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All for One: What Makes an Individual

By Guest PostJune 27, 2013Scienceall for one, arizona, bacterial colony, chromosomes in cells, david shahnooshi, deborah shelton, environmental stress, erik hanschen, evolutionary process, genes in chromosomes, genomes, germ cells, hierarchy of life, individual, individual organism, Japan, Johannesburg, michods lab, molecular biology, morphology, multicellular colonies, NASA, patrick ferris, pierre durand, primate colony, rega like genes, richard michod, rick michod, somatic cell functions, somatic cells, South Africa, south america, university of arizona, university of the witwatersrand, volvocine algae, zachariah grochau wright

Life as we know it has certain properties that are consistent regardless whether you’re looking at a bacterial colony in a petri dish or a primate colony in South America. Rick Michod, UA professor and department head of ecology and evolutionary biology, has received $1.3 million from NASA to investigate what properties of biology define an individual organism.

Many things in life are not fair. But some things are at least consistent.

For example, all life as we know it has certain universal properties, which presumably define how life would be organized anywhere it evolved in the universe, said Richard Michod, professor and head of the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona. (more…)

‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of Chemistry)’

By Guest PostJune 27, 2013Education, Sciencechemistry jock, made of chemistry, original Eurhythmics lyrics, rhyme for ozonolysis, solving retrosynthesis problems, sweet dreams, sweet sorrow

Professor Neil Garg’s students turn organic chemistry reactions into song

When Eurythmics recorded their hit song “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” in 1983, they somehow neglected to include chemical equations. Thirty years later, UCLA undergraduates Jessica Lee, Emily Chuang and Christine Nguyen have corrected the omission.
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Older males make better fathers says new research on beetles

By Guest PostJune 27, 2013Sciencebeetles, birds, blackbirds, hypothesis, infidelity, megan head, nerc, offspring, older males, paternal care, paternity, perception of paternity, robins, species, university of exeter, younger males

Researchers at the University of Exeter found that older male burying beetles make better fathers than their younger counterparts.

The study found that mature males, who had little chance of reproducing again, invested more effort in both mating and in parental care than younger males.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London – B, considered how the likelihood of paternity influenced the way that males cared for young. Older males were good fathers and looked after the young even when they were unsure whether the offspring were theirs. Younger males, who had a higher chance of reproducing again, tended to care less for offspring, particularly when they were uncertain of their paternity. (more…)

Roman Seawater Concrete Holds the Secret to Cutting Carbon Emissions

By Guest PostJune 24, 2013Scienceancient roman concrete, chemical attack, durability, modern concrete, roman recipe, roman seawater concrete, seawater concrete

Berkeley Lab scientists and their colleagues have discovered the properties that made ancient Roman concrete sustainable and durable

The chemical secrets of a concrete Roman breakwater that has spent the last 2,000 years submerged in the Mediterranean Sea have been uncovered by an international team of researchers led by Paulo Monteiro of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. (more…)

How did a third radiation belt appear in the Earth’s upper atmosphere?

By Guest PostJune 23, 2013Sciencehigh energy electrons, radiation belts, third radiation belt, third radiation ring, upper atmosphere, van allen, van allen probes

Since the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts in in the Earth’s upper atmosphere in 1958, space scientists have believed that these belts consisted of two doughnut-shaped rings of highly charged particles — an inner ring of high-energy electrons and energetic positive ions, and an outer ring of high-energy electrons.
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Whirlpools on the Nanoscale Could Multiply Magnetic Memory

By Guest PostJune 22, 2013Scienceadvanced light source, als, als beamline, berkeley lab, billionths, brno university, czech republic, dynamics, electron spin, magnetic contrast, magnetic memory, magnetic states, magnetic vortices, meter, nanoscale, peter fischer, polarity, san diego, spin orientation, Technology, university of california, vojtech uhlir, whirlpools, xray optics

At the Advanced Light Source, Berkeley Lab scientists join an international team to control spin orientation in magnetic nanodisks

“We spent 15 percent of home energy on gadgets in 2009, and we’re buying more gadgets all the time,” says Peter Fischer of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Fischer lets you know right away that while it’s scientific curiosity that inspires his research at the Lab’s Advanced Light Source (ALS), he intends it to help solve pressing problems.

“What we’re working on now could make these gadgets perform hundreds of times better and also be a hundred times more energy efficient,” says Fischer, a staff scientist in the Materials Sciences Division. As a principal investigator at the Center for X-Ray Optics, he leads ALS beamline 6.1.2, where he specializes in studies of magnetism. (more…)

Particle Accelerator That Can Fit on a Tabletop Opens New Chapter for Science Research

By Guest PostJune 21, 2013Scienceaustin, charged particles, conventional accelerator, electrons, Environment, factor, gev, gev electron beam, gigaelectronvolts, laser plasma accelerator, laser pulse, mike downer, motorboat, multi gigaelectronvolt, particle accelerator, physicist, physicists, puff of gas, science research, space charge fields, tabletop, Technology, texas petawatt laser, toshiki tajima, university of texas, xray source

AUSTIN, Texas — Physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have built a tabletop particle accelerator that can generate energies and speeds previously reached only by major facilities that are hundreds of meters long and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build.

“We have accelerated about half a billion electrons to 2 gigaelectronvolts over a distance of about 1 inch,” said Mike Downer, professor of physics in the College of Natural Sciences. “Until now that degree of energy and focus has required a conventional accelerator that stretches more than the length of two football fields. It’s a downsizing of a factor of approximately 10,000.” (more…)

The rhythm of everything

By Guest PostJune 21, 2013General, Health, Scienceadolescents, approximately a day, automobile accidents, blood pressure, body temperature, breast cancer rates, brown university, cancer epidemiology, chronic insomnia, chronobiology international, circa diem, circadian cycle, circadian gene, circadian rhythms, clock, DNA, electric lights, epigenetic changes, estrogen level, feedback loop, habitual fatigue, heart rate, human body, jet lag, key issue, kidneys, logic, molecular autoregulatory, mutation, mysterious, natural processes, physiological phenomena, probably carcinogenic, regulatory genes, rhythm of everything. biological changes, richard g stevens, scientists, seasonal affective disorder, transcriptional activators, ultraviolet light, winter blues, yong zhu

Dawn triggers basic biological changes in the waking human body. As the sun rises, so does heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature. The liver, the kidneys and many natural processes also begin shifting from idle into high gear. Then as daylight wanes and darkness descends, these processes likewise begin to subside, returning to their lowest levels again as we sleep.

These internal biological patterns are tightly linked to an external cosmic pattern: the earth’s rotation around the sun once every 24 hours. This endless loop of light and darkness and the corresponding synchrony of internal and external clocks, are called circadian rhythms, from “circa diem,” Latin for “approximately a day.” Circadian rhythms influence almost all living organisms, from bacteria to algae, insects, birds and, as is increasingly understood by science, humans beings. (more…)

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