February 1999
1. In world economy, Colombian still reigns supreme
They've been the engine of a global economy, currency of illicit trade and the foundation of financial empires built through worker exploitation. Computers? No, coffee beans. "There's nothing new about the 'new' globalism," says UCI history Professor Steven Topik, who teaches a class on the history of coffee. Three centuries before the microchip, it was coffee beans that fueled international trade. Coffee bean bushes transplanted (or smuggled) from Africa were cultivated by slaves on plantations in the Americas for use in European coffeehouses. Topik says not much has changed: The global economy is more intense, but much of it still runs on coffee. Today, coffee is among the top 10 world commodities. Americans, Europeans and, increasingly, the Japanese, drink some 400 billion cups a year of the stuff brewed from beans grown in Central and South America; and for the coffee plantation worker in Honduras, it would take a day's wages to buy a latte in Seatt! ! le. Contact: Karen Morris, (949) 824-7913, [email protected]
2.Acupuncture goes straight to the heart
For thousands of years, acupuncturists have used specific points all over the body to treat diseases, including those affecting the heart. Only recently, however, have researchers explored acupuncture's effects on such cardiovascular disorders as hypertension and insufficient blood flow to the heart. Dr. John Longhurst, chair of the UCI Department of Medicine, and Dr. Lee Peng of China's Shanghai Medical University, simulated the effects of acupuncture by inserting electrical probes directly into nerves that affect heart function. The probes spurred the nerves into action, reducing blood pressure and increasing blood flow. Now that they've found a physiological mechanism that explains how acupuncture works on the heart, the researchers will look at how hormones and other chemicals in the heart respond to acupuncture treatments. Contact: Andrew Porterfield, (949) 824-3969, [email protected]
3. Death, taxes and--evolution
Some say that the only certainties in life are death and taxes-but Michael Rose might argue with that. Rose, a UCI professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, is known for research into prolonging the life span of fruit flies (about double the usual lifetime, so far). He discounts the idea of a "wall of death"-a point at which we all must die-believing instead in a "ramp of death." His work depends heavily on the tenets of evolution, the subject of his new book, "Darwin's Spectre." A primer on Darwinism for the lay reader, the book often wryly touches on the effects of Charles Darwin's theories on the past, present and future. Rose examines Darwinism's influence on social history, from Nazism to racism, as well as its contributions to understanding diseases and the relationship between science and religion. And, of course, its significance to delaying death. Contact: Alicia Di Rado, (949) 824-6455, [email protected]
4. Worm may be tiny, but it's got a lot of nerve
How do nerve cells grow, and how do they respond to disease, chemicals and environmental changes? Dr. Ji-Ying Sze, a researcher in the UCI College of Medicine's Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, hopes to answer these questions by studying nerve cells in a tiny worm called C. elegans. The worm made headlines recently when it became the only creature whose entire genetic makeup is known to scientists. "Since we know every gene in the worm, it might be possible to identify which ones turn on and off during nerve cell growth, and we can look for the effects diseases have on this process," Sze said. Since C. elegans' nerves appear to be similar to humans, understanding its nervous system could help scientists develop a blueprint for how nerve cells grow and function in people, perhaps in turn leading to new treatments for diseases affecting the nervous system.
Contact: Andrew Porterfield, (949) 824-3969, [email protected]
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