B6 Science
Walnut Trees Emit Aspirin-Like The Strange
Chemical to Deal With Stress Inventions of
Pier L. Ighina
National Science Foundation
Walnut trees respond to stress
by producing significant amounts
of a chemical form of aspirin, sci-
entists have discovered.
The finding, by scientists at the
National Center for Atmospheric
Research (NCAR) in Boulder,
Colo., opens up new avenues of re-
search into the behavior of plants
and their impacts on air quality,
and also has the potential to give
farmers an early warning signal
about crops that are failing.
"Unlike humans, who are ad-
vised to take aspirin as a fever sup-
pressant, plants have the ability to
produce their own mix of aspirin-
like chemicals, triggering the
formation of proteins that boost
their biochemical defenses and re-
duce injury," says NCAR scientist
Thomas Karl, who led the study.
"Our measurements show that sig-
nificant amounts of the chemical
can be detected in the atmosphere
as plants respond to drought, un-
seasonable temperatures, or other
stresses."
For years, scientists have known
that plants in a laboratory may
produce methyl salicylate, which is
a chemical form of acetylsalicylic
acid, or aspirin. But researchers
had never before detected methyl
salicylate in an ecosystem or veri-
fied that plants emit the chemical
in significant quantities into the
atmosphere.
The team of scientists reported
its findings last week in the journal
Biogeoscience. The research was
funded by the National Science
Foundation (NSF), NCAR's
sponsor.
"Biosphere-atmosphere interac-
tions are important to the under-
standing of the Earth system," said
Cliff Jacobs, program director in
NSF's Division of Atmospheric
Sciences. "This fortuitous discov-
ery of methyl salicyclate in quan-
tities not anticipated adds to an
already important study."
Researchers had not previously
thought to look for methyl sali-
cylate in a forest, and the NCAR
team found the chemical by ac-
cident. They set up specialized
instruments last year in a walnut
grove near Davis, Calif., to moni-
tor plant emissions of certain vola-
tile organic compounds (VOCs).
These hydrocarbon compounds
are important because they can
combine with industrial emissions
to affect pollution, and they can
also influence local climate.
When the NCAR scientists
reviewed their measurements, they
found to their surprise that the
Companies Seek
Alternatives to
Plastic Chemical
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Health worries about a chemical
found in many plastic products
have created opportunities for
companies catering to the growing
market for products made without
bisphenol A.
But the plastics and food pack-
aging industries, which defend
the safety of bisphenol A or BPA,
argue that particularly for certain
uses there are no alternatives that
can do everything BPA can do.
And they caution that chemicals
that may be embraced now as safer
alternatives to BPA eventually
might turn out to pose their own
set of health concerns.
Some scientists and activists said
a major study published last Tues-
day linking BPA to heart disease
and diabetes will put more pres-
sure on regulators to crack down
on the compound. They want BPA
banned at a minimum in children's
products such as baby bottles.
BPA has been used in many
products for decades. It is used
to make polycarbonate plastic, a
transparent, durable, and shatter-
resistant material in products
including water bottles, plastic
utensils, and medical devices.
But it can leach out of plastic
into liquid such as baby formula,
water, or food inside a container.
Some retailers, including Wal-
Mart and Target, are phasing out
BIOCHEMICAL DEFENSE: Walnut trees in a California grove are tested for
chemical emissions to the atmosphere. These trees may help scientists
better understand air quality for farm crops.
Carlye Calvin, UCAR
emissions of VOCs included me-
thyl salicylate.
The levels of methyl salicylate
emissions increased dramatically
when the plants, which were al-
ready stressed by a local drought,
experienced unseasonably cool
nighttime temperatures followed
products made with BPA.
"Large retailers are moving
away from BPA products. I think
it's going to force manufacturers to
switch to BPA-free products only,
in feeding [products] or in toys or
whatever else you can think of that
has BPA," Ron Vigdor, president of
Florida-based company BornFree,
said in a telephone interview.
Vigdor said BornFree has seen
big increases in sales of its range of
BPA-free products including plas-
tic baby bottles and cups made of
Polyamide PA, a form of nylon.
Nalgene launched a line of water
bottles made from a new type of
plastic made by Eastman Chemi-
cal Company called Tritan copoly-
ester, which is not made with BPA
but boasts BPA's good qualities
such as transparency and shatter
resistance. Nalgene is owned by
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
Spokeswoman Tracy Broad-
water said Eastman Chemical is
scaling up production capacity for
Tritan, introduced last year, with
new facilities to be ready by late
2009.
Industry officials said the big
chemical companies and food
package manufacturers are explor-
ing alternatives to BPA, but said
banning the chemical would be
unwise and unwarranted.
"An alternative would have to
be found that, number one, works,
The Epoch Times
by large daytime temperature
increases.
