The Lab at azcentral

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Latest Episodes:

"Miracle" weight-loss drugs give unbeatable results, but they have drawbacks, too Jun 26, 2023

Doctors’ offices and medical spas in Arizona are getting flooded with requests for prescriptions for these drugs.

They originally were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat Type 2 diabetes, but their success in helping people lose weight is what's making them a near-household name. As patients are reporting promising results, word is getting around.

It’s almost impossible to avoid hearing about Ozempic, Wegovy and their active ingredient, semaglutide, in the news or on social media.

But are these new so-called miracle drugs too good to be true? Who are they really for, and how can people get them? This week on The Lab at azcentral, we look into how the drugs work and the reality of how they make people feel.

We spoke with doctors, patients and others to find out why the drugs are different from other weight-loss interventions and why the medications have become divisive, both culturally and socioeconomically.

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Hot news: How Arizona ended up supplying most of the nation's chili pepper seeds Jun 19, 2023

Spicy: it's the flavor you see everywhere. Just take a look at your local convenience store. Spicy chips, spicy chicken sandwiches, spicy noodles. There's even a movie now about Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

It's also culture-defining. What would Mexican, Thai or Indian food be without chili kicking up the heat?

But before that spicy seasoning can be sprinkled onto your favorite foods, it starts in the ground as a chili pepper seed. One of the people producing those seeds is Ed Curry, who operates the Curry Seed and Chile Co. in Pearce, Arizona.

Curry has been working on the genetics of peppers for almost his whole life. In the farming industry, most of the peppers grown commercially in the United States can be traced back to his farm.

But how did chili peppers get to Arizona in the first place? And why are Arizona's chilis making such a huge impact nationwide?

In this episode of The Lab, in conjunction with Valley 101, we find out these answers and more.

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How many saguaro cactuses grow in the Phoenix valley? Jun 12, 2023

The saguaro cactus is perhaps the most iconic symbol of our state. You can find it everywhere from coffee cups to murals to tattoos. People love saguaros but we know surprisingly little about them.

The Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix and other researchers are trying to fix that. The first step is to count as many of the saguaros growing in the Valley as possible.

"Naively, we call this the Saguaro Census because we thought we were going to be capable of counting every single saguaro in the city. We clearly overestimated our capabilities because the Phoenix Valley is huge," Tania Hernandez says. She works as a research scientist at the Desert Botanical Gardens.

For help with this task, the Gardens are turning to the public for help.

In this episode of The Lab, in conjunction with Valley 101, we're exploring two questions: why does the saguaro cactus only grow in the Sonoran Desert? And how many are there?

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What is genetic testing? Jun 05, 2023

Our DNA can help tell a story about our past, present, and future through genetic testing, and that testing is becoming much more common.

Solio Felix came into the emergency room last June with what he thought was heat stroke or a heart attack. This is when a nurse told him that he'd be a perfect candidate for a genetic testing study.

He and his wife have no family history of cardiovascular disease, but this doesn't mean that they aren't at risk or that they didn't pass something along to their teenage daughter.

Through genetic testing done in Arizona, they were able to find out their risk level and prepare for the future.

But what is genetic testing, and how is it improving doctors' advice and treatment plans?

This episode marks the start of the second season of our podcast The Lab at azcentral, where we dive into science stories that affect everyday life.

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How can pollen solve a crime? Mar 05, 2022

Maybe when you think of pollen, you think of bees, or a commercial for allergy medicine.

But what about cracking cold cases?

It might sound like a Sherlock Holmes story, but this is real life: unlike some other forms of evidence, pollen sticks around on hair, clothes and objects for a long time. And the unique shapes of pollen grains under a microscope can reveal geographic clues that help detectives track down everything from missing persons to counterfeit goods.

In this episode, you’ll meet the only three forensic palynologists (AKA pollen-science sleuths) in the country. You’ll also meet an ASU researcher working on mathematical models that could make it easier for investigators to pinpoint where pollen samples are coming from.

Along the way, you’ll learn the surprising ways that environmental change and crime-solving technology intersect – and how two species of cedar trees helped catch a killer.

So grab your magnifying glass, put on your trench coat, and follow us into The Lab for the last episode of Season 1.

Content note: This episode is about how scientists use pollen to help solve crimes. We won’t go into graphic detail, but we will discuss some of those crimes, including a case involving the death of a child.

If you ever find yourself in possession of a microscope and an unknown type of pollen, this guide could help you figure it out. (It also has lots of cool images illustrating the shapes of different species’ pollen grains.)

Learn more about forensic palynology and Daoqin Tong’s mathematical modeling research in this piece from ASU.

Read about how U.S. Customs and Border Protection is using pollen as a forensic tool in this CBP magazine from 2016.

