Posts

December 16, 2012

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Hopefully you’re all far more organised than me when it comes to Christmas shopping. Gone are the years when I used to start in September and have a carefully curated box of gifts come the Christmas rush! This year a … Continue reading →

December 13, 2012

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7:29 PM | Moon River: Cassini Finds River Valley on Titan

Scientists with the Cassini-Huygens mission have just announced they identified a river on Saturn’s moon Titan. The river appears in radar images taken in September of this year by the Cassini spacecraft, a joint project run by NASA and the European and Italian Space Agencies. The extraterrestrial river extends 250 miles through the moon’s north polar regions before it drains [...]

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4:04 PM | Video Gaming Skills May Translate to Robotic Surgery

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) is in the top tier when it comes to robotic surgeries. But when UTMB’s doctors training to be surgeons performed robotic simulations side by side with video game-playing high school and college students, the young gamers actually beat them out. The results were presented at a conference [...]

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1:24 AM | The Case of the Lopsided Spider

I was entranced this afternoon when the following image appeared in my facebook stream: Captured by the talented Malaysian photographer Liew Wk, the photo shows a developmental anomaly where the anterior median eyes of this Asian jumping spider are asymmetrical. I do not know what caused this imbalance. Perhaps each side is a molt out of sync, [...]

December 12, 2012

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4:10 PM | Capturing the Courtship Rituals of Bizarre Birds-of-Paradise

Birds-of-paradise are living, breathing, dancing, singing examples of evolutionary extremes. Isolated in the rainforests of New Guinea, these species evolved in the absence of predators. As such, their designs have been driven by sexual selection—female preference, rather than physical necessity, per se—and the results are over the top. Cornell University ornithologist Ed Scholes and National [...]

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3:07 PM | Plants in Space Prove Gravity Unnecessary For Normal Growth

When a seed is planted in the ground, the roots tend to grow downward in search of water and nutrients. But what happens when there is no “down” for the roots to grow? Scientists sent seeds to the International Space Station and were surprised to see what plants did without gravity to guide their roots [...]

December 10, 2012

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9:41 PM | Genetically Engineered T-Cells Rescue Another Leukemia Patient

A cancer-treating technique being studied at the University of Pennsylvania has had dramatic results for some of the patients involved. Thanks to an experimental leukemia treatment the team first tried last year, 7-year-old Emma Whitehead is now in remission, the scientists have reported at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology this week. She is one of a dozen patients [...]

December 07, 2012

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7:25 PM | Tools of the insect photography trade

On popular request, I present my full kit of photographic gear. Lenses are the heart of any kit. My line-up includes (from left to right): Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS II. This fast, sharp telephoto zoom is the one lens I own that hasn’t yet paid for itself, partly because it is expensive, and partly [...]

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6:42 PM | Midnight Showing: Stunning and Scientifically Vital Satellite Views of Earth at Night

Yesterday NASA released the first images from its most recently launched satellite, the Suomi NPP. The images it captures demonstrate both the beauty and the benefit that can be gleaned from visions of Earth at night. The Suomi NPP satellite is significantly more light sensitive than its predecessors. So sensitive, in fact, it can detect [...]

December 06, 2012

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5:21 PM | Book Giveaway Trivia: First One to Answer Gets Universe!

Stargazers and knowledge hounds have long been acquainted with Smithsonian’s Universe—a lush, glorious tour of the space that starts just beyond our atmosphere, edited by Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal. The hefty, glossy-paged book has now been revised and updated in a beautiful new edition. We at Discover would like you to have a copy of [...]

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5:13 PM | Scientists Discover the Oldest Dinosaur Yet…Maybe

Paleontologists in Tanzania have unearthed fossils from a new species of prehistoric reptile. The bones may have belonged to the world’s oldest dinosaur—or they may be from a reptile that kind of looks like a dinosaur. Currently, the oldest confirmed dinosaur fossil dates back 230 million years. By this point in time, dinosaurs had grown in [...]

December 05, 2012

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7:36 PM | Watch This: Joy to the World From the International Space Station

The crew of the International Space Station would like to wish you very happy holidays this year, and it comes in the form of this pretty timelapse video. On their wishlist? World peace. They’d like to see a little more cooperation on the beautiful blue marble they orbit.

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5:21 PM | Nanofibers: A New Platform for Protecting Against HIV and Pregnancy?

In theory, it shouldn’t be too difficult to protect oneself against HIV and other STIs, as well as pregnancy. Condoms, after all, are very effective. But in practice, it’s not so simple. Many of the people at high risk for HIV, for instance, are women who don’t have much control over whether their partners wear [...]

December 04, 2012

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8:05 PM | This Steampunk Ant is Transformative

A few months ago, an artist who traced my photograph in the L.A. Times prompted a heated discussion: was the artist’s work sufficiently transformative to count as Fair Use under U.S. copyright law? Some copying of protected works may be allowed if the character or purpose of the copy significantly transforms the work in a [...]

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7:00 PM | Look at This: A Rare Bolivian Oncilla, Caught by a Camera Trap

Although it looks a lot like a house cat, this feline is actually an elusive Bolivian species called the oncilla. This photo, which just won BBC Wildlife’s camera-trap photo competition, was taken in Madidi National Park and was the first documentation of the cat’s presence here. Capturing it on film brings the park’s confirmed cat species [...]

