VOASE1203_Science In the News

03 December 2007

Scientists Get Skin Cells to Act Like Stem Cells, but Much Work Remains
Also: Some researchers fear a new study could lead people to believe that weighing too much is not as big a health problem as many had thought. And we answer a question about the AIDS virus.

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

File photo of embryonic stem cells in a laboratory dish

And I'm Pat Bodnar. This week, we will tell about efforts to make what appear to be embryonic stem cells without using embryos. We will tell how body fat may help to protect against some diseases. We also answer a question about the disease AIDS and report on its spread.

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VOICE ONE:

American and Japanese scientists have reported a major discovery in the creation of human stem cells. The scientists say they have found a way to make human skin cells act like embryonic stem cells. Two groups of scientists performed similar experiments in different parts of the world. They reported their findings in the scientific publications Cell and Science.

Both teams did generally the same thing. They injected skin cells with four kinds of retroviruses. Each retrovirus carried a different gene that helps control embryo development. The scientists say the four genes "reprogrammed" the skin cells. The genes turned other genes on or off and caused the skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells.

VOICE TWO:

Scientists can make stem cells grow into any kind of cell of the body, such as nerve or heart cells. Scientists believe stem cells could be used in future treatments for many diseases.

Until now, scientists were able to get human stem cells by taking them from a human embryo several days after fertilization. The embryo was destroyed in the process. The need to destroy human embryos has made stem cell research one of the most divisive political issues in the United States.

James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin helped write the report published in Science. He said he believes more scientists will attempt to reprogram cells to get stem cells instead of taking them from embryos.

VOICE ONE:

The scientific publication Cell reported the results of researchers at Kyoto University in Japan. They said they were able to make the newly created stem cells produce many kinds of tissue cells. One of the researchers was Shinya Kamanaka. In June, his team identified four genes in the skin cells of mice that could turn other genes on or off to make skin cells act like embryonic stem cells.

The researchers say they still must confirm that the reprogrammed human skin cells really are the same as stem cells from human embryos. They say they have much to learn about the reprogrammed stem cells before they could possibly be tested in people. One concern is that the cells might lead to cancer because the retroviruses used to reprogram the skin cells can cause changes in their genes. In fact, one gene used by the Japanese researchers can cause cancer.

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VOICE TWO:

Is it healthy or unhealthy to be too fat? Some researchers fear a new study could lead people to believe that weighing too much is not as big a health problem as many had thought. They say that may or may not be true.

The new study included medical information about almost forty thousand Americans. The information was collected between nineteen seventy-one and two thousand four. The study also included the causes of death of more than two million people in two thousand four.

Federal government researchers wanted to learn if some earlier studies were correct. Those studies suggested reduced health dangers from being overweight. The researchers found that people who were overweight, but not extremely overweight, died at lower rates than people of normal weight. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

VOICE ONE:

The researchers found a higher death rate in extremely overweight or obese people from heart disease. But obese people did not have an increased chance of dying from cancer. And they found that being thin increased the death rate from all diseases except heart disease and cancer.

The researchers also found more than one hundred thousand fewer deaths among overweight people than was expected. They said being overweight was linked to death only from diabetes and kidney disease, not heart disease or cancer. They also found a protective effect against other causes of death such as injuries, pneumonia, tuberculosis and Alzheimer's disease.

VOICE TWO:

The researchers do not know why being overweight should protect people from some diseases. But they said it could be that extra weight may help make the body stronger to fight off sickness. They also said it is important to remember that the results are about people who weigh too much, not people who are very overweight or obese.

Other researchers have problems with the study. They say the dangers of weighing too much have already been established by research. They say many studies have linked being overweight to increased chances of developing diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

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VOICE ONE:

In August, demonstrators in Cape Town, South Africa, urged the government to do more to fight AIDS

United Nations officials say fewer people than they thought are infected with the virus that causes AIDS. The agency known as UNAIDS estimated last year that more than thirty-nine million people were living with H.I.V. -- the human immunodeficiency virus. Last month, agency officials reduced that to a little more than thirty-three million. They say the lower number represents better information and information from more countries.

The single biggest reason, however, was an intensive re-examination of the problem of AIDS in India. At the same time, the agency reduced its estimates for five African countries. Also, UNAIDS says it now believes the number of new H.I.V. cases each year reached a high in the late nineteen nineties.

VOICE TWO:

Even as the number of new infections has dropped, the number of people living with H.I.V. is increasing. Better treatments are extending lives, and more people are getting the drugs. The new report also says prevention efforts appear to be changing risky behavior in several of the countries most affected by H.I.V.

But U.N. officials say AIDS is still one of the leading causes of death worldwide and the major cause in Africa. African death rates remain high, they say, because treatment needs are not being met.

African countries south of the Sahara had almost seventy percent of the new H.I.V. cases reported this year. But UNAIDS officials say this is a notable reduction since two thousand one.

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VOICE ONE:

Mosquitoes do not infect people with the virus that causes AIDS

We recently received a letter from a listener in Burma. Joseph San Min wants to know if mosquitoes can carry and infect people with the virus that causes AIDS. The short answer is, luckily, no. However, scientists did worry and investigate the possibility after the disease was first recognized.

When a mosquito bites a person, it does not release any of its own blood or blood from an earlier bite into the victim. What the mosquito releases in a bite is its own saliva. This substance helps the insect feed on the human blood.

VOICE TWO:

Some viruses and parasitic organisms can live for many days in mosquitoes and are able to reproduce. The viruses and parasites also are able to enter the insect’s saliva glands. Then they could pass to a person during a bite from the host mosquito.

But, the human immunodeficiency virus, H.I.V., cannot live in mosquitoes. The mosquito’s system considers the virus as food. So the mosquito eats and breaks down the virus as part of the larger blood meal. H.I.V. never infects the insect.

VOICE ONE:

There were theories that a mosquito could pass H.I.V. if the insect moved immediately from one bite to another. If the mosquito first fed on someone infected with H.I.V., the insect might have virus particles on its mouth. Let us say the mosquito flew immediately to feed on a non-infected person. Could the remaining blood particles on its mouthparts pass to the second person?

The answer is no for two reasons. The first is just the result of simple mosquito behavior. Mosquitoes rest between meals. The second is that a mosquito cannot carry enough H.I.V. particles on its mouthparts to infect a person.

People with H.I.V. do not always have high levels of the virus in their blood. But even if a mosquito bit someone with high levels, the insect would not carry enough blood away on its mouth to make a difference.

