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A.
Efforts to Reduce Indoor Air Pollution in Third
World Countries
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The Environmental Protection
Agency is launching an international initiative
to reduce indoor air pollution from cooking fires
in Third World countries. Daniel Kammen, a professor
in the Energy and Resources Group at the University
of California, Berkeley, proposed this initiative.
The goal is to provide cheap, efficient stoves that
emit less smoke and fumes.
Kammen:
But many countries don't have them. And so, at a
dollar or so per stove, you could envision programs
to either distribute these stoves, or more likely,
to work with local entrepreneurs to get them into
the market to make these stoves and sell them.
Narrator:
Each year, there are over three million deaths worldwide
due to acute lower respiratory infections that are
caused by indoor air pollution. Kammen says the
stoves make a big difference.
Kammen:
This really is a way to address local health, deforestation,
climate change through reduced energy use, less
burns and accidents inside people's homes with better
stoves. A whole set of issues all focused around
improved stove and fuel combinations.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
New Insight into Ocean Processes
Narrator:
This is Science Today. When waves break in the open
ocean, they create millions of bubbles, which play
an important role in a variety of ocean and atmospheric
processes. At the University of California, San Diego's
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, researchers have
developed a high-tech 'BubbleCam', which oceanographer
Grant Deane says is providing new insight into the
characteristics of bubbles.
Deane: Understanding the origin
of the bubbles and the numbers and sizes that are
produced and the physics of that process is important
for modelists, who are trying to model this very fundamental
process.
Narrator: The BubbleCam is a high-tech
video camera with a powerful lens and focusing system,
which enables oceanographers to take finely sliced
pictures as waves break.
Deane:
We think we've discovered the mechanism controlling
the bubble production in the ocean waves.
Narrator:
These
results may someday be used to develop instruments
that can remotely monitor greenhouse gas transfer.
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Handgun Studies Strengthen Crime Prevention Efforts
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Researchers at the University
of California, Davis, have released a groundbreaking,
comprehensive report that details how handguns in
this country are bought and sold. Garen Wintemute,
who directs the Violence Prevention Research Program,
says although gun-related violence is a hot topic
in public health, this is the most complete picture
of handgun sales to date. Wintemute has been gathering
data for years and is no stranger to controversial
findings. In fact, previous research suggested gun
owners who had a misdemeanor record were more likely
to be arrested later for gun-related violence.
Wintemute:
Now, some of the critics of this study said - to quote
them directly - well, duh! What makes this important
is the people we studied, people who legally bought
handguns, the question that might arise from this
simply is, should we be selling guns to these people?
Narrator:
Wintemute's
latest study on overall sales will help policymakers
in their efforts to reduce gun-related violence. For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Who Needs the Flu Shot?
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The peak flu season - October
through March - is upon us and if you're in a higher
risk group, now is the time to get vaccinated. Mary
Lynch, a professor of nursing at the University of
California, San Francisco, says this category includes
the very young, the very old and those who may have
chronic disease or are immunosuppressed.
Lynch:
Why are we worried about the flu? I'll tell you why
we're worried about the flu. Right now and for the
past twenty years, over 20 thousand individuals have
died each year from influenza or influenza-related
complications. So it's not something to take lightly.
Narrator:
Lynch says it used to be recommended that people over
sixty-five get flu shots every year, but now that
figure has dropped to age fifty.
Lynch:
Because there was a feeling that many individuals
could have existing cardiac or pulmonary problems
and not be aware that they had these conditions and
not know that they were at risk
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
How Small Strokes May Affect Memory Loss
Narrator:
This is Science Today. For years there's been question
about how small strokes may affect memory loss and
whether people with such memory loss also have Alzheimer's
Disease. Now for the first time, a study led by researcher
Bruce Reed of the University of California, Davis,
has come up with clear evidence that the impact on
the brain caused by minor strokes is very different
from the damage caused by Alzheimer's Disease.
Reed:
We looked at the brain's metabolic function - so we
used PET scans, which give you basically a map of
the brain's metabolic activity. Memory function in
Alzheimer's disease was related to the degree of activity
in temporal lobe, basically. But in the stroke patients,
how well they remembered things was related to functioning
in the frontal lobes of the brain.
Narrator:
Reed says these findings can help doctors distinguish
between the two forms of memory loss.
Reed:
Which is important to people, even if it doesn't have
an immediate implication in terms of what drugs you
would use. It's still important to the patient, it's
still important for the families to know what's wrong.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, Larissa Branin.
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