How Exercise Jogs the Brain

by STEPHANI SUTHERLAND

Image: Jonathan Fife/Getty Images

The lifelong mental benefits of exercising have long been known, from improving learning in kids to staving off dementia in seniors. Yet how working up a sweat leads to better cognition is much less clear. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology reveals that the key may lie in the body’s power supply.

Just as a booming metropolis might build new power plants to meet a rising need for electricity, our muscles respond to the demands of exercise by producing new mitochondria, the tiny structures inside cells that supply the body with energy. J. Mark Davis, a physiolo-
gist at the University of South Carolina, and his colleagues wondered if brain cells might do the same thing. While studying mice, they found that quantities of a signaling molecule, dubbed by researchers “a master regulator” of mitochondria production, increased in the brain after half an hour a day of treadmill running. The mice’s brain cells also had more mitochondrial DNA—distinct from the regular cellular DNA found in the nucleus—providing “gold standard” evidence of more mitochondria. It appears that the brain “adapts and changes by bringing more of these power­houses” online, Davis says. The increased energy supply allows the brain to work faster and more efficiently.

The finding could help scientists understand how exercise staves off age- and disease-related declines in brain function, because neurons naturally lose mito­chondria as we age, Davis explains. Although past research has shown that exercise encourages the growth of new neurons in certain regions, the widespread expansion of the energy supply could underlie the benefits of exercise to more general brain functions such as mood regulation and dementia pre­vention. “The evidence is accumulating rapidly that exercise keeps the brain younger,” Davis says.

Bats Harbor Novel Type of Influenza

Image: Amy T. Gilbert (CDC/OID/NCEZID)

From Nature magazine

Fruit bats in Guatemala are hosting a novel subtype of influenza A virus, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The virus — designated H17 — appears to have diverged from known influenza viruses long ago, shedding light on their evolution. Therefore, it seems to pose no immediate threat to humans. However, it is similar enough to other subtypes that genetic exchange with them could pose a risk. "We can't say don't worry about it, nor can we say it's not dangerous. We just don't know yet," says study co-author Ruben Donis, chief of molecular virology and vaccines in the influenza division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia.

Donis and his colleagues are now testing bats in South America, Africa and Asia to document the geographical distribution of influenza — the first step towards determining whether bats are a reservoir behind outbreaks in humans.

"We are far away from speculating on any pandemic potential of this virus, but finding this ancient influenza subtype stresses again that bats are an important source of animal viruses," says Ab Osterhaus, head of virology at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, who was not involved in the work.

Bats have come in for scrutiny in recent years after being linked to the emergence of Ebola virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and nipah virus. "With more than 1,200 known species, bats are the second-largest mammal group, so it's not surprising that they carry a large diversity of viruses," says Jon Epstein, a veterinary epidemiologist at EcoHealth Alliance in New York. "Finding older lineages of influenza in bats doesn't necessarily increase the risk of influenza emerging into human populations, but it does help us understand the diversity of flu viruses in nature and how genes may be swapped between strains and species."

Probe power
Donis and his colleagues began developing molecular probes to detect viruses about eight years ago. At the CDC Field Detection Center in Guatemala, they used the probes to first screen for the presence of rabies virus in bats in 2009 and 2010. Then the samples were screened for other viruses, including influenza. Of 316 bats sampled from 21 species across eight locations, three little yellow-shouldered bats (Sturnira lilium) tested positive for H17.

"This study highlights the power of using generic PCR probes to broadly screen for and discover new viruses in new hosts — something that can be done at labs throughout the world," says Epstein.

Ideally, Osterhaus says, the community will create an inventory of viruses identified in bat species to better determine the potential for viral spread to other mammals, including humans. "It is unfortunate that we are being blocked at the moment from publishing data on transmissibility of an avian influenza virus, which is crucial information we need for not just influenza viruses but for all emerging viruses," he adds.

