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"title": "What Two Sisters With a Rare Heart Condition Taught Doctors About Our Genes",
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"content": "\u003cp>Early in February of 2008, just days after she was born, Tatiana Legkiy lay in a cardiac intensive care unit, her tiny body hooked up to a respirator. After crying for two hours, she was now briefly quiet, the tube in her throat helping her breathe but also preventing her from making any sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatiana’s heart was failing. A cardiologist, tipped off by a pediatrician who heard something strange in a routine checkup, had examined her earlier that day and grown worried. He sent Tatiana to a nearby hospital in Modesto, California, where she remained for only an hour before being whisked eighty miles west by ambulance to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatiana’s parents arrived at the hospital shortly afterwards. At the time, Lana and Andrey Legkiy lived in Manteca, a city in California’s Central Valley. Andrey worked at an animal supply company; Lana stayed home and took care of their four-year-old daughter, Anna. Weekends found the the family outside together, camping or fishing in the Delta where the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers flow into the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before Tatiana’s birth, the Legkiys knew medical hardship well. A year earlier Lana had suffered a miscarriage, losing an unborn child, a boy, in her third trimester. At the time, physicians had ascribed his cause of death to pulmonary hypoplasia, or incomplete development of the lungs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given that medical history, when Tatiana arrived at Benioff in critical condition, the doctors requested slides from the unborn child’s autopsy. This time, taking a closer look at small samples of heart tissue, they noted the true cause of death — an extremely rare heart condition known as left ventricular noncompaction (LVNC), in which the heart muscle remains immature and cannot pump blood normally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Visually, physicians identify LVNC by the fingerlike protrusions of muscle extending from the wall of the heart into the left ventricle, which supplies the body with oxygen-rich blood. An echocardiogram of Tatiana’s heart showed these same characteristics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gently, the physicians told Tatiana’s parents that there would be no surgery, but only because LVNC has no cure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Hunch\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immediately, Deepak Srivastava, then-attending physician at Benioff, suspected a genetic connection. He was a geneticist, after all, and Tatiana’s unborn sibling had shared the same disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though he could not have foreseen it as Tatiana struggled for her life that day, proving this intuition would require over a decade of work. It would also require technology which was only just becoming usable, and the dedication of researchers he had not yet met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming years, Srivastava would move forward with his own career, juggling the roles of biology professor, pediatric cardiologist, and ultimately president of Gladstone Institutes, a nonprofit biomedical research institution in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the story of the Legkiys would stay with him. For a decade, he wouldn’t be able to shake the desire to pinpoint a precise genetic cause of LVNC, a necessary first step towards finding a cure for the disease. With that knowledge, physicians could rapidly screen potential drugs using an accurate, personalized model for patients like Tatiana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945469\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1945469 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009-1020x765.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anna and Tatiana Legkiy in 2009, just after Tatiana came off medication. \u003ccite>(Lana Legkiy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Adding to the urgency of the Legkiys’ situation: Tatiana was not their only child. Even as Tatiana received her diagnosis in 2008, her happy four-year-old sister, Anna, ran around the hospital waiting room. Blissfully oblivious, Anna charmed the physicians, who began to wonder: did all three Legkiy children share the same disease?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Tatiana stabilized, thanks to medication helping her heart pump and a respirator helping her breathe, Srivastava’s team set about finding an answer. Two days after diagnosing Tatiana, the scientists took an echocardiogram, a kind of ultrasound, of her father’s heart. They observed that Andrey had a less severe, asymptomatic case of Tatiana’s condition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Deepak Srivastava, Gladstone Institutes']‘This is a family who had lost one child, their other child was in a life-threatening situation, and then they find out their other girl has the same thing… it was actually pretty devastating.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So by the time they tested Anna’s heart the following day, Lana Legkiy already knew more than a mother should about what LVNC looked like in an ultrasound. (The team would later examine Lana’s own heart, and find it normal.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she saw Anna’s heart up on the screen, she knew without being told that her daughters shared the same disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Lana can’t remember precisely what she felt in that moment— so much happened at once — but she does recall a dream she had while in the hospital, after Tatiana’s diagnosis. Lana doesn’t consider herself a true believer of supernatural occurrences, but she thinks dreams are important. “I saw both of them… as grown women,” she said. “I think that settled me down a little bit, like, ‘Okay, we’re going to be okay.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Srivastava, however, remembers the Legkiys’ distress acutely. “It was actually very sad,” he said. “This is a family who had lost one child, their other child was in a life-threatening situation, and then they find out their other girl has the same thing… it was actually pretty devastating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Long Search for Proof\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the physicians told the Legkiys, there was and is still no cure or surgical procedure that can remedy LVNC. In cases such as Anna’s, the heart compensates for its left ventricle and swells, allowing it to pump more blood through the body. Anna, like others with enlarged hearts, did not display typical symptoms of heart dysfunction such as fatigue or rapid breathing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Srivastava, however, told the Legkiys that both girls’ hearts would need to be monitored with yearly ultrasounds. Tatiana was sent home with more of the medication that helped her heart pump; she would take the medicine for a year before her heart muscles improved and the medication was no longer necessary. The family resumed what was, for the most part, a normal life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' align='left' citation='Lea Starita, University of Washington']‘For years, I think we’ve known… that not all pathogenicities were going to be caused by single genes. I don’t think there’s ever been a study that so well defined the interaction between three human variants on a phenotype like this.’[/pullquote]As Anna and Tatiana grew into young women, now 15 and 11, Srivastava and his coworkers set about pinpointing the precise causes of the family’s congenital heart disease. The team sequenced the family’s DNA, combing through their genes in search of the variants all three children shared, screening against frequency of occurrence in the general population and for association with the heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists quickly found three mutations in three different genes shared by the three siblings that they suspected to be the cause of the disease, two inherited from Andrey (\u003cem>MKL2\u003c/em> and \u003cem>MYH7\u003c/em>) and one from Lana (\u003cem>NKX2-5\u003c/em>). If not for the advent of a few key technologies, the investigation would have stopped here, the Legkiys left to wonder what was hidden in their genes. Srivastava’s search for proof, however, was just beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CRISPR’s Perfect Timing\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 2014, the Legkiys were living in Seattle; Tatiana and Anna were six and 10, both medication-free. Tatiana’s hospital experience seemed like a distant memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, meanwhile, Casey Gifford, a recent PhD from Harvard, had joined Srivastava’s research team. New to both human genomics and heart disease, she and Srivastava spent a four-hour car ride to a conference in Lake Tahoe discussing what they thought would be the next big questions in medicine. Srivastava brought up the family he couldn’t forget — and realized, as he did so, that the tools they would need to prove which genetic mutations caused LVNC in the Legkiys might finally exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/futureofyou/436872/explainer-the-new-gene-editing-tool-significantly-more-precise-than-crispr\">CRISPR/Cas9\u003c/a>, with which scientists can selectively remove and replace portions of the genome, had just been used in mammalian cells for the first time the year before. Its advent, Srivastava knew, meant that creating a mouse model with a desired genetic condition, which used to take a year, could now be done in three weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945465\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 319px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1945465 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/for_kqed_mouse_lv.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"319\" height=\"241\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/for_kqed_mouse_lv.jpg 319w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/for_kqed_mouse_lv-160x121.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 319px) 100vw, 319px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fingerlike protrusions, a hallmark of LVNC, extend into the cavity of a three day old mouse’s left ventricle. Cell nuclei are marked in blue, and the lining of the cavity is shown in red. \u003ccite>(Casey Gifford/Gladstone Institutes)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Armed with CRISPR/Cas9, Srivastava and Gifford decided to engineer mice with the same three mutations that Srivastava suspected had caused the Legkiy siblings’ heart condition. They hypothesized that the mutations would result in phenotypes, or observable physical expressions of genes, that resembled the phenotype of the human disease. As predicted, the mice with all three mutations showed the same finger-like protrusions in their hearts, demonstrating that, at least in mice, the mutations were enough to cause LVNC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Patient’s Beating Heart (Cells)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mouse heart tissue that resembled the Legkiy childrens’ was an exciting breakthrough, but Srivastava and Gifford knew that to persuade the scientific community of the genes’ importance, they’d need to design an equally convincing experiment in human cells. As Srivastava realized on that car ride, their timing could not have been better: in 2012, Gladstone researchers had won the Nobel Prize for \u003ca href=\"https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2012/press-release/\">induced pluripotent stem cells\u003c/a>, cells that are genetically taken back in time to behave like embryonic stem cells, which scientists can then turn into any cell type in the body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists took skin grafts from the family and reprogrammed the cells to grow petri dishes full of heart cells genetically identical to Lana, Andrey, Anna and Tatiana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the lab, these cells pulsed (literally; heart cells \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLiMUqYp3Jk\">pulse\u003c/a> with a heartbeat all their own) in confirmation of the team’s diagnosis. Even these cardiomyocytes, the one kind of heart cell the researchers had decided to test, displayed hallmarks of LVNC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each family member had their own petri dish of cells. Lana’s cells spread across her petri dish the way normal cells do, as if they were stars in the sky. Anna’s, by contrast, clumped together and did not stick well to the dish. Together with RNA sequencing data, the results showed that cell adhesion, long suspected to play a role in LVNC, had been affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945466\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1945466 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Casey Gifford, lead author, and Deepak Srivastava, senior author, examine sections of heart tissue for signs of LVNC. \u003ccite>(Gladstone Institutes)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In conjunction with the CRISPR/Cas9 experiments, the cell study showed that the three mutations Srivastava’s team had identified had been enough to cause Anna and Tatiana to display symptoms of LVNC. \u003ca href=\"https://gladstone.org/about-us/news/combination-three-gene-mutations-results-deadly-human-heart-disease\">This result\u003c/a>, published in \u003cem>Science\u003c/em> this May, gave proof to a phenomenon that had long been suspected by the medical community: that multiple genetic mutations could work together to cause a disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lea Starita, a research assistant professor in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington, calls this proof “extremely important” for the field. She points out that the results hinged on the advent of cutting-edge technology and a single cardiologist paying the case a lot of attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For years, I think we’ve known… that not all pathogenicities were going to be caused by single genes,” she said. “I don’t think there’s ever been a study that so well defined the interaction between three human variants on a phenotype like this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Looking Forward\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatiana and Anna now live happy, normal lives: Anna is introverted and creative, a walking encyclopedia, her mother says; Tatiana is more outgoing. By now, their hearts seem to have developed normally, at last catching up to their bodies. Neither takes heart medication, though Srivastava says their hearts will need to be monitored for the rest of their lives, especially in moments of stress and when they get older. “It’s my hope that before they get to that point, we’ll have a better way to treat them,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945467\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 550px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1945467\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tatiana, Anna and Lana Legkiy. \u003ccite>(Lana Legkiy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With precise knowledge of which genetic mutations caused Anna and Tatiana’s rare heart condition, scientists now have taken the first steps toward identifying a cure. Gifford says that their combination of CRISPR/Cas9 models and use of stem cells illustrates the true power of genome editing. “We can [now] try to create much more faithful models of disease,” she said — models which could accelerate drug screening for a wide range of diseases, including other heart conditions and breast cancer.[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Deepak Srivastava, Gladstone Institutes']‘These cases are the kinds that don’t come along all that often, but they’re the ones that can help us treat other diseases better.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The private sector has also been watching the Legkiys’ case, and is enthusiastic about what it could mean for how other genetic cases are studied. Tim Behrens, senior VP of a start-up company called \u003ca href=\"https://mazetx.com/\">Maze Therapeutics\u003c/a> (not associated with the study), commends the work as “a terrific story of how genetics and functional genomics really [help] us understand the underlying biology driving disease.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behrens does point out that diseases influenced by many mutations would be harder to tackle. Informed by large-scale screening of genes for mutations, Maze is on its way to drug development with the hope that patients like Anna and Tatiana can receive treatment someday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Srivastava, meanwhile, is still pushing the limits of what technology can do for patients. Advances in single cell assays from the past year are allowing his team to use CRISPR/Cas9 to test a hundred suspected mutations in patients’ cells at once. He says that they’re at work on the genomes of thousands of children with heart disease, all thanks to their experience with the Legkiys. “These cases are the kinds that don’t come along all that often,” he said, “but they’re the ones that can help us treat other diseases better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Tatiana and Anna Legkiy have LVNC, a rare heart condition. After eleven years, their cardiologist finally knows why.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Early in February of 2008, just days after she was born, Tatiana Legkiy lay in a cardiac intensive care unit, her tiny body hooked up to a respirator. After crying for two hours, she was now briefly quiet, the tube in her throat helping her breathe but also preventing her from making any sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatiana’s heart was failing. A cardiologist, tipped off by a pediatrician who heard something strange in a routine checkup, had examined her earlier that day and grown worried. He sent Tatiana to a nearby hospital in Modesto, California, where she remained for only an hour before being whisked eighty miles west by ambulance to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatiana’s parents arrived at the hospital shortly afterwards. At the time, Lana and Andrey Legkiy lived in Manteca, a city in California’s Central Valley. Andrey worked at an animal supply company; Lana stayed home and took care of their four-year-old daughter, Anna. Weekends found the the family outside together, camping or fishing in the Delta where the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers flow into the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before Tatiana’s birth, the Legkiys knew medical hardship well. A year earlier Lana had suffered a miscarriage, losing an unborn child, a boy, in her third trimester. At the time, physicians had ascribed his cause of death to pulmonary hypoplasia, or incomplete development of the lungs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given that medical history, when Tatiana arrived at Benioff in critical condition, the doctors requested slides from the unborn child’s autopsy. This time, taking a closer look at small samples of heart tissue, they noted the true cause of death — an extremely rare heart condition known as left ventricular noncompaction (LVNC), in which the heart muscle remains immature and cannot pump blood normally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Visually, physicians identify LVNC by the fingerlike protrusions of muscle extending from the wall of the heart into the left ventricle, which supplies the body with oxygen-rich blood. An echocardiogram of Tatiana’s heart showed these same characteristics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gently, the physicians told Tatiana’s parents that there would be no surgery, but only because LVNC has no cure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Hunch\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immediately, Deepak Srivastava, then-attending physician at Benioff, suspected a genetic connection. He was a geneticist, after all, and Tatiana’s unborn sibling had shared the same disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though he could not have foreseen it as Tatiana struggled for her life that day, proving this intuition would require over a decade of work. It would also require technology which was only just becoming usable, and the dedication of researchers he had not yet met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming years, Srivastava would move forward with his own career, juggling the roles of biology professor, pediatric cardiologist, and ultimately president of Gladstone Institutes, a nonprofit biomedical research institution in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the story of the Legkiys would stay with him. For a decade, he wouldn’t be able to shake the desire to pinpoint a precise genetic cause of LVNC, a necessary first step towards finding a cure for the disease. With that knowledge, physicians could rapidly screen potential drugs using an accurate, personalized model for patients like Tatiana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945469\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1945469 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009-1020x765.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/AnnaTatiana2009.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anna and Tatiana Legkiy in 2009, just after Tatiana came off medication. \u003ccite>(Lana Legkiy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Adding to the urgency of the Legkiys’ situation: Tatiana was not their only child. Even as Tatiana received her diagnosis in 2008, her happy four-year-old sister, Anna, ran around the hospital waiting room. Blissfully oblivious, Anna charmed the physicians, who began to wonder: did all three Legkiy children share the same disease?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Tatiana stabilized, thanks to medication helping her heart pump and a respirator helping her breathe, Srivastava’s team set about finding an answer. Two days after diagnosing Tatiana, the scientists took an echocardiogram, a kind of ultrasound, of her father’s heart. They observed that Andrey had a less severe, asymptomatic case of Tatiana’s condition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So by the time they tested Anna’s heart the following day, Lana Legkiy already knew more than a mother should about what LVNC looked like in an ultrasound. (The team would later examine Lana’s own heart, and find it normal.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she saw Anna’s heart up on the screen, she knew without being told that her daughters shared the same disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Lana can’t remember precisely what she felt in that moment— so much happened at once — but she does recall a dream she had while in the hospital, after Tatiana’s diagnosis. Lana doesn’t consider herself a true believer of supernatural occurrences, but she thinks dreams are important. “I saw both of them… as grown women,” she said. “I think that settled me down a little bit, like, ‘Okay, we’re going to be okay.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Srivastava, however, remembers the Legkiys’ distress acutely. “It was actually very sad,” he said. “This is a family who had lost one child, their other child was in a life-threatening situation, and then they find out their other girl has the same thing… it was actually pretty devastating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Long Search for Proof\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the physicians told the Legkiys, there was and is still no cure or surgical procedure that can remedy LVNC. In cases such as Anna’s, the heart compensates for its left ventricle and swells, allowing it to pump more blood through the body. Anna, like others with enlarged hearts, did not display typical symptoms of heart dysfunction such as fatigue or rapid breathing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Srivastava, however, told the Legkiys that both girls’ hearts would need to be monitored with yearly ultrasounds. Tatiana was sent home with more of the medication that helped her heart pump; she would take the medicine for a year before her heart muscles improved and the medication was no longer necessary. The family resumed what was, for the most part, a normal life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘For years, I think we’ve known… that not all pathogenicities were going to be caused by single genes. I don’t think there’s ever been a study that so well defined the interaction between three human variants on a phenotype like this.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As Anna and Tatiana grew into young women, now 15 and 11, Srivastava and his coworkers set about pinpointing the precise causes of the family’s congenital heart disease. The team sequenced the family’s DNA, combing through their genes in search of the variants all three children shared, screening against frequency of occurrence in the general population and for association with the heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists quickly found three mutations in three different genes shared by the three siblings that they suspected to be the cause of the disease, two inherited from Andrey (\u003cem>MKL2\u003c/em> and \u003cem>MYH7\u003c/em>) and one from Lana (\u003cem>NKX2-5\u003c/em>). If not for the advent of a few key technologies, the investigation would have stopped here, the Legkiys left to wonder what was hidden in their genes. Srivastava’s search for proof, however, was just beginning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CRISPR’s Perfect Timing\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 2014, the Legkiys were living in Seattle; Tatiana and Anna were six and 10, both medication-free. Tatiana’s hospital experience seemed like a distant memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, meanwhile, Casey Gifford, a recent PhD from Harvard, had joined Srivastava’s research team. New to both human genomics and heart disease, she and Srivastava spent a four-hour car ride to a conference in Lake Tahoe discussing what they thought would be the next big questions in medicine. Srivastava brought up the family he couldn’t forget — and realized, as he did so, that the tools they would need to prove which genetic mutations caused LVNC in the Legkiys might finally exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/futureofyou/436872/explainer-the-new-gene-editing-tool-significantly-more-precise-than-crispr\">CRISPR/Cas9\u003c/a>, with which scientists can selectively remove and replace portions of the genome, had just been used in mammalian cells for the first time the year before. Its advent, Srivastava knew, meant that creating a mouse model with a desired genetic condition, which used to take a year, could now be done in three weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945465\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 319px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1945465 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/for_kqed_mouse_lv.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"319\" height=\"241\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/for_kqed_mouse_lv.jpg 319w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/for_kqed_mouse_lv-160x121.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 319px) 100vw, 319px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fingerlike protrusions, a hallmark of LVNC, extend into the cavity of a three day old mouse’s left ventricle. Cell nuclei are marked in blue, and the lining of the cavity is shown in red. \u003ccite>(Casey Gifford/Gladstone Institutes)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Armed with CRISPR/Cas9, Srivastava and Gifford decided to engineer mice with the same three mutations that Srivastava suspected had caused the Legkiy siblings’ heart condition. They hypothesized that the mutations would result in phenotypes, or observable physical expressions of genes, that resembled the phenotype of the human disease. As predicted, the mice with all three mutations showed the same finger-like protrusions in their hearts, demonstrating that, at least in mice, the mutations were enough to cause LVNC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Patient’s Beating Heart (Cells)\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mouse heart tissue that resembled the Legkiy childrens’ was an exciting breakthrough, but Srivastava and Gifford knew that to persuade the scientific community of the genes’ importance, they’d need to design an equally convincing experiment in human cells. As Srivastava realized on that car ride, their timing could not have been better: in 2012, Gladstone researchers had won the Nobel Prize for \u003ca href=\"https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2012/press-release/\">induced pluripotent stem cells\u003c/a>, cells that are genetically taken back in time to behave like embryonic stem cells, which scientists can then turn into any cell type in the body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists took skin grafts from the family and reprogrammed the cells to grow petri dishes full of heart cells genetically identical to Lana, Andrey, Anna and Tatiana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the lab, these cells pulsed (literally; heart cells \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLiMUqYp3Jk\">pulse\u003c/a> with a heartbeat all their own) in confirmation of the team’s diagnosis. Even these cardiomyocytes, the one kind of heart cell the researchers had decided to test, displayed hallmarks of LVNC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each family member had their own petri dish of cells. Lana’s cells spread across her petri dish the way normal cells do, as if they were stars in the sky. Anna’s, by contrast, clumped together and did not stick well to the dish. Together with RNA sequencing data, the results showed that cell adhesion, long suspected to play a role in LVNC, had been affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945466\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1945466 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Gladstone_SrivastavaGifford.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Casey Gifford, lead author, and Deepak Srivastava, senior author, examine sections of heart tissue for signs of LVNC. \u003ccite>(Gladstone Institutes)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In conjunction with the CRISPR/Cas9 experiments, the cell study showed that the three mutations Srivastava’s team had identified had been enough to cause Anna and Tatiana to display symptoms of LVNC. \u003ca href=\"https://gladstone.org/about-us/news/combination-three-gene-mutations-results-deadly-human-heart-disease\">This result\u003c/a>, published in \u003cem>Science\u003c/em> this May, gave proof to a phenomenon that had long been suspected by the medical community: that multiple genetic mutations could work together to cause a disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lea Starita, a research assistant professor in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington, calls this proof “extremely important” for the field. She points out that the results hinged on the advent of cutting-edge technology and a single cardiologist paying the case a lot of attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For years, I think we’ve known… that not all pathogenicities were going to be caused by single genes,” she said. “I don’t think there’s ever been a study that so well defined the interaction between three human variants on a phenotype like this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Looking Forward\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatiana and Anna now live happy, normal lives: Anna is introverted and creative, a walking encyclopedia, her mother says; Tatiana is more outgoing. By now, their hearts seem to have developed normally, at last catching up to their bodies. Neither takes heart medication, though Srivastava says their hearts will need to be monitored for the rest of their lives, especially in moments of stress and when they get older. “It’s my hope that before they get to that point, we’ll have a better way to treat them,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945467\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 550px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1945467\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/413223_443577799016188_1715831936_o.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tatiana, Anna and Lana Legkiy. \u003ccite>(Lana Legkiy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With precise knowledge of which genetic mutations caused Anna and Tatiana’s rare heart condition, scientists now have taken the first steps toward identifying a cure. Gifford says that their combination of CRISPR/Cas9 models and use of stem cells illustrates the true power of genome editing. “We can [now] try to create much more faithful models of disease,” she said — models which could accelerate drug screening for a wide range of diseases, including other heart conditions and breast cancer.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The private sector has also been watching the Legkiys’ case, and is enthusiastic about what it could mean for how other genetic cases are studied. Tim Behrens, senior VP of a start-up company called \u003ca href=\"https://mazetx.com/\">Maze Therapeutics\u003c/a> (not associated with the study), commends the work as “a terrific story of how genetics and functional genomics really [help] us understand the underlying biology driving disease.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behrens does point out that diseases influenced by many mutations would be harder to tackle. Informed by large-scale screening of genes for mutations, Maze is on its way to drug development with the hope that patients like Anna and Tatiana can receive treatment someday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Srivastava, meanwhile, is still pushing the limits of what technology can do for patients. Advances in single cell assays from the past year are allowing his team to use CRISPR/Cas9 to test a hundred suspected mutations in patients’ cells at once. He says that they’re at work on the genomes of thousands of children with heart disease, all thanks to their experience with the Legkiys. “These cases are the kinds that don’t come along all that often,” he said, “but they’re the ones that can help us treat other diseases better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In front of a crowd of techies packed into a planetarium, Elon Musk strode out on stage, waxed philosophical about achieving symbiosis with artificial intelligence, and made his latest ambitious pronouncement in a career that’s been full of them: His startup Neuralink has developed technology meant to be implanted into the brain that’s designed to allow people to operate computers and smartphones with their thoughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With some early animal testing under its belt, Neuralink wants to start human testing of its so-called “brain-machine interface” in paralyzed patients by the end of next year. Notably, the startup has yet to convince the Food and Drug Administration to allow it do so, said Musk, who has tangled with regulators over his other companies Tesla, SpaceX, and the Boring Company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And down the line? Musk wants the implants to be as safe and easy for healthy people to get as an elective procedure like LASIK vision correction surgery, the billionaire entrepreneur said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink’s much-hyped presentation, delivered by Musk and his team Tuesday night here at a science museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, marked the first time that the secretive startup has spoken publicly about its work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company also released an \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6204648-Neuralink-White-Paper.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">unpublished research paper\u003c/a>, authored by “Elon Musk & Neuralink,” that described its technology. At its core are thousands of electrodes, laced into flexible “threads,” which are high-tech wires much thinner than a human hair. Neuralink has also built a surgical robot to insert the threads deep into the brain. The idea is that the electrodes would relay brain signals to an AirPod-like device mounted behind the ear that would wirelessly hook up with a smartphone app that people could control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 19 surgeries on rats, the startup successfully placed the threads 87% of the time, the paper said. Musk and his team said the technique has promise to capture more neural data more safely than existing approaches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink will face a long list of formidable obstacles as it aims to move from rats to the clinic. Decoding the mysteries of the brain is a steeper challenge than manufacturing cars or drilling tunnels or even building rockets. Even peer-reviewed and published data in rats usually disappoints when it gets translated to human patients — and Neuralink doesn’t even have that yet. And there are plenty of reasons that neuroscientists who have worked on brain-machine interfaces for years have yet to make nearly any commercial traction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Musk, whose eccentricities and outlandish Twitter presence have helped him build a cult following, put that offbeat personality on full display on Tuesday night. Donning a black jacket, a white button-up shirt, and no tie, he mused at one point about his technology giving people the option of merging with AI. “We are a brain in a vat,” he remarked at another point. Later, he spoke dreamily about communicating telepathically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked about Neuralink’s animal research by a member of the audience, Musk turned earnest for a moment in speaking about the startup’s seriousness in caring for the rats it uses in its research — before making a joke that didn’t quite land about “karmic payback” for the Black Plague.