Posts
May 21, 2013
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To kick off the discussion about clinical microbiology, Victor Nizet from the University of California San Diego spoke about his work on virulence factors using Staphylococcus aureus. He and his colleagues noted that the structure of the golden pigment molecule seen in S. aureus resembles the structure of beta carotene and other antioxidants. Experimental knockout of this pigment caused S. aureus to become more susceptible to host oxidative killing mechanisms, and introduction of this pigment
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3:00 PM | Bandelier National Monument
As part of the Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop, we had the opportunity to visit Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico. Bandelier is justifiably famous for its impressive Pueblo ruins. The landscape and vegetation made clear that the environment here … Continue reading →
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It’s Okay To Be Smart - Space Sounds
via jtotheizzoe:
There is no sound in space.
In the near-vacuum of space, there is nothing to transmit the physical waves that we need to perceive sound. But that doesn’t mean we can’t MAKE sound from space.
This week, I channeled some inner Sagan, got a bit artsy, and I’m happy to feature several brilliant folks using scientific data to create “space sonification” projects. From the longest palindrome ever created to a chorus made from Earth’s
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3:00 PM | Kids Have a Ball With Math and Biology
How can you use an Earth beach ball to estimate the area of forest on our planet’s surface? Andersonville Elementary School students figured this out and more at the interface of math and biology on their visit last week to … Continue reading →
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2:17 PM | Whose genome is it anyway?
Fifteen years ago it was the stuff of science fiction. Now, you can just swab your cheek, send it to …Continue reading »
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A Science publications is one of the best ways to launch your career, especially if it is based on your undergraduate work, part of which you carried out with makeshift equipment in your dorm! That is the story of Thomas M.S. Chang, who in 1956 started experiments (partially carried out in his residence room in […]
Pais, D. & Leonard, N. (2013). Adaptive network dynamics and evolution of leadership in collective migration, Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, DOI: 10.1016/j.physd.2013.04.014
Citation
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Almost four years after being launched to space, the Herschel Space Observatory ran out of helium the past April 29. This implied losing the ability […] Read moreThe post Farewell to Herschel: the space infrared telescope closes its eyes appeared first on Mapping Ignorance.
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Mysteries of vernacular: Tuxedo - Jessica Oreck
How did tuxedo’s roots extend from Native American history to black tie evening wear? Jessica Oreck reveals what the Delaware Indians and formal fashion have in common.
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/mysteries-of-vernacular-tuxedo-jessica-oreck
Lesson by Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel, animation by Jessica Oreck.
via TED Education.
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1:54 PM | Hey. Where’d you get that fungus?
I’m very excited to be going to this meeting in June that focuses on the microbiome (i.e., all the living microbes) of our built environment – our homes, work places, sewers, etc. I’m used to thinking about the genetics of much larger living things – like chipmunks – where large non-living things – like rivers […]
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The Biodiversity Heritage Library and the Hymenoptera Anatomy OntologyKatja C. SeltmannThe realm of ontology concerns the nature of reality, determining what exists, how it fits within a hierarchy, and how various elements are organized according to similarities and differences. Traditionally a philosophical question within metaphysics, today ontology has a firm application within systems biology as well.Anatomy ontologies describe the structural and developmental relationships between the […]
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National Inventors Hall of Fame Honoree Andrew Viterbi
Electrical engineer and cofounder of wireless technology giant Qualcomm, Andrew Viterbi, received two National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grants to further develop and commercialize Code Division Multiple Access, a technology important for wireless communication throughout the world.
via Videos at NSF.
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1:00 PM | AoB PLANTS receives endorsements
AoB PLANTS is proud to have received endorsements from three distinguished scientists. Here’s what they had to say: “PLOS is delighted that AoB PLANTS is bringing together leaders in the field to articulate an open access vision that is aligned with the future of scholarly communication.” Cameron Neylon, PLOS Advocacy Director “At this time of [...]Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)The post AoB PLANTS receives endorsements appeared first on AoB Blog.
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There is a rather interesting book, Animal Experimentation and Medical Progress by William Williams Keen, published in 1914, which describes some of the incidents in the animal research debate during the early 1900s. What is striking about this book is that … Continue reading →
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ChemMatters: How NASA keeps tabs on air pollution from space
What flies around the world 14 times a day and can detect global air pollution levels from space? It’s NASA’s Aura satellite, whose mission is to understand the changing chemistry of the Earth’s atmosphere. This remarkable satellite can measure air quality across the entire planet in just 24 hours.
Find out more about Aura, how smog is formed, the future of Earth’s ozone hole and much more in our latest episode of
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12:00 PM | Tuesday Crustie: Burtonesque
Quick! What does this make you think of?
David Legg looked at these, and immediately thought of this:
And thus the stage was set for the fossil to be named Kooteninchela deppi. Here is a reconstruction:
(Okay, yes, strictly speaking this is an arthropod and not necessarily a crustacean, but the press is reporting it as a lobster, so I’m going to let it ride.)
Reference
Legg D. 2013. Multi-Segmented Arthropods from the Middle Cambrian of British Columbia (Canada). Journal of […]
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12:00 PM | Crayfiction
Sometimes, a druid’s just got to catch some crayfish.
