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HEALTH 03-02-10 DM EE E3 BLACK
TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2010
KLMNO
Science
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SCIENCE NEWS
THE GREEN LANTERN
Mars rover makes most of opportunity
Spirit has always been the unluckier of NASA’s twin Mars
It’s a dog-eat-meat world out there
rovers.
Just weeks after landing in a Martian crater in 2004, it
went haywire and transmitted gibberish to Earth. Engineers In the meantime, what’s an
eventually nursed it back to health. As if the near-death ex- by Nina Shen Rastogi eco-conscious pet owner to do?
perience wasn’t enough, Spirit was upstaged early on by its The way the Lantern sees it,
twin, Opportunity, which landed in a geologic gold mine and You’re always going on about there are two options worth ex-
was the first to determine that the frigid, dusty planet pos- the environmental impact of ploring. The first is a variation on
sessed a wetter past. the food we eat. What about the one of our cardinal rules for hu-
Bad luck has fallen again on Spirit. As the workhorse rover food our pets eat? Cats and mans: Eat less meat. Some ve-
passed its sixth year on the red planet, it found itself stuck in dogs consume a lot of meat, af- gans and vegetarians put their
a sand trap, probably forever. The six-wheel robot geologist ter all. cats and dogs on equally abste-
has been in jams before, but this one seems to be the finale. So far, there hasn’t been much mious diets. The Lantern doesn’t
The space agency said last rigorous, firsthand research on believe humans should be re-
week that it’s ending efforts to
“Spirit has
the cradle-to-muzzle impacts of quired to give up all meat, so
extricate the robot from the pet food. But one thing seems she’s not going to suggest that
loose soil where it’s been encountered the clear: How we answer this partic- your pet should, either. But ac-
trapped since April. Spirit will
golfer’s worst
ular question is going to depend cording to Marion Nestle, a pub-
instead continue to function as a on how we define the word lic-health and nutrition expert
stationary science platform — if
nightmare: the
“meat.” who’s recently been focusing her
it makes it through the harsh You’re right that the carnivo- attention on pet food, the re-
winter months. “Spirit has en- sand trap . . . rous diets of cats and dogs are search clearly shows that dogs
countered a golfer’s worst night-
that you can’t
likely to be worse for the environ- and cats can get all the nutrients
mare: the sand trap that no mat- ment than the diets of, say, birds they need from complete-and-
ter how many strokes you take,
get out of.”
and guinea pigs. But the meat we balanced, all-veggie commercial
you can’t get out of,” said Doug feed to our pets isn’t quite the foods. (No one has done any
McCuistion, director of NASA’s Doug McCuistion, NASA same as the stuff we eat our- long-term clinical trials compar-
Mars Exploration Program. selves. Most commercial dog and
MICHAEL SLOAN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
ing various diet options, how-
Fortunately for researchers, what may turn out to be Spir- cat food is made from the parts ever.) Even if you don’t want to
it’s final resting spot looks like a scientific bonanza. The sand we humans don’t eat, such as or- good at telling us about the true take meat out of the equation en-
is rich in sulfate, a mineral that forms in the presence of wa- gans, scraps, and rendered bones environmental costs of our tirely, you might be able to cut
ter, researchers say. and tissues. Looked at one way, choices. (Case in point: cheap back, by replacing some of your
Originally designed to conduct a three-month mission, then, pet food is a kind of recy- plastic.) It’s irrelevant that we The Green Lantern is a weekly pet’s fleshy fare with grain-and-
Spirit and Opportunity have operated past their warranty. cling operation: It takes waste value some types of meat over environmental column from Slate. vegetable-based meals.
