Just Like People, Many Animals Are Getting Fatter
20 December 2010
Pippo, a chimpanzee, enjoys iced food at a zoo in Rome as temperatures reached 35 degrees Celsius in July
FAITH LAPIDUS: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.
BOB DOUGHTY: And I’m Bob Doughty. Today, we will tell about a possible biological test for autism. We also will talk about some allergic reactions and their causes. And we will tell about an investigation of weight gain in animals.
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FAITH LAPIDUS: Autism affects social and communication skills. It usually first appears in young children. Doctors currently identify autism disorders by observing behavior. Now, researchers in the United States think they have found a biological test for autism.
A team from Harvard University in Massachusetts and the University of Utah developed the test. It uses an MRI or magnetic resonance imaging machine to look for abnormalities in the brain. Other studies have not shown major structural differences between the brains of autistic people and those without autism.
BOB DOUGHTY: However, the latest study did not look at the large structures of the brain. Harvard's Nicholas Lange says the team looked instead at the chemical and electrical pathways that link the different parts of the brain.
NICOLAS LANGE: "The brain may be OK, the parts that do the work may be OK. But the wiring, the cables between the points in the brain, one to another, may be disrupted in some way."
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2013-11-25
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