Futurity.org » Science & Technology

How fruit flies say no to extra-salty food

George Foulsham-UC Santa Barbara — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:57:27 +0000

UC SANTA BARBARA (US) — New research explains how an animal chooses low salt over high salt, and unravels the mechanism for how their gustatory receptor neurons get activated.

Craig Montell, professor of molecular, cellular, and development biology and neuroscience, and his team have been studying the mechanisms underlying salt taste coding of Drosophila (fruit flies).

How to give a 1,500-pound manatee a heart exam

Ron Wayne-U. Florida — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:54:37 +0000

U. FLORIDA (US) — Scientists are testing endangered manatees in captivity and in the wild for heart problems using a table built to hold the heavy animals.

“Due to their current endangered status, it is important that we understand the animal in its entirety so that we can better tailor conservation efforts for the species,” says Trevor Gerlach, an intern in the aquatic animal health program at the University of Florida.

Baggage checks: Want them slow or sloppy?

Karl Bates-Duke — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:11:04 +0000

DUKE (US) — Next time you’re doing a slow burn in security screening at the airport, remember that a more deliberate baggage scanner may do a better job.

In a laboratory test of visual searching ability, scientists found trained Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening officers were much slower than undergraduate students and other civilians. But the amateurs were sloppier.

‘Chimera’ states are real—and may affect the power grid

Morgan Kelly-Princeton — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:33:43 +0000

PRINCETON (US) — Systems such as a beating heart or a power grid that depend on the synchronized movement of their parts could fall prey to an invisible and chaotic tug-of-war known as a “chimera.”

Sharing its name with the fire-breathing, zoologically patchy creature of Greek mythology, a chimera state arises among identical, rhythmically moving components—known as oscillator—when a few of those parts spontaneously fall out of sync while the rest remain synchronized.

Why some GM crops fail to fight pests

Daniel Stolte-Arizona — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:21:52 +0000

U. ARIZONA (US) — Some genetically modified crops deter pests for a decade or longer, while others fail after a few years. A new global assessment may help explain why.

Since 1996, farmers worldwide have planted more than 1 billion acres (400 million hectares) of genetically modified corn and cotton that produce insecticidal proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt for short.

Pendulum math applies to predators, prey

B. Rose Huber-Pittsburgh — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:20:14 +0000

U. PITTSBURGH (US) — A 350-year-old math mystery could lead to a better understanding of medical conditions like epilepsy or the behavior of predator-prey systems in the wild, say researchers.

The mystery dates back to 1665, when Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist Christiaan Huygens, inventor of the pendulum clock, first observed that two pendulum clocks mounted together could swing in opposite directions. The cause was tiny vibrations in the beam caused by both clocks, affecting their motions.

The effect, now referred to by scientists as “indirect coupling,” was not mathematically analyzed until nearly 350 years later, and deriving a formula that explains it remains a challenge to mathematicians still.

Nasty parasites turn up in dead otters

Tomas Barrett-Cardiff — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:10:54 +0000

CARDIFF U. (UK) — A variety of disease-causing parasites are turning up in the bodies of dead otters in the UK.

The most insidious of the parasites, Toxoplasma gondii—which is spread by cat feces—was found in 39.5 percent of otters.

New subduction zone found near Portugal

Emily Walker-Monash — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:30:11 +0000

MONASH (AUS) — A new subduction zone forming off the coast of Portugal marks the beginning of a cycle that will see the Atlantic Ocean narrow as Europe moves closer to America.

Published in Geology, geologists have detected the first evidence that a passive margin in the Atlantic ocean is becoming active. Subduction zones, such as the one beginning near Iberia, are areas where one of the tectonic plates that cover the Earth’s surface dives beneath another plate into the mantle—the layer just below the crust.

X-rays restore 200 year-old opera

Thomas Sumner-Stanford — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:48:45 +0000

STANFORD (US) — Scientists blasted X-rays at a damaged musical score to reveal the musical notes hidden beneath a layer of black carbon.

The beautifully bound 1797 Luigi Cherubini opera Médée looks like an impeccably preserved relic of opera’s golden age. However, the final pages of the aria “Du trouble affreux qui me dévore” (“The terrible disorder that consumes me”) are blackened with carbon that completely obscures the closing lines.

Now, for the first time in over 200 years, Cherubini’s most famous opera can be heard in full. Scientists used X-rays to glimpse at the lost musical notes concealed under the carbon smear. (Listen to the found music.)

Planets like Earth could be hiding in space dust

Daniel Stolte-Arizona — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 19:52:28 +0000

U. ARIZONA (US) — Astronomers are working on a new technique to detect dust clouds around stars in an effort to identify planets like Earth.

The technology would dramatically improve the odds of discovering planets with conditions suitable for life—such as having liquid water on the surface.