UC Science Today

Some researchers say cows are worse than cars when it comes to global warming because they emit more methane than vehicles produce CO2. The theory was disputed, but it turns out it may not be too far from the truth. Physicist Marc Fisher of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has found that the amount of methane in the atmosphere has been grossly underestimated, and cows are mainly to blame, at least in California.

“The major source of methane in California as a whole is a very large livestock industry in Central Valley. Cows breath out methane it is because their first stomach is essentially a bioreactor, the manure from cows gets put into wastewater treatment or large treatment lagoons.”

And Fisher says methane is harder to calculate than carbon dioxide, but it needs to be better regulated – as more careful management of methane emissions could help reduce the threat of climate change.

A medical device that could be used in deep space to check up on the health of astronauts, could also someday be used for various environmental monitoring here on terra firma.

"I mean, if it works with saliva, it will certainly work with water from the environment; it could work with material isolated from insects and plants and trees. So we could do all kinds of environmental sensing."

That’s Matthew Coleman, a senior research scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He says that if they can make a handheld diagnostic device like this rugged enough for space, it would also be perfect in the African desert.

"We’re thinking of something that’s doesn’t require a cold storage, so you don’t have to keep it in the refrigerator until you use it. You’ll just have to add water or an actual blood or saliva or breath condensate sample."

Researchers are striving to unveil the secrets about “dark” DNA, part of the genome that does not code proteins, but plays an important role in regulating genes. Scientist Diane Dickel of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been working on finding all of these non-coding regulators -so called enhancers - and pinning them on a map.

“I mean, it is like building a road map and adding information onto that, to point that particular pairs in the genome act as these enhancer elements to regulate gene expression.”

This map will help researchers get a better picture of the dark DNA, which could shed a light on whether mutations in the enhancers cause genetic diseases. Dickel says this would also be the next step towards improving genetic testing.

“The hope of genetic testing is to try to understand biology of what’s happening in the cell to develop treatments for that longer term."

And, give patients clear answers about their health and genetic predispositions. For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.

Transcript to come ...

This week on Science Today, we covered a lot of topics, including a new finding sheds light on the unknown parts of the genome. This has often been called ‘junk DNA’, but scientist Diane Dickel of the Berkeley Lab doesn’t like that term. Instead, she says these are non-coding parts of the genome.

"Only about 3 percent of the genome consists of genes, the other, more than 95 percent of the genome, what we call non-coding, which just means that it does not encode genes. And it is clear these are important things in that non-coding sequence."

It is mutations in these non-encoding sequences, called enhancers, that causes genetic diseases. And this is an important finding because doctors don’t know what triggers some of these diseases, including cardiomyopathy – that’s a genetic heart disease. And that’s because researchers were looking for clues in the wrong part of the genome. Meanwhile, at UC San Diego, researchers looking into the mental health of seniors made a startling discovery about young adults. Dilip Jeste explains that there’s long been an assumption that the mental health of older people mirrors their declining physical and cognitive function – but that’s not the case. They seem to do better with age, despite physical ailments. It’s those in their 20s and 30s who have very high levels of depression and anxiety. So Jeste suggests people do more studies looking into the value of intergenerational activities.

"I think we need larger scale, better studies in which you can have younger people having an older person and they become partners or a team with mentorship in both directions."

So, a younger person can teach seniors about, technology for instance; and older folks can pass along pearls of wisdom about certain aspects of life. The main goal would be to promote mental health in all age groups. And in a similar vein, UC Santa Barbara has a new Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential. We spoke to co-director Jonathan Schooler about how in the last decade, mindfulness has been picking up steam as a topic of scientific research.

"Ten to 15 years ago, it would have been considered almost a taboo topic, like not really science. Almost more in the realm of spirituality or something. But now, the mound of research showing the value of mindfulness has just become demonstrated so many times, in so many contexts."

To hear more about this and other stories about University of California research, follow Science Today on iTunes or follow us on Facebook. I’m Larissa Branin, thanks for tuning in!

This is Science Today. Landfills are a large source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. And new research across the state of California has found that its amount in the atmosphere might have been underestimated. Physicist Marc Fisher of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found exactly where excessive methane was coming from and why it was happening.

