Brain Drain News

Pentagon: Zombie Pigs First, Then Hibernating Soldiers | Danger Room | Wired.com

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:37:00 +0000

Pentagon: Zombie Pigs First, Then Hibernating Soldiers | Danger Room | Wired.com: "The institute’s research will be based on previous Darpa-funded efforts. One project, at Stanford University, hypothesized that humans could one day mimic the hibernation abilities of squirrels — who emerge from winter months no worse for wear — using a pancreatic enzyme we have in common with the critters. The other, led by Dr. Mark Roth at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, used nematode worms and rats to test how hydrogen sulfide could block the body’s ability to use oxygen — creating a kind of “suspended animation” where hearts stop beating and wounds don’t bleed. After removing 60 percent of the rat’s blood, Dr. Roth managed to keep the critters alive for 10 hours using his hydrogen sulfide cocktail."

Birth of New Species Witnessed by Scientists | Wired Science | Wired.com

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:51:00 +0000

Birth of New Species Witnessed by Scientists | Wired Science | Wired.com: "On one of the Galapagos islands whose finches shaped the theories of a young Charles Darwin, biologists have witnessed that elusive moment when a single species splits in two."

Murderer with 'aggression genes' gets sentence cut - life - 03 November 2009 - New Scientist

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:35:00 +0000

Murderer with 'aggression genes' gets sentence cut - life - 03 November 2009 - New Scientist: "In 2007, Abdelmalek Bayout admitted to stabbing and killing a man and received a sentenced of 9 years and 2 months. Last week, Nature reported that Pier Valerio Reinotti, an appeal court judge in Trieste, Italy, cut Bayout's sentence by a year after finding out he has gene variants linked to aggression. Leaving aside the question of whether this link is well enough understood to justify Reinotti's decision, should genes ever be considered a legitimate defence?"

BBC NEWS | Health | Curry spice 'kills cancer cells'

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:26:00 +0000

BBC NEWS | Health | Curry spice 'kills cancer cells': "The chemical - curcumin - has long been thought to have healing powers and is already being tested as a treatment for arthritis and even dementia.

Now tests by a team at the Cork Cancer Research Centre show it can destroy gullet cancer cells in the lab."

Good day in the fight against cancer.

Scientists Discover Gene that 'Cancer-Proofs' Rodent's Cells : University of Rochester News

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:23:00 +0000

Scientists Discover Gene that 'Cancer-Proofs' Rodent's Cells : University of Rochester News: "Despite a 30-year lifespan that gives ample time for cells to grow cancerous, a small rodent species called a naked mole rat has never been found with tumors of any kind—and now biologists at the University of Rochester think they know why.

The findings, presented in today's issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that the mole rat's cells express a gene called p16 that makes the cells 'claustrophobic,' stopping the cells' proliferation when too many of them crowd together, cutting off runaway growth before it can start. The effect of p16 is so pronounced that when researchers mutated the cells to induce a tumor, the cells' growth barely changed, whereas regular mouse cells became fully cancerous."

If it proves to be the key to defeating cancer, this may one day win the Nobel prize.

Human Evolution: Are Humans Still Evolving? - Yahoo! News

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:35:00 +0000

Human Evolution: Are Humans Still Evolving? - Yahoo! News: "A team of scientists led by Yale University evolutionary biologist Stephen Stearns suggests that if the natural selection of fitter traits is no longer driven by survival, perhaps it owes to differences in women's fertility. 'Variations in reproductive success still exist among humans, and therefore some traits related to fertility continue to be shaped by natural selection,' Stearns says. That is, women who have more children are more likely to pass on certain traits to their progeny. (See the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2008.)"

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Lowly females pick mediocre mates

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:59:00 +0000

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Lowly females pick mediocre mates: ".

'It also raises the intriguing possibility that the environment in which individuals are reared strongly influences their mating preferences as adults.'"

Mind - How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:18:00 +0000

Mind - How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect - NYTimes.com: "Now a study suggests that, paradoxically, this same sensation may prime the brain to sense patterns it would otherwise miss — in mathematical equations, in language, in the world at large."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | We're all mutants, say scientists

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:57:00 +0000

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | We're all mutants, say scientists: "However, next generation sequencing technology has enabled the scientists to produce a far more direct and reliable estimate.

