Science News
clock | October 25, 2006Vegetables, Not Fruit, Help Fight Memory Problems In Old Age:
Eating vegetables, not fruit, helps slow down the rate of cognitive change in older adults, according to a study published in the Oct. 24, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology
Honey Bee Genome Holds Clues To Social Behavior:
By studying the humble honey bee, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have come a step closer to understanding the molecular basis of social behavior in humans.
More links a couple of posts below.
Sunflower Speciation Highlights Roles…
clock | October 22, 2006Magnetoreception is one of the most fascinating sensory modalities in living organisms. Most of the work has been done in homing pigeons, migrating birds and salmon. More recently, work has been done in mammals and fruitflies. But this sense is not limited only to the most complex organisms - it is found in a number of bacterial species:
Researchers Reveal Mystery Of Bacterial Magnetism:
Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and Purdue University have shed light on one of microbiology's most fascinating mysteries--why some bacteria are naturally magnetic. Their description of…
clock | October 22, 2006Still, it is strange to have a press release on a study before it even gets started:
Asia's Odd-ball Antelope Gets Collared:
A group of scientists led by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) working in Mongolia's windswept Gobi Desert recently fitted high-tech GPS (Global Positioning System) collars on eight saiga antelope in an effort to help protect one of Asia's most bizarre-looking -- and endangered -- large mammals.
clock | October 21, 2006Visual Imagery Technique Boosts Voting, Study Finds:
Registered voters who used a simple visual imagery technique the evening before the 2004 election were significantly more likely to vote the next day, a new study found. It was all a matter of the visual perspective people took when they imagined themselves voting.
It was all a matter of the visual perspective people took when they imagined themselves voting.
Researchers asked some Ohio college students to picture themselves voting the next day from a third-person perspective - as if they were observers viewing their own actions. Others…
clock | October 21, 2006Bacteria Use Radioactive Uranium To Convert Water Molecules To Useable Energy:
Researchers report in this week's Science a self-sustaining community of bacteria that live in rocks 2.8 kilometers below Earth's surface. Think that's weird? The bacteria rely on radioactive uranium to convert water molecules to useable energy.
The Neurobiology Behind Why Eating Feels So Good:
The need to eat is triggered by the hormone ghrelin. Ghrelin is produced in the gut and triggers the brain to promote eating, but it remains to be determined precisely how ghrelin affects different parts of the brain. A new…
j7uy5 | October 19, 2006No, it is not the name of a new rock band. It is a phenomenon
that is increasing in frequency in the world's oceans. The
dead zones are areas with very low oxygen content, so low that nothing
can live there.
Neil Barry Rincover, writing on
href="http://rincover.blogstream.com/v1/pid/137945.html">U.S.
Politics and Other Nonsense, brings us notice of a
report that the number of dead zones has increased by a third in the
past two years. There are now 200.
The study was sponsored by the Global Programme Action Global (GPA) for
the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based…
clock | October 19, 2006'Ecstasy' Linked To Survival Of Key Movement-related Cells In Brain:
New research from the University of Cincinnati suggests that the widely abused club drug "ecstasy," or MDMA, can increase the survival of dopamine cells in the brain during fetal development. Because these cells are critical in the regulation of voluntary movement, the findings, the researchers say, may lead to better therapies for neurological diseases like Parkinson's.
Latest Buzz: Marijuana May Slow Progression Of Alzheimer's Disease:
New evidence in rats suggests that marijuana may contain compounds that slow the memory…
clock | October 18, 2006Have Traits, Will Travel: Some Butterflies Travel Farther, Reproduce Faster:
Researchers have uncovered physiological differences among female Glanville fritillary butterflies that allows some to move away from their birth place and establish new colonies. These venturesome butterflies are stronger fliers and reproduce more quickly compared to their less mobile female relatives. The study, to be presented at Comparative Physiology 2006, is a window to how genetic differences influence behavior and how the environment influences genetic change.
Organic Farming Has Little, If Any, Effect On…
j7uy5 | October 18, 2006There has been talk of this for a while. At first, I did not
think it would be feasible, but it appears that progress is being made:
Doc
at a DistanceBy Jacob Rosen and Blake Hannaford
Robot surgeons promise to save lives in remote communities, war zones,
and disaster-stricken areas
On a hot morning this past June, our research group at the University
of Washington, in Seattle, crammed into two cargo vans and drove 2000
kilometers south to the rangeland north of Simi Valley, in southwestern
California. In the back of one of the vans was our latest creation: a
prototype surgical robot we’d…
j7uy5 | October 15, 2006
href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2004/subvocal/subvocal.html">NASA
is working on a
href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2004/subvocal/subvocal.html">new
type of speech recognition. Rather
than analyzing sounds, it detects nerve impulses in the throat.
The user does not have to speak out loud.
Instead, the user merely thinks about speaking, much as one
does when reading silently.
This sounds pretty neat, although the accuracy is not very good yet.
I could imagine this being used for things like cursor
control, or any number of other things,…
clock | October 14, 2006Effects Of New Sleep Medication Appear Unlikely To Have Potential For Abuse Or Cognitive Impairment:
In a study of 14 adults with histories of sedative abuse, the newly approved sleep medication ramelteon does not appear to have effects that indicate potential for abuse or motor or cognitive impairment, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Mathematics Provides Answer To Airport Security Puzzle:
High flyers will enjoy faster and safer travel in the future, thanks to mathematicians at the University of Manchester and…
clock | October 12, 2006Really cool stuff today:
Pheromone From Mother's Milk May Rapidly Promote Learning In Newborn Mammals:
By studying the ability of newborn rabbit pups to learn the significance of new odors, researchers have found that a mammary pheromone secreted in mother's milk may act as a chemical booster that facilitates the ability of pups to quickly associate environmental odors with the opportunity to nurse.
Vegetables, Like People, Urged To Live Up To Potential:
A major stress in a carrot's life -- like the slash of a kitchen knife -- and the tapered tuber kicks in the juice and pumps up its…
clock | October 12, 2006Tiny genome may be melting away, study suggests:
Researchers have identified the smallest known genome, and say it may suffer a strange fate.
For ants, one playbook fits many situations:
Scientists are interested in the "algorithms," or step-by-step rules, by which organisms make decisions.
Fitness, childhood IQ may affect old-age brain function:
Mental function in old age depends more on fitness than on childhood IQ, a study has found.
Strongest evidence yet that planets form from 'disks':
The philosopher Emmanuel Kant got it right 200 years ago, researchers proclaim.
clock | October 12, 2006Study Links Extinction Cycles to Changes in Earth's Orbit and Tilt:
If rodents in Spain are any guide, periodic changes in Earth's orbit may account for the apparent regularity with which new species of mammals emerge and then go extinct, scientists are reporting today.
It so happens, the paleontologists say, that variations in the course Earth travels around the Sun and in the tilt of its axis are associated with episodes of global cooling. Their new research on the fossil record shows that the cyclical pattern of these phenomena corresponds to species turnover in rodents and probably other…
clock | October 12, 2006New type of mouse discovered in Cyprus:
A previously unknown type of mouse has been discovered on the island of Cyprus, apparently the first new terrestrial mammal species discovered in Europe in decades.
The "living fossil" mouse has a bigger head, ears, eyes and teeth than other European mice and is found only on Cyprus, Thomas Cucchi, a research fellow at Durham University in northeast England, said Thursday. Genetic tests confirmed that the new mouse was a new species and it was named Mus cypriacus, or the Cypriot mouse, he said.
His findings appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa…
evolgen | October 11, 2006Don't worry, this one has nothing to do with mtDNA.
There's been a bit of a hubbub recently in the ScienceBlogs community about science journalism. Sometimes we're a bit too hard on the journalists. In this week's issue of Nature, Robert Barton takes the journal to task for their coverage of the Pollard et al paper describing a rapidly evolving non RNA gene. Barton makes a good point at the beginning of his letter:
You state in your News story on genetic differences between humans and other species . . . that research is beginning to pin down genes that "evolved rapidly during the transition…
clock | October 11, 2006Hearts Or Tails? Genetics Of Multi-chambered Heart Evolution:
A new paper in the October 1 issue of G&D elucidates the genetics of heart formation in the sea squirt, and lends surprising new insight into the genetic changes that may have driven the evolution of the multi-chambered vertebrate heart.
New Bird Discovered On Unexplored Colombian Mountain:
A new bird to science was recently discovered on an unexplored mountain range in northern Columbia by a team supported by the BP Conservation Programme. It was named "Yariguies Brush-Finch," with the scientific name Atlapetes latinuchus…
clock | October 9, 2006Red Is For Hummingbirds, Yellow For Moths:
Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that the future of red and yellow varieties of a San Diego wildflower may depend on the fates of two different animals. They report in the current issue of the Journal of Evolutionary Biology that monkeyflowers have two different animal pollinators. The red form, common along the coast, is strongly preferred by hummingbirds, while yellow monkeyflowers, found east of I-15, are favored by hawkmoths.
Study Suggests Earlier Crop Plantings Could Curb Future Yields:
In an ongoing bid to…
clock | October 8, 2006Animals Resistant To Drunken Behavior Offer Clues To Alcoholism's Roots:
Animals with a remarkable ability to hold their liquor may point the way toward the genetic underpinnings of alcohol addiction, two separate research teams reported in the October 6, 2006 issue of the journal Cell. Earlier studies have shown that people with a greater tolerance for alcohol have a greater risk of becoming alcoholics, according to the researchers.
What about natural species differences?
Home, Home On The Range: How Much Space Does An Animal Really Need?:
Instead of wandering around aimlessly, most animals…
evolgen | October 5, 2006Nick Wade thinks there's a race to decode genomes. CNN thinks there's a race to map the human genome:
$10 million prize for mapping human genomes
Sturtevant mapped genomes. The contest is to sequence and assemble a genome. Well, that's what we think the contest is. And it's pretty unclear how they will measure accuracy.