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Podcast TranscriptThe Naked Scientists: Science Radio & Science Podcasts |
| 4th May 2002 | < Previous Show | Next Show > | |||||||||
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Prince Charles Is Right to Talk to his Plants
Plants can feel pain, according to German researchers, and they talk to each other using chemical signals. Using highly sensitive microphones, Dr. Frank Kuhnemann and his colleagues found that plants release the gas ethylene (the same stuff used to make polythene) when they are under attack. The microphones could pick up a 'bubbling' sound froma healthy plant, but as soon as the plant was damaged the sound changed to a 'scream'. This finding might be useful because it can be used to predict which items of food will remain freshest for longest, and therefore which ones need to be sold soonest. A device capable of 'listening' to food could the be used to identify, for example, a cucumber that is starting to go off so it can be separated from the fresher ones. Listening to each piece of food as it is harvested would help you to decide which ones to package together and which to sell soonest.
Plants send out distress signals to warn neighbours that they may be in danger.
4th May 2002
Autism Investigations Take a New Turn
The investigation into autism has taken a new twist, in that a new theory has emerged that autism is an autoimmuine disorder, In other words the result of the body turning upon itself. In the latest work, Simon Murch and colleagues from the Royal Free Hospital studied 25 children with regressive autism, in which symptoms begin between the age of 1 and 2. In 23 of the children, they found antibodies towards the same sites of the intestine. None of the children without autism had these traits. According to Murch, the report's author, if the autoimmune process sets in at an early stage, it can impair brain development and lead to autism. Other immuinologists are not convinced. Derek Jewell at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford says that the molecules could simply be the result of inflammation. He says, "if it doesn't mean that autism is an autoimmune disorder."
Show featuring autism expert Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen.
4th May 2002
Tea Drinking Cuts Death Rate Amongst Heart Attack Patients
Scientists will announce tomorrow that drinking Tea regularly if you have had a heart attack has a protective effect on your health, according to a report in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The researchers found that among 1900 men and women who had had heart attacks, those who reported being heavy tea drinkers had a 44% lower death rate than non tea drinkers over the following 3 and a half years, whilst moderate Tea drinkers had a 28% lower death rate. They think that the key may be high levels of anti-oxidants called Flavonoids which are found in tea and also in fresh fruit and vegetables. Flavonoids can prevent cholesterol from forming fatty deposits which block up blood vessels, so they help to reduce the rate at which arteries become 'furred up'. Tea might also be able to prevent blood from clotting so readily, preventing damaged arteries from becoming blocked by blood clots, and other substances in Tea can help blood vessels to relax, lowering blood pressure. The researchers stress that there were no obvious differences in terms of life style, age or sex between the tea drinkers and non-tea-drinkers.
4th May 2002
Fast Food Portions Are Getting Larger...as Are the People Who Eat It
Fast food advertisers are encouraging an epidemic in obesity. Windhause and Marlene from Louisiana State University studied fast food ads from the last 25 years on Saturday morning TV, the prime spor for targetting children. The portions on the films have apparently doubled or tripled. These results were presented to the American Heart Association in Honolulu.
A virus may underlie the world obesity epidemic
4th May 2002
A New Invention to Help you Get Rid of Spiders
A man from Hertfordshire has come up with a novel de-spidering device for removing spiders from walls or the sides of the bath. John Dony's invention consists of a transparent plastic box, open on one side. You put the open side of the box over the spider, trapping it, and then blow through a flexible plastic tube on the opposite side of the box to blast the spider off the wall so that it falls harmlessly into a trap under the box. You then take trap and spider outside and let it go. Or you can stamp on it.
4th May 2002
a Brain Stimulator to Cure Depression
A surgically implanted "pacemaker for the brain" significantly improves depression - and its benefits last for at least two years, according to the results of the first long-term follow-up study of the treatment. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is conventionally used to treat severe cases of epilepsy. The VNS device consists of an electrode, which is wrapped around the vagus nerve in the neck, and a pulse generator. The pulse generator is inserted into an opening in the chest. It is programmed to stimulate the nerve in 30-second bursts, sending impulses into the limbic area of the brain - an area linked to mood. After patients using the device showed notable improvement in mood, the manufacturer, Cyberonics, commissioned a pilot study of its effectiveness in depression, which was completed in 1999. That study found that 60 people who had failed to improve after taking two or three existing anti-depression medications showed a 60 per cent improvement after surgery to implant a VNS device. However, the most treatment-resistant - those who failed on more than eight medications - did not respond to the surgery. Anthony Cleare, head of the department of neurobiology of mood disorders at the UK's Institute of Psychiatry says he is still uncertain over the role VNS has in treating depression. "I don't think it will be used widely, because it requires surgery and the device is there for life. Also it has side-effects. Every five minutes the box discharges for 30 seconds, which causes the patient's voice to become hoarse." Depression is estimated to affect up to 12 per cent of men and 25 per cent of women worldwide.
4th May 2002
Vulture Make-up
The make-up industry is never going to believe this, but scientists in Spain have shown how eating poo can be used for cosmetic effects. But luckily this doesn't mean that a trip to Superdrug is about to get very unpleasant - the studies were done using a rare breed of vulture which lives in Spain. This bird is distinctive for having a bright yellow face, due to the presence of carotenoid pigments. Carotenoids are chemicals found in many fruit and vegetables, and give carrots their distinctive orange colour. But no one could work out how these vultures managed to get the carotenoids into their diet since they prefer to feast on rotting meat rather than tucking into a plateful of salad. The clue came from the Spanish folk-lore names for these birds- "churretero" or "moniguero", meaning "dung-eater". They had been seen getting down to a spot of coprophagy, chowing down on cow dung. This is extremely unusual behaviour in birds, and its purpose was a mystery until the Spanish scientists measured the levels of carotenoids in the poo. They found significantly high levels of the chemicals, particularly in areas where the cows fed on fresh, green pastures. Thus they solved the mystery of how the vultures keep their bright yellow faces, but personally I think I'll stick to the fake tan.
4th May 2002
Glowing Fish for your Fishtank Or Frankenstein Pets ?
A Taiwanese company has created a genetically modified zebra fish that will glow in the dark, but environmentalists are worried that the fish will start a trend for bio-engineered "Frankenstein pets". The modified fish are set for import into Britain later in the year, and are the first ornamental fish to be genetically modified. A jellyfish gene called GFP has been added to make them glow yellow-green. The GM Medaka or zebra fish - an east Asian freshwater variety - has been developed by Taiwan's Taikong Corporation. It is called the TK-1. Taikong reported strong interest in Britain, where the aquatic industry is worth £300 million a year. It insisted that the TK-1 was safe, sterile and the fluorescent gene was not harmful. Taikong said it would satisfy European Union rules that genetically modified imports must not threaten health or the environment. Aquatic industry specialists are worried, however, that the TK-1 is the first of many GM pet fish destined for Britain. Tropical fish are being bio-engineered to tolerate cold and could colonise British waters if they escaped. "Piranhas that could survive in our waterways would be a major problem," said Derek Lambert, the editor of Today's Fishkeeper magazine, who is urging traders to boycott the TK-1. "We are worried about Frankenstein fish." Keith Davenport, the Ornamental Trade Association chief executive, said: "Interfering with the genome is unnecessary. We don't want animals to become fashion accessories."
Scientists develop glowing goldfish
4th May 2002
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