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"title": "Efforts to Restore Monarch Butterflies' Milkweed Habitats May Be Doing More Harm Than Good",
"headTitle": "Efforts to Restore Monarch Butterflies’ Milkweed Habitats May Be Doing More Harm Than Good | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24021\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchsfeatured1-e1416367400609.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchsfeatured1-e1416367400609.jpg\" alt='Monarchs gather on a \"daisy tree\" for nectar in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Barry Bergman)' width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24021\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monarchs gather on a “daisy tree” for nectar in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Barry Bergman)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Humans have not been kind to animal migrations. Relentless hunting over a century ago ensured that we will never watch billions of passenger pigeons turn day to night as they pass overhead or hundreds of thousands of bison disappear in clouds of dust as they thunder across the prairie. Today, we risk losing what some consider the most spectacular journey of all – the mutigenerational migration of the monarch butterfly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So many eastern monarchs once congregated in the Mexican forests where they spend the winter that observers likened the sound of their fluttering wings to a rippling stream. Even the much smaller western monarch population once clustered in masses dense enough to break branches on California’s coastal trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But over the past 20 years, both populations have declined by over 90 percent. And in a classic case of good intentions gone awry, efforts to help the beleaguered butterflies may be inadvertently making matters worse by changing their behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Growing threats\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deforestation in Mexico and development along California’s coast have destroyed much of the monarch’s winter habitat. But the widespread loss of breeding habitat — which for monarchs means milkweed, the only thing their caterpillars eat — poses a much bigger threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Midwest, where half of Mexico’s overwintering monarchs are born, nearly 60 percent of native milkweeds disappeared, \u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1752-4598.2012.00196.x/abstract\">a 2012 study in Insect Conservation and Diversity\u003c/a> found, coinciding with increased use of glyphosate, commonly known as Roundup, on expanded plantings of crops genetically altered to tolerate the weed killer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLItUuuMGiY\u003cbr>\n \u003cbr>\nGlyphosate is also widely used in the West. In California, it ranked among the top 10 most used pesticides in 2012 (the last year reported). Its use will likely increase as growers plant more Roundup-ready cotton and alfalfa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When conservation groups launched campaigns to plant milkweed in gardens, along roadsides and anywhere monarchs might find it, butterfly lovers responded in droves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s amazing how many people have milkweed gardens,” says Francis X. Villablanca, a professor of biology at California Polytechnic University who studies overwintering monarchs. “Whole networks of people will go by the nursery and let all the people in the network know when the milkweed comes in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24011\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 658px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchgraph2-1024x566.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-24011\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchgraph2-1024x566.png\" alt=\"Overwintering monarchs populations along California's coasts declined by 90 percent since a high of 1.2 million in 1997. (Graph courtesy Xerces Society)\" width=\"658\" height=\"351\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Overwintering monarch populations along California’s coasts have collapsed since 1997. Estimates for fall 2013 represent 50 percent of the 17-year average. (Graph courtesy Xerces Society)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But scientists fear that some of these good-hearted efforts may be doing more harm than good. That’s because not all milkweed is created equal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Law of unintended consequences\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monarchs that migrate are the\u003ca href=\"http://www.monarchbutterflyfund.org/node/148\"> final generation\u003c/a> of summer breeders. Those born before them have one job: reproduce. They lay about 400 eggs within a month, then die. The last generation has a job too: travel thousands of miles to overwintering sites. They’re born in a nonreproductive state to conserve energy for the flight and the five-month wait until spring returns to their breeding grounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monarchs coevolved with perennial natives that emerge in spring when monarchs are ready to breed and die back in fall when it’s time to migrate. Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is not native to California and doesn’t act like its native counterpart: it’s still going strong when the natives disappear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24012\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 216px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Asclepias_curassavica13-216x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-24012\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Asclepias_curassavica13-216x162.jpg\" alt=\"Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is a favorite in butterfly gardens because it's pretty and easy to grow. (Photo: Kurt Stüber via Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"216\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is a favorite in butterfly gardens because it’s pretty and easy to grow. (Photo: Kurt Stüber via Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Because it’s pretty, easy to grow and the most widely available milkweed species in commercial nurseries, it’s become the go-to plant in butterfly gardens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if butterflies find it out of season and start breeding, recent research shows, they’re giving an old foe – a debilitating protozoan parasite called Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) – the chance to flourish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adults infected with OE can drop millions of spores on milkweed, which caterpillars ingest along with leaves. Mildly infected monarchs may look fine but can’t fly or reproduce well and die early. Infested larvae may fail to emerge from their chrysalis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Work by Sonia Altizer, a disease ecologist at the University of Georgia, has shown that when generation after generation of monarchs breed on the same plants along the Gulf Coast, parasite levels can skyrocket. Continuous breeding risks losing what Altizer calls a key benefit of migration: limiting parasite numbers by allowing monarchs to escape contaminated plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It doesn’t help that monarchs tend to lay far more eggs on tropical milkweed — typically grown in dense clusters — thereby exposing more caterpillars. Beyond falling prey to parasites, caterpillars born in winter could freeze during a cold snap. And with females laying so many eggs, caterpillars may starve to death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villablanca first saw winter-breeding butterflies in California last December. “It’s very surprising to see them breeding when they should be overwintering,” he says. “They’ve done the migration, so that part has clicked in. But why they’re reproductive is not really clear.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24023\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Lone-Monarch1-1024x819.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Lone-Monarch1-1024x819.jpg\" alt='A monarch draws nectar from a \"daisy tree\" in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Liza Gross)' width=\"1024\" height=\"819\" class=\"size-large wp-image-24023\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A monarch draws nectar from a “daisy tree” in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Liza Gross)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than 90 percent of the unseasonal breeding is happening on tropical milkweed in backyard gardens, Villablanca says. He’s trying to figure out if the breeders belong to a previously undetected non-migratory population or if they’re overwintering migrants that cluster in colonies to stay warm at night and then breed during the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they’re breeding year-round, disease could pose a dangerous threat to the West’s monarchs, already in serious decline. In preliminary work, Villablanca found higher OE levels in butterflies collected from tropical milkweed gardens than from those sampled at overwintering sites. He worries that monarchs could emerge from these gardens infested and then fly to overwintering sites and spread disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the drastic declines in milkweed remain the monarch’s biggest threat and scientists are grateful that so many people want to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you have tropical milkweed in your garden, help it behave like a native: cut it back during the fall and winter. Better yet, ask your local native plant society which species are native to your area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last thing scientists want to do is discourage monarch enthusiasts from helping the imperiled butterflies. “We have concerns but we don’t want to spook people,” Villablanca says. “We’re really trying to help them figure out what’s the right thing to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What you can do to help monarchs:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Plant native milkweed\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Contact the\u003ca href=\"http://www.cnps.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> California Native Plant Society\u003c/a> to find milkweeds native to your area.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Provide nectar plants\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe \u003ca href=\"http://www.pollinator.org/guides.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pollinator Partnership\u003c/a> locates native plants by zip code.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Avoid pesticides\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nPesticides kill monarchs throughout the life cycle.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Become a citizen scientist \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nScientists need data to understand all stages of the monarch’s annual cycle. Contact \u003ca href=\"http://monarchjointventure.org/get-involved/study-monarchs-citizen-science-opportunities/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monarch Joint Venture\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.monarchparasites.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monarch Health\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.xerces.org/western-monarchs/\">The Xerces Society\u003c/a> to find out how you can contribute.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>You can view overwintering monarchs at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ci.pg.ca.us/index.aspx?page=251\">Monarch Grove Sanctuary\u003c/a> in Pacific Grove. For more information, see \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/science/monarchs-may-be-loved-to-death.html\">For the Monarch Butterfly, a Long Road Back\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Migratory monarch butterfly populations have fallen into a tailspin in recent years. Scientists fear that in a classic case of good intentions gone awry, efforts to help the beleaguered butterflies may be inadvertently making matters worse by changing their behavior.",
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"description": "Migratory monarch butterfly populations have fallen into a tailspin in recent years. Scientists fear that in a classic case of good intentions gone awry, efforts to help the beleaguered butterflies may be inadvertently making matters worse by changing their behavior.",
"title": "Efforts to Restore Monarch Butterflies' Milkweed Habitats May Be Doing More Harm Than Good | KQED",
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"headline": "Efforts to Restore Monarch Butterflies' Milkweed Habitats May Be Doing More Harm Than Good",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24021\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchsfeatured1-e1416367400609.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchsfeatured1-e1416367400609.jpg\" alt='Monarchs gather on a \"daisy tree\" for nectar in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Barry Bergman)' width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24021\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monarchs gather on a “daisy tree” for nectar in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Barry Bergman)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Humans have not been kind to animal migrations. Relentless hunting over a century ago ensured that we will never watch billions of passenger pigeons turn day to night as they pass overhead or hundreds of thousands of bison disappear in clouds of dust as they thunder across the prairie. Today, we risk losing what some consider the most spectacular journey of all – the mutigenerational migration of the monarch butterfly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So many eastern monarchs once congregated in the Mexican forests where they spend the winter that observers likened the sound of their fluttering wings to a rippling stream. Even the much smaller western monarch population once clustered in masses dense enough to break branches on California’s coastal trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But over the past 20 years, both populations have declined by over 90 percent. And in a classic case of good intentions gone awry, efforts to help the beleaguered butterflies may be inadvertently making matters worse by changing their behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Growing threats\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deforestation in Mexico and development along California’s coast have destroyed much of the monarch’s winter habitat. But the widespread loss of breeding habitat — which for monarchs means milkweed, the only thing their caterpillars eat — poses a much bigger threat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Midwest, where half of Mexico’s overwintering monarchs are born, nearly 60 percent of native milkweeds disappeared, \u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1752-4598.2012.00196.x/abstract\">a 2012 study in Insect Conservation and Diversity\u003c/a> found, coinciding with increased use of glyphosate, commonly known as Roundup, on expanded plantings of crops genetically altered to tolerate the weed killer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLItUuuMGiY\u003cbr>\n \u003cbr>\nGlyphosate is also widely used in the West. In California, it ranked among the top 10 most used pesticides in 2012 (the last year reported). Its use will likely increase as growers plant more Roundup-ready cotton and alfalfa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When conservation groups launched campaigns to plant milkweed in gardens, along roadsides and anywhere monarchs might find it, butterfly lovers responded in droves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s amazing how many people have milkweed gardens,” says Francis X. Villablanca, a professor of biology at California Polytechnic University who studies overwintering monarchs. “Whole networks of people will go by the nursery and let all the people in the network know when the milkweed comes in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24011\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 658px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchgraph2-1024x566.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-24011\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/monarchgraph2-1024x566.png\" alt=\"Overwintering monarchs populations along California's coasts declined by 90 percent since a high of 1.2 million in 1997. (Graph courtesy Xerces Society)\" width=\"658\" height=\"351\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Overwintering monarch populations along California’s coasts have collapsed since 1997. Estimates for fall 2013 represent 50 percent of the 17-year average. (Graph courtesy Xerces Society)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But scientists fear that some of these good-hearted efforts may be doing more harm than good. That’s because not all milkweed is created equal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Law of unintended consequences\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monarchs that migrate are the\u003ca href=\"http://www.monarchbutterflyfund.org/node/148\"> final generation\u003c/a> of summer breeders. Those born before them have one job: reproduce. They lay about 400 eggs within a month, then die. The last generation has a job too: travel thousands of miles to overwintering sites. They’re born in a nonreproductive state to conserve energy for the flight and the five-month wait until spring returns to their breeding grounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monarchs coevolved with perennial natives that emerge in spring when monarchs are ready to breed and die back in fall when it’s time to migrate. Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is not native to California and doesn’t act like its native counterpart: it’s still going strong when the natives disappear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24012\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 216px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Asclepias_curassavica13-216x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-24012\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Asclepias_curassavica13-216x162.jpg\" alt=\"Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is a favorite in butterfly gardens because it's pretty and easy to grow. (Photo: Kurt Stüber via Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"216\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is a favorite in butterfly gardens because it’s pretty and easy to grow. (Photo: Kurt Stüber via Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Because it’s pretty, easy to grow and the most widely available milkweed species in commercial nurseries, it’s become the go-to plant in butterfly gardens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if butterflies find it out of season and start breeding, recent research shows, they’re giving an old foe – a debilitating protozoan parasite called Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) – the chance to flourish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adults infected with OE can drop millions of spores on milkweed, which caterpillars ingest along with leaves. Mildly infected monarchs may look fine but can’t fly or reproduce well and die early. Infested larvae may fail to emerge from their chrysalis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Work by Sonia Altizer, a disease ecologist at the University of Georgia, has shown that when generation after generation of monarchs breed on the same plants along the Gulf Coast, parasite levels can skyrocket. Continuous breeding risks losing what Altizer calls a key benefit of migration: limiting parasite numbers by allowing monarchs to escape contaminated plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It doesn’t help that monarchs tend to lay far more eggs on tropical milkweed — typically grown in dense clusters — thereby exposing more caterpillars. Beyond falling prey to parasites, caterpillars born in winter could freeze during a cold snap. And with females laying so many eggs, caterpillars may starve to death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villablanca first saw winter-breeding butterflies in California last December. “It’s very surprising to see them breeding when they should be overwintering,” he says. “They’ve done the migration, so that part has clicked in. But why they’re reproductive is not really clear.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_24023\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Lone-Monarch1-1024x819.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Lone-Monarch1-1024x819.jpg\" alt='A monarch draws nectar from a \"daisy tree\" in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Liza Gross)' width=\"1024\" height=\"819\" class=\"size-large wp-image-24023\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A monarch draws nectar from a “daisy tree” in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove. (Photo: Liza Gross)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than 90 percent of the unseasonal breeding is happening on tropical milkweed in backyard gardens, Villablanca says. He’s trying to figure out if the breeders belong to a previously undetected non-migratory population or if they’re overwintering migrants that cluster in colonies to stay warm at night and then breed during the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they’re breeding year-round, disease could pose a dangerous threat to the West’s monarchs, already in serious decline. In preliminary work, Villablanca found higher OE levels in butterflies collected from tropical milkweed gardens than from those sampled at overwintering sites. He worries that monarchs could emerge from these gardens infested and then fly to overwintering sites and spread disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the drastic declines in milkweed remain the monarch’s biggest threat and scientists are grateful that so many people want to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you have tropical milkweed in your garden, help it behave like a native: cut it back during the fall and winter. Better yet, ask your local native plant society which species are native to your area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last thing scientists want to do is discourage monarch enthusiasts from helping the imperiled butterflies. “We have concerns but we don’t want to spook people,” Villablanca says. “We’re really trying to help them figure out what’s the right thing to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What you can do to help monarchs:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Plant native milkweed\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Contact the\u003ca href=\"http://www.cnps.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> California Native Plant Society\u003c/a> to find milkweeds native to your area.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Provide nectar plants\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe \u003ca href=\"http://www.pollinator.org/guides.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pollinator Partnership\u003c/a> locates native plants by zip code.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Avoid pesticides\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nPesticides kill monarchs throughout the life cycle.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul style=\"color: #000000\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Become a citizen scientist \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nScientists need data to understand all stages of the monarch’s annual cycle. Contact \u003ca href=\"http://monarchjointventure.org/get-involved/study-monarchs-citizen-science-opportunities/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monarch Joint Venture\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.monarchparasites.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monarch Health\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.xerces.org/western-monarchs/\">The Xerces Society\u003c/a> to find out how you can contribute.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>You can view overwintering monarchs at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ci.pg.ca.us/index.aspx?page=251\">Monarch Grove Sanctuary\u003c/a> in Pacific Grove. For more information, see \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/science/monarchs-may-be-loved-to-death.html\">For the Monarch Butterfly, a Long Road Back\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Want to Go to Mars? A Cheaper Alternative Resides in Chile's Atacama Desert",