Find out more about the Baby Doe case in this explainer or dive deeper into an archive of coverage from The Boston Globe.

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Why are they raising fish in the desert? Feb 26, 2022

On family trips to San Diego, George Brooks used to collect hermit crabs and sea stars and bring them back to Phoenix. What followed was a lifetime of raising fish in the desert.

He, and others in Arizona, aren’t just doing it for the love of all things scaly, shiny and gilled.

Researchers and community leaders like Brooks see big potential in these small creatures, to solve local problems that have global implications.

In this episode, you’ll hear about prawns in kiddie pools and zebrafish revealing the secrets of the human genome. You’ll also hear about the promise of aquaculture (that’s basically agriculture + water) to bring food systems closer to home while preserving the ocean far from our landlocked state.

How? Come – or swim – along, and let’s find out.

Read more about Phoenix aquaculture pioneer George Brooks in this 2020 story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2020/08/10/arizona-aquaponics-pioneer-george-brooks-preaches-edible-landscapes/5532656002/

Watch George Brooks’s TED Talk: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb495LDRNs4

Learn more about Benjamin Renquist’s genetics-based aquaculture technology company, GenetiRate: https://www.genetirate.fish

Take a deeper dive into the state of global fisheries and aquaculture with this interactive summary from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: https://www.fao.org/state-of-fisheries-aquaculture/en/.

If you haven’t started your own backyard fish pond yet, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch has guides to choosing sustainably sourced seafood: https://www.seafoodwatch.org/recommendations/download-consumer-guides.

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What are the plants saying? Feb 18, 2022

When scientists are talking to plants, they’re trying to ask them questions. What do you need to grow more effectively? To produce crops more efficiently?

And sometimes, they’re asking something else: Now that you’re in a drought, and you’re not getting any water, how are you going to react?

Yes, they’re asking questions, and they’re getting answers. But the answers are about something bigger than next year’s crop.

In our second episode about talking to plants, you’ll go to a desert farm field and a humid rainforest. You might not believe this, but both of them are in Arizona.

And you’ll hear from one person who isn’t talking to plants at all. She’s talking about the climate they’re living in – the one we’re all living in.

Join us in the Lab, to hear what the plants – and the people – have to say.

Our exploration of plants, and the people who talk to them, really started when we looked at the people taking genes from succulents and using them to help other kinds of crops save water.

We said the story of the original research at Biosphere 2 would probably need to be its own podcast. Our colleagues at The Arizona Republic give you a little taste of why, here, and here.

Laura Meredith, who gave us the tour of Biosphere 2 along with her colleague Joost van Haren, worked on the drought experiment there. That research was published in the journal Science.

Antonieta Cadiz, who told us about her family’s encounter with climate change, is an advocate for the group Climate Power.

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Why are they talking to plants? Feb 12, 2022

In a greenhouse on top of a parking garage and in a field in the middle of the desert, a team of scientists and engineers have a mission.

They want to talk to plants.

To do it, teams at the University of Arizona have enlisted the help of robots big and small, from a thirty-ton robotic field scanner to tiny sensors that can measure the organic compounds emitted from leaves. They collect enough data to fill thousands of hard drives and turn it into a virtual reality field they can enter on the computer.

But why go to all that trouble? What are plants saying that researchers are so keen to hear?

Join us, and travel into the heart of the machine – and onto the front lines of the climate crisis.

You can find out more about the world’s largest robotic field scanalyzer here.

Learn more about Bt cotton and using GMO crops to eradicate pests in our story from The Arizona Republic.

Read more of our reporting on bioengineering plants to survive drought and heat stress.

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Why are the fruit flies fighting? Jan 31, 2022

Grace Hala’ufia spends hours watching videos of fruit flies. Specifically, mutant fruit flies that are a bit more aggressive than your average winged trash can resident.

Then, she keeps score, carefully tallying every second of every fight.

Why? Listen to the Lab at azcentral to find out.

Along the way, you’ll travel from Phoenix to Tucson. You’ll zoom in through a microscope at the inner workings of the brain. And you’ll get a wide-angle view of how researchers, communities and caregivers intersect, all in service of improving human health.

Learn more about Grace Hala’ufia’s work in the lab and on the University of Arizona track and field team here: https://arizonawildcats.com/news/2021/12/2/track-and-field-who-we-are-grace-hala-ufia.aspx.

Dig in deeper on Daniela Zarnescu’s latest scientific paper on Drosophila models of ALS here: https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/12/2/101. And find out more about her work on her lab website, http://mcb2.arizona.edu/zarnescu/.

You can attend future “Real Talk” dementia and Alzheimer’s conversations through the following link: https://easthillmedia.com/FIBCO-Real-Talk/.

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