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VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Shelley Gollust, Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I'm Pat Bodnar.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again at this time next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

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Correction: Japanese researcher Shinya Yamanaka was misidentified in this story as Shinya Kamanaka.

VOASE1126_Science In the News

26 November 2007

Six Medical Researchers Who Gave All to Their Work; in Some Cases, Even Their Lives
The stories of Jesse Lazear, Clara Maass, Joseph Goldberger, Matthew Lukwiya, Carlo Urbani and Anita Roberts.

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VOICE ONE :

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week, the stories of some medical heroes.

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VOICE ONE:

At the start of the twentieth century, the United States Army had a Yellow Fever Commission. The Army wanted medical experts to study yellow fever and find a way to stop the disease. One team went to Cuba to test the idea that mosquitoes spread yellow fever. The team was led by Walter Reed, the Army doctor and scientist noted for his work on infectious diseases.

In August of nineteen hundred, the researchers began to raise mosquitoes and infect them with the virus. Nine of the Americans let the infected insects bite them. Nothing happened. Then two more let the mosquitoes bite them. Both men developed yellow fever.

VOICE TWO:

Jesse Lazear

A doctor named Jesse William Lazear recognized that the mosquitoes that bit the last two men had been older than the others. Doctor Lazear proved that mosquitoes did carry yellow fever.

Doctor Lazear himself was also bitten. No one is sure how it happened. He said it happened accidentally as he treated others. But some people said he placed the mosquito on his arm as part of the experiment. Medical historians say he may have reported the bite as an accident so his family would not be denied money from his life insurance policy.

VOICE ONE:

Jesse Lazear died of yellow fever. His death shocked the others on the team in Cuba. But they continued their work.

More people let themselves be bitten by mosquitoes. Others were injected with blood from victims of yellow fever. Some people in this test group developed the disease, but all recovered to full health.

Members of the team praised the work by Jesse Lazear. They called it a sacrifice to research that led the way to one of the greatest medical discoveries of the century.

VOICE TWO:

The research answered the question of how yellow fever was spread. Now the question was how to protect people. The researchers had a theory. They thought that people who were bitten by infected mosquitoes, but recovered, were protected in the future.

To test this idea, the team in Cuba offered one hundred dollars to anyone who would agree to be bitten by infected mosquitoes. Nineteen people agreed. The only American was Clara Maass. She was a nurse who worked with yellow fever patients in Cuba.

Clara Maass was bitten by infected mosquitoes seven times between March and August of nineteen-oh-one. Only one of the nineteen people developed the disease -- until that August. Then seven people got yellow fever. Clara Maass died six days after she was bitten for the seventh time.

VOICE ONE:

The experiment showed that the bite of an infected mosquito was not a safe way to protect people from yellow fever. Medical historians say the death of Clara Maass also created a public protest over the use of humans in yellow fever research. Such experiments ended.

Cuba and the United States both honored Clara Maass on postage stamps. And today a hospital in her home state of New Jersey is known as Clara Maass Medical Center.

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VOICE TWO:

Joseph Goldberger

Joseph Goldberger was a doctor for the United States Public Health Service. In nineteen twelve, he began to study a skin disease that was killing thousands of people in the South. The disease was pellagra.

Doctor Goldberger traveled to the state of Mississippi where many people suffered from pellagra. He studied the victims and their families. Most of the people were poor. The doctor came to believe that the disease was not infectious, but instead related to diet.

He received permission from the state governor to test this idea at a prison. Prisoners were offered pardons if they took part. One group of prisoners received their usual foods, mostly corn products. A second group ate meat, fresh vegetables and milk.

Members of the first group developed pellagra. The second group did not.

VOICE ONE:

But some medical researchers refused to accept that a poor diet caused pellagra. For the South, pellagra was more than simply a medical problem. There were other issues involved, including Southern pride.

So Doctor Goldberger had himself injected with blood from a person with pellagra. He also took liquid from the nose and throat of a pellagra patient and put them into his own nose and throat. He even swallowed pills that contained skin from pellagra patients.

An assistant also took part in the experiments. So did Doctor Goldberger's wife. None of them got sick.

Later, the doctor discovered that a small amount of dried brewer's yeast each day could prevent pellagra.

Joseph Goldberger died of cancer in nineteen twenty-nine. He was fifty-five years old. Several years later, researchers discovered the exact cause of pellagra: a lack of the B vitamin known as niacin.

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VOICE TWO:

Matthew Lukwiya

was the medical administrator of Saint Mary’s Hospital in the Gulu District of northern Uganda. In two thousand, the hospital was the center of treatment for an outbreak of Ebola. The virus causes severe bleeding. No cure is known. Doctors can only hope that victims are strong enough to survive.

Doctor Lukwiya acted quickly to control the spread of infection. He kept the people with Ebola separate from the other patients. He ordered hospital workers to wear protective clothing and follow other safety measures.

One day he had to deal with a patient who was dying of Ebola. The man had been acting out of control. The doctor knew him well. The patient was a nurse who worked at the hospital. The man was coughing and bleeding. Doctor Lukwiya violated one of his own rules. He wore no protection over his eyes.

Matthew Lukwiya died from the virus in December of two thousand. He was forty-two years old. Ugandans mourned his death. He was an important influence in the community. Experts say his work during the outbreak helped stop the Ebola virus from spreading out of control.

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VOICE ONE:

Carlo Urbani

On February twenty-eighth, two thousand three, the Vietnam-France Hospital in Hanoi asked Carlo Urbani for help. The Italian doctor was an expert on communicable diseases. He was based in Vietnam for the World Health Organization.

The hospital asked Doctor Urbani to help identify an unusual infection. He recognized it as a new threat. He made sure other hospitals increased their infection-control measures.

On March eleventh, Doctor Urbani developed signs of severe acute respiratory syndrome. Four days later, the World Health Organization declared it a worldwide health threat.

Carlo Urbani was the first doctor to warn the world of the disease that became known as SARS. He died of it on March twenty-ninth, two thousand three. He was forty-six years old.

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VOICE TWO:

Anita Roberts

Our final medical hero is molecular biologist Anita Roberts. She was widely recognized by other researchers for her work with a protein called transforming growth factor-beta. TGF-beta can both heal wounds and make healthy cells cancerous.

In nineteen seventy-six, Anita Roberts joined the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health in the United States. She worked for many years with another researcher, Michael Sporn.

