Genetic secrets to jumping the species barrier

Scientists have pinpointed specific mutations that allow a common plant virus to infect new species. Understanding the genetics of the key interactions between viruses and hosts could provide insight to how some viruses manage to jump the species barrier and even give us a better idea of how animal diseases are generated.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 13 Feb 2010 | 3:00 pm

New picture of ancient ocean chemistry argues for chemically layered water

Biogeochemists have developed a dynamic three-dimensional model of Earth's early ocean chemistry that can significantly advance our understanding of how early animal life evolved on the planet. Working on rock samples from the Doushantuo Formation, South China, the research team is the first to show that Earth's early ocean chemistry during a large portion of the Ediacaran Period was far more complex than previously imagined.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 13 Feb 2010 | 3:00 pm

The biggest loser: Maternal obesity puts a load on her offspring that lasts a lifetime

As if there are not enough reasons for obese people to lose weight, a new research report adds several more. In a study involving rats, researchers found that obesity in mothers causes cellular programming in utero that predisposes offspring to inflammation-related disorders (such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease and more) from birth, regardless of whether or not the offspring are obese themselves.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 13 Feb 2010 | 3:00 pm

New fiber nanogenerators could lead to electric clothing

In research that gives literal meaning to the term "power suit," engineers have created energy-scavenging nanofibers that could one day be woven into clothing and textiles. The technology could eventually lead to wearable "smart clothes" that can power hand-held electronics through ordinary body movements.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 13 Feb 2010 | 3:00 pm

Restrictions on female plasma may not be warranted

Three years after the US blood banking industry issued recommendations that discourage transfusing plasma from female donors because of a potential antibody reaction, researchers discovered that female plasma actually may have advantages.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 13 Feb 2010 | 3:00 pm

Nanoscale structures with superior mechanical properties developed

Researchers have developed a way to make some notoriously brittle materials ductile -- yet stronger than ever -- simply by reducing their size. The work could eventually lead to the development of innovative, superstrong, yet light and damage-tolerant materials. These new materials could be used as components in structural applications, such as in lightweight aerospace vehicles that last longer under extreme environmental conditions and in naval vessels that are resistant to corrosion and wear.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 13 Feb 2010 | 3:00 pm

Sustainable fisheries needed for global food security

Increased aid from developed countries, earmarked specifically for sustainable seafood infrastructure in developing countries, could improve global food security, according to a new policy paper.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 13 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

Muscle loss finding may one day save physiques

Mice that lack a particular antioxidant enzyme show impairment of cell energy centers called mitochondria. This leads to smaller and weaker muscles, and may help scientists better understand age-related muscle atrophy and other neuromuscular diseases.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 13 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

Epigenetic signals differ across alleles

Researchers have identified numerous novel regions of the genome where the chemical modifications involved in controlling gene expression are influenced by either genetic variation or the parental origin of that particular stretch of DNA. This contradicts previous assumptions that epigenetic signals are generally equal across both copies of a given region of the genome, except at a small number of known imprinted genes.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 13 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

Long-distance migration shapes butterfly wings

Monarch butterflies that migrate long distances have evolved significantly larger and more elongated wings than their stationary cousins, differences that are consistent with traits known to enhance flight ability in other migratory species.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 13 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - A winter storm that made its way through the Southeast on Friday moved into the Atlantic Ocean early Saturday and was expected to continue its trek northeast and away from the nation throughout the day.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Feb 2010 | 2:54 am

Obama nuke plant loan reflects new energy strategy (AP)

AP - The Obama administration's planned loan guarantee to build the first nuclear power plant in the United States in almost three decades is part of a broad shift in energy strategy to lessen dependence on foreign oil and reduce the use of other fossil fuels blamed for global warming.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Feb 2010 | 2:11 am

Love poetry brings a hot rush of blood to the cheeks

In a unique collaboration, poets and scientists used thermal imaging cameras to investigate whether love poems can really ignite 'instant fires' in every pore

Steamy love poems are always popular around Valentine's Day, but can a few lines of tender verse really make people hot under the collar? Researchers at Aberystwyth University attempted to find out earlier this week, using thermal imaging cameras to take the temperature of volunteers reading the work of Romantic poets.

