tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50196178257260446872024-03-19T02:44:36.923-07:00The Stochastic ScientistAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.comBlogger1461125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-91628883223954020962015-09-15T08:24:00.000-07:002015-09-15T08:24:00.635-07:00Did ancient hominids bury their dead?<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Yesterday, I told you how <i>Homo naledi</i> was discovered. To refresh your memory, check out this picture:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img class="irc_mi" height="400" src="https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_742w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2015/09/10/Health-Environment-Science/Images/12_Homo_naledi_cr_Elen2Feuerriegel1441825751.jpg?uuid=1j64plfyEeW4yZRHJfzTuQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="225" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6e6e6e; font-family: FranklinITCProLight, HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">Marina Elliott works in the Rising Star cave near Johannesburg, South Africa. (National Geographic/National Geographic)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Today, we'll discuss why this find was so important.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The very fact that so many bones were found in one place was critical. The six paleontologist spelunkers retrieved over 1500 bone fragments which were later assembled into at least 15 skeletons. That means that the researchers had specimens of different ages and of both genders, an almost unheard of scientific find. This gave anthropologists an unusually accurate picture of what these creatures were like. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Thus, we know that <i>H. naledi</i>'s physical features place it between those found in the genera <i>Australopithecus</i> and <i>Homo</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/rights-exempt/nat-geo-staff-graphics-illustrations/2015/09/2403_0281_Displacement_Boden_sf_Morph-Kamera_Multi5_001_0372.jpg?13" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/rights-exempt/nat-geo-staff-graphics-illustrations/2015/09/2403_0281_Displacement_Boden_sf_Morph-Kamera_Multi5_001_0372.jpg?13" height="360" id="finalImgBones" style="display: block;" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We don't yet know how old those bones are, which means we can't be sure where <i>H. nelida</i> falls on our family tree. <i>H. nelida</i> seems to be intermediate between <i>Austrolopithecus</i> and <i>Homo</i>, but could have been contemporaneous with most of the species within those genera. Dating the fossils is going to give us critical information on how and when different modern physical traits first appeared. </span><br />
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Just as importantly, how did those bones find their way into that remote cavity? Consider that although there were so many <i>H. naledi</i> bones in the cave, virtually no other species were found along side them. This was not a lair used by predators, hominid or otherwise, nor was the accumulation of bones due to flooding or other natural causes. There were no marks of damage or scavenging on the bones, so the cave was not the site of a slaughter or feast. And remember that the chamber where the bones were found is extremely hard to access. </span><br />
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Lead researcher Lee Berger's working hypothesis is that the bodies were deliberately placed in the chamber, most likely by dropping them in from above. We have a name for procedures like this: it's called 'burial', and it's not an activity we would have associated with creatures that had brains the size of gorillas. </span><br />
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Berger and the other researchers are continuing to study the fossils. Many more interesting conclusions are sure to come out of this amazing find. You can find some great photographs as well as an artist's rendition of the creatures giving a dead relative the old heave-ho in <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150910-human-evolution-change/">the National Geographic story</a> by Jamie Shreeve. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7PTxR-4atOA" width="560"></iframe></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; line-height: 15px;">B</span><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; line-height: 15px;">erger, L., Hawks, J., de Ruiter, D., Churchill, S., Schmid, P., Delezene, L., Kivell, T., Garvin, H., Williams, S., DeSilva, J.... (2015) </span><a class="blue" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09560" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">, a new species of the genus from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa </a><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; line-height: 15px;">. eLife. DOI: </span><a class="blue" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09560" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">10.7554/eLife.09560</a><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2; line-height: 15px;"> </span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-84284816729879151712015-09-14T07:59:00.000-07:002015-09-14T11:29:12.230-07:00Homo Naledi discovered, thanks to small skinny cavers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We have a new member of the human family tree and I don't know which is more wonderful: the way <i>Homo naledi</i> was found or all the things we'll learn about our own evolution thanks to this discovery. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />Today, let's take a look at the discovery itself, which took place in October, 2013. We'll cover what this means tomorrow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />Lee Berger, a National Geographic <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/grants-programs/explorers-in-residence/">Explorer-in-Residence</a>, decided that it had been too long since he last explored. Five years earlier he (along with his then nine year old son) discovered <i>Australopithecus sediba</i>, a two million year old hominid, and had spent the intervening years analyzing that find. In 2013, he decided it was high time he got back in the field.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><img src="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/rights-exempt/nat-geo-staff-graphics-illustrations/2015/09/dinaledi_locator.ngsversion.1440173453603.png" height="320" width="320" /></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">n Berger's case, the field turned out to be the Rising Star Cave system in South Africa. There, a caver named Steve Tucker inadvertently discovered a chamber full of hominid bones. Unfortunately, that chamber was extremely hard to access. Tucker and his fellow caver Rick Hunter lacked the expertise to safely collect the fossils, and Berger himself couldn't even get to the chamber. Take a look at the graphic below to see why. