A. Researchers Analyze Effects of Airborne Particles in Urban Areas
Narrator: This is Science Today. Researchers at the University of California , Davis are studying the microscopic changes that occur in our cells in reaction to air pollutants. Kent Pinkerton, director of the UC Davis Center for Health and the Environment, is co-leading an eight million dollar project to study air pollution in California 's San Joaquin Valley, which has one of the nation's highest rates of asthma in children.
Pinkerton: One thing that is really important is try to understand what is it in the air that's producing health effects. If we can understand if it's based on the size of the particles that are being inhaled, or the chemical composition of the particles through make up, I think that would help us in going forward tremendously in better understanding why there is a health effect associated with breathing in these particles.
Narrator: The researchers are currently analyzing completed studies of late summer effects of airborne particles in urban areas to see if they can actually lead to changes in the heart and lungs. For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
B.
Driver's Education Begins with Parents
Narrator: This is Science Today. Handing over the car keys to a teenaged child is a major milestone – but it can also be a major source of worry. Yet, research has shown that parents can influence whether or not their children become safe drivers. Dr. Federico Vaca, an associate professor of clinical emergency medicine at the University of California, Irvine is an expert on driver safety issues.
Vaca: Research clearly shows that like in many other things, like education, parents that are most involved with their kids in their education, these kids tend to do better. And the research shows that parents that are most involved in their children in the pre-driving and driving phases, and their driving education for kids, these kids are safer – they drive safer.
Narrator: Vaca says the research also shows that kids tend to drive like their parents.
Vaca: Now, the onus is on us as parents because we are models for the kids. So, if you drive not so great, your kids are listening, they're watching seeing what you're doing, so the onus is on us to be the model – the right model.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
Female Brains Recall the Details of Emotional Events Faster
Narrator: This is Science Today. Chances are a woman can more readily recall what she wore on a first date than a man could. Why? Dr. Louann Brizendine, a psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco and author of ‘The Female Brain', says MRI scanners have found that the aspects of the female brain that know and remember the details of emotional events is actually different than a male's.
Brizendine: It's the details of some emotional events that you have tattooed on your brain – he may not remember at all. We don't know why necessarily that is, the part we do know is that for millions of years, male and female brains have evolved in slightly different niches.
Narrator: Brizendine explains that women had to keep themselves and helpless infants safe and alive in sometimes hostile environments by relying on non-verbal cues.
Brizendine: It's not surprising then the big area of reading emotions in others is something female brains do a little bit faster and they can read more subtle emotions than males. It's not that they can't do it, it's just that they do it faster.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
The Brain's Role in Developing 'Smart' Neural Prosthetic Devices
Narrator: This is Science Today. Neural prostheses are artificial devices used to replace lost nervous system function. These devices work with the brain to control function of the artificial device, such as a prosthetic arm or leg, by delivering electric stimulation to the brain. Dr. Mike Merzenich of the University of California, San Francisco has led pioneering studies over the years that reveal how the brain can learn to rewire itself in response to new conditions – even during adulthood and aging.
Merzenich: We now know that the brain changes itself continuously and that change is manifested by our learning, by our progress in life. Every time we learn, basically the brain revises itself in detail and the neurological part of our accomplishments, of our progressions are expressed by that remodeling.
Narrator: The brain's ability to change, called plasticity, is being used by engineers and neuroscientists to develop ‘smart' neural prosthetic devices.
Merzenich: What you really want it to be controlled by is by you ; and what you really want it to be controlled by is by your brain. And the more sophisticated that control is, the better.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E. A Comprehensive Autism Research Project
Narrator: This is Science Today. One of the biggest misconceptions about autism is that it is purely a psychological disorder. According to neurologist David Amaral, research director of the M.I.N.D. Institute at the University of California, Davis, most researchers in the field now believe that autism is a biological and medical disorder that affects the brain and other body systems.
Amaral: We've all come to the appreciation that there's probably multiple types of autism that all have the core features, just like there are many types of cancer. And we are working under the hypothesis that there are going to be different causes of autism. Some may be purely genetic, some may be purely environmental, but probably the majority of them will be a combination of genes and environment interacting.
Narrator: At the M.I.N.D. Institute, Amaral says researchers have launched the Autism Phenome Project.
Amaral: We're trying to look at all aspects of a child's biology and behavior. The problem in autism research in the past is that there's been good research that's been done, but it's been fragmentary.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
