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Genes and obesity: Fast food isn’t only culprit in expanding waistlines — DNA is also to blame

By Guest PostJanuary 19, 2013Healthadipose, bmi, body fat response, body mass index, brian parks, cancer, control, degree of obesity, diverse mouse population, DNA, elin org, elizabeth nam, emrah kostem, environmental conditions, environmental factors, epidemic, fast food diet, fat, fat tissue, frode norheim, genetic factor, genetics, global gene expression, heart disease, high calorie diets, inbred strains, intestinal bacteria, intestinal flora, jake lusis, level, metabolic response, mice, modeling, obesity traits, sedentary lifestyles, strains, sugar, type 2 diabetes, ucla, weight gain

Researchers at UCLA say it’s not just what you eat that makes those pants tighter — it’s also genetics. In a new study, scientists discovered that body-fat responses to a typical fast-food diet are determined in large part by genetic factors, and they have identified several genes they say may control those responses.

The study is the first of its kind to detail metabolic responses to a high-fat, high-sugar diet in a large and diverse mouse population under defined environmental conditions, modeling closely what is likely to occur in human populations. The researchers found that the amount of food consumed contributed only modestly to the degree of obesity. (more…)

UCLA Life Scientists’ Study of Abalone Yields New Insights into Sexual Reproduction

By Guest PostAugust 15, 2011Sciencechemistry and biology of reproduction, contact between sperm and egg, effective communication system, environmental conditions, female abalone eggs, fluid dynamics, jeffrey riffell, mammalian reproductive tract, massachusetts institute of technology, molecule, natural habitat of the abalone, ocean crevices, ocean dwelling snail, point loma, red abalone, richard zimmer, roman stocker, san diego, sexual reproduction, sperm and eggs, target area, techniques to improve fertilization in humans, tryptophan, ucla, university of washington

*Research could lead to techniques to improve fertilization in humans*

In new research that could have implications for improving fertilization in humans and other mammals, life scientists studied interactions between individual sperm and eggs in red abalone, an ocean-dwelling snail, and made precise chemical measurements and physical models of these interactions. They are the first scientists to do so.

By simulating the natural habitat of the abalone in the laboratory, the scientists were able to determine the conditions under which sperm–egg encounters and fertilization were most likely to occur. (more…)

Radar for Mars Gets Flight Tests at NASA Dryden

By Guest PostJune 22, 2011Sciencedesert, dryden flight research center, edwards, environmental conditions, fa 18 aircraft, florida, jet propulsion laboratory, kennedy space center, mars, mars landing radar software, mars radar, mars science laboratory mission, martian atmosphere, microbial life, NASA, nasa technology, pasadena, southern california

Southern California’s high desert has been a stand-in for Mars for NASA technology testing many times over the years. And so it is again, in a series of flights by an F/A-18 aircraft to test the landing radar for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission.

The flight profile is designed to have the F/A-18 climb to 40,000 feet (about 12,000 meters). From there, it makes a series of subsonic, stair-step dives at angles of 40 to 90 degrees to simulate what the Mars radar will see while the spacecraft is on a parachute descending through the Martian atmosphere. The F/A-18 pulls out of each dive at 5,000 feet (about 1,500 meters. Data collected by these flights will be used to finesse the Mars landing radar software, to help ensure that it is calibrated as accurately as possible. (more…)

Significant Role of Oceans in Onset of Ancient Global Cooling

By Guest PostMay 28, 2011Environmentacc, american midwest, antarctic circumpolar current, antarctic intermediate water, benjamin cramer, benthic foraminifera, bridget wade, candace major, chengjie liu, deep sea drilling project, early cenozoic, environmental conditions, fossil skeletons, glaciations, global climate, global cooling pattern, global ocean circulation, global temperatures, greenhouse climate, icehouse, integrated ocean drilling program, isotopes, late eocene, marsupials, miriam katz, mixmaster of the ocean, ocean drilling program, ocean sediments, oceans, planktonic organisms, polar regions, sea floor, tropical jungles

*Evidence that early Antarctic Circumpolar Current development affected global climate*

Thirty-eight million years ago, tropical jungles thrived in what are now the cornfields of the American Midwest and furry marsupials wandered temperate forests in what is now the frozen Antarctic.

The temperature differences of that era, known as the late Eocene, between the equator and Antarctica were half what they are today. (more…)

Ice-Age Reptile Extinctions Provide a Glimpse of Likely Responses to Human-Caused Climate Change

By Guest PostDecember 13, 2010Environment, Natureaegean islands, anthony ives, chances of survival, climate, climate change, ecologist, environmental conditions, extinctions, global warming, greek, greek islands, ice age, johannes foufopoulos, lizards, mediterranean sea, moisture levels, reptile, reptile populations, reptile species, sea levels, snakes, southern hemisphere, turtles

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A wave of reptile extinctions on the Greek islands over the past 15,000 years may offer a preview of the way plants and animals will respond as the world rapidly warms due to human-caused climate change, according to a University of Michigan ecologist and his colleagues.

The Greek island extinctions also highlight the critical importance of preserving habitat corridors that will enable plants and animals to migrate in response to climate change, thereby maximizing their chances of survival. (more…)

Tag Archives: environmental conditions

Genes and obesity: Fast food isn’t only culprit in expanding waistlines — DNA is also to blame

UCLA Life Scientists’ Study of Abalone Yields New Insights into Sexual Reproduction

Radar for Mars Gets Flight Tests at NASA Dryden

Significant Role of Oceans in Onset of Ancient Global Cooling

Ice-Age Reptile Extinctions Provide a Glimpse of Likely Responses to Human-Caused Climate Change