The experiment is a collaboration between the arts and the sciences, led by poet Richard Marggraf Turley from the Department of English and Creative Writing and Reyer Zwiggelaar from Computer Science. They asked six volunteers from each department to silently read 12 love poems, while a slightly less amorous text about thermal imaging served as a control. As the participants pored over poems, including Bright Star by John Keats and To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell (both are reproduced in full below), thermal cameras monitored their faces for any change in temperature that could reveal their true feelings.

Initial results suggest that love poetry can indeed set the heart a-flutter. The team's early analysis of four subjects revealed a noticeable difference in skin temperature around the cheek and eye regions during their recital, with the location varying according to the volunteers' academic background. The computer science students showed a higher temperature reading from their cheeks, while English students were warmer around the eyes.

The small sample size means it's too early to draw any definitive conclusions, but the researchers are confident these preliminary findings will be reflected when the full results are published later this year. "I think it's fair to say that people who study English have a certain relationship with writing that isn't necessarily as important in the sciences," said Marggraf Turley. "For the first time, we're able to use non-invasive technology to get a handle on what's happening."

With around five terabytes of thermal data to evaluate, a complete scientific explanation is going to take some time, but the idea does have a grounding in literary theory. The Romantic poets believed their inspiration came to them as a burst of heat that gradually dissipated during the writing process. When someone reads a poem, they were thought to experience some of that original heat themselves. Keats described passionate verse as creating "a burning forehead" and "a parched tongue" in the lovestruck reader.

Thermodynamic metaphors aside, could there be anything in it? Different emotional states are represented by particular groups of facial muscles, and scientists believe that thermal cameras can track the flow of blood to these muscles to reveal what a person is thinking. Previous research has shown that the skin around a person's eyes heats up when they lie, allowing thermal imaging cameras to be used as lie detectors. "We're actually looking for the opposite of that, thermal signatures that are more ingenuous," explained Marggraf Turley. "We're trying to measure what Keats called 'the holiness of the heart's affections'."

The researchers hope similar techniques could be applied to other literary genres. We already know that comedy films can expand blood vessels and increase blood flow. Perhaps the same is true of comedy novels?

Maybe the concept even extends to non-fiction. Could reading a credit card bill give you a heart attack? As always, more research is needed.

Bright Star

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art –
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors –
No – yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever – or else swoon to death.
John Keats

To his Coy Mistress

Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love's day;
Thou by the Indian Ganges' side
Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the Flood;
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow.
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, lady, you deserve this state,
Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song; then worms shall try
That long preserv'd virginity,
And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust.
The grave's a fine and private place,
But none I think do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may;
And now, like am'rous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour,
Than languish in his slow-chapp'd power.
Let us roll all our strength, and all
Our sweetness, up into one ball;
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Through the iron gates of life.
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.
Andrew Marvell

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 13 Feb 2010 | 1:00 am

Mending broken hearts

Shortlisted images from the British Heart Foundation's photo competition

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:50 am

Activists: Whalers hurt by their own pepper spray (AP)

AP - Japanese whalers who complained of injuries from rancid butter thrown at them by an anti-whaling group were actually suffering from their own pepper spray attack, the protesters said Saturday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Feb 2010 | 12:30 am

Microsoft co-founder Gates tackling climate change (AFP)

AFP - Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has broken from philanthropic work fighting poverty and disease to take on another threat to the world's poor -- climate change.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Feb 2010 | 11:52 pm

Tropical Cyclone Rene hits American Samoa (AP)

AP - A storm packing hurricane-force winds slammed into American Samoa Friday even as residents recovered from last year's deadly tsunami.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Feb 2010 | 10:32 pm

Astronauts enter space station's newest room (AP)

AP - Astronauts swung open the door to the International Space Station's newest room Friday night, using flashlights to illuminate the shadowy chamber and wearing goggles and masks to keep themselves safe from any floating debris.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Feb 2010 | 10:12 pm

Astronauts Open Space Station's Newest Room (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - The International Space Station just got roomier. Astronauts opened the orbiting laboratory's brand-new room late Friday and quickly got to work moving things in.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Feb 2010 | 9:31 pm

What to do with a degree in: Psychology

Psychotherapy, counselling, advertising, marketing, retail … the list of careers open to psychology graduates is mind-boggling

What do actor Katharine Hepburn (right), Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner and serial killer Ted Bundy all have in common? The answer is that they all read psychology at university – perhaps not in itself a compelling argument for studying the subject, but an indication at least that when it comes to different walks of life, psychology students form a broad church.

