October 4, 2011, 10:15 PM CT

Dragonflies: The Flying Aces of the Insect World

Next time you see a dragonfly, try to watch it catch its next meal on the go. Good luck!

"Unless we film it in high speed, we can't see whether it caught the prey, but when it gets back to its perch, if we see it chewing, we know that it was successful," says Stacey Combes, a biomechanist at Harvard University. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), she and her team are studying how dragonflies pull off complicated aerial feats that include hunting and mating in mid-air. She set up her lab in typical "dragonfly country".

"Our lab is at the Concord Field Station in Bedford, Mass. This is a field station of Harvard University about a half-hour from the main campus," says Combes. "We're surrounded by woods and ponds, which is an ideal habitat to find dragonflies".

The scientists have already identified 20 species at the pond so far. On this outing, they hope to net a few to study. But, it's not easy to catch a dragonfly.

"Alright, I got one. I lost it," exclaims team member and biomechanist Jay Iwasaki. "It's a Libellula cyanea," he notes when he finally catches one. "It's in the family of Libellulidae, which are dragonflies known as skimmers; this is a male. You can tell this species in particular from the white dots on its wings"......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

July 21, 2011, 10:04 PM CT

An eye gene colors butterfly wings red

Red may mean STOP or I LOVE YOU! A red splash on a toxic butterfly's wing screams DON'T EAT ME! In nature, one toxic butterfly species may mimic the wing pattern of another toxic species in the area. By using the same signal, they send a stronger message: DON'T EAT US! .

Now several research teams that include Smithsonian researchers in Panama, have discovered that Heliconius butterflies mimic each other's red wing patterns through changes in the same gene.

Not only does this gene lead to the same red wing patterns in neighboring species, it also leads to a large variety of red wing patterns in Heliconius species across the Americas that result when it is turned on in other areas of the wings.

Because different butterfly species evolved red wing patterns independently, resulting in a huge variety of patterns we see today, scientists thought that different genes were responsible in each case.

"The variety of wing patterns in Heliconius butterflies has always fascinated collectors," said Owen McMillan, geneticist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, "People have been trying to sort out the genetics of mimicry rings since the 1970's. Now we put together some old genetics techniques and some newer genomics techniques and came up with the very surprising result that only one gene codes for all of the red wing patterns. The differences that we see in the patterns seems to be due to the way the gene is regulated"......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

July 20, 2011, 10:05 PM CT

Salt marsh sparrows beat the heat

Birds use their bills largely to forage and eat, and these behaviors strongly influence the shape and size of a bird's bill. But the bill can play an important role in regulating the bird's body temperature by acting as a radiator for excess heat. A team of researchers have observed that because of this, high summer temperatures have been a strong influence in determining bill size in some birds, especially species of sparrows that favor salt marshes. The team's findings are published in the scientific journal Ecography, July 20.

Researchers at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center at the Smithsonian's Conservation Biology Institute and his colleagues examined five species of sparrow that inhabit salt marshes on the East, West and Gulf coasts of North America. While these marshes are very similar in makeup and structure, the main difference among them is summer temperatures. Focusing on 10 species and subspecies of tidal salt marsh sparrow, the team measured 1,380 specimens and observed that the variation in the sparrows' bill size was strongly correlation to the variation in the daily high summer temperatures of their salt marsh breeding habitats�the higher the average summer temperature, the larger the bill. Birds pump blood into tissue inside the bill at high temperatures and the body's heat is released into the air. Because larger bills have a greater surface area than smaller bills, they serve as more effective thermoregulatory organs under hot conditions. On average, the study found the bills of sparrows in marshes with high summer temperatures to be up to 90 percent larger than those of the same species in cooler marshes......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

July 5, 2011, 9:00 PM CT

Termites' digestive system could act as biofuel refinery

One of the peskiest household pests, while disastrous to homes, could prove to be a boon for cars, as per a Purdue University study.

Mike Scharf, the O. Wayne Rollins/Orkin Chair in Molecular Physiology and Urban Entomology, said his laboratory has discovered a cocktail of enzymes from the guts of termites that appears to be better at getting around the barriers that inhibit fuel production from woody biomass. The Scharf Laboratory observed that enzymes in termite guts are instrumental in the insects' ability to break down the wood they eat.

The findings, reported in the early online version of the journal PLoS One, are the first to measure the sugar output from enzymes created by the termites themselves and the output from symbionts, small protozoa that live in termite guts and aid in digestion of woody material.

"For the most part, people have overlooked the host termite as a source of enzymes that could be used in the production of biofuels. For a long time it was thought that the symbionts were solely responsible for digestion," Scharf said. "Certainly the symbionts do a lot, but what we've shown is that the host produces enzymes that work in synergy with the enzymes produced by those symbionts. When you combine the functions of the host enzymes with the symbionts, it's like one plus one equals four"......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

July 5, 2011, 8:15 PM CT

Arrival of Whooping Crane

After an 88-year-long hiatus North America's tallest bird, the statuesque whooping crane (Grus americana), is once again on exhibit at the Bird House at the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park. An 11-year-old male whooping crane named Rocky left Homosassa Springs State Park in Florida and is now on exhibit in the nation's capital. Whooping cranes are one of only two crane species native to the United States. There are only eight other zoos in the U.S. which exhibit these birds.

"It is an honor for the National Zoo to once again exhibit this magnificent species," said Dennis Kelly, director of the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park. "Eventhough most people have heard of whooping cranes, very few have had the privilege of seeing one in person. We are thrilled to have Rocky here as an ambassador for his species".

Rocky is only the fourth whooping crane to call the National Zoo home. The Zoo's first crane, a wild-caught bird of unknown sex, arrived in 1897. Its last, a female, died in 1923.

By 1938, hunting and agricultural expansion had decimated wild whooping crane populations to an estimated 21 individuals. Zoos, research centers and nature preserves acted quickly to curtail the threat of extinction. Working together, they carefully matched individual birds that did not have mates in order to stabilize populations and achieve the greatest genetic diversity possible-a considerable challenge, given the population bottleneck......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

June 21, 2011, 11:30 PM CT

Where will grizzly bears roam?

