A. The First Ethanol Dispensing Station in the West

Narrator: This is Science Today. The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which is managed by the University of California, has the first ethanol dispensing station in Northern California. Don Prestella, fleet supervisor at the Berkeley Lab, says this cleaner-burning, high-octane alternative to gasoline is powering 60 vehicles in the lab’s onsite motor pool, making it the largest ethanol-powered fleet in the state.

Prestella: The laboratory really feels that the main benefit of this is being able to actually really make a difference with the environment. There’s a lot less fluorocarbons from ethanol. It’s the most clean-burning fuel available and it just seems like the only alternative right at the moment for us.

Narrator: Ethanol is 85% distilled from biomass products such as corn and 15% gasoline. The lab’s new ethanol station also includes an above ground, four thousand gallon tank to feed the new ethanol pump.

Prestella: It’s the first on the West coast, the first in Northern California and we are mostly proud of that.

Narrator: For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.

B. Early Results are Promising in an Alzheimer’s Gene Therapy Trial

Narrator: This is Science Today. Surgically placing genetically modified tissue directly into the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease to delay brain cell loss has proven promising in preliminary findings. Dr. Mark Tuszynski of the University of California, San Diego, led the small clinical trial.

Tuszynski: We found about a forty to fifty percent reduction in the rate of progression of the disease. And to give you a sense of what that means – the currently approved drugs for Alzheimer’s disease reduced the rate of decline by about five percent.

Narrator: Although more clinical trials need to be done, Tuszynski says using a family of proteins called nerve growth factors to prevent cell death in the adult, living brain may be of vital importance in developing better therapies for degenerative neurological ailments, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Tuszynski: They can really revolutionize the way in which we treat a number of these common diseases.

Narrator: For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.

Advanced Laser Technology Benefits Components of Fighter Jets

Narrator: This is Science Today. An advanced laser peening technology developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will benefit military aircraft. Lloyd Hackel, program leader of the Lab’s Laser Science and Technology division, says their laser peening technology will be used to extend the life of critical components on fighter jets.

Hackel: For example, the F16 fighter jet, it’s been serviced a long time, about twenty years and it’s developed some cracking problems and we’ve demonstrated that our technology has the potential to significantly save maintenance costs because we can go in on parts that have been in use. If we laser peen them, they will get a significantly extended lifetime.

Narrator: Laser peening can be used not only for maintenance, but also in the designing phase.

Hackel: To have a higher performing design, so you know it’s going to be more cost effective, so those parts don’t need maintenance after two years, they’ll go twenty years.

Narrator: For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.

D. Computer Scientists Create a Truthful Internet Experience

Narrator: This is Science Today. Whether it’s booking a flight or looking up medical information, many of us are relying more and more on data provided over the Internet from electronic databases. But if hackers break into those databases, the repercussions could be financially, if not personally, damaging.

Devanbu: So, people like doctors and military personnel, if they ask for what are the medicines that could be used to treat a certain ailment? Or, where the tanks are located? You don’t want the information to false, you want it to be accurate.

Narrator: Computer scientist Prem Devanbu of the University of California, Davis, has created and developed the Truthsayer project – a system that provides an answer and a proof that ensures users sending queries that the information received is correct. Devanbu says if a database has been tampered with, the proof will automatically be wrong.

Devanbu: In the past, guaranteeing correct answers has been entirely dependent upon the trust that you have the person that’s providing you with the answers. Now it’s not, the trust is only on the data creator.

Narrator: For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.

E. Helpful Advice for Parents of Obese Children

Narrator: This is Science Today. Childhood obesity in this country is a major problem. Kevin Patrick, a professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of California, San Diego, says parents can help overweight or obese children by setting up household rules such as, eating more nutritiously, watching less television and getting more physically active.

Patrick: Clearly in earlier adolescence it’s a little easier to enforce those rules than as kids get into their mid- to late-teens. But we do know that kids will listen to parents and that household rules do make a difference in some of those things

Narrator: Patrick also suggests parents discuss the problem with their family doctor, especially due to the deeper consequences associated with childhood obesity.

Patrick: We know that kids who are overweight get teased a lot and have fairly poor quality of life as well. This is probably as important a thing to discuss if there’s a concern in a particular child, as their immunization status or whether or not they have any problems in school that the doctor might be able to advise them on.

Narrator: Patrick conducted one of the largest studies looking at the multiple factors that contribute to childhood obesity. For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.