http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/10/bacteria-infected-mosquito...
Bacteria-infected mosquitoes may halt malaria

Scientists have infected mosquitoes with a bacteria known as Wolbachia, which sabotages malaria-causing parasites in the bugs, limiting their ability to spread malaria to humans, Science News reported.

In the latest study from Michigan State University (MSU), researchers are theorizing that the Wolbachia bacteria would stop the malaria parasite from being spread from an infected bug to a person.

Zihyong Xi and his team from MSU injected Wolbachia bacteria into thousands of mosquito embryos that were of the Anopheles stephensi species. In the past, this species has been difficult to infect. However, one female mosquito caught the bacteria and produced a laboratory line of infected offspring.

Xi’s research, which is published in the May 10 edition of Science, said the mothers spread the bacteria to 34 generations of descendants. Those descendants carried less than one-third as many malaria parasites as the uninfected mosquitoes.

“It’s a very important study because they’re the first group to show that Wolbachia can establish a stable heritable infection,” said Jason L. Ragson of Pennsylvania State University, who did not work with Xi, but has been trying to lure Wolbachia bacteria into another species of mosquitoes for approximately eight years.

Xi said it’s too early to release Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes into the wild – he wants to see if they can block pathogens and compete for mates, according to Science News.

Two papers recently published in the journal Nature indicated that the Wolbachia bacteria also has the ability to eliminate dengue fever in generations of infected mosquitoes, Reuters reported.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112843812/identical-twins-exp...
Study: Experience Builds Neural Connections, Differentiates Twins
From Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen to professional hockey players Henrik and Daniel Sedin, identical twins have always captivated the public’s imagination. Although they are genetically identical, anyone who has gotten to know a pair of twins can begin to pick up on the subtle differences that make each person unique.

Based on research involving mice twins, a group of German researchers has found an individual’s personal experiences add to the neural connections within the brain, allowing that individual to deviate in its own unique way, according to a new study in the journal Science.

To reach this conclusion, the team housed 40 genetically identical mice twins in an intricate, five-level cage – complete with glass chutes, toys, scaffolds, nesting places and other features. The mice were able to explore about five square yards of space.

“The animals were not only genetically identical, they were also living in the same environment,” Gerd Kempermann, the principal researcher and a professor of genomics regeneration at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease in Dresden, said in a statement. “However, this environment was so rich that each mouse gathered its own individual experiences in it. Over time, the animals therefore increasingly differed in their realm of experience and behavior.”

The mice were also fitted with a microchip that sent out electromagnetic signals, allowing the scientists to track the mice as they moved and to record their brain activity. While some mice roamed throughout the entire enclosure, some stayed close to familiar paths and areas. Over the course of three months, the team also observed the mice developing their own unique personality.

“Over time, the animals therefore increasingly differed in their realm of experience and behavior,” Kempermann told the AFP.

The team found the most explorative mice were generating more new neurons in the hippocampus, the brain region for learning and memory, than their more passive counterparts.

In their report, the researchers said they have demonstrated how personal experiences and learned behavior contribute to individualization, asserting that neither genetics nor environment is responsible for this growth.

“Adult neurogenesis also occurs in the hippocampus of humans,” Kempermann said. “Hence, we assume that we have tracked down a neurological foundation for individuality that also applies to humans.”

The findings give new clues to how the brain works, and could have implications for future research on learning and aging, the researchers said.

“When viewed from educational and psychological perspectives, the results of our experiment suggest that an enriched environment fosters the development of individuality,” co-author Ulman Lindenberger, director of the Center for Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, told the AFP.

In the journal, the study was accompanied by a commentary written by Olaf Bergmann and Jonas Frisen of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, who were not directly involved in the research. They said the study has two main uses.

“Molecular understanding of neurogenesis will hopefully aid in the rational development of new classes of drugs for psychiatric disease,” they wrote, adding that it “may teach us… how living our lives makes us who we are.”

Source: Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_dea...
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_dea...

http://www.examiner.com/list/research-immune-system-stays-young-lon...
Research: Immune system stays young longer in women
One reason that women live longer than men has been shown to be that women’s immune systems stay active longer according to research published by researchers in Japan and the United States in the journal Immunity & Ageing on May 14, 2013.

A comparison of the immune systems of healthy men and women ranging in age between 20 and 90 years old presented distinct differences with age.

The number of neutrophils decreased for both sexes and lymphocytes decreased in men and increased in women. Younger men normally have higher levels of lymphocytes than similarly aged women but over time the number of lymphocytes becomes similar.

The rate in decline in T cells (T lymphocytes) and B cells was slower for women than men.

