iblog

Rushda: A pair of Britain’s leading environmental scientists have proposed a way of solving the climate change problem using special technology under the sea. The idea is to increase the amount of CO2 the sea absorbs by installing special tubes underwater.

Chris Rapley, head of London’s Science Museum, and Gaia theorist Professor James Lovelock believe that cutting carbon emissions is becoming a lost cause and the most useful thing the government can do to sort out the problem is invest in “huge flotillas of vertical pipes in the tropical seas.” Currently being investigated in the US, the installations would mean that less CO2 ends up in the atmosphere as more would be taken up by the sea. As Lovelock explains:

“We are taking the very strong line that we are not going to save the planet by the regular approaches like the Kyoto Protocol or renewable energy. What we have to do is to look at it in a systems sense, or a Gaian sense, and see if it’s curable by direct action.”

Though the technology is quite complicated, the basic science of it is that the huge floating pipes which start at the surface of the ocean and go down will swell and bob up and down, causing cold water to come up onto the ocean’s surface. A valve would block the reverse occurring so that the surface gradually becomes colder. Apparently, cold water contains more life as it can absorb more carbon, and this will help in the battle against climate change.

The two scientists are not the first to come up with the plan. Indeed, Atmocean, a company in the US, has already started trials of the same technology. Although the research is in its early stages, the firm has high hopes. As Phil Kithil from Atmocean says:

“There is much yet to be learned. We need not only to move towards the final design and size (of the pipes), but also to characterise the ecological effects. The problem we would be most concerned about would be acidification. We’re bringing up higher levels of CO2 along with the nutrients, so it all has to be analysed as to the net carbon balance and the net carbon flux.”

There are other pressing concerns as well, for example, the pipes could cause problems for marine life such as whales and dolphins. However, it is certainly an interesting and promising concept that may end up being many many times more productive than reducing carbon output.

Rushda: New research from University of Warwick and University College London has found that those people who sleep too much or sleep too little are at double the risk for fatal cardiovascular disease. They have found that contrary to common opinion, good sleep is actually vital for health and those who consistently sleep for around 7 hours a day are at the optimum level for good health.

The study consisted in examining the sleeping patterns and death rates of over 10,000 people over a decade. The results, which are to be presented to the British Sleep Society, suggest that those who cut down their sleep to five hours have a doubled risk of developing the heart disease, this also applying to those who slept for over eight. Many factors were taken into account, including “age, sex, marital status, employment grade, smoking status and physical activity” and it was found that even when all things were considered, there was still a striking correlation between bad sleep and risk.

As researcher Professor Francesco Cappuccio explains:

“Fewer hours sleep and greater levels of sleep disturbance have become widespread in industrialised societies. This change, largely the result of sleep curtailment to create more time for leisure and shift-work, has meant that reports of fatigue, tiredness and excessive daytime sleepiness are more common than a few decades ago. Sleep represents the daily process of physiological restitution and recovery, and lack of sleep has far-reaching effects.”

Cappuccio says that bad sleep is not just increasing the risk of heart disease but has all kinds of other effects related to poor health. For example, a lack of sleep is linked to excess weight gain, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, staying in bed too long is linked with depression and irritability. The researcher maintains that the ideal is a consistent 7 hours a night for optimal mental and physical health.

However, Dr Neil Stanley, a sleep expert from from Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, says that sleeping is an individual thing and everyone has their optimum level. What is most important is being consistent and not going too far over or too far under the right amount for you. He says:

“Sleep need is like height or shoe size: we all have an individual one, and if we sleep less or more than that then there are consequences to pay.”

As research progresses, it is becoming clearer how important sleep really is. Many experts believe that public health messages, which currently only seem to focus on diet and exercise, should also include information about sleep, which is almost if not as important.

Jeanne: Researchers have found that certain strains of bacteria can gain virulence in the weightless conditions associated with space flight. Scientists examined the effects of space flight on a strain of salmonella during the 2006 Atlantis mission. Space travel, they found, increased the likelihood that the bacteria would kill infected mice by 300%. This sharp increase in the rodents’ mortality rate was due in part to the fact that weightlessness appeared to cause the bacteria to undergo genetic mutations such that they became more dangerous.

The study was carried out by scientists at America’s National Academy of Sciences. The findings are particularly important given that the US space agency, NASA, is currently working on a project to land a manned craft on Mars in the not-too-distant future. The strain of salmonella investigated during the study, Salmonella typhimurium, is one of the most virulent forms of the deadly bacteria and is often very difficult to treat, even with antibiotics. Researchers have therefore emphasised the importance of maintaining good hygiene in the cramped conditions of a spacecraft. Commenting on the matter, Cheryl Nickerson, from the University of Arizona’s Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology stated:

“Wherever humans go, microbes go; you can’t sterilise humans. Wherever we go, under the oceans or orbiting the Earth, the microbes go with us, and it’s important that we understand… how they’re going to change. These bugs can sense where they are by changes in their environment. The minute they sense a different environment, they change their genetic machinery so they can survive.”