They found that TGF-beta helps to heal wounds and is important in the body’s defense system against disease. At the same time, though, the two scientists found that the protein can also support the growth of cancer in some cells.

VOICE ONE:

Between nineteen eighty-three and two thousand two, Anita Roberts published more than three hundred forty research papers. Many other scientists gave credit to her published work. In fact, the publication Science Watch listed her as the forty-ninth most-cited researcher in the world during that twenty-year period. She was the third most-cited female scientist.

But in two thousand four, after years of studying cancer, Anita Roberts learned that she herself had the disease. She died of gastric cancer in May of two thousand six. She was sixty-four years old.

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VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and George Grow. Brianna Blake was our producer. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Bob Doughty. Internet users can download transcripts and audio archives of our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. And we hope you join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

VOASE1119_Science In the News

19 November 2007

Remembering a Chimp Known for Her Use of American Sign Language
Also: Experts suggest early autism testing for all babies. And scientists are developing plants to eat chemical waste.

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. On our program this week, we will tell about an animal known for her ability to communicate with people. We will tell about a call for autism testing in all babies. And, we report on plants specially designed to eat chemical wastes.

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VOICE ONE:

Washoe's trainers say she grew to understand about 250 words

An animal that influenced scientific thought has died. A chimpanzee named Washoe died of natural causes late last month at a research center in the American state of Washington. Washoe lived forty-two years. She was said to be the first non-human to learn a human language.

Washoe had become known in the scientific community and around the world for her ability to use American Sign Language. Her skills also led to debate about primates and their ability to understand language. Primates are the animals most closely related to human beings.

VOICE TWO:

Washoe was born in Africa. Research scientists Allen and Beatrix Gardner began teaching her sign language in nineteen sixty-six. Sign language is a way of communicating using hand movements instead of words. It is a method many deaf people use to communicate.

In Nineteen Sixty-Nine, the Gardners described Washoe’s progress in a scientific report. Once the news about Washoe spread, many language scientists began studies of their own into this new and exciting area of research. The whole direction of primate research changed.

VOICE ONE:

The people who took care of Washoe say she grew to understand about two hundred fifty words. For example, Washoe made signs to communicate when it was time to eat. She could request foods like apples and bananas. She also asked questions like, "Who is coming to play?"

However, critics argue Washoe only learned to repeat sign language movements from watching her teachers. They say she never developed true language skills. Some researchers have suggested that primates learn sign language only by memory, and perform the signs only for prizes

VOICE TWO:

Yet her keepers disagree. Roger Fouts is a former student of the Gardners. He took Washoe to a research center in Ellensburg, Washington. There, she taught sign language to three younger chimpanzees, which are still alive.

Scientists like private researcher Jane Goodall believe Washoe provided new information about the mental workings of chimpanzees. Today, there are not as many scientists studying language skills with chimps. Part of the reason is because this kind of research takes a very long time.

Debate continues about chimps’ understanding of human communication. Yet, one thing is sure -- Washoe changed popular ideas about the possibilities of animal intelligence.

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VOICE ONE:

The American Academy of Pediatrics says all children should be tested for autism by the age of two. Autism is a general term for a group of brain disorders that limit the development of social and communication skills. Medical experts call them autism spectrum disorders.

Experts say autism is permanent and cannot be cured. But there are ways to treat it that they say can reduce the severity. The academy says the earlier treatment begins, the better the results.

Recently, the group released two reports to help doctors identify autism. One report came from Chris Johnson of the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. She says doctors should look for signs of autism when they examine babies at eighteen months and twenty-four months.

VOICE TWO:

Doctors normally consider the possibility of autism only if a child shows delayed speech or unusually repetitive behaviors. These may be clear signs of it, but they usually do not appear until a child is two or three years old.

Doctor Johnson says experts have learned a lot about earlier signs of autism. She says the identification process can begin in the waiting room at a doctor’s office.
Parents could answer a list of written questions about their baby. Then the doctor could perform tests as simple as observing the baby's ability to follow a moving object with its eyes. Experts say failing to watch a moving object may be a sign of autism.

VOICE ONE:

Doctors and parents can also look for behaviors that are normal in babies under one year of age. Young children usually have a favorite soft object like a blanket. But children with autism may like hard objects instead, and want to hold them at all times. They may not turn when a parent says their name or when the parent points at something and says "Look at that."

Doctor Johnson says the goal of the new advice is early intervention instead of the traditional "wait and see" method to identify autism.

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VOICE TWO:

The American Academy of Pediatrics says young autistic children should enter some kind of learning program. The Academy says such children should be actively involved in the program at least twenty-five hours a week all year long.
The group also says it is best if there is a small number of students for each teacher. It says autistic children do better with more direct attention from and contact with their teachers.

The group also is calling for contacts between autistic children and non-autistic children of the same age when possible. However, it notes that children with severe cases of autism spectrum disorder may have serious behavior problems. These could make interactions with other children difficult or even harmful.

VOICE ONE:

Experts advise parents to receive training for dealing with autism. But the Academy warns parents and doctors against several kinds of treatment programs. These include those that claim a high level of success or a cure for the disorder. The group suggests using treatments that are based on results of controlled studies supported by established scientific organizations. The Academy says autistic children should have the same general health care as other children. It says some autistic children have behavior, social or medical problems that may require treatment with drugs.

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VOICE TWO:

Finally, scientists have developed plants to remove harmful chemical wastes from soil near military or industrial centers. The process is called phyto-remediation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published two reports about the process on its web site.

Scientists describe how they used a special kind of plant to take up a chemical that results from military and manufacturing operations. The plants were products of genetic engineering. Their genetic information has been changed.

VOICE ONE:

One report describes a study of a chemical called RDX. The lead writer of the report was Liz Rylott of the University of York in Britain. She says RDX is often found in places where there was an explosion or where weapons have been stored.
Professor Rylott says RDX is important for explosives. She says it does not break down naturally. The chemical instead leaks into the soil and threatens water supplies.

Professor Rylott and her team collected soil from military training areas. They found bacteria that were able to break down RDX themselves and use it as their food supply. Her team identified the gene in the bacteria that breaks down RDX. They changed the genetic information so that enough of the gene can be produced to attack the harmful wastes.

VOICE TWO:

Professor Rylott says the next step is to use this technology to create grasses that can grow in military training areas. A likely test area for the bacteria is the Massachusetts Military Reservation in the northeastern United States. The use of RDX has been restricted there because of its threat to drinking water supplies.

