Clipmarks | Invertebrate Clips

2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge Winners

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:26:34 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Last picture: Extract from Stream Micro-Ecology: Life in a Biofilm, a large poster explaining the ecology of microbial biofilms.

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Making science fascinating to an audience beyond the lab is not always easy. But the winners of the 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge pull it off in impressive style.

The Glass Forest, winner of the photography prize, depicts a community of microscopic diatoms - unicellular algae with a peculiar glass-like cell wall - attached to a marine invertebrate (Eudendrium racemosum). Mario De Stefano, 2nd University of Naples, captured the image with a scanning electron microscope." />

The Glass Forest, winner of the photography prize, depicts a community of microscopic diatoms - unicellular algae with a peculiar glass-like cell wall - attached to a marine invertebrate

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

String Vibrations, awarded an Honorable Mention in Photography, shows the path described by a rapidly-spinning string. Andrew Davidhazy of the Rochester Institute of Technology used a relatively long camera exposure to make the moving string appear to be a 3D object." />

String Vibrations, awarded an Honorable Mention in Photography, shows the path described by a rapidly-spinning string.

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Squid Suckers: The Little Monsters That Feed the Beast, awarded an Honorable Mention in Photography, is a false-colour microscope image of the suction cups on the arm of the Loligo pealei squid. The 400 micrometer suckers have chitin " />

a false-colour microscope image of the suction cups on the arm of the Loligo pealei squid.

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Polymazing, awarded an Honorable Mention in Photography, shows an experiment that mimics the buckling behaviour that produces the pattern of fingertips, and some flower petals. A polymer material was given a thin black coating and immersed in water. When the central polymer absorbs water and expands, the black coating is strained and buckles into this beautiful pattern of wrinkles. Ye Jin Eun and Douglas B. Weibel, University of Wisconsin-Madison, captured the image." />

Polymazing, awarded an Honorable Mention in Photography, shows an experiment that mimics the buckling behaviour that produces the pattern of fingertips, and some flower petals.

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Visualizing the Bible, awarded an Honorable Mention in Illustration, depicts all 1189 chapters of the Bible as a bar graph with the length of each bar proportional to the number of verses in the chapter. Above this, arcs represent 63,779 cross references between chapters; different colours denote varying distances between connected chapters. Created by Chris Harrison of Carnegie Mellon University and Christoph Römhild of North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church." />

Illustration, depicts all 1189 chapters of the Bible as a bar graph with the length of each bar proportional to the number of verses in the chapter.

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

3D Imaging of Mammalian Cells with Ion-Abrasion Scanning Electron Microscopy was awarded an Honorable Mention in Illustration. It shows a melanoma tumour cell, using a new approach for imaging mammalian cells at nanometer resolution. Donald Bliss and Sriram Subramaniam, US National Library of Medicine, made the image." />

3D Imaging of Mammalian Cells with Ion-Abrasion Scanning Electron Microscopy

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Mad Hatter's Tea, winner of the Informational Graphics award, is taken from a book called Alice's Adventures in a Microscopic Wonderland. Colleen Champ and Dennis Kunkel, at Concise Image Studios, carefully built scenes from Lewis Carroll's story using microscope images of insects and other small animals." />

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Stream Micro-Ecology: Life in a Biofilm, a large poster explaining the ecology of microbial biofilms. It was awarded an Honorable Mention in Informational Graphics. Better known as slime, these complex communities of many different micro-organisms are found in many watery environments and thought to be crucial to aquatic ecology. The poster shows the main organisms found in a biofilm from a stream, and explains their interactions and ecological roles. It was created by Andr" />

Tags: photography, science

Best Science Images of 2008 Announced

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:21:52 GMT

clipped by: infopunk

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

First Place, Photography: "The Glass Forest"

Tiny green diatoms create the illusion of a fernlike forest as they attach to their marine-invertebrate hosts.