What is not yet clear is how influenza is transmitted between the bats. "We think the intestinal tract, where we found the highest concentration of the virus, is the target organ — suggesting infection may be the result of oral–faecal transmission," says Donis.

"If you want to go into virus discovery, start by looking at bats," says Osterhaus.

But what really drives disease emergence, says Epstein, is how humans interact with wildlife — for example, by expanding agriculture and decreasing wildlife habitat.

Donis acknowledges that surveillance is costly and time-consuming, but argues that we should increase efforts to track both known and emerging pathogens. "The real questions are 'where else could we find influenza?' and 'have we looked carefully everywhere?'" he says.

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This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on February 27, 2012.

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Calling Chicken Little: Clouds Getting Lower

Calling Chicken Little: Clouds Getting Lower:


By Duncan Geere, Wired UK

Chicken Licken was right, the sky really is falling. NASA satellite data has shown that the Earth’s cloud tops have been lowering over the last decade.

Cloud-top height fell 1 percent on average between March 2000 and February 2010, according to measurements from the multi-angle imaging spectroradiometer mounted on NASA’s Terra satellite. That 1 percent means a reduction of 30 to 40 meters in the average maximum height of clouds, during the 00s.



While the short record means it’s difficult to draw any strong conclusions from the data, it does hint towards a longer-term trend. Roger Davies, the lead researcher on the project, warns that it’s something that should be monitored in the coming decades to determine how significant it is for global temperatures.

If there is indeed a consistent reduction in cloud height, and this isn’t just natural variability, then Earth would begin cooling to space more efficiently, reducing the surface temperatures and slowing the effects of climate change. “We don’t know exactly what causes the cloud heights to lower,” Davies said in a press release. “But it must be due to a change in the circulation patterns that give rise to cloud formation at high altitude.”

The Terra spacecraft, which launched in 1999 and records three-dimensional images of clouds around the globe, will continue gathering data in the coming years.

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech [high-resolution]

Source: Wired.co.uk

Can the Scent of Rosemary Make You Smarter?

Feb. 24, 2012 -- Can a whiff of rosemary boost your performance at work or school?

It’s possible. A new study suggests that the pungent and pine-like scent of rosemary oil may improve speed and accuracy when performing certain mental tasks.

Twenty people were asked to perform subtraction exercises and a task to see how quickly they could process new information before and after being exposed to the scent of rosemary in their work stations. Researchers measured participants’ blood levels of 1, 8-cineole, rosemary's main chemical component, after the experiment.

The higher their blood levels of this compound, the better the participants scored on these tasks, the study shows. Speed and accuracy got better, but the oil did not seem to improve alertness. Exactly how rosemary can improve mental ability is not fully understood.

The findings are published in Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology.

Alan Hirsch, MD, is the director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. He says the findings take aromatherapy to a whole new level. “This opens up the doorway for us to explore other odors and how they affect people,” he says.

So, should we place some rosemary-scented potpourri in our work station?

“It is something to think about if you want to improve your learning, as long as you like the smell of rosemary,” Hirsch tells WebMD.

More Research on Rosemary’s Brain-Boosting Effects Needed

Christy C. Tangney, PhD, says more study is needed to see how, or even if, rosemary affects how quickly and accurately we perform mental exercises. She is an associate professor in the department of clinical nutrition at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “This is an intriguing concept, but very preliminary,” she says.

The findings could be due to chance or something else besides the fragrance. “There is something here. I don’t know that I could conclude that it is the aroma of the rosemary that is associated with improvements though,” Tangney says.

She agrees with Hirsch. If you like the scent of rosemary, there is no reason not to surround yourself with it. “Rosemary has been used as an herb for generations, and there is nothing to say it is potentially harmful, at least in the short term.”

Alex Peake's "Code Hero": How To Scale Education The Right Way

Alex Peake's "Code Hero": How To Scale Education The Right Way:
Thiel Fellow Dale Stephens explains how "Does it scale?" applies to education.
In Silicon Valley, one often hears the question, "Does it scale?"