The same, fortunately, goes for your job prospects. From research analysts to retail managers, a good grasp of human behavioural patterns and the science of the mind will put you in the thoughts of all sorts of employers.

What skills have I gained?

Psychology graduates develop the transferable skills that all employers require, such as communication, numeracy, independent learning and the ability to work in teams.

Courses accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) contain substantial teaching on statistics and research methodology, as well as scientific methods. Because of these, psychology students are often well suited to understand and manipulate quantitative and qualitative data.

Psychology students also acquire many of the skills of humanities graduates, such as critical thinking and essay writing.

What careers can I pursue?

Only a small percentage of psychology graduates go on to become chartered psychologists, specialising in clinical, educational, occupational, forensic, health or sports psychology. It's a fiercely competitive field and, apart from securing a good degree, the main challenge for graduates is acquiring relevant work experience.

However, psychology graduates are well-equipped for numerous roles. The scientific and research elements of their courses make market research, academia and numerate careers such as accountancy realistic goals, according to Margaret Holbrough, a careers adviser at Graduate Prospects.

"With their understanding of people and how they behave in different situations, psychology graduates could viably pursue careers in human resources, careers advice, psychotherapy and counselling, advertising, marketing and retail management," says Holbrough.

Postgraduate study?

There are various options: you may be looking to move towards chartered status, and to practise in a specialist area such as educational or occupational psychology. Likewise, many psychology graduates who do not wish to become psychologists often study further in a different area, such as advertising, marketing or teaching. Funding varies from course to course; check with The BPS for details of professional bodies that offer awards.

Data supplied by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit and Graduate Prospects

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 12 Feb 2010 | 5:05 pm

Shuttle Endeavour's Heat Shield Cleared of Concerns (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - The space shuttle Endeavour's heat shield is in fine shape despite three minor defects, which pose no risk to the orbiter or its six-astronaut crew, a top NASA official said Friday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Feb 2010 | 5:00 pm

Massive Star Blows Fancy Hourglass Nebula

The beautiful hourglass-shaped nebula Sharpless 2-106 shines with brilliant colors in this new image from the Gemini North telescope.

Giant star S106IR lies near the waist of the hourglass. Astronomers estimate the star could be up to 15 times more massive than our sun. The winds the star sends ripping through space appear to have generated the nebula’s distinctive shape. Scientists believe that as material accretes in a disk around the hot star, perpendicular outflow jets send gas and dust streaming out at speeds of up to 125 miles per second.

The new data from Gemini North is considerably better than previous images, such as the one at the right.

The nebula is part of a catalog published by Stewart Sharpless in 1959. It’s about 2 light-years long and half a light-year wide. It’s located about 2,000 light years away in the direction of the Constellation Cygnus.

The image was captured using four narrow-band filters that have been tuned to see hydrogen as well as ionized helium, sulfur and oxygen. When combined in the top composite, helium is violent, sulfur blue, oxygen green and hydrogen red.

Images: 1. Gemini Observatory/AURA
2. Digitized Sky Survey/SuperCOSMOS

See Also:

• The Making of a Mind-Blowing Space Photo
• Photo: Docked Space Shuttle and Station Cross the Sun
• Photo: Space Shuttle Crosses the Sun
• Humans in Space: 10 Amazing Spacewalk Photos
• Stunning Views of Glaciers Seen From Space

WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter, Tumblr, and green tech history research site; Wired Science on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 12 Feb 2010 | 4:45 pm

'Star Wars' lasers bring down missile

• High-powered beams were mounted on plane
• Defence test success 30 years after Reagan plan

The US this week achieved a goal that has eluded it since Ronald Reagan's Star Wars programme by knocking out a ballistic missile using a high-powered laser beam mounted on a plane.

The successful test was carried out yesterday in California, the US Missile Defence Agency (MDA) said, making real what had previously been confined to the realms of science fiction.