They looked at thousands of genes in the Y chromosomes of two Chinese men. They knew the men were distantly related, having shared a common ancestor who was born in 1805.

By looking at the number of differences between the two men, and the size of the human genome, they were able to come up with an estimate of between 100 and 200 new mutations per person."

Observatory - Three Genes Determine the Nature of a Dog’s Coat - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:10:00 +0000

Observatory - Three Genes Determine the Nature of a Dog’s Coat - NYTimes.com: "The researchers then used that information to look at a large dataset of genetic information from about 900 dogs representing 80 breeds. They were able to identify mutations at specific points, or loci, on three genes linked to fur length, curliness and growth pattern (bushy eyebrows, beards and other features that dog breeders refer to as furnishings)."

BBC - Earth News - Mouse set to be 'evolution icon'

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:03:00 +0000

BBC - Earth News - Mouse set to be 'evolution icon': "Linnen and colleagues at Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley have now worked out exactly how the mice evolved so quickly.

They have published the details in the journal Science.

They discovered that the light coat colour is coded by a single gene, dubbed Agouti. This is expressed at a higher amount, and for longer, than the genes that code for dark hair.

Most animals known to quickly evolve new features do so by expressing a variation of a gene that already exists, rather than evolving a new type of gene altogether.

But the researchers found that the Agouti gene only appeared among wild deer mice in Sand Hills around 4,000 years ago, just a few thousand years after dark mice colonised their new home. That means it first evolved 8000 generations of mice ago."

Sperm Travels Faster Toward Attractive Females: Discovery News

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:43:00 +0000

Sperm Travels Faster Toward Attractive Females: Discovery News: "The study, conducted on red junglefowl, a director ancestor of chickens, adds to the growing body of evidence that males throughout many promiscuous species in the animal kingdom, including humans, can mate with many females, but chances of fertilization are greater when the female is deemed to be attractive."

Byte Size Biology � From predator to plant in one gulp

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:44:00 +0000

Byte Size Biology � From predator to plant in one gulp: "Two researchers have shown a striking example of�� endosymbiosis forming� now:� in 2005 Noriko Okamoto an� Isao Inouye reported on a unicellular organism called Hatena. Hatena (”enigma” in Japanese) leads a curious life cycle. Hatena is a single-cell organism, swimming around in the water, using a little feeding apparatus to eat cells and organic material smaller than itself.� At some point, it would feed on another unicellular algae, the Nephroselmis. Once Hatena swallows Nephroselmis, it does not digest it. Rather, Nephrosolmis makes a rather comfortable home inside Hatena. Actually, the algae starts growing inside Hatena: it grows to about 10 times its original size, filling up most of Hatena. The alga also seems to lose most of its own organelles, except for the chloroplast. The chloroplast actually grows bigger."

BBC - Earth News - Spider builds life-sized decoys

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:35:00 +0000

BBC - Earth News - Spider builds life-sized decoys: "There is a species of spider that builds models of itself, which it uses as decoys to distract predators.
The spider may be the first example of an animal building a life-size replica of its own body."

BBC NEWS | Health | Daily sex 'best for good sperm'

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:05:00 +0000

BBC NEWS | Health | Daily sex 'best for good sperm': "Having sex every day improves sperm quality and could boost the chances of getting pregnant, research suggests.

In a study of men with fertility problems, daily ejaculation for a week cut the amount of DNA damage seen in sperm samples.

Speaking at a fertility conference, the Australian researcher said general advice for couples had been to have sex every two or three days."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Evolution faster when it's warmer

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:58:00 +0000

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Evolution faster when it's warmer: "Climate could have a direct effect on the speed of 'molecular evolution' in mammals, according to a study.

Researchers have found that, among pairs of mammals of the same species, the DNA of those living in warmer climates changes at a faster rate."

Basics - Brainy Echidna Proves Looks Aren’t Everything - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:08:00 +0000

Basics - Brainy Echidna Proves Looks Aren’t Everything - NYTimes.com: "Monotreme sex determination also holds its allure. In most mammals, a single set of XX chromosomes signifies a girl, a set of XY specifies a boy. For reasons that remain mysterious, monotremes have multiple sets of sex chromosomes, four or more parading pairs of XXs and XYs, or something else altogether: a few of those extra sex chromosomes look suspiciously birdlike. Another avianlike feature is the cloaca, the single orifice through which an echidna or platypus voids waste, has sex and lays eggs, and by which the group gets its name. Yet through that uni-perforation, a male echnida can extrude a four-headed penis."