"headTitle": "Want to Go to Mars? A Cheaper Alternative Resides in Chile’s Atacama Desert | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23601\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 273px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/IMG_6407-162x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-23601\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/IMG_6407-162x162.jpg\" alt='\"Desert selfie\" in the driest place on the planet: Atacama Desert in Chile.' width=\"273\" height=\"278\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Desert selfie” in the driest place on the planet: the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If you want to go to Mars but can’t quite afford the hundreds of billions of dollars for a ticket, there is another solution: consider instead a trip to the Atacama Desert in Chile. This place is not a typical holiday destination, but for those of us who want that \u003cem>out-of-this-world\u003c/em> experience, this is as Martian as it gets. The wettest part of the desert receives a mere 15mm of rain a year, and even that is a monsoon compared with the 2mm of rain that falls once per decade in the hyper-arid core of the Yungay region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When flying into the region last month on a small connecting jet from Santiago to Antofagasta, the closest town to the desert where I’d collect samples for my research, I stared out of the window at the Atacama below — noticing the geomorphological similarities between the driest desert on Earth and many of the satellite and rover photos I have analyzed from Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Gpm0pAVAY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The landscape is almost completely devoid of any plants and animals\u003c/a> (even at the microbial level): your backyard probably has more biological activity than the whole of the Yungay region.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>And during the first day of my field campaign with scientists from NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, our team drove approximately 600km through the Atacama; not a single insect collided with our truck’s windshield. In this desolate and extraordinarily dry environment, it is hard to imagine that Mars is still 1000 times drier than the driest part of the Atacama.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Atacama, I had to readjust my perception of time and dominance of normal erosion processes. In most terrestrial environments, water is responsible for carving the landscapes we see. But in Yungay, the soils and boulders have been etched for millions of years by wind, the rare miniscule rainfall and extraordinarily, earthquakes. \u003ca href=\"http://www.geosociety.org/news/pr/11-68.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scientists estimate that the Atacama has experienced approximately 30,000 seconds of rock-shaping shaking over the last few million years\u003c/a>. The result is some of the most Mars-like terrains you can find on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23605\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/2006-04-20-02.24.58-2-1024x731.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23605\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/2006-04-20-02.24.58-2-1024x731.jpg\" alt=\"Boulders in the driest part of the Atacama are commonly marked by light-toned grooves worn into the surface by nearby boulders during earthquakes. \" width=\"1024\" height=\"731\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Boulders in the driest part of the Atacama are commonly marked by light-toned grooves worn into the surface by nearby boulders during earthquakes.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When I began my Ph.D. over two years ago, I could have only hoped that my thesis project would have taken me to the most Martian place on Earth, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUTydO1oYyU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">covered from head-to-toe in a sterile suit, dust mask and gloves for hours\u003c/a> in order to collect uncontaminated sediments for analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My research interests lie at the juncture point between geology and biology. I want to understand how exactly the chemical constituents that make up life get preserved in the rock record on Earth, especially in Mars-like environments. This will help to enable me to make a prediction about how and where we might be able to find molecular evidence of past life (\u003cem>if there ever was any\u003c/em>) on Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23603\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/DSC_6057-2-1024x680.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23603\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/DSC_6057-2-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"Clean sampling of biomarkers in the desert soil requires suits, gloves, masks, goggles, and sterile tools to make sure no contamination ends up in the soil sample. \" width=\"1024\" height=\"680\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clean sampling of biomarkers in the desert soil requires suits, gloves, masks, goggles, and sterile tools to make sure no contamination ends up in the sample.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility of Mars analog environments like the Atacama is paramount. These unique locations provide a test-bed of sorts to begin to understand in greater detail geological processes occurring hundreds of millions of miles away on another planet. This is why many scientists, including myself, travel to Mars analogs to study geological processes up-close and to take samples back to our labs to examine them with analytical instruments that would be extremely difficult and costly to send to the red planet.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "If you want to go to Mars but can’t quite afford the hundreds of billions of dollars for a ticket, there is another solution: consider instead a trip to the Atacama Desert in Chile.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23601\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 273px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/IMG_6407-162x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-23601\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/IMG_6407-162x162.jpg\" alt='\"Desert selfie\" in the driest place on the planet: Atacama Desert in Chile.' width=\"273\" height=\"278\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Desert selfie” in the driest place on the planet: the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If you want to go to Mars but can’t quite afford the hundreds of billions of dollars for a ticket, there is another solution: consider instead a trip to the Atacama Desert in Chile. This place is not a typical holiday destination, but for those of us who want that \u003cem>out-of-this-world\u003c/em> experience, this is as Martian as it gets. The wettest part of the desert receives a mere 15mm of rain a year, and even that is a monsoon compared with the 2mm of rain that falls once per decade in the hyper-arid core of the Yungay region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When flying into the region last month on a small connecting jet from Santiago to Antofagasta, the closest town to the desert where I’d collect samples for my research, I stared out of the window at the Atacama below — noticing the geomorphological similarities between the driest desert on Earth and many of the satellite and rover photos I have analyzed from Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Gpm0pAVAY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The landscape is almost completely devoid of any plants and animals\u003c/a> (even at the microbial level): your backyard probably has more biological activity than the whole of the Yungay region.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>And during the first day of my field campaign with scientists from NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, our team drove approximately 600km through the Atacama; not a single insect collided with our truck’s windshield. In this desolate and extraordinarily dry environment, it is hard to imagine that Mars is still 1000 times drier than the driest part of the Atacama.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Atacama, I had to readjust my perception of time and dominance of normal erosion processes. In most terrestrial environments, water is responsible for carving the landscapes we see. But in Yungay, the soils and boulders have been etched for millions of years by wind, the rare miniscule rainfall and extraordinarily, earthquakes. \u003ca href=\"http://www.geosociety.org/news/pr/11-68.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scientists estimate that the Atacama has experienced approximately 30,000 seconds of rock-shaping shaking over the last few million years\u003c/a>. The result is some of the most Mars-like terrains you can find on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23605\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/2006-04-20-02.24.58-2-1024x731.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23605\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/2006-04-20-02.24.58-2-1024x731.jpg\" alt=\"Boulders in the driest part of the Atacama are commonly marked by light-toned grooves worn into the surface by nearby boulders during earthquakes. \" width=\"1024\" height=\"731\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Boulders in the driest part of the Atacama are commonly marked by light-toned grooves worn into the surface by nearby boulders during earthquakes.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When I began my Ph.D. over two years ago, I could have only hoped that my thesis project would have taken me to the most Martian place on Earth, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUTydO1oYyU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">covered from head-to-toe in a sterile suit, dust mask and gloves for hours\u003c/a> in order to collect uncontaminated sediments for analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My research interests lie at the juncture point between geology and biology. I want to understand how exactly the chemical constituents that make up life get preserved in the rock record on Earth, especially in Mars-like environments. This will help to enable me to make a prediction about how and where we might be able to find molecular evidence of past life (\u003cem>if there ever was any\u003c/em>) on Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23603\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/DSC_6057-2-1024x680.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-23603\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/DSC_6057-2-1024x680.jpg\" alt=\"Clean sampling of biomarkers in the desert soil requires suits, gloves, masks, goggles, and sterile tools to make sure no contamination ends up in the soil sample. \" width=\"1024\" height=\"680\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clean sampling of biomarkers in the desert soil requires suits, gloves, masks, goggles, and sterile tools to make sure no contamination ends up in the sample.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The utility of Mars analog environments like the Atacama is paramount. These unique locations provide a test-bed of sorts to begin to understand in greater detail geological processes occurring hundreds of millions of miles away on another planet. This is why many scientists, including myself, travel to Mars analogs to study geological processes up-close and to take samples back to our labs to examine them with analytical instruments that would be extremely difficult and costly to send to the red planet.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Plenty of animals build their homes in oak trees. But some very teeny, tricky wasps make the tree do all the work. “What nerve!” you might say. What… gall! And you’d be right. The wasps are called gall-inducers. And each miniature mansion that the trees build for the wasps’ larvae is weirder and more flamboyant than the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve ever spent a Summer or Fall around oak trees – such as the stalwart Valley Oak – \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_lobata\">Quercus lobata\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, or the stately Blue Oak, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_douglasii\">Quercus douglasii\u003c/a>\u003c/em> – you may be familiar with the large, vaguely fruity-looking objects clinging to the branches and leaves. Commonly called oak apples, these growths are the last thing you’d want to put in your mouth. They are intensely bitter, loaded with tannin compounds – the same compounds that in modest amounts give red wine its pleasant dryness, and tea its refreshing earthy tang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23972\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/oak-apple-gall.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23972\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/oak-apple-gall.jpg\" alt=\"Oak apple galls, from the California Oak Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus). \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oak apple gall from the California Oak Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That said, the oak apple’s powerful astringency has been prized for millennia. Tanning leather, making \u003ca href=\"http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-Iron-Gall-Ink/\">ink\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://wooltribulations.blogspot.com/2013/11/dyeing-wool-with-galls-acorns-and-oak.html\">dye\u003c/a>, and cleaning wounds have been but a few of the gall’s historical uses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But on closer inspection of these oaks – and many other plants and trees such as willows, alders, manzanitas, or pines – you can find a rogue’s gallery of smaller galls. Carefully peeking under leaves, along the stems and branches, or around the flower buds and acorns will likely lead you to unexpected finds. Smooth ones. Spiky ones. Long skinny ones, flat ones, lumpy, boxy ones. From the size of a golf ball down to that of a poppy seed. \u003ca href=\"http://joycegross.com/galls_ca_oak.php\">These structures wear shades of yellow, green, brown, purple, pink and red\u003c/a> – and sometimes all of the above. A single tree may be host to dozens of types of gall, each one caused by a specific organism. And their shapes range from the sublime to the downright creepy. One tree may be encrusted with them, like a Christmas tree laden with ornaments and tinsel; and the next tree over may be almost completely free of galls. Why? It’s a mystery, like many other aspects of Cecidology, the study of plant galls and their inducers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23953\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Andricus-crystallinu.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23953\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Andricus-crystallinu.png\" alt=\"A cluster of galls by the Crystalline Gall Wasp (Andricus crystallinus) under the leaf of a Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii). \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A cluster of galls by the Crystalline Gall Wasp (Andricus crystallinus) under the leaf of a Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Who causes galls? Lots of creatures; midges, mites, aphids, flies, even bacteria and viruses. But the undisputed champs are a big family of little wasps called \u003ca href=\"http://leftcoastnatty.blogspot.com/2010/09/oak-gall-wasps-cynipids.html\">Cynipids\u003c/a>– rarely exceeding the size of a mosquito, a quarter of an inch in length.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These tiny wasps cannot sting,” says Dr. Kathy Schick, Assistant Specialist/Curatorial Assistant at the \u003ca href=\"http://essig.berkeley.edu/\">Essig Museum of Entomology\u003c/a> at UC Berkeley. “Gall-inducers are fascinating in that they are very specialized to their organ of the host plant.” Galls are generally formed when an insect, or its larvae, introduce chemicals into a specific location, to push the plant’s growth hormones into overdrive. This can result in a great profusion of normal cells, increased size of existing cells, or the alteration of entire plant structures into new, alien forms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23969\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/california-oak-gall-wasp.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23969\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/california-oak-gall-wasp.jpg\" alt=\"The California Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus).\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus). This member of the Cynipid family is on the larger side – about 1/4″ long.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These wasp houses are not homes exactly, but more akin to nurseries. The galls serve as an ideal environment for wasp larvae, whether it is a single offspring, or dozens. The tree is tricked into generating outsize amounts of soft, pillowy tissue inside each gall, on which the larvae gladly gorge themselves as they grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But gall-inducers are not the only wasps who come to the party. All the free eats and nice digs attract uninvited guests. These other wasps – called inquilines – invade other galls to steal the food from the larvae. Yet another kind of wasp — a parasitoid — injects its eggs into the first wasp’s gall, so its offspring can eat the plant tissue eating the food and even the residents. And the parasitoids, they have to watch out for other Johnny-come-lately wasps called hyper-parasitoids, which go after their larvae or even the parasitoids themselves. And on and on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Galls-prod-still.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23960\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Galls-prod-still.jpg\" alt=\"Left to right: Dr. Kathy Schick of UC Berkeley's Essig Museum of Entomology; Joyce Gross, Berkeley Natural History Museums; the author; and Joshua Cassidy, Lead Producer / Photographer for KQED's Deep Look series.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left to Right: Dr. Kathy Schick of UC Berkeley’s Essig Museum of Entomology; Joyce Gross, Berkeley Natural History Museums; the author; and Joshua Cassidy, Lead Producer / Photographer for KQED’s Deep Look series.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But assuming the original offspring survive, the larvae pupate and as new adult wasps chew their way out – weeks, months, or even years later depending on the species and environmental conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then off to find a mate. Or not?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The life cycle of gall-inducers can be exceedingly complex, especially among Cynipids.There can be both sexual (male and female get together, eggs are fertilized) and asexual (no males = parthenogenic) phases at different times of year, which result in different types of galls, even on different parts of the plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the California Gall Wasp in our video, \u003cem>Andricus quercuscalifornicus\u003c/em>? Researchers are still searching for a male specimen. To date, not a single one has been found. It is debated whether they even exist at all. Yet another unsolved mystery, in the under appreciated realm of plant galls and their iinhabitants.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Plenty of animals build their homes in oak trees. But some very teeny, tricky wasps make the tree do all the work. “What nerve!” you might say. What… gall! And you’d be right. The wasps are called gall-inducers. And each miniature mansion that the trees build for the wasps’ larvae is weirder and more flamboyant than the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve ever spent a Summer or Fall around oak trees – such as the stalwart Valley Oak – \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_lobata\">Quercus lobata\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, or the stately Blue Oak, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_douglasii\">Quercus douglasii\u003c/a>\u003c/em> – you may be familiar with the large, vaguely fruity-looking objects clinging to the branches and leaves. Commonly called oak apples, these growths are the last thing you’d want to put in your mouth. They are intensely bitter, loaded with tannin compounds – the same compounds that in modest amounts give red wine its pleasant dryness, and tea its refreshing earthy tang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23972\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/oak-apple-gall.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23972\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/oak-apple-gall.jpg\" alt=\"Oak apple galls, from the California Oak Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus). \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oak apple gall from the California Oak Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That said, the oak apple’s powerful astringency has been prized for millennia. Tanning leather, making \u003ca href=\"http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-Iron-Gall-Ink/\">ink\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://wooltribulations.blogspot.com/2013/11/dyeing-wool-with-galls-acorns-and-oak.html\">dye\u003c/a>, and cleaning wounds have been but a few of the gall’s historical uses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But on closer inspection of these oaks – and many other plants and trees such as willows, alders, manzanitas, or pines – you can find a rogue’s gallery of smaller galls. Carefully peeking under leaves, along the stems and branches, or around the flower buds and acorns will likely lead you to unexpected finds. Smooth ones. Spiky ones. Long skinny ones, flat ones, lumpy, boxy ones. From the size of a golf ball down to that of a poppy seed. \u003ca href=\"http://joycegross.com/galls_ca_oak.php\">These structures wear shades of yellow, green, brown, purple, pink and red\u003c/a> – and sometimes all of the above. A single tree may be host to dozens of types of gall, each one caused by a specific organism. And their shapes range from the sublime to the downright creepy. One tree may be encrusted with them, like a Christmas tree laden with ornaments and tinsel; and the next tree over may be almost completely free of galls. Why? It’s a mystery, like many other aspects of Cecidology, the study of plant galls and their inducers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23953\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Andricus-crystallinu.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23953\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Andricus-crystallinu.png\" alt=\"A cluster of galls by the Crystalline Gall Wasp (Andricus crystallinus) under the leaf of a Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii). \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A cluster of galls by the Crystalline Gall Wasp (Andricus crystallinus) under the leaf of a Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Who causes galls? Lots of creatures; midges, mites, aphids, flies, even bacteria and viruses. But the undisputed champs are a big family of little wasps called \u003ca href=\"http://leftcoastnatty.blogspot.com/2010/09/oak-gall-wasps-cynipids.html\">Cynipids\u003c/a>– rarely exceeding the size of a mosquito, a quarter of an inch in length.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These tiny wasps cannot sting,” says Dr. Kathy Schick, Assistant Specialist/Curatorial Assistant at the \u003ca href=\"http://essig.berkeley.edu/\">Essig Museum of Entomology\u003c/a> at UC Berkeley. “Gall-inducers are fascinating in that they are very specialized to their organ of the host plant.” Galls are generally formed when an insect, or its larvae, introduce chemicals into a specific location, to push the plant’s growth hormones into overdrive. This can result in a great profusion of normal cells, increased size of existing cells, or the alteration of entire plant structures into new, alien forms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23969\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/california-oak-gall-wasp.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23969\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/california-oak-gall-wasp.jpg\" alt=\"The California Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus).\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuscalifornicus). This member of the Cynipid family is on the larger side – about 1/4″ long.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These wasp houses are not homes exactly, but more akin to nurseries. The galls serve as an ideal environment for wasp larvae, whether it is a single offspring, or dozens. The tree is tricked into generating outsize amounts of soft, pillowy tissue inside each gall, on which the larvae gladly gorge themselves as they grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But gall-inducers are not the only wasps who come to the party. All the free eats and nice digs attract uninvited guests. These other wasps – called inquilines – invade other galls to steal the food from the larvae. Yet another kind of wasp — a parasitoid — injects its eggs into the first wasp’s gall, so its offspring can eat the plant tissue eating the food and even the residents. And the parasitoids, they have to watch out for other Johnny-come-lately wasps called hyper-parasitoids, which go after their larvae or even the parasitoids themselves. And on and on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Galls-prod-still.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23960\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Galls-prod-still.jpg\" alt=\"Left to right: Dr. Kathy Schick of UC Berkeley's Essig Museum of Entomology; Joyce Gross, Berkeley Natural History Museums; the author; and Joshua Cassidy, Lead Producer / Photographer for KQED's Deep Look series.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left to Right: Dr. Kathy Schick of UC Berkeley’s Essig Museum of Entomology; Joyce Gross, Berkeley Natural History Museums; the author; and Joshua Cassidy, Lead Producer / Photographer for KQED’s Deep Look series.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But assuming the original offspring survive, the larvae pupate and as new adult wasps chew their way out – weeks, months, or even years later depending on the species and environmental conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then off to find a mate. Or not?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The life cycle of gall-inducers can be exceedingly complex, especially among Cynipids.There can be both sexual (male and female get together, eggs are fertilized) and asexual (no males = parthenogenic) phases at different times of year, which result in different types of galls, even on different parts of the plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the California Gall Wasp in our video, \u003cem>Andricus quercuscalifornicus\u003c/em>? Researchers are still searching for a male specimen. To date, not a single one has been found. It is debated whether they even exist at all. Yet another unsolved mystery, in the under appreciated realm of plant galls and their iinhabitants.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Scientists Suspect a Virus is Causing Sea Star Die-Off",