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/rights-exempt/nat-geo-staff-graphics-illustrations/2015/09/dinaledi_cave4_FINAL.ngsversion.1440173941173.png?04" height="352" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #cccccc; font-family: Pragmatica-web, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15.7143px; text-align: start; text-transform: uppercase;">JASON TREAT, NGM STAFF; NGM MAPS</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #cccccc; font-family: Pragmatica-web, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15.7143px; text-align: start; text-transform: uppercase;">SOURCE: LEE BERGER, WITS</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">A social media request for small, skinny individuals with scientific credentials, caving experience, and no claustrophobia brought in nearly 60 applicants, out of which Berger selected six women: <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">Marina Elliott, </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">Hannah Morris, Becca Peixotto, Alia Gurtov, Lindsay Eaves and Elen Feuerriegel</span>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Safely removing the fragments without crushing the fragile pieces of bone or getting in each other's way was a delicate task requiring yoga poses and cramping muscles. And that was after they made their way into the chamber.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/c/embed/f16491d4-575f-11e5-9f54-1ea23f6e02f3" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="480"></iframe></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Nonetheless, the 'underground astronauts' mostly Ph.D. students in anthropology, were all reluctant to leave at the end of their two hour shifts, often doubling or even tripling their time in the chamber.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Working in three person teams, the six women managed to retrieve over 1500 bone fragments, all from the same human ancestor species, now called <i>Homo naledi. </i>Naledi means 'star' in the local language.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Tomorrow: what we've learned from this find.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-61075714357919034012015-09-07T16:10:00.000-07:002015-09-07T16:10:08.527-07:00Start your senior year at 11:00 am?<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"></span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"></span></span><br />
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<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><a href="http://bryanknelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/tired.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="irc_mi" height="221" src="http://bryanknelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/tired.jpg" style="cursor: move; margin-top: 199px;" width="331" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Z3988" style="font-size: large;" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience">It turns out that teenagers were right all along when they complain that high school starts too early. That actually isn't news to anyone who has had to drag an adolescent out of bed in the morning. However, the recommendations made by Paul Kelley of Oxford University and his colleagues may surprise you. They suggest that 18 year olds start school at 11:00 am.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><br /></span><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience">First though, why is it that teenagers have so much trouble getting out of bed in the morning? The simple answer is that they can't get to sleep at night. This isn't a demonstration of lack of character but rather of biology, or more specifically of circadian rhythms. Every cell in our bodies is tuned to a 24 hour cycle, and the master controller for all our cells resides in the hypothalamus. The sleep-wake cycle happens to be an extremely vulnerable part of that 24 hour cycle. Throughout the day, we excrete competing hormones and neurotransmitters that increase either alertness or sleepiness. In adolescents, it just takes longer to reach a critical mass of sleepiness signals than it does in older adults. Thus, going to bed earlier doesn't help teenagers get more sleep. They are wide awake until late in the evening no matter what time they go to bed.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><br /></span></span><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience">This means that when students get ready for school in the morning, they're likely to have had much less sleep than they need. A typical 15 year old gets less than 7.5 hours sleep on a school night, but over nine hours on a weekend when he's free to sleep as long as he wants. This has repercussions not only for learning, but for health and safety. Sleep-deprived people are at greater risk for emotional problems, depression, weight gain and even <a href="http://stochasticscientist.blogspot.com/2011/05/starting-school-later-means-fewer-car.html">car crashes</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><br /></span><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience">The researchers based their conclusions on sleep pattern studies that show that 10 year-olds tend to wake up naturally at 6:30 am, 16 year-olds at 8:00 am and 18 year-olds at 9:00 am, and allowed each group two hours between wake time and start of school. Therefore, according to them, fifth grade should start at 8:30 am and high school at either 10 or 11 am. Personally, I think two hours to get ready in the morning is probably excessive for most people unless they have a long commute to school. However, schools that have implemented these late start times have seen significant student improvements.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><br /></span><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience">Even the United States Air Force Academy is testing later start times for first year students and finding that those late-starting students do better not only during the first class of the day, but in all their classes. More school districts are starting to pay attention to these results, which is very good news for students.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" /></a><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Learning%2C+Media+and+Technology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Synchronizing+education+to+adolescent+biology%3A+%E2%80%98let+teens+sleep%2C+start+school+later%E2%80%99&rft.issn=1743-9884&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=40&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=210&rft.epage=226&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tandfonline.com%2Fdoi%2Ffull%2F10.1080%2F17439884.2014.942666&rft.au=Kelley%2C+P.&rft.au=Lockley%2C+S.&rft.au=Foster%2C+R.&rft.au=Kelley%2C+J.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience">Kelley, P., Lockley, S., Foster, R., & Kelley, J. (2014). Synchronizing education to adolescent biology: ‘let teens sleep, start school later’ <span style="font-style: italic;">Learning, Media and Technology, 40</span> (2), 210-226 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2014.942666" rev="review">10.1080/17439884.2014.942666</a></span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-3856634437327986892014-05-20T05:30:00.000-07:002014-05-20T05:30:00.738-07:00What's in that sea water you just swallowed?<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Photographer David Littschwager has captured this incredible image of a drop of seawater magnified 25 times. </span></span><br />
