Anxious Mice and False Hope
On January 31st, 2018, NPR published an article titled “Researchers Discover ‘Anxiety Cells’ In The Brain.” As someone who often experiences panic attacks, this was particularly exciting news. I’ve always had a hunch that anxiety is hereditary, given that my dad also suffers from panic attacks. Sure, it could be a coincidence, but I never bought that.
But then, just about as quickly as I read the title of the article, I read the first line: “Scientists have found specialized brain cells in mice that appear to control anxiety levels.” When the title tried to tell me that they discovered anxiety cells in “the brain,” what they really meant to say was that they discovered anxiety cells in “a brain.”
I know what you’re thinking, “Oh big deal, it’s practically the same thing. People use lab mice all the time! They’ll find the anxiety cell in humans in no time!”
Several recent studies have found that while mice can be useful for some studies, they often do not produce effective treatment for humans. In one study, Researchers had tested three new drug regimens that had worked well for mice, but on humans they proved a complete failure. These trials cost at least $200 million.
According to Dr. Raymond Dingledine, chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at Emory University, scientists often use rats and mice as test subjects because they are easily bred and portable due to their small size. Scientists also have extensive knowledge of their biology and can easily compare them to humans.
However, because the mice are highly inbred, they only offer a narrow range of genetic makeup. Humans have extreme variation in their genetics and therefore are too complicated to be compared to mice or rats for most experiments, especially those dealing with disease.
In fact, an article from CNN reports: “when it comes to the immune system, rodents and humans are so different that studies looking at treatments for certain diseases in mice or rats have not been successful when applied to people.”
I’m not sure when the scientific community is going to finally figure out that the unreliability of mice outweighs their availability and convenience, but I sure hope they clue in soon. I can’t go to the doctor to get my blood drawn without having a full-blown panic attack, so it would be really helpful if some scientist could figure out how to fix that instead of giving a bunch of rats tuberculosis for no good reason.
-Marie Pruitt
A Dry City
Cape Town, a major city in South Africa, is currently facing one of the most perplexing dilemmas a city could possibly face. After a three year drought, the most severe in over a century, Cape Town’s water supply is almost entirely out. Cape Town relies primarily on 6 wells that are filled via rainfall for their water. The fact that their water production isn’t more diverse may be part of the reason that this issue has arisen. Due to ineffective politics, solutions such as desalination and ground water production have stalled significantly. As a result, people in the city are already creating new and creative ways to conserve water, such as bathing in plastic buckets and cleaning with spray bottles. However, it seems as if the day that the water runs out will soon approach.
What officials are now calling Day Zero, it is forecasted to happen within the next 3 months. At this point, when the water supply reaches a dangerously low point, running water will be turned off in homes and businesses, and the currently tiny ration of 13.2 gallons of water per person per day will go down to an even lower 6.6 gallons per day. In perspective, the average American uses from 80 to 100 gallons of water per day. Day Zero is forecasted to be the most austere situation for such a major city since World War II.
It is difficult to imagine having to walk to checkpoints and watch as your water ration for the day gets carefully measured by soldiers. Officials expect that the army will have to be called up to guard the water supply when Day Zero rolls around, and it is immensely terrifying to imagine having soldiers monitoring something so essential. Without question, this puts life into a certain perspective where everyday issues seem far less pertinent. After all, water seems like such a given. I, and most of the people I know, have certain struggles, but none of us have to wonder about what we will drink at the end of the day, or whether we will go 1 gallon over our threshold while showering. These people in Cape Town are often forced to police their own neighbors. A man had to report that his elderly neighbor was using a sprinkler, because something his family depends on for life is at stake. It is a truly frightening situation.
-Eytan Galanter
Fake Love
In what has to be the most depressing news outside of current politics, a gannet bird dubbed “Nigel” by biologists passed away on the remote New Zealand island he has called home for the past five years. The death would be less tragic if Nigel hadn’t been the sole inhabitant of the island for almost the entirety of that time.
Scientists used 80 painted concrete models of gannet birds and audio recordings to attempt to set up a colony on Mana Island, and Nigel answered the call. He was the first bird to settle on the island in 40 years, and it would be another 5 before he saw another live member of his species. That didn’t stop Nigel from living his life though; he found a mate in one of the concrete models. He crafted it a nest and spent years attempting to groom it and show it affection.
Finally, after years on his own, Nigel was joined by another gannet, but alas: it was another male bird, and one that didn’t stick around for long. And just a month before Nigel died, three other gannets settled on the island. However, by this time, Nigel was taken with his makeshift mate, and didn’t bother showing any attention to the new arrivals. He died in the nest he built and maintained, next to his concrete mistress.
–John Tucker
The Junction Journal 