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Thursday January 20, 2005
Science Editor: Kirsten Bratke
Trinity News Sexy Science Quakes and waves
SCIENCE
This week, Jane Ferguson contemplates cheating and the fascinating sex life of voles OVER THE PERIOD OF Christmas and New Year, as the alcohol flowed and mistletoe hit you in the face, do you have any confessions to make? Or do you have the sneaking suspicion that your significant other may have been a little less than faithful to you? What makes somebody more likely to be a cheater? Scientists have found some answers in a surprising model – the vole. Two species of vole; the meadow vole and the prairie vole share many characteristics, but there is one important difference in behaviour that sets them apart. Meadow voles are frisky little creatures, forever hopping from one partner to the next, whereas young prairie voles save themselves for their one true love, and then spend the rest of their lives gazing into each other’s eyes. Meadow voles, especially the males, never show any inclination to settle down, but when a prairie vole couple first catch each other’s gaze across a crowded room, they spend the next 24-36 hours having continuous sex (although they prefer the more romantic term “making love” of course), and then spend the rest of their lives together. If one of them dies, the other will choose to live alone rather than find another partner. When scientists investigated the brains of the voles, they found one important difference. Prairie voles have a receptor in their brain for a hormone called vasopressin; meadow voles don’t. When the gene for the vasopressin receptor is inserted into the brains of meadow voles, their mating behaviour alters completely, and they start being monogamous. Could this hormone be having the same effect in us? Well, humans aren’t this simple, and our typical mating behaviour ranges from strictly monogamous to an “if it moves I’ll have a go” sexual code. So far, scientists haven’t found any significant link between the levels of vasopressin in humans and a tendency towards cheating, and it is likely that it will be very difficult to make any associations between certain genes and the incidence of something as complex as cheating. Human behaviour is governed by a huge number of factors, and the environment and circumstances play a big role. In evolutionary terms it makes sense to cheat, because it gives you the best chance of reproducing. Men have bucketloads of surplus sperm, so why shouldn’t they want to distribute it freely? Women also want to get the best men to father their children. Obviously people don’t really think about reproduction as a motivation for sex or infidelity, but the evolutionary by-product of needing to reproduce is that sex is
fun. Sex evolved as a means of reproduction, and our motivation to do this odd and sometimes awkward act is the enjoyment we get out of it. Underneath most of our calm and cool exteriors is a raving sex addict, waiting to be unleashed. Add in boredom, alcohol, or a particularly attractive person, and the inner sex fiend can be hard to control. Some people find it easier to resist temptation than others, but basically everyone will give in to their urges at some stage. The main reason for cheating to have become morally reprehensible is that it can lead to children with uncertain paternity, and since human children require much more parental input than some species, a father wants to be sure that the mouths he is feeding are not some other man’s children. Likewise a woman wants to make sure that her man isn’t getting himself into situations where he will end up paying child support for other women’s children, taking away from her resources. Now, however, with reliable contraception to prevent pregnancies and diseases, there is no real reason why we shouldn’t all be sleeping with each other. What still prevents us from being completely promiscuous is the lasting bonds we can form with others. Humans have a strong capacity to fall in love, and this feeling keeps us coming back to the same person rather than “spreading the seed” for the rest of our lives. Most people will agree that sex is different if you love the person you are with, so the majority of us eventually decide that it is better to sleep with the same person every time rather than drift from one partner to the next. The emotional stability this gives us is also an important factor in encouraging us to make a commitment. This doesn’t mean that it is necessarily wrong to have sex with other people besides your partner, it just depends on the couple. Humans have such different attitudes to sex that we cannot devise any guidelines on how to live your sex life. Instincts have to play a big role here, along with some basic morals and honesty. If you think that sleeping with somebody else is horribly wrong, don’t do it. But if you like having variety and want to have sex with the one you love, and with some of those you like, why not? We don’t have a single hormone that makes us behave a certain way, so as long as we’re not hurting anyone we can do what we want. That’s the beauty of being a human and not a vole – we have choice. So go forth and fornicate as you please, we won’t judge!
