Science News
clock | November 18, 2008Specialization Does Not Predict Individual Efficiency in an Ant:
Social insects, including ants, bees, and termites, may make up 75% of the world's insect biomass. This success is often attributed to their complex colony organization. Each individual is thought to specialize in a particular task and thus become an "expert" for this task. Researchers have long assumed that the ecological success of social insects derives from division of labor, just as the increase in productivity achieved in human societies; however, this assumption has not been thoroughly tested. Here, I have measured task…
j7uy5 | November 17, 2008The Cassini orbiter shows us what is happening in the final frontier:
This is an aurora on Saturn. It's false-color, obviously. The
technique is explained on the
href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia11396.html">NASA
site:
This image of the northern polar region of Saturn
shows both the aurora and underlying atmosphere, seen at two different
wavelengths of infrared light as captured by NASA’s Cassini
spacecraft.
Energetic particles, crashing into the upper atmosphere cause the
aurora, shown in blue, to glow brightly at 4 microns (six times the
wavelength…
clock | November 17, 2008Female Embryonic Sexual Development Driven By Universal Factor:
A gene essential to the growth and development of most organ systems in the body also is vital to female - but not male - embryonic sexual development, scientists report this month.
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In the early days of research into sexual development, it was thought that all females had two X chromosomes, all males had an X and a Y, and that the Y made all the difference. Unless it had a Y chromosome, an embryo developed ovaries and became female, more or less by default, scientists thought. They even found a specific…
sb admin | November 16, 2008
Population biologists often want to infer the demographic history of the species they study. This includes identifying population subdivision, expansion, and bottlenecks. Genetic data sampled from multiple individuals can often be applied to study population structure. When phylogenetic methods are used to link evolutionary relationships to geography, the approaches fall under the guise of phylogeography.
The past decade has seen the rise in popularity of a particular phylogeographical approach for intra-specific data: nested clade analysis (Templeton et al. 1995; Templeton 2004). Many of…
clock | November 15, 2008
Dinosaur Whodunit: Solving A 77-million-year-old Mystery:
It has all the hallmarks of a Cretaceous melodrama. A dinosaur sits on her nest of a dozen eggs on a sandy river beach. Water levels rise, and the mother is faced with a dilemma: Stay or abandon her unhatched offspring to the flood and scramble to safety? Seventy-seven million years later, scientific detective work conducted by University of Calgary and Royal Tyrrell Museum researchers used this unique fossil nest and eggs to learn more about how nest building, brooding and eggs evolved. But there is a big unresolved question: Who was…
clock | November 14, 2008There are 11 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:
Global Taxonomic Diversity of Anomodonts (Tetrapoda, Therapsida) and the Terrestrial Rock Record Across the Permian-Triassic Boundary:
The end-Permian biotic crisis (~252.5 Ma) represents the most severe extinction…
j7uy5 | November 14, 2008This is an illustration of Basilosaurus, a fossil
whale discovered in
Egypt by Phil Gingerich and colleagues. Gingerich is the guy
who taught me everything I know knew about collecting fossils.
I wanted on the team that went to Egypt, though. I had other
priorities, like medical school. Can't do everything.
Anyway, here is an illustration of the critter:
Yes, those are legs on that whale. The successful excavation
of the 16-meter (50-foot) specimen is noted at
href="http://www.nature-spot.com/2008/11/u-m-team-recovers-ancient-whale-in.html">Amazing
Nature.
Obviously,…
clock | November 14, 2008
Watching Television, Channeling Unhappiness?:
Are happy or unhappy people more attracted to television? This question is addressed by a new 30-year analysis1 of US national data of nearly 30,000 adults by John Robinson and Steven Martin from the University of Maryland in the US. Examining the activity patterns of happy and less happy people in the General Social Survey (GSS) between 1975 and 2006, the authors found that happy people were more socially active, attended more religious services, voted more and read more newspapers.
Risky Decision-making Essential To Entrepreneurialism,…
clock | November 13, 2008So, let's see what's new in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens, and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases this week. 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:
A Hierarchy of Time-Scales and the Brain:
Currently, there is no theory that explains how the large-scale organization of the…
clock | November 13, 2008There are 10 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:
Individually Unique Body Color Patterns in Octopus (Wunderpus photogenicus) Allow for Photoidentification:
Studies on the longevity and migration patterns of wild animals rely heavily on the ability to track…
clock | November 13, 2008Global Warming Link To Amphibian Declines In Doubt:
Evidence that global warming is causing the worldwide declines of amphibians may not be as conclusive as previously thought, according to biologists. The findings, which contradict two widely held views, could help reveal what is killing the frogs and toads and aid in their conservation.