The plane uses a combination of lasers to lock on to the missile and track its trajectory, and then bring it down with a ­single shot fired from the nose turret, all in less than 12 seconds.

According to analysts, the breakthrough could have an impact on the North Korean and Iranian missile programmes, forcing them to develop faster missiles and adopt measures to counter the laser beams.

The MDA said today: "The revolutionary use of directed energy is very attractive for missile defence, with the potential to attack multiple targets at the speed of light, at a range of hundreds of kilometres, and at a low cost per intercept attempt compared to current technologies."

Work on the laser weapons system has been under way in earnest for at least a decade, at a cost of more than $1bn. In the past, laser beams have been used successfully against stationary targets from stationary platforms, but in this test the beam was directed from a plane against a moving target, a much more challenging feat.

However, some scientists and military analysts expressed scepticism about its long-term viability, saying that other such projects that had been hailed as revolutionary did not work when confronted by all the problems thrown up by war.

Michael Elleman, a senior fellow for missile research in the Washington office of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, traced a direct line from the controversial programme set out by Reagan three decades ago that was dubbed Star Wars, which envisaged lasers based in outer space intercepting missiles. "Reagan had a grand vision but did not know what the architecture would look like. They were looking more at space-based laser technology. The laser [in the latest test] is not necessarily what Reagan envisaged but it fits inside the grander scheme of what he wanted to achieve."

Elleman said the laser could force North Korea, whose Unha missile is slow, to look at accelerated missiles and that Iran was already doing this.

The MDA said the test was carried out at Point Mugu's Naval Air Warfare Centre near Ventura.

"The Missile Defence Agency demonstrated the potential use of directed energy to defend against ballistic missiles when the Airborne Laser Test-bed (ALTB) successfully destroyed a boosting ballistic missile," the agency said.

The system is being developed by ­Boeing, which uses the airframe of a modified 747 jumbo, and the MDA. Aerospace and defence contractor Northrop Grumman supplies the higher-energy laser, while Lockheed Martin is developing the beam and fire control systems.

"This was the first directed energy lethal intercept demonstration against a liquid-fuel boosting ballistic missile target from an airborne platform," the agency added.

The system successfully intercepted a missile in August last year but did not bring it down.

Last year the defence secretary, Robert Gates, decided that the programme should be scaled back, keeping research to a single plane, because of scepticism about how practical it would be.

John Pike, a defence analyst and founder of Virginia-based Global Security, said he doubted the test would change Gates's view. "Gates seemed to believe that there was no prospect of the plane engaging targets at ranges of several hundred kilometres, and that engagements at ranges of less than 100 kilometres were not militarily interesting," he said.

The MDA statement did not specify what the range was during the test.

Ivan Oelrich, a physicist and vice-president for strategic security programmes at the Federation of American Scientists, said: "What would be interesting would be how far away it [the missile] is." He said that to be useful, the laser would have to be able to shoot down missiles from at least 100 miles. It would also be expensive to keep one or more planes on stations waiting for a missile.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 12 Feb 2010 | 4:39 pm

Medical isotope supplies dwindle

Nuclear-reactor shutdowns will cripple global isotope production next month.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/news/rss/today/~4/-uLhhxa5zZ8" height="1" width="1"/>
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 12 Feb 2010 | 3:48 pm

Ark. candidate likens stem cell work to Nazi tests (AP)

AP - A Republican candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in Arkansas says he sees no need to apologize for comparing stem cell research to Nazi experiments on Jews during the Holocaust.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Feb 2010 | 3:39 pm

China takes stock of environment

Survey finds agriculture causing major damage.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 12 Feb 2010 | 3:14 pm

Climate data 'not well organised'

The professor behind the Climategate affair, admits some of his decades-old weather data was not well enough organised.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 12 Feb 2010 | 2:57 pm

Do Technology and Romance Mix?

