 |
Podcast TranscriptThe Naked Scientists: Science Radio & Science Podcasts |
| 26th Nov 2000 | < Previous Show | Next Show > | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
Smoking Makes you Depressed - Especially When you Are Dying for a Fag and Can't Get One...
If you smoke, you are more likely to become depressed, a recent study has found. A survey of a large group of initially happy teenagers, found that those who were smokers were at a higher risk of becoming depressed over the following year. The researchers then looked at another group of teenagers, out of which some were depressed, and found that depression did not predispose them to becoming a smoker.
Interview with Dr. John Roberts, Medical Director of Xenova, about their anti-nicotine vaccine technology
Xenova announce discovery of anti-smoking vaccine (2002)
26th Nov 2000
Environmentally-friendly Green Use for Old Yellow Pages
15 tonnes of old Yellow Pages directories are being shredded and laid under new road surfaces in south Devon in an attempt to cut down traffic noise.
26th Nov 2000
Computers Get it Wrong
How computers can do more harm than good…a 5 year old boy from Sheffield, who Parents don't even own a car, has been summoned to court for driving without a licence - just a few weeks after his 8 year old brother was mistaken charged with committing a string of motoring offences in a ford Xr3i !
26th Nov 2000
Beaver College Upset By Disparaging Abuse of its Name !
An American college has changed its name from Beaver College to Arcadia College after years of lewd remarks about its name. The final straw came when college emails and internet traffic started to be rejected by filters designed to stop people reading sexually explicit material on the internet.
26th Nov 2000
Affairs Make for a Better Husband
An Italian study has found that men having affairs become better husbands and more attentive fathers, spending an extra 20% of their time at home. This is largely, the researchers say, thanks to guilty feelings about their clandestine behaviour.
26th Nov 2000
A New Non-invasive Test for Down's Syndrome
Researchers have developed a non-invasive test that can determine whether a developing baby has Down's syndrome, a condition caused by the baby having an extra chromosome no. 21. Until now the only way to diagnose the condition was to take a small sample of the fluid surrounding the baby, called amniocentesis. Cells in the fluid from the baby can then be analysed to see if they have the extra chromosome. Unfortunately the test carries a risk of miscarriage in about 1% of cases. In the new test, a research team from Hong Kong led by Dr. Dennis Lo have found that they can extract intact foetal cells from the mother's blood, meaning that a simple blood test is all that is required so there is no risk to the baby. The foetal cells can be analysed under the microscope with a dye that selectively labels chromosome 21. Any cells containing more than 2 chromosome 21 signals (which is the correct number) indicate that the baby may have Down's syndrome.
New ultrasound findings provided additional test for Down's Syndrome.
26th Nov 2000
Stress Affects How Blood Vessels Function
Stress increases the risk of developing heart disease and researchers think they have found out why. In a recent study they asked 10 healthy men to defend themselves to an audience against a false charge of shoplifting. In all of the men the stress caused the endothelium, that's the lining of the blood vessels, to function abnormally for at least 4 hours afterwards. The scientists have suggested that abnormal functioning of the blood vessel lining encourages fatty deposits to fur up the vessel, producing heart disease and other problems.
Article about what causes arterial disease, heart attacks and strokes.
26th Nov 2000
Air Pollution Increases Blood 'stickiness'
Scientists have known for years that air pollution causes an increase in the death rate, usually from heart attacks, but they have never understood why. A recent study on civil servants from whitehall has found that on days when the air pollution is bad, blood samples collected from civil servants contained an increased amount of a substance called fibrinogen which thy body uses to form blood clots
26th Nov 2000
The contents of this site are © The Naked Scientists® 2000-2008. The Naked Scientists® and Naked Science® are registered trademarks.