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink is also conducting research in monkeys at the University of California, Davis, Musk said. Then he spilled the goods: “A monkey has been able to control the computer with its brain,” Musk said. (At no point has the company provided evidence to support that assertion.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Musk had clearly gone off-script. Max Hodak, the company’s president up on stage beside him, seemed a bit rattled. “I didn’t realize we were running that result today, but there it goes,” Hodak said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for its planned clinical study, Neuralink said it would focus on enrolling patients with paralysis of all four limbs due to a spinal cord injury. No details were shared about the intended size of study, nor the specific endpoints it would aim to evaluate. Musk did, however, say offhandedly that one of the company’s goals is to allow patients who are paraplegic to use their thoughts to type at a rate of 40 words per minute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked about the company’s FDA pathway, Hodak said Neuralink would attempt to pursue an early feasibility study, under what’s known as an investigational device exemption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ryan Stellar, vice president of product management at Enzyme, a startup working on software to help life sciences companies with the regulatory process, told STAT that he expects technology as ambitious as Neuralink’s will demand rigorous, long-term study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unless the FDA is blinded by Elon’s star power, a premarket trial of significant size” — 100-1,000 people — “will probably be needed, with a minimum observational period of two years, but perhaps as much as seven,” Stellar speculated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Tuesday night’s event, Musk trotted out several key members of the team of scientists and executives he’s assembled to carry out the company’s ambitions. Among them were the company’s senior scientist, Philip Sabes, who was previously a full-time professor at the University of California, San Francisco, researching how the brain processes movement. Another was the company’s head neurosurgeon, Dr. Matthew MacDougall, who delivered his part of the presentation in blue scrubs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Musk said the event’s primary purpose was to recruit talent to the San Francisco-based startup, which has a headcount near 100. Neuralink’s website \u003ca href=\"https://jobs.lever.co/neuralink\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lists\u003c/a> a handful of job postings, including for an accountant and a software engineer who can build robots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink, which was incorporated in 2016, has brought in $158 million in funding, $100 million of it from Musk himself. In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1708503/000170850319000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission\u003c/a> this past May, the company said that it had brought in $39 million of an anticipated $51 million funding round.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink’s big reveal, which was also \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-vbh3t7WVI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">live-streamed online\u003c/a>, had an atmosphere unlike that of a typical corporate update. Attendees sipped red wine and posed for selfies. After the presentation, many of them crowded around a display case filled with several prototypes of Neuralink’s technology, jostling to take a perfectly framed smartphone photo. The scene was reminiscent of tourists in a museum shoving their way to the best position to snap a photo of a precious treasure from antiquity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink’s event was invitation-only — interested attendees had to fill out an online form making a case for why they should get a golden ticket — and those who received an emailed invitation were asked, “for security reasons,” to refrain from publicly sharing the location of the event and to avoid bringing “any bags larger than a purse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until Tuesday night, Neuralink had disclosed little about its research, despite big promises from Musk. In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/07/elon-musk-discusses-neurolink-on-joe-rogan-podcast.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">September 2018 appearance\u003c/a> on the comedian Joe Rogan’s podcast, Musk smoked pot, drank whiskey, and posited that brain-machine interface technology “will enable anyone who wants to have superhuman cognition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/578542v1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">paper posted to a preprint server\u003c/a> in March, a team of researchers affiliated with Neuralink described a technique, which they likened to a “sewing machine,” similar to what was unveiled on Tuesday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink has the highest profile among a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbinsights.com/research/neurotech-startups-to-watch/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">number of startups working on brain-machine interfaces\u003c/a>. A few of the buzziest include \u003ca href=\"https://kernel.co/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kernel\u003c/a>, founded by the 41-year-old tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist Bryan Johnson, and \u003ca href=\"https://paradromics.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Paradromics\u003c/a>, which is working on an implantable chip designed to record and stimulate electrical activity in the brain. DARPA, the U.S. Department of Defense agency focused on futuristic research projects, has \u003ca href=\"https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-05-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">its own initiative\u003c/a> that’s funded research with an eye toward the development of brain-machine interfaces that could be used by members of the military.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the excitement around brain-machine interfaces, the field has made little commercial progress since the development of the first prototypes more than a decade ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first applications of the technology focused on movement. They aimed to read electrical signals in the motor cortex corresponding to the intention to move — and then used software to try to translate those signals into instructions to operate a computer cursor or robotic arm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, decoding brain signals into speech has \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2018/11/15/brain-computer-interface-translate-thoughts-speech/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">become the next frontier\u003c/a> in the field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2019/07/17/elon-musk-wants-to-test-brain-reading-implants-in-paralyzed-patients-next-year/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">story\u003c/a> was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/\">STAT\u003c/a>, an online publication of Boston Globe Media that covers health, medicine, and scientific discovery.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In front of a crowd of techies packed into a planetarium, Elon Musk strode out on stage, waxed philosophical about achieving symbiosis with artificial intelligence, and made his latest ambitious pronouncement in a career that’s been full of them: His startup Neuralink has developed technology meant to be implanted into the brain that’s designed to allow people to operate computers and smartphones with their thoughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With some early animal testing under its belt, Neuralink wants to start human testing of its so-called “brain-machine interface” in paralyzed patients by the end of next year. Notably, the startup has yet to convince the Food and Drug Administration to allow it do so, said Musk, who has tangled with regulators over his other companies Tesla, SpaceX, and the Boring Company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And down the line? Musk wants the implants to be as safe and easy for healthy people to get as an elective procedure like LASIK vision correction surgery, the billionaire entrepreneur said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink’s much-hyped presentation, delivered by Musk and his team Tuesday night here at a science museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, marked the first time that the secretive startup has spoken publicly about its work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company also released an \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6204648-Neuralink-White-Paper.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">unpublished research paper\u003c/a>, authored by “Elon Musk & Neuralink,” that described its technology. At its core are thousands of electrodes, laced into flexible “threads,” which are high-tech wires much thinner than a human hair. Neuralink has also built a surgical robot to insert the threads deep into the brain. The idea is that the electrodes would relay brain signals to an AirPod-like device mounted behind the ear that would wirelessly hook up with a smartphone app that people could control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 19 surgeries on rats, the startup successfully placed the threads 87% of the time, the paper said. Musk and his team said the technique has promise to capture more neural data more safely than existing approaches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink will face a long list of formidable obstacles as it aims to move from rats to the clinic. Decoding the mysteries of the brain is a steeper challenge than manufacturing cars or drilling tunnels or even building rockets. Even peer-reviewed and published data in rats usually disappoints when it gets translated to human patients — and Neuralink doesn’t even have that yet. And there are plenty of reasons that neuroscientists who have worked on brain-machine interfaces for years have yet to make nearly any commercial traction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Musk, whose eccentricities and outlandish Twitter presence have helped him build a cult following, put that offbeat personality on full display on Tuesday night. Donning a black jacket, a white button-up shirt, and no tie, he mused at one point about his technology giving people the option of merging with AI. “We are a brain in a vat,” he remarked at another point. Later, he spoke dreamily about communicating telepathically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked about Neuralink’s animal research by a member of the audience, Musk turned earnest for a moment in speaking about the startup’s seriousness in caring for the rats it uses in its research — before making a joke that didn’t quite land about “karmic payback” for the Black Plague.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink is also conducting research in monkeys at the University of California, Davis, Musk said. Then he spilled the goods: “A monkey has been able to control the computer with its brain,” Musk said. (At no point has the company provided evidence to support that assertion.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Musk had clearly gone off-script. Max Hodak, the company’s president up on stage beside him, seemed a bit rattled. “I didn’t realize we were running that result today, but there it goes,” Hodak said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for its planned clinical study, Neuralink said it would focus on enrolling patients with paralysis of all four limbs due to a spinal cord injury. No details were shared about the intended size of study, nor the specific endpoints it would aim to evaluate. Musk did, however, say offhandedly that one of the company’s goals is to allow patients who are paraplegic to use their thoughts to type at a rate of 40 words per minute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked about the company’s FDA pathway, Hodak said Neuralink would attempt to pursue an early feasibility study, under what’s known as an investigational device exemption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ryan Stellar, vice president of product management at Enzyme, a startup working on software to help life sciences companies with the regulatory process, told STAT that he expects technology as ambitious as Neuralink’s will demand rigorous, long-term study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unless the FDA is blinded by Elon’s star power, a premarket trial of significant size” — 100-1,000 people — “will probably be needed, with a minimum observational period of two years, but perhaps as much as seven,” Stellar speculated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Tuesday night’s event, Musk trotted out several key members of the team of scientists and executives he’s assembled to carry out the company’s ambitions. Among them were the company’s senior scientist, Philip Sabes, who was previously a full-time professor at the University of California, San Francisco, researching how the brain processes movement. Another was the company’s head neurosurgeon, Dr. Matthew MacDougall, who delivered his part of the presentation in blue scrubs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Musk said the event’s primary purpose was to recruit talent to the San Francisco-based startup, which has a headcount near 100. Neuralink’s website \u003ca href=\"https://jobs.lever.co/neuralink\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lists\u003c/a> a handful of job postings, including for an accountant and a software engineer who can build robots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink, which was incorporated in 2016, has brought in $158 million in funding, $100 million of it from Musk himself. In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1708503/000170850319000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission\u003c/a> this past May, the company said that it had brought in $39 million of an anticipated $51 million funding round.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink’s big reveal, which was also \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-vbh3t7WVI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">live-streamed online\u003c/a>, had an atmosphere unlike that of a typical corporate update. Attendees sipped red wine and posed for selfies. After the presentation, many of them crowded around a display case filled with several prototypes of Neuralink’s technology, jostling to take a perfectly framed smartphone photo. The scene was reminiscent of tourists in a museum shoving their way to the best position to snap a photo of a precious treasure from antiquity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink’s event was invitation-only — interested attendees had to fill out an online form making a case for why they should get a golden ticket — and those who received an emailed invitation were asked, “for security reasons,” to refrain from publicly sharing the location of the event and to avoid bringing “any bags larger than a purse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until Tuesday night, Neuralink had disclosed little about its research, despite big promises from Musk. In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/07/elon-musk-discusses-neurolink-on-joe-rogan-podcast.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">September 2018 appearance\u003c/a> on the comedian Joe Rogan’s podcast, Musk smoked pot, drank whiskey, and posited that brain-machine interface technology “will enable anyone who wants to have superhuman cognition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/578542v1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">paper posted to a preprint server\u003c/a> in March, a team of researchers affiliated with Neuralink described a technique, which they likened to a “sewing machine,” similar to what was unveiled on Tuesday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neuralink has the highest profile among a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbinsights.com/research/neurotech-startups-to-watch/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">number of startups working on brain-machine interfaces\u003c/a>. A few of the buzziest include \u003ca href=\"https://kernel.co/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kernel\u003c/a>, founded by the 41-year-old tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist Bryan Johnson, and \u003ca href=\"https://paradromics.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Paradromics\u003c/a>, which is working on an implantable chip designed to record and stimulate electrical activity in the brain. DARPA, the U.S. Department of Defense agency focused on futuristic research projects, has \u003ca href=\"https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-05-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">its own initiative\u003c/a> that’s funded research with an eye toward the development of brain-machine interfaces that could be used by members of the military.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the excitement around brain-machine interfaces, the field has made little commercial progress since the development of the first prototypes more than a decade ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first applications of the technology focused on movement. They aimed to read electrical signals in the motor cortex corresponding to the intention to move — and then used software to try to translate those signals into instructions to operate a computer cursor or robotic arm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, decoding brain signals into speech has \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2018/11/15/brain-computer-interface-translate-thoughts-speech/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">become the next frontier\u003c/a> in the field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2019/07/17/elon-musk-wants-to-test-brain-reading-implants-in-paralyzed-patients-next-year/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">story\u003c/a> was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/\">STAT\u003c/a>, an online publication of Boston Globe Media that covers health, medicine, and scientific discovery.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "For Devastating Bat Fungus, Potential Treatments But No Easy Solution",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last week, state scientists announced they had\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1944647/fungus-thats-killed-millions-of-bats-detected-in-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">discovered\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for the first time in California an invasive fungus that causes a disease responsible for the death of over 6 million North American bats.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" citation=\"Winifred Frick, Bat Conservation International\"]‘The early signs of the fungus showing up is a clear harbinger of doom.’[/pullquote]\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The cold-thriving fungus, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pseudogymnoascus destructans, was found\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in samples collected from four little brown bats, which is the name of the species, in Plumas County near Lassen Volcanic National Park.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scott Osborn, a senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, is leading a multiagency effort to detect and contain the disease, called white-nose syndrome.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But he says eradication isn’t an option yet, and there is no one solution to protect bats scattered across Northern California.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fungus is here and it’s more than likely going to spread,” Osborn said.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> “\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It’s our ardent wish to minimize the impact of the disease. But at this point, I can’t say that we’re going to really try to prevent it from occurring. I don’t think we can claim to have the power to do that.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the fungus was detected in low levels in the California bats, that is often the first indication they will contract the disease.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The early signs of the fungus showing up is a clear harbinger of doom,” said Winifred Frick, a chief scientist with Bat Conservation International. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecy.1706#ecy1706-fig-0001\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Frick led of the disease’s progression in bat colonies in the Northeast, entire roosts of little brown bats became infected within two years of the fungus’ detection. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“In those situations, anything you could do to buy more time or potentially allow species to persist on the landscape, even if it is at a small subset of sites where they used to occur, that’s prevention of a species extinction, and in my view is worth it,” Frick said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">White-nose syndrome, so-called because of the discoloration the fungus causes on bats’ noses, was first discovered in New York in 2006. The fungus eats away at their skin and causes lesions, awakening the animals from their winter hibernation. Fastidious groomers, afflicted bats consume all of their fat stores by cleaning themselves, depleting them of needed energy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the Northeast, thousands of dead bats have been found in and around caves and mines, the disease wiping out virtually whole colonies in some areas. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Osborn’s team is expanding bat surveillance, especially in the Sierra Nevada and other high-elevation places in Northern California that experience cold winters. With an accurate count of bats, researchers can identify if the population dips, a sign that the disease has begun its onslaught.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While bats in the northeast roost in large colonies of thousands or tens of thousands, Western bats, including the little brown bat, have been observed roosting in smaller, more dispersed groups. Researchers still don’t know where California bats spend the winter or how many bats are typically in these roosts. Where exactly they live is one question that Osborn’s team hopes to answer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Potential Treatments\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Treatments do exist for combatting the fungus and the disease it causes. For example, one\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02441-z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published in the journal \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nature\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> found that the fungus \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is easily killed by ultraviolet light. Another\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-45453-z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the same journal found that a \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">probioti\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">c treatment could slow the decline in bat colonies where the disease is present.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">there’s emerging\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43210-w.epdf?author_access_token=yYj1JPVPb57Qn1b27l1gy9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OVAcG24o0yW14y6fzrEUBTNS5AIEw_OIsHGnhudyBhFaY39eQpnFMBLKgHhABLnx-MOkSKlLbpDAd7eHBCda05tO_4HClmbZQ-QWr5z8N_rg%3D%3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">research\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> into a potential oral vaccine, which could be administered by a topical cream or spray. Bronwyn Hogan, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says the treatment is promising because bats are constantly grooming and cleaning their fur.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hogan says wildlife managers may respond with a variety of these treatments, depending on the place and circumstances, but they need to be careful not to cause collateral damage, especially inside caves, which have delicate ecosystems. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“There is no ‘silver bullet,’” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wildlife officials are enlisting the help of the public, asking them to report any sightings of dead bats or bats that are active in cold places during the winter. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pat Seiser, the chief physical scientist for Lava Beds National Monument, said news of the fungus is spreading among cavers, too.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We’re actively getting the message out to decontaminate gear and use dedicated equipment within the caving community,” said Seiser.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of the 25 different species of bats in California, there are six that have carried white-nose syndrome in other states, including the little brown bat. The others are the big brown bat, cave bat, long-legged bat, western long-eared bat and yuma bat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another four species present in California tested positive for the fungus but have not, so far, shown signs of the disease. These are the Mexican free-tailed bat, Townsend’s big-eared bat, the silver-haired bat, and Western small-footed bat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Biologists were able to detect the fungus in very low levels by using a polymerase chain reaction, a common molecular biology technique that uses enzymes to unzip DNA and replicate it with RNA. With this technique, scientists can rapidly synthesize and amplify even tiny bits of genetic material. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are holding onto the hope, however slim, that the disease won’t take hold here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I’d be really happy if the disease actually doesn’t show up,” Osborn said. “The next couple of years are going to be very interesting to see what actually happens here.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bats are important for ecosystems because they consume mosquitoes, bugs and pests that damage food growing on farms. Bats save farmers and land managers $3.7 billion in pest management costs annually, according to an \u003ca href=\"https://science.sciencemag.org/content/332/6025/41.full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">estimate\u003c/a> of their economic impact from 2011\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The cold-thriving fungus, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pseudogymnoascus destructans, was found\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in samples collected from four little brown bats, which is the name of the species, in Plumas County near Lassen Volcanic National Park.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scott Osborn, a senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, is leading a multiagency effort to detect and contain the disease, called white-nose syndrome.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But he says eradication isn’t an option yet, and there is no one solution to protect bats scattered across Northern California.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fungus is here and it’s more than likely going to spread,” Osborn said.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> “\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It’s our ardent wish to minimize the impact of the disease. But at this point, I can’t say that we’re going to really try to prevent it from occurring. I don’t think we can claim to have the power to do that.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the fungus was detected in low levels in the California bats, that is often the first indication they will contract the disease.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The early signs of the fungus showing up is a clear harbinger of doom,” said Winifred Frick, a chief scientist with Bat Conservation International. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecy.1706#ecy1706-fig-0001\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Frick led of the disease’s progression in bat colonies in the Northeast, entire roosts of little brown bats became infected within two years of the fungus’ detection. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“In those situations, anything you could do to buy more time or potentially allow species to persist on the landscape, even if it is at a small subset of sites where they used to occur, that’s prevention of a species extinction, and in my view is worth it,” Frick said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">White-nose syndrome, so-called because of the discoloration the fungus causes on bats’ noses, was first discovered in New York in 2006. The fungus eats away at their skin and causes lesions, awakening the animals from their winter hibernation. Fastidious groomers, afflicted bats consume all of their fat stores by cleaning themselves, depleting them of needed energy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the Northeast, thousands of dead bats have been found in and around caves and mines, the disease wiping out virtually whole colonies in some areas. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Osborn’s team is expanding bat surveillance, especially in the Sierra Nevada and other high-elevation places in Northern California that experience cold winters. With an accurate count of bats, researchers can identify if the population dips, a sign that the disease has begun its onslaught.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While bats in the northeast roost in large colonies of thousands or tens of thousands, Western bats, including the little brown bat, have been observed roosting in smaller, more dispersed groups. Researchers still don’t know where California bats spend the winter or how many bats are typically in these roosts. Where exactly they live is one question that Osborn’s team hopes to answer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Potential Treatments\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Treatments do exist for combatting the fungus and the disease it causes. For example, one\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02441-z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published in the journal \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nature\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> found that the fungus \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is easily killed by ultraviolet light. Another\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-45453-z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the same journal found that a \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">probioti\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">c treatment could slow the decline in bat colonies where the disease is present.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">there’s emerging\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43210-w.epdf?author_access_token=yYj1JPVPb57Qn1b27l1gy9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OVAcG24o0yW14y6fzrEUBTNS5AIEw_OIsHGnhudyBhFaY39eQpnFMBLKgHhABLnx-MOkSKlLbpDAd7eHBCda05tO_4HClmbZQ-QWr5z8N_rg%3D%3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">research\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> into a potential oral vaccine, which could be administered by a topical cream or spray. Bronwyn Hogan, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says the treatment is promising because bats are constantly grooming and cleaning their fur.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hogan says wildlife managers may respond with a variety of these treatments, depending on the place and circumstances, but they need to be careful not to cause collateral damage, especially inside caves, which have delicate ecosystems. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“There is no ‘silver bullet,’” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wildlife officials are enlisting the help of the public, asking them to report any sightings of dead bats or bats that are active in cold places during the winter. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pat Seiser, the chief physical scientist for Lava Beds National Monument, said news of the fungus is spreading among cavers, too.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We’re actively getting the message out to decontaminate gear and use dedicated equipment within the caving community,” said Seiser.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of the 25 different species of bats in California, there are six that have carried white-nose syndrome in other states, including the little brown bat. The others are the big brown bat, cave bat, long-legged bat, western long-eared bat and yuma bat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another four species present in California tested positive for the fungus but have not, so far, shown signs of the disease. These are the Mexican free-tailed bat, Townsend’s big-eared bat, the silver-haired bat, and Western small-footed bat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Biologists were able to detect the fungus in very low levels by using a polymerase chain reaction, a common molecular biology technique that uses enzymes to unzip DNA and replicate it with RNA. With this technique, scientists can rapidly synthesize and amplify even tiny bits of genetic material. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are holding onto the hope, however slim, that the disease won’t take hold here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I’d be really happy if the disease actually doesn’t show up,” Osborn said. “The next couple of years are going to be very interesting to see what actually happens here.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bats are important for ecosystems because they consume mosquitoes, bugs and pests that damage food growing on farms. Bats save farmers and land managers $3.7 billion in pest management costs annually, according to an \u003ca href=\"https://science.sciencemag.org/content/332/6025/41.full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">estimate\u003c/a> of their economic impact from 2011\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "watch-bed-bugs-get-stopped-in-their-tracks",
"title": "Watch Bed Bugs Get Stopped in Their Tracks",
"publishDate": 1562672135,
