Tag Archives: biologist

New book explores ‘frontier’ metaphor in science

By Guest PostMay 1, 2014Sciencebiologist, boris stromar, cyverse, dunkle materie, endangered species, erin fuller, exploitation, exploration, gopherus evgoodei, kiesgepraegter strom, new book, taylor edwards, thornscrub tortoise, vermessung des weltalls, weltraum

Leah Ceccarelli is a professor of communication and author of the book “On the Frontier of Science: An American Rhetoric of Exploration and Exploitation.” She answered a few questions about the book for UW Today.

Q: What’s the concept behind this book? Why did you write it?

A: I kept seeing appeals to the American frontier spirit in the public arguments of scientists. That rhetoric was often inspiring, giving scientists an exciting image of their work across the metaphorical “boundaries” of knowledge. But it was also troubling in the expectations it set out about the manifest destiny of scientists to push forward at all costs, and in the way it reinforced their separation from a public that funds their endeavors. (more…)

Biologists find an evolutionary Facebook for monkeys and apes

By Guest PostDecember 2, 2013Nature, Scienceangolan talapoin monkey, anthropology, apes, asian primate species, biologist, canopy density, central, cercopithecus cephus, chimpanzees, common chimpanzee, complex facial patterns, ecology, environmental variables, equator, evolutionary detectives, evolutionary facebook, Facebook, facial diversity, facial pigmentation, facial vocabulary, fission fusion societies, geographic location, hamadryas baboons, human skin pigmentation, identification, intra species level, iucn, javan langur, jessica lynch alfaro, macaca arctoides, mandrill, mandrillus sphinx, michael alfaro, miopithecus talapoin, monkey, moustached guenon, nasalis larvatus, nomascus leucogenys, northern, old world african, orangutans, pan troglodytes, piliocolobus tephrosceles, predictor, primate faces, primate radiations, primate specialist group, proboscis monkey, rainfall, rhinopithecus avunculus, sharlene santana, snub nosed monkey, social group, south america, ssc, stephen d nash, stump tailed macaque, temperature, tonkin, trachypithecus auratus, ucla biologists, ugandan red colobus, white cheeked gibbon

Why do the faces of some primates contain so many different colors — black, blue, red, orange and white — that are mixed in all kinds of combinations and often striking patterns while other primate faces are quite plain?

UCLA biologists reported last year on the evolution of 129 primate faces in species from Central and South America. This research team now reports on the faces of 139 Old World African and Asian primate species that have been diversifying over some 25 million years. (more…)

Celebrated jumping frogs: For top hops, scientists look to Calaveras pros

By Guest PostOctober 21, 2013Sciencebiologist, brown university, bullfrog, calaveras county, calaveras pros, celebrated jumping frogs, frog jockeys, georgia tech university, guinness book, henry astley, jumping frog jubilee, justin bookey, muscle, rhode island, richard marsh, rosie the ribiter, technique, tendon, thomas roberts, trial and error, world records

The Calaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee has entered the scientific record via a new paper in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Experienced bullfrog ‘jockeys’ at the event routinely get their frogs to jump much farther than researchers had ever measured in the lab. How? Decades of refined technique, uncommonly motivated humans and herps, and good old-fashioned large sample size.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — One day, amid his decades-long study of how animals move, including how frogs jump, Brown University biologist Thomas Roberts found himself and colleague Richard Marsh puzzling over the Guinness Book of World Records. A bullfrog named Rosie the Ribiter reportedly had jumped more than 2.1 meters in a single hop at the Calaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee in 1986, but scientific studies had never reported a bullfrog jump beyond 1.3 meters. (more…)

Acidifying oceans could spell trouble for squid

By Guest PostJune 25, 2013Environmentacidic, acidic oceans, acidifying oceans, anne cohen, atlantic longfin squid, atmosphere, biologist, calcium carbonate, carbon dioxide, carbonate crystals, carbonic acid, coastal economies, daniel mccorkle, economic loss, egg capsules, loligo pealeii, max kaplan, ocean environment, parameters, ph of water, seawater, st andrews, statoliths, t aran mooney, tom kleindinst, trouble for squid, uk, university, vineyard sound, vineyard sound seawater, whoi

New study reveals more acid seas could alter early development of Atlantic longfin squid

Acidifying oceans could dramatically impact the world’s squid species, according to a new study led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers and just published online in the journal PLOS ONE. Because squid are both ecologically and commercially important, that impact may have far-reaching effects on the ocean environment and coastal economies, the researchers report.

