Largest Genome Sequenced

The massive genome of the loblolly pine is around seven times larger than a humans genome. It is the largest genome sequenced to date and the most complete genome sequence ever published. This achievement marks the first big test of a new analysis method that can speed up the assembly 100-fold. The loblolly pine is one of the most important tree species in the United States and is the source of most american paper products. The tree is also being used as a feedstock for biofuel. The genome sequence will help scientists breed improved varieties and understand the evolution and diversity of plants.

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/03/20/loblolly_pine_genome_is_largest_ever_sequenced.html

Identifying Gene-Enhancers

Researchers at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation have found new information about the complexity of nerve cells in the brain. This provides the ability to help therapists find new ways to help patients. OMRF scientist Kenneth Miller, Ph.D's lab has used a method called "forward genetics." They test random mutant worms for "defects in neuropeptide storage and unexpectedly identified mutant worms lacking CaM Kinase II." The CaM Kinase II helps to control when and where neuropeptides are released from neurons. Miller has stated "we tagged the neuropeptides with a fluorescent protein so we could see where they went. In the worms that were missing the gene that makes CaM Kinase II, the neuropeptides were virtually missing altogether in the parts of the neurons where we expected them."

This new information will help physicians and drug developers create and prescribe drugs that will be better targeted towards patientes and their needs. This will help to understand people's brains and problems better.

NOS Themes:

• Role of motivation and curiosity: Scientists want to better understand people's brains and how to cure illnesses. 
• Science is based on evidence: Studies have shown what they can do to create new drugs. 

Faster Synthesis Helps Battle against HIV

Article
Peptides are very promising as drugs, as shown by insulin and the HIV drug fuzeon. The only problem with peptides as drugs is the time it takes to manufacture the drugs. It takes several weeks to create the drugs, and makes it impossible to obtain large quantities. This problem may soon be gone though. A team of MIT chemists and chemical engineers has designed a way to manufacture peptides in mere hours. The engineers from MIT have created machines to speed the process by adapting the synthesis reactions to a continuous flow system

The popular HIV drug, Fuzeon

I chose to write about this article because of its impact on people. The machines that were created by the men at MIT will provide many more people with a cheaper way to get there treatment. By speeding up these reactions they create a higher amount of the drug available, which drives the price down, and could save someones life.

NOS Themes:

• Role of Credibility: The findings were published in the science journal ChemBioChem

A Drug That Makes Brain Cancer Cells Lyse

Glioblastoma multiforme is a form of the deadliest brain cancer, a newly discovered molecular compound, Vacquinols, can make these cells lyse by ATP depletion and rupturing of the cell membrane. Vacquinols is able to prevent un-checkpoint cancer cell clumps, tumors, by making them lyse. Vacquinols has already been tested on mice and has been successful in halting brain cancer.  This is a very promising treatment for brain cancer in the future.

Photo credit: Cell.com

Nature of Science:
1. Science is collaborative, more than 22 scientists helped make this discovery
2. Role of motivation and curiosity, someone had to be motivated to find a cure to brain cancer.

Source: http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674%2814%2900220-7

Flying is More Complicated Than it Seems

Fruit flies may seem to be small, simple creatures, but they are most definitely not. I mean, their wings beat 250 times per second. It is surely not so simple when it comes to their flying abilities, either. At Cornell University, scientists have been studying how the flies recover when their flight is disturbed by something, such as a puff of wind. One of their conclusions is that their neurons are solving calculus problems, or at least what are calculus problems to us. At Cornell University, the scientists have developed an interesting way to study their flight. They glue small magnets to the flies and use a magnetic pulse to move them around as they're flying.

                                                                                                                                 






The system involves both high and low technology. On the high end, three video cameras record the flies' flight at 8,000 frames per second, and the researchers incorporate the information from the videos into a 3D reconstruction of the flies' flight that they can evaluate mathematically. Much was learned from this experiment. The nervous system of the fly receives information about how quick the angles of it's flight are changing and for how long that change has taken place. Once the information is processed, the fly must move it's wings to restore the initial position of flight. This happens so quickly, the brain cannot be involved. Instead, they sense change with two biological gyroscopes called halteres.  Humans use calculus to solve these kinds of problems involving angular momentum. Exactly what math the flies' neurons use is something the scientists at Cornell plan investigating further.

