Archive for February, 2007
Lending a technological revamp to pigeon-based messaging services, Chinese scientists have succeeded in hacking bird brains with micro-electrodes, allowing them to control the pigeon’s flight. From El Reg:
Xinhua news agency explained today that boffins at the Robot Engineering Technology Research Center at Shandong University of Science and Technology were able to “command [the pigeons] to fly right or left or up or down. It elaborated: “The implants stimulate different areas of the pigeon’s brain according to signals sent by the scientists via computer, and force the bird to comply with their commands.”
Reports that the Pentagon has approved $10 million of funding for laser-guided sparrowhawks could not be confirmed at the time of press.
* UPDATE: Picture added, via Mutant Palm! *
February 27th, 2007
I recently wrote about the heartening attempts of everyday people to further science in their own small ways. Embracing a rudimentary scientific method and applying it to small-scale projects is the seed from which paid-up scientists grow, and fosters a sense of curiosity about the world around us. So far, Graeme Cole has asked “How Difficult is Nailing Jelly to a Wall?”, while George Waksman continues to deduce how many licks it takes to get to the centre of a Tootsie Roll Pop. Our latest Science Punk to be featured is one Barry Rice, who wondered “can Venus flytraps digest human flesh?”.
I thought about my Venus flytraps. (You can start squirming now.) Could they digest diseased human flesh? If so, this would mean that if a person were trapped by an adequately large (giant, special-effects-monster-movie size) Venus flytrap, he or she could be digested. I figured this would be unlikely because surely the skin would be able to resist the puny enzymes from the plant. But here was a chance to prove it.
Four plants and one nasty case of Athlete’s Foot later, he has the answer. (link)
February 26th, 2007
It’s always nice to receive recognition for a hard day’s debunking, in fact, the only thing I like better is hate mail, which is far more entertaining. So imagine my delight at receiving an Award for Excellence, bestowed upon me by the Timothy Jordan Show, a Friday drive-time radio slot on Santa Cruz’s 88.1 KZSC.
Of particular interest to them was my debunking of the Beer Goggle effect, the phony equation released by corporate stooge Nathan Efron to generate press for lenscare manufacturers Bausch & Lomb. However, Timothy Jordan and co. didn’t quite manage to wrap their heads around the complicated “fraudulent article written for grant money” concept. In their words:
Science writer Frank Swain saw through the symbolic Greek distractions and ran some analysis on the equation.
As he later informed the equation’s author, a simple sensitivity test showed that while the amount of alcohol consumed increased the “Beer Goggle Effect” at a steady rate, the vastly more important factor was the subject’s vision to begin with.
Thanks to Mr. Swain, that old phrase often uttered by friends late at night in a bar, “Dude, have you gotten your eyes checked?” may actually be the most important factor in preventing the dreaded “Morning After Beer Goggles Effect”.
Altogether now: No, no, no, no, no! That’s not it at all. The most important factor in preventing the dreaded Beer Goggle effect is not to listen to made-up crap touted by unscrupulous researchers published as news by scientifically illiterate journalists!
Really, I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but the manner in which this award was presented clearly shows I’m not communicating these ideas clearly enough. I could make it simple and just say Nathan Efron is a scientist who abandoned his integrity to make a quick buck, but that line already nearly got me sued.
February 23rd, 2007
Gene Morrison was a prominent forensic psychologist who provided expert testimony in hundreds of court cases over almosy thirty years. However, Morrison himself ended up behind bars when it was discovered that his only qualifications were off-the-sheld diplomas bought from a sham university.
Continue Reading February 22nd, 2007
This from the BBC:
New Zealand fishermen have caught what is expected to be a world-record-breaking colossal squid.
Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton said the squid, weighing an estimated 450kg (990lb),took two hours to land in Antarctic waters.
Local news said the Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni was about 10m (33ft) long, and was the first adult colossal squid landed intact.
February 22nd, 2007
SlashDot reports the discovery of a small frog found preserved in amber, which could be up to 25 million years old! The 10mm long amphibian was discovered by a miner in Chiapas, Mexico, and sold to a private collector. It was then lent to scientists for research purposes. The frog is of the genus Craugastor, whose relatives are still found in that region. Wow!
February 19th, 2007
I have so many Awesome Science Videos featuring cephalopods now that I could start a sub-category. The BBC has footage of a deep-sea squid exhibiting a previously-unknown capacity for bioluminescence - flashing bright light from its tentacles to dazzle and disorient its prey. Unfortunately the BBC insists on using crappy formats for videos, but hopefully someone will YouTube it soon.
See the Video!
February 15th, 2007
Who said science wasn’t romantic? This from the especially doe-eyed Romantic Math website. Now they just need a formula to express “I love you, but I’m not in love with you”.
February 14th, 2007
Continuing in my series on zombification, we turn our eye from Soviet Cold War efforts and suicide-inducing Gordian worms to the Ampulex compressa, a parasitoid wasp that strikes fear into the heart of cockroaches everywhere.
Similar to the Gordian Worm, the Emerald Cockroach Wasp is free-living as an adult, but chooses to give its young a head-start in life by parasitising a living cockroach. After mating, the female wasp seeks out a suitable host and paralyses it with a quick sting to the thorax. This, however, is only the beginning of a slow and (we must imagine) painful death as the cockroach is systematically zombified, digested, and killed.
The first sting serves only to buy A. compressa enough time to deliver a second, more precise sting, directly into the cockroach’s brain. Guided by sensors on the side of her sting, the wasp probes into the brain of the cockroach. Upon finding a particular spot, the wasp delivers a second venom, disabling the cockroach’s escape reflex.
As the paralysing venom wears off, the cockroach does not run away. Instead, passive and obedient, it allows the wasp to seize it by the antenna and lead it back to the wasp’s burrow, to meet its fate.
Once there, the wasp lays an egg on the underbelly of the zombie roach, and seals the sonambulant victim in by blocking the entrance with pebbles. In time, the egg hatches and a tiny larva chews a hole in the side of the roach, worming its way into the host. Once there, the larva begins to digest the still-living cockroach, eating it from the inside. Once sated, the larva spins a cocoon inside the roach and develops into an adult. As a grim finale, the adult wasp bursts out of the cockroach and the life cycle of A. compressa begins once more.
Attempts by scientists to mimic the Emerald Wasp’s surgical skills have been met with limited success - the test subjects dehydrate and die well before those attacked in the wild. Quite how A. compressa manages to override the cockroach’s nervous system and metabolism is still an area of ongoing research, and a fascinating one at that.
Read Carl Zimmers’s superior retelling of this gruesome tale over at ScienceBlogs.
February 13th, 2007
The BBC is running an article about knitted breasts. These delightful woollen monomammaries will be used to familiarise expectant mothers with breastfeeding and expressing techniques. Latex versions of these cost £35 each, so Liverpool Women’s Hospital is asking grannies and hipster kids everywhere to lend a hand and knit a breast for the greater good. What a wonderful idea! Kintplans are available from the Lactation Consultants of Great Britain website, here.
EDIT: there is even more breast-knitting fun to be found here.
February 12th, 2007
In an shameless filler article, here’s a clip of a vehicle barrier being tested against the might of a speeding juggernaut. Those pesky terrorists stand no chance!
Also, if you observe closely, you will see that the vehicle barrier is also handy for the (very) rapid removal of truck engine blocks.
Is it science? Who cares, it’s awesome!
See the Video!
February 8th, 2007
Nathan Efron’s bollocks formula on Beer Goggles has jumped back into the BBC’s Most Emailed stories again, presumably because someone stuck it on Digg or something. Bausch & Lomb must be laughing themselves stupid with the free advertising the BBC continues to supply. You can read how I punked Nathan good and proper, here.
February 7th, 2007
It’s difficult not to make fun of Greenpeace when they make banners like this.
From this article on the BBC.
February 6th, 2007
Scientists in Indonesia have come up with a novel way to defend against a mud volcano - by choking it with chains of concrete balls.
Nature reports that the mud volcano, which erupted last year, has ejected up to 126,000 m3 of mud a day(!), displacing 10,000 people and closing 20 factories. Last week scientists unveiled a plan to use 1000 steel chains to slow down the mud.
Each 1.5m chain will have four large concrete balls attached, and will weigh 300kg. Fifty of these a day will be dumped into the volcano, where they will become lodged in its throat. The theory stands that by making the mud flow round, over and through the tangled chains, it will lose energy and the overall flow rate will be decreased.
There’s considerable debate as to whether this will cause pressure to build up behind the plug - I guess it depends on whether the mud volcano is simply releasing a historic pressure or is an active system constantly building up potential. If the latter is true, I wouldn’t want to be around when all those concrete balls are blown back out.
Then it struck me: these devices look to me very much like chain-shot, the historic cannon ammo made from two cannonballs connected by a length of chain. Could Indonesia be hot on the heels of China’s space-weaponry with their own giant, geo-thermal anti-satellite cannon?
February 2nd, 2007
A while ago I promised a slew of zombie-themed Awesome Science Videos, and that onslaught begins today. I’ve already posted an article featuring a fascinating, if disturbing, video detailing Soviet attempts at zombification (catchily titled “Experiments in the Revival of Organisms). Now it’s time to turn our attention to Mother Nature’s efforts, which are (as per usual) far more successful than our own clumsy attempts.
First up is the Gordian Worm, a small, thread-like creature that lives in freshwater environments, so named for its tendency to contort itself into intricate tangles akin to the mythical Gordian Knot. Growing to around 25cm long, but only 1mm wide, the adult worm leads an unremarkable life wallowing in mud. The juvenile, however, is a particularly nasty parasite that infects, digests, enslaves and finally kills its host.
When the tiny larvae hatch, they cannot survive long in the water and must find a host. Using an armature of spines on the proboscis, they bore into the flesh of whatever unfortunate animal happens to pass close enough. In fish, snails, crustaceans, the life cycle does not continue further. The Gordian Worm requires a terrestrial host, and to achieve that it will infect the larval stage of an insect such as a mosquito or dragonfly. When this insect metamorphoses into a flying adult, the dormant parasite is carried inside, surrounded by a protective cyst.
Should this host be eaten by another invertebrate, such as a spider, beetle or mantid, the Gordian worm begins the next stage of its gruesome life cycle. We’ll be looking at one particular species of Gordian worm, Spinochordodes tellinii, that infects crickets.
Once in the cricket’s gut, the cysts break open and the larva penetrates the gut of the host. Secured in place, it secretes digestive enzymes through its skin and begins to digest the living host. Over a number of weeks, the larva develops into an adult Gordian worm, all the time feeding on the cricket’s insides.
Once mature, S. tellinii needs to return to water to complete its life cycle. To do this, the Gordian worm infects the cricket’s mind, and forces it to commit suicide. Little is known about how the worm achieves this, but French scientists recently reported that the expression of certain proteins in the infected cricket’s brain were altered, namely those involved in neurotransmitter function and geotactic behaviour. The partly-digested and now zombified cricket seeks out water, and once there, throws itself in, and drowns. The adult Gordian worm then burrows out of the cricket carcass, swimming away to find a mate. So uninterested is the Gordian worm in the non-parasitic stage of its life cycle that it doesn’t even have a mouth - it will live on the reserves built up whilst inside the host and then die. Each female Gordian worm can lay up to 10 million eggs. Bad news for crickets, good news for zombie fans.
February 1st, 2007
