Tag Archives: humans

A Tailored Pair of Genes

By Guest PostNovember 22, 2011Scienceagriculture, alfalfa like legume, ancestor of legumes, ancestral genes, ancient plants, asteroid, backbone of protein, bacteria, beans, cretaceous period, crop plants, demise of the dinosaurs, dinosaurs, disaster, earth, eggs, fertilizers, genes, genetically engineer legumes, genomes, humans, legumes, living together, major nutrient, medicago truncatula, model, nevin young, nitrogen, nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer, nitrogen fixation, nitrogen fixing bacteria, nonsynthetic nitrogen fertilizer, peanuts, peas, sequencing genome, soybeans, sperm, synthetic fertilizer, university of minnesota

*For ancient plants, two genes were definitely better than one*

In the wake of the disaster that killed the dinosaurs, the ancestors of today’s crop plants reinvented themselves.

They doubled their genomes, and in that single act set the stage for feeding the world 60 million years later.

In a study published in the Nov. 16 issue of the journal Nature, researchers from the University of Minnesota and other institutions recount how sequencing the genome of a model, alfalfa-like legume revealed the monumental benefits that flowed when the ancestor of legumes acquired an extra copy of every gene. (more…)

Bird Song Yields a New Understanding of Cooperation

By Guest PostNovember 5, 2011Nature, Scienceecuador, eric fortune, humans, johns hopkins university, neuroscientist, site of a volcano, slopes of antisana volcano, tango

*A bird duet springs forth from each bird’s knowledge of the entire song*

The site of a volcano isn’t the first place one might think of to study cooperation. But neuroscientist Eric Fortune of Johns Hopkins University and colleagues went to the slopes of Antisana volcano in Ecuador to study cooperation as it plays out with a very special songbird, the plain-tailed wren. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation, the researchers report their observations in the Nov. 4, 2011, issue of Science.

Rapidly alternating their singing back and forth, female and male wrens cooperate to sing a duet that sounds as if a single bird sang it. The researchers assumed that the brain of each bird would have a memory of its own part of the duet, and also have a memory of the cues from its partner. They were surprised to find that both brains had a record of the complete duet–a performance that neither bird can do by itself. (more…)

Book Traces Long Trail of Global Warming Scholarship

By Guest PostSeptember 24, 2011Environmentcarbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide emissions, climate simulations, co2 data, computer simulations, crystalline substances, david archer, earth climate, foundations of global-warming science, geophysical sciences professor, global warming, global warming and climate change, global warming class, greenhouse effect, humans, impact on climate, infrared intensity of moonlight, louis block professor, methane hydrates, nobel laureate, oceanic sediments, ray pierrehumbert, rising temperatures, svante arrhenius, the smoking gun

Geophysical Sciences Professor David Archer polled the 200 students in one of his Global Warming classes about whether they believed that humans have had an impact on climate. Approximately 90 percent of the students responded “yes,” reflecting the lessons of climate simulations that Archer had shared earlier with the students.

Those computer simulations are able to reproduce the trend toward rising temperatures, but only when they include data on rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. Simulations that omit the CO2 data do not accurately reproduce the changes. Archer says the link helps reveal carbon dioxide emissions as “the smoking gun” behind global warming and climate change. (more…)

New Technologies (and Tires) Reconstruct Ancient Bison Hunts

By Guest PostAugust 2, 2011Scienceamerican indian, american indian tribes, ancient hunters, benjamin curry, bison kill sites in montana, blackfeet tribe, christopher roos, cliff edge, climate change, dale fenner, humans, jeff jones, jesse ballenger, kacy hollenback, kutoyis archaeological project, kutoyis project, landscape, maria nieves zedeño, matt pailes, meriwether lewis, montana, northern great plains, old tires, prehistoric bison hunting societies, school of anthropology, traditional bison hunt, two medicine valley, university of arizona, william clark

*UA researchers are looking for, among other things, how fire changed the landscape of the Northern Great Plains as ancient hunters went after big game.*

Researchers from the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona are investigating the complex relationship between climate change and modifications that humans have made to the landscape. And among the tools they are using in the pursuit of this knowledge are a bunch of old tires.

