Science News
clock | October 15, 2007Monday - the day for checking in PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine for the newest published articles. And there is some good stuff:
Characterization of Sleep in Zebrafish and Insomnia in Hypocretin Receptor Mutants
Sleep disorders are common and poorly understood. Further, how and why the brain generates sleep is the object of intense speculations. In this study, we demonstrate that a bony fish used for genetic studies sleeps and that a molecule, hypocretin, involved in causing narcolepsy, is conserved. In humans, narcolepsy is a sleep disorder associated with sleepiness, abnormal dreaming, and…
clock | October 14, 2007
Humans Perceive Others' Fear Faster Than Other Emotions:
You may not be fully dressed without a smile, but a look of horror will make a faster first impression. Vanderbilt University researchers have discovered that the brain becomes aware of fearful faces more quickly than those showing other emotions.
Pasturing Cows Convert Soil To A Source Of Methane, Potent Greenhouse Gas:
The cow as a killer of the climate: This inglorious role of our four-legged friends, peaceful in itself, is well-enough recognised, because, with their digestion, the animals produce methane, which is expelled…
clock | October 12, 2007As always on Fridays, there are new articles published in PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Genetics and PLoS Pathogens. Look around to see what's new. My pick for this week:
Inconsistencies in Neanderthal Genomic DNA Sequences:
One of the enduring questions in human evolution is the relationship of fossil groups, such as Neanderthals, with people alive today. Were Neanderthals direct ancestors of contemporary humans or an evolutionary side branch that eventually died out? Two recent papers describing the sequencing of Neanderthal nuclear DNA from fossil bone held promise for finally…
clock | October 12, 2007New Hearing Mechanism Discovered:
MIT researchers have discovered a hearing mechanism that fundamentally changes the current understanding of inner ear function. This new mechanism could help explain the ear's remarkable ability to sense and discriminate sounds. Its discovery could eventually lead to improved systems for restoring hearing.
People Are Programmed To Love Chocolate, Study Finds:
For the first time, scientists have linked the all-too-human preference for a food -- chocolate -- to a specific, chemical signature that may be programmed into the metabolic system and is detectable by…
clock | October 11, 2007Herding Aphids: How 'Farmer' Ants Keep Control Of Their Food:
Chemicals on ants' feet tranquilise and subdue colonies of aphids, keeping them close-by as a ready source of food, says new research. The study throws new light on the complex relationship between ants and the colonies of aphids whose sugary secretions the ants eat.
Discovery Of Retinal Cell Type Ends 40-year Search:
A research team combining high-energy physicists from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and neuroscientists from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif., has discovered a type of retinal cell that may help…
clock | October 10, 2007Tiny Crow Camera Spies On Clever Birds:
A new technique developed by Oxford University zoologists enables researchers to 'hitch a ride' with wild birds and witness their natural and undisturbed behaviour. The scientists developed miniaturised video cameras with integrated radio-tags that can be carried by wild, free-flying birds. Using this new 'video-tracking' technology, they spied on the behaviour of New Caledonian crows, a species renowned for its sophisticated use of tools, recording behaviours never seen before.
Diet With A Little Meat Uses Less Land Than Many Vegetarian Diets:
A low-…
clock | October 9, 2007As usual on Tuesday nights, lots of cool stuff got published on PLoS ONE today. Here are some of my picks, but you should check all 30 of them (so, this week I am correct - there are now 1000+ articles on PLoS ONE):
Large-Scale Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of the Domestic Goat Reveals Six Haplogroups with High Diversity:
Studying the genetic diversity of domesticated animals can provide insights into their domestication, and even the history of human migration. In this paper Pompanon and colleagues study mitochondrial DNA diversity of the domestic goat from 2430 animals from widespread Old…
clock | October 9, 2007A newspaper should hire me to be that guy whose only job is to write titles and headlines. I can make them as misleading and sensationalist as the best of 'em!
But really, this year's Nobel Prize for Physics is going to Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg for the invention of Giant Magnetoresistance. And yes, one of the many thingamajigs that uses this technology is iPod. But it makes for such a cool headline....
clock | October 9, 2007
Why Are Huge Numbers Of Camels Dying In Africa And Saudi Arabia?:
More than 2000 dromedaries -- Arabian camels -- have died since August 10 in Saudi Arabia. Various theories have been put forward to explain the numerous deaths. For several years, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa have also seen similar numbers of deaths. In 1995-1996, CIRAD worked on a fatal epizootic disease affecting dromedaries in Ethiopia.
Humans Unknowing Midwives For Pregnant Moose:
When it's time for moose to give birth in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, they head to where it is safest from predators -- namely…
clock | October 9, 2007Genetic Dissection of Behavioural and Autonomic Effects of Î9-Tetrahydrocannabinol in Mice and the accompanying editorial Understanding Cannabinoid Psychoactivity with Mouse Genetic Models:
The fact that cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug has motivated a great deal of research aimed at understanding how it produces its psychoactive effects. Here I use the term psychoactive to describe the mild euphoria, altered perceptions, sense of relaxation, and sociability that often, but not always, accompany recreational cannabis use. Despite the difficulties inherent in working with…
clock | October 8, 2007
Genes From The Father Facilitate The Formation Of New Species:
The two closely related bird species, the collared flycatcher and the pied flycatcher, can reproduce with each other, but the females are more strongly attracted to a male of their own species. This has been shown by an international research team directed by Anna Qvarnström at Uppsala University and published in Science. They demonstrate that the gene for this sexual preference is found on the sex chromosome that is inherited from the father and that only females have a copy of. The discovery sheds new light on how new species…
clock | October 7, 2007
Chimpanzees, Unlike Humans, Apply Economic Principles To Ultimatum Game:
New research from the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany shows that unlike humans, chimpanzees conform to traditional economic models. The research used a modification of one of the most widely used and accepted economic tools, the ultimatum game.
