And You thought Your Grandmother was Old?!

Scientists have believed for years that flowering plants developed about 140 to 190 million years ago. However, recent studies have shown that they bloomed up about 215 million years ago, about 25 to 75 milllion years earlier than previously believed.
Because previous fossil records show that some species that survive off of nectar like wasps and bees showed up around 200 million years ago, this evidence also supports the dates presented by insect fossil records.
The team's findings were published online in the March 15 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, if you wish to read the full experimental findings.

-bexchada

Alligators have one-way lungs

     A new finding shows that alligators have birdlike lungs, in which air flows in only one direction instead of in and out of chambers.  In birds, this is an adaptation to low-oxygen environments in the upper atmosphere.
     Birds and crocodiles share a common ancestor, which also gave rise to the dinosaurs.  Since it is unlikely that such a structure would evolve twice in close relatives, it seems nonbird dinosaurs also had such lungs.
     Interestingly, the alligators in the study were either under anesthesia or dead .  In other words, alligator wrestlers were too expensive to hire.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8453053.stm

-Brown Rhino

Future of Biosphere

Our class, Ezine, is over.  Our magazine can be found at Magcloud- it's called Biosphere.  So it's time to talk about the blog.

It seems like an eternity has passed since this was last updated.  Despite this, Biosphere's story is not over.  Although updates will be sporadic, they will, hopefully, exist.  In other words, this isn't over yet.

-Brown Rhino

Rarest Ape Filmed

The world's rarest ape, the Cross River Gorilla, has been filmed for the first time in Cameroon.

That's wonderful- but can it help with conservation efforts?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/

6832855/Worlds-rarest-ape-filmed-for-first-time.html

-Brown Rhino

Rhino Poaching Surge

      Rhino poaching is up in Africa and Southeast Asia, despite conservation efforts.  Rhino poaching is especially high in Zimbabwe, because poachers are rarely caught there.

   Rhinos are primarily poached for their horns, which can actually be taken off without harm to the rhino by experienced rangers (read: rangers with tranquilizer guns).  It's sad that the rhinos are being killed for, basically, nothing.  Not to mention, the horns are useless.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8388606.stm

-Brown Rhino 

Extreme Weight Loss

    Lucy, the elephant at Edmonton Zoo, has lost 180 kilograms in 1 month on a new fitness regimen.  Zookeepers say that they hope she will lose 270 more kilos in the future to reach a healthy weight.

    Meanwhile, animal rights groups are pressing for Lucy to be moved to California, saying the Canada climate is too cold for an elephant.  Zoo officials say that Lucy is too sick (due to arthritis and respiratory problems) to move.

-Brown Rhino

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/

lucy-the-elephant-losing-weight-recovering-health

-vet-says/article1395130/

The Kangaroo Strikes Back

    A kangaroo attack happened recently in Australia.  Okay, it wasn't actually an attack.  In fact, it was Chris Rickard's dog who struck first and chased the 1.5-meter-tall kangaroo underwater.

    Big mistake.

    The kangaroo attacked the dog and dragged it underwater.  As the dog was drowning, Rickard attempted to rescue his pet.  In response, the kangaroo attacked Rickard, slashing him with its legs.

    Both Rickard and his dog survived, but had to be taken to the hospital.
    Well, what kind of a dog chases something as big as a human?  It may have deserved being half-drowned: such a dog is dangerous.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/

729781--raging-kangaroo-slashes-man-attacks-dog

-Brown Rhino

Mustelid Podcast from the Staff of Biosphere

It is incredible how often such simple animals make the news. We chose four stories of the mustelid family that were written within the last year and made it into a podcast, offering background information on the animals.
To see our podcast, please see:

Powered by Podbean.com

Pygmy Hippo born at Colchester Zoo

A baby pygmy hippo has recently been born at the Colchester Zoo in England.  This is fortunate because the pygmy hippo, a smaller but outwardly similar relative of the hippo, is a critically endangered species.

Apparently "tiny hippo" isn't an oxymoron after all: look at the photo!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/

6773261/Zoo-celebrates-birth-of-baby-pygmy-hippo.html

-Brown Rhino 

Poll Results 2

The Anaconda won the reptiles and birds popularity poll, defeating the penguin, the ostrich, the pelican, the pigeon, the parrot, the gharial, the iguana, the cobra and (barely) the raven and the crocodile.

Congradulations!

Photo by Steven G. Johnson

-Brown Rhino 

Animals that may go extinct before we know it

Humans have already been the reason behind the extinction of many animals, and are at the moment the reason that most animals threatened. For example, the Felidae are described as the second-greatest family of predators, next to humans. They have had incredible evolutionary success, about 11 million years ago diversifying into many different species, which spread around the world. (See works of O'Brien for more on cat evolution.) Yet today, most of the 37 species of cats, excluding the house cat, are endangered or threatened. In the past century and a half, the Barbary Lion, Caspian Tiger, Javan Tiger, Bali Tiger, and Cape Lion have become extinct.

The Iberian Lynx is the world's most endangered cat species, numbering at 120 individuals.
(http://www.scientificamerican.com/slideshow.cfm?id=critically-endangered-species)
 The Amur leopard has 30-45 individuals extant in the wild, such a critical condition that conservation programs are breeding Amur leopards to reintroduce them into the wild. Hopefully humans can preserve some of other species' habitat and stop their hunting before these species are lost. An endangered status is horrible, but extinction is (mostly) permanent.