<br />
<img height="425" src="http://dive-shield.us/images/sealifeDM0511_1024x681.jpg" width="640" /><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">You can read descriptions of what all these critter are at <a href="http://dive-shield.us/infonewspages/Underthemicroscopejustasplashofseawater.html">Dive Shield</a>. </span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-77136650622464516372014-05-19T05:30:00.000-07:002014-05-19T05:30:00.548-07:00The world's most dangerous animals<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">What do you think is the most dangerous animal on Earth? To be more specific, which animal kills the most humans? Here's an infographic that might surprise you:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
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<a href="http://www.gatesnotes.com/%7E/media/Images/Articles/Health/Most-Lethal-Animal-Mosquito-Week/BiggestKillers_final_v8_no-logo.ashx" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The World's Deadliest Animals Infographic, Mosquito Week | GatesNotes.com The Blog of Bill Gates" border="0" height="640" src="http://www.gatesnotes.com/%7E/media/Images/Articles/Health/Most-Lethal-Animal-Mosquito-Week/BiggestKillers_final_v8_no-logo.ashx" width="426" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As you can see, number one and two, mosquitoes and other humans, completely dwarf any </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">other creatures. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill Gates (yes, that Bill Gates) put this graphic <a href="http://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Most-Lethal-Animal-Mosquito-Week?WT.mc_id=MosquitoWeek2014_SharkWeek_tw&WT.tsrc=Twitter">on his blog</a> to kick off 'Mosquito Week' and bring attention to the problem of mosquito-born illnesses.</span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-77396764775952370852014-05-16T05:30:00.000-07:002014-05-16T05:30:02.882-07:00The pocket guide to bullshit prevention<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Michelle Nijhuis has done us all the service of providing <i>The Pocket Guide to Bullshit Prevention</i>:</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Screen-Shot-2014-04-23-at-8.46.43-AM.png"><img alt="Screen Shot 2014-04-23 at 8.46.43 AM" class="aligncenter wp-image-7616" src="http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Screen-Shot-2014-04-23-at-8.46.43-AM-448x475.png" height="529" width="500" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nijhuis gives an example of how she uses this Bullshit Prevention Protocol (BPP) over at <a href="http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2014/04/29/the-pocket-guide-to-bullshit-prevention/">The Last Word On Nothing</a>. It turns out although Beijing <i>is</i> very smoggy, the Chinese are not in fact televising sunrises so that their citizens will remember what the sun looks like.</span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-86509319641862417912014-05-15T05:00:00.000-07:002014-05-15T05:00:07.582-07:00Why can't we save stranded dolphins?<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s tragic when whales and dolphins strand themselves on beaches. It becomes even more sad when, despite heroic efforts by teams of veterinarians and volunteers, the animals still don’t survive. Why do some dolphins swim away and others restrand themselves and die?<br /><br />To find out, scientists led by Sarah Sharp of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and her colleagues analyzed data from stranded common dolphins. Common dolphin strandings are unfortunately common at Cape Cod, Massachusetts where the research was conducted. During a 2 year period, the researchers responded to 143 stranded common dolphins where the animal was still alive. <br /><br />Upon arriving on the scene, IFAW vets took measurements and blood samples and performed physical examinations while quickly preparing the animal for transport to a suitable release site. All dolphins were released the same day they were found. A subset of these were tagged for satellite tracking. Dolphins that were still swimming around after three weeks were considered ‘survived’. Dolphins that died during the initial response effort (but after blood drawing) or that restranded themselves or were found dead within that 3 week period were considered ‘failed’.<br /><br />The researchers found blood chemistry differences between the survived and failed groups. Anemia was a very strong indicator that the animal would not survive. Failed dolphins also tended to have cardiovascular abnormalities, pneumonia or liver disease. There were also differences in length to girth ratio in surviving versus failing dolphins.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">All of this suggests that by the time a dolphin strands himself on a beach, he's probably beyond saving. In many cases, nothing can be done for him. There are animals that do survive, however, and identifying them is critical, especially during mass strandings, when responders must quickly decide which animals to save first and which to euthanize. The data collected by Sharp and her colleagues could become valuable triage tools for managing marine mammals.</span></span><br />
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from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
