Biology posts
- March 15, 2010
- 06:30 AM
- 2 views
Should scientists be in control?
by Björn Brembs in bjoern.brembs.blog
The cliché scientist is often portrayed as the laborious worker slogging away days and nights in the lab. In contrast, the cliché for musicians or artists often comprises a bohemian lifestyle, full of parties, drugs and the occasional spurts of genius and frantic artistic expression. Reality, as always, is somewhere in-between. Artists need to work hard and laboriously to get something finished before the concert, recording or exhibition and scientists need to be creative and invest a lot of ........ Read more »
Liston, C., McEwen, B., & Casey, B. (2009) Psychosocial stress reversibly disrupts prefrontal processing and attentional control. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(3), 912-917. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0807041106
Radley, J. (2005) Repeated Stress Induces Dendritic Spine Loss in the Rat Medial Prefrontal Cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 16(3), 313-320. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhi104
- March 14, 2010
- 12:40 AM
- 39 views
Say Hello to My Little Friend
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
What looks like a worm, is completely symmetrical in cross-section, and in the words of Dr. Peter Holland:
“It has no mouth, no gut, no brain and no nerve cord. It doesn’t have a left or right side or a top or bottom – we can’t even tell which end is the front!” (quoted from Physorg)
Its [...]... Read more »
Jimenez-Guri, E., Okamura, B., & Holland, P. (2007) Origin and evolution of a myxozoan worm. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 47(5), 752-758. DOI: 10.1093/icb/icm026
- March 13, 2010
- 02:08 PM
- 35 views
Evolving from Promiscuity to Monogamy
by Johnny in Ecographica
...despite the fact that promiscuous mating systems are the prevailing strategy in nature, environmental factors can push typically promiscuous species towards monogamy... case in point, a report published in the April issue of The American Naturalist details how the ‘mimic poison dart frog’ (Ranitomeya imitator) parted ways with promiscuity to adapt a lifestyle as the first scientifically recognized genetically monogamous amphibian. ... Read more »
Brown, J., Morales, V., & Summers, K. (2010) A Key Ecological Trait Drove the Evolution of Biparental Care and Monogamy in an Amphibian. The American Naturalist, 175(4), 436-446. DOI: 10.1086/650727
- March 13, 2010
- 06:10 AM
- 32 views
On emerging viruses
by iayork in Mystery Rays from Outer Space
Investigators face a daunting black box with emerging viruses: the challenge of developing a universal therapeutic agent to combat a genetically proficient virus that quite likely has many more options for emergence than we have yet considered.
–Graham, R., & Baric, R. (2009). Recombination, Reservoirs, and the Modular Spike: Mechanisms of Coronavirus Cross-Species [...]... Read more »
Graham, R., & Baric, R. (2009) Recombination, Reservoirs, and the Modular Spike: Mechanisms of Coronavirus Cross-Species Transmission. Journal of Virology, 84(7), 3134-3146. DOI: 10.1128/JVI.01394-09
- March 12, 2010
- 10:01 PM
- 50 views
Move over cows! Methane outgassing in the Arctic Sea
Methane! Move over cow flatulence and burping, methane is leaking from under the Arctic in a big way. Methane, that innocuous-seeming molecule with 4 hydrogens and a carbon, is actually a more potent greenhouse gas than the carbon dioxide molecule of greater fame–up to 25 times more potent actually. However, atmospheric methane concentrations are much [...]... Read more »
Shakhova, N., Semiletov, I., Salyuk, A., Yusupov, V., Kosmach, D., & Gustafsson, O. (2010) Extensive Methane Venting to the Atmosphere from Sediments of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf. Science, 327(5970), 1246-1250. DOI: 10.1126/science.1182221
- March 12, 2010
- 06:45 PM
- 33 views
Thymus Transplant Extends Life in Old Mice
by Reason in Fight Aging!