- Černa Kočka

Three Old Crocs

Three new crocodile species dating to the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era have been found in Africa:

"RatCroc", a plant-eating variety;

"BoarCroc", a sabertoothed variety;

"PancakeCroc", a flat variety.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2009-11-19-crocfossil_N.htm

-Brown Rhino 

Slim Sponge Sheds

    The sponge Halisarca caerulea can absorb its body weight in carbon in 1.5 days.  Despite this, it barely grows in size at all.  Now, researchers have found that the reason for it slow growth is that its cells divide very quickly, but are also shed from the sponge extremely quickly.  This is apparently done to protect the sponge from toxic substances: any such substances will be quickly flushed out from the sponge.

http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_how-the-sponge-stays-slim_1312829

-Brown Rhino 

Anctarctic Feeding Frenzy

Researchers have captured on film a feeding frenzy in the deep waters of the Southern Ocean.  When a seal died, its carcass sank to the sea bottom.  The first to arrive were nemertine worms, which inserted their proboscis into the dead body and sucked out the interior.  The holes were soon filled by animals such as marine roly-polies.  Slower animals, such as sea stars and sea urchins, arrived later and also digested the giant carcass.

Scientists estimate such a bounty occurs in that area only once in 10 years, but that may not be true, since what would be the chances of capturing it on film then?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8378000/8378512.stm

-Brown Rhino

World's Only Captive Hairy-Nosed Otter Gets New Home

photo by Dmitry Azovtsev

http://www.daphoto.info

June 18 of 2008, the one of the few remaining hairy-nosed otters was given a new home. Dara, rescued when his mother was killed by a fisherman, was put into a wildlife center in the Phnom Tamau Zoological Garden and Rescue Centre, in Cambodia, with a blessing by Buddhist monks.
These otters live in seasonally flooded forests. Cambodia reserves nearly a quarter of its land for conservation, unlike neighboring countries, whose habitat has been lost in logging and agriculture.
The hairy-nosed otter was believed extinct until 1998. Today it lives only in some areas of Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Sumatra, and is the world’s rarest species of otter. Otters are killed by the illegal international fur trade, taken as pets, or killed to use in traditional medicine. Fishermen kill otters, because the otters can break their nets and traps to steal their catch. Also, climate change could cause a change in the water flow, so that the otters could lose more their habitat in the flooded forests. Hydro dams on the Mekong already block some of this water.
Conservation International and Cambodia’s Fishery Administration are working to extend the Kampong Prak fish sanctuary at Tonle Sap Lake for otter habitat. CI researches and monitors the otter population at Tonle Sap, trains law enforcement rangers there, and promotes awareness of the otters through education and discussion in schools and communities. A captive population was started to fight the species’ extinction, but Dara is only the first. They still need to find him at least a wife.
CI has been researching Cambodian otters from 2006, and reviewed the hairy-nosed for the red list of endangered species, and succeeded changing its status from data deficient to endangered. This will make the otter a higher priority in protection.

-Černa Kočka

Along Came a Spider Part VIII

There are 40 thousand species of spiders.  Each is estimated to have as many as 1000 different poisons it uses to catch prey.  Research before has focused on the venoms of larger species, such as tarantulas.  New research, however, has shown that there are many interesting chemicals in the poisons of many smaller species.  One of those venoms blocks acidic ion channels, which means that it can decrease pain without much ill effect by itself.  Further research is ongoing.

http://www.lifescientist.com.au/article/
328567/feature_plumbing_peptides_spider_toxins?pp=1

-Brown Rhino

Along Came a Spider Part VII

The number of Australian Redback spider bites is up in Japan.  The invasive species is related to the black widow and very poisonous.  No deaths have been reported in Japan so far, but the antivenom had to be used for the first time in Japan this year. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aWpZMmJaEUVk

-Brown Rhino

Along Came a Spider Part VI

A spider smuggler has been caught in Brazil.  The man, Lee Ardern, was attempting to escape to the UK with 900 bird-eating spiders, which is forbidden as it is not allowed to carry Brazilian animals out of Brazil without permission.  Ardern claims that the spiders were caught by him in Paraguay.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8360438.stm

-Brown Rhino

Along Came a Spider Part V

A vegetarian spider has been found in Central America- the first such spider out of 40 thousand species.  It retains many hunting instincts, but uses them only to outwit the ants that guard flowers- its favorite food.  It sometimes eats ant larvae, but even so, Bagheera kiplingi has a plant-based diet- a first for a spider.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com

/news/2009/10/091012-vegetarian-spider.html

-Brown Rhino

Hope for a Species

Black-footed ferrets are one of the most endangered species on earth. But now there is hope.

There were two black-footed ferret births on June 20th and 21st. There was nothing spectacular about the births except that both were results of inseminations with frozen semen from males that had died over a decade ago. Such things are often unsuccessful, and it gives hope to scientists that the species may thrive yet again.

-bexchada

CO2 Levels Impact Shell Growth in Aquatic Organisms

A new study conducted showed that increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have been impacting the shell growth of aquatic animals such as crabs and sea urchins. The sea urchin on the left was raised in waters with extremely high CO2 levels, while the sea urchin on the right was raised in CO2 conditions similar to the current situation. The difference is substancial.

When CO2 becomes dissolves in water, the water becomes slightly acidic. In addition to that, CO2 in water reduces the amount of carbon ions available, which organisms use to build their shells. For these reasons, scientists were concerned with the shelled organisms.

Fortunatly, animals are quick to adapt. Research has shown that, although the creatures' shells are eaten away by the acidic water, the organisms just adapt and create tougher shells more quickly to compensate.

This may be because the total amount of dissolved inorganic carbon available to them is actually increased when the ocean becomes more acidic, even though the concentration of carbonate ions is decreased.

-bexchada

Along Came a Spider Part IV

Jeremy Barker, leader of the database project 

A new database that catalogues spider venom is being created in Australia.  Spiders are the group of animals with the greatest variety of poisons.  Now this group is being catalogued by potential use as, for example, biodegradable pesticides.

