Guillain-Barre Syndrome: Antibodies Gone Awry

A mother's proudest moment may be when she sees her young child take his or her very first steps.  She may experience great joy as she watches her child grow and develop.  Now imagine if the tables were turned, and instead the child was watching his or her mother learn to walk.  This was the case for Mrs. Pam Novak.  

When Novak was a teenager, her mother, Charmaine Swartz, underwent a surgical procedure.  After the surgery, she contracted a bacterial infection, which most likely triggered the onset of Guillian-Barre syndrome.  This syndrome left Swartz temporarily paralyzed and her daughter upset as she had to endure her mother re-learning how to take her first step.  

Beez

"Bzzzzz"

Music, Body, and Brain

I am by no means musically inclined or knowledgeable, but the idea of going through an entire day without my iPod is terrorizing.

Early in the morning, I wouldn’t be able to last ten minutes on the treadmill without my embarrassingly titled “Do Work” playlist pushing a fast-paced rhythm through my sleepy body. As I try to understand biological statistics, Bob Dylan or Queen softly rings through my headphones, drowning out the sound of sorority girl neighbors and infusing my mind with a sort of serenity that only good, classic rock can invoke.  And on those nights that I can’t sleep, Claude Debussy hits a few piano keys and I am suddenly unconscious, floating off into Neverland.

I know that I am not alone. Approximately half of the people that I pass on the sidewalk each day are aimlessly wondering to class just like me; white cords gracefully framing their faces and swaying with each step as their minds are transfixed on whatever comes out of the insect-like Apple earbuds that I can’t see under their hat or hair, but know to be there.

So I wonder, what does music really do for us? 

Photo credit: d o l f i

Keeping a Genome Clear of Clutter

The adage "use it or lose it" is commonly regarded as true for skills including foreign language or athletic ability, but it also applies to genetic information.  The parts of plant cells responsible for turning sunlight into forms of energy useful to cells, chloroplasts, contain their own genomes separate from the rest of the genetic information of the cell.  These separate genomes, plastomes, are the remnants of when chloroplasts were independent organisms long ago in evolutionary time.  A contributing factor to the apparent organizational prowess of plastomes is that parts of their genomes were transferred to the cells they exist within.  Over time, plastomes shrank so much that the smallest known plastome contains only twenty genes.  The human genome contains over 20,000 genes.  Humans are pathological hoarders in comparison to the tidy plastomes.

Building the bower.

Some species chirp a quiet song for attention. Some sidestep around nervously, snapping legs into the air. Some of us write.

Then, there’s the bowerbird. The male bowerbird devotes his life to building his bower -- a woven mess of twigs and grasses that bend, at last, into an arch. He’ll wander across the forest floor collecting materials and scavenging for ornaments that he can tuck into the wooden frame or line in a path towards the bower’s entrance. There are bowers decorated with shells, bones, feathers and lost blue bottle caps. Maybe a few berries or bits of found glass. Some birds will steal pieces from other bowers to use in their own. He’ll throw it all in, so long as it is beautiful and arranged just right for the female bowerbirds passing by. 

A satin bowerbird's bower.
Photo credit: barryhatton33

DINGO: Downright INGenious Organisms

A woman takes her two 'ferocious' dogs, a Tibetan Mastiff mutt and an American Pit Bull Terrier, for a walk in the late afternoon.  Although her dogs are loving and devoted to their master, they can be a bit unruly on the leash.  Especially when they catch a whiff of an unknown dog and see it heading their way.  The party comes upon a man with a golden pooch and recognize the dog as an Australian dingo.  Now the mutt and the pit bull are really getting excited (yes, pit bulls are just as strong as you think and do you know how big a mastiff is?) so they start to pull, bark and growl in attempt to greet the man and his dingo.  It turns out this man is a bit of a jerk and instead of cheerfully hustling past his trail-mates he starts yelling at the woman, "Can't you handle your dogs?  Don't own big dogs if you can't control them!".  Mind you the woman still has a solid hold on both leashes but is struggling to keep her dogs in one spot.  The distance between the dogs shortens and the three of them briefly meet; no harmful actions take place.  In fact, after a few sniffs of the dingos behind the pit bull's tail breaks into a happy wag.  But as I already mentioned this guy is pretty low, so he hurries his dog past the other two and shouts back at the woman, "My dog could rip your dogs apart!".

And this is what I think of when I hear the word dingo.  But beside the warning at the end, this story doesn't give much information on the Australian canine.  Because I am eager to connect to a different story when I hear the word dingo (and because I'm curious if they could really rip my family's dogs apart) I've done a little research on these 'wolf-dogs'.  It turns out that dingos are pretty sharp, both when it comes to problem solving as well as incisors.

All rights reserved to Bradley Smith

Breaking the Rules of Science.

Sara and I are back with our second podcast and fancy new microphones that don't make us sound like we're floating through space.

