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Week in Science

Soy male bomb

Everyone knows that real men don’t eat tofu. Researchers at Johns Hopkins may have scientifically determined why this is the case. Soy products contain isoflavones, the compounds proudly advertised on every package of tofu or carton of soy milk you see at the grocery. Isoflavones are a group of phyto-estrogens, plant hormones that actually have some activity in humans. Although they are 1000 times less active than the real thing, plant estrogens still bind to our estrogen receptors. Menopausal women are advised to eat soy products for this reason, because they constitute a sort of natural estrogen replacement therapy, a process that can reduce some symptoms of menopause.

During early male reproductive development though, estrogens are not such a good thing. These hormones block the effectiveness of androgens like testosterone, which are key in growing the twig and berries, among other things. The Johns Hopkins investigators used genistein, an isoflavone in soybeans, to test soy’s effect on early male development. They fed genistein to pregnant rat mothers and observed the development of their male pups, who also received the compund through their mother’s milk after birth. Rat males from the genistein fed mothers had noticeable reproductive organ abnormalities and some sexual dysfunction after reaching adulthood.
The researchers are unsure whether the same effects are true for humans, but the study is notable due to the increase in soy consumption and its presence in some baby formulas. So, basically you and I have nothing to worry about for now as chik-nug-eatin’, tofu-sautéin’ adults. That is, as long as your mom didn’t eat truck loads of soy products during and after her pregnancy. It also seems that these investigators may not have been watching the Grammy’s back in ’98, when their hypothesis was weakened by a soy loving revolutionary who obviously had big enough balls to jump on stage with his shirt off in the middle of Bob Dylan’s performance.

—-Sam Posner

The feud over fumes

So silly that it’s sad. Last month the Bush administration announced a billion-dollar initiative to develop commercially-viable hydrogen fuel cells to power cars. Since such fuel cells are clean and emit water instead of car exhaust, the move was welcomed by environmentalists who worry that gasses produced by the burning of fossil fuels threaten both climate and public health worldwide. However, a recent study at MIT reported that although hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles would have low emissions, the process of producing hydrogen fuel from gasoline or natural gas would require substantial energy and emit greenhouse gasses—the same gases the hydrogen fuel cell is supposed to prevent.

The study concluded that even with aggressive research, the hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle will not be better than the diesel hybrid in terms of total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Diesel hybrid cars combine an engine with a battery and an electric motor, and are commercially available today. The researchers concluded that in the next 20 years, improving existing gasoline and diesel engines and transmissions, and expanding the use of hybrids is the way to go, not creating hydrogen fuel cells.

—-Justin Bandy

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