Both CD4+ T (T helper cells) cells and NK (natural killer) cells increased with age, and the rate of increase was higher in women than men.

IL-6 (interleukin 6) and IL-10 (interleukin 10) decreased in men more rapidly than in women.

Red blood cell counts decreased more in men than in women.

This study does not account for every possibility of longer life spans in women versus men but does indicate that estrogen has a facilitating effect on the longer lasting immune systems of women.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-manhattans-gre...

Why Manhattan's Green Roofs Don't Work--and How to Fix Them

City rooftops covered with vegetation are seen as a way to reduce the urban heat-island effect and cut energy usage--but so far, the results have been unimpressive

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/2013/05/17/what...
What Rational Really Means

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/18/scientis...
Scientists agree on climate change. So why doesn’t everyone else?

there’s some evidence that hammering away at the science doesn’t always get everyone to agree. If anything, it can make people even more polarized.

Why is that? Because, as Kahan has argued at length, people tend to arrive at these debates with their own pre-existing cultural values. If you’re not already inclined to accept the values that typically accompany belief in climate change — and if you’re not predisposed to agree with all the people who like to talk about climate change — then you’re probably not going to change your mind just because the media says there’s an expert consensus. (Here are some other experiments along these lines.)

http://www.skepticalscience.com/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=whos-payin...
Who's Paying the Price for Global Warming?

U.S. taxpayers have so far borne the brunt of climate change costs.
A new analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the NRDC, finds that the federal government spent three times more than the private insurance industry on climate change impacts last year. And, of course, those federal efforts are entirely funded by taxpayers.

“It is in effect a climate disruption tax, equivalent to a 2.7 percentage point increase in what Americans paid in sales taxes last year.” That’s Daniel Lashof, director of the NRDC’s Climate and Clean Air Program and co-author of the report.

We spent nearly $100 billion in 2012 on drought-related crop insurance, storms like Hurricane Sandy, floods and wildfires. By comparison the nation spent $95 billion on education last year and just $91 billion on transportation.

Greenhouse gas pollution shows no signs of slowing, recently touching 400 parts-per-million. And as that number continues to rise, so will the price.

—David Biello

http://worldsciencefestival.com/
Where scientists, artists, inventors, story tellers and adventurers come together: May 29th to June 2nd, 2013 New York City, USA

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/2013/05/22/the-...
The Complexity of Greatness: Beyond Talent or Practice

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/2013/05/22/what...
What’s Individuality, and Where Does It Come From?

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112857331/far-biodiversity-de...
UN Warns Of Decline In Farm Biodiversity

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/22341876
Everest: how science conquered the world's highest mountain
In the week of the 60th anniversary of the first ascent, the world's highest peak was climbed by 80 year old Yuichiro Miura of Japan.

The peak has also been climbed by a 13 year old and a blind athlete.

Technical advancements, increased safety and decreased cost have seen growing numbers attempt to scale the world's highest mountain.

How has science made Everest an easier mountain to climb?
Summit made simpler
"Scientific and technological advancements have definitely made climbing Everest easier and safer."
Safe and sound

Oxygen tanks are used by 95% of climbers
Modern systems are designed to exclude moisture from the regulator and tubes to stop it freezing.They are less than half the weight of the original systems. 3G mobile phone coverage is available. This means climbers can be in constant contact with support teams or experts off the mountain.
Weather forecasting is more accurate and draws on satellite data to let climbers know when there is due to be a period of good weather to make a bid for the summit.
Modern climbing gear - ropes, crampons and ice axes - are lighter, stronger and now less likely to develop faults, and gloves and boots are electrically heated to reduce the chance of frostbite.
Besides the improvements in gear, the mountain itself has been modified - ladders and ropes are installed on some sections, maintained by specialist Sherpa "icefall doctors".

This means ascents are quicker, safer and less fatiguing - making accidents less likely.

"There are a lot of resources and support available right on the mountain," says Kodas. The group sizes are larger than ever, which makes it easier to assist an injured or sick climber and help them back down the mountain.
High Altitude: Many expeditions have medical equipment and monitors in their base camps to help athletes acclimatise and measure their progress," says Kodas.

Many climbers will develop altitude sickness, caused by lack of oxygen to the brain and lungs, which can be life-threatening. While effective drugs have been developed to reduce swelling and fluid retention, this can also pose problems, says Kodas.

"If a climber who is feeling weak uses Dexamethasone (an anti-inflammatory drug) to get to the summit and then the drug wears off, they are in worse shape and in a more dangerous place than they were when they initially used the drug."
Death risk: In 1990, the death rate (fatalities compared to successful summits) was 37%. In 2012, it was under 2%,
Overcrowded

Because it has become safer and cheaper, more people attempt to climb Everest than ever before.
"Scientific and technological advances have definitely made the act of climbing on Everest easier and safer for the individual."