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"headTitle": "Watch Bed Bugs Get Stopped in Their Tracks | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Summer is a time of travel and fun. But with every bed an exhausted traveler lies on after a day of sightseeing, the chances of bringing home an unwanted bug increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944324\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don’t let this happen to you. An adult bed bug feeds on a human arm. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bed bugs don’t fly or jump or come in from your garden. They crawl very quickly and are great at hiding in travelers’ luggage and hitching rides into their homes — or into hotel rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944313\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_SCURRIES_ON_SHEET_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944313\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_SCURRIES_ON_SHEET_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed bug scurries on a sheet. Experts recommend checking the bed when you’re sleeping away from home. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It would probably be a prudent thing to do a quick bed check if you’re sleeping in a strange bed,” said \u003ca href=\"https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/person/michael-potter\">Michael Potter\u003c/a>, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky who researches bed bugs. His recommendation goes for hotel rooms, as well as dorms and summer camp bunk beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what does Potter do when he travels? First, he keeps his suitcase zipped up and on a credenza or metal luggage rack. Bed bugs have a hard time climbing up smooth surfaces like metal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944304\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944304\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In their nests, bed bugs stick together, as these yellowish young nymphs are doing. They recently emerged from translucent egg casings. Brown and yellow splotches of digested blood called fecal spots are also signs of bed bugs’ presence. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Next, he recommends pulling back the sheet at the head of the bed and checking the seams on the top and bottom of the mattress and the box spring. Contrary to popular belief, bed bugs don’t burrow into mattresses; they stay on the surface. And after feeding on us they find a hideout, where they leave telltale brown or yellow droplets of digested blood called fecal spots. If they have already had a chance to reproduce, their nest might include translucent egg casings and young yellowish nymphs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re more of a nest type of insect,” said Bill Donahue, an entomologist and owner of \u003ca href=\"http://www.sierraresearchlaboratories.com/\">Sierra Research Laboratories\u003c/a> in Modesto, where he evaluates treatments against bed bugs and other pests. “There are areas where the bed bugs will congregate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944305\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944305\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A group of young bed bugs, known as nymphs, stick close together in a nest. Empty egg casings are visible in the upper left corner. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Adult bed bugs are about the size and color of an apple seed. Young bugs, called nymphs, are smaller and yellowish or white. Guided by the carbon dioxide and heat that sleeping humans emit, they crawl quickly up wooden bed posts and over sheets to stick their long mouth part in and drink for about five minutes, until they’re completely full. They then hide in a nearby cranny, like the seam of the mattress or behind a baseboard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heaven forbid you wake up with itchy red welts during your stay,” Potter said. “Then you want to be incredibly vigilant when you get home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944301\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944301\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult bed bug feeds on a human thumb. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He suggests putting clothes in the dryer or leaving unzipped suitcases inside a hot car, since bed bugs are susceptible to high temperatures. Some people take days, even weeks, to react to a bed bug bite, so bites aren’t a great indicator of when you were exposed to them. And though some people can suffer a severe skin reaction, bed bugs aren’t known to transmit any diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944302\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944302\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult bed bug’s body is elongated after feeding on a human arm. Bed bugs need to take a blood meal to molt and grow to each of their five life stages. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Until the 1940s, bed bugs were a common occurrence in the U.S. After being nearly eradicated by the spraying of DDT in the 1950s, they’ve made a comeback worldwide in the past 20 years, aided by the widespread movement of people. They’ve been found all around the country in settings as varied as schools, dorms, hospitals, theaters, moving vans and even funeral homes, according to Potter. And they also move around on secondhand furniture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apartment dwellers are more vulnerable to infestation, as bugs can crawl from one flat to another. Because bed bugs hide away, they’re difficult to treat without the help of a professional, which can be expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CRAWLS_UP_BED_POST_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944311\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CRAWLS_UP_BED_POST_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult bed bug crawls up a bed post. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you think you have bed bugs, let your landlord know right away,” said entomologist \u003ca href=\"https://ucanr.edu/?facultyid=20584\">Andrew Sutherland\u003c/a>, the University of California’s urban pest management adviser for the San Francisco Bay Area. “It’s their responsibility to do inspections and to hire a reputable pest control operator to take care of the problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because bed bugs are vulnerable to heat, a thermal treatment is “the gold standard,” said Luis Agurto, CEO of \u003ca href=\"https://www.pestec.com/\">Pestec\u003c/a>, a pest control company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pestec places big heaters throughout an infested residence and warms it up to 122 degrees for two hours. Technicians armed with “guns” blow hot air into areas where bed bugs might be hiding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re basically making a big convection oven,” said Agurto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a thermal treatment, Pestec monitors for bed bugs for several weeks by placing a hard plastic cup under each bed post. The insects have no trouble climbing up the rough outside of these so-called interceptor cups, but then get trapped by the smooth inside, which they’re unable to scale. The company also uses insecticides and vacuum cleaners to get rid of infestations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944750\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944750\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed bug has become trapped in an interceptor cup placed under a bed post. Bed bugs can crawl into these plastic cups, which have a rough outside, but are unable to climb up the smooth inside surface. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pestec has been called in to investigate and treat infestations, from as small as six bed bugs in an apartment in San Francisco’s Haight neighborhood, to a townhouse in a housing complex in the city’s Potrero Hill district, where bugs were “on all the surfaces,” said Agurto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are working to come up with more tools to get rid of bed bugs. At UC Irvine, biologist and engineer \u003ca href=\"https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=5386\">Catherine Loudon\u003c/a> is collaborating with several engineering labs on campus to create synthetic surfaces that could trap bed bugs. She was inspired by the tiny hooked hairs that grow from the leaves of some varieties of beans, such as kidney and green beans. In nature, the hairs pierce through the feet of the aphids and leafhoppers that like to feed on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944309\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_ON_BEAN_LEAF_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1944309 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_ON_BEAN_LEAF_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the lab of Catherine Loudon at UC Irvine, a bed bug tugs to break loose after its front left foot was pierced by a tiny hooked hair on a kidney bean leaf. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Loudon got the idea from Potter, of the University of Kentucky, who mentioned to her a folk remedy he had read about. Residents of the Balkan countries used to spread bean leaves around their beds, and in the morning they’d find bed bugs attached to them. It turns out that the bed bugs’ feet were getting impaled by the hooked hairs on the bean leaves, called trichomes. Researchers have found that trichomes are just as effective against bed bugs, even though they don’t feed on leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944306\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944306\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kidney and green beans and other bean varieties have tiny hooked hairs on their leaves. These trichomes help the plant protect against leaf-eating pests like aphids, but also happen to trap blood-sucking bed bugs. \u003ccite>(Catherine Loudon/University of California, Irvine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944307\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944307\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A trichome has pierced through the soft joint in a bed bug’s foot. \u003ccite>(Catherine Loudon/University of California, Irvine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Loudon’s goal is to mimic a bean leaf’s mechanism to create an inexpensive, portable trap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944310\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_STUCK_ON_SYNTHETIC_MATERIAL_CREDIT-LOUDON_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944310\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_STUCK_ON_SYNTHETIC_MATERIAL_CREDIT-LOUDON_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed bug trapped by a tiny hook on a synthetic surface that mimics a bean leaf. This surface was made at UC Irvine, in the lab of engineer Allon Hochbaum. \u003ccite>(Catherine Loudon/University of California, Irvine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You could imagine a strip that would act as a barrier that could be placed virtually anywhere: across the portal to a room, behind the headboard, on subway seats, an airplane,” Loudon said. “They have six legs, so that’s six opportunities to get trapped.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Laura Shields contributed reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Scientists show you how to look for bed bugs when sleeping away from home, and they're developing new traps that stop the pest cold.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Summer is a time of travel and fun. But with every bed an exhausted traveler lies on after a day of sightseeing, the chances of bringing home an unwanted bug increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944324\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don’t let this happen to you. An adult bed bug feeds on a human arm. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bed bugs don’t fly or jump or come in from your garden. They crawl very quickly and are great at hiding in travelers’ luggage and hitching rides into their homes — or into hotel rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944313\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_SCURRIES_ON_SHEET_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944313\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_SCURRIES_ON_SHEET_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed bug scurries on a sheet. Experts recommend checking the bed when you’re sleeping away from home. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It would probably be a prudent thing to do a quick bed check if you’re sleeping in a strange bed,” said \u003ca href=\"https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/person/michael-potter\">Michael Potter\u003c/a>, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky who researches bed bugs. His recommendation goes for hotel rooms, as well as dorms and summer camp bunk beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what does Potter do when he travels? First, he keeps his suitcase zipped up and on a credenza or metal luggage rack. Bed bugs have a hard time climbing up smooth surfaces like metal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944304\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944304\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In their nests, bed bugs stick together, as these yellowish young nymphs are doing. They recently emerged from translucent egg casings. Brown and yellow splotches of digested blood called fecal spots are also signs of bed bugs’ presence. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Next, he recommends pulling back the sheet at the head of the bed and checking the seams on the top and bottom of the mattress and the box spring. Contrary to popular belief, bed bugs don’t burrow into mattresses; they stay on the surface. And after feeding on us they find a hideout, where they leave telltale brown or yellow droplets of digested blood called fecal spots. If they have already had a chance to reproduce, their nest might include translucent egg casings and young yellowish nymphs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re more of a nest type of insect,” said Bill Donahue, an entomologist and owner of \u003ca href=\"http://www.sierraresearchlaboratories.com/\">Sierra Research Laboratories\u003c/a> in Modesto, where he evaluates treatments against bed bugs and other pests. “There are areas where the bed bugs will congregate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944305\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944305\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A group of young bed bugs, known as nymphs, stick close together in a nest. Empty egg casings are visible in the upper left corner. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Adult bed bugs are about the size and color of an apple seed. Young bugs, called nymphs, are smaller and yellowish or white. Guided by the carbon dioxide and heat that sleeping humans emit, they crawl quickly up wooden bed posts and over sheets to stick their long mouth part in and drink for about five minutes, until they’re completely full. They then hide in a nearby cranny, like the seam of the mattress or behind a baseboard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heaven forbid you wake up with itchy red welts during your stay,” Potter said. “Then you want to be incredibly vigilant when you get home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944301\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944301\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult bed bug feeds on a human thumb. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He suggests putting clothes in the dryer or leaving unzipped suitcases inside a hot car, since bed bugs are susceptible to high temperatures. Some people take days, even weeks, to react to a bed bug bite, so bites aren’t a great indicator of when you were exposed to them. And though some people can suffer a severe skin reaction, bed bugs aren’t known to transmit any diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944302\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944302\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult bed bug’s body is elongated after feeding on a human arm. Bed bugs need to take a blood meal to molt and grow to each of their five life stages. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Until the 1940s, bed bugs were a common occurrence in the U.S. After being nearly eradicated by the spraying of DDT in the 1950s, they’ve made a comeback worldwide in the past 20 years, aided by the widespread movement of people. They’ve been found all around the country in settings as varied as schools, dorms, hospitals, theaters, moving vans and even funeral homes, according to Potter. And they also move around on secondhand furniture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apartment dwellers are more vulnerable to infestation, as bugs can crawl from one flat to another. Because bed bugs hide away, they’re difficult to treat without the help of a professional, which can be expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CRAWLS_UP_BED_POST_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944311\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CRAWLS_UP_BED_POST_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult bed bug crawls up a bed post. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you think you have bed bugs, let your landlord know right away,” said entomologist \u003ca href=\"https://ucanr.edu/?facultyid=20584\">Andrew Sutherland\u003c/a>, the University of California’s urban pest management adviser for the San Francisco Bay Area. “It’s their responsibility to do inspections and to hire a reputable pest control operator to take care of the problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because bed bugs are vulnerable to heat, a thermal treatment is “the gold standard,” said Luis Agurto, CEO of \u003ca href=\"https://www.pestec.com/\">Pestec\u003c/a>, a pest control company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pestec places big heaters throughout an infested residence and warms it up to 122 degrees for two hours. Technicians armed with “guns” blow hot air into areas where bed bugs might be hiding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re basically making a big convection oven,” said Agurto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a thermal treatment, Pestec monitors for bed bugs for several weeks by placing a hard plastic cup under each bed post. The insects have no trouble climbing up the rough outside of these so-called interceptor cups, but then get trapped by the smooth inside, which they’re unable to scale. The company also uses insecticides and vacuum cleaners to get rid of infestations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944750\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944750\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed bug has become trapped in an interceptor cup placed under a bed post. Bed bugs can crawl into these plastic cups, which have a rough outside, but are unable to climb up the smooth inside surface. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pestec has been called in to investigate and treat infestations, from as small as six bed bugs in an apartment in San Francisco’s Haight neighborhood, to a townhouse in a housing complex in the city’s Potrero Hill district, where bugs were “on all the surfaces,” said Agurto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are working to come up with more tools to get rid of bed bugs. At UC Irvine, biologist and engineer \u003ca href=\"https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=5386\">Catherine Loudon\u003c/a> is collaborating with several engineering labs on campus to create synthetic surfaces that could trap bed bugs. She was inspired by the tiny hooked hairs that grow from the leaves of some varieties of beans, such as kidney and green beans. In nature, the hairs pierce through the feet of the aphids and leafhoppers that like to feed on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944309\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_ON_BEAN_LEAF_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1944309 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_ON_BEAN_LEAF_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the lab of Catherine Loudon at UC Irvine, a bed bug tugs to break loose after its front left foot was pierced by a tiny hooked hair on a kidney bean leaf. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Loudon got the idea from Potter, of the University of Kentucky, who mentioned to her a folk remedy he had read about. Residents of the Balkan countries used to spread bean leaves around their beds, and in the morning they’d find bed bugs attached to them. It turns out that the bed bugs’ feet were getting impaled by the hooked hairs on the bean leaves, called trichomes. Researchers have found that trichomes are just as effective against bed bugs, even though they don’t feed on leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944306\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944306\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kidney and green beans and other bean varieties have tiny hooked hairs on their leaves. These trichomes help the plant protect against leaf-eating pests like aphids, but also happen to trap blood-sucking bed bugs. \u003ccite>(Catherine Loudon/University of California, Irvine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944307\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944307\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A trichome has pierced through the soft joint in a bed bug’s foot. \u003ccite>(Catherine Loudon/University of California, Irvine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Loudon’s goal is to mimic a bean leaf’s mechanism to create an inexpensive, portable trap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944310\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_STUCK_ON_SYNTHETIC_MATERIAL_CREDIT-LOUDON_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944310\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_STUCK_ON_SYNTHETIC_MATERIAL_CREDIT-LOUDON_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed bug trapped by a tiny hook on a synthetic surface that mimics a bean leaf. This surface was made at UC Irvine, in the lab of engineer Allon Hochbaum. \u003ccite>(Catherine Loudon/University of California, Irvine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You could imagine a strip that would act as a barrier that could be placed virtually anywhere: across the portal to a room, behind the headboard, on subway seats, an airplane,” Loudon said. “They have six legs, so that’s six opportunities to get trapped.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Laura Shields contributed reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "How Scientists Detect the Most Lethal Shellfish Toxin You've Never Heard Of",
"headTitle": "How Scientists Detect the Most Lethal Shellfish Toxin You’ve Never Heard Of | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>There is a weapon that is released by algae around the world and concentrated, invisible, in the flesh of shellfish. An amount the size of a poppy seed is enough to kill a grown person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s part of an onslaught from which we’ve defended ourselves for decades, which might be why you’ve never heard of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saxitoxin is lethal at concentrations 1,000 times lower than is cyanide. It is a powerful neurotoxin released by plankton in algal blooms. Saxitoxin is so potent, in fact, that it was the only marine toxin declared a \u003ca href=\"http://disarmament.un.org/treaties/t/cwc/text\">chemical weapon\u003c/a> by the 1993 international treaty known as the Chemical Weapons Convention, and bears a long and complex history with the U.S. government in particular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CIA \u003ca href=\"https://www.eucom.mil/media-library/article/23319/this-week-in-eucom-history-april-30-may-6\">reportedly gave\u003c/a> pilots of U-2 reconnaissance planes a coin containing saxitoxin that they could use to commit suicide if they were captured. President Nixon ultimately banned the military’s use of biological weapons, including saxitoxin, in 1969, but the CIA neglected to destroy a stockpile of 10 grams of the substance that it had distilled from butter clams. The supply was rediscovered in a storage facility and distributed to scientists at NIH after a pharmacologist begged the CIA not to destroy the cache. He predicted, correctly, that the toxin’s potency offered enormous potential for medical research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1946490\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1946490\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-1200x798.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-1920x1278.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Washing or heating does not make saxitoxin-contaminated shellfish safe to eat. \u003ccite>(Fadel Senna/AFP/GettyImages)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In both marine and freshwater systems, shellfish accumulate saxitoxin and concentrate it into doses dangerous to humans, fish, birds and marine mammals, although the shellfish themselves remain unharmed. The toxin is undetectable by sight or smell and is heat-stable, which means that even a pan-seared toxic mussel is still a toxic mussel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When ingested by humans, saxitoxin causes paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP, symptoms of which include tingling, numbness, and, if consumed in high enough quantities, paralysis, asphyxiation and death. There is no known cure for saxitoxin poisoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>California’s History of Toxin Monitoring\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why haven’t you heard of this potent algal toxin? Thank state health officials. In California, risk is managed by the diligent monitoring of the California Department of Public Health. Every year, CDPH issues a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CEH/DRSEM/Pages/EMB/Shellfish/Annual-Mussel-Quarantine.aspx\">mussel quarantine\u003c/a> for all coastal areas from Oregon to the Mexican border between May 1 and Oct. 31, adjusting its window according to changes in saxitoxin concentration. When concentrations are dangerously high, the state prohibits all recreational harvesting of mussels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The public health department requires commercial seafood harvesters to submit shellfish samples at least weekly to retain their certification, which is one reason shellfish are available even when bans are in place. However, no commercial shellfish harvest occurs in San Francisco Bay, and that’s because, while coastal shellfish are monitored for paralytic shellfish toxins, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568988318300258\">no such monitoring \u003c/a>occurs in the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the earliest recorded instances of saxitoxin poisoning occurred in San Francisco, before seasonal bans were commonplace, even before scientists knew what was poisoning their coast. In 1927, more than 100 people fell ill and six people died from paralytic shellfish poisoning. Panic spread. Public health workers quickly posted warning signs and scientists worked to identify the source of the widespread sickness. No cases were reported the following year, perhaps, as noted in a scientific paper published in 1937, because “people showed little desire, after the experience of 1927, to gather shell-fish.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the most part, the monitoring that began in 1927 has kept poisoning numbers low; Dr. Eddie Garcia, a fellow in medical toxicology at UCSF and the California Poison Control Center, says that in 2017, only 117 cases were reported across the entire United States, none of them fatal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Saxitoxin is Relevant Now\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944161\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/psp-e1562172091893.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-complete_open_graph wp-image-1944161\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/psp-1200x1129.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"602\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Recorded cases of PSP in 1970 and 2018. Scientists say that we’ve only recently begun to understand the full extent of how common PSP really is. \u003ccite>(US National Office for Harmful Algal Blooms)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists agree it’s critically important to have infallible toxin detection methods, particularly in the coming years. For one thing, experts say algal blooms are becoming more common, likely due to pollution and climate change, among other reasons. And even with decent monitoring already in place, some people are still getting sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a sense, it’s like a bad intersection where, if you put up some good traffic lights, you can improve it a lot,” said Don Anderson, a biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, who has spent more than 40 years studying harmful algal blooms. “It’s the people who don’t obey the restrictions, whether it be a stop light or a closure, that get sick.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2014, for instance, a family vacationing on the coast of Washington made a soup out of mussels. It was midnight, too dark to read the signs that might have warned them not to eat shellfish they had caught themselves, and all seven ended up in the emergency room. One woman lost the ability to stand. The next day, the Washington Department of Health detected a saxitoxin concentration over 75 times the alert level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in daylight, not every Californian might be aware of the quarantine; some may not be able to read signs because of a language barrier, or they may think different rules apply. If you’re relying on the old adage that you can’t eat mussels in months without the letter ‘r’, for example, it’s time to update your guidelines — this belief can be traced all the way back to at least 1599, when a \u003ca href=\"https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A17373.0001.001/1:12.19?rgn=div2;view=fulltext\">cookbook\u003c/a> warned against consuming oysters during summer months, most likely because bacteria were especially rampant during summer heat without refrigeration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944164\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1944164\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/warning-sign.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"290\" height=\"441\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/warning-sign.jpg 547w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/warning-sign-160x243.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An example of a warning sign posted in San Mateo County. \u003ccite>(San Mateo County Health)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Although widely performed, saxitoxin testing is not terribly humane. In order to determine saxitoxin concentration, the most popular of three FDA-approved methods is to inject a mouse with a small amount of liquid containing an expected toxin, wait for the mouse to die, and record the time of its last breath. According to Maggie Broadwater, acting Harmful Algal Bloom Program Manager at NOAA, this mouse test is still used by CDPH to monitor toxin levels. Other methods do exist, but they involve transporting samples back to a laboratory and days of testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As algal blooms become more frequent and we begin to better understand how saxitoxin levels change, new methods have emerged that may transform the dynamics of our relationship with toxins — how we detect them, how we treat them, and how we learn from them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Lesson from the Bullfrog\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The future of saxitoxin detection may come from an unlikely source: the common bullfrog. Researchers at UCSF published a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2019/06/414716/frog-protein-may-mitigate-dangers-posed-toxic-marine-microbes-fueled-climate\">recent study\u003c/a> describing the structure of a protein called \u003ca href=\"https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/6/eaax2650\">saxiphilin\u003c/a>. It’s found in the heart and blood of the American bullfrog, which is resistant to saxitoxin poisoning. Using x-ray crystallography, researchers in the laboratory of Daniel Minor, professor at the Cardiovascular Research Institute, identified a pocket-like region in this protein that binds to saxitoxin. Scientists think that the bullfrog’s store of saxiphilin naturally reduces the concentration of saxitoxin in its bloodstream, giving the liver time to destroy the toxin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Structurally, the protein and its binding pocket look a lot like transferrin — that’s a family of proteins that bind to iron and ferry it around the body. Saxiphilin is so similar, in fact, that Minor believes the two proteins must share a common origin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is really evolution at work: repurposing a protein scaffold to do something else,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ability to bind to saxitoxin could also someday lead to a treatment for shellfish poisoning. It might provide scientists with a blueprint for developing synthetic molecules that could be administered to patients who digest the toxin, to prevent paralysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A New Vision for Monitoring Shellfish\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are also designing new-generation detection methods to improve coastal monitoring efforts. A hundred miles south of UCSF, scientists are developing a robotic technology that could replace the mouse-poison test. A team of researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute has a device they affectionately call “lab in a trashcan,” or more officially, \u003ca href=\"https://www.mbari.org/technology/emerging-current-tools/instruments/environmental-sample-processor-esp/\">Environmental Sample Processor\u003c/a>. [pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='Daniel Minor, UCSF']‘This is really evolution at work: repurposing a protein scaffold to do something else.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When submerged in seawater, the substances in these devices sense algae toxin levels and can provide health officials with real-time data. Some are already being tested \u003ca href=\"http://science.whoi.edu/esp/fieldcelldata\">across the country\u003c/a>, and researchers have their sights set on a next-generation sample processor, shaped like a torpedo, which could move across the ocean floor, monitoring toxin levels as it goes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute say the sensor elements, particularly those that detect saxitoxin, could still be improved by a greater knowledge of what governs the toxin’s binding behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944186\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 424px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1944186\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"424\" height=\"282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-1200x799.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-1920x1278.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 424px) 100vw, 424px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robotic sensors, called Environmental Sample Processors, are designed by Chris Scholin and colleagues at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. ESPs could be the future of toxin detection, leading to more dynamic monitoring systems informing shellfish bans. \u003ccite>(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“To have that information, the structural information, and to potentially synthesize that, is really a pretty big step,” said Greg Doucette, a research oceanographer at NOAA who works on the ESPs. “[It’s] something that might provide us with another tool that we could use on instruments like the ESP to detect the toxins.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers like Don Anderson are excited by the potential of a toxin-binding blueprint to impact new detection methods. Anderson dreams of a future, maybe only 5 to 10 years away, in which coasts are lined with robotic sensors like the ESP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>States could then lift mussel consumption bans for portions of the coast. Families could make soup with shellfish. It’s possible that, in this imagined future, a little frog protein would be the key to opening the coast again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story stated that the saxitoxin coin was given to pilots of spy planes during WWII. That is incorrect; during WWII, pilots had a pill they could take to commit suicide if they were shot down. The CIA developed saxitoxin in a search for a replacement for the pill.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Saxitoxin is a potent neurotoxin released by shellfish all around the world. So why haven't you heard of it?",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>There is a weapon that is released by algae around the world and concentrated, invisible, in the flesh of shellfish. An amount the size of a poppy seed is enough to kill a grown person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s part of an onslaught from which we’ve defended ourselves for decades, which might be why you’ve never heard of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saxitoxin is lethal at concentrations 1,000 times lower than is cyanide. It is a powerful neurotoxin released by plankton in algal blooms. Saxitoxin is so potent, in fact, that it was the only marine toxin declared a \u003ca href=\"http://disarmament.un.org/treaties/t/cwc/text\">chemical weapon\u003c/a> by the 1993 international treaty known as the Chemical Weapons Convention, and bears a long and complex history with the U.S. government in particular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CIA \u003ca href=\"https://www.eucom.mil/media-library/article/23319/this-week-in-eucom-history-april-30-may-6\">reportedly gave\u003c/a> pilots of U-2 reconnaissance planes a coin containing saxitoxin that they could use to commit suicide if they were captured. President Nixon ultimately banned the military’s use of biological weapons, including saxitoxin, in 1969, but the CIA neglected to destroy a stockpile of 10 grams of the substance that it had distilled from butter clams. The supply was rediscovered in a storage facility and distributed to scientists at NIH after a pharmacologist begged the CIA not to destroy the cache. He predicted, correctly, that the toxin’s potency offered enormous potential for medical research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1946490\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1946490\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-1200x798.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709-1920x1278.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/mussels_GettyImages-150458709.