Nature of Science Themes

1. Role of motivation and curiosity.
2. Science is collaborative.
3. Science is based on evidence.

Link to article: Flies That Do Calculus With Their Wings

Fast Synthesis Could Boost Drug Development

For many years scientists have been using peptides to create drugs to treat certain diseases.  They have found that by linking amino acids together in different ways and altering their function, they may fight diseases.  The only problem with this has been that it took about 6 weeks to develop just one peptide, which has made the development of peptide drugs to be a very slow moving process.  Recently, a team of scientists at MIT created a new machine that can assemble a peptide in a little over an hour.  This is done so that the amino acids are added in a continuous flow system.  The new machine has compartments for all 20 different amino acids and is able to pull out the correct amino acid at the correct time.  As the amino acid travels to the chamber in which the reaction will take place, it goes through a heated coil that is kept at 60 degrees C.  This added heat speeds up the synthesis reaction, allowing the peptide to be formed faster.  This new technology has also helped the scientists to create synthetic proteins.  MIT scientists have courageously put out there that this may lead to a cure for cancer.

N.O.S. Themes:
Science is based on evidence - the machine has been tested and proved to work
Role of credibility - the article states that the research had been done by credible MIT scientists

Picture:  Amino Acid Sequencing Machine

Article Link: http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/03/19/fast_synthesis_could_boost_drug_development.html

Plastic shopping bags make a fine diesel fuel

Link to Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140212132853.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+sciencedaily/top_news/top_science+(ScienceDaily:+Top+Science+News)

It appears that one of the main sources of litter around the U.S, plastic shopping bags, can be converted into diesel, natural gas, and other sources of petroleum 

The conversion produces more energy than it requires and results in transportation fuels -- diesel, for example -- that can be blended with existing ultra-low-sulfur diesels and biodiesels. Other products, such as natural gas gasoline, waxes and lubricating oils such as engine oil and hydraulic oil also can be gained from  these shopping bags.  

Americans tend to throw away about 100 billion plastic bags a year, a pretty glaring number, and only about 13% of these are recycled. The rest of the bags end up in landfills or escape to the wild, blowing across the landscape and entering waterways. 

"Over a period of time, this material starts breaking into tiny pieces, and is ingested with plankton by aquatic animals."remarked Brajendra Kumar Sharma, a senior research scientist at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center who led the research. The ISTC is a part of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois. 

The process involves heating a bag in an oxygen free chamber, a process known as pyrolysis, and can recover almost 80% of the fuel in distillation.  

I really found this article interesting. For someone who cares very much about the protection of the environment, I still found this article a little bit disheartening. For example, even though this reduces litter, the amount of petroleum produce would in turn create more air pollution, which just moves the pollution to the air instead of on the ground. Either way, just the fact that we now are able to do this is absolutely fascinating. 

N.O.S Themes:   
Science is changing- Originally, these plastic bags were were regarded as having no use, but now are able to become certain types of fuels 

Role of Curiosity - Sharma conducted this experience out of curiosity, and was able to obtain some extremely important results  

Science is based on evidence - Sharma and his team provided evidence using pyrolysis. 

Study on Migration Habits of Leatherback Turtles

A recent satellite tagging study of the endangered leatherback turtle has unearthed a lot of information about their migratory habits. Many studies have been done on adult females, but this study mainly focuses on the behavior of immature and adult male leatherbacks, since so little is known about them. Knowing about the male turtles completes the picture and give scientists a better look at the species and its habits as a whole. This new knowledge is important because leatherbacks are sensitive to human activity and can act as a gauge of sorts to indicate the depths of our influence on their habitat and the habitat of many other species.

Read the full article here.

NOS Themes

Role of motivation and curiosity - the scientists are driven to learn more and are curious about the habits of the leatherback turtles.

Science is collaborative - data from this study and other studies are pieced together to get the full story of leatherback turtles.

Role of credibility - the status/position of the researchers is listed in the article to establish credibility.