What a technologist means by this is: How can a specific technological innovation be applied in a broad manner to affect a wide range of people? If Google only searched two websites it wouldn't be terribly useful. But because Google scaled effectively to search the entire Internet, it became extremely engaging.

Technologists wonder the same thing about education. And projects like the Khan Academy have risen to prominence because they scale--a single video can be watched by millions of people. But while it's wonderful to give millions of people access to knowledge, we should be careful when scaling education.

Often educational experiences don't scale. I don't think you can replace the learning that comes from an intimate five-person discussion about Shakespeare with watching a video from MIT, the Khan Academy, or anywhere else. I don't care who makes the video, or how great a teacher the person is, having people to support and challenge your ideas is irreplaceable.

I become frustrated when people talk about OpenCourseWare or the Khan Academy as revolutionary. Don't get me wrong, both are doing wonderful things for education, but they still follow the same pedagogical model as the classroom--a one-to-many model. The student is a recipient of knowledge and only passively engaged. Certainly there are steps in the right direction--the Khan Academy now offers exercises and some interaction. I am thankful that resources such as these exist, but putting knowledge onto the Internet is only the first step. A revolution is when students become active participants in learning, improving, and sharing knowledge. A revolution is when students take on the role of teachers.

My friend Alex Peake, a fellow Hackademic who skipped college entirely, has built a game called Code Hero to help you learn how to code. What I love about Code Hero is that Alex has made the player an active participant in the game. Not only do you play the game, but as you play the game, you actually help build the game.

Alex has figure out the only way to effectively scale education--by turning students into teachers. As you progress through learning you are expected to share your knowledge. When we expect people to share knowledge, we take education offline and into the real world. It's wonderful to have knowledge available from MIT and the Khan Academy, but it's not the same as people getting together in the real world to discuss what they have learned.

There are more projects creating real-world learning groups that I'll share soon, but I want to mention one last thing about Code Hero: They are raising money on Kickstarter! One week ago they only had $19,000--less that one-fifth of their goal. Yesterday, they passed their goal of $100,000 and are surging ahead to $200,000. Donating just $13 gets you a free copy of the game to help you learn how to code.

If you're interested in learning programming or computer science, I encourage you to check out Code Hero on Kickstarter and consider donating. Even if you aren't interested in learning to code, I encourage you to check it out and watch them closely. The pedagogical model Code Hero uses--turning students into teachers--is one I think we'll see more of in the coming months.

Dale Stephens was homeschooled and then unschooled. Now he leads UnCollege.org. Perigee/Penguin will publish his first book about hacking your education in early 2013.

[Editor's note: Dale Stephens is one of the inaugural Thiel Fellows who stopped going to college in exchange for a place in an innovative mentoring program. Read more from Dale--and about PayPal founder Peter Thiel's education experiment--here.]
[Image: Flickr user maniwa_pa]

298-Million-Year-Old Forest Discovered Under Chinese Coal Mine

American and Chinese scientists are flabbergasted after discovering a giant 298-million-year-old forest buried intact under a coal mine near Wuda, in Inner Mongolia, China. They are calling it the Pompeii of the Permian period because, like the ancient Roman city, it was covered and preserved by volcanic ash.

Like Pompeii, this swamp forest is so perfectly preserved that scientists know where every plant originally was. This has allowed them to map it and to create the images above. This extraordinary finding “is like Pompeii”, according to University of Pennsylvania paleobotanist Hermann Pfefferkorn, who characterised it as “a time capsule”. Pfefferkorn worked on the project with Jun Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yi Zhang of Shenyang Normal University and Zhuo Feng of Yunnan University.

It’s marvellously preserved. We can stand there and find a branch with the leaves attached, and then we find the next branch and the next branch and the next branch. And then we find the stump from the same tree. That’s really exciting.

They are in fact finding entire trees and plants exactly as they were at the time of the volcanic eruption, just like archeologists in Pompeii found humans, animals and buildings near Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. Except Pompeii happened in 79 AD and this forest was covered in ash 298 million years ago, during the Permian period.

