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Podcast TranscriptThe Naked Scientists: Science Radio & Science Podcasts |
| 13th Jan 2002 | < Previous Show | Next Show > | ||||||||||
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New Offensive Weapon for the Army - Bad Smells
The Army could have a new "offensive" weapon in their arsenal before long, one that really stinks! US Department of Defense officials have asked researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia to create a universally offensive odour that can be used by the military for, among other things, crowd control. The non-lethal "odour bomb" is said to smell like rotting garbage, human waste and burning hair. Tests show the putrid odours "are potent in making people want to flee in disgust". The odours also cause shallow breathing, increased heart rate and can lead to nausea, it adds. According to one of the researchers, Pamela Dalton, "People really hated these odours".
13th Jan 2002
Cloning Suffers a Blow From Dolly
Dolly the cloned sheep has developed arthritis in one of her back legs, denting public confidence in the safety of the cloning technology that brought her into being, and knocking 16% off the share price of PPL therapeutics, the company that helped to clone Dolly. Although arthritis is not uncommon in sheep, most animals don't show signs of joint problems until they are at least 10 years old, but Dolly is only 5 and a half. It's important not to jump to conclusions under these circumstances and indeed it could be that because she is such a celebrity, Dolly is under much closer scrutiny than most sheep would be, and so that her joint problems, which might normally have gone unnoticed, have come to light. But experts say that the joints involved, her hind knee and hip, are unusual places for arthritis. However, having led a relatively pampered life, Dolly is somewhat overweight, a condition known to aggravate joint disease, and she also has the rather unusual habit of standing on her hind legs to receive treats. Scientists have recently looked at 335 other cloned animals, including cows and sheep, and found no increased levels of joint diseases amongst them, suggesting that Dolly's arthritis is probably a coincidence rather than a consequence of cloning.
Article by Chris Smith about cloning technology.
Article by Gina Smith about therapeutic cloning.
Japanese scientists find cloned mice die sooner.
13th Jan 2002
Breast Feeding Mothers Have Better Brain Power
Japanese researchers have found that women who breast feed have higher levels of brain activity compared with non-breast feeding mothers. The researchers have found that the hormone oxytocin, which drives milk release from the breast, also increases that activity of nerve cells in the hippocampus, resulting in improved memory and learning. The hippocampus is also the part of the brain affected by Alzheimer's disease, a form of senile dementia, and so researchers are speculating that Alzheimer's patients might benefit.
Article about the anti-Alzheimer's Vaccine
Pregnancy increases the size of the female brain.
13th Jan 2002
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