| Explosive end for sick whale Explosives have been used to euthanase an ill humpback whale that washed up onto a sandbar off Western Australia's south-west coast. abc.net.au |
Better coordination needed in US tsunami warnings By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID 2010-09-17T19:00:22ZWASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. system to warn about giant waves has improved since the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, but more work lies ahead, according to an analysis that noted at least one instance when alerts from centers in Hawaii and Alaska appeared to contradict each other.... hosted.ap.org |
What to do with a degree in mechanical engineering From aerospace to petroleum, many sectors welcome mechanical engineering granduates with open armsA degree in mechanical engineering can take you a long way – a fact to which the likes of film-maker Alfred Hitchcock and automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche can testify. Porsche (unlike Hitchcock) did not gain a degree in the subject. He sneaked into undergraduate classes at the Technical University in Vienna at the end of the 19th century, where he picked up some of the mechanical engineering expertise he needed to design the distinctive and much-coveted sports car that takes his name as well as the humbler Volkswagen Beetle. For those who take the more traditional route, a degree in mechanical engineering can open doors to a wide range of sectors. Of all the engineering disciplines, it is considered the most diverse, combining maths, technology, business and management, making graduates highly sought after. Indeed, 60% of mechanical engineering students went straight into jobs after graduating in 2009.More than half take up roles in the engineering industry but a handful go into other areas such as the public sector (7.6%) or business (3.8%).What skills have you gained?Your degree will have given you a thorough grounding in engineering principles, but you will also have gained a number of transferable skills, including an ability to solve problems using both logic and creative approaches; numeracy; analytical skills; an ability to prioritise and work to deadlines; and good communication skills.Most courses have a strong focus on projects with direct relevance to the industry and offer practical experience through work placements.What jobs can you do?"Mechanical engineering graduates are, unsurprisingly, sought for contracting or consulting roles on the design, implementation, operation and maintenance of equipment and machinery in industries such as manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, petroleum, pharmaceutical, mining energy and water," says Margaret Holbrough, careers adviser at Graduate Prospects.But a degree in mechanical engineering opens up opportunities in other areas."A less usual career is that of a patent agent – researching, examining and assessing applications for patents that will protect the intellectual property rights of individuals and organisations," Holbrough says. "Careers in IT, finance and management are also possible for graduates with an interest in business and commerce."Opportunities to work abroad also exist, with 2.35% of 2009 graduates choosing this option.Postgraduate studyMany mechanical engineering students enrol on to an MEng programme, which is an integrated four-year master's course. However, nearly 14% of mechanical engineering graduates go on to study further degrees. These can include an MSc or PhD in a specialist area such as space and astronautics, nuclear or offshore engineering.Data supplied by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit and Graduate Prospects Graduate careersWork & careersMechanical engineeringSpaceguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Private spaceship makes first solo glide flight By 2010-10-11T03:51:23ZMOJAVE, Calif. (AP) -- Virgin Galactic's space tourism rocket SpaceShipTwo achieved its first solo glide flight Sunday, marking another step in the company's eventual plans to fly paying passengers.... hosted.ap.org |
How the leopard got its spots A new study shows why leopards and other big cats are spotted, striped or melanistic -- all black. In short, big cats' patterning and pattern attributes evolved in relation to their ecology and behaviors.The Amur leopard, Panthera pardus orientalis, is one of the rarest leopards in the world. Image: Desktop Wallpaper-s (Felidate). Similar to one of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, which used the language of delight to explain natural phenomena, British codebreaker and computer scientist Alan Turing used the language of mathematics to explain his observation that Fibonacci numbers could be seen in plant growth patterns (watch this lovely video to get an idea of what I am talking about). The equation that Dr Turing used? The reaction–diffusion model system. The reaction–diffusion equation is a mathematical model that describes how the concentration of one or more substances changes either because the substances are transformed from one into the other due to local chemical reactions, or because the substances have diffused too far away from each other to chemically interact. Based on this brief description, it doesn't take a genius to realize that reaction–diffusion systems are widely used in chemistry. This model was one of several that I used to learn about water chemistry while an undergrad. However, this system can also be applied to dynamic processes that do not involve chemistry at all; processes such as those found in geology, physics and surprisingly, even in biology and ecology. In fact, Dr Turing's work helped to inspire the field of mathematical biology. Dr Turing first published a paper in 1952 that used reaction–diffusion systems to describe pattern formation and morphogenesis in living things. In that seminal paper, Dr Turing outlined the basic mechanics of reaction–diffusion systems (Turing, A. M. (1952). The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society of London, series B 237: 37-72 [free PDF]). In short, reaction–diffusion systems that are used in biological patterning have basic chemical principles