Quantum
HEALTH
Issue 13 September/October 2011
Bioelectricity Helps Shape Life
The
Physorg.com website reports (July 18, 2011) that for the fi rst time biologists have made defi nitive images of bioelectrical signals that direct the formation of an organism’s physical body. Tufts University (Massachusetts, USA) researchers used time-lapse video technology to see patterns of visible bioelectrical fi elds that guided the formation of a tadpole’s eyes, nose, mouth and other features. Before these features formed, the bioelectrical signals (visible because of stains that are applied to the organism that reveal light polarisation) caused groups of cells to form patterns with differing membrane voltages and pH levels. Dany S. Adams, a member of the research team at Tufts and professor in the Department of Biology, said, “When a frog’s embryo is just developing, before it gets a face, a pattern for that face lights up on the surface of the embryo. We believe this is the fi rst time such patterning has been reported for an entire structure, not just for a single organ. I would never have predicted anything like it. It’s a jaw dropper.”
Although many of the researchers have spent years exploring bioelectricity and similar phenomena, Adams made this discovery unintentionally. She decided to leave the video camera on all night, and when she viewed the footage the next day she was amazed to see the bioelectric signals correlating to the physical development of the tadpole’s form and features. You can watch the seconds-long video at
http://www.physorg. com/news/2011-07-frog-time-lapse-video-
reveals-never-before-seen.html
26 Quantum Health
Swiss Children Safe Near
Nuclear Power Plants
A recent study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology and reported on at the ScienceDaily website (July 15, 2011), reveals that there appears to be no statistically higher incidence of leukemia and other cancers in children born or living near nuclear power plants. The study was conducted in Switzerland, after concern was raised by a previous German study that found an increased risk of leukemia in children living within fi ve kilometers of a nuclear power plant. Children generally are more sensitive to radiation than are adults and so may be at greater health risk from exposure.
The study ran from 1985 until 2009, and included all children born in Switzerland (more than 1.3 million) during those years. Their locations were plotted into four zones, based on their distance from a nuclear power plant. Because of certain factors, the results include a measure of statistical uncertainty; however, the researchers concluded that there is very little likelihood that living close to a properly monitored and maintained nuclear power plant raises the risk of childhood cancer. Matthias Egger, director of the Institute of Social and Preventative Medicine, at the University of Bern, sums up the report by noting that “the risk of childhood cancer in the vicinity of Swiss nuclear power plants is similar to that observed in children living further afi eld.”
www.quantumhealthmagazine.com
Science in the News
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