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A.Using
Semi-Conductors to Set a Speed Limit on Light
Narrator:
This is Science Today. In an effort to speed up
optical network communications, researchers at the
University of California, Berkeley have created
a brake system of sorts to slow light down. Electrical
engineer and computer scientist Connie Chang-Hasnain,
led a team that used thin layers of semiconductors
to slow the speed at which a laser pulse travels
along a light wave to about six miles per second.
Chang-Hasnain:
So we can control the speed – it’s like your brake
pedal in your car. You can control the speed gradually
or very abruptly, so that the information can travel
at desirable pattern, such that it doesn’t collapse
or collide with another signal pulse.
Narrator:
This experimental demonstration may one
day lead to unbelievably high speed connections.
Chang-Hasnain:
To the consumer it means that you can probably
download a two hour long feature film in less than
a second, maybe one tenth of a second or so.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.
B.
The Growing, Dangerous Problem of Illegal Pesticides
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Illegal pesticides,
often packaged as legitimate urban pest products,
are a growing, dangerous problem. Art Craigmill,
a toxicologist at the University of California,
Davis, says the smuggling of illegal pesticides
that are not approved in this country, has led to
some poisonings, particularly in children.
Craigmill:
This is especially true for some preparations
that have come in from China and a few from Mexico.
One particular concern of course, is mothballs made
from naphthalene. These mothballs, which used to
be approved in this country, look like white, round
balls of candy. But they are indeed just pure naphthalene.
The ingestion of one of these pieces could cause
serious illness in a child.
Narrator:
So it’s buyer beware, because as Craigmill
explains illegally imported pesticides have not
been tested for quality or potency.
Craigmill:
You don’t know what you’re getting and
there are no quality controls on what you are getting.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.
C.
Technology Used to Produce an Anti-malarial Drug Has
Another Application
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Chemical engineers at the University
of California, Berkeley have found a way to economically
produce an anti-malarial drug by taking genes from
the plant that makes it and transferring them to a
bacterium, which then produces the drug. Jay Keasling,
who leads the research, says the same technology can
be used to produce an anti-HIV drug.
Keasling:
There is a molecule that was actually discovered by
the Samoans many decades ago and was used to treat
hepatitis. A few years ago, the active ingredient
in that concoction was actually elucidated by the
National Institutes of Health and they found it was
very effective in treating HIV in cell cultures and
animals models. It’s now going through clinical trials.
We can produce this molecule in the same bacterium
that we’ve engineered to produce the anti-malarial
drug using very similar technology.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.
D.
Is Sleep Apnea the Result of Faulty Brain Wiring Early
in Life?
Narrator:
This is Science Today. UCLA scientists have linked
obstructive sleep apnea to brain damage. Ronald Harper,
who led the study, says they also discovered almost
half of these patients stuttered as children, suggesting
that sleep apnea may be the result of faulty brain
wiring early in life.
Harper:
We believe that the initial loss or damage or miswiring
in the language expression areas triggers the conditions
for obstructive sleep apnea. Once that apnea is triggered
and once it continues and that is accentuated by enlarged
tonsils or by obesity in later life, then some of
the later damage occurs.
Narrator:
Harper and his colleagues believe the later damage
occurs in the brain’s cerebellum, which has a major
role in cardiovascular and respiratory control.
Harper:
What we hope to do is examine children, using these
non-invasive procedures and see whether they suffer
the same consequences.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.
E.
A Supplement that Gives Back to Every Cell in Your
Body
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Scientists have long known
that each cell in our bodies produce energy with the
aid of coenzymes like CoenzymeQ10, or CoQ, but our
stores of these coenzymes lessen as we age. University
of California, Santa Barbara, biochemist Bruce Lipshutz
says that replenishing your body’s store of coenzymes
like CoQ is an easy and effective way to give back
to every cell in your body.
Lipshutz:
As we age the amount of CoQ in our cells
simply drops over time, and that’s why it’s important
to think about it as a dietary supplement given its
importance in so many biological functions. I’m not
sure that people really see the distinction that CoQ
is a unique position because all we’re doing is putting
back what we’re losing as we age.
Narrator:
CoQ acts as an antioxidant and boosts our immune systems.
Fortunately for Americans, the supplement form of
the enzyme is available over the counter, whereas
in other countries like Japan, where is it produced,
CoQ is only available by prescription. For Science
Today, I’m Larissa Branin.
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