Ironic that the first group of substances to be catalogued this way are poisons. 

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it

/it-business/spider-venom-database-to-aid

-researchers/story-e6frganx-1225805516265

-Brown Rhino

Bacterial Antibiotic Resistance May not Be Solely Caused by Antibiotic Misuse

For years, the thought was that bacterial antibiotic resistance was caused by the misuse of antibiotics. Though this has been proven true, recent research has shown that everything from proper use to the lack of use of antibiotics can crete antibiotic resistance.
Low-level resistance preceeds high-level resistance. Should one bacterium grow slightly resistant to an antibiotic, that bacterium can still be overwhelmed with a slightly stronger or larger dosage of the antibiotic. It is when this bacteria is not eradicated that problems arise. This bacterium can, over a shockingly short period of time, acquire even stronger immunities to antibiotics, and even become resistant to multiple types. Through Darwin's 'survival of the fittest', this one bacterium lives to proliferate indefinitly, breeding thousands, millions of resistant clones that grow even stronger.
Through the proper use of antibiotics, it allows the stronger bacteria to proliferate more readily, supplying more space and eliminating opponents. Through not using antibiotics at all, plasmids are transfered among bacteria without being killed in their hosts. In this way, bacterial antibiotic resistance can spread, even in enviroments that are using antibiotics properly or not using them at all.

-bexchada

Along Came a Spider Part III

It took four years, but for the first time, spider silk has been used for weaving a huge 3.3 by 1.2 meter tapestry.  This incredibly strong material has always been a pain to collect because of its owners' rather unwilling demeanor and thus problems involved in collecting the silk.  Now, however, the spiders have been hooked up to machines.  Despite this, the massive amount of spiders still took a very long time to produce the silk, which is why the method will not soon go commercial.

http://www.core77.com/blog/materials

/new_production_method_enslaved_

spiders_produce_huge_tapestry_15369.asp

-Brown Rhino 

Frog! fish???

 Find the fish!!!!!
















by MIT <(-'.'-)>

Naked Mole Rats May Be the Key to Stroke and Heart Attack Recovery

Naked mole rats are hairless, pink, practically blind rodents that are of the most repulsive earth-dwelling creatures. Despite this, they may be the answer to the recovery from occurances that deprive the brain of oxygen for extended periods of time such as heart attack, stroke, and drowning. Naked mole rats can be deprived of oxygen for up to 30 minutes and remain without brain damage; the most of any mammal.
Study of these mammals' brains may yeild clues to extended neurological health. The connections in the brain are often severed when deprived of oxygen, leaving the victim of such deprivation less in control of thoughts or movement than previously. Study of the naked mole rat may reveal what must be changed in order to speed recovery. For a more thourough story, see:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091130141313.htm

-bexchada

Along Came a Spider Part II

A spider has been found to use discarded insect parts to create body doubles for itself.  Predators are more likely to attack these decoys than the real spider, and the spider is 60% less likely to be eaten.  This is the first animal to be observed using this strategy.

A possible disadvantage: Prey is more likely to notice the web.

http://www.livescience.com/animals/091130-orb-spider.html

-Brown Rhino

Along Came a Spider Part I

A new species of spider has recently been discovered.  Dubbed the "peacock spider", its male is notable for showing off to females by creating a fan of multicolored flaps, just like the peacock.

http://www.starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=sparklers&item=7598

-Brown Rhino

Indian Giant Bat Sanctuary

    The Indian city of Jamshedpur houses the Jubilee Lake Mega Bat Sanctuary- the only bat reserve located in a city in India.  The bat population there has boomed, growing 40% in the past year.  The reserve houses the sphinx bat and the herbivorous flying fox, which can grow to 2 meters (over 6 feet) in wingspan- one of the largest bats in the world.  The flying fox is also notable in that it pollinates over 50 types of plants.

     So they're like 2-meter bees that don't sting.  I like.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home

/environment/flora-fauna/Flying-foxes-

get-sanctuary-in-Jharkhand/articleshow

/5251883.cms

-Brown Rhino 

Rhino Bodyguards

Elephant-riding bodyguards for the Indian Rhinoceros population in Nepal seem to have been successful.  In the 1.5 years since the bodyguards were instituted, not a single rhino has been killed.  The bodyguard project has been funded by the Zoological Society of London.  18 months ago, the population numbered only 22 individuals; now, the rhinos have recovered from the intense poaching they faced before.

http://www.zandavisitor.com/newsarticle-2586-

One-horned_Rhino_Bodyguards_Deployed_in

_Nepal_Assisted_by_Zoological_Society_of_London

-Brown Rhino

Plastic causes ADHD???

    Research in South Krea has shown that phthalate, a common chemical found in plastic, is linked to ADHD.  The research may be tentative, but it has far-reaching implications.  It certainly helps explain the high rate of ADHD (obviously).  Personally, I think this research will eventually become a key moment in plastic safety.  Time will tell, however.  This claim might be debunked like an earlier one that claimed that phthalates cause feminine behavior in boys (although no one knows what feminine behavior is anyway, which is one reason the study was debunked.).

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7017052915

-Brown Rhino

Eat Less, Live More

A study at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine showed that eating 30% less than the average American can lead to a 50% increase of lifespan.  It does not matter if this is caused by a decrease in fat, protein, or carbs.  Of course, all of this is very tentative.

http://www.naturalproductsmarketplace.com

/news/2009/11/dietary-restriction-and-longevity.aspx

-Brown Rhino 

To Save a Mockingbird

    Charles Darwin is famous for his work on natural selection with finches, but he also worked with the Floreana mockingbird, collecting several specimens.  Now, unfortunately, the Floreana mockingbird is endangered and extinct on the island of Floreana, surviving only on two tiny islands nearby.