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Washing or heating does not make saxitoxin-contaminated shellfish safe to eat. \u003ccite>(Fadel Senna/AFP/GettyImages)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In both marine and freshwater systems, shellfish accumulate saxitoxin and concentrate it into doses dangerous to humans, fish, birds and marine mammals, although the shellfish themselves remain unharmed. The toxin is undetectable by sight or smell and is heat-stable, which means that even a pan-seared toxic mussel is still a toxic mussel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When ingested by humans, saxitoxin causes paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP, symptoms of which include tingling, numbness, and, if consumed in high enough quantities, paralysis, asphyxiation and death. There is no known cure for saxitoxin poisoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>California’s History of Toxin Monitoring\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why haven’t you heard of this potent algal toxin? Thank state health officials. In California, risk is managed by the diligent monitoring of the California Department of Public Health. Every year, CDPH issues a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CEH/DRSEM/Pages/EMB/Shellfish/Annual-Mussel-Quarantine.aspx\">mussel quarantine\u003c/a> for all coastal areas from Oregon to the Mexican border between May 1 and Oct. 31, adjusting its window according to changes in saxitoxin concentration. When concentrations are dangerously high, the state prohibits all recreational harvesting of mussels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The public health department requires commercial seafood harvesters to submit shellfish samples at least weekly to retain their certification, which is one reason shellfish are available even when bans are in place. However, no commercial shellfish harvest occurs in San Francisco Bay, and that’s because, while coastal shellfish are monitored for paralytic shellfish toxins, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568988318300258\">no such monitoring \u003c/a>occurs in the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the earliest recorded instances of saxitoxin poisoning occurred in San Francisco, before seasonal bans were commonplace, even before scientists knew what was poisoning their coast. In 1927, more than 100 people fell ill and six people died from paralytic shellfish poisoning. Panic spread. Public health workers quickly posted warning signs and scientists worked to identify the source of the widespread sickness. No cases were reported the following year, perhaps, as noted in a scientific paper published in 1937, because “people showed little desire, after the experience of 1927, to gather shell-fish.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the most part, the monitoring that began in 1927 has kept poisoning numbers low; Dr. Eddie Garcia, a fellow in medical toxicology at UCSF and the California Poison Control Center, says that in 2017, only 117 cases were reported across the entire United States, none of them fatal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Saxitoxin is Relevant Now\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944161\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/psp-e1562172091893.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-complete_open_graph wp-image-1944161\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/psp-1200x1129.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"602\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Recorded cases of PSP in 1970 and 2018. Scientists say that we’ve only recently begun to understand the full extent of how common PSP really is. \u003ccite>(US National Office for Harmful Algal Blooms)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists agree it’s critically important to have infallible toxin detection methods, particularly in the coming years. For one thing, experts say algal blooms are becoming more common, likely due to pollution and climate change, among other reasons. And even with decent monitoring already in place, some people are still getting sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a sense, it’s like a bad intersection where, if you put up some good traffic lights, you can improve it a lot,” said Don Anderson, a biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, who has spent more than 40 years studying harmful algal blooms. “It’s the people who don’t obey the restrictions, whether it be a stop light or a closure, that get sick.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2014, for instance, a family vacationing on the coast of Washington made a soup out of mussels. It was midnight, too dark to read the signs that might have warned them not to eat shellfish they had caught themselves, and all seven ended up in the emergency room. One woman lost the ability to stand. The next day, the Washington Department of Health detected a saxitoxin concentration over 75 times the alert level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in daylight, not every Californian might be aware of the quarantine; some may not be able to read signs because of a language barrier, or they may think different rules apply. If you’re relying on the old adage that you can’t eat mussels in months without the letter ‘r’, for example, it’s time to update your guidelines — this belief can be traced all the way back to at least 1599, when a \u003ca href=\"https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A17373.0001.001/1:12.19?rgn=div2;view=fulltext\">cookbook\u003c/a> warned against consuming oysters during summer months, most likely because bacteria were especially rampant during summer heat without refrigeration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944164\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 290px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1944164\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/warning-sign.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"290\" height=\"441\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/warning-sign.jpg 547w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/warning-sign-160x243.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An example of a warning sign posted in San Mateo County. \u003ccite>(San Mateo County Health)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Although widely performed, saxitoxin testing is not terribly humane. In order to determine saxitoxin concentration, the most popular of three FDA-approved methods is to inject a mouse with a small amount of liquid containing an expected toxin, wait for the mouse to die, and record the time of its last breath. According to Maggie Broadwater, acting Harmful Algal Bloom Program Manager at NOAA, this mouse test is still used by CDPH to monitor toxin levels. Other methods do exist, but they involve transporting samples back to a laboratory and days of testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As algal blooms become more frequent and we begin to better understand how saxitoxin levels change, new methods have emerged that may transform the dynamics of our relationship with toxins — how we detect them, how we treat them, and how we learn from them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Lesson from the Bullfrog\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The future of saxitoxin detection may come from an unlikely source: the common bullfrog. Researchers at UCSF published a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2019/06/414716/frog-protein-may-mitigate-dangers-posed-toxic-marine-microbes-fueled-climate\">recent study\u003c/a> describing the structure of a protein called \u003ca href=\"https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/6/eaax2650\">saxiphilin\u003c/a>. It’s found in the heart and blood of the American bullfrog, which is resistant to saxitoxin poisoning. Using x-ray crystallography, researchers in the laboratory of Daniel Minor, professor at the Cardiovascular Research Institute, identified a pocket-like region in this protein that binds to saxitoxin. Scientists think that the bullfrog’s store of saxiphilin naturally reduces the concentration of saxitoxin in its bloodstream, giving the liver time to destroy the toxin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Structurally, the protein and its binding pocket look a lot like transferrin — that’s a family of proteins that bind to iron and ferry it around the body. Saxiphilin is so similar, in fact, that Minor believes the two proteins must share a common origin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is really evolution at work: repurposing a protein scaffold to do something else,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ability to bind to saxitoxin could also someday lead to a treatment for shellfish poisoning. It might provide scientists with a blueprint for developing synthetic molecules that could be administered to patients who digest the toxin, to prevent paralysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A New Vision for Monitoring Shellfish\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are also designing new-generation detection methods to improve coastal monitoring efforts. A hundred miles south of UCSF, scientists are developing a robotic technology that could replace the mouse-poison test. A team of researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute has a device they affectionately call “lab in a trashcan,” or more officially, \u003ca href=\"https://www.mbari.org/technology/emerging-current-tools/instruments/environmental-sample-processor-esp/\">Environmental Sample Processor\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When submerged in seawater, the substances in these devices sense algae toxin levels and can provide health officials with real-time data. Some are already being tested \u003ca href=\"http://science.whoi.edu/esp/fieldcelldata\">across the country\u003c/a>, and researchers have their sights set on a next-generation sample processor, shaped like a torpedo, which could move across the ocean floor, monitoring toxin levels as it goes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute say the sensor elements, particularly those that detect saxitoxin, could still be improved by a greater knowledge of what governs the toxin’s binding behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944186\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 424px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1944186\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"424\" height=\"282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-1200x799.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1-1920x1278.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/esp1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 424px) 100vw, 424px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robotic sensors, called Environmental Sample Processors, are designed by Chris Scholin and colleagues at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. ESPs could be the future of toxin detection, leading to more dynamic monitoring systems informing shellfish bans. \u003ccite>(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“To have that information, the structural information, and to potentially synthesize that, is really a pretty big step,” said Greg Doucette, a research oceanographer at NOAA who works on the ESPs. “[It’s] something that might provide us with another tool that we could use on instruments like the ESP to detect the toxins.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers like Don Anderson are excited by the potential of a toxin-binding blueprint to impact new detection methods. Anderson dreams of a future, maybe only 5 to 10 years away, in which coasts are lined with robotic sensors like the ESP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>States could then lift mussel consumption bans for portions of the coast. Families could make soup with shellfish. It’s possible that, in this imagined future, a little frog protein would be the key to opening the coast again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story stated that the saxitoxin coin was given to pilots of spy planes during WWII. That is incorrect; during WWII, pilots had a pill they could take to commit suicide if they were shot down. The CIA developed saxitoxin in a search for a replacement for the pill.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "The Argument for Giving California's Struggling Mountain Lions Endangered Species Protection",
"headTitle": "The Argument for Giving California’s Struggling Mountain Lions Endangered Species Protection | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Two environmental groups are pushing state wildlife officials to grant new protections to mountain lions between Santa Cruz and the Mexico border under the California Endangered Species Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A\u003ca href=\"https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3-wagtail.biolgicaldiversity.org/documents/CESA_petition_-_Southern_California_Central_Coast_Mountain_Lions.pdf\"> petition \u003c/a> to the California Fish and Game Commission filed Tuesday recommends that the state consider a group of six subpopulations of mountain lions (\u003cem>puma concolo\u003c/em>r) as a single “evolutionarily significant unit.” The Center for Biological Diversity and the nonprofit Mountain Lion Foundation argue that the resulting unit should be designated as “threatened or endangered” under state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These populations are struggling, and they’re struggling because they’re isolated,” said Tiffany Yap, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity and author of the petition. “Ultimately, if we are able to increase connectivity, each area of mountain lions will be able to kind of mix with the other populations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the groups’ legal and scientific logic is accepted, a designation could add sweeping protections to patches of puma territory covering as much as a third of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kirsten McIntyre, a spokeswoman with the Department of Fish and Game, said that the commission and department had not yet seen the petition and had no comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pumas once dominated mountain ranges along the Central Coast and in the southern end of the state. But according to a \u003ca href=\"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eap.1868\">study published in March\u003c/a>, researchers, relying on observations, DNA and modeling data, predict that at least some populations could disappear entirely within a half century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That study crystallized the concept of an “extinction vortex” in the debate over mountain lion viability. The vortex is created by two interlocking conditions: a well-documented decline in genetic diversity in some subpopulations, and the dearth of mountain lions in the mating pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Male mountain lions require broad swaths of territory to roam. Their home ranges can be greater than 200 miles, and they don’t like to share with other males. Over the course of the past century, the greatest threats they’ve faced have been from humans’ steady encroachment into the wildland-urban interface. That requires roads that dice up open space, and the cars that drive on those roads hit cougars trying to cross.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Applied poisons like rodenticide and insecticide are also sickening mountain lions, building up in them as they eat smaller prey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It makes it much harder for them to stay alive, and then also reproduce,” said Yap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Human development can also lead to fire, which diminishes the utility of open space for the animals. Development also makes it easier for the lions to get lost or trapped, ending up in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1933826/mountain-lion-roaming-pleasanton-business-lot-sedated-captured\">Pleasanton parking lots\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/mountain-lion-spotted-in-saratoga-neighborhood/1834363168\">Saratoga backyards\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The recommendations of wildlife officials and the ultimate decision are meant to be grounded in science. But Yap acknowledges that the breadth of potential change means that developers and property owners who might be affected may oppose the petition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, state officials grant mountain lions some consideration as a “specially protected species,” which limits how they can be hunted. But that designation doesn’t require actions to protect them or their habitat. Yap says if the petition is approved, things would change. “There would have to be resources put into looking at connectivity,” she said. “Do we build a wildlife crossing here? Should we avoid that area and build somewhere else?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Designating six isolated groups of mountain lions as a single threatened unit would likely limit new construction and change how state agencies, like Caltrans, plan and build infrastructure. Complicating matters is the fact that mountain lions living elsewhere, like in the Sierra Nevadas and the far northern part of the state, don’t appear to be in as much trouble as their more southern counterparts — though without an accurate statewide population count, it’s hard to tell. While California \u003ca href=\"https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/conservation/mammals/mountain-lion/faq\">estimates\u003c/a> a “stable” population of 4,000-6,000 mountain lions, an official count hasn’t been conducted in decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers for the environmental groups say the Fish and Game Commission must initially ask scientists and staffers at the Department of Fish and Wildlife to determine whether the petition is viable, and then whether a designation may be warranted. That preliminary determination is expected by the end of the year; a final decision could follow a year after that.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Two environmental groups are pushing state wildlife officials to grant new protections to mountain lions between Santa Cruz and the Mexico border under the California Endangered Species Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A\u003ca href=\"https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3-wagtail.biolgicaldiversity.org/documents/CESA_petition_-_Southern_California_Central_Coast_Mountain_Lions.pdf\"> petition \u003c/a> to the California Fish and Game Commission filed Tuesday recommends that the state consider a group of six subpopulations of mountain lions (\u003cem>puma concolo\u003c/em>r) as a single “evolutionarily significant unit.” The Center for Biological Diversity and the nonprofit Mountain Lion Foundation argue that the resulting unit should be designated as “threatened or endangered” under state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These populations are struggling, and they’re struggling because they’re isolated,” said Tiffany Yap, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity and author of the petition. “Ultimately, if we are able to increase connectivity, each area of mountain lions will be able to kind of mix with the other populations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the groups’ legal and scientific logic is accepted, a designation could add sweeping protections to patches of puma territory covering as much as a third of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kirsten McIntyre, a spokeswoman with the Department of Fish and Game, said that the commission and department had not yet seen the petition and had no comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pumas once dominated mountain ranges along the Central Coast and in the southern end of the state. But according to a \u003ca href=\"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eap.1868\">study published in March\u003c/a>, researchers, relying on observations, DNA and modeling data, predict that at least some populations could disappear entirely within a half century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That study crystallized the concept of an “extinction vortex” in the debate over mountain lion viability. The vortex is created by two interlocking conditions: a well-documented decline in genetic diversity in some subpopulations, and the dearth of mountain lions in the mating pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Male mountain lions require broad swaths of territory to roam. Their home ranges can be greater than 200 miles, and they don’t like to share with other males. Over the course of the past century, the greatest threats they’ve faced have been from humans’ steady encroachment into the wildland-urban interface. That requires roads that dice up open space, and the cars that drive on those roads hit cougars trying to cross.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Applied poisons like rodenticide and insecticide are also sickening mountain lions, building up in them as they eat smaller prey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It makes it much harder for them to stay alive, and then also reproduce,” said Yap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Human development can also lead to fire, which diminishes the utility of open space for the animals. Development also makes it easier for the lions to get lost or trapped, ending up in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1933826/mountain-lion-roaming-pleasanton-business-lot-sedated-captured\">Pleasanton parking lots\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/mountain-lion-spotted-in-saratoga-neighborhood/1834363168\">Saratoga backyards\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The recommendations of wildlife officials and the ultimate decision are meant to be grounded in science. But Yap acknowledges that the breadth of potential change means that developers and property owners who might be affected may oppose the petition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, state officials grant mountain lions some consideration as a “specially protected species,” which limits how they can be hunted. But that designation doesn’t require actions to protect them or their habitat. Yap says if the petition is approved, things would change. “There would have to be resources put into looking at connectivity,” she said. “Do we build a wildlife crossing here? Should we avoid that area and build somewhere else?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Designating six isolated groups of mountain lions as a single threatened unit would likely limit new construction and change how state agencies, like Caltrans, plan and build infrastructure. Complicating matters is the fact that mountain lions living elsewhere, like in the Sierra Nevadas and the far northern part of the state, don’t appear to be in as much trouble as their more southern counterparts — though without an accurate statewide population count, it’s hard to tell. While California \u003ca href=\"https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/conservation/mammals/mountain-lion/faq\">estimates\u003c/a> a “stable” population of 4,000-6,000 mountain lions, an official count hasn’t been conducted in decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers for the environmental groups say the Fish and Game Commission must initially ask scientists and staffers at the Department of Fish and Wildlife to determine whether the petition is viable, and then whether a designation may be warranted. That preliminary determination is expected by the end of the year; a final decision could follow a year after that.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Best Health and Science Books to Dip Into This Summer",
"headTitle": "The Best Health and Science Books to Dip Into This Summer | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"big-cap-wrap\">\u003cspan class=\"big-cap\">T\u003c/span>\u003c/span>he first day of summer has arrived, and so has STAT’s annual book list of great reads in health, science, and medicine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read on for recommendations from CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna and CDC Director Robert Redfield. Plus, STAT readers from Boston to Ireland to Australia share their picks, in addition to our staff. Enjoy!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Notable Figures\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805071806/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0805071806&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=7bf123ab6184f5cac33d58beddbb56f6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Scientific Conversations: Interviews on Science from The New York Times”\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Claudia Dreifus\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nThis is an awesome collection of 38 interviews, published originally in the Science Times section of the New York Times, that captures the wonder and excitement of scientific discovery. As an outstanding journalist and a relative outsider to science, Dreifus elicits from her subjects the passion, frustration, inspiration and, ultimately, the joy of doing science. Her writing reminds me of the work of John McPhee: deep and expansive with a sense of fun. A great read!\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Jennifer Doudna, professor and HHMI Investigator, UC Berkeley; director, Innovative Genomics Institute of UC Berkeley/UCSF/Gladstone Institutes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006122796X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=006122796X&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=7cfcc6b0801cc1e4c567331d7f105411\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Vaccinated: One Man’s Quest to Defeat the World’s Deadliest Diseases”\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Paul A. Offit\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nPhysicians, parents, and public health professionals seeking credible, timely information about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines will find those answers in Dr. Offit’s “Vaccinated.” He writes a compelling narrative, sharing the underlying science and historical context behind the vaccine regimen recommended today. This fact-based retrospective dispels myths and underscores the importance of immunization for children and adults alike. Readers will have a better understanding of the science-based reasoning to embrace vaccination for themselves, their families, and their communities.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Dr. Robert R. Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520229134/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0520229134&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=f6872536969b6885c29cba642778c5ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues”\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Paul Farmer\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nThis book highlights so well the very inception of the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute itself and our mission to develop treatments and preventive agents for diseases burdening the world’s poorest people. Tenderly, Farmer tells the stories of those who suffer, offering their complex circumstances in the face of overwhelming data. The Partners in Health co-founder challenges those determined to care for the most vulnerable to challenge the status quo. Although written 20 years ago, the stories ring truer than ever. Inequities in health have only become magnified and are now manifest in our own backyard. Although sobering, it is also inspiring and may make the reader leap to other resources such as “The Age of Living Machines” by Susan Hockfield, who posits that convergence across scientific disciplines led to the current technological capabilities. Can these not be leveraged with know-how and fortitude to meaningfully address inequities in health?\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Dr. Penny Heaton, CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1845291557/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1845291557&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=424b9e11f98c4fb76b3a018ce157005a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“A Brief History of Medicine: from Hippocrates to Gene Therapy”\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cem>By Paul Strathern\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>Among the many histories of medicine, Paul Strathern’s narrative stands out for its lively prose and colorful portraits of figures who broke with dogma and proved new paradigms. Even the expert reader will find much that is novel and nuanced, not only in stories about prominent characters like Galen and Harvey, but less well known individuals like the Venerable Bede, an English monk who revived Greek and Roman knowledge during the Dark Ages, and Al-Razi, an Islamic scholar who challenged Aristotle’s prevailing notions with experimental data and showed that pediatric disorders need not be viewed as untreatable and hopeless. Each chapter offers a rich tableau depicting advances in medical thinking based on astute observation and rigorous induction. Strathern brilliantly succeeds in both educating and entertaining his reader, a perfect blend for a summer treat.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Dr. Jerome Groopman, New Yorker staff writer and author; Recanati Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345804570/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0345804570&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=137ae7f66e5eee834172c881aa8f1b7a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World—and Us”\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Richard Prum\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nWhether you agree with Prum or not, his case for renewed attention to Darwin’s theory of sexual selection — that considerations of beauty, and not just functional adaptation, shape evolution — is eye-opening. The book also reminds us that politics (in this case, 19th-century disapproval of Darwin’s views on female mate choice) can influence what we are taught about science. Even if you are skeptical, Prum will make you think twice about the natural world, and will definitely change how you look at ducks.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Ron Klain, President Obama’s Ebola czar during the West African outbreak\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062338781/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0062338781&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=a08377a6dbaebf506ffcb6efb996c457\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Katherine Eban\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>In her fierce and fearless book, “Bottle of Lies,” the investigative journalist Katherine Eban takes us on a journey through the loosely regulated and often corrupt manufacture of generic drugs. Weaving together the story of a terrified but determined whistleblower from India, shady drug producers from China, and a notably timid FDA, Eban’s compelling book should serve as cautionary tale and a wake-up call for consumers, manufacturers, and physicians — “should” being the operative word.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Deborah Blum, author of “The Poison Squad: One Chemist’s Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century” and director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>STAT Readers\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735224153/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0735224153&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=e88ba9aa97ec231e13dcca5e20cbc7bf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Michael Pollan\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nWith cannabis medicine now getting the attention it deserves, Michael Pollan has done a tremendous job at digging into the history of psychedelic use, both recreationally and in therapy, together with his own observations as a new psychedelic experimenter at the age of 60. All in all, a comprehensive history of the topic, together with interviews from key psychedelic researchers, and a call for serious researchers to think twice about hasty judgments surrounding this interesting compound.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Jon Calder, Belfast, Northern Ireland\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006289627X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=006289627X&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=ea6fc765acd3cc5ad1ccd85342cb04ae\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Kris Newby\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n“Bitten” is a riveting narrative that digs into the origins of the Lyme disease epidemic. It connects many dots with compelling evidence and page-turning storytelling that point to the likelihood that a bio-weaponized tick program gone awry could have contributed to the more virulent forms of tick-borne illnesses that have been wreaking havoc on unwitting people for the past five decades. Doctors are not well-trained on tick-borne illness, diagnostics are inadequate, and there are no career tracks in the field other than a few courageous pioneers. Biotech is largely on the sidelines. Yet millions of people are being disabled. Perhaps this book will help stir some action. After all, we all are just one bite away from a nightmare illness.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Nancy Dougherty, Boston\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544114515/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0544114515&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=4f6ff933051d07a5d66bb8d7906db1a2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Gregory Berns\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nFabulous book for anyone interested in the realities of research. Getting MRI data on dogs to confirm the similarities in where dogs and human brains respond to stimuli sounds like a good idea. Getting permission to get the dogs into the places where there are MRIs, getting the dogs used to the MRI, selecting real-life animals, and the implications for the experimental conclusions is very different from what usually shows up in methods and results.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Joanna Haas, Boston\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316418080/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316418080&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=ab87c536d62f16a84be8997dbe897c72\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“The Perfect Predator: A Scientist’s Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Steffanie Strathdee and Thomas Patterson\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>Riveting account of a scientist trying to save her husband through a combination of sheer will, determination, and cutting-edge science. It’s an amazing blend of mystery, thriller, and microbiology.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Mallory Johnson, Berkeley, Calif.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671510576/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0671510576&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=cb77504e40e1a9467241ae7547ca194a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“The Billion Dollar Molecule: One Company’s Quest for the Perfect Drug”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Barry Werth\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n“Billion Dollar Molecule” is a thrilling story about the development of a now powerful pharmaceutical company, its revolutionary approach in structure-based drug development, and how closely it came to failing along the way. At a time when people doubt the justifications of pricing for pharmaceutical drugs, peeking at the risks involved in development and the arduous journeys of the scientists involved through this story could add nuance to the conversation.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Eric Kishel, Buffalo, N.Y.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0190916834/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0190916834&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=4c465b27e88b48c0879f78555b17f6ef\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Well: What We Need to Talk About When We Talk About Health”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Sandro Galea\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n“Well” moves beyond talk of health disparities as simply numbers and statistics, dissecting the factors that influence health and well-being. This is an excellent read for health professionals or anyone interested in better understanding all the variables that impact our decisions and behaviors, like power, politics, and luck.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Jamie Klufts, Boston\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312430000/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0312430000&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=35421e550159f565498198501246b2c1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Atul Gawande\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nYears after reading it, the message and themes of this book still resonate with me. One for everyone involved in health.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Eliza Metcalfe, Melbourne, Australia \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/154164414X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=154164414X&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=9df8ac5f5bb7af175e206e2ce490fcfb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope, and Wastes Billions”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Richard Harris\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n“Rigor Mortis” delves into data reproducibility and scientific rigor in biomedical research. Using deft anecdotes and commentary, Harris explores how sociocultural forces and perverse incentives in funding mechanisms can conspire to create a dirge of confidence in the research process. Anyone interested in learning about how flawed science undermines medicine should pick up this book for a relatively quick and incisive read.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Kyle Penrod, Providence, R.I.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316051632/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316051632&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=102a5090c27ba3b32e74ee3014fa30fc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Sam Kean\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nThis book is an entertaining and amazing look at the history of the periodic table and the discovery of the elements. Kean writes in a narrative fashion that gripped me from the very first page. This book is a must for lovers of science, history, and science history.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Katie Reeves, Augusta, Ga.