<span style="font-style: italic;">Marine Mammal Science</span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mms.12093" rev="review">10.1111/mms.12093.</a></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-2066966478095399072014-05-14T05:30:00.000-07:002014-05-14T05:30:01.007-07:00Folding wasp wings <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pennsylvania State University researcher István Mikó and his colleagues have described a couple of new wasp species.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here's one of them: <i>Afrevania longipetiolata. </i>Notice anything unusual?</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Brightfield images of <i>Afrevania longipetiolata</i>, anterior to the left.</b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="article1.body1.sec3.sec2.sec4.fig5.caption1.p1" name="article1.body1.sec3.sec2.sec4.fig5.caption1.p1"></a>A: Dorsolateral view. B: Dorsal view.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It has teeny tiny wings. Or at least that's how they first appear. In reality, the wings are folded in a way that's completely new for wasps. You can see the complex folding pattern below:</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-doi="info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0094056" data-uri="info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0094056.g002" href="http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchObject.action?uri=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0094056.g002&representation=PNG_M" name="pone-0094056-g002" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Click for larger image "><img alt="thumbnail" class="thumbnail" src="http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchObject.action?uri=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0094056.g002&representation=PNG_I" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b> Fore wing of <i>Afrevania longipetiolata</i> sp. nov.</b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="article1.body1.sec2.fig2.caption1.p1" name="article1.body1.sec2.fig2.caption1.p1"></a>A:
CLSM micrograph of the fully unfolded fore wing, anterior to the left.<br />
B: Brightfield image of the fully unfolded fore wing, anterior to the
left.<br />
C: Brightfield image of the folded fore wing, anterior to the top.<br />
doi:<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=PLoS+ONE&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0094056&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Folding+Wings+like+a+Cockroach%3A+A+Review+of+Transverse+Wing+Folding+Ensign+Wasps+%28Hymenoptera%3A+Evaniidae%3A+Afrevania+and+Trissevania%29&rft.issn=1932-6203&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=9&rft.issue=5&rft.spage=0&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fdx.plos.org%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0094056&rft.au=Mik%C3%B3%2C+I.&rft.au=Copeland%2C+R.&rft.au=Balhoff%2C+J.&rft.au=Yoder%2C+M.&rft.au=Deans%2C+A.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CTaxonomy"><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0094056" rev="review">10.1371/journal.pone.0094056.</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Interestingly, while other wasps don't fold their wings this way, some cockroaches, and these wasps prey on cockroach eggs. Is this the best way for an insect to get into the places where cockroaches lay their eggs? </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" /></a><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=PLoS+ONE&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0094056&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Folding+Wings+like+a+Cockroach%3A+A+Review+of+Transverse+Wing+Folding+Ensign+Wasps+%28Hymenoptera%3A+Evaniidae%3A+Afrevania+and+Trissevania%29&rft.issn=1932-6203&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=9&rft.issue=5&rft.spage=0&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fdx.plos.org%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0094056&rft.au=Mik%C3%B3%2C+I.&rft.au=Copeland%2C+R.&rft.au=Balhoff%2C+J.&rft.au=Yoder%2C+M.&rft.au=Deans%2C+A.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CTaxonomy">Mikó, I., Copeland, R., Balhoff, J., Yoder, M., & Deans, A. (2014). Folding Wings like a Cockroach: A Review of Transverse Wing Folding Ensign Wasps (Hymenoptera: Evaniidae: Afrevania and Trissevania) <span style="font-style: italic;">PLoS ONE, 9</span> (5) DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0094056" rev="review">10.1371/journal.pone.0094056.</a></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-14449466592239194402014-05-13T04:00:00.000-07:002014-05-13T04:00:06.645-07:00Wonderful spinning<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This may be the most wonderful hoop trick I've ever seen:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XmFmYLAveWM" width="640"></iframe></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But it's actually part of a <a href="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/04/the-fine-art-of-spinning-things/">wonderful spinning</a> series. </span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-61040426633430807962014-05-12T04:00:00.000-07:002014-05-12T04:00:09.990-07:00How to enjoy a sting in the face<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is a grasshopper mouse.</span></span><br /><br /><img alt="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Chihuahuan_grasshopper_mouse.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Chihuahuan_grasshopper_mouse.jpg" /><br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is a bark scorpion.</span></span><br />
<br /><img alt="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Bark_Scorpion.jpg" class="decoded" height="358" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Bark_Scorpion.jpg" width="640" /><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><br /><br />Grasshopper mice eat bark scorpions. They often get stung in the process. Luckily for the mice, the scorpion venom acts like an analgesic for them. Yes, that’s right, the mice feel better after a few stings in the face.<br /><br />Researchers from Michigan State University led by Ashlee Rowe tested the painkilling effects of scorpion venom by injecting mouse foot pads with either the venom or a simple saline solution. Mice react to foot pain by licking their feet and sure enough the unfortunate mice in the experiment did spend time licking their feet. But the scorpion-injected mice licked a lot less than the saline-injected mice.<br /><br />How is this possible? The sensation of pain is created when sodium ions pass through special channels in cell membranes. Most mammals have one type of sodium channel, but the grasshopper mice have a particular genetic variation. Scorpion venom can bind to the amino acids in the mouse channels, effectively blocking them. <br /><br />Needless to say, this result has interesting implications for medicine, and not just for people who get stung in the face by scorpions. If researchers can find compounds that block our sodium channels, that could be a powerful painkiller.