"headTitle": "Scientists Suspect a Virus is Causing Sea Star Die-Off | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23912\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/diseased-davenport-big.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23912 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/diseased-davenport-big.jpg\" alt=\"diseased-davenport big\" width=\"4000\" height=\"3000\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The wasting disease affecting sea stars causes some, like this ochre star in Santa Cruz, to lose their legs. (Nate Fletcher/ UC Santa Cruz) \u003ccite>(Nate Fletcher/ UC Santa Cruz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-image-23896 size-full\">Scientists have identified the top suspect in the mysterious die-off of millions of sea stars along the west coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Millions of starfish from Mexico to Alaska have lost their legs and turned to mush, confounding and alarming scientists and beachgoers. In affected areas, the mortality rate has been as high as 70 to 99 percent. The phenomenon is known as “\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/03/07/what-we-know-and-dont-know-about-the-sea-star-die-off/\">sea star wasting disease\u003c/a>” but the cause has remained unknown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers from UC Santa Cruz, Cornell University and other institutions now have strong evidence that links the disease to a densovirus, a type of parvovirus commonly found in invertebrates. In a \u003ca href=\"http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/11/12/1416625111.full.pdf+html\">paper published\u003c/a> in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists report that densovirus is also present in museum specimens of sea stars as far back as the 1940s. That means that while the virus has long been present in sea star populations, something has triggered the recent outbreak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mass sea star die-offs have occurred before, says Peter Raimondi, chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. But they all corresponded with El Niño years that brought warmer waters to the Pacific Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The key difference with other outbreaks is that in other ones it was unambiguously associated with warm water,” Raimondi says.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘The sea stars may have responded to the viral outbreak by reproducing even more than usual.’\u003ccite>— Dr. Peter Raimondi, UC Santa Cruz\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>This latest die-off doesn’t follow the same pattern. Previous outbreaks spread north as warm waters moved up the coast, but the current outbreak has occurred as a series of individual incidents, popping up all over the west coast, first in the north and then further south and then back in the north. Some of the affected areas saw warmer temperatures but some didn’t, Raimondi says. This outbreak has also lasted longer and affected a larger area than ever before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raimondi and his colleagues are still researching what’s driving the current outbreak. They haven’t ruled out warmer water entirely, but they’re investigating a variety of other environmental factors, from pollution to ocean acidification to a decrease in oxygen in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know if it’s an isolated example taking root and spreading, and doesn’t portend anything in future,” Raimondi says, “or if this is a portent of things that will become more common in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Prospects for Recovery\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers aren’t sure whether the sea star population is going to be able to rebound from this die-off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bad news of the study is that, besides sea stars, the virus is found in sediment and in sea urchins, although the urchins don’t show symptoms of the virus. Raimondi says the sediments and urchins are acting as a reservoir for the virus and might infect new generations of sea stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23909\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/p_ochraceus_recruits_sad_2014_0325_mg-BIG.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23909 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/p_ochraceus_recruits_sad_2014_0325_mg-BIG.jpg\" alt=\"p_ochraceus_recruits_sad_2014_0325_mg BIG\" width=\"4000\" height=\"3000\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scientists are now seeing large numbers of juvenile sea stars in areas that were affected by the virus outbreak. (Maya George/UC Santa Cruz)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Beautiful and brightly colored, starfish are a charismatic species and a favorite of beach goers. They’re also voracious predators. Starfish are called a keystone species, meaning they’re at the top of the food chain and have a major effect on the ecosystem. A significant decline in sea star species could have profound ecological consequences, Raimondi says, changing marine ecosystems along the west coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news is that researchers are finding huge populations of baby starfish in some of their monitoring areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When animals get stressed they tend to reproduce,” Raimondi says. The sea stars may have responded to the viral outbreak by reproducing even more than usual. The baby sea stars then drift away from their birthplace on ocean currents. “Because babies tend to go somewhere else, they can repopulate other areas, so recovery can be quicker than we thought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raimondi encourages beachgoers, boaters, and divers to visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.eeb.ucsc.edu/pacificrockyintertidal/data-products/sea-star-wasting/index.html\">seastarwasting.org\u003c/a> to see pictures of diseased and baby sea stars and to submit information about their own sightings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We welcome observation,” Raimondi says. “The public can help immensely in our understanding of what’s causing this and what the recovery prospects are like.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>You can see scientists at work trying to solve the mystery of sea star wasting disease, in this QUEST TV story, filmed earlier this year.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GcseyLU1Rs?feature=player_detailpage\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23912\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/diseased-davenport-big.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23912 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/diseased-davenport-big.jpg\" alt=\"diseased-davenport big\" width=\"4000\" height=\"3000\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The wasting disease affecting sea stars causes some, like this ochre star in Santa Cruz, to lose their legs. (Nate Fletcher/ UC Santa Cruz) \u003ccite>(Nate Fletcher/ UC Santa Cruz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-image-23896 size-full\">Scientists have identified the top suspect in the mysterious die-off of millions of sea stars along the west coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Millions of starfish from Mexico to Alaska have lost their legs and turned to mush, confounding and alarming scientists and beachgoers. In affected areas, the mortality rate has been as high as 70 to 99 percent. The phenomenon is known as “\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/03/07/what-we-know-and-dont-know-about-the-sea-star-die-off/\">sea star wasting disease\u003c/a>” but the cause has remained unknown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers from UC Santa Cruz, Cornell University and other institutions now have strong evidence that links the disease to a densovirus, a type of parvovirus commonly found in invertebrates. In a \u003ca href=\"http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/11/12/1416625111.full.pdf+html\">paper published\u003c/a> in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists report that densovirus is also present in museum specimens of sea stars as far back as the 1940s. That means that while the virus has long been present in sea star populations, something has triggered the recent outbreak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mass sea star die-offs have occurred before, says Peter Raimondi, chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. But they all corresponded with El Niño years that brought warmer waters to the Pacific Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The key difference with other outbreaks is that in other ones it was unambiguously associated with warm water,” Raimondi says.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘The sea stars may have responded to the viral outbreak by reproducing even more than usual.’\u003ccite>— Dr. Peter Raimondi, UC Santa Cruz\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>This latest die-off doesn’t follow the same pattern. Previous outbreaks spread north as warm waters moved up the coast, but the current outbreak has occurred as a series of individual incidents, popping up all over the west coast, first in the north and then further south and then back in the north. Some of the affected areas saw warmer temperatures but some didn’t, Raimondi says. This outbreak has also lasted longer and affected a larger area than ever before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raimondi and his colleagues are still researching what’s driving the current outbreak. They haven’t ruled out warmer water entirely, but they’re investigating a variety of other environmental factors, from pollution to ocean acidification to a decrease in oxygen in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know if it’s an isolated example taking root and spreading, and doesn’t portend anything in future,” Raimondi says, “or if this is a portent of things that will become more common in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Prospects for Recovery\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers aren’t sure whether the sea star population is going to be able to rebound from this die-off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bad news of the study is that, besides sea stars, the virus is found in sediment and in sea urchins, although the urchins don’t show symptoms of the virus. Raimondi says the sediments and urchins are acting as a reservoir for the virus and might infect new generations of sea stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23909\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4000px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/p_ochraceus_recruits_sad_2014_0325_mg-BIG.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23909 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/p_ochraceus_recruits_sad_2014_0325_mg-BIG.jpg\" alt=\"p_ochraceus_recruits_sad_2014_0325_mg BIG\" width=\"4000\" height=\"3000\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scientists are now seeing large numbers of juvenile sea stars in areas that were affected by the virus outbreak. (Maya George/UC Santa Cruz)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Beautiful and brightly colored, starfish are a charismatic species and a favorite of beach goers. They’re also voracious predators. Starfish are called a keystone species, meaning they’re at the top of the food chain and have a major effect on the ecosystem. A significant decline in sea star species could have profound ecological consequences, Raimondi says, changing marine ecosystems along the west coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news is that researchers are finding huge populations of baby starfish in some of their monitoring areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When animals get stressed they tend to reproduce,” Raimondi says. The sea stars may have responded to the viral outbreak by reproducing even more than usual. The baby sea stars then drift away from their birthplace on ocean currents. “Because babies tend to go somewhere else, they can repopulate other areas, so recovery can be quicker than we thought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raimondi encourages beachgoers, boaters, and divers to visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.eeb.ucsc.edu/pacificrockyintertidal/data-products/sea-star-wasting/index.html\">seastarwasting.org\u003c/a> to see pictures of diseased and baby sea stars and to submit information about their own sightings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We welcome observation,” Raimondi says. “The public can help immensely in our understanding of what’s causing this and what the recovery prospects are like.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>You can see scientists at work trying to solve the mystery of sea star wasting disease, in this QUEST TV story, filmed earlier this year.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GcseyLU1Rs?feature=player_detailpage\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Scientists Find Genes in Mice That May Lead to Future Ebola Treatments",
"headTitle": "Scientists Find Genes in Mice That May Lead to Future Ebola Treatments | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23695\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Ebola.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23695\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Ebola.jpg\" alt=\"A new mouse model for Ebola may help to speed up the discovery of new treatments. (Flickr)\" width=\"800\" height=\"458\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A new mouse model for Ebola may help to speed up the discovery of new treatments. Image is of Ebola (red) budding from cells (blue) (\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/niaid/14739204679/\">Photo Credit: NIAID / Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As anyone who watches movies like \u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/\">Contagion \u003c/a>knows, there are usually a few people who happen to have the right genetics to resist certain virus-causing diseases. Turns out that stories like these are based on fact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, some people reacted less strongly to or were even immune to diseases like the Spanish flu or HIV. And the same may be true for Ebola as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ebola has been ravaging Western Africa for most of 2014 with the numbers of people dying going up day by day. But not everyone who is infected dies. In fact, many people have much less severe symptoms suggesting that perhaps their personal genetics might make them less susceptible to the disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Working in a high tech, Ebola-safe lab in Montana, a group of scientists have\u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25359852\"> found that some mice deal better with an Ebola infection than do others\u003c/a>. These researchers looked at 47 genetically distinct lines of mice and found a range of responses from shrugging off the infection to dying horribly. The only differences between these lines were their genetics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23697\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/LabMouseHalf.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23697\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/LabMouseHalf.jpg\" alt=\"Thanks to mice like this one, we may get Ebola treatments more quickly. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Thanks to mice like this one, we may get Ebola treatments more quickly. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lab_mouse_mg_3135.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This is the first time scientists have been able to recapitulate an Ebola infection in mice. At the very least, the susceptible mice from this study may one day serve as a model system for studying new Ebola treatments. And if human and mouse genetics are similar enough, the resistant ones just might lead us to new treatments as has happened with HIV and AIDS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early in the AIDS epidemic, scientists noted that certain people (mostly sex workers in places like Nairobi) appeared to be immune to HIV. A close look at the immune people’s genomes showed they shared a certain version of the \u003cem>CCR5\u003c/em> gene, \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask336\">CCR5 delta 32\u003c/a>. Not only did this teach scientists a lot about how our immune systems work, but it has also led to some \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/09/09/molecular-scissors-may-help-potentially-cure-aids-in-the-future/\">promising new treatments\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By identifying the \u003cem>CCR5\u003c/em> gene, scientists had found a new way to attack HIV and treat AIDS. If the mouse work translates to human resistance (definitely a big IF), then two genes, \u003cem>Tie1\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Tek\u003c/em>, could show real promise as new avenues for treating the bleeding associated with Ebola. And a deeper look at the genes of the resistant mice may find other genes that could lead to new treatments for other symptoms as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Keeping the Bleeding at Bay\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the most disturbing features of Ebola is the bleeding it causes out of various parts of the body including the eyes and the nose. But again, not everyone with Ebola suffers from this “hemorrhagic syndrome.” This is also true of the mice in these studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23701\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/BloodVessels.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23701\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/BloodVessels.jpg\" alt=\"Ebola-resistant mice heal broken blood vessels better than Ebola-sensitive mice. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"250\" height=\"235\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ebola-resistant mice heal broken blood vessels better than Ebola-sensitive mice. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capillary#mediaviewer/File:Capillary_system_CERT.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When the researchers in this study compared the effect Ebola was having on the genes of the resistant and susceptible mice, two genes, \u003cem>Tie1\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Tek\u003c/em>, stood out as being interesting because both were turned on to higher levels in the resistant mice. Since both genes are involved in repairing broken arteries, veins and capillaries, their increased expression might help explain why there was so much less bleeding in the resistant mice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Basically these mice had a better system for fixing leaky blood vessels which helped staunch the bleeding. Turning to the DNA, the researchers couldn’t find any obvious reason the tie1 gene was turned up in resistant mice. But it was a different story for \u003cem>Tek\u003c/em>. Most of the resistant lines shared a common version of \u003cem>Tek\u003c/em> that might explain its increased expression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever the reason, these and experiments like these might be able to point scientists towards new treatments for Ebola. Perhaps goosing these or related genes in infected people might hold off the bleeding long enough for their bodies to mount a successful attack against the virus. Or maybe it was a mouse-specific effect and these two genes will not turn out to be helpful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, this work gives scientists new pathways to study that may eventually lead to better treatments for Ebola. This research may not help with this outbreak, but it could have a real impact on the next big one.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Scientists have identified Ebola-resistant and Ebola-sensitive mouse strains. Not only will the sensitive mice be useful as a relatively quick way to test new Ebola treatments, but by comparing its genetics to those of the resistant strains, scientists may find new ways to treat Ebola.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23695\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Ebola.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23695\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/Ebola.jpg\" alt=\"A new mouse model for Ebola may help to speed up the discovery of new treatments. (Flickr)\" width=\"800\" height=\"458\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A new mouse model for Ebola may help to speed up the discovery of new treatments. Image is of Ebola (red) budding from cells (blue) (\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/niaid/14739204679/\">Photo Credit: NIAID / Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As anyone who watches movies like \u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/\">Contagion \u003c/a>knows, there are usually a few people who happen to have the right genetics to resist certain virus-causing diseases. Turns out that stories like these are based on fact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, some people reacted less strongly to or were even immune to diseases like the Spanish flu or HIV. And the same may be true for Ebola as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ebola has been ravaging Western Africa for most of 2014 with the numbers of people dying going up day by day. But not everyone who is infected dies. In fact, many people have much less severe symptoms suggesting that perhaps their personal genetics might make them less susceptible to the disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Working in a high tech, Ebola-safe lab in Montana, a group of scientists have\u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25359852\"> found that some mice deal better with an Ebola infection than do others\u003c/a>. These researchers looked at 47 genetically distinct lines of mice and found a range of responses from shrugging off the infection to dying horribly. The only differences between these lines were their genetics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23697\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/LabMouseHalf.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23697\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/LabMouseHalf.jpg\" alt=\"Thanks to mice like this one, we may get Ebola treatments more quickly. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Thanks to mice like this one, we may get Ebola treatments more quickly. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lab_mouse_mg_3135.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This is the first time scientists have been able to recapitulate an Ebola infection in mice. At the very least, the susceptible mice from this study may one day serve as a model system for studying new Ebola treatments. And if human and mouse genetics are similar enough, the resistant ones just might lead us to new treatments as has happened with HIV and AIDS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early in the AIDS epidemic, scientists noted that certain people (mostly sex workers in places like Nairobi) appeared to be immune to HIV. A close look at the immune people’s genomes showed they shared a certain version of the \u003cem>CCR5\u003c/em> gene, \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask336\">CCR5 delta 32\u003c/a>. Not only did this teach scientists a lot about how our immune systems work, but it has also led to some \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/09/09/molecular-scissors-may-help-potentially-cure-aids-in-the-future/\">promising new treatments\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By identifying the \u003cem>CCR5\u003c/em> gene, scientists had found a new way to attack HIV and treat AIDS. If the mouse work translates to human resistance (definitely a big IF), then two genes, \u003cem>Tie1\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Tek\u003c/em>, could show real promise as new avenues for treating the bleeding associated with Ebola. And a deeper look at the genes of the resistant mice may find other genes that could lead to new treatments for other symptoms as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Keeping the Bleeding at Bay\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the most disturbing features of Ebola is the bleeding it causes out of various parts of the body including the eyes and the nose. But again, not everyone with Ebola suffers from this “hemorrhagic syndrome.” This is also true of the mice in these studies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23701\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/BloodVessels.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23701\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/BloodVessels.jpg\" alt=\"Ebola-resistant mice heal broken blood vessels better than Ebola-sensitive mice. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"250\" height=\"235\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ebola-resistant mice heal broken blood vessels better than Ebola-sensitive mice. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capillary#mediaviewer/File:Capillary_system_CERT.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When the researchers in this study compared the effect Ebola was having on the genes of the resistant and susceptible mice, two genes, \u003cem>Tie1\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Tek\u003c/em>, stood out as being interesting because both were turned on to higher levels in the resistant mice. Since both genes are involved in repairing broken arteries, veins and capillaries, their increased expression might help explain why there was so much less bleeding in the resistant mice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Basically these mice had a better system for fixing leaky blood vessels which helped staunch the bleeding. Turning to the DNA, the researchers couldn’t find any obvious reason the tie1 gene was turned up in resistant mice. But it was a different story for \u003cem>Tek\u003c/em>. Most of the resistant lines shared a common version of \u003cem>Tek\u003c/em> that might explain its increased expression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever the reason, these and experiments like these might be able to point scientists towards new treatments for Ebola. Perhaps goosing these or related genes in infected people might hold off the bleeding long enough for their bodies to mount a successful attack against the virus. Or maybe it was a mouse-specific effect and these two genes will not turn out to be helpful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, this work gives scientists new pathways to study that may eventually lead to better treatments for Ebola. This research may not help with this outbreak, but it could have a real impact on the next big one.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Diving Into the Twilight Zone",