This Valentines Day, technology will allow couples to express their feelings for each other in more ways than ever before – but that's not necessarily a good thing.
Source: Livescience.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 2:27 pm

Science Nation

Science for the People: Surprising discoveries and fascinating researchers.
Source: Livescience.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 2:18 pm

Monkey Business

Most of us can understand how we feel if someone else gets a better reward for doing the exact same work we did. Researchers are studying how these feelings of inequity evolved and if primates have the same sense of inequity.
Source: Livescience.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 2:16 pm

Georgian Luger Dies During Olympic Training

This rare fatality has cast a pall over the Winter Games and renewed concerns about the safety of the luge track.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Feb 2010 | 2:10 pm

Diamonds Are a Girl's Toughest Friend (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - We've all heard that diamonds can cut through glass, but now scientists have found Earth's hardest solid can withstand pressures just over a million atmospheres before getting crushed.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Feb 2010 | 1:10 pm

Friday News Feedbag for February 12, 2010!

If this is your first exposure to the Friday News Feedbag...we're glad to have you in the club. Welcome to Feedbag Nation, which stems from our weekly science news podcast that you can subscribe to here on iTunes and chat ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:50 pm

Oysters and Crabs, the Popcorn of Shakespearean Theatergoers

A reconstruction showing the Globe in the foreground and the Rose behind Museum of London Archaeology Tudor theatergoers snacked on seafood while enjoying plays by Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, according to new evidence unearthed at two theaters in London. The ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Feb 2010 | 12:48 pm

Searching for Network Laws in Slime

Of all science’s model organisms, none is as weird as Dictyostelium discoideum, a single-celled amoeba better known as slime mold. When they run out of food, millions coalesce into a single, slug-like creature that wanders in search of nutrients, then forms a mushroom-like stalk, scatters as spores and starts the cycle again.

In the rules governing the behavior of these creatures, researchers hope to find analogues for baffling biological mysteries, from the specialization of cells to how animals become altruistic.

“What I look for is principles that work on different scales,” said Princeton University biologist Ted Cox, who in an upcoming Nucleic Acids Research paper describes how cellular proteins find their DNA targets, a process he links to the slime mold’s foraging patterns. “The theoretical underpinning is exactly the same.”

Research on Dictyostelium took off in the 1950s, when work by Princeton biologist John Bonner led to the discovery of a chemical used by slime mold cells to signal, triggering their group-forming behavior. At the time, scientists assumed that a few specialized cells controlled the process. But a couple decades later, inspired by famed mathematician Alan Turing’s work on how simple rules produced complex structures, researchers showed that slime complexity resulted from the linked interactions of its cells, not some centralized regulator.

Their research stirred an ongoing scientific fascination with emergent properties and complexities. Since then, however, Dictyostelium has been overshadowed by Physarum polycephalum, another amoeba that exhibits amazing networking properties and is also known as a slime mold, though it’s no closer to the other slime mold than a horse is to a frog. (See sidebar.) To the chagrin of Dictyostelium researchers, the two creatures are sometimes confused with each other.

But though the spotlight has moved, Dictyostelium research continues. Most of it has shifted from big-picture work to fine-grained focus. Dictyostelium’s genome was sequenced five years ago, and information about its genetic and molecular mechanisms has steadily accumulated. From the application of modern mathematical modeling techniques to these realms of node-by-now measurement, the rules of networks may finally emerge.

“Fifty or 60 years ago, ecology was a fantastic collection of facts about organisms. Then along came Robert Macarthur, who used very simple equations to suggest how all this diversity might have occurred,” said Bonner, whose book The Social Amoebae was published in November. “That opened up a whole new way of thinking about the outside world. And I think that is going to happen with slime molds.”

According to Cox, the same dynamics governing slime mold signaling likely explain how calcium levels are synchronized — or go haywire — during the beating of a heart, or during embryonic development. The same goes for fluxes of mood-regulating neurotransmitters.

“It’s a unifying theory of excitable systems,” said Cox, who also noted that vortex patterns mapped in aggregating Dictyostelium cells are replicated in the spread of pathogens. Indeed, the slime mold is a useful model for studying the transmission dynamics of many diseases, from cholera to tuberculosis.

Cox’s upcoming paper is the latest in a series of papers on how gene-activating proteins move from one section of DNA to another. Such coordination can be visualized on a larger scale as a pinhead floating in a large room, and landing randomly on a pin. For all practical purposes, it should be impossible, but Cox sees a hint to an answer in how the slime mold “slug” searches for food.

“It’s Einstein’s diffusion equations, in three dimensions,” he said.

