Transcript

2.27.25 · Science Show KY

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to Radioized Diary of Science and Nature. Your reader's
0:05
Kelly Taylor. We'll have some articles related to the topics
0:08
of science and nature. But first a reminder that RADIOI
0:12
is a reading service intended for people who are blind
0:17
or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
0:20
printed material. First up from a huff Post. If you're
0:27
wondering how microplastics even get in your food, read this
0:33
by Taylor Tobin, February twenty fifth. Food contaminants are always
0:38
a hot topic, as we consumers have a natural desire
0:42
to know exactly what we're putting in our bodies when
0:45
we purchase, prepare, and eat our groceries. Social media broadens
0:51
the audience for these conversations and debates, and over the
0:53
course the past year, we saw one food safety subject
0:57
rise to the top of the algorithm, microplastics. TikTok couldn't
1:03
stop talking about microplastics and why they should be avoided.
1:07
But what exactly are microplastics, how do they get into
1:12
our food, and what potential health consequences can arise. As
1:15
a result, we turned to a group of food scientists, physicians,
1:21
and food safety experts to get some answers and they
1:24
provided a full tutorial on these much discussed particles. First,
1:30
what are microplastics? Microplastics are tiny plastic particles less than
1:37
five millimeters in size, often invisible to the naked eye,
1:41
explained doctor John Lapuma, founder of Chef MD and chef Clinic.
1:49
To give some context for that size, Jessica Gavin, a
1:52
certified food scientist located in Orange County, California, told us
1:57
that microplastics are generally about as small as a pencil eraser.
2:03
Gavin went on to say that microplastics are solid particles
2:08
made from synthetic polymers that do not dissolve or degrade naturally,
2:13
persisting in the environment for a long time. They can
2:17
either be manufactured to be small, such as the resin
2:22
pellets found in various consumer products, or can result from
2:26
the breakdown of larger plastic items. An even smaller and
2:31
sneakier version of these particles comes in the form of nanoplastics,
2:36
which are less than one micron wide, much thinner than
2:40
human air and too tiny to be seen with the
2:42
naked eye. These plastics vary in size, shape, and color,
2:47
and include different synthetic materials and chemical additives. So where
2:51
do microplastics come from and how do they weasel their
2:55
way into our food and water. Lapuma said that microplastics
3:00
enter our food through various routes, including contamination of water sources, soil,
3:07
and air. Gavin said that microplastics primarily enter our food
3:12
through environmental contamination, as plastics break down in places like
3:16
landfills and leach into the soil and water where food
3:20
is grown or caught. These particles can be found in
3:24
various foods, including seafood, fish, crustaceans, salt, sugar, honey, bottled water,
3:31
and drinking water. When environmental pollution gets into the food
3:36
supply for animals, microplastics can be transferred to the humans
3:40
who ultimately eat those animals. Seafood can contain microplastics due
3:45
to plastic that ends up in the ocean and gets
3:48
ingested by sea life, often magnifying as larger sea animals
3:53
consume smaller organisms. Some animals that humans consume, such as
3:58
chickens and cows, may consume feed containing microplastics. Other animals
4:04
may ingest microplastics by ingesting smaller prey, said Matt Allen,
4:09
Senior director of Food Advisory at the National Science Foundation.
4:15
Allen also points out that plastic food packaging may contribute
4:19
to microplastics entering the body. Microplastics may also be present
4:24
in ingredients used in food production and in food packaging,
4:29
such as plastic wrappers or containers that can transfer microplastics
4:34
into the food as they degrade or come into contact
4:37
with food, Alan said. However, according to Gavin, there's a
4:41
slight caveat to that concern. Quote. Plastic is commonly used
4:46
for packaging meat, fish, dairy, and beverages, and there's a
4:49
potential for microplastics to be transferred to the food inside. However,
4:54
the FDA states that there is insufficient evidence to confirm
4:59
whether micropl plastics migrate from packaging into food and beverage
5:04
in quote, what are the possible health consequences of consuming microplastics?
5:11
When it comes to the question of whether microplastics can
5:14
negatively affect our health after consumption, the simplest answer is
5:20
that we just don't know. Quote. Consuming microplastics may cause
5:25
health issues, although the full effects on humans are not
5:28
completely understood. We still need more detailed studies and establish
5:34
safety guidelines to fully assess their impact, Gavin told us.
5:41
From Lapuma's perspective, the possible consequences involve the fact that
5:46
microplastics are quote active disruptors of our intocrine system, silent
5:53
inflammation triggers, and potential long term organ destroyers. They act
6:00
as trojan horses, carrying toxins and pathogens into our system.
