Science News
clock | March 19, 2007Every time someone proposes a radical rewriting of science textbooks, one needs to proceed with caution. There is so much evidence for electrical potentials in nerve cells, this sounds really fishy:
Action Of Nerves Is Based On Sound Pulses, Anesthetics Research Shows:
Nerves are 'wrapped' in a membrane composed of lipids and proteins. According to the traditional explanation of molecular biology, a pulse is sent from one end of the nerve to the other with the help of electrically charged salts that pass through ion channels in the membrane. It has taken many years to understand this…
clock | March 19, 2007Homing Pigeons Get Their Bearings From Their Beaks:
It has long been recognized that birds possess the ability to use the Earth's magnetic field for their navigation, although just how this is done has not yet been clarified. However, the discovery of iron-containing structures in the beaks of homing pigeons in a new study1 by Gerta Fleissner and her colleagues at the University of Frankfurt offers a promising insight into this complex topic. The article will be published online mid-March in Springer's journal Naturwissenschaften.
Social Life Of Honeybees Coordinated By A Single Gene:…
clock | March 16, 2007The fourth issue of Science In School online magazine is out. It is full of cool articles. Let me just point out a couple:
Eva Amsen wrote about Science Fairs.
There is a nice review of Kreitzman & Foster's book Rhythms of Life: The Biological Clocks That Control the Daily Lives of Every Living Thing.
Finally, how to use the movie 'Erin Brokovich' to teach about chemistry and environment.
clock | March 16, 2007Stealth Camouflage At Night:
Giant Australian cuttlefish employ night camouflage to adapt quickly to a variety of microhabitats on temperate rock reefs. New research sheds light on the animal's remarkable visual system and nighttime predator/prey interactions. Cuttlefish are well-known masters of disguise who use highly developed camouflage tactics to blend in almost instantaneously with their surroundings. These relatives of octopuses and squid are part of a class of animals called cephalopods and are found in marine habitats worldwide. Cephalopods use camouflage to change their appearance…
j7uy5 | March 15, 2007Everyone's
heard of blue lasers by now. Some people have them in their
homes. The reason they are important, is that blue light has
a shorter wavelength than the red lasers that were used in the first CD
and DVD devices. The shorter wavelength means that the laser
can see smaller dots. Smaller dots mean that more information
can be packed into the same space. That means more
information can be put on a DVD is a blue laser is used, compared to a
red laser.
A few years ago, companies started working on ultraviolet
light-emitting diodes and lasers. Because UV light has even
shorter…
j7uy5 | March 14, 2007The
playoffs are not even underway in the 2007 Science Spring Showdown, yet
already the teams are maneuvering for any advantage they can get.
The match-ups are so even, that everyone knows it is the
intangibles that will make a difference.
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In
the highly-competitive "Chair" Bracket, the world's scientific
community has its eyes riveted on the IAU vs. Pluto game. As
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clock | March 14, 2007Today is a big day on Plos-Biology for the Oceanic Microbial Diversity Genomics. Last night they published not one, not two, but three big papers chockfull of data.
Accompani\ying them are not one, not two, not three, not even four, but five editorial articles about different aspects of this work.
James has already homed in on one important part of the discovery: the preponderance and diversity of proteorhodopsins - microbial photopigments that are capable of capturing solar energy in a manner different from photosynthesis. As always, light-sensitive molecules are thought to be tightly…
clock | March 14, 2007A Rarity Among Arachnids, Whip Spiders Have A Sociable Family Life:
Whip spiders, considered by many to be creepy-crawly, are giving new meaning to the term touchy-feely. In two species of whip spiders, or amblypygids, mothers caress their young with long feelers and siblings stick together in social groups until they reach sexual maturity. This is surprising behavior for these arachnids, long-thought to be purely aggressive and anti-social, according to a Cornell researcher.
New Species Of Snapper Discovered In Brazil:
A popular game fish mistaken by scientists for a dog snapper is actually…
evolgen | March 13, 2007The New York Times has published an article in their Science section on the evolution of human parasites, and it's not by Carl Zimmer. In the article, Nicholas Wade (another good science writer at the NYTimes) presents a few vignettes of human-parasite co-evolution, including a bacterium that causes tooth decay, the ulcer causing Heliobacter, and a tapeworm we share with pigs. I guess Carl called dibs on the pubic lice. Anyway, Wade made me smile when he presented the phylogeography of one human parasite:
The latest organism to be identified as a longtime member of the human biota club is…
clock | March 13, 2007Male Reindeer Inflate Their Air Sac To Make Sexually Enticing Hoarse Rutting Calls:
A group of European scientists have determined that a male reindeer's air sac, influencing vocal sound and neck contour, may contribute to his sexual prowess and reproductive success. The results of this research have recently been published in Journal of Anatomy.