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"content": "\u003cp>Through centuries of exploration, humans have climbed the highest peaks and hacked through the densest jungles. From pole to pole, there isn’t a continent left unexplored, and very little land on earth that has not been set foot on by a human being. Yet only 10 percent of the world’s vast oceans have been truly explored. And among the least explored regions of our watery world are the mesophotic reefs, an area that scientists refer to as “the twilight zone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72795\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 380px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Twilight_diver_800.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72795 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Twilight_diver_800-380x253.jpg\" alt=\"Bart Shepherd, the Director of the Steinhart Aquarium, preps his rebreather gear before heading out on a five-hour dive into the twilight zone.\" width=\"380\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bart Shepherd, the Director of the Steinhart Aquarium, preps his rebreather gear before heading out on a five-hour dive into the twilight zone. Photo:Christopher Bauer\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At 150 to 500 feet deep, this region is too deep to safely reach using conventional scuba, but thought too shallow to justify the use of expensive submersibles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To understand what is really down there, you need to actually go there -- you need to witness it and collect,”said Bart Shepherd, the director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.calacademy.org/exhibits/steinhart-aquarium\">Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco\u003c/a>. “Exploring the mesophotic zone with a \u003ca href=\"http://www.rov.org/\">Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV)\u003c/a> would be like exploring the rainforest with a remote control helicopter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with recent advances in diving methods and technology, such as closed-circuit rebreathers, mixed gases and propelled scooters, trained divers can now venture into these deeper reefs. Recently a team from the California Academy of Sciences made up of Shepherd, diving safety officer Elliott Jessup, and ichthyologist Luiz Rocha, began to explore this mysterious place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The biggest challenge with that depth is just getting there and getting back,” said Shepherd. “It’s not unusual for us to have a dive last five hours long. But that only gives us 45 minutes below 160 feet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72797\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/twilight-diver.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72797 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/twilight-diver-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Using a specially designed fish-decompression chamber, Steinhart Aquarium biologist Richard Ross brings live specimens from the twilight zone up to the surface.\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Using a specially designed fish-decompression chamber, Steinhart Aquarium biologist Richard Ross brings live specimens from the twilight zone up to the surface. Courtesy California Academy of Sciences.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to Shepherd, the divers must slowly ascend from the twilight zone, systematically stopping at depth intervals, to avoid contracting the bends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to penetrate down to the depths of the twilight zone and have enough time to work and collect, we need a lot of decompression time,” he said. “But even during that decompression time, we are exploring.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each time they dive, the researchers are seeing and discovering places and things never before seen by human eyes. It’s been estimated that these scientists are discovering nearly a dozen new species per hour in the twilight zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May 2014, the twilight zone dive team was part of a large, month-long \u003ca href=\"http://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/the-2014-philippine-biodiversity-expedition\">expedition to the Philippines\u003c/a>. Researchers from all over the world joined Academy scientists to study the Verde Island Passage. This relatively small area of the ocean south of Manila has been referred to as the “center of the center or marine biodiversity.” In fact, it is thought that more unique species live there than on the entire Great Barrier Reef. The scientists, along with fishery managers in the Philippines, want to better understand why this region is so unique and resilient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72798\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/twilight-creature.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72798 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/twilight-creature-450x253.jpg\" alt='The Verde Island Passage in the Philippines is considered the \"Center of the Center\" of marine biodiversity.' width=\"450\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Verde Island Passage in the Philippines is considered the \"Center of the Center\" of marine biodiversity. Courtesy California Academy of Sciences.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Why is it such a biodiverse place?” said Shepherd. “It certainly has to do with the location in the Pacific. It’s in the center of what we call the \u003ca href=\"http://www.worldwildlife.org/places/coral-triangle\">Coral Triangle\u003c/a>. And it probably has to do with the proximity to the deeper water there. There’s a lot of nutrients that come up out of that deep water and sort of feed that marine community. There’s just an incredible amount of diversity. And it’s certainly very interesting to think about why there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists from the California Academy of Sciences have been studying the Philippine marine environment and documenting their findings for 20 years. They have found huge numbers of reef fishes, corals and other marine species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just seems like that spot has more types of animals living in these really, really rich and dynamic communities than anywhere else on the planet,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Add that the deeper regions have never been explored there, and the possibilities for new discovery jump to mind-boggling levels. Or as one expedition diver said, “Science is adventure. Science is discovery. There is a lot more science to do here!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Additional Links\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTIDkj9Tn58\">Watch the full episode of QUEST.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Through centuries of exploration, humans have climbed the highest peaks and hacked through the densest jungles. From pole to pole, there isn’t a continent left unexplored, and very little land on earth that has not been set foot on by a human being. Yet only 10 percent of the world’s vast oceans have been truly explored. And among the least explored regions of our watery world are the mesophotic reefs, an area that scientists refer to as “the twilight zone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72795\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 380px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Twilight_diver_800.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72795 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Twilight_diver_800-380x253.jpg\" alt=\"Bart Shepherd, the Director of the Steinhart Aquarium, preps his rebreather gear before heading out on a five-hour dive into the twilight zone.\" width=\"380\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bart Shepherd, the Director of the Steinhart Aquarium, preps his rebreather gear before heading out on a five-hour dive into the twilight zone. Photo:Christopher Bauer\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At 150 to 500 feet deep, this region is too deep to safely reach using conventional scuba, but thought too shallow to justify the use of expensive submersibles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To understand what is really down there, you need to actually go there -- you need to witness it and collect,”said Bart Shepherd, the director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.calacademy.org/exhibits/steinhart-aquarium\">Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco\u003c/a>. “Exploring the mesophotic zone with a \u003ca href=\"http://www.rov.org/\">Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV)\u003c/a> would be like exploring the rainforest with a remote control helicopter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with recent advances in diving methods and technology, such as closed-circuit rebreathers, mixed gases and propelled scooters, trained divers can now venture into these deeper reefs. Recently a team from the California Academy of Sciences made up of Shepherd, diving safety officer Elliott Jessup, and ichthyologist Luiz Rocha, began to explore this mysterious place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The biggest challenge with that depth is just getting there and getting back,” said Shepherd. “It’s not unusual for us to have a dive last five hours long. But that only gives us 45 minutes below 160 feet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72797\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/twilight-diver.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72797 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/twilight-diver-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Using a specially designed fish-decompression chamber, Steinhart Aquarium biologist Richard Ross brings live specimens from the twilight zone up to the surface.\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Using a specially designed fish-decompression chamber, Steinhart Aquarium biologist Richard Ross brings live specimens from the twilight zone up to the surface. Courtesy California Academy of Sciences.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to Shepherd, the divers must slowly ascend from the twilight zone, systematically stopping at depth intervals, to avoid contracting the bends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to penetrate down to the depths of the twilight zone and have enough time to work and collect, we need a lot of decompression time,” he said. “But even during that decompression time, we are exploring.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each time they dive, the researchers are seeing and discovering places and things never before seen by human eyes. It’s been estimated that these scientists are discovering nearly a dozen new species per hour in the twilight zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May 2014, the twilight zone dive team was part of a large, month-long \u003ca href=\"http://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/the-2014-philippine-biodiversity-expedition\">expedition to the Philippines\u003c/a>. Researchers from all over the world joined Academy scientists to study the Verde Island Passage. This relatively small area of the ocean south of Manila has been referred to as the “center of the center or marine biodiversity.” In fact, it is thought that more unique species live there than on the entire Great Barrier Reef. The scientists, along with fishery managers in the Philippines, want to better understand why this region is so unique and resilient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72798\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 450px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/twilight-creature.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72798 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/twilight-creature-450x253.jpg\" alt='The Verde Island Passage in the Philippines is considered the \"Center of the Center\" of marine biodiversity.' width=\"450\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Verde Island Passage in the Philippines is considered the \"Center of the Center\" of marine biodiversity. Courtesy California Academy of Sciences.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Why is it such a biodiverse place?” said Shepherd. “It certainly has to do with the location in the Pacific. It’s in the center of what we call the \u003ca href=\"http://www.worldwildlife.org/places/coral-triangle\">Coral Triangle\u003c/a>. And it probably has to do with the proximity to the deeper water there. There’s a lot of nutrients that come up out of that deep water and sort of feed that marine community. There’s just an incredible amount of diversity. And it’s certainly very interesting to think about why there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists from the California Academy of Sciences have been studying the Philippine marine environment and documenting their findings for 20 years. They have found huge numbers of reef fishes, corals and other marine species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just seems like that spot has more types of animals living in these really, really rich and dynamic communities than anywhere else on the planet,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Add that the deeper regions have never been explored there, and the possibilities for new discovery jump to mind-boggling levels. Or as one expedition diver said, “Science is adventure. Science is discovery. There is a lot more science to do here!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Additional Links\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTIDkj9Tn58\">Watch the full episode of QUEST.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Parched: California Wildlife Suffers in Drought",
"headTitle": "Parched: California Wildlife Suffers in Drought | KQED",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"audio-wrap\">\n\u003ch2>Listen:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2014/11/20141110science.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Daniel Potter\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23543\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2240px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/1-Giant-Garter-Snake.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23543\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/1-Giant-Garter-Snake.jpg\" alt=\"The giant garter snake is listed as a threatened species at the state and federal levels. It depends on water both to find meals and avoid becoming one. (Eric C. Hansen/CA Department of Fish and Wildlife)\" width=\"2240\" height=\"1680\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The giant garter snake is listed as a threatened species at the state and federal levels. It depends on water both to find meals and avoid becoming one. (Eric C. Hansen/CA Department of Fish and Wildlife)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As Californians look to the sky, fingers crossed for a wet winter, three brutally dry years are harming millions of animals that depend on rivers, streams and wetlands for survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They range from salmon and snakes, to birds that migrate from as far away as the Arctic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For untold millions of migrating ducks and geese, California wetlands serve as a crucial rest stop along a kind of freeway known as the \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/the-great-migration/\">Pacific Flyway\u003c/a>. Dave Shuford, senior biologist for \u003ca href=\"http://www.pointblue.org/\">Point Blue Conservation Science\u003c/a>, says irrigated farmlands are also crucial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve lost 90 percent of all the wetlands in California,” Shuford says, “and these birds used to depend on that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In places like the Sacramento Valley, rice farmers would normally \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/audio/during-drought-pop-up-wetlands-give-birds-a-break/\">flood their fields\u003c/a> after the harvest to break down leftover stalks. But this year, both farmers and birds have been forced to deal with less.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘We expect we’ll see fewer salmon out in the ocean in a few years.’\u003ccite>— John McManus, Golden Gate Salmon Association\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“They’re going to be concentrated in much smaller spaces, more likely to have disease transmission,” Shuford says, “and there’s also just less food resources for them for them to overwinter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, an outbreak of \u003ca href=\"http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/1/the-battle-in-californiatosavewaterfowlfromendingupasdeadducks.html\">botulism\u003c/a> that officials say was exacerbated by drought has \u003ca href=\"http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2014/08/botulism_kills_thousands_of_du.html\">killed thousands of ducks\u003c/a>, mostly mallards, near the Oregon border. A meager winter could also leave many birds frail as they head into next year’s breeding season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in the rivers and streams that lace the flyway, the drought could leave a dent in populations of salmon, according to John McManus, who heads the \u003ca href=\"http://goldengatesalmonassociation.com/\">Golden Gate Salmon Association\u003c/a>. That’s a coalition of fishermen, restaurants, businesses and tribes that rely on salmon for sustenance. McManus says more than 10,000 jobs in the state depend on salmon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He paints a dire picture: salmon eggs need cold water, ideally 56 degrees or less. But the lower flows coming down the streams this year have been heated by the sun to near-fatal temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many of the eggs that are laid in river gravels this year are not expected to survive,” McManus says. “We expect we’ll see fewer salmon out in the ocean in a few years, when these fish would be adults.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23545\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 260px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/2-Dave-Shuford-e1415403844985.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-23545\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/2-Dave-Shuford-e1415403844985.jpg\" alt=\"Dave Shuford, senior biologist at Point Blue Conservation Science, surveys migratory bird habitats along the Sacramento River. He says he sees a lot fewer birds because the drought has shrunk their habitat and food supply and made them more vulnerable to disease. (Daniel Potter/KQED)\" width=\"260\" height=\"347\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dave Shuford, senior biologist at Point Blue Conservation Science, surveys migratory bird habitats along the Sacramento River. He says he sees a lot fewer birds because the drought has shrunk their habitat and food supply and made them more vulnerable to disease. (Daniel Potter/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Trickling streams have also been unusually clear and slow-moving this year. McManus says that’s a deadly combination for baby salmon trying to dodge predators en route to the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have high flows that are moving them rapidly,” he says. “We have very slow flows that are clear as a bell and make these salmon targets of predatory fish.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental scientist Eric Kleinfelter, of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/\">California Department of Fish and Wildlife\u003c/a>, saw a die-off of other fish in a small pond at the Cosumnes River Preserve, south of Sacramento. Hiking through tall, bristly grass near the edge of a marsh, Kleinfelter says as water levels dropped, the pond “obviously had issues with low dissolved oxygen,” essentially suffocating the carp there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was pretty dramatic. I remember looking over at that dead tree in the distance there,” he says, pointing. “There were at least 25 vultures sitting in that tree, waiting for their morning meal of carp.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The preserve is also home to the giant garter snake, which is listed as a threatened species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At five feet long, it’s no anaconda, but it’s plenty big as garter snakes go. And it needs water — to find fish and frogs to eat, to hide from predators like coyotes and bobcats, and to help thermoregulate its cold-blooded body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re definitely dependent on water, which is what made this project so urgent,” Kleinfelter says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late summer, to help protect the rare snake, state wildlife crews actually piped in water from a nearby well. Other animals also appreciated the $72,000 delivery service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were birds that were using the water there,” Kleinfelter says. “You could see animal tracks coming up to the ditch and drinking out of the ditch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://projects1.kqed.org/daily/droughtwildlifeslider.html\" width=\"670\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Before and after shots of the snake marsh at Cosumnes River Preserve, south of Sacramento, where water was pumped in from a nearby well to help protect the giant garter snake. (Eric Kleinfelter/CA Department of Fish and Wildlife)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stresses of the drought also extend to Point Reyes, where ranchers say \u003ca href=\"http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2014/08/botulism_kills_thousands_of_du.html\">tule elk\u003c/a> are \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Reintroduced-tule-elk-compete-with-cattle-on-5816969.php\">competing with their cattle\u003c/a> for the same rye grasses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in some places, you can actually hear the drought. \u003ca href=\"http://www.wildsanctuary.com/\">Bioacoustician Bernie Krause\u003c/a> records animals in nature. For years, he’s taken audio snapshots at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Up until recently, Krause’s recordings featured dense layers of birdsong: white-crowned sparrows, juncos, towhees and woodpeckers, all with the steady hiss of a nearby creek underneath. But in his \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/10/16/listen-as-a-california-forest-grows-quiet-over-time/\">recording from this year\u003c/a>, the creek is absent, an uneasy silence punctuated by a few lonely chirps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In 2014, not only did the stream drop off,” Krause says, “but the bird density and diversity is way, way down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a stark decline, but the number and variety of birds were already dwindling, so Krause is reluctant to pin that solely on the dry weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers are still gathering data in the effort to assess the impact of the drought on wildlife — so far.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Birds, salmon and snakes depend on marshes and rivers for survival and migration, and to propagate the species. But many wildlife species are unable to find the water they need as the drought shrinks rivers and dries up wetlands.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Daniel Potter\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23543\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2240px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/1-Giant-Garter-Snake.