The independent evaluation, written by WCS Senior Conservation Scientist Dr. John Weaver, is a compilation and synthesis of the latest information on these species � and how climate change may affect them � from 30 biologists in the region and from nearly 300 scientific papers. In addition, Weaver spent four months hiking and riding horseback through these remote roadless areas to evaluate their importance for conservation.

The Crown of the Continent is a trans-border ecosystem of dramatic landscapes, pristine water sources, and diverse wildlife that stretches more than 250 miles along the Rocky Mountains from Glacier National Park-Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana north to the Canadian Rockies. Weaver focused his evaluation on public lands in the Montana portion �one of the most spectacular and intact ecosystems remaining in the lower 48 states. Since 1910 when Glacier National Park was established, citizens and government representatives have worked hard to protect the core wildlands and wildlife in this region.

"These visionary leaders left a great gift and remarkable legacy," said Dr. Weaver, "But new data and emerging threats like climate change indicate it may not have been enough. There is a rare opportunity now to complete the legacy of conservation for present and future generations"......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

June 13, 2011, 7:48 AM CT

Life-history traits may affect DNA mutation rates

For the first time, researchers have used large-scale DNA sequencing data to investigate a long-standing evolutionary assumption: DNA mutation rates are influenced by a set of species-specific life-history traits. These traits include metabolic rate and the interval of time between an individual's birth and the birth of its offspring, known as generation time. The team of scientists led by Kateryna Makova, a Penn State University associate professor of biology, and first author Melissa Wilson Sayres, a graduate student, used whole-genome sequence data to test life-history hypotheses for 32 mammalian species, including humans. For each species, they studied the mutation rate, estimated by the rate of substitutions in neutrally evolving DNA segments -- chunks of genetic material that are not subject to natural selection. They then correlated their estimations with several indicators of life history. The results of the research would be reported in the journal Evolution on 13 June 2011.

One of the a number of implications of this research is that life-history traits of extinct species now could be discoverable. "Correlations between life-history traits and mutation rates for existing species make it possible to develop a hypothesis in reverse for an ancient species for which we have genomic data, but no living individuals to observe as test subjects," Makova explained. "So, if we have information about how extant species' life history affects mutation rates, it becomes possible to make inferences about the life history of a species that has been extinct for even tens of thousands of years, simply by looking at the genomic data"......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

May 29, 2011, 2:41 PM CT

Solving mouse genome dilemma

Laboratory research has always been limited in terms of what conclusions researchers can safely extrapolate from animal experiments to the human population as a whole. A number of promising findings in mice have not held up under further experimentation, in part because laboratory animals, bred from a limited genetic foundation, don't provide a good representation of how genetic diversity manifests in the broader human population.

Now, thanks to an in-depth analysis by a team led by Fernando Pardo-Manuel de Villena, PhD, in the UNC Department of Genetics and Gary Churchill, PhD, at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, scientists will be able to use an online resource dubbed the Mouse Phylogeny Viewer to select from among 162 strains of laboratory mice for which the entire genome has been characterized. Phylogeny refers to the connections among all groups of organisms as understood by ancestor/descendant relationships. Pardo-Manuel de Villena is also a member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Carolina Center for Genome Sciences.

The results of the analysis that make this tool possible were published online today in the journal Nature Genetics

"The viewer provides researchers with a visual tool where they can actually go and look at the genome of the mouse strains they are using or considering, compare the differences and similarities between strains and select the ones most likely to provide the basis for experimental results that can be more effectively extrapolated to the diverse human population," said Pardo-Manuel de Villena......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

May 8, 2011, 9:36 PM CT

Zombie ants have fungus on the brain

Tropical carpenter ants (Camponotus leonardi) live high up in the rainforest canopy. When infected by a parasitic fungus (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis) the behaviour of the ants is dramatically changed. They become erratic and zombie-like, and are manipulated by the fungus into dying at a spot that provides optimal conditions for fungal reproduction. New research, published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Ecology, looks at altered behaviour patterns in Zombie ants in Thailand and shows how the fungus manipulates ant behaviour.

A multinational team of scientists investigated O. unilateralis infected carpenter ants in Thailand's rainforest. The growing fungus fills the ant's body and head causing muscles to atrophy and forcing muscle fibres apart. The fungus also affects the ant's central nervous system and while normal worker ants rarely left the trail, zombie ants walked in a random manner, unable to find their way home. The ants also suffered convulsions which caused them to fall to the ground. Once on the ground the ants were unable to find their way back to the canopy and remained at a lower, leafy, 'understory' which, at about 25cm above the soil was cooler and moister than the canopy, provided ideal conditions for the fungus to thrive......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 30, 2011, 10:53 PM CT

Killer whales in Antarctic waters prefer weddell seals

NOAA's Fisheries Service researchers studying the cooperative hunting behavior of killer whales in Antarctic waters observed the animals favoring one type of seal over all other available food sources, as per a research studyreported in the journal Marine Mammal Science.

Scientists Robert Pitman and John Durban from NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, Calif., observed killer whales hunting in ice floes, off the western Antarctic Peninsula during January of 2009. While documenting the whales' behavior of deliberately creating waves to wash seals off ice floes, the scientists noticed Weddell seals as their primary target, despite the availability of other prey species, especially the more abundant crabeater seals.

"These killer whales would identify and then attack Weddell seals almost exclusively, even though they made up only about 15 percent of the available seal population," said Pitman.

Killer whales creating waves to wash seals off ice floes in Antarctica had previously been observed only a handful of times. The whales, sometimes as a number of as seven abreast, charge the ice floe creating a wave that either washes the seal off the ice or breaks the ice into smaller pieces and more vulnerable to another attack. A prior study involving the authors suggested that this very distinctive killer whale population, which they refer to as "pack ice killer whales," is a separate species......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 30, 2011, 10:48 PM CT

Declining rainfall is a major influence for migrating birds

Instinct and the annual increase of daylight hours have long been believed to be the triggers for birds to begin their spring migration. Researchers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, however, have observed that that may not be the case. Scientists have focused on how warming trends in temperate breeding areas disrupt the sensitive ecology of migratory birds. This new research shows that changes in rainfall on the tropical wintering grounds could be equally disruptive. The team's findings appear in scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, today, March 30.

