Scientific Discoveries

Scientific discoveries this week: 4-11-11

Evanston, Illinois – Rats may offer a great deal of insight into how tactile feedback works in the human hand. In a study at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, researchers studied how rats use their whiskers to detect the shape of objects in their environment. This allows the rats to make their way through dark environments with no optical input whatsoever. The possible applications of this knowledge are extensive; scientists are discussing building sophisticated robots with whiskers that will allow the robots to navigate tight spaces and detect the shapes and sizes of things in three dimensions.

Scientific discoveries this week: 4-4-11

Wellington, New Zealand – The wasp most common to North America, “Vespula Vulgarum,” invaded the island nation of New Zealand about 30 years ago, and since then, it has multiplied at an astounding rate. New Zealand now has the highest density of wasps of anywhere in the world. Biologists and behavioral ecologists have been studying wasps to see how they will interact with native species of insects on the islands. To see just what wasps will do when food becomes scarce, biologist Julien Grangier placed a small pile of tuna in a cage with a swarm of ants. When he introduced the wasp, it started grabbing the ants one by one, in its mandibles, and dropping them just a few inches from the tuna. It did not crush them, because the ants apparently do not taste very good.

Scientific discoveries this week: 3-21-11

Evanston, Illinois, US – New cancer treatments in the form of diamond-coated chemotherapy drugs look promising. One of the primary difficulties with battling cancer has been getting the drugs to stay in the tumor long enough to kill it. Tumors, over time, develop “pumps” that evacuate the drug before it has a chance to work. Researchers have been working on a method of binding chemotherapy drugs to diamond nanoparticles, in an attempt to get the drugs “stuck” in the tumor. The particles are too large to be pumped out. With a longer drug residence time, tumors are reduced in size much more effectively.

Scientific discoveries this week: 3-7-11

Christchurch, New Zealand – A new study by physiologists at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, shows that hagfish, an Eel-like proto-vertebrate, has a unique way of feeding. It involves the fish burying itself inside a corpse of another fish, eating it’s way out. Scientists now think that the hagfish may be absorbing the corpse’s nutrients through its own skin, while eating the flesh with it’s mouth.

Scientific discoveries this week: 2-28-11

Somerset, United Kingdom – The caves in Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, England, hide what scientists are calling the earliest evidence of humans using the skulls of their enemies as some kind of ceremonial cup. The skulls showed signs of careful breakage, which shows that the cannibals were trying to preserve as much of the skull as possible. It is still unclear exactly what the skulls were used for, but other cultures appeared to have similar practices, and the purpose was usually to humiliate their enemies.

Scientific discoveries this week: 2-14-11

Wyoming, USA – Something is happening in the caldera under Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Researchers have been monitoring the expansion of the caldera for many years, and have found that in the last several years some spots in the caldera have risen much more than others. In 2004, some areas rose at a rate of roughly 2.8 inches per year. The volcano under Yellowstone is the largest of its kind on this continent, and while unlikely, an eruption would literally bury half of the United States.

Scientific discoveries this week: 2-2-11

Various Villages, Burkina Faso – The common belief that malaria is spread by mosquitoes indoors may be proven wrong by a team of researchers in Burkina Faso, a small country in western Africa. Termed the “outdoor Mosquito,” this species is roughly 70% more likely to carry the malaria virus and, as its name suggests, spends it’s life outdoors. The common belief that malaria is spread by “indoor” mosquitoes may have come from the fact that mosquitoes are much easier to catch inside a house. Further study will hopefully show how much these mosquitoes actually contribute to malaria.

Scientific discoveries this week: 1-31-11

Houston, Texas – An amoeba formerly classified as slime mold is now being called the farmer amoeba. The amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum, picks up bacteria from its environment, carries it around, seeds it somewhere, and then harvests it for food. Debra Brock, a graduate student at Rice University in Houston, Texas, first started studying the amoeba as an undergraduate, and most of her samples were clones of one amoeba. At Rice university, Brock found that wild amoeba developed the ability to farm bacteria for food. Not all of the amoeba farmed; it was only observed under certain conditions that were more favorable to seeding and harvesting.

Scientific discoveries this week: 1-24-11

Houston, Texas – An amoeba formerly classified as slime mold is now being called the farmer amoeba. The amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum, picks up bacteria from its environment, carries it around, seeds it somewhere, and then harvests it for food. Debra Brock, a graduate student at Rice University in Houston, Texas, first started studying the amoeba as an undergraduate, and most of her samples were clones of one amoeba. At Rice university, Brock found that wild amoeba developed the ability to farm bacteria for food. Not all of the amoeba farmed; it was only observed under certain conditions that were more favorable to seeding and harvesting.

Scientific discoveries this week: 12-6-10

Vienna, Austria – Killer whales may mimic each other when they’re socializing. Brigitte Weiss of the University of Vienna in Vienna, Austria, has been studying the behavior of Orca Whales near Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Weiss has noticed that the whales seem to imitate calls that are similar to the calls of whales from another pod. Vocal mimicry among mammals is very uncommon, which is why Weiss took notice when she was analyzing the sonograms of Orca calls and noticed that about one in every 500 calls was a clear imitation. It is as yet unclear why killer whales imitate each other.