Study shows some cuckoo birds may actually help their hosts

A team of researchers in Spain has found that at least one species of cuckoo bird may actually help its nest-mates survive. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes how in studying the great spotted cuckoo, they found that crow hatchlings were actually more successful due to the presence of an uninvited bird(Yirka 1). Cuckoo birds have been labeled by many the ultimate freeloaders. Mothers lay their eggs in the nests of birds of different species, leaving them to raise their young for them (Yirka 1). Some cuckoo birds kick eggs of their siblings out of the nest, when others band together with their brothers and sisters and live with their crow hosts individually. Studies have shown that the survival rate of crow babies living with cuckoo bird babies have a higher survival rate than the rate of crow babies without the cuckoos living with them.

TOS: Science is collaborative: Five scientists have done similar experiments to this one and have added their imputs into this article.      Article:    http://phys.org/news/2014-03-cuckoo-birds-hosts.html

Human Nose Can Detect 1 Trillion Odors

After a recent study on the power of the human nose the number of odors that it can distinguish went up from 10,000 to 1 trillion. Scientist that study the nose and smells have always thought that this number was high, but there was never any tests that were being done to see what the number was. Scientists out of Rockefeller University in New York decided to test the human nose.  They prepared scent mixtures containing between 10-30 different odors, and they tested them on humans to see which ones the people could tell apart. People had a hard time distinguishing odors that had more that 51% in common and with that calculation the scientist were able to discover that the human nose could tell apart roughly 1 trillion different smells.

The human nose has over 400 types of smell receptors and with this information on smells scientist might have a better understanding about the way the nose and brain work together to pick up smells. One problem with this is how does one organize smells, unlike colors and sound, smells are harder to characterize. But one scientist wants that she hopes this dispels the myth that humans have a bad scene of smell.

NOS Themes:
Science is collaborative- Different Universities worked together
Science is tentative- The information of scent is changing

Link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-nose-can-detect-1-trillion-odors/

Water from Air?

You're in the raging heat of an Israeli desert, trapped and without water in the middle of a war; not ideal conditions to open up your canteen and find clean, filtered, cold, and refreshing water. Thanks to an Israeli company Water-Gen, created by a former Israeli special forces commander, takes this problem and makes it not that big of a problem, instead they just manufacture water, from air!

The water generator takes humidity in the air and purifies it, the machine collects data on the outside humidity, temperature, and more and uses the most efficient way to make water. They have a big unit for camps that is five cubic feet, they also have mobile units for use on vehicles that can bring the water to the cabin to allow troops to stay in the safety of the cabin. This is a very important discovery and invention because water weighs a lot and this could potentially weigh a lot less and it would be easy to donate one of these units to villages that need better and more drinking water.

 

Resource:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/03/19/israeli-company-produces-water-out-of-air/

NOS:

Role of motivation and curiosity

Science is used to better humanity

Engineers design 'living materials'

MIT engineers have designed coaxed bacterial cells which produces biofilms that can incorporate nonliving materials like gold nanoparticles. The living materials combine the advantages of live cells and respond or produce complex biological molecules, span multiple length scales. These adds functions like conducting electricity or give off light. They want to put both non-living and living organisms to make hybrid materials that can live and function. They worked with bacterium E. coli, which produces biofilms that contains curli fiber that helps it to attach to surfaces. Curli Fiber is made from CsgA. CsgA can be modified by adding peptides, which can capture non-living materials (gold).

The researchers controlled the biofilms' properties and created gold nanowires. The researchers demonstrated how the cells can coordinate with each other to control the composition of the biofilm. Over time, they can change the composition of the material. To add quantum dots to the curli fibers, the researchers engineered cells called SpyTag, which binds to quantum dots. These cells grow with bacterias that produce histidine-tagged fibers. This creates a material that has both quantum dots and gold nanoparticles. This approach may be used to build devices like solar cells, healing materials, diagnostic sensors. The researchers are also interested in coating the biofilms with enzymes that catalyze the breakdown of cellulose, which could be useful for converting agricultural waste to biofuels.

A bacterial cell engineered to produce amyloid nanofibers that incorporate particles like quantum dots or gold nanoparticles.