But some scientists say there could be serious problems. Terry Hazen is the head of the Center for Environmental Technology at the Energy Department's Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Berkley, California. He says something has to be done with the plants after they take up chemical wastes from the soil. He warns that the plants could be carried away or spread by insects and animals.

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VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Brianna Blake, Soo Jee Han and Caty Weaver. Brianna Blake was our producer. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again at this time next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

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Correction: Terry Hazen works at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, not the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, as reported. Also, the story misspelled Berkeley.

VOASE1112_Science In the News

12 November 2007

Discovery That Stored Blood Loses a Life-Saving Gas Could Solve Mystery
Also: A 7-year-old listener asks how to help a friend with a genetic disorder called phenylketonuria, or PKU.

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Pat Bodnar. This week, we will tell about a gas that helps to carry oxygen from the blood. We will also report on a British sleep study. And we answer a question from Canada about a genetic disorder.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Stored blood loses nitric oxide

Scientists have discovered that stored blood loses a life-saving gas. The discovery may explain why a great number of people get sick after receiving stored blood.

In recent years, experts have wondered why patients who should survive sometimes die after receiving a blood transfusion. The cause of death is often a heart attack or stroke.

VOICE TWO:

Jonathan Stamler is a professor of medicine at Duke University in North Carolina. He and other researchers found that stored blood has very low levels of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a gas found in red blood cells. The gas helps to keep blood passages open so that oxygen in the red cells can reach the heart and other organs.

Professor Stamler and his team found that nitric oxide in blood begins to break down as soon as the blood is collected. Their findings were reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

VOICE ONE:

Another team of Duke University scientists carried out a separate study. Professor Stamler says that study showed the breakdown of nitric oxide begins within hours of blood collection. He says the life-saving gas is partly lost after three hours, and about seventy percent of it is lost after just one day. As a result, he says, there is almost no time that stored blood has enough nitric oxide.

VOICE TWO:

Scientists tested their theory on dogs and found that low levels of nitric oxide reduced the flow of blood. Professor Stamler says the scientists corrected the situation by adding nitric oxide to the stored blood. He says the extra nitric oxide repaired the ability of red blood cells to expand blood passages. He says blood when injected in animals does a very fine job of improving blood flow and getting oxygen to tissues.

Professor Stamler says people who are in serious need of a blood transfusion should have one immediately. But he says more studies are needed to show who would receive the most help from stored blood.

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VOICE ONE:

A British study suggests that women who fail to get enough sleep are at higher risk than men of developing high blood pressure.

Researchers at the University of Warwick Medical School led the study. Their report was published last month in Hypertension magazine.

The researchers studied health information from more than ten thousand British public employees. The information was gathered in the nineteen eighties. At the time, the employees were between thirty-five and fifty-five years of age.

The researchers also used more recent information about some of the volunteers. This information was collected in the late nineteen nineties, and again in two thousand three and two thousand four.

VOICE TWO:

Earlier studies have shown a link between lack of sleep and an increased risk of high blood pressure, or hypertension. Hypertension is known to increase the risk of heart disease.

Blood pressure readings are measured in millimeters of mercury and often given as two numbers. The researchers described hypertension as blood pressure higher than or equal to a reading of one hundred forty over ninety. The volunteers were identified as having hypertension if they commonly used medicine to treat high blood pressure.

VOICE ONE:

By the end of the study, twenty percent of the people had developed high blood pressure. The risk was higher among women who did not get enough sleep. The women who slept less than or equal to five hours were two times as likely as women who slept for seven hours or more. The study found no difference between men who slept less than five hours and those sleeping seven hours or more.

Francisco Cappuccio from the Warwick Medical School led the study. He says women who sleep less than five hours a night should attempt to get more rest. He also says other evidence suggests lack of sleep as possibly influencing weight gain and conditions like diabetes.

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VOICE TWO:

An American study has examined treatment of AIDS in Africa, south of the Sahara. The study involved people who have AIDS or the virus that causes the disease.

Researchers at Boston University studied reports about adults who have HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus. The patients received HIV medicines in thirteen countries in southern Africa over a seven-year period. Two years after beginning treatment, only sixty-one percent of patients on average were still taking the medicines. The Public Library of Science reported the findings.

VOICE ONE:

Christopher Gill of Boston University says the study was designed to estimate the effectiveness of HIV drug programs in the thirteen countries. Professor Gill is an expert on infectious diseases. He is concerned that up to one-third of the patients discontinued their treatment. He says that for whatever reason, the programs were unable to follow the patients. He says the patients may have died or stopped using the drugs.

Professor Gill says public health officials have proved that it is possible to bring HIV medicines to poor countries. He says the problem now is to find ways to make sure people who are taking the medicines continue to do so.

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VOICE TWO:

Phenylketonuria is a genetic disorder. It is also called PKU. A seven-year-old listener from Canada has a friend in China with the disorder. Sarah Sun wants to know more about PKU and how to help people with it.

People with PKU are unable to break down an amino acid called phenylalanine, or Phe. The body uses this amino acid to build proteins. There is a gene that helps the body take in Phe. But some people are born with genetic orders that change how the gene operates. This causes Phe levels in the blood to increase.

Extremely high levels of the amino acid can cause severe damage to a baby’s brain. That is why it is important to identify the disorder in newborns so a special diet can be established early in life. Many hospitals in wealthy nations require PKU tests on young babies. Early medical intervention provides the best results.

VOICE ONE:

Babies with PKU who eat low-protein foods can develop normally. If they remain on the diet, they may never experience any signs of the condition. But, it is tricky because phenylalanine is in a lot of foods. For example, all meats and milk products have high amounts. Beans and nuts are also high in Phe. And, children with PKU should not use the non-sugar sweetener aspartame. It contains a lot of Phe. Aspartame can be found in many sugar-free products like drinks.

Everyone needs some protein for health. So, many doctors advise their PKU patients to take a special phenylalanine-free formula. The formula contains protein, vitamins, minerals and extra calories, but no Phe. Several drug companies make these products.

VOICE TWO:

In the past, doctors often only suggested this diet while their patients were babies. Older children with PKU were told they could begin to eat all foods. But, studies have shown that many older PKU patients on a normal diet have problems with thinking and remembering. So, patients now are usually advised to stay on a low protein diet their whole lives.