Amidst the preprint list of the Rejuvenation Research journal, I see an interesting paper I'd somehow missed: life span can be extended in old mice by transplant of a young thymus. Noninvasive Neonatal Thymus Graft into the Axillary Cavity Extends the Lifespan of Old Mice: Neonatal thymus grafts exert a rejuvenating action on various immunological and nonimmunological functions found altered in old mice. Commonly, half of a thymus is grafted under the kidney capsule. The invasiveness of the surg........ Read more »
Basso, A., Malavolta, M., Piacenza, F., Santarelli, L., Marcellini, F., Papa, R., & Mocchegiani, E. (2009) Noninvasive Neonatal Thymus Graft into the Axillary Cavity Extends the Lifespan of Old Mice. Rejuvenation Research, 2147483647. DOI: 10.1089/rej.2009.0936
- March 12, 2010
- 05:07 PM
- 27 views
Anatomy of a tuna’s internal compass
by DeLene Beeland in Wild Muse
NOTE: This post was originally published in August of 2009, it was one of the first few research papers that I wrote about on this site; it’s been receiving a spike in hits due to the recent announcement of a proposed ban on bluefin tuna fishing. This post does not talk about the conservation issues, [...]... Read more »
Willis, J., Phillips, J., Muheim, R., Diego-Rasilla, F., & Hobday, A. (2009) Spike dives of juvenile southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii): a navigational role?. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 64(1), 57-68. DOI: 10.1007/s00265-009-0818-2
- March 12, 2010
- 03:05 PM
- 24 views
Isopods Cause Reproductive Death in Shrimp
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
Isopods, you know them as those adorable little roly-poly bugs under rocks in the forest or the gigantic Bathynomus of the deep sea. They are also those cute and cuddly parasites in the gill chamber of shrimp too! Awww, How special! In a recent issue of JMBA-UK, Calado et al. describe how these fuzzy wittle [...]... Read more »
Calado, R., Bartilotti, C., Goy, J., & Dinis, M. (2008) Parasitic castration of the stenopodid shrimp Stenopus hispidus (Decapoda: Stenopodidae) induced by the bopyrid isopod Argeiopsis inhacae (Isopoda: Bopyridae). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, 88(02). DOI: 10.1017/S0025315408000684
- March 12, 2010
- 02:45 PM
- 41 views
Chasing Datura
by teofilo in Gambler's House
When I was discussing the archaeoacoustics of Chaco earlier, I mentioned that I was a little dubious about some of the stuff John Stein and Taft Blackhorse had said about Navajo connections to the Chaco Amphitheater. They associate it with a ceremonial tradition involving the ritual use of datura. There’s an immense anthropological literature on [...]... Read more »
Wyman, L., & Thorne, B. (1945) Notes on Navaho Suicide. American Anthropologist, 47(2), 278-288. DOI: 10.1525/aa.1945.47.2.02a00070
- March 12, 2010
- 02:03 PM
- 19 views
State Use of NRDA (why Florida is pretty awesome)
by JL in Analyze Everything
One of the oddities of state and federal government is the sheer number of regulatory authorities that go unused. For example, the Clean Water Act grants the EPA broad authority to protect the nation's waters. The EPA then actually delegates permitting for the CWA to the Corps of Engineers and state agencies (in many cases). As far as I can tell, many of the authorities embedded in the Clean ... Read more »
Faass, J. (2010) Florida's Approach to Natural Resource Damage Assessment: A Short, Sweet Model for States Seeking Compensation. Ecological Restoration, 28(1), 32-39. DOI: 10.3368/er.28.1.32
- March 12, 2010
- 12:59 PM
- 23 views
Gender-Bending Chickens: Mixed, Not Scrambled
by GrrlScientist in Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
tags: evolution, evolutionary biology, gynandromorph, bilateral gynandromorph bird, half-sider, mixed-sex chimaera, sex determination, molecular biology, genetics, developmental biology, endocrinology, birds, chicken, Gallus gallus, ornithology, bpr3.org/?p=52,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper, journal club
Half-sider.
