Donors Choose Final Days

The Donors Choose challenge ends tomorrow so I am imploring one last time: help the kids! You can donate as little as $25 dollars and it can really make a difference in someone's life. Many of the projects I picked at the beginning are completely funded so there are only a few left. Every donation is tax deductible and you always get a nice thank you note from the teacher and students. Did I mention the warm fuzzy feelings you get by helping someone out? You get those, too.

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Chimp Culture

Our lovely cousins, the chimpanzees, have been in the news a bit recently. One article, however, really caught my eye. Researchers studying neighboring chimpanzee populations in Uganda found that different groups approached similar problems with different tools.

The problem was getting honey from inside a log. One group from Kibale Forest used sticks to get at the honey. A group from Budongo Forest used leaf sponges- absorbent wedges made from chewed up leaves. One scientist said the following as explanation:

The most reasonable explanation for this difference in tool use was that chimpanzees resorted to preexisting cultural knowledge in trying to solve the novel task. Culture, in other words, helped them in dealing with a novel problem.

Here, keep in mind, they use a really simple to understand basis of culture. Webster's defines culture as:

1. the ideas, customs, skills, arts, etc. of a people or group, that are transferred, communicated, or passed along, as in or to succeeding generations
2. such ideas, customs, etc. of a particular people or group in a particular period; civilization
3. the particular people or group having such ideas, customs, etc.

Using this definition, it's easy to see why we can relate the use of certain tools (a skill passed down through generations) as a cultural difference. You can read more about the experiment here.

Photo from

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davelau/ / CC BY 2.0

Don't forget: The Donor's Choose Challenge is going on 'til the end of October. Make a difference in school children's lives.

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Island Dogs

Today's post was inspired by a comment on SeaLaura's recent post. A commenter mentioned a dog beach on an island. Since many people don't know too much about it, I figured I would clue you all in...

The one that has made news in the past is nicknamed Dead Dog Beach. The beach is located in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. There are many "dog beaches" throughout the Caribbean. Now, when we say dog beach, we do not mean dog-friendly beaches that you can take your pet. These are beaches that have large populations of strays living on or near them. Now, back to Puerto Rico. The reason it is called Dead Dog Beach is not for the faint of heart. Many of the animals are tortured or beaten regularly by local residents. An organization known as Island Dog is aiming to teach the people in this area that animal cruelty is not okay. They also provide other services for the animals like bringing food and fresh water, providing medications, and spaying/neutering.

Needless to say, the program has grown considerably and they have reached out to many other dog beaches in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. One of the programs allows people flying on American Airlines to certain destinations check a pet. Once they arrive at the destination, partnering shelters will pick up the animal at the airport. All you have to do is check the animal. You can find out more ways to get involved here.

As you know, adopting animals is very near to my heart. If you are a new reader, the photo above is of my doggy, Floyd. She was abandoned and is what we locals refer to as a coconut retriever. She has been a part of my family for three years now and I wouldn't have it any other way. If you know anyone who is traveling to the Caribbean, see if the flights coincide with Island Dog's pick up centers. You can make a big difference.

Don't forget: The Donor's Choose Challenge is going on 'til the end of October. Make a difference in school children's lives.

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Flamingo Tongue

Now that I am all well rested from my "staycation" I have lots of pictures and science-y tidbits to share. This amazing photo my hubby took above is of a flamingo tongue (Cyphoma gibbosum). See the brightly colored shell on the sea fan? It's that. Now you will get to learn a little about this amazing creature.

Habitat:
This beautiful snail lives its life hanging around on gorgonian type corals. These commonly are sea fans and sea whips. They are found in shallow waters to depths of about 10m (30 ft.). Its range is the southern Atlantic and Caribbean. This is the area between North Carolina and Brazil.

Family Origins:
This colorful little guy is a gastropod. That means he is a mollusk along with some of our friends the squids, snails, and slugs. They are part of the family that is commonly known as the cowries.

Fun Facts:

• The colors on the shell are not actually on the shell. It is actually a layer of tissue outside of the shell. Once the snail dies, it is really just a plain white or light peach colored shell.
• They cannot survive without coral reefs. They live on and feed off gorgonians (octocorals). Both the flamingo tongue and the coral they feed on are invertebrates.
• Like all gastropods, the flamingo tongue eats with its foot. The thing any snail crawls along the surface with is known as it's foot. They eat as they are moving!
• They have very few predators because, as the brightly colored shell indicates, they are distasteful.
  
