MAKING A DIFFERENCE

By Pam Eastlick

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

Greetings everyone. As you are aware, I usually discuss science topics in this column and I will be mentioning the best kind of science, but what I really want to talk about is “making a difference”.

We hear this phrase tossed around a lot. Usually we’re talking about our parents or maybe a politician and people are urged to ‘make a difference’ by contributing money to various causes or volunteering their time.

But today, I’d like to talk about someone who REALLY made a difference to this island. She changed the lives of untold individuals and by doing so; she changed the economy and the very face of the island’s culture. I’m talking about Dr. Lynn Raulerson.

Anyone who ever took a class from her knows how she could change a life. She was curt, brash and bullying and she DEMANDED that you perform your absolute best in her classes. If you didn’t, she had no use for you. A lot of people sure didn’t like her personality or her teaching techniques.

And yet over and over again I’ve heard variations on the theme “I didn’t like her at the time but now I understand why she was like that!” And we all (or most of us) DO understand. She made you work. She demanded your best work and there were many of us who tried our hardest to live up to her expectations.

So, how did that change the face of the island? She taught at the University for 43 years and during that time, at least thirty graduates from the University of Guam biology programs have gone on to earn doctorates, either as medical doctors or as PhD’s. And that doesn’t even count the number of people who’ve gone on to earn master’s degrees in the field (including me).

I can think of at least five of “her” medical doctors who practice here on Guam without even thinking hard and I can think of at least that many PhD’s who are also here on island. Home-grown men and women who have come back to Guam to spread that knowledge around.

Now do you see what I mean about making a difference?

There will be a memorial service for Dr. Raulerson at the UOG Fine Arts Theater this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Are you a former student? Did you learn the Latin name of a local plant from her? We’re asking that all her former students bring a herbarium specimen as a tribute. You should bring the plant in newspaper and include the standard herbarium card with the plant’s Latin and common name (if any), the date, the place of collection and most importantly, your name. If you want to include a couple of sentences of tribute to Dr. Raulerson, that’s fine too.

Did she make a difference in YOUR life? Honor her memory this afternoon.

GRAPEFRUIT AND RICE

By Pam Eastlick

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

Greetings everyone! Well, the medical file is bulging and I thought we’d take a look at two research developments that may prove that you not only ARE what you eat, but your health depends on eating certain things.

New data from researchers in England have shown that eating citrus fruits, especially oranges and grapefruit, may lower the risk of stroke, particularly in women. They discovered that women who ate a lot of citrus had a 19 percent lower risk of ischemic stroke than women who consumed the least amount.

The scientists used 14 years of data from the Nurse’s Health Study. This massive study in Britain included 69,622 women who reported their food intake, including details on fruit and vegetable consumption every four years.

The compounds found in citrus fruits are called flavanones which were consumed primarily from oranges and orange juice (82 percent) and grapefruit and grapefruit juice (14 percent). But the researchers recommend that consumers increase their citrus fruit intake, rather than juice, because commercial fruit juices typically contain so much sugar.

Eating higher amounts of a compound in citrus fruits, especially oranges and grapefruit, may lower ischemic stroke risk. (Credit: © andersphoto / Fotolia)

Of course, too much sugar intake has been intimately associated with a very common malady on Guam, type 2 diabetes. But new research by scientists at Harvard shows a troubling link between type 2 diabetes and Guam’s favorite food: white rice.

The authors from the Harvard School of Public Health looked at previous studies and evidence of the association between eating white rice and the risk of type 2 diabetes. The study sought to determine whether this risk is dependent on the amount of rice consumed and if the association is stronger for the Asian population, who tend to eat more white rice than the Western world.

The authors analyzed the results of four studies: two in Asian countries (China and Japan) and two in Western countries (USA and Australia). All the participants were diabetes-free when the studies began.

White rice is pure starch and has a high glycemic index (GI) which means that the body tends to convert it to sugar. Diets that have a high GI are associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The average amount of rice eaten varies widely between Western and Asian countries, with the Chinese population eating an average of four portions a day while those in the Western world eat less than five portions a week.

The results from these studies show that the more white rice you eat, the higher your risk of type 2 diabetes: the authors estimate that the risk of type 2 diabetes is increased by 10% with each increased serving of white rice. This applies to both Asian and Western cultures, although Asian countries are at a higher risk because they eat more white rice. The authors recommend eating whole grains instead of refined carbohydrates such as white rice, which they hope will help slow down the global diabetes epidemic.