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4:19 PM | Using the Tesla Effect, Electric Buses Charge as They Go

A new electric bus prototype doesn’t just pick up passengers at its bus stops; it also picks up a charge for its battery. Unlike its public transportation contemporaries, the electric “Aggie bus” at Utah State University has no overhead wires. Nor does it need to be plugged into a power source. Instead, the battery receives [...]

December 03, 2012

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4:16 PM | Mercury’s North Pole May Have Icy Craters

The yellow spots represent icy areas. Ice? On the planet closest to the Sun? You heard right: Mercury’s northern pole may have craters containing frozen water. The evidence, presented in three papers published last week in Science, comes from several sources. The Mercury Laser Altimeter, an instrument on the Mercury space probe, MESSENGER, helps [...]

November 30, 2012

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4:47 PM | What DNA actually looks like

This blog often covers small things: insects, spiders, slime molds and so on. In the scheme of biology, though, the usual fare here is pretty big. In contrast, here is something truly small- the first ever microscope image of an isolated molecule of DNA: Researchers at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia strung a molecule between [...]

November 26, 2012

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7:36 PM | Starving to be Social: The Odd Life of Dictyostelium Slime Molds

I like to think I have an active imagination, but Dictyostelium discoideum is an organism so bizarre I could not have dreamed it up on my own. Dictyostelium is a slime mold. It spends much of its time as an apparently typical microscopic single-celled amoeba, oozing about in wet soil grazing on bacteria. Something truly odd happens, however, [...]

November 21, 2012

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4:55 PM | A California Station Tests Out New Biodiesel Made In Part By Algae

Fancy putting a bit of the aquatic in your gas tank? Go to California. A new kind of biodiesel, containing 20-percent algae-based fuel, went on sale at gas stations in the San Francisco Bay area last week as part of a one-month pilot program. The fuel emits 10 percent fewer hydrocarbons, 30 percent fewer particulates, and 20 percent less carbon monoxide than other biodiesels according to its producer, Solazyme, reports Yale Environment 360. This is the first time that an algae-based fuel has […]

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1:42 PM | To Salvage One Endangered Fish Species, Scientists Consider Breeding It with Another

The Ash Meadows pupfish, which may soon form a hybrid species with its cousin, the Devils Hole pupfish. The Devils Hole pupfish is an endangered species whose only natural habitat is Devils Hole, a hot spring at the bottom of a hole 500-feet deep which leads to limestone caverns. The fish is suited to its niche environment, requiring extremely hot water, low oxygen levels, and a particular limestone ledge to spawn on. If University of Colorado conservation biologists have their way, it could be […]

November 20, 2012

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4:26 PM | Watch This: By Acting as a Plug, This Giant Water Balloon May Keep Subways Dry

Subway flooding was responsible for millions in damage during Hurricane Sandy, but an emerging technology may be able to prevent such soggy situations in the future. This 32-by-16-foot balloon, featured in the NYTimes recently, can be filled with air or water to seal off a tunnel. The prototype of the inflatable plug has an outer webbing of liquid-crystal polymer fiber; the inside layer uses the same fiber and is reinforced with polyurethane to create a better seal. Researchers say the […]

November 17, 2012

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1:00 PM | Homeless Planet Found Wandering Near Earth’s Solar System

An artist’s rendition of planet CFBDSIR2149. The planet’s faint glow looks blue through an infrared telescope. In visible light the cold planet would actually appear red. It’s cold and young and massive. And they call it the wanderer. Astronomers recently discovered a new planet, named CFBDSIR2149, that is the closest planetary body to our solar system. It is also the first convincing evidence of an accepted but yet unsubstantiated theory of roaming planets. Astronomers have […]

November 16, 2012

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6:34 PM | Musical Harmony May Be Hardwired in the Brain

Anyone who’s ever watched a horror film will know that the sound of two clashing notes evokes a visceral response in most people. Among Western listeners there’s a strong preference for consonance, which exists even from infancy; consonance is the pleasing mixture of two tones, while dissonance is their clashing. (For a good example of both, see this video.) It’s controversial whether the same preferences exist in other cultures, but new research indicates the preferences […]

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5:37 PM | Grasshoppers Change Mating Calls to Overcome Urban Noise

Nymph of a Bow-winged Grasshopper (Chorthippus biguttulus) in Hamm, Germany. Ah, spring, when the meadows come alive with the sweet trilling of grasshopper come-ons. The bow-winged grasshopper attracts females with a very specific song—so specific, in fact, that it is the only thing that distinguishes it from related species in the field. In quiet, Alpine grasslands, this system works like a charm. But as urban development encroaches on more of the grasshopper’s habitat, city noise […]

November 15, 2012

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8:39 PM | A Virus That Saves Itself By Preventing Bacterial Suicide

Electron micrograph of bacteria-infecting viruses Bacteria sometimes commit suicide for the good of the group. When a virus infects a bacterium, the cell kills itself rather than allow the virus to replicate inside it and spread to the surrounding bacteria. The way this works is that when viruses aren’t around, the bacteria manufacture both a bacterial cyanide pill—a toxin molecule they could use to wipe themselves out if they come under attack—and an antitoxin molecule that […]

November 14, 2012

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6:57 PM | Why Don’t Camels Have Diabetes or High Blood Pressure?

Camels are known for their humps, which store fat and allow camels to survive long periods of time without food or water. But camels have also developed other traits like insulin resistance and salt tolerance to help them feel more at home in extreme environments. Scientists are now working to determine what these adaptations look like on the genetic level, and they hope their results, published in Nature Communications this week, may eventually shed some light on metabolism-related diseases […]

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