• The maximum size is only 1.5 inches.
• They are diurnal (sleep at night) just like us! Well, most of us. :D
• Flamingo tongues are getting more rare as visitors to the Caribbean mistakenly snatch them up for their colorful shells. Now that you all know they aren't really colorful, you won't take them, will you?

I hope you have enjoyed this introduction to yet another animal found here in St. Thomas.

Don't forget: The Donor's Choose Challenge is going on 'til the end of October. Make a difference in school children's lives.

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Insecticidal Hammocks

Despite what we think in the United States, Malaria is still a problem in many parts of the world. This is especially true in some remote areas of Vietnam. A study published in PLoS ONE today studied the effectiveness of Long Lasting Insecticidal Hammocks (LLIH) as a tool for forest workers in these areas. There were approximately 20,000 people from 30 villages separated into 20 groups of 1,000. The groups were randomly chosen as controls (normal routine stuff), and the rest were givven the LLIH test.

After two years, the study showed that the groups deemed "intervention" clusters had an almost 2 times reduction in the rate of malaria cases. The control was at about 10.5 cases per 1,000 people while the LLIH group was 5.6 per 1,000. The significance of these numbers were still great even after factors of bed net use, age, forest activity and wealth were added into the mix.

These hammocks can really save on healthcare and save lives in developing countries!

According to the CDC website, 350-500 million cases of malaria occur each year. In 2002, malaria was the 4th leading cause of death for children in developing countries. Four Nobel prizes have been awarded to various scientists who have done studies on the disease.


Long-Lasting Insecticidal Hammocks for Controlling Forest Malaria: A Community-Based Trial in a Rural Area of Central Vietnam;
Ngo Duc Thang, Annette Erhart, Niko Speybroeck, Nguyen Xuan Xa, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, Pham Van Ky, Le Xuan Hung, Le Khanh Thuan, Marc Coosemans, Umberto D'Alessandro

Photo licensed under Creative Commons from plastanka's photostream.

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DonorsChoose Challenge

You may or may not remember, but last year I urged you to support any bloggers participating in the DonorsChoose challenge. This year there is a little friendly competition going on between the big poppa science blogs and us little blogs that belong to the Nature Blog Network. If you don't remember that either, I became a member November of last year. So I am in. I think we can take the bloggers at ScienceBlogs DOWN. Really, it's all in good fun and all for a good cause.

I selected fun science based projects that I think will really encourage children in America to not be so afraid of science. I also chose classrooms that are known to be in high poverty areas. Please try to donate. Even if it's five dollars. Many of the projects I picked have match donations by other foundations as well. If you donate through me, there may be something in it for you later as well. Not trying to bribe or anything. Just to let you know!

I will continue the status updates on this until the competition is over. Please give. If you want to know how DonorsChoose works, please follow this link.

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Preventing Psychosis

Yes, I know, it has been a minute, but I swear, I have a good reason... but we're ignoring all that and getting straight to the news!

There were two articles mentioned on ScienceDaily yesterday pertaining to things that cause psychosis and violence in children. Both articles were published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. In one study, 6,356 12-year-olds were looked at. All of the children were tested/interviewed for psychosis (hallucination or delusions). About 11 % of the children were found to have symptoms, most of which had mothers that smoked during pregnancy. The children with the highest levels of psychosis were born to mothers who smoked heavily. There was also a correlation found between women who drank alcohol within the first 21 weeks of pregnancy and psychosis. There was no relation at all to women who claimed to have smoked cannibis. You can read the published article here. It is an open access article.

In the second study, 17,500 people were studied since 1970. Data was taken at 5, 100, and 34 years of age. The purpose of the study was to determine if sweets affected adult behavior. By age 34, some of the people were considered violent. Of these people, almost 70% were given some sort of confection or chocolate everyday as a kid. This link was present even after other factors were removed. Here's what researchers had to say:

"Our favoured explanation is that giving children sweets and chocolate regularly may stop them learning how to wait to obtain something they want. Not being able to defer gratification may push them towards more impulsive behaviour, which is strongly associated with delinquency."

In otherwords, be kind to your body while pregnant and don't spoil your kids. It could be bad for them later in life!

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