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A.
An Unpecedented Effort to Understand Ecosystems
off the California Coast
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Building on a half
century of research, scientists at the University
of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of
Oceanography are working on an unprecedented effort
to uncover the mechanisms of ecosystems off California’s
coast. Mark Ohman, a professor of biological oceanography,
is leading the newly established California Current
Ecosystem site.
Ohman:
This is part of the long-term ecological research
network of the National Science Foundation – and
the pre-existing sites are almost all terrestrial
sites. Now the NSF has decided to fund some ocean
sites, permitting us to relate the ecological processes
in the ocean that are acting on terrestrial ecosystems
as well.
Narrator:
A better understanding of coastal ecosystems will
lead to better management of living and non-living
resources.
Ohman:
The California Current also helps modulate climate
systems for the Western U.S., so it’s important
to the weather patterns that we experience.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.
B.
Scientists Add Two New Elements to the Periodic Table
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A team of Russian
and American scientists, including those at the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has added
more elements to chemistry’s Periodic Table after
discovering two of the newest super heavy elements,
element 113 and element 115. What does all this
mean? Joshua Patin, the Lab’s primary data analyst,
explains.
Patin:
Super heavy elements – it’s defined to describe
elements whose proton numbers are greater than 103.
You can go above 109 and you start to get into the
real super heavy elements. The ones we’re talking
about were elements 115 and 113. They’re in a region
of the periodic table that hasn’t been explored.
Hasn’t been seen until we did the experiment last
year.
Narrator:
Super heavy elements have been difficult to make,
partially due to the fact that they become unstable
and are short-lived.
Patin:
By doing this research, we’re showing that it could
possibly exist and the experiments and the research
needs to continue. The common moniker is we’re searching
for an island of stability.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.
C.
A Study Dispels Some Myths about Emergency Room Visits
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A new study has found that
most Americans seeking emergency care are in poor
physical or mental health. The majority of patients
also has medical insurance and is living above the
poverty level. Dr. Ellen Weber, who led the University
of California, San Francisco study, says these findings
are contrary to popular belief.
Weber:
What we’ve seen in the media, as well as many statements
in medical journals, is that the uninsured are flooding
our emergency departments and emergency departments
are there basically just taking care of poor people,
uninsured people. So, the assumption is that they’re
coming for primary care and all of these visits are
not appropriate.
Narrator:
The study was based on a national sample of nearly
50 thousand adults.
Weber:
We wanted people to see these results because the
emergency department is there for an integral part
of our health care system. People have been turning
a blind eye to the problems of emergency departments
when you think it’s just people abusing the system,
there’s no political will to try and help emergency
departments solve their problems.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.
D.
A New Technology May Add the 'Eyes' to Smart Dust
Sensors
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A groundbreaking experiment,
which demonstrated that a piece of semiconductor material
can slow down light pulses, may one day lead to very
high speed network communications. Connie Chang-Hasnain,
who led the University of California, Berkeley project,
says it may also be used to add ‘the eyes’ to tiny
wireless devices known as smart dust sensors.
Chang-Hasnain:
All those sensors are supposed to transmit information
and what better information than a video, right? So
those video information need to be connected and today,
there’s no way to connect them and to intelligently
process them.
Narrator:
But their semiconductor experiment offers hope that
such technology is on the horizon.
Chang-Hasnain:
With the all-optical buffer available and
the slow light device available, we will be able to
allow better utilization of this information, so we
can do environmental protection monitoring of resources,
monitoring earthquake and to the next extent, to control
these monitoring devices as well.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.
E.
An Experimental System Boosts Cotton Crop Potentials
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Agricultural scientists at
the University of California are studying experimental
systems that may boost cotton crop potentials. Cotton
specialist Bob Hutmacher of the University of California,
Davis, says for over four years now, they’ve been
studying a double-row cotton planting concept that
has led to a 4 to 12% increase in yield.
Hutmacher:
What we’ve been looking at essentially a change in
planting systems that would have two planted rows
per bed. In addition, under quite a few different
conditions, we find a little bit of advantage in terms
of earliness of the crop, which can help in terms
of getting it off the field earlier. The other thing
that we’ve found is some potential for the plants
to develop and kind of shade out potential weeds that
may be coming up and that’s proven to be a fairly
consistent advantage with this type of system.
Narrator:
California cotton production represents about 10 to
14% of the total U.S. yearly production. For Science
Today, I’m Larissa Branin.
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