LINKSExercise induced asthmaBeetles tricking bees Nature - May 4, 2000, Vol.405 High fibre and colon cancer
Soot in the atmosphere Science - May 12, 2000, Vol.288 Asthma linked to spit Press release on the discovery |
Kathryn O'Hara was at this week's international convention of the American Thoracic Society in Toronto. She spoke with Dr. Louis-Philippe Boulet, a thoracic specialist at Laval University and Dr. Don Mackenzie, professor of sports medicine at UBC. Then she came to tell us more about athletes and asthma.
Kathryn O'Hara is a freelance science journalist living in Toronto.
One type of beetle has figured out a way to trick a male bee into thinking its larvae are actually a female bee. Dr. John Hafernik discovered this dastardly deception and came to share the tale with us at Quirks. Dr. Hafernik is the chair of the biology department at San Francisco State University.
Now, two major studies have turned that wisdom on its ear - and created confusion and controversy.
Dr. Carol Greenwood, our occasional columnist on dietary matters came to help us make some sense of the matter. Dr. Greenwood is a professor of nutrition at the University of Toronto and at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care.
That was the theory anyway.
It turns out it's more complicated than that. Researchers in the U.S. think their latest study of how soot works in the atmosphere might be bad news for climate change. Dr. Andy Ackerman of NASA's Ames Research Centre in Mountain View, California, led the study.
Researchers in Edmonton found a common thread in spit - or at least a hormone produced in the salivary gland. Dr. Dean Befus is a professor of medicine at the University of Alberta, and director of the Alberta Asthma Centre in Edmonton. He came in to tell us a bit about the salivary link to asthma.
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