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>STAT Reporters\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1608192075/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1608192075&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=7aa079684701270fecebca869fe0c79e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Nick Reding\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nThe 2016 election sparked a national obsession with reporting from “flyover country” — a hasty attempt from the national media to remember the forgotten swathes of land between the coasts. But some of the resulting coverage was so full of caricatures it seemed like just another version of flying over. Stumbling across “Methland” in the public library provided a strong antidote to those datelines without depth. Nick Reding’s portraits of small-town Iowans who are cooking, using, or working against meth are so deeply reported that you feel as if you’ve met these people in the flesh. The details are striking — kids mixing “crank” in soda bottles as they tootle around on their bikes, a dealer investing in car selling and horse racing as fronts for her drug empire — but the book also has an impressive sweep: It chronicles rural economies overtaken by agricultural behemoths, towns left behind by everyone with the means to leave, and public health and existential crises ensnaring the people who remain.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Eric Boodman, reporter\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1568585810/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1568585810&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=c7392af7e5427afc8fbd10e2f028fc99\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women’s Pain”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Abby Norman\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nAny woman whose pain has been dismissed as being “part of what it means to be a woman” will highly relate to this book. “Ask Me About My Uterus” is the story of Abby Norman, whose long and frustrating journey of finding out what was causing her excruciating pain, unexplainable weight loss, and a host of other symptoms meant she had to drop out of college her freshman year. Norman describes how relationships and hobbies all fell by the wayside as the constant pain kept her at home. Only after she got a job at a hospital and spent hours educating herself did Norman finally get a diagnosis of endometriosis. The book weaves together Norman’s own story as well as research and evidence to indicate how medicine continues to ignore women’s pain. I learned a lot of things, but how to be more assertive when I visit with a physician is at the top of the list!\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Shraddha Chakradhar, reporter and Morning Rounds writer\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DP6MSJG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B07DP6MSJG&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=169853d1a860b739e89a5805d07eee17\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of us Can Learn From the Strange Science of Recovery”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Christie Aschwanden\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nLike many who live life with a daily dose of sweat, I’m always on the lookout for the best ways to recover from exercise and get myself back out the door. In her new book, science journalist and athlete Christie Aschwanden deftly unravels the complex web of science, pseudoscience, and downright bogus claims in the world of exercise recovery. She takes the reader into infrared saunas, ice baths, and float spas and tests techniques I’d never heard of (meditation headbands are a thing?) meant to help athletes bounce back from their hard efforts.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Brittany Flaherty, news intern\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812997417/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0812997417&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=3df4e39b8793e8725667e7c8b16161f3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Lake Success”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Gary Shteyngart\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n“Lake Success” is the story of Barry Cohen, a superlatively successful hedge fund manager whose enviable Manhattan life comes hideously unglued after he makes an ill-advised bet on what is clearly a stand-in for Valeant Pharmaceuticals. What ensues is a never sanguine, always empathetic, reliably funny portrait of a fabulously wealthy person who seems to have forgotten the concept of failure. It’s also a fascinating character study for those of us biotech schnooks who looked at alleged insider traders like Mathew Martoma and wondered how on earth they thought they’d get away with it all. Plus there’s fancy watches, generational angst, and a meditation on the creeping financialization of everything that promises to bring about a new Gilded Age. You know, beach stuff.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Damian Garde, national biotech reporter\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1524732710/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1524732710&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=f0f49695f97eea1f87af0be2c561a5fe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Dani Shapiro\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nWherever she speaks during her book tour for “Inheritance,” memoirist Dani Shapiro is approached by people who, like her, discovered through a DNA spit test that their biological father is not who they thought he was, and that their family history is a lot more twisted than they realized. Indeed, when I heard her in Boston, a man stood up during the Q&A and announced he’d learned he was the product of a sperm donor who turned out to be a fertility doctor who’d fathered dozens of children. Shapiro’s book is a very personal story, but clearly one that resonates broadly in our DNA-obsessed age.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Gideon Gil, managing editor\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1501168681/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1501168681&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=22c75b403593e8a3a77e635029a3d63f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought The American Ideal West”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By David McCullough\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nA great way to gain perspective on the impact of modern medicine is to consider life before it arrived. McCullough’s account of the pioneers who settled America’s Northwest Territory — an area that includes the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin — offers a window into the ruggedness required of both doctors and patients who stared down deadly illnesses in the unbroken wilderness with few defenses. Episodic disease outbreaks swept across the frontier like wildfire, often decimating settlements and taking the lives of multiple children in the same family. As a father living in present-day Ohio, it is hard to imagine the panic this must have instilled, and the resolve required to push forward despite the heart-wrenching costs. But this book has given me fresh insight and a few reasons to reconsider my own grievances in the relative utopia we’ve carved out of the Wild West.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Casey Ross, national technology correspondent\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812982525/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0812982525&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=ca6e6c07db5238906a40e5ea31a25d71\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Luke Dittrich\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nThe book weaves the neuroscience legend of Henry Molaison with author Luke Dittrich’s own family dramas. After Dittrich’s grandfather operated on Molaison’s brain in an effort to treat his debilitating epilepsy, he wasn’t able to form any short-term memories. For decades after the surgery, researchers worked with Molaison to better understand how human memory works. Patient H.M.’s story is interesting enough. But when the story is mentioned, the surgeon is usually a minor player. This time, Dittrich brings his grandfather to life — and uses his family’s own history to explore some of the darker chapters in neuroscience history.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Kate Sheridan, reporter\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525552960/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0525552960&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=0abcda54b107dd77066adae0db4d637f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Darius The Great is Not Okay”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Adib Khorram\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nAdib Khorram’s debut novel is about many things: identity, immigration, family, friendship. It’s also about living with clinical depression as a teen, and being a teen with a parent who has depression. Khorram is able to give readers a window into living with mental illness without making it the sole focus of the characters or their stories. And while it’s technically a young adult book, I’d recommend it to adults of all ages.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Megan Thielking, reporter\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2019/05/01/from-protegee-to-whistleblower-a-former-theranos-scientist-says-elizabeth-holmes-should-come-forward-and-apologize/\">story\u003c/a> was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/\">STAT\u003c/a>, an online publication of Boston Globe Media that covers health, medicine, and scientific discovery.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"big-cap-wrap\">\u003cspan class=\"big-cap\">T\u003c/span>\u003c/span>he first day of summer has arrived, and so has STAT’s annual book list of great reads in health, science, and medicine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read on for recommendations from CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna and CDC Director Robert Redfield. Plus, STAT readers from Boston to Ireland to Australia share their picks, in addition to our staff. Enjoy!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Notable Figures\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805071806/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0805071806&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=7bf123ab6184f5cac33d58beddbb56f6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Scientific Conversations: Interviews on Science from The New York Times”\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Claudia Dreifus\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nThis is an awesome collection of 38 interviews, published originally in the Science Times section of the New York Times, that captures the wonder and excitement of scientific discovery. As an outstanding journalist and a relative outsider to science, Dreifus elicits from her subjects the passion, frustration, inspiration and, ultimately, the joy of doing science. Her writing reminds me of the work of John McPhee: deep and expansive with a sense of fun. A great read!\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Jennifer Doudna, professor and HHMI Investigator, UC Berkeley; director, Innovative Genomics Institute of UC Berkeley/UCSF/Gladstone Institutes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006122796X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=006122796X&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=7cfcc6b0801cc1e4c567331d7f105411\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Vaccinated: One Man’s Quest to Defeat the World’s Deadliest Diseases”\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Paul A. Offit\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nPhysicians, parents, and public health professionals seeking credible, timely information about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines will find those answers in Dr. Offit’s “Vaccinated.” He writes a compelling narrative, sharing the underlying science and historical context behind the vaccine regimen recommended today. This fact-based retrospective dispels myths and underscores the importance of immunization for children and adults alike. Readers will have a better understanding of the science-based reasoning to embrace vaccination for themselves, their families, and their communities.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Dr. Robert R. Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520229134/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0520229134&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=f6872536969b6885c29cba642778c5ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues”\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Paul Farmer\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nThis book highlights so well the very inception of the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute itself and our mission to develop treatments and preventive agents for diseases burdening the world’s poorest people. Tenderly, Farmer tells the stories of those who suffer, offering their complex circumstances in the face of overwhelming data. The Partners in Health co-founder challenges those determined to care for the most vulnerable to challenge the status quo. Although written 20 years ago, the stories ring truer than ever. Inequities in health have only become magnified and are now manifest in our own backyard. Although sobering, it is also inspiring and may make the reader leap to other resources such as “The Age of Living Machines” by Susan Hockfield, who posits that convergence across scientific disciplines led to the current technological capabilities. Can these not be leveraged with know-how and fortitude to meaningfully address inequities in health?\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Dr. Penny Heaton, CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1845291557/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1845291557&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=424b9e11f98c4fb76b3a018ce157005a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“A Brief History of Medicine: from Hippocrates to Gene Therapy”\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cem>By Paul Strathern\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>Among the many histories of medicine, Paul Strathern’s narrative stands out for its lively prose and colorful portraits of figures who broke with dogma and proved new paradigms. Even the expert reader will find much that is novel and nuanced, not only in stories about prominent characters like Galen and Harvey, but less well known individuals like the Venerable Bede, an English monk who revived Greek and Roman knowledge during the Dark Ages, and Al-Razi, an Islamic scholar who challenged Aristotle’s prevailing notions with experimental data and showed that pediatric disorders need not be viewed as untreatable and hopeless. Each chapter offers a rich tableau depicting advances in medical thinking based on astute observation and rigorous induction. Strathern brilliantly succeeds in both educating and entertaining his reader, a perfect blend for a summer treat.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Dr. Jerome Groopman, New Yorker staff writer and author; Recanati Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345804570/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0345804570&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=137ae7f66e5eee834172c881aa8f1b7a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World—and Us”\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Richard Prum\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nWhether you agree with Prum or not, his case for renewed attention to Darwin’s theory of sexual selection — that considerations of beauty, and not just functional adaptation, shape evolution — is eye-opening. The book also reminds us that politics (in this case, 19th-century disapproval of Darwin’s views on female mate choice) can influence what we are taught about science. Even if you are skeptical, Prum will make you think twice about the natural world, and will definitely change how you look at ducks.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Ron Klain, President Obama’s Ebola czar during the West African outbreak\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062338781/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0062338781&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=a08377a6dbaebf506ffcb6efb996c457\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Katherine Eban\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>In her fierce and fearless book, “Bottle of Lies,” the investigative journalist Katherine Eban takes us on a journey through the loosely regulated and often corrupt manufacture of generic drugs. Weaving together the story of a terrified but determined whistleblower from India, shady drug producers from China, and a notably timid FDA, Eban’s compelling book should serve as cautionary tale and a wake-up call for consumers, manufacturers, and physicians — “should” being the operative word.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Deborah Blum, author of “The Poison Squad: One Chemist’s Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century” and director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>STAT Readers\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735224153/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0735224153&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=e88ba9aa97ec231e13dcca5e20cbc7bf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Michael Pollan\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nWith cannabis medicine now getting the attention it deserves, Michael Pollan has done a tremendous job at digging into the history of psychedelic use, both recreationally and in therapy, together with his own observations as a new psychedelic experimenter at the age of 60. All in all, a comprehensive history of the topic, together with interviews from key psychedelic researchers, and a call for serious researchers to think twice about hasty judgments surrounding this interesting compound.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Jon Calder, Belfast, Northern Ireland\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006289627X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=006289627X&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=ea6fc765acd3cc5ad1ccd85342cb04ae\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Kris Newby\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n“Bitten” is a riveting narrative that digs into the origins of the Lyme disease epidemic. It connects many dots with compelling evidence and page-turning storytelling that point to the likelihood that a bio-weaponized tick program gone awry could have contributed to the more virulent forms of tick-borne illnesses that have been wreaking havoc on unwitting people for the past five decades. Doctors are not well-trained on tick-borne illness, diagnostics are inadequate, and there are no career tracks in the field other than a few courageous pioneers. Biotech is largely on the sidelines. Yet millions of people are being disabled. Perhaps this book will help stir some action. After all, we all are just one bite away from a nightmare illness.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Nancy Dougherty, Boston\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544114515/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0544114515&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=4f6ff933051d07a5d66bb8d7906db1a2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Gregory Berns\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nFabulous book for anyone interested in the realities of research. Getting MRI data on dogs to confirm the similarities in where dogs and human brains respond to stimuli sounds like a good idea. Getting permission to get the dogs into the places where there are MRIs, getting the dogs used to the MRI, selecting real-life animals, and the implications for the experimental conclusions is very different from what usually shows up in methods and results.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Joanna Haas, Boston\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316418080/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316418080&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=ab87c536d62f16a84be8997dbe897c72\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“The Perfect Predator: A Scientist’s Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Steffanie Strathdee and Thomas Patterson\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>Riveting account of a scientist trying to save her husband through a combination of sheer will, determination, and cutting-edge science. It’s an amazing blend of mystery, thriller, and microbiology.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Mallory Johnson, Berkeley, Calif.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671510576/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0671510576&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=cb77504e40e1a9467241ae7547ca194a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“The Billion Dollar Molecule: One Company’s Quest for the Perfect Drug”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Barry Werth\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n“Billion Dollar Molecule” is a thrilling story about the development of a now powerful pharmaceutical company, its revolutionary approach in structure-based drug development, and how closely it came to failing along the way. At a time when people doubt the justifications of pricing for pharmaceutical drugs, peeking at the risks involved in development and the arduous journeys of the scientists involved through this story could add nuance to the conversation.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Eric Kishel, Buffalo, N.Y.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0190916834/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0190916834&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=4c465b27e88b48c0879f78555b17f6ef\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Well: What We Need to Talk About When We Talk About Health”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Sandro Galea\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n“Well” moves beyond talk of health disparities as simply numbers and statistics, dissecting the factors that influence health and well-being. This is an excellent read for health professionals or anyone interested in better understanding all the variables that impact our decisions and behaviors, like power, politics, and luck.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Jamie Klufts, Boston\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312430000/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0312430000&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=35421e550159f565498198501246b2c1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Atul Gawande\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nYears after reading it, the message and themes of this book still resonate with me. One for everyone involved in health.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Eliza Metcalfe, Melbourne, Australia \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/154164414X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=154164414X&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=9df8ac5f5bb7af175e206e2ce490fcfb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope, and Wastes Billions”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Richard Harris\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n“Rigor Mortis” delves into data reproducibility and scientific rigor in biomedical research. Using deft anecdotes and commentary, Harris explores how sociocultural forces and perverse incentives in funding mechanisms can conspire to create a dirge of confidence in the research process. Anyone interested in learning about how flawed science undermines medicine should pick up this book for a relatively quick and incisive read.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Kyle Penrod, Providence, R.I.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316051632/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316051632&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=102a5090c27ba3b32e74ee3014fa30fc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Sam Kean\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nThis book is an entertaining and amazing look at the history of the periodic table and the discovery of the elements. Kean writes in a narrative fashion that gripped me from the very first page. This book is a must for lovers of science, history, and science history.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Katie Reeves, Augusta, Ga.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>STAT Reporters\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1608192075/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1608192075&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=7aa079684701270fecebca869fe0c79e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Nick Reding\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nThe 2016 election sparked a national obsession with reporting from “flyover country” — a hasty attempt from the national media to remember the forgotten swathes of land between the coasts. But some of the resulting coverage was so full of caricatures it seemed like just another version of flying over. Stumbling across “Methland” in the public library provided a strong antidote to those datelines without depth. Nick Reding’s portraits of small-town Iowans who are cooking, using, or working against meth are so deeply reported that you feel as if you’ve met these people in the flesh. The details are striking — kids mixing “crank” in soda bottles as they tootle around on their bikes, a dealer investing in car selling and horse racing as fronts for her drug empire — but the book also has an impressive sweep: It chronicles rural economies overtaken by agricultural behemoths, towns left behind by everyone with the means to leave, and public health and existential crises ensnaring the people who remain.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Eric Boodman, reporter\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1568585810/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1568585810&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=c7392af7e5427afc8fbd10e2f028fc99\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women’s Pain”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Abby Norman\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nAny woman whose pain has been dismissed as being “part of what it means to be a woman” will highly relate to this book. “Ask Me About My Uterus” is the story of Abby Norman, whose long and frustrating journey of finding out what was causing her excruciating pain, unexplainable weight loss, and a host of other symptoms meant she had to drop out of college her freshman year. Norman describes how relationships and hobbies all fell by the wayside as the constant pain kept her at home. Only after she got a job at a hospital and spent hours educating herself did Norman finally get a diagnosis of endometriosis. The book weaves together Norman’s own story as well as research and evidence to indicate how medicine continues to ignore women’s pain. I learned a lot of things, but how to be more assertive when I visit with a physician is at the top of the list!\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Shraddha Chakradhar, reporter and Morning Rounds writer\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DP6MSJG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B07DP6MSJG&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=169853d1a860b739e89a5805d07eee17\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of us Can Learn From the Strange Science of Recovery”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Christie Aschwanden\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nLike many who live life with a daily dose of sweat, I’m always on the lookout for the best ways to recover from exercise and get myself back out the door. In her new book, science journalist and athlete Christie Aschwanden deftly unravels the complex web of science, pseudoscience, and downright bogus claims in the world of exercise recovery. She takes the reader into infrared saunas, ice baths, and float spas and tests techniques I’d never heard of (meditation headbands are a thing?) meant to help athletes bounce back from their hard efforts.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Brittany Flaherty, news intern\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812997417/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0812997417&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=3df4e39b8793e8725667e7c8b16161f3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Lake Success”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Gary Shteyngart\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n“Lake Success” is the story of Barry Cohen, a superlatively successful hedge fund manager whose enviable Manhattan life comes hideously unglued after he makes an ill-advised bet on what is clearly a stand-in for Valeant Pharmaceuticals. What ensues is a never sanguine, always empathetic, reliably funny portrait of a fabulously wealthy person who seems to have forgotten the concept of failure. It’s also a fascinating character study for those of us biotech schnooks who looked at alleged insider traders like Mathew Martoma and wondered how on earth they thought they’d get away with it all. Plus there’s fancy watches, generational angst, and a meditation on the creeping financialization of everything that promises to bring about a new Gilded Age. You know, beach stuff.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Damian Garde, national biotech reporter\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1524732710/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1524732710&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=f0f49695f97eea1f87af0be2c561a5fe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Dani Shapiro\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nWherever she speaks during her book tour for “Inheritance,” memoirist Dani Shapiro is approached by people who, like her, discovered through a DNA spit test that their biological father is not who they thought he was, and that their family history is a lot more twisted than they realized. Indeed, when I heard her in Boston, a man stood up during the Q&A and announced he’d learned he was the product of a sperm donor who turned out to be a fertility doctor who’d fathered dozens of children. Shapiro’s book is a very personal story, but clearly one that resonates broadly in our DNA-obsessed age.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Gideon Gil, managing editor\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1501168681/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1501168681&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=22c75b403593e8a3a77e635029a3d63f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought The American Ideal West”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By David McCullough\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nA great way to gain perspective on the impact of modern medicine is to consider life before it arrived. McCullough’s account of the pioneers who settled America’s Northwest Territory — an area that includes the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin — offers a window into the ruggedness required of both doctors and patients who stared down deadly illnesses in the unbroken wilderness with few defenses. Episodic disease outbreaks swept across the frontier like wildfire, often decimating settlements and taking the lives of multiple children in the same family. As a father living in present-day Ohio, it is hard to imagine the panic this must have instilled, and the resolve required to push forward despite the heart-wrenching costs. But this book has given me fresh insight and a few reasons to reconsider my own grievances in the relative utopia we’ve carved out of the Wild West.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Casey Ross, national technology correspondent\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812982525/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0812982525&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=ca6e6c07db5238906a40e5ea31a25d71\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Luke Dittrich\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nThe book weaves the neuroscience legend of Henry Molaison with author Luke Dittrich’s own family dramas. After Dittrich’s grandfather operated on Molaison’s brain in an effort to treat his debilitating epilepsy, he wasn’t able to form any short-term memories. For decades after the surgery, researchers worked with Molaison to better understand how human memory works. Patient H.M.’s story is interesting enough. But when the story is mentioned, the surgeon is usually a minor player. This time, Dittrich brings his grandfather to life — and uses his family’s own history to explore some of the darker chapters in neuroscience history.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Kate Sheridan, reporter\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525552960/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0525552960&linkCode=as2&tag=stat03d-20&linkId=0abcda54b107dd77066adae0db4d637f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>“Darius The Great is Not Okay”\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>By Adib Khorram\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nAdib Khorram’s debut novel is about many things: identity, immigration, family, friendship. It’s also about living with clinical depression as a teen, and being a teen with a parent who has depression. Khorram is able to give readers a window into living with mental illness without making it the sole focus of the characters or their stories. And while it’s technically a young adult book, I’d recommend it to adults of all ages.\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>— Megan Thielking, reporter\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Here We Go Again: Feds Reopen Patent Dispute Between UC and Broad Institute",