Led by Maria Nieves Zedeño from the UA Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, the Kutoyis Archaeological Project is a four-year collaboration focused on prehistoric bison hunting societies in the Northern Great Plains. The project is funded by the National Park Service and the National Science Foundation. (more…)

Even in a Crowd, You Remain Unique, UCLA Life Scientists Report

By Guest PostFebruary 23, 2011Sciencea face in the crowd, bigger crowds, crowd, daniel blumstein, evolution of individuality, humans, kimberly pollard, paradoxical, personal uniqueness, rodents, social creatures, social groups, species, the kinks, unique, waldo

“Am I just a face in the crowd? Is that all I’ll ever be? … Do you think I stand out?”

—The Kinks, “A Face in the Crowd”

It may seem paradoxical, but being part of a crowd is what makes you unique, according to UCLA life scientists.

Biologists Kimberly Pollard and Daniel Blumstein examined the evolution of individuality —personal uniqueness — by recording alarm-call vocalizations in eight species of rodents that live in social groups of various sizes. They found that the size of the groups strongly predicted the individual uniqueness in the animals’ voices: The bigger the group, the more unique each animal’s voice typically was and the easier it was to tell individuals apart. (more…)

Regrowing Hair: UCLA-VA Researchers May Have Accidentally Discovered a Solution

By Guest PostFebruary 18, 2011Health, Scienceaging, astressin b, bald, brain gut interactions, chronic stress, corticotrophin releasing factor, crf, gastrointestinal function, graying of hair, hair growth, hair loss, hair restoration remedies, hucksters, humans, mice age, million mulugeta, minoxidil, miracle solvents, peptide, stress, stress related hormone, treat hair loss

It has been long known that stress plays a part not just in the graying of hair but in hair loss as well. Over the years, numerous hair-restoration remedies have emerged, ranging from hucksters’ “miracle solvents” to legitimate medications such as minoxidil. But even the best of these have shown limited effectiveness.

Now, a team led by researchers from UCLA and the Veterans Administration that was investigating how stress affects gastrointestinal function may have found a chemical compound that induces hair growth by blocking a stress-related hormone associated with hair loss — entirely by accident. (more…)

MU, ASU Researchers’ Discovery Could Change Views of Human Evolution

By Guest PostFebruary 13, 2011Scienceardipithecus ramidus, australopithecus afarensis, brains, carol ward, discovery, donald johanson, ethiopia, feet arches, foot bone, fossil, fossil skeleton, hadar, hominids, human evolution, human like arches, human like walking, human locomotion, human origins, human species, humans, jaws, lucy, metatarsal, million year old, predators, predecessor, shock absorbing abilities, william kimbel

*3.2 million-year-old human predecessor had arches in feet*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Feet arches give humans a spring in their steps, shock absorbing abilities, and stiff platforms to propel themselves forward, allowing them to walk upright consistently. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri and Arizona State University have found proof that arches existed in a predecessor to the human species that lived more than 3 million years ago. This discovery could change scientists’ views of human evolution. The study is being published this week in Science.

Carol Ward, an MU researcher in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences at the MU School of Medicine, and William Kimbel and Donald Johanson, director and founding director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University, studied a 3.2 million-year-old fourth metatarsal of Australopithecus afarensis. A team from the Institute of Human Origins and National Museum of Ethiopia led by Kimbel discovered the fossil in Hadar, Ethiopia. The species is often referred to as “Lucy,” the nickname of the most complete fossil skeleton of the species to be discovered. (more…)

People Aren’t Born Afraid of Spiders and Snakes: Fear Is Quickly Learned During Infancy

By Guest PostFebruary 1, 2011Culturearachnophobia, arne ohman, children, electric shock, elephant, hollywood, humans, infants, monkeys, movies, poisonous, scary objects, snakes, snakes on a plane, spiders, susan mineka, toddlers, vanessa lobue

There’s a reason why Hollywood makes movies like Arachnophobia and Snakes on a Plane: Most people are afraid of spiders and snakes. A new paper published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, reviews research with infants and toddlers and finds that we aren’t born afraid of spiders and snakes, but we can learn these fears very quickly.

One theory about why we fear spiders and snakes is because so many are poisonous; natural selection may have favored people who stayed away from these dangerous critters. Indeed, several studies have found that it’s easier for both humans and monkeys to learn to fear evolutionarily threatening things than non-threatening things. (more…)