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A.
Technologies Used in Astrophysics Can Help Boost
National Security
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Technologies used in astrophysics
are being leveraged at the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory for national security issues. Simon Labov,
director of the lab's Radiation Detection Center,
says they have been able to take advanced technologies
used to study supernovae and adapt them for detecting
radiation from nuclear materials.
Labov:
We take this great scientific contribution
and we said, hey, we can use that to make an inexpensive,
small lightweight, portable detector system that
you can carry in your pocket that can actually measure
gamma rays wherever you happen to be.
Narrator:
Labov says they're building a version of gamma
ray detectors used in high powered telescopes for
use in a cell phone/PDA combination with a GPS locating
system.
Labov:
So it always knows where it is and you can use
that as a stand alone instrument - the inspectors
and people like that may use it any time they come
across something radioactive, they can find out
what it is by using this instrument and making a
measurement with it.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
Fill Soils in New Developments May Hasten Tree Death
Narrator:
This is Science Today. As new urban housing development
continues to expand into former open space and forested
areas, the expansion has altered the existing landscape.
University of California environmental horticulture
advisor, Larry Costello, explains.
Costello: It's been observed
that the tree may decline, growth will be much slower,
leaves may yellow - in some cases, the whole tree
dies.
Narrator:
Part
of the problem is using fill soils in new urban housing
developments to grade and level ground. Costello says
this process can restrict air and water penetration
in the root zone of growing trees.
Costello:
If the tree is in good condition and it's a minimal
amount of fill, just on part of the root zone of the
tree, you may see little or no impact. If it's a large
amount of fill, very deep on an old tree that perhaps
is not in good health and the fill is very fine textured
soil, the tree can be dead in a year.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Why Those Exposed to Secondhand Smoke Should Take Vitamin
C
Narrator:
This is Science Today. If you often find yourself
in a situation where you're exposed to secondhand
smoke, you should start taking more Vitamin C. Gladys
Block, a professor of nutritional epidemiology at
the University of California, Berkeley's School of
Public Health, says that increasing your Vitamin C
intake reduces oxidative damage that can lead to diseases
like cancer and heart disease.
Block:
One of the mechanisms that probably leads to
that increased risk of those diseases is oxidative
damage. And what that means is something in cigarette
smoke-free radicals, very active molecules-can damage
your cell membranes, can damage your DNA.
Narrator:
In a study, secondhand smokers took a 'cocktail' of
various vitamin supplements - the thought being it
would work better than vitamin C alone to reduce oxidative
damage.
Block:
We
had started off with the assumption that the cocktail,
the mixture C and E and other lipid antioxidants,
would work better than the C alone because there's
data that suggests that they work together. But in
fact, the cocktail didn't work any more effectively
that the Vitamin C alone, which leads me to think
maybe it's the Vitamin C that's actually doing the
work.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
How Airports May Benefit from a New Avionics System
Narrator:This
is Science Today. New airplanes may someday be equipped
with a control system that prevents aircraft from
entering virtual no-fly zones around cities and other
potential targets. Edward Lee, a computer scientist
at the University of California, Berkeley, developed
this avionics system, which is called "soft walls".
Lee:
Ultimately to be effective this technique has to be
prevalent in aircraft. It's not really necessary for
all aircraft to be equipped with this however, because
one can phase in a technique like this.
Narrator:
Lee says once newer planes have "soft walls"
technology, a first phase could be prioritizing airports.
Lee:
That might be a first step solution that would
protect certain critical infrastructure and it of
course doesn't prevent a hijacked aircraft from entering
the Washington, D.C. airspace, but the air traffic
control system would be aware of an airplane without
"soft walls" entering the space long in
advance to be able to respond.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
An Intelligent Car Sharing Program
Narrator:This
is Science Today. An automated car-sharing system
using electric powered vehicles for short trips is
being used and tested by researchers at the University
of California, Riverside. Electrical engineer Matt
Barth says one of the issues they're looking into
is keeping the IntelliShare Community Vehicle Project
in balance.
Barth:
That we don't have too many vehicles at one station
and not enough at another. And these system management
techniques we've developed does indeed keep our system
in a well-distributed fashion where it continues to
function properly throughout the day.
Narrator:
Each vehicle has a small microcomputer on board that
makes it easy to keep track of its whereabouts and
system status.
Barth:
Probably the reason it hasn't been so popular as of
yet is it adds an extra burden to the user to try
to use these types of systems. When there is an added
amount of convenience with this technology, then people
are going to be able to embrace that and use it much
more often.
Narrator:
For
Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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