Scientists hope that their research will bring them closer to developing a vaccine for the deadly disease. Genetic mutations in salmonella bacteria appear to have been controlled by a protein known as Hfq. The team hopes that drugs specifically designed to manipulate the protein could serve as a vaccine against salmonella. Treatments for salmonella are, at the moment, quite limited. Whilst mild cases of salmonella do not require specific medical attention, the condition can be fatal in certain instances. The disease is usually contracted through the consumption of contaminated food such as poultry, eggs and unprocessed milk. Symptoms include sudden nausea, abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhoea. Children and the elderly are particularly susceptible when it comes to contracting salmonella.

Rushda: The River Cam in Cambridge is well known, especially amongst the students, for punting and lazing on the banks, and indeed many of us cross it every day without a second thought. However, recent studies have found that the river contains certain viruses which may actually help combat serious infectious diseases such as MRSA.

A whole bunch of special viruses have been found in the river lately which have been said to be able to treat stomach infections in mice. This is great news as eventually they could be used as antibiotics in medicine for human use. The viruses, known as bacteriophages, were isolated from the water and tested by scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. The results show that a bacteriophage attaches itself to a bacterial cell and effectively explodes it, but leaves healthy cells intact. The effect is particularly striking when different types of bacteriophages are combined.

As Dr Pickard from the research team explains, the river Cam is particular suited to finding these viruses because of the ideal water environment. He believes that scientists can eventually isolate the viruses for human use and they be very helpful in fighting antibiotic-resistant diseases such as MRSA. He says:

“Conventional antibiotic treatment has led to MRSA and other superbug infections becoming not only more prevalent but also more infectious and dangerous. Bacteriophage therapy offers an alternative that needs to be taken more seriously in Western Europe.”

As a Cambridge student who’s always seen the river Cam as nothing but dirty, the news that it holds special disease-fighting secrets comes as a huge and welcoming surprise.

Rushda: The long debate over who is the smartest of the sexest is now bringing more results - but confusing ones. Psychologists have recently maintained that because twice as many men win Nobel prizes compared to women, there are more men in the brightest 2% of the population. However, even though men win more prizes, the study has also shown that there are more men at the opposite extreme as well - with the least intelligent 2% of the population having many more men than women.

It is a sensitive matter and making any sweeping judgements is difficult, with people such as Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard, even losing his job last year when he maintained that men were more intelligent. Any studies have always been flawed because of so many varying factors - culture, social status, unequal opportunities, and the sheer range in human intelligence in the first place.

The new studies by British psychologists (though disturbingly all men) are believed to be the closest we have got to settling the debate once and for all. The psychologists conducted tests on 2,500 brothers and sisters in order to rule out family background. It was found that women scored higher on language skills whilst men were the best on sciences and arithmetic. Whilst the average intelligence was found to be roughly equal, it was found that men were more likely to be at extremes on the scale. As Timothy Bates, a psychology professor at Edinburgh University, says:

“Men were more likely to be both at the very top and at the very bottom.”

Various evolutionary explanations have been given for women maintaining a comfortable middle ground whilst men like to excel to be more attractive to women. However, many still remain unconvinced by such explanations - after all, you could account for almost any results in this way. Also, it is unclear whether testing brothers and sisters will really mean that gender is the only factor being considered - social and cultural pressure exists within families as well. Psychologists seem hell-bent on finding some tangible difference but maybe there isn’t one after all. Is it really that difficult to maintain that men and women might just be equally likely to be intelligent?

Rushda: Everyone knows how disgusting it is to find pieces of used chewing gum stuck to pavements, tables, and all sorts of other places, so it is good news that scientists in the UK have finally developed gum that does not stick. This will mean it is easier to remove than the current gum that is on sale.

The gum has been manufactured by chemical company Revolymer, from Bristol. They have developed a special material that can be added to the gum’s ingredients to make it easier for the gum to be removed from surfaces. A number of tests have been conducted to check the effects of the new polymers that have been added to gum, and have shown that they are even effective on hair, which is usually impossible to break free from gum once attached. As head of research Professor Terence Cosgrove, has said of the new procedure:

“The hydrophilic coating means that you always get a film of water around the gum and that is one of the reasons it is easy to remove - and, in some cases, doesn’t stick at all.”

Revolymer claims that using the new technology it will be able to fight the nuisance of gum deposits, which are said to cost thousands of pounds to clean up each year. Only recently, statistics have shown that London’s Westminster Council had to spend more than £100,000 a year to remove chewing gum from its streets.

All that needs to be done now is for the new invention to pass European health and safety tests, after which it could be in the shops as early as next year, and hence saving the government thousands of pounds.

Rushda: The person we often see on television programmes translating spoken words into sign-language could soon become a computerised avatar. Researchers at IBM have developed a technology that can detect and translate speech, then produce corresponding sign-language gestures, and this flexible new method may soon be used in a variety of different fields.