The Asian Tsunami has now claimed over 150,000 lives. What is the recipe for disaster and could it happen again? Is there anything scientists can do to prevent a catastrophe like this in the future? Marianne O’Reilly ON DECEMBER 26 2004, Mother Nature wreaked havoc on an unsuspecting multitude. A massive underwater earthquake off the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island rattled the earth in its orbit causing devastation, the full extent of which is not yet fully known. The quake itself has been the largest experienced in over forty years and measured a staggering 9 on the Richter scale. So powerful was its grip that it literally moved some islands by up to 20 metres. The most significant and indeed, horrific consequence of this quake was the tsunami that it precipitated. As the full horror of the Asian tsunami comes to light, the reactions of scientists mirror those of the general population. A natural disaster of this magnitude stirs within us all feelings of immense vulnerability in the face of such an
awesome force of nature. In times like this, when many lives have been lost (current death toll stands at 155 000), people look to science for the answers- the how and why such a thing could happen in this impervious age of technology. Laying blame becomes important to distract from the sense of grieving. Could the application of science have allowed us to predict this, could we have prevented it? The word tsunami itself is a Japanese word comprising tsu, meaning harbour, and nami, meaning waves. A tsunami is a series of waves in the ocean capable of generating enormous energy and force. A tsunami is born when the earth’s plates make contact at a plate boundary. This is a process called subduction. When the colliding plates snap upward the energy of the force is transferred to the water. The energy of the water gathers momentum and due to the force of gravity this energy is distributed out horizontally along the
surface and through the depths of the water. The tsunami’s ability to maintain speed is directly influenced by the depth of the water and the tremendous force produced by the seismic disturbance generates its astonishing speed. The fact that the tsunami travels through the water as opposed to on top of it means it is notoriously difficult to appreciate the phenomenon visually before it reaches the shoreline. This is because the waterline may only rise, at most, by one metre. The Asian tsunami travelled at a speed of 600Km in 75 minutes. When it reached dry land, the shallower water and coastal land compressed the energy travelling through the water allowing the tsunami to transform. The compressed energy forced the water upwards (up to 30 metres in height). Witnesses on the shore will note the characteristic rise and fall of beach water when a tsunami is imminent. During the Asian tsunami, eyewitnesses recounted
Science Extravaganza 2005 IF YOU FEEL CHEATED at the lack of World Cup, Olympics, or any other exciting events in 2005, fear not, science provides some (less adrenaline-fuelled) replacements. Oh yes, 2005 is the World Year of Physics! Einstein published three landmark papers on special relativity, the photoelectric effect and Brownian motion 100 years ago and to celebrate this and just the general greatness of physics, events are held all over the world to increase
public interest in physics. For an overview of events in Ireland go to www.einsteinyear.org/about/ireland. 2005 also happens to be the bicentenary of the great Irish physicist Hamilton, which won’t go unnoticed either. As always, January brought young scientists from all over the country to Dublin, as the annual ESAT Young Scientist Exhibition was held in the RDS last week. And if that wasn’t enough, the British Association for the Advancement
of Science are holding the annual BA Festival of Science in Dublin this year. This scientific extravaganza is taking place from the 2nd to the 9th of September and runs under the motto “Setting the Agenda for Science”, so expect discussion of new developments and heated ethical debates. Who needs the Olympics when you can have physics, Einstein and science and religion catfights?
Kirsten Bratke
how the coastal water disappeared completely leaving them with an eerie anticipation that something truly horrific was going to happen. And then it hit. The wrath of a trillion tonnes of water. Monitoring stations in Japan and the US have been accused of not relaying information of the unfolding quake to those most affected quickly enough despite the abundance of telecommunication technology they had at their disposal. They will argue that the size of the quake was not immediately apparent with early estimates putting it at magnitude 8, which they insist is not extraordinary for submarine quakes. Also, noteworthy is the absence of an ocean-based monitoring system in the Indian Ocean meaning that remote seismologists did not know that the quake had even triggered a tsunami. While tsunamis are difficult to predict one can still look for the signs. Monitoring stations such as the station in the Pacific Rim have a
series of pressure buttons on the ocean floor that detect even slight changes in overlaying water pressure. The station also monitors a series of open ocean buoys and tide gauges which record and alert of any changes that could be indicative of an impending tsunami. Had there been a warning system in place in the Indian Ocean, such as the one in the Pacific Ocean which is allied to a public education campaign, the scale of the disaster could well have been lessened. As recently as 1999 ITSU (an international organisation that plans for tsunamis) called for the urgent need for a tsunami monitoring system. In the wake of the disaster the Indian government has pledged 29 million US Dollars to build this system. However, watching images on CNN of mass graves and quick lime, lost children and limbs and corpses strewn like sunbathers over the ravaged beaches, one can’t help but wonder: is it too little too late?
