Category: Science

Elephants and the Ethics of Extinction

Domestic cats in America kill millions, maybe even hundreds of millions of song birds each year.

It is estimated that one third of all song bird species are declining in the United States. If this pattern continues, people will eventually be forced to take sides on which animals existence is more important.

This is just one example Robert Wiese, Chief Life Sciences Officer at the San Diego Zoo, gives to illustrate the way humans interfere with the ebb and flow of animal populations. He discusses what happens when people introduce foreign species to an unfamiliar ecosystem with no natural predators and why it’s important to maintain checks and balances in populations.

If humans cause the decline in a species’ population, are they responsible to restore it? With success stories like the captive breeding program of the California Condor, we know that it is possible to save species from extinction. But at what cost?

Check out “Elephants or People? Ethical Dilemmas in Recovering Endangered Species,” part of “The Silent Spring Series-Exploring Ethics.”

Check out more videos about the environment and conservation.

Fighting Food Allergies in Children

Every three minutes some one goes to the emergency room because of an allergy-related event.

When you have an allergic reaction to something you eat, your body recognizes a protein in the food and reacts against it. There are many different responses that can happen-rashes, hives, diarrhea-but, the most dangerous occurrence is when there is potential for anaphylaxis, which can cause death.

In this episode of Health Matters, Dr. David Granet talks with UC San Diego’s Dr. Stephanie Leonard who is the director of the Food Allergy Center at Rady Children’s Hospital here in San Diego.

More than 3 million people under the age of 18 have been diagnosed with food allergies, but Dr. Leonard says that number is on the rise. In a ten year period, she says, there has been an 18% increase in the diagnosis of food allergies in children.

Watch “Children’s Food Allergies- Health Matters” to hear the various theories behind why that number is increasing.

For more on food allergies, check out Food Allergies: Past, Present and Future.

Climate Justice: A Humanitarian Approach to Environmental Equality

We have all heard about climate change, but did you know that there is a fight for justice within this claim?

Climate justice is more than just a demand for the stop of wrongful damage to the environment. It goes deeper into the tangible effects of climate change and the way they are unequally effecting the world’s population.

According to the Center on Global Justice at UC San Diego, “Climate Justice links human rights and development to achieve a human-centered approach, safeguarding the rights of the most vulnerable and sharing the burdens and benefits of climate change and its resolution equitably and fairly. Climate justice is informed by science, responds to science, and acknowledges the need for equitable stewardship of the world’s resources.”

Mary Robinson was the first woman president of Ireland and has served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She has been a long standing icon for social justice and has recently devoted her attention to campaigning for climate justice.

In “Pursuing Climate Justice with Mary Robinson and V. Ramanathan,” presented by UC San Diego’s Center on Global Justice, hear Robinson discuss climate justice with V. Ramanathan, distinguished professor of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

If you like this video, check out V. Ramanathan’s series “Lifting the Blanket:The Pursuit of a Climate Change Solutions.”

Say that again? Hope for Age-Related Hearing Loss

One in ten Americans is affected by hearing loss significant enough to make them seek treatment.

Dr. Allen Ryan, professor of surgery and professor of neurosciences at UC San Diego’s School of Medicine, presents “New Methods for the Treatment of Hearing and Balance Disorders,” in which he reveals his research for potential treatments of hearing loss.

Watch as Ryan explains the inner workings of the ear, what exactly goes wrong to cause hearing loss, and his work with mice that might lead to a cure.

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If you liked this video on aging, Click here for more videos from the Stein Institute for Research on Aging.

Climate Change Hasn't Changed

In “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore presents his case on climate change based on the “Keeling Curve,” measurements of the increasing levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere.

These first records of rising CO2 levels were taken in the 1950’s by Charles David Keeling of UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Even then scientists were aware of the green house effect created by CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere.  Keeling tracked the increasing levels of CO2 for decades, but it didn’t take long for him to link the rising CO2 levels with the burning of fossil fuels. Although it was known that the burning of fossil fuels created CO2, it was widely believed that the ocean absorbed all of that excess carbon dioxide. Keeling was the first person to prove that CO2 was accumulating in the atmosphere, as it still is today.

In “The Scientific Case for Urgent Action to Limit Climate Change,” Distinguished Professor Emeritus Richard Somerville of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography presents a case based on some of the initial measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere taken by Keeling.

In this video, Somerville further explains this research and his ideas for how to reduce the emissions causing climate change. If you want more information on climate change and ocean science, check out the “Perspectives on Ocean Science” series.