The system is called SiSi, short for Say It Sign It, and it was in fact created by a group of students. It uses speech recognition to animate a digital character. An intriguing video of it being used can be seen on this clip. The technology has gained approval from the Royal National Institute for Deaf people (RNID) who are excited by the developments. As a spokesperson from RNID, director of new technologies Guido Gybels says:

“RNID welcomes any development that would make the information society a more equal place for deaf and hard of hearing people. Sign language users are among the most disenfranchised citizens as a result of services and products not being designed with their needs in mind.”

He explains, however, that it may be quite a while before the system becomes common in everyday use as there is so much that needs to be done to boost the accuracy of the device and also make it easy to attach to appliances. Nevertheless, the technology is great news as there is a serious need in the UK for more facilities for the deaf, with a human interpreter not always being available. Computerised sign-language will eventually make it easy for meetings, radio and TV to employ automatic services for the deaf.

Rushda: Ever found yourself helplessly yawning when you’ve seen someone else yawn? Well new research shows that this could say a lot about the type of person you are: no, not lazy, but empathetic. Apparently a susceptibility to infectious yawning shows that you have a high level of social empathy.

The studies, which come from the University of Leeds, show that even though yawning is common in many species, only some humans and their close animal relatives find yawning infectious, which suggests that it has a more psychological basis. As leading researcher, psychologist Dr Catriona Morrison says:

“Contagious yawning is a very interesting behaviour. You don’t need a visual cue, you don’t even need an auditory cue - you can just read about it or think about it and it gets you going. We believe that contagious yawning indicates empathy. It indicates an appreciation of other people’s behavioural and physiological state.”

Interestingly, neuro-imaging had previously found that the same part of the brain is used when reacting to yawning as the part which considers others. During the research an interesting experiment was conducted on students to test this concept. Each student was told to sit down in a waiting room for ten minutes, unaware that the person sitting next to them was actually a researcher (or plant) who then proceeded to yawn ten times in the ten minutes. He recorded the number of times the student yawned in response. Each student was also asked to complete a test about their empathy. The study found that there was a strong link between the two - those who yawned more were the most empathetic.

What’s even more interesting is that the differences in empathy between students also had a link with the subjects they studied. For example, psychology students were the most susceptible to contagious yawning, which shows they may have more empathy - perfect for their field. Engineers and those of other disciplines that did not require as much social interaction yawned less.

All this is incredible news, especially for those for whom contagious yawning is a regular occurrence. The fact that it can be put down to a higher level of social awareness can only be a good thing.

Rushda: New research from the World Health Organization has revealed that depression is actually a more debilitating condition than angina, arthritis, asthma and diabetes.

The study was conducted of 245,000 people in over 60 countries, and participants were asked questions about their health, happiness, sleeping habits and so on. The conclusions of the research were that even after taking into account the terrible effects of poverty and illnesses, depression had the largest impact on one’s health. Furthermore, the worst sufferers are those who have depression combined with another illness. Head of research Dr Somnath Chatterji believes this shows how important mental health is and what a serious issue depression can be. He says:

“These results indicate the urgency of addressing depression as a public health priority to reduce disease, burden and disability, and to improve the overall health of populations.”

Experts call for more research and funding into mental health to combat conditions such as depression, as it is clear from the results that better mental health may significantly improve overall health as well. The team also appealed to doctors worldwide to be more aware of the problem and its treatments, to stop what is a serious issue amongst much of the world’s population. Marcus Roberts, head of policy at mental health charity Mind, says:

“The treatment of depression must be given equal footing to the treatment of other conditions. While treatments for most physical health problems are readily accessible, mental health treatments such as talking therapies are limited, with some patients waiting months or even years for their first appointment with a therapist.”

This is especially serious in the UK where seven million adults suffer from mental conditions related to depression in England alone, and many do not receive treatment. The Department of Health insists that much of this is due to people not seeking help, and they urge people who feel they are suffering to come forward and seek help.

Rushda: An immaculately preserved Inca girl which was found by archaeologists in 1999 has gone on display in Argentina. The girl was originally discovered in an icy pit on top of Mount Llullaillaco, a volcano in north-west Argentina. It is believed that she was sacrificed by the Incas nearly 500 years ago. According to Dr Johan Reinhard, the leading archaeologist from the team that discovered her, she is the best preserved mummy in the world.

The newly famous attraction, a picture of which can be seen here is named “la Doncella” (”the maiden”), and has attracted hundreds of tourists from Argentina and other parts of the world. It is believed that when the girl died in the Andes mountain range she was only fifteen years old; she was discovered along with remains of a younger boy and girl.

The mummy is being kept in special conditions in a cold chamber that mimics the sub-freezing conditions in which she was found. Visitors have found the way in which she has been preserved remarkable and have commented that she looks like she may come alive any minute. Although some groups have disputed with the decision to put her on display, believing that it shows no respect for the dead, most have found the visit to be an intriguing and educational experience.

Now, even in death, the Incan girl lives on, perfectly preserved and showing us a glimpse of what has long, long gone.