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

Honorable Mention, Photography: "String Vibrations"

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

Honorable Mention, Photography: "Squid Suckers: The Little Monsters That Feed the Beast"

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

Honorable Mention, Photography: "Polymazing"

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

First Place, Illustration: "Zoom Into the Human Bloodstream"

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

Honorable Mention, Illustration: "Visualizing the Bible"

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

Honorable Mention, Illustration: "3D Imaging of Mammalian Cells with Ion-Abrasion Scanning Electron Microscopy"

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

First Place, Informational Graphics: "Mad Hatter's Tea" from Alice's Adventures in a Microscopic Wonderland

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

First Place, Interactive Media: "Genomics Digital Lab: Plant Cells"

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

Honorable Mention, Noninteractive Media: "Fighting Infection by Clonal Selection"

Glass Animals

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:42:34 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Long overshadowed by their famed floral kin, some of the exquisite 19th century glass animals housed at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) have finally hit the road for a Minnesota exhibit - the first time in Harvard's nearly 130-year ownership that the rare sculptures are known to have left Cambridge. The exhibit of 29 invertebrate models, dubbed "The Glass Sea Treasures of Harvard: The Age of Darwin," continues through next February at the Underwater Adventures Aquarium in Bloomington, Minn. At that time, the newly cleaned and restored creatures are expected to migrate eastward en masse for a possible exhibition on campus. Harvard's invertebrate models were crafted by a father-and-son team of German artisans, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, members of a family whose glassmaking secrets dated to the 15th century. Over five decades starting in 1886, the Blaschkas went on to craft the Harvard Museum of Natural History's renowned array of more than 3,000 glass flowers.

Clip Source: www.news.harvard.edu

Ercolania Pancerii (nudibranch), near left. Blue paint on colorless glass.

This animal is a hydroid, related to jellyfish. It floats on the surface of the ocean and moves with the wind.

Phymactis florida (sea anemone) With restoration, the detached tentacles can be reattached, and the remaining glue and paint stabilized. These types of animals can be found around the globe, living in tide pools.

Rossia dispar (squid), left. Fins on this model, and others like it, are made from an organic material, such as paper or stretched animal hide. Color pattern serves as camouflage for hiding in the sand.

Actinia chromatodera (sea anemone) The Blaschkas often made several models of the same organism to show different stages of life, magnified parts, etc

Actinoloba reticulata (sea anemone)

Clionopsis krohnii (pelagic snail) (ventral view)

This snail lives in the open ocean.

A drawer of mollusk models,

Doris concinna (nudibranch) intricately hand painted by the Blaschkas.

Tags: art, science, harvard, sculpture, wonderment

'Dinosaur eel' could inspire future armour

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:15:58 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: i thought I'd include a picture of a euryptarid, also known as a sea scorpion, which was one of their predators, and one of the largest known arthropods that has existed at 6ft 7in. Makes you glad they're extinct...as far as we know.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Scales that protect a quarrelsome fish from the bites of its own fellows from predators may hold the key to the armour of the future, say US researchers.

The light, multilayered design of its scales has helped Polypterus senegalus survive for 96 million years, the team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reports.

Writing in the journal Nature Materials, the MIT team say they have figured out how it works.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

"In ancient times, many large invertebrate predators existed. For example, the carnivorous eurypterid was a giant arthropod that possessed biting mouth parts, grasping jaws, claws, spines and a spiked tail," they write.

They found the scales' protection is remarkably effective because of the different composite materials, the geometry and thickness of each of these layers.

The scales, about 500 micrometres thick, are comprised of four layers.

overlapping junctions between the layers play an important role, deflecting the pressure of a crunching bite

Worm-like Marine Animal Providing Fresh Clues About Human Evolution

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:47:15 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The human genome has only about 25 percent more genes than the amphioxus genome, according to Holland. During evolution, humans have duplicated genes for different functions. Such duplication has given humans and other vertebrates a much larger "toolkit" for making various structures that are absent in amphioxus, including cells for pigment and collagen type II-based cartilage, for example.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Research on the genome of a marine creature led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego is shedding new light on a key area of the tree of life.

