Science News Review

Human ETs, Tropical Polar Regions, and Self-Eating Cells as a Treatment for Cancer

Dec 31 at 5:05pm by Aileen

Earth scientists have managed to discover a lot of not-earth planets in the last couple of decades, though none of them look to be very much like Earth. Now Eric Ford, a University of Florida astronomer, has published a paper in the Astrophysical Journal that suggests To Curious Aliens, Earth Would Stand Out as Living Planet…

If they could measure our planet’s rotation, its atmospheric gases, the presence of abundant water, and calculate what our temperature range must be, our planet would definitely stand out as life-friendly. To intelligent life forms a lot like us, anyway. I don’t know about anyone else, but I find it kind of neat to consider myself as ET. Even though I doubt we’d qualify as cute enough or friendly enough to other ETs for them to want to actually meet us.

Speaking of planet Earth, it was reported last week that a Climactic Chain Reaction Caused Runaway Greenhouse Effect 55 Million Years Ago. In this age of increasing climate change concern, we might learn something significant from examining similar climate changes in the past.

During the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum period 55 million years ago a rapid increase in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere was caused by chain-reaction events likely triggered by intense volcanic activity. As the earth warmed, submarine methane hydrates - ice-like structures storing massive amounts of methane - melted, contributing that methane to the atmosphere as well. With a 6º overall rise in global temperatures, even the arctic had palm trees and crocodiles. Current climate change models don’t show this, but it’s something to keep in mind as we examine the possible repercussions of climate change in our own time.

There’s some interesting medical research news to report as well, from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Scripps Research Institute. Seems that researchers have discovered that an Anti-malarial Drug Prevents Cancer in Mice, and this finding may have significant implications for human cancer treatment.

The results of this study tend to support an older epidemiology study that suggested malaria prophylaxis with chloroquine reduced the incidence of Burkitt lymphoma. Chloroquine appears to be the active ingredient, as it induces cellular autophagy (self-eating). The researchers suggest that by controlling autophagy using chloroquine or other agents might provide a useful new avenue in the development of anti-cancer drugs.

Links:

To Curious Aliens, Earth Would Stand Out as Living Planet

Climactic Chain Reaction Caused Runaway Greenhouse Effect 55 Million Years Ago

Anti-malarial Drug Prevents Cancer in Mice