Clipmarks | tabsey's 'nature' clips

Scientists confirm shark's ‘virgin birth’

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:29:18 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Interesting anti-extinction ability.

RICHMOND, Va. - Scientists have confirmed the second case of a "virgin birth" in a shark.

In a study reported Friday in the Journal of Fish Biology, scientists said DNA testing proved that a pup carried by a female Atlantic blacktip shark in the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center contained no genetic material from a male.

The first documented case of asexual reproduction, or parthenogenesis, among sharks involved a pup born to a hammerhead at an Omaha, Neb., zoo.

"This first case was no fluke," Demian Chapman, a shark scientist and lead author of the second study, said in a statement. "It is quite possible that this is something female sharks of many species can do on occasion."

The aquarium sharks that reproduced without mates each carried only one pup, while some shark species can produce litters numbering in the dozen or more. The scientists cautioned that the rare asexual births should not be viewed as a possible solution to declining global shark populations.

Tags: nature

Narcissists Tend to Become Leaders

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:09:08 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: If being the centre of attention means becoming a boss, so be it

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Narcissists like to be in charge, so it stands to reason that a new study shows individuals who are overconfident about their abilities are most likely to step in as leaders, be they politicians or power brokers.

However, their initiative doesn't mean they are the best leaders. The study also found narcissists don't outperform others in leadership roles.

Narcissists tend to be egotistical types who exaggerate their talents and abilities, and lack empathy for others. The researchers stress that narcissism is not the same as high self-esteem.

"A person with high self-esteem is confident and charming, but they also have a caring component and they want to develop intimacy with others," said lead researcher Amy Brunell, a psychologist at Ohio State University at Newark. "Narcissists have an inflated view of their talents and abilities and are all about themselves. They don’t care as much about others."

Tags: human nature

Venus Flytraps Caught in Shrinking Habitat

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:53:56 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Land clearance for golf courses, shopping malls etc

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

GREEN SWAMP PRESERVE, N.C. (AP) — Laura Gadd pauses at the edge of a pristine savanna, delicately lifting her feet to avoid trampling any venus flytraps hidden underfoot.

One of nature's most recognized wonders, the venus flytrap's ability to snatch living prey makes it a favorite of elementary school science classes everywhere. Yet the flytrap is falsely ferocious: It's hardly the man-eating Audrey Jr. from "The Little Shop of Horrors," but a tiny plant only a few inches tall with leaves no bigger than a thumbprint.

These days, the little plant is more vulnerable than ever. And despite its popularity, the people who could protect it seem focused on other problems.

The flytrap's natural habitat exists only within a hundred miles of the Carolinas' coast, where much larger and more territorial plants have always held forth. Booming growth and development along the coast threatens to overrun the few sensitive and thin populations of venus flytraps that still exist in the wild.

Tags: environment

The Magnificent Seven: Projects that Will Answer Big Questions About the Cosmos

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:58:40 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Covered most of these topics with my year 6 classes, when teaching.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

"New exciting discoveries lie ahead; it is up to us to take the lead on them in the next decade." says Christian Spiering from DESY – Germany, Chairman of the Roadmap Committee, who have worked for two years to produce this roadmap.

The seven projects are:

* CTA, a large array of Cherenkov Telescopes for detection of cosmic high-energy gamma rays

* KM3NeT, a cubic kilometre-scale neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea

* Ton-scale detectors for dark matter searches

* A ton-scale detector for the determination of the fundamental nature and mass of neutrinos

* A Megaton-scale detector for proton decay's search, neutrino astrophysics & investigation of neutrino properties

* A large array for the detection of charged cosmic rays

* A third-generation underground gravitational antenna

"The timely realization of the Magnificent Seven is a big challenge" says the coordinator of ASPERA Prof. Stavros Katsanevas

But we are confident that none will be killed contrary to what happens in the film

Tags: astroparticle physics

Why albino monks won't conduct stem cell research

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:45:20 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

The first many people heard of it was in the Da Vinci Code.

Now Opus Dei - a mysterious network of ultra-devout Catholics - is attempting to shake off its self-flagellating albino monk image by opening a $44-million science facility on the outskirts of Rome.

Paolo Maria Rossini, director for scientific activity and not an Opus Dei member, is reported as saying: "We are Catholic by declaration. Stem cell research will never be done here. But nobody is going to check how many hours you spend in church."

Now, whether any biomedical facility can hope to become world-class by ignoring stem cell research is doubtful.