A number of of the bird species that breed in the temperate forests, marshes and backyards of North America spend the winter months in the tropics of the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Insects are the primary food for a number of birds during the winter, and rainfall largely determines the amount of insects available. Climactic warming, however, is causing declining and more variable rainfall cycles in a number of areas, affecting the availability of insects and delaying when birds leave for their northern breeding grounds. To examine this, the Smithsonian researchers focused on American redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla), a member of the warbler family, at a non-breeding site in Jamaica where they conduct long-term studies......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 30, 2011, 7:04 AM CT

Whale and dolphin death toll may have been greatly underestimated

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 devastated the Gulf of Mexico ecologically and economically. However, a newly released study published in Conservation Letters reveals that the true impact of the disaster on wildlife appears to be gravely underestimated. The study argues that fatality figures based on the number of recovered animal carcasses will not give a true death toll, which appears to be 50 times higher than believed.

"The Deepwater oil spill was the largest in US history, however, the recorded impact on wildlife was relatively low, leading to suggestions that the environmental damage of the disaster was actually modest," said main author Dr Rob Williams from the University of British Columbia."This is because reports have implied that the number of carcasses recovered, 101, equals the number of animals killed by the spill".

The team focused their research on 14 species of cetacean, an order of mammals including whales and dolphins. While the number of recovered carcasses has been assumed to equal the number of deaths, the team argues that marine conditions and the fact that a number of deaths will have occurred far from shore mean recovered carcasses will only account for a small proportion of deaths.

To illustrate their point, the team multiplied recent species abundance estimates by the species mortality rate. An annual carcass recovery rate was then estimated by dividing the mean number of observed strandings each year by the estimate of annual mortality......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 26, 2011, 10:24 PM CT

Research brings habitat models into the future

Models of wildlife habitat now can monitor changes over time more accurately and more easily, thanks to Michigan State University research.

"Monitoring and projecting future changes are essential for sustainable management of coupled human and natural systems, including wildlife habitat," said Jianguo "Jack" Liu, Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability at MSU. "Innovative computer models are urgently needed for effective monitoring and projection".

Mao-Ning Tuanmu, doctoral student in MSU's Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, and colleagues combine habitat modeling and remote sensing technology, then gain the ability to use one model to monitor various changes over time. Their work is published online in the Journal of Biogeography.

Tuanmu focused on panda habitat in Wolong Nature Reserve in southwestern China as part of an ongoing interdisciplinary effort to understand changes in the home of the giant panda. Models of habitat that portray information such as sources of food and forest cover are important tools. The trick has been to take these detailed models and expand them to help monitor changes over time.

"We built an integrated model at one point in time and then used that same model over different time periods," Tuanmu said. "We need more models like this one with good transferability to monitor short-term and project long-term changes in species distribution and habitat quality"......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 25, 2011, 7:20 AM CT

Wild Birds May Play a Role in the Spread of Bird Flu

Wild migratory birds may indeed play a role in the spread of bird flu, also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1.

A study by the U.S. Geological Survey, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Chinese Academy of Sciences used satellites, outbreak data and genetics to uncover an unknown link in Tibet among wild birds, poultry and the movement of the often-deadly virus.

Scientists attached GPS satellite transmitters to 29 bar-headed geese - a wild species that migrates across most of Asia and that died in the thousands in the 2005 bird flu outbreak in Qinghai Lake, China. GPS data showed that wild geese tagged at Qinghai Lake spend their winters in a region outside of Lhasa, the capitol of Tibet, near farms where H5N1 outbreaks have occurred in domestic geese and chickens.

This is the first evidence of a mechanism for transmission between domestic farms and wild birds, said Diann Prosser, a USGS biologist at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. "Our research suggests initial outbreaks in poultry in winter, followed by outbreaks in wild birds in spring and in the breeding season. The telemetry data also show that during winter, wild geese use agricultural fields and wetlands near captive bar-headed geese and chicken farms where outbreaks have occurred."........ Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 20, 2011, 10:16 PM CT

Researchers urge more prominent role for zoos

Of around seven land vertebrate species whose survival in the wild is threatened one is also kept in captivity. These and other data on the protection of species in zoos and aquaria have now been revealed by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock. Writing in the journal Science, the team of scientists and the International Species Information System (ISIS) advocate the establishment of targeted captive breeding programmes to supplement the protection of animals in the wild. To do this, zoos should team up in networks and shelter these animals, as a form of life insurance, until they can be released back into the wild.

The scientists used data from the International Species Information System (ISIS) to calculate how a number of of the endangered species can already be found at zoological gardens: 20 to 25 percent of all endangered mammal species are kept at zoos. The overall figure for birds is only slightly less than that, but is much lower for avian species that are acutely at risk of extinction: only nine percent of these are found in captivity. Only three percent of endangered amphibian species are kept in captivity.

The role of zoos for species conservation must not be underestimated, Dalia Conde and Alexander Scheuerlein have stressed. "While it is true that the number of endangered species and individual animals at any one zoo is small", say the biologists, who conduct their research at the MPIDR's Laboratory of Evolutionary Biodemography, "if several institutions link up, zoological gardens will have a considerable collective potential to breed endangered animal species."........ Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 18, 2011, 10:18 PM CT

Accountants of the animal kingdom

A puzzling example of altruism in nature has been debunked with scientists showing that purple-crowned fairy wrens are in reality cunningly planning for their own future when they assist in raising other birds' young by balancing the amount of assistance they give with the benefits they expect to receive in the future.

Dr Anne Peters, of the Monash University School of Biological Sciences, together with co-authors Sjouke Kingma from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and Michelle L. Hall of the Australian National University, have conducted a long term study of the cooperative breeding behaviour of fairy-wrens in tropical Australia.