The researchers discovered the 1000sqm area hidden under a coal mine using heavy industrial machinery. They believe that this frozen-in-time fossilised forest was covered under gigantic amounts of ash that fell from the sky for days.

So far, they have identified six groups of trees, some of them 24m tall. Some of them are Sigillaria and Cordaites, but they also found large groups of a type called Noeggerathiales, which are now completely extinct.

During the Permian, which extends from 299 to 251 million years ago, there weren’t conifers or flowers. Plants reproduced like ferns, using spores, and the modern continents were still joined in a single mass of land called Pangaea. This geologic period happened at the end of the Paleozoic era, after the Carboniferous.

During this time there were also animals. This is when the first groups of mammals, turtles, lepidosaurs and archosaurs started to roam the Earth. Scientist believe that the Permian — and with it the entire Paleozoic era — ended with the largest mass extinction ever, which obliterated 90 per cent of the marine and 70 per cent of the terrestrial species. After this event, the Mesozoic era started with the Triassic period. That’s when the first true mammals evolved, the pterosaurs flew for the first time and the archosaurs’ rose to dominate Earth.

The results of their findings have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [University of Pennsylvania]

Disease-Fighting Secrets of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes

Insects cover our planet. Filed into 750,000 different species, at any given time there are one million trillion bugs buzzing around the globe.

About 14,000 of those species are blood-feeders, meaning they drink their meals by puncturing the skin of vertebrates, including humans. Besides being a nuisance, blood-feeding insects, such as certain strains of mosquitoes, are infected with parasitic organisms that are no threat to the bugs themselves, but if transferred to humans, become toxic, or worse, lethal.

A new collection of studies from PLoS charts alternative strategies for curbing mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria using genetically modified insects. The idea is to create mosquitoes that are less infectious and pass their altered genetics to the next generation by breeding with their natural counterparts.

Even though GM insects offer potential relief from malaria and dengue, which remain untreatable, unpreventable diseases in much of the developing world, there is still a lot of skepticism, mistrust and even fear of genetically modified organisms of any sort. Careful regulation, program oversight, and public information campaigns are just as important as proving the efficacy of GM insect release.

These pictures show the different types of mosquitoes whose genetic profiles are changing in the name of science and public health.

Above:

Aedes aegypti

Aedes aegypti is a carrier mosquito for the virus that causes dengue fever in humans. Researchers discovered that by introducing Wolbachia bacterial strains into some insects, the dengue virus didn’t live as long as usual inside the mosquitoes. What’s more, because most Wolbachia strains are relatively harmless to the insects, the bacteria spread through mosquito generations, passing from mother to offspring.

A study in Zhiyong Xi’s lab at Michigan State University found that the Wolbachia bacterium stopped the dengue virus from replicating, and therefore kept it from spreading among mosquitoes. In fact, 14 days after the study started, 37.5 percent of the mosquitoes were unable to infect humans with dengue.

Another study, from Elizabeth McGraw’s lab at The University of Queensland, Australia, showed that by using a modified Wolbachia bacteria (wMelPop), the older mosquitoes -- the insects that typically pass dengue to humans -- had a shortened lifespan because they could no longer feed. From the age of 26 days onward, the mosquitoes with the wMelPop Wolbachia bacteria in their bodies started drinking significantly less blood than their uninfected counterparts.

Aedes albopictus

The Asian Tiger mosquito,Aedes albopictus, can carry diseases including dengue and chikungunya. Compared to its genetic relative A. aegypti, this mosquito is typically less likely to house a virus. Since A. albopictus carries less risk of infection, the latest advances in genetic engineering seemed to have been reserved for the more virulent A. aegypti.

But A. albopictus is hardier than its relatives, and travels longer distances from the equator. In the past 30 years, researchers have watched them move throughout Southeast Asia to Northern Asia to Europe to the United States. Combined with the fact that certain mutations of the chikungunya virus are now carried by these mosquitoes, more and more researchers believe finding a suitable eradication strategy is crucial.

