Futurity.org » University of Texas at Austin

Biology can’t run on genes alone

Pat Bailey-UC Davis — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:57:00 +0000

UC DAVIS (US) — Don’t lose the organism in the excitement over its genes, say biologists, who caution against straying too far from the actual plants, animals, and microorganisms.

The team suggests that decades of focus on genes have led the scientific community away from a balanced exploration of the organisms that those genes define.

‘Crazy ant’ invaders make fire ants seem polite

Daniel Oppenheimer-U. Texas — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:48:02 +0000

U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US) — Invasive “crazy ants” are displacing fire ants across the southeastern United States and may have dramatic effects on the region’s ecosystem, researchers say.

The ecologically dominant crazy ants are reducing diversity and abundance across a range of ant and arthropod species—but their spread can be limited if people are careful not to transport them inadvertently.

Bacteria help trace how alcohol binds to brain

Daniel Oppenheimer-U. Texas — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:12:53 +0000

U. TEXAS – AUSTIN (US) — Bacteria that grows only on rocks in the Swiss Alps has helped researchers identify how alcohol might affect key brain proteins.

“Now that we’ve identified this key brain protein and understand its structure, it’s possible to imagine developing a drug that could block the binding site,” says Adron Harris, professor of biology and director of the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction at the University of Texas at Austin.

Harris and Rebecca Howard, an assistant professor at Skidmore College, co-author the paper that was recently published in Nature Communications. It describes the structure of the brain protein, called a ligand-gated ion channel, which is a key enabler of many of the primary physiological and behavioral effects of alcohol.

Dead zebras help detect how anthrax spreads

Daniel Oppenheimer-U. Texas — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:34:43 +0000

U. TEXAS – AUSTIN (US) — Scavengers might not play as key a role in spreading anthrax through wildlife populations as scientists previously thought.

Wildlife managers currently spend large amounts of money and time to control anthrax outbreaks by preventing scavengers from feeding on infected carcasses. The effort might be ill spent, according to results of a small study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Carrion produced by anthrax deaths feeds many scavengers, including jackals, hyena, vultures, marabou storks, and occasionally even lions. These scavengers have evolved to be able to digest infected carrion without contracting the infection. Herbivorous animals more vulnerable to anthrax include zebra, springboks, elephants, and wildebeest.

Algorithm ‘learns’ to fix up grainy photos

David Ochsner-Texas — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:41:25 +0000

U. TEXAS – AUSTIN (US) — A new, free website provides tools to “de-noise” photos, such as removing imperfections from low light, and to enlarge images without losing picture quality.

“The free image-processing website allows users to upload as many as 1,000 images daily,” says Wilson Geisler, director of the Center for Perceptual Systems and professor in the department of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.

Cold prompts ‘power stroke’ in tiny swimmers

Lee Clippard-Texas — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:14:10 +0000

U. TEXAS -- AUSTIN (US) — To escape from predators in cold, viscous water, marine copepods switch up their swimming method, say researchers.

Copepods are tiny crustaceans found in nearly every aquatic environment on Earth. By some estimates, they are the most abundant animals on the planet. Their change in stroke in cold water helps them escape a slew of predators, from larval fish to crabs, oysters, and jellyfish.

Super-thin ‘metascreen’ cloaks 3D objects

Adrienne Lee-U. Texas — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:34:50 +0000

U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US) — A new invisibility cloak is just micrometers thick and can hide 3D objects from microwaves in their natural environment, in all directions, and from all of the observers’ positions.

Until now, the invisibility cloaks put forward by scientists have been bulky devices—an obvious flaw for those interested in Harry Potter-style applications.

For the study, which is published in the New Journal of Physics, the researchers used a new, ultrathin layer called a “metascreen.”

Texas Longhorns trace roots to Columbus voyage

Daniel Oppenheimer-U. Texas — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 15:22:28 +0000

U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US) — Texas Longhorn cattle are direct descendants of the first cattle in the New World, which were brought over by Columbus in 1493, new research reveals.

The study of the genome of the Longhorn and related cattle breeds tells a fascinating global history of human and cattle migration. It traces back through Christopher Columbus’ second voyage to the New World, the Moorish invasion of Spain, and the ancient domestication of the aurochs in the Middle East and India.

Marriage may boost gay couples’ health

Andy Henion-Michigan State — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 19:58:18 +0000

MICHIGAN STATE (US) —Legalizing gay marriage could improve same-sex couples’ health, though gay racial minorities may be suffering from a double dose of discrimination.

Same-sex couples that live together report worse health than people of the same socioeconomic status who are in heterosexual marriages, according to a national study that could have implications for the gay marriage debate.

Closing stores may boost market share

Andy Henion-Michigan State — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:47:56 +0000

MICHIGAN STATE (US) — For many big retailers, closing stores is a better option than opening new stores when it comes to increasing a company’s value.

The study, one of the first to examine the effects of store openings and closures on company performance, found that closing outlets can increase the value of firms with high market share as well as older firms and those that advertise heavily.

“There is no silver bullet for increasing a firm’s value, but for a lot of firms closing stores is more beneficial than opening stores,” says Sriram Narayanan, study co-author and assistant professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business. “When firms tend to close stores they typically shut down unprofitable stores and this allows them to refocus resources elsewhere.”