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23543\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/1-Giant-Garter-Snake.jpg\" alt=\"The giant garter snake is listed as a threatened species at the state and federal levels. It depends on water both to find meals and avoid becoming one. (Eric C. Hansen/CA Department of Fish and Wildlife)\" width=\"2240\" height=\"1680\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The giant garter snake is listed as a threatened species at the state and federal levels. It depends on water both to find meals and avoid becoming one. (Eric C. Hansen/CA Department of Fish and Wildlife)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As Californians look to the sky, fingers crossed for a wet winter, three brutally dry years are harming millions of animals that depend on rivers, streams and wetlands for survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They range from salmon and snakes, to birds that migrate from as far away as the Arctic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For untold millions of migrating ducks and geese, California wetlands serve as a crucial rest stop along a kind of freeway known as the \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/the-great-migration/\">Pacific Flyway\u003c/a>. Dave Shuford, senior biologist for \u003ca href=\"http://www.pointblue.org/\">Point Blue Conservation Science\u003c/a>, says irrigated farmlands are also crucial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve lost 90 percent of all the wetlands in California,” Shuford says, “and these birds used to depend on that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In places like the Sacramento Valley, rice farmers would normally \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/audio/during-drought-pop-up-wetlands-give-birds-a-break/\">flood their fields\u003c/a> after the harvest to break down leftover stalks. But this year, both farmers and birds have been forced to deal with less.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘We expect we’ll see fewer salmon out in the ocean in a few years.’\u003ccite>— John McManus, Golden Gate Salmon Association\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“They’re going to be concentrated in much smaller spaces, more likely to have disease transmission,” Shuford says, “and there’s also just less food resources for them for them to overwinter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, an outbreak of \u003ca href=\"http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/1/the-battle-in-californiatosavewaterfowlfromendingupasdeadducks.html\">botulism\u003c/a> that officials say was exacerbated by drought has \u003ca href=\"http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2014/08/botulism_kills_thousands_of_du.html\">killed thousands of ducks\u003c/a>, mostly mallards, near the Oregon border. A meager winter could also leave many birds frail as they head into next year’s breeding season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in the rivers and streams that lace the flyway, the drought could leave a dent in populations of salmon, according to John McManus, who heads the \u003ca href=\"http://goldengatesalmonassociation.com/\">Golden Gate Salmon Association\u003c/a>. That’s a coalition of fishermen, restaurants, businesses and tribes that rely on salmon for sustenance. McManus says more than 10,000 jobs in the state depend on salmon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He paints a dire picture: salmon eggs need cold water, ideally 56 degrees or less. But the lower flows coming down the streams this year have been heated by the sun to near-fatal temperatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many of the eggs that are laid in river gravels this year are not expected to survive,” McManus says. “We expect we’ll see fewer salmon out in the ocean in a few years, when these fish would be adults.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23545\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 260px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/2-Dave-Shuford-e1415403844985.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-23545\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/11/2-Dave-Shuford-e1415403844985.jpg\" alt=\"Dave Shuford, senior biologist at Point Blue Conservation Science, surveys migratory bird habitats along the Sacramento River. He says he sees a lot fewer birds because the drought has shrunk their habitat and food supply and made them more vulnerable to disease. (Daniel Potter/KQED)\" width=\"260\" height=\"347\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dave Shuford, senior biologist at Point Blue Conservation Science, surveys migratory bird habitats along the Sacramento River. He says he sees a lot fewer birds because the drought has shrunk their habitat and food supply and made them more vulnerable to disease. (Daniel Potter/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Trickling streams have also been unusually clear and slow-moving this year. McManus says that’s a deadly combination for baby salmon trying to dodge predators en route to the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have high flows that are moving them rapidly,” he says. “We have very slow flows that are clear as a bell and make these salmon targets of predatory fish.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental scientist Eric Kleinfelter, of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/\">California Department of Fish and Wildlife\u003c/a>, saw a die-off of other fish in a small pond at the Cosumnes River Preserve, south of Sacramento. Hiking through tall, bristly grass near the edge of a marsh, Kleinfelter says as water levels dropped, the pond “obviously had issues with low dissolved oxygen,” essentially suffocating the carp there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was pretty dramatic. I remember looking over at that dead tree in the distance there,” he says, pointing. “There were at least 25 vultures sitting in that tree, waiting for their morning meal of carp.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The preserve is also home to the giant garter snake, which is listed as a threatened species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At five feet long, it’s no anaconda, but it’s plenty big as garter snakes go. And it needs water — to find fish and frogs to eat, to hide from predators like coyotes and bobcats, and to help thermoregulate its cold-blooded body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re definitely dependent on water, which is what made this project so urgent,” Kleinfelter says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late summer, to help protect the rare snake, state wildlife crews actually piped in water from a nearby well. Other animals also appreciated the $72,000 delivery service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were birds that were using the water there,” Kleinfelter says. “You could see animal tracks coming up to the ditch and drinking out of the ditch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://projects1.kqed.org/daily/droughtwildlifeslider.html\" width=\"670\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Before and after shots of the snake marsh at Cosumnes River Preserve, south of Sacramento, where water was pumped in from a nearby well to help protect the giant garter snake. (Eric Kleinfelter/CA Department of Fish and Wildlife)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stresses of the drought also extend to Point Reyes, where ranchers say \u003ca href=\"http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2014/08/botulism_kills_thousands_of_du.html\">tule elk\u003c/a> are \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Reintroduced-tule-elk-compete-with-cattle-on-5816969.php\">competing with their cattle\u003c/a> for the same rye grasses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in some places, you can actually hear the drought. \u003ca href=\"http://www.wildsanctuary.com/\">Bioacoustician Bernie Krause\u003c/a> records animals in nature. For years, he’s taken audio snapshots at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Up until recently, Krause’s recordings featured dense layers of birdsong: white-crowned sparrows, juncos, towhees and woodpeckers, all with the steady hiss of a nearby creek underneath. But in his \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/10/16/listen-as-a-california-forest-grows-quiet-over-time/\">recording from this year\u003c/a>, the creek is absent, an uneasy silence punctuated by a few lonely chirps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In 2014, not only did the stream drop off,” Krause says, “but the bird density and diversity is way, way down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a stark decline, but the number and variety of birds were already dwindling, so Krause is reluctant to pin that solely on the dry weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers are still gathering data in the effort to assess the impact of the drought on wildlife — so far.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Oldest Sequenced Genome From 45,000-Year-Old DNA",
"headTitle": "Oldest Sequenced Genome From 45,000-Year-Old DNA | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23236\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/OldHumanFemur.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23236\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/OldHumanFemur.jpg\" alt=\"In a spectacular bit of science, a group of scientists has sequenced the DNA from the femur of a man who died 45,000 years ago. The femur is over 20 times older than this 2000 year old one. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"800\" height=\"460\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In a spectacular bit of science, a group of scientists has sequenced the DNA from the femur of a man who died 45,000 years ago. The femur they studied is over 20 times older than this 2000 year old one. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human_left_femur,_Tell_Fara,_Palestine,_100_BCE-200_CE_Wellcome_L0057387.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a technological tour de force, a group of scientists have \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v514/n7523/full/nature13810.html\">managed to read most of the DNA from the thigh bone of a 45,000-year-old man\u003c/a>. This is by far the most ancient human genome sequenced to date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We can see Neanderthal DNA much more clearly in this ancient man’s DNA than we can in modern human DNA because he lived at a time much closer to when humans and Neanderthals did a lot of meaningful mating. It is getting very hard to refute the idea that people outside of Africa owe a bit of who they are to Neanderthals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These researchers could also use this ancient DNA to more precisely estimate that most of the Neanderthal DNA we see in modern people’s DNA entered into the human gene pool around 50,000-60,000 years ago. This is a much narrower window then the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23055938?dopt=Abstract&holding=npg\">previous estimate of 37,000-86,000 years ago\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, the researchers used this DNA to get a better estimate of how much human DNA has changed from generation to generation over the years. In agreement with some recent data, they found that this mutation rate was slower than previously thought. If this lower number is closer to the real mutation rate over the last few million years, then chimpanzees and humans probably shared a common ancestor 10-11 million years ago instead of the 6-7 million years ago scientists previously thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Longer Stretches, More Closely Related\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23241\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Extracting-neanderthal-DNA.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23241\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Extracting-neanderthal-DNA.jpg\" alt=\"This scientist is pulling DNA out of a Neanderthal bone. They needed to use similarly sterile techniques for the 45,000 year old human femur. (Wikimedia Commons) \" width=\"300\" height=\"400\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This scientist is pulling DNA out of a Neanderthal bone. They needed to use similarly sterile techniques for the 45,000 year old human femur. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neanderthal_DNA_extraction.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over the last few years, better technology has allowed scientists to sequence many ancient DNAs including that of our close relatives, the Neanderthals. By comparing this Neanderthal DNA to that of many modern humans, scientists have been able to see bits of Neanderthal DNA lurking in many people’s DNA but not in any of the DNA of Africans. From this scientists concluded that humans and Neanderthals probably had many children together sometime after humans left Africa to colonize the rest of the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A big problem in figuring out when this happened is that there are only the tiniest wisps of Neanderthal DNA in modern human DNA. It has simply been too long since Neanderthals and humans had any significant amounts of interbreeding to get a good estimate from modern DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is why the 45,000 year old DNA lets scientists make a more precise estimate of when these pairings happened. The ancient man was alive at a time that was much closer to when humans and Neanderthals successfully mated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now this doesn’t mean he had more Neanderthal DNA in his DNA than modern humans do because he didn’t. Around 2.3% of his DNA was Neanderthal compared to the 1.7-2.1% in modern people’s DNA. This is well within the margin of error.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, instead of more Neanderthal DNA, he had longer stretches of it. And this is just what we would have expected given how DNA is passed on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mixing and Matching DNA\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DNA is stored in cells in long pieces called chromosomes. Most people (and Neanderthals) have two copies of each of their chromosomes, one from mom and one from dad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When someone has a baby, only one of each pair is passed down to the child. But the child almost never gets an exact copy of either one that the parent had.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before chromosomes are packaged into a sperm or egg, each chromosome in a pair swaps DNA with its partner in a process called recombination. The resulting mixed chromosome is then passed down to a child. Here is what this might look like for one chromosome:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/OnePairChromosomesSmall.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23232\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/OnePairChromosomesSmall.jpg\" alt=\"OnePairChromosomesSmall\" width=\"39\" height=\"150\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As you can see the new chromosome has a bit from the blue chromosome and a bit from the red one. Keep in mind that the new chromosome didn’t have to turn out exactly like this. It could have been that there was no mixing or that different parts got mixed. The key point here is that parents and children will share large chunks of their DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course we get a chromosome from each parent so here is what someone’s pair of chromosomes might look like from his or her parents:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/TwoPairChromosomesSmall.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23233\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/TwoPairChromosomesSmall.jpg\" alt=\"TwoPairChromosomesSmall\" width=\"72\" height=\"150\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This person got a mix of red and blue from one parent and a mix of green and yellow from the second. Here is an example of a chromosome he or she might pass down:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/ThreeGenerationsSmall.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23234\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/ThreeGenerationsSmall.jpg\" alt=\"ThreeGenerationsSmall\" width=\"74\" height=\"225\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now you can see that the shared bits of DNA are a bit smaller. There is less red and a whole lot less blue than there was in the original.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As we get further and further away in time from the original blue and red chromosomes, the bits get smaller and smaller. We can use the size of the shared DNA to make reasonable guesses about how far back two people are related.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23246\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 350px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/TwoFirstCousins.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23246\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/TwoFirstCousins.jpg\" alt=\"This man shares large stretches of DNA with his first cousins.\" width=\"350\" height=\"286\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This man shares large stretches of DNA with his first cousins (one shown in green the other in blue).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If scientists had DNA from the original person with the red and blue chromosomes, they could tell that this person was more closely related to his or her child and more distantly related to the grandchild. This is a grossly oversimplified version of how genetic testing companies like 23andMe or AncestryDNA \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/dna-testing-first-cousins\">find your long lost relatives\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all these years, the pieces of Neanderthal DNA in modern humans are tiny. So small, in fact, that it is hard to get a precise estimate as to when humans and Neanderthals first had sex in any meaningful way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 45,000 year old DNA is a different matter though. The Neanderthal ancestors were much closer to his time so that scientists could tell that Neanderthals and his ancestors had bred around 7,000-13,000 years before this man was alive. That is where they got the 50,000-60,000 year range.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors were careful to point out that this does not mean that there were no more Neanderthal-human pairings after this. There may still have been the occasional dalliance but these would not have been the major contributors to the Neanderthal DNA we see in people’s DNA today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding out when humans and Neanderthals bred is not the only finding reported in this study. The researchers also provided additional evidence that humans and chimpanzees probably shared a common ancestor 10-11 million years ago instead of the 6-7 million years scientists previously thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Recalculating Human-Chimp Split\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each time we pass on our DNA to the next generation, our cells make a few mistakes (click \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/original_news/news141\">here \u003c/a>for why that is). These new mutations are thought to happen at a fairly steady rate. Scientists are able to compare the DNA of different species and to estimate when they shared a common ancestor based on this mutation rate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23243\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Chimp.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23243\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Chimp.jpg\" alt=\"We may have shared a common ancestor 10 million instead of 6 million years ago. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"300\" height=\"306\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">We may have shared a common ancestor 10 million instead of 6 million years ago. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lightmatter_chimp.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Based on what they thought the mutation rate was, scientists hypothesized that humans and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor around 6 or 7 million years ago. Turns out that the actual number may be closer to 10 or 11 million years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We get to this new estimate because with the advent of cheap and easy DNA sequencing, scientists can directly calculate the mutation rate in people. They have done this by comparing children’s DNA to their parent’s DNA and looking for differences. And in this study, the researchers calculated the mutation rate by comparing modern DNAs to that of the 45,000 year old man. The two results roughly agree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors point out that we need to keep in mind that this estimate relies on the mutation rate being constant over the last 10 or 11 million years. We do not yet have direct proof that this is the case. At the very least we can conclude that the mutation rate probably stayed fairly constant over the last 45,000 years or so.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "In a technological tour de force, a group of scientists have managed to read most of the DNA from the thigh bone of a 45,000 year-old-man. They were able to estimate that humans and Neanderthals bred in a major way 50,000-60,000 years ago and to confirm that the human mutation rate is a bit slower than scientists previously thought.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23236\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/OldHumanFemur.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23236\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/OldHumanFemur.jpg\" alt=\"In a spectacular bit of science, a group of scientists has sequenced the DNA from the femur of a man who died 45,000 years ago. The femur is over 20 times older than this 2000 year old one. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"800\" height=\"460\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In a spectacular bit of science, a group of scientists has sequenced the DNA from the femur of a man who died 45,000 years ago. The femur they studied is over 20 times older than this 2000 year old one. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human_left_femur,_Tell_Fara,_Palestine,_100_BCE-200_CE_Wellcome_L0057387.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a technological tour de force, a group of scientists have \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v514/n7523/full/nature13810.html\">managed to read most of the DNA from the thigh bone of a 45,000-year-old man\u003c/a>. This is by far the most ancient human genome sequenced to date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We can see Neanderthal DNA much more clearly in this ancient man’s DNA than we can in modern human DNA because he lived at a time much closer to when humans and Neanderthals did a lot of meaningful mating. It is getting very hard to refute the idea that people outside of Africa owe a bit of who they are to Neanderthals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These researchers could also use this ancient DNA to more precisely estimate that most of the Neanderthal DNA we see in modern people’s DNA entered into the human gene pool around 50,000-60,000 years ago. This is a much narrower window then the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23055938?dopt=Abstract&holding=npg\">previous estimate of 37,000-86,000 years ago\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, the researchers used this DNA to get a better estimate of how much human DNA has changed from generation to generation over the years. In agreement with some recent data, they found that this mutation rate was slower than previously thought. If this lower number is closer to the real mutation rate over the last few million years, then chimpanzees and humans probably shared a common ancestor 10-11 million years ago instead of the 6-7 million years ago scientists previously thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Longer Stretches, More Closely Related\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23241\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Extracting-neanderthal-DNA.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23241\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Extracting-neanderthal-DNA.jpg\" alt=\"This scientist is pulling DNA out of a Neanderthal bone. They needed to use similarly sterile techniques for the 45,000 year old human femur. (Wikimedia Commons) \" width=\"300\" height=\"400\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This scientist is pulling DNA out of a Neanderthal bone. They needed to use similarly sterile techniques for the 45,000 year old human femur. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neanderthal_DNA_extraction.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over the last few years, better technology has allowed scientists to sequence many ancient DNAs including that of our close relatives, the Neanderthals. By comparing this Neanderthal DNA to that of many modern humans, scientists have been able to see bits of Neanderthal DNA lurking in many people’s DNA but not in any of the DNA of Africans. From this scientists concluded that humans and Neanderthals probably had many children together sometime after humans left Africa to colonize the rest of the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A big problem in figuring out when this happened is that there are only the tiniest wisps of Neanderthal DNA in modern human DNA. It has simply been too long since Neanderthals and humans had any significant amounts of interbreeding to get a good estimate from modern DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is why the 45,000 year old DNA lets scientists make a more precise estimate of when these pairings happened. The ancient man was alive at a time that was much closer to when humans and Neanderthals successfully mated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now this doesn’t mean he had more Neanderthal DNA in his DNA than modern humans do because he didn’t. Around 2.3% of his DNA was Neanderthal compared to the 1.7-2.1% in modern people’s DNA. This is well within the margin of error.