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What if there is no happy ending? Science communication as a path to change

On 30 May COMPASS published a commentary in PLOS Biology on the journey from science outreach to meaningful engagement. This post is part of a series of reactions, reflections, and personal experiences from scientists involved in such work. Read the summary post here, or track the conversation by searching for #reachingoutsci. ======== “Fortuna, Panama. Friday [...]

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What's wrong with Mochizuki's 'proof' of the ABC conjecture?

(Cross-posted at NewAPPS)A few days ago Eric had a post about an insightful text that has been making the rounds on the internet, which narrates the story of a mathematical ‘proof’ that is for now sitting somewhere in a limbo between the world of proofs and the world of non-proofs. The ‘proof’ in question purports to establish the famous ABC conjecture, one of the (thus far) main open questions in number theory. (Luckily, a while back Dennis posted an extremely helpful and precise […]

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Goldbach Variations

On Monday, Harald Helfgott of the École Normale Supériure in Paris posted a proof of one of the oldest open problems in number theory to the preprint repository arxiv. The ternary Goldbach conjecture, like so many questions in number theory, is easy to state but hard to prove. Every odd number greater than 5 can [...]

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Photo: Orion’s Hidden Dusty Ribbon Revealed

The Orion nebula is one of the most favorite spots for stargazers to explore in the heavens, but this week astronomers are releasing a stunning new look to this giant stellar nursery 1300 light years from Earth. A fiery cosmic ribbon glows with orange colors as grains of cold interstellar dust light up like…

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Carnivorous plant has deleted most of its junk DNA

Genes overlap, share regulatory sequences in order to compact the genome.

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Blood magic: old blood ages the young

“Our ancient countess was refused her desires will To bathe in pure fresh blood She’d peasant virgins killed Elizabeth, in the chasm where was my soul Forever young, Elizabeth Bathorii in the castle of your death You’re still alive, Elizabeth” -“Elizabeth”, Ghost As folklore has it, Elizabeth Bathorii, Countess of Hungary, often […]

Villeda SA, Luo J, Mosher KI, Zou B, Britschgi M, Bieri G, Stan TM, Fainberg N, Ding Z, Eggel A & Lucin KM (2011). The ageing systemic milieu negatively regulates neurogenesis and cognitive function., Nature, 477 (7362) 90-4. PMID: 21886162

Loffredo FS, Steinhauser ML, Jay SM, Gannon J, Pancoast JR, Yalamanchi P, Sinha M, Dall'osso C, Khong D, Shadrach JL & Miller CM (2013). Growth Differentiation Factor 11 Is a Circulating Factor that Reverses Age-Related Cardiac Hypertrophy., Cell, 153 (4) 828-39. PMID: 23663781

Zhang G, Li J, Purkayastha S, Tang Y, Zhang H, Yin Y, Li B, Liu G & Cai D (2013). Hypothalamic programming of systemic ageing involving IKK-β, NF-κB and GnRH., Nature, 497 (7448) 211-6. PMID: 23636330

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Natural algorithms and the sciences

Today, I am passing through New York City on my way to Princeton’s Center for Computational Intractability for a workshop on Natural Algorithms and the Sciences (NA&S). The two day meeting will cover everything from molecular algorithms for learning and experiments on artificial cells to bounded rationality in decision-making and the effects of network topology […]

Chazelle, B. (2012). Natural algorithms and influence systems, Communications of the ACM, 55 (12) 101. DOI: 10.1145/2380656.2380679

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Reflecting on Applied Animal Behavior

Time for reflection (By Wieselblitz)Hi Mia! Love the lavender research! Learning that dogs show different behaviors when exposed to different scents could help us prime environments to be associated with particular dog behaviors and moods (you noted that exposure to peppermint and rosemary are associated with activity and barking while exposure to lavender and chamomile bring out resting). At the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab, we have a new paper coming out soon in Learning and Motivation -- the […]

Mason G., Clubb R., Latham N. & Vickery S. (2007). Why and how should we use environmental enrichment to tackle stereotypic behaviour?, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 102 (3-4) 163-188. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2006.05.041

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A deeper look at the geology of diamonds

The geology of diamonds is fascinating in itself, but they also give insights into wider geological processes and history. Up until 1725, diamonds were only known from India. That all changed when Brazilians panning river sediments for gold, instead found diamonds. Recent … Continue reading →

Harte, B. & Richardson, S. (2012). Mineral inclusions in diamonds track the evolution of a Mesozoic subducted slab beneath West Gondwanaland, Gondwana Research, 21 (1) 236-245. DOI: 10.1016/j.gr.2011.07.001

Harte, B. & Cayzer, N. (2007). Decompression and unmixing of crystals included in diamonds from the mantle transition zone, Physics and Chemistry of Minerals, 34 (9) 647-656. DOI: 10.1007/s00269-007-0178-2