However, it appears that Opus Dei wants to keep up with work on neuroscience and oncology that it feels is starting to encroach into "spiritual" territory. I'm guessing stuff about the nature of consciousness and about cancer treatments that may prolong life.

Tags: the, rich, and, powerful

India boss 'lynched by workers'

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:46:23 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The Indian head of an Italian auto parts company has been beaten to death in a suburb of Delhi, allegedly by a group of sacked workers.

Lalit Kishore Choudhary, of Graziano Transmissioni India, died at the company factory in Greater Noida.

Police said more than 100 dismissed workers entered the factory vandalised machinery and attacked Mr Choudhary.

The confrontation came after a long industrial dispute. The workers denied killing Mr Choudhary.

Nearly 300 workers at Graziano Transmissioni were dismissed two months ago after they demanded pay rises and allegedly ransacked its offices, the AFP news agency reported.

The meeting with Mr Choudhary, which took place on Monday, was reportedly scheduled to discuss the possibility of reinstating some of the workers.

However, "the dismissed employees turned violent during a meeting with the management," Reuters news agency quoted senior police officer RK Chaturvedi as saying.

Some 63 people were arrested, Mr Chaturvedi said.

Tags: human nature, murder

Fires regenerate African grassland

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:50:27 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Australian Aborigines have been doing this for thousands of years.

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

Windhoek/Leipzig. Natural grass fires are evidently more important for the ecology of savannahs than has previously been assumed. This is the finding of a study carried out in Etosha National Park in the north of Namibia. It is the first study to have investigated the complex interplay of the factors fire, competition, moisture and seed availability in relation to a grass species. Periodic fires in semi-arid regions can lead to older tufts of grass disappearing, thereby making room for younger grasses. Writing in the Journal of Ecology, the researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the University of Frankfurt am Main and the University of Cologne say that fire therefore plays an important role in regeneration. The findings are particularly significant for the management of semi-arid nature reserves, in which, in the absence of natural plant eaters, fires are the only practical means of renewing the grass canopy.

Tags: ecology

Without spin doctors, society would be in the dark

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:08:29 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: And Real Estate salespersons should be sainted for doing their job, too.

Clip Source: www.theage.com.au

THE greatest news story of the last century broke on April 25, 1953. But it didn't make banner headlines in daily newspapers and in fact probably never made so much as a page lead story.

The event was the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA. It was published in a series of articles in the now historic April 25, 1953, issue of Nature. The scientists had discovered the secret to life on Earth. Yet this did not appear in The New York Times, arguably the world's leading daily newspaper, until the following June. And when it did run, it was on page 17.

If you find that amazing, The Times of London did not mention the story until five years later when it was discussed in an obituary for one of the researchers, Dr Rosalind Franklin.

how some of the greatest newspapers dealt with the biggest story in the halcyon days of newspaper journalism. The reason is that there was a vital ingredient missing in the chain of communications between the scientists and journalists — good spin doctors.

Tags: human nature

Stressed plants 'make their own painkillers'

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:25:27 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: It's the vegans who cause the stress, not the weather.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Scientists in the United States have found that plants under stress produce their own form of aspirin.

Researchers at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Colorado suggest that monitoring this could give farmers an early warning if one of their crops is about to fail.

The researchers found that while humans are advised to take aspirin to suppress fever, plants squirt their own aspirin-like chemical as a gas to boost their defences and recover from injury.

The scientists say significant amounts of the chemical can be detected in the atmosphere as plants respond to drought and other stresses.

Writing in the journal Biogeosciences, the researchers said farmers might be able to benefit because they would have an early warning system in the air about crop failure.

Tags: nature

Australian researchers find 100s of new reef species

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:22:04 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: The parasite which eats tongues, will be handy for teachers.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Gruesome: One of the new Ceratothoa 'tongue-biting' parasites in the mouth of a horse mackerel (Museum of Tropical Queensland)

Hundreds of new ocean creatures have been discovered living on Australia's most well-known coral reefs.

The new species include shrimp-like animals with claws longer than their bodies and a tongue-eating isopod parasite which lives in the mouths of fishes.

The research is part of a 10-year Global Census of Marine Life which will produce a list of the world's ocean creatures.

The three expeditions to Lizard and Heron islands on the Great Barrier Reed, and Ningaloo Reef off Western Australia, included a first systematic scientific inventory of spectacular soft corals, named octocorals for the eight tentacles around each polyp.

Researchers located some 300 soft coral species, dozens of small crustacean species, and an unusual amphipod of the Maxillipiidae family with a whip-like back leg almost three times the size of its body.