There are emotional sides to any health problem. Children with the disorder sometimes feel cheated out of fun and tasty foods, like French fries. The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota suggests ways to help ease the situation faced by a PKU patient. Officials there say it helps to not place a lot of attention on food. Instead, invest time and energy on other things children enjoy like a sports activity or a musical skill.

VOICE ONE:

Also, the Mayo Clinic says to be sensitive around holiday celebrations. It is not unusual for holidays to include big meals. But, they do not have to. Holiday story telling or other activities could become more important.

PKU patients need monthly blood tests to check Phe levels. They also need to keep records of what they eat and how much. This way doctors can make changes to the patients’ diets as needed.

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VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Lawan Davis, Soo Jee Han and Caty Weaver. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I'm Pat Bodnar.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again at this time next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

VOASE1105_Science In the News

05 November 2007

New Telescope to Search for Life Beyond Earth
Also: Leading scientific publications join together to examine poverty and development.

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week, we will tell about an effort to search for intelligent life beyond our universe. We will tell about a method shown to increase attention and reduce tension. We will also report on new concerns about the health of children in Africa.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The Allen Telescope Array in Hat Creek, California, is being used to search for intelligent life

The search for life in the universe took a step forward last month with the opening of the Allen Telescope Array in Hat Creek, California.

The telescopes were partly made possible by a gift of twenty-five million dollars from Paul Allen. He helped start the computer software company Microsoft. He joined with the Radio Astronomy Laboratory of the University of California at Berkeley and the SETI Institute to provide money for the project. The total cost of the project is already fifty million dollars.

Currently, there are forty-two radio telescopes working at the Hat Creek observatory. The signals they receive are combined to create what is equal to a single, very large telescope.

VOICE TWO:

Objects in space release radio waves that can be collected and studied. Astronomers can make pictures of objects using radio wave information. These pictures can show structures not observed in other wavelengths of light.

The telescope will be used to observe objects like exploding stars, black holes and other objects that are predicted but have not yet been observed. Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute says this is the first telescope whose main purpose is to search for signals from intelligent life in space.

What makes the Allen Telescope Array unusual is that it can collect and study information from a wide area of the sky. In addition, the forty-two telescopes can study information about several projects at the same time. That means studies of large areas of the sky can be made faster than ever before.

VOICE ONE:

The Allen Telescope Array uses parts that are not specially made. But they are easily available, including telecommunications technology. This helps keep the cost down. Each telescope is about six meters across.

Some officials estimate the Allen Telescope Array will be completed in three more years. Three hundred fifty individual radio telescopes are planned.

The SETI institute is based in Mountain View, California. The organization supports the search for other life forms in the universe. The new abilities of the Allen Telescope Array will make searching for stars similar to the sun much faster.

An earlier search by SETI, Project Phoenix, studied about eight hundred stars to a distance of two hundred forty light years. The project ended in two thousand four. With the Allen Telescope Array, astronomers hope to gather thousands of times more information in the search for life beyond our planet.

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VOICE TWO:

Students practice transcendental meditation

Recent studies have shown that performing intensive meditation for long periods can help to improve attention. They also showed meditation reduces emotional or mental pressure and makes it easier to deal with difficult activities.

Meditation is a kind of guided thought. People who meditate often spend months or years in training. But an American study found that people can get the same helpful effects in five days if they use a process called integrative mind-body meditation. The process combines rest, controlled breathing, mental imagery and mindfulness training. In earlier studies, such activities have been shown to improve attention, emotion, and social behaviors.

VOICE ONE:

Researchers at the University of Oregon developed integrative mind-body training. The researchers taught it to forty university students in China. They compared the results of the training to the results of deep rest in another group of students.

The study found that the students in the trained group performed better than the others on measures like attention and emotion. The researchers also measured levels of the natural hormone cortisol. Cortisol has been called the worry hormone. The body produces it when we are afraid. The study found cortisol levels were much lower in the mind-body trained group than in the other group.

VOICE TWO:

Michael Posner is an expert on attention at the University of Oregon. He helped to write a report on the study. Professor Posner says he was surprised by the findings. He says he thought they might have resulted from where the study was carried out. He says many people in China are already believers in intensive meditation. But he says Chinese university students have concerns about traditional Chinese medicine.

The report on the gains of short-term mind-body training is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

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VOICE ONE:

You are listening to the VOA Special English program IN THE NEWS. With Faith Lapidus, I'm Bob Doughty in Washington.

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VOICE ONE:

Health officials in Sudan have launched a campaign to vaccinate eight million children after a case of polio was reported there. United Nations and Sudanese agencies are carrying out the campaign. Sudan had been polio-free since two thousand five. The new case of wild poliovirus was confirmed in South Darfur two months ago.

Health officials also announced in September that Nigeria has had almost seventy new cases of polio since two thousand five. Those cases, however, were caused by the polio vaccine itself.

VOICE TWO:

There are two kinds of polio vaccine. The one given by injection contains killed virus, which cannot cause polio. The one given by mouth contains live but weakened virus. In very rare cases, the virus can change and cause polio.

The way to stop the spread now is more vaccinations. But officials worry that people in northern Nigeria may, once again, fear the vaccine. In recent years, local leaders spread stories that Western nations had poisoned the vaccine with the virus that causes AIDS.

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VOICE ONE:

Recently, major science publications around the world produced what was called a "Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development." The Council of Science Editors organized the project. The Council said it involved two hundred thirty-five scientific journals from thirty-seven countries.

The group said the goal was to increase interest and research in the subject and to spread the results as widely as possible. It said the journals published more than seven hundred fifty stories involving eighty-seven countries.

The web site of the Council of Science Editors released a partial list of the stories. The group has urged all journals that published the articles to make them available free to the public.

VOICE TWO:

This is the third time scientific journals have joined together to report on a single issue. The first time was in nineteen ninety-six. That is when thirty-six journals published articles about worldwide threats from diseases. In nineteen ninety-seven, ninety-seven journals joined together to report on the issue of aging.

The editors of the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA, organized the two earlier efforts. JAMA published several articles for the newest one. The research examined how knowledge about effective health interventions can be put to use locally to help poor people.

VOICE ONE:

Other widely read journals that published articles included Science, Nature and The Lancet. The project also included journals on medicine and biology from the Public Library of Science. That organization publishes its journals free of charge on the Internet.

America's National Institutes of Health held an event to launch the Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development. Experts from the N.I.H. and the Council of Science Editors chose seven articles for recognition. The subjects included childbirth safety, AIDS, malaria treatment and the effects of influenza on children.

