This movement is totally unlike other areas that have been buried beneath ice sheets like northern Canada and Alaska and its effect on the history of the West Antarctic ice sheet has not yet been evaluated. So are volcanoes going to erupt beneath Antarctica soon? Obviously the answer is still “Maybe!”

And now we come to one of those cool stories that show how science changes every day. In eighth grade, I first studied metamorphosis, the cool trick that caterpillars use to change from crawling worms to some of the most beautiful creatures on the planet. I remember learning that the caterpillar becomes sort of a ‘soup’ in the pupae and then the soup rearranges itself to become a butterfly. What went on in between was a sort of magic to me and as it turns out, sort of magic to just about everyone else, including the scientists. But researchers are beginning to unlock the ‘black box’ of the pupa and they’ve discovered some surprising things.

. "The intriguing idea that a caterpillar's experiences can persist in the adult butterfly or moth captures the imagination, as it challenges a broadly-held view of metamorphosis -- that the larva essentially turns to soup and its components are entirely rebuilt as a butterfly," says senior author Martha Weiss, an associate professor of Biology at Georgetown University. The findings of the Georgetown researchers suggest that memory retention depends on the maturity of the developing caterpillars' brains. Caterpillars younger than three weeks of age learned to avoid the odor, but couldn’t recall the information as adults, whereas older caterpillars, conditioned in the final larval stage before pupation,learned to avoid the odor and recalled the information as adults. Well, you learn something new every day; or perhaps you just remember it from when you were a baby! Who knows?

YDIABETES PARADOX?

Researchers at the University of Ulster have discovered that secretions from the skin of a South American frog could provide a new treatment for diabetes. The paradoxical frog, Pseudis paradoxa, secretes a substance from its skin that protects it from infection but a molecule in the secretion may find another use in humans. Researchers have discovered it stimulates the release of insulin production in people with Type 2 diabetes. The peptide could provide a new diabetes drug treatment and is part of a new class of medicines called incretin mimetics, which mimic natural substances. Researchers are looking for ways to boost the peptide’s potency and many more tests will need to be conducted before this new drug is ready for mass production. The bright green and pink paradoxical frog is found in Trinidad and the Amazon basin. And in case you were wondering why it’s called the paradoxical frog, it’s because of its odd habit of shrinking with age. The tadpoles of this frog can be almost a foot long, but the adult frogs are about the size of your thumb.

SURGERY FOR SUGAR?

There is growing evidence shows that surgery may effectively cure Type 2 diabetes — an approach that not only may change the way the disease is treated, but that introduces a new way of thinking about diabetes. A new article in the February issue of Diabetes Care points to the small bowel as the possible site of critical mechanisms for the development of diabetes. The study's author, Dr. Francesco Rubino of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, presents scientific evidence about diabetes control after surgery. Other studies have shown that procedures that restrict the stomach's size (i.e., gastric banding) improve diabetes only by inducing massive weight loss but Dr. Rubino has gathered scientific evidence that gastrointestinal bypass operations involving rerouting the gastrointestinal tract (i.e., gastric bypass) can cause diabetes remission independently of any weight loss, and even in subjects that are not obese. The surgery bypasses the duodenum and jejunum at the very top of the small intestine and by eliminating these two parts Dr. Rubino says that he may be bypassing the source of the problem. The upper small intestine apparently produces a gastrointestinal hormone that regulates the production of insulin. When bypass surgery is performed on people who don’t have diabetes, in many instances they have trouble regulating their blood glucose levels. Dr. Rubino feels that the upper intestine of diabetic patients may be the site where an abnormal signal is produced, causing, or at least favoring, the development of diabetes. In some individuals, the duodenum and jejunum may be producing too much of a gastrointestinal hormone that in turn reduces insulin secretion and blocks the action of insulin. This ultimately results in Type 2 diabetes. After gastrointestinal bypass procedures, the exclusion of the upper small intestine from the transit of nutrients may offset the abnormal production the hormone, thereby resulting in remission of diabetes. So what’s your choice? Surgery or frogs? Cruise on over to the Deep Website at www.thedeepradioshow.com to learn more about Antarctica, diabetes and many other topics. Enjoy!