NOS:

Science is collaborative: MIT engineers worked to together on this approach to design a bacterial cell.

Science is based on evidence: The researchers provided evidence to support their findings. 

Importance of repeatability: This approach will work again and again. It will continue to give the same results. 

Role of curiosity: The engineers are curious to find out more and design more complex devices. 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140323152144.htm

Battle Plants

Link to Story

Evidence found by researchers in New Phytologist has shown that a species of Milkweed found in tropical climates has developed horns on it's pollinia sacs to stop other parent plants from being pollinated. In lees complicated terms, this means that plants are developing weapons to battle other plants.

I found a few other websites and found some more information on the subject. The plants develop these horns to ward off intrasexual competition. 

I chose to write about this topic because of how cool it sounded. I am a big fan of action, and plants getting a piece of it is even better. This sounds so awesome and almost like a capitalistic idea of competition.

NOS Themes:

Role of Credibility: The project was lead by  Dr. Andrea Cocucci from the Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal of Argentina. 

Science is based on evidence: They found the horns on male seeds that need to be spread, and know that males have to compete for a mate.

Cockroach Species Lived in the U.S. 49 Million Years Ago

Scientific American Article

The Ectobius Cockroach was believed to be an Old World species back in 1856, when scientists found the first specimens in 44-million-year-old amber from the Baltics.  Two scientists from the Smithsonian examined the amber and found that it was Ectobius and how old is was exactly.  Ectobius most likely went extinct because of the glaciers that were creeping south.  The insects escaped into Europe and have only returned in the last hundred years.

NOS Themes:

• Science is based on evidence.  The discovers were made because of the amber samples that were found.
• Science is collaberative.  Teams from the US and from the Baltics worked on this project.

Internal Clock Research

      Researchers from the University of Manchester have discovered a mechanism which controls how the body reacts to changes in the environment. The enzyme CK1epsilon controls the body's internal clock and how easily the body can adjust to environmental cues like temperature and light. Almost every species on Earth has an internal clock, so this research can be applied to many living beings. These internal clocks are, as Dr. David Bechtold said, "a complex set of molecules whose interaction provides robust and precise 24 hour timing."








The research identified a mechanism that our internal clocks use to respond to light. In mice, it was found that the ones lacking CK1epsilon, a component of the internal clock, were able to adjust to a different light-dark environment much quicker. This work is important because it is becoming increasingly clear that disruption of our bodies' internal clocks has real negative effects, so this research can be used to negate those negative effects.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140320121904.htm

NOS: Science is based on evidence - The mice provided evidence for an experiment.
          Science is collaborative - A research team from the University of Manchester worked on this.

Sebastian Deibel

Birds of Prey Cooling the Planet

Iron is a fertilizer that is very scarce in the Southern Ocean. A study from the University of California, Davis, has discovered a correlation between birds of prey and climate change. Phytoplankton at lying at the bottom of the ocean are consumed by grazing krill. In turn, the krill are eaten by birds of prey. Consumption of phytoplankton releases dimethyl sulfide (DMS) which forms sulfur compounds that help to cool the planet by promoting cloud formation. Professor Gabrielle Nevitt believes that these birds are crucial to climate regulation. The release of DMS comes with a scent that allows the birds of prey to locate the krill over the mostly isolated, featureless ocean. The krill that the birds eat are rich in iron. When the birds cannot absorb any more iron, it is released back into the ocean and acts as a fertilizer to promote the growth of plankton. The population of these birds is declining and is predicted to have a significant impact on marine productivity, especially in the Southern Ocean.

