BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Month: February 2012 (Page 1 of 2)

Lack of Sleep = Excited Brain

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On February 28, 2012

In Student Post

Credit: Richard Pagani

Do you get enough sleep during the week? With exams, college applications and numerous extracurricular activities, it is easy to lose track of time and stay up all night working on homework. Personally, I know that I do not get enough sleep every night. However, I did not know that the later people stay awake, the more their brains become active and overly excited.

A recent study has shown that as people stay up late during the night, their nerve cells become more jumpy the longer they are awake. The study consisted of six people staying up all night and having researchers measure their brain responses. The leader of the study, Marcello Massimini of the University of Milan, found that people’s brains become more reactive as hours awake accumulate. To test for signs of altered brain function, the researchers delivered a jolt of magnetic current to the subjects’ skulls. This stimulated an electrical response in the nerve cells. Through electrodes, the scientists measured the strength of this electrical response in the frontal cortex, the region of the brain that is involved in decision-making.

The researchers observed that after a night of sleeplessness, the subjects’ electrical responses were stronger than they were the previous day. The scientists found that this overreaction disappeared after a night’s sleep. Therefore, the study showed that during the hours people are awake, the brain accumulates connections between nerve cells as new things are learned. They think that this excitability in the brain may explain why sleep deprivation can trigger seizures and why hallucinations can accompany an all-nighter because these are events that are usually marked by extreme nerve cell excitation.

Neuroscientist Christopher Colwell of UCLA says that this is “an important finding [because] sleep deprivation is an area of huge interest because most of us do not get enough sleep.” The results from this study help clarify what goes wrong in a brain deprived of sleep. These scientists have also found that the results have a link to depression because it has been found that sleep deprivation can reverse the symptoms of depression. Massimini and his team believe that because the brain is in a boosted state of excitability when it lacks sleep, people who suffer from depression do not exhibit the same symptoms of it when they have not gotten enough sleep. However, this state of excitability is not good for the brain because it needs time to rest and repair itself. Sleep sweeps the brain of extraneous clutter, leaving behind only the most important connections. Therefore, when people are sleep deprived, their brain has so many connections between nerve cells that it does not have the ability to only pick out the most important connections. Thus, this state of excitability is not good for the brain because the brain is never given a break. After learning this, I will definitely try to adjust my sleeping schedule so my brain does not overwork itself!

To learn more about the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain and behavior click on the link below!  http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1690

Shark Skin is Impressive!

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On February 28, 2012

In Student Post

“George Lauder from Harvard University, USA, explains that the fish have long inspired human engineers, but more recently attention has focused on how the fish’s remarkable skin boosts swimming.” The Ridges called denticles that cover the shark helps it swim faster.The denticles not only increase speed, they also “improve thrust.” When sharks swim, the water goes through their furrows, reducing friction and ultimately helping them swim faster.

“The shark’s skin is so rough that contact with it can injure prey.” The coarse denticles point facing the tail so if you were to rub your hand down towards the tail it would feel smooth. Oppositely if you were to rub towards shark’s head it would feel very rough.

“Sharkskin is well adapted for moving through water at high speeds, so engineering a similar coating could be useful in making wind and water turbines run more efficiently. To do that, scientists need to understand exactly how denticles work.” A study at Harvard showed that denticles help the shark move 12% faster in comparison to a shark who does not have denticles!

They Have It ALL WRONG.

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On February 28, 2012

In Student Post

As a AP Biology student we are required to learn about genes, but because we are just in high school we don’t go too much in depth about each specific gene that makes us who we are. One major topic that we have been studying is sex-linked genes. Sex-linked genes are genes that are usually recessive on the X chromosome and are mostly seen in males. As you may already know males have XY and females have XX (making us more superior of course). So why am I re-teaching what we have already learned?

Well a recent study was published in the The Lancet, a medical journal, claiming that males are at greater risk for heart disease. They found that 2 out of every 3 heart disease patients are male. This is not an outstanding ratio but it definitely  rose questions in the medical field. The funny thing is they are now speculating that this disease is linked to the y chromosome. A chromosome that rarely ever shows up in a woman’s DNA, but if that were true then wouldn’t heart disease be unseen in women. Dr. Tomaszewski found that there are two different types of y chromosomes and men with one type were more likely to have heart

disease.On the other hand “Dr. Daniel J. Rader, a heart disease researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, said it was also possible that simply having a Y chromosome instead of two X chromosomes, as women have, increased heart disease risk. The extra X could be protective.” While the whole New York Times Article speaks about the recent research, the article continuously claims that “A lot more work needs to be done.” I have to agree with this

statement. I think that there are too many other factors that play into heart disease. Is it possible that they are looking too far into this? Maybe it is just a normal recessive sex-linked trait on the X chromosome and because women have 2 X chromosomes they are less likely to have it. What do you think?