The results, reported in the prestigious journal The American Naturalist, show that helpers are not motivated by kindness.

"The study showed that the seemingly selfless little helpers are in fact carefully calculating accountants" said Dr Peters, senior author of the study.

Cooperative breeding, where birds apparently selflessly raise others' offspring, has long perplexed biologists as this behaviour runs counter to Darwin's theory of natural selection, which predicts that individuals invest only in their own reproduction.

Fairy-wrens are habitual cooperative breeders. The helpers are generally older silblings or half-siblings of the current nestlings, and their behaviour is likely explained by an instinctive desire to see more of their shared genes entering the gene pool......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 18, 2011, 6:26 PM CT

Gender roles in animals

In a recent study published in "Animal Behaviour", biology scientists Kristina Karlsson Green and Josefin Madjidian at Lund University in Sweden have shown that animals' and plants' traits and behaviour in sexual conflicts are coloured by a human viewpoint. They want to raise awareness of the issue and provoke discussion among their colleagues in order to promote objectivity and broaden the research field.

Lund scientists Kristina Karlsson Green and Josefin Madjidian have studied and measured how male and female traits and behaviour in animals' and plants' sexual conflicts are described in academic literature and also what parameters are incorporated for each sex in mathematical models of sexual conflict.

"We have found evidence of choices and interpretations that may build on researchers' own, possibly subconscious, perception of male and female. We have now identified and quantified terms used to describe male and female in sexual conflict research and seen that different terms are used depending on the sex being described. It is not just something we think and suppose", says Kristina Karlsson Green from the Department of Biology at Lund University.

Sexual conflicts among animals and plants mean that the male and the female disagree in various ways on mating and the raising of young. Research on these sexual conflicts is an area that is growing rapidly. Therefore, it is particularly important to make other scientists aware of and alert to the fact that their own frames of reference pose a risk, say Kristina Karlsson Green and Josefin Madjidian......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 15, 2011, 10:39 PM CT

Dairy Farmer fInds Unusual Forage Grass

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grass breeder has rediscovered a forage grass that seems just right for today's intensive rotational grazing.

A farmer's report of an unusual forage grass led Michael Casler, an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) geneticist at the agency's U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, Wis., to identify the grass as meadow fescue. Meadow fescue has been long forgotten, eventhough it was popular after being introduced about 50 to 60 years before tall fescue.

ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.

Casler has developed a new variety of meadow fescue called Hidden Valley, and its seed is being grown for future release.

Non-toxic fungi called endophytes live inside meadow fescue, helping it survive heat, drought and pests. Unlike the toxic endophytes that inhabit a number of commercial varieties of tall fescue and ryegrass, meadow fescue does not poison livestock.

Charles Opitz found the grass growing in the deep shade of a remnant oak savannah on his dairy farm near Mineral Point, Wis. He reported that the cows love it and produce more milk when they eat it. Casler used DNA markers to identify Opitz's find.

Meadow fescue is very winter-hardy and persistent, having survived decades of farming. It emerged from oak savannah refuges to dominate a number of pastures in the Midwest's driftless region, named for its lack of glacial drift, the material left behind by retreating continental glaciers......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 15, 2011, 10:06 PM CT

Casey Dunn to Receive NSF Waterman Award

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has named its awardee for this year's Alan T. Waterman Award: Casey Dunn, a biologist at Brown University.

Dunn's work involves genome analyses to better understand relationships between groups of animals.  He investigates the origins of biological complexity through work with deep-sea creatures called siphonophores. His research holds clues about how complex multicellular organisms, including humans, were formed.

Dunn will receive $500,000 over three years to continue his studies of animal evolution.

"The Waterman Award is designed to recognize outstanding young scientists like Casey Dunn," said NSF Director Subra Suresh. "His research has already made substantial contributions to our understanding of the origins of a diversity of life. His insights should further this important field of study in the years to come.".

Dunn serves as assistant professor of biology in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University where he also runs the Dunn Lab, which investigates how evolution has produced a diversity of life.

The lab primarily studies morphology, a branch of biology that deals with the form and structure of animals. Research there also pursues learning about the actual history of life on Earth, as well as the general properties of evolution that have contributed to life's historical patterns. The type of questions the lab asks require marine, laboratory and computational work......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 13, 2011, 11:47 AM CT

Host change alters toxic cocktail

Leaf beetles fascinate us because of their amazing variety of shapes and rich coloring. Their larvae, however, are dangerous plant pests. Larvae of the leaf beetle Chrysomela lapponica attack two different tree species: willow and birch. To fend off predator attacks, the beetle larvae produce toxic butyric acid esters or salicylaldehyde, whose precursors they ingest with their leafy food. Researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Gera number of, now observed that a fundamental change in the genome has emerged in beetles that have specialized on birch: The activity of the salicylaldehyde producing enzyme salicyl alcohol oxidase (SAO) is missing in these populations, whereas it is present in willow feeders. For birch beetles the loss of this enzyme and hereby the loss of salicylaldehyde is advantageous: the enzyme is not needed anymore because its substrate salicyl alcohol is only present in willow leaves, but not in birch. Birch beetles can therefore save resources instead of costly producing the enzyme. First and foremost, however, the loss of salicylaldehyde also means that birch feeding populations do not betray themselves to their own enemies anymore, who can trace them because of the odorous substance. (PNAS Early Edition, DOI 10.1073/pnas.1013846108)......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 13, 2011, 11:41 AM CT

Around 40 percent of hake is mislabeled

The DNA studies carried out by a team of Spanish and Greek researchers, and reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, show that more than 30% of the hake products sold in Spain and Greece are wrongly labelled.

"We have observed that hake caught in Africa are being labelled as American or European, meaning consumers pay a higher price for them", Eva Garc�a V�zquez, a professor at the University of Oviedo (Spain) and co-author of the study, tells SINC.