NoS
-Based on Evidence- the study took into account evidence from over 50 years ago
-Motivation and Curiosity- it is the continuation of a study that is decades old and advocates for a better environment
-Importance of Repeatability- the same chemical releasing mechanism to attract predators is repeated in other plants both in the ocean and on land

Article

Fast synthesis could boost drug development

Researches have possibly discovered that fast synthesis could possibly boost drug development. Researchers are saying that peptides can be used a s drugs because they can be designed for very specific functions in cells. Insulin and Fuzeon a drug used for HIV are some of the first successful examples. Peptide drugs are expected to become a twenty five billion dollar market by 2018. There is one problem that is stopping peptide drugs from reaching their full potential, and that is that peptides take several weeks to make and and it is hard to make a large quantity of them at once. A group of MIT chemists and chemical engineers has designed a way to create peptides in a few hours. Peptides are used in therapeutics, they are found in hydrogels, and they are used to control drug delivery. They are also used as biological probes view cancer and to study the process of cells. Therapeutic peptides usually consist of a chain of thirty to forty amino acids. Many universities have facilities to manufacture peptides, but it can take anywhere from two to six weeks. Engineers are attempting to create new machinery to speed up the process of manufacturing peptides to only a little over an hour. 

Link: http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/03/19/fast_synthesis_could_boost_drug_development.html

NOS Themes:

• Science is based on data and evidence
• Science is Collaborative
• Science is Credible
• Science is based on tests

Unique chromosomes preserved in Swedish fossil

Researchers from Lund University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History have made a neat discovery regarding a fern that lived approximately 180 million years ago. Cell nuclei and individual chromosomes have been found due to the plant's sudden burial after a volcanic eruption. The preservation was so quick and instantaneous that the plant didn't have time to start decomposing, and some cells were frozen in the process of mitosis. A study of the fossil revealed that the fern was largely similar to ferns present today, which suggested limited evolution over the years. Many scientists are excited over the idea that there is so much that they can learn from this preserved specimen. Analysis of the plants and the volcanic rock indicates that Early-Jurassic Sweden was a hot, humid climate when the volcano erupted.

NOS Themes:

Science is based on evidence
Role of curiosity
Science is collaborative

Link to the full article here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140321101730.htm

Third-Hand-Smoke Causes Cancer?

Has anyone ever thought that third-hand-smoke, caused by left over cigarette smoke sticking to things like furniture and clothing, could greatly effect someone in a negative way? By reading this article, I discovered scientists' studies on how third-hand-smoke can damage DNA and potentially cause cancer, especially in young people.

Bo Hang, a scientist and presenter of the research, stated that "although the idea of third-hand-smoke made its debut in research circles just a few years ago in 2009, evidence already strongly suggests it could threaten human health." When a smoker lights a cigarette, the smoke fills the area and lingers there, even after the cigarette is butted out. Also, the smoke reacts with environmental components like the ozone and nitrous acid, which may go on to become carcinogenic. The compounds created by the lingering smoke can lock onto DNA to form a bulky adduct (a piece of DNA bound to a cancer-causing chemical), as well as other adducts. Some large compounds cause genetic mutations. This all leads to bigger DNA damage that can lead to uncontrolled cell growth and the formation of cancer cells. Because babies and toddlers crawl around and put toys in their mouths, they can touch and swallow compounds created by third-hand-smoke. In conclusion, smoking results in large public health issues and, unfortunately, risks the lives of a great number of humans.

NOS THEMES:

• Science is based on evidence. 
• Science is subject to debate and tentative.
• Role of credibility.
• Role of motivation and curiosity. 

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140316203156.htm

Post by: Emily Thrune

Tracking Leatherback Sea Turtles

Tracking Endangered Leatherback Sea Turtles by Satellite, Key Habitats Identified

Leatherback sea turtles are very unique. They are the largest and most migratory of all sea turtles, and have the largest global distribution of all reptiles. They are also an endangered species. In the past, most studies have been on female leatherback turtles, who generally stay near tropical beaches for nesting, and little was know about the males. So, recently, scientist have started satellite tagging the males to understand more. This has allowed scientist to know more about their habitats, diving activity, and their responses to changes in their environment. This has been helpful to scientists by giving them new knowledge on turtles in coastal habitats that are likely to be in danger of losing land to human activity. These studies have been published, which can help wildlife organizations to protect leatherback turtles.

NOS Themes:

• Science is collaborative
• Role of curiosity

Article

New way to make muscle cells from human stem cells

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered a new way to make large concentrations of skeletal muscle cells from human stem cells. The stem cells being used can be turned into virtually any adult cell in the human body. Masatoshi Suzuki has directed the stem cell research for the university. The technique grows the stem cells in such a way that they turn into muscle cells. The importance of the new technique is that it does not require genetic modification as previous techniques did. This cells can be used for studying deseases such as ALS and muscular dystrophy.