Tags: nature

"Ant from Mars" Appeared 120 Million Years Ago & Took Over the Planet

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:26:39 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Does look alien. Scary numbers.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Blind subterranean predator ants from before the dawn of time! It's not a B-Movie, it's a recent discovery, and if you don't like the idea of swarms of ants buzzing under the soil looking for things to eat then let us tell you, pal, this isn't the scientific report for you.

The newly discovered species has been named Martialis Eureka, translating as "Ant from Mars", because even in the world of six legged mandible-equipped exoskeletoned insectoids, this thing looks weird. It's attracting a lot of attention because if it isn't the grandaddy of all modern ants, it's at least a great-great-great-great uncle.

Ants turned up around 120 million years ago and just took over. That makes them eight hundred times older than our whippersnapper species. They rapidly diversified, evolving to take advantage of almost every habitat there is on dry land - at the moment there are about ten quadrillion of them in the world

Tags: nature

First Ever Image of Alien Planet Captured

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:18:59 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: The article says it could be lots of things.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Astronomers believe they have captured the first picture of an alien planet in orbit around a star that is similar to our own Sun, called 1RXS J160929.1-210524, which is similar in mass to the Sun, but is much younger.. Located around 500 light-years from Earth, the planet in the snapshot is around eight times bigger than Jupiter, the biggest in our solar system and lies more than ten times further from its star than the sun does from Neptune.

The work that led to this discovery is part of a survey of more than 85 stars in the Upper Scorpius association, a group of young stars formed about 5 million years ago. It uses the Gemini telescope's high-resolution adaptive optics capabilities to determine the different types of companions that can form around young stars: stars, brown dwarfs, or planetary mass objects. “This discovery certainly has us looking forward to what other surprises nature has in stock for us,” said Marten van Kerkwijk,
Professor of Astronomy at the University of Toron

Tags: astronomy

Hawking vs Higgs: Heavyweight Bout at CERN's LHC

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:02:43 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: A scientific tiff.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

A scientist has taken major offense at Stephen Hawking's recent quip that it might be more interesting if the Large Hadron Collider didn't find any Higgs bosons. Getting upset at Stephen Hawking might not sound like a smart thing for a scientist to do, but when you consider that it's Professor Peter Higgs himself you can sort of see his point. This sets the scene for the ultimate scientific showdown - and while the old days might have settled such a matter of honor with pistols, these days we use twenty-seven kilometers of superconducting magnets. These days are much, much more awesome than the old days.

The Higgs boson is the Abominable Snowman of particle physics: incredibly famous despite the fact no-one's ever seen one, and if we ever do it'll change the way we look at the universe. The LHC is the first particle accelerator able to access the energies necessary to reveal this particle (if it's there) or set an awful lot of people scurrying back to their blackboards (if it's not).

Tags: human nature

Earthworms to aid soil clean-up

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:35:33 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Brilliant, though maybe not so good for the worms.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Worms munching polluted and non-polluted soils showed different colours

Scientists have discovered how metal-munching earthworms can help plants to clean up contaminated soils.

Researchers at Reading University found that subtle changes occurred in metals as worms ingested and excreted soil.

These changes make it easier for plants to take up potentially toxic metals from contaminated land.

Earthworms could be the future "21st Century eco-warriors", scientists suggested at the British Association Science Festival in Liverpool.

There are many sites across the UK with contaminated soil due to previous industrial activities, including mines, engineering works and lead smelters.

The dream scenario is that the plants become so efficient at extracting the metals that you can take them off to a smelting plant

Earthworms are ideal "soil detectives": their presence can act as a reliable indicator to the general health of the soil.

Tags: nature

Mountain Gorilla Revenue Crosses Borders

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:42:23 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Cooperation.

Clip Source: awf.org

Mountain gorillas dwell in the montane rainforests of Central Africa, with small populations found in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. © Paul Thomson

Rwanda has shared $174,000 in revenue with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda’s Daily Monitor reports. The transaction is part of a transboundary agreement formed between Rwanda, Uganda, and the DRC to conserve mountain gorillas and their habitat.

There are only 720 mountain gorillas left in the world, making them one of the world’s most endangered great apes. About half the world’s mountain gorillas live in the mountains of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. The other half live in the Virunga Volcanoes, a forested area that straddles the borders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda.

The initiative will integrate the operations of each country’s national parks rangers, allowing research findings and protection efforts to be coordinated across the gorilla’s entire range.

Tags: nature