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Shrinking Alligator Penises: Using Wildlife Models to Study How Chemical Contaminants May Affect Human Reproductive Systems (Guest Post)

Erin on the side of a river somewhere in western NC, hard at work study obviously. Erin Abernethy is a Master’s student in the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia, where she is studying scavenging ecology in Hawaii. Before coming to Athens, Erin lived in North Carolina earning her BS in Biology at Appalachian State. For that degree,

Guillette Jr., L., Pickford, D., Crain, D., Rooney, A. & Percival, H. (1996). Reduction in Penis Size and Plasma Testosterone Concentrations in Juvenile Alligators Living in a Contaminated Environment, General and Comparative Endocrinology, 101 (1) 32-42. DOI: 10.1006/gcen.1996.0005

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The extinction of the Irish brown bear

A new study by Saoirse Leonard and co-authors from the Institute of Zoology, London and the University of Liverpool model the potential survival of brown bears in an Irish glacial refugium. The study has just been published in Biology Letters, and … Continue reading →

Leonard, S., Risley, C. & Turvey, S. (2013). Could brown bears (Ursus arctos) have survived in Ireland during the Last Glacial Maximum?, Biology Letters, 9 (4) 20130281-20130281. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2013.0281

Edwards, C., Suchard, M., Lemey, P., Welch, J., Barnes, I., Fulton, T., Barnett, R., O'Connell, T., Coxon, P., Monaghan, N. & Valdiosera, C. (2011). Ancient Hybridization and an Irish Origin for the Modern Polar Bear Matriline, Current Biology, 21 (15) 1251-1258. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.05.058

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Some Quantized Flux History

In 1961, William Fairbank and Bascomb Deaver experimentally verified that magnetic flux can be quantized. This week I read an excellent paper on the history of the experiment[1]. For those who aren't close to a library with access to the journal, (and for my own notes), here are a few of the highlights. For more info on the Fairbank/Deaver experiment see[4] .The Other ExperimentThe first interesting thing you should know is that there was a similar experiment […]

Einzel D. (2011). 50 Years of Fluxoid Quantization: 2e or Not 2e, Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 163 (5-6) 215-237. DOI: 10.1007/s10909-011-0349-x

Doll R. & Näbauer M. (1961). Experimental Proof of Magnetic Flux Quantization in a Superconducting Ring, Physical Review Letters, 7 (2) 51-52. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.7.51

Byers N. & Yang C. (1961). Theoretical Considerations Concerning Quantized Magnetic Flux in Superconducting Cylinders, Physical Review Letters, 7 (2) 46-49. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.7.46

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‘Is ‘cloning’ mad, bad and dangerous?’ – an argument revisited

Seven years ago, to mark the then tenth anniversary of the announcement of the birth of the folkloric Dolly the sheep, and in the still reverberating wake of the South Korean cloning scandal, I practiced my fledgling/intermittent/debatable/wanton science communication skills with the penning of an article on the issue of ‘cloning.’ It being an anniversary with a ’0′ on the end, combined with topical relevance, suggested I might be lucky enough to get it published. And I was thus very... […]

Tachibana, M., Amato, P., Sparman, M., Gutierrez, N., Tippner-Hedges, R., Ma, H., Kang, E., Fulati, A., Lee, H., Sritanaudomchai, H. & Masterson, K. (2013). Human Embryonic Stem Cells Derived by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.006

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Homeostatic platsicity in a thorny situation

Synapses, the connections between neurons can strengthen and weaken depending on the specific activity at that synapse. This is called synaptic plasticity, and we've talked about it a lot on this blog (here, here, here and here).the strengthening and weakening of synaptic connections corresponds to the spine growing or shrinking (Matsuzaki 2007)However, there is another kind of plasticity that can occur at synapses. This is called homeostatic plasticity. And instead of the synapse strengthening […]

Lee KJ, Queenan BN, Rozeboom AM, Bellmore R, Lim ST, Vicini S & Pak DT (2013). Mossy fiber-CA3 synapses mediate homeostatic plasticity in mature hippocampal neurons., Neuron, 77 (1) 99-114. PMID: 23312519

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Ocean heat puts pressure on poorest fisheries

The first evidence that climate change has affected fishing catches, revealed by William Cheung from the University of British Columbia and his team, shows tropical countries are set to be hardest hit.

Cheung, W., Watson, R. & Pauly, D. (2013). Signature of ocean warming in global fisheries catch, Nature, 497 (7449) 365-368. DOI: 10.1038/nature12156

Payne, M. (2013). Fisheries: Climate change at the dinner table, Nature, 497 (7449) 320-321. DOI: 10.1038/497320a

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