TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| Google, Skype targeted in India security crackdown By ERIKA KINETZ 2010-09-02T15:00:15ZMUMBAI, India (AP) -- India has widened its security crackdown, asking all companies that provide encrypted communications - not just BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion - to install servers in the country to make it easier for the government to obtain users' data. That would likely affect digital giants like Google and Skype.... hosted.ap.org |
Brain region linked to introspection By LAURAN NEERGAARD 2010-09-16T18:03:58ZWASHINGTON (AP) -- Just how confident are you that you made the right decision? New research has uncovered a part of the brain that's larger in people who seem particularly introspective.... hosted.ap.org |
Letters: Loss of science base will hurt economy The spectre of scientists abandoning the UK for better-funded jobs abroad (Scientists quit Britain in new brain drain, 1 October) should be of huge concern to everyone. Success starts with talent, and an exodus of researchers would jeopardise both scientific endeavour and the chance to create a sustainable economic recovery driven by knowledge-based industries such as bioscience. James Dyson has outlined a viable way forward, focused on improving the way we commercialise research through measures such as extending R&D tax credits. This is the type of strategy we need from the government – one that invests intelligently in our talent base, together with initiatives such as the "patent box" tax incentive, which would show that Britain can still be a world leader in science, despite the challenging times, by encouraging companies to exploit intellectual property in the UK.Britain boasts four out of 10 of the top universities in the world – a huge feat given our relative size as a country. Indeed, there are so many reasons to be optimistic about the future of science in the UK. Ultimately, it is people that are our greatest asset, and that means both industry collaboration, such as the upcoming BIA and ABPI joint conference on the UK's R&D strengths, and government support for sustained investment, which ensures the UK continues to shine on the world stage.Nigel GaymondChief executive, BioIndustry Association • People living with severe and progressive muscle disease fear cuts will bring research into these conditions to a near standstill. Since it was founded in 1959, we have has invested more than ÂŁ50m into research and it is only in the last few years that scientists have expressed cautious optimism that the first treatments will be available in the near future. But the transfer of promising technology from the laboratory into the clinic is costly and cannot be achieved without government support. This is a crucial time. The conditions we support are rare and only a small number of scientists dedicate their work to research in this field. We are in danger of losing the benefit of all the investment made so far, if world renowned scientists move abroad.The suggested cuts will bring the budget down to less than ÂŁ2.6bn. In 2007-08 the total science budget was ÂŁ3.5bn, which is less than 0.25% of the UK's total output. Research into rare conditions only represents a tiny fraction of this budget. We urge the government not to make short-term expenditure reductions that could jeopardise the longer-term development of life-saving treatments for the 70,000 children and adults with muscle disease, who have a right to have the same quality of life as everybody else.Dr Marita PohlschmidtDirector of research, Muscular Dystrophy CampaignScience funding crisisResearch fundingBiosciencesTax and spendingMedical researchguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Malaysia to use lab mosquitoes to fight dengue By 2010-10-11T10:00:39ZPUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) -- Malaysia could be the first country in Asia to use genetically modified mosquitoes to battle a rise in dengue fever, government authorities said Monday.... 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 |