A.
New Insight into Embryonic Facial Development
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The sculpting of the face
during embryonic development may be more open to
change than was previously thought-this according
to researchers at the University of California,
San Francisco. Jill Helms, a professor of orthopaedic
surgery, led the study.
Helms:
What we found in our study was that the length of
time during which the face, its pattern can be altered,
is greatly extended. In other words, defects could
occur over a much wider range, but that also means
that if defects did occur, and you wanted to think
about strategies for repairing defects, you'd have
a much bigger window of time in which to do it.
Narrator:
In lab studies with chick and quail embryos, researchers
found that by transplanting tissues, they could
reprogram the face to adopt a new fate.
Helms:
It was surprising first of all that a little
piece of tissue had that much instructive capability.
It meant that even when we transplanted it to a
new location, the cells were still responsive to
the signals. Meaning that plasticity of the face
was maintained for much, much longer than we thought.
B.
Agriculture's Changing Economic Landscape
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Over the next few decades,
the nation's agricultural community will be facing
a changing economic landscape. Agricultural economist,
Steven Blank, of the University of California, Davis
says that's because American farmers and ranchers
will be facing more global competition from places
like Eastern Europe, South America, China and India.
Blank:
As these other countries expand
their output, that means that global supplies, the
total out there is up and because we have very much
a global market now for a lot of agricultural commodities,
the expansion in one part of the world in terms
of their output will definitely affect the prices
received by American producers.
Narrator:
For farmers, it means continued need
for technological innovation to keep pace with all
the prices. For consumers, it's good news at the
register.
Blank:
Obviously
if there's more food being produced and it's going
to be higher and higher quality and more and more
variety, as purchasers and consumers of food, that's
a good thing. We'll have more to choose from and
it's going to cost us less.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
The First Breakthrough in Understanding SARS
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The first critical breakthrough
in the rush to understand severe acute respiratory
syndrome, or SARS, was made possible by microarray
virus screening technology pioneered at the University
of California, San Francisco. Arthur Reingold, an
infectious disease expert at UC Berkeley, comments
on this brand new technology.
Reingold:
What that technology allows you to do, is with enormous
speed and power, to compare the nucleic acids from
a virus or a bacterium or something else with an
enormous array of known agents to see if this one
is identical to, similar to, or completely different
from perhaps thousands or tens of thousands of other
known agents.
Narrator::
In just one day, microarray enabled scientists to
determine that SARS was in the coronavirus family.
Reingold:
So it's a wonderful technology that is certainly
helping examine different infectious agents. And
it has promise in terms of detection of those agents.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Computer Technology's Contribution to Brain Research
Narrator:
This is Science Today. For over a decade, UCLA's
Laboratory of Neuro Imaging has been dedicated to
improving the understanding of the human brain.
It was about ten years ago that Dr. Arthur Toga,
the laboratory's director, co-conceived the idea
to set up a huge database that would serve as a
brain atlas for researchers and physicians.
Toga:
One of the great, lucky aspects of this project
was the power of computers has made it possible.
You know, fifteen years ago, it probably wouldn't
have been possible, so the emergence of supercomputers,
the ability to store all of this data, the ability
to acquire data at sufficient resolution, the MRI
scanners, all of these things emerged as the concept
emerged.
Narrator:
The result is a comprehensive, ever-evolving online
atlas of the human brain.
Toga:
We've already had many spin-off projects from this,
doing population studies of schizophrenia, Alzheimer's
Disease, autism, brain development, normal brain
aging - and these have utilized the concepts that
have emerged from this brain atlas project.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
The Impact of a Smoke-free Environment
Narrator:
This is Science Today. In an effort to prove that
public smoking bans lower heart attack rates, Dr.
Stan Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University
of California, San Francisco, has been studying
the isolated community of Helena, Montana, where
in just six months a non-smoking ordinance has slashed
heart attack rates in the community. Glantz says
importantly, all heart attack patients go to the
same hospital - that is, the only hospital, in Helena.
Glantz:
I worked with two physicians from Helena and we
looked at admissions to the hospital for heart attacks.
And what we found was that for people who lived
in or very close to Helena, there was a 60% drop
in the number of admissions for heart attacks while
this non-smoking ordinance was in effect. Whereas,
for people who lived further away and didn't have
the benefits of the smoke-free environments, there
was no change in the admissions. So creating smoke-free
environments has an immediate, very positive effect
on heart attacks.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