What happens when we stretch the bounds of what we think we know? We talk first about CERN's recent mishap with neutrino data collection and the possibility of travelling faster than light. Then, we move on to hearts that don't beat and life without a pulse.

Click here to listen.

(Or right click and 'Save Link As' to download.)

(Intro and Outro by Symphony of Science)

SciArt Link Roundup #4

This week, SciArt Saturday gives a special nod to physics. 

Are all coral created equal?

Climate change is beating on coral reefs by heating and acidifying waters everywhere. But coral isn't down for the count. According to a recent study not only can a type of coral called Porites, take the heat, that heat helps it prosper. In areas that are on average cooler than most, climate change has actually spurred the growth of Porites,which is crucial to the sustainability of the Indian Ocean. The growth has more than compensated for the projected loss due to acidification; meaning a net-gain for the reefs. 

Atmospheric carbon slugs a one-two punch right to the coral. Hotter seas not only mean more bleaching but also a loss of algae and increased acidification. Coral needs it's symbiotic relationship with algae in order to receive oxygen and other nutrients and to ultimately survive. The future of the coral reefs, which serve as centers of marine biodiversity, is a major concern .

In this study, in contrast to studies of the Great Barrier Reef, the pros of temperature are outweighing the cons of acidification. Acidification suppresses the amount of coral by reducing carbonate in the surrounding water. For the reef to continue to thrive, there must be an overall increase in calcification. Calcification is the processes by which corals use carbonate to grow and is achieved by an increase in the mass of their skeleton and the living tissues that lay upon them.

Disappearing Act?

Image courtesy of Indigo Instruments, Canada

Usually, the first question posed to an expectant mother is whether she is carrying a boy or a girl.  The difference in her answer is based on the presence or absence of the Y chromosome.  The genetic information carried on the Y chromosome act as instructions for making a male’s testes and sperm.  This important sex determining factor may actually be disappearing.  Researchers have been tracking the changes in the Y chromosome over many years of evolution.  This has developed into a controversy over whether the Y chromosome will eventually vanish altogether. 

Aging Eyes: it's so much worse than crows feet

When most of us hear aging eyes, we think of wrinkles and crow's feet slowly destroying our beauty and youth. But a new study claims these visible signs of aging are only scratching the surface on the effects of old eyes. As eyes age, the lens yellows and the pupil narrows, causing less and less sunlight to enter the eye. Drs. Mainster and Turner claim that the decrease in received sunlight is messing up the body's circadian clock. Circadian clocks use environmental cues to tell an organism what the time of day is. In humans, this often involves the hormone proteins melatonin, which is the body's time-to-sleep hormone and is suppressed by direct light, and cortisol, its wake-up hormone which is activated by light. Previously, it was thought that the only the retina contained light-responsive cells, namely the well-known rods and cones responsible for regular vision. However, in 2002, Dr. Berson and his team showed that a second type of light-responsive cells exist, which they called the retinal ganglion cells. These cells are particularly sensitive to blue light, and melatonin is most severely downregulated by blue light. Decreases in melatonin in people with abnormal sleep schedules, such as shift workers, have been linked to  illnesses like heart disease, ulcers, and cancer. Turns out, as eyes age, the first color of light to go is blue. Older folks need more blue light in order to "turn off" their melatonin and restore the proper circadian rhythms, and disturbances in melatonin levels can lead to serious diseases like heart disease and cancer, both of which overwhelmingly impact older people.
       Turner and Mainster think the wave of the future is going to be cataract surgery to replace old, clouded lenses, and that this surgery will result in decreased cancer and heart disease. They have also taken measures in their own office to counteract eye aging by installing skylights and extra fluorescent lights.
      Personally, this worries me. Shift workers are already generally lower class than people who ordinarily work daytime, because people who have better options don't like operating on a Dracula-esque schedule. If this turns out to be true and a significant factor in heart disease and cancer, the only people who can afford cataract surgery are also upper-class, who are already at a lower health risk for many of these diseases. Would this treatment eventually only widen the health divide between the wealthy and poor? Maybe, I'll get back to you on that once my skylight is installed.

Tiny, goofy-looking animal turns out to be extreme

            Last week I introduced you to a man who hangs out in blocks of ice and swims among icebergs in his trunks just for kicks.  Today you’ll meet the bear who thinks he’s a sissy.

Carlygoogles.blogspot.com

            Alright, technically it’s not a “bear.”  It’s a water bear, or a tardigrade: a tiny, segmented animal between .1 and 1.5 mm in length that probably lives in your backyard.  Its common name comes from its slow, plodding gait and comically corpulent appearance under a microscope.  Tardigrades live in just about all of the harshest conditions on Earth, from the high Himalayas to sweltering deserts, in both deep sea and fresh water, even on city streets.  They can withstand temperatures over 150°C (302°F), or as low as -270°C (-454°F).  That’s just above absolute zero!  The tardigrade would probably be called “the superman of the animal kingdom” except that it’s immune to kryptonite too.