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/health/research/heart-disease-risk-may-be-tied-to-y-chromosome.html?_r=1&ref=health

Dr. iPhones

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On February 28, 2012

In Student Post

Just when we thought apple technology was the greatest things ever. Once again the apps on our iphones, ipads, and ipods are changing our lives. Now they are finding ways to connect our physical health to our iphone apps. How? Is this possible?

Researchers are working on technology that when you take a “smart pill” or some sort of microchip that an iphone app will be able to pick up a signal and record the health of our bodies to be sent to the physicians. This reminded me of the movie we are watching in class, GATTACA, where machines are able to anayzlize our well-being and dieaseas.

Another interesting iphone app meets medicine, is insulin shots and being able to figure out how much diabetics should take. Instead of using pumps and taking blood, iphones can be all your all one in package. Phone calls, texting, camera, internet, games, facebook, music… and now get a check up. Whats next?

 

 

Could it be more than a Simple Physical Attraction?

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On February 28, 2012

In Student Post

Ever wonder why there are so many cougars around these days, or so many older men dating younger women?

It’s not just because of a physical attraction. In fact, attraction in humans and in fruit flies relates to pheromones, or “the chemicals of love.” In the recent Biology News article “Fruit Flies Drawn to the Sweet Smell of Youth,” I learned that cuticular hydrocarbons,which are the pheromones of fruit flies, change with age. In an experiment run by Tsung-Han Kuo, a ” a graduate student in the department of molecular and human genetics and the Huffington Center on Aging at BCM,” it was obvious that the male fruit fly was attracted much more to the young female fruit fly than the older female fruit fly. This was even true when the male fruit fly could not see the flies because the scientist had made the room dark. Interestingly enough, all it took for the male fruit fly to be confused about which woman to choose was to wipe the pheromones, or rather the cuticular hydrocarbons, off the bodies of the female fruit flies. When this occurred, the male fruit fly was rather ambivalent and flummoxed with the decision over which fly to choose to mate with. This tells us that pheromonesmake all the difference, an

most significantly to this article, they spark fly attraction. I believe that this pheromone attraction could be the true reason why  many individuals stray from their significant others to find “hotter” and “sexier” partners.

 

A Dead Fruit Fly.

To sum all this up, based on our experiments in class, we know that fruit flies produce massive numbers of children, and as these female fruit flies age, the male fruit flies that they have mated with in the past are vastly less interested and attracted to the aging female pheromone.

The Importance of a Teenage Balanced Diet

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

 

Photo Credit Flickr User: Writing Program PTW

 

We all have heard someone in our life say: “what you do and how you act now will affect you in the years to come.” The teenage years set the foundation for the rest of your life. The choices you make on a daily basis affect you in later years. One of those daily choices is what you eat, and this choice is more important in your teenage years than you think.

A recent study sheds light on the importance of specifically iron intake in your teen years. Iron has more of an influence on ones brain than most would think. Professor Paul Thompson measured levels of transferrin in adolescents and discovered the “transferrin levels were related to detectable differences in both the brain’s macro-structure and micro-structure when the adolescents reached young adulthood.” Iron and the proteins that transport iron are critical for brain function.

After reading this article one problem I found is too little iron can result in cognitive problems but too much iron promotes neurodegenerative diseases.  So what is the right amount of iron intake? This article talks about iron intake and how much you should be incorporating in your diet everyday. Since both a deficiency and an excess of iron can have a negative impact that makes the body’s regulation of iron transport even more crucial.

A shocking aspect of this research was as it states in the article about the test subjects: “we were looking at people who were young and healthy — none of them would be considered iron-deficient.” The young individuals who were part of this study were not even iron-deficient! Yet still the research showed that healthy brain wiring in adults depends on iron levels in your teenage years.

Is it too late to start incorporating iron in your diet as an adult? Ofcourse not! You may be wondering how you can incorporate more iron in your diet. Iron can be taken in as a vitamin and found in many foods. As a healthy teenager you may not be always thinking about the things you eat but another thing people always say is: “you should have a balanced diet” and they are correct!

DNA and Cave Paining?

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

Photo Credit: Flickr User Photography by Ayesha Hagerman

DNA and Cave painting seem like two things that are incredibly unlikely to go together.  However, a new study on DNA are proving that the cave paintings in France dating back 25,000 years show accurate portrayals of the horses in them rather than just symbolic portrayals.  The team which includes researchers from the University of York as well as researchers form the UK, Germany, USA, Spain, Russia, and Mexico, took the genotypes and analyzed nine different coat color loci in 31 horses (pre-domestic horses specifically) which were from about 35,000 years ago.  To do this they analyzed bones and teeth found in 15 locations.

