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Snippets 06/2005
Plastics pose cancer risc for mice
The compound bisphenol A, which is found in many hard plastics, might increase the development of breast tissue and therefore the risc of breast cancer.
A study with mice, that were exposed to bisphenol A as fetuses, showed a significantly higher development of tissue in the mammary gland of mice exposed to bisphenol A than in the control group.
Since the effect on humans would have to be monitored over a period of fifty years, it is difficult to prove but lawmakers are already discussing about banning the compond from children's toys.
Collected from:
Nature
27 May 2005
www.nature.com
Fish against smog effects
Scientists from Emory University School of Medicine could prove, that fatty acid-rich fish oil reduces the effects of smog particles on the heart even better than soy oil.
In the study, the team around Dr. Fernando Holguin examined a group of fifty people around 70, living in Mexico City.
Half of the group received capsules with soy oil, the other half capsules with fish oil twice a day and their cardiac function was measured.
The American Health Association advies people, suffering from cardiovascular diseases, to take up 1 gram of omega-3 fatty acids a day.
Read more at:
Health on the Net
26 May 2005
www.hon.ch
Isotopes tell about food origin
To guarantee the origin of local products as parma ham or parmesan cheese, isotopes can be a helpful device.
Isotopes of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen or sulphur are found in certain ratios in grass or water, depending on the region.
A comparison between samples e.g. from Italy and the analysed food can tell for sure, whether both come from the same region or not.
Depending on the kind of food, examination of different isotopes gives the needed information.
Collected from:
NZZ
25 May 2005
www.nzz.ch
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How prions rearrange proteins
The question, how proteins are turned into an infectous prion hasn't been known in detail yet.
A study of American scientists revealed, that the effect of a prion on a protein depends more on possible folding structures than on the sequence of amino acids.
Until now, it was supposed that similar amino acid sequences influence each other and prions are formed by this way.
The latest cell culture experiments showed, that the spectrum of different wrong ways of folding decides about the influence of a prion on a protein.
For further information:
NZZ
25 May 2005
www.nzz.ch
Hydraulically controlled plants
Jan Skotheim and his colleague Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan of the American Harvard University are working on the different ways of plants to move.
Instead of muscles, small plants can use hydraulic effects in order to make fast movements, e.g. the capture of a fly.
Bigger plants cannot move fast enough by this way, which is why they keep their leaves under a constant pressure.
If an insect touches the leave, this will ease off and catch the insect.
The Hura tree in Brazil has found another effective way to spread its seed: When the sun is burning, the outer cells of the seed pod dry out and shrink whereas the inner cells keep form and water.
After a while the pod explodes and catapults the seed as far as possible.
Collected from:
Die Welt
29 May 2005
www.welt.de
Turn on the light, it's too warm here
Cooling down materials by lightning them sound bizarre but it seems to be possible.
Richard Epstein and his colleagues realized an idea, that Peter Pringsheim developed in 1925: monochromatic light should turn into energy-richer fluorescence light after passing through a glass-like material.
The technical concept became reality ten years ago but it took the team from Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, until now to use it effeciently.
Today it is possible, to cool a material down to 208 °K but for technical means 83 °K will be necessary.
Read more at:
FAZ
29 May 2005
www.faz.net
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