NEW 'WHEY' TO MUSCLE STRENGTH
The best way to bigger muscles might be whey, say researchers at the Center for Rehabilitation, Exercise and Sport Science in Victoria, Australia. Earlier research by the team found whey, a naturally occurring dairy protein found in bovine milk, increased levels of muscle force and mitochondrial energy production in rats as well producing significantly better improvements in strength and body composition in bodybuilders during resistance training. Their latest findings show a 100 percent whey isolate formulation and creatine produced greater muscle fiber growth increases that transferred into significant increases in functional strength. Dietary strategies that enhance the results of resistance training have important implications to athletes, an aging population and others that suffer from debilitating conditions that cause muscle wasting.
SHAKE, NOT QUAKE IMPORTANT
University of California Los Angeles researchers say it's not the size of the earthquake that is a predictor of where damage will occur but rather the shaking factor. They write in the journal Science that data from the best-measured quake to date shows the more the ground moves, the less shaking you get. The Chi-Chi earthquake that hit Taiwan in 1999 was 7.6 on the Richter scale -- the ground moved at the highest speeds ever recorded. Yet while the greatest ground displacement along the fault happened in the north, the shaking there was much less severe than in the south. The researchers say high-frequency shaking, which does the most damage, occurs when rough spots on the adjoining fault surfaces rub against each other. The data suggests, judging by the slip distances and speeds seen during Chi-Chi, underground plates at the quake site could have been pushed apart enough to significantly reduce friction, creating a lubricating effect and less shaking that should that should come into play for all quakes greater than 7 on the Richter scale.
WORM SEX SHOW EFFECTS OF CHERNOBYL
The nuclear accident 17 years ago at Chernobyl has changed the sexual habits of worms in the area of the reactor. Ukrainian scientists write in the journal Science that worms contaminated by radioactivity have started having sex with each other instead of on their own, as a way to increase their chances of survival. Sexual reproduction allows natural selection to promote genes that offer better protection from radiation damage. The researchers at the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas in Sevastopol compared the worms around the reactor to worms miles away, where there was no radioactive contamination. Two species of Chernobyl worms had switched from asexual to sexual reproduction.
CREATING VIRTUAL ANATOMICAL TOOLS
Kendall College of Art and Design, University of Michigan, National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health are partnering for the Visible Human Project, a first step toward medical education and research using virtual anatomical tools. One goal is to create complete digital, anatomically detailed, 3-D representations of the normal male and female human bodies. Scientists created the original images by freezing male and female cadavers and then cutting a series of 3-millimeter cross-sections and digitally photographing them in sequence. The Kendall students are interpreting and refining the visually obscure images using a variety of software programs to be able to see details and clearly define anatomical structures, such as organs, nerve and skeletal systems. They also restore color and texture that has been changed as a result of freezing.
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(EDITORS: For more information about WHEY, contact Donna Krupa at (703) 527-7357 or e-mail [email protected]. For EARTHQUAKE and WORMS, Claire Bowles, 44 207 331 2751 or [email protected], and for VIRTUAL ANATOMICAL, Ronald A. Sekulski or Shirley Hubers at (616) 458-9500.)