Not so fast, neutrinos

Back in September of 2011, researchers at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy observed some incredible results in their OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion tRacking Apparatus) experiment.  It seemed that elementary particles known as neutrinos could travel faster than the speed of light.

The researchers were shocked by these results.  If the speed of these particles did in fact exceed the speed of light, then fundamental laws of physics would be contradicted.  Specifically, this conflict's with Einstein's theory of relativity, which conjectures that no particle could move faster than the speed of light in a vacuum.  Many current understandings in physics are based upon this theory.  Thus, if Einstein's theory is inaccurate, then so would be those theories which rely on it.  This article in Nature describes the gravity of the situation (haw, haw).

But, as it turned out, the astonishing results were actually a result of flawed hardware.  Apparently, a misplaced fiber optic cable was responsible for showing results that suggested that neutrinos may travel faster than the speed of light.  Once the researchers adjusted the cable, it became clear that the neutrinos were in fact traveling under the speed of light (but only just). [sources 1, 2]

This mishap is not alone in the sense that false results lead to a conclusion which was majorly hyped and publicized.  In research, when results are groundbreaking, one should always adhere to the scientific proverb, "more research is necessary," before stating anything definitive. 

Silly Science

          One of the first articles that our BioWriting class read was "'Shrimp on a Treadmill':  The Politics of 'Silly' Studies."  This article explains how often the media takes certain aspects of studies out of context and criticizes them.  Many reporters suggest the certain studies that are funded by the government are a waste of taxpayers' dollars.  Often the media does not get the full story.  For instance, yes, scientists did subject shrimp to a tiny treadmill; however the media missed that this study was used to measure how shrimp respond to changes in water quality.  This study was also linked to a half-million-dollar research grant; however not all of this money went to the shrimp treadmill.  In fact, maybe only $1,000 went into constructing this treadmill.  This article also explained that news articles criticizing research may be detrimental to the world of science because criticism may intimidate scientists because they are so dependent on federal funding.

          Many other studies have been criticized, like testing toenail clippings for nicotine content, evaluating the effectiveness of plastic surgery, or studying penis size.  Why are these studies actually being criticized?  A possible answer to this question revealed itself to me on my facebook page a few days ago.  One of my friends posted a status saying, "BREAKING NEWS...but really who are the people paying for studies like this?" with a link to an article entitled, "Plastic surgery does make you look younger, study finds."  Naturally curious, I read the linked article and the original article, "Perceived Age Change After Aesthetic Facial Surgical Procedures" to see if there was an underlying importance to this study that the news article had missed.  The original article describes how participants viewed pictures of sixty patients before and after facial surgery.  The participants estimated the ages of the patients both pre- and post-surgery.  On average, the participants rated the post-surgery pictures 7.2 years younger than the pre-surgery pictures.  The authors of the article suggest that the results of their study "can be used to facilitate informed preoperative discussions and to provide patients with a better sense of outcomes, creating realistic expectations."  Many may not see the importance of a study like this one.  As evident from my friend's comment on the article, some people are more upset about where the money is coming from to fund "insignificant" research.  Perhaps to eliminate unfair criticism of research, the funding of research should be more publicly displayed.  For instance, my friend may not have been as upset about the article if he learned that the research was funded by an aesthetics and plastic surgery company.  Perhaps the study didn't require much funding at all.  If this information is more publicly displayed then hopefully less criticism about the research would arise.  It is obvious that the relationship between research, media, and funding is not a flawless system.
   
 

 

Buzz Worthy

Photo credit: Dr. Ilia

I thought I would keep the bee topic alive for yet another day.  I’m not sure if this is because I’m hopelessly yearning for spring, or because this was just another article about bees that caught my attention...

Let me just preface the rest of this post by stating that I really don’t know very much about bees. What I do know is that I like honey on my pancakes sometimes instead of maple syrup, bumble bees bite, and that all bees just spend the entire summer zipping around from plant to plant until their stomachs are so full that they have to get back to the nest and empty stock.

They buzz, some bite instead of sting, and when they get within six inches of my body I freeze, cautiously drawing in slow breaths as if I can’t outrun them or, just maybe, they aren’t aware that I’m right in front of them.

Who would’ve thought that when it came down to gathering food, bees were smarter than a sans-technology salesman? Obviously not me, as I just admitted that I thought bumble bees bit people rather than stung them. 

Animals, much like a salesman without GPS, face trouble in collecting sporadically distributed resources.  For the salesman, this might be money.  For bumble bees? Flowers. 

Instead of trying route after route in search of the best option, they simply move to the nearest unvisited resource.  This strategy is called the “nearest-neighbor solution” and it has been found to be used by humans, nonhuman animals, rats and bees.

In their study, “Bees do not use nearest-neighbor rules for optimization of multi-location routes” four scientists from the University of London found opposing support for the “well-known traveling salesman” analogy in which our salesman must find the shortest route that passes each of his customers visiting each just once before returning home: bees are different.

