This week’s papers from Boston labs
Pat McCaffrey
Computer model mimics plankton’s life in the seven seas
Phytoplankton, the single-celled photosynthetic organisms that live near the surface of seas all over the world, produce half the world’s oxygen, take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and are a rich food source for many species. Yet the dynamics of these complex and diverse ocean forests are not well understood.
That could change with a new computer model of global phytoplankton distributions, developed by Michael Follows, Sallie Chisholm, and colleagues at MIT. It promises to help researchers predict the effects of climate change or other environmental perturbations on the ocean phytoplankton populations.
A computer model from MIT shows the distribution of the most abundant of 78 species of marine microbes called phytoplankton. (Credit: Science)
Previous computer models of natural ecosystems have represented only a few species of phytoplankton out of countless others. In an attempt to improve on these models, the researchers randomly seeded their virtual water world with 78 different phytoplankton species, each defined by preferences for water temperature, light level, food source, and other factors. As the computer simulated a 10-year cycle, the researchers watched the species organize themselves into local communities based on competition and natural selection.
When the researchers checked the final distribution of one representative phytoplankton species, Prochlorococcus, in their model, they found it closely resembled the real-world pattern. By allowing for the diversity of phytoplankton life, the model more closely approximated natural conditions.
The research appears in this week’s Science.
Small amounts of trans fat mean big risks for the heart
Harvard researchers have found that women with increased levels of trans fat in their blood have up to three times higher risk of heart disease than those who avoided processed and fast food typically laden with the substance.
Based on previous studies linking trans fat with heart disease, New York City and Philadelphia banned the fat from restaurant food last year, and other cities, including Boston, may follow suit.
But this study, published online in the journal Circulation, appears to show an even stronger association between trans fat consumption and an increased risk of heart disease.
Frank Hu and colleagues from the Harvard School of Public Health measured trans fat levels in red blood cells from 30,000 women, then monitored their health for six years. Measuring trans fat levels in blood, instead of relying on subjects to report what they ate, as earlier studies did, gave a more accurate snapshot of dietary intake.
The researchers discovered that women who consumed a little more than three grams a day of trans fat were three times more likely to develop heart disease than those who ate two grams a day. That one-gram increase is far less than the three to five grams lurking in the average donut.