Show
Date: May 25, 2005
Pam Eastlick for the Marianas Variety
SEND
IN THE CLONES?
AND
SCANNING FOR THE PAST
Greetings and welcome to The Deep column and the deepest radio
show on Earth. The Deep is the science talk radio program that
takes you from the depths of the ocean to the farthest reaches
of the universe. This week on The Deep, aired at 6:00 this evening
on K-57, we’ll talk about stem cells and cloning. Then
we’ll have some expedition calls. We’ll definitely
hear from Akira Iritani, the scientist who wants to clone a
mammoth and you’ll travel to the research vessel Hercules
for a chat with Bob Silver. Then we’ll have some science
news updates and we’ll be taking your phone calls. Tune
in tonight and join host Jim Sullivan, Pam Eastlick and our
expedition coordinator Peter Melyan for the latest in scientific
news! Then log on to www.thedeepradioshow.com for more information
on all the latest and deepest news!
STEM CELL 101
There was big news this week from scientists in South Korea.
They announced they had cloned human embryos and used them to
create stem cells. Are those white-armored clones from Star
Wars just around the corner? And just what is a stem cell and
why should we care?
If you are reading this article,
you started life as a single cell; a fertilized egg. That cell
then divided in half. Each of those two cells divided in half
again producing 4 cells. Those 4 cells divided to produce 8
cells, then 16 cells and then 32 and well, you get the math
and the idea. Every cell in your body ‘stems’ from
that original cell.
But your cells are not all alike. They have very different functions.
Somewhere along the line, the cells that made up the developing
you began to change. Some of them on one end of that blob of
cells with your name on it began to look remarkably like nerve
cells, as they divided. Some of them on the other end began
to look like liver and kidney cells.
But before that ‘differentiation’ began, all those
original cells had the potential to become liver cells or brain
cells or heart muscle or bone. Those original cells are stem
cells since all the cells in your body ‘stem’ from
them.
There are several kinds of ‘stem cells’. The cells
of the first few divisions have the potential to make an entire
human being. If a single dividing egg completely splits in two,
it produces nature’s clones: identical twins. If the dividing
egg has reached the stage where it forms a hollow ball; each
cell can become most (but not all) cell types. A baby’s
umbilical cord contains stem cells and since a newborn baby
doesn’t need its umbilical cord anymore, this is a good
source of the stem cells that produce blood cells.
Adults also have stem cells.
Probably the most familiar medical treatment involving adult
stem cells is a bone marrow transplant. Your blood is made inside
your bones from stem cells contained there. In certain types
of blood cancers, patients receive stem cells from a donor that
produce healthy blood cells.
President Bush’s administration
has drastically limited embryonic and fetal stem cell research
in the United States on moral and ethical grounds. Their position
is that this research destroys human life.
The South Korean breakthrough involved removing human eggs from
donors and growing these eggs to 5-day old embryos (a clump
of cells). The DNA in these cells was removed and replaced with
the DNA of patients: perhaps with spinal cord injuries or juvenile
diabetes. These cells then developed into stem cells that genetically
matched the patient’s DNA. If these stem cells were injected
into a damaged spinal cord, they might repair the damage. Patients
permanently consigned to wheelchairs could walk again.
Could you grow a new baby
from these cells? (Make a clone?) Theoretically yes, but primates
have never been cloned and that’s not the purpose anyway.
These cells represent the next revolution in medicine, with
the potential to cure many, many diseases and conditions now
‘incurable’. Inject dopamine-producing nerve stem
cells into your brain and your Parkinson’s disease is
gone. Inject a bunch of stem cells into a pancreas and your
diabetes is ‘cured’. And it can’t be researched
in the U.S. So, which is more important to you? A group of cells
that can never become a child or sticking yourself with a needle
every day? You decide or let the Bush government decide for
you.
SCANNING A MAMMOTH
Although primates have never
been cloned, other mammals have been and tonight on The
Deep, we’ll talk to Dr. Akira Iritani. This is a
man with a mission. He’s trying to find the frozen
carcass of a mammoth because he wants to bring back these
gigantic creatures of the past through the modern science
of cloning. He’ll also tell us about the first CT
scan of a mammoth and what’s been learned from it.
How do you get a mammoth into a CT machine? Tune to The
Deep tonight and find out! |
|
| SCANNING THE OCEAN FLOOR |
| |
 |
| A NOAA image of multibeam and
towed sidebeam sonar |
Our show tonight deals with
the invisible. Stem cells are important, but you can’t
see them. CT scans allow you to see inside a precious specimen
without dissecting it. And in our expedition report from Bob
Silvers, we’ll discover how multibeam sonar is revealing
the hidden ocean floor and revolutionizing undersea archaeology.
Join the crew of the research vessel Hercules as we discover
what they’re finding with this impressive technology.
 |
| A multibeam sonar image of the area around Anatahan Island
|
Whether we’re learning
about stem cells or seeing the unseen, The Deep, hosted by Jim
Sullivan with Pam Eastlick and Peter Melyan is the place to
be on K-57 tonight at 6:00 p.m. Don’t miss it!