6:05
In quote, the risks of microplastics may not be fully
6:09
understood or documented, but Allan suspects that nanoplastics, the even
6:14
smaller pieces of plastic, could be more harmful. Even though
6:19
your body can't absorb the larger microplastic particles, they may
6:23
carry chemicals that can be harmful to be exposed to ors.
6:27
Yet particles in the nanosize range can be absorbed by
6:31
the body. Quote. Current evidence suggests that these particles may
6:38
be distributed throughout the body and have been found in
6:41
the brain, placenta, veins, and arteries, and other organs. Alan
6:46
said quote The presence of these particles may cause inflammation
6:51
and stress to the body, leading to effects on the gut,
6:54
immune system, nervous system reproduction, and cardiovascular system. Where all
7:00
the health effects associated with exposure to nanosized plastic particles
7:05
are not currently clear, but current evidence suggests significant concern
7:11
In quote, how can we reduce the amount of microplastics
7:15
that we ingest. While avoiding microplastics altogether may not be
7:20
a realistic goal in this day and age, our experts
7:23
insist that certain steps can be taken to limit the
7:26
amount that you consume and to cut back on microplastics
7:30
negative impact on the environment. Quote embrace whole unprocessed foods
7:35
with a passion. Ultra processed packaged items are not just
7:39
nutritionally inferior their potential microplastic delivery systems. Lapuma said, if
7:46
you need to get fruits and vegetables at the grocery
7:48
store and can't swing by a CSA or farmer's market, quote,
7:53
beware of plastic wrapped produce. Plastic packaging often contains harmful chemicals.
7:58
Bring cloth or mesh reuse produce bags to the store
8:02
to avoid unnecessary plastic contamination. Recommended doctor Amy Myers, functional
8:08
medicine physician, author, and podcast host. Getting rid of plastic
8:13
storage containers and kitchen tools can also help reduce the
8:17
presence of microplastics in your body. Quote. Switch to reusable bags, bottles,
8:22
and containers instead of plastic ones. Use wood or silicone
8:26
cutting boards to prevent microplastics from releasing while chopping store
8:31
food in glass or steel containers, who avoid chemical leeching
8:35
from plastics, especially when dealing with hot foods for drinking,
8:39
choose glass or steel bottles over plastic, Gavin said. Allen
8:45
said that the growing awareness of microplastics could lead to
8:48
legislation and regulations that make these tiny, problematic specs less
8:53
of a concern in the future. Quote. In the coming years,
8:57
new standards and government regulations are a to microplastics will
9:02
likely be developed and introduced that will force manufacturers, packagers,
9:06
and supply chains to consider the fate and risk of
9:10
such contaminants from the factory to the dump. In the meantime,
9:15
follow Allen's advice and abide by the manufacturer's directions when
9:20
using plastic food equipment such as cutting boards, utensils, and
9:25
nonstick pans. Check the product label for specific end uses,
9:29
temperature or food restrictions, and whether it has been reviewed
9:33
and or tested by an independent third party. Allen advies
9:37
not using items like takeout containers or plastic utensils with
9:42
very hot foods or in a microwave or dishwasher, since
9:46
quote the plastic may break down and migrate into food.
9:49
In quote and now we'll turn to BBC Wildlife. The
9:57
headline for this article is thirty animals starting with w
10:03
including the largest living shark and one of nature's fiercest hunters.
10:08
This is February twenty fifth. The first animal on the
10:14
list is wombat. Wombat wombats are mostly nocturnal marsupial endemic
10:24
to Australia. They aren't exactly small, being up to a
10:27
mere meter long and weighing up to forty kilograms. Wombats
10:33
are in fact the planet's largest burrowing herbivores. They dig
10:38
using their front claws and push soiled backwards with their
10:42
hind feet and rump. They create subterranean systems up to
10:46
thirty meters long and several meters deep, and feature various entrances.
10:53
The wasp spider a pretty spider named for its wasp
10:58
like coloration and stripe. The wasp spider is a relatively
11:03
recent arrival in the United Kingdom and is one of
11:06
the biggest and gradually spreading northwards. Females are larger than males,
11:11
allowing a male to sneak into the female's web and
11:15
mate with her. The whale shark whale shark is both
11:20
the largest living shark and the largest living fish on Earth,
11:24
growing up to twenty meters in a link. As a
11:27
filter feeder, it feeds on tiny plankton instead of hunting
11:31
for fish. Its back is covered in a unique pattern
11:35
of spots, allowing researchers to identify different individuals. The white
11:42
tailed eagle. The white tailed eagle, also known as a
11:47
sea eagle, became extinct in the British Isles in nineteen eighteen,
11:51
but was successfully reintroduced between nineteen seventy five and eighty five.
