|
A.
Another Reason Why You Shouldn't Skip Breakfast
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Have you ever thought that
skipping breakfast would be an easy way to cut back
calories? Well, a nationwide study out of the University
of California, Berkeley, has found that skipping
breakfast is actually bad for keeping off weight.
Nutritional epidemiologist, Gladys Block, explains.
Block:
People might think that if they skip breakfast
that they're doing themselves a favor, and in fact
they're not. And in fact it was interesting because
the people who skip breakfast actually had lower
total energy, total calorie intake, and yet they
had much higher body mass index.
Narrator:
Block says that skipping breakfast represents
disordered eating habits associated with weight
gain and that the nature of what you have for breakfast
also makes a big difference.
Block:
The people who had eggs and bacon for breakfast
were the highest body weight actually, whereas people
who had breakfast cereal for breakfast were among
the lowest. So maybe the actual nature of your breakfast
makes a difference in addition to eating it at all.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
A Monitoring Device that Can Detect Secret Nuclear
Weapons
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A unique array of monitoring
devices has been developed and deployed in a southern
California desert by a team of researchers from the
University of California, San Diego's Scripps Institution
of Oceanography. Researcher Michael Hedlin says it's
one of the first stations in a new global network.
Hedlin: It's a special kind of
listening post. It's an array of microbarometers.
And what it does is it listens to sounds in the atmosphere
that are at such long periods that we can't hear them
with our ears. So it's listening for sounds that we
would otherwise be unaware of.
Narrator:
These
include signals such as secret nuclear weapons tests,
volcanic eruptions and meteors. In fact, Hedlin says
one of the first significant signals they heard was
a large meteor crashing into Earth's atmosphere last
spring.
Hedlin:
The explosion was comparable in yield to the atomic
weapon that was dropped on Hiroshima. And so we recorded
very large signals. The signals were so large that
they propagated to the other side of the planet and
were recorded by a similar array in Germany.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
A Surprising Discovery in Species Evolution
Narrator:
This is Science Today. If you picture in your mind's
eye an elephant, an aardvark and a golden mole, you
probably wouldn't have guessed that these creatures
evolved from a single African ancestor more than 65
million years ago. But that's just what biologist
Mark Springer of the University of California, Riverside
says their sophisticated molecular data indicates.
Springer:
There's no previous work, no previous hint based
on morphology that all of these things should be closely
related to each other. So this really came as a surprise
and I think a lot of the traditional morphological
community was a bit upset with this! I think their
attitude was that this was some wacky hypothesis that
was just going to go away - but it hasn't gone away!
Narrator:
In fact, using advances in DNA technology, Springer
says they're continuing to sequence additional genes
- including in different orders of species - and the
support keeps getting stronger and stronger.
Springer:
From
the perspective of geography, it makes some sense.
You've got a whole lot of things - a whole lot of
orders of mammals that originated in Africa and they
seem to be each other's closest relatives.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
What's the Prospect of Sending Humans to Mars?
Narrator:This
is Science Today. The thought of sending humans to
Mars is no longer limited to science fiction fantasies.
In fact, such a feat could possibly take place within
the next few decades. But there's a lot to be explored
here on Earth first - namely, psychological preparation
for such a trip. Nick Kanas, a psychiatrist at the
University of California, San Francisco, who has conducted
numerous psychological studies of crews for NASA,
says a trip to Mars would be a completely different
ballgame.
Kanas:
We're now talking about a two to three year mission
where crewmembers truly are isolated and are going
to be needing to take care of themselves more than
anyone else has ever done in a space mission.
Narrator:
Kanas says the crew would need to handle possible
psychotic reactions to such an unprecedented experience
as a trip to Mars..
Kanas:
And so I think we need to have an ability of the
crew in a trip to Mars to take care of themselves
as much as possible - not only in terms of the engineering
and the medical, but also the psychological and the
social.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
A New Method Devised to Increase Airline Security
Narrator:This
is Science Today. In a post-9/11 world, increased
airline security may come with the cost of curbing
a pilot's authority. Computer scientists Edward Lee,
of the University of California, Berkeley, has devised
a computer controlled avionics system called "soft
walls" that would prevent planes from entering
designated no-fly zones over potential targets.
Lee:
The principle of the system is to give as much
control to the pilot as is possible, subject to the
constraint that the aircraft does not enter the no-fly
zone. So I think that it is arguable that it is the
least invasive solution that will keep aircraft out
of these no-fly zones.
Narrator:
Lee says many pilots are critical of the system, which
can override their command to enter a no-fly zone
and counter any effort they make to push the plane
into a restricted area.
Lee:
In my opinion, I think the skepticism of the pilots
is healthy and appropriate. I believe however, it's
far better, for example, than the risk of being shot
down, which is currently the line of defense around
many major airports and major cities.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
|
