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"title": "NASA Sends Fruit Flies to Space to Prep for Mars Missions",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"audio-wrap\">\n\u003ch2>Listen:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2014/03/20140324science.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15579\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Apollo-7-astronauts.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15579 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Apollo-7-astronauts.jpg\" alt=\"The Apollo 7 crew, from left to right: Command Module pilot, Donn F. Eisele, Commander, Walter M. Schirra Jr. and Lunar Module pilot, Walter Cunningham. (NASA)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In 1968, two members of the Apollo 7 crew developed head colds. Crankiness ensued. Crew members, from the left, are Command Module Pilot Donn Eisele, Commander Walter Schirra, Jr. and Lunar Module Pilot Walter Cunningham. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists at NASA’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/#.UyzQ_oXDX_k\">Ames Research Center\u003c/a> in Mountain View are sending fruit flies (among other creatures) up to the International Space Station, hoping to better predict some of the physical challenges that may befall astronauts when, sometime after 2030, NASA sends up the first human mission to Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA has already learned some of these lessons the hard way. For instance: Having a head cold in space is no picnic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15581\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/9400_transform-288x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-15581 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/9400_transform-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"In the first live television transmission from space, astronauts Don Eisele and Walter Schirra Jr. deliver a message to viewers. (NASA)\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the first live television transmission from space, astronauts Donn F. Eisele and Walter M. Schirra Jr. deliver a message to viewers. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The First Colds in Space\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1968, NASA needed some good press.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The year before had been a disaster. All three crew members of the Apollo 1 Mission had died in a cabin fire before the spaceship even launched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If NASA was going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, it needed to win back public confidence in the program. And it would do so on live television during the Apollo 7 mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apollo 7 launched on October 11, 1968, with a plan to bring three astronauts safely into Earth’s orbit, and then back home again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first time, Americans got to see what astronauts looked like floating around in zero gravity. On live television, they watched Command Module Pilot Donn Eisele, Commander Walter Schirra, Jr. and Lunar Module Pilot Walter Cunningham eat meals, bat a lens cap around the cabin and send radio reports to ground control.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Perhaps you’ve never considered the effect of zero gravity on snot?\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“Wally took one Actifed,” Cunningham reported. “He feels fine; he’s just got a little stuffy nose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cunningham and Schirra indeed had head colds, and the stuffy noses turned out not to be such a “little” thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The astronauts had trouble sleeping. They worried about their eardrums rupturing. Their interactions with ground control became testy, particularly on the subject of whether or not they would wear helmets upon reentry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A New Policy: Quarantine\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So after Apollo 7, NASA set a new policy: Astronauts would now be quarantined before each launch to make sure they’re healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the quarantine isn’t a guarantee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA astronaut \u003ca href=\"http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/barratt-mr.html\">Mike Barratt\u003c/a> caught a cold during his six-month stay on the International Space Station in 2009. “It was probably the most miserable cold I’ve ever had,” he told me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15591\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 294px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15591 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/International_Space_Station_after_undocking_of_STS-132-1024x652.jpg\" alt=\"The International Space Station. (NASA)\" width=\"294\" height=\"188\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The International Space Station. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Perhaps you’ve never considered the effect of zero gravity on snot? Barratt hadn’t either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, Barratt said, “where you’d have a little gravity to help you drain things, all that was absent there. Everything kind of pools where it is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Barratt invented a zero-gravity nose-blowing technique, involving swinging his body in an arc as his hands clasped a metal handrail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That move created a sort of artificial gravity, Barratt said, propelling mucus out of his head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You do what you gotta do,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Finding Work-Arounds in Zero Gravity \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans evolved with gravity. Take it away and we start looking for work-arounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these are well known. For instance: in space, muscles atrophy, especially in the legs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From the waist up, they look strong,” Barratt said, describing how this affects humans. “From the waist down they look more like Kermit the Frog.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So astronauts spend an enormous amount of time exercising—two or three hours a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the eyes. No one’s quite sure why, but over the course of a mission, some astronauts report problems with both nearsightedness and distance vision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/marshburn-th.html\">Tom Marshburn\u003c/a>, who has completed two missions to the International Space Station as a space surgeon, said he’s learned to bring multiple pairs of eyeglasses to suit his changing vision while in space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15584\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 285px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Drosophila_SingleFly.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15584 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Drosophila_SingleFly.jpg\" alt=\"A single drosophila, or fruit fly. (Dominic Hart/NASA)\" width=\"285\" height=\"241\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A single drosophila, or fruit fly. (Dominic Hart/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s the only solution we have right now,” Marshburn said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mars Mission Brings Higher Stakes\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is minor stuff on the International Space Station, a mere two-day trip from Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But consider that by 2030, NASA wants to start sending people to Mars and back—a mission that could last five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anticipating the ensuing physical problems of such a mission is the job of scientists like \u003ca href=\"http://women.nasa.gov/sharmila-bhattacharya-2/\">Sharmila Bhattacharya\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Battacharya is a scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, where she runs a lab in the Space Biosciences Division.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her research focuses on fruit flies—Drosophila melanogaster—and is part of a major NASA effort to send bugs (including beetles, worms, bees and spiders) up to the International Space Station to see how space affects their biology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next week, Bhattacharya plans to travel to Florida to watch the lift-off for the first of 2014’s three scheduled fruit fly missions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15586\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 301px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/ACD14-0023-028-1024x982.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-15586 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/ACD14-0023-028-1024x982.jpg\" alt=\"Ames researchers Curran Reddy and Sharmila Bhattacharya are studying the effects of zero gravity on fruit flies' cardiovascular systems. (Dominic Hart/NASA)\" width=\"301\" height=\"288\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ames researchers Curran Reddy and Sharmila Bhattacharya are studying cardiovascular health on fruit flies in space.(Dominic Hart/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since the demise of the NASA’s space shuttle program, the agency has relied on private contractors—specifically Tesla founder Elon Musk’s company SpaceX—to carry astronauts and science experiments to the International Space Station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bhattacharya’s launch, \u003ca href=\"http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/03/11/upcoming-mission-falcon-9-and-dragon-launching-space-station\">scheduled for March 30 or April 2\u003c/a>, will be the first effort to see how zero gravity affects the structure and function of the drosophila’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/ames/research/space-biosciences/heart-flies-spacex-3/\">cardiovascular system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Weaker Flies, Stronger Microbes\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bhattacharya says one of the most \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3019151/\">intriguing discoveries\u003c/a> so far has to do with the flies’ white blood cells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"size-medium wp-image-15586\">“There are changes in the distribution of blood cells,” says Bhattacharya. “And, of course, blood cells are critical to immune function.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the flies’ immune systems appear to become weaker in space, certain microbes—the kinds that might make a fruit fly sick—actually get stronger. Bhattacharya says it’s potentially a deadly combination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Couple increased virulence of a pathogen with the decremented immune system of the host,” she said, “and that could be a problem for long-term space flight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Battacharya will test that theory in fruit flies on a mission next fall. She says she expects to have results by late 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA astronauts I talked to said they believe all these problems can be overcome with a little ingenuity.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\nAt some point on the mission to Mars the view of Earth will disappear, and it will be ‘just the blackness of space and stars outside the window.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But there are some challenges that cannot be researched in advance. Take, for example, the psychological challenge of humanity’s longest expedition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The View Back Home \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marshburn said when astronauts have free time on the International Space Station, they tend to congregate in the cupola, a place that offers unparalleled views of Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a huge boost to look out the window at our planet while we orbit the space station,” he said. “To see it in all its glory and its beauty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This view is a big reason astronauts go into space in the first place. And at some point during that trip to Mars, it will disappear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first time in our two million-plus years of existence, humans will lose that visual tether to the place we all come from. A period of time when, Marshburn said, the view will be “just the blackness of space and stars outside the window.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will be thrilling, says Marshburn. It could also be deeply disconcerting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His advice to those lucky astronauts? Stay busy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://youtu.be/8SfyE9qsG8k\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"description": "Getting sick in space is no picnic. So scientists are sending bugs to the International Space Station, hoping to better predict some of the physical challenges that may befall astronauts when NASA eventually sends the first human mission to Mars.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/div>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15579\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Apollo-7-astronauts.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15579 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Apollo-7-astronauts.jpg\" alt=\"The Apollo 7 crew, from left to right: Command Module pilot, Donn F. Eisele, Commander, Walter M. Schirra Jr. and Lunar Module pilot, Walter Cunningham. (NASA)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In 1968, two members of the Apollo 7 crew developed head colds. Crankiness ensued. Crew members, from the left, are Command Module Pilot Donn Eisele, Commander Walter Schirra, Jr. and Lunar Module Pilot Walter Cunningham. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists at NASA’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/#.UyzQ_oXDX_k\">Ames Research Center\u003c/a> in Mountain View are sending fruit flies (among other creatures) up to the International Space Station, hoping to better predict some of the physical challenges that may befall astronauts when, sometime after 2030, NASA sends up the first human mission to Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA has already learned some of these lessons the hard way. For instance: Having a head cold in space is no picnic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15581\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/9400_transform-288x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-15581 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/9400_transform-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"In the first live television transmission from space, astronauts Don Eisele and Walter Schirra Jr. deliver a message to viewers. (NASA)\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the first live television transmission from space, astronauts Donn F. Eisele and Walter M. Schirra Jr. deliver a message to viewers. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The First Colds in Space\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1968, NASA needed some good press.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The year before had been a disaster. All three crew members of the Apollo 1 Mission had died in a cabin fire before the spaceship even launched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If NASA was going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, it needed to win back public confidence in the program. And it would do so on live television during the Apollo 7 mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apollo 7 launched on October 11, 1968, with a plan to bring three astronauts safely into Earth’s orbit, and then back home again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first time, Americans got to see what astronauts looked like floating around in zero gravity. On live television, they watched Command Module Pilot Donn Eisele, Commander Walter Schirra, Jr. and Lunar Module Pilot Walter Cunningham eat meals, bat a lens cap around the cabin and send radio reports to ground control.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Perhaps you’ve never considered the effect of zero gravity on snot?\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“Wally took one Actifed,” Cunningham reported. “He feels fine; he’s just got a little stuffy nose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cunningham and Schirra indeed had head colds, and the stuffy noses turned out not to be such a “little” thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The astronauts had trouble sleeping. They worried about their eardrums rupturing. Their interactions with ground control became testy, particularly on the subject of whether or not they would wear helmets upon reentry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A New Policy: Quarantine\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So after Apollo 7, NASA set a new policy: Astronauts would now be quarantined before each launch to make sure they’re healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the quarantine isn’t a guarantee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA astronaut \u003ca href=\"http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/barratt-mr.html\">Mike Barratt\u003c/a> caught a cold during his six-month stay on the International Space Station in 2009. “It was probably the most miserable cold I’ve ever had,” he told me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15591\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 294px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15591 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/International_Space_Station_after_undocking_of_STS-132-1024x652.jpg\" alt=\"The International Space Station. (NASA)\" width=\"294\" height=\"188\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The International Space Station. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Perhaps you’ve never considered the effect of zero gravity on snot? Barratt hadn’t either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, Barratt said, “where you’d have a little gravity to help you drain things, all that was absent there. Everything kind of pools where it is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Barratt invented a zero-gravity nose-blowing technique, involving swinging his body in an arc as his hands clasped a metal handrail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That move created a sort of artificial gravity, Barratt said, propelling mucus out of his head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You do what you gotta do,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Finding Work-Arounds in Zero Gravity \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans evolved with gravity. Take it away and we start looking for work-arounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these are well known. For instance: in space, muscles atrophy, especially in the legs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“From the waist up, they look strong,” Barratt said, describing how this affects humans. “From the waist down they look more like Kermit the Frog.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So astronauts spend an enormous amount of time exercising—two or three hours a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the eyes. No one’s quite sure why, but over the course of a mission, some astronauts report problems with both nearsightedness and distance vision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/marshburn-th.html\">Tom Marshburn\u003c/a>, who has completed two missions to the International Space Station as a space surgeon, said he’s learned to bring multiple pairs of eyeglasses to suit his changing vision while in space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15584\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 285px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Drosophila_SingleFly.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15584 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Drosophila_SingleFly.jpg\" alt=\"A single drosophila, or fruit fly. (Dominic Hart/NASA)\" width=\"285\" height=\"241\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A single drosophila, or fruit fly. (Dominic Hart/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s the only solution we have right now,” Marshburn said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mars Mission Brings Higher Stakes\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is minor stuff on the International Space Station, a mere two-day trip from Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But consider that by 2030, NASA wants to start sending people to Mars and back—a mission that could last five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anticipating the ensuing physical problems of such a mission is the job of scientists like \u003ca href=\"http://women.nasa.gov/sharmila-bhattacharya-2/\">Sharmila Bhattacharya\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Battacharya is a scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, where she runs a lab in the Space Biosciences Division.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her research focuses on fruit flies—Drosophila melanogaster—and is part of a major NASA effort to send bugs (including beetles, worms, bees and spiders) up to the International Space Station to see how space affects their biology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next week, Bhattacharya plans to travel to Florida to watch the lift-off for the first of 2014’s three scheduled fruit fly missions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15586\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 301px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/ACD14-0023-028-1024x982.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-15586 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/ACD14-0023-028-1024x982.jpg\" alt=\"Ames researchers Curran Reddy and Sharmila Bhattacharya are studying the effects of zero gravity on fruit flies' cardiovascular systems. (Dominic Hart/NASA)\" width=\"301\" height=\"288\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ames researchers Curran Reddy and Sharmila Bhattacharya are studying cardiovascular health on fruit flies in space.(Dominic Hart/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since the demise of the NASA’s space shuttle program, the agency has relied on private contractors—specifically Tesla founder Elon Musk’s company SpaceX—to carry astronauts and science experiments to the International Space Station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bhattacharya’s launch, \u003ca href=\"http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/03/11/upcoming-mission-falcon-9-and-dragon-launching-space-station\">scheduled for March 30 or April 2\u003c/a>, will be the first effort to see how zero gravity affects the structure and function of the drosophila’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/ames/research/space-biosciences/heart-flies-spacex-3/\">cardiovascular system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Weaker Flies, Stronger Microbes\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bhattacharya says one of the most \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3019151/\">intriguing discoveries\u003c/a> so far has to do with the flies’ white blood cells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"size-medium wp-image-15586\">“There are changes in the distribution of blood cells,” says Bhattacharya. “And, of course, blood cells are critical to immune function.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the flies’ immune systems appear to become weaker in space, certain microbes—the kinds that might make a fruit fly sick—actually get stronger. Bhattacharya says it’s potentially a deadly combination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Couple increased virulence of a pathogen with the decremented immune system of the host,” she said, “and that could be a problem for long-term space flight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Battacharya will test that theory in fruit flies on a mission next fall. She says she expects to have results by late 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA astronauts I talked to said they believe all these problems can be overcome with a little ingenuity.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\nAt some point on the mission to Mars the view of Earth will disappear, and it will be ‘just the blackness of space and stars outside the window.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But there are some challenges that cannot be researched in advance. Take, for example, the psychological challenge of humanity’s longest expedition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The View Back Home \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marshburn said when astronauts have free time on the International Space Station, they tend to congregate in the cupola, a place that offers unparalleled views of Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a huge boost to look out the window at our planet while we orbit the space station,” he said. “To see it in all its glory and its beauty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This view is a big reason astronauts go into space in the first place. And at some point during that trip to Mars, it will disappear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first time in our two million-plus years of existence, humans will lose that visual tether to the place we all come from. A period of time when, Marshburn said, the view will be “just the blackness of space and stars outside the window.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will be thrilling, says Marshburn. It could also be deeply disconcerting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His advice to those lucky astronauts? Stay busy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Epilepsy Research Aided by Sea Lions With Seizures",
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"headTitle": "Epilepsy Research Aided by Sea Lions With Seizures | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15537\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15537\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/5647867669_916b214f92_b-e1395333551140.jpg\" alt=\"By studying sea lions suffering from epilepsy, we may learn more about seizures in humans. (lowjumpingfrog/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">By studying sea lions suffering from epilepsy, scientists may learn more about seizures in humans. (\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenorton/5647867669/\">lowjumpingfrog/Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some sea lions suffer from a form of epilepsy that bears a striking resemblance to epilepsy in humans. That insight could help scientists develop treatments and eventually find a cure for \u003ca href=\"http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/aboutepilepsy/syndromes/temporallobeepilepsy.cfm\">temporal lobe epilepsy\u003c/a>, one of the most common forms that people get.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California sea lions can get seizures and eventually develop epilepsy when they’re exposed to \u003ca href=\"http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/science/top-research-projects/domoic-acid-toxicity.html\">domoic acid\u003c/a>, a toxin produced by some algae blooms. The Marine Mammal Center in Marin County treats sea lions suffering from seizures, but in some cases has to euthanize them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I talked with Dr. Paul Buckmaster, a neurologist at Stanford University who’s studying the sea lions at the Marine Mammal Center. This is an edited version of our conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why is this comparison with people important? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘We’re still trying to understand what causes seizures in people with temporal lobe epilepsy.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>It’s important for the sea lions because it gives us a better understanding of what’s causing their epilepsy as well as the behavioral problems they show after being exposed to the toxin. Those problems are so severe that those animals will suffer if they’re released—they will starve to death. Now, they’re being euthanized—in a way, to prevent their suffering. It’s a really serious problem for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s important for people because we’re still trying to understand what causes seizures in people with temporal lobe epilepsy. One of the main ways we study that is by studying mice and rats, but the brain damage in mice and rats is not as similar to people as the brain damage in sea lions. So we might be able to learn more about human temporal lobe epilepsy by studying the sea lions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are the next steps in your research?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the areas that we’re working on now is to widen our view. Instead of just focusing on one part of the brain—the part that’s most damaged in sea lions and in humans—we’re looking at other parts of the brain as well. We might get some clues because we can get better images of the brains of sea lions than we can of people anatomically. We’re able to preserve the tissue better. We can also use additional stains and look at more areas of the brain than we can in people with temporal lobe epilepsy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we find some parts that might be damaged in sea lions that haven’t been recognized in people yet, we can direct the clinicians towards those areas, and say, “Look in these spots as well. See if you can find anything using non-invasive imaging techniques.” We might find some additional areas that are damaged that might be important and contribute to the seizures that people have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Are there any connections between domoic acid and epilepsy in humans?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In humans, there was an outbreak in the late ’80s when a bunch of people ate this toxin because it was in the shellfish they were eating. This was in the Montreal area, and the mussels came from Prince Edward Island where they were cultivated. A lot of people became sick. They had gastrointestinal symptoms. Some of the more severe cases also had seizures and memory loss. In some cases, that memory loss was permanent. They couldn’t make new memories after that. One of those patients who had the severe symptoms later developed epilepsy. So it’s possible for people to develop epilepsy if they eat this poison. But now seafood that’s available in restaurants and seafood stores is screened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is there a possible treatment for the sea lions?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, there’s not. That’s what’s really frustrating about this. In people, if they had developed epilepsy after eating the toxin, you would prescribe them anticonvulsant drugs. Then, they could take those on a daily basis to help control their seizures. We can’t do that with sea lions. The sea lions are wild animals. They are only at the Marine Mammal Center for treatment and rehabilitation, and then they must be released. There’s no way for them to continue treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How are different populations of sea lions and other animals affected?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Algae has population explosions called algal blooms. There are general trends, but they’re harder to predict on a finer timescale. They occur in focal areas along the coast, and if a sea lion is in the wrong place at the wrong time, they can be exposed and become intoxicated from the algae-made domoic acid. Other species are affected as well, not just sea lions. This was reported to cause a bunch of birds to die. Early on that was reported in the Santa Cruz area, there were brown pelicans and cormorants that were affected from the toxin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also suspected — and there are some anecdotal reports — of it killing dolphins and possibly whales. In those cases and others as well, if the animal is affected but it just dies and sinks to the bottom of the ocean, no one might recognize it. With the sea lions, in many cases, they’re able to get to the shore where they’re found having seizures. Part of the reason it might seem more common in sea lions, it’s just recognized more frequently in sea lions because they’re abundant and they tend to end up in places where people will find them.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15537\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15537\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/5647867669_916b214f92_b-e1395333551140.jpg\" alt=\"By studying sea lions suffering from epilepsy, we may learn more about seizures in humans. (lowjumpingfrog/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">By studying sea lions suffering from epilepsy, scientists may learn more about seizures in humans. (\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenorton/5647867669/\">lowjumpingfrog/Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some sea lions suffer from a form of epilepsy that bears a striking resemblance to epilepsy in humans. That insight could help scientists develop treatments and eventually find a cure for \u003ca href=\"http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/aboutepilepsy/syndromes/temporallobeepilepsy.cfm\">temporal lobe epilepsy\u003c/a>, one of the most common forms that people get.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California sea lions can get seizures and eventually develop epilepsy when they’re exposed to \u003ca href=\"http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/science/top-research-projects/domoic-acid-toxicity.html\">domoic acid\u003c/a>, a toxin produced by some algae blooms. The Marine Mammal Center in Marin County treats sea lions suffering from seizures, but in some cases has to euthanize them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I talked with Dr. Paul Buckmaster, a neurologist at Stanford University who’s studying the sea lions at the Marine Mammal Center. This is an edited version of our conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why is this comparison with people important? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘We’re still trying to understand what causes seizures in people with temporal lobe epilepsy.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>It’s important for the sea lions because it gives us a better understanding of what’s causing their epilepsy as well as the behavioral problems they show after being exposed to the toxin. Those problems are so severe that those animals will suffer if they’re released—they will starve to death. Now, they’re being euthanized—in a way, to prevent their suffering. It’s a really serious problem for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s important for people because we’re still trying to understand what causes seizures in people with temporal lobe epilepsy. One of the main ways we study that is by studying mice and rats, but the brain damage in mice and rats is not as similar to people as the brain damage in sea lions. So we might be able to learn more about human temporal lobe epilepsy by studying the sea lions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are the next steps in your research?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the areas that we’re working on now is to widen our view. Instead of just focusing on one part of the brain—the part that’s most damaged in sea lions and in humans—we’re looking at other parts of the brain as well. We might get some clues because we can get better images of the brains of sea lions than we can of people anatomically. We’re able to preserve the tissue better. We can also use additional stains and look at more areas of the brain than we can in people with temporal lobe epilepsy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we find some parts that might be damaged in sea lions that haven’t been recognized in people yet, we can direct the clinicians towards those areas, and say, “Look in these spots as well. See if you can find anything using non-invasive imaging techniques.” We might find some additional areas that are damaged that might be important and contribute to the seizures that people have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Are there any connections between domoic acid and epilepsy in humans?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In humans, there was an outbreak in the late ’80s when a bunch of people ate this toxin because it was in the shellfish they were eating. This was in the Montreal area, and the mussels came from Prince Edward Island where they were cultivated. A lot of people became sick. They had gastrointestinal symptoms. Some of the more severe cases also had seizures and memory loss. In some cases, that memory loss was permanent. They couldn’t make new memories after that. One of those patients who had the severe symptoms later developed epilepsy. So it’s possible for people to develop epilepsy if they eat this poison. But now seafood that’s available in restaurants and seafood stores is screened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is there a possible treatment for the sea lions?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, there’s not. That’s what’s really frustrating about this. In people, if they had developed epilepsy after eating the toxin, you would prescribe them anticonvulsant drugs. Then, they could take those on a daily basis to help control their seizures. We can’t do that with sea lions. The sea lions are wild animals. They are only at the Marine Mammal Center for treatment and rehabilitation, and then they must be released. There’s no way for them to continue treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How are different populations of sea lions and other animals affected?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Algae has population explosions called algal blooms. There are general trends, but they’re harder to predict on a finer timescale. They occur in focal areas along the coast, and if a sea lion is in the wrong place at the wrong time, they can be exposed and become intoxicated from the algae-made domoic acid. Other species are affected as well, not just sea lions. This was reported to cause a bunch of birds to die. Early on that was reported in the Santa Cruz area, there were brown pelicans and cormorants that were affected from the toxin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also suspected — and there are some anecdotal reports — of it killing dolphins and possibly whales. In those cases and others as well, if the animal is affected but it just dies and sinks to the bottom of the ocean, no one might recognize it. With the sea lions, in many cases, they’re able to get to the shore where they’re found having seizures. Part of the reason it might seem more common in sea lions, it’s just recognized more frequently in sea lions because they’re abundant and they tend to end up in places where people will find them.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15392\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/orca-and-trainr-seaworld-orlando-Milan-BOers-flickr.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15392\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15392 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/orca-and-trainr-seaworld-orlando-Milan-BOers-flickr.jpg\" alt=\"An orca at Seaworld in Orlando, FL jumps out of the water\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An orca at SeaWorld’s park in Orlando, Florida, jumps out of the water. There are currently 10 orcas living in captivity in California, according to Assemblyman Richard Bloom’s office.\u003cbr>(\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/26234859@N07/3507419212/in/photolist-6kWrx3-6sYNnT-htufVb-htudpu-htuwHy-8wCfYF-fEAiCH-fESTFS-aYw2kp-aYw1ne-hp5R1f\">Milan Boers/Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>State Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) is determined to end the use of orcas for water shows in California, where the whales jump through hoops, for example, or carry trainers on their backs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bloom has just introduced legislation that would ban people from keeping orcas in captivity for entertainment purposes, while still allowing research with the animals. The bill also bans the breeding of the whales in captivity and requires that orcas currently held for entertainment purposes be returned to the wild if possible, or to a sea pen when not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://seaworldparks.com/en/seaworld-sandiego/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeaWorld\u003c/a>, a major player in the marine animal park industry with parks in San Diego and Orlando, Florida, is readying for a battle over the proposal. The water park recently hired a lobbyist and issued a written statement decrying Bloom’s bill. The statement argues the bill is being pushed by “extreme animal activists” some of whom “partnered with PETA in bringing the meritless claim that animals in human care should be considered slaves under the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — a clear publicity stunt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statement asserted that SeaWorld engages in “business practices that are responsible, sustainable and reflective of the balanced values all Americans share.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s morning talk show \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/radio/programs/forum/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum\u003c/a> recently \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201403130930\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">provided a preview\u003c/a> of the debate, in a program featuring Dave Phillips, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.earthisland.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Earth Island Institute\u003c/a> and Billy Hurley, past president of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ammpa.org/about.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phillips and Hurley disagreed both about the treatment whales receive in parks like SeaWorld, and about the scientific benefits of having orcas in captivity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both guests acknowledged that observing the animals in the wild is necessary for scientific research, and Hurley went on to say that interacting with the whales in captivity allows for a deeper understanding of the animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we learn in the wild is how [orcas] do what they do,” Hurley said. “What we do with the animals in our care is find out the actual ways they do what they do — things like hearing, nutrition, thermoregulation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assembly Bill 2140 does allow orcas to be “held for rehabilitation after a rescue or stranding, or for research purposes” with the provision that the whales shall be “returned to the wild whenever possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the central questions in the debate is whether it’s necessary to use orcas in performance in order to educate people about the whales and bring in adequate funding to provide for their care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phillips pointed to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monterey Bay Aquarium\u003c/a> as proof that parks and aquariums can be successful without having orcas in captivity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The evolution of these parks and the evolution of zoos and aquariums is in the direction of non-performance,” he said. “[The Monterey Bay Aquarium] had to confront the paradigm that said ‘You can’t make this successful without having orcas and without having dolphins.’ And they said, ‘That’s not correct.’ They actually have no performances, no cetaceans, and there are people lined up out the door. They’re making huge amounts of revenue from a non-captive environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bloom’s legislation would also require that orcas previously held for entertainment purposes be “rehabilitated and returned to the wild where possible” and moved to a sea pen when release is not an option. Though some may interpret this as an eventual death knell for parks like SeaWorld, the Earth Island Institute’s Phillips said that doesn’t have to be the case. He cited the millions of people who visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium to witness the rehabilitation efforts of Keiko, the whale who played Willy in “Free Willy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marine Mammal Parks past president Hurley, however, said the sea pen is a false promise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very easy for some of the extremists to say things like, ‘Oh, if we had a sanctuary, if we had a sea pen, it would just be so much different.’ And the reality is that if you had a sea pen, you would still need veterinary care, you would still need qualified people to take care of the animals, you would still need to be careful about those types of environmental changes that could occur while the animals were in those conditions. The list goes on and on. And when you end up describing, most importantly, the need to fund such an endeavor, you end up describing a SeaWorld.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill will likely be introduced into the \u003ca href=\"http://awpw.assembly.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife\u003c/a> committee next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can listen to the complete Forum discussion here:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/139423096&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15392\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/orca-and-trainr-seaworld-orlando-Milan-BOers-flickr.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15392\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15392 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/orca-and-trainr-seaworld-orlando-Milan-BOers-flickr.jpg\" alt=\"An orca at Seaworld in Orlando, FL jumps out of the water\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An orca at SeaWorld’s park in Orlando, Florida, jumps out of the water. There are currently 10 orcas living in captivity in California, according to Assemblyman Richard Bloom’s office.\u003cbr>(\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/26234859@N07/3507419212/in/photolist-6kWrx3-6sYNnT-htufVb-htudpu-htuwHy-8wCfYF-fEAiCH-fESTFS-aYw2kp-aYw1ne-hp5R1f\">Milan Boers/Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>State Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) is determined to end the use of orcas for water shows in California, where the whales jump through hoops, for example, or carry trainers on their backs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bloom has just introduced legislation that would ban people from keeping orcas in captivity for entertainment purposes, while still allowing research with the animals. The bill also bans the breeding of the whales in captivity and requires that orcas currently held for entertainment purposes be returned to the wild if possible, or to a sea pen when not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://seaworldparks.com/en/seaworld-sandiego/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SeaWorld\u003c/a>, a major player in the marine animal park industry with parks in San Diego and Orlando, Florida, is readying for a battle over the proposal. The water park recently hired a lobbyist and issued a written statement decrying Bloom’s bill. The statement argues the bill is being pushed by “extreme animal activists” some of whom “partnered with PETA in bringing the meritless claim that animals in human care should be considered slaves under the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — a clear publicity stunt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statement asserted that SeaWorld engages in “business practices that are responsible, sustainable and reflective of the balanced values all Americans share.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s morning talk show \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/radio/programs/forum/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum\u003c/a> recently \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201403130930\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">provided a preview\u003c/a> of the debate, in a program featuring Dave Phillips, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.earthisland.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Earth Island Institute\u003c/a> and Billy Hurley, past president of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ammpa.org/about.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phillips and Hurley disagreed both about the treatment whales receive in parks like SeaWorld, and about the scientific benefits of having orcas in captivity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both guests acknowledged that observing the animals in the wild is necessary for scientific research, and Hurley went on to say that interacting with the whales in captivity allows for a deeper understanding of the animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we learn in the wild is how [orcas] do what they do,” Hurley said. “What we do with the animals in our care is find out the actual ways they do what they do — things like hearing, nutrition, thermoregulation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assembly Bill 2140 does allow orcas to be “held for rehabilitation after a rescue or stranding, or for research purposes” with the provision that the whales shall be “returned to the wild whenever possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the central questions in the debate is whether it’s necessary to use orcas in performance in order to educate people about the whales and bring in adequate funding to provide for their care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phillips pointed to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monterey Bay Aquarium\u003c/a> as proof that parks and aquariums can be successful without having orcas in captivity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The evolution of these parks and the evolution of zoos and aquariums is in the direction of non-performance,” he said. “[The Monterey Bay Aquarium] had to confront the paradigm that said ‘You can’t make this successful without having orcas and without having dolphins.’ And they said, ‘That’s not correct.’ They actually have no performances, no cetaceans, and there are people lined up out the door. They’re making huge amounts of revenue from a non-captive environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bloom’s legislation would also require that orcas previously held for entertainment purposes be “rehabilitated and returned to the wild where possible” and moved to a sea pen when release is not an option. Though some may interpret this as an eventual death knell for parks like SeaWorld, the Earth Island Institute’s Phillips said that doesn’t have to be the case. He cited the millions of people who visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium to witness the rehabilitation efforts of Keiko, the whale who played Willy in “Free Willy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marine Mammal Parks past president Hurley, however, said the sea pen is a false promise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very easy for some of the extremists to say things like, ‘Oh, if we had a sanctuary, if we had a sea pen, it would just be so much different.’ And the reality is that if you had a sea pen, you would still need veterinary care, you would still need qualified people to take care of the animals, you would still need to be careful about those types of environmental changes that could occur while the animals were in those conditions. The list goes on and on. And when you end up describing, most importantly, the need to fund such an endeavor, you end up describing a SeaWorld.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill will likely be introduced into the \u003ca href=\"http://awpw.assembly.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife\u003c/a> committee next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can listen to the complete Forum discussion here:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/139423096&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "How Damaged is Your DNA? A New Startup Wants to Know",
"headTitle": "How Damaged is Your DNA? A New Startup Wants to Know | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15216\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Costes_ScienceTheater_v4_slide4_640x360.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15216\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15216\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Costes_ScienceTheater_v4_slide4_640x360.jpg\" alt=\"Summary of the factors that cause DNA damage and the associated diseases. (Courtesy of Sylvain Costes)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Summary of the factors that cause DNA damage and the associated diseases. (Courtesy of Sylvain Costes)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>DNA stores the genetic information in each living cell, so its integrity and stability is essential to life. But it’s constantly being damaged by environmental factors like exposure to ionizing radiation, ultraviolet light and toxins. And DNA replication is also prone to error during normal cell division, so your body is busy constantly repairing damaged DNA. However, sometimes this normal DNA repair process fails, causing damage and genetic mutations to accumulate which leads to serious health problems like cancer, immunological disorders and neurological disorders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If your annual checkup included a simple blood test to determine how much DNA damage you have in your body, you may be able to optimize your long-term health by taking action to minimize DNA damage due to your diet, exercise and environment. A startup company called \u003ca title=\"Exogen Biotechnology\" href=\"http://exogenbio.com/\">Exogen Biotechnology\u003c/a> wants to provide the public with a way to monitor their DNA health, so they can act to reduce damage. Exogen has developed technology that can rapidly quantify a type of DNA damage called double-strand breaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“DNA double-strand breaks are when the two strands of the DNA are cut, so they can move apart,” explained \u003ca title=\"Sylvain Costes website at LBNL\" href=\"http://www.lbl.gov/lsd/People_&_Organization/Scientific_Staff_Directory/Costes_Lab.html\">Sylvain Costes\u003c/a>, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and co-founder of Exogen. “This is linked to mutation and chromosome rearrangement, so it’s a big deal – it’s the dangerous type of DNA damage. That’s what we look at.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exogen’s DNA damage measurement is based on technology developed over 15 years ago called immunocytochemistry – a technique that uses a primary antibody that recognizes the protein that is repairing the DNA break, along with a secondary fluorescent antibody that binds to the primary antibody. This creates bright spots in the microscope image where there are double-strand DNA breaks, so scientists can take a picture and count the breaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15221\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 304px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/TrackYourDNA_sm.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15221\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15221\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/TrackYourDNA_sm.jpg\" alt=\"Three-step procedure that Exogen uses to track DNA damage:blood collection kit, immunocytochemistry, and DNA breaks quantification. The final image shows a cell without (cell 10) and with (cell 11) a DNA double-strand break. (Courtesy of Sylvain Costes)\" width=\"304\" height=\"179\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The three-step procedure that Exogen uses to track DNA damage: blood collection kit, immunocytochemistry, and DNA breaks quantification. The final image shows a cell without (cell 10) and with (cell 11) a DNA double-strand break. (Courtesy of Sylvain Costes)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Exogen is moving this technique out of the laboratory to make it publicly available. They have significantly improved the technology so that it’s feasible to rapidly test small blood samples for the level of DNA double-strand breaks. A customer collects tiny blood samples using an in-home kit, combines the blood samples with a fixative solution to preserve them, logs on to the Exogen website to register the samples and complete a questionnaire, then mails them to Exogen for analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exogen tested their new technology in two pilot studies with a total of 97 people. They observed a significant increase in the level of DNA damage with age, where 70-year-olds had double the number of DNA double-strand breaks compared to 20-year-olds. The four people who had suffered from cancer also had a higher level of DNA damage compared to others in their age group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we did the first pilot study, we saw the excitement of the people,” said Costes. “They realized that this is something totally new; something we know in the research field, but that’s never been given to the people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inspired by the initial pilot studies, Exogen wants to build a large database of DNA damage levels for research purposes so they can better understand the meaning of an elevated level of DNA damage and how certain factors affect DNA health. Of course, their data collection process and database are secure, encrypted and fully HIPAA compliant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to get the necessary blood samples, they are currently running a \u003ca title=\"Exogen crowdfunding campaign \" href=\"http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/exogen-bio-how-damaged-is-your-dna\">crowdfunding campaign\u003c/a> on Indiegogo. People that donate $99 receive a kit to safely collect three blood samples at home, and then they receive a report on their current level of DNA damage. Exogen is calling the campaign a “citizen science project” since volunteers also fill out questionnaires about their medical history and lifestyle. They’ve already collected $76,000 and the crowdfunding campaign runs through March 26. They plan to spend the money on a microscope and liquid handler, which will allow them to fully automate their system so they can analyze up to 400 blood samples per day.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘In contrast to genetic testing, we feel like this test can bring hope because you have a way to act.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Currently, Exogen can’t interpret the results or give people advice about how to lower their DNA damage, because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasn’t approved them as a diagnostic test. The goal of the crowdfunding campaign is to collect blood samples from 1000 people so they can go to the FDA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once we have FDA approval, we can start counseling,” said Costes. “Primary care doctors can start engaging and testing it further with their patients, because we’ll provide a guideline to help them understand what it means.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Costes stressed that their test is very different from genetic testing provided by companies like \u003ca title=\"23andme website\" href=\"https://www.23andme.com/\">23andme\u003c/a>. Exogen isn’t looking at the genetic makeup. Instead, they are looking at a physiological response, so they compare it to a cholesterol test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To me this is identical to cholesterol,” clarified Costes. “Your genetics places you in a certain range, but your lifestyle can change where you are within that range. In contrast to genetic testing, we feel like this test can bring hope because you have a way to act.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of their applications is to determine how DNA damage is affected by lifestyle factors like diet. Exogen plans to study a group of people for a long time to better understand how DNA damage correlates with specific diseases and with health improvements due to people’s actions. They want to evaluate whether people can improve their DNA health by changing their lifestyle or environment, instead of their fate being driven entirely by genetics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, none of the applications can happen until Exogen collects data from a larger number of people. “We need your help to make it happen,” Costes concludes. “We can’t do it alone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Update: This article was modified to disclose Sylvain Costes’ affiliation with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "If your annual checkup included a simple blood test to determine how much DNA damage you have in your body, you may be able to optimize your long-term health by taking action to minimize DNA damage due to your diet, exercise and environment. A startup company called Exogen Biotechnology wants to provide the public with a way to monitor their DNA health.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15216\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Costes_ScienceTheater_v4_slide4_640x360.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15216\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15216\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Costes_ScienceTheater_v4_slide4_640x360.jpg\" alt=\"Summary of the factors that cause DNA damage and the associated diseases. (Courtesy of Sylvain Costes)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Summary of the factors that cause DNA damage and the associated diseases. (Courtesy of Sylvain Costes)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>DNA stores the genetic information in each living cell, so its integrity and stability is essential to life. But it’s constantly being damaged by environmental factors like exposure to ionizing radiation, ultraviolet light and toxins. And DNA replication is also prone to error during normal cell division, so your body is busy constantly repairing damaged DNA. However, sometimes this normal DNA repair process fails, causing damage and genetic mutations to accumulate which leads to serious health problems like cancer, immunological disorders and neurological disorders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If your annual checkup included a simple blood test to determine how much DNA damage you have in your body, you may be able to optimize your long-term health by taking action to minimize DNA damage due to your diet, exercise and environment. A startup company called \u003ca title=\"Exogen Biotechnology\" href=\"http://exogenbio.com/\">Exogen Biotechnology\u003c/a> wants to provide the public with a way to monitor their DNA health, so they can act to reduce damage. Exogen has developed technology that can rapidly quantify a type of DNA damage called double-strand breaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“DNA double-strand breaks are when the two strands of the DNA are cut, so they can move apart,” explained \u003ca title=\"Sylvain Costes website at LBNL\" href=\"http://www.lbl.gov/lsd/People_&_Organization/Scientific_Staff_Directory/Costes_Lab.html\">Sylvain Costes\u003c/a>, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and co-founder of Exogen. “This is linked to mutation and chromosome rearrangement, so it’s a big deal – it’s the dangerous type of DNA damage. That’s what we look at.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exogen’s DNA damage measurement is based on technology developed over 15 years ago called immunocytochemistry – a technique that uses a primary antibody that recognizes the protein that is repairing the DNA break, along with a secondary fluorescent antibody that binds to the primary antibody. This creates bright spots in the microscope image where there are double-strand DNA breaks, so scientists can take a picture and count the breaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15221\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 304px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/TrackYourDNA_sm.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15221\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15221\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/TrackYourDNA_sm.jpg\" alt=\"Three-step procedure that Exogen uses to track DNA damage:blood collection kit, immunocytochemistry, and DNA breaks quantification. The final image shows a cell without (cell 10) and with (cell 11) a DNA double-strand break. (Courtesy of Sylvain Costes)\" width=\"304\" height=\"179\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The three-step procedure that Exogen uses to track DNA damage: blood collection kit, immunocytochemistry, and DNA breaks quantification. The final image shows a cell without (cell 10) and with (cell 11) a DNA double-strand break. (Courtesy of Sylvain Costes)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Exogen is moving this technique out of the laboratory to make it publicly available. They have significantly improved the technology so that it’s feasible to rapidly test small blood samples for the level of DNA double-strand breaks. A customer collects tiny blood samples using an in-home kit, combines the blood samples with a fixative solution to preserve them, logs on to the Exogen website to register the samples and complete a questionnaire, then mails them to Exogen for analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exogen tested their new technology in two pilot studies with a total of 97 people. They observed a significant increase in the level of DNA damage with age, where 70-year-olds had double the number of DNA double-strand breaks compared to 20-year-olds. The four people who had suffered from cancer also had a higher level of DNA damage compared to others in their age group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we did the first pilot study, we saw the excitement of the people,” said Costes. “They realized that this is something totally new; something we know in the research field, but that’s never been given to the people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inspired by the initial pilot studies, Exogen wants to build a large database of DNA damage levels for research purposes so they can better understand the meaning of an elevated level of DNA damage and how certain factors affect DNA health. Of course, their data collection process and database are secure, encrypted and fully HIPAA compliant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to get the necessary blood samples, they are currently running a \u003ca title=\"Exogen crowdfunding campaign \" href=\"http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/exogen-bio-how-damaged-is-your-dna\">crowdfunding campaign\u003c/a> on Indiegogo. People that donate $99 receive a kit to safely collect three blood samples at home, and then they receive a report on their current level of DNA damage. Exogen is calling the campaign a “citizen science project” since volunteers also fill out questionnaires about their medical history and lifestyle. They’ve already collected $76,000 and the crowdfunding campaign runs through March 26. They plan to spend the money on a microscope and liquid handler, which will allow them to fully automate their system so they can analyze up to 400 blood samples per day.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘In contrast to genetic testing, we feel like this test can bring hope because you have a way to act.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Currently, Exogen can’t interpret the results or give people advice about how to lower their DNA damage, because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasn’t approved them as a diagnostic test. The goal of the crowdfunding campaign is to collect blood samples from 1000 people so they can go to the FDA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once we have FDA approval, we can start counseling,” said Costes. “Primary care doctors can start engaging and testing it further with their patients, because we’ll provide a guideline to help them understand what it means.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Costes stressed that their test is very different from genetic testing provided by companies like \u003ca title=\"23andme website\" href=\"https://www.23andme.com/\">23andme\u003c/a>. Exogen isn’t looking at the genetic makeup. Instead, they are looking at a physiological response, so they compare it to a cholesterol test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To me this is identical to cholesterol,” clarified Costes. “Your genetics places you in a certain range, but your lifestyle can change where you are within that range. In contrast to genetic testing, we feel like this test can bring hope because you have a way to act.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of their applications is to determine how DNA damage is affected by lifestyle factors like diet. Exogen plans to study a group of people for a long time to better understand how DNA damage correlates with specific diseases and with health improvements due to people’s actions. They want to evaluate whether people can improve their DNA health by changing their lifestyle or environment, instead of their fate being driven entirely by genetics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, none of the applications can happen until Exogen collects data from a larger number of people. “We need your help to make it happen,” Costes concludes. “We can’t do it alone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "With Humpback Whales' Baby Boom, Scientists May Revoke Endangered Species Status",
