News Snippets

As most of you know, science happens all the time, and usually I was really good at reporting all the fun science news. Then I got busy, then I got lazy (Twitter makes sharing stories to darn easy), then busy again... but who cares??? I have a blog to write! Who says all the post have to be long and amazing?!?!

Here are some stories that I have found to be interesting these past few days:

• Sixty Second Science did a podcast about sugar being able to flush out microbes. Sugar actually helps antibiotics work more effectively in chronic infections.
• There was a great video showing chimpanzees exhibiting what humans would consider "mourning behaviors" and, of course, was posted to National Geographic. What do you think? Are they just unusually quiet and curious or does it seem like mourning?
• Elevated levels of radiation were found in seaweed near the "injured" nuclear plant in Japan.
• Locally, one guys stupid laziness caused an island wide (two islands actually) power outage. Fantastic.
• Whales in the West Indies have West Indian accents. It's true. Studies have shown that whales have regional accents and dialects!

So go and read... You might learn something!

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News Snippets: Grapes, Ginger, Beetles and Butterflies

Three snippets that I found interesting today follow: two are about food and one about butterflies. The second one also has to do with beetles. Woo, invertebrates! Could my day get any better?

• Grapes made the news again. Well, actually, resveratrol did. I have posted about this interesting compound a few times on Potspoon! and I am still waiting on the reveratrol beer. Well, besides the fact that this compound is good for its anti-aging properties, it also appears to display anti-obesity and anti-insulin resistance. You can read the article here. 

Fig 1. Yum

•  In an article published in Insect Conservation and Diversity, good news was found for the UK's incredible stag beetle and good news come in the form of a root. Ginger is useful in the kitchen, sure, but it is also useful as bait to lure stag beetles. Researchers have also devised a method using tiny microphones to hear larvae underground. This all helps determine numbers of the rare beetle and can aid in its conservation. You can read more on ScienceDaily as well.

Fig. 2 Not the right species of butterfly, but a butterfly nonetheless

• Squinting bush brown butterflies, Bicyclus anynana, seem to have a bit of role reversal in mating behaviors. This confusion only seems to occur when changes of weather happen. When it's cool, females act as the aggressors and flash their wing patterns. In this species the males and females have the same eye spots, but the UV patterns change dependent on temperature. In warm moist conditions, the males have more flashy designs while the females are dull, but when the temperature drops, new males and females are opposite. It's the females that are flashier and spend time displaying. You can read more here.

 Hope you all are having an awesome Monday!

Photos: Grapes from Google Creative Commons search and butterfly from Paraflyer's photostream. Both lisenced through Creative Commons.

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Science Updates

Wow! There actually has been a lot going on in the world and I've mainly been posting links to articles on the Potspoon! Fan Page just to save on time, but I may as well write up some snippets here. We have quite a bit of a range of science stories to cover but I am only putting up a few with links so you can explore on your own.

• Paleontologist finally believe they have identified the oldest known dinosaur embryos. The embryos belong to genus Massospondylus and are believed to be about 190 million years old. The embryos have over sized heads much in the way that many modern vertebrates do. This would mean that this dinosaur may have needed some parental care early on making it the earliest parental care evidence.

• In a story that has be written up in a few of my favorite online sources for science news, cats' balance even extends to how they drink. Using the inertia of the moving liquid, they actually quite delicately suck the liquid up in a column and close their mouths before gravity kicks in and makes the liquid fall again. This minimizes spills and messes.

• IBM unveiled their plans to make super small processors for the worlds most powerful supercomputers. The processors, according to this article from the BBC, would shrink them to about the size of a sugar cube.

• If you like watching the skies for auroras, tonight and tomorrow may be perfect for you. A closely watched sunspot, 1123 to be exact, recently sent a "blast" of filaments towards earth and we should be receiving a magnetic glancing blow tonight and tomorrow. Should be quite a show.

Well, that's it for now, folks. I hope you have an awesome week!

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Wolves, Birds, and Other Animal News

It has been a busy week for animals so lets get to it.

• The gray wolf (Canis lupus) is not making it easy on hunters in Idaho. This year, the state of Idaho sanctioned a wolf hunt and issued 14,000 wolf hunting permits. This large number of permits is despite the fact that the population of the wolves is only estimated at less than 900. In the first 11 days of the hunt, only three wolves have been tagged (legal kills). Montana is due to start their wolf hunting season (population is only 500 there) this week. There are talks occurring as to whether or not the gray wolf should be on the endangered species list again.