11:56
Further reintroductions then took place in Scotland and then in
12:00
England on the Isle of Wight. There are also plans
12:04
to under way to reintroduce them to South Wales. Wallace's
12:10
Stink's moth. The Wallace's Stink's moth is unusual in that
12:14
its existence was predicted thirty years before it was discovered,
12:19
first by Charles Darwin and then by Alfred Russell Wallace.
12:23
Both were hypothesizing that a particular species of orchid would
12:28
be pollinated pollinated by a moth with a long probosis,
12:33
which turned out to be the now named Wallace's Stink's moth.
12:39
The wren w R. E n wrens are tiny, dumpy
12:44
brown birds with long legs, of fine bill, short round
12:48
wings and a short narrow tail. Wrens feed on tiny invertebrates,
12:53
including spiders, flies, beetles and ants, which they grab with
12:58
that long pointed bill. Because these creatures are available all
13:02
year round, unlike, for example, some flying insects, wrens have
13:06
little or no need to migrate. They're a common garden
13:10
bird and you can learn to identify them on the
13:13
BBC Country File magazine's Common Bird guide. The wart biter
13:22
the wart bier is a large green species of cricket
13:26
which is found in just six sites in the United Kingdom,
13:30
all in southern England. Despite having wings, the species rarely
13:34
flies as it is very heavy. It is named as
13:39
people used to use them for removing warts. The wolverine.
13:45
The wolverine isn't just a fictional superhero from the Marvel
13:48
comics and films, but also a real life animal. It
13:52
is the largest terrestrial species in the mustelid family, Although
13:58
it can prey on animals to deces size, making it
14:02
one of nature's most fearsome hunters. It is typically a
14:06
scavenger that feeds on carrion. The weasel. Weasels are small, brown, fast,
14:14
and ferocious mustelids with sinuous bodies and short legs. They're
14:19
up to twenty centimeters long and livid hedgerows, woodland and
14:23
rough grassy banks. The warhog. The warhogs are two species
14:31
of wild pigs belonging to the Facochorius genus, the common warthog,
14:39
which is widespread in sub Saharan Africa, and the desert warhog,
14:43
limited to northern Kenya and Somalia. Both species mainly feed
14:47
on plants, but will also eat insects, eggs, and carrion.
14:54
The white rhino found in parts of Africa. The white
14:57
rhino has two subspecies, Southern and Northern. Whilst the former
15:03
is doing well, the northern white rhino is on the
15:06
brink of extinction, with only two living individuals, two related females,
15:12
which are kept under armed protection in Kenya. The Western
15:17
gorilla one of two species of gorilla. The Western gorilla
15:22
is found in western Africa and split into two subspecies,
15:27
the Western Lowland gorilla and the cross River gorilla. Both
15:32
species and the species as a whole are listed as
15:35
critically endangered by the IUCN Red List. The water vole
15:45
in the UK. The European water vole is the largest
15:49
bold species and can sometimes be mistaken for a brown rat.
15:53
The introduction of the non native American mink, alongside habitat
15:58
loss and degradation, has severely impacted the population, and dedicated
16:03
conservation projects have been undertaken to help the species. Next
16:13
up from popular mechanics, Earth's oceans were green a billion
16:17
years ago, they could soon be green again. This is
16:21
from February nineteenth. A new study from scientists at Nagoya
16:26
University in Japan analyzes how the Earth likely sported a
16:30
green hue in its early days due to evolutionary pressures
16:34
and the light spectrum available to photosynthesizing cyanobacteria. On early Earth,
16:40
the world's oceans were likely much greener than they are today.
16:44
Although the Earth's been decidedly blue for six hundred million years,
16:48
rising populations of phytoplankton caused by rising temperatures are once
16:53
again causing the world's oceans to turn green. On September fifth, seven,
16:58
nineteen seventy seven, while venturing out of the Solar System,
17:03
NASA's Voyager one spacecraft swung its gaze one last time
17:08
to its home planet and snapped a photo now known
17:12
as the pale blue Dot, a famous moniker coined by
17:15
the scientist Carl Sagan. The image shows the Earth suspended
17:19
in a sunbeam wholly insignificant against the black void of
17:23
never ending space. However, for a majority of its history,
17:28
the Earth wouldn't have looked blue at all. In fact,
17:31
for billions of years, any visiting extraterrestrial would have more
17:34
likely suggested the name pale green dot. From three billion
17:39
years ago to roughly six hundred million years ago, right
17:42
at the dawn of complex life on the planet, the
17:45
Earth's oceans would have been significantly more green than they
17:48
are today. Scientists from Nagoya University in Japan investigated why
17:53
ancient Earth would have donned such a greenish hue and
17:57
found that cyanobacteria were the driving factor. The results of
18:01
the study were published in the journal Nature, Ecology and Evolution.