What they found surprised them as they assumed, as most people did that there were only bay and black coats at this time, but they found four pleistocene and two copper age samples form europe which showed a leopard phenotype.  Though there were 18 bays and seven black horses the fact that they could prove that there were leopard phenotypes proved that the cave paintings were a true representation of what was around the people at this time, not simply symbolic.  This study showed not only the value of cave paintings, but also the importance of the relationship between science and history.

Brain Stimulation Improves Spatial Memory!

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

 

Credit: taod Flickr

In a recent article, the NY Times discusses scientists’ new findings on how to improve memorythrough electrical stimulation. In a study covered by the New England Journal of Medecine, epilepsy  patients were stimulated by getting electrodes inserted into their brain as they were being prepared for surgery. Although these tests are nonconclusive, these patients showed an incredible improvement in spatial memory .

In addition, scientists recently concluded that damage associated with Alzheimer’s Disease beings in the entorhinal cortex , the same area of the brain from the electrode-stimulation study. This is very big news because, with more tests done, this could be a big step towards treating (or curing) memory disorders, such as Alzheimer’s.

Researchers and scientists immediately jumped into another study that takes place in the University of California (Los Angeles). Foccused on the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus , the researchers inserted more electrodes into a small group of epileptic patients, and had them play Crazy Taxi. So as you know, Crazy Taxi is a video game where you have to drive up to people “hailing a taxi” on the sidewalk and drive them to a certain destination on the map in a limited amount of time. After the brain stimulation, the patients’ scores were dramatically higher, being able to navigate the map more easily, due to their improvement of spatial memory.

Whether this answers the question of Alzheimer’s or not, finding a way to improve memory is extremely beneficial in many other cases or disorders. All scientists can do now is take advantage of this recent finding, and perform as many more tests as they can, and hopefully they will come across even more cures to many more memory malfunctions.

Don’t forget your sleep

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

Photo Credit: Me

Let’s face it there are many nights when we don’t get the sleep we need for some reason or other.  Not getting the recommended eight hours of sleep is pretty much the norm for students, but according to a new study this lack of sleep could really be hurting us later on.  This new study found that disrupted sleep appears to be associated with the build-up of amyloid plaques, which are a known to be a hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, in the brains of people who did not yet have any memory problems.

The author of the study Yo-El Ju, who works with Washington University School of Medicine conducted the study by testing the sleep patterns of one hundred people, ages 45 to 80, who were free of dementia.  Half of this group had a family history of Alzheimer’s.  Sleep diaries and questionnaires were used to learn about the patients sleeping habits as well as a device placed on the participants for two weeks to measure sleep.

The study found that 25% of the participants had evidence of amyloid plaques, which are known to be able to show up years before symptoms of Alzheimer’s appear.  Most of these people spend an average of eight hours in bed, but only 6.5 hours asleep due to waking up at night.  The study found that people who were waking up more than five times an hour were more likely to have the amyloid plaque build-up than the people who didn’t wake up much at all.  The study also said that people who slept less efficiently were more likely to have markers of early stage Alzheimer’s disease.  Dr.Ju says it will take more time and data to fully understand the link, but I think for now it is safe to say that sometimes we should put our homework down and get to sleep.

Smart Pills? There’s an App for That!

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

Credits Tony Buser

 

Have you ever wished it was easier to communicate with your doctor how your medication was working?  Wouldn’t it be easier for data regarding how your body responds to the medicine to automatically be sent to the doctor’s office?  Well it seems that in the not to distant future, your smart phone will be able to work in pair with a “smart pill,” which contains a biodegradable electronic chip that monitors how your body responds to the medicine, broadcasts the information to your iPhone, which then emails the information to your physician.

This revolutionary idea is currently being explored by Proteus Biomedical and Novartis, as they plan to make patient/doctor relationships more connected through the implementation of smart pills.

One application of smart pills will be glucose meters, which will connect with iPhones to retrieve, archive, and transmit data.  Upon ingestion, these smart pill glucose meters will monitor sugar levels throughout the body and automatically send doctors detailed reports.  This can be especially useful for diabetes patients, as it is extremely important to constantly regulate their blood sugar level.

The possibilities for this new idea are truly endless, and those close to the development process reveal that smart pills will provide detailed information on how individual patients respond to therapy and could help facilitate the rise of an era of personalized medicine.

 

 

(link for picture credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tbuser/2675780623/ )

No Drinking Age for Fruit Flies!

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

Photo Credit: digicla

Why can’t I drink alcohol but a mere fruit fly is able to, you ask? Well unless you wish for wasps to lay their eggs inside you I suggest you drop that argument.

