Biology and Wildlife stuff from the week 20-26/8/12

Biggest news story of the week: an exceptional bonobo, who has learned how to fashion tools from flint, and has learned English comprehension.
"Kanzi the bonobo continues to impress. Not content with learning sign language or making up "words", he now seems capable of making stone tools on a par with the efforts of early humans."
It would likely take only a few individuals like Tanzi, in a group with the superior language abilities of homo sapiens, for what we tend to call 'civilisation' to commence its long climb, into what we know today.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-bonobo-stone-tools-ancient-human.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528795.400-bonobo-genius-makes-stone-tools-like-early-humans-did.html
[video] http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xt00nv_bonobo-can-make-stone-tools-like-early-humans_news
[video] http://www.insidescience.org/?q=content/bonobo-stone-tools-competent-ancient-human/768

Tits really are social animals.
No, i'm not making a joke about how they always come in pairs -- the bird species will aid their neighbours when their nests are pestered, and are more likely to do so, the better they know their neighbours.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-great-tits-defend-neighbours.html

Wasps don't waste their poison - they make sure predators know how poisonous they are by grading their brightness to the size of their poison glands.
"It might be thought that bigger wasps have bigger poison glands, and this is indeed true, but even when the data was adjusted to take in to account the size of the insect, a positive correlation between gland size and brightness remained."
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-wasp-cries-wolf.html

Can aphids do photosynthesis?
They would be the first animal found to be able to do so -- some amphibians integrate algae into their skin - but that's not quite the same.
Aphids are the only insects known to have the genes to produce carotenoids, which harvest light for photosynthesis.
They produce more ATP than cousins bred to lack carotenoids, but that doesn't explain the mechanism - some other mechanism could be causing light exposure to increase ATP production inside the aphids' bodies.
Even if the carotenoids aren't responsible for enhanced ATP production, they are responsible for the aphids' colour -- that's why they're green. So now you know.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528795.700-aphids-may-be-first-photosynthesising-animal.html

[video] Bluegill sunfish prefer to hunt lone prey, but if unavailable, they will go for the least ordered group - the one with the highest tortuosity.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-video-gaming-fish-advantages-groups-video.html
http://youtu.be/CSYGhLJl1ck

'Rat that doesn't gnaw discovered in Indonesia'
Rodents account for 40% of living mammal species, and they owe much of their success to their teeth, but one has been found to have very few - Paucidentomys vermidax has no molars, and its incisors are shaped for gripping food rather than gnawing.
The researcher found the rat's stomach to contain remains of earthworms. If it eats only soft-bodied animals, that would explain the dearth of its teeth.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-rat-doesnt-gnaw-indonesia.html

'Cultured killer whales learn by copying'
"THE killer whale has a ferocious appetite for imitation. It is as quick as a dolphin when it comes to picking up a new trick from one of its peers."
"The whales took no more than eight attempts to successfully imitate a familiar behaviour, and even the new behaviours took no more than 16 tries to perfect.
That puts them on a par with captive dolphins, says Abramson."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528795.600-cultured-killer-whales-learn-by-copying.html

[audio] 'Helium-Breathing Gibbons Sing Like Human Sopranos'
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/gibbon-soprano-singing/

According to a study of 12 and 18-month human toddlers, fear of heights is not innate - they found that, unlike experienced walkers and 12-month-old crawlers, inexperienced walkers would attempt 90-cm drops - well beyond their inabilities.
They have therefore concluded that:
"some of the general knowledge that infants appear to gain early in life may in fact be highly specific and tightly linked to their emerging motor abilities."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-infants-drop-off-specific-motor-ability.html

[video] Molecular Visualizations of DNA
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120821.html
On that subject:
'Scientists manipulate the Set2 pathway to show how genes are faithfully copied'
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-scientists-set2-pathway-genes-faithfully.html

Wildlife stuff from the week 13-19/8/12

'Yangtze dolphin's decline mirrored by other animals'
The decline of wildlife in the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), extends beyond the Yangtze River Dolphin, but the dolphin's been claiming all the attention.
Researchers think fishing is responsible for all their declines, because it is a common factor, and yet the species exist in different ecological niches.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-yangtze-dolphin-decline-mirrored-animals.html