Instruments mounted on towers
about 100 feet above the ground
measured up to 0.025 milligrams
of methyl salicylate rising from
each square foot of forest per hour.
Karl and his colleagues
TOXIC PLASTIC: Bottles made with the controversial carbonate plastic
bisphenol A (BPA), one of the most widely used synthetic chemicals in
industry. Chemical companies are now exploring alternatives.
David McNew/Getty Images
that provides the necessary func-
tion. The second big hurdle is
that the alternative should be at
least as safe," Steven Hentges of
the American Chemistry Council
industry group said in a telephone
interview.
BPA makers include Dow
Chemical, Bayer, Sunoco Chemi-
cals, and Hexion Specialty Chemi-
cals, Hentges said.
John Rost, chairman of the
North American Metal Packaging
speculate that the methyl salicylate
has two functions. One of these is
to stimulate plants to begin a proc-
ess known as systemic acquired
resistance, which is analogous to
an immune response in an animal.
This helps a plant to both resist
and recover from disease. The me-
thyl salicylate also may be a mech-
anism whereby a stressed plant
communicates to neighboring
plants, warning them of the threat.
Researchers in laboratories have
demonstrated that a plant may
build up its defenses if it is linked
in some way to another plant that
is emitting the chemical.
Now that the NCAR team has
demonstrated that methyl sali-
cylate can build up in the atmos-
phere above a stressed forest,
scientists are speculating that
plants may use the chemical to ac-
tivate an ecosystem-wide immune
response.
"These findings show tangible
proof that plant-to-plant commu-
nication occurs on the ecosystem
level," says NCAR scientist Alex
Guenther, a co-author of the study.
"It appears that plants have the
ability to communicate through
the atmosphere."
The discovery raises the possi-
bility that farmers, forest manag-
ers, and others may eventually be
able to start monitoring plants for
early signs of a disease, an insect
infestation, or other types of stress.
At present, they often do not know
if an ecosystem is unhealthy until
there are visible indicators, such as
dead leaves.
"A chemical signal is a very
sensitive way to detect plant stress,
and it can be an order of mag-
nitude more effective than using
visual inspections," Karl says.
"If you have a sensitive warn-
ing signal that you can measure in
the air, you can take action much
sooner, such as applying pesti-
cides. The earlier you detect that
something's going on, the more
you can benefit in terms of using
less pesticides and managing crops
better."
The discovery also can help
scientists resolve a central mystery
about VOCs. For years, atmos-
pheric chemists have speculated
that there are more VOCs in the
atmosphere than they have been
able to find. Now it appears that
some fraction of the missing VOCs
may be methyl salicylate and other
plant hormones.
This finding can help scientists
better track the impact of VOCs
on the behavior of clouds and
the development of ground-level
ozone, an important pollutant.
Alliance, representing the food and
beverage packaging industry, said
there is no alternative that works as
well to prevent spoilage and extend
shelf life for canned foods as the
epoxy resins made with BPA used
as lining in cans.
These epoxy coatings became
the "gold standard" 25 years ago,
replacing an earlier generation of
materials. "With the use of epoxy
coatings, shelf life of foods virtu-
ally doubled overnight," Rost said.
By LEONARDO VINTII
Epoch Times Argentina Staff
Seismic technologies, environ-
mental purifiers, and even the ability
to change an organisms molecular
structure: The world of Pier Luigi
Ighina is of a science never before
propagated, in which reality and
mysticism seem to join in a way that
is both charming and unnerving.
It is impossible to speak about
this unusual inventor and thinker
without naming his teacher and col-
league, the celebrated Guglielmo
Marconimost well known for de-
veloping radio but also responsible
for many other curious innovations.
Ighina worked with Marconi until
his death in 1937, and later carried
on his teachers efforts through the
secrets he shared with him.
While Ighina never invented any-
thing as well known as the radio, his
talent brought forth machines with
perhaps even more astounding abili-
ties that few would imagine, much
less believe were possible.
As a student of magnetic fields,
Ighina developed a great number
of inventions throughout his life
based on atomic vibrations. He also
worked with the interaction of fields
between the earth and sun, harness-
ing this energy to regenerate dis-
eased cells.
Ighinas numerous inventions in-
clude a bed of passive resonance,
an earthquake neutralizer, and a
strange device he dubbed Elios,
which is said to purify any food mat-
ter that comes within its small field
of action.
But perhaps none of these strange
inventions brought as much pleas-
ure to Ighina as the magnetic stro-
boscope. He was delighted in its
capacity to surprise and amaze curi-
ous onlookers on cloudy days.
In 1998, internationally renowned
journalist Maurizio Costanzo went
to interview Ighina and witnessed
a strange propeller spinning above
his humble dwelling in Imola, Italy.
