A.
Scientists Launch a Shark Consortium for Southern California
Narrator: This is Science Today. Sharks are some of the fiercest and oldest predators on the planet, so they naturally elicit public fear and fascination. To increase the knowledge and awareness of sharks and rays, researchers at the University of California , San Diego 's Scripps Institution of Oceanography are launching a shark consortium – an idea conceived by research physiologist and marine biologist Jeffrey Graham.
Graham: A very important objective of this consortium will be to raise public awareness about the natural history and ecology of many of the sharks and rays that occur in the coastal waters of San Diego and Northern Baja, California . Certainly those populations are changing the past century. They've all declined partially due to fishing, partially however also due to the encroachment of human civilization into areas that are affecting the quality and the status of inland water bodies.
Narrator: Graham says their main objective now is to tag sharks and rays with satellite or acoustic technology to gather data. For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin
B.
Efforts to Decode DNA of Soybean, an Alternative Energy Source
Narrator: This is Science Today. In an effort to develop a renewable, alternative fuel, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is joining forces with the Department of Energy to decode the DNA of the soybean – the principal source of biodiesel. The sequencing will be tackled by the Joint Genome Institute, a Northern California facility operated by the University of California . Jerry Tuskan, a researcher at the Joint Genome Institute, says the goal is to optimize the soybean for bioenergy production.
Tuskan: Right now, it's grown for animal feed and for human consumption. We think that we will be able to apply an understanding of the genome to develop a list of all the genes that are in the genome, so that we can modify the plant to be better suited for bioenergy and biomass conversion into energy.
Narrator: Tuskan says they'll look to increase oil production throughout the plant, not just in the seeds.
Tuskan: Can we get oil production in storage tissues within the leaves? Within the stem? And if we could do that, we could potentially increase the amount of oil coming off a given acre of land.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C. The History of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Narrator: This is Science Today. ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is the newest name for a condition that's actually been noted since the 1800s. Stephen Hinshaw, chair of the psychology department at the University of California , Berkeley , explains that at the time people began to realize a subgroup of kids didn't learn to read, even though they seemed to have normal intelligence.
Hinshaw: They also realized that other kids who seemed to be functioning well in many domains couldn't focus attention well, were quite impulsive and showed high activity level much more than their peers. This was called minimal brain dysfunction, hyperactivity before the name ADD and now, ADHD took force about fifteen years ago.
Narrator: Hinshaw admits some symptoms of ADHD are part of a normal growing curve, but beyond a certain point, making a diagnosis is important.
Hinshaw: Kids with ADHD are at risk for school failure, delinquent behavior. They're also at high risk for accidental injury. So even though its behaviors meld into the normal range, a careful diagnosis of ADHD shows a kid at risk for very serious consequences.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
Age is an Important Factor When Treating Pain
Narrator: This is Science Today. When it comes to treating patients suffering from severe, chronic pain, age is a very important factor. Dr. Pamela Pierce Palmer, director of the University of California , San Francisco Pain Management Center , found that older patients can safely and effectively be treated with opioid pain medications with little risk of seeking ever-increasing doses. But younger patients were found to want to rapidly up their doses.
Palmer: When I started this study, my main goal was to point out the problem of giving opiates to young people because what we found was there was no long-term benefit in pain relief, even though they escalated sometimes to well over half a gram a day of opiates.
Narrator: Palmer then discovered that elderly patients in pain did not have to escalate to very high doses of opiates and in fact, they had long-term benefit.
Palmer: If we can find those key molecules that make the difference, we can target them and maybe make morphine last longer and better for a twenty-five year old.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E. Tools to Help the Blind Find Their Way in New Environments
Narrator: This is Science Today. Researchers at the University of California , Santa Cruz are using their knowledge of computer vision in robotics to develop a variety of systems to help the blind. Computer engineer Roberto Manduchi says his lab has identified and developed a number of technological tools.
Manduchi: For example, one of the systems that we are working is a system that would allow a blind person in a new environment to find their way. Systems out there that do optical character recognition are not very robust yet, so we don't have yet a computer that can read any signs it sees in the scene.
Narrator: Instead, Manduchi's lab developed a simple system using economical color targets paired with a camera cell phone system.
Manduchi: The system simply can see and detect where these color targets are in the scene, so you can put a little bar code, for example, below the color target and you will be able to have a label of a certain point of space, a cell phone can have a database and understand if it sees this label, I am in a certain location where I want to go.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