</span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-90637240542165528882014-05-09T04:30:00.000-07:002014-05-09T04:30:02.941-07:00Focusing without glasses<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now, here's a trick I can use. Next time I forget my reading glasses in a restaurant, I'll just peer at the menu through my fingers. This really does work and here's why:</span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-29827893072006604522014-05-08T04:30:00.000-07:002014-05-08T04:30:02.659-07:00Introducing SensaBubble<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">University of Bristol Professor Sriram Subramanian and his colleagues have invented the SensaBubble. It's a way to make bubbles that contain different scents and upon which different images can be displayed.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This isn't meant to be a updated version of a lava lamp. The researchers envision using the bubbles to send information to people via scent and color. In other words, it's a human-computer interface. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have to say, the researchers who developed SensaBubble seem a lot more optimistic about its use as a communication device than I am. If you had to send someone a bubble smelling like a bacon cheeseburger to tell them dinner's ready, you might as well just yell.</span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-23925338100262574762014-05-07T04:30:00.001-07:002014-05-07T04:30:00.844-07:00Explaining the hemihelix<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you’ve ever had a child or been a child, I guarantee you are familiar with the hemihelix. It’s the shape your slinky takes on when the coils suddenly switch to the opposite direction and you can’t make the thing squeeze neatly together any more. That kink in the middle changes the slinky from a helix to a hemihelix. <br /><br />You can find hemihelices with just the one direction change, or ‘perversion’ in nature. Roots will sometimes spiral in one direction and then switch to going around the other way as they penetrate the soil. If you want a spring with multiple perversions, you’ll have to create it in the lab, and that’s exactly what Harvard University scientists, led by Jia Liu, did.<br /><br />The researchers played with elastomer strips to figure out what properties (width and length) and what energies were required to make the rubbery strips switch from helix, to single-perversion helix, to multiple perversion helix. If your strips have the right cross-section, you can get cool shapes like the ones below.</span></span><br />
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Top: regular helix <br />
Middle: a hemihelix with one perversion marked by an arrow <br />
Bottom: a hemihelix with multiple perversions <br />
The scale bar is 5 cm for each image.<br />
Credit: Jiangshui Huang</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-37246199186659720502014-05-06T04:00:00.000-07:002014-05-06T04:00:04.264-07:00Robonaut gets some new legs<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ever hear of Robonaut? Even if you haven't, you've probably guessed that it's a robotic astronaut. In other words, it's a robot that's designed to help out on space missions. Robonaut just received a new pair of legs. Apparently, it will be even more helpful now that it can grip things with its toes. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/UgHaSiAHYbg?list=PLkCsE3aLYkdjFeWjkwhlQeLvD6YjO1dgL" width="640"></iframe></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is a bigger change than you might think. Since it's arrival on the International Space Station (ISS) three years ago, Robonaut has had to make due with only an upper body. Once its legs have been properly attached, it will be able to move about the ISS. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robonaut attached to Centaur 1 cart</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Among Robonaut's tasks are to assist with medical procedures. Now it will be able to to go to its patients.</span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-9321931388083069622014-05-05T04:30:00.000-07:002014-05-05T04:30:00.926-07:00The HI-SEAS Mission to Mars--no, that's not a pirate movie<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">There’s a new mission to Mars underway, only it’s not actually going anywhere. The second Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, or <a href="http://hi-seas.org/">HI-SEAS</a> mission (who doesn’t love cosmologists?) takes place atop Mauna Loa in Hawaii.<br /><br />Three men and three women, out of a pool of 700 applicants, will share a 1000 food habitat for four months. They’ll be simulating life on Mars, which means a 20 minute delay in all communications and only one shower per week. Also, no leaving the habitat without your spacesuit.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><a href="http://hi-seas.org/?p=2317" title="Applications closed"><img alt="Yajaira and the hab Photo by Sian" class="attachment-archive-image wp-post-image" src="http://hi-seas.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Yajaira-and-the-hab-Photo-by-Sian-293x150.jpg" height="324" width="640" /> </a><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-63752916989650894292014-05-02T05:30:00.000-07:002014-05-02T05:30:01.848-07:00Wellcome Image Awards 2014<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you like beautiful, fascinating photographs, you're going to love the Wellcome Image Awards.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here's the <a href="http://www.wellcomeimageawards.org/2014/mechanical-heart-pump-in-the-thorax">overall winner</a>, a dual-energy computed tomography scan of a patient with an artificial heart:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.wellcomeimageawards.org/jpegs/40992/Mechanical_heart_pump_in_the_thorax,_DECT_larger.jpg" style="cursor: pointer;" /></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was also pretty riveted by this image: a <a href="http://www.wellcomeimageawards.org/2014/Nit-on-human-hair">head louse egg (nit)</a> attached to a human hair. No wonder they're so hard to get rid of!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.wellcomeimageawards.org/jpegs/40992/Head_louse_egg_attached_to_a_strand_of_hair,_SEM_larger.jpg" style="cursor: pointer;" /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">You can see all of the pictures <a href="http://www.wellcomeimageawards.org/">at this slideshow</a>.</span></span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-51858308541998454062014-05-01T06:00:00.000-07:002014-05-01T06:00:12.975-07:00What is that you're eating?<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I love this artist! Painter <a href="http://www.hikarucho.com/" target="_blank">Hikaru Cho</a> teaches us that all is not as it seems.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Take this lovely cucumber.