423, is believed by astronomers to mark the collapse of a massive star into a black hole. The infrared afterglow of the explosion suggest that the star ignited when the 13.7-billion-year-old universe was only about 630 million years old. The burst’s redshift, a product of the apparent elongation of the wavelength of light emitted by deep-space objects due to the universe’s expansion, was determined to be a record-breaking 8.2; the remote galaxy that was the previous distance record holder had a redshift of 6.96, indicating that it resides 12.9 billion light-years from Earth. Because the light from the afterglow of this distant explosion can last for days or months, the burst’s remnants can be used as a searchlight to probe some of the earliest galaxies in the universe.


http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/43268/title/Most_distant_known_object_in_the_universe

CONNECTIVITY MAY PLAY ROLE IN AUTISM

Autism is a developmental disorder that an increasing number of children are being diagnosed with. The disorder hinders children from developing socially at the same rate as average kids. Originally, when the disease was first becoming prominent, researchers thought it would be fairly easy to diagnose the cause of the disease by studying genetic patterns. But scientists have yet to find a definite genetic cause for autism, but recently scientists have found a chromosome variant that occurs in 65% of autistic kids. This alteration is a variant on the chromosome 5. However, this alteration also occurs on 50% of normally developing children. Although it certainly occurs more on autistic kids, the chromosome variation is clearly not the only factor in developing autism. There are many other non-genetic factors that are believed to be associated with autism, including environmental surroundings and parenting. It is also possible that there are other genes that contribute to the disease that have not yet been discovered.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/43281/title/Connectivity_may_play_role_in_autism

Your Brain Can Make It's Own Pot

There are actually positive effects of smoking marijuana. It can give you recall and ward off superbugs. Unfortunately, mental impairment and disorientation also result. If this weren't the case, marijuana could use its THC to aid sick people. Lakshmi Devi, a researcher at mount Sinai school of medicine, calls this "a major problem." If we could safely treat people with marijuana, we could use it as an anti-inflammatory drug for arthritis patients and as an appetite-restorer for chemo patients. Devi and her partners have been trying to create a drug with these positive effects that does not include the negative effects that pot currently contains. They think it may be possible for one to create these drugs in their heads independently. This would supposedly be done with THC-mimicking proteins in the brain. Devi and her partners conducted a study with mice that suggested it could be done one day. Coincidentally, Devi's study was published on April 20, or national pot day. She said, however, that as for when humans would learn how to do this, it "could be months... could be years... could be never."

link: http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=on-pot-smokers-day-a-study-showing-2009-04-28

Your Brain Can Make It's Own Pot

Eating Healthfully at the New Yankee Stadium

Normally, baseball stadiums are notorious for selling unhealthy, very expensive food at concession stands. The choices are normally limited to foods such as hot dogs, pretzels, pizza, hamburgers, and popcorn. But at the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, there are a wide variety of healthier choices for baseball fans. There are produce stands where you can buy fruit such as fresh pears. There is also a Noodle Bowl stand where you can buy healthy items. For $8.50, you can buy a bowl of noodles, veggies, and tofu. The new stadium is also extremely environmentally aware for a baseball stadium. Every few yards there are multiple trash cans. One for trash, one for plastic recyclables, and one for compost items. The prices are still very hefty because the Yankees need some payback on their multi-billion dollar investment in a new stadium, but now instead of being forced to spend ridiculous amounts of money on junk food, fans have the option to go for a healthier option.

http://www.sciam.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=eating-healthfully-at-new-yankee-st-09-04-20

Mystery of the Polo Ponies

Last week at the U.S. Open Polo Championship in Wellington, FL. twenty one ponies from the Venezuelan team died as their team was getting ready for the quarterfinals of the tournament. It is still a mystery as to what killed them because autopsy reports haven’t come back yet. However, the scientists think the deaths are related to a supplement called Biodyl that the horses were injected with prior to their untimely deaths. All the horses on the team that took it died while the five that didn’t are still alive and well.
The Biodyl Company based in Duluth, GA. Claims the doses given to the ponies were bootleg and that there is nothing wrong with their supplement. This leads to speculation that foul play might have been involved and that the horses might have been poisoned on purpose. There are many speculations as to what could have been the cause but the fact of the matter is, until the autopsy results come back it doesn’t matter. This means that the case of the dying polo ponies is still a mystery.


http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=is-the-mystery-of-the-polo-ponies-s-2009-04-24