Almost exactly one year ago, hundreds of American birders
were thrilled by sightings and photographs of this remarkable
Northern Cardinal, or Redbird, Cardinali........ Read more »
Zhao, D., McBride, D., Nandi, S., McQueen, H., McGrew, M., Hocking, P., Lewis, P., Sang, H., & Clinton, M. (2010) Somatic sex identity is cell autonomous in the chicken. Nature, 464(7286), 237-242. DOI: 10.1038/nature08852
- March 12, 2010
- 11:22 AM
- 33 views
Your Friday Dose of Weird: Two new Cambrian critters
When it comes to aliens, Hollywood really does not have much imagination. Most extraterrestrials that have appeared on the big screen look very much like us, or are at least some kind of four-to-six-limbed vertebrate, and this says more about out own vanity than anything else. It would be far more interesting, I think, to take the weird and wonderful organisms of the Cambrian as inspiration for alien life forms, and two new critters have just been added to the odd Cambrian menagerie. Read the ........ Read more »
Caron, J., Conway Morris, S., & Shu, D. (2010) Tentaculate Fossils from the Cambrian of Canada (British Columbia) and China (Yunnan) Interpreted as Primitive Deuterostomes. PLoS ONE, 5(3). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009586
STEIN, M. (2010) A new arthropod from the Early Cambrian of North Greenland, with a ‘great appendage’-like antennula. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 158(3), 477-500. DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00562.x
- March 12, 2010
- 10:30 AM
- 30 views
Incisivosaurus, a Dinosaur With an Overbite
by Brian Switek in Dinosaur Tracking
Over and over again the same dinosaurs show up in the news: Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Apatosaurus, Velociraptor, etc., etc., etc. Movies, books and television have made them into superstars, but we should not forget that these dinosaurs represent only a small part of the range of dinosaur diversity. There are many kinds of dinosaurs many people [...]... Read more »
Xu, X., Cheng, Y., Wang, X., & Chang, C. (2002) An unusual oviraptorosaurian dinosaur from China. Nature, 419(6904), 291-293. DOI: 10.1038/nature00966
- March 12, 2010
- 09:50 AM
- 30 views
Obstinately Overprotecting Odin
by Katie Hill in Promega Connections
I woke up this morning and worried about my 2 year-old son, Odin. Is he eating enough leafy greens? Is he socializing well with others? Is this demanding and snarky attitude he is newly exhibiting a permanent part of his personality? Will ramming his head into the table while playing soccer in the house prevent [...]... Read more »
Narita, K., Takei, Y., Suda, M., Aoyama, Y., Uehara, T., Kosaka, H., Amanuma, M., Fukuda, M., & Mikuni, M. (2010) Relationship of parental bonding styles with gray matter volume of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in young adults. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2010.02.025
- March 12, 2010
- 08:32 AM
- 22 views
It’s not easy to make the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus a killer
by Vincent Racaniello in virology blog
The second RNA segment of some influenza virus strains encodes a protein called PB1-F2 that might contribute to virulence. Speaking about the 2009 pandemic H1N1 strain, Peter Palese noted that “If this virulence marker is necessary for an influenza virus to become highly pathogenic in humans or in chickens, then the current swine virus doesn’t [...]... Read more »
Hai, R., Schmolke, M., Varga, Z., Manicassamy, B., Wang, T., Belser, J., Pearce, M., Garcia-Sastre, A., Tumpey, T., & Palese, P. (2010) PB1-F2 expression by the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus has minimal impact on virulence in animal models. Journal of Virology. DOI: 10.1128/JVI.02717-09
- March 12, 2010
- 06:14 AM
- 17 views
Yellow fever, stasis, and diversification
by iayork in Mystery Rays from Outer Space
“Episode de la fièvre jaune”
By analyzing hepatitis C virus genome sequences, you can trace the virus’s history through its spread by the slave trade, and linked 19th-century health models in different countries to viral spread and transmission. Similarly, by looking at leprosy DNA, you can track its spread along the Silk Road and along [...]... Read more »
Bryant, J., Holmes, E., & Barrett, A. (2007) Out of Africa: A Molecular Perspective on the Introduction of Yellow Fever Virus into the Americas. PLoS Pathogens, 3(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.0030075
Barrett, A., & Higgs, S. (2007) Yellow Fever: A Disease that Has Yet to be Conquered. Annual Review of Entomology, 52(1), 209-229. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ento.52.110405.091454
Sall, A., Faye, O., Diallo, M., Firth, C., Kitchen, A., & Holmes, E. (2009) Yellow Fever Virus Exhibits Slower Evolutionary Dynamics than Dengue Virus. Journal of Virology, 84(2), 765-772. DOI: 10.1128/JVI.01738-09
- March 12, 2010
- 06:00 AM
- 20 views
The challenge of managing disease in wildlife: the case of elk in Yellowstone
by Rob Goldstein in Conservation Maven
The disease brucellosis is surging in free-ranging elk populations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem according to a new study in the journal Ecological Applications.