The scientists analysed 93 packages of fresh hake and several frozen brands in various hypermarkets between 2004 and 2006. After comparing what appeared on the label with the DNA results, it was observed that 31.5% of the batches were mislabelled with the wrong scientific name for the hake, or gave the wrong place of origin.

The study was repeated in 2010 with a further 18 batches, confirming that the information appearing on 38.9% of labels was wrong. For example, species from South Africa, such as Merluccius capensis, were labelled as hake from South America (M. hubbsi) or as the only hake species that exists in European waters (M. merluccius). The worst-labelled products were those containing the fillets or tails of these fish.

This error could be due to confusion during the marking of fish in distribution centres, but it is curious that the "cheap" African hake are the ones that are labelled as the "expensive" European or American ones, and not the other way around, which is why the study suggests that fraud is being committed......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 10, 2011, 7:41 AM CT

Bonobos and Chimpanzees

Humans share 98.7 percent of our DNA with chimpanzees, but we share one important similarity with one species of chimp, the common chimpanzee, that we don't share with the other, the bonobo. That similarity is violence. While humans and the common chimpanzee wage war and kill each other, bonobos do not. "There has never been a recorded case in captivity or in the wild of a bonobo killing another bonobo," notes anthropologist Brian Hare.

Hare is an assistant professor in evolutionary anthropology at Duke University. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), he and his wife and colleague, Vanessa Woods, studied bonobo behavior at Lola ya Bonobo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an orphanage for young bonobos whose parents were killed for the bush meat trade. The war-torn Congo is the only place in the world where these endangered apes can be found.

"We go to this sanctuary and we play these fun problem-solving games with them to just try and get inside their heads and figure out exactly how they think," says Woods. "They're wonderful animals to be correlation to. It's a shame so few people have heard of them."

Woods is author of the book "Bonobo Handshake," a memoir about her experiences with these peaceful, playful primates, and some of the differences she noted between bonobos and common chimpanzees......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

February 22, 2011, 7:59 AM CT

In Absence of Western Lizards

Areas in California where Western fence lizards were removed had a subsequent drop in numbers of the ticks that transmit Lyme disease, researchers have discovered.

"Our expectation was that removing the lizards would increase the risk of Lyme disease, so we were surprised by this finding," said ecologist Andrea Swei, who conducted the study while she was a Ph.D. student in integrative biology at University of California, Berkeley.

"We observed that the result of lizard removal was a decrease in infected ticks, and therefore decreased Lyme disease risk to humans.".

Results of the study, published online today in the journal Proceedings of The Royal Society B, illustrate the complex role the Western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) plays in the abundance of disease-spreading ticks.

"This study demonstrates the complexity of infectious disease systems, and how the removal of one player--lizards--can affect disease risk," said Sam Scheiner, program director at the National Science Foundation (NSF), which funded the research through a joint Ecology of Infectious Diseases (EID) Program with the National Institutes of Health.

At NSF, the EID Program is supported by the Directorates for Biological Sciences and Geosciences......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

February 14, 2011, 7:30 AM CT

Firefly Glow

A unique new probe based on luciferase, the enzyme that gives fireflies their glow, enables scientists to monitor hydrogen peroxide levels in mice and thereby track the progression of infectious diseases or malignant tumors without harming the animals or even having to shave their fur. Developed by scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley, this new bioluminescent probe has already provided the first direct experimental evidence that hydrogen peroxide is continuously made even in a healthy animal.

"We are reporting the design, synthesis, and in vivo applications of Peroxy Caged Luciferin-1 (PCL-1), a chemoselective bioluminescent probe for the real-time detection of hydrogen peroxide within living animals," says Christopher Chang, a chemist who holds appointments with Berkeley Lab's Chemical Sciences Division and UC Berkeley's Chemistry Department, as well as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Chang is the corresponding author of a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) that describes this research. The paper is titled "In vivo imaging of hydrogen peroxide production in a murine tumor model with a chemoselective bioluminescent reporter." Co-authoring with Chang were Genevieve Van de Bittner, Elena Dubikovskaya and Carolyn Bertozzi......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

February 14, 2011, 7:12 AM CT

Pheromone increases foraging honey bees

The application of a naturally occurring pheromone to honey bee test colonies increases colony growth resulting in stronger hives overall, as per a newly released study conducted by researchers at Oregon State University and Texas A&M University.

The study, which appeared this week in the journal, PLoS ONE, comes amid national concern over the existence of honey bee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) - a combination of events that result in the death of a bee colony. The causes behind CCD remain unknown, but scientists are focusing on four possible contributing factors: disease, pests, environmental conditions and nutrition.

As per Ramesh Sagili, coauthor on the study, "Division of labor linked to brood rearing in the honey bee: how does it translate to colony fitness?" resiliency to CCD appears to be increased through -better hive management and the use of optimal dose of brood pheromone -- a chemical released by honey bee larvae that communicates the presence of larvae in the colony to adult bees. Optimal dose of brood pheromone that can stimulate colony growth may vary depending on the colony size, time of application and several other factors.

The number of larvae present in the hive affects the ratio of adult foraging bees to non-foragers in favor of foragers, said Sagili. In our study, when low levels of brood pheromone were introduced to experimental hives foragers collected more pollen......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

February 8, 2011, 6:38 AM CT

Wolverines Threatened by Climate Change

The aggressive wolverine may not be powerful enough to survive climate change in the contiguous United States, new research concludes.

Wolverine habitat in the northwestern United States is likely to warm dramatically if society continues to emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, as per new computer model simulations carried out at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo.

"The scientists have combined regional-scale climate projections with knowledge of a single species and its unique habitat to examine its vulnerability to a changing climate," says Sarah Ruth, program director in NSF's Directorate for Geosciences, which funds NCAR.

"This study is an example of how targeted climate predictions can produce new insights that could help us reduce the impact of future climate change on delicate ecosystems.".

Climate change is likely to imperil the wolverine in two ways: reducing or eliminating the springtime snow cover that wolverines rely on for raising their young, and increasing August temperatures well beyond what the species appears to be able to tolerate.