18:06
The pale blue dot description is a consequence of the
18:09
Raleigh scattering of sunlight in the atmosphere, in conjunction with
18:13
the reflection and scattering across the expanse of the ocean. Nevertheless,
18:18
one might inquire, does only a blue hue of a
18:22
planet serve as an indicator of its potential to nurture life.
18:28
A collection of various factors, including the makeup of the
18:31
world's oceans during its early days, determined the planet's overall hue.
18:36
In Earth's first few billion years, the planet's oceans were
18:39
filled with iron hydroxide, which is an inorganic compound that
18:45
absorbs blue light. Meanwhile, water present in these ancient oceans
18:51
would have absorbed red light, creating a green light window,
18:55
says Taro Matsurro, the study's lead author. Cyanobacteria, much like plants,
19:02
used chlorophyll to photosynthesize sunlight, which results in organism absorbing
19:08
red and blue light and reflecting green. However, these organisms
19:13
also contain pigments called phycobilands that absorb red and green light.
19:20
Matt Suro and his team wanted to understand why and
19:24
what it tells us about the time in which these
19:26
cyanobacteria evolved. The scientists created models to determine what spectrum
19:31
of light would have been available to ancient photosynthesizing life,
19:35
and found that the spectrum matched the light absorbed by
19:38
phycobilin pigments. When replicating the conditions are Ca and Earth
19:45
cyanobacteria with these phycobilin pigments grew more rapidly, suggesting that
19:50
evolution would have favored their inclusion. Quote. If we assume
19:56
an atmosphere similar to today's, the green hue reflected by
20:00
the ocean would have mixed with the blue from Raleigh scattering,
20:04
likely creating a more bluish green color rather than the
20:07
blue we see today, Atsuo told The New Scientist magazine.
20:12
He also says that the ocean was likely larger than
20:15
it is today, so its effect on the planet's hue
20:18
would have been more profound now the USA today, An
20:26
invasive Australian crustacean was found in these US waters. Is
20:31
it harmful? This is from February twenty fifth. A new
20:36
critter is creeping into the United States waters. The invasive
20:41
Australian red claw crayfish has been spotted in southern Texas,
20:46
roughly eight thousand miles from its home. The freshwater crustacean
20:51
is indigenous to the rivers of northern Australia and parts
20:54
of Papua New Guinea. Sightings of the species, these in
21:00
the Rio Grande Valley have sparked fear among some Texas
21:04
environmental officials who say the crayfish could threaten local wildlife
21:08
and wetland ecosystems. Here's what you need to know. How
21:13
did the Australian crayfish arrive in Texas? The first Australian
21:18
red crawl clayfish was reported. Crayfish I'm Sorry was reported
21:23
in the US in twenty thirteen by a user on
21:26
the animal identification website iye Naturalists. According to Texas Parks
21:31
and Wildlife, the sighting was of a female crayfish walking
21:34
with her young at Lake Balboa in Los Angeles. Nearly
21:40
a decade later, a second crayfish was spotted at an
21:44
apartment complex pond in Texas in twenty twenty two. That
21:48
sighting prompted an investigation. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department aquatic
21:53
biologist Arquise Grub ultimately found three other crayfish in the
21:59
same area. Now, Grub and other researchers are investigating just
22:03
how far the crayfish have spread throughout the Rio Grande Valley,
22:07
but they don't have an answer yet. Each female can
22:11
lay up to five thousand eggs a year, so they
22:13
could be breeding rapidly, but local authorities say they haven't
22:17
seen evidence of that. Grub told USA Today his team
22:22
has laid traps with hot dogs in the freshwater ways
22:27
around Brownsville, Texas, to try and catch the crayfish and
22:31
figure out where they have traveled. The project is set
22:33
to conclude next year, but group said researchers have found
22:36
the crayfish have not spread out much in southern Texas.
