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A.
An Apple Every Other Day?
Narrator: This is Science Today. You may have heard that eating an apple a day is good for you, but eating an apple every other day may be better. According to University of California, Berkeley nutritionist Marc Hellerstein, mice given 5 percent fewer calories lived longer than a group allowed to eat meals freely.
Hellerstein: There is a remarkable observation in human biology. Which is there is only one thing that can prolong the life span of an animal and that is by restricting their calories.
Narrator: Hellerstein fed the lab mice three times a week and noticed they not only lived longer but diseases like cancer and diabetes were delayed. The next step in the study is to test these findings in humans.
Hellerstein: We're planning to put together a project using these same techniques, and the intermittent fasting model in humans. Because again the nice part about these methods that we developed is they can be used exactly the same in humans, they're safe.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
A Parasitic Mite Threatens the Honeybee
Narrator: This is Science Today. A tiny parasitic mite that destroys the lifecycle of honeybees may devastate the industry – costing the nation's fruit and nut farmers billions of dollars. Eric Mussen, a University of California, Davis Extension bee expert, says the pin-head sized mite, called the Varroa mite, is now resistant to all registered pesticides.
Mussen: When you use a material that kills nearly all of the pests that you hit, some escape because you missed them, but some escape because they have biochemistry that allows them to make it through that chemical treatment. And this isn't something that mutated – it's already there in the population. So over time, we actually select for those individuals, so the population becomes more resistant as we continue the treatment.
Narrator: Scientists are working to develop ways to biologically or chemically control these mites because without honeybees, the nation would lose about 14 billion dollars worth of crops.
Mussen: And your diet and my diet would change significantly because about a third of the food that we consume everyday is the product of honeybee pollination.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
The NIH Funds Research in the Peruvian Amazon
Narrator: This is Science Today. A tropical disease specialist at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, is leading a group of international researchers in a quest to battle malaria in the middle of the Peruvian Amazon. Joseph Vinetz explains that malaria is the second largest killer of people worldwide and the goal of their work is to enhance research capacity in the Peruvian Amazon, where malaria is one of the major infectious diseases and health threats.
Vinetz: We have a large laboratory in the Amazon city of Iquitos and it's a state-of-the-art, microbiology and molecular biology laboratory, along with the expert physicians and young trainees in medicine and biomedical sciences, we're able to team up to help enhance the research capacity.
Narrator: The work is funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Vinetz: What we're intending to do is to focus on the tropical, infectious diseases that are peculiar to the Iquitos region, because this provides us the opportunity to study these diseases, which otherwise may be difficult.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
The National Energy Modeling System
Narrator: This is Science Today. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has released a study suggesting that renewable energy and energy efficiency can help keep the nation's natural gas prices in check. Scientist Ryan Wiser, who led the study, says their work focused exclusively on the impact of renewable energy sources on natural gas prices and bills.
Wiser: Most of the analysis that has been shown that renewables have the potential to reduce natural gas prices have been based on a series of national energy models. And we have the capability to run one of those national energy models called the National Energy Modeling System, or NEMS.
Narrator: NEMS is the model used by the Department of Energy for national energy forecasts, often used as the default national governmental forecast for the nation's energy future.
Wiser: It forecasts how much energy is going to be used, natural gas, oil, electricity, coal. It forecasts the prices of those sources over time, it forecasts how much of which kinds of energy sources is going to be used.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
Changes in School Affecting Obesity in Kids?
Narrator: This is Science Today. There are many factors that cause childhood obesity. According to Patricia Crawford, co-director of the Center for Weight and Health at the University of California, Berkeley, changes in school curriculum play a role in this nationwide epidemic.
Crawford: The P.E. programs have really changed. There's has been such a push on academics, for good reason, but that comes at an expense. Home economics was certainly a course that was taken by many students learning more about nutrition and foods in the past and that has been moved aside for more emphasis on academics.
Narrator: Crawford warns if childhood obesity isn't addressed, it could boost the already high cost of healthcare.
Crawford: There are not enough endocrinologists to handle the number of diabetes we're going to see. There are not enough heart specialists to handle the number of problems that we're going to see. So, prevention is key and it must occur now to reverse this epidemic.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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