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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/07/12/can-mammalian-mothers-control-the-sex-of-their-offspring/sex_selection_photo/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5500\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5500\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/Sex_selection_photo-e1373586281354.jpg\" alt=\"San Diego Zoo\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdl>\n\u003cdd>San Diego Zoo\u003c/dd>\n\u003c/dl>\n\u003cp>Boy or Girl? For some animals, it’s not simply a genetic flip of the coin. In fact, a new study suggests that some mammalian mothers deliberately “choose” the sex of their offspring. While scientists don’t know what physiological processes are involved in this choice, the research indicates that, somehow, sex selection for mothers is not random.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford biologist Joe Garner and a team of scientists studied more than 90 years of birth records for hundreds of mammal species at the San Diego Zoo. They discovered that the ratio of male to female children is skewed to achieve the highest reproductive rate. In other words, animals with more descendants have a sex ratio that cannot be explained by random chance alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To test the numbers, Garner and his team required at least three generations of each mammalian species. “Biological success” occurs when grandparents have a lot of grandchildren – procreation is the name of the game in evolutionary biology. This means the first generation needs to produce offspring who will themselves reproduce. Females tend to reproduce regularly, but each female can only produce a certain number of offspring. Males, on the other hand, may or may not reproduce, but some males will reproduce with numerous females, dramatically increasing the number of offspring. Females, then, are typically a safe bet, while males represent the procreation wild card.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5540\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 315px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/Elephant-seal-mom-e1373665521572.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5540\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-5540 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/Elephant-seal-mom-e1373665521572.jpg\" alt=\"Elephant seal mom\" width=\"315\" height=\"252\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lauren Sommer, KQED\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Let’s imagine for a second that I am a female elephant seal, says Garner. “If I have a daughter, I can guarantee that she’s going to give me one offspring per year for as long as she lives. If I have son, chances are he will never breed. But if he happens to be one of those males that holds 10 or close to 100 females perhaps, then in just one year he’s going to give me 10 or maybe even close to 100 grandchildren. If somehow I know that my son is going to be a harem-holding male, then I should have nothing but sons. I should try and beat the system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s not only elephant seals that are beating the system, according to Garner. “Across roughly 200 species of mammals, females are able to choose whether or not they’re going to have a boy or a girl,” he said. “This is a very strategic Machiavellian decision that they’re making.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On average, females (grandmothers) who birthed more males had 2.7 times more grandchildren than the females whose offspring split evenly along gender lines. Males (grandfathers) who had more sons had 2.4 times more grandchildren. The more biased toward males a mother is, the more successful those males turn out to be. In some instances, though, the selection skews toward females. That’s the case with the rhesus macaque, a matriarchal species. In addition, individual mothers of a species might birth more females as reliable producers of offspring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans, of course, are mammals, so presumably the sex-selection process is operating in people as well. The evidence for human sex selection is largely circumstantial. For example, in a 2013 study, scientists at the Mammal Research Institute in South Africa looked at 400 U.S. billionaires, and found they were more likely to have sons than daughters. The scientists hypothesized that sons tend to retain the family’s wealth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the statistics of the San Diego Zoo study are compelling, there is as yet no understanding of the mechanism for how this works in the reproductive system. One theory holds that the “gender” of the sperm have different shapes. When they move through the mucous in the reproductive tract, females may be able to selectively slow down or speed up the sperm they want to select.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Garner said that, for him, the best part of the study is that it “turns this very male-centric perspective we have on reproductive biology on its head.” He continued, “If you think about it, the females have everything to win and everything to lose. They’re the ones who’ve invested in the offspring. So they’re not just going to go along with a winner. They’re going to do the absolute best they can for their reproductive future, because they’ve invested so much in it.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/07/12/can-mammalian-mothers-control-the-sex-of-their-offspring/sex_selection_photo/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5500\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5500\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/Sex_selection_photo-e1373586281354.jpg\" alt=\"San Diego Zoo\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdl>\n\u003cdd>San Diego Zoo\u003c/dd>\n\u003c/dl>\n\u003cp>Boy or Girl? For some animals, it’s not simply a genetic flip of the coin. In fact, a new study suggests that some mammalian mothers deliberately “choose” the sex of their offspring. While scientists don’t know what physiological processes are involved in this choice, the research indicates that, somehow, sex selection for mothers is not random.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford biologist Joe Garner and a team of scientists studied more than 90 years of birth records for hundreds of mammal species at the San Diego Zoo. They discovered that the ratio of male to female children is skewed to achieve the highest reproductive rate. In other words, animals with more descendants have a sex ratio that cannot be explained by random chance alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To test the numbers, Garner and his team required at least three generations of each mammalian species. “Biological success” occurs when grandparents have a lot of grandchildren – procreation is the name of the game in evolutionary biology. This means the first generation needs to produce offspring who will themselves reproduce. Females tend to reproduce regularly, but each female can only produce a certain number of offspring. Males, on the other hand, may or may not reproduce, but some males will reproduce with numerous females, dramatically increasing the number of offspring. Females, then, are typically a safe bet, while males represent the procreation wild card.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5540\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 315px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/Elephant-seal-mom-e1373665521572.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5540\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-5540 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/Elephant-seal-mom-e1373665521572.jpg\" alt=\"Elephant seal mom\" width=\"315\" height=\"252\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lauren Sommer, KQED\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Let’s imagine for a second that I am a female elephant seal, says Garner. “If I have a daughter, I can guarantee that she’s going to give me one offspring per year for as long as she lives. If I have son, chances are he will never breed. But if he happens to be one of those males that holds 10 or close to 100 females perhaps, then in just one year he’s going to give me 10 or maybe even close to 100 grandchildren. If somehow I know that my son is going to be a harem-holding male, then I should have nothing but sons. I should try and beat the system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s not only elephant seals that are beating the system, according to Garner. “Across roughly 200 species of mammals, females are able to choose whether or not they’re going to have a boy or a girl,” he said. “This is a very strategic Machiavellian decision that they’re making.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On average, females (grandmothers) who birthed more males had 2.7 times more grandchildren than the females whose offspring split evenly along gender lines. Males (grandfathers) who had more sons had 2.4 times more grandchildren. The more biased toward males a mother is, the more successful those males turn out to be. In some instances, though, the selection skews toward females. That’s the case with the rhesus macaque, a matriarchal species. In addition, individual mothers of a species might birth more females as reliable producers of offspring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans, of course, are mammals, so presumably the sex-selection process is operating in people as well. The evidence for human sex selection is largely circumstantial. For example, in a 2013 study, scientists at the Mammal Research Institute in South Africa looked at 400 U.S. billionaires, and found they were more likely to have sons than daughters. The scientists hypothesized that sons tend to retain the family’s wealth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the statistics of the San Diego Zoo study are compelling, there is as yet no understanding of the mechanism for how this works in the reproductive system. One theory holds that the “gender” of the sperm have different shapes. When they move through the mucous in the reproductive tract, females may be able to selectively slow down or speed up the sperm they want to select.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Garner said that, for him, the best part of the study is that it “turns this very male-centric perspective we have on reproductive biology on its head.” He continued, “If you think about it, the females have everything to win and everything to lose. They’re the ones who’ve invested in the offspring. So they’re not just going to go along with a winner. They’re going to do the absolute best they can for their reproductive future, because they’ve invested so much in it.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Whooping Cough Staging Comeback in California",
"headTitle": "Whooping Cough Staging Comeback in California | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5306\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 209px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/childpertussis-209x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/childpertussis-209x162.jpg\" alt=\"child with pertussis\" width=\"209\" height=\"162\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5306\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: CDC\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s one of the frustrating ironies of modern vaccination campaigns. When widespread immunization works as intended, people tend to forget the trauma of infectious diseases. Long gone are the days when parents saw neighborhood kids paralyzed by polio or left with hearing loss or brain damage—if they survived—after contracting rubella, \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/hi-disease/about/complications.html\">Hib meningitis\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/complications.html\">measles\u003c/a>. When memories of the suffering wrought by vaccine-preventable diseases fade, it’s easier to view vaccines as optional or to consider potentially life-threatening illnesses a childhood ritual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaccination programs have proven so successful against once-common diseases that even doctors sometimes lose sight of their value. A \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fah4yOYTEYk\">2011 survey of 551 physicians\u003c/a> found that although doctors generally support vaccination, younger doctors were more likely than their older counterparts to question the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. Saad Omer, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Emory Vaccine Center who led the study, \u003ca href=\"http://newsatjama.jama.com/2011/10/20/studies-probe-attitudes-of-physicians-toward-vaccines-and-patients-who-shun-vaccines/\">suggested that some younger doctors’ perceptions of vaccines\u003c/a>, like those of contemporary parents, are shaded by their inexperience with the diseases they target. Vaccines, public health officials often lament, have become victims of their own success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, maintaining that success requires constant vigilance. Whooping cough, one of the deadliest childhood diseases, has been increasing since the 1980s, with outbreaks peaking every three to five years. In 2010, the United States saw 27,550 pertussis cases, the most since 1959, when health officials logged 40,000 cases. Following the cyclical nature of the disease, incidence dropped the next year (with 18,719 cases reported) but then exploded to 41,000 in 2012, \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/outbreaks/trends.html\">when 49 states reported disease spikes\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5304\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/pertussisage-1024x695.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5304\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/pertussisage-1024x695.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"695\" class=\"size-large wp-image-5304\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Most pertussis cases continue to occur in infants and children under 18 years old. But this year, the disease has infected more older adolescents (blue bars), based on reported cases, than it did during the epidemic in 2010 (black bars). (Source: California Department of Public Health)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than 9,000 Californians caught pertussis during the 2010 epidemic. Ten infants died. The latest figures from state health officials are not encouraging. As of the end of June, the state had recorded 739 cases—likely an underestimate due to reporting delays—up from the same time last year. Several San Francisco Bay Area counties have reported spikes in pertussis in recent months, but \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/immunize/Documents/PertussisReport%202013-06-28.pdf\">Marin and Santa Clara\u003c/a> reported more cases than any other county in the state. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tragically, the sporadic nature of these outbreaks—and that fact that epidemics affect tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands of people, thanks to vaccination—means that doctors who haven’t treated vaccine-preventable diseases can miss their symptoms. Last May, a couple in Michigan \u003ca href=\"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2317767/Francesca-McNally-Heart-breaking-story-parents-baby-girl-died-whooping-cough-doctors-failed-recognise-didnt-jab.html\">lost their three-month-old daughter\u003c/a> to whooping cough after four doctors failed to recognize it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Persisting despite vaccination\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nWhen vaccine coverage is generally high, infectious disease outbreaks tend to cluster in unprotected pockets, where parents choose not to vaccinate their children. Health officials blame vaccine refusal for the \u003ca href=\"http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323820304578410473739308256.html\">measles outbreak in the United Kingdom\u003c/a> this year and the \u003ca href=\"http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/childrens-health/articles/2011/10/20/unvaccinated-kids-behind-largest-us-measles-outbreak-in-years-study\">largest measles outbreak in 15 years in the United States\u003c/a> in 2011. But experts don’t think vaccine refusal is driving recent pertussis epidemics, although children who failed to receive all their shots are at \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/about/faqs.html#travelers\">least eight times more likel\u003c/a>y to get the disease. And it turns out that \u003cem>Bordetella pertussis\u003c/em>, the bacterium that causes pertussis, can persist even in the face of widespread vaccination. Experts think several factors may be at play. Vaccine-induced immunity to pertussis appears to weaken faster than expected. The vaccine might be targeting less prevalent strains of the bacterium. Or circulating strains could have adapted to the vaccine, allowing it to flourish even after vaccination. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though more infants contract pertussis—and die of it—than any other age group, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2680566/\">anyone can contract, and transmit,\u003c/a> the disease. But because pertussis tends to be milder in older children and adults, and can present with odd symptoms like disturbed sleep, sweats and sneezing attacks, it \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16562532\">can be difficult to identify\u003c/a>, even for doctors familiar with the disease. As a result, undiagnosed older children and adults can pose a serious threat to infants too young to have received all five recommended vaccine doses. (\u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2680566/\">Experts recommend that children receive five shots of the DTaP vaccine\u003c/a>, which inoculates against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, between the ages of two months and six years.) The Michigan mother who lost her baby girl to pertussis \u003ca href=\"http://www.mlive.com/health/index.ssf/2012/07/after_losing_their_baby_to_who.html\">told an online news site\u003c/a> that she may have unwittingly infected her daughter because she didn’t know a booster shot could have protected her baby. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The best protection\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe good news is that pertussis rates in California are much lower than those seen during the 2010 epidemic and no deaths have been reported since then. Still, the disease hit more kids between the ages of 12 and 17 this year than during the 2010 epidemic, according to state health records. And that’s just reported cases. It’s impossible to know how many adolescents or adults with persistent coughs remain undiagnosed—placing their baby brothers, sisters or other susceptible people at risk. And we’re just at the beginning of the next three- to five-year peak, which is why \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdph.ca.gov/healthinfo/discond/pages/pertussis.aspx\">state health officials\u003c/a> continue to urge parents to vaccinate their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not all parents are heeding the call. The number of California kids going to kindergarten with all of their recommended vaccinations has \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/immunize/Documents/2012-2013%20CA%20Kindergarten%20Immunization%20Assessment.pdf\">been declining steadily since 2008\u003c/a>–even for polio–state records show. That drop tracks another California trend: the percentage of parents securing a personal beliefs exemption has increased from 1.9% in the 2008-09 school year to 2.8% this year. That may explain why several Bay Area counties reported outbreaks in schools. In keeping with past trends, parents who send their kids to private schools were more likely to opt out of vaccination. Starting January 2014 \u003ca href=\"http://www.immunizeca.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/FactSheetAB2109-PersonalBeliefExemption.pdf\">a personal beliefs exemption will require a health care provider’s signature\u003c/a>, indicating that the parent understands the risks of refusing vaccination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5328\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/exemptions-1024x565.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5328\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/exemptions-1024x565.png\" alt='The percentage of students receiving a \"personal beliefs exemption\" in California has increased since the 2008-09 school year among all reporting schools, from 1.9% to 2.8% this school year. Public schools have consistently reported a lower percentage of students with personal beliefs exemptions compared with private schools. (Source: California Department of Public Health)' width=\"1024\" height=\"565\" class=\"size-large wp-image-5328\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The percentage of students receiving a “personal beliefs exemption” has increased since the 2008-09 school year among all reporting schools, from 1.9% to 2.8% this school year. Public schools have consistently reported a lower percentage of students with personal beliefs exemptions compared with private schools. (Source: California Department of Public Health)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The most recent state reports also show that vaccine coverage for pertussis among Bay Area kindergartners was generally high, except for Marin County, where \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/immunize/Documents/2012-2013%20CA%20Kindergarten%20Immunization%20Assessment.pdf\">just 86 percent of kids\u003c/a> received their recommended shots. Marin has reported the second highest number of pertussis cases in the state this year, with 96. The only way to prevent pertussis and other infectious diseases is through vaccination. Those too young or sick to get vaccinated benefit from what’s called herd, or community, immunity, which requires a certain proportion of immunized people to stop the spread of disease from person to person. That threshold varies depending on how quickly a disease spreads. Pertussis has the highest threshold, \u003ca href=\"http://op12no2.me/stuff/herdhis.pdf\">requiring between 92 and 94 percent immunization\u003c/a> to block transmission. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The highly toxic, contagious and adaptable pertussis pathogen will easily exploit any holes in community immunity. No one can say for sure when the next epidemic might hit. But now’s the time to make sure your child is fully vaccinated. And if you spend time with young children, get a booster shot. I did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>****\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How to Protect your Children From Pertussis\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaccinate yourself. Protection after vaccination or infection wears off over time. Check with your doctor to see if you need a booster shot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaccinate your children. Young children need five doses of DTaP (PDF) by kindergarten (ages 4-6). \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students in 7th grade in California need to have met the requirement for a Tdap (PDF) booster. (See http://shotsforschool.org.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pregnant women should receive a Tdap booster during their third trimester of each pregnancy, even if they got it before pregnancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adults should also receive a Tdap booster, especially if they are in contact with infants or work in health care. Most adults have not yet received Tdap. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(Source: California Department of Public Health)\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Despite widespread vaccination, whooping cough continues to circulate among vaccinated populations, placing infants too young to be fully vaccinated at high risk of serious disease or death. ",