Drought Tolerant Plants? New Technique Enables Assessment Of Drought Performance:
Measurement of chlorophyll fluorescence is an effective way of determining how well plants can cope with low-water conditions. The technique allows a quantitative and precise…
clock | November 12, 2008There are 10 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:
The Relative Influence of Competition and Prey Defenses on the Phenotypic Structure of Insectivorous Bat Ensembles in Southern Africa:
Deterministic filters such as competition and prey defences should have a strong…
clock | November 12, 2008Ice Age Beasts In Europe: Migration Of The Woolly Rhinoceros Earlier Than Assumed:
The newly described skull of the oldest woolly rhinoceros in Europe shows that these giant creatures - with two impressively large horns on the bridge of their noses - once roamed across central Germany. The large shaggy mammals grazed at the foot of the Kyffhäuser range, whose unforested, rocky slopes loomed out of the broad, bleak plains of northern Thuringia 460,000 years ago. The climate at this time was icy cold and far drier than today.
Evolution's New Wrinkle: Proteins With 'Cruise Control' Act Like…
clock | November 11, 2008There are 13 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, from CiteULike, Connotea and Stumbleupon, to Facebook and Digg, with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
The Absolute Threshold of Colour Vision in the Horse:
Arrhythmic mammals are active both during day and night if they are allowed. The arrhythmic horses are in possession of one of the largest terrestrial…
clock | November 11, 2008Getting Little Sleep May Be Associated With Risk Of Heart Disease (this is chronic sleep deprivation):
Sleeping less than seven and a half hours per day may be associated with future risk of heart disease, according to a new article. In addition, a combination of little sleep and overnight elevated blood pressure appears to be associated with an increased risk of the disease.
Daily Rhythms In Blood Vessels May Explain Morning Peak In Heart Attacks:
It's not just the stress of going to work. Daily rhythms in the activity of cells that line blood vessels may help explain why heart attacks and…
clock | November 10, 2008There are 10 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. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Imitation of Body Movements Facilitated by Joint Attention through Eye Contact and Pointing in Japanese Monkey:
Eye contact and pointing are typical gestures in order to direct another individual's attention toward a target. We previously investigated on Japanese monkeys whether joint attention ability encouraged by eye contact and pointing was associated…
clock | November 10, 2008Red-eyed Treefrog Embryos Actively Avoid Asphyxiation Inside Their Eggs:
Boston University undergraduate Jessica Rogge and associate professor Karen Warkentin, working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's laboratories in Gamboa, Panama, discovered that frog embryos at a very early developmental stage actively respond to oxygen levels in the egg--as reported in the Journal of Experimental Biology. These initial responses to the environment may be critical to the frogs' long-term survival.
DNA Provides 'Smoking Gun' In The Case Of The Missing Songbirds:
It sounds like a tale…
clock | November 9, 2008So, let's see what's new in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens, PLoS ONE and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
The Evolutionary Dynamics of the Lion Panthera leo Revealed by Host and Viral Population Genomics:
The lion Panthera leo, a formidable carnivore with a complex cooperative social system, has fascinated humanity since pre-historical times, inspiring hundreds…
clock | November 9, 2008Social Interactions Can Alter Gene Expression In Brain, And Vice Versa:
Our DNA determines a lot about who we are and how we play with others, but recent studies of social animals (birds and bees, among others) show that the interaction between genes and behavior is more of a two-way street than most of us realize.
Playing A Game Shows How Personalities Evolved:
Why do some of us always do the right thing while others only seem to be out for themselves? Research by the universities of Exeter and Bristol offers a new explanation as to why such a wide range of personality traits has evolved in…
clock | November 7, 2008'Beauty Machine' Makes Average Face A Knockout With A Single Click:
Our mothers told us that true beauty is more than skin deep -- but researchers from Tel Aviv University are now challenging Mom. They've built a beauty machine that, with the press of a button, turns a picture of your own ordinary face into that of a cover model. While its output is currently limited to digitized images, the software may be able to guide plastic surgeons, aid magazine cover editors, and even become a feature incorporated into all digital cameras.
Bullies May Enjoy Seeing Others In Pain:
Unusually aggressive…