   A study of this mockingbird, however, reveals hope for the future.  It seems that the populations on the two small islands retain much genetic diversity.  Moreover, it seems that the two populations on the small islands have only been separated since the main island's population went extinct, using Darwin's samples.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8364778.stm

-Brown Rhino 

Problems in the Plans

    A new UN treaty proposes bonuses to developing countries that don't cut down forests rich in carbon.  This is helpful against climate change, and as the forests richest in carbon are tropical rainforests, it would seem to help biodiversity as well.

    Actually, scientists say, it will hurt biodiversity.  This is because before, with no financial incentives, countries automatically protected the areas with the highest biodiversity, which are not necessarily the same places as the places with the highest carbon content (although both are rainforests).  Now, the protection will be shifted to the places with the highest global warming potential.  The biodiversity hotspots will thus get the tree trunk.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116131714.htm

-Brown Rhino

No feeding the fish

Goliath groupers: Serranus itajara is in the Order: Perciforme Family: Serranidae Genus: Epinephelus Species: itajara. This fish can be found in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico to Florida. They are usauly bottom fish who like to hang out near reefs and sunken ships. They are called Goliath groupers because, they are huge. they can grow to 8.5 feet long and can weigh as much as 800 pounds. You think this would be a great catch, but it isn't. Most old time fishermen say that goliath groupers are unsatisfying and would prefer a sea bass over it. Also they are illegal to bring on board because of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Ever since 1990 goliath groupers are on the list of endangerd spieces. Though they are endangerd they are making a major recovery and my soon be alowed to be fished in set quantaties.

Robots and Fly Eyes

The fly eye is a complex system.  But the neurons that actually process what the fly sees are not very complicated, and there are only a few of them.  Now, scientists are copying the mechanism to use in flying robots for vision.

The minor problem: They don't know how the fly eye works.  The simple components create a complex feedback system, and therefore no one knows how to improve the eye of the fly.  But that may not even be possible.

By Www.noodlesnacks.com

GNU license 

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/fly-eyes/

-Brown Rhino

Rodents may be helping trees

Scientists in California have found that rodents that eat the seeds of the Manzanita shrub may help it survive fires.

Yes, you may read this again.

Rodents such as mice and kangaroo rats like to eat the seeds of the Manzanita shrub.  They're tasty.  But since they can't eat them all at once, they bury them deep underground.  Unfortunately for them and fortunately for the Manzanita, the rodents often forget where they buried the seeds.  As such, the seeds are left deep underground.  If a forest fire comes, the seedlings are deep enough that they survive the fire.

http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/2009/fall/24.html

-Brown Rhino 

Hey Jellyfishie, Part XI

For the first time, scientists have observed a coral eating a jellyfish.  The mushroom coral was found, well, eating a moon jellyfish that was about its size- up to 30 cm (1 foot) across.

The mushroom coral was already known to be an outlier among coral species.  It lives by itself, and it's one of the largest coral species.  But actually eating jellyfish is another matter.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/
earth_news/newsid_8350000/8350972.stm

-Brown Rhino

Hey Jellyfishie, Part X

The Echizen jellyfish (the same ones that capsized the trawler a few weeks ago) continues its infestation of Japanese waters.  In fact, the Japanese government is advising fishermen not to fish in the open water for fear of the giant jellyfish's sting.  Studies have found that this influx of jellyfish is caused by global warming.

http://www.thisisbrandx.com/2009/11/
invasion-of-the-giant-jellyfish.html

-Brown Rhino 

Hey Jellyfishie, Part IX

John Dabiri is a scientist who focuses on studying jellyfish propulsion.  Now his findings have shown that our heart pumps somewhat like a jellyfish.

Fortunately, it doesn't sting.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2009/11/09/24348/

-Brown Rhino 

Hey Jellyfishie, Part VIII

Update on the trawler sunk by the giant jellyfish: The trawler weighed 10 tons.  The trawler sunk because it capsized due to the weight of the jellyfish.

It seems those fishermen were really hungry.

Scientists say that the number of jellyfish in that region fluctuates wildly from year to year.  No one knows why, however.

http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=81548

-Brown Rhino 

Hey Jellyfishie, Part VII

A Japanese fishing boat was sunk when it caught a bunch of giant jellyfish- too many of them.  The net was loaded with Nomura's jellyfish, each of which can weigh 200 kilograms.  When the crew tried to pick up their catch, the boat capsized.  The 3 crewmen were rescued, but the catch got away.

Remember: Greed may possibly be good, but jellyfish are certainly heavy.

http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/

etc/091102-fishing-boat-sunk-giant-jellyfish.html

 - Brown Rhino

New Gene Discovered to be Linked to Speech

A new gene was found, dubbed tospeak. It lies within chromosome 8 and is though to be a critical gene of speech. See the full story under For Further Information, See:

-bexchada

Hey Jellyfishie, Part VI

 The Mnemiopsis jellyfish has been found in the Mediterranean.
This is not a problem for swimmers: it isn't poisonous.  It is, however, a problem for fish-lovers.  You see, Mnemiopsis eats fish.  And it's very good at it.  In the Black Sea, for example, they caused the collapse of fisheries due to their habit of eating fish.
Some scientists say that the bloom of Mnemiopsis is a symptom of a larger effect- jellyfish defeating non-jelly fish for control of the oceans due to overfishing and pollution.  This would be an absolutely hugemongous ecosystem shift, although jellyfish-eating animals might like it.  And while jellyfish don't have brains, normal fish are pretty stupid as well- the Great White Shark's brain weighs under 50 grams.
I wonder how jellyfish taste?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/
0,9171,1931659,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

-Brown Rhino

Hey Jellyfishie, Part V

The box jellyfish crisis at Waikiki Beach has passed- only 10 of the jellyfish with powerful and painful stings were found today.  A warning remains, but it seems safe to return to the beach now, after 15 days of jellyfish stings.  169 people have been stung by jellyfish during this time, most on the first day.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2

0091015/NEWS25/910150341/Only+a+

few+box+jellyfish+found+but+warning+remains

-Brown Rhino 

Hey Jellyfishie, Part IV

Video footage has been taken of dolphins using jellyfish as volleyballs.  The dolphins were using their tails to throw the jellyfish up to two meters into the air.

