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Gaining a better understanding of the reality which we inhabit aka doing Science. Brian Greene takes us on a light, generalist cosmological journey. Enjoy. :)
“Canadian researchers have discovered they can induce supersoldier ants — whose bodies react to stress by expanding in size with huge oblong heads and giant vicious jaws — in the Pheidole ant species.
The findings are significant because they show there is dormant genetic potential that can be invoked by changes in the environment and locked in place for a very long time, said lead author Ehab Abouheif, a McGill University biology professor, whose research was published Friday in the journal Science.”
The fascinating part of this discovery is the way that it highlights the interaction between the environment and genes in a species.
“The authors suggest that hanging on to ancestral developmental toolkits can be an important way for organisms to evolve new physical traits.
“Birds with teeth, snakes with fingers and humans with ape-like hair – these are ancestral traits that pop regularly in nature,” Abouheif said. “But for the longest time in evolutionary theory, these ancestral traits were thought to go nowhere … the Barnum and Bailey of evolution. So they’ve been an unappreciated source of evolutionary variation.”
Typically, supersoldier ants are biological anomalies that occur rarely in nature and only in limited geographical regions. But the McGill researchers found these supersoldiers in unexpected regions and also created them by manipulating hormones.
Pheidole (big-headed) ant colonies contain millions of ants, including minor workers and soldiers. Depending on the food ants are fed, certain hormones are triggered in the ant larvae and they either develop into soldiers or minor workers.”
The Nature vs. Nurture debate is mostly over in scientific circles, but it is nice to have such a clear example to illustrate the interaction between a species and its environment.
“So what we’re showing is that environmental stress is important for evolution because it can facilitate the development of novel phenotypes. Any time you have a mismatch between the normal environment of the organism and its genetic potential you can release them – and these things can be locked in place for 30 to 65 million years.”
Go go mysteries of the genetic code.
And of course, neither am I. Our perception depends on where we are focusing our attention at the time. 75% of people did not notice that the person dealing with them changed. So…do you still think you are on the ball?
Skepticon has proven to be a most valuable source of rational thought and interesting fodder for the Sunday disservice. In this episode, PZ Myers takes one creationist talking point and knocks it down, utterly and completely. Plus a small primer on molecular biology, all in under 50 minutes. Enjoy.
Those zany scientists, always finding out new shiny-bright science facts. The periodic table has just gotten a little more crowded say hi to as yet unnamed elements 114 and 116.
“The elements were recognized by an international committee of chemists and physicists. They’re called elements 114 and 116 for now — permanent names and symbols will be chosen later.
You’re not likely to run into any of this stuff. Scientists make them in labs by smashing atoms of other elements together to create the new ones.
“Our experiments last for many weeks, and typically, we make an atom every week or so,” said chemist Ken Moody of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who’s part of the discovery team.
In contrast to more familiar elements like carbon, gold and tin, the new ones are short-lived. Atoms of 114 disintegrate within a few seconds, while 116 disappears in just a fraction of a second, Moody said.”
Wow, these elements disappear faster than Peter McKay can change his story about flying about in helicopters on the taxpayers dime.
“Both elements were discovered by a collaboration of scientists from Livermore and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, near Moscow. They made them by smashing calcium ions into atoms of plutonium or another element, curium. The official recognition, announced last week, cites experiments done in 2004 and 2006.”
Enjoy the updated periodic table. :) – Oh and feel free to leave any suggestions for what we should call the new elements in the comments section – I’m putting forth Hawkensium and Planckium.
Think of yourself as strong willed? An outlier? I bet you’re not :) The psychology of group interactions is fascinating, and Theramin Trees explores historical and more recent research on the topic.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
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