A team of collaborators from the GM insect technology company Oxitec, Imperial College, and the University of Oxford took the first steps forward, showing they could stably deliver a transgene to A. albopictus embryos, the first genetic modification ever to be done on Asian Tiger mosquitoes.

Anopheles stephensi

Anopheles stephensi is a type of mosquito that can become infected by Plasmodium, parasitic protozoans that cause malaria in humans.

Two studies highlight different ways to get these mosquitoes to resist infection by Plasmodium strains. First, George Dimopoulos’s team at Johns Hopkins University created a genetically modified mosquito by triggering a certain protein (Rel2) to boost the bug’s immunity when it drank blood. The results showed that his genetic trigger worked: Rel2 increased after feeding, and there were fewer traces of Plasmodiumin the genetically modified insect’s saliva compared to the controls.

In a second study, led by Anthony James at UC Irvine, scientists showed that by introducing new genes that coded for immune system components from both mosquitoes and mice, they could create a transgenic insect that was resistant to the Plasmodium parasite.

Anopheles albimanus

George Dimopoulos, the researcher who showed that tweaking the Rel2 protein in A. stephensi turned on the insect’s immune system after a blood meal, has also done similar work in A. albimanus. In his proof-of-concept studies, he discovered that artificially increasing or decreasing Rel2 caused certain of the mosquitoe's immunity genes to turn on or off, respectively.

Anopheles gambiae

Anopheles gambiae is the most important Anopheles species for malaria in Africa.

A group led by Steven Sinkins at the University of Oxford found that simply introducing a modifiedWalbachia strain was enough to shorten the insect's lifespan, halt the development of the Plasmodiumpathogen, and activate the parts of the mosquito’s immune system that affect whether an infective parasite will live or die within the host.

Warmer Planet Could Be Dominated by Mosquitoes, Tics, Rodents and Jellyfish

Two mammal-eating "transient" killer whales photographed off the south side of Unimak Island, eastern Aleutian Islands, Alaska Image: Robert Pittman/Alaska Fisheries Science Center

Supplemental Material

• Overview The Future of Climate Change

Imagine a planet where jellyfishrule the seas, giant rodents roam the mountains and swarms of insects blur everything in sight. It may sound far-fetched, but enough global warming is likely to change the distribution of wildlife on Earth. While species that are under threat, such as the polar bear, seem to get all the attention, others are beginning to thrive like never before.

In the past three months, new studies have been published about killer whales, wandering albatross and trumpeter swans—all of which appear to be benefiting from climate change.

Melting ice is turning the Arctic Sea into a giant buffet for killer whales. They have been arriving in growing numbers to feed on belugas, seals and narwhals, according to a recent study by scientists from the University of Manitoba. Warmer temperatures make it easier for the whales to hunt because their prey is less likely to climb onto sea ice or hide below it to escape.

At the opposite end of the world, in Antarctica's Southern Ocean, changing winds have been helping the wandering albatross find food faster. Researchers say global warming has produced stronger air currents that allow the birds to spend less time away from their nests, increasing the odds that their chicks will survive.

"The duration of foraging trips has decreased, breeding success has improved and birds have increased in mass by more than 1 kilogram," wrote the study's authors, who called their findings "positive consequences of climate change."

In Arctic areas, global warming is happening at roughly twice the average speed, which has allowed Alaska's trumpeter swans to expand their breeding grounds northward into regions that were previously too cold, according to a study published in Wildlife Biology in December.

"We knew that the population was expanding, both in numbers and spatially on the landscape," said Joshua Schmidt, a biometrician for the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program and a co-author of the study.

