EPA approves building road with radioactive radium

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In this newsletter

• High IQ linked to heavy alcohol drinking

• EPA approves building road with radioactive radium

• Bacteria can sense the change in seasons

• How to talk to your dog. Science has the answer

High IQ linked to heavy alcohol drinking

A study involving over 8,000 high schoolers from Wisconsin has shown a link between higher IQ and drinking habits in later life. The researchers found that high schoolers with higher IQ level records were more likely to engage in moderate to heavy drinking. 

Alcohol drinking has been linked to higher risks of blood pressure, cancer, stroke, and even cognitive decline. However, researchers at the University of Texas South Western were keen to know if cognitive ability had a role in alcohol consumption. 

The researchers tapped into the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, a dataset that contains the IQ and lifestyle information of 10,000 high schoolers born around 1939. Over 8,000 participants responded to questions about drinking habits between 1992 and 2004 when they were between 53 and 69 years old. 

Moderate drinking was classified as 1-59 drinks a month for men and 1-29 drinks for women. Anything above that was used to identify heavy drinkers. The researchers found that for every one-point increase in IQ, there was a 1.6 percent increase in the likelihood that the individual engaged in moderate to heavy drinking. 

Higher income levels also had a role to play since higher IQ levels also led to more well-paying jobs but also increased stress levels and opportunities for social drinking with peers. 

The research findings were published in Alcohol and Alcoholism.   

EPA approves building road with radioactive radium

The US EPA has given preliminary approval to build a road with phosphogypsum, a material that contains radioactive radium in it. The road is being built in Florida as part of a pilot project at the site of a fertilizer company that makes the phosphogypsum. 

Phosphogypsum contains radium that decays into radon gas. Both radium and radon are radioactive and well-known to cause cancer. The material is a waste product from the fertilizer production process and is currently stored in stacks at the site. 

EPA’s current approval states that the risk of using the material to build the road is no different from storing it in stacks at the site. But in 1992, the agency highlighted the risks of its use in road construction to workers and anyone who builds a home later near the road. 

The EPA added that the approval is only for the pilot project and does not mean that it will be used in another project without a full review process. But in 2020, under the Trump administration, the EPA had approved the use of phosphogypsum in road construction, which was then overturned in 2021, when Biden came into power. 

The approval is open for comments until November 8th.

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Bacteria can sense the change in seasons

Cyanobacteria - the single-celled blue-green bacteria that can make their own food using sunlight, have another remarkable ability - to sense that a change in season is due and make changes to their cell membrane and improve their chances of survival. 

Larger animals like humans use visual cues such as falling leaves, bird migration, or simply sunrise and sunset times to gauge that seasons are about to change. But for cyanobacteria, this should hardly matter because the organism's lifetime is only five hours. 

Since bacteria divide into daughter cells, which then divide further to make larger colonies, anticipating seasonal change is important for the survival of the progeny. It is well known that the organism has an internal clock to ensure that its processes sync with day and night. 

But now researchers at Vanderbilt University have found that the clock ticks to measure seasons as well. The story of how the research was taken up is intriguing, and it can be read in this brilliant piece in Quanta Magazine. 

To summarize what organisms do to survive the frigid cold is desaturate their cell membranes—remove lipid molecules from them—so that molecules can be transported across even at low temperatures without the cell membrane clogging up in the cold. 

The research findings were published in Science. 

How to talk to your dog. Science has the answer

If you have been trying to talk to your dog and get him to follow your instructions, the first thing you need to check is if you are giving them correctly. Human and dog brains are built differently and do work at the same pace. This is where science can help you

Researchers at the University of Geneva studied audio from human and dog interactions in English, French, Italian, Japanese, and Vietnamese. After studying the vocalizations of humans and dogs, the team identified that humans make four vocalizations per second when interacting with other humans while dogs make only two. When speaking to dogs, humans make a concession and make three vocalizations per second. 

The speed of vocalizations is important because it also translates to brain activity levels. The research team observed brain activities in humans and dogs next and even altered the audio by speeding it up and slowing it down at times. They found that dogs best comprehended the commands when they were given at two vocalizations per second. 

The researchers recommend that humans slow down their speech when talking to dogs while also ensuring consistency of words and tone. 

The research was published in PLOS Biology. 

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Thanks for reading.
Until next time,
Ameya