BBC - Earth News - Chimps mentally map fruit trees

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:05:00 +0000

BBC - Earth News - Chimps mentally map fruit trees: "Chimpanzees remember the exact location of all their favourite fruit trees.

Their spatial memory is so precise that they can find a single tree among more than 12,000 others within a patch of forest, primatologists have found.

More than that, the chimps also recall how productive each tree is, and decide to travel further to eat from those they know will yield the most fruit."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Climate link to mockingbird songs

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:25:00 +0000

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Climate link to mockingbird songs: "Unpredictable weather seems to stimulate chatter among birds - as well as humans - according to researchers.

A team of US scientists has found that mockingbirds living in variable climates sing more elaborate songs.

Complex tunes, sung by males to impress females, are likely to signal the birds' intelligence.

Published in Current Biology, the findings suggest that females seek mates with superior singing skills - smart enough to survive harsh climes."

Op-Ed Columnist - In Praise of Dullness - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:57:00 +0000

Op-Ed Columnist - In Praise of Dullness - NYTimes.com: "The traits that correlated most powerfully with success were attention to detail, persistence, efficiency, analytic thoroughness and the ability to work long hours."

Very interesting.

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Scientists hail stunning fossil

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:22:00 +0000

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Scientists hail stunning fossil: "The beautifully preserved remains of a 47-million-year-old, lemur-like creature have been unveiled in the US.

The preservation is so good, it is possible to see the outline of its fur and even traces of its last meal.

The fossil, nicknamed Ida, is claimed to be a 'missing link' between today's higher primates - monkeys, apes and humans - and more distant relatives."

Chemist Shows How RNA Can Be the Starting Point for Life - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:56:00 +0000

Chemist Shows How RNA Can Be the Starting Point for Life - NYTimes.com: "An English chemist has found the hidden gateway to the RNA world, the chemical milieu from which the first forms of life are thought to have emerged on earth some 3.8 billion years ago.

He has solved a problem that for 20 years has thwarted researchers trying to understand the origin of life — how the building blocks of RNA, called nucleotides, could have spontaneously assembled themselves in the conditions of the primitive earth. The discovery, if correct, should set researchers on the right track to solving many other mysteries about the origin of life. It will also mean that for the first time a plausible explanation exists for how an information-carrying biological molecule could have emerged through natural processes from chemicals on the primitive earth."

Evolution is slowing snails down

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:51:00 +0000

BBC - Earth News: "Natural selection is favouring snails with reduced metabolic rates, researchers in Chile have discovered.

It is the first time that evolution has been shown to select for this trait in individuals of any species.

Snails with lower metabolisms are at an advantage because they have more energy to spend on other activities such as growth or reproduction, the researchers say in the journal Evolution."

Gives new meaning to the term "snail's pace".

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Spider sex violent but effective

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:32:00 +0000

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Spider sex violent but effective: "A violent but evolutionarily effective mating strategy has been spotted in spiders from Israel.

Males of the aptly-named Harpactea sadistica species pierce the abdomen of females, fertilising their eggs directly in the ovaries.

The so-called traumatic insemination gives the first male to inseminate a reproductive advantage by bypassing structures in the females' genitalia."

Brown Fat Identified as Heat-Yielding Cells in Humans - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (IdeaMan) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:16:00 +0000

Brown Fat Identified as Heat-Yielding Cells in Humans - NYTimes.com: "For more than 30 years, scientists have been intrigued by brown fat, a cell that acts like a furnace, consuming calories and generating heat. Rodents, unable to shiver effectively to keep warm, use brown fat instead. So do human infants, who do not shiver very well. But it was generally believed that humans lose brown fat after infancy, no longer needing it once the shivering response kicks in.

That belief, three groups of researchers report, is wrong.

Their papers, appearing Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, indicate that nearly every adult has little blobs of brown fat that can burn huge numbers of calories when activated by the cold, as when sitting in a chilly room that is between 61 and 66 degrees."