• A missing bird was found flying at sea. This is not the booby I mentioned last time. This time it is the Fiji petrel. The bird is incredibly rare and only through a very thorough bird "hunt" were researchers finally able to see them. The only known specimen was an immature one from Gau, Fiji in1855. It wasn't until 1984 that the bird had a confirmed sighting again. You can read more about this elusive bird here.
  

• Honeybees are telling ants to "buzz off" quite effectively. For the first time on tape, a bee has been caught using its wings to blow away ants that are attacking them and their nests. The bees actually change their wing beat pattern to one far more powerful and aggressive to blow the ants away.

• A few new species have been found inside a crater in Papua New Guinea. Among them were various species of amphibians, plants, and one of the world's largest rats. Mount Bosavi crater was the subject of a recent expedition set up by the BBC. Most of these new species are believed to not exist anywhere else on Earth!
  

• This last snippet is a bit of local news. Recently, I wrote about turtle nesting in the VI. Well, as luck would have it, Brewers Bay (the location of my opening credits for many Potspoon! videos) has a turtle nest! Not just any turtle nest either. I have lost of luck spotting green turtles at this beach, but the nest is a leatherback nest! Leatherbacks are the fourth largest reptilian species behind three crocodilians. They are endangered worldwide. The picture above is said nest. I am so excited!
  

That's it for your animal news snippets.

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End of Week Animal News Snippets

This has been an exciting week for animals in the news so we will just get to it:

• First off, there was that weird spider thing in Oklahoma. In the end, the body was destroyed (stupid) so we still don't know if it really was a Brazilian wandering spider or a Huntsman spider. People from the University of Tulsa and the Tulsa Zoo seem to disagree on the identification of it. Since there is no body, we may never know.
  
  

• A lizard that had not been found on mainland New Zealand for 200 years was finally found! The tuatara can grow to be up to almost 3 feet in length from nose to begining of tail. That is about the size of our giant iguanas on island. It was found by people at the Karori Sanctuary.

• Brown University led research found that all bats land differently.

• Scientists are figuring out why some birds are disappearing. Many of the factors causing the disappearance of our feathered friends include climate change, disease, invasive species and habitat loss.

• A pink elephant has been caught on camera. The super cute thing may be an albino which does not bode well for the little calf. The harsh environment of Botswana may give the calf skin problems, blindness, and more. Elephants are smart though and the little calf already only walks in the shade of it's mother.

• More proof of primates using tools has been recorded on film. Chimps in the Republic of Congo are on video making clubs out of branches and breaking open hives to reach the honey inside. If that wasn't enough, they then scoop the honey out using "dipping wands."

I hope this helps with your science fix. I know it helped mine.

Sorry I have been so absent. More hours at work has me a bit exhausted by the time I come home. There is only so much science you can teach in a day.

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Week-End Wrap Up...

Well, it's not the weekend yet, but close enough. I figured I would do my super soon to be famous science news snippets today. This time, with a theme. One that is near and dear to me... doggies!

• In South Korea, scientists have claimed to clone some puppies using stem cells. The stem cells came from the fat tissue of a female beagle. While they have cloned about 35 dogs and 5 wolves, this is the first time the close were created from stem cells. You can find the source article here.
  

• In a study done recently, many people who are affectionate with their pets also share a lot of really bad germs, like E. coli. While more than half of pet owners are very affectionate with their animals, most of the reason they share so many harmful germs is something very simple... lack of hand washing. While dogs and humans both carry E. Coli regularly, the humans and pets studied had the same genetic strain of the germ meaning that both pets and owners could both build resistance to antibiotics at the same time. Wash you hands, please! Source.

• Do you know how a dog walks? A study founds that most taxidermists, anatomists and toy designers get it wrong. In fact, it is a lot more complicated than most think. The worst is a study done 120 years ago is correct, but people forgot these findings. So how does a dog walk? Hey! This is a snippet! Go read the article here.
  

Okay... so now you have some weekend reading. I hope everyone has a good Friday night! And just for good measure, another bad cell phone picture of my Floyd on the beach yesterday.

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General Science Thingies

I really enjoyed doing my Animal News Snippets and other posts in that style. It really allows me to sum up some amazing things without having to spend all day on the computer! So without further ado, here is your update on general science (pretty much all kinds, not just animals like last time).

• Bahamas- Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin found a very large (grape-sized) single celled organism leaving trails. They had found similar single-celled organisms in the Arabian Sea, but they didn't move. These have definite trails behind them and the trails look like early fossilized trails. For a long time, scientists believed the fossilized trails were made by a multi-cellular organism.