Since Spirit landed on Jan. 3, 2004, followed by Opportunity products and finds a use for others: 100 calories of meat is Read previous columns at The other option is to enlist
three weeks later, the rovers have driven more than 16 miles, them. 100 calories of meat, he argues. www.slate.com/greenlantern. your pet in your own food recy-
cresting hills and peering into craters. Spirit and Opportuni- From an economic perspec- Last fall, a pair of sustainable- cling efforts. As we’ve noted be-
ty are also closing in on the record for longest-running Mars tive, these less-than-palatable architecture experts from New fore, one of the most straight-
surface mission, a mark currently held by the Viking 1 land- parts aren’t that big a deal. Clark Zealand, Robert and Brenda just yet. But it does seem clear to forward ways to make your diet
er, which operated on the planet for six years and 116 days. Williams-Derry, blogging for the Vale, raised pet-lover hackles her that a carnivorous pet — es- more eco-friendly is to consume
— Associated Press Seattle-based think tank Sight- when an article based on their pecially a large one with a big ap- everything you buy, whatever it
line Institute, notes that by- book “Time To Eat the Dog?” was petite — requires a significant is. We Americans waste a lot of
products account for at most 15 published in New Scientist amount of resources. food — around 30 to 40 percent,
percent of a livestock animal’s magazine. According to the Does that mean you should according to recent estimates —
value. Thus, he argues, the pet Vales’ back-of-the-envelope cal- ditch your Alsatian for the sake which means we also waste all
food industry contributes rela- culations — which assumed that of the planet? No. The Lantern the resources that went into pro-
tively little to the total environ- all the meat in pet food came understands that pets are impor- ducing that food. Now, the Lan-
mental impact of a meat-produc- from chickens and that pet-grade tant members of many families tern isn’t advocating you treat
ing cow, chicken or pig. We grow meat is no different than people- and that suggesting that readers your pet like a dumpster, filling
and slaughter those animals to grade meat — a medium-size dog get rid of them — no matter how its bowl with ossifying Oreos and
feed our yen for meat, not to has roughly twice the ecological big of a paw print they may have rotting Chinese takeout. But if
make the scraps that go into pet footprint of a Toyota Land Cruis- — is a bit like suggesting you kill you have more meat or vegeta-
food. So 100 calories of by- er. (An ecological footprint is the yourself to spare the Earth (a rec- bles in your fridge than you know
product meat should be credited average amount of land and sea ommendation that appears with what to do with, consider turning
with a lower impact than 100 cal- required to create a product and some frequency in the Lantern’s that excess food into some pet
ILLUSTRATION WORKS/ALAMY
ories of human-grade meat. then absorb its waste.) inbox). chow. There are plenty of books
The other way of looking at the Several bloggers cried foul, But the emotional attachment on the market to show you how.
Study gives nod to those who doze off
question is that it takes the same claiming that the Vales overesti- you feel to your dog or cat isn’t a Just make sure that you make
resources — feed, land, fertilizer mated how many calories a dog free pass to ignore its contribu- any changes to your pet’s diet
So you’ve just had lunch and are sitting in class or at your — to make organ meat as it does requires and underestimated the tion to your family’s overall con- gradually and keep your vet ap-
office desk. And now you’re fighting that overwhelming de- to make flank steak. Nathan Pel- impacts of the Land Cruiser. The sumption patterns. Maybe it prised of your experimentation.
sire for a little nap. According to new research, a midday letier, an ecological economist Lantern has been doing her own means you make some personal
snooze would be the right thing to do. It can dramatically re- who specializes in food produc- due diligence on the Vales’ as- trade-offs to balance out your Is there an environmental quandary
store and even boost your brain power afterward. tion systems, points out that we sumptions and has enough ques- choice of animal companion — that’s been keeping you up at night?
Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley do life-cycle analyses precisely tions that she’s not ready to ac- like riding your bike instead of Send it to ask.the.lantern@gmail.com,
took a group of 39 healthy adults and divided them into two because the market isn’t very cept or reject their conclusions driving, for example. and check this space every Tuesday.
groups. All were given a rigorous learning task at noon de-
signed to test their fact-based memories. Both groups per-
formed at comparable levels on that test. Half of the group
then took a 90-minute nap — long enough to go through a
HOW AND WHY
full sleep cycle. At 6 p.m. both groups were again given a
round of tasks. In this case, the nappers performed signifi-
cantly better and actually improved in their capacity to
learn, according to the study.
What’s that smell? It’s a whiff of the super-sensory future.
Exactly why the nap effect works “is still a mystery,” ac-
cording to Berkeley assistant professor of psychology Mat-
thew Walker, lead investigator of the study. “One theory is sensors from E1 cantilever changes in response e-mail. The bundle had tens of University of California at
that particular types of brain-wave patterns that occur dur- to the mass of the molecule thousands of such wells, each Riverside, said in an e-mail.
ing sleep help change the storage locations of recently stored other entities in liquids. trapped on it and sounds the just big enough for one target “This type of device would have
information from short-term to long-term, such that when Few of them are alarm when its target compound DNA molecule coated with wide applications for water
you wake up, the short-term capacity for new memory for- commercialized as yet. But the shows up. Other mechanical special compounds that would quality, especially for third
mation is refreshed.” He said the findings reinforce the re- trend portends a revolution in systems use nanoscale tubes react with the DNA to produce world countries, food
searchers’ hypothesis that sleep is needed to clear the brain’s public safety , according to (that is, with dimensions in the fluorescence. When a solution contamination and
short-term memory storage — the hippocampus — and make Stephen Semancik, who heads range of billionths of a meter) to containing the molecules flowed bioterrorism.”
room for new information. the Chemical Microsensor snag pathogens by size. For across the bundle, wells that If such sensors can be made
“It’s as though the e-mail inbox in your hippocampus is Program at the National example, University of Missouri trapped the molecules lit up. sufficiently small, sensitive and
full and, until you sleep and clear out those fact e-mails, Institute of Standards and scientists recently created a Counting the ratio of dark to cheap, the public could become
you’re not going to receive any more mail. It’s just going to Technology. “What we can’t glass “nanopore” system light fibers in the bundle, Walt’s a giant roving detection system.