Ice age veterans swan around

After analyzing more than 40 years of data, researchers discovered the swans were benefiting in two ways from global warming: They had expanded their territory northward, and they were seeing about three more snow-free days than before 1940. These shorter winters mean the swans—which were hunted to the brink of extinction in the 1800s—now have more time to eat and grow strong before embarking on a long migration to the Pacific Northwest each fall, improving their chances for survival.

"Swans have been through an ice age or two, so climate change isn't something they haven't seen before," said James King, a biologist who used to work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska. After studying swans for about 50 years, King believes the birds "know how to deal with climate change." Historically, they have found ways to outsmart the cold by nesting near hot springs, which prolongs their breeding season, he said.

"There will definitely be some animals that will do better with longer summer and milder winter," said Paul Curtis, an extension wildlife specialist at Cornell University. "Fifty years from now, central New York may be as warm as North or South Carolina. It's a much faster change than we've seen any time historically, and it's just a question of how some of these species will respond."

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White-tailed deer in the northern United States are already showing a population boom thanks to this year's lack of snowfall, which has made it easier for the animals to find food, said Curtis. He also believes a warmer spring could benefit snakes and salamanders, giving them more time to grow and add to their fat reserves.

A 2010 study in the journal Nature reported that yellow-bellied marmots in Colorado's Rocky Mountains are also flourishing thanks to climate change. The squirrel-like mammals can lose up to 40 percent of their body mass during hibernation, and longer summers are giving them more time to eat and store fat, helping them live through the winter and reproduce the following year. The adult marmots have gained half a pound on average and their numbers have more than doubled from 2000 to 2010, said researchers.

Acid-loving jellyfish?

Jellyfish populations are also suspected to be swelling because of climate change. In recent years, the creatures have been clogging the nets of fishermen, stinging record numbers of beachgoers and blocking the water intake lines of power plants in at least three countries. Some scientists are linking the phenomenon to warmer waters and ocean acidification caused by high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Studies have found that today's oceans are 30 percent more acidic than in the 18th century, when the Industrial Revolution began.

However, a lack of historical data on jellyfish populations has caused some scientists to question whether the apparent boom is actually connected toglobal warming. A project called the Jellyfish Database Initiative was recently launched to determine whether the increases are happening on a global scale and if they could be part of a natural cycle.

Another creature that is likely to flourish in warmer waters is theSchistocephalus solidus tapeworm. The parasite spends most of its life growing inside the three-spined stickleback fish, which is about the size of a small sardine and lives in oceans and lakes throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

Scientists at the University of Leicester placed infected sticklebacks into a tank of water at 68 degrees Fahrenheit—about 9 degrees warmer than a typical summer's day in Britain—and found the tapeworms to grow four times faster than normal. The ordinary worms were able to produce about 12,000 eggs, while the larger worms laid almost 200,000, according to data published in the journal Global Change Biology in November.

Certain species of insects, like mosquitoes, ticks and invasive beetles, are also expected to benefit from warmer temperatures. In fact, a 2003 study published by the Ecological Society of America concluded that "all aspects of insect outbreak behavior will intensify as the climate warms."

Fewer ticks, fleas and beetles freeze

Extreme cold spells can kill a percentage of hibernating insects each winter, says Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, a professor of entomology at Cornell University. Without these cold spells, more insects are likely to emerge in the spring.

"I anticipate the mosquito problems we normally see to be much more intense and begin earlier than usual if the weather continues to be mild," said Kaufmann, who believes ticks and fleas will also be able to feed more frequently thanks to warmer winter days.

Future levels of carbon dioxide may help beetles, as well, according to researchers from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, who found that Japanese beetles lived longer and laid more eggs after eating leaves that were grown in an environment with additional carbon dioxide.

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"What we really don't know is what the long-term consequences of climate change are," explained Curtis. "There will definitely be winners and losers, and it's hard to predict what some of those will be." He said animals that can migrate—like whales and birds—are more likely to adapt, while species bound to a particular environment, or food source, will face greater challenges.

Even creatures that appear to be benefiting today may not be so lucky in the future.