NOS Themes
Science is collaborative
Science is based on evidence
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140321164605.htm

The Solution to the Struggle for Selection in Plants

          Research in New Phytologist has discovered the evolution of weaponry in plants. A research team from the Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal of Argentina, led by Dr. Andrea Concucci, studied Apocynaceae (a species of milkweed) found in tropical climates. The discovered that the Apocynaceae reproduces via pollinators and that competition between plants for pollinators creates confrontation. The plants hook their sacs of pollon grains to pollinators. Some pollinators are able to hook up multiple sacs. The team studied the milkweed genus Oxypetalum and observed horn-like structures on the pollon sacs, preventing the sacs to be hooked up with multiple sacs. Plants have developed weaponry to solve the struggle for selection.

Horn-like Structure on Oxypetalum

NOS THEMES: 

1. Living things reproduce: Milkweed reproduce by having their pollon distributed by pollinators.
2. Living things grow & develop, Living things adapt to change: Milkweed have developed horn-like structures on their pollon sacs to protect themselves in the struggle for selection.

LINK TO ARTICLE: http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/03/20/first_evidence_of_plants_evolving_weaponry_to_compete_in_the_struggle_for_selection.html 

Old-School Fish Guides

          A team of fisheries biologists and biophysicists have created a model that can decipher how fish navigate while migrating through the ocean. This model has provided evidence that experienced fish are able to remember information about certain migration sites. This evidence supports the idea that fish can learn from each other, helping to maintain healthy migration populations. The model is based on three factors: The strength of the social link between the fish, The number of fish that possess the information of the migration site, and the preference the informed fish show for each site. This model helps explain the condition of migrating fish populations.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39485/title/Old-School-Fish-Guides/

Scientific Themes

1. Science is collaborative- A team of biologists and biophysicists worked together to develop the model.
2. Science is subject to debate and tentative- The model created in the article doesn't confirm that fish can learn from each other. It only provides evidence that supports this hypothesis.
3. Role of Chance- There are countless factors that can affect migrating fish populations that can occur completely by chance.

Gene Editing in Monkeys Could Help Model Human Disease

Original Article: Precise Gene Editing in Monkeys Paves the Way for Valuable Human Disease Models
Source: BiologyNews.net - Cell Press
Date: Jan. 30, 2014

Creative Commons photo - Monkey

Summary: According to a report published in the journal Cell, researchers from Nanjing Medical University have finally achieved an efficient approach to gene modification in primates. The study was conducted on monkeys because of their close similarities to humans. Previously, however, similar research was unable to edit target genes without producing any "off-target mutations". This new "CRISPR/CAS9" system allowed for the disruption of only the two target genes. Because many human diseases are caused by abnormalities in genes, research on genetic modification could become very valuable to generating human disease models in the future.

N.O.S. Themes:

Creative Commons Photo - DNA

• Science is collaborative - a group of scientists at Nanjing Medical University collaborated on this research
• Science is based on evidence - the evidence showed that this new system was more effective because it only modified the target DNA
• Science is subject to debate - some might think that testing on animals is wrong and inhumane
• Role of credibility - the research was done at a well acclaimed university
• Importance of repeatability - they must test this system more than once be sure it wasn't merely an accident
• Role of chance - they might only been able to do this by accident or different individuals genes may be easier to "edit" than others
• Role of motivation/curiosity - scientists are curious how they can model human diseases so they were motivated to do this research to help them find out

Thoughts: I think it is very interesting how they becoming able to do such amazing work genetically. I am curious to see where research like this could lead to. The fact that we are able to specifically mutate a single gene is INSANE! I do feel that this could raise a question in the future about doing so much testing on animals. Here is a link to an article also about the CRISPR system with some more in depth information. It really is an amazing process- where do you think this could lead?


