[Editors] MIT Research Digest - March 2004

[MIT News Office]

MIT RESEARCH DIGEST - March 2004

A monthly tip-sheet for journalists of recent research
advances at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Web version: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/rd
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For more information on Research Digest items, contact:
Elizabeth Thomson, MIT News Office
Phone: (617) 258-5402  *  mailto:thomson at mit.edu

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IN THIS ISSUE:  Trees, Trees, Trees  *  Lasting Memories
Black Hole Jets  *  Carbs and Dieting
Soil Moisture from Space  *  Baseball and Elections
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TREES, TREES, TREES
Thanks to an MIT class on the engineering principles behind trees, 
visitors to the Boston Nature Center and the Museum of Science can 
now explore for themselves such things as why a tree can only grow so 
tall. Last fall, six freshmen led by Professor Lorna Gibson studied 
the structure and properties of wood and how trees work mechanically. 
Along the way they created posters explaining what they'd learned 
about three different phenomena and proposed simple demonstrations 
for a hands-on understanding of each. One of Gibson's graduate 
students then built the demos with the assistance of the freshmen. 
Separate sets were recently installed at the two Boston museums; a 
third will go into MIT's new undergraduate laboratory for the 
Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2004/trees.html

LASTING MEMORIES
MIT neuroscientists have discovered a new brain mechanism controlling 
the formation of lasting memories. This mechanism explains how 
signals between neurons stimulate production of the protein building 
blocks needed for long-term memory storage. The study, which appeared 
in the journal Cell, has broad implications for our understanding of 
how learning and memory normally occur, and how these abilities may 
be undermined in psychiatric and neurologic diseases. The MIT 
researchers, led by Nobel laureate and Professor Susumu Tonegawa, 
have identified a crucial molecular pathway that allows neurons to 
boost their production of new proteins rapidly during long-term 
memory formation and synaptic strengthening.
MORE: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2004/memory.html

BLACK HOLE JETS
MIT scientists, taking advantage of multiple unique views of black 
hole particle jets over the course of a year with NASA's Chandra 
X-ray Observatory, have assembled a "picture" of the region that has 
revealed several key discoveries. They have found that the jets may 
be originating five times closer to the black hole than previously 
thought; they see in better detail how these jets change with time 
and distance from the black hole; and they could use this information 
as a new technique to measure black hole mass. The observation will 
ultimately help solve the mystery of the great cosmic contradiction, 
in which black holes, notorious for pulling matter in, somehow manage 
to also shoot matter away in particle jets moving close to the speed 
of light.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2004/blackhole.html

CARBS AND DIETING
During the current low-carb/pro-protein diet craze, carbohydrates 
have been demonized -- accused of causing weight gain and blamed as 
the reason people can't lose weight. Do they deserve this stigma? Not 
according to MIT researcher Judith Wurtman. Wurtman, director of the 
Program in Women's Health at the MIT Clinical Research Center, and 
colleagues have found that when you stop eating carbohydrates, your 
brain stops regulating serotonin, a chemical that elevates mood and 
suppresses appetite. And only carbohydrate consumption naturally 
stimulates production of serotonin. "When serotonin is made and 
becomes active in your brain, its effect on your appetite is to make 
you feel full before your stomach is stuffed and stretched," said 
Wurtman. "Serotonin is crucial not only to control your appetite and 
stop you from overeating; it's essential to keep your moods 
regulated."
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2004/carbs.html

SOIL MOISTURE FROM SPACE
NASA has approved an MIT-led project that will measure soil moisture 
from space, providing data needed to assess the impacts of global 
change and improve accuracy in weather forecasting. That measurement 
has been missing from the array of clues -- rainfall, atmospheric 
chemistry, humidity and temperature -- that are used by scientists to 
predict change in the local and global climate. Using soil moisture, 
they can calculate evaporation, giving them a better understanding of 
global change. Hydros (the Hydrosphere State mission) will make 
unprecedented measurements of Earth's changing soil moisture and its 
freeze/thaw state that together define the state of Earth's 
hydrosphere, which links the water, energy and carbon cycles over 
land. Dara Entekhabi, a professor of civil and environmental 
engineering at MIT, is principal investigator of the Hydros project.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2004/hydros.html

BASEBALL AND ELECTIONS
Winning the World Series has something in common with winning a 
presidential election, and the same method of winning will also work 
for Iraq, according to an MIT physicist. Alan Natapoff cares 
passionately about democracy, believes strongly in the power of fair 
voting, and has proved a mathematical theorem to show that 
individuals have more voting power with the Electoral College than 
without it. "Raw voting foils the intention of democracy in the 
large," said Natapoff, a research scientist in MIT's Center for Space 
Research who studies brain performance in space. "The president 
should represent not merely the majority, but the whole electorate." 
In the present system, candidates are forced to remain moderate 
enough to please most voters, or at least are punished if they make 
mortal enemies of some voting segments. Without the electoral system, 
the United States could easily divide into warring factions, he said, 
a situation that must be avoided in Iraq.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2004/elections.html

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