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"description": "Despite widespread vaccination, whooping cough continues to circulate among vaccinated populations, placing infants too young to be fully vaccinated at high risk of serious disease or death. ",
"title": "Whooping Cough Staging Comeback in California | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5306\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 209px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/childpertussis-209x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/childpertussis-209x162.jpg\" alt=\"child with pertussis\" width=\"209\" height=\"162\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5306\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: CDC\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s one of the frustrating ironies of modern vaccination campaigns. When widespread immunization works as intended, people tend to forget the trauma of infectious diseases. Long gone are the days when parents saw neighborhood kids paralyzed by polio or left with hearing loss or brain damage—if they survived—after contracting rubella, \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/hi-disease/about/complications.html\">Hib meningitis\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/complications.html\">measles\u003c/a>. When memories of the suffering wrought by vaccine-preventable diseases fade, it’s easier to view vaccines as optional or to consider potentially life-threatening illnesses a childhood ritual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaccination programs have proven so successful against once-common diseases that even doctors sometimes lose sight of their value. A \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fah4yOYTEYk\">2011 survey of 551 physicians\u003c/a> found that although doctors generally support vaccination, younger doctors were more likely than their older counterparts to question the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. Saad Omer, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Emory Vaccine Center who led the study, \u003ca href=\"http://newsatjama.jama.com/2011/10/20/studies-probe-attitudes-of-physicians-toward-vaccines-and-patients-who-shun-vaccines/\">suggested that some younger doctors’ perceptions of vaccines\u003c/a>, like those of contemporary parents, are shaded by their inexperience with the diseases they target. Vaccines, public health officials often lament, have become victims of their own success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, maintaining that success requires constant vigilance. Whooping cough, one of the deadliest childhood diseases, has been increasing since the 1980s, with outbreaks peaking every three to five years. In 2010, the United States saw 27,550 pertussis cases, the most since 1959, when health officials logged 40,000 cases. Following the cyclical nature of the disease, incidence dropped the next year (with 18,719 cases reported) but then exploded to 41,000 in 2012, \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/outbreaks/trends.html\">when 49 states reported disease spikes\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5304\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/pertussisage-1024x695.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5304\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/pertussisage-1024x695.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"695\" class=\"size-large wp-image-5304\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Most pertussis cases continue to occur in infants and children under 18 years old. But this year, the disease has infected more older adolescents (blue bars), based on reported cases, than it did during the epidemic in 2010 (black bars). (Source: California Department of Public Health)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than 9,000 Californians caught pertussis during the 2010 epidemic. Ten infants died. The latest figures from state health officials are not encouraging. As of the end of June, the state had recorded 739 cases—likely an underestimate due to reporting delays—up from the same time last year. Several San Francisco Bay Area counties have reported spikes in pertussis in recent months, but \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/immunize/Documents/PertussisReport%202013-06-28.pdf\">Marin and Santa Clara\u003c/a> reported more cases than any other county in the state. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tragically, the sporadic nature of these outbreaks—and that fact that epidemics affect tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands of people, thanks to vaccination—means that doctors who haven’t treated vaccine-preventable diseases can miss their symptoms. Last May, a couple in Michigan \u003ca href=\"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2317767/Francesca-McNally-Heart-breaking-story-parents-baby-girl-died-whooping-cough-doctors-failed-recognise-didnt-jab.html\">lost their three-month-old daughter\u003c/a> to whooping cough after four doctors failed to recognize it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Persisting despite vaccination\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nWhen vaccine coverage is generally high, infectious disease outbreaks tend to cluster in unprotected pockets, where parents choose not to vaccinate their children. Health officials blame vaccine refusal for the \u003ca href=\"http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323820304578410473739308256.html\">measles outbreak in the United Kingdom\u003c/a> this year and the \u003ca href=\"http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/childrens-health/articles/2011/10/20/unvaccinated-kids-behind-largest-us-measles-outbreak-in-years-study\">largest measles outbreak in 15 years in the United States\u003c/a> in 2011. But experts don’t think vaccine refusal is driving recent pertussis epidemics, although children who failed to receive all their shots are at \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/about/faqs.html#travelers\">least eight times more likel\u003c/a>y to get the disease. And it turns out that \u003cem>Bordetella pertussis\u003c/em>, the bacterium that causes pertussis, can persist even in the face of widespread vaccination. Experts think several factors may be at play. Vaccine-induced immunity to pertussis appears to weaken faster than expected. The vaccine might be targeting less prevalent strains of the bacterium. Or circulating strains could have adapted to the vaccine, allowing it to flourish even after vaccination. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though more infants contract pertussis—and die of it—than any other age group, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2680566/\">anyone can contract, and transmit,\u003c/a> the disease. But because pertussis tends to be milder in older children and adults, and can present with odd symptoms like disturbed sleep, sweats and sneezing attacks, it \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16562532\">can be difficult to identify\u003c/a>, even for doctors familiar with the disease. As a result, undiagnosed older children and adults can pose a serious threat to infants too young to have received all five recommended vaccine doses. (\u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2680566/\">Experts recommend that children receive five shots of the DTaP vaccine\u003c/a>, which inoculates against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, between the ages of two months and six years.) The Michigan mother who lost her baby girl to pertussis \u003ca href=\"http://www.mlive.com/health/index.ssf/2012/07/after_losing_their_baby_to_who.html\">told an online news site\u003c/a> that she may have unwittingly infected her daughter because she didn’t know a booster shot could have protected her baby. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The best protection\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe good news is that pertussis rates in California are much lower than those seen during the 2010 epidemic and no deaths have been reported since then. Still, the disease hit more kids between the ages of 12 and 17 this year than during the 2010 epidemic, according to state health records. And that’s just reported cases. It’s impossible to know how many adolescents or adults with persistent coughs remain undiagnosed—placing their baby brothers, sisters or other susceptible people at risk. And we’re just at the beginning of the next three- to five-year peak, which is why \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdph.ca.gov/healthinfo/discond/pages/pertussis.aspx\">state health officials\u003c/a> continue to urge parents to vaccinate their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not all parents are heeding the call. The number of California kids going to kindergarten with all of their recommended vaccinations has \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/immunize/Documents/2012-2013%20CA%20Kindergarten%20Immunization%20Assessment.pdf\">been declining steadily since 2008\u003c/a>–even for polio–state records show. That drop tracks another California trend: the percentage of parents securing a personal beliefs exemption has increased from 1.9% in the 2008-09 school year to 2.8% this year. That may explain why several Bay Area counties reported outbreaks in schools. In keeping with past trends, parents who send their kids to private schools were more likely to opt out of vaccination. Starting January 2014 \u003ca href=\"http://www.immunizeca.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/FactSheetAB2109-PersonalBeliefExemption.pdf\">a personal beliefs exemption will require a health care provider’s signature\u003c/a>, indicating that the parent understands the risks of refusing vaccination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5328\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/exemptions-1024x565.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5328\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/exemptions-1024x565.png\" alt='The percentage of students receiving a \"personal beliefs exemption\" in California has increased since the 2008-09 school year among all reporting schools, from 1.9% to 2.8% this school year. Public schools have consistently reported a lower percentage of students with personal beliefs exemptions compared with private schools. (Source: California Department of Public Health)' width=\"1024\" height=\"565\" class=\"size-large wp-image-5328\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The percentage of students receiving a “personal beliefs exemption” has increased since the 2008-09 school year among all reporting schools, from 1.9% to 2.8% this school year. Public schools have consistently reported a lower percentage of students with personal beliefs exemptions compared with private schools. (Source: California Department of Public Health)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The most recent state reports also show that vaccine coverage for pertussis among Bay Area kindergartners was generally high, except for Marin County, where \u003ca href=\"http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/immunize/Documents/2012-2013%20CA%20Kindergarten%20Immunization%20Assessment.pdf\">just 86 percent of kids\u003c/a> received their recommended shots. Marin has reported the second highest number of pertussis cases in the state this year, with 96. The only way to prevent pertussis and other infectious diseases is through vaccination. Those too young or sick to get vaccinated benefit from what’s called herd, or community, immunity, which requires a certain proportion of immunized people to stop the spread of disease from person to person. That threshold varies depending on how quickly a disease spreads. Pertussis has the highest threshold, \u003ca href=\"http://op12no2.me/stuff/herdhis.pdf\">requiring between 92 and 94 percent immunization\u003c/a> to block transmission. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The highly toxic, contagious and adaptable pertussis pathogen will easily exploit any holes in community immunity. No one can say for sure when the next epidemic might hit. But now’s the time to make sure your child is fully vaccinated. And if you spend time with young children, get a booster shot. I did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>****\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How to Protect your Children From Pertussis\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaccinate yourself. Protection after vaccination or infection wears off over time. Check with your doctor to see if you need a booster shot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaccinate your children. Young children need five doses of DTaP (PDF) by kindergarten (ages 4-6). \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students in 7th grade in California need to have met the requirement for a Tdap (PDF) booster. (See http://shotsforschool.org.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pregnant women should receive a Tdap booster during their third trimester of each pregnancy, even if they got it before pregnancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adults should also receive a Tdap booster, especially if they are in contact with infants or work in health care. Most adults have not yet received Tdap. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Colorful California Native Reptiles",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5234\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/reptiles-2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5234\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/reptiles-2.jpg\" alt='Two western fence lizards in Marin. Western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) are common in California. They are also referred to as the \"blue belly.\"' width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5234\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two western fence lizards in Marin. Western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) are common in California. They are also referred to as the “blue belly.” Photo by Rachael Rufino\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sunbathing during summer months isn’t just for people. Many resident reptiles are spending their days soaking up the sun too. These cold-blooded, or ecotothermic animals, relish the warmer weather because unlike mammals, they cannot generate their own body heat. The internal temperature of a reptile is influenced by the temperature of their environment. The morning after a chilly evening, many reptiles can be seen sunning themselves to increase their body temperature. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most reptiles use camouflage to blend into their environment, which is especially helpful to avoid being eaten when sunbathing. Some reptiles, however, make it a point to stand out with colors that help keep predators at bay or attract mates. In Northern California, there are a number of colorful reptiles that are fun to spot and are more commonly seen when its warm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5235\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/reptiles-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5235\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/reptiles-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Diablo-range subspecies aquatic garter snake (T. a. zaxanthus).\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5235\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Diablo-range subspecies aquatic garter snake (T. a. zaxanthus). \u003cbr>Photo by Rachael Rufino\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Great hiking trails to see colorful reptiles are found in Marin, San Bruno and Woodside, just to name a few. Although early afternoons to early evenings are best viewing times, it is also important to know where to look. Reptiles typically sun themselves on rocks and clearings. A clearing can be a small as the width of a one-person trail, or as large as the width of a road. All the more reason to drive carefully!\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5269\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/skink.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5269\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/skink.jpg\" alt=\"Western Skinks (Plestiodon skiltonianus, formerly Eumeces skiltonianus) are found all over Northern California.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5269\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Western Skinks (Plestiodon skiltonianus, formerly Eumeces skiltonianus) are found all over Northern California.\u003cbr>Photo by James Bettaso\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some of these colorful reptiles have equally colorful personalities too. For example, male western fence lizards will often bob their heads and perform push-ups toward one another to establish territory or to attract a mate. Miniature lizard push-ups are very endearing. This summer, don’t miss out on observing these colorful critters, right here in our own backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5234\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/reptiles-2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5234\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/reptiles-2.jpg\" alt='Two western fence lizards in Marin. Western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) are common in California. They are also referred to as the \"blue belly.\"' width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5234\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two western fence lizards in Marin. Western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) are common in California. They are also referred to as the “blue belly.” Photo by Rachael Rufino\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sunbathing during summer months isn’t just for people. Many resident reptiles are spending their days soaking up the sun too. These cold-blooded, or ecotothermic animals, relish the warmer weather because unlike mammals, they cannot generate their own body heat. The internal temperature of a reptile is influenced by the temperature of their environment. The morning after a chilly evening, many reptiles can be seen sunning themselves to increase their body temperature. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most reptiles use camouflage to blend into their environment, which is especially helpful to avoid being eaten when sunbathing. Some reptiles, however, make it a point to stand out with colors that help keep predators at bay or attract mates. In Northern California, there are a number of colorful reptiles that are fun to spot and are more commonly seen when its warm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5235\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/reptiles-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5235\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/reptiles-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Diablo-range subspecies aquatic garter snake (T. a. zaxanthus).\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5235\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Diablo-range subspecies aquatic garter snake (T. a. zaxanthus). \u003cbr>Photo by Rachael Rufino\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Great hiking trails to see colorful reptiles are found in Marin, San Bruno and Woodside, just to name a few. Although early afternoons to early evenings are best viewing times, it is also important to know where to look. Reptiles typically sun themselves on rocks and clearings. A clearing can be a small as the width of a one-person trail, or as large as the width of a road. All the more reason to drive carefully!\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5269\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/skink.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5269\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/skink.jpg\" alt=\"Western Skinks (Plestiodon skiltonianus, formerly Eumeces skiltonianus) are found all over Northern California.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5269\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Western Skinks (Plestiodon skiltonianus, formerly Eumeces skiltonianus) are found all over Northern California.\u003cbr>Photo by James Bettaso\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some of these colorful reptiles have equally colorful personalities too. For example, male western fence lizards will often bob their heads and perform push-ups toward one another to establish territory or to attract a mate. Miniature lizard push-ups are very endearing. This summer, don’t miss out on observing these colorful critters, right here in our own backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Birds are generally pretty good at flying. They turn corners, land on perches. They zip between branches in a forest. They don’t get blown over and fall down when there’s a sudden gust of wind. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjN5owjLzFM?list=PLpGHT1n4-mAugi9xQL3m0a-0z8wA9fRNe\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flying robots, such as small drones or emergency monitors, could use some improvement. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You see birds fly through trees, but you don’t see robots fly through trees because actually it’s quite complicated,” says Stanford mechanical engineer David Lentink. “Basically animals are much better at negotiating complex visuals and airflows than robots are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Lentink, who has training in both aerospace engineering and zoology, is studying flying birds in super-slow motion, to figure out how to improve flying robots. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDERCsYdK9g?list=PLpGHT1n4-mAugi9xQL3m0a-0z8wA9fRNe\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says he and his engineering students look at wild birds for inspiration, then come back into the lab and train birds there to perform similar feats, which they film with high speed cameras. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[box size=small align=right color=white]\u003cstrong>Get Involved\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lentink is looking for volunteers. You can \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AUT5KBJfDPuP2dLXg8FX5OhXeyCzc6CUnhpWd_fdVoE/viewform\">apply\u003c/a> to borrow his high speed camera and film birds in the field.\u003cbr>\n[/box]”You really learn about the exquisite maneuvers the birds are capable of making,” says Lentink. He and his students have observed phenomena no one’s ever seen before, because they happen so fast. For instance, a hummingbird doing what he refers to as “a wet dog shake.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was doing it so fast, it was doing it faster than any other vertebrate on the planet,” says Lentink. “Twice as fast as a mouse, which was the fastest that had been documented so far.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SoSCMDsoJU?list=PLpGHT1n4-mAugi9xQL3m0a-0z8wA9fRNe\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Passenger jets and big drones do OK — they can fly through turbulence, or steer around it. But smaller drones don’t fare as well with complex flight situations like gusting winds or sudden turns. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Birds are somehow capable of dealing with that and none of our robots can.” And, he says, no one quite knows how birds do it. “Straight flight has been studied very much. How birds turn has been studied much less. There’s just a lot we don’t know about how birds fly through complicated terrain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lentink says by learning from birds, engineers might be able to design better flying robots that could be used in search and rescue or for monitoring crops. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And he’s looking for help. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s so many birds and so many possible species we could film,” he says, and the engineers he’s working with don’t necessarily know the most interesting ones, or where to film them. So if you have ideas, you can \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AUT5KBJfDPuP2dLXg8FX5OhXeyCzc6CUnhpWd_fdVoE/viewform\">apply\u003c/a> to borrow their very high speed camera and capture video for the project. (My votes? I’d like to see super-slow motion \u003ca href=\"http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/barn_swallow/id\">barn swallows\u003c/a> and a \u003ca href=\"http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/coopers_hawk/id\">Cooper’s hawk\u003c/a> crashing through a forest.)\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Birds are generally pretty good at flying. They turn corners, land on perches. They zip between branches in a forest. They don’t get blown over and fall down when there’s a sudden gust of wind. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjN5owjLzFM?list=PLpGHT1n4-mAugi9xQL3m0a-0z8wA9fRNe\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flying robots, such as small drones or emergency monitors, could use some improvement. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You see birds fly through trees, but you don’t see robots fly through trees because actually it’s quite complicated,” says Stanford mechanical engineer David Lentink. “Basically animals are much better at negotiating complex visuals and airflows than robots are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So Lentink, who has training in both aerospace engineering and zoology, is studying flying birds in super-slow motion, to figure out how to improve flying robots. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDERCsYdK9g?list=PLpGHT1n4-mAugi9xQL3m0a-0z8wA9fRNe\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says he and his engineering students look at wild birds for inspiration, then come back into the lab and train birds there to perform similar feats, which they film with high speed cameras. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[box size=small align=right color=white]\u003cstrong>Get Involved\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lentink is looking for volunteers. You can \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AUT5KBJfDPuP2dLXg8FX5OhXeyCzc6CUnhpWd_fdVoE/viewform\">apply\u003c/a> to borrow his high speed camera and film birds in the field.\u003cbr>\n[/box]”You really learn about the exquisite maneuvers the birds are capable of making,” says Lentink. He and his students have observed phenomena no one’s ever seen before, because they happen so fast. For instance, a hummingbird doing what he refers to as “a wet dog shake.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was doing it so fast, it was doing it faster than any other vertebrate on the planet,” says Lentink. “Twice as fast as a mouse, which was the fastest that had been documented so far.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SoSCMDsoJU?list=PLpGHT1n4-mAugi9xQL3m0a-0z8wA9fRNe\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Passenger jets and big drones do OK — they can fly through turbulence, or steer around it. But smaller drones don’t fare as well with complex flight situations like gusting winds or sudden turns. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Birds are somehow capable of dealing with that and none of our robots can.” And, he says, no one quite knows how birds do it. “Straight flight has been studied very much. How birds turn has been studied much less. There’s just a lot we don’t know about how birds fly through complicated terrain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lentink says by learning from birds, engineers might be able to design better flying robots that could be used in search and rescue or for monitoring crops. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And he’s looking for help. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s so many birds and so many possible species we could film,” he says, and the engineers he’s working with don’t necessarily know the most interesting ones, or where to film them. So if you have ideas, you can \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AUT5KBJfDPuP2dLXg8FX5OhXeyCzc6CUnhpWd_fdVoE/viewform\">apply\u003c/a> to borrow their very high speed camera and capture video for the project. (My votes? I’d like to see super-slow motion \u003ca href=\"http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/barn_swallow/id\">barn swallows\u003c/a> and a \u003ca href=\"http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/coopers_hawk/id\">Cooper’s hawk\u003c/a> crashing through a forest.)\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Raptors-in-Residence: Monitoring Bald Eagles at Lake Chabot",
"headTitle": "Raptors-in-Residence: Monitoring Bald Eagles at Lake Chabot | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5052\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/eagles-1-800w1-e1372815835354.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/eagles-1-800w1-e1372815835354.jpg\" alt=\"Parent and juvenile Bald Eagles on their nest at Lake Chabot. Photo by Mary Malec\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5052\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Parent and juvenile Bald Eagles on their nest at Lake Chabot. Photo by Mary Malec\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bald eagles, an iconic symbol of our national pride and heritage, can be found in the East Bay. Last July I wrote about a \u003ca title=\"KQED QUEST blog 7/6/2012\" href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2012/07/06/bald-eaglet-expected-to-leave-lake-chabot-nest-soon/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pair of bald eagles\u003c/a> that raised their first chick near \u003ca title=\"Lake Chabot, EBRPD website\" href=\"http://www.ebparks.org/parks/lake_chabot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lake Chabot Regional Park\u003c/a> in San Leandro. They’re back for the second year and have successfully hatched another chick. Before fledging, it got ready to leave the nest by “branching” which involves lots of hopping around, wing-flapping and venturing out onto nearby tree limbs. Here’s a short video of the juvenile, filmed by Mary Malec, 2-3 days before it left its nest:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mIRdDyByZ4\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mary is an eagle monitor along with biologists from the East Bay Regional Parks Stewardship Department. Mary has also monitored other raptors — such as peregrine falcons and golden eagles — for the \u003ca title=\"Golden Gate Raptor Observatory\" href=\"http://www.parksconservancy.org/programs/ggro/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GGRO (Golden Gate Raptor Observatory)\u003c/a> for close to 8 years. Through her volunteer work overseeing these birds and their nests, she’s been able to capture stunning photos that are shared on her \u003ca title=\"Mary Malec Flickr\" href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/marymalec/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Flickr\u003c/a> account. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5014\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 268px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/8718997808_69e371d70d_z.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5014\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-5014 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/8718997808_69e371d70d_z.jpg\" alt=\"What mother doesn't enjoy a nice relaxing bath away from the kids? Photo by Mary Malec\" width=\"268\" height=\"384\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mary Malec thought the female might be flying down to fish, but was surprised when she landed and began bathing. What mother doesn’t enjoy a nice bath away from the kids? Photo by Mary Malec\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Late September was the last time Mary saw the bald eagle fledgling. She observed a second-year sub-adult at Lake Chabot in April of this year. It’s hard to know if that was the young from last year’s nest coming back, or if it was some unrelated juvenile passing through the area. It didn’t stay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you want a chance to see the eagles, you can check them out in the next couple of months at Lake Chabot. I was lucky to see the eagle parents both times I hiked at the lake on the West Shore Trail. The best view is from the Alder Point fishing area. You can also get good views from the dam, although now that the juvenile is airborne, they might be anywhere around the lake. The nest is well hidden and I haven’t been able to spot it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The eagles’ nesting area was near a long-time great-blue heron rookery. The herons have since moved out to the island in the middle of the lake for this year’s chick-raising marathon, giving the eagles plenty of space to raise their own. Here’s a rare video Mary took of the eagle chick in the nest: \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[flickr video=7345374922 secret=3c17dc817e w=640 h=480]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>An interesting fact: the underside of an eagle nest is surprisingly a pretty safe place to raise a family if you’re a house finch; they have used the underside of the nest to raise their own brood both this year and last. Mary said she’s seen the eagle chick watching the finches come and go.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can find other sites to observe bald eagles through the \u003ca title=\"Bald Eagle Viewing Guide, California DFG\" href=\"http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/t_e_spp/bald_eagle/view.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website\u003c/a> or one of these \u003ca title=\"Interactive Nest Cameras, Bald Eagles\" href=\"http://www.iws.org/interactive_nestcams.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nest cameras\u003c/a>. Please remember to stay on the trails and out of restricted areas for your protection — and to keep our eagles coming back each year to our lake. A pair of bald eagles attempted to nest last year on \u003ca title=\"Crystal Springs Bald Eagles 2012\" href=\"http://www.parksconservancy.org/about/newsletters/park-e-ventures/2012/06-ggro.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Crystal Spring Lake\u003c/a>, but unfortunately abandoned their nest site (perhaps due to human activities.) \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A pair of bald eagles is nesting at Lake Chabot in the East Bay. For the second year, they've raised a chick there, and it's still possible to see the eagles and their nest near the lake. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5052\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/eagles-1-800w1-e1372815835354.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/eagles-1-800w1-e1372815835354.jpg\" alt=\"Parent and juvenile Bald Eagles on their nest at Lake Chabot. Photo by Mary Malec\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5052\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Parent and juvenile Bald Eagles on their nest at Lake Chabot. Photo by Mary Malec\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bald eagles, an iconic symbol of our national pride and heritage, can be found in the East Bay. Last July I wrote about a \u003ca title=\"KQED QUEST blog 7/6/2012\" href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2012/07/06/bald-eaglet-expected-to-leave-lake-chabot-nest-soon/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pair of bald eagles\u003c/a> that raised their first chick near \u003ca title=\"Lake Chabot, EBRPD website\" href=\"http://www.ebparks.org/parks/lake_chabot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lake Chabot Regional Park\u003c/a> in San Leandro. They’re back for the second year and have successfully hatched another chick. Before fledging, it got ready to leave the nest by “branching” which involves lots of hopping around, wing-flapping and venturing out onto nearby tree limbs. Here’s a short video of the juvenile, filmed by Mary Malec, 2-3 days before it left its nest:\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/4mIRdDyByZ4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/4mIRdDyByZ4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Mary is an eagle monitor along with biologists from the East Bay Regional Parks Stewardship Department. Mary has also monitored other raptors — such as peregrine falcons and golden eagles — for the \u003ca title=\"Golden Gate Raptor Observatory\" href=\"http://www.parksconservancy.org/programs/ggro/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GGRO (Golden Gate Raptor Observatory)\u003c/a> for close to 8 years. Through her volunteer work overseeing these birds and their nests, she’s been able to capture stunning photos that are shared on her \u003ca title=\"Mary Malec Flickr\" href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/marymalec/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Flickr\u003c/a> account. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_5014\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 268px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/8718997808_69e371d70d_z.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5014\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-5014 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/07/8718997808_69e371d70d_z.jpg\" alt=\"What mother doesn't enjoy a nice relaxing bath away from the kids? Photo by Mary Malec\" width=\"268\" height=\"384\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mary Malec thought the female might be flying down to fish, but was surprised when she landed and began bathing. What mother doesn’t enjoy a nice bath away from the kids? Photo by Mary Malec\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Late September was the last time Mary saw the bald eagle fledgling. She observed a second-year sub-adult at Lake Chabot in April of this year. It’s hard to know if that was the young from last year’s nest coming back, or if it was some unrelated juvenile passing through the area. It didn’t stay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you want a chance to see the eagles, you can check them out in the next couple of months at Lake Chabot. I was lucky to see the eagle parents both times I hiked at the lake on the West Shore Trail. The best view is from the Alder Point fishing area. You can also get good views from the dam, although now that the juvenile is airborne, they might be anywhere around the lake. The nest is well hidden and I haven’t been able to spot it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The eagles’ nesting area was near a long-time great-blue heron rookery. The herons have since moved out to the island in the middle of the lake for this year’s chick-raising marathon, giving the eagles plenty of space to raise their own. Here’s a rare video Mary took of the eagle chick in the nest: \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[flickr video=7345374922 secret=3c17dc817e w=640 h=480]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>An interesting fact: the underside of an eagle nest is surprisingly a pretty safe place to raise a family if you’re a house finch; they have used the underside of the nest to raise their own brood both this year and last. Mary said she’s seen the eagle chick watching the finches come and go.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can find other sites to observe bald eagles through the \u003ca title=\"Bald Eagle Viewing Guide, California DFG\" href=\"http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/t_e_spp/bald_eagle/view.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website\u003c/a> or one of these \u003ca title=\"Interactive Nest Cameras, Bald Eagles\" href=\"http://www.iws.org/interactive_nestcams.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nest cameras\u003c/a>. Please remember to stay on the trails and out of restricted areas for your protection — and to keep our eagles coming back each year to our lake. A pair of bald eagles attempted to nest last year on \u003ca title=\"Crystal Springs Bald Eagles 2012\" href=\"http://www.parksconservancy.org/about/newsletters/park-e-ventures/2012/06-ggro.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Crystal Spring Lake\u003c/a>, but unfortunately abandoned their nest site (perhaps due to human activities.) \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Mining Naked Mole Rats for New Cancer Therapies",
"headTitle": "Mining Naked Mole Rats for New Cancer Therapies | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scientists Find Key Trigger in Keeping Naked Mole Rats Cancer-Free\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4842\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/NakedMoleRat.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4842\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/NakedMoleRat.jpg\" alt=\"This little guy will never get cancer. Maybe he can teach us how so we can deal better with the cancers we get.\" width=\"640\" height=\"361\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4842\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This little guy will never get cancer. Maybe he can teach us how so we can deal better with the cancers we get.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Naked mole rats are these weird, ugly little beasts that burrow around East Africa. They are not the kinds of animals anyone would ever pay attention to (except maybe a few years ago when one was a sidekick on the Disney Channel show, \u003ca href=\"http://disneychannel.disney.com/kim-possible\">Kim Possible\u003c/a>). And yet, perhaps, we should notice them as they may help us understand and maybe even find new ways to combat cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Naked mole rats are unique in the rodent world in that they don’t get cancer. While most rodents are riddled with the stuff within a few years (or even sooner), these animals live their thirty or so years cancer free. No one has yet reported a tumor in a naked mole rat. Ever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Obviously scientists would love to figure out why this is. Not only will we learn something about cancer, but maybe we can translate what we learn in naked mole rats to people. These vile little creatures might point us in an unexpected direction that gives us a completely novel way to treat and maybe even prevent cancers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4845\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 200px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/TissueCulture.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4845\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/TissueCulture.jpg\" alt=\"A big reason the researchers stumbled on this anti-cancer molecule was because it slimed up their experiments and clogged the drains in their labs.\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4845\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A big reason the researchers stumbled on this anti-cancer molecule was because it slimed up their experiments and clogged the drains in their labs.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some previous work done on naked mole rats showed that a key reason they don’t get cancer is because of something called early contact inhibition. Basically, if cells get too close together, they are sent a signal to stop growing. This applies to cancer cells too. When a cell turns cancerous and starts to divide like crazy, it stops once things get a bit crowded. This is apparently enough to keep the cancer at bay, at least in naked mole rats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mice, people and guinea pigs all have this form of inhibition too. It is just that the process is much stronger and nigh on impossible to shut off in naked mole rats. So the obvious next step for scientists was to figure out why this pathway is so much stronger in these cancer free rodents as compared to the rest of us. The results of a new study by \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23783513\">Tian and coworkers\u003c/a> point to a chemical called hyaluronan (HA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We all make HA but naked mole rats make lots more of a much larger version of this chemical. Through a series of clever experiments, these researchers were able to show that this HA is enough to keep cancer away in a naked mole rat cell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first step in figuring this out was to find the gene responsible for making this special HA. There are a number of genes responsible for making this chemical in a cell but the researchers quickly homed in on HAS2. The naked mole rat version had a couple of unique DNA differences not seen in any other mammals that scientists have looked at so far. They then showed that when they put this gene into human or mouse cells, they now made naked mole rat HA (called high molecular mass HA or HMM-HA). \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next step was to see if making this HA was enough to keep the cancer away. The way they did this was to add a couple of things to naked mole rat cells that prime mice and human cells to become cancerous. They then added these cells to a mouse and checked whether tumors formed. As expected, these cells did not turn cancerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4848\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 158px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/SharPei.