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, instead of more Neanderthal DNA, he had longer stretches of it. And this is just what we would have expected given how DNA is passed on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mixing and Matching DNA\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DNA is stored in cells in long pieces called chromosomes. Most people (and Neanderthals) have two copies of each of their chromosomes, one from mom and one from dad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When someone has a baby, only one of each pair is passed down to the child. But the child almost never gets an exact copy of either one that the parent had.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before chromosomes are packaged into a sperm or egg, each chromosome in a pair swaps DNA with its partner in a process called recombination. The resulting mixed chromosome is then passed down to a child. Here is what this might look like for one chromosome:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/OnePairChromosomesSmall.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23232\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/OnePairChromosomesSmall.jpg\" alt=\"OnePairChromosomesSmall\" width=\"39\" height=\"150\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As you can see the new chromosome has a bit from the blue chromosome and a bit from the red one. Keep in mind that the new chromosome didn’t have to turn out exactly like this. It could have been that there was no mixing or that different parts got mixed. The key point here is that parents and children will share large chunks of their DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course we get a chromosome from each parent so here is what someone’s pair of chromosomes might look like from his or her parents:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/TwoPairChromosomesSmall.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23233\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/TwoPairChromosomesSmall.jpg\" alt=\"TwoPairChromosomesSmall\" width=\"72\" height=\"150\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This person got a mix of red and blue from one parent and a mix of green and yellow from the second. Here is an example of a chromosome he or she might pass down:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/ThreeGenerationsSmall.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23234\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/ThreeGenerationsSmall.jpg\" alt=\"ThreeGenerationsSmall\" width=\"74\" height=\"225\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now you can see that the shared bits of DNA are a bit smaller. There is less red and a whole lot less blue than there was in the original.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As we get further and further away in time from the original blue and red chromosomes, the bits get smaller and smaller. We can use the size of the shared DNA to make reasonable guesses about how far back two people are related.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23246\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 350px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/TwoFirstCousins.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23246\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/TwoFirstCousins.jpg\" alt=\"This man shares large stretches of DNA with his first cousins.\" width=\"350\" height=\"286\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This man shares large stretches of DNA with his first cousins (one shown in green the other in blue).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If scientists had DNA from the original person with the red and blue chromosomes, they could tell that this person was more closely related to his or her child and more distantly related to the grandchild. This is a grossly oversimplified version of how genetic testing companies like 23andMe or AncestryDNA \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/dna-testing-first-cousins\">find your long lost relatives\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all these years, the pieces of Neanderthal DNA in modern humans are tiny. So small, in fact, that it is hard to get a precise estimate as to when humans and Neanderthals first had sex in any meaningful way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 45,000 year old DNA is a different matter though. The Neanderthal ancestors were much closer to his time so that scientists could tell that Neanderthals and his ancestors had bred around 7,000-13,000 years before this man was alive. That is where they got the 50,000-60,000 year range.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors were careful to point out that this does not mean that there were no more Neanderthal-human pairings after this. There may still have been the occasional dalliance but these would not have been the major contributors to the Neanderthal DNA we see in people’s DNA today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding out when humans and Neanderthals bred is not the only finding reported in this study. The researchers also provided additional evidence that humans and chimpanzees probably shared a common ancestor 10-11 million years ago instead of the 6-7 million years scientists previously thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Recalculating Human-Chimp Split\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each time we pass on our DNA to the next generation, our cells make a few mistakes (click \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/original_news/news141\">here \u003c/a>for why that is). These new mutations are thought to happen at a fairly steady rate. Scientists are able to compare the DNA of different species and to estimate when they shared a common ancestor based on this mutation rate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23243\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Chimp.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23243\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Chimp.jpg\" alt=\"We may have shared a common ancestor 10 million instead of 6 million years ago. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"300\" height=\"306\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">We may have shared a common ancestor 10 million instead of 6 million years ago. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lightmatter_chimp.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Based on what they thought the mutation rate was, scientists hypothesized that humans and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor around 6 or 7 million years ago. Turns out that the actual number may be closer to 10 or 11 million years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We get to this new estimate because with the advent of cheap and easy DNA sequencing, scientists can directly calculate the mutation rate in people. They have done this by comparing children’s DNA to their parent’s DNA and looking for differences. And in this study, the researchers calculated the mutation rate by comparing modern DNAs to that of the 45,000 year old man. The two results roughly agree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors point out that we need to keep in mind that this estimate relies on the mutation rate being constant over the last 10 or 11 million years. We do not yet have direct proof that this is the case. At the very least we can conclude that the mutation rate probably stayed fairly constant over the last 45,000 years or so.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Why California’s Largest Estuary No Longer Works for Wildlife",
"headTitle": "Why California’s Largest Estuary No Longer Works for Wildlife | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23139\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Delta-aerial.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23139\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Delta-aerial.jpg\" alt=\"The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has been almost completely transformed over the past 150 years. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has been almost completely transformed over 150 years. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California’s historic drought has put the state’s water problems in the forefront this year and those problems aren’t likely to be solved when the clouds open up again. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the water system’s central hub — \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/series/ca-delta/\">the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Delta is the flashpoint for the state’s water politics. For decades, its ecosystem has been in ecological free fall, prompting fierce battles over how much water should be left in the environment, and how much pumped to farms and cities hundreds of miles away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a \u003ca href=\"http://ebooks.sfei.org/DeltaLandscapes/#page/1\">new report\u003c/a> from the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfei.org/\">San Francisco Estuary Institute\u003c/a> documents why the Delta’s ecosystem is failing for many of its endangered species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings could inform efforts to restore the estuary, which some argue would make the water supply more reliable for the entire state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s guidance for what would make a healthy ecosystem –- the missing elements,” says Robin Grossinger, who worked on the report at the San Francisco Estuary Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Historical Reconstruction\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using historical maps and records, Grossinger and colleagues \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/delta-map/\">pieced together a landscape\u003c/a> that’s been almost completely transformed over 150 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘It’s really shocking when you look at it at this level.’\u003ccite>— Robin Grossinger, San Francisco Estuary Institute\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The Delta was once a network of marshes and water, supporting birds, wildlife and one of the largest Chinook salmon runs on the West Coast. After the Gold Rush, settlers diked channels and waterways, creating islands of dry land protected by levees. About 97 percent of the marshland was lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Delta is also the hub of the state’s water supply, because it’s where major rivers converge, carrying 50 percent of the state’s runoff. Early water engineers built a network of canals and pumps to tap into the supply and today, the water is delivered all the way to San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building on a \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/delta-map/\">2012 report\u003c/a> that detailed what the physical landscape once looked like, San Francisco Estuary Institute researchers mapped how the historical ecosystem once worked, including how water flowed and how species interacted with the landscape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really shocking when you look at it at this level,” Grossinger says. “Most of the functions we’ve looked at are tremendously diminished. Some to 99 percent –- that’s the extent of the transformation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Watery World\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The boundary between water and land was continually in flux in the historical Delta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23128\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/DeltaWater2.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23128\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/DeltaWater2.jpg\" alt=\"Source: San Francisco Estuary Institute.\" width=\"640\" height=\"536\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Courtesy of San Francisco Estuary Institute)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tides would arrive twice daily from San Francisco Bay, spreading through a network of tidal channels that looked much like capillaries. Other land would flood seasonally, as snowmelt caused the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers to overflow their banks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a massive expansion of habitat as the water moved across the landscape,” Grossinger says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seasonal flooding was key for Chinook salmon. Young salmon would find food and refuge in the floodplains, as they migrated out to the ocean. Millions of birds, migrating on the Pacific Flyway, would use the vast wetlands as they traveled through. Today, the connection between land and water has been largely severed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>High Quality Marsh Habitat\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With most of the Delta’s marshes gone, scientists have few places to look to as models for habitat restoration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23132\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/DeltaMarsh3.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23132\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/DeltaMarsh3.jpg\" alt=\"Source: San Francisco Estuary Institute\" width=\"640\" height=\"534\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Courtesy of San Francisco Estuary Institute)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s little you can study that looks or functions like it used to,” Grossinger says. “That’s the difference with San Francisco Bay. There were a few remnants of marsh leftover there to use as a reference.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The function part is the missing link,” says Carl Wilcox of California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, an agency involved in species restoration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report outlines three key ingredients for creating marshes that could support birds and wildlife; marshes must be large, broad rather than narrow and neighbor other marshes of different sizes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the little marshland that exists in the Delta today, only 11 percent meets those conditions. The two largest marshes in today’s Delta were created accidentally. Sherman Island was flooded when its levees failed in the early 1900s, and aquatic plants have grown in since. The Liberty Island marsh was created after a levee failed in 1998 and the land was abandoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ambitious Restoration Plans\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings of the report could inform a major restoration effort that’s proposed for the Delta, part of \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/money-environmental-concerns-could-sink-governors-delta-water-plan/\">Governor Brown’s plan to built two massive water tunnels\u003c/a>. The Brown administration says the project is crucial to maintaining a reliable water supply for two-thirds of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tunnels would divert freshwater from the Delta, potentially harming some endangered fish species like salmon and Delta smelt, depending on the water conditions. The state is counting on 30,000 acres of marsh restoration help endangered species and offset those harms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How and where to do the restoration is still a matter of debate, both for scientists skeptical of the extent of the wildlife benefits and Delta residents who farm or live in the area. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://sfei.maps.arcgis.com/apps/StorytellingSwipe/index.html?appid=f6e50119057f44188191ed478e9649b5\" width=\"640\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23139\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Delta-aerial.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23139\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Delta-aerial.jpg\" alt=\"The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has been almost completely transformed over the past 150 years. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has been almost completely transformed over 150 years. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California’s historic drought has put the state’s water problems in the forefront this year and those problems aren’t likely to be solved when the clouds open up again. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the water system’s central hub — \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/series/ca-delta/\">the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Delta is the flashpoint for the state’s water politics. For decades, its ecosystem has been in ecological free fall, prompting fierce battles over how much water should be left in the environment, and how much pumped to farms and cities hundreds of miles away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a \u003ca href=\"http://ebooks.sfei.org/DeltaLandscapes/#page/1\">new report\u003c/a> from the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfei.org/\">San Francisco Estuary Institute\u003c/a> documents why the Delta’s ecosystem is failing for many of its endangered species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings could inform efforts to restore the estuary, which some argue would make the water supply more reliable for the entire state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s guidance for what would make a healthy ecosystem –- the missing elements,” says Robin Grossinger, who worked on the report at the San Francisco Estuary Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Historical Reconstruction\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using historical maps and records, Grossinger and colleagues \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/delta-map/\">pieced together a landscape\u003c/a> that’s been almost completely transformed over 150 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘It’s really shocking when you look at it at this level.’\u003ccite>— Robin Grossinger, San Francisco Estuary Institute\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The Delta was once a network of marshes and water, supporting birds, wildlife and one of the largest Chinook salmon runs on the West Coast. After the Gold Rush, settlers diked channels and waterways, creating islands of dry land protected by levees. About 97 percent of the marshland was lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Delta is also the hub of the state’s water supply, because it’s where major rivers converge, carrying 50 percent of the state’s runoff. Early water engineers built a network of canals and pumps to tap into the supply and today, the water is delivered all the way to San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building on a \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/delta-map/\">2012 report\u003c/a> that detailed what the physical landscape once looked like, San Francisco Estuary Institute researchers mapped how the historical ecosystem once worked, including how water flowed and how species interacted with the landscape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really shocking when you look at it at this level,” Grossinger says. “Most of the functions we’ve looked at are tremendously diminished. Some to 99 percent –- that’s the extent of the transformation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Watery World\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The boundary between water and land was continually in flux in the historical Delta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23128\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/DeltaWater2.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23128\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/DeltaWater2.jpg\" alt=\"Source: San Francisco Estuary Institute.\" width=\"640\" height=\"536\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Courtesy of San Francisco Estuary Institute)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tides would arrive twice daily from San Francisco Bay, spreading through a network of tidal channels that looked much like capillaries. Other land would flood seasonally, as snowmelt caused the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers to overflow their banks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a massive expansion of habitat as the water moved across the landscape,” Grossinger says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seasonal flooding was key for Chinook salmon. Young salmon would find food and refuge in the floodplains, as they migrated out to the ocean. Millions of birds, migrating on the Pacific Flyway, would use the vast wetlands as they traveled through. Today, the connection between land and water has been largely severed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>High Quality Marsh Habitat\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With most of the Delta’s marshes gone, scientists have few places to look to as models for habitat restoration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_23132\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/DeltaMarsh3.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23132\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/DeltaMarsh3.jpg\" alt=\"Source: San Francisco Estuary Institute\" width=\"640\" height=\"534\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Courtesy of San Francisco Estuary Institute)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s little you can study that looks or functions like it used to,” Grossinger says. “That’s the difference with San Francisco Bay. There were a few remnants of marsh leftover there to use as a reference.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The function part is the missing link,” says Carl Wilcox of California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, an agency involved in species restoration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report outlines three key ingredients for creating marshes that could support birds and wildlife; marshes must be large, broad rather than narrow and neighbor other marshes of different sizes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the little marshland that exists in the Delta today, only 11 percent meets those conditions. The two largest marshes in today’s Delta were created accidentally. Sherman Island was flooded when its levees failed in the early 1900s, and aquatic plants have grown in since. The Liberty Island marsh was created after a levee failed in 1998 and the land was abandoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ambitious Restoration Plans\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings of the report could inform a major restoration effort that’s proposed for the Delta, part of \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/money-environmental-concerns-could-sink-governors-delta-water-plan/\">Governor Brown’s plan to built two massive water tunnels\u003c/a>. The Brown administration says the project is crucial to maintaining a reliable water supply for two-thirds of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tunnels would divert freshwater from the Delta, potentially harming some endangered fish species like salmon and Delta smelt, depending on the water conditions. The state is counting on 30,000 acres of marsh restoration help endangered species and offset those harms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How and where to do the restoration is still a matter of debate, both for scientists skeptical of the extent of the wildlife benefits and Delta residents who farm or live in the area. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://sfei.maps.arcgis.com/apps/StorytellingSwipe/index.html?appid=f6e50119057f44188191ed478e9649b5\" width=\"640\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "On GMO Labeling, Oregon and Colorado Learn from California Ballot Defeat",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update Nov. 6:\u003c/strong> In the Nov. 4 election, Oregon voters narrowly rejected Measure 92, which would have required the labeling of foods containing genetically engineered ingredients. The measure lost by a 51 to 49 percent vote. Coloradans also rejected a similar ballot initiative, Proposition 105, by a 66 to 34 percent vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post Oct. 28:\u003c/strong> Voters in Oregon will head to the polls Nov. 4 to decide whether to require foods made with genetically engineered ingredients to be labeled. In doing so, they’ll be voting on an initiative shaped in part by the experience of activists in California, who watched a similar measure fail two years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon’s Measure 92 would require manufacturers, distributors and grocery owners to label raw and packaged foods produced entirely or partially through genetic engineering. If it passes, the measure will go into effect in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Colorado also is voting on a labeling initiative Nov. 4. If it or the Oregon measure passes, the states will be following Vermont’s lead. In May, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin signed a new law making that state the first in the country to mandate labels for genetically engineered food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates in Oregon are hoping that their measure doesn’t face the same fate as a labeling measure in California. In November 2012, Californians narrowly voted down Proposition 37, by a 51 to 49 percent vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72423\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Tom-Llewellyn-chants-at-a-Prop-37-rally_800.