So how does the salesman learn the best route? He could measure and then compare all the lengths, but if he covers a five-mile-radius with more than 35 houses that might be tedious.  (Looks like he’ll rely on a trial and error approach.)

Animals are assumed to rely on simple-trial and error and spatial memory as well.  However, this rule encourages the idea of stable and repeatable multi-location routes or “traplines.”  Traplines are a behavior that increases foraging efficiency, different from the nearest-neighbor method.

These scientists found that the bumble bees don’t rely on the nearest-neighbor method when it yields a less than optimal outcome, but rather they gradually reduce their distance with experience.

For their experiment, worker bees from a single colony were observed for a few trials, foraging on six artificial flowers in an indoor-lit room, spaced in a way that maximized discrepancy between “optimal” and “nearest-neighbor” strategies. After they were able to estimate the crop capacity from the volume of sucrose that had been ingested during observations, they then set each flower’s sucrose solution to one-sixth of the total capacity, ensuring the bees visited each flower.

Results showed that the bees significantly decreased their flight distances, decreased the number of visits to empty flowers and decreased flight duration as they become familiar with the flower setup.  

Most bees minimized their total travel by selecting optimal traplines that relied on gradual learning and spatial memory; they don't follow the nearest-neighbor strategy.

Are bumble bees smarter than a salesman or saleswoman?

No, the point of this post wasn't to suggest that. I was just sharing my new found knowledge: the stinging, seemingly aimless buzzing bumble bees are more cognizant of their surroundings than I, or we, may think. 

Bacterium Survives Space

I listen to a weekly scientific themed radio show produced by TripleJ featuring Dr. Karl, a seeming encyclopedia of scientific and medical knowledge.  On the August 4, 2011 show, NASA astronaut Dr. Gregory Chamitoff co-hosted and a topic that came up briefly was using the international space station (ISS) as a research lab.  Imagine my wonder as I considered the possibility of wielding a Pipetman in outer space.  When the wonder passed and the show ended, I instead wielded the power of the keyboard and began searching for evidence of research in outer space.

I found the story of a particular microbe isolated from chips of rock off the face of a cliff located in the village of Beer, Devon, England.  The cyanobacterium survived nearly 18 months hanging off the side of the ISS.  The cyanobacterium was dubbed OU-20 because it is the twentieth new organism isolated by researchers at the Open University in Milton Keynes.

OU-20 survived the cold, dry, high UV exposure, and microgravity present in space.  The researchers responsible for isolating OU-20 upon its return to Earth postulate that this remarkable survival may be related to the formation of dense clumps.  The bacteria living on the outside of the clump might provide a shield of protection for the bacteria living towards the center of the clump.

Although all Pipetman involved in this experiment were located firmly on Earth, the results have relevance to future science in outer space.  Bacteria that can survive in space may be valuable for activities such as performing waste management processes on long-duration space travels.

Other stories of science in space include the influence of microgravity on gene expression and the illuminating tale of mutualism in space, told recently here on The Factual Enquirer.

Macho lady snails

Imagine, a snail.  Kind of cute right?  A little, squishy bugger living inside a curly-cued shell.  Now how do you tell a male snail from a female snail?  Okay, male snails will have male reproductive organs (penis and testes) while females will have female reproductive organs (ovaries and an egg gland).  But wait, I just found a snail that looks like a female (ovaries are present) but there's also a small penis??  Am I crazy?  Actually not on this point; some marine snails undergo imposex development, where females grow male accessory sex organs.  Talk about W-I-L-D!

Alright, so how do these female snails start growing penises?

The mushroom, of course!

Quick: what's the biggest living thing you can think of? If you're thinking of a blue whale right now, you're not even close. In fact, it would take about 200 blue whales lined up tail to nose to outline the edges of this monstrous organism.  

Hint: it lives here.
(Malheur National Park, OR)
Photo credit: Karl S Johnson

SciArt Link Roundup #3

Your guide to life, the universe, and everything interesting in science art this week. Don't panic.

Drosophila's Drunk Defenses

Self-medication is natural, according to Dr. Schlenke at Emory University.

Although some people, and you may know a few, have mastered the art of drinking to get drunk. Some species actually drink alcohol to survive. One of these species happens to be the fruit fly, the most common of which is the Drosophila melanogaster.

Drosophila melanogaster
Photo credit: Aka

Squids in Space

Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes
image credit: news.wisc.edu

The space shuttle, Atlantis, landed on July 21, 2011, marking the end of NASA’s final shuttle mission, STS-135.  For obvious reasons, a lot of attention was given to the event and the crew aboard the final flight.  However, there were some passengers that did not receive the recognition they deserved.  Some baby squid, no bigger than a fruit fly, accompanied the human astronauts on Atlantis' last voyage. 