The risk of type 2 diabetes is significantly increased if white rice is eaten regularly, claims a new study. (Credit: © Elenathewise / Fotolia)

More citrus, less rice. It couldn’t hurt!

NEW USES FOR FEET

By Pam Eastlick

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

I thought I’d dip into the animal file this week and I stumbled across a couple of totally unrelated articles on, of all things, legs and feet. We all know people who “think on their feet” but new data from researchers at the Smithsonian have shown that certain species of very tiny spiders do exactly that, because their legs are full of . . . brains.

As a part of ongoing research to understand how miniaturization affects brain size and behavior, the researchers measured the central nervous systems of nine species of spiders, from rainforest giants to spiders smaller than the head of a pin. They discovered that as the spiders got smaller, their brains got proportionally bigger and filled more and more of their body cavities. The central nervous system of the smallest spiders fills up almost 80 percent of their total body cavity and (here’s the good part) about 25 percent of their legs.

Brain cells can only be so small because most cells have a nucleus that contains all of the spider’s genes, and that takes up space. The diameter of the nerve fibers or axons also can’t be made smaller because if they’re too thin, the flow of ions that carry nerve signals is disrupted, and the signals aren’t transferred properly.

Human brains only represent about 2-3 percent of our body mass. Some ant brains make up 15 percent of their biomass and these spiders have a higher brain to biomass ratio. Brain cells use a lot of energy, so these small spiders also probably convert much of the food they consume into brain power. Gives a whole new meaning to thinking on, or perhaps ‘with’ your feet!

And feet that we’re all familiar with are also making research news. For years, biologists have been amazed by the power of gecko feet, which let these small lizards produce an adhesive force roughly equivalent to carrying nine pounds up a wall without slipping.

Now, a team of polymer scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered exactly how the gecko does it, leading them to invent "Geckskin," a device that can hold 700 pounds on a smooth wall.

Gecko feet can be applied and removed with ease and no sticky residue remains on the surface. These properties offer a tantalizing possibility for synthetic materials that can easily attach and detach heavy everyday objects like TVs or computers to walls. Such materials would have medical and industrial applications as well.

The Geckskin device is about the size of an index card and can hold 700 pounds to a smooth surface like glass. The device can be released with negligible effort and reused many times with no loss of effectiveness. For example, it can be used to stick a 42-inch television to a wall, released with a gentle tug and restuck to another surface as many times as needed, leaving no residue.

The key innovation was to create an adhesive with a soft pad woven into a stiff fabric, which allows the pad to "drape" over a surface to maximize contact. And as in real gecko feet, the skin is woven into a synthetic "tendon," yielding a design that plays a key role in maintaining stiffness and rotational freedom at the same time.

A card-sized pad of Geckskin can this 42-inch television weighing about 40 lbs. (18 kg) to a smooth vertical surface. (Credit: Photo courtesy of UMass Amherst)

Legs full of brains and sticky feet.

REACHING THE LIMITS

By Pam Eastlick

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

Greetings everyone. Well, I’m back on island after a marvelous two weeks on the mainland. I attended a Planetarium conference and had some time with my family on the mainland and now it’s back to work!

Since the Olympics are going on, I thought you might be interested in a study done by two South Korean researchers. They analyzed data from sports events over the last hundred years in an attempt to answer the following questions.

Running and swimming records are broken again and again at almost every international athletics event. But, can human performance continue to improve indefinitely? Will runners continue to accelerate off the starting blocks and reach the finish line in faster and faster times? Will swimmers always be able to dive into the record books with a quicker kick?

Yu Sang Chang and Seung Jin Baek of the KDI School of Public Policy and Management in Seoul used non-linear regression models to accurately extrapolate the data from 61 running and swimming events and they calculated we could reach the upper limits on elite human performance within a decade.

Their research has led them to conclude that the limit on the fastest times for many events will be reached somewhere in the next seven to ten years. Although records are still being broken at the 2012 Olympics in London and may be broken at the Rio Olympics in 2016; after that…who knows? The researchers believe their discovery of a “time to limit” has a number of policy implications for both local and national sport associations as well as for the international rule-setting federations.