Another argument or dolphin intelligence.  Unfortunately, some of the jellyfish died in the process :(.  Well, even dolphins aren't perfect.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/who-lost-a

-leech-avoid-promotions-dolphin-football/article1337895/

-Brown Rhino 

Hey jellyfishie, Part III

Jellyfish aren't all bad.  The newest finding: one of their proteins has potential for helping against strokes.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/Brain/Health/prweb3090774.htm

-Brown Rhino

Poll Results 1

The elephant was more popular than the platypus, kangaroo, sloth, anteater, aadvark, rat, guinea pig, rabbit or chimpanzee.  Congradulations!

Hey jellyfishie: Part II

 Jellyfish Lake in the Phillipines is famous for its (surprise!) jellifish.  It has about one million of them- one of the largest smacks (a group of jellyfish- I'm not kidding!) in the world.  The strangest thing?  They're not poisonous.  The lake has no predators, so they did not need to spend the energy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6395668/

Army-of-one-million-jellyfish-photographs.html

-Brown Rhino 

Hey jellyfishie: Part I

 A swarm of hungry jellyfish that have earlier eaten farmed salmon off Northern Ireland are now gathering off Scotland.  Admittedly, farmed salmon are supposed to be a great food source.  But originally, they were supposed to be food for us!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/
highlands_and_islands/8314436.stm

-Brown Rhino

Humans still evolving

It's a well-known fact that humans no longer have as much pressure on them by natural selection.  After all, we can even let blind people survive , have children, and pass their blindness on- right?

Actually, a new study has recently shown that natural selection is still with us.  The difference, of course, is that sapient life requires selection for different things.  A recent study showed that humans (or at least women) are getting shorter, heavier, less likely to have a heart attack and lower blood pressure.  They also will enter puberty earlier and menopause later. This is pretty much what our lifestyle is selecting for, so nothing unexpected.  It does, however, oppose the idea that sexual selection may play a bigger role now.

-Brown Rhino 

Ant-eating Wars

Ants are a nice food source- plentiful, and easy to eat if you have a long tongue.  So which animal eats the most (per night)?
Here's a comparison:
Silky (smallest) anteater      to 8 000
Tamandua (medium anteater)  9 000
Giant Anteater                      30 000
Aardvark                              50 000
Aardwolf (ant-eating hyena) 200 000
Giant Pangolin                      200 000
Armadillos, echidnas, and hedgehogs: no info found.

Mink farm controversy

In Denmark, people farm minks for fur.  Of course, the minks have to be killed for this.  Naturally, some activists are very unhappy with this (farms like these not only breed disease, but also kill animals for purposes other than food).  Correspondingly, they've released the minks- 3000 of them.  And obviously, minks can't survive in Denmark in these quantities (and they destroy the ecosystem with them).  Similarly, the farms want the minks back.  Clearly, the most straightforward method is to capture and/or kill these minks.

But then again, World War I also began in a very rational manner.

http://www.icenews.is/index.php/
2009/10/16/thousands-of-mink-in-
dash-for-freedom-in-jutland/

-Brown Rhino 

Telomerase

Whenever DNA replicates, a little is removed from the end, like a photocopy that was not aligned correctly. Telomerase adds a little to the end of the DNA, in a line of useless letters reading TTAGGG that the DNA can lose without a loss of functions within the cell. A good animation of how this occurs is posted bellow under the For Further Information, Try: tab that I highly recommend seeing.

-bexchada

Biocomputers: What are they?

 A biocomputer is a computer that uses DNA.  DNA has an uncanny ability to work with electrodes and metal, and is already used in, for example, microscopes.  It is predicted that using DNA rather than silicon may shrink the size of computers 1000 times.

Of course, no biocomputers currently exist.

http://www.nanotech-now.com/columns/?article=360

- Brown Rhino

Tree House Preview

Many of us have built treehouses when we were little.  But can this formula translate itself to full-scale projects to live in?  Find out November.

-Brown Rhino

Chemistry Nobel Prize

 The Chemistry Nobel Prize has been awarded to Israeli Ada Yonath and Americans Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz.  The award was given for producing an atom-by-atom map of the ribosome, the organelle that translates DNA into protein.

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre5961ng-us-nobel-chemistry/

-Brown Rhino

Warming and Fish

Global warming may affect many things negatively, but in total, fish catches won't go down by far.  A complex simulation has shown that fish catches will move towards the poles, but overall will not significantly change.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/science/earth/09brfs-REPORTONFUTU_BRF.html?hpw

-Brown Rhino

Worm Madness, Part 14

C. elegans is a nematode that is known for having its body absolutely transparent.  It also breeds and develops very quickly.  This makes it a perfect specimen for research.  Now scientists have discovered a single gene that controls the development of the throat.  In mutant worms where the gene had an error, the throat never developed.  “It was so beautiful, such a simple, clear phenotype and it suggested that this gene, pha-4, has a critical role for making the pharynx, and not just one of its cells but all the pharyngeal cells”, noticed one researcher, Susan Mango.

http://www.physorg.com/news174067013.html

By the way, this is probably the last Worm Madness installation.  I don't know for sure, however. 