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4848\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/SharPei.jpg\" alt=\"Shar Pei dogs are wrinkly because they make a lot of HA but they still get cancer. So just making a lot of HA isn't enough to keep cancer away. \" width=\"158\" height=\"267\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4848\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shar Pei dogs are wrinkly because they make a lot of HA but they still get cancer. So just making a lot of HA isn’t enough to keep cancer away. You might need to make a lot of the right kind.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Things were very different, though, if the cells were coaxed into making less naked mole rat HA. Then these cells did form tumors. It looked like naked mole rat HA kept cells that should be cancerous from becoming cancerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, there may be lots of other things going on in a naked mole rat cell that help the HA keep cancer at bay. To figure out if all a cell needs is this HA, scientists plan to substitute the naked mole rat HAS2 gene for the mouse HAS2 in a mouse and see if that engineered mouse ends up with cancer less often. If so, then this HA may be enough to prevent cancer on its own. If not, then they’ll need to figure out what else is going on in the naked mole rat cell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the future we probably don’t want to engineer humans to make this HA even if it does end up protecting mice from cancer. Scientists think that naked mole rats evolved this molecule not to keep cancer away but instead to give them the loose skin they need to wriggle and burrow in tight spaces. If we had its HAS2 gene we might end up looking like them!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most likely way we’ll be able to use these results to help us fight cancer in people is to learn what pathways it activates and see if we can mimic this with some more pharmaceutical-like chemical. Then we can turn on cancer prevention and/or treatment without having to look so odd.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This research also again points out the merits of basic research. If we focused on only applied research, we would never have learned that naked mole rats don’t get cancer. We never would have come across tis potential new cancer therapy without some scientist studying naked mole rats in Africa.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scientists Find Key Trigger in Keeping Naked Mole Rats Cancer-Free\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4842\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/NakedMoleRat.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4842\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/NakedMoleRat.jpg\" alt=\"This little guy will never get cancer. Maybe he can teach us how so we can deal better with the cancers we get.\" width=\"640\" height=\"361\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4842\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This little guy will never get cancer. Maybe he can teach us how so we can deal better with the cancers we get.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Naked mole rats are these weird, ugly little beasts that burrow around East Africa. They are not the kinds of animals anyone would ever pay attention to (except maybe a few years ago when one was a sidekick on the Disney Channel show, \u003ca href=\"http://disneychannel.disney.com/kim-possible\">Kim Possible\u003c/a>). And yet, perhaps, we should notice them as they may help us understand and maybe even find new ways to combat cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Naked mole rats are unique in the rodent world in that they don’t get cancer. While most rodents are riddled with the stuff within a few years (or even sooner), these animals live their thirty or so years cancer free. No one has yet reported a tumor in a naked mole rat. Ever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Obviously scientists would love to figure out why this is. Not only will we learn something about cancer, but maybe we can translate what we learn in naked mole rats to people. These vile little creatures might point us in an unexpected direction that gives us a completely novel way to treat and maybe even prevent cancers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4845\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 200px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/TissueCulture.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4845\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/TissueCulture.jpg\" alt=\"A big reason the researchers stumbled on this anti-cancer molecule was because it slimed up their experiments and clogged the drains in their labs.\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4845\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A big reason the researchers stumbled on this anti-cancer molecule was because it slimed up their experiments and clogged the drains in their labs.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some previous work done on naked mole rats showed that a key reason they don’t get cancer is because of something called early contact inhibition. Basically, if cells get too close together, they are sent a signal to stop growing. This applies to cancer cells too. When a cell turns cancerous and starts to divide like crazy, it stops once things get a bit crowded. This is apparently enough to keep the cancer at bay, at least in naked mole rats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mice, people and guinea pigs all have this form of inhibition too. It is just that the process is much stronger and nigh on impossible to shut off in naked mole rats. So the obvious next step for scientists was to figure out why this pathway is so much stronger in these cancer free rodents as compared to the rest of us. The results of a new study by \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23783513\">Tian and coworkers\u003c/a> point to a chemical called hyaluronan (HA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We all make HA but naked mole rats make lots more of a much larger version of this chemical. Through a series of clever experiments, these researchers were able to show that this HA is enough to keep cancer away in a naked mole rat cell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first step in figuring this out was to find the gene responsible for making this special HA. There are a number of genes responsible for making this chemical in a cell but the researchers quickly homed in on HAS2. The naked mole rat version had a couple of unique DNA differences not seen in any other mammals that scientists have looked at so far. They then showed that when they put this gene into human or mouse cells, they now made naked mole rat HA (called high molecular mass HA or HMM-HA). \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next step was to see if making this HA was enough to keep the cancer away. The way they did this was to add a couple of things to naked mole rat cells that prime mice and human cells to become cancerous. They then added these cells to a mouse and checked whether tumors formed. As expected, these cells did not turn cancerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4848\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 158px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/SharPei.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4848\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/SharPei.jpg\" alt=\"Shar Pei dogs are wrinkly because they make a lot of HA but they still get cancer. So just making a lot of HA isn't enough to keep cancer away. \" width=\"158\" height=\"267\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4848\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shar Pei dogs are wrinkly because they make a lot of HA but they still get cancer. So just making a lot of HA isn’t enough to keep cancer away. You might need to make a lot of the right kind.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Things were very different, though, if the cells were coaxed into making less naked mole rat HA. Then these cells did form tumors. It looked like naked mole rat HA kept cells that should be cancerous from becoming cancerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, there may be lots of other things going on in a naked mole rat cell that help the HA keep cancer at bay. To figure out if all a cell needs is this HA, scientists plan to substitute the naked mole rat HAS2 gene for the mouse HAS2 in a mouse and see if that engineered mouse ends up with cancer less often. If so, then this HA may be enough to prevent cancer on its own. If not, then they’ll need to figure out what else is going on in the naked mole rat cell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the future we probably don’t want to engineer humans to make this HA even if it does end up protecting mice from cancer. Scientists think that naked mole rats evolved this molecule not to keep cancer away but instead to give them the loose skin they need to wriggle and burrow in tight spaces. If we had its HAS2 gene we might end up looking like them!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most likely way we’ll be able to use these results to help us fight cancer in people is to learn what pathways it activates and see if we can mimic this with some more pharmaceutical-like chemical. Then we can turn on cancer prevention and/or treatment without having to look so odd.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This research also again points out the merits of basic research. If we focused on only applied research, we would never have learned that naked mole rats don’t get cancer. We never would have come across tis potential new cancer therapy without some scientist studying naked mole rats in Africa.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "An Environmental Catch-22: Fire Safety Chemicals in Insulation Pose Risks",
"headTitle": "An Environmental Catch-22: Fire Safety Chemicals in Insulation Pose Risks | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4743\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/House_fire-450x253-288x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/House_fire-450x253-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"(Image: Kpahor/Wikipedia)\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4743\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Image: \u003ca href=\"http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:House_fire_using_gasoline.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kpahor/Wikipedia\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown \u003ca href=\"http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=17508\">directed state agencies\u003c/a> to reduce water use and greenhouse gas emissions through a \u003ca href=\"http://gov.ca.gov/docs/Green_Building_Action_Plan_B.18.12.pdf\">green building action plan\u003c/a> to “shrink the state’s environmental footprint.” The order also mandated using “environmentally preferable products that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing goods that serve the same purpose.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just seven months later, a \u003ca href=\"http://superfund.berkeley.edu/pdf/395.pdf\">study in Building Research and Information\u003c/a> revealed that plastic foam insulation used to increase energy efficiency in buildings may pose an unnecessary risk to health and the environment. Manufacturers add potentially harmful fire-retardant chemicals to insulation to pass a flammability test required in building codes. But the test isn’t reliable for foam plastic insulation, argued fire scientist Vytenis Babrauskas and his colleagues. And the codes’ requirement for a thermal barrier – a thick wallboard that separates the insulation from a room’s interior – already makes insulation fire-safe without the need for flame retardants. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) first learned about this apparent environmental Catch-22 when she had to replace the insulation in her home. A legislator known for \u003ca href=\"http://www.smartvoter.org/2008/11/04/ca/state/vote/skinner_n/bio.html\">her environmental record\u003c/a>, Skinner introduced a \u003ca href=\"http://elcerrito.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/new-skinner-bill-opposes-flame-retardant-in-building-insulation\">bill in January\u003c/a> calling on state officials to revisit building standards to ensure fire safety without relying on harmful chemicals. On Monday, the bill, \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ab_127&sess=CUR&house=B\">AB 127\u003c/a>, passed the Senate Business Professions and Economic Development Committee, and could reach the Senate floor sometime in August. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Potential for harm\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe main plastic insulation flame retardants — HBCD or HBCDD, for hexabromocyclododecane, and TCPP, for tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate – aren’t chemically bound to the insulation, so they can escape into the environment. Although researchers have shown that flame retardants in furniture foam can seep from foam into the air and settle in dust, it’s not clear how HBCD and TCPP wind up in indoor air and dust. Possible routes of dispersal include points of manufacture, use and disposal. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both compounds, classified as high-volume chemicals by the Environmental Protection Agency (with U.S. import/production volumes between 20 million and 100 million pounds), occur in soil, sewage sludge and aquatic sediments and have been found in bivalves, fish, birds and other wildlife. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In keeping with its profile as a fat-loving, bioaccumulating toxic chemical, HBCD appears in higher levels in \u003ca href=\"http://saferinsulation.greensciencepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Covaci-HBCD-review.pdf\">predators like porpoises and falcons\u003c/a>. It’s also been found in human fat tissue, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21441408\">blood and breast milk\u003c/a>. Testing the possibility that the chemicals could enter our bodies through food, researchers \u003ca href=\"http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ehp.1204993.pdf\">found HBCD in 42 percent\u003c/a> of foods purchased in Dallas grocery stores. Canned sardines and smoked turkey sausages had the highest levels, in keeping with other studies suggesting that fatty foods could be an important exposure pathway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Studies in animals indicate that HBCD disrupts hormone function and interferes with the developing nervous system. Less is known about TCPP, though it’s also been detected in \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20383376\">human breast milk\u003c/a> and causes \u003ca href=\"http://toxsci.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/05/23/toxsci.kft100.long\">developmental\u003c/a> and neurological defects in animal studies. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Fire-safe buildings without chemicals\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nBuilding standards regulating foam insulation date back to the 1960s, and required that products pass the “Steiner Tunnel” test, which measures flame spread from the bottom of a tunnel to its ceiling, outfitted with insulation. In the 1970s, the thermal barrier requirement was added to protect exposed insulation because, Babrauskas and his coauthors assert in their recent study, insulation proved highly flammable even after passing the Steiner test. Using flame retardants when a thermal barrier is present, the authors concluded, does not add a fire safety benefit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml;jsessionid=6de6fdd0eab8e21e79fec4f33166?bill_id=201320140AB127\">AB 127 calls\u003c/a> on the State Fire Marshall to review California’s flammability standards for building insulation and work with government officials to ensure fire safety “while giving full consideration to the long-term human and ecological health impacts associated with chemical flame retardants.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Skinner made her case before the state Senate committee on Monday, several witnesses spoke in support of the bill, including Justin Malan of the U.S. Green Building Council California. Malan argued that although the builders, architects, planners and engineers he represents strongly support energy efficiency, they know that sometimes building materials need careful review. “Let’s not make the same costly, and lethal, mistakes we made with asbestos,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arlene Blum, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.greensciencepolicy.org/\">Green Science Policy Institute\u003c/a> and a chemist who has long sounded the alarm about the \u003ca href=\"http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-15/national/38550740_1_flame-retardants-pbdes-treated-products/2\">potential hazards of flame retardants\u003c/a>, urged the committee to \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2012/06/18/98102/governor_orders_change_in_state_policy_on_flame_retardants_in?category=bay+area\">follow the lead of Governor Brown\u003c/a>, who directed regulators to update the \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/audio/the-political-firestorm-inside-your-sofa/\">state’s furniture flammability standards\u003c/a> to increase fire safety without using potentially toxic chemicals. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Existing building standards require 15 minutes to flashover, when the fire turns from flame to conflagration as nearby combustibles ignite. By the time a fire hits the treated plastic foam insulation inside the wall, Blum said, “all the flame retardants do is make the fire more toxic, produce dioxins, which harm the health of first responders.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lobbying against public health?\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nTwelve public interest and business groups followed Malone and Blum in support of AB 127. Leading the opposition to the bill was Joe Lang, representing the chemical industry’s main trade group, the American Chemistry Council. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lang, a veteran Sacramento lobbyist who once \u003ca href=\"http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/documentStore/v/c/m/vcm94b00/Svcm94b00.pdf\">represented tobacco giant Philip Morris\u003c/a>, now heads the \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/02/see-which-lobbying-firms-made-the-most-money-in-2012.html\">top-grossing lobbying firm\u003c/a> in Sacramento. His firm received more than \u003ca href=\"http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2011/money-to-burn\">$1 million from chemical industry interests\u003c/a> over five years to help defeat five bills to regulate flame retardants added to consumer products. In the first quarter of this year, Lang and his associates have earned 40,000 from the American Chemistry Council, state records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Claiming most of the opposition’s allotted time, Lang did not argue the merits of reviewing the state’s building code but lectured the committee on the state’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/PollutionPrevention/GreenChemistryInitiative/index.cfm?CFID=26318756&CFTOKEN=89839980\">Green Chemistry Initiative\u003c/a> (enacted in 2008 but plagued by budgetary problems and yet to see full implementation), which aims to identify chemical hazards and safer alternatives. He argued that AB 127 subverted the state’s green chemistry policy by asking for a separate process, not based on science, that evaluates chemical hazards one by one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lang also argued that most of the evidence cited to show the risks of flame retardants studied chemicals that aren’t used in foam insulation. Then he referred to a \u003ca href=\"http://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/13630/trd_rar_ireland_tccp_en.pdf\">European Union risk assessment\u003c/a> for TCPP that failed to find evidence of risk to consumers or the environment, based on exposure models, though it did show harm to workers in plants where the chemicals are made. All of the studies that AB 127 supporters point to as support for the toxicity of flame retardants don’t apply in this case, Lang said. “They’re creating a hysteria. They’re creating a sense that fire retardants used in building insulation are in fact dangerous. That’s not the case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EU risk assessments of another flame retardant, known as Deca, also found no significant risks to health and the environment using their exposure models. Although the EU banned Deca in 2002, the subsequent favorable risk assessment helped win a reprieve, allowing manufacturers to continue using Deca in electronics and electrical equipment. But the EU banned the chemical for good in 2008 after the European Parliament challenged the assessment, citing health and environmental concerns. (In 2009, \u003ca href=\"http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/existingchemicals/pubs/actionplans/deccadbe.html\">the EPA brokered a deal\u003c/a> with the two U.S. Deca manufacturers to phase out the chemical “to protect human health and the environment.”) \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lang didn’t mention any risk assessment studies for HBCD. But last month, the U.N. Environment Programme’s Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants \u003ca href=\"http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-567_en.htm?locale=en\">voted to add HBCD\u003c/a> to its list of globally banned chemicals. \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Mounting research questions the safety and effectiveness of flame retardants used in consumer products. The chemicals are also used in the foam plastic insulation that improves energy efficiency in buildings. But a measure that just passed a Senate committee this week could pave the way for fire-safe, energy-efficient buildings without causing harm.",