Before the slug searches for food, it has to form. Those dynamics are the focus of Rice University evolutionary biologist Joan Strassman. As described most recently in an October Nature paper, Strassman’s work shows how gene mutations that allow individual amoebae to cheat inevitably cause damage to other, essential cell systems.

Called “positive pleiotropy,” it’s a built-in system for ensuring altruistic cooperation, a phenomenon that fascinates biologists. “The microorganisms that help and hurt us are all talking to each other. There are social interactions going on in the bugs in our skin,” said Strassman. “This can tell us things about how microbes interact.”

For a “so-called simple organism,” said North Carolina State University biologist Larry Blanton, “it’s doing a lot of sophisticated things of relevance to higher organisms.”

Images: 1) At left, the life cycle of Dictyostelium/Larry Blanton. At right, a spiraling pattern of chemical signaling/Marcus Hauser. 2) Physarum spreading across England, from Andy Adamatzky’s “Road planning with slime mould: If Physarum built motorways it would route M6/M74 through Newcastle.”

See Also:

• Slime Mold Grows Network Just Like Tokyo Rail System
• Complexity Theory in Icky Action: Meet the Slime Mold
• A Brief History of the Superorganism, Part One
• A Brief History of the Superorganism, Part Two

Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes; Wired Science on Twitter. Brandon is currently working on a book about ecological tipping points.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 12 Feb 2010 | 11:59 am

Why Is The Sun's Atmosphere So Hot?

New imagery of the sun is revealing the complex dynamics of its surface and corona.
Source: Livescience.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 11:57 am

Fashionable Greenwashing?

Earlier this year, the Swedish clothing chain H&M ran into some trouble over its practice of slash-and-dump. When clothes didn't sell, store employees destroyed them, ripping the fabric to dissuade any fashion-forward freegans from scoring free graphic Ts or sweater ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Feb 2010 | 11:37 am

When Spring Arrives, Life is Timing

The most comprehensive and systematic analysis of the environmental impacts of a changing climate confirms what many individual studies have found -- the arrival of warmer temperatures earlier in the year is posing a variety of life-cycle risks to plants ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Feb 2010 | 11:20 am

What Really Makes a Good Cell Phone Camera?

The great megapixel race may finally be slowing down in digital cameras, but it's picking up steam in cell phones.
Source: Livescience.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 10:29 am

4 Myths of Online Dating Photos Revealed

Online dating success requires the perfect photo. But a new study reveals myths you’ll want to know before you post your pic.
Source: Livescience.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 8:49 am

Rare Snowfall Paralyzes Deep South

Even the mere threat of snow grounded planes and closed schools in much of the region.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Feb 2010 | 7:54 am

Why Humans Walk 'Flat-Footed'

Walking "flat-footed" as humans do is very energy efficient, a new study says.
Source: Livescience.com | 12 Feb 2010 | 7:41 am

Breathable Chocolate In Time for Valentine's Day

There's a new way to eat: it's called breathing. A professor of biomedical engineering from Harvard has invented a device that lets you taste chocolate without the calories. The product, le Whif, was invented by David Edwards, who previously invented ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 12 Feb 2010 | 7:37 am

Tiger's ancient ancestry revealed

As the Chinese Year of the Tiger begins, scientists say the world's biggest cat may be more ancient and unique than we thought.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 12 Feb 2010 | 7:24 am

General Synod says religion and science not mutually exclusive

Rejecting science 'weakens Christian voice' but churchgoers 'should not take Bible as a modern textbook'

Members of the Church of England have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion that religion and science are compatible despite bruising assaults by atheist scientists such as Richard Dawkins.

Christians with scientific backgrounds – including two bishops with science degrees – told the General Synod in London that many Christians accepted scientific theories, including those of evolution and the age and origin of the universe.

Launching the debate, a computer scientist, Dr Peter Capon of Manchester diocese, said: "We wish to refute the perception that you have to choose between science and faith … the crude caricature of faith as being blind and irrational. We reject the 'scientism' that claims that, in principle, science can resolve all questions capable of being answered.

"Most scientists accept that philosophy, theology and the humanities are alive and well and give insights and understanding that complement but are not replaced by scientific understanding."