"Species that depend on snow cover for their survival are likely to be very vulnerable to climate change," says NCAR scientist Synte Peacock, the main author of a paper reporting the study's results......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

February 8, 2011, 6:38 AM CT

The Most Genes in an Animal?

Researchers have discovered that the animal with the most genes--about 31,000--is the near-microscopic freshwater crustacean Daphnia pulex, or water flea.

By comparison, humans have about 23,000 genes. Daphnia is the first crustacean to have its genome sequenced.

The water flea's genome is described in a Science paper published this week by members of the Daphnia Genomics Consortium, an international network of researchers led by the Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics (CGB) at Indiana University (IU) Bloomington and the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute.

"Daphnia's high gene number is largely because its genes are multiplying, creating copies at a higher rate than other species," said project leader and CGB genomics director John Colbourne.

"We estimate a rate that is three times greater than those of other invertebrates and 30 percent greater than that of humans.".

"This analysis of the Daphnia genome significantly advances our understanding of how an organism's genome interacts with its environment both to influence genome structure and to confer ecological and evolutionary success," says Saran Twombly, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

February 7, 2011, 3:51 PM CT

What keeps bears healthy while hibernating?

Hibernating, it turns out, is much more complicated than one might think.

Research reported in the latest issue of the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology illustrates a complex series of changes that occur in grizzly bears' hearts as they hibernate. The changes guard against complications that could arise from greatly reduced activity.

A grizzly hibernates five to six months of the year. During that time, its heart rate slows drastically from around 84 beats per minute when active to around 19. "If a human heart were to slow down like this, you'd see very detrimental things happening," said Bryan Rourke, a professor at Cal State Long Beach who worked on the research with his graduate student, Nathan Barrows.

Such a slow beat causes blood to pool in the heart's four chambers. In a human, the increased pressure would cause the chambers to stretch out. The dilated muscle would be weaker and less efficient, leading ultimately to congestive heart failure.

"Bears are able to avoid this," Rourke said, "and we're interested in how they do it".

Barrows and Rourke worked with Lynne Nelson and Charles Robbins, scientists at Washington State University who have been studying bears for years. They operate a facility at Washington State where grizzlies have been raised since birth and acclimated to echocardiogram testing. Research at the facility is providing crucial insight into the mysteries of the hibernating heart......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

February 5, 2011, 7:23 AM CT

Scientists discover 7 new species of fish

Things are not always what they seem when it comes to fish�something researchers at the Smithsonian Institution and the Ocean Science Foundation are finding out. Using modern genetic analysis, combined with traditional examination of morphology, the researchers discovered that what were once believed to be three species of blenny in the genus Starksia are actually 10 distinct species. The team's findings appear in the scientific journal ZooKeys, Feb. 3.

Starksia blennies, small (less than 2 inches) fish with elongated bodies, generally native to shallow to moderately deep rock and coral reefs in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans, have been well-studied for more than 100 years. It would have been reasonable to assume that there was little about the group left to discover. Modern DNA barcoding techniques, however, suggested otherwise. While trying to match larval stages of coral reef fish to adults through DNA, the team of researchers noticed contradictions between the preliminary genetic data and the current species classification. Further investigation revealed that the team was dealing with a number of species new to science, including the new Starksia blennies.

"DNA analysis has offered science a great new resource to examine old questions," said Carole Baldwin, a zoologist at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and main author of the paper. "This discovery is a perfect example of how DNA barcoding is illuminating species that we've missed before, especially small cryptic reef fishes like Starksia blennies. We don't know where we stand in terms of understanding species diversity, and our work suggests that current concepts appears to be surprisingly incomplete"......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

February 3, 2011, 7:37 AM CT

Oysters at risk

A new, wide-ranging survey that compares the past and present condition of oyster reefs around the globe finds that more than 90 percent of former reefs have been lost in most of the "bays" and ecoregions where the prized molluscs were formerly abundant. In a number of places, such as the Wadden Sea in Europe and Narragansett Bay, oysters are rated "functionally extinct," with fewer than 1 percent of former reefs persisting. The declines are in most cases a result of over-harvesting of wild populations and disease, often exacerbated by the introduction of non-native species.

Oysters have fueled coastal economies for centuries, and were once astoundingly abundant in favored areas. The new survey is reported in the recent issue of BioScience, the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. It was conducted by an international team led by Michael W. Beck of The Nature Conservancy and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Beck's team examined oyster reefs across 144 bays and 44 ecoregions. It also studied historical records as well as national catch statistics. The survey suggests that about 85 percent of reefs worldwide have now been lost. The BioScience authors rate the condition of oysters as "poor" overall.

Most of the world's harvest of native oysters comes from just five ecoregions in North America, but even there, the condition of reefs is "poor" or worse, except in the Gulf of Mexico. Oyster fisheries there are "probably the last opportunity to achieve large-scale oyster reef conservation and sustainable fisheries," Beck and his coauthors write. Oysters provide important ecosystem services, such as water filtration, as well as food for people. The survey team argues for improved mapping efforts and the removal of incentives to over-exploitation. It also recommends that harvesting and further reef destruction should not be allowed wherever oysters are at less than 10 percent of their former abundance, unless it can be shown that these activities do not substantially affect reef recovery......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

February 2, 2011, 7:54 AM CT

Seeking Social Genes

In order understand the evolution of complex societies, scientists are sequencing the genomes of social insects. The most recent data, published this week in the Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, come from several species of ants, including the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus

A team, lead by Arizona State University organismal and systems biology professor Juergen Gadau, sequenced one of the genomes and set out to decipher which genes might be responsible for defining which ants work and which ants reproduce in a red harvester ant colony.

Division of labor and reproduction are two crucial characteristics researchers think are important to the evolution of social structure. "Having multiple independently evolved social genomes helps us to better understand which genes are involved in crucial social traits, because those should be highly conserved," Gadau said.

In addition to specialization of roles within a colony, scientists argue that development of methods to communicate information is another key aspect of eusociality, the extreme form of social behavior exhibited by certain bees, termites and ants.