In this short story by Kevin Hearne, “A Test of Mettle,” druid initiate Granuaile MacTiernan is tasked with controlling invasive crayfish:
With Sonora’s guidance, sensed through the turquoise sphere at the base of my throat, I can feel the flow of water there, feel the gentle slowness under the rock, the place where a large crawdad has made its home. A crawdad from the Midwest that doesn’t belong on this side of the continental
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11:00 AM | Does antimatter fall or rise?
Mass can be explained in two ways: by the amount of force required to accelerate an object (inertial mass) and by that object’s attraction for other objects (gravitational mass). For ordinary matter, these two measurements are equal. What about for antimatter? While we can’t yet answer this question definitively, we now have the first observations of anti-atoms within a gravitational field.Where ordinary hydrogen is composed of one electron and one proton, antihydrogen is composed of a
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So about a month ago, I wrote about how amazing it was that penicillin resistance was discovered as early as 1940, two years before it went on general sale. But whilst researching that article, I realised that Sulphonamide drugs entered the market long before penicillin, with their discoverer, Gerhard Domagk, being nominated for a Nobel prize in 1939. He had been tasked by Bayer pharmaceuticals to test out a gargantuan number of dye molecules to see whether they could kill off bacteria, and in […]
Gradmann C. (2011). Magic bullets and moving targets: antibiotic resistance and experimental chemotherapy, 1900-1940, Dynamis, 31 (2) 305-321. DOI: 10.4321/S0211-95362011000200003
Titford M. (2010). Paul Ehrlich: Histological Staining, Immunology, Chemotherapy, Laboratory Medicine, 41 (8) 497-498. DOI: 10.1309/LMHJS86N5ICBIBWM
Casanova J.M. (1992). Bacteria and their dyes: Hans Christian Joachim Gram, Historia de La Immunologia, 11 (4) Other: Link
Ehrlich P. Address in Pathology, ON CHEMIOTHERAPY: Delivered before the Seventeenth International Congress of Medicine., British medical journal, PMID: 20766753
Kaufmann S.H.E. (2008). Immunology's foundation: the 100-year anniversary of the Nobel Prize to Paul Ehrlich and Elie Metchnikoff, Nature Immunology, 9 (7) 705-712. DOI: 10.1038/ni0708-705
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10:30 AM | Wild wallabies in the UK
I haven’t had time to provide answers on the previous article, sorry about that. Busy with preparation for the International Symposium on Pterosaurs, this year being held in Rio. Purely for the sake of adding something new (TetZoo podcast followers will understand the motivation, I hope), here’s some recycled text from Tet Zoo ver 2 [...]
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The microbiome hits the big time A piece by food writer/journalist Michael Pollan, "Some of My Best Friends Are Germs", was the cover story of the New York Times magazine on Sunday. Pollan says the interest he developed in fermented foods while he was writing his latest book -- beer, kimchi, cheeses -- naturally led into an interest in the fermentation that goes on in our large intestines with the help of resident microbes, and this led him to think generally about the interaction […]
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[Continued from Part 2] Two weeks ago, I reviewed some of the experimental evidence for the importance of diversity. In . . .
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medicinenotes:
Microneedle vaccine
This scanning electron micrograph (SEM) shows an array of ‘microneedles’ made from a biodegradable polymer. Researchers have shown these materials can be used to deliver vaccines and therapeutics to the outer layers of the skin in a safe and painless way. Because the microneedles avoid contact with blood vessels and nerve endings in the deeper skin layers, microneedle application prevents pain and the transmission of blood-borne pathogens. In addition,
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Robin Ince turned up at Ludlow on Friday as part of his tour The Importance of Being Interested. Ludlow, by and large, did not. It was Ludlow’s loss because they missed an entertaining evening. If you’re not sure who he is, Robin Ince is the sane voice on the Infinite Monkey Cage, the BBC’s science/comedy [...]Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)The post Robin Ince – The Importance of Being Interested (at Ludlow) appeared first on AoB Blog.
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Daphne Zbaeren-Colbourn
Bern, Switzerland
Subject Matter:
Strand of grass (Spinifex littoreus)
(400x)Technique:
Brightfield
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The Doppler effect is observed whenever the source of waves is moving with respect to an observer. The Doppler effect can be described as the effect produced by a moving source of waves in which there is an apparent upward shift in frequency for observers towards whom the source is approaching and an apparent downward shift in frequency for observers from whom the source is receding. It is important to note that the effect does not result because of an actual change in the frequency of the
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7:50 AM | A Lesson in Applied Probability
Nate Silver provides the antidote to some dubious statistical reasoning on the part of certain conservatives. He was replying in particular to this column from Peggy Noonan. A column, mind you, that opens with, “We are in the midst of the worst Washington scandal since Watergate.” Goodness! Then she presents evidence like this: The second…
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3:49 AM | A Cocktail of Biology
DNA is not just found at crime scenes. It’s in every living thing – you, your cat, the bacteria on your hands and the grass under your feet. It’s in every meal you’ve ever eaten and, under the right circumstances, it’s even in your cocktail. The DNAquiri is a cocktail recipe that won Best in … Continue reading →
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The fragrant waft of a black lentil dhal, the acrid perfume of newly laid bitumen, the delectable aroma of freshly ground coffee beans. Smells make the world a richer, safer and more memorable terrain than it would be without our olfaction in tact. And we’re certainly not the only ones. Indeed, when it comes to olfactory […]
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1:15 AM | Creative Constraint
We, the attendees* of the Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop, talked a lot about how constraints can really foster creativity at the Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop. In that case, it focused on the traditional style of a news article, … Continue reading →