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Artist Paints Common Foods to Disguise them as Other Foods vegetables painting optical illusion fruit food " class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-41633 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/veg-1.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" src="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/veg-1.jpg" height="454" style="display: inline; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Artist Paints Common Foods to Disguise them as Other Foods" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">©cho All Right Reserved.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Maybe a closer look is in order:</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Artist Paints Common Foods to Disguise them as Other Foods vegetables painting optical illusion fruit food " class="lazy alignnone size-full wp-image-41634 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/veg-2.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" src="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/veg-2.jpg" height="454" style="display: inline; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Artist Paints Common Foods to Disguise them as Other Foods" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">©cho All Right Reserved.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">You can see <a href="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/03/painted-produce-foods-disguised-as-other-foods-by-hikaru-cho/" target="_blank">more food surprises here</a>, but that's not all Cho does. She also adds body parts and zippers where they don't ordinarily belong:</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">©cho All Right Reserved.</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-47178757345387752802014-04-30T04:00:00.000-07:002014-04-30T04:00:06.234-07:00Cell races<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HL60" target="_blank">HL-60 cells</a> are human promyelocytic leukemia cells that were originally obtained from a woman with leukemia. They are valuable biomedical tools that are used in many studies. But really, doesn't everyone want to know how fast they can go? In particular, could they beat <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictyostelium" target="_blank">Dictyostelium</a> (amoebic slime mold) cells in a race?</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dictyostelium</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Inquiring minds want to know. At least, the inquiring minds behind the first <a href="http://thenode.biologists.com/dicty-world-race-2014/news/" target="_blank">World Dicty Race</a> want to know. They're encouraging labs to submit to submit their fastest cells for a show down.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/C6I60vlBwMA" width="640"></iframe></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">You can learn more about it <a href="http://thenode.biologists.com/dicty-world-race-2014/news/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-69005412275083974552014-04-29T04:30:00.000-07:002014-04-29T04:30:01.506-07:00Don’t pee in the pool<br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Mosul-swimming.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="File:Mosul-swimming.jpg" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Mosul-swimming.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The most common method for keeping swimming pools free of microbial pathogens is to add chlorine. Unfortunately, the chlorine in the water can combine with other molecules to form harmful byproducts like trichloramine (NCl3) and cyanogen chloride (CNCl). Researchers from China Agricultural University and from Purdue University found that this is particularly apt to happen when the chlorine is combined with uric acid.<br /><br />Now, before you jump to conclusions, I should say that uric acid is present in human sweat. In really tiny amounts. There’s nearly 400 times more uric acid in urine than in sweat. So, I guess go ahead and jump to that conclusion because according to the authors, about 93% of the uric acid in swimming pools comes from pee.<br /><br />How bad could it be? We</span></span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">ll, NCl3 has been associated with severe lung injury. CNCl can affect the heart, lungs and central nervous system.<br /><br />Bottom line: don’t pee in the pool. Even if you’re an olympic swimmer.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" /></a><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Environmental+science+%26+technology&rft_id=info%3Apmid%2F24568660&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Volatile+disinfection+byproducts+resulting+from+chlorination+of+uric+Acid%3A+implications+for+swimming+pools.&rft.issn=0013-936X&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=48&rft.issue=6&rft.spage=3210&rft.epage=7&rft.artnum=&rft.au=Lian+L&rft.au=E+Y&rft.au=Li+J&rft.au=Blatchley+ER+3rd&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Chemistry%2CHealth">Lian L, E Y, Li J, & Blatchley ER 3rd (2014). Volatile disinfection byproducts resulting from chlorination of uric Acid: implications for swimming pools. <span style="font-style: italic;">Environmental science & technology, 48</span> (6), 3210-7 PMID: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24568660" rev="review">24568660.</a></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-54137090008971541342014-04-28T06:00:00.000-07:002014-04-28T06:00:03.066-07:00How did humans spread around the world?<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We know that all human beings (Homo sapiens sapiens) can trace their origins back to Africa. Sometime between 100 and 200 thousand years ago (ka) the first of these modern humans migrated out of Africa and spread across the rest of the globe. <br />One line of evidence for this is that the further you go from sub-Saharan Africa, the more similar people are genetically. <br /><br />Think about this way: let’s say there are ten different people living in Africa. One of them leaves. Over the next 100 ka, his descendants settle throughout Asia, but they all still share the common ancestor that left Africa. The descendants of the nine people who remained in Africa have no such commonality. Their shared ancestor dates from the evolution of the human species far earlier. Therefore, the people living in Africa today are far more diverse genetically than any of the groups living elsewhere in the world.<br /><br />So far so good. What isn’t clear is whether the dispersal from Africa occurred as a single event or multiple events at different times in history. And what route did those groups of people use as they traveled around the world? Hugo Reyes-Centeno of Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and his colleagues used both genetics and cranial features to compare four possibilities: a single dispersal with a northern route, a single dispersal with a southern route, multiple dispersals using both routes, and multiple dispersals using both routes, but where groups of people became stranded and thus genetically isolated along the way.