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A.
A Proposed FAA Regulation May Do More Harm than
Good
Narrator:
This is Science Today. A proposed Federal Aviation
Administration regulation that would require child
restraint seats on commercial airlines for children
under the age of two would likely cause more deaths
than it prevents. Thomas Newman, a professor of
epidemiology and biostatistics at the University
of California, San Francisco, says that's because
parents may choose to drive instead of fly.
Newman:
The concern is if parents have to pay for a
ticket, depending on how much the ticket costs and
how long the trip is, they might choose to drive
rather than fly.
Narrator:
Per mile, driving is riskier than flying, so Newman
says the regulation could cause more deaths from
road traffic accidents than it prevents from airplane
crashes.
Newman:
We estimated that the risk per mile traveled of
these families with small children was only thirty
percent of the national average of risk per mile
traveled. But still, even taking that into account,
if more than about five to ten percent of those
chose to drive rather than fly, then the deaths
on the road exceed those prevented.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
A 'BubbleCam' Provides New Insight into Ocean Processes
Narrator:
This is Science Today. When waves break in the open
ocean, they create millions of bubbles, which play
an important role in a variety of ocean and atmospheric
processes. At the University of California, San Diego's
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, researchers have
developed a high-tech 'BubbleCam', which oceanographer
Grant Deane says is providing new insight into the
characteristics of bubbles.
Deane:
Understanding the origin of the bubbles and the numbers
and sizes that are produced and the physics of that
process is important for modelists, who are trying
to model this very fundamental process.
Narrator:
The BubbleCam is a high-tech video camera with a powerful
lens and focusing system, which enables oceanographers
to take finely sliced pictures as waves break.
Deane:
We think we've discovered the mechanism controlling
the bubble production in the ocean waves.
Narrator:
These
results may someday be used to develop instruments
that can remotely monitor greenhouse gas transfer.
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
How
Our Early Ancestors Endured Chronic Stress
Narrator:
This is Science Today. For people living in a society
that induces chronic stress, it's not uncommon to
turn to high-fat comfort foods and put on abdominal
weight. University of California, San Francisco physiology
professor, Mary Dallman, says from the standpoint
of evolution, modest weight gain when you're chronically
stressed can be helpful.
Dallman:
It's smart as can be because in a chronic stress situation-for
instance, a drought or a famine- it's a very neat
pool of fat because it sits very close to liver, and
when it's mobilized, its energy can be used by the
liver to make more glucose.
Narrator:
But as Dallman notes, there's not much worry about
famine in today's fast-food culture.
Dallman:
Convenience
food is all over the place-every block you walk to
has the availability and low price of food that is
really high fat or high carbohydrate and this can
become habitual and that's what is a big problem.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Putting Tobacco Waste to Good Use
Narrator:
This is Science Today. It may seem highly unlikely,
but Bruce Lipshutz, a biochemist at the University
of California, Santa Barbara, has found a way to put
tobacco waste to good use. Lipshutz is synthesizing
an invaluable vitamin supplement, called Coenzyme
Q10, or CoQ, using a compound derived from tobacco
waste.
Lipshutz:
Well what we've identified are starting materials
that we feel are readily available. So for example
the key component that will make synthesis possible
is a product of tobacco waste called solanesol.
Narrator:
Lipshutz says using this raw material, solanesol,
to produce CoQ is a cheaper and more efficient method
than the fermentation method currently used in Japan.
Lipshutz:
People literally have this waste from processing tobacco,
especially in many foreign countries, like India,
China, and to some degree in the United States. And
they just throw it out; they use it as fertilizer.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
New Insight into a Lethal Cancer
Narrator:
This is Science Today. Pancreatic cancer is usually
diagnosed late, so the median survival is in the range
of four months after diagnosis, so not only is it
incurable, it is also very rapid. That's why researchers
like Matthias Hebrok of the University of California,
San Francisco, are studying the development and growth
of this lethal malignancy.
Hebrok:
The prognosis is probably one of the worst that you
can get. So for us to understand what makes the tumor
grow and what molecules it depends on for full growth
and survival potentially increases our arsenal of
weapons we can throw at this cancer and hopefully
combat it.
Narrator:
Hebrok
helped discover a link between a cell signaling pathway
present during embryonic development and pancreatic
cancer and that the pathway could be blocked by a
molecule isolated by plants called cyclopamine.
Hebrok:
So by just adding cyclopamine to those pancreatic
cancer cell lines, we could ask the question if the
inhibition of the pathway changes the fate of those
cells.
Narrator:
For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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