Scientists predict the winds that are helping the wandering albatross will become increasingly violent by the end of the century, threatening the birds' survival. And Colorado's marmots don't easily adapt to heat, so rising temperatures may soon put them—and the plants they eat—at risk.

"It's hard to say if swans will even benefit long-term," said Schmidt, who explained that the ponds they live in may already be drying up. "If those sorts of things are occurring, it might be a zero-sum game. Or it might be negative."

Deadly Alcohol Needs Global Regulation, Health Expert Says

Image: Flickr/pamlane

When considering the world's worst killers, alcohol likely doesn't come to mind. Yet alcohol kills more than 2.5 million people annually, more than AIDS, malariaor tuberculosis.

For middle-income people, who constitute half the world's population, alcohol is the top health risk factor, greater than obesity, inactivity and even tobacco.

The World Health Organization has meticulously documented the extent ofalcohol abuse in recent years and has published solid recommendations on how to reduce alcohol-related deaths, but this doesn't go far enough, according to Devi Sridhar, a health-policy expert at the University of Cambridge.

In a commentary appearing today (Feb. 15) in the journal Nature, Sridhar argues that the WHO should regulate alcohol at the global level, enforcing such regulations as a minimum drinking age, zero-tolerance drunken driving, and bans on unlimited drink specials. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.) Abiding by the regulations would be mandatory for the WHO's 194 member states.

Far from prohibition, the WHO regulations would force nations to strengthen weak drinking laws and better enforce laws already in place, Sridhar says.

Approaching a bottle a day

Alcohol consumption is measured in terms of pure ethyl alcohol to compensate for the varying strengths of beer, wine and spirits. A liter bottle of wine with 10 percent alcohol, for example, would be only 0.1 liter of pure alcohol. According to the WHO, Americans each drink 9.4 liters of ethyl alcohol per year on average. That's equivalent to 94 bottles of the aforementioned wine. [See list of top 20 booze-consuming countries]

As high as that might sound, Americans don't even crack the top 50 on the world charts. Europe, in particular Eastern Europe, dominates the drinking scene. Moldova has the top drinkers, downing 18.4 liters of alcohol per capita yearly. That's equivalent to 184 1-liter bottles of wine, or nearly four bottles a week per person. The legal drinking age in Moldova is 16, and there are few restrictions on when or where alcohol can be sold.

The price of such alcohol abuse is early death. One in five men in the Russian Federation and neighboring European countries dies as a result of alcohol, according to WHO data. Alcohol abuse is associated with cardiovascular diseases, cirrhosis of the liver, various cancers, violence and vehicle accidents. Alcoholic adults have difficulty working and supporting their families, too.

Sobering recommendations

Sridhar argues that the WHO is unique among health organizations in that it can create legally binding conventions. The WHO has done this only twice in its 64-year history: the International Health Regulations, which require countries to report certain disease outbreaks and public-health events; and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which commits governments to making legislative moves to reduce the demand for, and the supply of, tobacco.

No other entity can attack the global problem of alcohol abuse, she said. When it comes to alcohol, though, the WHO has settled on merely recommendations, such as those outlined in the 2010 WHO Global Strategy to Reduce Harmful Use of Alcohol.

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"Countries are aware of the problem, but several haven't made a real commitment to implementing the recommendations," Sridhar told LiveScience. "The problem is not with ministries of health but with ministries of finance, trade, etc. who prioritize other interests first."

In her Nature commentary, Sridhar said that the existing WHO recommendations could serve as the framework for a new international convention on alcohol regulation. Yet even the United States would struggle to meet several of the 10 recommended target areas, which include advertising restrictions, price hikes and tougher laws against drunken driving.

"Ministries of health would have a stronger domestic negotiating position in prioritizing alcohol regulation above economic concerns," with the WHO muscle behind them, she wrote.

Alas, football ads might never be the same.

Christopher Wanjek is the author of the books "Bad Medicine" and "Food At Work." His column, Bad Medicine, appears regularly on LiveScience.

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