university of cambridge – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Bad news for prey: New research shows that predators can learn to read camouflage

By Guest PostSeptember 13, 2013Natureafrican bush, african nightjar, bad news, camouflage, find the nightjar, giraffe, jolyon troscianko, predation, predator, predator types, prey, university of cambridge, university of exeter, zebra

Camouflaged creatures can perform remarkable disappearing acts but new research shows that predators can learn to read camouflage.

The study, which used human subjects as predators searching for hidden moths in computer games, found that the subjects could learn to find some types of camouflaged prey faster than others.

The research was carried out by the University of Exeter and the University of Cambridge and is published in the journal PLOS ONE. Moths with high contrast markings – that break up the shape of the body, like that of a zebra or giraffe – were best at evading predation at the start of the experiment. However humans learnt to find these prey types faster than moths with low contrast markings that match the background, like that of a stick insect or leaf bug. (more…)

Lesbian and gay young people twice as likely to smoke and drink alcohol

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2013Healthalcohol drinking patterns, bisexual, bmj open, depression, drink alcohol, frequent intoxication, gareth hagger johnson, gay, hazardous alcohol drinking, heterosexism, heterosexual peers, homophobia, lesbian, london metropolitan university, longitudinal study, minority stress, public health england, research, smoke, social change, symptoms of anxiety, ucl, university of cambridge, young people

Young people who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are twice as likely to have smoked than their heterosexual peers, according to new research published in BMJ Open. Lesbian and gay young people were also more likely to drink alcohol frequently and more hazardously.

The interdisciplinary research team comprised researchers from five UK Universities (UCL, University of Cambridge, London Metropolitan University, De Montfort University Leicester and Brunel University), a doctor working in General Practice and a consultant from Public Health England. (more…)

Strange phallus-shaped creature provides crucial missing link

By Guest PostMarch 20, 2013Nature19th century, acorn worms group, biodiversity, burgess shale, cambrian period, canada, characteristics as chordates, chris cameron, christopher cameron, enteropneusts, fibrous tubes, fossil beds, graptolites, hemichordate evolution, jean bernard caron, phallus shaped creature, pterobranchs, scientific discovery, seawater, simon conway morris, spartobranchus tenuis, taxonomy, university of cambridge, university of montreal, yoho national park

Christopher Cameron of the University of Montreal’s Department of Biological Sciences and his colleagues have unearthed a major scientific discovery – a strange phallus-shaped creature they found in Canada’s Burgess Shale fossil beds, located in Yoho National Park. The fossils were found in an area of shale beds that are 505 million years old.

Their study published online in the journal Nature on March 13, 2013, confirms Spartobranchus tenuis is a member of the acorn worms group which are seldom-seen animals that thrive today in the fine sands and mud of shallow and deeper waters. Acorn worms are themselves part of the hemichordates, a group of marine animals closely related to today’s sea stars and sea urchins. “Unlike animals with hard parts including teeth, scales and bones, these worms were soft-bodied, so their fossil record is extremely rare,” said author Dr. Chris Cameron of the University of Montreal. “Our description of Spartobranchus tenuis, a creature previously unknown to science, pushes the fossil record of the enteropneusts back 200 million years to the Cambrian period, fundamentally changing our understanding of biodiversity from this period.” (more…)

Seed Size is Controlled by Maternally Produced Small Rnas, Scientists Find

By Guest PostApril 14, 2012Naturearabidopsis, austin, david baulcombe, diploid, double fertilization, duplicate genome, embryo, endosperm, flowering plant, gene, maternal genome, molecular mechanism, placenta, plant, plant embryo, plant evolution, rna molecule, seed, seed production, sirnas, small, small interfering rnas, tetraploid, university of cambridge, university of texas, z jeff chen

AUSTIN, Texas — Seed size is controlled by small RNA molecules inherited from a plant’s mother, a discovery from scientists at The University of Texas at Austin that has implications for agriculture and understanding plant evolution.

“Crop seeds provide nearly 70 to 80 percent of calories and 60 to 70 percent of all proteins consumed by the human population,” said Z. Jeff Chen, the D.J. Sibley Centennial Professor in Plant Molecular Genetics at The University of Texas at Austin. “Seed production is obviously very important for agriculture and plant evolution.” (more…)

Human’s Oldest Ancestor Found in Burgess Shale

By Guest PostMarch 6, 2012Scienceamerican palaeontologist, burgess shale, cambrian explosion, canada, charles doolittle walcott, chordate family, earthworms, fossil, jean bernard caron, leeches, marine organisms, myomeres, nerve cord, pikaia, pikaia gracilens, predator, primitive, primitive chordate, rom, royal ontario museum, scanning electron microscopy, simon conway morris, siphusauctum, tegopelte, university of cambridge, university of toronto, vascular system, vertebrate, worm, yoho national park

*Pikaia is most primitive vertebrate known*

Researchers from the University of Toronto, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and the University of Cambridge have confirmed that a 505 million-year-old creature, found only in the Burgess Shale fossil beds in Canada’s Yoho National Park, is the most primitive known vertebrate and therefore the ancestor of all descendant vertebrates, including humans.

The research team’s analysis proves the extinct Pikaia gracilens is the most primitive member of the chordate family, the group of animals that today includes fish, amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals. Their study is based on the analysis of 114 specimens and is published in the British scientific journal Biological Reviews. (more…)

Mathematician Sees Artistic Side To Father of Computer

By Guest PostFebruary 23, 2012Science, Technologyalan turing, barry cooper, bletchley park, british cryptographic service, british mathematical colloquium, british prime minister, canterbury, classical art, classical recursion theory, computability theory, david, electronic computer, father, gerald sacks, gordon brown, homosexual, italian high renaissance, jan van leeuwen, john von neumann, mathematical logic, mathematical problems, mathematician, michelangelo, modern computer, potassium cyanide, princeton university, robert soare, sistine ceiling, statue, turing renaissance, united kingdom, united states, university of cambridge, university of chicago, university of kent, winston churchill, world war

This year a series of events around the world will celebrate the work of Alan Turing, the father of the modern computer, as the 100th anniversary of his birthday approaches on June 23. In a book chapter that will be published later this year, mathematician Robert Soare, the founding chairman of the University of Chicago’s computer science department, will propose that Turing’s achievement was artistic as well as scientific.

Soare, the Paul Snowden Russell Distinguished Service Professor in Mathematics and Computer Sciences, has played a leading role in computability theory — the field that Turing founded and which is devoted to determining how effectively complex mathematical problems can be solved. In Mathematical Logic in the 20th Century, Gerald Sacks ranked a paper Soare published in the Annals of Mathematics as one of the century’s 31 most important papers in mathematical logic, including computability theory. (more…)

Exeter Academic Contributes to New TV Series on Islam

By Guest PostJuly 20, 2011Culture, Mediabbc, british citizenship, historical personality, islam, islamic intellectual history, Jerusalem, jordan, mecca, muslims, muslims in britain, prophet, rageh omaar, saudi arabia, syria, the life of muhammad, the uk, the usa, turkey, university of cambridge, university of exeter

*A University of Exeter academic, who is an expert on Islam, has contributed to the new television series ‘The Life of Muhammad’ currently being broadcast on BBC Two. The three-part documentary, presented by journalist Rageh Omaar, charts the story of the Prophet who, in little more than 20 years, changed the world forever.*

Professor Sajjad Rizvi, University of Exeter’s Associate Professor of Islamic Intellectual History at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, provided expert advice to the BBC team. He also appears in the series. (more…)

Tag Archives: university of cambridge