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"description": "Mounting research questions the safety and effectiveness of flame retardants used in consumer products. The chemicals are also used in the foam plastic insulation that improves energy efficiency in buildings. But a measure that just passed a Senate committee this week could pave the way for fire-safe, energy-efficient buildings without causing harm.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4743\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/House_fire-450x253-288x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/House_fire-450x253-288x162.jpg\" alt=\"(Image: Kpahor/Wikipedia)\" width=\"288\" height=\"162\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4743\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Image: \u003ca href=\"http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:House_fire_using_gasoline.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kpahor/Wikipedia\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown \u003ca href=\"http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=17508\">directed state agencies\u003c/a> to reduce water use and greenhouse gas emissions through a \u003ca href=\"http://gov.ca.gov/docs/Green_Building_Action_Plan_B.18.12.pdf\">green building action plan\u003c/a> to “shrink the state’s environmental footprint.” The order also mandated using “environmentally preferable products that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing goods that serve the same purpose.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just seven months later, a \u003ca href=\"http://superfund.berkeley.edu/pdf/395.pdf\">study in Building Research and Information\u003c/a> revealed that plastic foam insulation used to increase energy efficiency in buildings may pose an unnecessary risk to health and the environment. Manufacturers add potentially harmful fire-retardant chemicals to insulation to pass a flammability test required in building codes. But the test isn’t reliable for foam plastic insulation, argued fire scientist Vytenis Babrauskas and his colleagues. And the codes’ requirement for a thermal barrier – a thick wallboard that separates the insulation from a room’s interior – already makes insulation fire-safe without the need for flame retardants. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) first learned about this apparent environmental Catch-22 when she had to replace the insulation in her home. A legislator known for \u003ca href=\"http://www.smartvoter.org/2008/11/04/ca/state/vote/skinner_n/bio.html\">her environmental record\u003c/a>, Skinner introduced a \u003ca href=\"http://elcerrito.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/new-skinner-bill-opposes-flame-retardant-in-building-insulation\">bill in January\u003c/a> calling on state officials to revisit building standards to ensure fire safety without relying on harmful chemicals. On Monday, the bill, \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ab_127&sess=CUR&house=B\">AB 127\u003c/a>, passed the Senate Business Professions and Economic Development Committee, and could reach the Senate floor sometime in August. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Potential for harm\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe main plastic insulation flame retardants — HBCD or HBCDD, for hexabromocyclododecane, and TCPP, for tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate – aren’t chemically bound to the insulation, so they can escape into the environment. Although researchers have shown that flame retardants in furniture foam can seep from foam into the air and settle in dust, it’s not clear how HBCD and TCPP wind up in indoor air and dust. Possible routes of dispersal include points of manufacture, use and disposal. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both compounds, classified as high-volume chemicals by the Environmental Protection Agency (with U.S. import/production volumes between 20 million and 100 million pounds), occur in soil, sewage sludge and aquatic sediments and have been found in bivalves, fish, birds and other wildlife. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In keeping with its profile as a fat-loving, bioaccumulating toxic chemical, HBCD appears in higher levels in \u003ca href=\"http://saferinsulation.greensciencepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Covaci-HBCD-review.pdf\">predators like porpoises and falcons\u003c/a>. It’s also been found in human fat tissue, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21441408\">blood and breast milk\u003c/a>. Testing the possibility that the chemicals could enter our bodies through food, researchers \u003ca href=\"http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ehp.1204993.pdf\">found HBCD in 42 percent\u003c/a> of foods purchased in Dallas grocery stores. Canned sardines and smoked turkey sausages had the highest levels, in keeping with other studies suggesting that fatty foods could be an important exposure pathway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Studies in animals indicate that HBCD disrupts hormone function and interferes with the developing nervous system. Less is known about TCPP, though it’s also been detected in \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20383376\">human breast milk\u003c/a> and causes \u003ca href=\"http://toxsci.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/05/23/toxsci.kft100.long\">developmental\u003c/a> and neurological defects in animal studies. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Fire-safe buildings without chemicals\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nBuilding standards regulating foam insulation date back to the 1960s, and required that products pass the “Steiner Tunnel” test, which measures flame spread from the bottom of a tunnel to its ceiling, outfitted with insulation. In the 1970s, the thermal barrier requirement was added to protect exposed insulation because, Babrauskas and his coauthors assert in their recent study, insulation proved highly flammable even after passing the Steiner test. Using flame retardants when a thermal barrier is present, the authors concluded, does not add a fire safety benefit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml;jsessionid=6de6fdd0eab8e21e79fec4f33166?bill_id=201320140AB127\">AB 127 calls\u003c/a> on the State Fire Marshall to review California’s flammability standards for building insulation and work with government officials to ensure fire safety “while giving full consideration to the long-term human and ecological health impacts associated with chemical flame retardants.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Skinner made her case before the state Senate committee on Monday, several witnesses spoke in support of the bill, including Justin Malan of the U.S. Green Building Council California. Malan argued that although the builders, architects, planners and engineers he represents strongly support energy efficiency, they know that sometimes building materials need careful review. “Let’s not make the same costly, and lethal, mistakes we made with asbestos,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arlene Blum, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.greensciencepolicy.org/\">Green Science Policy Institute\u003c/a> and a chemist who has long sounded the alarm about the \u003ca href=\"http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-15/national/38550740_1_flame-retardants-pbdes-treated-products/2\">potential hazards of flame retardants\u003c/a>, urged the committee to \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2012/06/18/98102/governor_orders_change_in_state_policy_on_flame_retardants_in?category=bay+area\">follow the lead of Governor Brown\u003c/a>, who directed regulators to update the \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/audio/the-political-firestorm-inside-your-sofa/\">state’s furniture flammability standards\u003c/a> to increase fire safety without using potentially toxic chemicals. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Existing building standards require 15 minutes to flashover, when the fire turns from flame to conflagration as nearby combustibles ignite. By the time a fire hits the treated plastic foam insulation inside the wall, Blum said, “all the flame retardants do is make the fire more toxic, produce dioxins, which harm the health of first responders.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lobbying against public health?\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nTwelve public interest and business groups followed Malone and Blum in support of AB 127. Leading the opposition to the bill was Joe Lang, representing the chemical industry’s main trade group, the American Chemistry Council. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lang, a veteran Sacramento lobbyist who once \u003ca href=\"http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/documentStore/v/c/m/vcm94b00/Svcm94b00.pdf\">represented tobacco giant Philip Morris\u003c/a>, now heads the \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/02/see-which-lobbying-firms-made-the-most-money-in-2012.html\">top-grossing lobbying firm\u003c/a> in Sacramento. His firm received more than \u003ca href=\"http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2011/money-to-burn\">$1 million from chemical industry interests\u003c/a> over five years to help defeat five bills to regulate flame retardants added to consumer products. In the first quarter of this year, Lang and his associates have earned 40,000 from the American Chemistry Council, state records show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Claiming most of the opposition’s allotted time, Lang did not argue the merits of reviewing the state’s building code but lectured the committee on the state’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/PollutionPrevention/GreenChemistryInitiative/index.cfm?CFID=26318756&CFTOKEN=89839980\">Green Chemistry Initiative\u003c/a> (enacted in 2008 but plagued by budgetary problems and yet to see full implementation), which aims to identify chemical hazards and safer alternatives. He argued that AB 127 subverted the state’s green chemistry policy by asking for a separate process, not based on science, that evaluates chemical hazards one by one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lang also argued that most of the evidence cited to show the risks of flame retardants studied chemicals that aren’t used in foam insulation. Then he referred to a \u003ca href=\"http://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/13630/trd_rar_ireland_tccp_en.pdf\">European Union risk assessment\u003c/a> for TCPP that failed to find evidence of risk to consumers or the environment, based on exposure models, though it did show harm to workers in plants where the chemicals are made. All of the studies that AB 127 supporters point to as support for the toxicity of flame retardants don’t apply in this case, Lang said. “They’re creating a hysteria. They’re creating a sense that fire retardants used in building insulation are in fact dangerous. That’s not the case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EU risk assessments of another flame retardant, known as Deca, also found no significant risks to health and the environment using their exposure models. Although the EU banned Deca in 2002, the subsequent favorable risk assessment helped win a reprieve, allowing manufacturers to continue using Deca in electronics and electrical equipment. But the EU banned the chemical for good in 2008 after the European Parliament challenged the assessment, citing health and environmental concerns. (In 2009, \u003ca href=\"http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/existingchemicals/pubs/actionplans/deccadbe.html\">the EPA brokered a deal\u003c/a> with the two U.S. Deca manufacturers to phase out the chemical “to protect human health and the environment.”) \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lang didn’t mention any risk assessment studies for HBCD. But last month, the U.N. Environment Programme’s Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants \u003ca href=\"http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-567_en.htm?locale=en\">voted to add HBCD\u003c/a> to its list of globally banned chemicals. \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Birds Babies in Rehab: Rescued Herons and Egrets Start A New Life",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4477\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/Snowy-Egret-chicks-Kylie-Clatterbuck.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4477\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4477 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/Snowy-Egret-chicks-Kylie-Clatterbuck.jpg\" alt=\"Snowy egret chicks are cared for until they're old enough to fly at IBR, then released in the wild. Photo by Kylie Clatterbuck.\" width=\"640\" height=\"428\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Snowy egret chicks are cared for until they’re old enough to fly at IBR, then released in the wild. Photo by Kylie Clatterbuck.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rehab is often in the news, but it’s most often associated with some celebrity figure. This time, though, the celebrities were 22 orphaned egrets and herons from Santa Rosa, CA. Twenty-one of the 22 media darlings were from the \u003ca title=\"Ninth Street Rookery, Santa Rosa, CA\" href=\"http://colintalcroft.com/Sonoma_County_Bird_Watching_Spots/Ninth_St._Rookery,_Santa_Rosa.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ninth Street Rookery\u003c/a>. Young egrets and herons that leave the nest before they’re fully flight-ready are usually taken care of by the parents on the ground or climb back up into the trees on their own. But this rookery, which sits in the median of a very busy street, has many cars and other urban threats that could potentially harm its birds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4478\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 242px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/BCNH1-Kylie-Clatterbuck-242x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4478\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4478\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/BCNH1-Kylie-Clatterbuck-242x162.jpg\" alt=\"Black-crowned Night Heron chicks, snug in their nest at IBR. Photo by Kylie Clatterbuck.\" width=\"242\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Black-crowned Night Heron chicks, snug in their nest at IBR. Photo by Kylie Clatterbuck.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A partnership of agencies and plenty of volunteers ensure a happy ending for many of these young birds. The wonderful volunteers from the \u003ca title=\"Bird Rescue Center, Santa Rosa\" href=\"http://www.birdrescuecenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bird Rescue Center in Santa Rosa\u003c/a> keep a close watch on the rookery, ready to collect any young birds that need a helping hand. Then they’re transported to the \u003ca title=\"International Bird Rescue\" href=\"http://bird-rescue.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">International Bird Rescue (IBR)\u003c/a> in Fairfield, which specializes in caring for waterfowl. The \u003ca title=\"Fish and Wildlife Commission, Sonoma County\" href=\"http://www.sonoma-county.org/wildlife/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sonoma County Fish & Wildlife Commission\u003c/a> provides funding to IBR, and every year IBR helps hundreds of young egrets and herons from around the Bay Area. (View a video of IBR Los Angeles’s rehab operation at work in the video below.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CZOMZlaI7o&w=640&h=360\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with last week’s release of the young birds, IBR in Fairfield still has 41 more snowy egrets and 23 black-crowned night herons that will require care until they’re ready to be returned to the wild.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week’s rehabbed fledglings were released “en masse” in the \u003ca title=\"Laguna de Santa Rosa\" href=\"http://www.lagunadesantarosa.org/about_overview.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Laguna de Santa Rosa\u003c/a>, which is in the same watershed as the Ninth Street Rookery. They wear a \u003ca title=\"Red Banded Egrets; International Bird Rescue\" href=\"http://blog.bird-rescue.org/index.php/2013/05/international-bird-rescues-red-banded-egrets/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">numbered red leg band\u003c/a> so scientists can try to track them through the years. Perhaps they’ll join the Ninth Street Rookery in the future or maybe they’ll disperse to other locations. If you notice a heron or egret with a red band on its leg, try to look for a number (usually a spotting scope or telephoto lens is required) and \u003ca title=\"International Bird Rescue: Found a Bird\" href=\"http://bird-rescue.org/contact/found-a-bird.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report it to IBR\u003c/a>. You may be able to help contribute to the life story of one of these rehabilitated birds!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4477\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/Snowy-Egret-chicks-Kylie-Clatterbuck.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4477\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4477 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/Snowy-Egret-chicks-Kylie-Clatterbuck.jpg\" alt=\"Snowy egret chicks are cared for until they're old enough to fly at IBR, then released in the wild. Photo by Kylie Clatterbuck.\" width=\"640\" height=\"428\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Snowy egret chicks are cared for until they’re old enough to fly at IBR, then released in the wild. Photo by Kylie Clatterbuck.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rehab is often in the news, but it’s most often associated with some celebrity figure. This time, though, the celebrities were 22 orphaned egrets and herons from Santa Rosa, CA. Twenty-one of the 22 media darlings were from the \u003ca title=\"Ninth Street Rookery, Santa Rosa, CA\" href=\"http://colintalcroft.com/Sonoma_County_Bird_Watching_Spots/Ninth_St._Rookery,_Santa_Rosa.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ninth Street Rookery\u003c/a>. Young egrets and herons that leave the nest before they’re fully flight-ready are usually taken care of by the parents on the ground or climb back up into the trees on their own. But this rookery, which sits in the median of a very busy street, has many cars and other urban threats that could potentially harm its birds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4478\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 242px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/BCNH1-Kylie-Clatterbuck-242x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4478\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4478\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/BCNH1-Kylie-Clatterbuck-242x162.jpg\" alt=\"Black-crowned Night Heron chicks, snug in their nest at IBR. Photo by Kylie Clatterbuck.\" width=\"242\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Black-crowned Night Heron chicks, snug in their nest at IBR. Photo by Kylie Clatterbuck.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A partnership of agencies and plenty of volunteers ensure a happy ending for many of these young birds. The wonderful volunteers from the \u003ca title=\"Bird Rescue Center, Santa Rosa\" href=\"http://www.birdrescuecenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bird Rescue Center in Santa Rosa\u003c/a> keep a close watch on the rookery, ready to collect any young birds that need a helping hand. Then they’re transported to the \u003ca title=\"International Bird Rescue\" href=\"http://bird-rescue.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">International Bird Rescue (IBR)\u003c/a> in Fairfield, which specializes in caring for waterfowl. The \u003ca title=\"Fish and Wildlife Commission, Sonoma County\" href=\"http://www.sonoma-county.org/wildlife/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sonoma County Fish & Wildlife Commission\u003c/a> provides funding to IBR, and every year IBR helps hundreds of young egrets and herons from around the Bay Area. (View a video of IBR Los Angeles’s rehab operation at work in the video below.)\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/4CZOMZlaI7o'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/4CZOMZlaI7o'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Even with last week’s release of the young birds, IBR in Fairfield still has 41 more snowy egrets and 23 black-crowned night herons that will require care until they’re ready to be returned to the wild.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week’s rehabbed fledglings were released “en masse” in the \u003ca title=\"Laguna de Santa Rosa\" href=\"http://www.lagunadesantarosa.org/about_overview.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Laguna de Santa Rosa\u003c/a>, which is in the same watershed as the Ninth Street Rookery. They wear a \u003ca title=\"Red Banded Egrets; International Bird Rescue\" href=\"http://blog.bird-rescue.org/index.php/2013/05/international-bird-rescues-red-banded-egrets/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">numbered red leg band\u003c/a> so scientists can try to track them through the years. Perhaps they’ll join the Ninth Street Rookery in the future or maybe they’ll disperse to other locations. If you notice a heron or egret with a red band on its leg, try to look for a number (usually a spotting scope or telephoto lens is required) and \u003ca title=\"International Bird Rescue: Found a Bird\" href=\"http://bird-rescue.org/contact/found-a-bird.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report it to IBR\u003c/a>. You may be able to help contribute to the life story of one of these rehabilitated birds!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "River Otters in the Marin Headlands",