Seven years ago, the United Nations recognized the link between health and development in the Millennium Development Goals. But many experts believe the targets for health improvements will not be reached at current rates of progress.

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VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Soo Jee Han, Mario Ritter and Caty Weaver. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Bob Doughty. Read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again at this time next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

VOASE1029_Science In the News

29 October 2007

Study of College Athletes Finds Exercise-Induced Asthma Is Common
Also: Two Americans and a Briton win the Nobel Prize for their work on the duties of individual genes.

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

Researchers at Ohio State University studied exercise-induced asthma among top athletes at the school. Ohio State football players practice earlier this year.

And I'm Faith Lapidus. On our program this week, we will tell about the winners of the Nobel Prize in medicine. We will tell about a health problem resulting from physical exercise. We also report on depression in young people and genetic studies of an ancient animal.

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VOICE ONE:

The two thousand seven Nobel Prize in medicine will go to three men who found a way to learn about the duties of individual genes. They discovered how to inactivate, or knock out, single genes in laboratory animals. The result is known as "knockout mice."

Mario Capecchi holds a laboratory mouse

The Karolinska Institute named the winners earlier this month. They are Martin Evans of Britain and two Americans, Mario Capecchi and . They will receive what is officially called the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine at a ceremony in Sweden on December tenth. They also will share about one million five hundred thousand dollars in prize money.

VOICE TWO:

In the nineteen eighties, Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies both studied cells in mice. They wanted to find how to cause changes in individual genes. But the kinds of cells they independently studied could not be used to create gene-targeted animals.

Martin Evans had the solution. He worked with embryonic stem cells to produce mice that carried new genetic material.

Oliver Smithies

The research greatly expanded knowledge about embryonic development, aging and disease. It also led to a new technology -- gene targeting. This has already produced five hundred mouse models of human conditions. Knockout mice are used for general research and for the development of new treatments.

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VOICE ONE:

A new study shows the breathing disorder asthma is common among students who take part in college athletic programs. Researchers studied American college athletes for signs of breathing problems. Athletes need skill and strength to compete in a sport. Yet test results suggested that more than one-third of those studied had a condition called exercise-induced asthma. In other words, physical exercise caused their asthma. This was true even among college athletes who had no history of the disorder.

Exercise-induced asthma happens when exercise restricts the flow of air to the lungs. The narrowing and closing of the airway usually begins just after heavy exercise. One sign of exercise-induced asthma is increased amounts of sticky fluid, or mucus, in the airway. Other signs include difficulty breathing and tightness in the chest. Two dangers of the condition are reduced athletic performance and serious breathing problems.

VOICE TWO:

Researchers at Ohio State University Medical Center organized the study. They examined one hundred seven student athletes at the university. The athletes were from Ohio State’s top sports teams.

Forty-two of those tested showed signs of exercise-induced asthma. Thirty-six members of that group had no earlier history of the breathing disorder. The researchers say the sex of the athlete and the breathing demands of the sport did not affect the rate of exercise-induced asthma.

Jonathan Parsons was the lead writer of the report. He says college students were tested because many of the reported severe cases of asthma after exercise have involved athletes twenty years of age or younger.

VOICE ONE:

Doctor Parsons says the findings suggest that many athletes do not know they have exercise-induced asthma. He says many parents, trainers and even athletes accept signs of the disorder as normal effects of physical activity.

Other athletes in the study showed signs of breathing problems after exercise. But the researchers say they were not common cases of exercise-induced asthma.

Doctor Parsons says the signs of exercise-induced asthma are not always clear. He says linking the condition to all breathing problems tied to exercise will result in wrong findings. This, he says, is why testing is so important.

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VOICE TWO:

You are listening to the VOA Special English program SCIENCE IN THE NEWS. With Bob Doughty, I'm Faith Lapidus in Washington.

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Depression can cause long periods of sadness and hopelessness, feelings of low self-worth, even physical pain. It is the leading cause of suicide. The World Health Organization says more than one hundred twenty million people worldwide suffer from depression. But many people may not know it can start at a young age.

Recently, researchers in the United States reported on a study of more than three hundred young people. All the patients were twelve to seventeen years of age. They suffered from major depression disorder, the most common form of the disease.

The researchers divided them into three groups. One group received the antidepressant drug Prozac. Another received cognitive behavioral therapy. This kind of treatment teaches patients to recognize and deal with the thoughts that can result from depression. The third group received both cognitive behavioral therapy and the antidepressant drug.

VOICE ONE:

The study found that the combination of treatments was most effective. At twelve weeks, the researchers found reduced levels of depression in all three groups. But they say the group receiving the combined treatments had the greatest reduction. This continued through the end of the nine-month study.

The study did not include an untreated control group. So there is no way to know for sure if it was the treatment that eased the depression.

The findings by Duke University researchers appear in the Archives of General Psychiatry. America's National Institute of Mental Health paid for the study.

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VOICE TWO:

An international team of scientists has recovered genetic information from hairs of ancient wooly mammoths. The scientists say the genetic material will provide valuable information about an animal alive today -- the elephant. They say it may also help in the study of mammoths and other ancient animals.

Mammoths lived on Earth thirty thousand to sixty thousand years ago. They are ancestors of modern African and Indian elephants.

Most of the hairs in the study came from a frozen mammoth. Its remains were found in the Siberia area of Russia in seventeen ninety-nine. For the past two centuries, the hair remains were stored at room temperature at the Zoological Museum in Saint Petersburg.

VOICE ONE:

Stephan Schuster was part of the team that made a genetic map from the mammoth hair remains. He works at Pennsylvania State University in the United States.

Professor Schuster says no team member thought it would be possible to get usable genetic material from the hair remains. He says the scientists had thought that removing the hairs from a cold climate would have destroyed every gene. Yet the scientists found genetic information in even the smallest piece of hair.

Professor Schuster notes that scientists are able to collect genes from the bones of dinosaurs. That is how they know about the age and development of the ancient creatures. But he adds that genetic studies of dinosaur bones are costly and difficult. The bones have very small holes. It is difficult to separate the genes scientists want to study from bacteria, plant and other material.

VOICE TWO:

Professor Schuster says genetic testing of hair is simple and does not cost much. He says his team found the bacteria on the outer end of the hair remains. The scientists were able to the outer end whiter while the other end remained undamaged. After removing the bacteria, the scientists were able to observe very pure genetic material from the mammoth.

