Stories of modern science ... from UPI

GENETIC DEFECT LINKED TO HEART FAILURE

Defects in the complex molecular machinery that governs normal cardiac muscle growth is linked to an inherited form of human cardiomyopathy, a type of heart failure where an enlarged heart loses its ability to pump blood. Researchers at the University of California at San Diego say their study also finds some German cardiomyopathy patients have a specific gene mutation that disrupts the heart muscle's normal stretch activity and has been passed down through several generations of Northern Europeans. Author Dr. Masahiko Hoshijima says the normal heart contracts and relaxes with each cycle, stretching and then returning to an original size. In some cases, cardiomyopathy develops because of genetic defects in a part of the heart's scaffold or structure, called the Z-disc complex, which usually triggers pathways that lead to recovery of heart function. When this complex is defective, the heart loses the ability to adapt to the stress of increased mechanical stretch that occurs during each heartbeat.

STUDY LOOKS AT REDUCED SUN TO HELP GREENHOUSE EFFECT

Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory say compensating for the carbon dioxide or "greenhouse effect" by decreasing the amount of sunlight reaching the planet -- geoengineering -- could create a more vigorous ecosystem and curb global warming. They used models to show the impact on Earth's land biosphere due to various schemes that would reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the planet surface. The researchers say while critics fear turning down the sun could hurt ecosystems that depend on light for photosynthesis, their work suggests a change in solar flux to stabilize climate would have little effect on Earth's biosphere. In fact, a little less sun would reduce evaporation and give plants more water for photosynthesis so they actually grow better. The study strongly cautions against adopting any geoengineering scheme, however, because "there are many reasons why geoengineering is not a preferred option for climate stabilization." Among these are the risks of system failure and unpredictable responses of Earth's climate system to large-scale human intervention.

HELPING HOLLYWOOD WITH POTATO SNOW

Science has come to the aid of Hollywood -- creating fake snow from potatoes. Artificial snow, used when films cannot be made at a wintry location, is expensive and it is difficult to remove the white chips made from polyethylene film after filming is finished. Almost always, some of the non-biodegradable plastic snow remains. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology offer what they call an "elegant and biodegradable artificial snow alternative" made from potatoes or cornstarch. It looks like snow and does not need to be swept up or vacuumed carefully -- a rain shower dissolves the residue. Potato snow also has adhesive properties -- making it possible to build snowmen or form icicles. The snow flakes produced have the right dimensions, density and distribution of size to be real flakes and they also are non-flammable, another plus. Potato flakes were used in filming the pilot for the science fiction series "Ice Planet."

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(EDITORS: For more information about HEART FAILURE, contact Sue Pondrom at (619) 543-6163 or e-mail spondrom@ucsd.edu. For LESS SUN, Anne Stark, (925) 422-9799 or stark8@llnl.gov, and for POTATO SNOW, Frithjof Baumann, 49 7 21 / 46 40-4 10 or bm@ict.fraunhofer.de).