"headTitle": "Here We Go Again: Feds Reopen Patent Dispute Between UC and Broad Institute | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The U.S. patent office has \u003ca href=\"https://www.broadinstitute.org/files/news/pdfs/106115-NoticeDeclaringInterference.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">declared an interference\u003c/a> between a dozen key patents awarded to the Broad Institute on the genome-editing technology CRISPR and 10 CRISPR patent applications submitted by the University of California and its partners, according to documents posted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1943947\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1-800x531.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1-1200x797.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The declaration of an interference means that the patent office has determined that one or more patent applications describe inventions that are substantially the same as those for which patents have already been issued. In this case, the patents awarded to the Broad, beginning in 2014, describe the use of CRISPR-Cas9 to edit the genomes of eukaryotes — organisms whose genomes are enclosed within a cell nucleus, including all plants and animals — based on the research of Broad biologist Feng Zhang. UC’s patent applications also cover the use of CRISPR in eukaryotes, based on the work of UC Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna and her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC and the Broad already went through an interference proceeding that went all the way to federal appeals court, with the Broad \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2018/09/10/appeals-court-upholds-crispr-patents-awarded-to-broad-institute/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prevailing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That history made patent experts react almost identically to this latest development. “Here we are again,” said attorney Kevin Noonan of the Chicago law firm McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP, who specializes in biotech patents. “I can only imagine that this will go on, and on, and on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the Doudna and Zhang teams did their research under a system that awarded patents based on who was the first to invent (the current system, in place since 2013, awards patents based on who was the first to file). The interference proceeding will entail motions filed with the patent office, which will likely take a year, and then possibly a hearing. At some point, the patent office will therefore have to determine who was the inventor of CRISPR genome editing in higher organisms — not bacteria, and not DNA floating freely in a test tube.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now we’re having the fight over who invented CRISPR in eukaryotes,” said Eldora Ellison of Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox, who represents UC. The declaration of interference, she said, “means that the patent office has recognized that it has a duty to determine who invented this important invention. The fact that the Broad has patents does not resolve that question.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The answer to that question would reverberate well beyond the potentially billion-dollar market for CRISPR therapies. Those are being developed by at least three companies, including Editas Medicine, CRISPR Therapeutics, and Intellia Therapeutics. The outcome could also affect who the science record books, to say nothing of the Nobel Prize committee, recognizes as the inventors of this revolutionary technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, the Broad said, “We welcome this action by the [patent office], which has previously ruled that the claims of the Broad patents, issued for methods for eukaryotic genome editing, were properly granted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike the last interference, which UC requested, neither party asked for this one. But that can be done “indirectly,” Noonan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The interesting thing in terms of the [University of California] strategy is that they seem to have filed a bunch of patent applications intended to provoke an interference,” by describing the use of CRISPR in eukaryotes even though the UC team was not the first to achieve that, Noonan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you write the [patent] claim the right way, and the patent examiner is aware that the Broad’s patents [on that invention] exist, it wouldn’t take a genius examiner to say, aha,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The patent office has designated the Broad as the “senior party” in the interference and UC as the “junior party.” That means the Broad, with patents in hand since 2014, is presumed to be the rightful, first inventor. UC therefore has to prove its case to the patent office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2019/05/01/from-protegee-to-whistleblower-a-former-theranos-scientist-says-elizabeth-holmes-should-come-forward-and-apologize/\">story\u003c/a> was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/\">STAT\u003c/a>, an online publication of Boston Globe Media that covers health, medicine, and scientific discovery.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The U.S. patent office has \u003ca href=\"https://www.broadinstitute.org/files/news/pdfs/106115-NoticeDeclaringInterference.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">declared an interference\u003c/a> between a dozen key patents awarded to the Broad Institute on the genome-editing technology CRISPR and 10 CRISPR patent applications submitted by the University of California and its partners, according to documents posted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1943947\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1-800x531.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1-1200x797.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The declaration of an interference means that the patent office has determined that one or more patent applications describe inventions that are substantially the same as those for which patents have already been issued. In this case, the patents awarded to the Broad, beginning in 2014, describe the use of CRISPR-Cas9 to edit the genomes of eukaryotes — organisms whose genomes are enclosed within a cell nucleus, including all plants and animals — based on the research of Broad biologist Feng Zhang. UC’s patent applications also cover the use of CRISPR in eukaryotes, based on the work of UC Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna and her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC and the Broad already went through an interference proceeding that went all the way to federal appeals court, with the Broad \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2018/09/10/appeals-court-upholds-crispr-patents-awarded-to-broad-institute/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prevailing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That history made patent experts react almost identically to this latest development. “Here we are again,” said attorney Kevin Noonan of the Chicago law firm McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP, who specializes in biotech patents. “I can only imagine that this will go on, and on, and on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the Doudna and Zhang teams did their research under a system that awarded patents based on who was the first to invent (the current system, in place since 2013, awards patents based on who was the first to file). The interference proceeding will entail motions filed with the patent office, which will likely take a year, and then possibly a hearing. At some point, the patent office will therefore have to determine who was the inventor of CRISPR genome editing in higher organisms — not bacteria, and not DNA floating freely in a test tube.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now we’re having the fight over who invented CRISPR in eukaryotes,” said Eldora Ellison of Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox, who represents UC. The declaration of interference, she said, “means that the patent office has recognized that it has a duty to determine who invented this important invention. The fact that the Broad has patents does not resolve that question.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The answer to that question would reverberate well beyond the potentially billion-dollar market for CRISPR therapies. Those are being developed by at least three companies, including Editas Medicine, CRISPR Therapeutics, and Intellia Therapeutics. The outcome could also affect who the science record books, to say nothing of the Nobel Prize committee, recognizes as the inventors of this revolutionary technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, the Broad said, “We welcome this action by the [patent office], which has previously ruled that the claims of the Broad patents, issued for methods for eukaryotic genome editing, were properly granted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike the last interference, which UC requested, neither party asked for this one. But that can be done “indirectly,” Noonan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The interesting thing in terms of the [University of California] strategy is that they seem to have filed a bunch of patent applications intended to provoke an interference,” by describing the use of CRISPR in eukaryotes even though the UC team was not the first to achieve that, Noonan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you write the [patent] claim the right way, and the patent examiner is aware that the Broad’s patents [on that invention] exist, it wouldn’t take a genius examiner to say, aha,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The patent office has designated the Broad as the “senior party” in the interference and UC as the “junior party.” That means the Broad, with patents in hand since 2014, is presumed to be the rightful, first inventor. UC therefore has to prove its case to the patent office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2019/05/01/from-protegee-to-whistleblower-a-former-theranos-scientist-says-elizabeth-holmes-should-come-forward-and-apologize/\">story\u003c/a> was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/\">STAT\u003c/a>, an online publication of Boston Globe Media that covers health, medicine, and scientific discovery.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "New Forensic Tool Uses Single Hair to Identify Perpetrators",
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"content": "\u003cp>A new forensic technique could help identify perpetrators of sexual assault using a kind of evidence typically deemed unreliable by the scientific community: hair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historically, analysis of hair samples has been fraught with far more \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/fbi-overstated-forensic-hair-matches-in-nearly-all-criminal-trials-for-decades/2015/04/18/39c8d8c6-e515-11e4-b510-962fcfabc310_story.html?utm_term=.2ea44eba6676\">controversy\u003c/a> than crime shows might lead someone to believe. In 2013, the FBI, responding to the exoneration of three men whose hair-based convictions did not align with DNA evidence, announced what was lauded as a “historic” and “unprecedented” partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Innocence Project, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The collaboration reopened an investigation into prior criminal convictions that had been decided, at least in part, by forensic analysis of hair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two years later, it admitted to significant errors. Of the cases it examined, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-testimony-on-microscopic-hair-analysis-contained-errors-in-at-least-90-percent-of-cases-in-ongoing-review\">FBI estimated\u003c/a> that its own agents and analysts had submitted erroneous statements or testimony based on faulty science in at least 90% of trial transcripts. In its press release, the agency quoted a director of The Innocence Project, who called the over-reliance on hair analysis in court no less than “an epic miscarriage of justice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Analyzing hair is a frustrating task for forensic scientists. First, hair lacks the DNA found in the nucleus of a cell, the gold standard for human identification. The DNA present in the cell’s mitochondria, which are found in hair, only passes down from mother to child and cannot necessarily serve as conclusive identification. DNA also degrades quickly, so forensic analysts often simply cannot use strands of hair left out in the sun or cold, or hairs that have aged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past, scientists often examined hair appearance instead, comparing two samples under a microscope. Many analysts and agents testified in court that the samples came from a particular suspect based on qualities such as color, coarseness and straightness; without a method of definitively measuring the difference between one hair and another, courts were forced to trust the scientist’s testimony, rather than the reliability of the evidence itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943741\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1943741 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/forensicsciencecenter450px.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"302\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/forensicsciencecenter450px.jpg 450w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/forensicsciencecenter450px-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brad Hart, Glendon Parker and Deon Anex analyze hair samples using mass spectrometry. \u003ccite>(Julie Russell/LLNL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>New Tool for Sexual Assault Cases?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent breakthrough from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory could provide the forensic community with a new quantitative method to identify perpetrators based on a single human hair from anywhere on the body. \u003ca href=\"https://www.llnl.gov/news/llnl-led-study-finds-any-single-hair-human-body-can-be-used-identification\">The findings\u003c/a>, published last month in \u003cem>Scientific Reports\u003c/em>, build on \u003ca href=\"https://www.llnl.gov/news/llnl-led-team-develops-forensic-method-identify-people-using-human-hair-proteins\">previous research\u003c/a> that allowed LLNL scientists to identify a person from a human hair based on the information contained in its proteins, which are more durable than DNA and can tell a scientist about mutations in the DNA itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The drive is to get away from subjective kinds of analyses,” said Deon Anex, group leader at the Forensics Science Center at LLNL (Anex credited chemist Fanny Chu, a Livermore Graduate Scholar, with the majority of the study’s findings.) What the group’s new technique would offer, he said, is a way of analyzing hair samples that would not rely on any scientist’s opinion, how many years of experience they have, or their persuasiveness in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps most importantly, Anex said, the method could provide law enforcement agencies with a new tool to use in the analysis of sexual assault cases. Tying a perpetrator to a rape using traditional forensic techniques is often challenging, since fluid samples taken from a victim frequently contain multiple contributors, complicating DNA analysis. LLNL’s technique can most likely be used on single hairs from anywhere on the human body, a critical development for investigations in which scientists cannot identify hair origins by sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pubic hairs contain especially high protein content, so any conclusions from protein-based analysis would likely be more reliable than for other kinds of hair. The accuracy of the technique hinges on how many protein markers are examined, and is measured by the probability that any two people might have the same match; the LLNL team aims for 1 in 10 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943726\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 680px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1943726 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/ch_fanny_hair_800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"680\" height=\"425\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/ch_fanny_hair_800.jpg 680w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/ch_fanny_hair_800-160x100.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Graduate student Fanny Chu examines a vial containing hair samples that will be used for protein-based analysis. \u003ccite>(Julie Russell/LLNL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>LLNL’s protein-based identification method is not currently in use in any forensic labs, but Anex envisions creating a kit that would allow law enforcement agencies to perform the analysis in their own facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That development, however, might still be several years away. Hair typically represents a small percentage of samples submitted for analysis in sexual assault cases, according to Tracey Dawson Cruz, professor of Forensic Science and chair of the Department of Forensic Science at Virginia Commonwealth University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Currently forensic labs are not equipped or trained for [protein-based] work, so this would be a significant shift for a lab and would likely not be pursued for such a minor sample type,” Dawson Cruz wrote in an email. “This, however, could change in the future as more and more work on protein identification is lending itself to forensic applications.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A new forensic technique could help identify perpetrators of sexual assault using a kind of evidence typically deemed unreliable by the scientific community: hair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historically, analysis of hair samples has been fraught with far more \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/fbi-overstated-forensic-hair-matches-in-nearly-all-criminal-trials-for-decades/2015/04/18/39c8d8c6-e515-11e4-b510-962fcfabc310_story.html?utm_term=.2ea44eba6676\">controversy\u003c/a> than crime shows might lead someone to believe. In 2013, the FBI, responding to the exoneration of three men whose hair-based convictions did not align with DNA evidence, announced what was lauded as a “historic” and “unprecedented” partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Innocence Project, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The collaboration reopened an investigation into prior criminal convictions that had been decided, at least in part, by forensic analysis of hair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two years later, it admitted to significant errors. Of the cases it examined, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-testimony-on-microscopic-hair-analysis-contained-errors-in-at-least-90-percent-of-cases-in-ongoing-review\">FBI estimated\u003c/a> that its own agents and analysts had submitted erroneous statements or testimony based on faulty science in at least 90% of trial transcripts. In its press release, the agency quoted a director of The Innocence Project, who called the over-reliance on hair analysis in court no less than “an epic miscarriage of justice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Analyzing hair is a frustrating task for forensic scientists. First, hair lacks the DNA found in the nucleus of a cell, the gold standard for human identification. The DNA present in the cell’s mitochondria, which are found in hair, only passes down from mother to child and cannot necessarily serve as conclusive identification. DNA also degrades quickly, so forensic analysts often simply cannot use strands of hair left out in the sun or cold, or hairs that have aged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past, scientists often examined hair appearance instead, comparing two samples under a microscope. Many analysts and agents testified in court that the samples came from a particular suspect based on qualities such as color, coarseness and straightness; without a method of definitively measuring the difference between one hair and another, courts were forced to trust the scientist’s testimony, rather than the reliability of the evidence itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943741\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1943741 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/forensicsciencecenter450px.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"302\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/forensicsciencecenter450px.jpg 450w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/forensicsciencecenter450px-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brad Hart, Glendon Parker and Deon Anex analyze hair samples using mass spectrometry. \u003ccite>(Julie Russell/LLNL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>New Tool for Sexual Assault Cases?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent breakthrough from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory could provide the forensic community with a new quantitative method to identify perpetrators based on a single human hair from anywhere on the body. \u003ca href=\"https://www.llnl.gov/news/llnl-led-study-finds-any-single-hair-human-body-can-be-used-identification\">The findings\u003c/a>, published last month in \u003cem>Scientific Reports\u003c/em>, build on \u003ca href=\"https://www.llnl.gov/news/llnl-led-team-develops-forensic-method-identify-people-using-human-hair-proteins\">previous research\u003c/a> that allowed LLNL scientists to identify a person from a human hair based on the information contained in its proteins, which are more durable than DNA and can tell a scientist about mutations in the DNA itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The drive is to get away from subjective kinds of analyses,” said Deon Anex, group leader at the Forensics Science Center at LLNL (Anex credited chemist Fanny Chu, a Livermore Graduate Scholar, with the majority of the study’s findings.) What the group’s new technique would offer, he said, is a way of analyzing hair samples that would not rely on any scientist’s opinion, how many years of experience they have, or their persuasiveness in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps most importantly, Anex said, the method could provide law enforcement agencies with a new tool to use in the analysis of sexual assault cases. Tying a perpetrator to a rape using traditional forensic techniques is often challenging, since fluid samples taken from a victim frequently contain multiple contributors, complicating DNA analysis. LLNL’s technique can most likely be used on single hairs from anywhere on the human body, a critical development for investigations in which scientists cannot identify hair origins by sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pubic hairs contain especially high protein content, so any conclusions from protein-based analysis would likely be more reliable than for other kinds of hair. The accuracy of the technique hinges on how many protein markers are examined, and is measured by the probability that any two people might have the same match; the LLNL team aims for 1 in 10 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943726\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 680px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1943726 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/ch_fanny_hair_800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"680\" height=\"425\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/ch_fanny_hair_800.jpg 680w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/ch_fanny_hair_800-160x100.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Graduate student Fanny Chu examines a vial containing hair samples that will be used for protein-based analysis. \u003ccite>(Julie Russell/LLNL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>LLNL’s protein-based identification method is not currently in use in any forensic labs, but Anex envisions creating a kit that would allow law enforcement agencies to perform the analysis in their own facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That development, however, might still be several years away. Hair typically represents a small percentage of samples submitted for analysis in sexual assault cases, according to Tracey Dawson Cruz, professor of Forensic Science and chair of the Department of Forensic Science at Virginia Commonwealth University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Currently forensic labs are not equipped or trained for [protein-based] work, so this would be a significant shift for a lab and would likely not be pursued for such a minor sample type,” Dawson Cruz wrote in an email. “This, however, could change in the future as more and more work on protein identification is lending itself to forensic applications.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"id": "1943671",
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1561273299000
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"title": "'Centers of Insurrection': Central Valley Farmers Reckon With Climate Change",
"headTitle": "‘Centers of Insurrection’: Central Valley Farmers Reckon With Climate Change | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>“Reckoning in the Central Valley” is a collaboration between \u003ca href=\"https://baynature.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Nature\u003c/a> magazine and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KQED Science\u003c/a> examining how climate change is laying bare the vulnerabilities of California agriculture. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">O\u003c/span>n an average day on the Burroughs farm outside of Denair, about an hour’s drive southeast of Modesto, you might witness the surprising sight of cows wandering amidst the almond trees. Chickens might peck their way by. And most definitely there will be plenty of free-spirited birds and bees and insects flickering across the scene, not to mention flowers and grasses unbound on the ground, making for a thick undermat amidst the rows of trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Reckoning in the Central Valley' link1='https://baynature.org/article/a-time-of-reckoning-in-the-central-valley/,How a Hotter, Drier, Saltier Central Valley Is Upending Ag and Spurring Conservation' link2='https://baynature.org/2019/06/21/photos-climate-change-arrives-in-the-central-valley/,Photo Essay: Climate Change Arrives in the Central Valley' hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/BAY20NATURE20LOGO20SUMMER-no20tag.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This scene on the eastern edge of the Central Valley in remote Stanislaus County is almost jarring, so unlike any of the other almond groves in the area, which are mostly barren of undergrowth — the telltale sign of herbicides like glyphosate sprayed abundantly in these parts. But here at the Burroughs Family Farm is an outpost of what Nina Ichikawa, director of the Berkeley Food Institute at UC Berkeley, describes as “centers of insurrection” spreading slowly but steadily across the Valley — test cases in how to cope with the instability of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The climate in the Central Valley is, like that in other food-growing regions of the earth, bouncing on an unpredictable axis — rising temperatures, followed by drought, followed by heavy rains, followed by intense sun, followed by ferocious winds, and then again, though not necessarily in that order. Such volatility presents a particular challenge to the crops that have swept through the Valley over the last decade — namely, almonds and other tree crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' citation='Ward Burroughs, Burroughs Family Farm']‘Because we’re concentrating on soil health, we’re set up to be much more resilient.’[/pullquote]In a time of unprecedented changes in growing conditions, trees can’t move. You just can’t pack up an almond orchard and head somewhere with your trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s bonkers right now with nuts in the Central Valley,” said Charlie Brummer, director of the Plant Breeding Center at UC Davis. “Two issues: Their genetic diversity is very low and they are less adaptable to climate changes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burroughs and other such centers of insurrection are offering us something like an experiment in real time, to see what kinds of agriculture will survive the accelerating stresses being wrought by disequilibrium in the atmosphere. In the decade before 2017, according to the USDA, the number of acres devoted to organic agriculture nearly doubled, to 58,486 acres, in four of the Valley’s largest counties — Merced, Tulare, San Joaquin and Stanislaus. That’s tiny when compared to the five million-plus acres under cultivation in the Central Valley, but it’s steady and it’s growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943759\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1943759\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1306\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015-800x544.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015-768x522.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015-1020x694.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015-1200x816.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosie and Ward Burroughs, of Burroughs Family Farms in Denair, stand in the cover crops in their organic almond orchard. The cover crops will soon be mowed down in preparation for the harvest. These plants and grasses under the almond grove bring a variety of microbes to the soil, which enhances the health of the soil and growth of the trees. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Growing a Stronger Tree\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he Burroughs Family Farm supports three generations of Burroughs with a combination of organic almonds, cheese, olive oil, chickens, turkey, beef and pork, and a few vegetable crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ward Burroughs and his wife, Rosie, were farming conventional until about 15 years ago, when they started transitioning to organic. They saw that, as Ward put it, applying the cocktail of chemicals required for conventional almond farming “meant destroying biology someplace, above or below the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a test plot, their organic almond trees seemed stronger than the conventional trees, Burroughs told me. He noticed that a troublesome pest, the mite, attacked conventional trees more consistently than organic trees — which he surmised was because pesticides killed the mite’s natural predators. So the couple withdrew several hundred acres from cultivation for three years to cleanse the land of chemicals, and began planting new trees block by block. In 2009, the USDA certified the orchard as organic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Reckoning in the Central Valley' link1='https://wp.me/p6iq8L-89Dx,Centers of Insurrection: Central Valley Farmers Reckon With Climate Change' link2='https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2019/06/23/the-disrupters-meet-the-disruption-how-tech-aims-to-save-big-ag-from-climate-change,The Disrupters Meet the Disruption: How Tech Aims to Save Big Ag From Climate Change' hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/kqed-logo-black.jpg']The scene on the Burroughs farm could not contrast more with the almond orchards that surround it, and which spread for miles in every direction. The ground under his trees burst with life — wildflowers and cover crops like radishes and mustard plants (good for bees), and grasses like rye, foxtails and philaree, all of which are excellent sources of nutrients and help sustain microorganisms in the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we quit spraying herbicides,” said Burroughs, “the ground just springs up — grow, grow, grow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The land serves not only to grow almonds but as habitat for multiple species of birds, small mammals and insects, many of which prey on pests. It is also far more absorbent than it once was, he says, making him less dependent on irrigation or access to groundwater which, soon enough, will be curtailed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is, he says, more labor involved with these practices. A yearly ritual on the farm illustrates the difference. A common pest on almond and other nut trees is the naval almond worm, which leaves its young to hatch in discarded nut shells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943761\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1943761\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1346\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001-800x561.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001-768x538.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001-1020x715.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001-1200x841.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ward Burroughs, of Burroughs Family Farms, holds a handful of the compost he and Rosie make for their farm. They buy cow manure and get onion and garlic skins from a local processing plant, add water and let it sit while microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi turn it into this rich, dark compost. It will be spread throughout his orchards to enhance the health of the soil and growth of his almond trees. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Conventional farmers apply pesticides to kill them before they hatch. But Burroughs, after each harvest, sends a machine through his fields that shakes the trees — that’s how almond trees are harvested — and collects the empty shells, denying the pest a hatching location. “We break the nuts and kill the worms,” he says. That requires several days of time-consuming tree-by-tree labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' citation='Jeffrey Mitchell, UC Cooperative Extension']It’s that cover-cropped field ‘that is the real disrupter here.’[/pullquote]Yet Burroughs is convinced that his approach — often referred to broadly as “regenerative agriculture,” because it regenerates rather than depletes the soil — is more than compensated for by his soil’s greater water absorption and the farm’s enhanced ability to withstand the changing water and climate patterns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because we’re concentrating on soil health,” he said, “we’re set up to be much more resilient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His yields don’t usually match those of his conventional counterparts, he concedes, but his net revenues are roughly the same because he doesn’t have to buy expensive chemicals or the machines that apply them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laying Bare the Vulnerabilities\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span>t could be these methods are just what’s needed as climatic shifts hit the Valley at an unprecedented rate of volatility. Valley temperatures are \u003ca href=\"http://climate.calcommons.org/article/central-valley-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">predicted to rise\u003c/a> five to six degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, while periods of extreme heat are expected to more than double to \u003ca href=\"http://climate.calcommons.org/article/central-valley-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">50 days\u003c/a> a year or more over that time. Irrigation water is becoming saltier, too, as desperate farmers drilling ever-deeper wells are pumping up ever-saltier water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943776\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1943776\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1406\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001-800x586.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001-768x562.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001-1020x747.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001-1200x879.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nina Ichikawa, the interim executive director at the Berkeley Food Institute, with some of her inspirations for growing food that is sustainable and accessible to people of all income levels. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During winter, it’s often not cold enough to permit trees’ metabolism to slow down, a process critical to the spring flowering that produces fruits and nuts later in the season. Those all-important tree “chill” hours have \u003ca href=\"https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0006166\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">declined\u003c/a> by as much as 30 percent since 1950, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Which means the tree cannot slow its metabolism and preserve its energy for the spring blooms that deliver fruit and nuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If trees haven’t had that low-chill period when they wake up in the spring,” said Mae Culumber, a UC cooperative extension agent based in Fresno, “it’s like being up all night and then trying to go to work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, scientists at UC Merced published \u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/8/3/25/htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a paper\u003c/a> in agronomy suggesting that the climatic shifts underway ultimately challenge the Central Valley’s long-term life span as an agricultural powerhouse. The researchers foresaw more heat, drought and flooding. They predicted declines of more than 40 percent in avocado yields, and as much as 20 percent in oranges, grapes, walnuts and almonds. More heat-sensitive crops such as strawberries, grapes and cherries also face shrinking yields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the Central Valley, climate change is revealing the vulnerabilities of an industrial agriculture system that relies on predictability — which is rapidly unravelling — and shining a light on alternative growing practices that are potentially far more resilient to the onrushing changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943777\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1943777\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1351\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006-800x563.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006-768x540.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006-1020x718.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006-1200x844.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeff Mitchell, a UC Cooperative Extension cropping systems specialist, oversees a UC Berkeley research area that compares different agriculture practices. Mitchell is in a field where cover crops such as triticale, vetch and mustard have grown in between the tomatoes and melons that were originally planted. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The lessons learned, or not learned, here at the Burroughs farm and across the Valley have implications for ag centers from the American Midwest to Central America to North Africa, southern Europe and southwest China — breadbaskets everywhere that are experiencing similar extremes of heat, drought and flood, and the new pests and diseases that follow them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cover Crops: ‘The Real Disruptor’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">J\u003c/span>ust off the town of Five Points, on the southern edge of Fresno County, a dusty crossroads at the junction between the single lane highways 145 and 269, I visited what could be characterized as the research hub for those ‘centers of insurrection’ — the West Side Research and Extension Center, a sprawl of fields and a couple of Quonset-like huts used for soil testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' citation='Renata Brillinger, California Climate and Agriculture Network']‘It is healthy soil that is the actual source of a field’s fertility.’[/pullquote]Jeffrey Mitchell, an agricultural extension agent with UC Davis, has been experimenting for two decades with different ways of enriching the soil to enhance crop health. I looked out on his narrow test plots, stretching side-by-side for about 100 yards: tilling without cover crops; tilling with cover crops; no-till without cover crops; and no-till with cover crops. No-till farming seeks to avoid disrupting the soil ecosystem and to avoid the loss of valuable topsoil by not running a plow through fields. Cover crops are plants grown to enrich the soil, including mustard, fava beans and radishes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s that cover-cropped field, Mitchell said, “that is the real disrupter here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The soil in it, he says, is loaded with far more organic nutrients than soil from the other fields. It absorbs water better and is thus more resilient to drier conditions. The wealth of plant and soil life in that experimental field means it also absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than conventionally grown fields. That factor alone has become a high priority for the state, which aims to be carbon neutral by 2045.