'Rare golden mongoose found in Aceh, Indonesia'
After hundreds of thousands of days of camera 'trapping time', a three-day trainee workshop has managed to 'shoot' what is believed to be a golden-brown variant of the collared mongoose Herpestes semitorquatus.
How's that for probability, LOL? Reminds me of a story about Douglas Adams, who arrived in Madagascar, found the Aye-Aye and photographed it, on his third day there, and returned to base camp, where someone had been unlucky after three months!
Probability might be regular - but it isn't fair :D
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-rare-golden-mongoose-aceh.html

'Cayman's imperiled blue iguanas on the rebound'
Wow - blue iguanas? How did i not know about these?!?
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-cayman-imperiled-blue-iguanas-rebound.html
I knew about blue-footed boobies, though:
http://0.tqn.com/d/animals/1/0/V/t/shutterstock_304958.jpg

'Stickleback fish show initiative, personality and leadership'
I'm really not surprised by this -- surely *all* social animals are going to have systems of social reflex.
In events of high stress, it will be beneficial for a group to have a default leader, because time spent deliberating could cost the entire group's survival.
But most of the time, in low stress environments, these hierarchies become problems, because one individual bullies another, to no group benefit.
Similarly, in humans, as social animals, who very rarely (in modern, self-domesticated climes - civilisation) experience high-stress, time-sensitive events in which hierarchy is necessary for survival. Basically the only time is during military activity, and also medical emergency - for firefighters and paramedics, for example.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-stickleback-fish-personality-leadership.html

On Monday, 13th, a 2.5 metre sand tiger shark was found washed up on the north french coast (la manche - the English Channel)
How's that for a surprise!
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-shark-aground-english-channel-coastline.html

[video] Years of work has confirmed that two new populations of owl in the Phillipines are both their own species
"The first owl, the Camiguin Hawk-owl, is found only on the small island of Camiguin Sur, close to northern Mindanao. Despite being so close geographically to related owls on Mindanao, it has quite different physical characteristics and voice. At night, it gives a long solo song that builds in intensity, with a distinctive low growling tone. Pairs of owls give short barking duets that start with a growl. They also are the only owls to have blue-gray eyes."
"The second new discovery was the Cebu Hawk-owl. This bird was thought to be extinct, as the forests of Cebu have almost all been lost due to deforestation. But it had never been considered a distinct form. Study of its structure and vocalizations confirmed that it was a new species. In fact, it was the unique calling or vocalizations of both owls that confirmed that the new classifications were warranted."
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-owls-philippines-video.html

Unlike the humanoid bigfoot, the bigfoot spider actually exists - Trogloraptor - but nobody yet knows how it uses its feet for hunting
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-spider-version-bigfoot-emerges-caves.html

How about this for weird biology? Bendy teeth:
Hard teeth might be good for cutting into things, but hardness goes with brittleness, so it's wasteful to grow teeth that are just going to break off.
Some suckermouth catfish have bendy bits in their teeth, allowing them to bend away from hard surfaces - off which, they scrape their food.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528784.800-bendable-teeth-seen-for-the-first-time.html

Biology stuff from the week 13-19/8/12

Young virgin female hide beetles are responsive to the scents of invertebrate cadavers, and male pheromones, but only when in conjunction.
Males, however, will respond to cadavers alone.
This is because the young females are looking for both calories and a date, and the males are looking for calories to offer their female counterparts.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-scent-decomposition-male-sex-pheromones.html

How does the extinction of one predator lead to the extinction of others? When those predators fed on different prey populations.
A study in wasps has found that when the predator of one aphid population goes extinct, the burgeoning unpredated aphid population pressurises other aphid populations, forcing their own predators to extinction.
It is because of phenomena like this that conservationists are learning to take a more ecosystem-wide approach, rather than working hard to preserve individual species.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-extinction.html

Does evolution repaet itself? Yes -- it's called convergent evolution:
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-bird-louse-evolution.html

Did icthyosaurs - which definitely were not dinosaurs, PhysOrg! - get 'the bends', from rising too fast?
No.
They did, however, develop lesions on their bones from either staying at depth for too long, or from staying in shallow waters, pinned down by predators. Researchers are busily trying to find out which.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-dinosaur-prolonged.html

A characteristic of prostate cancer cells is often over-activity of the androgen receptor (AR) that triggers cell division.
AR relies on interactions with several other proteins, such as HSP90 and p23, which help fold it into its active form.
It was previously believed that HSP90 and p23 rely on each other to work, but since then, resistance to HSP90 suppressors has led to research into lone p23 activity.
This line of research has found that blocking p23 alone does decrease the activity of AR, and so can be used against prostate cancers.
Trials blocking p23 are currently being conducted in both prostate and breast cancers.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-scientists-key-piece-prostate-cancer.html