Colony Collapse Disorder

         Our class recently read this article about queen bee versus worker bee differentiation in honeybees. Of course, if any of us were given the choice we'd all be queen bees: after all, they live longer, bear offspring, and perhaps most importantly, don't have to leave the hive and work. But, North American honeybees are facing a problem right now of too few workers, rather than too few queens (will need to be rephrased for sure). Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is characterized by hives having a live queen, honey stores, and immature bees, but all adult worker bees have left. CCD was first reported in the US in 2006, and has remained a problem ever since. Even more interesting, despite extensive research the causative agent is unknown. Many potential causes and risk factors have been identified, but there is widespread disagreement over which is most important. Four main areas are being heavily researched: parasites, pesticides, and management practices.

Man fears no cold, has fire within

You may have seen a recent Columbia commercial (below) showcasing a man who performs all sorts of crazy feats in freezing temperatures and wears only shorts.  In this case, it’s not just another example of a company touting sensational baloney for effect.  This baloney, you see, is real.

Wim Hof is his name, and he has apparently been blowing scientists’ minds and setting Guinness World Records for quite a while now.  In 2009, Hof climbed Mount Kilimanjaro wearing only shorts.  The same year he ran a full marathon above the Arctic Circle, again in just shorts.  He once swam for 80 meters under Arctic ice and made it more than halfway up Mount Everest before a foot injury halted him.  Guess what he was wearing.  Shorts.

He’s not the only person known to have such amazing resistance to cold.  In fact, he’s not currently the greatest “iceman.”  His previous record for continual full-body ice exposure (115 minutes) was broken in 2011 by Jin Songhao of China who stood in a tank of ice for two full hours.

These men are practitioners of a form of meditation called Tummo, which causes the body to generate heat.  According to Hof, he is able to consciously adjust his body temperature with his mind. 

Whenever I hear one of these stories, I find myself in a familiar predicament of belief.  The scientist in me wants to say, “The body’s thermostat is controlled by the non-voluntary parts of the brain.  It can’t be willingly adjusted.”  Randall Munroe, author of the popular webcomic xkcd shares similar sentiments.  On the other hand, the part of me that used to wish for energy-slinging superpowers like Goku’s in Dragonball Z feels differently.  It wants to believe there are secrets locked away in each of our minds just waiting to be discovered.

 Wim Hof’s abilities have indeed been studied, albeit not enough to satisfy either part of my mind.  A study at the University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, Netherlands found that he was able to resist fever, muscle ache and nausea when injected with a toxin that normally causes severe temporary reactions.  He showed higher-than-average levels of a hormone known to inhibit the immune response that would normally cause such reactions.

Before I can rest, I must know whether Hof’s abilities are really under conscious control, or if he is just genetically unusual.  It’s also possible that through physical conditioning he has adjusted naturally flexible traits.  Luckily, the Nijmegen scientists intend to study Hof-like anomalies further.  An ambitious follow-up study seeks to train 10 participants in Hof’s meditation technique and monitor their responses to toxin over time. 

Perhaps in time we will find that Wim Hof is not a superhero – merely a great visionary in self-control as the rest of us have never conceived it.  His mystical techniques could become common practice for anyone who wishes to learn them.  At the very least, we’d all save a bit on heating bills.

Soil Symbiosis

Last winter, with its endless snow and biting cold, offered a glimpse into life in the tundra.  Certainly, as February rolled around this year, with its 50 degree F days and warm sunshine, it felt a little strange.  Something was off.  It was not normal to be without the residual strata of snow, the 5-foot-long icicles pointing precariously from the roof of Montgomery, and the small pond at the entrance to Brooks that formed as students would kick the snow from their boots.

Ice dunes on Lake Erie from Winter 2011

Now that the typical, wintery weather has finally arrived, I am already anticipating springtime.  Call me "impatient," but the thought of lush, green woods, chilly Pennsylvania lakes, and cloudless skies is absolutely appealing.  Mostly, I am looking forward to gardening.

Planting a vegetable garden has been an annual practice for my family.  As a little kid, I would use use my judgement to pick the best looking leaves of lettuce from the raised-bed garden, and make a salad for my parents, sister, and me.  After a tiring day of swimming and playing on the swing-set, my sun-burned friends and I would pick through the garden in search of cool, ripe peas in the pod.  Perhaps the fond memories have nurtured my ongoing love for the garden.  Or, more simply, I enjoy anything that combines two things that I love:  food and plants.

The Flea: High Jump Champ and Energy Efficient

A creature exists that harnesses enough energy to propel itself at an acceleration fifty times that of the acceleration of a space shuttle.  This creature can also handle forces of 100 G's, where the average person will black out if exposed to any more than four or five G's.  This creature is a common little flea that could be found on a household pet, but also possesses extreme jumping abilities.