According to a 2012 report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, some 20,000 species are currently in grave danger of going extinct. Species today are vanishing in such great numbers—many from hunting and habitat destruction—that the trend has been called a sixth mass extinction, an event on par with such die-offs as the one that befell the dinosaurs (and much else) 65 million years ago

http://new.livestream.com/WorldScienceFestival/WhisperingMind/video...
The Puzzle of Consciousness: Watch Full Video of World Science Festival Panel

http://www.pddnet.com/blogs/2013/05/stem-learning-vs-pseudo-science...
STEM Learning vs. Pseudo Science

http://www.manufacturing.net/articles/2013/05/stem-learning-vs-pseu...

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/2013/06/01/can-neur...
Can Neuroscience Cure People of Faith in God? What about Faith in Neuroscience?

The Art of Communicating Science | Psychology Today
A conversation with Karl Bates,director of research communications at Duke By Jonathan Wai, Ph.D....
www.psychologytoday.com/.../the-art-communicating-science

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/books/review/curtis-whites-scienc...
Faith in the Unseen
Curtis White’s ‘Science Delusion’

http://pestcontrol.about.com/od/bitinginsectprofiles/a/Why-Are-Mosq...
Why Are Mosquitoes Attracted to Some People?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=messing-with-blood...
“Messing with” the Blood-Brain Barrier May Be Key to Treating a Host of Diseases
A new understanding of the blood-brain barrier as a living, mutable organ may revolutionize the treatment of diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's

For more than a century, scientists believed that the blood-brain barrier was a sacred, impermeable wall. In fact, it is made up of ordinary blood vessels with one extraordinary property: the cells that make up their lining are packed together so tightly that they allow very few substances to cross into brain tissue.
The barrier is a vital organ in its own right, thrumming with activity as cells communicate with one another to decide which molecules to block and which ones to let through. Many more cells pass through the barrier than scientists previously realized.
To reflect this new understanding, scientists now call the blood-brain barrier the neurovascular unit.
Many believe that learning how to open and close it may be the key to curing a host of diseases.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10113610/Dont-tear-...
Stress really can cause your hair to turn grey, according new research.

The biggest scientific mystery of this year has just been solved. In February, a flock of char-grilled pigeons landed on a grassy bank in Britain and set fire to it. A witness revealed a large flock of birds landed on an electricity cable. When the 615th pigeon landed, the wire touched the one below and the flock was instantly barbecued.

There's a reasonable scientific explanation for everything. Yes, science can solve several of the mysteries!
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=5&art_id=1...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/australia-climate-chang...

Climate science debate has cost precious time, expert warns

Commission report says evidence of rapidly changed climate has strengthened

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=climate-ch...
Climate Change Getting Worse by the Minute

The world is not on track to reduce, or even restrain global warming.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=cultural-i...
Cultural Images Affect Second Language Usage

People with multicultural backgrounds may change a speech pattern in their second language after seeing an icon from their first culture.

http://fqxi.org/data/essay-contest-files/Morales_mmorales_variables...

Spin States of Selection: Predetermined Variables of ‘bit’

http://esciencenews.com/articles/2013/06/20/a.shot.arm.old.antibiotics
A shot in the arm for old antibiotics
Slipping bacteria some silver could give old antibiotics new life, scientists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University reported June 19 in Science Translational Medicine. Treating bacteria with a silver-containing compound boosted the efficacy of a broad range of widely used antibiotics and helped them stop otherwise lethal infections in mice. It helped make an antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria sensitive to antibiotics again. And it expanded the power of an antibiotic called vancomycin that is usually only effective in killing pathogens called Gram-positive bacteria, such as Staph and Strep. Silver allowed vancomycin for the first time to penetrate and kill Gram-negative bacteria, a group that includes microbes that can cause food poisoning and dangerous hospital-acquired infections.

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/06/20/how-much-do-you-...
How Much Do You Really Know About Science?
Science and tech knowledge quiz:
http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/science-knowledge/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22996054
Plants 'seen doing quantum physics' ( quantum biology).
The idea that plants make use of quantum physics to harvest light more efficiently has received a boost.
The weird world of quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics starts with the simple idea that energy does not come in just any amount; it comes in discrete chunks, called quanta. But deeper into the theory, some truly surprising - and useful - effects crop up

Superposition: A particle exists in a number of possible states or locations simultaneously - strictly, an electron might be in the tip of your finger and in the furthest corner of the Universe at the same time. It is only when we observe the particle that it 'chooses' one particular state
Entanglement: Two particles can become entangled so that their properties depend on each other - no matter how far apart they get. A measurement of one seems to affect the measurement of the other instantaneously - an idea even Einstein called "spooky"
Tunnelling: A particle can break through an energy barrier, seeming to disappear on one side of it and reappear on the other. Lots of modern electronics and imaging depends on this effect.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21150047

Quantum biology: Do weird physics effects abound in nature?