Pectoral sandpipers live at high latitudes, which means for some of the year, days go by without darkness.
These extended periods of light coincide with the breeding season, and so the species has evolved so that male pectoral sandpipers can go without sleep for multiple weeks at a time.
Less time spent sleeping means more time for breeding, and that is what researchers have seen:
"The tracker data showed that the most wakeful males interacted with more females than those that slept. Paternity tests showed that they sired more young."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528785.000-sandpipers-achieve-world-record-for-sleeplessness.html

Biology stuff from the fortnight 30/7 - 12/8/12

C0nc0rdance - The Science Of Human Race (43 mins 18 secs in total)
Part 1: http://youtu.be/teyvcs2S4mI
Part 2: http://youtu.be/vVmj8dDx9yY
Racism is wrong not because it means 'judging people' but because races are nonsense - they are not science.

'A flash of light changes cell activity - and understanding of disease'
Blue light has been used to manipulate the shape and motility of cells, by combining photo-receptive proteins from plants with enzymes in the cell's outer membrane.
This formed a 'complex', by which the behaviour could be influenced, by the influence of the enzymes, by the influence of the incidental light.
But this is more than just playing with cells in a lab, saying "ooh, look - it goes this way, and now it goes this way - it goes this way, and now it goes this way..."
The cell membrane plays a large part in the functioning of cells, and malfunction is associated with cancer, many diseases, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Many forms of dementia involve the physical degredation of the myelin sheath which protects the axon of the neurons from harm, and increases the integrity of the charge flow.
Basically, if light can be used to influence the way cell membranes behave, then there is an avenue of research by which treatments for these kinds of conditions might be found.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-cell-disease.html

In another story, this week, light has been used to change the activity of brain cells:
'Light-activated brain cells boost monkey skills'
The team identified the region of the brain used by monkeys, while doing a spot-identifying activity - the arcuate sulcus.
They then inserted a gene that makes photoreceptive proteins, to work in conjunction with the neurons there, so that light would influence their activity.
Using thin needles, they guided light striaght to the arcuate sulcus, and boserved the changes that happened.
"During the treatment, they were able to locate the dot on the screen about 10 per cent faster than before."
Just like in the cell-membrane study, this is just a proof-of-principle experiment, so this might or might not lead to a useful application in medicine.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528764.500-lightactivated-brain-cells-boost-monkey-skills.html

[video] It's that gene again - FOXP2.
'Of mice and melodies: Research on language gene seeks to uncover the origins of the singing mouse'
Scotinomys teguina is a species of mouse that uses vocalisations, much like most birds do, to communicate over (relatively) long distances.
Unlike birds, however, they utilise only one note, so although it bears a similarity to birdsong, the difference is obvious - no tune.
The FOXP2 gene has been identified, in humans, and now in singing mice, to play an important role in developing the ability to vocalise.
In humans, people with FOXP2 variations often have difficulty forming sounds with their mouths, as well as understanding grammar.
The reason FOXP2 has such a broad effect, is that it encodes how other genes are expressed - it is a transcription factor - and because it has influence through a variety of other genes, it is effectively pleiotropic.
The researchers noted that regions containing FOXP2 lit up, when the mice were listening to songs of their own species, indicating that it is involved in recognition of and integration if audio information.
Further research should provide deeper insight to the mechanics of language and language learning.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-mice-melodies-language-gene-uncover.html

Scientists at the Smithsonian have found that females of the giant wood spider - Nephila pilipes - 'bung themselves up', to avoid unwanted and excessive copulation from males.
The giant wood spider is a polyandrous species - many males compete for a few females - and it is common practice for males to deliberately lose their genitals, to prevent other males from mating with her.
By plugging themselves up, females enduring sexual conflict can opt out.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-female-spiders-unwanted-sex-males.html
Also observed in spiders, is that female spiders who cannibalise her male partners, produce more robust egg cases, than those that don't.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-cannibalism-spiders-offspring.html

15% of 136 sampled plectropomus leopardus, otherwise known as the common coral trout, have dark lesions on their skin. And now we know that they are indeed melanomas - the first verified case of skin cancer in fish.
"In the lab, hybridised fish were found to be more susceptible to UV radiation due to exposure of the so-called 'Xmrk' gene. In the case of coral trout cross-breeding – or hybridisation – may also be occurring and play a role in the coral trout's susceptibility to the disease."
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-skin-cancer-wild-fish-populations.html