Since the 1960's, scientists have debated over how exactly the flea is able to jump as high and as fast as it is capable of.  Two main models exist describing the trajectory of the flea during take-off:  Bennet-Clark's lever model and Miriam Rothschild's model.  This debate has finally been settled thanks to the work of Malcolm Burrows and Gregory Sutton.  Using high speed cameras, Burrows was able to capture and analyze the movements of the fleas as they jump.  Burrows found that Bennet-Clark's model was able to predict the fleas' initial velocity of 1.35 m/s and its acceleration peak at 1500 m/s².  The film also showed that the femora of the two hind legs move forward so they become almost vertical.  The fleas hold this position for about 100ms and then the hind femora and trochantera (knees) lower.  The tibiae (shins) extend, propelling the flea forward and upwards.  The fleas use the gripping claws on their tarsus (toe) to push off.  The process of how the flea became visible through the films; however the unobserved mystery is what enables them to produce enough energy to propel them to heights twenty-three times their body length.

Photo by Gregory Sutton

The key to the flea's efficient use of energy lies in the protein, resilin.  Resilin is able to stretch three times its length without breaking.  This material is very efficient in turning stored, elastic energy into mechanical energy.  In fact, in the locust tendon, resilin in 97% efficient, meaning that only 3% of stored energy is lost as thermal energy (heat).  This special insect "rubber" may be very useful for cardiac surgeries.

Ultimately tiny little fleas can teach us many things.  Dr. Sutton believes that the mechanics of flea jumps can be beneficial to engineers, especially in the construction of robots.  "Insect jumping in incredibly precise and incredible fast," said Dr. Sutton.  "If you could build a robot that could do that, it would be fantastic."  [New York Times].  Not only can the mechanics of flea jumping be beneficial, but the extremely elastic protein resilin can also be useful.  Scientist have already been able to manipulate E. coli to produce resilin.  Scientists believe that resilin can be used to repair damaged arteries, which are naturally made of elastin (the elastic protein that allows arteries to expand and contract).  Fleas are evidence that great discoveries may be hiding in the most unexpected places.

Sweet Headlines are Really Sour

The purpose of a headline is to grab a reader's attention and relay the take home message of the story in as few words as possible.  Headlines for scientific and medical stories must be both attention grabbing and accurate.  "Cake for Breakfast? Study says go for it" does captivate interest, but is inaccurate.

A recent article from the Health section of the Today show programming published through MSNBC encourages readers to add cake to their breakfast routines with a rousing cheer of "go for it."  The text of the article includes interviews with nutritionists who counter that encouragement, advising instead to eat a balanced breakfast as part of a balanced diet, but that opinion is not voiced until the fourth paragraph.

The MSNBC article refers to a primary research paper published in Steroids with a title that makes no mention of cake, just "meal composition".  The researchers assigned overweight and obese non-diabetic adults to two groups.  One group ate 600 calorie breakfasts that included a desert item and low calorie dinners.  The other group ate 300 calorie breakfasts with no sweets and higher calorie dinners.  The lunch meals of both groups were similar.  After four moths of the diet, both groups had lost a similar amount of weight.  The participants were allowed to eat meals of their own choosing again for the next four months.  After the eight month study was completed, members of the 600 calorie group were slimmer than members of the 300 calorie group.

The authors attribute the greater weight loss of the 600 calorie group their lower levels of ghrelin, a hormone related to feelings of hunger.  What is disappointing is that there was no group that ate a 600 calorie breakfast without sweets.  Such a group would allow analysis of the weight-loss consequences of the presence or absence of sweets specifically at breakfast.

Deceptive headlines are dangerous for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that a news article is no substitute for the consultation with a medical professional that should precede any change to an individual's nutrition plan.  In an era of non-stop news, a headline may be the only part of a story a reader sees.  Thus, advertising the supposed scientific validity of adding a serving of highly processed and refined carbohydrates in a headline is out of character for a "Health" section.  My suggestion to the editor would be to consider an alternative title, perhaps "Study suggests for weight loss, first meal should be the largest and sweetest of the day."

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
For those of us who may not have found true love yet, fear not. This quiz will match you with your scientist soulmate.
If you prefer a more natural approach to romancing, perhaps today should be the time to approach that cutie in your Physics class and try out one of these gems below.

All photos are courtesy of this Tumblr

The cost of denying HIV/AIDS.

The Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology is down an editor after publishing a paper that denies the causal link between HIV and AIDS. The paper calls for "a reevaluation of the HIV-AIDS hypothesis and of the prescription of anti-viral drugs to HIV antibody-positive subjects."

Peter Duesberg of UC-Berkeley is the lead author of a controversial paper published in December.

Cheese- my favorite!

Cheese: a major nutritional staple in human life.  But when did we discover this delicious substance?  How did we discover it?  And what's really going on in the transformation from milk to cheese?  If your interest in our many-flavored friend matches my own, read on to have these questions (and others!) answered.

People started enjoying cheese when they started domesticating mammals, around 9000 B.C.E.   Records of humans and cheese date from ancient Greece to biblical times to the Middle Ages and up to current time.  Cheese-making is referenced in many famous literary works throughout history.  For instance, the creature Cyclops from The Odyssey is well known for his gargantuan size and singular, looming eye but the description of his sophisticated cheese-making operation often goes unnoticed.  Later on, The Bible notes that David was simply delivering cheese when he ran into the giant Goliath in the beginning of David and Goliath.  These stories and other ancient relics suggest that humans and cheese go way back, but how did we first meet?