“Squid are at the center of the ocean ecosystem—nearly all animals are eating or eaten by squid,” says WHOI biologist T. Aran Mooney, a co-author of the study. “So if anything happens to these guys, it has repercussions down the food chain and up the food chain.” (more…)

Endangered Lemurs’ Genomes Sequenced

By Guest PostMarch 31, 2013Natureaakrosh ratan, african agriculturalists, anthropologist, aquarium, aye aye populations, aye ayes, biologist, dna samples, ecological niche, edward louis, endangered lemur, european descent, forest habitats, fragmentation, Galaxy, genetically distinct, genome, george perry, henry doorly zoo, human dna sequence, human genetic diversity, loss, Madagascar, madagascar biodiversity, national science foundation, omaha, open source, oscar bedoya reina, penn state university, population, regions of madagascar, richard burhans, sequence, simon malcomber, software, southeast asian, stephan schuster, type of lemur, webb miller, woodpecker

Three populations of aye-ayes on Madagascar studied

For the first time, the complete genomes of three populations of aye-ayes–a type of lemur–have been sequenced and analyzed.

The results of the genome-sequence analyses are published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). (more…)

Super-Adhesive Geckskin Developed by UMass Amherst Scientists among CNN Money’s Top Science Breakthroughs of 2012

By Guest PostJanuary 4, 2013Science, Technology2012, alfred crosby, bartlett, biologist, cnn money, commercial products, darpa, drape, duncan irschick, everyday non spy, evolution, footpads, gecko, gecko feet, gecko like adhesion, gecko like performance, geckskin, high tech espionage, irschick, massachusetts amherst, michael bartlett, michael tomczyk, microscopic hairs, polymer scientist, replicate nature, reversible adhesion, science breakthroughs, setae, stiff fabric, super strong adhesive, supporting theory, synthetic design, top five, university, variation in anatomy, warfare gadgets

AMHERST, Mass. – Geckskin, a super–strong adhesive device developed by University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers that can hold 700 pounds on a smooth wall, has been named one of the top five science breakthroughs of 2012 by CNN Money. (more…)

Relieving Plant Stress Could Eventually Help Humans Relax

By Guest PostSeptember 14, 2012Scienceanimal model, arabidopsis mutant, biologist, biotechnology, cell, cell material, coal mine, disease, Environment, federica brandizzi, human growth, humans, ire1, michigan, multifunctional protein, plant, protein, state university, stress

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Humans could learn from how plants handle stress.

Federica Brandizzi, Michigan State University plant biologist, is using a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how plants overcome stress as they grow. These pathways used to overcome stress are a key to growth. Without them plants, and animals, would die.

“When cells grow, they undergo trauma as growth is quite stressful,” Brandizzi said. “Since it’s very likely that these pathways have much in common between humans and plants, we should be able to gain insights into how plants and animals overcome stress and continue to grow as well.” (more…)

Increase in Metal Concentrations in Rocky Mountain Watershed Tied to Warming Temperatures

By Guest PostSeptember 10, 2012Environmentacid rock drainage, acidity, air temperature, andrew manning, andrew todd, ard, bedrock, biologist, caitlin crouch, calcium concentration, chemical reaction, colorado, colorado boulder, continental divide, diane mcknight, ecological concern, geological survey, hypothesis, keystone, metal concentration, mineral weathering, mineralized, pennsylvania mine, permafrost, peru creek, philip verplanck, pyrite, pyrite weathering, rate, remediation effort, rocky mountain, snake river, stream, stream ecosystem, sulfide mineral, sulfuric acid, tributary, united states, university, US, usgs, water table, watershed, zinc

Warmer air temperatures since the 1980s may explain significant increases in zinc and other metal concentrations of ecological concern in a Rocky Mountain watershed, reports a new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Colorado Boulder.

Rising concentrations of zinc and other metals in the upper Snake River just west of the Continental Divide near Keystone, Colo., may be the result of falling water tables, melting permafrost and accelerating mineral weathering rates, all driven by warmer air temperatures in the watershed. Researchers observed a fourfold increase in dissolved zinc over the last 30 years during the month of September. (more…)