Of course, US swimmer, Michael Phelps has famously proclaimed that, “You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.” Phelps has set over 40 world records. Sprinter Usain Bolt of Jamaica, similarly shaved split seconds from his 100-meter time over the years. Bolt’s 9.58 second 100m time shattered the previous theoretical running speed limit of 9.60 seconds that was suggested 40 years ago. But Bolt’s time for the 100m in the London Olympics was 9.63, just a little slower than his record time.

“The limit of speed in sport events has been a popular topic for the public because watching athletes setting new records to win is exciting and stimulating for many sport fans,” Chang and Baek suggest. “In addition, setting new world records may even be inspiring to the public because the process of improving and winning the competition reminds them of what they can accomplish in their own life.”

Other researchers have criticized the use of linear regression to extrapolate to a limit. However, the present work uses the officially recognized world records on 61 sporting events during the period from 1900 to 2009 (29 running and 32 swimming events all at the Olympic level). Therefore this study may be the most comprehensive study undertaken so far.

The statistical analysis suggests that improvements in running and swimming are slowing down and will eventually reach a maximum in the decade time period they suggest. However, their analysis doesn’t take into account changes in the rules, measurements, and environmental conditions. If the governing federations move the starting blocks as it were, Phelps’ prediction that there are no limits may come true and athletes will continue to make a splash in the record books indefinitely.

And the current Olympics may prove them right. As I write this, eight world records have been broken in the London Olympics, a far cry from the 43 world records broken in the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

News from your Planetarium

By Pam Eastlick

Greetings everyone! We’ll have a waxing Moon in our sky for most of the week, but even the Moon’s light won’t stop you from finding the two bright planets in our early evening sky. Just watch one of our beautiful sunsets and then go back out about 7:50 p.m. (that’s one hour after sunset). About five fist-widths above the western horizon you’ll see a small triangle of bright stars. Two of them are not stars; they’re Mars and Saturn. It’s pretty easy to figure out which one is Mars because it will be noticeably red. Saturn is the upper ‘star’ of the triangle. Find Mars and Saturn tonight because they’re headed for an incredible rendezvous later this month.

If you turn 90 degrees to your left as it begins to grow dark, you can still spot Crux the Southern Cross. It’s on its side in the southwest now and will disappear from our evening skies by the middle of August. Those two very bright eyes to the left of the Cross are Alpha and Beta Centauri, the third and tenth brightest stars. The left one, Alpha Centauri, is the closest star to the Sun.

If you look to the left of and below Alpha and Beta Centauri, you’ll find a fairly bright constellation that’s completely unknown to northern stargazers because it’s too far south to see. It’s called Triangulum Australe the Southern Triangle and it’s due south this week. It’s also directly opposite the Little Dipper which is balancing on its handle above Polaris the North Star. The Little Dipper or Ursa Minor the Little Bear, to give it its proper name, is a very dim constellation that’s famous only because it contains Polaris.

July is also the best month to see another dim constellation. First, find the Little Dipper and then look up and to the right. You should see a small triangle of stars above and about midway between the Little Dipper’s bowl and the bright star Deneb. That triangle is the head of a fearsome beast; Draco the Dragon. The dragon’s body loops down to the right side of the Little Dipper and then arches over it to end between the Little Dipper and the Big Dipper in the west. If you use the end stars of the Little Dipper’s bowl as pointers, they’ll point you to a star in the Dragon’s tail. That’s Thuban, the pole star of the ancient Egyptians.

The Earth wobbles very slowly on its spin axis and one big circle in the sky takes 26,000 years to complete, so don’t expect much change in your lifetime. Polaris has been close to the spin axis point for about 700 years and will be as close as it will get on 24 March in the year 2100. About 6,000 years ago, the spin axis point was near Thuban, that star in the Dragon’s tail. The main passage in the Great Pyramid of Cheops is aligned to point to Thuban.

About 13,000 years from now, the bright star Vega will be the North Star though Vega will never be as close to the spin point as Polaris and Thuban. Vega is that bright star high in the northeast and if you find Polaris, Thuban and Vega, you get an idea of just how much the Earth wobbles as it spins.

There is no South Pole star right now, but as the spin axis precesses several stars will take their place as the South Pole star over the next 26 millennia. None of them are as bright as Polaris and Vega however. The other planets have pole stars too. The north pole of Uranus points to a star in Ophiucus called Sabik that’s almost as bright as Polaris. See if you can find Polaris, a dragon and the pole star of the Egyptians tonight.