Science News Digest 1st November 2010
In the science news this week, we take a look at concerns over the rising population of jellyfish, the debate on drug classifications takes centre stage again, new research to help us understand the mechanism of the immune system’s ‘bullet’ ...and finally, how burying your head in the sand can help solve problems in the short term.
Jellyfish could rule the seas
New research due to be published in the journal Global Change Biology has identified that jellyfish may actually benefit from changing conditions in marine ecosystems that have been destabilised by climate change and overfishing.
Furthermore, this research also raises concerns that the increased numbers of jellyfish could prevent the full replenishment of commercially important fish stocks.
According to the BBC, in 2007, an invasion of mauve stingers (Pelagia noctiluca) wiped out Northern Ireland's only salmon farm, killing more than 100,000 fish.
The researchers from the UK and Ireland who have been analysing samples from the Irish Sea since 1970 have reported an increasing rise in material from jellyfish.
"There does appear to have been an increase in abundance since 1994 for the Irish Sea," said co-author Christopher Lynam, a researcher at the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas).
Previous changes to marine ecosystems such as the removal of top predators, and changes to the distribution and characteristics of plankton have led to a growing concern that the oceans may become increasingly dominated by jellyfish because "many gelatinous zooplankton species are able to increase in abundance rapidly and adapt to new conditions".
However, the team have stressed that there are many other factors to consider and that a wider research study is needed to draw some more sound conclusions.
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The drug classification debate sparks up again
An investigation by the former Government drugs advisor Professor David Nutt published in the Lancet has caused massive controversy around the UK this week.
In the report, Nutt states that alcohol causes more harm to the wider community than heroin. His comments have reopened the debate on classification and sparked calls for a concerted campaign to be launched against drink.
According to the study led by Professor Nutt with colleagues from the breakaway Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, alcohol is listed as the most dangerous drug in the UK ‘by a considerable margin’.
Apparently if drugs were classified on the basis of the harm they do, ‘alcohol would be class A, alongside heroin and crack cocaine.’
The new paper is an updated version of a 2007 study that suggested legally available alcohol and tobacco were more dangerous that cannabis and LSD.
According to the Guardian, today's study examines nine categories of harm that drugs can do to the individual "from death to damage to mental functioning and loss of relationships" and seven types of harm to others.
The maximum possible harm score was 100 and the minimum zero.
Overall, alcohol scored 72 – against 55 for heroin and 54 for crack.
The most dangerous drugs to their individual users were ranked as heroin, crack and then crystal meth. The most harmful to others were alcohol, heroin and crack in that order.
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The mechanism of the immune system’s ‘bullet’ is revealed
An Anglo-Australian research team have led a study that has revealed how the protein perforin dispatches cells that have become cancerous or invaded by viruses.
Perforin, is used by the immune system to punch holes in rogue cells that threaten the body, allowing toxic enzymes to enter the cells and destroy them. The protein molecules clustered together to form a hole on the cell membrane before allowing the enzymes to enter.
Professor Helen Saibil, from Birkbeck College, University of London, who led the team, said: 'Perforin is a powerful bullet in the arsenal of our immune system - without it, we could not deal with the thousands of rogue cells that turn up in our bodies through our lives.'
Evidence from other sutudies involving mice, have shown that defective perforin leads to the development of cancers.
Co-author Professor James Whisstock, from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, said: 'Now we know how it works, we can start to fine tune it to fight cancer, malaria and diabetes.'
Read more in the Daily Mail
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And finally…
Problem solving takes an interesting turn.
New research from Holland shows that burying your head in the sand, albeit temporarily, may be the best solution to your problems.
Apparently distracting yourself with something else or sleeping on it allows your brain to come up with ‘ideal solution’ according to their study.
In their experiments, participants who consciously struggled with a difficult question were more likely to pick the wrong answer, while those who put it on the back burner were not.
Students were asked to choose the best models from four imaginary makes of car, each with 12 different features.
After reading about each car, one group of students was asked to make an instant choice, while another group carried out a second test which was designed to occupy their minds for five minutes before making their decision.
Volunteers in that group, dubbed the "unconscious thinkers", were more likely to select the best car, the results showed.
The Dutch experts say this is down to the fact that the subconscious minds had more time to weigh up the pros and cons.
Psychologist Maarten Bos, who led the research at Radboud University, said the experiments proved that forgetting about a decision often produced the best results, especially if it involved a complicated issue, according to the Daily Telegraph.
He said, "Unconscious thought produces better decisions than when people decide immediately. Although in our current experiments participants did not actually sleep on their decision, the benefit of a period of rest is clear.
"It allows us to differentiate between the vital and the irrelevant aspects. When your grandparents advised you to sleep on a decision first, they may have intuitively sensed the benefits of letting it rest to get a clear grasp of one's priorities. The current research shows that our grandparents were right".
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