Professor Schuster says this kind of test can be performed on something as small as a single hair. And he says the scientists found usable genes along the complete hair, not just the hair root closest to the skin.

Professor Schuster says the genetic map will tell scientists a lot about the development of Indian and African elephants. He says it may provide clues about how long it took before they separated and their last common ancestor. A report describing the study was published in Science magazine.

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VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Lawan Davis, SooJee Han and Caty Weaver. Brianna Blake was our producer. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again at this time next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

VOASE1022_Science In the News

22 October 2007

Musical Training Found Important for Communications Skills
Also: How sleeping for a few minutes during the day can improve your health.

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

Researchers believe cello music can help improve communications skills

And I'm Pat Bodnar. This week, we will tell about a new finding about the value of musical training. We will also tell how a short rest during the day can help your heart. And, we tell about an American law that protects all kinds of plants and wildlife.

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VOICE ONE:

American scientists say musical training seems to improve communication skills. They found that developing musical skills involves the same process in the brain as learning how to speak. The scientists say that could help children with learning disabilities.

Nina Kraus is a neurobiologist at Northwestern University in Illinois. She says musical training involves putting together different kinds of information. She says the process involves hearing music, looking at musical notes, touching an instrument and watching other musicians. She says the process is not much different from learning how to speak. Both involve different senses.

VOICE TWO:

Professor Krauss says musical training and learning to speak each make us think about what we are doing. She says speech and music pass through a structure of the nervous system called the brain stem. The brain stem controls our ability to hear.

Until recently, experts have thought the brain stem could not be developed or changed. But Professor Krauss and her team found that musical training can improve a person's brain stem activity. Their study was reported in the Proceedings in the National Academy of Sciences.

VOICE ONE:

The study involved individuals with different levels of musical ability. They were asked to wear an electrical device that measures brain activity. The Individuals wore the electrode while they watched a video of someone speaking and a person playing a musical instrument -- the cello. Professor Krauss says cellos have sound qualities similar to some of the sounds that are important with speech.

The study found that the more years of training people had, the more sensitive they were to the sound and beat of the music. Those who were involved in musical activities were the same people in whom the improvement of sensory events was the strongest.

Professor Kraus says the study shows the importance of musical training to children with learning disabilities. She says using music to improve listening skills could mean they hear sentences and better understand facial expressions.

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VOICE TWO:

Medical experts say most Americans do not get enough sleep. They say more Americans need to rest for a short period in the middle of the day. They are advising people to sleep lightly before continuing with other activities.

One study earlier this year found that persons who sleep for a few minutes during the day were less likely to die of heart disease. The study followed more than twenty-three thousand Greek adults for about six years. Adults who rested for half an hour at least three times a week had a thirty-seven percent lower risk of dying from heart disease than those who did not nap.

Study organizers said the strongest evidence was in working men. The organizers said naps might improve health by reducing tension caused by work.

VOICE ONE:

Some European and Latin American businesses have supported the idea of napping for many years. They urge people to leave work, go home and have a nap before returning. In the United States, some companies let workers rest briefly in their offices. They believe this reduces mistakes and accidents, and also increases the amount of work a person can do.

Sleep experts say it is likely that people make more mistakes at work than at other times. They say people should not carry out important duties when they feel sleepy. And they say the best thing to do is to take a nap. About twenty minutes of rest is all you need. Experts say this provides extra energy and can increase your effectiveness until the end of the day.

But experts warn that a nap should last no more than twenty to thirty minutes. A longer nap will put the body into deep sleep. Waking up will be difficult.

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VOICE TWO:

Scientists have known for years that human life on Earth depends on the continued survival of many different kinds of plants, animals and other organisms. That is one reason why governments make laws to protect the environment.

In the United States, a major environmental law is the Endangered Species Act of Nineteen Seventy-Three. Earlier laws provided only limited ways to protect native animals considered in danger.

A conference in nineteen seventy-three led to a treaty that restricted international buying and selling of plants and animals believed to be harmed by trade. Later that year, the United States Congress approved the Endangered Species Act.

VOICE ONE:

The law expanded America's list of threatened animal species to include foreign animals. It defined the words endangered and threatened. The law extended protection to plants and other organisms. It also required federal agencies to carry out programs to help guarantee the survival of endangered and threatened species. Federal agencies were also barred from taking any step that would harm a listed species or destroy or change its living area.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service calls the Endangered Species Act one of the most far-reaching wildlife conservation laws ever approved. Its purpose is to protect endangered and threatened species and their environments. It also requires the government to take action to help such species.

VOICE TWO:

To get this protection, a plant or animal species must be added to the Federal list of wildlife and plants said to be in the greatest need of help. Each species is listed as either endangered or threatened. The two words describe two levels of threat. An endangered species is one that is close to disappearing from all or much of its living area. One that is threatened will likely become endangered if nothing is done.

A species is added to the list when scientists have confirmed that its survival is threatened. The threats may include the destruction of its environment, disease and too much hunting or fishing.

Government action is taken within one year of the proposal. The final listing of each proposed species may be published, withdrawn or extended.

VOICE ONE:

After a species has been added to the list, it can receive government protection. This includes prevention of harmful activities and restrictions on taking, transporting or selling a species. Officials say they want to increase the population of the listed species to a level where federal protection is no longer required.

One recent success story took place earlier this year. In June, the Department of the Interior announced that it was removing the bald eagle from the list.

Federal protection has helped the bald eagle population increase in the United States

Officials say the bald eagle was one of the first species protected under the Endangered Species Act. But action was taken to help it much earlier. Beginning in nineteen-forty, federal laws made it illegal to kill a bald eagle. But continued use of the insect poison DDT after World War Two made the birds' eggs unable to produce young. This reduced the number of bald eagles in the wild.

VOICE TWO:

The government banned the use of DDT in nineteen seventy-two. And federal agencies began other efforts to save the bald eagle. The results were so good that in nineteen ninety-five, officials lowered the threat level for the bald eagle from endangered to threatened.

In nineteen sixty-three, only four hundred seventeen breeding pairs of bald eagles were known to exist in the lower forty-eight United States. Each breeding pair consisted of a fully-grown male and a female. Today, the forty-eight states are home to more than nine thousand pairs. Officials say the bald eagle in Alaska has never needed protection. They say between fifty and seventy thousand bald eagles live there.

The bald eagle will continue to enjoy federal protection under the Bald Eagle Protection Act of Nineteen Forty. That law makes it illegal to kill, sell or in any other way hurt eagles, their nests or eggs. But American officials say they are now sure about the future security of the bald eagle.