"headTitle": "River Otters in the Marin Headlands | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The San Francisco Bay Area was recently abuzz over \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/S-F-s-only-river-otter-at-Sutro-Baths-4163180.php\">a lone river otter in Sutro Baths, affectionately called “Sutro Sam.”\u003c/a> Although Sutro Sam’s brief stint in the swimming complex ruins is now over, there are still plenty of other places in the Bay Area to see wild river otters. Rodeo Lagoon in the Marin Headlands is one of these places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_3868\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3868\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-1.jpg\" alt=\"Rodeo Lagoon\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3868\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rodeo Lagoon.\u003cbr>Photo by Andrea Dougall\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the help of citizens, \u003ca href=\"http://www.riverotterecology.org\">The River Otter Ecology Project\u003c/a> (ROEP) studies these animals to better understand their role in the Bay Area’s costal watersheds. Their \u003ca href=\"http://www.riverotterecology.org/otter-spotter-citizen-science-project.html\">OTTER SPOTTER Citizen Science Project\u003c/a> asks the public to submit any observational or physical data that can be used to document where river otters are in the Bay Area; photographs and video-recording of river otters are highly encouraged. Rodeo Lagoon is a site that this organization closely monitors due to high river otter activity. At least 5 individuals have been spotted in this location, likely a female with pups and a male.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_3865\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3865\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-2.jpg\" alt=\"Scratches in the sand indicate river otter activity.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3865\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scratches in the sand indicate river otter activity.\u003cbr>Photo by Andrea Dougall\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Unlike sea otters, river otters spend quite a lot of time on land. They are great runners, rock and tree climbers, and sleep in dens. This versatility allows river otters to eat everything from crustaceans to other mammals, which can be seen in their scat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_3866\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-3.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3866\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-3.jpg\" alt=\"The River Otter Ecology Project collects river otter scat samples to learn more about wild river otters' diets\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3866\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The River Otter Ecology Project collects river otter scat samples to learn more about wild river otters’ diets.\u003cbr>Photo by Andrea Dougall\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Below is a QUEST video of a wild river otter scat dissection at Big Break Regional Shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[flickr video=4911254966 secret=2381fe7c89 w=640 h=360]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003cbr>\nAlthough river otters are not endangered, they are listed as a Species of Special Concern due to polluted waterways, habitat loss and being hunted for their fur. It can be difficult to spot river otters in the wild, but with the public’s help, ROEP has created an \u003ca href=\"http://www.riverotterecology.org/otter-spotter-interactive-map-of-bay-area-sightings.html\">interactive map of Bay Area river otter sightings.\u003c/a> Each pin details what was sighted and when, which may be helpful to optimistic hikers who would like to see them. If outdoor trekking isn’t your thing, there are a number of zoos and aquariums in the Bay Area that exhibit river otters, such as \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfzoo.org\">The San Francisco Zoo\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.oaklandzoo.org\">Oakland Zoo\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.curiodyssey.org\">CuriOdyssey\u003c/a> and this coming summer, \u003ca href=\"http://www.aquariumofthebay.com\">Aquarium of the Bay\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_3867\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-4.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3867\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-4.jpg\" alt=\"A river otter at Rodeo Lagoon\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3867\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A river otter at Rodeo Lagoon.\u003cbr>Photo by Andrea Dougall\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The San Francisco Bay Area was recently abuzz over \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/S-F-s-only-river-otter-at-Sutro-Baths-4163180.php\">a lone river otter in Sutro Baths, affectionately called “Sutro Sam.”\u003c/a> Although Sutro Sam’s brief stint in the swimming complex ruins is now over, there are still plenty of other places in the Bay Area to see wild river otters. Rodeo Lagoon in the Marin Headlands is one of these places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_3868\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3868\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-1.jpg\" alt=\"Rodeo Lagoon\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3868\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rodeo Lagoon.\u003cbr>Photo by Andrea Dougall\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the help of citizens, \u003ca href=\"http://www.riverotterecology.org\">The River Otter Ecology Project\u003c/a> (ROEP) studies these animals to better understand their role in the Bay Area’s costal watersheds. Their \u003ca href=\"http://www.riverotterecology.org/otter-spotter-citizen-science-project.html\">OTTER SPOTTER Citizen Science Project\u003c/a> asks the public to submit any observational or physical data that can be used to document where river otters are in the Bay Area; photographs and video-recording of river otters are highly encouraged. Rodeo Lagoon is a site that this organization closely monitors due to high river otter activity. At least 5 individuals have been spotted in this location, likely a female with pups and a male.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_3865\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3865\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-2.jpg\" alt=\"Scratches in the sand indicate river otter activity.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3865\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scratches in the sand indicate river otter activity.\u003cbr>Photo by Andrea Dougall\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Unlike sea otters, river otters spend quite a lot of time on land. They are great runners, rock and tree climbers, and sleep in dens. This versatility allows river otters to eat everything from crustaceans to other mammals, which can be seen in their scat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_3866\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-3.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3866\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-3.jpg\" alt=\"The River Otter Ecology Project collects river otter scat samples to learn more about wild river otters' diets\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3866\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The River Otter Ecology Project collects river otter scat samples to learn more about wild river otters’ diets.\u003cbr>Photo by Andrea Dougall\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Below is a QUEST video of a wild river otter scat dissection at Big Break Regional Shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[flickr video=4911254966 secret=2381fe7c89 w=640 h=360]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003cbr>\nAlthough river otters are not endangered, they are listed as a Species of Special Concern due to polluted waterways, habitat loss and being hunted for their fur. It can be difficult to spot river otters in the wild, but with the public’s help, ROEP has created an \u003ca href=\"http://www.riverotterecology.org/otter-spotter-interactive-map-of-bay-area-sightings.html\">interactive map of Bay Area river otter sightings.\u003c/a> Each pin details what was sighted and when, which may be helpful to optimistic hikers who would like to see them. If outdoor trekking isn’t your thing, there are a number of zoos and aquariums in the Bay Area that exhibit river otters, such as \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfzoo.org\">The San Francisco Zoo\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.oaklandzoo.org\">Oakland Zoo\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.curiodyssey.org\">CuriOdyssey\u003c/a> and this coming summer, \u003ca href=\"http://www.aquariumofthebay.com\">Aquarium of the Bay\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_3867\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-4.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3867\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/roep-4.jpg\" alt=\"A river otter at Rodeo Lagoon\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3867\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A river otter at Rodeo Lagoon.\u003cbr>Photo by Andrea Dougall\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "The Chemistry of Love’s Spark",
"headTitle": "The Chemistry of Love’s Spark | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4255\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/BeachCouple.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4255\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4255\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/BeachCouple.jpg\" alt=\"Maybe they've stayed together so long because of a few acetyl groups near a couple of key genes. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. \" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maybe they’ve stayed together so long because of a few acetyl groups near a couple of key genes. \u003cem>Image courtesy of\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:An_old_couple_relaxing_on_the_beach.jpg\">\u003cem>Wikimedia Commons\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Love at first sight is a magical, mysterious thing. Unless you are prairie vole that is. Then, if the results of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23727821\">new study\u003c/a> hold up, it is just a few chemical groups scattered around a couple of different genes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now calling this love may be stretching things as these are rodents and not people. Still, prairie voles are one of the few mammals that mates for life (click \u003ca href=\"http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/photos/11-animals-that-mate-for-life/old-faithful\">here \u003c/a>for a list of some other animals that do the same thing). And what we have learned about the genetics behind their monogamy has turned out to possibly explain some \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2008/09/17/your-cheatin-genes/\">men’s cheating ways\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will be interesting to see if what they’ve learned about prairie vole partner selection can translate to people too. Undoubtedly love is more complex in people although maybe turning up these genes at the right time is a key component in becoming smitten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Love in a prairie vole starts with finding a partner they like. The two then mate and the deal is sealed…they are monogamous partners. This process is called partner preference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cozying up to and then mating with a partner causes two genes, the oxytocin receptor (\u003cem>oxtr\u003c/em>) and vasopressin V1a receptor (\u003cem>avpr1a\u003c/em>) genes, to get more active in the brain of a prairie vole. When the researchers looked closely, they found that this was because acetyl groups had been slapped onto nearby histones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4273\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 240px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/Histone.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4273\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4273\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/Histone.jpg\" alt=\"Love in a prairie vole may be as simple as loosening a couple of these histones. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"240\" height=\"234\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Love in a prairie vole may be as simple as loosening a couple of these histones. \u003cem>Image courtesy of \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Complete_Histone_with_DNA.png\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The DNA of plants and animals (and lots of other beasts) is packaged around little protein spools called histones. Besides letting cells like ours \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2009/02/02/a-long-and-winding-dna/\">cram six feet of DNA into their tiny nuclei\u003c/a>, this packaging also helps to control which genes are on and to what levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way a gene is controlled is if the packaging pushes it down into the middle of the DNA heap. Now the cell can’t even see that piece of DNA. Another way is if a histone grabs onto the start of a gene and holds it tightly. The cell has trouble prying the histone away, meaning the gene it is covering will then be turned on very little — if at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a cell needs to make a gene more active, it sometimes controls how tightly a histone holds onto DNA by adding or removing acetyl groups. The more acetyl groups on a histone, the more negative charge it has. Since DNA is negatively charged too, the two repel each other, so the histone doesn’t hang on so tightly. And it looks like this is what happens around the \u003cem>oxtr \u003c/em>and \u003cem>avpr1a \u003c/em>genes in prairie voles once they choose a partner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the cooler experiments the researchers did was to get prairie voles to commit without mating by directly tweaking the histones in their brains. They took female prairie voles and put them in a cage with some hunky males. They then injected the females’ brains directly with chemicals that prevent the cell from removing acetyl groups from histones (HDAC inhibitors). This buildup of acetyl groups is the same as adding new ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What they found was that the injected females chose their partner without mating first. The chemical mimicked the effect of mating (although presumably in a less pleasurable way!).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4262\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 111px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/PrairieVole.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4262\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4262\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/PrairieVole.jpg\" alt=\"This little guy can teach us a lot about monogamy. \" width=\"111\" height=\"122\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This little guy can teach us a lot about monogamy. \u003cem>Image courtesy of \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prairie_vole.gif\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When the researchers compared the brains of these females with those that had chosen a partner the more traditional way, they found that both had histones with extra acetyl groups around the \u003cem>oxtr \u003c/em>and \u003cem>avpr1a \u003c/em>genes. Incredibly, even though these chemicals are not specific to these genes, only these genes seemed to be affected. This is strong evidence that turning these genes up is enough to at least get the whole process rolling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we think about it for a bit, this sort of finding shouldn’t surprise us too much. Something as intense as partner selection is bound to have profound effects in the brain and it was most likely to happen in some sort of epigenetic way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/epigenetics.html\">Epigenetics \u003c/a>is that hot topic that helps to explain how the environment can affect our genes in a long term way without permanently affecting the underlying instructions spelled out in those A’s, T’s, G’s and C’s you’ve heard about. Importantly, these sorts of changes can also be erased before they are passed on to the next generation. No need to worry about a bunch of oedipal prairie voles running around!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So partner selection (or, dare I say it, love) changes the brain in profound ways that we are beginning to figure out. Does learning the detailed biochemistry of love take anything away from it? I don’t think so. Something still has to come along to prompt the changes in the brain that alter it so the person falls in love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I guess the only concern might be if once we have as good a handle on human love as we do on prairie vole partner selection, we may be able to find ways to mimic the effect without that environmental prompt. A 21st century love potion like this would be most worrisome.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4255\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/BeachCouple.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4255\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4255\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/BeachCouple.jpg\" alt=\"Maybe they've stayed together so long because of a few acetyl groups near a couple of key genes. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. \" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maybe they’ve stayed together so long because of a few acetyl groups near a couple of key genes. \u003cem>Image courtesy of\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:An_old_couple_relaxing_on_the_beach.jpg\">\u003cem>Wikimedia Commons\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Love at first sight is a magical, mysterious thing. Unless you are prairie vole that is. Then, if the results of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23727821\">new study\u003c/a> hold up, it is just a few chemical groups scattered around a couple of different genes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now calling this love may be stretching things as these are rodents and not people. Still, prairie voles are one of the few mammals that mates for life (click \u003ca href=\"http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/photos/11-animals-that-mate-for-life/old-faithful\">here \u003c/a>for a list of some other animals that do the same thing). And what we have learned about the genetics behind their monogamy has turned out to possibly explain some \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2008/09/17/your-cheatin-genes/\">men’s cheating ways\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will be interesting to see if what they’ve learned about prairie vole partner selection can translate to people too. Undoubtedly love is more complex in people although maybe turning up these genes at the right time is a key component in becoming smitten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Love in a prairie vole starts with finding a partner they like. The two then mate and the deal is sealed…they are monogamous partners. This process is called partner preference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cozying up to and then mating with a partner causes two genes, the oxytocin receptor (\u003cem>oxtr\u003c/em>) and vasopressin V1a receptor (\u003cem>avpr1a\u003c/em>) genes, to get more active in the brain of a prairie vole. When the researchers looked closely, they found that this was because acetyl groups had been slapped onto nearby histones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4273\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 240px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/Histone.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4273\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4273\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/Histone.jpg\" alt=\"Love in a prairie vole may be as simple as loosening a couple of these histones. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"240\" height=\"234\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Love in a prairie vole may be as simple as loosening a couple of these histones. \u003cem>Image courtesy of \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Complete_Histone_with_DNA.png\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The DNA of plants and animals (and lots of other beasts) is packaged around little protein spools called histones. Besides letting cells like ours \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2009/02/02/a-long-and-winding-dna/\">cram six feet of DNA into their tiny nuclei\u003c/a>, this packaging also helps to control which genes are on and to what levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way a gene is controlled is if the packaging pushes it down into the middle of the DNA heap. Now the cell can’t even see that piece of DNA. Another way is if a histone grabs onto the start of a gene and holds it tightly. The cell has trouble prying the histone away, meaning the gene it is covering will then be turned on very little — if at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a cell needs to make a gene more active, it sometimes controls how tightly a histone holds onto DNA by adding or removing acetyl groups. The more acetyl groups on a histone, the more negative charge it has. Since DNA is negatively charged too, the two repel each other, so the histone doesn’t hang on so tightly. And it looks like this is what happens around the \u003cem>oxtr \u003c/em>and \u003cem>avpr1a \u003c/em>genes in prairie voles once they choose a partner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the cooler experiments the researchers did was to get prairie voles to commit without mating by directly tweaking the histones in their brains. They took female prairie voles and put them in a cage with some hunky males. They then injected the females’ brains directly with chemicals that prevent the cell from removing acetyl groups from histones (HDAC inhibitors). This buildup of acetyl groups is the same as adding new ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What they found was that the injected females chose their partner without mating first. The chemical mimicked the effect of mating (although presumably in a less pleasurable way!).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4262\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 111px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/PrairieVole.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4262\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4262\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/PrairieVole.jpg\" alt=\"This little guy can teach us a lot about monogamy. \" width=\"111\" height=\"122\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This little guy can teach us a lot about monogamy. \u003cem>Image courtesy of \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prairie_vole.gif\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When the researchers compared the brains of these females with those that had chosen a partner the more traditional way, they found that both had histones with extra acetyl groups around the \u003cem>oxtr \u003c/em>and \u003cem>avpr1a \u003c/em>genes. Incredibly, even though these chemicals are not specific to these genes, only these genes seemed to be affected. This is strong evidence that turning these genes up is enough to at least get the whole process rolling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we think about it for a bit, this sort of finding shouldn’t surprise us too much. Something as intense as partner selection is bound to have profound effects in the brain and it was most likely to happen in some sort of epigenetic way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/epigenetics.html\">Epigenetics \u003c/a>is that hot topic that helps to explain how the environment can affect our genes in a long term way without permanently affecting the underlying instructions spelled out in those A’s, T’s, G’s and C’s you’ve heard about. Importantly, these sorts of changes can also be erased before they are passed on to the next generation. No need to worry about a bunch of oedipal prairie voles running around!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So partner selection (or, dare I say it, love) changes the brain in profound ways that we are beginning to figure out. Does learning the detailed biochemistry of love take anything away from it? I don’t think so. Something still has to come along to prompt the changes in the brain that alter it so the person falls in love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I guess the only concern might be if once we have as good a handle on human love as we do on prairie vole partner selection, we may be able to find ways to mimic the effect without that environmental prompt. A 21st century love potion like this would be most worrisome.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Who Wins and Who Loses With the Supreme Court's Gene Patenting Decision?",
