A. Sizing Up Drug Treatment
Programs
Schuckit: There is no magic cure
for alcohol and drug dependence.
Narrator: This is Science Today.
If you're looking for a program to help you kick
alcohol or drugs, don't keep looking for the perfect
one. Psychiatrist Marc Schuckit of the University
of California, San Diego says that, depending on
your own personal taste, any one of most reputable
programs are likely to be of help.
Schuckit: Almost all of the programs
deal with helping your motivation to get as high
as possible to stop, helping you to keep that motivation
there, helping you to say, geez, if I take alcohol
and drugs away from my life, it leaves a big void.
How do I fill that void and restructure my life?
And how do I avoid getting back into alcohol and
drugs?
Narrator: Schuckit recommends asking
a doctor or other health care professional for a
referral within your own community.
Schuckit: Basically it's best if
you pick a program in your community, so that you
can follow through with that program.
Narrator: Schuckit has written
a book called Educating Yourself About Alcohol and
Drugs, aimed at anyone who thinks they or a loved
one might have a drug problem. For Science Today,
I'm Steve Tokar.
B. The Tragedy of Type 2 Diabetes
Narrator: This is Science Today.
Of all the major diseases in the United States,
Type 2 diabetes is probably the least well-known
-- and one of the most expensive, according to Dr.
Robert Henry of the University of California, San
Diego.
Henry: One out of seven health
care dollars in the United States is spent on diabetes
or diabetes- related complications.
Narrator: The vast majority are
Type 2 diabetics, who, unlike Type 1's, make insulin
but don't use it efficiently.
Henry: And therefore it is a major,
if not the major contributor to our unbelievably
high health care costs.
Narrator: Type 2 diabetes can be
controlled and sometimes prevented through diet
and exercise. The tragedy, says Henry, is that it's
not. In fact it's a growing problem. The reason
is that Americans are eating more and exercising
less.
Henry: Unfortunately we're now
seeing children -- young adolescents and young children
-- with Type 2 diabetes. It used to be a disease
almost uniquely of adults. But children are now
starting to develop it, in large part because of
being overweight and underactive.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Steve Tokar.
C. A Chance to Manipulate Memory
Narrator: This is Science Today.
Not all memories have equal weight. You remember
something that's important or emotional because
when it happened, your body released adrenaline,
which boosted your memory system. Researcher Larry
Cahill of the University of California, Irvine says
the discovery of the connection between adrenaline
and memory opens up ways to enhance or impair memories
before they become fixed.
Cahill: When you learn something,
it is not in your head in the final form that it's
going to be. This we know for sure, memories take
time to form, so you have a little window of opportunity.
Narrator: Cahill and his fellow
researchers are looking for methods to prevent the
formation of traumatic memories in disaster victims
soon after disaster happens.
Cahill: And we're actually trying
now to set up a program where we try and prevent
the formation of what's called post-traumatic stress
disorder using drugs that affect the adrenaline
system, that block the adrenaline system. We're
in the earliest stages of doing this but we're very
excited about it and we're going for it.
Narrator: It also might be possible
to artificially improve memory as well. For Science
Today, I'm Steve Tokar.
D. The Next Step in Virtual Reality
Narrator: This is Science Today.
Mike Bailey, a scientific visualization expert at
the University of California, San Diego, is excited
about a new device called a BOOM -- Binocular Omni-Oriented
Monitor -- a virtual reality display that will let
scientists look in detail at 3-D computer models
of things like molecules. In some ways it resembles
the headset of a commercial virtual reality game.
Bailey: But one of the problems
that head-mounted displays have is that in order
to get quality graphics, you have to have very heavy
monitors and you have this enormous weight on your
neck. 09
Narrator: But the BOOM is attached
to a mechanism like the one that holds your dentist's
drill which takes the weight off you.
Bailey: And as you turn your head
and look around, the angles are being read by the
computer, which can then reconstruct where your
eye is and where your eye is looking, and then regenerate
the left and right eye views. So if you stoop over
and look up, what you'll see is the underside of
the object you're looking at. If you look over your
shoulder you'll see something that's behind you
in 3-D.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm
Steve Tokar.
E. More to DNA Testing Than Meets
the Eye
Narrator: There's more to DNA
testing than meets the eye. This is Science Today.
More criminals are being sent to jail based on evidence
that their DNA matches a sample found at the crime
scene. But criminologist William Thompson of the
University of California, Irvine says that in order
to be accurate and avoid mistakes, a DNA sample
should be split in two and tested several times
at two separate labs.
Thompson: But it doesn't happen
very often. Most of the cases I see involve a single
sample tested by one lab, one time, without replication,
without any parallel testing, without any other
samples being tested to check for consistency and
so on. And if you see that, and if that single test
has something problematic about it, that's an issue
of concern.
Narrator: Thompson thinks most lawyers ignore the
variables involved in DNA testing and oversimplify
it instead.
Thompson: It tends to be presented
as a black and white thing. The prosecutors say
it's fabulous, the defense lawyers say, oh it's
all bunk, and of course the truth is -- the truth
may well be in between.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm
Steve Tokar
