Science Update Podcast - Daily Edition

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Runaway germs. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Modern office work has increased the spread of viruses. To find out just how quickly germs move around, University of Arizona environmental microbiologist Charles Gerba and his team put a harmless virus on the doorknobs of office buildings at the beginning of the day.

CHARLES GERBA (University of Arizona):

We were quite surprise by how fast the virus spread. Within four hours it appeared on half the surfaces that people would commonly touch.

HIRSHON:

In fact, he says people’s hands spread viruses around more quickly than sneezing. And in another study, they found that hotel cleaning crews spread germs very efficiently from room to room via the very towels they used to clean with.

GERBA:

If you hear someone coughing in the room next to you, whatever he had will probably be in your room the next night.

HIRSHON:

If that’s enough to make you want to go live under a rock, the good news is, common disinfectant wipes reduced the viruses’ concentration by up to 99%. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

The post Spreading Viruses appeared first on Science Update.

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Kangaroos in trees. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

If you visit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea, you won’t see any monkeys in the trees. But if you’re lucky, you might catch sight of a tree kangaroo. Like monkeys, these adorable creatures are adapted to life in the rainforest. They’re agile climbers, and use their hind legs to hop up tree trunks.

CHRISTINE JANIS (Brown University):

But compared to a monkey, they’re really clumsy.

HIRSHON:

That’s Brown University paleontologist Christine Janis. She says if monkeys had made it to New Guinea, tree kangaroos probably wouldn’t have had a chance there. But a twist of evolutionary fate kept New Guinea monkey-free: it was once connected to Australia, and shares much of the same for flora and fauna.

JANIS:

Basically, Australia and New Guinea have only recently moved up north into the tropical zone.

HIRSHON:

Tree kangaroos and monkeys are a great example of evolutionary convergence, where unrelated animals have similar characteristics because they live in similar environments. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

The post Kangaroos in Trees appeared first on Science Update.

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Debunking a sticky myth…I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Listener Michelle Simms of Alexandria, Virginia says her parents warned her never to swallow chewing gum because it wouldn’t be digested for seven years. We asked Dr. Aaron Carroll, a health services researcher at the Indiana University School of Medicine, if this is true.

AARON CARROLL (Indiana University School of Medicine):

There’s no truth to the idea that swallowed gum will stay in your stomach for seven years. The body is incredibly good at getting things from one end to the other, even things that aren’t digestible.

HIRSHON:

Carroll says gum will normally pass through the system in about 24 hours. However, he warns that swallowing very large pieces of gum could cause an emergency blockage. And if you have a science question, give us a call at 1-800-WHY-ISIT. Thmat’s 1-800-949-4748. If we answer your question on the show, we’ll send you a Science Update mug! I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

The post Chewing Gum Myth appeared first on Science Update.

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Buzzing about the eclipse. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

The total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 captivated people across North America, including 5th graders living in the path of totality. The young citizen scientists investigated what bees do when the sun disappears behind the moon. University of Missouri researchers Candi Galen and Zack Miller helped them deploy tiny microphones to record the buzzing of bees in flight before, during, and after the eclipse. Galen says instead of gradually ramping down their buzzing as darkness fell, the bees kept flying. But as soon as totality hit, they stopped.

CANDI GALEN (University of Missouri):

At that time, the buzzing ceased, which meant that there were no bee flights. That surprised us.

HIRSHON:

They write in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America that the students continued to learn from their data for months afterwards. Catch the next total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

LEARN MORE

Story by Susanne Bard

The post The 2017 Bee-Clipse appeared first on Science Update.

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Learning in the wild. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

(Savannah sparrow song)

Despite our lack of feathers, we share the ability to learn our vocalizations with songbirds. Now, researchers have demonstrated for the first time that young birds can learn from recorded songs in the wild. University of Windsor ornithologist Dan Mennill and his team played recordings of Savannah Sparrow songs through loudspeakers to young birds on Kent island in Eastern Canada. The recordings were of songs that had never before been heard on the island. When they reached adulthood, 1/3 of the songsters had learned the new songs.

DAN MENNILL (University of Windsor):

The first bird to open his beak produced a song that was a near perfect match to the sounds that we were playing through our loudspeakers. 3

HIRSHON:

The researchers write in Current Biology that the birds learned best if they heard the songs as babies and again as young adults. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

(Savannah sparrow song)

Story by Susanne Bard

LEARN MORE

The post Wild Bird Song Learning appeared first on Science Update.