"headTitle": "With Humpback Whales’ Baby Boom, Scientists May Revoke Endangered Species Status | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15280\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/640px-HumpbackWhaleBreaching.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15280\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15280\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/640px-HumpbackWhaleBreaching.jpg\" alt=\"Known for their acrobatics, breaching humpbacks are impressive. Wanetta Ayers/Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"640\" height=\"416\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Known for their acrobatics, breaching humpbacks launch out of the water. Scientists speculate this behavior may be a form of communication, dislodges external parasites or is just for fun. (\u003ca title=\"Wanetta Ayers, breaching humpback photo\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanc0602.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wanetta Ayers/Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/a>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The boat slowed as we watched a 40-ton whale launch itself skyward and crash back into the sea. It’s primetime for migrating humpback whales in the North Pacific breeding ground as they frolic, mate and raise their young while living off their blubber. The good news is that humpback populations have rebounded significantly since they were first protected as an endangered species in 1966. From an estimated low of about 5,000 animals worldwide, humpbacks in the North Pacific are now estimated at near their pre-whaling population of 22,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New research from a \u003ca title=\"Humpback Whales Research Press Release\" href=\"http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-12/osu-nsi120313.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">December 2013 press release\u003c/a> states scientists examined “nearly 2,200 tissue biopsy samples collected from humpback whales in 10 feeding regions and eight winter breeding regions during a three-year international study, known as SPLASH (Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks). They used sequences of maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA and ‘microsatellite genotypes,’ or DNA profiles, to both describe the genetic differences and outline migratory connections between both breeding and feeding grounds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15281\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 244px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/800px-Sanc0604-244x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15281\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-15281 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/800px-Sanc0604-244x162.jpg\" alt=\"Humpback calves are born in the warm waters of Mexico and Hawaii, staying with their mothers for one year. Dave Glickman/Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"244\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Humpback calves are born in warm waters then migrate after a few months, staying with their mothers for one year. (\u003ca title=\"Dave Glickman, Humpback cow-calf pair\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanc0604.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dave Glickman/Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/a>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Though humpback whales are found in all oceans of the world, the North Pacific humpback whales should probably be considered a sub-species at an ocean-basin level – based on genetic isolation of these populations on an evolutionary time scale,” said Scott Baker, associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center and lead author on the paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Within this North Pacific sub-species, however, our results support the recognition of multiple distinct populations,” Baker added. “They differ based on geographic distribution and with genetic differentiations as well, and they have strong fidelity to their own breeding and feeding areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study identifies five distinct populations of humpback whales in the North Pacific based on their breeding grounds: Okinawa and the Philippines; a second West Pacific population with unknown breeding grounds; Hawaii, Mexico and Central America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15282\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 240px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/800px-Sanc0602-240x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15282\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-15282\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/800px-Sanc0602-240x162.jpg\" alt=\"Male humpbacks sing intricate songs to attract a mate in their breeding grounds. Dr. Louis M. Herman/Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"240\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Male humpbacks sing underwater to attract a mate in their breeding grounds. (\u003ca title=\"Dr. Louis M. Herman, male humpback singing position\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanc0602.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Louis M.\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\u003ca title=\"Dr. Louis M. Herman, male humpback singing position\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanc0602.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Herman/Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These new population distinctions could provide vital information in \u003ca title=\"NOAA findings to delist north pacific humpback whales\" href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/08/29/2013-21066/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-90-day-finding-on-a-petition-to-delist-the-north-pacific\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NOAAs current one-year study\u003c/a> to determine whether humpback whales in the North Pacific should be taken off of the Endangered Species list. The petition to delist humpbacks was brought forward on April 17, 2013, by the Hawai’i Fishermen’s Alliance for Conservation and Tradition, Inc. In February 2014. the \u003ca title=\"Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game petition to delist humpbacks\" href=\"http://www.ktuu.com/news/news/state-agency-petitions-removal-of-species-from-endangered-list/24768216\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alaska Department of Fish and Game\u003c/a> submitted their own petition to delist the humpbacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more about humpbacks and our own California gray whales, check out my \u003ca title=\"Gigantic Journeys, KQED QUEST\" href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2012/03/16/gigantic-journey-humpback-migration/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Gigantic Journeys”\u003c/a> blog.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15280\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/640px-HumpbackWhaleBreaching.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15280\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15280\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/640px-HumpbackWhaleBreaching.jpg\" alt=\"Known for their acrobatics, breaching humpbacks are impressive. Wanetta Ayers/Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"640\" height=\"416\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Known for their acrobatics, breaching humpbacks launch out of the water. Scientists speculate this behavior may be a form of communication, dislodges external parasites or is just for fun. (\u003ca title=\"Wanetta Ayers, breaching humpback photo\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanc0602.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wanetta Ayers/Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/a>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The boat slowed as we watched a 40-ton whale launch itself skyward and crash back into the sea. It’s primetime for migrating humpback whales in the North Pacific breeding ground as they frolic, mate and raise their young while living off their blubber. The good news is that humpback populations have rebounded significantly since they were first protected as an endangered species in 1966. From an estimated low of about 5,000 animals worldwide, humpbacks in the North Pacific are now estimated at near their pre-whaling population of 22,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New research from a \u003ca title=\"Humpback Whales Research Press Release\" href=\"http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-12/osu-nsi120313.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">December 2013 press release\u003c/a> states scientists examined “nearly 2,200 tissue biopsy samples collected from humpback whales in 10 feeding regions and eight winter breeding regions during a three-year international study, known as SPLASH (Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks). They used sequences of maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA and ‘microsatellite genotypes,’ or DNA profiles, to both describe the genetic differences and outline migratory connections between both breeding and feeding grounds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15281\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 244px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/800px-Sanc0604-244x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15281\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-15281 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/800px-Sanc0604-244x162.jpg\" alt=\"Humpback calves are born in the warm waters of Mexico and Hawaii, staying with their mothers for one year. Dave Glickman/Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"244\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Humpback calves are born in warm waters then migrate after a few months, staying with their mothers for one year. (\u003ca title=\"Dave Glickman, Humpback cow-calf pair\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanc0604.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dave Glickman/Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/a>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Though humpback whales are found in all oceans of the world, the North Pacific humpback whales should probably be considered a sub-species at an ocean-basin level – based on genetic isolation of these populations on an evolutionary time scale,” said Scott Baker, associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center and lead author on the paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Within this North Pacific sub-species, however, our results support the recognition of multiple distinct populations,” Baker added. “They differ based on geographic distribution and with genetic differentiations as well, and they have strong fidelity to their own breeding and feeding areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study identifies five distinct populations of humpback whales in the North Pacific based on their breeding grounds: Okinawa and the Philippines; a second West Pacific population with unknown breeding grounds; Hawaii, Mexico and Central America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15282\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 240px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/800px-Sanc0602-240x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15282\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-15282\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/800px-Sanc0602-240x162.jpg\" alt=\"Male humpbacks sing intricate songs to attract a mate in their breeding grounds. Dr. Louis M. Herman/Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"240\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Male humpbacks sing underwater to attract a mate in their breeding grounds. (\u003ca title=\"Dr. Louis M. Herman, male humpback singing position\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanc0602.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Louis M.\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\u003ca title=\"Dr. Louis M. Herman, male humpback singing position\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanc0602.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Herman/Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These new population distinctions could provide vital information in \u003ca title=\"NOAA findings to delist north pacific humpback whales\" href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/08/29/2013-21066/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-90-day-finding-on-a-petition-to-delist-the-north-pacific\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NOAAs current one-year study\u003c/a> to determine whether humpback whales in the North Pacific should be taken off of the Endangered Species list. The petition to delist humpbacks was brought forward on April 17, 2013, by the Hawai’i Fishermen’s Alliance for Conservation and Tradition, Inc. In February 2014. the \u003ca title=\"Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game petition to delist humpbacks\" href=\"http://www.ktuu.com/news/news/state-agency-petitions-removal-of-species-from-endangered-list/24768216\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alaska Department of Fish and Game\u003c/a> submitted their own petition to delist the humpbacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more about humpbacks and our own California gray whales, check out my \u003ca title=\"Gigantic Journeys, KQED QUEST\" href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2012/03/16/gigantic-journey-humpback-migration/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Gigantic Journeys”\u003c/a> blog.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>This winter’s Arctic bird invasion has given owl researchers the opportunity of a lifetime. \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/03/11/134714/trapping_and_tracking_the_mysterious_snowy_owl?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"rssmi_more\" rel=\"noopener\">…Read More\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Source: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/03/11/134714/trapping_and_tracking_the_mysterious_snowy_owl?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Trapping And Tracking The Mysterious Snowy Owl\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR Science – ingested into KQED\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>This winter’s Arctic bird invasion has given owl researchers the opportunity of a lifetime. \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/03/11/134714/trapping_and_tracking_the_mysterious_snowy_owl?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"rssmi_more\" rel=\"noopener\">…Read More\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Source: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2014/03/11/134714/trapping_and_tracking_the_mysterious_snowy_owl?source=npr&category=science\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Trapping And Tracking The Mysterious Snowy Owl\" rel=\"noopener\">NPR Science – ingested into KQED\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Erasing Traumatic Memories from DNA May One Day Help PTSD Sufferers",
"headTitle": "Erasing Traumatic Memories from DNA May One Day Help PTSD Sufferers | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15001\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/PTSDmarine.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15001\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15001\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/PTSDmarine.jpg\" alt=\"PTSD sufferers may one day be helped by clearing away chemical marks in the DNA of their brains that makes therapy less effective. (Wikimedia Commons) \" width=\"640\" height=\"374\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">PTSD sufferers may one day be helped by clearing away chemical marks in the DNA of their brains that makes therapy less effective. (\u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USMC-100612-M-9234B-001.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sometimes events like a battle during wartime or a sexual assault are so horrific that they seem to leave a hard-to-remove scar on the brains of some of the people who endure them. There are some therapies that can help but their effects often fade over time. These sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder (\u003ca href=\"http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/post-traumatic-stress-disorder\">PTSD\u003c/a>) end up reliving the experience over and over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24439381\">new study\u003c/a> might give these people hope. The researchers found that giving mice suffering from PTSD a certain class of drugs along with therapy could cure the mice when therapy alone could not. These \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histone_deacetylase_inhibitor\">HDAC inhibitors\u003c/a> helped remove the scars so that therapy could really heal the brains of these mice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the term scar isn’t too far from reality. In PTSD, the scar is made up of chemical groups scattered around certain genes that end up there as a result of these experiences. These “\u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask403\">epigenetic\u003c/a>” marks make the brain resistant to the rewiring that therapy can provide. So it makes sense that removing them would make the brain more receptive to therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course a mouse is not a person but this is still a very promising line of research. Even if we don’t end up combining HDAC inhibitors with therapy in people, the study may still help us find key genes to target in other ways. Research like this may one day help find better treatments for the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/basics/how-common-is-ptsd.asp\">7-8% of people who will suffer\u003c/a> from this devastating disorder at some point in their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Mouse Experiment\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15006\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Labmouse300.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15006\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15006\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Labmouse300.jpg\" alt=\"Mice trained to fear a noise could be cured with therapy if they were given drugs that could prime their DNA for it. (Rama/Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"300\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mice trained to fear a noise could be cured with therapy if they were given drugs that could prime their DNA for it. (Rama/\u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lab_mouse_mg_3158.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The first step in the study was to create mice with PTSD. The researchers did this with a sort of cruel \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning\">Pavlovian \u003c/a>experiment—they shocked the feet of the mice and played a noise at the same time. After a while, the sound alone was enough to cause the mice to freeze. The sound could now trigger the traumatic memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next step was to see if the most common treatment for PTSD, extinction therapy, could help these mice. In extinction therapy the patient relives the situation in a safe environment so they can learn that it can’t hurt them anymore. In the case of the mice, the researchers wanted to see if the mice stopped being scared of the noise if they heard it repeatedly without the shock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Extinction therapy could cure these mice if it was done within one day of the trauma but not after a month. By then the memory had become hardwired into their tiny rodent brains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To undo this rewiring, the researchers gave the mice a class of drugs called HDAC inhibitors. The idea was that these drugs would prime the mouse’s brain to respond better to the therapy. And it did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mice that received both HDAC inhibitors and extinction therapy one month after the trauma were no longer afraid of the noise. These mice had overcome their PTSD and so no longer froze when they heard the noise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An important point is that neither treatment worked by itself. Mice given just the drugs or just extinction therapy after a month were still frightened by the noise. Both were needed for the cure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HDAC inhibitors can prime a mouse’s DNA to rewiring through new experiences but they won’t rewire the brain themselves. They just make the therapy more likely to take.