Volunteers for dietary study LIPGENE are still looking for volunteers to participate in their study on the Metabolic Syndrome. It sets out to understand the following symptoms of this syndrome: Being overweight or obese, having high Blood Pressure, having increased Triglyceride (a certain type of fat) levels of in your blood, having a Glucose (sugar) intolerance, having abnormal fat levels in your blood (Cholesterol). Volunteers will follow a type diet for 12-weeks. Clinical investiga-
tions include body measurements, blood samples and glucose tolerance tests.We are recruiting volunteers now and the study 12-week study begins at the end of January 2005. If you meet the above criteria for the Metabolic Syndrome, are between 35 and 70 years old and are interested in whether altering the fat in your diet will have a positive effect for you, please contact: Jolene Mc Monagle, Nutritionist, (087) 9499581 or mcmonaj@tcd.ie
FANTASTIC FOODS Forget the Buttery ... here’s the A-Z of healthy foods
Insects
Yes, that’s right. Insects are a recognised food type, and are pretty nutritious at that! Why bother going shopping for expensive chunks of dead cow, when there are delicious bite-sized snacks crawling around your house? Not tempted yet? I’ll admit I haven’t tried any of the delicious insects myself, and I’m in no hurry to. But since an estimated 80% of the world’s populations actually do willingly include insects in their meals, it might be a good idea to keep an open mind! Entomophagy is the official term given to the eating of insects, and apparently most of us are entomophagists without even realising. There is an “acceptable” level of insect life that can be included in food products such as strawberry jams, peanut butter, pasta sauce, and frozen chopped vegetables, so most of us will have already eaten quite a few insect parts in our lives. That isn’t even such a bad thing! Insects can add to the nutritional value of foods, and are better for us than the pesticides that are sprayed on crops. Insects tend to be high in
protein and low in fat and cholesterol, and contain lots of vitamins and minerals too. So, if you’re feeling adventurous, there are many ways in which to enjoy insects. A good entry level step is to dry your insects, and grind them up to use as a flour substitute. Just make sure the little critters are dead first, then remove any hard parts. Put them on a baking sheet in the oven at a low heat for a few hours to take out all the moisture. Then grind them up, and delight your friends with some delicious home-baked cookies! Other insects taste great roasted or deep fried – try crickets, larvae or mealworms! You can boil them or keep the stock for using in soups. Common insects you might like to try and include bees, crickets, grasshoppers, termites, moths, scorpions and ants. OK, so maybe I’m not entirely serious about advising you to check under the rocks in your garden, and cook what you find there, but insects may soon be increasing on menus. Remember when sushi first came over here, and so many people thought it sounded disgusting? Well, in certain circles, insects are said to be the new sushi…You heard it here first!
Eye spy... or not? Laser eye surgery is Cool this week.
Collage: Eamon Marron
How Cool Stuff Works (2): Laser Eye Surgery
An optical spectacle Thomas Lau GLASSES, THEY CAN MAKE you appear smarter than you really are, can conceal your secret superhero identity and in truly desperate times can be used to persuade people not to hit you in the face. One thing they are not though, is cool. Over the years, people have tried ways to overcome the need to wear their spectacles. These solutions include the successful contact lenses and the not so successful “stumble around blindly”. Recently, however, clever people have combined several cool things such as “burning things with a laser” and “being able to see things far away” to produce LASER EYE
SURGERY! “But shining lasers in your eyes is dangerous, a smart spectacled person told me!” I hear you say. Not true, let me explain… To first have laser eye surgery one must have an eye defect (yes, I was surprised too). Although there are many different eye disorders, laser surgery works best for myopia. Myopia (also called short sightedness) affects your ability to see things far away but you can read and see close things fine. This is caused by bad focusing in your eye. In myopia, the bad focus is usually caused by an eyeball that is too long. The eye has two parts that focus stuff. These are the cornea and the lens. The cornea forms part of a natural bulging curve in front of your
pupils (if you don’t believe me have a feel but wipe your hands on your jeans first). The rest of the focusing is done by the lens. The lens is adjustable by tiny muscles that we see as the iris (aka “the colouredy bit”). The principle behind modern laser eye surgery is that the cornea is reshaped by laser so it focuses images correctly. This reshaping technique works best on myopia but can also work on near sightedness and astigmatism (having a funny cornea shape, probably caused by too much eye gouging). Although this may all sound easy, “reshaping” the eye is a delicate process. Several tests must be done to check the eye shape is within a workable range and so they know where they need to
point the laser! The laser used to reshape the eye is literally a “cool laser”. It produces no heat except on the tiny area it is focused and by tiny I mean smaller than a baby weasel! Some laser beams can focus to a space of 0.25 microns. That means it could slice a single hair from the aforementioned weasel into 200 very thin wispy weasel hairs! However, although most people report a huge improvement in vision it is rare that perfect vision is restored. The surgery has the advantage of being very quick and anaesthetic eye drops make it painless. Surgery itself normally takes about 15 minutes and you can return to normal googling, gazing and glancing in a day or two. Problems after surgery are
quite rare but mainly include difficulty with lights or blurry, hazy vision. These problems can normally be fixed by another surgery or ironically, by wearing prescription lenses. With so many people jumping on this lucrative bandwagon, it is important that if you are interested in getting this surgery that you go to a recognised, certified professional. In Ireland the procedure, pre and postoperative care add up to around 2500 Euro. With that kind of price tag, laser surgery is not for everyone. You might be better off saving your money for other cool things like an electric guitar or a giant glowin-the-dark yeti figure. Make up your own minds! Until next time, stay cool amigos…