Published: March 22, 2014
By: Julia Garbuz (Hour 1)
**ABSENT**(This is a make-up for the first blog post due Feb 14)

A Cure For Down Syndrome

Down syndrome is a genetic disorder that occurs in 1 out of about 1000 births. Along with delaying growth, Down syndrome impairs mental ability. Motor skills and and the learning of motor skills are controlled by the cerebellum which is 40% smaller in humans with Down syndrome. Down syndrome has been considered incurable in past decades, but scientists at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland have discovered a possible cure. Scientists at John Hopkins obtained mice with Down syndrome and injected them with a chemical to promote growth of the cerebellum. The experiment had gone better than the scientists had expected. Soon after injection, the mice displayed improved learning and memory, controlled by the hippocampus. The scientists are yet to determine whether they accidentally repaired the hippocampus or if the hippocampus is linked to the growth of the cerebellum. This chemical will soon move to human trials and marks the possibility for a cure for Down syndrome.

NoS

- Role of Chance- scientists are not sure if they accidentally also restored the hippocampus or if it is related to the cerebellum

-Based on evidence- scientists at John Hopkins University performed clinical trials

-Credibility- John Reeves is a geneticist at John Hopkins University

Article

Animals are Becoming Smarter

Animals are Becoming Smarter
People think that humans are only affecting the climate of this world, but this is no longer true. Biologist Emilie Snell-Rood has been study mammal skulls from ten different species. During her research she discovered that some species are developing bigger brains because of the human disruption in their environment. The urban-dwelling white-footed mice and meadow voles have brains that are six percent bigger than their rural counterparts. She has also found an increase in the brain size of shrews and bats that were found in the rural parts of Minnesota.
There is not an absolute certainty that a bigger brain makes the being smarter, but some studies have seen a correlation between brain size and ability to learn. Snell-Rood believes that the brain growth is how animals adapted to the challenges of finding food and shelter in a human filled world.
 
NOS themes:
Science is based on evidence: the brain size to animals has been increasing
Science it subject to debate and tentative: There is a debate over whether or not a bigger brain make a being smarter.

Original Article:
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-08/human-activity-driving-animals-develop-bigger-brains?dom=PSC&loc=recent&lnk=4&con=human-urban-activity-makes-animals-develop-bigger-brains

Secret to Epigenetic Inheritance Discovered

Biologists at Indiana University have recently discovered how acquired traits can be passed between generations in a process called epigenetic inheritance, where the cell gains genetic information form its environment that wasn't previously in its genetic code, without the cell "silencing" these new genes as they do with other mutations. Rather than rely on intrinsic, DNA sequence-based information, the cells instead must recall the need to silence specific genes by relying on chemical marks displayed on the chromatin.

Scientists are interested in epigenetic inheritance because it's a process by which heritable modifications occur in gene function without changes in the base sequence of an organism's DNA being required. Cancer is also believed to have an epiginetic basis, and further research could yield important insights into how cancer is formed.

NOS Themes
Science is collaborative-A team of twelve scientists worked together to discover this
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140320131137.htm

Half Animal, Half Plant

Sea anemone is genetically half animal, half plant

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/03/18/sea_anemone_is_genetically_half_animal_half_plant.html

This article explains how a team from at the University of Vienna discovered that sea anemones have microRNA's that resemble both those of plants and of animals. microRNA's are similar to RNA's however microRNAs are short regulatory RNAs, which can bind to target RNAs and inhibit their translation or lead to dissociation of the target RNA. These microRNA's play an important role in metabolism and are crucial in developmental processes. In fact we assume that 30-50 percent of all human genes are regulated by microRNA's. It is suggested that these sea anemones date back 600 million years to before the split of plants and animals causing them to have both sets of microRNA. Before this finding it was thought that plant microRNA's and animal microRNA's arose independently, but now after finding an organism with both sets of microRNA's there seems to be a link between the two.