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How HDAC Inhibitors Work\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15016\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/HistoneAndDNA.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15016\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15016\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/HistoneAndDNA.jpg\" alt=\"By making histones grip a little less tightly, HDAC inhibitors make PTSD therapy more effective. In this image, the DNA is wrapped around the histone. (Aubreybailey/Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"300\" height=\"261\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">By making histones grip DNA a little less tightly, HDAC inhibitors make PTSD therapy more effective. In this image, the DNA is wrapped around the histone. (Aubreybailey/\u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nucleosome_Complex_model.ogg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A memory can become fixed in the hippocampus through changes in how certain genes are used there. The event does not cause a change in the gene itself. Instead, different chemical groups are placed near the gene. These “\u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask403\">epigenetic\u003c/a>” changes then affect how well a cell can read that particular gene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DNA that contains our genes is wrapped up around proteins called histones. Not only do these histones allow for 6 feet of DNA to be crammed into a nucleus that is only 10 microns across, but they can also affect how a gene works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If histones are locked down on certain parts of a gene, that gene is hard for the cell to read. Cells have a hard time prying these histones away and getting to the gene. These genes are used at a lower level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conversely, if a histone rests lightly on a gene, then that gene is more easily read. The cell can easily get to this DNA and so the gene is read at a higher level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cells can make histones bind more or less tightly by adding or removing acetyl groups from them. Since both the acetyl group and the DNA are negatively charged, extra acetyl groups means a histone and DNA are a bit less attracted to each other. These genes are easier to read and so are turned up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An HDAC inhibitor keeps the cell from removing acetyl groups from histones. The end result is that the DNA has more acetylated histones which means some genes are turned up. In these experiments, keeping histones acetylated primed the mouse brain to accept the extinction therapy.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15001\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/PTSDmarine.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15001\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15001\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/PTSDmarine.jpg\" alt=\"PTSD sufferers may one day be helped by clearing away chemical marks in the DNA of their brains that makes therapy less effective. (Wikimedia Commons) \" width=\"640\" height=\"374\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">PTSD sufferers may one day be helped by clearing away chemical marks in the DNA of their brains that makes therapy less effective. (\u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USMC-100612-M-9234B-001.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sometimes events like a battle during wartime or a sexual assault are so horrific that they seem to leave a hard-to-remove scar on the brains of some of the people who endure them. There are some therapies that can help but their effects often fade over time. These sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder (\u003ca href=\"http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/post-traumatic-stress-disorder\">PTSD\u003c/a>) end up reliving the experience over and over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24439381\">new study\u003c/a> might give these people hope. The researchers found that giving mice suffering from PTSD a certain class of drugs along with therapy could cure the mice when therapy alone could not. These \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histone_deacetylase_inhibitor\">HDAC inhibitors\u003c/a> helped remove the scars so that therapy could really heal the brains of these mice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the term scar isn’t too far from reality. In PTSD, the scar is made up of chemical groups scattered around certain genes that end up there as a result of these experiences. These “\u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask403\">epigenetic\u003c/a>” marks make the brain resistant to the rewiring that therapy can provide. So it makes sense that removing them would make the brain more receptive to therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course a mouse is not a person but this is still a very promising line of research. Even if we don’t end up combining HDAC inhibitors with therapy in people, the study may still help us find key genes to target in other ways. Research like this may one day help find better treatments for the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/basics/how-common-is-ptsd.asp\">7-8% of people who will suffer\u003c/a> from this devastating disorder at some point in their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Mouse Experiment\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15006\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Labmouse300.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15006\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15006\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Labmouse300.jpg\" alt=\"Mice trained to fear a noise could be cured with therapy if they were given drugs that could prime their DNA for it. (Rama/Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"300\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mice trained to fear a noise could be cured with therapy if they were given drugs that could prime their DNA for it. (Rama/\u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lab_mouse_mg_3158.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The first step in the study was to create mice with PTSD. The researchers did this with a sort of cruel \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning\">Pavlovian \u003c/a>experiment—they shocked the feet of the mice and played a noise at the same time. After a while, the sound alone was enough to cause the mice to freeze. The sound could now trigger the traumatic memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next step was to see if the most common treatment for PTSD, extinction therapy, could help these mice. In extinction therapy the patient relives the situation in a safe environment so they can learn that it can’t hurt them anymore. In the case of the mice, the researchers wanted to see if the mice stopped being scared of the noise if they heard it repeatedly without the shock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Extinction therapy could cure these mice if it was done within one day of the trauma but not after a month. By then the memory had become hardwired into their tiny rodent brains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To undo this rewiring, the researchers gave the mice a class of drugs called HDAC inhibitors. The idea was that these drugs would prime the mouse’s brain to respond better to the therapy. And it did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mice that received both HDAC inhibitors and extinction therapy one month after the trauma were no longer afraid of the noise. These mice had overcome their PTSD and so no longer froze when they heard the noise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An important point is that neither treatment worked by itself. Mice given just the drugs or just extinction therapy after a month were still frightened by the noise. Both were needed for the cure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HDAC inhibitors can prime a mouse’s DNA to rewiring through new experiences but they won’t rewire the brain themselves. They just make the therapy more likely to take.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How HDAC Inhibitors Work\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15016\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/HistoneAndDNA.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15016\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15016\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/HistoneAndDNA.jpg\" alt=\"By making histones grip a little less tightly, HDAC inhibitors make PTSD therapy more effective. In this image, the DNA is wrapped around the histone. (Aubreybailey/Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"300\" height=\"261\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">By making histones grip DNA a little less tightly, HDAC inhibitors make PTSD therapy more effective. In this image, the DNA is wrapped around the histone. (Aubreybailey/\u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nucleosome_Complex_model.ogg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A memory can become fixed in the hippocampus through changes in how certain genes are used there. The event does not cause a change in the gene itself. Instead, different chemical groups are placed near the gene. These “\u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask403\">epigenetic\u003c/a>” changes then affect how well a cell can read that particular gene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DNA that contains our genes is wrapped up around proteins called histones. Not only do these histones allow for 6 feet of DNA to be crammed into a nucleus that is only 10 microns across, but they can also affect how a gene works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If histones are locked down on certain parts of a gene, that gene is hard for the cell to read. Cells have a hard time prying these histones away and getting to the gene. These genes are used at a lower level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conversely, if a histone rests lightly on a gene, then that gene is more easily read. The cell can easily get to this DNA and so the gene is read at a higher level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cells can make histones bind more or less tightly by adding or removing acetyl groups from them. Since both the acetyl group and the DNA are negatively charged, extra acetyl groups means a histone and DNA are a bit less attracted to each other. These genes are easier to read and so are turned up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An HDAC inhibitor keeps the cell from removing acetyl groups from histones. The end result is that the DNA has more acetylated histones which means some genes are turned up. In these experiments, keeping histones acetylated primed the mouse brain to accept the extinction therapy.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "What We Know -- And Don't Know -- About the Sea Star Die-Off",
"headTitle": "What We Know — And Don’t Know — About the Sea Star Die-Off | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15083\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 573px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-15083 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/1024px-Expl1080_-_Flickr_-_NOAA_Photo_Library.jpg\" alt=\"orange sunflower starfish\" width=\"573\" height=\"430\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The predatory sunflower starfish, Pycnopodia helianthoides, is one of the species dying from sea star wasting disease. (Ed Bowlby/NOAA, Olympic Coast NMS)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since last summer, scientists and tidepoolers \u003ca href=\"http://data.piscoweb.org/marine1/seastardisease.html\">up and down the Pacific Coast\u003c/a> have noticed starfish dying in startling numbers. Some observers have documented sea star bodies turning to mush, others described the creatures disintegrating, while others found stars that lost their limbs and color. The name of this phenomenon: “\u003ca href=\"http://www.eeb.ucsc.edu/pacificrockyintertidal/data-products/sea-star-wasting/\">sea star wasting disease\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists don’t know how many starfish have died so far. Pete Raimondi, chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of California, Santa Cruz, says it could be in the millions. One particularly hard-hit species, the sunflower starfish, has “pretty much disappeared,” Raimondi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raimondi and Benjamin Miner, professor of marine biology at Western Washington University, spoke on \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201403050930\">Forum\u003c/a> about the latest outbreak of this mysterious disease. While similar die-offs have happened before, scientists are flummoxed about the cause.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘The patterns that we’re seeing make it especially perplexing, because we’ve seen major die-offs in regions that are geographically separated.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Why is the wasting disease so difficult to nail down? In short, its pervasiveness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Raimondi, researchers studying the problem are leaning toward the theory that “it may be a pathogen of some sort that is distributed through ocean currents or other oceanographic forcing.” Still, there is no scientific consensus on that and neither Raimondi nor Miner is willing to stake a claim on a singular theory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The patterns that we’re seeing make it especially perplexing because we’ve seen major die-offs in regions that are geographically separated,” Miner said. “For example, Santa Barbara, Monterey, the Seattle area, British Columbia and the Vancouver area. And then some areas in between those appear quite healthy. So the locations, in addition to the fact that it’s affecting many species, some of them rather distantly related among sea stars, makes it really challenging.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miner said that, so far, a natural occurrence is the most likely explanation. There is one tantalizing clue. All of the three major starfish die-offs in the past 40 years—the late 1970s, 1983-84 and 1997-98—were \u003cem>associated with\u003c/em> a warm water event. They were not necessarily \u003cem>caused by\u003c/em> a warm water event, however.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”a37a3e7aa97fa0bfe78982b26eaf6597″]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It could be that warm water coming up from the south carried a pathogen, Raimondi said. Or “it could have been a local species that went rogue, essentially, during those warm water events.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the source of sea star wasting disease unclear it would be easy to dismiss the phenomenon as one huge mystery. But in truth, scientists do know a fair amount about the disease, including what is not causing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong style=\"font-size: 13px\">What Is Not Causing the Die-Off\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In case you’re already pondering some of the following theories, Raimondi suggests you discard them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Plastic pollution: “We’re talking about completely pristine areas to completely degraded areas, and we don’t see any pattern that is suggestive of (plastics).”\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Ocean acidification: “What we’ve seen with respect to ocean acidification is that there are local areas which can be affected, but we don’t see any broad pattern of it.”\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Fukushima radiation: “The trajectory that has been proposed with respect to the distribution of any of the debris really doesn’t come very far south. And with respect to the radiation, that wouldn’t have arrived here yet. Also, just the distribution of the disease and apparent lack of the disease in other areas, really doesn’t lend itself to (a Fukushima link).”\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Climate Change Connection Can Neither Be Confirmed Nor Ruled Out\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although climate change is warming the ocean overall, the ocean along the West Coast has been in a cool period, Raimondi said, since the 1997-98 El Niño. “The water’s been cool,” he said. “There may be local warming areas but in general it’s been a cool phase and so it doesn’t appear that this (die-off) is related to any general climate-related warming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That doesn’t, however, rule out some sort of climate change connection, he said, for example, ocean currents may be moving in different directions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Miner adds that climate change could, say, be suppressing sea stars’ immune systems and making them more susceptible to a lethal pathogen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/mysterious-epidemic-devastates-starfish-population-pacific-coast/\">PBS NewsHour\u003c/a> had a segment on seastar wasting disease earlier this year, including underwater video of the effects of the disease:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_I_B6U0GtI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>There Is Hope\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the species affected by the previous die-offs is extinct and most have recovered, albeit slowly. “I don’t think anyone at this point is thinking that this system is not going to recover as well,” said Raimondi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the reasons for Raimondi’s optimism has to do with the life cycle of sea star larvae. Most of the affected species have long-living larvae that can survive the travel to unaffected sections of the coast, where they can populate new areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And not all species are affected in the same way by the wasting disease. Bat stars, which seem not to be negatively affected by the disease, are actually thriving because they’re able to feast on the bodies of other dead sea stars. Giant sea stars have been relatively resistant to it too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15085\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 614px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Steve-Corey-Flickr.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15085\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-15085 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Steve-Corey-Flickr.jpg\" alt=\"bat star\" width=\"614\" height=\"411\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The bat star or Patiria miniata feasts on the carcusses of other sea stars that dying from sea star wasting disease. (Steve Corey/\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/22016744@N06/3281278891/in/photolist-5ZXpTZ-a6mvyY-adL8ou-dASYpg-a8i48w-545zdG-2fCxG1-aoWdjj-6fMyed-5YBpqj-8AeGD9-5isrgr-3ccvM2-6fHphM-9cA4xa-8XMHtL-AC49D-aetZNu-tmVUo-aLok2D-8oSPuV-21yrn-s8SyL-a9xtMH-fjxFhU-9AASdo-s8Ss1-a9xuvK-s8TfU-BUyrc-s8TtH-3JGxnb-s8SYa-b52tB-a4ja86-a4n1KG-s8Tay-ah45Wa-5YxbDi-38KRpW-cooZJ7-jcekot-LDGby-PcW7J-s8SEw-s8T6b-9cDqWb-7vzRWv-21ytJ-a9AgqL-ah45GZ\">Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What We See on Shore Is Only a Small Part of the Problem\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sea stars in tidepool systems and subtidal systems (basically, areas that are always under water, even during low tide) are both suffering from the wasting disease. But Raimondi says the subtidal systems are more affected. This makes gathering accurate data difficult because scientists have limited access to underwater locations and most citizen-scientists who may report their observations encounter starfish in tidepools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raimondi and Miner encouraged beach goers, fishermen and divers to share their observations—whether on shore or out in the water at \u003ca href=\"http://www.eeb.ucsc.edu/pacificrockyintertidal/data-products/sea-star-wasting/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">seastarwasting.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Starfish on the West Coast have been dying in startling numbers. Some observers have documented sea star bodies turning to mush, others described the creatures disintegrating. It's \"sea star wasting disease,\" and scientists don't know what causes it. ",
