A.
Innovations in Brain Imaging
Narrator:
This is Science Today. As researchers
continue to explore the cause, effect and possible
treatment of Alzheimer's disease, radiologists are
working on innovative ways to image the brain. Dr.
Michael Weiner, of the University of California,
San Francisco, has been working on a variation of
magnetic resonance imaging to achieve earlier detection
of Alzheimer's Disease.
Weiner:
Now up until recently, because there
were no effective treatments, the attitude among
physicians and the public was well, it didn't really
matter what the diagnosis was because you couldn't
do anything about it anyway. But now that effective
treatments for Alzheimer's Disease are being developed
and are available, it becomes much more important
to make an accurate diagnosis. And to detect it
as early a stage as possible.
Narrator:
And better imaging techniques can
even help in the development of new drugs.
Weiner:
Because
it provides a quantitative measure of the drug effect
- not just depending on the patient's symptoms or
the reports of the family about how the patient
is doing, which are very variable.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
The Development of Quantum Computers
Narrator:
This
is Science Today. IBM recently developed the world's
most advanced quantum computer, which uses atoms
to work as its processor and memory and can calculate
certain problems much faster than conventional computers.
Earlier this year, scientists at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory linked nuclear particles to
create a seven-qubit unit. Lab scientist Raymond
Laflamme says the advantage of quantum computers
is the ability to do two problems at once.
Laflamme:
On the classical computer, the basic
unit of information is called a bit. It's a system
which can be in state zero or the state one. On
a quantum computer, we can have bits which are not
only in either state zero or one, but it can be
in the state zero and one at the same time.
Narrator:
Laflamme says the hardest part about
developing this technology is its fragility.
Laflamme:
One of the wonderful things about classical computers
is they are very robust. When we go to the quantum
regime, the systems are a lot, lot more fragile.
We go down to very, very small scales. So these
are things we have to control if we want to scale
up for larger quantum computers.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
How Sea Ice May Have Affected Past Climate Changes
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Researchers
at the University of California's Scripps Institution
of Oceanography are studying how variations in Antarctic
sea ice may have lowered atmospheric carbon dioxide
levels during the last ice age. Ralph Keeling, who
led the study, says carbon dioxide-rich waters in
the deep ocean primarily return to the surface around
Antarctica. Since these waters were mostly covered
with ice during glacial periods, this could have
prevented the carbon dioxide from escaping.
Keeling:
In a sense, you could think of our
study as invoking a mechanism as simple as putting
a cap on a soda bottle. You trap the carbon dioxide
by preventing it from leaking out and if the deep
ocean really only comes into contact with the atmosphere
in a few places, particularly around Antarctica,
then you don't have to cover very much of the ocean's
surface with this cap to affect the retention in
the deep water.
Narrator:
This retention may have influenced very abrupt climate
changes in the past.
Keeling:
There does seem to be a unifying theme in this
work that maybe Antarctic sea ice is a major influence
on past climates.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Understanding Mood Changes
Narrator:
This is Science Today. We all experience
changes in mood, which at times could be extreme,
depending on certain life events. Dr. Adam Travis,
a psychiatrist at the University of California,
San Francisco, says there's a crucial difference
between people who are termed "moody" and those
who have a serious mood disorder, such as manic
depression or bipolar disorder.
Travis:
The feature that distinguishes a mood disorder from
someone who is moody or emotional or responding
to a major stressor, is that for mood disorder the
symptoms must cause clinically significant distress
or impairment in social, occupational or other important
areas of functioning.
Narrator:
What can sometimes make diagnosis difficult,
is the fact that some major mood disorders are actually
caused by a general medical condition.
Travis:
An example of that would be someone who has hypothyroidism
that's not treated, may develop all the symptoms
of a major depression, but it's because they're
hypothyroid. Once the hypothyroidism is corrected,
the mood symptoms should resolve.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
An Optimistic Look at an Aging Nation
Narrator:
This is Science Today. By the year
2010, a surge in the aging population has been predicted,
thanks to advances in medical technology and older
baby boomers. With these projections also come theories
of a sicker nation due to age-related illness. But
Roger McDonald of the University of California,
Davis says such projections have t be used with
caution.
McDonald:
We just have no idea what technology
is going to do in the next ten years. If we just
look at who's alive today in the older population,
it's an unmarried white woman. So the question comes
out, is it a biological function or is it an environmental
function?
Narrator:
Whatever the answer, McDonald says the women to
men ratio is bound to change in time as diseases
normally associated with men decline.
McDonald:
I'm an optimist when it comes to
the aging population. I think the aging population
is going to be a healthy population. I don't think
it's going to cause the problems that we think are
going to happen. When physicians talk about these
things, they only see sick people. There's chronic
disease, no doubt about it, but that doesn't mean
that it limits someone's ability to live a nice,
healthy life.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
