Polar Ice Changes, 1979-2005 (NASA)
The Jim Lehrer NewsHour recently featured a great story on the profound impact of climate change on biodiversity. A variety of animals, from polar bears to cone snails, are in grave danger of extinction because of changes to their ecosystems. The story focused on what species extinction means for biomedical research.
Take the polar bear, for example. There's no debate that the polar ice cap is melting at an unprecedented rate. Some predictions have summer sea ice disappearing - permanently - within this century. As the ice disappears, so do polar bears.
With their demise would go an opportunity to understand how polar bears avoid Type 2 Diabetes despite becoming morbidly obese in the months leading up to summer (when they cannot hunt seals and must live off of fat reserves). Type 2 diabetes is at epidemic proportions in this country, affecting more than 20 million Americans, costing tens of billions of dollars in health care costs.
Another example: one of the most effective drugs against ovarian cancer, Taxol, came from the bark of the Pacific yew tree. Rampant deforestation in many parts of the world is wiping out unique plant and animal species, from which the next anti-cancer drug might be discovered.
The video is definitely worth a look. Eric Chivian, 1985 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, is the featured scientist. His article in the Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin is also a nice read.
Comments
Great blog post. Nature should be left to do it's work instead us humans like to destroy it. There's probably a cure for most illnesses out there, but if things carry on we will destroy any cure.
Great post. I like Eric Chivian for his brilliant explanation on how importance each living thing that almost extinct can be to our health development. Overall, this post and video show us the importance of every living species.
Regards,
James Forsythe.
I presume Polar bears aren't the only animal not to develop type 2 diabetes, there are so many species who need to bulk up prior to winter and hibernation, that said I would think polar bears have other human related health issues baring in mind the amount of time they spend in rubbish bins!
Interesting angle on species endangerment. Animals can teach us so much especially in the medical arena. I never knew polar bears have evolved beyond Type 2 diabetes, that's gotta be worth a huge well-funded study of some kind!
So, I actually found your post searching on google for diabetes in animals. It truly is amazing if that's true about them not developing diabetes, since they are mammals, have a pancreas, and process sugar similarly to humans. Very good point.
Regards,
Chris Huntley, Author of Life Insurance for Diabetics
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