Linda Holland, a research biologist at Scripps Oceanography, and her colleagues from the United States, Europe and Asia, have deciphered and analyzed fundamental elements of the genetic makeup of a small, worm-like marine animal called amphioxus, also known as a lancelet.

Amphioxus is not widely known to the general public, but is gaining interest in scientific circles because of its position as one of the closest living invertebrate relatives of vertebrates.

Although amphioxus split from vertebrates more than 520 million years ago, its genome holds tantalizing clues about evolution.

Because amphioxus is evolving slowly--its body plan remains similar to that of fossils from the Cambrian time--the animal serves as an intriguing comparison point for tracing how vertebrates have evolved and adapted.

Tags: evolution, marine life, genome

New Research On Octopuses Sheds Light On Memory

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:39:13 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: It is not completely understood how these two systems are interconnected, if at all. However, the organization in the octopus demonstrates a sophistication that was not described yet in other animals. In the octopus, the short-term and long-term systems are working in parallel, but not independently. This is so because the long-term memory area -- in addition to its capacity to store long-term memories -- also regulates the rate at which the short-term memory system acquires short-term memories. This regulatory mechanism is probably useful in cases where faster learning is significant for the octopus' survival in emergency or risky situations.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Research on octopuses has shed new light on how our brains store and recall memory,

Why octopuses?

Octopuses and other related creatures, known as cephalopods, are considered to be the most intelligent invertebrates because they have relatively large brains and they can be trained for various learning and memory tasks, says Dr. Hochner.

Their behavior repertoire and learning and memory abilities are even comparable in their complexity to those of advanced vertebrates. However, they are still invertebrate mollusks with brains that contain a much fewer number of nerve cells and much simpler anatomical organization than that of vertebrate brains. This unique constellation was utilized to tackle one of the most interesting questions in modern neuroscience, which is how the brain stores and recalls memories

Tags: octopuse, memory

Bee species outnumber mammals and birds combined

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:22:10 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Newly completed checklists from the American Museum of Natural History highlight the importance of these pollinators

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

Scientists have discovered that there are more bee species than previously thought. In the first global accounting of bee species in over a hundred years, John S. Ascher, a research scientist in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History, compiled online species pages and distribution maps for more than 19,200 described bee species, showcasing the diversity of these essential pollinators. This new species inventory documents 2,000 more described, valid species than estimated by Charles Michener in the first edition of his definitive The Bees of the World published eight years ago.

"The bee taxonomic community came together and completed the first global checklist of bee names since 1896," says Ascher. "Most people know of honey bees and a few bumble bees, but we have documented that there are actually more species of bees than of birds and mammals put together."

Tags: bee

Origins of the brain - new study

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:36:41 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: "Although many studies have looked at the number of neurons, none has looked at the molecular composition of neuron connections. We found dramatic differences in the numbers of proteins in the neuron connections between different species".

"We studied around 600 proteins that are found in mammalian synapses and were surprised to find that only 50 percent of these are also found in invertebrate synapses, and about 25 percent are in single-cell animals, which obviously don't have a brain."

Most important for understanding of human thought, they found the expansion in proteins that occurred in vertebrates provided a pool of proteins that were used for making different parts of the brain into the specialised regions such as cortex, cerebellum and spinal cord.

Since the evolution of molecularly complex, 'big' synapses occurred before the emergence of large brains, it may be that these molecular evolutionary events were necessary to allow evolution of big brains found in humans, pri

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

One of the great scientific challenges is to understand the design principles and origins of the human brain. New research has shed light on the evolutionary origins of the brain and how it evolved into the remarkably complex structure found in humans.

The research suggests that it is not size alone that gives more brain power, but that, during evolution, increasingly sophisticated molecular processing of nerve impulses allowed development of animals with more complex behaviours.

