A. WMD Technologies Must Balance Security with Civil Liberties
Narrator: This is Science Today. How do developers of technology capable of detecting weapons of mass destruction, or WMDs, abide by Fourth Amendment prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizures and the proper issuance of warrants? It's a question that's explored by Dan Prosnitz, deputy director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Homeland Security Organization.
Prosnitz: The courts have ruled a number of cases, most of which have to do with drugs and dog sniffs or dogs that can detect drugs or explosives. If all you reveal is what's called contraband – an illegal substance, then whatever detection method you used is OK. That is, they've ruled you have no expectation of privacy in legal substances, so if we can come up with a detector that only reveals illegal substance and reveals nothing else – red, green light, then maybe that stands a better chance.
Narrator: Prosnitz says scientists and engineers who are aware of limitations on search and seizure in the U.S. Constitution can help ensure that the technical community's efforts will be maximally useful. For Science Today, I'm
B.
How Genetic Risk Score May Help Patients Receive Better Treatment
Narrator: This is Science Today. A pair of genes has been discovered that could help doctors predict early heart attack risk. A study by the University of California , San Francisco , along with The Cleveland Clinic and Celera Genomics looked at over 2,000 heart attack victims to identify these genes. Dr. John Kane, director of the UC San Francisco Cardiovascular Research Institute, explains.
Kane: Each of the two genes that we are reporting here have a variant form of the gene, structurally different, which is more commonly found in people with heart disease, suggesting very strongly that that gene has an effect on the risk of heart disease.
Narrator: One of the genes is linked to clotting, which can lead to a heart attack. And Kane says the heart attack risk from both the genes they've identified is comparable to the risk from being a heavy smoker.
Kane: Smokers who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day will experience an approximate doubling of the risk of heart attack, but each of these genes contributes about that much increased risk of heart attack as well.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C. A Study Warns About the Risk of Household Cleaning Products
Narrator: This is Science Today. Common household cleaners and air fresheners can emit toxic pollutants at significant levels that may lead to health risks, such as asthma, when used indoors in unventilated spaces. William Nazaroff, a professor of environmental engineering at the University of California , Berkeley , says in the past, studies have emphasized on the large and obvious sources of air pollution.
Nazaroff: This study focuses on pollution that comes from small sources, and usually we overlook small sources, but when the small sources are in close proximity to people and used in enclosed spaces, then even small rates of emission can have a significant effect.
Narrator: Nazaroff focused on chemicals found in cleaners known as ethylene-based glycol ethers and the reaction of ozone with terpenes, a class of chemicals found in pine, lemon and orange oils used in cleaners and air fresheners.
Nazaroff: I think the key thing is just to be aware that pollution isn't always out there. It's sometimes right under our nose.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin .
D.
Research Consortium Forms the Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence
Narrator: This is Science Today. The Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence, established at the University of California , San Diego , is one of seven National Cancer Institute centers nationwide. The goal is to develop clinically useful nanotechnology platforms to treat, understand and monitor cancer. Electrical engineer Mihri Ozkan of the University of California , Riverside says her work with micro-electrical arrays – devices 100 thousand times thinner than a human hair – will be part of the project.
Ozkan: So far in our studies, we have identified the differences between a liver cell versus a neuron coming form the brain and connective tissue cells and then cells are coming from the bones. We do have their signature patterns, so we can identify if there are unknown cells and if they are among these ones that we created in the library, we can identify these cells. So, the same principals is going to be applied for detection of healthy versus cancerous and also among different types of cancer cells.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin .
E.
Major Strides Made in Fetal Intervention Surgery
Narrator: This is Science Today. The Fetal Treatment Center at the University of California , San Francisco is one of a handful of centers in the United States that perform fetal surgery. A quarter of a century ago, the center made history when physicians performed the first surgery on a fetus in utero. Dr. Lisa Hornberger, director of the Fetal Cardiovascular Program, says today it's a really critical and very exciting time to be in the field of fetal intervention.
Hornberger: Because we can now, maybe prevent even the development of the worst conditions that we see after birth – the one being hypoplastic left heart syndrome, where there's complete underdevelopment of the left heart, that after birth these babies require at least three operations and have a long-term, guarded or uncertain future and if we can prevent the development of this condition, which again is one of the most common, complex newborn conditions that we see, it would be fantastic! It gives them a completely different outlook in life and a different outlook in families.
Narrator: Since its founding, the Fetal Treatment Center has treated more than 15,000 birth defects. For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin .
