Monday, marvelous Monday is here one more time right on schedule. Science talk returns to brighten your day with selections from science sites across the globe. New discoveries, new takes on old knowledge, and other bits of news are all available for the perusing in today's information world. Today's tidbits include sunbathing helps keep some insects healthy, most mutations come from dad, only two percent of Canadians deny climate change, adolescent smokers have artery damage, research on wood formation sheds new light on plant biology, and the Milky Way now has a twin (or two).
Pull up that comfy chair and grab a spot on the porch. There is always plenty of room for everyone. Another session of Dr. Possum's science education, entertainment, and potluck discussion is set to begin.
Featured Stories
While most humans are better advised to stay out of the sunshine the Western Boxelder bug benefits from its sunbathing.
Western Boxelder bugs (WBB), found largely in B.C. interior regions, are known to group together in sunlit patches and while there, release monoterpenes, strong-smelling chemical compounds that help protect the bugs by killing germs on their bodies.
Researchers previously thought the compounds had a role in reproduction or defending the bugs against predators. But their latest study found that the compounds were emitted when the bugs were in sunshine – in effect, sunbathing – and weren’t used for communication or other purposes.
According to the researchers, sunlight appears to activate the biosynthesis of the compounds in the bugs, described as highly gregarious creatures. The chemicals then physically encase fungal spores on the bugs’ body surface and set off a chain of events that ultimately protect them from germ penetration.
Scientists discovered
most human mutations are inherited from dad as a result of the largest human genetic study undertaken to date.
In addition to finding 3.3 paternal germline mutations for each maternal mutation, the study also found that the mutation rate in fathers doubles from age 20 to 58 but that there is no association with age in mothers — a finding that may shed light on conditions, such as autism, that correlate with the father’s age.
While Americans continue to lag behind in their acceptance of climate change
only two percent of Canadians deny the existence of climate change.
The survey comes on the heels of Alberta Premier Alison Redford’s recent push for a National Energy Strategy, which would address the future of Canada’s oil and gas industries, and its approach to carbon management.
By now most people know that smoking is an unhealthy practice. Now comes a report that
adolescent smokers have artery damage, too.
Regular current smoking (daily/weekly) was reported by 11% of the 288 offspring (mean age 15 years; 53% girls) and by 15% when including less frequent smokers (monthly). Mean smoking duration was 2.3+1.98 years in ever-smokers. Exposure to passive smoke up to 10 years of age was reported by 31% of subjects and current parental smoking by 25%. Three per cent of adolescents were obese, 13% overweight and 60% reported less than 4 hours of either strenuous or moderate activity per week. Parental history of cardiovascular disease or cardiovascular risk factors were present in 22% of the participants.
CIMT (carotid artery intima-media thickness) is an accepted indicator of atherosclerosis in all age groups. In this study the mean CIMT in all subjects was 0.50+0.08mm. Multivariate regression analyses showed a significant effect of regular current smoking, with an increase in CIMT of 0.043mm (95%CI=0.014-0.073). “The results remained consistent when adjusting additionally for parental smoking, which means that the association observed was not confounded by parental smoking,” said (researcher) Dr Dratva. “Smoking duration was positively associated with CIMT, showing that the longer subjects smoked, the greater their carotid artery intima-media thickness.”
Researchers studying the
molecular changes inside tree cells as wood is formed discovered a phenomenon never seen before in plants.
...the team found that one member of a family of proteins called transcription factors took control of a cascade of genes involved in forming wood, which includes a substance called lignin that binds fibers together and gives wood its strength.
The controller protein regulated gene expression on multiple levels, preventing abnormal or stunted plant growth. And it did so in a novel way.
The controller, a spliced variant of the SND1 family, was found in the cytoplasm outside the cell nucleus. This is abnormal, because transcription factor proteins are always in the nucleus. But when one of the four other proteins in its family group was present, the spliced variant was carried into the nucleus, where it bound to the family member, creating a new type of molecule that suppressed the expression of a cascade of genes.
When paired with its close neighbors, the Magellanic Clouds, the rather ordinary
Milky Way becomes very special.
The Milky Way is locked in a complex cosmic dance with its close companions the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, which are clearly visible in the southern hemisphere night sky. Many galaxies have smaller galaxies in orbit around them, but few have two that are as large as the Magellanic Clouds.
Astronomers estimate as many as 14% of galaxies may have similar pairings and at least two may be virtual twins.
Knucklehead's Photo of the Week
Cleaner Wrasse inspecting a Marine Betta
©Knucklehead, all rights reserved, presented by permission. (Click on the image to see more in the same series.)
Other Worthy Stories of the Week
RIP Neil Armstrong, first human to walk on the moon
Spacetime: A smoother brew than we knew
Halo of neutrinos alters physics of exploding stars
Link found between cold European winters and solar activity
Men should shed excess weight before fathering children
Scientists create the first every mechanical device that measures the weight of a single molecule
New device to remove stroke-causing blood clots proves better than standard tool
Study says forest razing by ancient Maya worsened droughts
For even more science news:
General Science Collectors:
Alpha-Galileo
BBC News Science and Environment
Eureka Science News
LiveScience
New Scientist
PhysOrg.com
SciDev.net
Science/AAAS
Science Alert
Science Centric
Science Daily
Scientific American
Space Daily
Blogs:
A Few Things Ill Considered Techie and Science News
Cantauri Dreams space exploration
Coctail Party Physics Physics with a twist.
Deep Sea News marine biology
Laelaps more vertebrate paleontology
List of Geoscience Blogs
ScienceBlogs
Space Review
Techonology Review
Tetrapod Zoologyvertebrate paleontology
Science Insider
Scientific Blogging.
Space.com
Wired News
Science RSS Feed: Medworm
The Skeptics Guide to the Universe--a combination of hard science and debunking crap
At Daily Kos:
This Week in Science by DarkSyde
Overnight News Digest:Science Saturday by Neon Vincent. OND tech Thursday by rfall.
Pique the Geek by Translator Sunday evenings about 9 Eastern time
All diaries with the DK GreenRoots Tag.
All diaries with the eKos Tag
A More Ancient World by matching mole
Astro Kos
SciTech at Dkos.
Sunday Science Videos by palantir
NASA picture of the day. For more see the NASA image gallery or the Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive
Doradus Nebula, NASA, Public Domain