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72423 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Tom-Llewellyn-chants-at-a-Prop-37-rally_800-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Tom Llewellyn, a volunteer with the Proposition 37 campaign, chanted at a rally in Santa Cruz on Nov. 4, 2012, two days before the election. Prop. 37 lost with 49 percent of the vote. Photo: Gabriela Quirós \" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tom Llewellyn, a volunteer with the Proposition 37 campaign in California, chanted at a rally in Santa Cruz on Nov. 4, 2012, two days before the election. Prop. 37 lost with 49 percent of the vote. Photo: Gabriela Quirós\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.noprop37.com/\">opposition to Prop. 37\u003c/a>, led by seed companies like Monsanto and food manufacturers such as Pepsico, spent $46 million to defeat \u003ca href=\"http://www.carighttoknow.org/\">the proposition\u003c/a>,which received $9 million from organic food companies and supplement manufacturers like Mercola. The disparity in funding is repeating itself again this year in Oregon, though this time around, the difference is smaller: as of Oct. 23, the \u003ca href=\"http://votenoon92.com/\">No on 92\u003c/a> campaign had raised $11 million and the \u003ca href=\"http://oregonrighttoknow.org/\">Yes on 92\u003c/a> campaign almost $6.5 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the difference in funding didn’t account entirely for the defeat of the California labeling campaign, its supporters say, and they’ve tried to apply their lessons from 2012 in Oregon today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The California ballot initiative allowed for citizen lawsuits that could be brought by anybody at any time, and there was a lot of concern that this would be a boon for trial lawyers,” said Elisa Odabashian, director of the West Coast office of \u003ca href=\"http://consumersunion.org/\">Consumers Union\u003c/a>, the policy arm of Consumer Reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72420\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Elisa_Odabashian_800.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72420 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Elisa_Odabashian_800-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Elisa Odabashian, of Consumer Reports, said that her organization’s ultimate goal is for the federal government to mandate the labeling of genetically engineered food. Photo: Arwen Curry. \" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elisa Odabashian, of Consumer Reports, said that her organization’s ultimate goal is for the federal government to mandate the labeling of genetically engineered food.\u003cbr> Photo: Arwen Curry.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Consumers Union has supported the idea of labeling genetically engineered foods since the 1990s, said Odabashian, who is based in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the California campaign, No on 37 television ads played up the possibility of lawsuits hobbling small business owners. So in Oregon, labeling advocates have limited the ability for citizens to bring lawsuits against grocery stores that might be selling unlabeled foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are no monetary damages allowed under Measure 92 in Oregon,” said Odabashian. “So it will not be a big money-maker for trial lawyers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters argue that labeling gives shoppers important information about their food, and that the United States should follow the lead of more than 60 countries, including France and Japan, that require some form of labeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opponents of labeling contend that consumers who want to avoid genetically engineered ingredients can choose organic foods, which are already labeled. Federal guidelines prohibit organic farmers from using genetically engineered seeds, or feeding their animals engineered feed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72424\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Tomato_paste_800.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72424 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Tomato_paste_800-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Genetically engineered tomatoes created in Davis, California, in the mid-1990s were made into an inexpensive tomato paste that sold well in England. The engineered tomatoes and the paste were both labeled, but were short-lived. Photo: Adrian Dubock \" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genetically engineered tomatoes created in Davis, California, in the mid-1990s were made into an inexpensive tomato paste that sold well in England. The engineered tomatoes and the paste were both labeled, but were short-lived.\u003cbr> Photo: Adrian Dubock\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Opponents also argue that labeling requirements would hike food prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Well of course the costs are going to go up,” said Dana Bieber, spokesperson for No on 92 during \u003ca href=\"http://www.katu.com/politics/Your-Voice-Your-Vote-Oregons-GMO-labeling-debate-270064221.html\">a televised debate\u003c/a> on Oregon’s KATU station in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The cost isn’t in the relabeling. That’s nominal,” she said. “The cost to the consumer comes from the fact that food companies will have to remake their food with higher-priced GE ingredients to avoid having to put this label on it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The possibility that labeling could increase food prices has been a point of contention in every vote on the issue. In California’s 2012 campaign, the No on 37 camp argued that a typical family’s food expenses would increase by up to $400 annually if the initiative passed. In Oregon, Consumers Union commissioned a report that found that food prices would increase by slightly over $2 per person a year. This estimate is based on the assumption that even if labeling were required, companies would continue to sell foods with genetically engineered ingredients, and consumers would continue to buy them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72422\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Genetically-engineered-rice_800.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72422 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Genetically-engineered-rice_800-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"This rice at the University of California, Davis has been genetically engineered to tolerate the droughts that are already becoming more common with climate change. Photo: Gabriela Quirós \" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This rice at the University of California, Davis has been genetically engineered to tolerate the droughts that are already becoming more common with climate change.\u003cbr> Photo: Gabriela Quirós\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Labeling advocates also argue that the advent of genetically engineered crops has led to \u003ca href=\"http://www.enveurope.com/content/24/1/24\">an increase in pesticide use\u003c/a>. One category of genetically engineered crops, created in the mid-1990s by the Missouri-based seed company Monsanto, allows farmers to spray the weed killer glyphosate -- known as Roundup -- without damaging their crops. This allowed growers to replace other more toxic herbicides with Roundup, which is cheaper and less toxic, said Los Banos alfalfa grower Philip Bowles. A \u003ca href=\"http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12804\">2010 report by the National Academies\u003c/a> found that insecticide use had declined since GE crops were introduced, and farmers who grew GE crops used fewer insecticides and herbicides that linger in soil and waterways. A second category of GE crops include a bacterium that makes crops like cotton resistant to pests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But weed resistance to glyphosate has led seed companies to develop new GE crops that can tolerate other weed killers. The USDA approved in September soybeans and corn engineered by the Indiana-based Dow AgroSciences \u003ca href=\"http://newsroom.dowagro.com/press-release/epa-registers-enlist-duo-herbicide-enlist-weed-control-system-now-approved\">to tolerate the weed killer 2,4-D\u003c/a>. A coalition of environmental groups \u003ca href=\"http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/3560/coalition-of-farmers-and-environmental-groups-to-challenge-epa-over-herbicide-approval\">is suing the EPA\u003c/a> over its approval in October of the use of 2,4-D for the spraying of GE corn and soybeans, arguing that the agency didn’t adequately study its health risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opponents of GE crops point out that \u003ca href=\"http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/3536/epa-approves-new-24-d-herbicide-blend-paving-way-for-controversial-ge-crops\">2,4-D was one of the ingredients in Agent Orange\u003c/a>, the herbicide the U.S. military used during the Vietnam War to destroy crops and trees. Agent Orange has been associated with health problems in U.S. veterans and the Vietnamese population, but these were caused mainly by an extremely toxic dioxin compound that contaminated Agent Orange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, more than 90 percent of the cotton, corn and soybeans, and more than 80 percent of the sugar beets grown in the United States are genetically engineered. GE canola and alfalfa are also grown in the US. These crops are used mainly as animal feed, or added to soda, snacks, cereals and other processed foods. Some yellow crookneck squash, sweet corn and zucchini, and some varieties of Hawaiian papayas are also genetically engineered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The World Health Organization and the National Academies have stated that the genetically engineered foods available today are safe to eat. Companies that sell genetically engineered seeds in the United States need approval from the EPA and USDA for most seeds. They also regularly go before the FDA, though that process is voluntary, which has drawn criticism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think that’s not enough,” said Odabashian. “We think an unbiased governmental body should be looking at the safety of these foods before they reach the marketplace.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Additional Links\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zIp5rWfv9w#t=1598\">Watch the full episode of Science at the Ballot Box, a joint KQED Newsroom and QUEST report that examines the science behind some of the key issues on the November ballot\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update Nov. 6:\u003c/strong> In the Nov. 4 election, Oregon voters narrowly rejected Measure 92, which would have required the labeling of foods containing genetically engineered ingredients. The measure lost by a 51 to 49 percent vote. Coloradans also rejected a similar ballot initiative, Proposition 105, by a 66 to 34 percent vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original post Oct. 28:\u003c/strong> Voters in Oregon will head to the polls Nov. 4 to decide whether to require foods made with genetically engineered ingredients to be labeled. In doing so, they’ll be voting on an initiative shaped in part by the experience of activists in California, who watched a similar measure fail two years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oregon’s Measure 92 would require manufacturers, distributors and grocery owners to label raw and packaged foods produced entirely or partially through genetic engineering. If it passes, the measure will go into effect in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Colorado also is voting on a labeling initiative Nov. 4. If it or the Oregon measure passes, the states will be following Vermont’s lead. In May, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin signed a new law making that state the first in the country to mandate labels for genetically engineered food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates in Oregon are hoping that their measure doesn’t face the same fate as a labeling measure in California. In November 2012, Californians narrowly voted down Proposition 37, by a 51 to 49 percent vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72423\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Tom-Llewellyn-chants-at-a-Prop-37-rally_800.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72423 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Tom-Llewellyn-chants-at-a-Prop-37-rally_800-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Tom Llewellyn, a volunteer with the Proposition 37 campaign, chanted at a rally in Santa Cruz on Nov. 4, 2012, two days before the election. Prop. 37 lost with 49 percent of the vote. Photo: Gabriela Quirós \" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tom Llewellyn, a volunteer with the Proposition 37 campaign in California, chanted at a rally in Santa Cruz on Nov. 4, 2012, two days before the election. Prop. 37 lost with 49 percent of the vote. Photo: Gabriela Quirós\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.noprop37.com/\">opposition to Prop. 37\u003c/a>, led by seed companies like Monsanto and food manufacturers such as Pepsico, spent $46 million to defeat \u003ca href=\"http://www.carighttoknow.org/\">the proposition\u003c/a>,which received $9 million from organic food companies and supplement manufacturers like Mercola. The disparity in funding is repeating itself again this year in Oregon, though this time around, the difference is smaller: as of Oct. 23, the \u003ca href=\"http://votenoon92.com/\">No on 92\u003c/a> campaign had raised $11 million and the \u003ca href=\"http://oregonrighttoknow.org/\">Yes on 92\u003c/a> campaign almost $6.5 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the difference in funding didn’t account entirely for the defeat of the California labeling campaign, its supporters say, and they’ve tried to apply their lessons from 2012 in Oregon today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The California ballot initiative allowed for citizen lawsuits that could be brought by anybody at any time, and there was a lot of concern that this would be a boon for trial lawyers,” said Elisa Odabashian, director of the West Coast office of \u003ca href=\"http://consumersunion.org/\">Consumers Union\u003c/a>, the policy arm of Consumer Reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72420\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Elisa_Odabashian_800.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72420 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Elisa_Odabashian_800-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Elisa Odabashian, of Consumer Reports, said that her organization’s ultimate goal is for the federal government to mandate the labeling of genetically engineered food. Photo: Arwen Curry. \" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elisa Odabashian, of Consumer Reports, said that her organization’s ultimate goal is for the federal government to mandate the labeling of genetically engineered food.\u003cbr> Photo: Arwen Curry.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Consumers Union has supported the idea of labeling genetically engineered foods since the 1990s, said Odabashian, who is based in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the California campaign, No on 37 television ads played up the possibility of lawsuits hobbling small business owners. So in Oregon, labeling advocates have limited the ability for citizens to bring lawsuits against grocery stores that might be selling unlabeled foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are no monetary damages allowed under Measure 92 in Oregon,” said Odabashian. “So it will not be a big money-maker for trial lawyers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters argue that labeling gives shoppers important information about their food, and that the United States should follow the lead of more than 60 countries, including France and Japan, that require some form of labeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opponents of labeling contend that consumers who want to avoid genetically engineered ingredients can choose organic foods, which are already labeled. Federal guidelines prohibit organic farmers from using genetically engineered seeds, or feeding their animals engineered feed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72424\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Tomato_paste_800.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72424 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Tomato_paste_800-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Genetically engineered tomatoes created in Davis, California, in the mid-1990s were made into an inexpensive tomato paste that sold well in England. The engineered tomatoes and the paste were both labeled, but were short-lived. Photo: Adrian Dubock \" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genetically engineered tomatoes created in Davis, California, in the mid-1990s were made into an inexpensive tomato paste that sold well in England. The engineered tomatoes and the paste were both labeled, but were short-lived.\u003cbr> Photo: Adrian Dubock\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Opponents also argue that labeling requirements would hike food prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Well of course the costs are going to go up,” said Dana Bieber, spokesperson for No on 92 during \u003ca href=\"http://www.katu.com/politics/Your-Voice-Your-Vote-Oregons-GMO-labeling-debate-270064221.html\">a televised debate\u003c/a> on Oregon’s KATU station in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The cost isn’t in the relabeling. That’s nominal,” she said. “The cost to the consumer comes from the fact that food companies will have to remake their food with higher-priced GE ingredients to avoid having to put this label on it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The possibility that labeling could increase food prices has been a point of contention in every vote on the issue. In California’s 2012 campaign, the No on 37 camp argued that a typical family’s food expenses would increase by up to $400 annually if the initiative passed. In Oregon, Consumers Union commissioned a report that found that food prices would increase by slightly over $2 per person a year. This estimate is based on the assumption that even if labeling were required, companies would continue to sell foods with genetically engineered ingredients, and consumers would continue to buy them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_72422\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Genetically-engineered-rice_800.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-72422 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/10/Genetically-engineered-rice_800-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"This rice at the University of California, Davis has been genetically engineered to tolerate the droughts that are already becoming more common with climate change. Photo: Gabriela Quirós \" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This rice at the University of California, Davis has been genetically engineered to tolerate the droughts that are already becoming more common with climate change.\u003cbr> Photo: Gabriela Quirós\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Labeling advocates also argue that the advent of genetically engineered crops has led to \u003ca href=\"http://www.enveurope.com/content/24/1/24\">an increase in pesticide use\u003c/a>. One category of genetically engineered crops, created in the mid-1990s by the Missouri-based seed company Monsanto, allows farmers to spray the weed killer glyphosate -- known as Roundup -- without damaging their crops. This allowed growers to replace other more toxic herbicides with Roundup, which is cheaper and less toxic, said Los Banos alfalfa grower Philip Bowles. A \u003ca href=\"http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12804\">2010 report by the National Academies\u003c/a> found that insecticide use had declined since GE crops were introduced, and farmers who grew GE crops used fewer insecticides and herbicides that linger in soil and waterways. A second category of GE crops include a bacterium that makes crops like cotton resistant to pests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But weed resistance to glyphosate has led seed companies to develop new GE crops that can tolerate other weed killers. The USDA approved in September soybeans and corn engineered by the Indiana-based Dow AgroSciences \u003ca href=\"http://newsroom.dowagro.com/press-release/epa-registers-enlist-duo-herbicide-enlist-weed-control-system-now-approved\">to tolerate the weed killer 2,4-D\u003c/a>. A coalition of environmental groups \u003ca href=\"http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/3560/coalition-of-farmers-and-environmental-groups-to-challenge-epa-over-herbicide-approval\">is suing the EPA\u003c/a> over its approval in October of the use of 2,4-D for the spraying of GE corn and soybeans, arguing that the agency didn’t adequately study its health risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opponents of GE crops point out that \u003ca href=\"http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/3536/epa-approves-new-24-d-herbicide-blend-paving-way-for-controversial-ge-crops\">2,4-D was one of the ingredients in Agent Orange\u003c/a>, the herbicide the U.S. military used during the Vietnam War to destroy crops and trees. Agent Orange has been associated with health problems in U.S. veterans and the Vietnamese population, but these were caused mainly by an extremely toxic dioxin compound that contaminated Agent Orange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already, more than 90 percent of the cotton, corn and soybeans, and more than 80 percent of the sugar beets grown in the United States are genetically engineered. GE canola and alfalfa are also grown in the US. These crops are used mainly as animal feed, or added to soda, snacks, cereals and other processed foods. Some yellow crookneck squash, sweet corn and zucchini, and some varieties of Hawaiian papayas are also genetically engineered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The World Health Organization and the National Academies have stated that the genetically engineered foods available today are safe to eat. Companies that sell genetically engineered seeds in the United States need approval from the EPA and USDA for most seeds. They also regularly go before the FDA, though that process is voluntary, which has drawn criticism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think that’s not enough,” said Odabashian. “We think an unbiased governmental body should be looking at the safety of these foods before they reach the marketplace.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Additional Links\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zIp5rWfv9w#t=1598\">Watch the full episode of Science at the Ballot Box, a joint KQED Newsroom and QUEST report that examines the science behind some of the key issues on the November ballot\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "New Research Shows Targeted Antioxidants Help Mice Live Longer, Healthier Lives",