<br /><br />They conclude that the most likely scenario is the last one. Around 130 ka, humans began traveling across Southern Asia. A separate diaspora occurred about 50 ka taking humans into Europe.</span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-9874925623502244822014-04-24T05:00:00.000-07:002014-04-24T05:00:12.180-07:00Jet lag? There's an app for that<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you’ve flown large distances, chances are you’ve experienced jet lag. This condition occurs when a person’s internal clock does not align with the environment. Until the traveler readjusts his circadian rhythm, he may not be hungry when it’s time to eat or sleepy when it’s time to sleep. But it’s not just travelers who are affected by jet lag. Shift workers too must adjust to being productive at times when their bodies think it’s time to sleep.<br /><br />Needless to say, it can be quite disruptive to live this way for long. For most people, readjusting, or ‘entrainment’ takes about one day per hour shifted. The recovery process can be sped up by exposure to bright light, but only if that exposure occurs at the right times. So, how does one know what those times are? Wouldn’t it be great if there were an app for that?<br /><br />Enter Kirill Serkh of Yale University and Daniel Forger from the University of Michigan. They created a mathematical model for optimally scheduling anti-jet lag light periods. Then Olivia Walch made it an app:<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Nqp0xSg4FXg" width="640"></iframe><br /><br />To follow the apps recommendations, a person should experience one block of light and one block of darkness per day (and they should be very bright and very dim respectively) starting and ending at specified hours. For example, the app might tell the person to turn on the lights at 5:00 am and turn them off 7:20 pm. If you follow the recommendations, you should be able to knock a couple of days off your recovery time.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" /></a><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=PLoS+Computational+Biology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1003523&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Optimal+Schedules+of+Light+Exposure+for+Rapidly+Correcting+Circadian+Misalignment&rft.issn=1553-7358&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=10&rft.issue=4&rft.spage=0&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fdx.plos.org%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1003523&rft.au=Serkh%2C+K.&rft.au=Forger%2C+D.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology">Serkh, K., & Forger, D. (2014). Optimal Schedules of Light Exposure for Rapidly Correcting Circadian Misalignment <span style="font-style: italic;">PLoS Computational Biology, 10</span> (4) DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003523" rev="review">10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003523.</a></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-13803915311633719962014-04-23T04:00:00.000-07:002014-04-23T04:00:06.273-07:00Just for fun: Herding reindeer<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">When does herding reindeer become an art project? When you can film it from your hexacopter camera drone. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://luftfotofinnmark.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_6207.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="IMG_6207" class="size-large wp-image-49 " src="http://luftfotofinnmark.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_6207.jpg?w=900&h=561" height="400" style="border: 2px solid black;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://luftfotofinnmark.com/" target="_blank">Jan Helmer Olsen</a> with his camera equipment</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Below, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_people" target="_blank">Sami</a> people in Northern Norway manage their herds. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/YJu_aUHeVL4" width="640"></iframe></span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-60083033334103562232014-04-22T05:00:00.000-07:002014-04-22T05:00:06.889-07:00The secret life of cells<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In collaboration with the BioVisions program at Harvard, Xvivo Scientific Animation has created some amazing animations of the insides of cells. The first one was made in 2006 and entitled <i>The Inner Life of the Cell</i>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wJyUtbn0O5Y" width="640"></iframe></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">You can watch DNA and RNA zipping and unzipping and proteins busily going about their business in their internal metropolis. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now there's a new video (<i>Inner Life of a Cell/ Protein Packing</i>) which gives people a better idea of just how crowded it is within a cell: </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/uHeTQLNFTgU" width="640"></iframe></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In both videos, the oddly shaped clumpy objects are proteins. Here's one shot from the second animation, showing a variety of proteins in close contact, just as they are in real life:</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/04/10/science/10zimmer-top/10zimmer-top-master1050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" class="media-viewer-candidate" data-mediaviewer-caption="<strong>THE CROWDED CELL </strong>A jumble of proteins inside the cell, visualized in a scientific animation." data-mediaviewer-credit="Harvard University, XVIVO Scientific Animation" data-mediaviewer-src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/04/10/science/10zimmer-top/10zimmer-top-superJumbo.jpg" src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/04/10/science/10zimmer-top/10zimmer-top-master1050.jpg" height="360" itemid="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/04/10/science/10zimmer-top/10zimmer-top-master1050.jpg" itemprop="url" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">A jumble of proteins inside the cell, visualized in a scientific animation. Credit Harvard University, XVIVO Scientific Animation </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Carl Zimmer <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/science/watch-proteins-do-the-jitterbug.html?hpw&rref=science&_r=1">has more about these videos</a>.</span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-61511773455614611262014-04-21T05:00:00.000-07:002014-04-21T05:00:02.738-07:00Does hunger make you want to stick pins in people?