Science News
clock | January 25, 2008EDGE Amphibians: World's Weirdest Creatures Just Got Weirder:
A gigantic, ancient relative of the newt, a drawing-pin sized frog, a limbless, tentacled amphibian and a blind see-through salamander have all made it onto a list of the world's weirdest and most endangered creatures.
Scientists Look At Those In Evolutionary Race Who Don't Make It 'Out Of The Gate':
In the race of evolution, scientists until now have only looked at winners and losers. Now, they've come up with a way to look at the contenders who never made it out of the gate. It's the organisms -- in this case lizards -- that die…
clock | January 25, 2008Friday - time to take a look at the new articles in PLoS Computational Biology, Genetics and Pathogens - check them all out, but here are a couple of picks:
Exploration of Small RNAs:
There is substantial interest in noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), which play an essential role in complex biological systems without encoding for proteins. Only a limited number of ncRNAs, such as ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA), have previously been characterized in any depth. Recent studies revealed many novel ncRNAs, covering a wide range of sizes [1]. RNA molecules have several functions including…
clock | January 24, 2008Seismic Images Show Dinosaur-killing Meteor Made Bigger Splash:
The most detailed three-dimensional seismic images yet of the Chicxulub crater, a mostly submerged and buried impact crater on the Mexico coast, may modify a theory explaining the extinction of 70 percent of life on Earth 65 million years ago.
Jacky Dragons Are Born When The Temperature Is Right For Their Sex:
An Iowa State University researcher spent four years in Australia studying reptiles. Dan Warner, a researcher in the ecology, evolution and organismal biology department, has been working with the jacky dragon, a lizard…
clock | January 22, 2008There is a lot of new stuff published this week in PLoS Biology, PLoS Medicine, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases and PLoS ONE.
Molecular Studies in Treponema pallidum Evolution: Toward Clarity? is an Expert Commentary on last week's (widely reported) study On the Origin of the Treponematoses: A Phylogenetic Approach (the paper that suggests that Columbus brought syphilis from the New World back to Europe).
Looking at the 33 new articles on PLoS ONE, here are a few titles I found intriguing:
Seasonal Changes in Mood and Behavior Are Linked to Metabolic Syndrome:
Obesity is a major public…
j7uy5 | January 21, 2008Deputy Dog has a post detailing "
href="http://deputy-dog.com/2008/01/04/5-unbelievably-cool-research-facilities/">5
unbelievably cool research facilities." The one
shown here is the Z
Machine, at the Sandia National Lab in Albuquerque, New
Mexico.
(Sandia Labs have more than one location.)
src="http://www.sandia.gov/images/logo.gif" align="left"
height="60" width="151">This device produces X-rays.
Sure, there are a lot of X-ray machines. But only
one can burn 290 trillion watts. That is about 80 times the
entire world's production of electricity, although it only lasts for…
clock | January 16, 2008Lots of cool stuff at PLoS lately....
First, there is a great review in PLoS Medicine, that should be of interest to scienceblogs.com readers: Plague: Past, Present, and Future:
The causative bacterium (Yersinia pestis) was discovered by Yersin in 1894 [11] (see also [63]). Case-fatality ratio varies from 30% to 100%, if left untreated. Plague is endemic in many countries in the Americas, Asia, and Africa. More than 90% of cases are currently being reported from Africa.
Clinical presentation: After an incubation period of 3-7 days, patients typically experience a sudden onset of fever, chills…
evolgen | January 16, 2008Alex is pissed about science writers neglecting important discoveries in cell biology:
Why are cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, microbiology never covered in the media? I've spoken to so many science journalists - most of whom have no science training. I've come to the conclusion that the barrier is too high - as a result when it comes time to write about these topics, most science journalists end up writing about "genomes" and "junk DNA". These are easy subjects - sometimes they're discussed within the framework of evolution, but never within the context of "how a cell or an…
clock | January 13, 2008Culture Influences Brain Function, Study Shows:
People from different cultures use their brains differently to solve the same visual perceptual tasks, MIT researchers and colleagues report in the first brain imaging study of its kind.
Aroma Of Chocolate Chip Cookies Prompts Splurging On Expensive Sweaters:
Exposure to something that whets the appetite, such as a picture of a mouthwatering dessert, can make a person more impulsive with unrelated purchases, finds a study from the February 2008 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. For example, the researchers reveal in one experiment that…
clock | January 12, 2008OK, this may not be very new, but for all of you taking a look at science in North Carolina next week due to the focus on the Science Blogging Conference, The Scientist has published a number of essays looking at every aspect of Life Science in the state - check it out: The State of Life Sciences.
For the latest news on life science in North Carolina, visit the Bioscience Clearinghouse, a very useful website hosted by The North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research.
clock | January 12, 2008Some Birds Can Communicate About Behavior Of Predators:
With the aid of various alarm calls the Siberian jay bird species tells other members of its group what their main predators-¬hawks¬-are doing. The alarm calls are sufficient for Siberian jays to evince situation-specific fleeing behaviors, which enhances their chances of survival. This discovery, being published by Uppsala University researcher Michael Griesser in the journal Current Biology, shows for the first time that animals can assess and communicate about the behavior of predators.