"headTitle": "New Research Shows Targeted Antioxidants Help Mice Live Longer, Healthier Lives | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22615\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Scid_mouse.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22615\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Scid_mouse.jpg\" alt=\"The frailty that often comes with old age may one day be delayed by targeting antioxidants to the mitochondria. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"800\" height=\"463\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mice can avoid the frailty that comes with old age when antioxidants are targeted to their mitochondria. One day perhaps a similar treatment can help people have a healthier old age. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scid_mouse.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You can’t go to a health website without reading about the praises of antioxidants. These miracle chemicals found in foods such as various berries, beans and artichokes are touted to help you lose weight, give you younger-looking skin, help fight off infections and so much more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many of the benefits of antioxidants are undoubtedly oversold, we do know that if given at high enough levels and targeted to the right place, antioxidants can help a mouse live 10-20% longer. If this holds up in people, that is equivalent to an extra 7-14 years for people here in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that isn’t all. These mice not only live longer but as Umanskya and coworkers show in a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25288763\">new study\u003c/a> in the journal \u003ca href=\"http://www.pnas.org/\">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\u003c/a> (PNAS), they also stay stronger and healthier for longer too. So the antioxidant treatment isn’t just adding extra time at the end of the mouse’s life. It is adding better, more productive years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22618\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/MitochondriaFlashCard.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22618\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/MitochondriaFlashCard.jpg\" alt=\"Protecting the mitochondria of mice with antioxidants helps the mice live longer, healthier lives. (Flickr)\" width=\"300\" height=\"429\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protecting the mitochondria of mice with antioxidants helps the mice live longer, healthier lives. (\u003ca href=\"https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3613/3439703502_1ecb115c2b_z.jpg?zz=1\">Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now don’t think that you can get the same effects from eating truckloads of blueberries (although they are both tasty and good for you). You can’t. These mice were genetically engineered to make antioxidants in the key part of the cell that needs protection—the mitochondria. They lived longer not because of what they ate but because of genetic modification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This means that we need to wait until scientists figure out how to package antioxidants and deliver them specifically to the mitochondria to cash in on these benefits. And luckily for us, scientists \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1567724913000627\">are working furiously on this right now\u003c/a>. Not only would this sort of targeting help with aging, but it would help treat many other devastating mitochondrial diseases as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And who knows? Maybe in the not too distant future, scientists will be able to genetically engineer the mitochondria in human eggs so that the resulting child lives a longer, healthier life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, scientists are able to replace diseased mitochondria with healthy ones in the eggs of women suffering from mitochondrial disease (although they are being \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/10/21/controversial-technique-can-prevent-fatal-illnesses-in-children/\">prevented from doing this right now for ethical reasons\u003c/a>). So it may not be too long before they can do the same with genetically engineered mitochondria. It won’t be happening tomorrow but the technology could be closer than you think.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Making Energy Produces Pollution\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Targeting the mitochondria makes sense because these poor things take a beating during our lifetime. Mitochondria are the energy plants of the cells. After our food gets digested, the remains are sent to mitochondria to be turned into ATP, the main source of cellular energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just like burning fossil fuels for energy creates all sorts of pollutants, making energy in the mitochondria does too. But instead of carbon dioxide, particulates and acid rain, the byproducts of making energy in the mitochondria are free radicals. And these are very, very nasty little chemicals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22621\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/PowerPlant.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22621\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/PowerPlant.jpg\" alt=\"The pollution from making energy in mitochondria are free radicals. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The pollution from making energy in mitochondria are free radicals. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Power_plant_in_P%C4%85tn%C3%B3w.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Free radicals tend to quickly react with and so damage whatever is close by and in cells, that means the mitochondria and their DNA. These wounded mitochondria can no longer do their jobs properly and this is thought to be one of the big reasons we age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given this, it made perfect sense for the scientists to try to have mice live longer by adding something to the mitochondria that can defuse those free radicals. In this case, they added the catalase gene whose product is responsible for turning hydrogen peroxide (a precursor to free radicals) into water and oxygen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mice that had catalase added to their mitochondria lived longer. They also had fewer problems with age-related insulin resistance and energy imbalance. Overall, these mice did much better than their untreated littermates as they aged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the current study, Umanskya and coworkers found that the genetically engineered mice also suffered less age-related muscle weakness than regular old mice. This is more evidence that dealing with free radicals in the mitochondria can have a profound effect on the quality of life in old age. At least if you are a mouse…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Stronger Muscles, Better Old Age\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everyone knows that as you get older, your body slowly starts to break down. For example, your muscles can weaken as you age and this can have profound consequences in terms of falling and loss of independence. Something like \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23395245\">30-50% of 80 year olds suffer from age-related muscle weakness\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Obviously it would be a boon to an aging population if we could somehow prevent this from happening. And this is apparently what happened when the mitochondria in mice were protected from damage. The protected mice suffered from less muscle weakness, were more willing to exercise and were generally stronger than their unprotected litter mates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So if we can figure out how to safely and effectively get antioxidants to our mitochondria, we may end up living longer and healthier lives. Sure beats the idea of \u003ca href=\"http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/274929.php\">protecting our mitochondria by starving ourselves\u003c/a>!\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "While many of the benefits of antioxidants are undoubtedly oversold, we do know that if given at high enough levels and targeted to the right place, antioxidants can help a mouse live 10-20% longer. If this holds up in people, that is equivalent to an extra 7-14 years for people here in the U.S.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22615\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Scid_mouse.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22615\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Scid_mouse.jpg\" alt=\"The frailty that often comes with old age may one day be delayed by targeting antioxidants to the mitochondria. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"800\" height=\"463\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mice can avoid the frailty that comes with old age when antioxidants are targeted to their mitochondria. One day perhaps a similar treatment can help people have a healthier old age. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scid_mouse.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You can’t go to a health website without reading about the praises of antioxidants. These miracle chemicals found in foods such as various berries, beans and artichokes are touted to help you lose weight, give you younger-looking skin, help fight off infections and so much more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While many of the benefits of antioxidants are undoubtedly oversold, we do know that if given at high enough levels and targeted to the right place, antioxidants can help a mouse live 10-20% longer. If this holds up in people, that is equivalent to an extra 7-14 years for people here in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that isn’t all. These mice not only live longer but as Umanskya and coworkers show in a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25288763\">new study\u003c/a> in the journal \u003ca href=\"http://www.pnas.org/\">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\u003c/a> (PNAS), they also stay stronger and healthier for longer too. So the antioxidant treatment isn’t just adding extra time at the end of the mouse’s life. It is adding better, more productive years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22618\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/MitochondriaFlashCard.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22618\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/MitochondriaFlashCard.jpg\" alt=\"Protecting the mitochondria of mice with antioxidants helps the mice live longer, healthier lives. (Flickr)\" width=\"300\" height=\"429\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protecting the mitochondria of mice with antioxidants helps the mice live longer, healthier lives. (\u003ca href=\"https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3613/3439703502_1ecb115c2b_z.jpg?zz=1\">Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now don’t think that you can get the same effects from eating truckloads of blueberries (although they are both tasty and good for you). You can’t. These mice were genetically engineered to make antioxidants in the key part of the cell that needs protection—the mitochondria. They lived longer not because of what they ate but because of genetic modification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This means that we need to wait until scientists figure out how to package antioxidants and deliver them specifically to the mitochondria to cash in on these benefits. And luckily for us, scientists \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1567724913000627\">are working furiously on this right now\u003c/a>. Not only would this sort of targeting help with aging, but it would help treat many other devastating mitochondrial diseases as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And who knows? Maybe in the not too distant future, scientists will be able to genetically engineer the mitochondria in human eggs so that the resulting child lives a longer, healthier life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, scientists are able to replace diseased mitochondria with healthy ones in the eggs of women suffering from mitochondrial disease (although they are being \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/10/21/controversial-technique-can-prevent-fatal-illnesses-in-children/\">prevented from doing this right now for ethical reasons\u003c/a>). So it may not be too long before they can do the same with genetically engineered mitochondria. It won’t be happening tomorrow but the technology could be closer than you think.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Making Energy Produces Pollution\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Targeting the mitochondria makes sense because these poor things take a beating during our lifetime. Mitochondria are the energy plants of the cells. After our food gets digested, the remains are sent to mitochondria to be turned into ATP, the main source of cellular energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just like burning fossil fuels for energy creates all sorts of pollutants, making energy in the mitochondria does too. But instead of carbon dioxide, particulates and acid rain, the byproducts of making energy in the mitochondria are free radicals. And these are very, very nasty little chemicals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22621\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/PowerPlant.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22621\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/PowerPlant.jpg\" alt=\"The pollution from making energy in mitochondria are free radicals. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The pollution from making energy in mitochondria are free radicals. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Power_plant_in_P%C4%85tn%C3%B3w.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Free radicals tend to quickly react with and so damage whatever is close by and in cells, that means the mitochondria and their DNA. These wounded mitochondria can no longer do their jobs properly and this is thought to be one of the big reasons we age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given this, it made perfect sense for the scientists to try to have mice live longer by adding something to the mitochondria that can defuse those free radicals. In this case, they added the catalase gene whose product is responsible for turning hydrogen peroxide (a precursor to free radicals) into water and oxygen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mice that had catalase added to their mitochondria lived longer. They also had fewer problems with age-related insulin resistance and energy imbalance. Overall, these mice did much better than their untreated littermates as they aged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the current study, Umanskya and coworkers found that the genetically engineered mice also suffered less age-related muscle weakness than regular old mice. This is more evidence that dealing with free radicals in the mitochondria can have a profound effect on the quality of life in old age. At least if you are a mouse…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Stronger Muscles, Better Old Age\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everyone knows that as you get older, your body slowly starts to break down. For example, your muscles can weaken as you age and this can have profound consequences in terms of falling and loss of independence. Something like \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23395245\">30-50% of 80 year olds suffer from age-related muscle weakness\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Obviously it would be a boon to an aging population if we could somehow prevent this from happening. And this is apparently what happened when the mitochondria in mice were protected from damage. The protected mice suffered from less muscle weakness, were more willing to exercise and were generally stronger than their unprotected litter mates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So if we can figure out how to safely and effectively get antioxidants to our mitochondria, we may end up living longer and healthier lives. Sure beats the idea of \u003ca href=\"http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/274929.php\">protecting our mitochondria by starving ourselves\u003c/a>!\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Over the summer, biologists from the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco returned from an expedition to the Philippines with some very rare and diminutive guests, a mating pair of pygmy seahorses. The two tiny fish, each shorter than an inch and bright orange, were collected as part of a larger study of the stunning biodiversity found in the “Twilight Zone” of the ocean. It’s a relatively unexplored environment located at depths where the bright tropical sunlight barely penetrates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pygmy seahorses live their entire adult lives attached to a type of coral called a Gorgonian sea fan. The seahorses use their long tails to grab on to the delicately branched sea fans. But what’s really amazing is their ability to match the coral’s bright color and knobby texture. They blend in so perfectly that they are barely visible, even to a trained eye.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">More people have walked on the moon than have seen a juvenile land on a sea fan.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Pygmy seahorses are nearly impossible to raise in captivity. More people have walked on the moon than have seen a juvenile land on a sea fan. Until recently, there was no record of the seahorses ever living long enough to breed in an aquarium. As a result, very little is known about them, making them extremely attractive to researchers eager to learn about the mysterious species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the biggest hurdles is keeping the host sea fans alive, since the pygmy sea horses cannot live without them. Biologists Matt Wandell and Rich Ross knew this would be tough, but they had been preparing since 2011 when Bart Shepherd, Director of the Steinhart Aquarium, issued them a challenge. They were tasked with keeping the sea fans alive for three years before they could even attempt bring back the seahorses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22720\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Matt_Wandel_Pygmy-Seahorses_800x450.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22720\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Matt_Wandel_Pygmy-Seahorses_800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Matt Wandell of The California Academy of Sciences\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matt Wandell inspects the tank used to house the first generation of pygmy seahorses at The California Academy of Sciences (Sally Schilling/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Gorgonian sea fan is itself an animal, distantly related to jellyfish and anemones, and is very difficult to raise in tanks. But these seahorses cannot live without the them. So the team became experts in raising small sections of the brightly colored coral. They even came up with a custom-tailored mix to feed the sea fans, consisting of baby brine shrimp, copepods, and oyster reproductive organs. By 2014, the captive sea fans were thriving. The team was ready to go back to the Philippines and bring back their treasured new tenants, a carefully selected mating pair of pygmy seahorses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having located the species on a previous expedition, it took the group of divers, biologists and aquarists less than 36 hours to gently collect the pygmy seahorses and transport them to the other side of the world. From the bottom of the ocean, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.calacademy.org/sciencetoday/pygmy-seahorses/5517021/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">seahorses would now spend their days in a small tank at the Steinhart Aquarium\u003c/a>, housed within the California Academy of Sciences. The tiny travelers immediately made themselves at home grasping onto the long waiting sea fans. But then something amazing happened: the sea horses gave birth. Like other seahorses, it is the male pygmy that rears the offspring in his brood pouch, re-releasing groups of offspring every two weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juvenile pygmy seahorses swim well and it is during this time that they venture away from the host sea fan to find new places to live. As they mature, they settle down and find a sea fan to call home. How exactly they find the sea fan has yet to be discovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the course of several months, the Cal Academy biologists were searching for the answer to an elusive question: Are pygmy seahorses born certain colors, or do they change colors as they find sea fans of the same color? The answer, captured in this “Deep Look” video, may surprise you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22709\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/JoshCassidy_PygmySeahorses_800x450.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22709\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/JoshCassidy_PygmySeahorses_800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Josh Cassidy films pygmy seahorses\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Josh Cassidy films pygmy seahorses at The California Academy of Sciences (Sally Schilling/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Tiny and delicate, pygmy seahorses survive by attaching to vibrant corals where they become nearly invisible to both predators and researchers. Now, biologists at the California Academy of Sciences have successfully bred them in captivity for the first time. Finally, they're able to study the seahorses' amazing act of camouflage up close. ",
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"title": "Pygmy Seahorses: Masters of Camouflage | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Over the summer, biologists from the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco returned from an expedition to the Philippines with some very rare and diminutive guests, a mating pair of pygmy seahorses. The two tiny fish, each shorter than an inch and bright orange, were collected as part of a larger study of the stunning biodiversity found in the “Twilight Zone” of the ocean. It’s a relatively unexplored environment located at depths where the bright tropical sunlight barely penetrates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pygmy seahorses live their entire adult lives attached to a type of coral called a Gorgonian sea fan. The seahorses use their long tails to grab on to the delicately branched sea fans. But what’s really amazing is their ability to match the coral’s bright color and knobby texture. They blend in so perfectly that they are barely visible, even to a trained eye.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">More people have walked on the moon than have seen a juvenile land on a sea fan.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Pygmy seahorses are nearly impossible to raise in captivity. More people have walked on the moon than have seen a juvenile land on a sea fan. Until recently, there was no record of the seahorses ever living long enough to breed in an aquarium. As a result, very little is known about them, making them extremely attractive to researchers eager to learn about the mysterious species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the biggest hurdles is keeping the host sea fans alive, since the pygmy sea horses cannot live without them. Biologists Matt Wandell and Rich Ross knew this would be tough, but they had been preparing since 2011 when Bart Shepherd, Director of the Steinhart Aquarium, issued them a challenge. They were tasked with keeping the sea fans alive for three years before they could even attempt bring back the seahorses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22720\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Matt_Wandel_Pygmy-Seahorses_800x450.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22720\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/Matt_Wandel_Pygmy-Seahorses_800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Matt Wandell of The California Academy of Sciences\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matt Wandell inspects the tank used to house the first generation of pygmy seahorses at The California Academy of Sciences (Sally Schilling/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Gorgonian sea fan is itself an animal, distantly related to jellyfish and anemones, and is very difficult to raise in tanks. But these seahorses cannot live without the them. So the team became experts in raising small sections of the brightly colored coral. They even came up with a custom-tailored mix to feed the sea fans, consisting of baby brine shrimp, copepods, and oyster reproductive organs. By 2014, the captive sea fans were thriving. The team was ready to go back to the Philippines and bring back their treasured new tenants, a carefully selected mating pair of pygmy seahorses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having located the species on a previous expedition, it took the group of divers, biologists and aquarists less than 36 hours to gently collect the pygmy seahorses and transport them to the other side of the world. From the bottom of the ocean, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.calacademy.org/sciencetoday/pygmy-seahorses/5517021/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">seahorses would now spend their days in a small tank at the Steinhart Aquarium\u003c/a>, housed within the California Academy of Sciences. The tiny travelers immediately made themselves at home grasping onto the long waiting sea fans. But then something amazing happened: the sea horses gave birth. Like other seahorses, it is the male pygmy that rears the offspring in his brood pouch, re-releasing groups of offspring every two weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juvenile pygmy seahorses swim well and it is during this time that they venture away from the host sea fan to find new places to live. As they mature, they settle down and find a sea fan to call home. How exactly they find the sea fan has yet to be discovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the course of several months, the Cal Academy biologists were searching for the answer to an elusive question: Are pygmy seahorses born certain colors, or do they change colors as they find sea fans of the same color? The answer, captured in this “Deep Look” video, may surprise you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_22709\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/JoshCassidy_PygmySeahorses_800x450.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22709\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/10/JoshCassidy_PygmySeahorses_800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Josh Cassidy films pygmy seahorses\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Josh Cassidy films pygmy seahorses at The California Academy of Sciences (Sally Schilling/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"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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"marketplace": {
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"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.",
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"masters-of-scale": {
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},
"mindshift": {
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"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>",
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"order": 12
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"morning-edition": {
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"onourwatch": {
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"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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},
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},
"pbs-newshour": {
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
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"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 5
},
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
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