Many Christians have been stung by criticisms which attempt to associate them with American fundamentalists who have waged a high-profile campaign in the US in favour of Creationism, or so-called Intelligent Design theory.

Capon added: "I am not suggesting that we should take the Bible, the inspired word of God, with anything other than the utmost seriousness and reverence. But we make a category mistake if we try to read it as a modern scientific textbook. We should be very wary of staking everything on proving or disproving a particular scientific proof.

"Rejecting much mainstream science does nothing to support those Christians who are scientists in their vocation or strengthen the Christian voice in the scientific area. Christians have always taken their part in scientific endeavour and in unlocking the mysteries of the whole of God's creation."

An Oxford physicist, Dr Anna Thomas-Betts, told the synod: "Religion and science have always been integral in my life. I don't look in science books to find out how to live and I don't look in the Bible to find out about Higgs boson. What is faith but a series of hypotheses verifying the truth of what we believe?"

Dr Tom Butler, the bishop of Southwark, whose doctorate is in electronics, said: "Since the Enlightenment, science has been dramatically successful in extending human knowledge and understanding of the universe and has changed every aspect of human existence. Theology, the queen of the sciences of past ages, is now tolerated … as a private preference but in no way has the authority of the true sciences.

"It's significant that Richard Dawkins is a biologist and biology has been the most successful of the old sciences … but it's the discipline of physics which tries to delve into more fundamental levels … discovering that existence is more mysterious than we can imagine."

Quoting Wendy Freedman, author of The New Physics, the bishop added: "'The measurements point to a universe filled with a kind of matter which we've never seen, propelled by a force which we don't understand' – and they say that religion is all faith. If believing that isn't faith I don't know what is. I don't think we need be defensive about ours."

The synod voted by 241 votes to two that it believed in the compatibility of God and science.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 12 Feb 2010 | 6:55 am

Diamonds Are a Girl's Toughest Friend

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Carole's Valentine's Day dating tips

In a Valentine's special, Carole Jahme explains how to employ evolutionary psychology to secure that all important second date

What am I doing wrong?

From Ian, aged 40

Dear Carole, I am a fan of your column and have applied your guidance to my search for a suitable mate. My profile on a certain online dating site has been written to emphasise my evolutionary advantages (height, intelligence, employment status, alpha-male potential, physical fitness and social skills) and has proved to be successful at attracting attention from females of breeding age and, after carefully sifting out unsuitable candidates, converting that attention into a first date. For this I owe you a small debt of thanks, but here is where my problems start.

Despite choosing neutral locations with convivial atmospheres and ensuring I am well groomed, I have been unable to secure a second date from the dozen or so women I have met. None of these women is impolite enough to give me a proper reason for not wanting to meet again, preferring to use the excuse that some sort of vibe or chemistry is missing.

I have considered that my profile might be overselling my good points, so I have ensured the photos are recent and that the text accurately portrays me, my sense of humour and values. I am happy that what my potential mates see on paper is what they get when I walk though the door.

What am I doing wrong? Is it the choice of venue? What do women expect on a first date and what is the optimum strategy for getting a second date?

Carole replies:
Glad the advice has worked thus far. Now to get you to the next stage.

You say women give you the excuse that the "chemistry" isn't quite right, rather than a "proper reason". I think you should consider the possibility they might be telling you the truth. Chemosensory communication is crucial in primates. The chemical balance of axillary odour (otherwise known as BO) is governed by various factors including health and stress, and your pheromones give your potential mate unique information about your genotype, your immune system, parasitic infection and even body symmetry, among other things.

Women outperform males on olfactory tests and at a primal level make judgements based on how others smell. The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a series of genes involved in immunity. Research suggests females can detect MHC type in sweat and for mating purposes seek out males with an immune system that is different from their own, thus ensuring the resulting progeny have strong immune systems.

In addition, just the right amount of androstadienone – a compound found in testosterone – in axillary odour can cause sexual arousal in females. But you can have too much of a good thing. High levels of testosterone in a male can cause various deficits such as mental retardation and aggressive behaviour.

So, when a female tells you the chemistry isn't quite right she may mean exactly that.

Let's assume for the sake of argument that you are entirely free of parasites and that the chemistry between you and your prospective mate is perfect. With the romance of St Valentine's Day upon us let's continue refining your mating strategy ...