-Brown Rhino

Could a microchip help to diagnose cancer in minutes?

Current cancer screening often requires painful procedures and weeks of waiting to obtain results. But what if doctors could read a biological sample with a small hand-held device and come back with an answer in less than an hour?

to read the entire article, see :
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=could-a-microchip-help-to-diagnose-2009-09-28

-posted by bexchada

Worm Madness, Part 13

 The Mongolian Death Worm is a rumoured worm about 50 centimeters to 1.5 meters in length that lives in Mongolia and spews sulfuric acid.  Its existence is doubtful.  Now, they're making a movie about it on the SyFy channel.
Any questions?
http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/33911/finally-a-syfy-flick-about-mongolian-death-worms

Worm Madness, Part 12

Worms are adaptable creatures.  They have filled almost all habitats, including saltwater, freshwater, underground, forests, apples- and now Hershey bars.

An Oklahoma City man found a worm in a Hershey bar today.  The company said that this sometimes happens.

The type of the worm was not reported. 

http://www.koco.com/news/21234392/detail.html

-Brown Rhino

Worm Madness, Part 11

The sea worm Lineus acutifrons, thought to be extinct, has been found in a national park off the shore of Spain.  Lineus acutifrons does not actually belong to the genus Lineus: it has too short a tail to be classified there.  While this news has been known since July, it's not every day that a species thought extinct turns out to be alive.  This is especially heartening to me since the worm is a nemertine, my favorite phylum of worms.  It, like most other nemertines, is carnivorous and catches prey with its proboscis.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hr9j4XvPYEznbG58e4mZ1wBOWFow

http://nemerteanconference2009.org/?q=node/76

-Brown Rhino 

Scientists create ‘’supermice” that can resist cancer and age

By injecting mice with the protein, telomerase, scientists have been able to slow the aging process of the mice by 40% and have made them resistant to cancer, two things caused by telemerase. Previous experiments on the subject have proved the mice to become more susceptible to cancer.
Telomerase are proteins located on the end of your DNA, which prevent DNA from merging with itself and assists in the production of new DNA. As we age, it begins to deteriorate, leading to merging of DNA, which causes cancer, and inprecise replication, which causes the effects of aging.
Because bacterial genomes are circular, all experiments must be conducted on plants and animals.
To read the full article on these 'supermice', see the link under For Further Information, Try: labled Scientists Create "Supermice" that can Resist Cancer and Age.

-bexchada

Worm Madness, Part 10

I was planning to quietly end this series after the 9th installment, but the wormy news just keeps coming.

It seems that a new hotel has opened in South Africa- for earthworms!

Earthworms are often kept as pets in compost piles.  But what happens when the owners leave for vacation?  Michelle Hattingh has answered this problem by opening a place to drop off these worms while their owners are away.  The only charge is the urine of the worms, which contains hormones beneficial to plants.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

travel/article-1218439/Worlds-

worm-hotel-opens-eco-

minded-pet-owners.html

-Brown Rhino 

Worm Madness, Part 9

Weather forecasters are notorious for being consistently imprecise.  For example, for this winter, they predict "equal chance of the temperature and precipitation being above or below average for the next three months".  This has caused some people to turn to- who else- worms to forecast the weather.

The woolly worm (in reality not a worm at all- a caterpillar- but close enough) sometimes has a thicker coat and sometimes a thinner one than average.  According to folklore, the thicker the coat and the darker the worm, the colder the winter will be.  I don't know how reliable worms are on this subject, but it's nice to have a second opinion.

The worms predict winter will be cold. 

http://www.crescent-news.com/news/article/4681507

-Brown Rhino 

Worm Madness, Part 8

Worms, especially marine worms, are varied and many of them are unknown (see "New Species found on Whale Skeleton").  Now yet another pair of new species has been discovered.  These ones live in caves.

An expedition by Tom Iliffe found several worms in total darkness, in a lava tube formed 20 000 years ago.  They were found in sand on the cave floor.  It's very nice there are more species out there, and the worms may be useful in comparative studies of how species evolve in marine caves.

The worms are in the polychaete class of annelid worms.

http://www.webnewswire.com/node/467756

-Brown Rhino

This Generation May Live Past 100

A recent study published in The Lancet journal showed that since the 1950s, the number of people living over the age of 80 has doubled in developed countries. There are predictions that as much as half of the new generation of the UK and United States will live past the age of 100, with less disabilities than previous generations in their later years.
For the full story, see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8284574.stm

-bexchada

Worm Madness, Part 7

The filarial nematode is a "bad worm".  It causes problems in the lymphatic system and can lead to severe problems.  It's spread by mosquitoes.

The bacterial parasite wMelPop infects mosquitoes.  It's an extremely severe chronic disease- on average, it halves a mosquito's lifespan.  Naturally, this makes it useful for fighting the nematode indirectly.

The best part, however, is that wMelPop, unlike a certain human disease, does not weaken a mosquito's immune system.  Instead it strengthens it, killing other diseases.  This clearly does not do much good to the mosquitoes, but it kills the nematodes before they can spread to humans.

I see this as one of the more effective ways of fighting mosquito-spread disease.  Still, I can't help but feel sorry for the mosquitoes in case this becomes a primary method of fighting disease.  Yes, they're annoying bloodsuckers, but do they really deserve this?
(Yes.)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091001163601.htm

-Brown Rhino

Worm Madness, Part 6: The Dark Side of Light

We all know earthworms are good for gardens.  But now, it seems that they may not be so good for forests: invasive earthworm species are threatening Ohio forests.