BOB HIRSHON (Host):

Mapping our exposure to microbes and chemicals. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

We spend our lives in an invisible ocean of bacteria, chemical, pollen and other air-borne material, both living and non-living. Scientists who study it, like Stanford researcher Michael Snyder call it the exposome.

MICHAEL SNYDER (Stanford):

So we’re trying to get a much more complete and accurate picture of what people are exposed to and we think ultimately that will be very very powerful for understanding how that impacts our health.

HIRSHON:

In the journal Cell, he and his colleagues report outfitting 15 volunteers with devices that sniff out biological agents like bacteria, and chemical ones, like pesticides. They cataloged thousands of microbes and chemicals, that varied based on geography and lifestyle. Snyder says the next step is to outfit thousands of volunteers with the devices to discover how this exposure affects health. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Story by Bob Hirshon

The post Exploring the Exposome appeared first on Science Update.

BOB HIRSHON (Host):

Starving our marshes. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

The marshes that surround New York might look like wastelands, but they purify water, provide a nursery for fish, and absorb the brunt of hurricanes and other storms. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, NASA paleoecologist Dorothy Peteet and her colleagues report that the marshes are weakening, because they’re no longer getting mineral sediments from rivers.

DOROTHY PETEET (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies):

You used to have eighteen streams bringing sediment into the marshes and now there are only eight. So you’re starving these marshes of the mineral matter that helps them keep up.

HIRSHON:

Also, nutrients from storm run-off make the marsh plants grow shallow roots that can’t grip the soil. They conclude that without expanded restoration efforts, the marshes will continue to recede, leaving the mainland exposed to storms and rising sea levels.  I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Story by Bob Hirshon

The post Urban Marshes appeared first on Science Update.

BOB HIRSHON (Host):

Bundling memories. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Think back to great meal you had, and you might remember not only the food, but also the room you were in, and maybe a story someone shared while you dined. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, UC Davis cognitive neuroscientist Tanya Jonker and her colleagues explain how this memory-bundling occurs, and how the very act of remembering reinforces it.

TANYA JONKER (UC Davis):

And we were able to demonstrate that when you are recalling you are in fact reactivating all of this rich contextual information, and you are binding it together, making that whole memory a more stable event in your mind.

HIRSHON:

They used brain imaging technology to reveal how thinking back on a very specific memory automatically activates other, associated memories, and strengthens connections between them. The work could have implications for the treatment of memory disorders. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Story by Bob Hirshon

LEARN MORE

The post Memory Bundles appeared first on Science Update.

BOB HIRSHON (host):

A century of flu lessons. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

100 years ago, the 1918 influenza pandemic claimed more than 50 million lives.

CAROLIEN VAN DE SANDT (Doherty Institute/University of Melbourne):

And it’s actually the most deadly pandemic that has ever occured in human history. 1

HIRSHON:

University of Melbourne researcher Carolien van de Sandt says we’re still at risk for new pandemics. In order to better prepare, her team has analyzed what made the 1918 flu so deadly. They write in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology that mutations to the virus sent immune systems into overdrive, and also made it more transmissible. Young adults were most at risk then, but today, malnutrition, obesity, and secondary bacterial infections could make a pandemic more deadly for some. What’s more, climate change affects where new flu strains emerge.

VAN DE SANDT:

It’s hard to believe how bad it can be and maybe we underestimate it a little bit. 3

HIRSHON:

I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Story by Susanne Bard

LEARN MORE

The post 1918 Flu Pandemic Lessons appeared first on Science Update.

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Giraffes’ spotty inheritance. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Each giraffe has its own unique pattern of spots. Now, researchers report in the journal PeerJ that the size and shape of those spots is inherited. Penn State biologist Derek Lee’s team compared spot patterns between mother giraffes and their babies. They found that not only do mothers pass down specific features of their spots to their offpspring, but calves with especially large and irregular spot patterns were more likely to survive.

DEREK LEE (Penn State):

This evidence supports the camouflage theory that the spots exist so that the calves, when they’re hiding in the bushes in the first few weeks of life, will be harder to detect by visual predators like lions and hyenas.

HIRSHON:

Lee says this could be part of the reason spots evolved in giraffes, but that thermoregulation and social communication may also play a role. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS the science society.

Story by Susanne Bard

LEARN MORE

The post Giraffe Spot Inheritance appeared first on Science Update.