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A. Researchers Reveal How Psychological Stress Affects Physiology
Narrator: This is Science Today. It's well known that chronic, psychological stress can take its toll on the body, but the exact mechanisms involved were not established. Now, University of California, San Francisco research has uncovered some crucial clues. Psychologist Elissa Epel, who led the study, says they focused on a DNA-protein complex called the telomere and the enzyme that protects and promotes the lengthening of telomere length.
Epel: The telomere length is this type of DNA that caps the ends of chromosomes, kind of like the cap on a shoelace that keeps it from unraveling. The telomeres are very sensitive and vulnerable to damage.
Narrator: To see if stress shortened the telomere, Epel studied mothers caring for disabled children, measured their perceptions of stress and drew blood samples to measure their telomere length.
Epel: The women in the highest stress group had lost the amount of DNA in their telomeres that we would expect one would lose due to the normal process of aging in a period of about thirteen years. And we think it was in part, due to the chronic stress that they were perceiving on a daily basis.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B. The World's Smallest, Lightest Vertebrate is Identified
Narrator: This is Science Today. Scientists at the University of California, San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, have identified the world's smallest, lightest animal with a backbone. H.J. Walker, a senior museum scientist, says the rare ‘stout infantfish' is no longer than the width of a pencil.
Walker: The female is the largest specimen – it's only about a third of an inch long and the male is actually the smallest one about a four of an inch. It's so tiny that we weighed one and 500 thousand of them make a pound.
Narrator: Walker says the discovery of small and large extremes tell us that we don't really know as much about the planet's biodiversity as we should.
Walker: If we are still discovering things that are the most in any category – even the heaviest maybe or in this case it's also the lightest vertebrate. It goes to show us that there are a lot of other things out there to discover. And there are so many things going on right now as far as discovering new species there's hardly enough time for all of us to do it.
Narrator: The first stout infantfish was actually found in 1979, but it wasn't until recently that researchers were able to take a first detailed look at the specimen. For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Overeating is Not the Only Cause of Childhood Obesity
Narrator: This is Science Today. It's not just overeating that's causing childhood obesity; it's changes in society that we often don't realize. Patricia Crawford, co-director of the center for Weight and Health at the University of California, Berkeley says the way neighborhoods are organized today only add to the problem.
Crawford: We have an environment where children sit during the day; they sit on the way to school, the way home from school, we have children at home by themselves and the parents don't want them to go out where it may not be as safe. We have other situations where parents are home and they still want to supervise their children when they're out and they don't have time.
Narrator: Crawford says marketing is another huge factor contributing to childhood obesity.
Crawford: The television shows, the video games, the computers, all of the ways in which kids can be inactive have really been promoted. And the ways in which kids could be active have actually been deemphasized in our society because it's harder for the children to take part in those.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Can You Tell if Your Child is Telling the Truth?
Narrator: Parents, listen up – just watching your child's body language may not be enough to determine whether or not they are telling the truth. This is Science Today. A new study by psychologist Kang Lee of the University of California, San Diego found that when it comes to kids, even police officers are often wrong when looking to body language as an indicator of truth telling.
Lee: You must have heard when a person lies the person they try to avoid eye contact. The person appear fidgeting and nervous and this and that. It turns out these things are not true, including kids as young as three years of age when they lie they look right into your eyes.
Narrator: So, Lee warns that the old adage of watching for nonverbal cues can be misleading – especially when it comes to children.
Lee: You have to accept the fact that children will lie and number two, that they lie very well. In particular, they can manage their body language and their facial expressions very well. So you cannot rely on the cues to detect there lies.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin
E.
Pay Attention to the Early Signs of Depression
Narrator: This is Science Today. Even with medicine like Prozac available to treat depression, a new study by Dr. Lewis Judd of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, found that many people do not seek help.
Judd: I think there are a lot of reasons why people do not identify it in themselves and report it. The first is that people are not aware that they have an illness. They think it's just a phase of life that will go away. But it is “I can fix myself, I'm strong, I just have to pull myself up on my boot straps, there's nothing really wrong with me.
Narrator: Judd says some physicians are still not able to recognize the early signs of depression and write it off as the patient just feeling down.
Judd: People with depression, a significant component of it are suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior, and if not treated it can be potentially lethal. So these are the issues, but really what is most encouraging is that we've entered a scientific era in which we know a great deal about this illness and we have many different ways to treat it that are quite effective.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin
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