If this and the study mentioned in Worm Madness, Part 5 teach us anything, it's that everything has a light side and a dark side.  Yes, even light and darkness.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/

plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news

/125352186445500.xml&coll=2

-Brown Rhino

Who knows what's lurking below?

Our understanding of prehistoric sea creatures has changed. In the Caribbean Sea a 6-inch long shark tooth was found. The carbon dating revealed that the tooth was made around 1.5 million years ago. Scientist have come to a conclusion that this ancestor of the great white shark, called a Megalodon, was about 50 feet long, making it one of the longest vertebrate deep-sea predators known to man. This is an amazing find. Who knows what else lurks below?
For more information: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/09/29/megalodon-nursery.html

posted by: Mit

Worm Madness, Part 5: The Light side of Dark

Okay.  We've known worms are weird since, well, forever.  And we know that earthworms living in the soil can be good for it.  But since when are you soil?

Apparently, however, you are more closely related to it than you thought.  Apparently, parasitic gut worms- the type that eat you- may have some benefits.  They prevent allergies extremely well, and may have a role in stopping asthma.   The worms in the study were primarily nematodes such as hookworm.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News

/2009/09/29/Gut-worms-may-protect

-against-allergies/UPI-93761254251965/

-Brown Rhino

Let It Burn

Humans have lived with fire since their beginning, and eventually began to control it as well. Yet recently their control extended from small cook-fires to a much larger scale. Humans are trying to stop fire in the forest.

Since the start of the 20th century, the U.S. government decided on a nation-wide policy that was completely anti-fire. But fire can only be suppressed for so long before it finds a way to burn.

-Černa Kočka

Worm Madness, Part 4

Continued from Part 3...

*Annelids. Ranging from earthworms to ragworms to leeches, this is the most well-known phylum of worms. Some (such as earthworms) are hermaphrodites, and almost all reproduce sexually. The majority of an annelid is made up of absolutely identical segments, with the exception of 2 segments of the head and 1 of the tail. They move by a contraction of their bodies. They are divided into the Clitellata, which include earthworms, are all hermaphrodites and often live on land. Polychaetes are primarily marine worms that have "flippers", called parapodia, on each segment.

* Nemertines. Known as ribbon worms or proboscis worms. Most nemerteans live on the sea floor, but some live in estuaries or even in fresh water or on land. They include herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores. Nome are parasitic, although some live on mollusks and catch food the mollusk failed to filter; this does not affect the mollusk. The bootlace worm, a nemertean, may well be the longest animal in the world at at least 30 meters, although the width is usually not over 1 centimeter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worms

-Brown Rhino

Worm Madness, Part 3

There are 5 basic types of worms:

* Flatworms. Those are flat because they have no circulatory or respiratory system. As such,they use diffusion to allow oxygen to pass to all of their cells. They include tapeworms, flukes, and planaria. Interestingly enough, while their reproduction is very different from that of humans (they're hermaphrodites, for example), most of the genes related to reproduction are the same.

* Acoelomorphs. See Worm Madness, Part 2. They are most interesting for having no gut.

* Nematodes. It is said that if you removed every living thing but nematodes from the Earth, one could still see the location of all animals and plants by the concentration of nematodes. Nematodes are hugely successful and most of them are parasitic. The free-living nematode C. elegans has not only had its entire genome sequenced, but also had every one of its neurons mapped.

To be continued...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worms

-Brown Rhino

Worm Madness, Part 2

(Image by Samuel Chow. The yellow things are acoelomorphs.)
Remember seeing a small flatworm when you were little? I don't either. They're not all that common, but they're consistently used in scientific experiments. They have impressive but erratic regeneration capabilities. One can get a flatworm with two heads, two tails, four eyes or all of the above. Flatworms are also the simplest animals to have been proven to have some sort of memory- moreover, this memory is conserved through asexual reproduction (that is, cutting the worm in two and watching both pieces regrow).
Now, it has finally been proven that the Acoelomorpha, which have always considered to be a type of flatworm, are actually their own separate phylum. They are distinct in that they, unlike other flatworms, have no gut whatsoever; they use vacuoles to digest their food, like amoebas. The Acoelomorpha were the first to branch off from the rest of the bilaterals; they are thus less closely related to other flatworms than flatworms are related to us. This has been suspected for a while, but has remained only a hypothesis until now.

-Brown Rhino

Vegetarianism: The first successful emission plan

How do we cheaply lower global emissions and feed the world? The answer is here; well it has been here just nobody has noticed. Learn about the harmful gases that are made when making meat products. Vegetarianism is the right way reduces global emissions. Join us and reduce global emissions.
Vegetarianism: The first successful emission plan
coming whenever I finish it.
by: Mit

Worm Madness

Just as farmers in New Zealand have begun to finally pay attention to their worms (http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/worms-key
-farming-future-3039470), an underwater worm- called the sandcastle worm because its shelter looks like a sandcastle- also is getting the attention of scientists. Its glue is a powerful adhesive that can link wet, hard particles in a wet environment and sets on a change in PH- conveniently the same properties that are required of an adhesive for broken bones! The current method involves putting in tiny bolts to link the bone pieces. A glue could save many lives, as it's easier to use and could be more effective. Personally, I've read many true stories about people dying or becoming crippled due to badly done surgery. As such, I welcome a glue- although many surgeons may have to go to job training.
I also want to admit an error in an earlier post: it said that it was proven that Alzheimer's was caused by lack of sleep. In reality, this is only a hypothesis, and there are problems with it, such as that people who don't get enough sleep often have bad health in general.
See
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2009/09/
Materials-Sandcastle-Worm-Secrets-
Could-Yield-Powerful-Medical-Adhesive/

-Brown Rhino

Social cooperation in hyenas

A new study shows that hyenas might be more socially cooperative than chimps, who have all been seen as such. Pairs of captive spotted hyenas that needed to tug each at one rope at the same time to recieve food, learned to do so quickly and with no training. A pair of hyenas figured out it out in less than two minutes.When chimps try to do a similar things, they often need extensive training and are not very succesful in cooperating.