"headTitle": "Who Wins and Who Loses With the Supreme Court’s Gene Patenting Decision? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4362\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4362\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/DoubleHelix_GettyImages-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Getty Images\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Getty Images\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A US Supreme Court ruling issued Thursday has big implications for Bay Area biotech companies and medical researchers, not to mention patients who want genetic testing or gene-based therapies. The justices ruled that no one has the right to patent natural human genes, but synthetic DNA material can be patented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED News anchor Stephanie Martin spoke with Jacob Sherkow, a fellow at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.law.stanford.edu/node/149619\">Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford\u003c/a> who studies the intersection of patent law and biotech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Stephanie Martin: Let’s talk first about what the court means by naturally occurring genetic material. What does that cover?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacob Sherkow: It’s referring to human genes as they exist in the human chromosome. So, one of the things that \u003ca href=\"http://www.myriad.com/\">Myriad\u003c/a> attempted to patent was isolated genomic DNA. That is, those genes as they exist in human chromosomes, except as if they were cut out using a pair of molecular scissors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SM: And we should mention that Myriad is the Utah-based company at the center of the case.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>JS: Right, sorry. Myriad Genetics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SM: And very briefly, what is the difference between synthetic DNA and naturally occurring DNA?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>JS: So the type of synthetic DNA that the court was concerned with was something called cDNA, which stands for either complementary DNA or clone DNA. cDNA is a variant of the isolated genomic DNA that we just talked about. The major difference, however, is that all of the regions of the isolated genomic DNA that do not code for protein have been removed. So if you can imagine a sentence, for example, and if you were to remove all of the less meaningful words from it and creating a new sentence with only the meaningful ones, that’s kind of what cDNA is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SM: So there are a lot of biotech companies and universities in the Bay Area who own patents on both of these types of DNA. Who wins and who loses with today’s decision?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>JS: That’s actually a really difficult question to answer. I think in the biotech industry, you know, here in the Bay Area and around the country, you’re going to get a mixed bag of responses. There are going to be some companies that are going to laud the ability to get into this gene marketing space without having to be worried if they’re going to be sued for patent infringement. And you have some other companies that are going to be concerned that without patent protection to certain genes it’s going to be difficult for them to recoup the investments that they put in creating their technologies, and also to get funding as they move forward in their product life cycle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SM: Now patient advocates are claiming this \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/06/13/san-francisco-breast-cancer-advocates-jubilant-over-supreme-court-human-genes-ruling/\">as a victory\u003c/a>, because they say that it’s a big win for competition in the marketplace and access to perhaps cheaper, and perhaps better, gene testing therapy in the future. But isn’t there also an argument that this ruling might hurt patients, because getting patents on naturally occurring genes, was there was a financial incentive behind it?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>JS: So that’s actually a greater argument about the patent system. It takes a lot of research and time to be able to figure out which genes implicate which diseases, and which mutations in those genes have which effects. And the way that companies have traditionally been able to recoup those costs is by getting patents and by excluding other companies from the marketplace. And so the reality is that without some type of exclusionary system, like the patent system, it’s possible that we may see less research and development in the future in this space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SM: Is there an argument that this Supreme Court ruling might put a damper on innovation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>JS: So I think it’s possible, but I think the on-the-ground reality is that because a lot of this work is funded publically by organizations such as the National Institute of Health, that we’re really not going to see this dampening on innovation that people have been saying that there’s going to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Michael Osborne contributed to this article.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A US Supreme Court ruling issued Thursday has big implications for Bay Area biotech companies and medical researchers, not to mention patients who want genetic testing or gene-based therapies. The Justices ruled that no one has the right to patent natural human genes, but synthetic DNA material can be patented.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4362\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4362\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/DoubleHelix_GettyImages-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Getty Images\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Getty Images\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A US Supreme Court ruling issued Thursday has big implications for Bay Area biotech companies and medical researchers, not to mention patients who want genetic testing or gene-based therapies. The justices ruled that no one has the right to patent natural human genes, but synthetic DNA material can be patented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED News anchor Stephanie Martin spoke with Jacob Sherkow, a fellow at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.law.stanford.edu/node/149619\">Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford\u003c/a> who studies the intersection of patent law and biotech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Stephanie Martin: Let’s talk first about what the court means by naturally occurring genetic material. What does that cover?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacob Sherkow: It’s referring to human genes as they exist in the human chromosome. So, one of the things that \u003ca href=\"http://www.myriad.com/\">Myriad\u003c/a> attempted to patent was isolated genomic DNA. That is, those genes as they exist in human chromosomes, except as if they were cut out using a pair of molecular scissors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SM: And we should mention that Myriad is the Utah-based company at the center of the case.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>JS: Right, sorry. Myriad Genetics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SM: And very briefly, what is the difference between synthetic DNA and naturally occurring DNA?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>JS: So the type of synthetic DNA that the court was concerned with was something called cDNA, which stands for either complementary DNA or clone DNA. cDNA is a variant of the isolated genomic DNA that we just talked about. The major difference, however, is that all of the regions of the isolated genomic DNA that do not code for protein have been removed. So if you can imagine a sentence, for example, and if you were to remove all of the less meaningful words from it and creating a new sentence with only the meaningful ones, that’s kind of what cDNA is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SM: So there are a lot of biotech companies and universities in the Bay Area who own patents on both of these types of DNA. Who wins and who loses with today’s decision?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>JS: That’s actually a really difficult question to answer. I think in the biotech industry, you know, here in the Bay Area and around the country, you’re going to get a mixed bag of responses. There are going to be some companies that are going to laud the ability to get into this gene marketing space without having to be worried if they’re going to be sued for patent infringement. And you have some other companies that are going to be concerned that without patent protection to certain genes it’s going to be difficult for them to recoup the investments that they put in creating their technologies, and also to get funding as they move forward in their product life cycle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SM: Now patient advocates are claiming this \u003ca href=\"http://blogs.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/06/13/san-francisco-breast-cancer-advocates-jubilant-over-supreme-court-human-genes-ruling/\">as a victory\u003c/a>, because they say that it’s a big win for competition in the marketplace and access to perhaps cheaper, and perhaps better, gene testing therapy in the future. But isn’t there also an argument that this ruling might hurt patients, because getting patents on naturally occurring genes, was there was a financial incentive behind it?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>JS: So that’s actually a greater argument about the patent system. It takes a lot of research and time to be able to figure out which genes implicate which diseases, and which mutations in those genes have which effects. And the way that companies have traditionally been able to recoup those costs is by getting patents and by excluding other companies from the marketplace. And so the reality is that without some type of exclusionary system, like the patent system, it’s possible that we may see less research and development in the future in this space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SM: Is there an argument that this Supreme Court ruling might put a damper on innovation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>JS: So I think it’s possible, but I think the on-the-ground reality is that because a lot of this work is funded publically by organizations such as the National Institute of Health, that we’re really not going to see this dampening on innovation that people have been saying that there’s going to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Michael Osborne contributed to this article.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Eucalyptus: California Icon, Fire Hazard and Invasive Species",
"headTitle": "Eucalyptus: California Icon, Fire Hazard and Invasive Species | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4236\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/epicormic-bud.small_.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4236\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/epicormic-bud.small_.jpg\" alt='Specialized reproductive structures caleld \"epicormic shoots\" sprout from buds on the bushfire damaged trunk of a Eucalyptus tree, about two years after the 2003 Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires. (Near Anglers Rest, Victoria, Australia./jjron)' width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4236\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Specialized reproductive structures called “epicormic shoots” sprout from buds on the bushfire damaged trunk of a Eucalyptus tree, about two years after the 2003 Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires. Near Anglers Rest, Victoria, Australia. (Photo: jjron)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Biologists now count invasive species as a major threat to biological diversity second only to direct habitat loss and fragmentation. Why do they worry when new species enter an ecosystem? More than 90 percent of introduced plants in California have overcome barriers to survival and reproduction in their new home without harming native species. But a fraction display invasive traits, displacing native species and reshaping the ecological landscape. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus), a symbol of California for some, never knew California soil \u003ca href=\"http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr069/psw_gtr069.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">until the 1850s\u003c/a>, when seeds from Australia were planted, first as ornamentals, then mostly for timber and fuel. The California Invasive Plant Council (CAL-IPC) classifies blue gum eucalyptus as a \u003ca href=\"http://www.cal-ipc.org/paf/site/paf/342\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“moderate” invasive\u003c/a> because the trees need certain conditions to thrive. For the most part, they’re not a problem in the drier regions of Southern California or the Central Valley. But along the coast, where summer fog brings buckets of moisture, it’s a different story. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blue gum invades neighboring plant communities if adequate moisture is available for propagation, state resource ecologist David Boyd \u003ca href=\"http://www.cal-ipc.org/ip/management/ipcw/pages/detailreport.cfm@usernumber=48&surveynumber=182.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">noted in a report\u003c/a> for CAL-IPC. Once established, the trees can alter local soil moisture, light availability, fire patterns, nitrogen mineralization rates and soil chemistry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Introduced species can disrupt ecological relationships among species that co-evolved over millennia, which is why \u003ca href=\"http://www.elkhornslough.org/habitat-restoration/projects/oak-woodland.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">many groups work\u003c/a> to remove eucalyptus and restore coast live oaks. California’s native oak woodlands still \u003ca href=\"http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/topics/ecosystem_processes/sierra/bio_diversity/habitat_relationship_terrestrial_sub5/abundance_distribution.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sustain more biodiversity\u003c/a> than any other terrestrial landscape even though more than a century of intensive agricultural, rangeland and urban development has claimed some \u003ca href=\"http://www.placer.ca.gov/~/media/cdr/Planning/PCCP/BackgroundData/OakWoodlands/OakWoodlandMgtPlan.ashx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">5 million acres of woodlands\u003c/a>. (While settlers cleared the land of oaks, entrepreneurs planted eucalyptus trees by the millions.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Historic fire risk\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThat’s why many ecologists welcome \u003ca href=\"http://ebheis.cdmims.com/Files/FAQ%204-1-13.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a plan to remove tens of thousands\u003c/a> of eucalyptus and other non-native trees from the East Bay Hills to reduce fire risk. UC Berkeley, together with the City of Oakland and the East Bay Regional Park District, applied for \u003ca href=\"http://www.fema.gov/news-release/2013/05/17/fema-reviews-bay-area-pre-disaster-funding-applications-invites-public\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">up to $5.6 million\u003c/a> in grants to remove the non-natives—primarily eucalyptus, Monterey pine and acacia—under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation and Hazard Mitigation Grant programs. The total project would cover just under 1,000 acres and includes plans to encourage regrowth of native oak and bay trees. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ebheis.cdmims.com/Libraries/Site_Documents/Executive_Summary.sflb.ashx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fifteen major fires\u003c/a> roared through 9,000 acres of the East Bay Hills between 1923 and 1992, incinerating some 4,000 homes and killing 26 people. The Oakland “Tunnel” fire, considered the worst in California history, caused an estimated $1.5 billion in damage, destroyed more than 3,000 homes and killed 25 people. Following the Oakland fire, disaster experts urged large landowners in the East Bay Hills to work together to manage vegetation to prevent another catastrophic wildfire, says Tom Klatt, who manages environmental projects for UC Berkeley and serves on the UC Fire Mitigation Committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Blue gum eucalyptus is one of the most fire-intensive plants,” says Klatt. Trees not only put a lot of fuel on the ground as they shed bark, leaves and twigs, but in intense fires, volatile compounds in foliage cause explosive burning. “Once bark catches fire, it gets blown ahead of the flame front and drops burning embers by the tens of thousands per acre in the urban community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 1923 fire started at Inspiration Point ran through the eucalyptus trees until it hit the ridgeline at Grizzly Peak, then came down to University and Shattuck before the wind finally changed direction, Klatt says. “It took out 568 homes on the north side of the Berkeley campus in two hours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the fire risk, the plan remains contentious. Some residents worry about the use of \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/fema-plans-clear-cutting-85000-berkeley-and-oakland-trees\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pesticides\u003c/a>, some feel eucalyptus’ \u003ca href=\"http://oaklandlocal.com/2013/06/storm-of-controversy-rages-over-fire-hazard-reduction-plans-for-oakland-hills/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">flammability is overstated \u003c/a>and others who consider the trees cultural icons view the plans as \u003ca href=\"http://rockridge.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/proposal-to-reduce-fire-risk-in-east-bay-hills-by-cutting-85000-trees-draws-a-crowd\">an attack on a species\u003c/a> that’s been here so long we should consider it native. (For the record, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnps.org/cnps/archive/exotics.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Native Plant Society\u003c/a> defines “native” as any species that predated European contact.) Predicting how an introduced species will behave is complicated by the fact that ecological effects are difficult to observe—and may only appear when it’s too late to control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ecological impacts of eucalyptus \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nEvidence of the trees’ impacts on East Bay ecosystems is relatively scarce. A \u003ca href=\"http://elkhornsloughctp.org/uploads/files/1109813068Sax2002.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2002 study\u003c/a> of the Berkeley hills found similar numbers and diversity of species in eucalyptus and native woodlands, but the species themselves were different. Monarchs use groves in Point Pinole as resting spots and several bird species, including \u003ca href=\"http://ebheis.cdmims.com/Libraries/Site_Documents/1_2_3.sflb.ashx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">herons and egrets,\u003c/a> nest in eucalyptus in and near the tree-removal project areas, though how their use affects their reproductive success isn’t clear. (Klatt says that though he hasn’t seen nests in the UCB project areas, the law requires that they take steps to protect nesting birds and any species under state and federal protection.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More evidence comes from the Central Coast. At \u003ca href=\"http://www.elkhornsloughctp.org/training/show_train_detail.php?TRAIN_ID=EcoGYZ22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a 2004 workshop\u003c/a> on the blue gum’s impact on the ecology of coastal ecosystems, researchers reported conflicting effects. Eucalyptus stands can provide habitat for birds near cities and water bodies, and for overwintering monarch butterflies. But the trees change the composition of insect and bird communities as they invade: the loss of native trees that grow along rivers could spell trouble for \u003ca href=\"http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/fact_sheets/default.cfm?fxsht=9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">neotropical migratory songbirds\u003c/a> and for species that nest in tree cavities. And when eucalyptus leaves enter streams, aquatic macroinvertebrate communities change, altering the food chain, likely because the chemical content of eucalyptus leaves differs from native foliage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4243\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/coast-live-oak.