22:40
He and other officials haven't confirmed how the species got
22:43
to the US, but they believe it could be a
22:45
result of an act called aquarium dumping. Monica mcgarrity, Texas
22:51
Parks and Wildlife's senior scientists for Aquatic and Invasive Species
22:56
explain in a statement after the twenty twenty two discoveries
23:00
that release of aquarium life is a key means by
23:04
which invasive species such as these crayfish are introduced. Well meaning,
23:10
uninformed aquarium owners sometimes release their pets thinking they're doing
23:14
the best thing for them, but if they do survive,
23:17
they can become invasive and harm the native aquatic species
23:22
and ecosystem. The Australian red crayfish isn't generally harmful to humans.
23:29
It's neither poisonous nor venomous, though it does have pincers
23:33
to defend itself if threatened. Red claw crayfish don't straight
23:37
don't stay out in the open. Primarily bottom dwellers, the
23:41
species prefers to hide in crevices or under rocks and
23:45
debris in the water. Humans looking for them would need
23:48
to search closely to come into contact, but scientists have
23:53
warned that the species could be harmful to the ecosystem
23:57
it invades. The crayfish can grow up to two pounds
24:01
in less than a year. Their size and rapid reproduction
24:04
rate allow them to outcompete native species, possibly overtaking food
24:09
sources and disrupting local ecosystems. And now we have an
24:16
article from Popular Mechanics The dogs of Chernobyl are going
24:20
through strange genetic changes. Scientists are still trying to figure
24:24
out why. From February nineteen on April twenty sixth, nineteen
24:30
eighty six, the world's worst nuclear disaster unfolded at the
24:34
Chernobyl Nuclear power plant in what is now northern Ukraine.
24:39
After one of the plant's reactors exploded during a test.
24:42
It spewed uncontrolled high energy radiation, eventually contaminating about fifty
24:47
eight thousand square miles across Belarus, Russia and Ukraine soon after.
24:53
To reduce the spread of radioactive elements from the accident,
24:57
cleanup workers called liquidators or ta asked with covering thousands
25:01
of contaminated animals surrounding the plant. These included pet dogs
25:06
left behind during evacuation. Today, in Chernobyl, the remaining levels
25:12
of radiation vary across the landscape, between amounts lower than
25:16
natural background radiation, which is present in the environment around us,
25:21
to levels thousands of times higher. Scientists are still debating
25:25
how long term radiation exposure may or may not be
25:29
impacting the genomes of surviving creatures and their offspring in
25:34
the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the sealed off Yosemite National Park
25:39
sized area surrounding the plant. After all, it's tricky to
25:43
nail down the relationship between radiation exposure and changes in
25:47
different organisms. Unlike the tidy conditions in a lab, real
25:51
life locales like the nineteen mile radius exclusion zone come
25:56
with all kinds of compounding factors. It's actually a cocktail
26:00
of toxic, hazardous, carcinogenic chemicals, any of which or combination thereof,
26:07
could lead to the kinds of changes that we're seeing,
26:10
says Matthew Breen, a geneticist at North Carolina State, the
26:15
free breeding dogs that roam the exclusion zone, which may
26:18
have descended from abandoned pets, could offer some clues about
26:22
radiation exposure in genetic changes. In a twenty twenty three study,
26:27
scientists showed that dogs living in the exclusion zone are
26:30
genetically distinct from nearby communities of dogs. But according to
26:35
new research published in December twenty four which bring collaborated on,
26:40
those differences weren't likely just a result of radiation. So
26:45
if the dogs of Chernobyl aren't experiencing rapid evolution due
26:48
to the direct effects of radiation, what is causing it?
26:53
It's kind of genetic detective work in disaster zones didn't
26:56
focus on large mammals like dogs until fairly recently. Now,
27:01
researchers like Breen are wielding high tech, increasingly sensitive screening
27:06
methods to find answers that weren't previously possible. For now,
27:13
the cause of the genetic differences between the dog populations
27:17
remains unclear. It could be a fairly straightforward explanation, Dylan says,
27:22
in small, isolated populations like the dogs in the exclusion zone,
27:26
the frequency of certain versions of genes can randomly fluctuate,
27:31
a phenomenon called genetic drift. This can cause some traits
27:35
to vanish from a population or become extremely common, potentially
27:39
explaining these dog's unique genetic makeup. There's also a more
27:43
exciting possibility that natural selection favored the dogs that could
27:47
protect themselves from the myriad toxins swirling in the area.
27:52
Beyond radiation, the wildlife in the exclusion zone have also
27:55
been exposed to thousands of tons of lead dumped into
27:59
the destroyed reactor following the incident, along with heaps of
28:03
pesticides sprayed in the area among other hazards. Well, that's
28:08
offered today's Diary of Science and Nature. Your reader was
28:11
Kelly Taylor. Now stay tuned for the Health Corner on
28:15
RADIOI