Complex synapses drove brain evolution

The study shows that two waves of increased sophistication in the structure of nerve junctions could have been the force that allowed complex brains - including our own - to evolve. The big building blocks evolved before big brains.

"Our simple view that 'more nerves' is sufficient to explain 'more brain power' is simply not supported by our study," explained Professor Seth

Tags: brain, neuroscience

Common Aquatic Animal's Genome Can Capture Foreign DNA

Sat, 31 May 2008 12:17:24 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: "These fascinating animals not only have relaxed the barriers to incorporation of foreign genetic material, but, more surprisingly, they even managed to keep some of these alien genes functional,"

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Long viewed as straitlaced spinsters, sexless freshwater invertebrate animals known as bdelloid rotifers may actually be far more promiscuous than anyone had imagined:

Scientists at Harvard University have found that the genomes of these common creatures are chock-full of DNA from plants, fungi, bacteria, and animals.

The finding, described May 30 in the journal Science, could take the sex out of sexual reproduction, showing that bdelloid rotifers, all of which are female, can exchange genetic material via other means.

"Our result shows that genes can enter the genomes of bdelloid rotifers in a manner fundamentally different from that which, in other animals, results from the mating of males and females,"

In essence, Meselson and colleagues say, bdelloids may acquire DNA by habitually disintegrating their genomes

In the process of rebuilding their shattered DNA, though, they may adopt shreds of genetic material from other bdelloids in the same puddle, as well as from unrelated species.

Tags: biology, sex, dna

Bdelloids can take advantage of the entire environmental metagenome

Fri, 30 May 2008 19:57:05 GMT

clipped by: Beholder
clipper's remarks: Nearly all other multicellular animals have strong safeguards against foreign DNA, but bdelloids' seeming embrace of genetic detritus is in keeping with their general quirkiness: Shunning sex and entirely lacking males, the ubiquitous creatures are also extraordinarily resistant to radiation, as Meselson and Gladyshev demonstrated earlier this year in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Long viewed as straitlaced spinsters, sexless freshwater invertebrate animals known as bdelloid rotifers may actually be far more promiscuous than anyone had imagined: Scientists at Harvard University have found that the genomes of these common creatures are chock-full of DNA from plants, fungi, bacteria, and animals.

bdelloids may acquire DNA by habitually disintegrating their genomes -- something these unusual animals do regularly during periods of desiccation, which fractures their genetic material and ruptures cellular membranes. Miraculously, bdelloids can then spring back to life upon rehydration of their habitats, readily reconstituting their genomes and their membranes.

In the process of rebuilding their shattered DNA, though, they may adopt shreds of genetic material from other bdelloids in the same puddle, as well as from unrelated species.

In principle, this gives them an opportunity to take advantage of the entire environmental metagenome

Tags: genetics, bdelloid, dna

Super size sea monsters

Fri, 09 May 2008 04:56:49 GMT

clipped by: hitchhiker08
clipper's remarks: Wonders never cease...

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

SUPERSIZE SEA MONSTERS

Two Thai fishermen show off a 646-pound giant catfish they caught in the Mekong River in the Chiang Khong district of Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand in mid-May 2005.

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

At the time of this 2007 photo, Japanese scientists had captured what may be the first images of a live giant squid.

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

A Cambodian fisherman holds a giant stingray fish on the Mekong River near the Cambodian/Vietnam border on Dec. 10, 2002.

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

Two giant ''echizen'' jellyfish are seen swimming in the Sea of Japan five meters below the surface off the Town of Echizen, Fukui Prefecture.

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

The 880-pound ocean sunfish, shown in this undated photo

returned to sea on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 1998. Aquarium spokesman Ken Peterson said that the sunfish had outgrown its exhibit.

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

Giant Pacific Octopus is considered very intelligent for an invertebrate.

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

Antarctic explorers hold a giant Macroptychaster sea star (starfish).

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

giant Japanese Spider crab is the world's largest marine crab

weigh up to 20 kgs.