[video] Marinologist Stephanie Bush has observed the squid species Octopoteuthis deletron, apparently deliberately detaching its tentacles, in order to escape.
The blue-tailed skink is a well-known example of a land vertebrate that can detach its tail, to occupy predators while it flees. No squid had previously been observed doing this.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-kind-squid-jettison-arm-video.html

Wildlife stuff from the fortnight 30/7 - 12/8/12

In the last 25 years, news of amphibian decline has prompted scientists to search harder, damnit - and so far 3000 species have been discovered!
"Currently, a new species of amphibian is described in the scientific literature every 2.5 days"
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-global-amphibian-decline-species-soars.html

The 7000 Kinds Of Amphibians song:

http://thewigglytendrils.bandcamp.com/track/7000-kinds-of-amphibians-a7k

[audio] Researchers have designed a free online tool called iBatsID to identify European bats via their calls and to assist bat conservation throughout the continent.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/ibatsid-europe-s-first-bat-identification-tool-275505.html

'Report: Captive lion reintroduction programs in Africa operate under 'conservation myth''
Raising captive lions, to reintroduce them into the wild, might work well for drawing in the tourists (they get to pet the young ones, and see them up close), but it's wasting money and effort that should be put into supporting wild populations.
The report states that wild lion management schemes have a much higher chance of success; and many captive lions never see the wild at all, because they're deemed unsuitable for release.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-captive-lion-reintroduction-africa-myth.html

How does yeast survive the winter, and proliferate itself across every grape in the fields, when the time comes?
It was assumed that birds or bees would be responsible, because yeast is a fungus incapable of motility, and wind-blowing seemed too random.
It turns out that birds are unsuitable environments - the fungus simply doesn't survive long - and so the researchers' interest was turned to insects.
They conducted experiments in the vineyards of Italy, and found that wasps, who hibernate through the winters, have yeast populations in their guts, that survive throughout the year, and are transferred from generation to generation.
"The researchers also found that the wasps harbored all manner of yeasts, noting over 230 strains in just those they studied, some of which matched those used to make some of our foods and drinks and some that live in the wild."
Other species might play a similar role in providing a habitat for the yeast life-cycle to roll on, but we do now know that wasps play a useful role - so don't just treat them as pests!
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-wasps-key-yeast-ability-survive.html

How do elephants make those really low sounds (<20 Hz) that they can hear through the ground, from kilometres away - with their vocal cords, or like a cat, with abdominal muscle contractions?
Now we know - subsonic sounds can be made without any muscular contractions, suggesting that this is how elephants do it - but this does not mean that elephants don't ever produce any sounds the way purring cats do.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-elephants-humans.html

[video] ''Superbird' stuns researchers'
"A team of researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the National Research Council of Argentina recently fitted a South American sea bird called an imperial cormorant with a small camera, then watched stunned as it became "superbird" – diving 150 feet underwater in 40 seconds, feeding on the ocean floor for 80 seconds where it eventually caught a snakelike fish, before returning to the surface 40 seconds later."
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-superbird-stuns.html

Donna, believed to be the world's oldest hippo, has died at the age of 62, in Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden, after living for more than two decades beyond the massive mammal's usual life expectancy.
Hippos live into their forties, in the wild, and fifties in captivity. Donna could have lived longer - she was killed by a vet, due to increasing pain caused by arthritis, so it would have been cruel to let her pain continue.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-world-oldest-hippo-dies.html

A peculiar, green lacewing has been found in the tropical forests of Malaysia. Finding new species in places like that is not uncommon - hundreds of species are newly discovered every year, and there are tens of thousands estimated to be unfound.
The peculiar element of the story behind this peculiar insect's discovery, is that its existence was only confirmed after pictures of it were posted on Flickr, and scientists managed to find specimens in the Malaysian forests.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-charismatic-lacewing-malaysia-online-chance.html

Another awesome organism discovered {if that doesn't assonate, then your accent's wrong :-P }
'World's first eyeless huntsman spider discovered'
And yes, it is eyeless because of atrophy, caused by the lightless cave environment in which it lives.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-world-eyeless-huntsman-spider.html 
It was found in Laos. Which is pronounced exactly the same as "Laos", to rhyme with "cow". And Laos is here:
http://goo.gl/maps/HG7oM