This study was funded by the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems, part of the National Science Foundation's Biology Directorate. The Developmental Systems Cluster within the division supports research aimed at understanding how interacting developmental processes give rise to the emergent properties of organisms......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 17:07:15 GMT

Do Not Climb On The Rocks

I climbed on the rocks. So, what are you gonna do about that?

(via Scribol) Posted by: Gerard      Read more     Source

January 28, 2011, 7:13 PM CT

What Makes an Orangutan an Orangutan

For the first time, researchers have mapped the genome--the genetic code--of orangutans. This new tool appears to be used to support efforts to maintain the genetic diversity of captive and wild orangutans. The new map of the orangutan genome may also be used to help improve our understanding of the evolution of primates, including humans.

Partially funded by the National Science Foundation, the orangutan study appears in the Jan. 27 issue of Nature It was conducted by an international team of researchers led by Devin P. Locke of the Genome Center at Washington University.

Conservation implications

The name "orangutan" is derived from the Malay term, "man of the forest," a fitting moniker for one of our closest relatives.

There are two species of orangutans, defined primarily by their island of origin--either Sumatra or Borneo. The outlook for orangutan survival is currently dire because there are estimated to be only about 7,500 orangutans in Sumatra, where they are considered critically endangered, and only about 50,000 orangutans in Borneo, where they are considered endangered.

The endangerment status of orangutans is determined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. ......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

January 26, 2011, 7:21 AM CT

Tiger numbers could triple if large-scale landscapes are protected

The tiger reserves of Asia could support more than 10,000 wild tigers � three times the current number � if they are managed as large-scale landscapes that allow for connectivity between core breeding sites, a new paper from some of the world's leading conservation researchers finds. The study, co-authored by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) scientists, is the first evaluation of the political commitment made by all 13 tiger range countries at November's historic tiger summit to double the tiger population across Asia by 2022.

"A Landscape-Based Conservation Strategy to Double the Wild Tiger Population" in the current issue of Conservation Letters, finds that the commitment to double tiger numbers is not only possible, but can be exceeded. However, it will take a global effort to ensure that core breeding reserves are maintained and connected via habitat corridors.

"In the midst of a crisis, it's tempting to circle the wagons and only protect a limited number of core protected areas, but we can and should do better," said Dr. Eric Dinerstein, Chief Scientist at WWF and a co-author of the study. "We absolutely need to stop the bleeding, the poaching of tigers and their prey in core breeding areas, but we need to go much further and secure larger tiger landscapes before it is too late"......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

January 25, 2011, 7:37 AM CT

Rhythmic vibrations guide caste development

Future queen or tireless toiler? A paper wasp's destiny may lie in the antennal drumbeats of its caretaker.

While feeding their colony's larvae, a paper wasp queen and other dominant females periodically beat their antennae in a rhythmic pattern against the nest chambers, a behavior known as antennal drumming.

The drumming behavior is clearly audible even to human listeners and has been observed for decades, prompting numerous hypotheses about its purpose, says Robert Jeanne, a professor emeritus of entomology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A number of have surmised that the drumming serves as a communication signal.

"It's a very conspicuous behavior. More than once I've discovered nests by hearing this behavior first," he says.

Jeanne and colleagues have now linked antennal drumming to development of social caste in a native paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus The new work is described as per a research findings reported in the Feb. 8 issue of Current Biology by Jeanne, UW-Madison postdoctoral researcher Sainath Suryanarayanan and John Hermanson, an engineer at the USDA Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wis.

Paper wasp colonies, like a number of other social insects, have distinct castes � workers, which build and maintain the nest and care for young, and gynes, which can become queens, lay eggs and establish new nests......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

January 25, 2011, 7:20 AM CT

Improving soft shell harvest at Chesapeake Bay

A research effort designed to prevent the introduction of viruses to blue crabs in a research hatchery could end up helping Chesapeake Bay watermen improve their bottom line by reducing the number of soft shell crabs perishing before reaching the market. The findings, reported in the journal Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, shows that the transmission of a crab-specific virus in diseased and dying crabs likely occurs after the pre-molt (or 'peeler') crabs are removed from the wild and placed in soft-shell production facilities.

Crab mortality in soft shell production facilities is common, where it is typical for a quarter of all crabs to perish. Researchers attribute this high loss to the pressures crabs face as they are harvested, handled and placed in the facilities. When combined with the large number of animals living in a confined area, the potential for infectious diseases to spread among the crabs increases.

The team, led by University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) researchers, developed an innovative way to identify this crab virus solely by isolating its genetic material. Local watermen working in the soft-shell industry provided crabs to the Baltimore-based Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET) for examination......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

January 21, 2011, 8:28 PM CT

Biological Clock Ticks Slower for Some Female Birds

In birds as in humans, female fertility declines with age.

But some female birds can slow the ticking of their biological clocks by choosing the right mates, as per results of a study published online last week in the journal Oikos

Female birds become progressively less fertile as age takes its toll, says biologist Josh Auld of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, North Carolina, and co-author of the Oikos paper.

Older females lay fewer eggs, and they lay them later in the season--at a time when less food is available for their chicks.

But despite abundant evidence of fading fertility in females, researchers knew little about the role played by their mates. "The thought was that males didn't matter," Auld says.

But they do.

"These results are very unexpected, and one cannot help but wonder if they apply to vertebrates more generally," says Saran Twombly, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research.

"The work highlights the power of data synthesis to reveal patterns that arise only by combining lots of data to address new questions," says Twombly.

"It also emphasizes the need to integrate physiology, behavior, and other biological disciplines to understand what organisms do and how they interact in the wild."......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

January 16, 2011, 10:02 PM CT

More than 31 freshwater species have moved

Galician scientists have studied the evolution in the introduction of non-native fresh water species in Galicia over the past century, and have compared this with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. The results show that 31 exotic aquatic species out of the 88 recorded for the entire Iberian Peninsula have become established in the region over the past century.