bounce until you sleep and move it into another folder,” smell can hurt us,” he says, citing custom-tailored to trap single team was able to determine the “We all have cellphones now,”
Walker said in a statement. dangers from carbon monoxide molecules of ricin, a nasty little concentration of molecules in Semancik says. “Suppose we put
The results build on a previous study by Walker and others to spoiled food, low-level poison extracted from castor the solution to unprecedented a chemical sensor in every
that found that staying up all night (to study for an exam, industrial toxins, water beans. accuracy. phone?” If it encountered a
say, or finish a big project at work) has a negative impact, de- contaminants and building fires Optical systems sense changes But the ultimate goal is to get threat, it would send out a
creasing the ability to recall crammed-in facts by nearly 40 where “five minutes can be life in the properties of transmitted out of the lab. “I believe that the signal. If the monitoring system
percent, due to a shutdown of brain regions caused by sleep or death.” The smaller the or reflected light that occur focus of this field is moving from started getting lots of the same
deprivation. amount you can detect, the when the molecule of interest ‘sensors’ to ‘point of care signals from one place (as
— Margaret Shapiro earlier your warning. binds to another molecule or technologies’ (POCT) that bring determined by the phones’ GPS
For example, to be perfectly undergoes a chemical reaction. bioanalytic methods from the locators), responders could
morbid, in the event that David Walt of Tufts University laboratory to the point of need, home in on the threat.
terrorists use chemical weapons, devised a novel variation: “My whether it is the bedside, Boozers, beware. Before you
SCIENCE SCAN
you really don’t want to wait lab recently demonstrated that emergency room or for know it, the old cliche will
until concentrations reach levels we could isolate single preventative medicine such as become the new reality: They
at which your Metro seatmate molecules into very tiny wells cholesterol monitoring,” Jerome can smell you coming a mile
SCIENTIFIC PODCASTS says, “Hey, what’s that funny etched into the end of a fiber Schultz, chair of the Department away.
Using the Web to unravel mysteries
odor?” At that point, even if you optic bundle,” Walt said in an of Bioengineering at the health-science@washpost.com
just got on the train, you’re
Want a little science in your life but not the dread, sleep- probably at the end of the line.
inducing lectures of college days? Check out the short pod- In medical applications,
casts at the Web site of the American Association for the Ad- Semancik says, “smelling other
Get Back on Your Feet
vancement of Science. Many are on fairly serious topics, kinds of molecules might be able
from hurricane prediction to the acidification of oceans. But to help us in early disease
FREE Seminar
some are quite entertaining: “The Science of Superheroes,” detection.” He foresees
Wednesday, March 10
for instance, is an interview with University of Minnesota breath-type detectors deployed
physicist James Kakalios, who uses comic books to teach in- to detect a host of maladies,
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
troductory physics. He explains that there are good scientific including skin cancer
Location: GW Hospital Auditorium
explanations for why the Flash is able to run across the (recognizable now by trained
Back or neck injury got you down? The GW Hospital
ocean and why Spider-Man’s girlfriend died after being dogs), diabetes (whose sufferers
Spine Center can help. Orthopaedic surgeons,
pushed from a bridge by the Green Goblin, even though Spi- exhale a telltale scent of acetone,
der-Man managed to catch her in his web midfall. (If you the working ingredient in
neurosurgeons and pain and rehab specialists work
missed that event, it was in “Amazing Spider-Man number nail-polish remover) and cystic
together to treat back and neck problems, from the
121, published in 1973,” says Kakalios, an avid comic book fibrosis (where breath is simple to the complex. Learn how physicians are
reader.) Want the answers to these abnormally acidic and rich in
using advanced technology to treat neck and back
questions? Check out the inter- sulfur compounds). If sniffer
pain. You’ll get information about conservative and
view, and other podcasts, at diagnostics could be used for
www.sciencemag.org/ initial screening in lieu of a
minimally invasive treatment options available at the
multimedia/podcast. battery of expensive and
GW Spine Center that can help get you back to your
— Margaret Shapiro invasive tests, both patients and
active life – without the threat of pain.
the health-care system would
benefit.
Presenters:
Whatever their uses, the next
Anthony Caputy, MD
of microsensors will be small,
highly automated and
Chairman, Department of Neurosrgery
Even sufficiently sensitive to operate Warren D. Yu, MD900 23rd Street, NW
Spider-Man in the chemical cacophony of the Washington, DC 20037
Director, Orthopaedic Spine Surgery Program
needs to real world. There are numerous 202-715-4000
accept the designs.
Mehul J. Desai, MD, MPH
www.gwhospital.com
laws of In a typical mechanical (Next to the Foggy Bottom
Codirector, GW Pain Center
physics. system, airborne molecules stick Metro Station)
to the end of a microscopic
cantilever. Just as a diving board
Seating is limited, so please
ASSOCIATED
vibrates differently if it’s
Physicians are independent practitioners who are not
PRESS/MARVEL
COMICS occupied by your 6-year-old or
employees or agents of The George Washington University
register today.
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your double-wide neighbor, the
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