clock | April 23, 2009Sexual Harassment From Males Prevents Female Bonding, Fish Study Shows:
The extent to which sexual harassment from males can damage relationships between females is revealed in a new study. Led by the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour at the University of Exeter and published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the research uncovers the effect of sexual harassment on the ability of female fish to form social bonds with each other.
Fish Researcher Demonstrates First 'Non-visual Feeding' By African Cichlids:
Most fish rely primarily on their vision to find prey to feed upon, but a…
clock | April 22, 2009Time engraves our faces with all the tears we have not shed.
- Natalie Clifford Barney
clock | April 22, 2009There are 24 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
When One Hemisphere Takes Control: Metacontrol in Pigeons (Columba livia):
Vertebrate brains are composed of two hemispheres that receive input, compute, and interact to form a unified response. How the partially…
clock | April 22, 2009Guam Rhino Beetles Got Rhythm:
In May 2008 the island of Guam became a living laboratory for scientists as they attached acoustic equipment to coconut trees in order to listen for rhinoceros beetles. A grant from USDA IPM allowed Richard Mankin, a recognized world-class expert on acoustic detection of insects, to travel to Guam to collaborate with island scientists on the Guam Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Eradication Project.
Secret To Night Vision Found In DNA's Unconventional 'Architecture':
Researchers have discovered an important element for making night vision possible in nocturnal mammals…
clock | April 21, 2009Few colors last; with their eternal thirst, time and light suck on them, and they bleach the black doctor's hat until it's grey like a dunce's cap.
- Franz Grillparzer
clock | April 21, 2009The UCLA Pro-Test is tomorrow. If you live there - go. If not, prepare yourself for inevitable discussions - online and offline - by getting informed. And my fellow science bloggers have certainly provided plenty of food for thought on the issue of use of animals in research.
First, you have to read Janet Stemwedel's ongoing series (5 parts so far, but more are coming) about the potential for dialogue between the two (or more) sides:
Impediments to dialogue about animal research (part 1).:
Now, maybe it's the case that everyone who cares at all has staked out a position on the use of animals…
clock | April 21, 2009There are 18 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click.
Also, check out the interview with our Section Editor for Aquatic and Marine Sciences, Craig McClain.
Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Rare Species Are Valued Big Time:
It has recently been postulated that the value humans place on rarity could…
clock | April 21, 2009Scientia Pro Publica #2 is up on Living the Scientific Life
Grand Rounds, Vol. 5, No. 31 are up on Diabetes Mine
Carnival of the Green #176 is up on Mother Nature Network
clock | April 20, 2009I was born not knowing and have only had a little time to change that here and there.
- Richard Feynman
clock | April 20, 2009Lizards Bask In The Sun For A Vitamin D Boost:
Keeping warm isn't the only reason lizards and other cold-blooded critters bask in the sun. According to a study published in the May/June issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, chameleons alter their sunbathing behavior based on their need for vitamin D.
Breaking The Animal Kingdom's Color Code:
Research spearheaded by the University of York has used computer models to explain the evolution of the distinctive colouring of many species of wildlife. Charles Darwin was fascinated by the colours of animals - he once wrote to his colleague…
clock | April 19, 2009There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.
- Albert Schweitzer
clock | April 19, 2009
I know it's been a couple of months now since the ScienceOnline'09 and I have reviewed only a couple of sessions I myself attended and did not do the others. I don't know if I will ever make it to reviewing them one by one, but other people's reviews on them are under the fold here. For my previous reviews of individual sessions, see this, this, this, this and this.
What I'd like to do today is pick up on a vibe I felt throughout the meeting. And that is the question of Power. The word has a number of dictionary meanings, but they are all related. I'll try to relate them here and hope you…
clock | April 19, 2009Scorpion Biodiversity Seen In 'Evolution Canyon':
Scorpions possess resistance to high temperatures and the ability to conserve water for long periods of time, and as a result thrive in hot and arid parts of the world. But is this global distribution also seen at a more local level? Doctoral student Shmuel Raz and colleagues at the University of Haifa, Israel now show that this is indeed the case, even when European-like and African-like habitats were separated by no more than 100 metres.
Melatonin Is An Effective Treatment For Sleep Problems In Children With Autism, Study Suggests:
A new…
clock | April 18, 2009Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.
- Jeff Valdez
clock | April 18, 2009Italian scientist, turning 100, still works:
Rita Levi Montalcini, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, said Saturday that even though she is about to turn 100, her mind is sharper than it was she when she was 20.
Levi Montalcini, who also serves as a senator for life in Italy, celebrates her 100th birthday on Wednesday, and she spoke at a ceremony held in her honor by the European Brain Research Institute.
She shared the 1986 Nobel Prize for Medicine with American Stanley Cohen for discovering mechanisms that regulate the growth of cells and organs.
"At 100, I have a mind that is superior --…
clock | April 18, 2009When reading fairy tales as a kid, I always wondered at the end how that 'happily ever after' looked like. I never imagined it, in my childhood innocence, that it would be like this:
clock | April 18, 2009Today (yes, I know, it was leaked last night), President Obama announced that the first nations' Chief Technology Officer will be Aneesh Paul Chopra.
The Silicon Valley folks are not pleased. Tim O'Reilly thinks he is an excellent choice. What do you think?
clock | April 18, 2009Scorpion Venom With Nanoparticles Slows Spread Of Brain Cancer:
By combining nanoparticles with a scorpion venom compound already being investigated for treating brain cancer, University of Washington researchers found they could cut the spread of cancerous cells by 98 percent, compared to 45 percent for the scorpion venom alone.
RNA Used To Reprogram One Cell Type Into Another:
For the past decade, researchers have tried to tweak cells at the gene and nucleus level to reprogram their identity. Now, working on the idea that the signature of a cell is defined by molecules called messenger RNAs…
clock | April 17, 2009A man has no more character than he can command in a time of crisis.
- Ralph W. Sockman