Channel 42
Science is the answer to everything.

An analysis of data from two national health studies shows that more US adults have hypertension than ever before. The percent of those aware of, being treated for and having the disorder under control has increased and as a result more people are living with rather than dying from hypertension. Researchers say the nation’s obesity epidemic is a major factor for the increase in hypertension prevalence.

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More than 40 million years ago, primates preferred Texas to northern climates that were significantly cooling, according to new fossil evidence discovered by Chris Kirk, physical anthropologist at The University of Texas at Austin.

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The director of the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability, a sustainable energy research center at Washington University in St. Louis, is challenging the next president of the United States to set goals in energy research and implementation.

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Scientists at the University of Idaho have sequenced the genome of the chytrid fungus known as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Bd has been a major player in declining frog populations around the world. As reported in PNAS on Oct. 13, scientists compared gene activation in two stages of Bd’s life cycle. Out of several genes identified, one gene family in particular may hold the key to how the fungus kills frogs.

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Researchers have accurately identified tools that model the atomic and void structures of a network-forming elemental material. These tools may revolutionize the process of creating new solar panels, flat-panel displays, optical storage media and myriad other technological devices.

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An herbicide that is effective at killing broadleaf weeds in corn, but also annihilated most of the grapes in Illinois and other Midwestern states, may finally have a worthy contender. Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a new grape called Improved Chancellor which is resistant to the popular herbicide 2, 4-D.

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UCSF researchers investigating the appropriate use of procedures to open narrowed coronary arteries — such as angioplasty and stenting — found that less than half of Medicare patients had documented noninvasive stress testing prior to elective percutaneous coronary intervention, or PCI, the clinical name for such procedures.

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New evidence discovered by researchers at the University of Texas School of Public Health Brownsville Regional Campus shows that patients with type 2 diabetes may be at increased risk of contracting tuberculosis because of a compromised immune system, resulting in life-threatening lung infections that are more difficult to treat.

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Resveratrol, the antioxidant compound found in red wine, has been found in dark chocolate and cocoa powder. Of known sources, dark chocolate and cocoa are second only to red wine in resveratrol concentration. Resveratrol gained notoriety as the potential compound responsible for the “French Paradox” — the French eat a high fat diet like Americans yet have much lower rates of cardiovascular disease. Studies in animals link resveratrol to numerous health benefits, including insulin sensitivity, neuroprotective effects and even increased in longevity.

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A Brown ecologist has found that coastal “dead zones” may not be so dead after all. In a paper published this month in the journal Ecology, Andrew Altieri has found that the commercially valuable quahog clam thrives in hypoxic waters in Narragansett Bay — partly because the clam’s predators flee the low-oxygen areas.

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