An analysis of the introduction of non-native species in Galicia and the Iberian Peninsula carried out by scientists from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and the University of Coru�a (UDC) has shown not only the number of species introduced over the past 100 years, but also the periods during which the greatest number of new species appeared, and also current trends.

It has taken longer for exotic species to be introduced in Galicia than in the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. "While the species introduced in the Iberian Peninsula at the start of the 20th Century took between 80 and 90 years to be recorded in Galicia, this delay has been virtually negligible since the 1990s", Mar�a J. Servia, coordinator of the study and a researcher at the UDC, tells SINC.

As per Servia, species introduced in the Iberian Peninsula are now detected at "practically" the same time in Galicia. The data analysed show that 1995 marked a turning point, coinciding with the approval of the Schengen Treaty, which opened up the borders of European countries to the free movement of people and goods. From this time on, the pace of introduction of new species in Galicia has been the same as for the rest of Spain......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

January 16, 2011, 9:51 PM CT

100-year-old spWhen avian pox hit Galapagos

A research team from across the United States and Ecuador has pinpointed 1898 as the year the avipoxvirus, or avian pox, hit the Galapagos Islands and started infecting its birds. This estimation is vital to understanding avian diseases that affect today's Galapagos birds. The scientists' paper on the subject, "110 Years of Avipoxvirus on the Galapagos Islands," will be published on January 13 in PLoS ONE, an international, open-access science publication.

The research team, led by Dr. Patricia Parker of the University of Missouri�St. Louis, examined 3,607 finches and mockingbirds collected in the Galapagos between 1898 and 1906 that are currently held at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, along with 266 birds collected in 1891 and 1897 held at the Zoologische Staatssammlung in Munich, Gera number of. The researchers inspected the birds for skin lesions linked to avian pox infection and found 226 candidates dating from 1898 or later. For a small subset of these (59 specimens), the researchers took tissue samples for further pathological studies. In the end, a total of 21 specimens scored positive for avipoxvirus using histology (tissue examination under a microscope) and genotyping (screening for viral DNA).

"Without museum collections, work like this would never be possible," said Dr. Jack Dumbacher, Curator of Ornithology at the California Academy of Sciences. "Because museum specimens include detailed collection date and location data, they can be used to study not only a particular species, but also historical events and environmental conditions. Without this library of specimens, we might never have learned when or how this potentially devastating disease made its way to Darwin's famous islands"......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

January 16, 2011, 9:00 PM CT

Fisheries management makes coral reefs grow faster

An 18-year study of Kenya's coral reefs by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of California at Santa Cruz has observed that overfished reef systems have more sea urchins�organisms that in turn eat coral algae that build tropical reef systems.

By contrast, reef systems closed to fishing have fewer sea urchins�the result of predatory fish keeping urchins under control�and higher coral growth rates and more structure.

The paper appears in the December 2010 issue of the scientific journal Ecology The authors include Jennifer O'Leary of the University of California at Santa Cruz and Tim McClanahan of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The authors observed that reefs with large numbers of grazing sea urchins reduced the abundance of crustose coralline algae, a species of algae that produce calcium carbonate. Coralline algae contribute to reef growth, specifically the kind of massive flat reefs that fringe most of the tropical reef systems of the world.

The study focused on two areas�one a fishery closure near the coastal city of Mombasa and another site with fished reefs. The scientists observed that sea urchins were the dominant grazer in the fished reefs, where the predators of sea urchins�triggerfish and wrasses�were largely absent. The absence of predators caused the sea urchins to proliferate and coralline algae to become rare......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

January 16, 2011, 8:47 PM CT

Choosing organic milk

Wetter, cooler summers can have a detrimental effect on the milk we drink, as per new research published by Newcastle University.

Scientists found milk collected during a especially poor UK summer and the following winter had significantly higher saturated fat content and far less beneficial fatty acids than in a more 'normal' year.

But they also discovered that switching to organic milk could help overcome these problems. Organic supermarket milk showed higher levels of nutritionally beneficial fatty acids compared with 'ordinary' milk regardless of the time of year or weather conditions.

The study, which is published in this month's Journal of Dairy Science (January 2011), leads on from prior research undertaken nearly three years ago which looked at the difference between organic and conventional milk at its source � on the farms.

"We wanted to check if what we found on farms also applies to milk available in the shops," said Gillian Butler, who led the study. "Surprisingly, the differences between organic and conventional milk were even more marked. Whereas on the farms the benefits of organic milk were proven in the summer but not the winter, in the supermarkets it is significantly better quality year round".

There was also greater consistency between organic suppliers, where the conventional milk brands were of variable quality......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

January 16, 2011, 8:39 PM CT

LCD projector used to control brain and muscles of tiny organisms

Scientists are using inexpensive components from ordinary liquid crystal display (LCD) projectors to control the brain and muscles of tiny organisms, including freely moving worms. Red, green and blue lights from a projector activate light-sensitive microbial proteins that are genetically engineered into the worms, allowing the scientists to switch neurons on and off like light bulbs and turn muscles on and off like engines.

Use of the LCD technology to control small animals advances the field of optogenetics -- a mix of optical and genetic techniques that has given scientists unparalleled control over brain circuits in laboratory animals. Until now, the technique could be used only with larger animals by placement of an optical fiber into an animal's brain, or mandatory illumination of an animal's entire body.

A paper published Jan. 9 in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Methods describes how the inexpensive illumination technology allows scientists to stimulate and silence specific neurons and muscles of freely moving worms, while precisely controlling the location, duration, frequency and intensity of the light.

"This illumination instrument significantly enhances our ability to control, alter, observe and investigate how neurons, muscles and circuits ultimately produce behavior in animals," said Hang Lu, an associate professor in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

Sat, 15 Jan 2011 03:26:08 GMT

6 Amazingly Intelligent Animals

Animals may be extremely well-organized and insanely ballsy, but we"ll always
have one giant advantage over them: our intelligence. That"s not to say that animals
are stupid. Here are 6 amazingly intelligent animals. Posted by: Gerard      Read more     Source