Doctor Attempts To Clone People

Dr. Panayiotis Zavos, a controversial fertility doctor, claims that with proper training and research, humans should be able to be cloned within the next year or two.  Recently, Zavos cloned fourteen human embryos and placed eleven of them in women uteruses; none actually were born successfully, but Zavos is confident that clones will certainly be prevalent in the near future.  Several others, including renowned molecular geneticist Oleg Verlinsky, believes that Zavos is very capable of creating clones, much in the same way that animals have been cloned using adult cells.  The method that Zavos uses in the cloning process is called "somatic cell nuclear transfer," in which the nucleus of a human cell is replaced by the nucleus of an adult somatic cell, instead of the gamete.  Despite all of this, many are skeptical of Zavos' methods; scientists claim that while cloning embryos may certainly be feasible, cloning humans is an entirely different and more complex matter.  Denny Sakkas, who directs the Assisted Reproduction Laboratories at Yale University School of Medicine, says that the adult somatic nucleus must revert to its totipotent state, and there are several gene complications which can arise in the process which may not lead to successful cloning.  Also, The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) claimed that cloning was an extremely dangerous process, and recent studies involving the cloning of animals revealed that they aged prematurely and developed inferior brains.  Though Zavos has many cloning ambitions, many are very skeptical that such a dangerous process will even work.  

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=doctor-attempts-to-clone-people-2009-04-22

'Star Wars' scientists create laser gun to kill mosquitoes

Scientists are developing the next weapon in the war on terror: a laser gun that could kill millions of mosquitoes in minutes. The weapon detects the particular audio frequency created by the flapping of a mosquito's wings and then fires at the mosquito, incinerating it immediately. The aim of this WMD (weapon of mosquito destruction) is to prevent the spread of malaria, which is carried by mosquitoes. Malaria is widespread in tropical areas with little or no health-care or prevention, such as sub-Saharan Africa. The lead scientist on the project assures that the disappearance of mosquitoes from ecosystems would have no negative consequences, as there are no animals which exclusively feed on them. He proposes that the lasers could be put on a perimeter around villages, acting as a sort of fence.


http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/16/mosquito.laser.weapon/

VIDEO GAMES KILL

Okay, not really. But in a recent study done by Iowa State Professor Douglas Gentile, long-term video game playing can lead to pathological gambling and other damaging habits later on in life. The study tested over 1000 kids between the ages of eight and 18, and tried to discover whether kids were “pathological” gamers. In order to be a pathological gamer, a child must exhibit half of the symptoms described by the study. Examples of these symptoms are salience (gaming is of utmost importance in one’s life), tolerance (after a while, more playing is needed to quell the craving), withdrawal (physical effects based on a person’s lack of playing time), and conflict (the need to play video is strong enough to create conflict with others). The study found that of the 1200 kids tested, 88% of kids who played video games occasionally or more were considered pathological gamers. Four times as many boys were considered pathological compared to girls. What does this all mean? It means that video game addiction can be a precursor to later addictions, such as gambling, internet pornography, or addiction to more intense video games like Second Life. Whether or not video game addiction is a problem within itself or sign of problems to come, it is definitely a problem in this country. Go outside and play, kids!

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=can-kids-become-addicted-to-video-g-2009-04-20

Walnuts ward off breast cancer in mice

A recent study conducted on mice indicates that walnuts may decrease the chances of developing breast cancer. Mice were bred to develop breast cancer within 6 months, were split into two groups--one was fed a normal, walnut-free diet and the other received a highly walnut intensive diet. After about 5 months, every single regular dieted mouse had developed cancer but only about 50% of the walnuty mice showed signs. Not only did the walnut diet appear to reduce the chances of getting breast cancer, but it also seemed to slow the progression. Scientists involved with the study believe that these results could be attributed to 3 nutrients within walnuts: omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and phytosterols which promote heart and brain health, protect against free radicals and reduce bad cholesterol, respectively. The results of this study have yet to be expanded to humans. There are other benefits to eating walnuts, but they are also high in calories and can lead to weight gain.

Pentagonal Ice

Scientists have always wondered what shape water molecules take before they form larger structures such as snowflakes or hail. Many thought that they formed hexagonal structures but none had previously been able to conclusively prove this. Now, after analyzing fifty possible combinations, two researchers have shown that pentagonal structures are formed. Their research also suggested that pentagonal structures may be present in other substances besides water on copper or ice that are unknown. The more we know about the inner workings and structure of molecules the better. Use the articles website to see some interesting representations of these molecules.


http://blogs.physicstoday.org/update/2009/04/pentagonal-ice.html