• Antarctica- High energy electrons have been captured. Scientists believe the findings may help with theories on the elusive "dark-matter." This topic is very complicated so that is all I will leave you with. It hurts my head typing it. :D

• U.K.- A bird of prey that all but disappeared early last century will be reintroduced in England. The sea eagle is the U.K.'s largest bird of prey and if all goes as planned, they will be reintroduced in Norfolk next summer.

• Italy- Puppy smuggling is a growing concern in Rome, where a conference was held to face the challenges of this illegal industry. Poor puppies!

• World- Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology finds that contacts between new cells when we learn stay in place. That means that we never really forget anything. The brain reactivates these contacts when you are being taught these things again (refresher courses), making the knowledge a bit better.

• California- Researchers at the University of California, Berkley, found that learning the name of a color changes the part of the brain used in perception. Toddlers, for example, use the right half of the brain for color. After learning the name of the color, this perception and awareness switches to the left hemisphere.

If there is anything you guys really want to learn about, feel free to email me at moya [dot] marizela {at} gmail [dot] com. I welcome all comments and critiques! I guess I just want to know what I can do better. I hope you enjoyed your science news!


Picture of the Sea Eagle is in the Public Domain.

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Animal News Snippets

Apparently there is a lot going on in the kingdom Animalia. Since I don't have the time to do an individual post on everything I have found interesting just this morning, I am going to summarize it all and let you pick what you want to read!

• Australia- A team of scientists finds that fiddler crabs lie. The crabs' giant claws can regenerate, but some of the males have HUGE fake claws with no teeth and are quite flimsy. These claws are used to attract females and convince males that it is not worth fighting them. I guess this is along the lines of fake muscle implants.

• United States- Thousands of wild mustangs (as in the one I got to see on my adventure in the West) may have to be slaughtered. These wild horses are kept in holding pens by the Bureau of Land Management and the cost to keep them is getting too high. They won't release them into the wild because their populations increase rapidly and the public land they live on needs to be used for ranching and farming. Really?!?! THAT'S the excuse they came up with??? "I'm sorry, Spirit, we want sheep here instead." Anyway, you can adopt on of the majestic creatures here.

• Japan- The supposedly scientific whale hunts that Japan has been conducting have started again. This year, however, the research vessel left without the usual fanfare. The boat left quietly and spokesmen said they would not disclose whether or not the boat was again going on its whale hunt for safety of the crew. This is all after a disagreement the Japanese government had with Australia over approval to kill, excuse me, cull some 50 humpbacks. You can watch Sea Shepard's campaign against the whaling on the new Animal Planet show, Whale Wars.

• Washington D.C.- A cute little baby gazelle was born at the National Zoo. This is a big deal as it is estimated that less than five hundred of this particular species exist in the wild. You should see the pictures. Really cute!
  

All the links in purple are the main articles. Everything else is extra information. Thanks for reading!

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Dropping the Ball, then Kicking the Heck Out of It!

So I didn't post yesterday even though I said I would post everyday in the month of October. It's also Wednesday, and I just do not have the inspiration to do my weekly Debate! again. Maybe it is because of all the political debates recently. I just don't have the patience for it. I do, however, have the energy to do a little bit of sciency news snippets! Here goes:

Fish with Fingers: Researchers have taken x-rays of a fish fossil, Panderichthys, and found that there are rudimentary fingers in the fins. This show that rudimentary fingers were first seen in development earlier than first thought. Weird, huh?

A "Nobel" Woman: The Nobel Prizes are being announced and this week the talk was all Chemistry. It seems to be on all the news sources. However, the award for physiology and medicine has already be granted and one of the winners was a woman! Françoise Barré-Sinoussi from France won the prize for her earlier work discovering HIV. I can't believe they are finally honoring her. Originally this was posted on Women in Science and apparently I missed it. (DOH!)

"Tubular" Solar Energy: A company in California, Solyndra, Inc., designs photovoltaic (solar) cells that are cylindrical in shape to capture light from many angles. This increases the amount of energy one can harness from the sun.

Life Saving Birds: A study done at Washington University in St. Louis shows that areas high in bird diversity have lower risks of West Nile Virus. Yay for mosquito eating birds!

Going Glacier Gone: A study done by United States Geological Survey (USGS) show that Alaska's glaciers are disappearing despite people's assumptions that climate change is a farce. More than 99% of the glaciers in Alaska are retreating at an alarming pace.

Now you guys are all filled with science news! Happy Wednesday!


Photo of Panderichthys courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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