I'm hoping you dress in smart casual clothes that flatter you and give you an appearance of having stamina and being fit, active and healthy, and capable in a sudden emergency – females favour males who pull their weight in a crisis.

Novel locations

Imaginative intelligence is a sexually selected trait, so show yours off and come up with novel locations and activities for your date rather than meeting in a generic wine bar, restaurant or cafe.

For thrills take your date to Alton Towers, or a dry ski slope followed by après ski. For something more sedate you could visit a country house and gardens followed by afternoon tea. A trip to the zoo might get her in the mood.

But whatever you do, be an original person who likes to have fun.

Avoid egocentric behaviour on your date. In other words don't do all the talking and don't brag. Self-aware psycholinguistic heuristic strategies, such as self-deprecation, are sexually selected indicators of intelligence. Put another way, females tend to appreciate subtlety in conversation.

Make sure you listen to what your date has to say and be interested in her. In general, women talk more than men and they like to feel understood, so try to engage with your date's personality.

Most women enjoy emotional intimacy with their female friends and bond more intensively. Some attempt to find a similar depth of emotional intimacy with the men they date but this cannot always be achieved. Disappointment over this issue frequently causes relationships to break own.

So try to make your potential mate feel that she is special, rather than just another in a long line of dates. But don't show so much interest in the factual details of her life that you become predatory – don't interview her.

Don't objectify her

Similarly, don't gaze at her as though she is a body to have sexual intercourse with. Don't objectify her. Try to avoid making comments about her physical appearance, even complimentary ones (you have seen her photo so she knows you like the way she looks). If she agrees to see you again you can then begin the compliments and continue with them ad infinitum.

Male baboons who want sex offer themselves as babysitters/protectors to the infants of females they are attracted to. You could try something similar, for example if you have nieces or nephews casually let photos of them fall out of your wallet, communicating that you are a male who is good fatherhood material.

Male chimps sometimes give meat or fruit to females they wish to mate with, known as "provisioning". So if you see an opportunity to spontaneously provision your date, do so, whether it's an ice cream, candyfloss or a bag of nuts.

Females are usually highly observant so you don't need to be ostentatious about your resources. But it is important to be generous with your time, your humour and your money – be someone with lots to give who enjoys sharing. So if you see a dog while in the company of your date make sure you pat it, if you see birds that can be fed, buy a bun and feed them, if there's a charity box handy shove money in it. Females have a preference for spontaneous altruism in males.

Don't let the first date drag on too long. End on a high note, leaving your prospective mate wanting more of the same so she emails you for a repeat performance.

But don't forget, research shows females are adept at discerning between genuine behaviour and insincerity. So, Ian, all you have to do now is make these behavioural strategies real.

Let me know how you get on!

Wyart, C et al (2007) Smelling a single component of male sweat alters levels of cortisol in women. The Journal of Neuroscience; 27 (6): 1261-1265.

Hummer, T, McClintock, MK (2009) Putative human pheromone androstadienone attunes the mind specifically to emotional information; Hormones and Behaviour; 55(4): 548-559.

Wedekind, C et al (1995) MHC-dependent preferences in humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London; 260: 245-249.

Thornhill, R et al (2003) Major histocompatibility complex genes, symmetry, and body scent attractiveness in men and women. Behavioural Ecology; 14: 5.

Zhou, W, Chen, D (2008) Encoding human sexual chemosensory cues in the orbitofrontal and fusiform cortices. Journal of Neuroscience; 28 (53): 14416-14421.

Brand, G, Millot, JL (2001) Sex differences in human olfaction: Between evidence and enigma. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology; 54: 259–270.

Yamagishi, T et al (2003) You can judge a book by its cover. Evidence that cheaters may look different from co-operators. Evolution and Human Behaviour; 24: 290-301.

Miller, GF (2007) Sexual Selection for Moral Virtues. The Quarterly Review of Biology; 82: 2.

Costa, P et al. (2001) Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: Robust and surprising findings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 322-331.

Smuts, B (1999) Sex and Friendship in Baboons. Harvard University Press.

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Carole is UK-based and as such any advice she gives is intended for a UK audience only.

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