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943778\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 585px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1943778\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"585\" height=\"423\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002-160x116.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002-800x579.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002-768x556.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002-1020x738.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002-1200x868.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 585px) 100vw, 585px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeff Mitchell, a UC Cooperative Extension cropping systems specialist, says the soil where the food crops and cover crops grow together is healthier, containing more beneficial microorganisms. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Conventional agriculture is linked to as much as \u003ca href=\"http://www.planetexperts.com/how-much-does-agriculture-contribute-to-global-warming/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">18 percent\u003c/a> of total global greenhouse gas emissions — farms emit nitrous oxide from fertilizers and other synthetic substances, methane from animal waste and from tilling, and CO2 from the processing and transport of agricultural inputs and food. Twenty percent of the state’s carbon targets could, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/scopingplan/scoping_plan_2017.pdf?_ga=2.63385903.123425279.1561083206-859760894.1394303073\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">state climate plan\u003c/a>, be accomplished through forestry and agriculture. Soils enriched with organic compost, including cattle waste and other organic material, have the potential to turn farms from greenhouse gas emitters into greenhouse gas sinks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mitchell and his colleagues are also finding that fields with cover crops host a higher proportion of micro-organisms that strengthen plants’ immune systems, enabling them to fight off diseases, and of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0038071716303819?via%3Dihub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bacteriovores and fungivores\u003c/a> — organisms, like those abundant in the undergrowth on the Burroughs farm, that eat the bacteria and fungi that harm crops. This all translates to a reduced need for chemical biocides, and stabilizes soil so it doesn’t blow away as easily in the increasing windstorms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crops grown in such soil may also be more nutritious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What you see in Five Points,” said Daphne Miller, a physician who studies the links between the health of the foods we eat and the soil in which they’re grown, “is that the plots with the greatest diversity of cover crops had the most diverse microbiome in the soil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote]From 2003 to 2017 — 15 years — an average 2.4 million acre feet of water was coming out of the ground every year without getting replenished.[/pullquote]A recent \u003ca href=\"https://medcraveonline.com/MOJFPT/MOJFPT-06-00165\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study\u003c/a> in Food Processing and Technology points to beneficial minerals like potassium and antioxidant enzymes in significantly higher concentrations in organic oats, tomatoes and peppers — the latter two of which are prominent veggie crops in the Central Valley — than in their conventional counterparts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most immediate benefit of cover crops and no-till may be how they reduce the need for irrigation. To demonstrate, Mitchell filled a long translucent tube with water, then dropped in dirt from the conventional field. In another water-filled tube, he dropped dirt from the no-till, cover-cropped field. Soil from the cover-cropped field congealed into a fist-sized mulch, suggesting that the water was absorbed, while the conventional soil dispersed quickly like so much dust. Healthy soil \u003ca href=\"http://calag.ucanr.edu/archive/?type=pdf&article=ca.v070n02p53\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reduces\u003c/a> water evaporation levels by four to five inches annually, Mitchell has found. If widely adopted, these practices could reduce water use throughout the valley by millions of acre-feet per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1930528\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 5145px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1930528\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5145\" height=\"3430\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c.jpg 5145w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 5145px) 100vw, 5145px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">As the climate warms, drought is killing large numbers of trees in California. Scientists are looking to the past to try and understand how the ecosystems of today may be changing. \u003ccite>(Ashley Cooper/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That would be a significant step given the pressures just ahead on the water supply. California’s $17 billion agriculture behemoth and its epic network of dams, pumps and canals were built on fragile assumptions: That the snow would keep falling on the Sierras in the winter and melt in the spring, just in time for the dry season in the south; and that farmers could always pump groundwater from one of the nation’s largest aquifers when those sources went dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the snow has not been falling like it used to, and that groundwater is getting sucked from underground at unsustainable rates. The aquifer, for a time, “buffered farmers from the impacts of climate change,” said Charlie Brummer, at UC Davis. Not any more. Farmers made relentless runs at the aquifer when the aqueduct ran dry. From 2003 to 2017 — 15 years — an average \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/water-and-the-future-of-the-san-joaquin-valley-february-2019.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2.4 million\u003c/a> acre-feet of water was coming out of the ground every year without getting replenished.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the state’s efforts to reverse precipitous groundwater declines is the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, an effort to restrict the water taken out of the aquifer. As water allotments for farmers drop, the Public Policy Institute estimates it could mean the loss of at least 500,000 acres of Valley farmland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943780\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1943780\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1406\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001-800x586.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001-768x562.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001-1020x747.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001-1200x879.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aidee Guzman, a graduate student getting her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, is leading a research project of the biodiversity of small farms in the Central Valley. She collects samples of soil and roots from the farms and studies their health. Here she looks at slides of root systems and organisms that attach to root systems. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The state’s Healthy Soils program is aiming to entice farmers to integrate water conservation practices before that happens. It has awarded farmers some $20 million in subsidies over the last two years to facilitate the adoption of cover crops and other soil-enriching, water-conserving, and carbon-absorbing, practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a different way of thinking about soil,” said Renata Brillinger, executive director of the California Climate and Agriculture Network. The program challenges the common assumption that “soil is just the thing that holds the plant up,” she said. “It is healthy soil that is the actual source of a field’s fertility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>More Practices for Survival\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">A\u003c/span>lthough the Valley can appear like one huge monochrome blur seen through a car window while speeding down I-5, it’s actually showing signs of diversity, and ingenious responses to the pressures that are impacting agriculture. You just have to know when to pull off. Fresno County is dotted with small and highly diversified farms, most of them run by immigrant families originally from Laos and Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people think of Fresno as nothing but big-ag, but I see farmers tipping in another direction,” said Aidee Guzman, a Ph.D.-track researcher at UC Berkeley who grew up in the San Joaquin Valley and has been working with Central Valley farm communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These farms may have been cultivated as survival strategies for immigrants who knew nothing other than farming when they arrived here from Laos or Mexico, but they are now testing survival strategies for farmers who face accelerating changes in growing conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943781\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943781\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004-800x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004-800x576.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004-160x115.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004-768x553.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004-1020x734.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004-1200x864.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aidee Guzman, a graduate student getting her PhD at UC Berkeley, is leading a research project on the biodiversity of small farms in the Central Valley. She collects samples of soil and roots from the farms and studies their health. Here, the detailed networks that make up the root systems can be seen under her microscope. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Thus far, Guzman’s research shows a number of correlations between these working farms and Jeff Mitchell’s findings on his experimental plots: higher populations of bees and other pollinators, and richer microbial activity below the surface. One detail — for plant scientists get deep into the details: Guzman says she’s found higher rates of colonization on crop roots of a fungus that helps plants to obtain nutrients from the soil. It appears the fungi send filaments further into the soil that pick up more nitrogen and phosphorous beyond the reach of roots and pass them along to the plant. They also help the plant to be more resistant to drought by retaining water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the bounty from these small farms — perhaps a couple of hundred across Fresno county, — comes into the farmers markets of the Bay Area and Sacramento, as well as to local ethnic markets. That includes some fruits like maringa, native to the Philippines and JuJuBe, native to China and Southeast Asia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The farms appear to be seriously resistant to shortages of water that are becoming ever more common in the southern end of the Valley, says Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, a Fresno-based Small Farms Adviser for the UC Cooperative Extension Service. Many of the farms, she says, have from 40 to 50 different crops on them at a time — including daikon radishes, Asian eggplants, and numerous spices such as turmeric, ginger, and lemongrass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They know how to keep these crops going,” she said. “They never grow the same thing on the same piece of ground right after one another. They rotate, one year squash, the next year who knows what it could be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many brought such practices with them from their ancestral homes. And scientists like Guzman and Mitchell, and farmers like the Burroughs, are discovering in these real-time experiments that such principles may actually aid farmers’ ability to ride out and survive the accelerating climate storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Mark Schapiro is an investigative journalist specializing in the environment. His most recent book is “\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Seeds-Resistance-Fight-Save-Supply/dp/1510705767/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Seeds+of+Resistance%2C+Mark+Schapiro&qid=1561401325&s=books&sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Seeds of Resistance: The Fight To Save Our Food Supply,\u003c/a>” an investigation into the seeds needed to survive climate disruption and the fight to control them. His previous book, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/End-Stationarity-Searching-Normal-Carbon/dp/1603586806/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1561403133&sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The End of Stationarity: Searching for the New Normal in the Age of Carbon Shock” \u003c/a>reveals the hidden costs of climate change. Schapiro is also a lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. You can find him on Twitter \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/schapiro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@schapiro\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\n\u003cem>‘Centers of Insurrection:’ Central Valley Farmers Reckon With Climate Change has been partially excerpted from Bay Nature magazine. You can find Mark Schapiro’s full Bay Nature story\u003ca href=\"https://baynature.org/article/a-time-of-reckoning-in-the-central-valley/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“Reckoning in the Central Valley” is a collaboration between KQED Science and Bay Nature magazine, examining how climate change is laying bare the vulnerabilities of California agriculture. \u003ca href=\"http://www.baynature.org/\">Bay Nature\u003c/a> is an independent, nonprofit publication that reports on the environment in the greater Bay Area.\u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "These farmers are finding ways to help their crops survive some of the ravages of climate change: drought, heat, and salty soil. And some of their newest ideas are actually the oldest.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>“Reckoning in the Central Valley” is a collaboration between \u003ca href=\"https://baynature.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Nature\u003c/a> magazine and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KQED Science\u003c/a> examining how climate change is laying bare the vulnerabilities of California agriculture. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">O\u003c/span>n an average day on the Burroughs farm outside of Denair, about an hour’s drive southeast of Modesto, you might witness the surprising sight of cows wandering amidst the almond trees. Chickens might peck their way by. And most definitely there will be plenty of free-spirited birds and bees and insects flickering across the scene, not to mention flowers and grasses unbound on the ground, making for a thick undermat amidst the rows of trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"link1": "https://baynature.org/article/a-time-of-reckoning-in-the-central-valley/,How a Hotter, Drier, Saltier Central Valley Is Upending Ag and Spurring Conservation",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This scene on the eastern edge of the Central Valley in remote Stanislaus County is almost jarring, so unlike any of the other almond groves in the area, which are mostly barren of undergrowth — the telltale sign of herbicides like glyphosate sprayed abundantly in these parts. But here at the Burroughs Family Farm is an outpost of what Nina Ichikawa, director of the Berkeley Food Institute at UC Berkeley, describes as “centers of insurrection” spreading slowly but steadily across the Valley — test cases in how to cope with the instability of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The climate in the Central Valley is, like that in other food-growing regions of the earth, bouncing on an unpredictable axis — rising temperatures, followed by drought, followed by heavy rains, followed by intense sun, followed by ferocious winds, and then again, though not necessarily in that order. Such volatility presents a particular challenge to the crops that have swept through the Valley over the last decade — namely, almonds and other tree crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Because we’re concentrating on soil health, we’re set up to be much more resilient.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In a time of unprecedented changes in growing conditions, trees can’t move. You just can’t pack up an almond orchard and head somewhere with your trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s bonkers right now with nuts in the Central Valley,” said Charlie Brummer, director of the Plant Breeding Center at UC Davis. “Two issues: Their genetic diversity is very low and they are less adaptable to climate changes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burroughs and other such centers of insurrection are offering us something like an experiment in real time, to see what kinds of agriculture will survive the accelerating stresses being wrought by disequilibrium in the atmosphere. In the decade before 2017, according to the USDA, the number of acres devoted to organic agriculture nearly doubled, to 58,486 acres, in four of the Valley’s largest counties — Merced, Tulare, San Joaquin and Stanislaus. That’s tiny when compared to the five million-plus acres under cultivation in the Central Valley, but it’s steady and it’s growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943759\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1943759\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1306\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015-800x544.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015-768x522.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015-1020x694.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_015-1200x816.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosie and Ward Burroughs, of Burroughs Family Farms in Denair, stand in the cover crops in their organic almond orchard. The cover crops will soon be mowed down in preparation for the harvest. These plants and grasses under the almond grove bring a variety of microbes to the soil, which enhances the health of the soil and growth of the trees. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Growing a Stronger Tree\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he Burroughs Family Farm supports three generations of Burroughs with a combination of organic almonds, cheese, olive oil, chickens, turkey, beef and pork, and a few vegetable crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ward Burroughs and his wife, Rosie, were farming conventional until about 15 years ago, when they started transitioning to organic. They saw that, as Ward put it, applying the cocktail of chemicals required for conventional almond farming “meant destroying biology someplace, above or below the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a test plot, their organic almond trees seemed stronger than the conventional trees, Burroughs told me. He noticed that a troublesome pest, the mite, attacked conventional trees more consistently than organic trees — which he surmised was because pesticides killed the mite’s natural predators. So the couple withdrew several hundred acres from cultivation for three years to cleanse the land of chemicals, and began planting new trees block by block. In 2009, the USDA certified the orchard as organic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The scene on the Burroughs farm could not contrast more with the almond orchards that surround it, and which spread for miles in every direction. The ground under his trees burst with life — wildflowers and cover crops like radishes and mustard plants (good for bees), and grasses like rye, foxtails and philaree, all of which are excellent sources of nutrients and help sustain microorganisms in the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we quit spraying herbicides,” said Burroughs, “the ground just springs up — grow, grow, grow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The land serves not only to grow almonds but as habitat for multiple species of birds, small mammals and insects, many of which prey on pests. It is also far more absorbent than it once was, he says, making him less dependent on irrigation or access to groundwater which, soon enough, will be curtailed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is, he says, more labor involved with these practices. A yearly ritual on the farm illustrates the difference. A common pest on almond and other nut trees is the naval almond worm, which leaves its young to hatch in discarded nut shells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943761\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1943761\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1346\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001-800x561.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001-768x538.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001-1020x715.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Burroughs_001-1200x841.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ward Burroughs, of Burroughs Family Farms, holds a handful of the compost he and Rosie make for their farm. They buy cow manure and get onion and garlic skins from a local processing plant, add water and let it sit while microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi turn it into this rich, dark compost. It will be spread throughout his orchards to enhance the health of the soil and growth of his almond trees. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Conventional farmers apply pesticides to kill them before they hatch. But Burroughs, after each harvest, sends a machine through his fields that shakes the trees — that’s how almond trees are harvested — and collects the empty shells, denying the pest a hatching location. “We break the nuts and kill the worms,” he says. That requires several days of time-consuming tree-by-tree labor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "It’s that cover-cropped field ‘that is the real disrupter here.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Yet Burroughs is convinced that his approach — often referred to broadly as “regenerative agriculture,” because it regenerates rather than depletes the soil — is more than compensated for by his soil’s greater water absorption and the farm’s enhanced ability to withstand the changing water and climate patterns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because we’re concentrating on soil health,” he said, “we’re set up to be much more resilient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His yields don’t usually match those of his conventional counterparts, he concedes, but his net revenues are roughly the same because he doesn’t have to buy expensive chemicals or the machines that apply them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laying Bare the Vulnerabilities\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span>t could be these methods are just what’s needed as climatic shifts hit the Valley at an unprecedented rate of volatility. Valley temperatures are \u003ca href=\"http://climate.calcommons.org/article/central-valley-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">predicted to rise\u003c/a> five to six degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, while periods of extreme heat are expected to more than double to \u003ca href=\"http://climate.calcommons.org/article/central-valley-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">50 days\u003c/a> a year or more over that time. Irrigation water is becoming saltier, too, as desperate farmers drilling ever-deeper wells are pumping up ever-saltier water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943776\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1943776\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1406\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001-800x586.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001-768x562.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001-1020x747.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Ichikawa_001-1200x879.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nina Ichikawa, the interim executive director at the Berkeley Food Institute, with some of her inspirations for growing food that is sustainable and accessible to people of all income levels. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During winter, it’s often not cold enough to permit trees’ metabolism to slow down, a process critical to the spring flowering that produces fruits and nuts later in the season. Those all-important tree “chill” hours have \u003ca href=\"https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0006166\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">declined\u003c/a> by as much as 30 percent since 1950, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Which means the tree cannot slow its metabolism and preserve its energy for the spring blooms that deliver fruit and nuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If trees haven’t had that low-chill period when they wake up in the spring,” said Mae Culumber, a UC cooperative extension agent based in Fresno, “it’s like being up all night and then trying to go to work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, scientists at UC Merced published \u003ca href=\"https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/8/3/25/htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a paper\u003c/a> in agronomy suggesting that the climatic shifts underway ultimately challenge the Central Valley’s long-term life span as an agricultural powerhouse. The researchers foresaw more heat, drought and flooding. They predicted declines of more than 40 percent in avocado yields, and as much as 20 percent in oranges, grapes, walnuts and almonds. More heat-sensitive crops such as strawberries, grapes and cherries also face shrinking yields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the Central Valley, climate change is revealing the vulnerabilities of an industrial agriculture system that relies on predictability — which is rapidly unravelling — and shining a light on alternative growing practices that are potentially far more resilient to the onrushing changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943777\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1943777\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1351\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006-800x563.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006-768x540.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006-1020x718.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_006-1200x844.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeff Mitchell, a UC Cooperative Extension cropping systems specialist, oversees a UC Berkeley research area that compares different agriculture practices. Mitchell is in a field where cover crops such as triticale, vetch and mustard have grown in between the tomatoes and melons that were originally planted. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The lessons learned, or not learned, here at the Burroughs farm and across the Valley have implications for ag centers from the American Midwest to Central America to North Africa, southern Europe and southwest China — breadbaskets everywhere that are experiencing similar extremes of heat, drought and flood, and the new pests and diseases that follow them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cover Crops: ‘The Real Disruptor’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">J\u003c/span>ust off the town of Five Points, on the southern edge of Fresno County, a dusty crossroads at the junction between the single lane highways 145 and 269, I visited what could be characterized as the research hub for those ‘centers of insurrection’ — the West Side Research and Extension Center, a sprawl of fields and a couple of Quonset-like huts used for soil testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It is healthy soil that is the actual source of a field’s fertility.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Jeffrey Mitchell, an agricultural extension agent with UC Davis, has been experimenting for two decades with different ways of enriching the soil to enhance crop health. I looked out on his narrow test plots, stretching side-by-side for about 100 yards: tilling without cover crops; tilling with cover crops; no-till without cover crops; and no-till with cover crops. No-till farming seeks to avoid disrupting the soil ecosystem and to avoid the loss of valuable topsoil by not running a plow through fields. Cover crops are plants grown to enrich the soil, including mustard, fava beans and radishes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s that cover-cropped field, Mitchell said, “that is the real disrupter here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The soil in it, he says, is loaded with far more organic nutrients than soil from the other fields. It absorbs water better and is thus more resilient to drier conditions. The wealth of plant and soil life in that experimental field means it also absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than conventionally grown fields. That factor alone has become a high priority for the state, which aims to be carbon neutral by 2045.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943778\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 585px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1943778\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"585\" height=\"423\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002-160x116.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002-800x579.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002-768x556.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002-1020x738.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Mitchell_002-1200x868.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 585px) 100vw, 585px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeff Mitchell, a UC Cooperative Extension cropping systems specialist, says the soil where the food crops and cover crops grow together is healthier, containing more beneficial microorganisms. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Conventional agriculture is linked to as much as \u003ca href=\"http://www.planetexperts.com/how-much-does-agriculture-contribute-to-global-warming/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">18 percent\u003c/a> of total global greenhouse gas emissions — farms emit nitrous oxide from fertilizers and other synthetic substances, methane from animal waste and from tilling, and CO2 from the processing and transport of agricultural inputs and food. Twenty percent of the state’s carbon targets could, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/scopingplan/scoping_plan_2017.pdf?_ga=2.63385903.123425279.1561083206-859760894.1394303073\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">state climate plan\u003c/a>, be accomplished through forestry and agriculture. Soils enriched with organic compost, including cattle waste and other organic material, have the potential to turn farms from greenhouse gas emitters into greenhouse gas sinks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mitchell and his colleagues are also finding that fields with cover crops host a higher proportion of micro-organisms that strengthen plants’ immune systems, enabling them to fight off diseases, and of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0038071716303819?via%3Dihub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bacteriovores and fungivores\u003c/a> — organisms, like those abundant in the undergrowth on the Burroughs farm, that eat the bacteria and fungi that harm crops. This all translates to a reduced need for chemical biocides, and stabilizes soil so it doesn’t blow away as easily in the increasing windstorms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crops grown in such soil may also be more nutritious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What you see in Five Points,” said Daphne Miller, a physician who studies the links between the health of the foods we eat and the soil in which they’re grown, “is that the plots with the greatest diversity of cover crops had the most diverse microbiome in the soil.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "From 2003 to 2017 — 15 years — an average 2.4 million acre feet of water was coming out of the ground every year without getting replenished.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A recent \u003ca href=\"https://medcraveonline.com/MOJFPT/MOJFPT-06-00165\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study\u003c/a> in Food Processing and Technology points to beneficial minerals like potassium and antioxidant enzymes in significantly higher concentrations in organic oats, tomatoes and peppers — the latter two of which are prominent veggie crops in the Central Valley — than in their conventional counterparts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most immediate benefit of cover crops and no-till may be how they reduce the need for irrigation. To demonstrate, Mitchell filled a long translucent tube with water, then dropped in dirt from the conventional field. In another water-filled tube, he dropped dirt from the no-till, cover-cropped field. Soil from the cover-cropped field congealed into a fist-sized mulch, suggesting that the water was absorbed, while the conventional soil dispersed quickly like so much dust. Healthy soil \u003ca href=\"http://calag.ucanr.edu/archive/?type=pdf&article=ca.v070n02p53\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reduces\u003c/a> water evaporation levels by four to five inches annually, Mitchell has found. If widely adopted, these practices could reduce water use throughout the valley by millions of acre-feet per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1930528\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 5145px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1930528\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5145\" height=\"3430\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c.jpg 5145w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/08/gettyimages-584513988_slide-a6d7e2ff98a0e2e97a0abc6eb80e6a56b9a1ca5c-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 5145px) 100vw, 5145px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">As the climate warms, drought is killing large numbers of trees in California. Scientists are looking to the past to try and understand how the ecosystems of today may be changing. \u003ccite>(Ashley Cooper/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That would be a significant step given the pressures just ahead on the water supply. California’s $17 billion agriculture behemoth and its epic network of dams, pumps and canals were built on fragile assumptions: That the snow would keep falling on the Sierras in the winter and melt in the spring, just in time for the dry season in the south; and that farmers could always pump groundwater from one of the nation’s largest aquifers when those sources went dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the snow has not been falling like it used to, and that groundwater is getting sucked from underground at unsustainable rates. The aquifer, for a time, “buffered farmers from the impacts of climate change,” said Charlie Brummer, at UC Davis. Not any more. Farmers made relentless runs at the aquifer when the aqueduct ran dry. From 2003 to 2017 — 15 years — an average \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/water-and-the-future-of-the-san-joaquin-valley-february-2019.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2.4 million\u003c/a> acre-feet of water was coming out of the ground every year without getting replenished.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the state’s efforts to reverse precipitous groundwater declines is the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, an effort to restrict the water taken out of the aquifer. As water allotments for farmers drop, the Public Policy Institute estimates it could mean the loss of at least 500,000 acres of Valley farmland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943780\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1943780\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1406\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001-800x586.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001-768x562.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001-1020x747.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_001-1200x879.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aidee Guzman, a graduate student getting her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, is leading a research project of the biodiversity of small farms in the Central Valley. She collects samples of soil and roots from the farms and studies their health. Here she looks at slides of root systems and organisms that attach to root systems. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The state’s Healthy Soils program is aiming to entice farmers to integrate water conservation practices before that happens. It has awarded farmers some $20 million in subsidies over the last two years to facilitate the adoption of cover crops and other soil-enriching, water-conserving, and carbon-absorbing, practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a different way of thinking about soil,” said Renata Brillinger, executive director of the California Climate and Agriculture Network. The program challenges the common assumption that “soil is just the thing that holds the plant up,” she said. “It is healthy soil that is the actual source of a field’s fertility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>More Practices for Survival\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">A\u003c/span>lthough the Valley can appear like one huge monochrome blur seen through a car window while speeding down I-5, it’s actually showing signs of diversity, and ingenious responses to the pressures that are impacting agriculture. You just have to know when to pull off. Fresno County is dotted with small and highly diversified farms, most of them run by immigrant families originally from Laos and Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people think of Fresno as nothing but big-ag, but I see farmers tipping in another direction,” said Aidee Guzman, a Ph.D.