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Do you get irritable when you’re hungry? Do you tend to take out that aggression on your loved ones? If so, you’re in good company. Brad Bushman of The Ohio State University and his colleagues found that when people have low glucose levels, they like to stick pins in dolls representing their spouses.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The researchers measured the glucose levels of 107 couples twice a day (before breakfast and late evening) for three weeks. Every evening, participants were given voodoo dolls and told to stick 0 to 51 pins into them to demonstrate how much anger they felt towards their spouses. The pin-sticking was done alone without the spouse being present.<br /><br />At the end of the 21 days, each person participated in a button-pressing game. Whoever pressed the button first was given the privilege of blasting the loser with some really unpleasant sounds (think dentist drills and chalkboard squeaks). The winner could pick both the decibel level and the duration of the sound blast, including no blast at all. <br /><br />The participants thought they were competing with their spouses, who were not visible during the test. In reality, they were competing with a computer that made sure they lost 13 out of 25 trials and that they received a random sampling of the noise options. <br /><br />The researchers found that when they accounted (as best they could) for marital and sexual satisfaction and for typical levels of aggression (some couples were routinely more aggressive toward each other than others), daily evening glucose levels did correlate with number of pins stuck in the voodoo dolls. In case you’re wondering, women tended to stick more pins than men.<br /><br />In the noise-blast test, people with lower average evening glucose levels blasted what they thought were their spouses with louder and longer noise bursts.<br /><br />There are a lot of possible things besides just low glucose levels that can make a person want to stick pins in his spouse or blast her with unpleasant noises. However, between other trials showing that people have less impulse control when they have low glucose levels and my own personal experiments with hunger and irritability, I find these results totally believable. </span></span>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019617825726044687.post-57837567752738678422014-04-17T04:30:00.000-07:002014-04-17T04:30:02.558-07:00Why do Zebras have stripes?<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Why do zebras have those flashy stripes? </span></span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In a
world where predators could be lurking anywhere, being so boldly
conspicuous seems like a huge handicap. There must be some kind of
evolutionary advantage to that distinctive coloring and biologists have
come up with several ideas. The stripes might be courtship or other
social cues, helping the animals mate or bond in groups. They might
allow the animals to identify each other. They might confuse predators
by making the zebras blend together. Perhaps they offer some type of
temperature control. Nope. Tim Caro of the University of California, Davis and his colleagues ruled out those possibilities. It turns out that it’s all about the bugs.<br /><br />That’s right, bugs. More specifically, biting insects like tsetse flies, stomoxys stable flies and tabanid biting flies. The researchers found that the ranges of animals with body stripes (zebras) exactly matched the ranges of these bloodsucking insects. <br /><br />In the diagram below, you can see the different species of wild equine. Some have full body stripes, some leg stripes, some neck stripes and some are not striped at all. The blue dots show species not plagued by tabanid flies. Notice that those are the animals with no stripes. There was no such correlation with other factors like the presence of certain predators or temperature.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-ved="0CAUQjRw" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&docid=aTuF_bLZVdgKxM&tbnid=FTYJ-6uno84VpM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Fncomms%2F2014%2F140401%2Fncomms4535%2Ffull%2Fncomms4535.html&ei=4LdAU9aiGeqwsASq1oGYBw&bvm=bv.64367178,d.b2I&psig=AFQjCNGOwKA8ywWyk1A2KTiAIuwkghnT6g&ust=1396835137543350" id="irc_mil" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" class="irc_mut" src="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140401/ncomms4535/images_article/ncomms4535-f1.jpg" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 29px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">Striping and tabanid activity.<br />
Phylogenetic tree of equid subspecies showing leg stripe intensity (inside circles) and proportion of geographic range overlap with 7 consecutive months of temperature lying between 15 and 30 C and humidity between 30 and 85% (outside circles).<br />
Drawings by Rickesh Patel.<br />
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4535,</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But aren't there plenty of other animals living in those same areas that are not striped? Yes, but zebras are covered with short hairs that biting insects can penetrate with their mouth parts. Non-striped mammals living in the same areas typically have longer, thicker fur that the flies can't get through.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />How do stripes help animals avoid biting insects? Apparently, many insects, including tabanids and tsetses, don’t like to land on striped surfaces. And indeed, solid colored feral horses suffer much more harassment from flies than do their striped cousins.<br /><br />The idea that insect parasites drove the evolution of stripes isn’t settled science yet, but it’s a fascinating hypothesis. I can’t wait to see if further studies confirm it.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" /></a><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Nature+Communications&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1038%2Fncomms4535&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=The+function+of+zebra+stripes&rft.issn=2041-1723&rft.date=2014&rft.volume=5&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Fdoifinder%2F10.1038%2Fncomms4535&rft.au=Caro%2C+T.&rft.au=Izzo%2C+A.&rft.au=Reiner%2C+R.&rft.au=Walker%2C+H.&rft.au=Stankowich%2C+T.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CEvolutionary+Biology"> Caro, T., Izzo, A., Reiner, R., Walker, H., & Stankowich, T. (2014). The function of zebra stripes <span style="font-style: italic;">Nature Communications, 5</span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4535" rev="review">10.1038/ncomms4535,</a></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15328719893067978848noreply@blogger.com0