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A.
Technology Helps Researchers Track the Elusive Mountain
Lion
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Wildlife experts at the University
of California, Davis have been studying the inter-relationships
between mountain lions and people and the other
wildlife that mountain lions share their habitat
with. Walter Boyce, director of the university's
Wildlife Health Center, leads this long-term research
project.
Boyce:
All of us that have hiked and played in mountain
lion habitat have undoubtedly been watched by mountain
lions. But they're typically hiding under a bush
during the daytime when we're out there, so we don't
really know what they're doing.
Narrator:
The researchers now track mountain lions using satellite
GPS collars.
Boyce:
The satellite collar will determine the animal's
locations and we program these to collect locations
early morning, midday, late afternoon, during the
night. The collar stores that data and then sends
it to us. We get the data once a month, then we
plot that on a map and from that, we're able to
determine where the animals had been on a day-to-day
basis where they're spending more time and less
time, their most frequent travel routes and the
clusters of locations.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
How People Recognize the Human Emotion of Pride
Narrator:
This is Science Today. When you think of the outward
human emotion for pride - what comes to mind? Psychologists
at the University of California, Davis have found
that the emotion of pride has it's own distinct facial
expression and body language. Jessica Tracy, who led
the study, says this adds pride to a short list of
recognizable human emotions that have been scientifically
identified by facial expression. But pride was the
only emotion to also incorporate body language.
Tracy:
If you just show the face, people can't tell pride
from happiness. They see the smile and they call it
happiness. Once you add the body and add the specific
components of the pride expression, people can tell
the difference. So this is suggesting that positive
emotions do not all share the same expression. There
are distinct expressions for different positive emotions.
Narrator:
So what does pride look like?
Tracy:
It's a small smile, usually with the mouth closed.
The head is tilted back, but slightly. And then the
chest is out and shoulders pulled back and then there's
several arm positions people can do. In some cases,
they have their hands on their hips, in some cases
they have their hands raised above their heads with
fists. And in some cases, they actually have their
arms crossed on their chest and in all cases, you
get pride recognition.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Study Reveals Gender Differences in Human Energy Expenditure
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A recent study of human
energy expenditure confirms what many women already
know: women spend more time on household and childcare
activities than men. Gladys Block, a professor at
the University of California, Berkeley's School of
Public Health says that while men and women expend
roughly the same amount of total energy, they expend
energy in very different ways.
Block:
In terms of per pound of body weight, men and women
are pretty similar. Other studies have found because
other studies have tended to focus on vigorous physical
activities and leisure time physical activities and
it turns out that men spend more of their time on
that and women spend more of their time on household
activities.
Narrator:
The study, conducted by Block, collected minute-by-minute
information on the daily activities of over seven
thousand Americans in a 24-hour period.
Block:
So - got up and brushed my teeth, five minutes. Got
dressed, ten minutes - like that all the way through
the whole day. So using that information, we can actually
figure out energy expenditure.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Training Health Care Professionals to Start Palliative
Care Programs
Narrator:
This is Science Today. The University of California,
San Francisco has been named one of six leadership
centers in the country for training health care professionals
who want to start palliative care programs. Steve
Pantilat, director of UC San Francisco's palliative
care service, says while end-of-life care is growing,
not many hospitals offer this service to patients.
Pantilat:
When we ask people, what's important to you at
the end of life, what families and patients tell us
is that they want their symptoms palliated -they don't
want to be in pain and they don't want to suffer.
They want to talk about illness and death with their
doctors and nurses. And they want support.
Narrator:
The goal of these palliative care leadership centers
is to offer hospitals the expertise, technical assistance
and skills necessary to offer this type of end-of-life
care.
Pantilat:
One thing that I try to teach also is, never say
to somebody, "there's nothing more we can do".
There's always something to do. It may not involve
curing a disease, but there's always something to
do to relieve someone's symptoms.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
The Benefits of Acupuncture: All in Your Head?
Narrator:
This is Science Today. According to new research,
the effects of acupuncture may be all in you head
- your brain, that is. John Longhurst of the University
of California, Irvine, has shown that acupuncture
treatments stimulate the release of opioids in the
brain, a specific class of neurotransmitters that
reduce excitatory responses in the cardiovascular
system.
Longhurst:
We have concentrated on a particular area of the
brain. It's an area in the medulla, which is part
of the brain that's near the spinal cord that is particularly
important in regulating the outflow of the sympathetic
nerves to the heart and the blood vessels.
Narrator:
Opioid neurotransmitters, such as endorphins and
enkephalins are released during acupuncture and appear
to be responsible for acupuncture's apparent cardiovascular
benefits.
Longhurst:
They're produced during acupuncture and they can
down-regulate or quiet down the activity of the cells
in this area of the brain and so that can ultimately
influence the sympathetic nerves and the heart and
the blood vessels.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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