Our first weekly podcast.

This weekend marked the first science podcast produced by Allegheny College's campus newspaper and hosted by two of us here from The Factual Enquirer. Watson's Crick (bonus pun if you pronounce 'creek' in the funny way that they do here in western PA) will be a weekly feature on both sites.

In our inaugural episode, Sara and I discuss the clash between public safety and the open dissemination of biomedical research that Chelsea introduced in her post last week.

Click here to listen.

(Or right click and 'Save Link As' to download.)

(Intro and Outro by Symphony of Science)

SciArt Link Roundup #2

This week is SciArt Saturday's Valentine's Day Special. If you prefer evolutionary trees to candy hearts and lace, Darwin Day is on Sunday too. 

Bacterial Super Glue

Photo by Yves Brun

Once again, microbial tools may be able to offer humans an opportunity for medical advancement.  Some aquatic bacteria produce a sticky substance that allows them to adhere to solid surfaces.  One aquatic bacterium, Caulobacter crescentus, produces a natural glue that is almost 4 times stronger than commercial super glue.

Ball State University: Resurrecting Coal Alternatives from Six Feet Under

As a student, I can testify: classrooms are not cozy.

The rigorous academic setting is enough to stress out students regardless of how institutionalized or controlled the environment is. Coffee, cigarettes and subpar dining options wreck and distract our bodies enough. Some might feel that the least universities can do is regulate the classrooms at a reasonable temperature so students aren't pulling winter jackets on and off during class or distracting others by flashing their midriffs as they quickly tear off a hoodie while simultaneously asking a question, attempting to take notes and listen to the professor. We've got enough on our plate, the stress of our environmental impact doesn't need to be added to the list.

To pump heat out of a sweaty summer science lab or into a chilled communications classroom universities typically have to burn an equal amount of heat in coal. The environmental impacts of coal are diverse and plenty -- for a more in-depth list of these impacts see: EPA on coal.

But for Ball State University in Indiana, this will soon be a thing of the past. Ball state is officially "going geothermal" and breaking ground in efforts to build the nation's largest closed heating and cooling system that uses the ground they stand on as an energy source. Implementing a university-wide geothermal system is part of Ball State’s longtime commitment to sustainability. In a state where 95% of energy comes from coal and natural gas, this project has the potential to be a fulcrum of change that affects much more than the university.

Polyurethane, yum yum

Have you ever been sitting in the library, finished your bottled beverage, saw the regular trash can next to you and realized the recycling was a whole extra 10 feet away? If your convinctions are as weak as mine, that bottle generally ends up in the trash about 50% of the time. Theoretically, I know that plastic takes just about forever to degrade in landfills, and that we are rapidly running out of landfill space in the United States. However, a discovery by students at Yale may excuse my current laziness.
      

The inner lives of man and microbe

As we all know from watching the Discovery Channel, nature is full of carnage, suffering, and big, snarling animals eating little, fluffy animals.  I don’t want to talk about that today.  Today is about the peaceful relationships in nature. 

Certain pairings of creatures go well together.  The lichens you see on exposed rock are pairings of algae and fungi, and if you pull back the tentacles of a sea anemone (which are covered in little needles packed with neurotoxin, so don’t actually pull them back), you may just find a clownfish. 

These relationships are called mutualisms (The term “symbiosis” is often used, but actually refers to many  types of relationships, including parasitism.) because each member helps the other in some way.  The algae in lichen convert sunlight into food, which they share with their fungal partner.  The fungus, in turn, shelters the algae from harsh conditions.  Similarly, clownfish fight off anemone predators and parasites while their anemones provide shelter from whatever might want to eat the clownfish. 

Countless examples of mutualism exist in nature.  Here I want to focus on a particular kind, called endosymbiosis, in which one organism lives inside the other. An example of this you may be reluctantly aware of is the thriving ecosystem of bacteria in your intestines (downright flourishing!).  Endosymbiotic microbes may also be found within other microbes, and here’s where this article will hopefully get intriguing.  I’m certainly excited, in any case.

Mercury in compact fluorescent light bulbs: A cause for concern?

It's no surprise the compact fluorescent light bulbs, or CFL's, have become widely used.  Compared to a traditional incandescent bulb, a CFL requires about a quarter of the energy and lasts up to 10 times longer, which saves money and energy.  However, the contents of the CFL have caused concern among customers. 

Ira Glass, on the creative process

I was introduced to National Public Radio in graduate school. When you've got 4 people working for long hours in the same room, agreeing on music to listen to is nearly impossible. So, the default radio choice in virtually every lab was NPR. And if you listen to NPR, eventually you will encounter This American Life.

"From WBEZ in Chicago, it's This American Life, I'm Ira Glass. Each week on our program we choose a theme and we bring you several stories on that theme..."