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4243\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/coast-live-oak.jpg\" alt=\"Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia) — off Highway 101 in California. Though oak woodlands sustain more wildlife species than any other landscape, only 4 percent of the state’s woodland habitats are protected. The vast majority remain in private hands. (Photo: Peter O'Malley)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4243\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Blue oak (Quercus douglasii) — off Highway 101 in California. Though oak woodlands sustain more wildlife species than any other landscape, only 4 percent of the state’s woodland habitats are protected. The vast majority remain in private hands. (Photo: Peter O’Malley)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By the time the eucalyptus trees were planted in the East Bay, typically in 12 foot by 12 foot plots, most native woodlands and perennial native grasslands had already been converted to annual European grasslands, says forest ecologist Joe McBride, professor of environmental science, policy and management at the University of California at Berkeley. “And certainly by now a number of species are using those trees but they were here before the eucalyptus was planted, using oak woodlands, riparian woodlands and redwood forests in the East Bay. They just spread to eucalyptus and Monterey pines when the trees grew big enough. These populations aren’t going to disappear if eucalyptus is removed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But removal has proven difficult. “After two previous removal efforts in the 1970s and again in the 1980s, the trees have grown back,” Klatt says. Successful eradication requires at least 10 years of maintenance and drizzling about 2 ounces of diluted herbicide directly to the cut stump immediately after felling a tree, he explains. “If you do it within the first three minutes, we see 95 percent to 98 percent success with a single treatment.” But if the trees resprout, more applications will be needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan aims to selectively cut eucalyptus while leaving bay, oaks and other native trees in the understory. “The more understory we preserve, the faster it recovers,” says Klatt. The plan also calls for retaining all the cut wood as chips for erosion control and moisture retention, and to encourage native regrowth, aided by birds and squirrels that plant acorns in chip beds. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McBride hasn’t seen evidence of eucalyptus’ invasive tendencies in the East Bay Hills but worries about its combustible nature. “We imported this plant from Australia but we didn’t import the normal fungus that decays the litter in Australia,” he says. Accumulations of bark and leaf litter under eucalyptus stands have measured up to 100 tons per acre, compared to about 3 tons per acre for coast live oaks. “It’s an enormous increase.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Selected for flammability?\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nSo how does the blue gum act in its native environment? For David Bowman, a forest ecologist at the University of Tasmania in Australia, the question isn’t whether the trees are native or non-native—it’s whether they’re dangerous. “Looking at the eucalyptus forest outside my window in Tasmania, I see a gigantic fire hazard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At very high temperatures, eucalypt species release a flammable gas that mixes with air to send fireballs exploding out in front of the fire. With eucalyptus, you see these ember attacks, with huge bursts of sparks shooting out of the forests, Bowman says. “It’s just an extraordinary idea for a plant.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though it’s difficult to prove, Bowman suspects the trees evolved to be “uber flammable.” Sixty million years ago eucalyptus species hit on a way to recover from intense fire, he explains, using specialized structures hidden deep within their bark that allow rapid recovery through new branches, instead of re-sprouting from the roots like other trees. “They have this adaptive advantage of not having to rebuild their trunk. Whether their oil-rich foliage is also an adaptation, we don’t know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you aren’t familiar with the idea of a plant designed to burn in its life cycle, you can get fooled by its beauty and nice smell, Bowman says. “But on a really hot day, those things are going to burn like torches and shower our suburbs with sparks. And on an extremely hot day, they’re going to shoot out gas balls.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With tiny pinhead seeds that germinate only in disturbed soils, the trees really aren’t good invaders, Bowman says–with one exception. “Fire opens up the woody capsules that hold the seeds, which love growing on freshly burned soil. Give a hillside a really good torching and the eucalyptus will absolutely dominate. They’ll grow intensively in the first few years of life and outcompete everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The evolutionary dimensions of fire ecology are controversial, Bowman allows. “But if eucalyptus are these evolutionary freak plants that massively increase fire risk,” he says, it raises a troubling question: Are these intense fires a consequence of climate change or the interaction of climate and biology? “If it’s the latter, then what the hell have humans done? We’ve spread a dangerous plant all over the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>*****\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more information:\u003cbr>\nYou can still submit written comments to FEMA until midnight, June 17, 2013: via email at EBH-EIS-FEMA-RIX@fema.dhs.gov, via fax at FAX: (510) 627-7147, or via mail to P.O. Box 72379, Oakland, CA 94612-8579.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ebheis.cdmims.com/Libraries/Site_Documents/Executive_Summary.sflb.ashx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Executive summary of the project.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/may/26/firestorm-bushfire-dunalley-holmes-family\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Firestorm: \u003c/a>the story of a catastrophic fire that struck the Tasmanian township of Dunalley January 4, 2013.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "After more than 150 years on the California landscape, eucalyptus trees have iconic status for some Californians. But the stately trees may not only disrupt the native ecology, but seem to have evolved special adaptations that allow them to thrive after intense fires. ",
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"description": "After more than 150 years on the California landscape, eucalyptus trees have iconic status for some Californians. But the stately trees may not only disrupt the native ecology, but seem to have evolved special adaptations that allow them to thrive after intense fires. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4236\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/epicormic-bud.small_.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4236\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/epicormic-bud.small_.jpg\" alt='Specialized reproductive structures caleld \"epicormic shoots\" sprout from buds on the bushfire damaged trunk of a Eucalyptus tree, about two years after the 2003 Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires. (Near Anglers Rest, Victoria, Australia./jjron)' width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4236\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Specialized reproductive structures called “epicormic shoots” sprout from buds on the bushfire damaged trunk of a Eucalyptus tree, about two years after the 2003 Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires. Near Anglers Rest, Victoria, Australia. (Photo: jjron)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Biologists now count invasive species as a major threat to biological diversity second only to direct habitat loss and fragmentation. Why do they worry when new species enter an ecosystem? More than 90 percent of introduced plants in California have overcome barriers to survival and reproduction in their new home without harming native species. But a fraction display invasive traits, displacing native species and reshaping the ecological landscape. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus), a symbol of California for some, never knew California soil \u003ca href=\"http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr069/psw_gtr069.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">until the 1850s\u003c/a>, when seeds from Australia were planted, first as ornamentals, then mostly for timber and fuel. The California Invasive Plant Council (CAL-IPC) classifies blue gum eucalyptus as a \u003ca href=\"http://www.cal-ipc.org/paf/site/paf/342\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“moderate” invasive\u003c/a> because the trees need certain conditions to thrive. For the most part, they’re not a problem in the drier regions of Southern California or the Central Valley. But along the coast, where summer fog brings buckets of moisture, it’s a different story. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blue gum invades neighboring plant communities if adequate moisture is available for propagation, state resource ecologist David Boyd \u003ca href=\"http://www.cal-ipc.org/ip/management/ipcw/pages/detailreport.cfm@usernumber=48&surveynumber=182.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">noted in a report\u003c/a> for CAL-IPC. Once established, the trees can alter local soil moisture, light availability, fire patterns, nitrogen mineralization rates and soil chemistry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Introduced species can disrupt ecological relationships among species that co-evolved over millennia, which is why \u003ca href=\"http://www.elkhornslough.org/habitat-restoration/projects/oak-woodland.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">many groups work\u003c/a> to remove eucalyptus and restore coast live oaks. California’s native oak woodlands still \u003ca href=\"http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/topics/ecosystem_processes/sierra/bio_diversity/habitat_relationship_terrestrial_sub5/abundance_distribution.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sustain more biodiversity\u003c/a> than any other terrestrial landscape even though more than a century of intensive agricultural, rangeland and urban development has claimed some \u003ca href=\"http://www.placer.ca.gov/~/media/cdr/Planning/PCCP/BackgroundData/OakWoodlands/OakWoodlandMgtPlan.ashx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">5 million acres of woodlands\u003c/a>. (While settlers cleared the land of oaks, entrepreneurs planted eucalyptus trees by the millions.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Historic fire risk\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThat’s why many ecologists welcome \u003ca href=\"http://ebheis.cdmims.com/Files/FAQ%204-1-13.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a plan to remove tens of thousands\u003c/a> of eucalyptus and other non-native trees from the East Bay Hills to reduce fire risk. UC Berkeley, together with the City of Oakland and the East Bay Regional Park District, applied for \u003ca href=\"http://www.fema.gov/news-release/2013/05/17/fema-reviews-bay-area-pre-disaster-funding-applications-invites-public\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">up to $5.6 million\u003c/a> in grants to remove the non-natives—primarily eucalyptus, Monterey pine and acacia—under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation and Hazard Mitigation Grant programs. The total project would cover just under 1,000 acres and includes plans to encourage regrowth of native oak and bay trees. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ebheis.cdmims.com/Libraries/Site_Documents/Executive_Summary.sflb.ashx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fifteen major fires\u003c/a> roared through 9,000 acres of the East Bay Hills between 1923 and 1992, incinerating some 4,000 homes and killing 26 people. The Oakland “Tunnel” fire, considered the worst in California history, caused an estimated $1.5 billion in damage, destroyed more than 3,000 homes and killed 25 people. Following the Oakland fire, disaster experts urged large landowners in the East Bay Hills to work together to manage vegetation to prevent another catastrophic wildfire, says Tom Klatt, who manages environmental projects for UC Berkeley and serves on the UC Fire Mitigation Committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Blue gum eucalyptus is one of the most fire-intensive plants,” says Klatt. Trees not only put a lot of fuel on the ground as they shed bark, leaves and twigs, but in intense fires, volatile compounds in foliage cause explosive burning. “Once bark catches fire, it gets blown ahead of the flame front and drops burning embers by the tens of thousands per acre in the urban community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 1923 fire started at Inspiration Point ran through the eucalyptus trees until it hit the ridgeline at Grizzly Peak, then came down to University and Shattuck before the wind finally changed direction, Klatt says. “It took out 568 homes on the north side of the Berkeley campus in two hours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the fire risk, the plan remains contentious. Some residents worry about the use of \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/fema-plans-clear-cutting-85000-berkeley-and-oakland-trees\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pesticides\u003c/a>, some feel eucalyptus’ \u003ca href=\"http://oaklandlocal.com/2013/06/storm-of-controversy-rages-over-fire-hazard-reduction-plans-for-oakland-hills/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">flammability is overstated \u003c/a>and others who consider the trees cultural icons view the plans as \u003ca href=\"http://rockridge.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/proposal-to-reduce-fire-risk-in-east-bay-hills-by-cutting-85000-trees-draws-a-crowd\">an attack on a species\u003c/a> that’s been here so long we should consider it native. (For the record, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnps.org/cnps/archive/exotics.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Native Plant Society\u003c/a> defines “native” as any species that predated European contact.) Predicting how an introduced species will behave is complicated by the fact that ecological effects are difficult to observe—and may only appear when it’s too late to control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ecological impacts of eucalyptus \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nEvidence of the trees’ impacts on East Bay ecosystems is relatively scarce. A \u003ca href=\"http://elkhornsloughctp.org/uploads/files/1109813068Sax2002.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2002 study\u003c/a> of the Berkeley hills found similar numbers and diversity of species in eucalyptus and native woodlands, but the species themselves were different. Monarchs use groves in Point Pinole as resting spots and several bird species, including \u003ca href=\"http://ebheis.cdmims.com/Libraries/Site_Documents/1_2_3.sflb.ashx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">herons and egrets,\u003c/a> nest in eucalyptus in and near the tree-removal project areas, though how their use affects their reproductive success isn’t clear. (Klatt says that though he hasn’t seen nests in the UCB project areas, the law requires that they take steps to protect nesting birds and any species under state and federal protection.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More evidence comes from the Central Coast. At \u003ca href=\"http://www.elkhornsloughctp.org/training/show_train_detail.php?TRAIN_ID=EcoGYZ22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a 2004 workshop\u003c/a> on the blue gum’s impact on the ecology of coastal ecosystems, researchers reported conflicting effects. Eucalyptus stands can provide habitat for birds near cities and water bodies, and for overwintering monarch butterflies. But the trees change the composition of insect and bird communities as they invade: the loss of native trees that grow along rivers could spell trouble for \u003ca href=\"http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/fact_sheets/default.cfm?fxsht=9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">neotropical migratory songbirds\u003c/a> and for species that nest in tree cavities. And when eucalyptus leaves enter streams, aquatic macroinvertebrate communities change, altering the food chain, likely because the chemical content of eucalyptus leaves differs from native foliage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_4243\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/coast-live-oak.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4243\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/06/coast-live-oak.jpg\" alt=\"Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia) — off Highway 101 in California. Though oak woodlands sustain more wildlife species than any other landscape, only 4 percent of the state’s woodland habitats are protected. The vast majority remain in private hands. (Photo: Peter O'Malley)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4243\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Blue oak (Quercus douglasii) — off Highway 101 in California. Though oak woodlands sustain more wildlife species than any other landscape, only 4 percent of the state’s woodland habitats are protected. The vast majority remain in private hands. (Photo: Peter O’Malley)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By the time the eucalyptus trees were planted in the East Bay, typically in 12 foot by 12 foot plots, most native woodlands and perennial native grasslands had already been converted to annual European grasslands, says forest ecologist Joe McBride, professor of environmental science, policy and management at the University of California at Berkeley. “And certainly by now a number of species are using those trees but they were here before the eucalyptus was planted, using oak woodlands, riparian woodlands and redwood forests in the East Bay. They just spread to eucalyptus and Monterey pines when the trees grew big enough. These populations aren’t going to disappear if eucalyptus is removed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But removal has proven difficult. “After two previous removal efforts in the 1970s and again in the 1980s, the trees have grown back,” Klatt says. Successful eradication requires at least 10 years of maintenance and drizzling about 2 ounces of diluted herbicide directly to the cut stump immediately after felling a tree, he explains. “If you do it within the first three minutes, we see 95 percent to 98 percent success with a single treatment.” But if the trees resprout, more applications will be needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan aims to selectively cut eucalyptus while leaving bay, oaks and other native trees in the understory. “The more understory we preserve, the faster it recovers,” says Klatt. The plan also calls for retaining all the cut wood as chips for erosion control and moisture retention, and to encourage native regrowth, aided by birds and squirrels that plant acorns in chip beds. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McBride hasn’t seen evidence of eucalyptus’ invasive tendencies in the East Bay Hills but worries about its combustible nature. “We imported this plant from Australia but we didn’t import the normal fungus that decays the litter in Australia,” he says. Accumulations of bark and leaf litter under eucalyptus stands have measured up to 100 tons per acre, compared to about 3 tons per acre for coast live oaks. “It’s an enormous increase.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Selected for flammability?\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nSo how does the blue gum act in its native environment? For David Bowman, a forest ecologist at the University of Tasmania in Australia, the question isn’t whether the trees are native or non-native—it’s whether they’re dangerous. “Looking at the eucalyptus forest outside my window in Tasmania, I see a gigantic fire hazard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At very high temperatures, eucalypt species release a flammable gas that mixes with air to send fireballs exploding out in front of the fire. With eucalyptus, you see these ember attacks, with huge bursts of sparks shooting out of the forests, Bowman says. “It’s just an extraordinary idea for a plant.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though it’s difficult to prove, Bowman suspects the trees evolved to be “uber flammable.” Sixty million years ago eucalyptus species hit on a way to recover from intense fire, he explains, using specialized structures hidden deep within their bark that allow rapid recovery through new branches, instead of re-sprouting from the roots like other trees. “They have this adaptive advantage of not having to rebuild their trunk. Whether their oil-rich foliage is also an adaptation, we don’t know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you aren’t familiar with the idea of a plant designed to burn in its life cycle, you can get fooled by its beauty and nice smell, Bowman says. “But on a really hot day, those things are going to burn like torches and shower our suburbs with sparks. And on an extremely hot day, they’re going to shoot out gas balls.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With tiny pinhead seeds that germinate only in disturbed soils, the trees really aren’t good invaders, Bowman says–with one exception. “Fire opens up the woody capsules that hold the seeds, which love growing on freshly burned soil. Give a hillside a really good torching and the eucalyptus will absolutely dominate. They’ll grow intensively in the first few years of life and outcompete everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The evolutionary dimensions of fire ecology are controversial, Bowman allows. “But if eucalyptus are these evolutionary freak plants that massively increase fire risk,” he says, it raises a troubling question: Are these intense fires a consequence of climate change or the interaction of climate and biology? “If it’s the latter, then what the hell have humans done? We’ve spread a dangerous plant all over the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>*****\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more information:\u003cbr>\nYou can still submit written comments to FEMA until midnight, June 17, 2013: via email at EBH-EIS-FEMA-RIX@fema.dhs.gov, via fax at FAX: (510) 627-7147, or via mail to P.O. Box 72379, Oakland, CA 94612-8579.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ebheis.cdmims.com/Libraries/Site_Documents/Executive_Summary.sflb.ashx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Executive summary of the project.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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},
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"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
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},
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"order": 1
},
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "WNYC"
},
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
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"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
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