NOS Themes:

• Role of motivation and curiosity
• Science is based on evidence
• Science is subject to debate and is tentative

-Tyler Welder

Ocean Camels

Imagine going six or seven months without water, it may seem crazy but snakes like the yellow bellied sea snake do it all the time. This amazing feat is accomplished by special adaptions that stop the leakage of freshwater from there bodies. The snakes, even if in freshwater, will not get the urge to drink after they are full for about 2 months. The snakes live in the Indian and Pacific oceans, where the only source of freshwater is rainfall, which rarely happens. During, and after rainfall the snakes come to the top of te water to drink the freshwater, which forms a thin layer on top of the salt water, and drinks until they are full. Even in freshwater the snakes will go to the very top of the water to drink

Source:

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/03/21/camels-ocean-sea-snake-dehydrates-for-months/

NOS:
Science is based on evidence
Role of motivation and curiosity

Plant Weaponry Evolution

Original Article

Other Article

       A type of tropical milkweed has been found which has develo

ped a horn-like structure on the tip of its pollinia sacs, these are the main source of reproduction for this milkweed, which enables the plant to pollinate more efficiently. According to the article, this is the first example of a plant evolving 'weapons' to help it compete to reproduce. Similar examples in animals would be male stags rutting and bears clawing to attract females.

      I think this is a major step for plants in biology, The first picture that comes to mind when I hear 'plants weaponizing' is a futuristic, sci-fi, man eating plant. I know it isn't directly related, but maybe one day.

NOS Themes

Repeatable: Any person, scientist, or group could go and observe this cool phenomenon

Giant Chickens Run Amuck

A new dinosaur fossil has been found. This dinosaur, called Anzu Wyliei, probably lived in what are now the Dakotas during the same time period as the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops. This dinosaur had long claws and a toothless beak.

This large, chicken-like reptile would have been about 3.5 meters long and weighed between 200 and 300 kilograms (440 - 660 pounds). This makes it the largest feathered dinosaur to be found in North America and the second largest in the world.

NOS themes:
Science is based on evidence - scientists used data from 3 different fossils to calculate the size.

The Human Nose Can Detect a Trillion Smells?

          How many scents do you think the nose can detect? The number used to be 10,000, until now. Now, after a recent study conducted by the Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the number has drastically changed to an astounding one trillion smells.

          One trillion different smells is incredible, especially considering that the human eye can only detect about two million distinct colors. The scientists at the Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute conducted the experiment by starting with 128 chemicals, then they mixed some together and some individually, sometimes using as much thirty chemicals in a single bottle.

         The test subjects would come in and smell three bottles; two bottles had the identical scent but one had a very slight different odor. The scientists then took the percentage of bottles that the test subjects correctly identified, which was very high, and then a mathematician calculated the amount of different smells they could make out of the 128 chemicals.

          Using this method, they calculated about a trillion different smells. What is even more interesting is that after these scientists published the research, many other scientists got motivated and now it is believed that even one trillion is an underestimate.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/20/291954994/never-mind-eyesight-your-nose-knows-much-more

NoS Themes:
Science is Collaborative
Science is Tentative and Up to Debate
Role of Motivation and Curiosity

The life of a spider

Cannibal Spiders May Have Poor Impulse Control

Spiders or "Arachnids" are a type of insect commonly hated among the general populace, but it's mate may hate that spider even more than you do.

A group of researchers questioned something that is commonly heard when learning about these creepy crawlies. "Why do spiders eat their mates when they would be better off matting with them?" In the case of many spiders the females will eat the males sometimes before mating sometimes after. These researchers were puzzled as to what causes this to occur.

They preformed an experiment on a type of Wolf Spider as seen above. They captured 80 young females and gave them as much prey as they would eat.  after the females had molted the researchers put a male in. In cases where the female had eaten more food before mating the males were killed more often. After noticing this they compared it to a few of the female spiders that always killed their mates, and a some females that were more choosy. They found that the aggressiveness shown towards prey correlates to the aggressiveness shown towards their mates as well. While some females always killed their mates they would never reproduce, others were choosy and picked only big and strong males to mate with, and even others didn't kill their mates at all.

Next time you go to ask your girlfriend on a date think twice. Yikes!



Article:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cannibal-spiders-may-have-poor-impulse-control/

Themes:

• Science is based on evidence
• Role of motivation and curiosity
• Role of chance

Questions:
Why hasn't natural selection ruled out this trait entirely?
Is this trait or cannibalism shown in any other organisms?