New Telomere Discovery Could Help Explain Why Cancer Cells Never Stop Dividing:
A group working at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) in collaboration with the University of Pavia has discovered that telomeres, the…
evolgen | October 7, 2007Mark Liberman has an excellent post examining the general public's understanding of basic statistical concepts such as means, variances, and distributions. Here's a taste:
Until about a hundred years ago, our language and culture lacked the words and ideas needed to deal with the evaluation and comparison of sampled properties of groups. Even today, only a minuscule proportion of the U.S. population understands even the simplest form of these concepts and terms. Out of the roughly 300 million Americans, I doubt that as many as 500 thousand grasp these ideas to any practical extent, and 50,000…
clock | October 5, 2007As always on Friday, there are new article published in the community journals - PLoS Pathogens, PLoS Computational Biology and PLoS Genetics. Here are few of my picks:
Growth of H5N1 Influenza A Viruses in the Upper Respiratory Tracts of Mice
A Single Mutation in the PB1-F2 of H5N1 (HK/97) and 1918 Influenza A Viruses Contributes to Increased Virulence
Universally Sloppy Parameter Sensitivities in Systems Biology Models
Ancient Exaptation of a CORE-SINE Retroposon into a Highly Conserved Mammalian Neuronal Enhancer of the Proopiomelanocortin Gene
clock | October 5, 2007Fossil Data Plugs Gaps In Current Knowledge, Study Shows:
Researchers have shown for the first time that fossils can be used as effectively as living species in understanding the complex branching in the evolutionary tree of life.
Cilia: Small Organelles, Big Decisions:
Johns Hopkins researchers say they have figured out how human and all animal cells tune in to a key signal, one that literally transmits the instructions that shape their final bodies. It turns out the cells assemble their own little radio antenna on their surfaces to help them relay the proper signal to the developmental…
clock | October 5, 2007Engineers Study Brain Folding In Higher Mammals:
Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis are finding common ground between the shaping of the brain and the heart during embryonic development.
Fungus Genome Yielding Answers To Protect Grains, People And Animals:
Why a pathogen is a pathogen may be answered as scientists study the recently mapped genetic makeup of a fungus that spawns the worst cereal grains disease known and also can produce toxins potentially fatal to people and livestock.
Large-scale Head Lice Finding Kits Effective:
Working with parents and schools to provide a bug…
clock | October 4, 2007Genes Determine Mate Choice, At Least For Fat Tailed Dwarf Lemurs:
How do we choose our mates? For quite some time now, scientists suspect that it is not for looks or fashion, neither for love or sympathy. It may be the genes that determine our preference for certain males or females. A new study provides support for this idea by looking at lemurs in Madagascar.
Beyond A 'Speed Limit' On Mutations, Species Risk Extinction:
Harvard University scientists have identified a virtual "speed limit" on the rate of molecular evolution in organisms, and the magic number appears to be 6 mutations per…
clock | October 3, 2007
Huge New Dinosaur Had A Serious Bite:
The newest dinosaur species to emerge from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument had some serious bite, according to researchers from the Utah Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah.
New Species Of Frog Discovered: Smallest Indian Land Vertebrate:
The India's smallest land vertebrate, a 10-millimeter frog, has been discovered from the Western Ghats of Kerala by Delhi University Systematics Biologist, S D Biju and his colleagues.
No Faking It, Crocodile Tears Are Real:
When someone feigns sadness they "cry crocodile tears," a phrase…
clock | October 3, 2007How 'Mother Of Thousands' Makes Baby Plants:
New research shows how the houseplant "mother of thousands" (Kalanchoe diagremontiana) makes the tiny plantlets that drop from the edges of its leaves. Having lost the ability to make viable seeds, the plant has shifted some of the processes that make seeds to the leaves, said Neelima Sinha, professor of plant biology at UC Davis.
Red Wine Ingredient -- Resveratrol -- Fights Diabetes In Mice:
Even relatively low doses of resveratrol--a chemical found in the skins of red grapes and in red wine--can improve the sensitivity of mice to the hormone…
clock | October 2, 2007There are 37 new articles on PLoS ONE today, breaking the 1000 barrier! Yes, there are now more than a thousand papers on ONE. And this week is again an embarassment of riches - so many bloggable papers! And here are some of my quick picks for this week - read them, rate them, annotate them, blog about them:
Composition and Hierarchical Organisation of a Spider Silk:
Albeit silks are fairly well understood on a molecular level, their hierarchical organisation and the full complexity of constituents in the spun fibre remain poorly defined. Here we link morphological defined structural…