-track researcher at UC Berkeley who grew up in the San Joaquin Valley and has been working with Central Valley farm communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These farms may have been cultivated as survival strategies for immigrants who knew nothing other than farming when they arrived here from Laos or Mexico, but they are now testing survival strategies for farmers who face accelerating changes in growing conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943781\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943781\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004-800x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004-800x576.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004-160x115.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004-768x553.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004-1020x734.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004-1200x864.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/Guzman_004.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aidee Guzman, a graduate student getting her PhD at UC Berkeley, is leading a research project on the biodiversity of small farms in the Central Valley. She collects samples of soil and roots from the farms and studies their health. Here, the detailed networks that make up the root systems can be seen under her microscope. \u003ccite>(Lindsey Moore/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Thus far, Guzman’s research shows a number of correlations between these working farms and Jeff Mitchell’s findings on his experimental plots: higher populations of bees and other pollinators, and richer microbial activity below the surface. One detail — for plant scientists get deep into the details: Guzman says she’s found higher rates of colonization on crop roots of a fungus that helps plants to obtain nutrients from the soil. It appears the fungi send filaments further into the soil that pick up more nitrogen and phosphorous beyond the reach of roots and pass them along to the plant. They also help the plant to be more resistant to drought by retaining water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the bounty from these small farms — perhaps a couple of hundred across Fresno county, — comes into the farmers markets of the Bay Area and Sacramento, as well as to local ethnic markets. That includes some fruits like maringa, native to the Philippines and JuJuBe, native to China and Southeast Asia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The farms appear to be seriously resistant to shortages of water that are becoming ever more common in the southern end of the Valley, says Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, a Fresno-based Small Farms Adviser for the UC Cooperative Extension Service. Many of the farms, she says, have from 40 to 50 different crops on them at a time — including daikon radishes, Asian eggplants, and numerous spices such as turmeric, ginger, and lemongrass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They know how to keep these crops going,” she said. “They never grow the same thing on the same piece of ground right after one another. They rotate, one year squash, the next year who knows what it could be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many brought such practices with them from their ancestral homes. And scientists like Guzman and Mitchell, and farmers like the Burroughs, are discovering in these real-time experiments that such principles may actually aid farmers’ ability to ride out and survive the accelerating climate storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Mark Schapiro is an investigative journalist specializing in the environment. His most recent book is “\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Seeds-Resistance-Fight-Save-Supply/dp/1510705767/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Seeds+of+Resistance%2C+Mark+Schapiro&qid=1561401325&s=books&sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Seeds of Resistance: The Fight To Save Our Food Supply,\u003c/a>” an investigation into the seeds needed to survive climate disruption and the fight to control them. His previous book, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/End-Stationarity-Searching-Normal-Carbon/dp/1603586806/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1561403133&sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The End of Stationarity: Searching for the New Normal in the Age of Carbon Shock” \u003c/a>reveals the hidden costs of climate change. Schapiro is also a lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. You can find him on Twitter \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/schapiro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@schapiro\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\n\u003cem>‘Centers of Insurrection:’ Central Valley Farmers Reckon With Climate Change has been partially excerpted from Bay Nature magazine. You can find Mark Schapiro’s full Bay Nature story\u003ca href=\"https://baynature.org/article/a-time-of-reckoning-in-the-central-valley/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“Reckoning in the Central Valley” is a collaboration between KQED Science and Bay Nature magazine, examining how climate change is laying bare the vulnerabilities of California agriculture. \u003ca href=\"http://www.baynature.org/\">Bay Nature\u003c/a> is an independent, nonprofit publication that reports on the environment in the greater Bay Area.\u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>If civilizations are remembered for what they leave behind, our time might be labeled the Plastic Age. Plastic can endure for centuries. It’s everywhere, even in our clothes, from polyester leisure suits to fleece jackets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Silicon Valley startup is trying to get the plastic out of clothing and put something else in: biopolymers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A polymer is a long-chain molecule made of lots of identical units. Polymers are durable and often elastic. Plastic is a polymer made from petroleum products. But biopolymers occur often in nature — cellulose in wood or silk from silkworms — and unlike plastic, they can be broken down into natural materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Molly Morse manufactures biopolymers that she hopes will replace some kinds of plastic. She runs a small company called Mango Materials. Mango is her favorite fruit, and she wanted her company to sound different from other tech enterprises in the San Francisco Bay Area. “We’re not your typical Silicon Valley startup company,” Morse says. “We’re manufacturing polymers at a waste-water treatment plant. We’re not a bunch of guys in a garage coding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How did she end up making bioplastic at a sewage treatment plant?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morse says it started when she was in elementary school. She went to an aquarium and stumbled on an exhibit about plastic trash floating in the ocean. “There was this huge, gigantic-like fish-tank-type structure full of clamshells, like [plastic foam] clamshells from McDonald’s,” she recalls. “And I was floored … completely horrified. It changed my life and I was like, that is freaking ridiculous, and I’m going to change it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_21550\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-21550 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/09/photo-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Representing the Pacific Gyre, a suspended ceiling of plastic trash floats over the heads of viewers at “Washed Ashore” exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo. (Sharol Nelson/Embry)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She followed through. She went to Stanford University and got a doctorate in environmental engineering. At a scientific conference in 2006, she met another young engineer, Anne Schauer-Gimenez. “I think we were up to like 4 in the morning or something,” Schauer-Gimenez says, “just talking about research and how this process works.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The process was how to manufacture biopolymers — using bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are certain kinds of bacteria that eat methane. The bacteria use it to make their own biopolymers in their cells, especially if you feed them well. “If we were to get really fat from eating a lot of ice cream or chocolate,” Morse explains, “we’d accumulate fat inside our bodies. These bacteria, same thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schauer-Gimenez adds: “To me, microorganisms kind of run the show on planet Earth anyway, so why not let them help us with this process?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make biopolymers, the bacteria need lots of food. That’s why Mango Materials set up a field site at a sewage treatment plant called Silicon Valley Clean Water in Redwood City, Calif., next to the San Francisco Bay. They got funding from the National Science Foundation, among other backers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='Molly Morse']‘And I was floored … completely horrified. It changed my life and I was like, that is freaking ridiculous, and I’m going to change it.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sewage, or at least the methane gas that sewage emits, is food for bacteria. Treatment plants usually burn off the methane or just vent it into the air. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming when it goes into the atmosphere. Mango feeds it to the bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s done in a fermenter set up outside, nestled between big steel tanks full of sewage. Engineer Allison Pieja, a third member of the Mango leadership team, shows off their invention. It looks kind of like a big beer keg with pipes sticking in it like intravenous drips. “This is where the magic happens,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pieja is the bug expert at Mango. “We add the methane and oxygen continuously and kind of drip in our secret sauce based on how the bacteria are growing,” she says. The secret sauce is an additive the team developed to keep the process going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, when the bacteria are fattened up, the team breaks them open and harvests the biopolymer. They dry it and turn it into pellets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, they’ve shipped almost 2,000 pounds of their biopolymer to companies interested in using it. Their principal target market is textiles (though they say the biopolymer works for packaging, too). They’ve produced brightly colored threads that look and feel “plasticky,” like polyester maybe. The hope is to weave the biopolymer into clothing to replace plastics in textiles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943493\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943493\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/pha-knitted-sleeve_cut-800x599.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/pha-knitted-sleeve_cut.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/pha-knitted-sleeve_cut-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/pha-knitted-sleeve_cut-768x575.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sleeve made from biopolymer for clothing. The Mango team is working with several companies to test how well their biopolymer will work in textiles. \u003ccite>(Chris Joyce/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It would be biodegradable clothing, which Schauer-Gimenez says freaks people out. ” ‘Oh my gosh, you’re going to make a swimsuit out of your material? I’m going into the ocean and it’s going to biodegrade off my body!’ And I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, it doesn’t quite work like that.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To degrade, biopolymers need warm temperatures and the right bacteria around to chew them up, and the process takes weeks or months of constant exposure. Morse acknowledges that if conditions aren’t right, though — say in a dry Arizona desert or at the bottom of the ocean — it will take longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s one of the drawbacks of biopolymers so far; some haven’t lived up to their promise to biodegrade quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biology professor \u003ca href=\"http://www.citadel.edu/root/biology-facultystaff/47-academics/schools/ssm/biology/2436-weinstein-bio\">John Weinstein\u003c/a> at The Citadel in South Carolina put corn-based polymer bags in a wetland and found they degraded even more slowly than regular plastic bags. “You’ve created a new material,” he says of the bioplastic, “but how does it break down? I was surprised.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government and the state of California have penalized companies for selling biodegradable “plastic” that actually takes years to break down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Making a statement — ‘biodegradable’ — that is misleading, especially to the general public,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.egr.msu.edu/people/profile/narayan\">Ramani Narayan\u003c/a>, a chemical engineer at Michigan State University and an expert on bioplastics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says it’s all about the environmental conditions. And the longer something takes to biodegrade, the longer it’s litter. “In that intervening period, it is going to have impacts, and that is what needs to be carefully considered,” Narayan says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moreover, a big market in biopolymers made from feedstocks such as corn could raise food prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Schauer-Gimenez']‘To me, microorganisms kind of run the show on planet Earth anyway, so why not let them help us with this process?’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plant-based biopolymers can be composted at an industrial facility that uses high heat and pressure. But Narayan points out that the industry in the U.S. is in its infancy. As for recycling them, he says the recycling industry is already overwhelmed. The Environmental Protection Agency’s latest figures, for 2015, show only 9.1% of U.S. plastic waste was recycled. That number is thought to be even lower now that China and other countries have stopped recycling the waste — as little as 2.2% is recycled in the U.S., according to research by engineer Jan Dell, founder of the anti-pollution group The Last Beach Cleanup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t have the right waste management infrastructure in play” to recycle new plastic replacements, Narayan says, “then all the things we do at the top end of it is going to be useless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team at Mango Materials says their material (a form of polyhydroxyalkanoate, or PHA) is different from most biopolymers and doesn’t need to be recycled, but will biodegrade in a month or two in the right conditions. Their products are currently being tested independently to confirm that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morse acknowledges there’s a lot more to do to pave the way for biopolymers, and she urges people to use less plastic and reuse things instead of throwing them away. But she’s following that childhood dream — to find something better than plastic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wouldn’t be [doing this] unless we firmly believed that this is a solution to a massive global problem,” Morse says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A problem that won’t go away on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Replacing+Plastic%3A+Can+Bacteria+Help+Us+Break+The+Habit%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morse says it started when she was in elementary school. She went to an aquarium and stumbled on an exhibit about plastic trash floating in the ocean. “There was this huge, gigantic-like fish-tank-type structure full of clamshells, like [plastic foam] clamshells from McDonald’s,” she recalls. “And I was floored … completely horrified. It changed my life and I was like, that is freaking ridiculous, and I’m going to change it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_21550\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-21550 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/09/photo-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Representing the Pacific Gyre, a suspended ceiling of plastic trash floats over the heads of viewers at “Washed Ashore” exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo. (Sharol Nelson/Embry)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She followed through. She went to Stanford University and got a doctorate in environmental engineering. At a scientific conference in 2006, she met another young engineer, Anne Schauer-Gimenez. “I think we were up to like 4 in the morning or something,” Schauer-Gimenez says, “just talking about research and how this process works.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The process was how to manufacture biopolymers — using bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are certain kinds of bacteria that eat methane. The bacteria use it to make their own biopolymers in their cells, especially if you feed them well. “If we were to get really fat from eating a lot of ice cream or chocolate,” Morse explains, “we’d accumulate fat inside our bodies. These bacteria, same thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schauer-Gimenez adds: “To me, microorganisms kind of run the show on planet Earth anyway, so why not let them help us with this process?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make biopolymers, the bacteria need lots of food. That’s why Mango Materials set up a field site at a sewage treatment plant called Silicon Valley Clean Water in Redwood City, Calif., next to the San Francisco Bay. They got funding from the National Science Foundation, among other backers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sewage, or at least the methane gas that sewage emits, is food for bacteria. Treatment plants usually burn off the methane or just vent it into the air. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming when it goes into the atmosphere. Mango feeds it to the bacteria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s done in a fermenter set up outside, nestled between big steel tanks full of sewage. Engineer Allison Pieja, a third member of the Mango leadership team, shows off their invention. It looks kind of like a big beer keg with pipes sticking in it like intravenous drips. “This is where the magic happens,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pieja is the bug expert at Mango. “We add the methane and oxygen continuously and kind of drip in our secret sauce based on how the bacteria are growing,” she says. The secret sauce is an additive the team developed to keep the process going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, when the bacteria are fattened up, the team breaks them open and harvests the biopolymer. They dry it and turn it into pellets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, they’ve shipped almost 2,000 pounds of their biopolymer to companies interested in using it. Their principal target market is textiles (though they say the biopolymer works for packaging, too). They’ve produced brightly colored threads that look and feel “plasticky,” like polyester maybe. The hope is to weave the biopolymer into clothing to replace plastics in textiles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943493\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943493\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/pha-knitted-sleeve_cut-800x599.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/pha-knitted-sleeve_cut.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/pha-knitted-sleeve_cut-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/pha-knitted-sleeve_cut-768x575.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sleeve made from biopolymer for clothing. The Mango team is working with several companies to test how well their biopolymer will work in textiles. \u003ccite>(Chris Joyce/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It would be biodegradable clothing, which Schauer-Gimenez says freaks people out. ” ‘Oh my gosh, you’re going to make a swimsuit out of your material? I’m going into the ocean and it’s going to biodegrade off my body!’ And I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, it doesn’t quite work like that.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To degrade, biopolymers need warm temperatures and the right bacteria around to chew them up, and the process takes weeks or months of constant exposure. Morse acknowledges that if conditions aren’t right, though — say in a dry Arizona desert or at the bottom of the ocean — it will take longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s one of the drawbacks of biopolymers so far; some haven’t lived up to their promise to biodegrade quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biology professor \u003ca href=\"http://www.citadel.edu/root/biology-facultystaff/47-academics/schools/ssm/biology/2436-weinstein-bio\">John Weinstein\u003c/a> at The Citadel in South Carolina put corn-based polymer bags in a wetland and found they degraded even more slowly than regular plastic bags. “You’ve created a new material,” he says of the bioplastic, “but how does it break down? I was surprised.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government and the state of California have penalized companies for selling biodegradable “plastic” that actually takes years to break down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Making a statement — ‘biodegradable’ — that is misleading, especially to the general public,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.egr.msu.edu/people/profile/narayan\">Ramani Narayan\u003c/a>, a chemical engineer at Michigan State University and an expert on bioplastics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says it’s all about the environmental conditions. And the longer something takes to biodegrade, the longer it’s litter. “In that intervening period, it is going to have impacts, and that is what needs to be carefully considered,” Narayan says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moreover, a big market in biopolymers made from feedstocks such as corn could raise food prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plant-based biopolymers can be composted at an industrial facility that uses high heat and pressure. But Narayan points out that the industry in the U.S. is in its infancy. As for recycling them, he says the recycling industry is already overwhelmed. The Environmental Protection Agency’s latest figures, for 2015, show only 9.1% of U.S. plastic waste was recycled. That number is thought to be even lower now that China and other countries have stopped recycling the waste — as little as 2.2% is recycled in the U.S., according to research by engineer Jan Dell, founder of the anti-pollution group The Last Beach Cleanup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t have the right waste management infrastructure in play” to recycle new plastic replacements, Narayan says, “then all the things we do at the top end of it is going to be useless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team at Mango Materials says their material (a form of polyhydroxyalkanoate, or PHA) is different from most biopolymers and doesn’t need to be recycled, but will biodegrade in a month or two in the right conditions. Their products are currently being tested independently to confirm that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morse acknowledges there’s a lot more to do to pave the way for biopolymers, and she urges people to use less plastic and reuse things instead of throwing them away. But she’s following that childhood dream — to find something better than plastic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wouldn’t be [doing this] unless we firmly believed that this is a solution to a massive global problem,” Morse says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A problem that won’t go away on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Replacing+Plastic%3A+Can+Bacteria+Help+Us+Break+The+Habit%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The University of California and the British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline on Thursday announced plans to build a new $67 million genetics laboratory focused on the gene-editing technology CRISPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists at what will be called the Laboratory for Genomics Research, to be built over the next five years in San Francisco’s Mission Bay, will explore how genetic mutations cause disease, while developing new gene therapies and other treatments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study of human genetics has exploded in the last decade, and scientists can now identify mutations in DNA that cause a wide range of disease, from cancer to Huntington’s to muscular dystrophy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But turning that into an actionable item where you can develop a therapy has been challenging,” said Jonathan Weissman, a biochemist at UCSF. Weissman is designing the laboratory with UC Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna, a CRISPR pioneer, and Hal Barron, chief science officer and president of GSK.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weissman hopes the lab will enable researchers to more fully understand genetic differences through the advancement of functional genomics — the study of gene relationships and interactions — that relies on CRISPR technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CRISPR is so powerful because it targets specific genes with precise edits in DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943305 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-800x531.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1200x797.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“CRISPR is a great discovery tool that lets us understand why changes in our DNA can cause disease and then give us clues as to how we might be able to intervene to prevent it,” said Weissman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent advances in machine learning have given scientists the ability to use powerful computers to analyze the massive amount of data generated by CRISPR applications. The hope is that these supercomputers can help unlock the mysteries of cell biology and rapidly accelerate the discovery of new treatments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think that human genetics, functional genomics and machine learning will allow us to identify novel targets that will result in medicines that will have a profound effect ,” said Barron.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GSK’s Barron said he hopes the lab will spur advancements in gene therapy at “a pace previously thought impossible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lab will employ about 40 people, GSK and UC said, and will be located between UCSF’s Mission Bay campus and the new Warriors \u003ca href=\"http://www.gswconstruction.com/webcam/\">stadium\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CRISPR and Ethics\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With CRISPR technology, scientists can modify or add entirely new genes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CRISPR is different from other gene-editing tools in that its applications can alter the DNA of somatic cells and germ cells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Somatic cells are found in organs and tissues and are not passed on through reproduction. Germ cells hold genes that are heritable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doudna said the focus of the new lab will be on fundamental discovery science, and not on germ cell editing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943306\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943306\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-800x565.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"565\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-800x565.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-768x543.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-1020x721.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-1200x848.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-1920x1357.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jennifer Doudna will spearhead a new CRISPR lab in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco. speaks onstage at WIRED Business Conference Presented By Visa At Spring Studios In New York City on June 7, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Brian Ach/Getty \u003ccite>(Brian Ach/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think there’s any intention right now to be editing human embryos in the center,” she said. “I think our goal is actually to work on various kinds of disease-related questions that would be addressable using primary cells and tissues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, controversy swarmed around He Jiankui, a biochemist with Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, who used CRISPR to perform germline editing to modify genes in a human embryo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, Doudna was one of the scientists who quickly criticized Jiankui, telling NPR that his work is a “break from the cautious and transparent approach of the global scientific community’s application of CRISPR-Cas9 for human germline editing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doudna has declared a need to confine the use of gene-editing in human embryos to situations in which there is a clear medical need with zero alternative viable approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, Doudna says there’s a lot of fundamental research that needs to be done prior to any use of genome editing for clinical purposes in human embryos. “In that regard, the [lab] will play a very important role in stimulating fundamental, curiosity-driven research that needs to be done,” she said. “It will both advance our understanding of the human genome and we’ll also advance the potential in the power of the technology.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The University of California and the British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline on Thursday announced plans to build a new $67 million genetics laboratory focused on the gene-editing technology CRISPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists at what will be called the Laboratory for Genomics Research, to be built over the next five years in San Francisco’s Mission Bay, will explore how genetic mutations cause disease, while developing new gene therapies and other treatments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study of human genetics has exploded in the last decade, and scientists can now identify mutations in DNA that cause a wide range of disease, from cancer to Huntington’s to muscular dystrophy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But turning that into an actionable item where you can develop a therapy has been challenging,” said Jonathan Weissman, a biochemist at UCSF. Weissman is designing the laboratory with UC Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna, a CRISPR pioneer, and Hal Barron, chief science officer and president of GSK.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weissman hopes the lab will enable researchers to more fully understand genetic differences through the advancement of functional genomics — the study of gene relationships and interactions — that relies on CRISPR technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CRISPR is so powerful because it targets specific genes with precise edits in DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943305 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-800x531.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115-1200x797.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/DESKTOP_CRISPR_171115.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“CRISPR is a great discovery tool that lets us understand why changes in our DNA can cause disease and then give us clues as to how we might be able to intervene to prevent it,” said Weissman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent advances in machine learning have given scientists the ability to use powerful computers to analyze the massive amount of data generated by CRISPR applications. The hope is that these supercomputers can help unlock the mysteries of cell biology and rapidly accelerate the discovery of new treatments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think that human genetics, functional genomics and machine learning will allow us to identify novel targets that will result in medicines that will have a profound effect ,” said Barron.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GSK’s Barron said he hopes the lab will spur advancements in gene therapy at “a pace previously thought impossible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lab will employ about 40 people, GSK and UC said, and will be located between UCSF’s Mission Bay campus and the new Warriors \u003ca href=\"http://www.gswconstruction.com/webcam/\">stadium\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CRISPR and Ethics\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With CRISPR technology, scientists can modify or add entirely new genes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CRISPR is different from other gene-editing tools in that its applications can alter the DNA of somatic cells and germ cells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Somatic cells are found in organs and tissues and are not passed on through reproduction. Germ cells hold genes that are heritable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doudna said the focus of the new lab will be on fundamental discovery science, and not on germ cell editing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1943306\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1943306\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-800x565.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"565\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-800x565.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-768x543.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-1020x721.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-1200x848.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758-1920x1357.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/06/GettyImages-693524758.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jennifer Doudna will spearhead a new CRISPR lab in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco. speaks onstage at WIRED Business Conference Presented By Visa At Spring Studios In New York City on June 7, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Brian Ach/Getty \u003ccite>(Brian Ach/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think there’s any intention right now to be editing human embryos in the center,” she said. “I think our goal is actually to work on various kinds of disease-related questions that would be addressable using primary cells and tissues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, controversy swarmed around He Jiankui, a biochemist with Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, who used CRISPR to perform germline editing to modify genes in a human embryo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, Doudna was one of the scientists who quickly criticized Jiankui, telling NPR that his work is a “break from the cautious and transparent approach of the global scientific community’s application of CRISPR-Cas9 for human germline editing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doudna has declared a need to confine the use of gene-editing in human embryos to situations in which there is a clear medical need with zero alternative viable approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, Doudna says there’s a lot of fundamental research that needs to be done prior to any use of genome editing for clinical purposes in human embryos. “In that regard, the [lab] will play a very important role in stimulating fundamental, curiosity-driven research that needs to be done,” she said. “It will both advance our understanding of the human genome and we’ll also advance the potential in the power of the technology.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"order": 8
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},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"order": 1
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"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
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"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"order": 9
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"hidden-brain": {
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"order": 18
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"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
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"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
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"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
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},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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