Costanzo describes how a hole in
the clouds steadily opened and grew
as the minutes passed. Later, Ighina
admitted that the most satisfying
component of his unusual invention
was the innocent smiles of children
as they watched the clouds retire, as
if by magic.
The magnetic stroboscope
which can be compared to Wil-
helm Reichs Cloudbustercould
certainly deliver a magnificent per-
formance. And yet the landmark of
Ighinas work would have to be his
discovery of something never be-
fore considered by sciencea small,
elusive, yet fundamental particle he
named the atomic magnet.
From Apricots to Apples
In over 40 years of study, Ighina
put his all into the task of classifying
the particle vibrations that had been
discovered in each atom found in
nature. While observing the level of
light absorption of these miniscule
particles, Ighina became convinced
that scientists had made a mistake in
conceiving the fundamental struc-
ture of atoms. He maintained that it
was impossible to study a particle in
perpetual motion without creating a
false image.
Owing to this, Ighina devised a
mechanism that isolated each atom,
consisting of walls of different at-
German Scientists
Discover 120-Million-
Year-Old Ant
BERLIN (Reuters)German
biologists have discovered a new
species of ant that they believe is
the oldest on the planet, dating
back around 120 million years.
Researchers from Karlsruhe's
Natural History Museum found
the 0.118-inch insect in the Ama-
zon rainforest in 2007, and hope it
will shed light on the early evolu-
tion of ants.
"It's by far the most spectacular
find of my 26-year career," said mu-
seum biologist Manfred Verhaagh.
Scientists from Karlsruhe origi-
nally found an unidentified species
of ant of a similar type in the Bra-
zilian rainforest in 2003. However,
due to an accident in the labora-
September 25 October 1, 2008
oms with decreasing rates of light
absorption. It was during these in-
vestigations (for which he employed
a microscope of his own design ca-
pable of magnification of up to 1.6
billion times) that Ighina discovered
the magnetic atoman extremely
energetic particle present in all or-
ganic matter.
After years of arduous lab work,
Ighina discovered the most pro-
found nature of matterthat atoms
do not oscillate but vibrate. This
revelation led to one of his more cu-
rious and brilliant inventionsthe
magnetic field oscillator. The scien-
tist discovered that if he managed to
change the vibratory state of a group
of particles, the material itself could
transform.
What followed was a series of fan-
tastic experiments in which the field
oscillator played a leading role. On
one occasion, Ighina set up his appa-
ratus before an apricot tree. He then
altered the atomic vibration so that
it gradually became the same as that
of an apple tree. (He had previously
studied the indices of this vibration.)
After 16 days, he ascertained that
the apricots had mutated, almost
completely, into apples.
After this experience, Ighina ven-
tured to investigate the reach of his
invention on animals. He altered the
vibrational state of the tail of a rat to
change it, in four days, into the tail
of a cat.
Even though the rat died after
such treatment (perhaps its body
was incapable of enduring such a
rapid molecular change), it prompted
Ighina to try an experiment even
more revelatory: Through studying
the corresponding vibration of the
healthy bone of a rabbit, he excited
the atoms of another rabbits frac-
tured feet until they were healed in
record time.
In this way, Ighina understood
that sick cells (including cancerous
ones) of any individual were possible
to cure through a simple, gradual al-
ternation in their vibrational index,
if this was correctly calculated.
In short, Ighina had designed a
machine that performed marvels.
However, in spite of his long list of
inventions and mythical anecdotes,
Ighina was never recognized as an
orthodox scientist by the academic
community. Rather, he was either
ignored or ridiculed for his daring
work.
But some of his colleagues did
recognize his genius. The fact that
it is not believed takes place because
there are not the necessary tools to
understand how it happens, stated
nuclear scientist Guiliano Prepar-
ata, defending Ighinas work.
While Ighinas work was not
given its due by the scientific com-
munity at large, he was recognized
by a few fellow scientists as a revo-
lutionary pioneer and a great con-
tributor to Italian heritage. Today,
not only have foundations, streets,
and conferences been founded in his
name, but following his death Ighi-
nas oeuvre has helped to awaken
even greater interest in his fascinat-
ing work.
Ighina left this world on Jan. 8,
2004, taking with him an important
yet misunderstood legacy in which
science meets magic. However, he
leaves behind a wealth of mysterious
ideas and incomprehensible artifacts
that certainly inspire further study.
tory, the insect dried up, making
further research impossible, Ver-
haagh said.
Last year a separate team from
the museum's research body was
in the forest investigating fungus
when they stumbled upon the tiny
insect, and named it "Martialis
heureka."
Resembling a miniature wasp,
the insect is like no other ant, and
probably dates back 120 million
years, making it the oldest still in-
habiting the earth, Verhaagh said.
The scientists used DNA samples
from its front leg to establish its
likely age.
The last discovery of a new ant
species was in 1923, he added.