americas – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

The Rise of Zika—Another Mosquito Virus in the Americas

By Guest PostMay 3, 2016Healthaedes aegypti, albert ko, americas, diseases, infectious, mosquito virus, rise of zika, scistyle, thomas splettstoesser, zika transmission

Zika, the latest mosquito-borne virus to emerge in the Americas, is rapidly becoming a public health crisis. In Brazil, it is suspected in a sharp increase in microcephaly (a birth defect that results in newborns with smaller than normal head size), leading to anxiety amongst expecting mothers and a travel advisory from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Traditionally, the virus has been fairly benign, causing a rash and a fever that is usually non-life threatening. Professor Albert Ko, chair of the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health, has been working with colleagues in Brazil for months to understand if the virus has changed and what is causing the birth defects in newborns. (more…)

Maths predicts rise and fall of empires

By Guest PostOctober 5, 2013General, Scienceafrica, americas, ancient empires, asia, cavalry, chariots, computer model, empires, Europe, evolution, evolutionary driver, fall, grid cell, human history, math, mathematical model, mathematical simulation, military innovation, old world, predict, predict the future, quantitative accuracy, rise, sergey gavrilets, simulate warfare, socio cultural evolution, tom currie, university of connecticut, university of exeter

Researchers have developed a new mathematical model that accurately describes the evolution of ancient empires.

The computer model can predict with 65% accuracy where and when the largest complex societies arose in human history.

The research, which suggests that intense warfare is the evolutionary driver of large complex societies, is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). It was carried out by researchers from the University of Exeter in collaboration with University of Connecticut and the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) in the US. (more…)

Placental Mammal Diversity Blossomed After Age of Dinosaurs

By Guest PostFebruary 9, 2013Nature, Scienceafrica today, afrotheria, age of dinosaurs, american museum, americas, amnh, andrea cirranello, anthropologist, boundary, branching history, brazil, cloud based, common ancestor, cretaceous age mammal, cretaceous paleogene extinction, cretaceous terrestrial revolution, cyberinfrastructure, diversification, dna sequence data, earth, elephants to aardvarks, encoded by dna, evolutionary history, evolutionary trees, extinct biotic groups, federal university, fernando perini, fossil species, fossils and anatomy, fragmentation of gondwana, genetic, genetic data, genomic data, genomics based model, h richard lane, insect eating animal, john wible, kpg event, late cretaceous, mammal relationships, marcelo weksler, mary silcox, massive dataset, maureen oleary, mesozoic era, michael novacek, minas gerais, molecular clock, molecules and morphology, morphobank, nancy simmons, national museum, national science foundation, natural history, non avian dinosaurs, nsf, optimization, paleontologist, phenomic data, phenomic matrix, phenomic systems, phylophenomics, physical traits, placental mammal diversity, placental mammal tree, publicly accessible database, robb brumfield, scarborough, stony brook university, time of origin, tree of life, university of toronto, well preserved fossils

Scientists build new ‘tree of life’ for placentals, visualize common ancestor

Scientists have reconstructed the common ancestor of placental mammals–an extremely diverse group including animals ranging from rodents to whales to humans–using the world’s largest dataset of both genetic and physical traits. (more…)

Tag Archives: americas

The Rise of Zika—Another Mosquito Virus in the Americas

Maths predicts rise and fall of empires

Placental Mammal Diversity Blossomed After Age of Dinosaurs