Tags: sea, marine biology, fish, invertebrate

Colossal squid's true size revealed

Fri, 02 May 2008 07:22:46 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Jennifer Viegas

The exact size of a frozen colossal squid that was thawed this week has been revealed by New Zealand officials.

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa says the squid shrank drastically due to water and temperature changes since it was caught accidentally by fisherman in 2007.

After waiting for the tentacles to defrost so the squid could be fully extended, the researchers measured its weight at nearly 495 kilograms and its length at over 4 metres.

The squid's heft and large beak "confirm that it was almost certainly longer and is still the largest invertebrate specimen in the world," says Te Papa spokesperson Jane Keig.

She adds that it also has the largest eye of any animal at about nearly 27 centimetres in diameter.

Colossal squids exemplify a phenomenon known as deep-sea gigantism, which is the tendency for

creatures of the deep to grow much larger than their shallower water counterparts.

Some squid, in contrast to the colossal, are just several centimetres long.

Sea cucumber makes hard plastic go soft

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:52:41 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: and back again. It's amazing the number of discoveries we have made which have been described as great innovations, when nature has found a quicker and easier way long before us. Our destruction of the environment is destroying many of these examples before we find them. Nature has a remarkable way of working around problems, as the 'law of survival remains fundamental, and it has had hundreds of millions of years of field tests.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Julie Steenhuysen

A new material inspired by sea cucumbers can change easily from hard and rigid to soft and floppy, US researchers say.

When wet, the material changes from a stiff plastic to a rubber-like state in seconds, and it can change back just as quickly, the researchers report today in the journal Science.

It's a feature they say may make it suited for medical implants.

The material mimics a trick that sea cucumbers perform. The invertebrate sea creatures can quickly change the stiffness of their skin, forming a kind of armour in response to a threat.

"We used the skin of these sea cucumbers as the basis of a new class of artificial material that can change their mechanical properties on command," says Professor Chris Weder, a researcher at Case Western Reserve University.

Weder and colleagues plan to use the material in medical applications, such as pliable brain electrodes used in treatments for people with Parkinson's disease, stroke or spinal cord injuries.

Rob Kall on Conyers on "impeachment"

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:19:30 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Yikes! WTF is Conyers game? I'm highly disgruntled and disappointed

Clip Source: www.opednews.com

I must say that I have enormous respect for congressman Conyers. He didn't have to have the conversation and, like Matt Stoller, said, he's intensely interested in this. He is THE key factor in what could be a huge turning point in history. His refusal to proceed is perplexing though. I don't buy the argument that the concern about the Republicans attacking the action is holding HIM back. It might be enough to worry some the more invertebrate members of congress, but not Conyers.

On the contrary, I believe that if spun intelligently, taking the approach could dramatically help the Democrats in the 2008 elections. Conyers should take the position that Bush and Cheney have forced the house judiciary committee to use impeachment hearings as a last resort, because the whitehouse admin refused to obey, or allow appointees to obey conventional congressional subpoenas. Executive privilege can not be used in response to impeachment hearing subpoenas.

http://www.opednews.com

Cuttlefish Complexity and Simple CNS

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:40:20 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Go to site for movie.

Clip Source: www.lifesci.ucsb.edu

These complex appearance changes occur very quickly, sometimes each pattern appears so briefly that the cuttlefish appears to be flashing. Other cuttlefish see the displays of a nearby cuttlefish and alter their behavior accordingly, either by sending a message back in the form of a change in skin appearance or by physically interacting with the other cuttlefish.
These behaviors are even more impressive when you examine the nervous system that controls them. Although the nervous system of this invertebrate is said to be well developed, it is still much simpler than the nervous systems of organisms that evolved later. Chromatophores are the specialized cells embedded in the cuttlefish epidermis that enable the color and pattern changes in the skin. The cuttlefish’s fairly primitive nervous system can simultaneously control thousands of chromatophores with astonishing speed and complexity.

Tags: cuttlefish, complexity, information