"These three things... have dispelled the idea that quantum mechanics had nothing to say about biology."

The most established of the three is photosynthesis - the staggeringly efficient process by which plants and some bacteria build the molecules they need, using energy from sunlight. It seems to use what is called "superposition" - being seemingly in more than one place at one time.

Watch the process closely enough and it appears there are little packets of energy simultaneously "trying" all of the possible paths to get where they need to go, and then settling on the most efficient.

"Biology seems to have been able to use these subtle effects in a warm, wet environment and still maintain the [superposition]. How it does that we don't understand."

Experiments show that European robins only oriented themselves for migration under certain colours of light, and that very weak radio waves could completely mix up their sense of direction. Neither should affect the standard compass that biologists once believed birds had within their cells.

What makes more sense is the quantum effect of entanglement. Under quantum rules, no matter how far apart an "entangled" pair of particles gets, each seems to "know" what the other is up to - they can even seem to pass information to one another faster than the speed of light.

Continuation of  "Quantum biology " -2:

Experiments suggest this is going on within single molecules in birds' eyes, and John Morton of University College London explained that the way birds sense it could be stranger still.

"You could think about that as... a kind of 'heads-up display' like what pilots have: an image of the magnetic field... imprinted on top of the image that they see around them," he said.

The idea continues to be somewhat controversial - as is the one that your nose might be doing a bit of quantum biology.

Most smell researchers think the way that we smell has to do only with the shapes of odour molecules matching those of receptors in our noses.

But Dr Turin believes that the way smell molecules wiggle and vibrate is responsible - thanks to the quantum effect called tunnelling.

The idea holds that electrons in the receptors in our noses disappear on one side of a smell molecule and reappear on the other, leaving a little bit of energy behind in the process.

A paper published in Plos One this week shows that people can tell the difference between two molecules of identical shape but with different vibrations, suggesting that shape is not the only thing at work.

What intrigues all these researchers is how much more quantum trickery may be out there in nature.

"Are these three fields the tip of the iceberg, or is there actually no iceberg underneath?" asked Dr Turin. "We just don't know. And we won't know until we go and look."

http://www.informedbynature.org/

informed by nature.org
...encouraging science learning

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-06-24/science/4016...
Plants do complex arithmetic calculations to make sure they have enough food to prevent starvation at night, a new study has found.

The research shows that to get through the night, plants perform accurate arithmetic division. The calculation allows them to use up their starch reserves at a constant rate so that they run out of it almost precisely at dawn.
"This is the first concrete example in a fundamental biological process of such a sophisticated arithmetic calculation," said mathematical modeller Professor Martin Howard from the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK.

Plants feed themselves during the day by using energy from the sun to convert carbon dioxide into sugars and starch. Once the sun has set, they must depend on a store of starch to prevent starvation.

Scientists at the John Innes Centre showed that plants make precise adjustments to their rate of starch consumption. These adjustments ensure that the starch store lasts until dawn even if the night comes unexpectedly early.To adjust their starch consumption so precisely, they must be performing a mathematical calculation - arithmetic division, scientists said. "The capacity to perform arithmetic calculation is vital for plant growth and productivity," said metabolic biologist Professor Alison Smith.

"Understanding how plants continue to grow in the dark could help unlock new ways to boost crop yield," said Smith.

During the night, mechanisms inside the leaf measure the size of the starch store and estimate the length of time until dawn. Information about time comes from an internal clock, similar to our own body clock. The size of the starch store is then divided by the length of time until dawn to set the correct rate of starch consumption, so that, by dawn, around 95% of starch is used up.

"The calculations are precise so that plants not only prevent starvation but also make the most efficient use of their food. If the starch store is used too fast, plants will starve and stop growing during the night. If the store is used too slowly, some of it will be wasted," said Smith.

The scientists used mathematical modelling to investigate how such a division calculation can be carried out inside a plant.

The study appears in the journal eLife. PTI

http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health/article/1265920/biomimicry-pus...

Biomimicry pushes science forward

Science constantly looks to nature for inspiration in its search for solutions to problems.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2013/06/25/science...
Science Will Protect Us from Climate Change, Obama Says