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"title": "What We Know -- And Don't Know -- About the Sea Star Die-Off | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15083\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 573px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-15083 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/1024px-Expl1080_-_Flickr_-_NOAA_Photo_Library.jpg\" alt=\"orange sunflower starfish\" width=\"573\" height=\"430\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The predatory sunflower starfish, Pycnopodia helianthoides, is one of the species dying from sea star wasting disease. (Ed Bowlby/NOAA, Olympic Coast NMS)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since last summer, scientists and tidepoolers \u003ca href=\"http://data.piscoweb.org/marine1/seastardisease.html\">up and down the Pacific Coast\u003c/a> have noticed starfish dying in startling numbers. Some observers have documented sea star bodies turning to mush, others described the creatures disintegrating, while others found stars that lost their limbs and color. The name of this phenomenon: “\u003ca href=\"http://www.eeb.ucsc.edu/pacificrockyintertidal/data-products/sea-star-wasting/\">sea star wasting disease\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists don’t know how many starfish have died so far. Pete Raimondi, chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of California, Santa Cruz, says it could be in the millions. One particularly hard-hit species, the sunflower starfish, has “pretty much disappeared,” Raimondi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raimondi and Benjamin Miner, professor of marine biology at Western Washington University, spoke on \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201403050930\">Forum\u003c/a> about the latest outbreak of this mysterious disease. While similar die-offs have happened before, scientists are flummoxed about the cause.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘The patterns that we’re seeing make it especially perplexing, because we’ve seen major die-offs in regions that are geographically separated.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Why is the wasting disease so difficult to nail down? In short, its pervasiveness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Raimondi, researchers studying the problem are leaning toward the theory that “it may be a pathogen of some sort that is distributed through ocean currents or other oceanographic forcing.” Still, there is no scientific consensus on that and neither Raimondi nor Miner is willing to stake a claim on a singular theory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The patterns that we’re seeing make it especially perplexing because we’ve seen major die-offs in regions that are geographically separated,” Miner said. “For example, Santa Barbara, Monterey, the Seattle area, British Columbia and the Vancouver area. And then some areas in between those appear quite healthy. So the locations, in addition to the fact that it’s affecting many species, some of them rather distantly related among sea stars, makes it really challenging.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miner said that, so far, a natural occurrence is the most likely explanation. There is one tantalizing clue. All of the three major starfish die-offs in the past 40 years—the late 1970s, 1983-84 and 1997-98—were \u003cem>associated with\u003c/em> a warm water event. They were not necessarily \u003cem>caused by\u003c/em> a warm water event, however.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It could be that warm water coming up from the south carried a pathogen, Raimondi said. Or “it could have been a local species that went rogue, essentially, during those warm water events.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the source of sea star wasting disease unclear it would be easy to dismiss the phenomenon as one huge mystery. But in truth, scientists do know a fair amount about the disease, including what is not causing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong style=\"font-size: 13px\">What Is Not Causing the Die-Off\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In case you’re already pondering some of the following theories, Raimondi suggests you discard them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Plastic pollution: “We’re talking about completely pristine areas to completely degraded areas, and we don’t see any pattern that is suggestive of (plastics).”\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Ocean acidification: “What we’ve seen with respect to ocean acidification is that there are local areas which can be affected, but we don’t see any broad pattern of it.”\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Fukushima radiation: “The trajectory that has been proposed with respect to the distribution of any of the debris really doesn’t come very far south. And with respect to the radiation, that wouldn’t have arrived here yet. Also, just the distribution of the disease and apparent lack of the disease in other areas, really doesn’t lend itself to (a Fukushima link).”\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Climate Change Connection Can Neither Be Confirmed Nor Ruled Out\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although climate change is warming the ocean overall, the ocean along the West Coast has been in a cool period, Raimondi said, since the 1997-98 El Niño. “The water’s been cool,” he said. “There may be local warming areas but in general it’s been a cool phase and so it doesn’t appear that this (die-off) is related to any general climate-related warming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That doesn’t, however, rule out some sort of climate change connection, he said, for example, ocean currents may be moving in different directions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Miner adds that climate change could, say, be suppressing sea stars’ immune systems and making them more susceptible to a lethal pathogen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/mysterious-epidemic-devastates-starfish-population-pacific-coast/\">PBS NewsHour\u003c/a> had a segment on seastar wasting disease earlier this year, including underwater video of the effects of the disease:\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/2_I_B6U0GtI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/2_I_B6U0GtI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>There Is Hope\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the species affected by the previous die-offs is extinct and most have recovered, albeit slowly. “I don’t think anyone at this point is thinking that this system is not going to recover as well,” said Raimondi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the reasons for Raimondi’s optimism has to do with the life cycle of sea star larvae. Most of the affected species have long-living larvae that can survive the travel to unaffected sections of the coast, where they can populate new areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And not all species are affected in the same way by the wasting disease. Bat stars, which seem not to be negatively affected by the disease, are actually thriving because they’re able to feast on the bodies of other dead sea stars. Giant sea stars have been relatively resistant to it too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15085\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 614px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Steve-Corey-Flickr.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15085\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-15085 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Steve-Corey-Flickr.jpg\" alt=\"bat star\" width=\"614\" height=\"411\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The bat star or Patiria miniata feasts on the carcusses of other sea stars that dying from sea star wasting disease. (Steve Corey/\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/22016744@N06/3281278891/in/photolist-5ZXpTZ-a6mvyY-adL8ou-dASYpg-a8i48w-545zdG-2fCxG1-aoWdjj-6fMyed-5YBpqj-8AeGD9-5isrgr-3ccvM2-6fHphM-9cA4xa-8XMHtL-AC49D-aetZNu-tmVUo-aLok2D-8oSPuV-21yrn-s8SyL-a9xtMH-fjxFhU-9AASdo-s8Ss1-a9xuvK-s8TfU-BUyrc-s8TtH-3JGxnb-s8SYa-b52tB-a4ja86-a4n1KG-s8Tay-ah45Wa-5YxbDi-38KRpW-cooZJ7-jcekot-LDGby-PcW7J-s8SEw-s8T6b-9cDqWb-7vzRWv-21ytJ-a9AgqL-ah45GZ\">Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What We See on Shore Is Only a Small Part of the Problem\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sea stars in tidepool systems and subtidal systems (basically, areas that are always under water, even during low tide) are both suffering from the wasting disease. But Raimondi says the subtidal systems are more affected. This makes gathering accurate data difficult because scientists have limited access to underwater locations and most citizen-scientists who may report their observations encounter starfish in tidepools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raimondi and Miner encouraged beach goers, fishermen and divers to share their observations—whether on shore or out in the water at \u003ca href=\"http://www.eeb.ucsc.edu/pacificrockyintertidal/data-products/sea-star-wasting/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">seastarwasting.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"headTitle": "New UCSF Lab Studies How Video Games Affect Our Brains | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14970\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-14970\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/New-Neuroscape-4788JC_CROP2-1024x575.jpg\" alt=\"Gaming, EEG and MRI brain scanning, and -- eventually -- a closed-loop system will help scientists explore the theraputic uses of video games. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"575\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gaming, EEG and MRI brain scanning, and — eventually — a closed-loop system will help scientists explore the theraputic uses of video games. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>This week the University of California, San Francisco debuts a new laboratory devoted to asking whether video games can do more than turn us into couch potatoes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are no test tubes at the \u003ca href=\"http://neuroscapelab.com/\">Neuroscape Lab\u003c/a>. Instead, it looks like some billionaire’s personal video game parlor: dimly lit in a palate of dark grays, punctuated by a red gaming chair and a red circle on the floor where gamers stand (and jump, squat and lunge) during motion-capture games.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nExploring the “Glass Brain”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The room is dominated by two large screens. One displays the game itself. On the day I visited, it was a futuristic movement-and-concentration game where an avatar on the screen mirrors the player’s body movements as he or she scores by smacking down floating golden orbs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second screen displays what Adam Gazzaley, a neuroscientist at UCSF, calls “the glass brain,” a mesmerizing, slowly rotating image of a brain pulsing with flashes of light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14930\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-14930\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Neuroscape-JoshC-4795_Scale-1024x575.jpg\" alt=\"The "glass brain" projects EEG data onto an MRI scan of the player's brain. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"575\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The “glass brain” projects EEG data onto an MRI scan of the player’s brain. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The glass brain is a mash-up of two brain scanning techniques. One is static, an MRI image of the player’s brain, captured in a scanner before the game begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Superimposed on the MRI are signals collected by another brain-scanning technique used by neuroscientists: electroencephalography, or \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/how-to-fly-a-model-helicopter-with-your-brain-and-other-adventures-in-eeg-gaming/\">EEG\u003c/a>. Normally, EEG read-outs look like the horizontal zig-zags of a seismograph. On the glass brain, they’re translated into flashes of red, green and yellow streaks, corresponding to the electric firing between billions of synapses inside in the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, there’s a slight delay between the player’s action and when the corresponding brain activity shows up on screen. But technicians are working to close that gap, says Gazzaley, “so that we can see an event in the brain right at the moment it’s happening in the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">In search of “the world’s first FDA-approved prescribed video game.”\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The next step is to build the game so that it responds to the player’s brain activity, sensing where a particular task activates the brain, and then adjusting to challenge that particular network.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nA Feedback Loop Between Brain and Game\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The game will essentially understand where the weaknesses are, and then change the mechanics to put pressure on those processes to lead to improvements,” Gazalley says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He is one of several researchers trying to understand whether video games could be used as a therapy for people struggling with memory problems, for example, or ADHD. Gazzaley believes games he’s developing could become “the world’s first FDA-approved prescribed video game.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14933\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-14933\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Neuroscape-JoshC-4717-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"UCSF neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley runs the Neuroscape lab. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UCSF neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley runs the Neuroscape lab. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Success will hinge on something called “transference,” says C. Shawn Green, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who studies the effects of games on the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The big crux in the field at the moment is how do we produce really broad effects?” says Green.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nDoes Video Game Success Transfer to the Real World?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, it’s clear that video games do one thing very well: train people to become better gamers. But whether those results “transfer” outside the game into the real world is a source of lively debate among neuroscientists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a paper published in \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24005416\">Nature\u003c/a> last September, UCSF’s Gazzaley and his co-authors showed that older adults were better able to multitask in the real world after training on a game called NeuroRacer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14937\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14937 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Neuroscape-JoshC-4831_Scale-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"UCSF's Neuroscape Lab was produced in partnership with several high tech companies. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UCSF’s Neuroscape Lab was produced in partnership with several gaming and virtual-realty tech companies. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In other words, the training “generalized,” says Robert Knight, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley and one of Gazzaley’s former advisors. “They didn’t only get better at the task [in the video game]; the performance generalized to other tasks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether those results will hold in future studies, and whether similar benefits show up in people with, for example, autism, ADHD or stroke, are questions scientists at Neuroscape and elsewhere will continue to explore.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14970\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-14970\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/New-Neuroscape-4788JC_CROP2-1024x575.jpg\" alt=\"Gaming, EEG and MRI brain scanning, and -- eventually -- a closed-loop system will help scientists explore the theraputic uses of video games. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"575\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gaming, EEG and MRI brain scanning, and — eventually — a closed-loop system will help scientists explore the theraputic uses of video games. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>This week the University of California, San Francisco debuts a new laboratory devoted to asking whether video games can do more than turn us into couch potatoes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are no test tubes at the \u003ca href=\"http://neuroscapelab.com/\">Neuroscape Lab\u003c/a>. Instead, it looks like some billionaire’s personal video game parlor: dimly lit in a palate of dark grays, punctuated by a red gaming chair and a red circle on the floor where gamers stand (and jump, squat and lunge) during motion-capture games.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nExploring the “Glass Brain”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The room is dominated by two large screens. One displays the game itself. On the day I visited, it was a futuristic movement-and-concentration game where an avatar on the screen mirrors the player’s body movements as he or she scores by smacking down floating golden orbs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second screen displays what Adam Gazzaley, a neuroscientist at UCSF, calls “the glass brain,” a mesmerizing, slowly rotating image of a brain pulsing with flashes of light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14930\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-14930\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Neuroscape-JoshC-4795_Scale-1024x575.jpg\" alt=\"The "glass brain" projects EEG data onto an MRI scan of the player's brain. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"575\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The “glass brain” projects EEG data onto an MRI scan of the player’s brain. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The glass brain is a mash-up of two brain scanning techniques. One is static, an MRI image of the player’s brain, captured in a scanner before the game begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Superimposed on the MRI are signals collected by another brain-scanning technique used by neuroscientists: electroencephalography, or \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/audio/how-to-fly-a-model-helicopter-with-your-brain-and-other-adventures-in-eeg-gaming/\">EEG\u003c/a>. Normally, EEG read-outs look like the horizontal zig-zags of a seismograph. On the glass brain, they’re translated into flashes of red, green and yellow streaks, corresponding to the electric firing between billions of synapses inside in the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, there’s a slight delay between the player’s action and when the corresponding brain activity shows up on screen. But technicians are working to close that gap, says Gazzaley, “so that we can see an event in the brain right at the moment it’s happening in the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">In search of “the world’s first FDA-approved prescribed video game.”\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The next step is to build the game so that it responds to the player’s brain activity, sensing where a particular task activates the brain, and then adjusting to challenge that particular network.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nA Feedback Loop Between Brain and Game\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The game will essentially understand where the weaknesses are, and then change the mechanics to put pressure on those processes to lead to improvements,” Gazalley says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He is one of several researchers trying to understand whether video games could be used as a therapy for people struggling with memory problems, for example, or ADHD. Gazzaley believes games he’s developing could become “the world’s first FDA-approved prescribed video game.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14933\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-14933\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Neuroscape-JoshC-4717-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"UCSF neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley runs the Neuroscape lab. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UCSF neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley runs the Neuroscape lab. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Success will hinge on something called “transference,” says C. Shawn Green, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who studies the effects of games on the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The big crux in the field at the moment is how do we produce really broad effects?” says Green.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\nDoes Video Game Success Transfer to the Real World?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, it’s clear that video games do one thing very well: train people to become better gamers. But whether those results “transfer” outside the game into the real world is a source of lively debate among neuroscientists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a paper published in \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24005416\">Nature\u003c/a> last September, UCSF’s Gazzaley and his co-authors showed that older adults were better able to multitask in the real world after training on a game called NeuroRacer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14937\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14937 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/03/Neuroscape-JoshC-4831_Scale-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"UCSF's Neuroscape Lab was produced in partnership with several high tech companies. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UCSF’s Neuroscape Lab was produced in partnership with several gaming and virtual-realty tech companies. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In other words, the training “generalized,” says Robert Knight, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley and one of Gazzaley’s former advisors. “They didn’t only get better at the task [in the video game]; the performance generalized to other tasks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether those results will hold in future studies, and whether similar benefits show up in people with, for example, autism, ADHD or stroke, are questions scientists at Neuroscape and elsewhere will continue to explore.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Predatory Plant: Lure of the Cobra Lily",
