Scientific American - Biology

NASA-funded monkey-radiation experiment raises hackles

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:59:00 EST

A nonprofit group that promotes animal rights in medical research has taken issue with a NASA grant funding an assessment of the long-term effects of radiation on monkeys. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), based in Washington, D.C., sent an appeal Thursday to NASA administrator Charles Bolden, urging that the radiobiology study, intended to test the effects of radiation encountered in long-range spaceflight, be suspended. [More]

MIND Reviews: The Human Spark

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST

TELEVISION The Human Spark [More]

Last chance to save the vaquita porpoise from extinction?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:59:00 EST

This is a crucial time for the critically endangered vaquita porpoise ( Phocoena sinus ). Despite conservation efforts, the vaquita population has dropped more than 50 percent in the past three years as hundreds of porpoises have died in commercial fishing nets. Now just 150 vaquitas remain in their sole habitat, a portion of the Gulf of California off the coast of Mexico, and the species exists at the razor's edge of extinction. [More]

Breast Milk Is Best for Newborns, but the Bottle Is Fine, Too

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Dear EarthTalk: What are the pros and cons of feeding babies formula versus breast milk? And if I purchase formula, should I spend the extra money on the organic variety? --Suzy W., via e-mail [More]

Frozen Antarctic lakes yield new viruses

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:57:00 EST

In the chilly depths of one of Antarctica's freshwater lakes, a surprising number of novel viruses thrive. [More]

"On-pump" heart bypass surgery beats out beating-heart technique

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:38:00 EST

The best bypass surgery choice may be to use a heart–lung machine, after all, according to a new study published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine . [More]

Good Sprinters Have Long Toes

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:24:08 EST

[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.]

Through the years, evolution has cooked up some pretty remarkable adaptations. The finch’s beak, the giraffe’s neck and sprinter’s toes. Yes, scientists at Penn State University have found that for runners who ace the 100-yard dash, the thrill of victory may spring from the ankles and the feet. [More]

Will E.T. Look Like Us?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

What are the odds that intelligent, technically advanced aliens would look anything like the ones in films, with an emaciated torso and limbs, spindly fingers and a bulbous, bald head with large, almond-shaped eyes? What are the odds that they would even be humanoid? In a YouTube video, produced by Josh Timonen of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, I argue that the chances are close to zero ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKAXrmkx12g ). Richard Dawkins himself made this interesting observation in a private communication after viewing it:

I would agree with [Shermer] in betting against aliens being bipedal primates, and I think the point is worth making, but I think he greatly overestimates the odds against. [University of Cambridge paleontologist] Simon Conway Morris, whose authority is not to be dismissed, thinks it positively likely that aliens would be, in effect, bipedal primates. [Harvard University biologist] Ed Wilson gave at least some time to the speculation that, if it had not been for the end-Cretaceous catastrophe, dinosaurs might have produced something like the attached [referring to paleontologist Dale A. Russell’s illustrated evolutionary projection of how a bipedal dinosaur might have evolved into a reptilian humanoid].

[More]

An Elemental Solution: Using Zinc to Stave Off Childhood Diarrhea in Developing Countries

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:53:00 EST

Childhood diarrhea can be a tricky public health issue. Not only is it an unpleasant subject to discuss, but eradicating it, especially in poorer nations, can often mean expensive infrastructure projects and bigger battles than many strapped governments can take on. [More]

Hearing Our Heartbeats

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:00:08 EST

[More]

How Threatened Are Killer Whales in the Wild?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST

Dear EarthTalk: How are populations of the world’s orca whales faring these days? Are we still in danger of losing them all in the wild? --J. Witham, Bangor, ME [More]

Human Evolution II: Recent Evolution; and "Becoming Human" NOVA Preview

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:50:08 EST

The transcript of this podcast wil be posted in two to three weeks.