Sand Tiger Sharks: The Epitome of Sibling Rivalry

Flickr Photo by Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk

Anyone who has siblings knows that brothers and sisters do not always get along.  Sisters don't always play with their Barbie dolls happily and brothers don't always cooperate in building their fort together.  Often siblings compete with each other to be the tallest or strongest, to be the best soccer player, or to receive the most attention from their parents and friends.  Sometimes this sibling rivalry intensifies and can end in clenched fists, bared teeth, or pulled hair.  However, this rivalry is trivial compared to the sand tiger shark, where shark embryos are forced to compete with their siblings for survival before they are even born.  

Researchers, Non-Experts, and Lawyers in Italy

As students of science communication, we focus on the relationship between researchers and non-scientists.  We've yet to discuss how that relationship changes when lawyers and the justice system get involved, but that situation is occurring right now in Italy.  The Opinion article in the Australian Broadcasting Company's Science section was the first I've heard of this story.  What are your thoughts on the legal implications of scientific communication?

Some News not Spread by the Media

Photo by Alphab.fr

Earlier today the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a press release addressing a recent topic of hot debate: the genetically altered strain of the H5N1 avian flu virus.
It's the second statement from the WHO since information of the new research was released.  On December 30, the WHO essentially said that they were concerned about the negative consequences and risks associated with such a discovery, but that they also understood the need to continue research.
In September two groups of scientists reportedly created a mutant airborne H5N1 variant that could easily be transmitted between ferrets.  One group submitted their findings to Science magazine, the other to Nature.  Shortly thereafter, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) requested that the two magazines withhold specific experimental information as it could be a terroristic threat.
Flash clips of the movie Contagion have been incessantly running through my mind since reading the press release... But why?
Well what most shocked me when I first read the Nature article back in December (linked above as "September"), was that this was the first I had even heard of the new development.  Was I simply oblivious to what I thought should have been blaring, alarming headlines from September through November on the new findings? After reading the WHO statement today, I skimmed Google news archives to see if I had in fact been paying less attention than I thought.  I was unable to find any stories on the new discovery from September, or October.  In fact, the earliest articles I came across were from December.
It's the perfect science story; a combination of "breakthrough" developments and "scary" news. So why was the reaction NSABB news piece addressing concern behind the H5N1 mammal-transmitted virus the first to be published?
Just recently in class we were all readily able to describe the stereotypical science stories that we see running on the 5 o'clock news and even discussed that many of those stores are run prematurely, filled with misrepresented data and incomplete research that just a few months later are proved wrong.
That said, this story isn't going away.  According to the WHO press release, a meeting will be held February 16 and 17 in Geneva and invites only those that are directly involved or knowledgeable of the two studies.
Why is then that a leader in global news such as the New York Times only has few short news pieces on the story, or stories on the scientists' most recently paused research and the rest editorials?  Although the NCABB requested that experimental information be withheld from Science and Nature upon its release in September, nowhere does it state that the basic information regarding the studies' findings was to be withheld from general news sources, so why the silence?

Elephants Down Under

Gamba grass is a tall grass native to Africa that is now an invasive pest species throughout northern Australia.  A biologist specializing in the relationship between plants, the environment, and global climate change from the University of Tasmania, Dr. David Bowman, has discussed his ideas to return ecosystems to a more native state by introducing large plant-eating animals native to Africa, including elephants, to Australia to control Gamba grass in a Comment in Nature published February 2, 2012.

Deep, elegant, beautiful, and not there.

Each year, the people at Edge.org craft a question that would terrify whole classrooms of students if it appeared, say, as an essay prompt on the SAT’s. Lucky for generations of college-bound young people, they save it for “the most complex and sophisticated minds” out there. In practice, this translates to a whole slew of top scientists, writers, philosophers, economists, and whoever else might fit the bill.

Past questions have left respondents adrift in a sea of ambiguity (the college essay writers are uneasy now). Things like, “What now?”, “What will change everything?” and “What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?” Part of the fun is seeing how the participants steer through all that wide-open space.

The question slated for 2012 is, “What is your favorite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation?” 


There are few stipulations: “The only requirement is that some simple and non-obvious idea explain some diverse and complicated set of phenomena.” Some great answers have already been posted by people like Carl Zimmer, Sean Carroll, Irene Pepperberg and Steven Pinker.

For his pick, neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran calls the discovery of DNA’s twisting, spiral structure “surely the most obvious.” The double helix model is brilliantly elegant, but to a modern biology student like me it is elegant in an abstract, faraway sense; that puzzle’s final piece lives half a century back in a fuzzy X-ray image. Happily, there have been plenty of sophisticated ideas in my lifetime to latch onto for inspiration. And some of the best have come from Ramachandran himself.

V.S. Ramachandran, from Neurophilosophy

Invert sea squirt to human vert

An important ancient relative: tunicates 

(Photo property of Phil Camill)