High Degree Of Antibiotic Resistance Found In…
evolgen | January 10, 2008John Timmer has a must read post on the coverage of science in the New York Times editorial pages. The science section of the NYTimes is probably the best in the country. Carl Zimmer leads the way, and there are many other solid science writers published by the NYTimes. Even Nicholas Wade, who has a known diction problem, manages to produce some pretty good articles.
This excellence in science reporting does not extend to the opinion pages. From Behe's article on Intelligent Design to Sam Brownback writing about evolution to a questionable piece on fMRI and politics the track record on the…
clock | January 10, 2008Ancient Cave Bears Were As Omnivorous As Modern Bears:
Rather than being gentle giants, new research reveals that Pleistocene cave bears ate both plants and animals and competed for food with the other contemporary large carnivores of the time: hyaenas, lions, wolves, and our own human ancestors.
More
Chimpanzees May Build Their 'Cultures' In A Similar Way To Humans:
Socially-learned cultural behaviour thought to be unique to humans is also found among chimpanzees colonies, scientists at the University of Liverpool have found. Historically, scientists believed that behavioural differences…
clock | January 9, 200824 new article got published on PLoS ONE last night. Here are some interesting titles for you to check out (and then look around at others, add comments, annotations and ratings, and blog about them):
Self Assessment in Insects: Honeybee Queens Know Their Own Strength:
Contests mediate access to reproductive opportunities in almost all species of animals. An important aspect of the evolution of contests is the reduction of the costs incurred during intra-specific encounters to a minimum. However, escalated fights are commonly lethal in some species like the honeybee, Apis mellifera. By…
clock | January 9, 2008Size Doesn't Matter To Fighting Fiddler Crabs:
A person's home may be their castle and in the world of the fiddler crabs having the home advantage makes it a near certainty that you'll win a battle against an intruder - regardless of your opponent's size. That's one of the findings of a new study by a research team from The Australian National University. The team, working from the University's Darwin research station, set out to discover why male fiddler crabs have an 'owner advantage' when defending their burrow that equates to a 92 per cent success rate.
Related
Researchers Use Magnetic…
clock | January 7, 2008
I had no time to read this in detail and write a really decent overview here, perhaps I will do it later, but for now, here are the links and key excerpts from a pair of exciting new papers in PLoS Biology and PLoS ONE, which describe the patterns of expression of a second type of cryptochrome gene in Monarch butterflies.
This cryptochrome (Cry) is more similar to the vertebrate Cry than the insect Cry, also present in this butterfly. The temporal and spatial patterns of expression of the two types of Cry suggest that they may be involved in the transfer of time-information from the…
clock | January 7, 2008Does Biology Matter When Predicting How Animals Will Respond To Climate Change?:
Most predictions of how animals will move in changing climates rely on statistically relating an animal's current location to environmental conditions. This approach ignores potentially important aspects of an animal's biology including size, physiology, and behavior.
Related
Evolution Of Male-female Differences Within A Shared Genome:
One of the major components of the world's biological diversity are the differences between males and females in traits related to mating, including weapons used when competing for…
clock | January 7, 2008From Theory to Practice: Translating Research into Health Outcomes:
A research article by Kay-Tee Khaw and colleagues in this issue of PLoS Medicine [1] quantifies the benefits of adopting not just one but four healthy forms of behavior. Compared with people who do not engage in any of these behaviors, people in this United Kingdom study who drank in moderation, did not smoke, took exercise, and ate an adequate amount of fruit and vegetables were calculated to live an additional 14 years. Clearly, these striking findings are of relevance, not only for health researchers and public policy…
clock | January 4, 2008Bright Light Therapy Eases Bipolar Depression For Some:
Bright light therapy can ease bipolar depression in some patients, according to a study published in the journal Bipolar Disorders. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic studied nine women with bipolar disorder to examine the effects of light therapy in the morning or at midday on mood symptoms.
Insect Attack May Have Finished Off Dinosaurs:
Asteroid impacts or massive volcanic flows might have occurred around the time dinosaurs became extinct, but a new arguemet is…
clock | January 2, 2008Fresh Fossil Evidence Of Eye Forerunner Uncovered:
Ancient armoured fish fossils from Australia present some of the first definite fossil evidence of a forerunner to the human eye, a scientist from The Australian National University says.
Parents Show Bias In Sibling Rivalry, Says Study:
Most parents would hotly deny favouring one child over another but new research suggests they may have little choice in the matter.
Lack Of Deep Sleep May Increase Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes:
Suppression of slow-wave sleep in healthy young adults significantly decreases their ability to regulate blood-sugar…
clock | January 2, 2008Holidays slightly altered the publication dates at PLoS this week, so I had to wait until Wednesday to bring you my picks from PLoS Biology, PLoS Medicine and PLoS ONE. Of course, look beyond my own picks and look at all the new articles to see what you are interested in:
Recurring Ethanol Exposure Induces Disinhibited Courtship in Drosophila:
Alcohol has a strong causal relationship with sexual arousal and disinhibited sexual behavior in humans; however, the physiological support for this notion is largely lacking and thus a suitable animal model to address this issue is instrumental. We…