at their core.Two other scientists, Ortolani (DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.1999.tb01942.x) and Ortolani & Caro, later followed up, adding a little more data to the puzzle by suggesting that reaction–diffusion systems might explain leopard spots. But even though Kipling asked long ago why the leopard is spotted, and suggested that leopard spots are related to the big cat's habitat preferences, this hypothesis has not been tested rigorously. But scientific insights provide a mechanism for testing this hypothesis. Building on Ortolani and Ortolani & Caro's earlier, preliminary work, University of Bristol graduate student Will Allen and his advisors wanted to test the hypothesis that the reaction–diffusion equation could be used to understand the interaction between felid coat patterns and the visual appearance of their habitats. To do this study, Mr Allen used the reaction-diffusion model to generate patterns, which varied on several dimensions (regular to irregular; simple or complex; small to large patterns -- see Figure 1) and then asked five volunteers to match coat patterns for 35 species of felidae to these images. Comparing felid coat patterns to these images, nine of the 35 cats were always classified as plain, 16 were always classified as patterned whilst the classifications for 10 showed some variability, mainly relating to pattern polymorphisms. Four of the patterned cats were always judged to have complex patterns, with eight other species occasionally were classed as complex. The coat pattern data (photo and pattern images) were then mapped onto a phylogenetic tree for the felidae (Figure 2). As you can see, these data indicate that patterning emerges or disappears frequently in this family. The same is true of the irregularity of patterning and, to a lesser extent, the complexity of patterning. These features are prevalent in the big cats, the bay cat and the ocelot lineages:The take-home lesson shown by the above data is that many aspects of coat patterning evolves quickly in cats. But what affects this evolution?The team added ecological and life history information to their analyses, and found that arboreal life -- spending a lot of time in trees -- particularly when those trees are located in dense forests, was strongly related to complex patterns. Interestingly, nocturnal activity patterns were not related to the likelihood that a species is patterned but, among patterned cats, those with irregular patterns were more likely to be more active at night. Also interesting was the team's finding that so-called "black panthers" (melanistic cats) were more common in felids with stronger preferences for temperate forests as well as in cats that are habitat generalists -- such as leopards and jaguars. Habitat generalists have access a large number of environmental niches, so unusual colour morphs are more likely to find and excel in a particular niche. "For black cats, this could be hunting in especially dense forest or at night," wrote Mr Allen in an email. This process, known as disruptive selection, allows unusual morphs to increase their numbers and to become fixed, thereby dividing a given population into two distinct groups. In the case of leopards or jaguars, this means that the cats are either spotted or melanistic. In short, these findings explain why you'll never see an all-black cheetah, because cheetahs are grassland specialists. But what is the value in confirming an assertion that Kipling made before most of us were born? First, these findings demonstrate that evolved traits (pattern, habitat and behaviour) can be linked to a mathematical model of pattern development, as Dr Turing suggested. This provides scientists with another tool for making and testing predictions about how evolution is constrained by other unrelated factors, such as development and ecology. Are there plans to study colour patterns in other animals, like giraffes, okapi and zebras?"When this research was in its very initial stages we had in mind to look at patterning in all mammals before realizing what a stupendous undertaking this would have been," said Mr Allen. "I think extending conclusions to species with such different life-histories is difficult -- comparing the function of patterning on a solitary hunter to a herding prey species is problematic," Mr Allen explained, adding that other labmates are studying the function of zebra stripes. "Cats attracted us as an interesting taxa to make initial forays and develop new methods on, as they have a beautiful variety of patterning, which we were already quite confident wasn't related to sexual or social signaling."Mathematical models of pattern development have been applied to other taxa with interesting patterns, such as snakes (DOI: 10.1016/S0022-5193(05)80310-8) and fish (DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2443.2002.00543.x), and future studies could be designed to link this work with ecology and behaviour. "[W]hat is important is that our process can account for the range of patterns observed in felids," said Mr Allen, whilst noting that a few species have patterns that general trends do not predict."Approaches like the one we took really highlight unusual animals, which so often merit further investigation and lead to surprising new insights."Sources:William L. Allen, Innes C. Cuthill, Nicholas E. Scott-Samuel, & Roland Baddeley (2010). Why the leopard got its spots: relating pattern development to ecology in felids. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1734.Ortolani, A. & Caro, T. M. (1996). The adaptive significance of color patterns in carnivores: phylogenetic tests of classic hypotheses. In Carnivore behaviour, ecology and evolution, vol. 2 (ed. J. Gittleman), pp. 132–188. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Ortolani, A. (1999). Spots, stripes, tail tips and dark eyes: predicting the function of carnivore colour patterns using the comparative method. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 67, 433–476. DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.1999.tb01942.x.Will Allen [emails, 18, 21 & 27 October 2010]GrrlScientistguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |