Science News
j7uy5 | September 20, 2006I'll be curious to see if there turns out to be a parallel between what
is happening now in the auto industry, and what happens in the future
in the computing industry.
We recently passed the 25th anniversary of the original IBM PC (
href="http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/pc25/pc25_intro.html">model
5150). Ever since then, computer marketing has been
oriented toward progressively faster, more capable machines.
Original IBM PC
photo from IBM archive
But now, we hear that
rel="tag">Intel is
href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/09/11/37NNintellayoffs_1.html"…
clock | September 17, 2006It's looking good. Certainly much smaller than the roomful of metal we are used to seeing in hospitals.
Do you remember when computers used to fill entire rooms? Now take a look at your cell phone. Now think MRI in 10-20 years...
See what I'm getting at?
I am patiently waiting for the time when MRIs are small and light enough to be mounted on heads of freely behaving animals (in the wild or in captivity), at least large animals like elephants, dolphins, horses, crocs or sharks... Then you use radiotelemetry to get the info loaded on your computer and you observe the brain activity in…
clock | September 12, 2006Genetic Surprise: Mobile Genes Found To Pressure Species Formation:
Biologists at the University of Rochester have discovered that an old and relatively unpopular theory about how a single species can split in two turns out to be accurate after all, and acting in nature. The finding, reported in today's issue of Science, reveals that scientists must reassess the forces involved in the origin of species. The beginnings of speciation, suggests the paper, can be triggered by genes that change their locations in a genome.
General Mechanism Of Cellular Aging Found; Tumor Suppressor Gene May Be Key…
clock | September 12, 2006Remember this post from a couple of weeks ago? It was quite popular on tagging sites like Digg, Reddit and Stumbleupon. It was about endogenous retroviruses and their role in the evolution of placenta (which made the evolution of other mammalian traits possible).
Now, there is a new study in sheep, on this same topic, and it looks very good at first glance:
Researchers Discover That Sheep Need Retroviruses For Reproduction:
A team of scientists from Texas A&M University and The University of Glasgow Veterinary School in Scotland has discovered that naturally occurring endogenous…
evolgen | September 11, 2006Seed has published an interview with Bruce Lahn. It's not all that interested, and, frankly, the boys at Gene Expression could have done much better. Given their obsession with Lahn, I wouldn't be surprised to see him show up in the 10 questions series.
The title of this post is both a play on the name of the magazine and a reference to Lahn's status as one of Chicago's 10 most eligible bachelors.
j7uy5 | September 11, 2006The adjective extreme has been extremely overused
in recent years. For example, I recently saw a sign in a gas
station that advertised an Extreme Meal Deal: a hot dog, chips, and
soda for $2.49.
But
href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=125&art_id=vn20060910094616232C393327">Extreme
Drug Resistant tuberculosis is no hyperbole:
Dr Tony Moll of the Church of Scotland hospital at
Tugela Ferry was the first to alert the world to the emerging human
tragedy when it was found that HIV positive people who had appeared
initially to "do well" on antiretroviral…
clock | September 9, 2006In A Technical Tour De Force, Scientists Take A Global View Of The Epigenome:
A collaboration between researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of California at Los Angeles captured the genome-wide DNA methylation pattern of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana - the "laboratory rat" of the plant world - in one big sweep.
"In a single experiment we recapitulated 20 years worth of anecdotal findings and then some," says senior author Joseph Ecker, Ph.D., a professor in the Salk Institute's Plant Biology Laboratory. "Previously, only a hand full of plant genes were…
j7uy5 | September 9, 2006The
little guy pictured to the left is
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dapoxetine" rel="tag">dapoxetine,
a drug under development for the treatment of
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premature_ejaculation"
rel="tag">premature ejaculation.
I wrote about this
href="http://trots.blogspot.com/2005/05/cns-pipeline-updatewas-dr-angell-right.html">before,
in the context of recent criticism of the pharmaceutical industry.
Some have argued that the industry spends too much time and
money developing drugs that we no not really need.
That is not too much of a problem, except…
clock | September 8, 2006Global Changes Alter The Timing Of Plant Growth, Scientists Say:
Different plant species mature at different times. Scientists studying plant communities in natural habitats call this phenomenon "complementarity." It allows species to co-exist because it reduces overlap in the time period when species compete for limited resources. Now, in a study posted online the week of Sept. 4 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ecologists working at Stanford's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve report evidence that climate change may al ter this delicate balance.
Mother Deer Cannot…
clock | September 7, 2006Landscape Corridors Promote Plant Diversity By Preventing Species Loss:
Landscape corridors - thin strips of habitat that connect isolated patches of habitat -- are lifelines for native plants that live in the connected patches and therefore are a useful tool for conserving biodiversity. That's the result of the first replicated, large-scale study of plants and how they survive in both connected patches of habitat -- those utilizing landscape corridors -- and unconnected patches.
I've heard a lot about this study (and several others at the same site) over the years because Nick and Ellen are…
j7uy5 | September 5, 2006Via the
href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0831/p15s02-stct.html">Christian
Science Monitor:
Formerly a part of Yugoslavia, and on the brink of
ethnic war only a few years ago, Macedonia has become what may be the
first "wireless country" in the world. With $3.9 million from the US
Agency for International Development, the Macedonia Connects program
has brought wireless Internet service to the country's 460 primary and
secondary schools, which had already been equipped with 6,000 computers
donated by the Chinese government.
On.Net, a Macedonian company, was contracted to build the $…
clock | September 4, 2006Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, died yesterday after a freak accident while filming a documentary. He was impaled by a stingray through the chest. RIP.
clock | September 3, 2006Study Finds How Organs Monitor Themselves During Early Development:
Scientists at NYU School of Medicine have unraveled the signals in a feedback loop governing ovarian development. This work has been several years in the making and is being published on August 27 in the advance online issue of the journal Nature.
This is a big, complicated and exciting study in Drosophila.
Scientists Discover Memory Molecule :
Scientists have succeeded in erasing memory in animal models. These findings may be useful for the treatment of disorders characterized by the pathological over-strengthening of…
clock | August 31, 2006Chimpanzees Can Transmit Cultural Behavior To Multiple 'Generations':
Transferring knowledge through a chain of generations is a behavior not exclusive to humans, according to new findings by researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University and the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. For the first time, researchers have shown chimpanzees exhibit generational learning behavior similar to that in humans. Unlike previous findings that indicated chimpanzees simply conform to the social norms of the group, this study shows behavior and traditions can be passed along…
clock | August 31, 2006Nicotine Up Sharply In Many Cigarettes:
The amount of nicotine in most cigarettes rose an average of almost 10 percent from 1998 to 2004, with brands most popular with young people and minorities registering the biggest increases and highest nicotine content, according to a new study. Nicotine is highly addictive, and while no one has studied the effect of the increases on smokers, the higher levels theoretically could make new smokers more easily addicted and make it harder for established smokers to quit.
clock | August 30, 2006Ancient Raptors Likely Feasted On Early Man, Study Suggests:
A new study suggests that prehistoric birds of prey made meals out of some of our earliest human ancestors. Researchers drew this conclusion after studying more than 600 bones from modern-day monkeys. They had collected the bones from beneath the nests of African crowned eagles in the Ivory Coast's Tai rainforest. A full-grown African crowned eagle is roughly the size of an American bald eagle, which typically weighs about 10 to 12 pounds.
Red Fish, Blue Fish: Distinctive Color Keeps Gene Pools Healthy:
Long-running evolutionary…
clock | August 27, 2006Childhood Sleep Apnea Linked To Brain Damage, Lower IQ:
In what is believed to be the first study showing neural changes in the brains of children with serious, untreated sleep apnea, Johns Hopkins researchers conclude that children with the disorder appear to suffer damage in two brain structures tied to learning ability.
Constant Lighting May Disrupt Development Of Preemies' Biological Clocks:
Keeping the lights on around the clock in neonatal intensive care units may interfere with the development of premature babies' biological clocks.
----------snip---------------
he finding that…
clock | August 25, 2006Biologists Discover How We Detect Sour Taste:
A team headed by biologists from the University of California, San Diego has discovered the cells and the protein that enable us to detect sour, one of the five basic tastes. The scientists, who included researchers from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, suggest that this protein is also the long-sought sensor of acidity in the cerebrospinal fluid.
Cortical Plasticity: It's Time To Get Excited About Inhibition:
The researchers showed that the lasting cortical shut-down induced by visual deprivation at early stages of…
j7uy5 | August 25, 2006Years ago, I read a paper in which the authors proposed a model, in
which the immune system was conceptualized as a sensory organ for the
central nervous system. They did not think of it as the
primary purpose of the immune system, but they wanted to highlight the
fact that immune system activity does provide information to the brain,
and that information is, to some extent, perceptible of a conscious
level.
I have to get ready for work, so I am not going to try to find the
reference. At least right now. I might get curious
enough to go looking for it later.
Now, we hear of another…
evolgen | August 23, 2006To be filed under: "Every dude who's gone swimming in a cold pool in the Hamptons could have told you that."
Polar bear genitals are shrinking:
The icecap may not be the only thing shrinking in the Arctic. The genitals of polar bears in east Greenland are apparently dwindling in size due to industrial pollutants.
Scientists report this shrinkage could, in the worst case scenario, endanger polar bears there and elsewhere by spoiling their love lives and causing their numbers to peter out.
Is it possible that the shrinkage could be due to the fact that they live in the arctic? You know, where…