“Most of the emissions from landfills are assumed to be gathered by landfill gas mitigation technology and if this technology is not working as effectively as it was designed to be, then more gas could have escaped to the atmosphere”.

This is especially problematic for the Bay Area, where 50 percent of all the methane comes from landfills, which are ubiquitous in the region.

“There is now active research identifying how to manage landfills in a way that they emit less”.

As part of the solution, Fisher recommends improving methods of collecting emissions. For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.

There’s long been an assumption that the mental health of older people mirrors their declining physical and cognitive function. But according to a University of California, San Diego study, despite physical ailments, aging adults seem to get better over time. In the same study, Dilip Jeste found high levels of depression and anxiety among adults in their 20s and 30s. It made him wish that there were more studies looking into the value of intergenerational activities.

"There has been some work of that kind in the past, but I think we need larger scale, better studies in which you can have younger people having an older person, and they become partners or a team with mentorship in both directions. The younger ones are teaching the older ones, let’s say, about technology; and the older ones are teaching the younger ones about how to live life and so on. And we need to measure the outcomes in terms of not just their satisfaction, but even biological measures."

And this would help develop broader interventions to promote mental health in all age groups.

This is Science Today. Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory might have found what causes cardiomyopathy, a genetic heart disease. According to scientist Diane Dickel, that is an important discovery because doctors don't know what triggers this disease in half the patients. And that may be because researchers were looking for clues in the wrong part of the genome.

“Only about 3 percent of the genome consists of genes, the other 95 percent of the genome – what we call non coding, which just means that it does not encode genes. And it is clear there are important things in that non-coding sequence. ”

So it is the mutations in these non-coding sequences - called enhancers - that causes genetic diseases.

“These enhancer elements regulate gene expression. They are like switchers that tell the genes when and where to turn off and on.”

Dickel says this discovery sheds light on the unknown parts of the genome and will help improve clinical diagnosis.

This week on Science Today. Have some researchers underestimated the amount of methane emitted into the atmosphere? According to physicist Marc Fisher of the Berkeley Lab, they may have, at least in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"We found that emissions are roughly one and a half to two times the emissions expected based on inventory estimates, counting how many landfills, how many cows, how many wastewater treatment plants, how many different things that might emit methane."

Because methane is a very potent greenhouse gas, Fisher says their finding calls for better management of pollutant sources like landfills to reduce its contribution. And at UC Davis, we learned how sometimes in medicine, there are compounds that are found to be good for one thing, but not so great for another. Like in the case of NSAIDs, a class of anti-inflammatory drugs, including ibuprofen. Aldrin Gomes explains how NSAIDs are known to be linked to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, but he and his colleagues have found they seem to be beneficial in cancer.

"NSAIDs have been known to kill cancer cells and it’s killing cancer cells by a similar mechanism as it’s killing the healthy cells, so it’s actually too good at doing a job, so it’s ironic."

Gomes and his team found that NSAIDs can harm heart tissue because it can reduce the heart cells’ ability to produce energy and it’s a similar mechanism that some papers have shown NSAIDs can be used to treat cancer. One tip from Gomes – to prevent cardiac cell death – take vitamin C before ingesting an NSAID. They found it had preventative properties. That’s all for now – to hear these and other stories about the latest University of California research, subscribe to Science Today on iTunes or follow us on Facebook. I’m Larissa Branin.

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Sometimes in medicine, there are compounds that are found to be good for one thing, but not so great for another. That seems to be the case when it comes to a class of anti-inflammatory drugs known as NSAIDs. These include pain relievers like ibuprofen. Aldrin Gomes of the University of California, Davis explains that NSAIDs are known to be linked to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. But they’ve also found that NSAIDS seem to be beneficial in cancer.

"In cancer, NSAIDS have been known to kill cancer cells. And it’s killing cancer cells by a similar mechanism as it’s killing the healthy cells, so it’s actually too good at doing a job. So, it’s ironic."

Gomes and his team uncovered some of the reasons why NSAIDs can harm heart tissue – including reducing the heart cells’ ability to produce energy. Yet, Gomes says there are some papers showing that NSAIDs can be used to treat cancer.

"And the reason for that is that it’s a similar mechanism as how it’s actually damaging the heart cells."