Laying Sleeping Sickness To Rest:
The parasite that leads to sleeping sickness can be lulled to sleep itself using a newly discovered pathway, according to research published online in EMBO reports (http://www.nature.com/embor/). Trypanosoma brucei…
clock | March 11, 2007Species' Sizes Affect Lives Of Cells In Mammals:
Cells from the smallest to the largest of mammals often seem to be "one size fits all." Now a closer look reveals that whether a cell lives in an elephant, mouse or something in between can make a big difference in its life. Researchers from the University of Florida Genetics Institute, Harvard Medical School and other institutions developed mathematical models that they used to examine 18 cell types from mammals ranging from mice to elephants. They found two basic categories -- cells that stay the same size but have drastically different…
clock | March 10, 2007Social Tolerance Allows Bonobos To Outperform Chimpanzees On A Cooperative Task:
In experiments designed to deepen our understanding of how cooperative behavior evolves, researchers have found that bonobos, a particularly sociable relative of the chimpanzee, are more successful than chimpanzees at cooperating to retrieve food, even though chimpanzees exhibit strong cooperative hunting behavior in the wild.
Researchers Discover Breakthrough In Malaria Treatment:
An article published in 'The Lancet' by researchers from the Menzies School of Health Research (MSHR) in Darwin has revealed a…
clock | March 9, 2007Lizards May Help Unlock Secrets of Evolution:
Hundreds of species of anoles roam the Caribbean Islands and parts of North and South America, a highly diverse and colorful small lizard that scientists have studied in hopes of unlocking the secrets of evolution. Kirsten E. Nicholson, a Central Michigan University assistant biology professor, has just published a paper in PLoS ONE on her four-year study of Caribbean anoles that may provide a building block for future evolutionary studies.
Researchers Learn What Sparks Plant Growth:
A secret long held by plants has been revealed by Howard Hughes…
clock | March 8, 2007
Despite Their Heft, Many Dinosaurs Had Surprisingly Tiny Genomes:
They might be giants, but many dinosaurs apparently had genomes no larger than that of a modern hummingbird. So say scientists who've linked bone cell and genome size among living species and then used that new understanding to gauge the genome sizes of 31 species of extinct dinosaurs and birds, whose bone cells can be measured from the fossil record.
Human Pubic Lice Acquired From Gorillas Gives Evolutionary Clues:
Humans acquired pubic lice from gorillas several million years ago, but this seemingly seedy connection does not…
clock | March 7, 2007
'Mafia' Behavior In Cowbirds? Study First To Document Evidence:
Cowbirds have long been known to lay eggs in the nests of other birds, which then raise the cowbirds' young as their own. Sneaky, perhaps, but not Scarface. Now, however, a University of Florida study finds that cowbirds actually ransack and destroy the nests of warblers that don't buy into the ruse and raise their young.
Man's Best Friend Lends Insight Into Human Evolution:
Flexibly drawing inferences about the intentions of other individuals in order to cooperate in complex tasks is a basic part of everyday life that we humans…
clock | March 6, 2007Red Pepper: Hot Stuff For Fighting Fat?:
Food scientists in Taiwan are reporting new evidence from laboratory experiments that capsaicin -- the natural compound that gives red pepper that spicy hot kick -- can reduce the growth of fat cells. The study is scheduled for the March 21 issue of the ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.
Spiders: Chastity Belts Protect Paternity:
The fact that female wasp spiders have numerous sexual contacts is something which their male partners cannot prevent. What they can do, however, is ensure that no offspring ensue from…
j7uy5 | March 5, 2007A
while back, I wrote (twice) about the nettlesome issue of
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disruptors. A more detailed post was offered at
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Sig. The reason this is a nettlesome problem is
that it is an area with potentially huge implications, but with not
enough hard data.
The huge implications come in two forms: if we are not cautious enough,
we could be inadvertently lowering our fertility by exposure to
chemicals that…
clock | March 5, 2007Scientist Discovers New Horned Dinosaur Genus:
A scientist at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History has announced the discovery of a new horned dinosaur, named Albertaceratops nesmoi, approximately 20 feet long and weighing nearly one half ton, or the weight of a pickup truck. The newly identified plant-eating dinosaur lived nearly 78 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous Period in what is now southernmost Alberta, Canada. Its identification marks the discovery of a new genus and species and sheds exciting new light on the evolutionary history of the Ceratopsidae dinosaur family.…
j7uy5 | March 2, 2007In case you did not know, there is going to be a lunar eclipse tomorrow
night. By itself, that is not terribly unusual.
What is unusual about this event, though, is that at some
times and places, it will be possible to see both
the setting sun and the partly-eclipsed moon at the
same time.
At first glance, that would seem impossible. After all, the eclipse
only occurs when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon.
But it can happen.
The reason is that the atmosphere of the Earth diffracts the light that
forms the images of the Sun and the Moon. That bends the path
of the light…
clock | March 2, 200720 New Species Of Sharks, Rays, Discovered In Indonesia:
The five-year survey of catches at local fish markets provided the first detailed description of Indonesia's shark and ray fauna - information which is critical to their management in Indonesia and Australia.
Regenerative Medicine Advance: Frog Tadpole Artificially Induced To Re-grow Its Tail:
Scientists at Forsyth may have moved one step closer to regenerating human spinal cord tissue by artificially inducing a frog tadpole to re-grow its tail at a stage in its development when it is normally impossible. Using a variety of methods…