"headTitle": "Predatory Plant: Lure of the Cobra Lily | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The cobra lily (Darlingtonia californica) is a patient and devious predatory plant native to Northern California and Southern Oregon. Also called the California pitcher plant, it has evolved an astonishing set of adaptations that allow it to trap, kill and digest its animal prey using highly modified pitcher-shaped leaves. But what would make a plant select a diet of insect meat?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It seems strange to us that a plant can be carnivorous,” said Barry Rice, a botanist at the University of California, Davis Center for Plant Diversity. “We’ve gotten used to what we think of as a natural order of things, where people and animals eat plants, not the other way around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12326\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/Butterfly-Valley-288x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12326\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/Butterfly-Valley-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"Butterfly Valley, located Plumas Nationa Forest, is one of the only protected cobra lily habitats. Photo by Josh Cassidy/KQED.\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Butterfly Valley, located Plumas Nationa Forest, is one of the only protected cobra lily habitats. Photo by Josh Cassidy/KQED.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Butterfly Valley Botanical Area is a place where the tables are turned. Located in Plumas National Forest, about 150 miles northeast of Sacramento, Butterfly Valley is home to the Darlingtonia bog. More accurately described as a fen, this wetland is home to some amazing carnivorous plants. The combination of cold, slow moving water, nutrient-poor soils and bright sun provide the perfect conditions for cobra lilies to thrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12636\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/fly-under-hood-288x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12636\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/fly-under-hood-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"The cobra lily uses nectar to lure insects into its pitcher traps. Photo by Phi Tran.\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cobra lily uses nectar to lure insects into its pitcher traps. Photo by Phi Tran.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Drudging through the soggy fen recently, Rice said: “In habitats like this, where there are very few nutrients, carnivorous plants act as the top predator of the ecosystem. And they’ll eat just about anything they can lure into them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plants entice insects into their pitcher-shaped traps with an offering of sugary nectar on their long leafy fangs. Insects that land on the plants gorge on the nectar, which leads them to the cobra lillies’ downward facing openings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12325\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/Ant03-cropped-288x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12325\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/Ant03-cropped-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"The entrance to the cobra lily's pitcher trap is curled inwards making it easy for insects to enter, but difficult for them to find the exit once inside. Photo by Josh Cassidy/KQED.\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The entrance to the cobra lily’s pitcher trap is curled inwards making it easy for insects to enter, but difficult for them to find the exit once inside. Photo by Josh Cassidy/KQED.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Once inside a cobra lily, insects become confused by the light shining down through the transparent windows — called fenestrations — at the top of the chamber. Insects are drawn to light, but the false exits only serve to confuse and tire the plant’s prey. The entrance to the pitcher curls into the chamber obscuring the only way out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After buzzing around within the chamber and repeatedly slamming into the fenestrations, some unlucky insects fall or crawl down into the pitcher’s descending tube. The tube is lined with tiny downward facing hairs to discourage the insects from crawling back up to safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12329\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/fenistrations-288x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12329\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/fenistrations-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"Transparent windows called fenestrations confuse trapped insects. Photo by Josh Cassidy/KQED\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Transparent windows called fenestrations confuse trapped insects. Photo by Josh Cassidy/KQED\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Exhausted, the insects eventually drown in the puddle of fluid at the bottom of the pitcher. Symbiotic midge larvae and bacteria living in the fluid, assist the cobra lily in digesting the doomed bugs. The plant then absorbs the nutrients through cells that line the inside of the pitcher tube, much the same way that roots absorb nutrients and water from the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carnivorous plants like the cobra lily still collect energy from the sun. But plants also require nutrients, and not all habitats have ideal nutrients in the soil. Carnivorous plants have evolved an alternative method of absorbing the essential nutrients. Instead of depending entirely on their roots to draw nitrogen and phosphorus up from the soil, carnivorous plants can supplement their input by absorbing the nutrients from the carcasses of their insect prey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12328\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 162px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/Darlingtonia-range-map-1300-162x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12328\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/Darlingtonia-range-map-1300-162x162.jpg\" alt=\"The cobra lily is endemic to northern California and southern Oregon. Based on map by Noah Elhardt.\" width=\"162\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cobra lily is endemic to Northern California and Southern Oregon. Based on map by Noah Elhardt.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By adopting this alternative method of nutrition, the cobra lily is able to thrive in habitats that might otherwise be hostile to plant growth. The plant’s unusual affinity for frigid water and hot sun also make it a poor choice for carnivorous plant enthusiasts hoping to keep a cobra lily at home, since the plant’s preferred habitat is extremely difficult to recreate. Cobra lilies also receive federal protection in Butterfly Valley Botanical Area, so taking one home is not permitted. Those interested in growing carnivorous plants can check out Rice’s book, \u003ca href=\"http://www.sarracenia.com/cp.html\">Growing Carnivorous Plants\u003c/a>, or make a visit to \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiacarnivores.com/\">California Carnivores\u003c/a>, a carnivorous plant shop in Sebastopol, CA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While carnivorous plants seem exotic, North America is actually home to lots of predatory plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many people think that carnivorous plants are only found in the tropics,” said Rice. “They don’t know that North America’s a hotspot for carnivorous plants. These Darlingtonia, for example, are only found in California and Oregon. The Venus flytrap is from North and South Carolina. So we have a lot of impressive carnivorous plant biodiversity in the United States.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-14742\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Cobra-GIF-05-15fps.gif\" alt=\"Cobra-GIF-05-15fps\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "What lurks inside a hungry pitcher plant? The cobra lily, a carnivorous plant native to California, uses deception, patience and bacteria to catch and digest its prey. Watch it in action. ",
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"description": "What lurks inside a hungry pitcher plant? The cobra lily, a carnivorous plant native to California, uses deception, patience and bacteria to catch and digest its prey. Watch it in action. ",
"title": "Predatory Plant: Lure of the Cobra Lily | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The cobra lily (Darlingtonia californica) is a patient and devious predatory plant native to Northern California and Southern Oregon. Also called the California pitcher plant, it has evolved an astonishing set of adaptations that allow it to trap, kill and digest its animal prey using highly modified pitcher-shaped leaves. But what would make a plant select a diet of insect meat?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It seems strange to us that a plant can be carnivorous,” said Barry Rice, a botanist at the University of California, Davis Center for Plant Diversity. “We’ve gotten used to what we think of as a natural order of things, where people and animals eat plants, not the other way around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12326\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/Butterfly-Valley-288x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12326\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/Butterfly-Valley-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"Butterfly Valley, located Plumas Nationa Forest, is one of the only protected cobra lily habitats. Photo by Josh Cassidy/KQED.\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Butterfly Valley, located Plumas Nationa Forest, is one of the only protected cobra lily habitats. Photo by Josh Cassidy/KQED.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Butterfly Valley Botanical Area is a place where the tables are turned. Located in Plumas National Forest, about 150 miles northeast of Sacramento, Butterfly Valley is home to the Darlingtonia bog. More accurately described as a fen, this wetland is home to some amazing carnivorous plants. The combination of cold, slow moving water, nutrient-poor soils and bright sun provide the perfect conditions for cobra lilies to thrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12636\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/fly-under-hood-288x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12636\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/fly-under-hood-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"The cobra lily uses nectar to lure insects into its pitcher traps. Photo by Phi Tran.\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cobra lily uses nectar to lure insects into its pitcher traps. Photo by Phi Tran.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Drudging through the soggy fen recently, Rice said: “In habitats like this, where there are very few nutrients, carnivorous plants act as the top predator of the ecosystem. And they’ll eat just about anything they can lure into them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plants entice insects into their pitcher-shaped traps with an offering of sugary nectar on their long leafy fangs. Insects that land on the plants gorge on the nectar, which leads them to the cobra lillies’ downward facing openings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12325\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/Ant03-cropped-288x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12325\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/Ant03-cropped-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"The entrance to the cobra lily's pitcher trap is curled inwards making it easy for insects to enter, but difficult for them to find the exit once inside. Photo by Josh Cassidy/KQED.\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The entrance to the cobra lily’s pitcher trap is curled inwards making it easy for insects to enter, but difficult for them to find the exit once inside. Photo by Josh Cassidy/KQED.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Once inside a cobra lily, insects become confused by the light shining down through the transparent windows — called fenestrations — at the top of the chamber. Insects are drawn to light, but the false exits only serve to confuse and tire the plant’s prey. The entrance to the pitcher curls into the chamber obscuring the only way out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After buzzing around within the chamber and repeatedly slamming into the fenestrations, some unlucky insects fall or crawl down into the pitcher’s descending tube. The tube is lined with tiny downward facing hairs to discourage the insects from crawling back up to safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12329\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/fenistrations-288x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12329\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/fenistrations-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"Transparent windows called fenestrations confuse trapped insects. Photo by Josh Cassidy/KQED\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Transparent windows called fenestrations confuse trapped insects. Photo by Josh Cassidy/KQED\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Exhausted, the insects eventually drown in the puddle of fluid at the bottom of the pitcher. Symbiotic midge larvae and bacteria living in the fluid, assist the cobra lily in digesting the doomed bugs. The plant then absorbs the nutrients through cells that line the inside of the pitcher tube, much the same way that roots absorb nutrients and water from the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carnivorous plants like the cobra lily still collect energy from the sun. But plants also require nutrients, and not all habitats have ideal nutrients in the soil. Carnivorous plants have evolved an alternative method of absorbing the essential nutrients. Instead of depending entirely on their roots to draw nitrogen and phosphorus up from the soil, carnivorous plants can supplement their input by absorbing the nutrients from the carcasses of their insect prey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12328\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 162px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/Darlingtonia-range-map-1300-162x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12328\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/12/Darlingtonia-range-map-1300-162x162.jpg\" alt=\"The cobra lily is endemic to northern California and southern Oregon. Based on map by Noah Elhardt.\" width=\"162\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cobra lily is endemic to Northern California and Southern Oregon. Based on map by Noah Elhardt.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By adopting this alternative method of nutrition, the cobra lily is able to thrive in habitats that might otherwise be hostile to plant growth. The plant’s unusual affinity for frigid water and hot sun also make it a poor choice for carnivorous plant enthusiasts hoping to keep a cobra lily at home, since the plant’s preferred habitat is extremely difficult to recreate. Cobra lilies also receive federal protection in Butterfly Valley Botanical Area, so taking one home is not permitted. Those interested in growing carnivorous plants can check out Rice’s book, \u003ca href=\"http://www.sarracenia.com/cp.html\">Growing Carnivorous Plants\u003c/a>, or make a visit to \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiacarnivores.com/\">California Carnivores\u003c/a>, a carnivorous plant shop in Sebastopol, CA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While carnivorous plants seem exotic, North America is actually home to lots of predatory plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many people think that carnivorous plants are only found in the tropics,” said Rice. “They don’t know that North America’s a hotspot for carnivorous plants. These Darlingtonia, for example, are only found in California and Oregon. The Venus flytrap is from North and South Carolina. So we have a lot of impressive carnivorous plant biodiversity in the United States.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-14742\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Cobra-GIF-05-15fps.gif\" alt=\"Cobra-GIF-05-15fps\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Is Brain Stimulation a Medicine of the Future?",
"headTitle": "Is Brain Stimulation a Medicine of the Future? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"audio-wrap\">\n\u003ch2>Listen:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2014/02/20140303science.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Why seek out entirely new approaches to treating brain disease? Because the ones we have aren’t good enough, says Stanford University law professor Hank Greely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mental illness and neurological disease extract an enormous toll in human suffering as well as in dollars,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.law.stanford.edu/profile/hank-greely\">Greely\u003c/a>. “It’s frustrating that we haven’t made more progress.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the context for a growing interest in the field of “electroceuticals,” in which small jolts of electricity (about 1/200\u003csup>th \u003c/sup>of what’s used in \u003ca href=\"http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/brain-stimulation-therapies/brain-stimulation-therapies.shtml\">ECT therapy\u003c/a>, in case you’re wondering) are directed toward the brain to change the way neurons fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Rise of “Electroceuticals”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In hundreds of studies over the last decade, scientists have looked at whether electroceuticals might, among other applications, help people with chronic pain or depression, or help them stop smoking.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘Mental illness and neurological disease extract an enormous toll in human suffering and in dollars.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>At a recent meeting of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.iom.edu/\">Institute of Medicine\u003c/a>’s Neuroscience Forum, of which Greely is a member, members decided that the field of electroceuticals, while still at an early stage, is “worth paying some attention to,” says Greely, and will be the topic of an upcoming white paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broadly speaking, brain stimulation techniques fall into two categories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first is invasive brain stimulation, in which electrodes are surgically implanted inside the brain, as a treatment, for example, for Parkinson’s disease. Non-invasive brain stimulation can be done without surgery—either with electrodes, ultrasound, or a powerful \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2009/07/17/reporters-notes-depression-advancements/\">electromagnetic coil\u003c/a>, and it includes a technique known as \u003ca href=\"http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/specialty_areas/brain_stimulation/tdcs.html\">transcranial direct current stimulation\u003c/a>, or tDCS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s interesting about tDCS is that anyone can do it, including for reasons that have nothing to do with disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Brain Stimulation for the Masses\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take, for example, the Foc.us headset, which costs about $250, is unregulated by the FDA and, according to its website, allows users to “overclock” their brains to focus better and score higher. (Foc.us didn’t respond to KQED’s requests for an interview.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14774\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 226px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-14774 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/photo-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Jared Seehafer built a tDCS machine for about $100.\" width=\"226\" height=\"301\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jared Seehafer built a tDCS machine for about $100.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For as little as a tenth of that price you can make your own tDCS kit, using instructions easily found on \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjpJPCTytP8\">YouTube\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s what Jared Seehafer did. The 28-year-old medical device consultant lives in San Francisco and heads the \u003ca href=\"http://www.meetup.com/Bay-Area-Brain-Hackers/\">Bay Area Brain Hackers\u003c/a> group, and made his own tDCS machine using an \u003ca href=\"http://www.arduino.cc/\">Arduino \u003c/a>kit, an LCD screen and a “couple of rudimentary buttons” hooked up to two electrodes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s powered by one nine-volt battery, producing about 1-2 milliamps, approximately what it takes to light one small LED bulb, or about one percent of what comes out of a wall socket. It’s the same amount of electricity researchers have used in lab studies on tDCS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One such lab study inspired Seehafer to start experimenting with tDCS as a hobbyist: an experiment conducted byVince Clark, Director of the \u003ca href=\"http://hospitals.unm.edu/outpt/brain/neuro_lomas.shtml\">University of New Mexico’s Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were interested in how can we take an average healthy person and improve their ability to learn something new?” explains Clark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With funding from the Department of Defense, Clark set up an experiment in which subjects studied a series of complicated pictures. Hidden in each was a “threatening” object, such as a suspicious package or someone with a weapon. The goal was to see how fast the subject could spot the objects, with a tDCS treatment and without it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we found,” says Clark, “is that the people that received a full dose of tDCS learned twice as much in the same hour of training as people that received a very low dose of tDCS, or no tDCS at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reasons for Caution\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clark is a big believer in tDCS. He thinks it could become a new kind of medicine with fewer side effects than drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What concerns some researchers, even those who believe tDCS may be therapeutic, is that the commercial and DIY tDCS experiments aren’t being properly controlled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://bme.ccny.cuny.edu/people/faculty/mbikson\">Marom Bikson\u003c/a>, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at City College of New York, studies the effects of electricity on the human body. He strongly objects to the idea of tDCS devices as “playthings” that could be used constructively and safely outside of a laboratory’s strict controls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are deliberate ways that people might apply electricity unsafely to themselves,” Bikson says. “There are also accidental ways. You may make a device at home, but you may not design it correctly. You may design it correctly and then you may drop it on the ground and now its performance changed. You may buy a device from a company that does not follow medical device standards,and now the performance of that device may be very random. It may—who knows what?—it may interact with your cell phone in an unpredictable way and start producing an unpredictable output. ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 13px\">“There are just so many questions that are raised when things start to leave the rigorous environment of an academic or clinical center.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I tried it anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Curiosity Gets the Upper Hand\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14773\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 277px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-14773 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/AmytDCS-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"One radio reporter + two electrodes = a telephone that looks Photoshopped. (Jared Seehafer)\" width=\"277\" height=\"368\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One radio reporter + two electrodes = a telephone that looks Photoshopped. (Jared Seehafer)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After work one evening, Jared Seehafer came into KQED to show me his homemade tDCS device. Seehafer told me to put on a terrycloth headband, the kind favored by 1970s tennis players. Then he slid two padded electrodes, each attached to a white wire and moistened with saline solution, above my eyebrows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, there was nothing. But then I started to feel a slight burning sensation, just beneath the electrodes. It wasn’t painful, but it stung a bit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a few minutes, something subtler set in: a kind of visual crispness. I stared at a phone on the desk in front of me. It looked like it had been sharpened in Photoshop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is it possible I feel more energetic?” I asked Seehafer, “a little more awake?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was very subtle. I may have been imagining it. But when Seehafer ran a placebo test on me, discreetly turning the machine off, I noticed the change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, I described my experience to a couple of experts, to see whether they thought I could have been imagining it. They weren’t surprised I felt something. It’s well established that a small amount of electricity can pass through the skull and into the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s going to take many more years of strict clinical studies to see whether tDCS is a therapy that can be useful, or whether it’s just a footnote in the long history of medicine.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "While scientists study whether \"electroceuticals\" might treat depression or chronic pain, among other ailments, DIY \"brain hackers\" (including this reporter) are trying it out on themselves. ",