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VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by SooJee Han and Nancy Steinbach. Brianna Blake was our producer. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Pat Bodnar. Read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again at this time next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

VOASE1015_Science In the News

15 October 2007

More Species Than Ever Threatened With Extinction, Report Says
The IUCN Red List includes almost 200 more plants and animals than last year.

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Today, we examine a new report about the health of the world's many plants and animals.

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VOICE ONE:

The orangutan is among animals in danger of extinction

Scientists say counting the many different kinds of plants and animals on Earth is one way to measure the health of our planet. Scientists use the word biodiversity to describe the existence of many kinds of plants, animals and other organisms. One definition of biodiversity is the differences of life at all levels of biological organization. Biodiversity is also a way to measure the differences among all the organisms on Earth.

Scientists say the existence of biodiversity is extremely important for human life. Plants and animals provide much of our food, medicines and materials for industry. Biodiversity makes possible the natural development of improved crops. Biodiversity helps to create a balance for our atmosphere and water supply. And it provides activities through the enjoyment of nature.

Scientists say a lack of biodiversity has led to agricultural crises in history. One example is the potato famine in Ireland in the nineteenth century. At the time, many people in Ireland depended on potatoes for food. When the potato crop failed, millions starved to death or were forced to leave the country.

VOICE TWO:

Recent scientific findings about biodiversity have not been good. Last month, the World Conservation Union added almost two hundred plants and animals to its list of threatened species. The group warned that life on Earth is disappearing fast and will continue to do so unless urgent action is taken.

The World Conservation Union is one of the world’s largest groups working to protect Earth's environment. It aims to save, or conserve, natural resources by influencing governments and private citizens around the world. To do this, it supports and develops new conservation science methods, and carries out research internationally. Then it links the research and results to policies by organizing talks among governments, civilians and private companies.

The World Conservation Union works with eighty-three nations and more than one hundred government agencies. It also works with more than eight hundred non-governmental organizations, and thousands of scientists and experts.

VOICE ONE:

The World Conservation Union has offices in forty nations. Its headquarters is in Switzerland. The group was created in nineteen forty-eight after an international conference in France. Its name then was the International Union for the Protection of Nature. Its name was changed to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, or IUCN, in nineteen fifty-six. In nineteen ninety, the group began using the name World Conservation Union. But many people still know it as the IUCN.

Experts say the World Conservation Union is an important organization. They say wealthy nations like the United States have their own environmental agencies to study possibly threatened species. But developing nations use the work of the IUCN because they are not able to carry out studies of species within their borders.

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VOICE TWO:

The World Conservation Union says no one knows how many kinds of plants, animals and other organisms are found on Earth. It says scientists believe the number is about fifteen million. But only about two million are known.

The group says seven hundred eighty-five species have disappeared from the Earth in the past five hundred years. And it says that sixty-five others are in danger of disappearing, or becoming extinct. They are now only found in places that are protected by people.

Each year, the World Conservation Union publishes a report that names those organisms it considers threatened or in danger of becoming extinct. The report is called the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

VOICE ONE:

This year, information in the Red List came from more than ten thousand scientists in one hundred forty seven countries. The scientists considered more than forty-one thousand species. They found that more than sixteen thousand of them are in danger of becoming extinct. That is one hundred eighty-eight more threatened species than the report found last year.

The scientists said it is possible to reduce this number but that people around the world must begin to act now. They said the IUCN recognizes that some species naturally disappear over time. But they said studies have found that human activity is speeding up this process. The group says rates of extinction today are at least one hundred to one thousand times greater than they would be naturally.

VOICE TWO:

Animals listed as in danger of extinction include the western lowland gorilla in Africa. IUCN officials said the gorilla is in trouble as a result of hunting and the spread of the Ebola virus. The report said the population of these animals has decreased by more than sixty percent during the past twenty to twenty-five years.

Another animal in danger of extinction is the orangutan. Species of orangutans found in Sumatra and Borneo are dying because people are cutting down the trees in which they live.

One animal in extreme danger is the Yangtze River dolphin or baiji. Threats to its survival include fishing and pollution. IUCN officials said the baiji could already be considered extinct because only one or two individuals are known to live in China.

A two-year-old Gharial crocodile

The Gharial crocodile in India and Nepal faces extinction because much of its living area has been destroyed. The scientists are blaming the destruction on dam building, agricultural projects and sand mining.

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VOICE ONE:

The World Conservation Union added corals to its Red List for the first time this year. Ten coral species from the Galapagos Islands are included. The report says threats to the corals include climate change and the weather event known as El Nino. El Nino and climate change are also threatening seventy-four kinds of seaweed in the Galapagos.

Twelve thousand different kinds of plants are also named in the report. More than eight thousand are considered threatened. Only one has been declared extinct. That plant is a Malaysian herb known as the woolly stalked begonia. It is only known from collections made on Penang Island in the late nineteenth century. Not one of these plants has been seen in the past one hundred years.

VOICE TWO:

Seven hundred thirty-eight kinds of reptiles also are named on the threatened species list. Ninety are threatened with extinction. One example is a Mexican freshwater turtle. This creature is in danger because of a loss of its living area. Another reptile on the list is a kind of rattlesnake in Mexico. Hunters are threatening this snake.

More than one thousand kinds of birds are also included on the list. This year, the survival of only one species has improved. It is the Mauritius Echo Parakeet. This bird species was considered one of the world's rarest fifteen years ago. The Mauritius Echo Parakeet is still in danger. But its numbers have increased recently as a result of human protection and a captive breeding and release program.

VOICE ONE:

The World Conservation Union says governments around the world have accepted two thousand ten as a target year for slowing the rate of biodiversity loss. Yet it says human activity remains the main reason for the drop in the number of species. The group says people are destroying the places in which living things live, poisoning the air and spreading disease among them. It also recognizes climate change as a serious threat to many kinds of plants, animals and insects.

The group says most of the threatened animals live in some of the world's hottest places. It says nations with large numbers of threatened species are Australia, Brazil, China and Mexico. IUCN officials say it is in the interest of people to protect wildlife around the world. They say human life is linked to biodiversity and our very survival may depend on protecting it. The World Conservation Union says its report clearly shows that much more needs to be done to protect and improve biodiversity.

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VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Nancy Steinbach. Brianna Blake was our producer. I’m Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Bob Doughty. Read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Listen again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.