Furthermore, efforts to address the problem by reducing the density of elk populations through increased hunting or introduction of natural predators will be difficult given the matrix of private and public lands where elk aggregate.... Read more »
Cross, P., Cole, E., Dobson, A., Edwards, W., Hamlin, K., Luikart, G., Middleton, A., Scurlock, B., & White, P. (2010) Probable causes of increasing brucellosis in free-ranging elk of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Ecological Applications, 20(1), 278-288. DOI: 10.1890/08-2062.1
- March 12, 2010
- 05:13 AM
- 17 views
The Green Evolution that preceded the Green Revolution
by Jeremy in Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog
The standard litany against the Green Revolution is that it failed to banish hunger because the technologies it ushered in were no use to small peasant farmers. Farmers with access to cash and good land did well, but poorer farmers on marginal land got nothing out of the revolution, and if they did somehow [...]... Read more »
Harwood, J. (2009) Peasant Friendly Plant Breeding and the Early Years of the Green Revolution in Mexico. Agricultural History, 83(3), 384-410. DOI: 10.3098/ah.2009.83.3.384
- March 12, 2010
- 12:46 AM
- 40 views
Friday Weird Science: Ejaculation 1, 2, 3...
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
Well well well. Here we are. It's Friday. And we've been talking about SPERM ALL WEEK.
What to do...what to do...
Nel-Themaat et al. "Quality and freezing qualities of first and second ejaculates collected from endangered Gulf Coast Native rams" Animal Reproduction Science, 2006.
Heh.
So it turns out that the people who wrote the study Sci covered the other week wrote ANOTHER one. Also, it turns out the eland is not endangered, but the other species they were working with, the Gulf Co........ Read more »
NELTHEMAAT, L., HARDING, G., CHANDLER, J., CHENEVERT, J., DAMIANI, P., FERNANDEZ, J., HUMES, P., POPE, C., & GODKE, R. (2006) Quality and freezing qualities of first and second ejaculates collected from endangered Gulf Coast Native rams. Animal Reproduction Science, 95(3-4), 251-261. DOI: 10.1016/j.anireprosci.2005.09.014
- March 11, 2010
- 10:18 PM
- 56 views
You know your ‘type’? It’s stress dependent…
by aimee in misc.ience
A number of interesting revelations to be had here, and all to do with our choices of ‘mate’.
And by mate, I don’t mean the antipodean colloquialism meaning ‘friend’. Nope, I mean mate as in, you know, someone you want to shag. As it were.
The first revelation in this paper* is that, for the most part, [...]
[Click on the hyperlinked headline for more of the goodness]... Read more »
Lass-Hennemann, J., Deuter, C., Kuehl, L., Schulz, A., Blumenthal, T., & Schachinger, H. (2010) Effects of stress on human mating preferences: stressed individuals prefer dissimilar mates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0258
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