Anthropologist John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin–Madison talks about recent human evolution, especially of our ability to digest lactose. [More]

Sugar Negates Worm's Life-Extending Mutation

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:55:08 EST

[ The following is an exact transcript of this podcast. ]

For worms fed a sugary diet, life is sweet. But short. According to a new study published in the journal Cell Metabolism , consistently adding a small amount of sugar to a worm's regular diet of bacteria shortened its lifespan by 20 percent. The research was performed on C. elegans, tiny roundworms that typically live an average of two weeks.

[More]

Could we be on the verge of a new drug to treat lupus?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST

Systemic lupus is the most common form of the autoimmune disease, lupus , which afflicts about five million people worldwide and causes a slew of symptoms including fever, pain and swelling. Now, sufferers of systemic lupus may be closer to a new drug to treat their symptoms, according to the results of a study announced yesterday. If approved for the market, the drug, which was developed by Human Genome Sciences (HGS) and GlaxoSmithKline, would be the first new treatment for lupus in nearly half a century. [More]

Dangerous Liaisons: How to Deal with a Drama Queen

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST

Sam paged me at 9 p.m., crying. It had started with his hair, which he was convinced was falling out. And although his work as a teacher’s aide had “filled him with love and joy,” he was sure his boss had given him a nasty look at the lunch break, and he felt utterly sick inside. Later Sam had phoned his partner, who had seemed distant. Afraid he was about to be dumped, Sam locked himself in the staff bathroom and cried for almost an hour, failing to finish his work and preventing others from using the facilities.

Sam is a drama queen--a person who reacts to everyday events with excessive emoton and behaves in theatrical, attention-grabbing ways. This type is the friend who derails a casual lunch to tell you a two-hour story about the devastating fight she had with her partner or the co-worker who constantly obsesses about how he is about to lose his job and needs your support to make it through the day. The drama queen worships you one minute and despises you the next, based on overreactions to minor events.

[More]

Obama lifts U.S. ban on foreign HIV-positive travelers

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:10:00 EST

People with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) will no longer be prohibited from visiting or immigrating to the U.S., the White House announced Friday. [More]

How the Brain Reveals Why We Buy

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:35:00 EST

Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from Mindfield: How Brain Science Is Changing Our World by Lone Frank , to be released in the U.S. November 10. [More]

Does Vitamin D Improve Brain Function?

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST

The push to prevent skin cancer may have come with unintended consequences--impaired brain function because of a deficiency of vitamin D. The “sunshine vitamin” is synthesized in our skin when we are exposed to direct sunlight, but sunblock impedes this process. And although vitamin D is well known for promoting bone health and regulating vital calcium levels--hence its addition to milk--it does more than that. Scientists have now linked this fat-soluble nutrient’s hormonelike activity to a number of functions throughout the body, including the workings of the brain.

“We know there are receptors for vitamin D throughout the central nervous system and in the hippocampus,” said Robert J. Przybelski, a doctor and research scientist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “We also know vitamin D activates and deactivates enzymes in the brain and the cerebrospinal fluid that are involved in neurotransmitter synthesis and nerve growth.” In addition, animal and laboratory studies suggest vitamin D protects neurons and reduces inflammation.

[More]

TED MED: The power of the mind over the body

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:36:00 EST

TED MED[www.tedmed.com] wrapped up with compelling personal stories that celebrated the power of the human mind to help the body endure or to reach physical achievements. The sold-out meeting in San Diego, held for the first time in five years, had during the past four days covered a spectrum of themes, including research on engineering life to create cures and regenerative medicine , the need to collect information about a patient’s environment , the personalization of health care , the quest to slow aging , and technologies, such as robots , to make it more practical for the elderly to extend their years at home. [More]

Zombie Creatures: What Happens When Animals Are Possessed by a Parasitic Puppet Master? [Slide Show]

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST

A spider, seemingly possessed, spins an uncharacterisitic web--just before wasp larvae nesting on its abdomen suck the last nourishing juices from the spider's dying body and make a cocoon in the weird web. [More]