Social carnivores such as hyenas may be better at cooperative problem solving, because of their survival by group hunting in the wild. Their cooperation is also affected by the group interaction. Two surbordinate hyenas as well as a subordinate and a dominant hyena can work together, but two dominant hyenas will not cooperate. Also, an experienced hyena will help an unexperienced hyena to figure out the problem. Finally, the hyenas solving the problem would do it faster if there was an audience of hyenas watching them.

So, though chimps might be seen as smarter in cognitive functioning, it seems that hyenas may be more socially cooperative.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090928131032.htm


-Černa Kočka

Alzheimer's Proven to Result from Lack of Sleep

Although it was known that Alzheimer's was linked to a lack of sleep, it was previously believed that this lack of sleep was the effect of the mental disease. New experiments show that, contrary to prior belief, it may be lack of sleep that causes the Alzheimer's.
Concentrations of protein that form the plaque build-ups in the brain and in the spinal fluid that cause Alzheimer's were found in mice that did not get enough sleep for three weeks, while those that recieved adequate sleep did not have these same build-ups. Becasue the protein levels in the brain drop every time an animal sleeps, the protein did not have the opportunity to build up in the mice that recieved adequate sleep.
For more information, see Alzheimer's Linked ot Lack of Zzzzs below, under For Further Information, Try:

-bexchada

'Green' Roofs Could Help Put Lid On Global Warming

ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2009) — "Green" roofs, those increasingly popular urban rooftops covered with plants, could help fight global warming, scientists in Michigan are reporting. The scientists found that replacing traditional roofing materials in an urban area the size of Detroit, with a population of about one-million, with green would be equivalent to eliminating a year's worth of carbon dioxide emitted by 10,000 mid-sized SUVs and trucks.
To read the rest of the article, see:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090923133000.htm
I highly recommend reading this article. Another related article is in the May 2009 issue of National Geographic or at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/05/green-roofs/klinkenborg-text

-bexchada

Mitochondria Defects not only Effect Respiration, but other major Body Functions as Well

In each body, there are thousands of cells. Each of your cells holds a mitochondria. The purpose of these small, maze-looking organelles is to convert oxygen and glucose into ATP, which the cells use for energy. New studies show that up to 1 in every 5,000 people can have mitochondrian deficiencies, and it is needless to say that this can prove extremely harmful and even fatal to the body.
For more information, see bellow article under For More Information See: titled Mitochondrial Gene Defects.

-bexchada

Mental Benefits of Exercise

It has long been known that exercise can improve health and lengthen life, but a more recent discovery is that it may have the ability to improve mental health as well. Despite our busy lives, it is imperative that we exercise at least a few times a week to prevent depression, relieve stress, and stop the developement of Alzheimer's disease.

-bexchada

Frog Fungus Hammering Biodiversity Of Communities

Everyone knows that frogs are in trouble and that some species have disappeared, but a recent analysis of Central American frog surveys shows the situation is worse than had been thought.

Under pressure from a fungal disease, the frogs in this biodiversity hot spot are undergoing "a vast homogenization" that is leaving behind impoverished communities that increasingly resemble one another.

to read the rest of the article, visit:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090922160100.htm

-bexchada

Next test: Flu 101

It seems like common sense: you have swine flu, you stay home. But it is proving easier said than done.
see http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/60463767.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUo8cyaiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU to view the full story.

-bexchada

Scientists Make Paralyzed Rats Walk Again After Spinal-cord Injury

ScienceDaily (Sep. 21, 2009) — UCLA researchers have discovered that a combination of drugs, electrical stimulation and regular exercise can enable paralyzed rats to walk and even run again while supporting their full weight on a treadmill.

For the full story, see:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090920204455.htm

-bexchada

New Species Found on Whale Skeleton

New species of underwater organisms were found last week on a sunken whale skeleton. When a whale dies, the carcass falls to the ocean floor to become a food source for organisms at the bottom of the ocean. Here, scientists found new species or organisms, feeding off the whale.
For further information, see:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090921091601.htm

-bexchada

The Problem with Transgenic Fish

As humans have moved around the world, it was inevitable that animal species would move as well. These new species would sometimes die out in the new place, not adapted to the different vegitation or climates.But other times they would decimate the area, killing all of another native species or proliferating to a point that they became an overly-common pest. Then humans began intentionally moving species in an attempt to remove another species, and that worked too well all too often.
Slowly, humans became smarter, genetically altering species to suit their needs, instead of moving them from another area of the world. They began containing these new species, keeping them in laboratories, on fenced reserves, or in contained man-made lakes. If they were released in the wild, they were altered so that they could not reproduce, ensuring that they would not dominate the area.
A new species of fish has been created for comercial fish farming, but scientists have their fears about allowing these fish to grow outside closely supervised and regulated aquariums in labs. They have proven to grow faster than regular fish with less food and are more resistant to toxins. If these fish were to escape into the wild and infiltrate aquatic ecosystems anywhere in the world, history could soon repeat itself. Although the technology is there, scientists are reluctant to allow the farmers to begin breeding the fish, for despite the fact that it would save farmers alot of overall money, the risk would be great. It only takes a pair of fish to ruin an entire ecosystem. Simulations have been made and the overall outcome has time and time again been proven unfavorable.
For more information on the topic please see the below link under 'For Further Information Try:' labeled Risks Involved With Transgenic Fish.

-bexchada