[audio] Bowhead whales have been recorded singing to each other, contiguously, for more than 5 months! Being so big, they never sleep, but 5 months straight!?
"Bowhead whales are massive creatures. They grow to over 60 feet long, may live to 200 years old and can weigh 200,000 pounds. They use their huge skulls to break through ice as thick as 1.5 feet.
Bowhead whale song is unique in that the whales appear to sing with "two voices," simultaneously producing high- and low-frequency sounds. The whales sometimes repeat the same tune for hours at a time.
Stafford and her colleagues deployed the two hydrophones 60 miles apart. They made 2,144 hours of simultaneous recordings from September 2008 through July 2009."
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-critically-endangered-whales-birds-hint.html

Biology stuff from the week 23-29/7/12

[video] Dyscalculia - what is it - and how does it effect people? - Numberphile
http://youtu.be/p_Hqdqe84Uc

Because it involves duplicate use of the same area of the brain, it is much more difficult to multi-task two visual tasks, than it is a visual and an audio task.
This makes it more dangerous to text and drive, than it is to talk and drive, for example.
"Alarmingly, though, people who tried to do two visual tasks at the same time rated their performance as better than did those who combined a visual and an audio task - even though their actual performance was worse."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-multitasking-dangerous.html
A possible link between the visual area of the brain, and emotional experience, leading to happiness despite lack of performance?
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-brain-discovery-link-vision-emotion.html

"Researchers have been able to compare the human genome to the recently decoded genetic sequence of the invertebrate amphioxus, a tiny creature still found in our seas and which can be regarded as a 'distant cousin’ to our species."
Amphioxus has a spinal cord, bunches of muscles, and branchial arches where we have faces, but it does not have bones, a brain, a face, or a heart.
We, all other mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, and backboned fishes, have these features, because of a phase in our evolutionary history, ~500 million years ago, in which our genome duplicated - twice - which enabled far more control over physiological development.
When the control breaks down, in our more complex bodies, conditions such as diabetes, cancer, and neurological disorders develop.
Comparison of post-quadruplication genomes with amphioxus' genome will enable biologists to infer how these conditions arise, empowering us to deal with them more effectively, or prevent them from arising in others.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-amazing-amphioxus.html

How do sharks keep their teeth in such good nick?
Chemical analysis of the teeth of Mako and Tiger sharks has revealed a high density of fluoride, in the form of fluoroapatite, in the outer part.
Human teeth are formed with hydroxyapatite, but this gets soft in watery environments, which is why the sharks have evolved the use of fluoroapatite.
Both teeth structures achieve the same overall hardness, however, because teeth that are too hard have the drawback of brittleness - they shatter easily.
Lack of fluoride can be a significant problem with tooth softness in humans, too, which is why it is often used in tap water (the fluoride in toothpaste can not be ingested easily, and can not benefit bones)
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-shark-teeth-natural-fluoride.html

Whole genome sequencing of hunter-gatherers has revealed high genetic diversity, caused not just by divergence in adaptation to different environments, but also introgression - inter-breeding with lineages that are descended from ancestors of humans e.g. neanderthals and other hominids.
http://phys.org/news/2012-07-whole-genome-sequencing-africa-hunter-gatherers-elucidates.html

Increasing dopamine in the brain's frontal cortex increases self-control, reducing impulsivity, and lowering the risk of reckless behaviour.
It is a noted characteristic of people who 'habitually' commit crimes, that they are more impulsive than most, and so control of dopamine in the frontal cortex might enable them to avoid crime in future.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-dopamine-brain-frontal-cortex-decreases.html

Are Polar and Grizzly (Brown) bears really distinct species?
For 6 million years, Ursus Maritimus (Polar) and Ursus Arctos (Brown) bears have interbred, but remained largely geographically separate.
As the polar populations dwindle, and continental populations encounter more Grizzlies, we might see more Polar-Grizzly hybrids wandering Canada and Russia.

http://phys.org/news/2012-07-polar-evolution-tracked-climate-dna.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528754.600-hardy-polar-bears-have-survived-past-global-warming.html

Why is it that stressed people are more likely to resort to familiar habits, and less likely to achieve their goals, despite them?
It seems the stress hormones hydrocortisone and noradrenaline shut down the activity of brain regions for goal-directed behaviour, leaving the habit regions unaffected.
This makes it difficult for them to pursue their goals, and so they are more likely to fail. Trying to dump a bad habit? Avoid stress, and you'll be more likely to succeed.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-habit-stress-hormones-areas-brain.html