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"title": "Is Brain Stimulation a Medicine of the Future? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>Why seek out entirely new approaches to treating brain disease? Because the ones we have aren’t good enough, says Stanford University law professor Hank Greely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mental illness and neurological disease extract an enormous toll in human suffering as well as in dollars,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.law.stanford.edu/profile/hank-greely\">Greely\u003c/a>. “It’s frustrating that we haven’t made more progress.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the context for a growing interest in the field of “electroceuticals,” in which small jolts of electricity (about 1/200\u003csup>th \u003c/sup>of what’s used in \u003ca href=\"http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/brain-stimulation-therapies/brain-stimulation-therapies.shtml\">ECT therapy\u003c/a>, in case you’re wondering) are directed toward the brain to change the way neurons fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Rise of “Electroceuticals”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In hundreds of studies over the last decade, scientists have looked at whether electroceuticals might, among other applications, help people with chronic pain or depression, or help them stop smoking.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘Mental illness and neurological disease extract an enormous toll in human suffering and in dollars.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>At a recent meeting of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.iom.edu/\">Institute of Medicine\u003c/a>’s Neuroscience Forum, of which Greely is a member, members decided that the field of electroceuticals, while still at an early stage, is “worth paying some attention to,” says Greely, and will be the topic of an upcoming white paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Broadly speaking, brain stimulation techniques fall into two categories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first is invasive brain stimulation, in which electrodes are surgically implanted inside the brain, as a treatment, for example, for Parkinson’s disease. Non-invasive brain stimulation can be done without surgery—either with electrodes, ultrasound, or a powerful \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2009/07/17/reporters-notes-depression-advancements/\">electromagnetic coil\u003c/a>, and it includes a technique known as \u003ca href=\"http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/specialty_areas/brain_stimulation/tdcs.html\">transcranial direct current stimulation\u003c/a>, or tDCS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s interesting about tDCS is that anyone can do it, including for reasons that have nothing to do with disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Brain Stimulation for the Masses\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take, for example, the Foc.us headset, which costs about $250, is unregulated by the FDA and, according to its website, allows users to “overclock” their brains to focus better and score higher. (Foc.us didn’t respond to KQED’s requests for an interview.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14774\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 226px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-14774 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/photo-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Jared Seehafer built a tDCS machine for about $100.\" width=\"226\" height=\"301\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jared Seehafer built a tDCS machine for about $100.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For as little as a tenth of that price you can make your own tDCS kit, using instructions easily found on \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjpJPCTytP8\">YouTube\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s what Jared Seehafer did. The 28-year-old medical device consultant lives in San Francisco and heads the \u003ca href=\"http://www.meetup.com/Bay-Area-Brain-Hackers/\">Bay Area Brain Hackers\u003c/a> group, and made his own tDCS machine using an \u003ca href=\"http://www.arduino.cc/\">Arduino \u003c/a>kit, an LCD screen and a “couple of rudimentary buttons” hooked up to two electrodes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s powered by one nine-volt battery, producing about 1-2 milliamps, approximately what it takes to light one small LED bulb, or about one percent of what comes out of a wall socket. It’s the same amount of electricity researchers have used in lab studies on tDCS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One such lab study inspired Seehafer to start experimenting with tDCS as a hobbyist: an experiment conducted byVince Clark, Director of the \u003ca href=\"http://hospitals.unm.edu/outpt/brain/neuro_lomas.shtml\">University of New Mexico’s Psychology Clinical Neuroscience Center\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were interested in how can we take an average healthy person and improve their ability to learn something new?” explains Clark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With funding from the Department of Defense, Clark set up an experiment in which subjects studied a series of complicated pictures. Hidden in each was a “threatening” object, such as a suspicious package or someone with a weapon. The goal was to see how fast the subject could spot the objects, with a tDCS treatment and without it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we found,” says Clark, “is that the people that received a full dose of tDCS learned twice as much in the same hour of training as people that received a very low dose of tDCS, or no tDCS at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reasons for Caution\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clark is a big believer in tDCS. He thinks it could become a new kind of medicine with fewer side effects than drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What concerns some researchers, even those who believe tDCS may be therapeutic, is that the commercial and DIY tDCS experiments aren’t being properly controlled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://bme.ccny.cuny.edu/people/faculty/mbikson\">Marom Bikson\u003c/a>, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at City College of New York, studies the effects of electricity on the human body. He strongly objects to the idea of tDCS devices as “playthings” that could be used constructively and safely outside of a laboratory’s strict controls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are deliberate ways that people might apply electricity unsafely to themselves,” Bikson says. “There are also accidental ways. You may make a device at home, but you may not design it correctly. You may design it correctly and then you may drop it on the ground and now its performance changed. You may buy a device from a company that does not follow medical device standards,and now the performance of that device may be very random. It may—who knows what?—it may interact with your cell phone in an unpredictable way and start producing an unpredictable output. ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 13px\">“There are just so many questions that are raised when things start to leave the rigorous environment of an academic or clinical center.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I tried it anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Curiosity Gets the Upper Hand\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14773\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 277px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-14773 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/AmytDCS-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"One radio reporter + two electrodes = a telephone that looks Photoshopped. (Jared Seehafer)\" width=\"277\" height=\"368\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One radio reporter + two electrodes = a telephone that looks Photoshopped. (Jared Seehafer)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After work one evening, Jared Seehafer came into KQED to show me his homemade tDCS device. Seehafer told me to put on a terrycloth headband, the kind favored by 1970s tennis players. Then he slid two padded electrodes, each attached to a white wire and moistened with saline solution, above my eyebrows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, there was nothing. But then I started to feel a slight burning sensation, just beneath the electrodes. It wasn’t painful, but it stung a bit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a few minutes, something subtler set in: a kind of visual crispness. I stared at a phone on the desk in front of me. It looked like it had been sharpened in Photoshop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is it possible I feel more energetic?” I asked Seehafer, “a little more awake?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was very subtle. I may have been imagining it. But when Seehafer ran a placebo test on me, discreetly turning the machine off, I noticed the change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, I described my experience to a couple of experts, to see whether they thought I could have been imagining it. They weren’t surprised I felt something. It’s well established that a small amount of electricity can pass through the skull and into the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "New Research Shows Diet Drinks May Backfire for Weight Loss",
"headTitle": "New Research Shows Diet Drinks May Backfire for Weight Loss | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14402\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/2884290734_117bd229a4_z_Flicr_BeauB_640x360.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14402\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14402\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/2884290734_117bd229a4_z_Flicr_BeauB_640x360.jpg\" alt=\"boxes of diet Coke\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/beaub/2884290734/in/photolist-5oSK9A-7nJwi9-2pHvP-5uVq1B-6N7jRe-5pyPQz-c5ktyS-dhCCwo-b7zY3F-9VugRz-bpezoo-7z7t7y-nvQrH-JoVHB-84crLV-84crSK-84csbB-4mDSW3-aXzpmp-4tSNkx-2dJp8x-U3CSV-954wK9-dEsdJk-8vfSUE-5suBQJ-6Y7tMT-9oCEpf-9ebAJT-cGjYCE-5A37AF-9otNx-93j8Qy-8WdwNS-9BkrgN-4Z1YZc-jouM4-4HkJej-5wcpjG-4KRUMV-8iUNb7-8WatoV-6yAwwd-6QNsyE-k4NNQ-5xEPgM-2LZqmF-dGAKPM-8peCky-bFfn33-bUahJr/lightbox/\">Beau B\u003c/a>/Creative Commons)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Soda, sports drinks and energy drinks are loaded with sugar and empty calories. Soda is the \u003ca title=\"Rethink Your Drink\" href=\"http://www.sccgov.org/sites/sccphd/en-us/residents/rethinkyourdrink/Pages/default.aspx\">number one source\u003c/a> of added sugar in the American diet, which isn’t surprising since a 20 ounce bottle of soda contains about 17 teaspoons of sugar. So it makes sense that overweight people often turn to diet drinks to help them slim down. But recent research suggests that this weight-loss tactic may backfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studied the patterns in diet drink consumption and calorie intake among US adults of various body-weight categories. Their results were \u003ca title=\"American Journal of Public Health journal article\" href=\"http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301556\">recently published\u003c/a> in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Public Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They analyzed data obtained from the \u003ca title=\"NHANES\" href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm\">National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey\u003c/a> (NHANES), which is a population-based survey designed to collect information on the health and nutrition of the US population. The researchers used the NHANES data collected from 1999 through 2010. The study sample consisted of 23,965 adults who reported all of the food and beverages that they had consumed in the previous 24 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study found that overweight and obese adults drink more diet beverages than healthy-weight adults. Overall, 11% of healthy-weight, 19% of overweight and 22% of obese adults drink diet beverages. This suggests that overweight and obese people may indeed switch to diet drinks to reduce their calorie intake when trying to control or reduce their weight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, the researchers also found that the overweight and obese diet drinkers made up the calories by eating significantly more food during meals and snacks, in comparison to overweight and obese adults who drank sugar-sweetened beverages. The net increase in daily food consumption associated with diet drink consumption was 88 calories for overweight and 194 calories for obese adults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In comparison, healthy-weight diet drinkers ate fewer food calories – 73 less calories per day – than their counterparts who drank sugar-sweetened beverages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>High doses of artificial sweeteners are found in diet drinks. \u003ca title=\"Physiol. Behav. journal article\" href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3465626/\">Earlier research\u003c/a> found that the regular consumption of these artificial sweeteners alters the reward a person experiences from sweet tastes and disrupts appetite control. This could explain why the heavy adults who drank diet beverages ate more food calories. But it doesn’t explain why this wasn’t the case for healthy-weight diet drinkers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further research is needed to understand both the biological and psychological response to regularly drinking diet beverages with artificial sweeteners. But it is clear that you aren’t going to drop pants sizes by simply switching from Coke to Diet Coke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heavier adults who drink diet beverages will need to reduce their consumption of solid-food calories to lose weight,” \u003ca title=\"American Journal of Public Health journal article\" href=\"http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301556\">concluded\u003c/a> the Johns Hopkins researchers. “More research is needed to identify and promote concrete behavioral targets.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14402\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/2884290734_117bd229a4_z_Flicr_BeauB_640x360.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14402\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14402\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/2884290734_117bd229a4_z_Flicr_BeauB_640x360.jpg\" alt=\"boxes of diet Coke\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/beaub/2884290734/in/photolist-5oSK9A-7nJwi9-2pHvP-5uVq1B-6N7jRe-5pyPQz-c5ktyS-dhCCwo-b7zY3F-9VugRz-bpezoo-7z7t7y-nvQrH-JoVHB-84crLV-84crSK-84csbB-4mDSW3-aXzpmp-4tSNkx-2dJp8x-U3CSV-954wK9-dEsdJk-8vfSUE-5suBQJ-6Y7tMT-9oCEpf-9ebAJT-cGjYCE-5A37AF-9otNx-93j8Qy-8WdwNS-9BkrgN-4Z1YZc-jouM4-4HkJej-5wcpjG-4KRUMV-8iUNb7-8WatoV-6yAwwd-6QNsyE-k4NNQ-5xEPgM-2LZqmF-dGAKPM-8peCky-bFfn33-bUahJr/lightbox/\">Beau B\u003c/a>/Creative Commons)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Soda, sports drinks and energy drinks are loaded with sugar and empty calories. Soda is the \u003ca title=\"Rethink Your Drink\" href=\"http://www.sccgov.org/sites/sccphd/en-us/residents/rethinkyourdrink/Pages/default.aspx\">number one source\u003c/a> of added sugar in the American diet, which isn’t surprising since a 20 ounce bottle of soda contains about 17 teaspoons of sugar. So it makes sense that overweight people often turn to diet drinks to help them slim down. But recent research suggests that this weight-loss tactic may backfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studied the patterns in diet drink consumption and calorie intake among US adults of various body-weight categories. Their results were \u003ca title=\"American Journal of Public Health journal article\" href=\"http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301556\">recently published\u003c/a> in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Public Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They analyzed data obtained from the \u003ca title=\"NHANES\" href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm\">National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey\u003c/a> (NHANES), which is a population-based survey designed to collect information on the health and nutrition of the US population. The researchers used the NHANES data collected from 1999 through 2010. The study sample consisted of 23,965 adults who reported all of the food and beverages that they had consumed in the previous 24 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study found that overweight and obese adults drink more diet beverages than healthy-weight adults. Overall, 11% of healthy-weight, 19% of overweight and 22% of obese adults drink diet beverages. This suggests that overweight and obese people may indeed switch to diet drinks to reduce their calorie intake when trying to control or reduce their weight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, the researchers also found that the overweight and obese diet drinkers made up the calories by eating significantly more food during meals and snacks, in comparison to overweight and obese adults who drank sugar-sweetened beverages. The net increase in daily food consumption associated with diet drink consumption was 88 calories for overweight and 194 calories for obese adults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In comparison, healthy-weight diet drinkers ate fewer food calories – 73 less calories per day – than their counterparts who drank sugar-sweetened beverages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>High doses of artificial sweeteners are found in diet drinks. \u003ca title=\"Physiol. Behav. journal article\" href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3465626/\">Earlier research\u003c/a> found that the regular consumption of these artificial sweeteners alters the reward a person experiences from sweet tastes and disrupts appetite control. This could explain why the heavy adults who drank diet beverages ate more food calories. But it doesn’t explain why this wasn’t the case for healthy-weight diet drinkers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further research is needed to understand both the biological and psychological response to regularly drinking diet beverages with artificial sweeteners. But it is clear that you aren’t going to drop pants sizes by simply switching from Coke to Diet Coke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heavier adults who drink diet beverages will need to reduce their consumption of solid-food calories to lose weight,” \u003ca title=\"American Journal of Public Health journal article\" href=\"http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301556\">concluded\u003c/a> the Johns Hopkins researchers. “More research is needed to identify and promote concrete behavioral targets.”\u003c/p>\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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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"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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"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": "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.",
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"possible": {
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"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.",
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"radiolab": {
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},
"rightnowish": {
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"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
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"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
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