A new article explains what is going on. Fruit flies eat a lot of yeast (which as we know from our studies breaks down sugar and in the process produces alcohol). They do this because a certain kind of wasp actually lays its’ eggs inside of a fruit fly, so that when the eggs hatch the baby wasps can eat the living fly and eventually leave the body when they are grown. Beware because things get more disgusting than that…

To prevent such malicious murder, the flies have a trick of their own. They consume so much yeast that they are considered “drunk”. The alcohol smells so bad to the wasps that not only do they choose to not lay their eggs within that particular fly, but any eggs they do lay meet a very violent end.

Here is where things get worse. In a study done by Dr. Schlenke, wasps were allowed to lay eggs in two flies. One fly was perfectly sober, and one was fed food that had 6% alcohol in it. As I’ve said, more wasps layer their eggs in the sober fly, and less in the drunk fly. However, the eggs that did get laid in the drunk fly did not meet an honorable end. Dr. Schlenke found that 65 percent of the eggs inside of the drunk fly not only died, but died because all of their tiny inside organs had shot out through their anus. At this point I wish that I was not writing about this article, but the show must go on.

It was also discovered by Dr. Schlenke that if a fly ate the alcohol ridden yeast before being violated by the wasps, it made no difference. Such a discovery lead scientists to ponder whether the flies realized the deadly wasps inside of them and so chose to eat the yeast then, in order to kill off the parasite. Further experiments with flies showed that the flies do indeed seek out the alcohol as a self medication to kill off the wasps inside of them.

Smart flies right? Can you believe that this is what fruit flies have to put up with? Or that little tiny flies can get drunk off the alcohol produced by yeast? I, for one, will take a drinking age of 21 any day instead of having tiny wasps live inside me. But thats just me, what do you think?

Have biologists discovered the new super glue?

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

Have you ever seen a gecko or lizard on a vertical 90 degree surface, and wondered how they are able to stick to the wall? In fact, it is not because of any type of gluey substance or sticky secretions. According to a recent article, biologists have been able to figure out exactly how a gecko can stay on a wall without slipping. Scientists have even been able to utilize this discovery and have invented “Geckskin”, a flash card sized pad that can hold up to 700 pounds on a vertical surface.

Doctoral Alfred Crosby at UMass Amherst commented that a gecko’s feet can attach and detach from a surface with ease without any residual sticky material being left over. Properties such as high capacity, reversibility, and dry adhesion that geckos use to adhere to surfaces, allow for a wider range of ideas for synthetic materials with similar traits of gecko feet. Moreover, Crosby says that Geckskin uses many of these properties to achieve a drastic result; Geckskin can hold up to 700 pounds while only being the size of an index card. This is amazing considering the fact that this small piece of synthetic material can hold up to the equivalent of seventeen 42 inch flat screen TVs on a flat vertical surface. Although having impressive adhesive ability, Geckskin can also be used a series of times without losing its overall effectiveness and stickiness.

Geckos were once thought to get their amazing adhesive properties only from microscopic hairs only their feet called setae. However, much of the gecko’s “stickiness” comes from other complexities on the foot such as specialized bones, tendons, and skin that work along with setae in order to produce those viscous properties. Geckskin combines all of these complexities to form a synthetic tendon made out of stiff fabric and a special weave in order to maximize surface area and contact. Generally, Geckskin be made relatively cheaply and can have many different uses in the home or in the work place. What uses for Geckskin can you think of?

Wheatgrass “The Super Food”

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

There seems to be a new nutritional trend that pops up just to make a quick buck. Wheatgrass is not one of these “pop up” trends, but something that will continue to be talked about for years and years to come. The benefits of wheatgrass can be endless and in some cases even prolong life, therefore gaining its nickname “the superfood”.

There are many reasons why wheatgrass it so good for you. First 1 oz of wheatgrass is the same thing as eating 2.5 pounds of vegetables. In this 1oz of juice there are over 92 minerals that promote healthy bodily functions. Secondly wheatgrass has over 20 essential amino acids, making it one of the most protein concentrated foods on the planet. There are also over 30 enzymes in wheatgrass that promote the proper digestion of food and other fluids.

In addition to this wheatgrass has an limitless amount of benefits on the human body

Read More

Are you feeling depressed? There’s an app for that!

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

Because of an increase in psychological problems, researches have developed a new way to give instant therapy to many people.  This article outlines a new therapy app for your smartphone that will becomes accesible.  This study uses an approach called  cognitive bias modification, or C.B.M.  C.B.M. seeks to break bad habits in the brain as a way to helping anxiety and depression.

One app, called Helping Hands helps many people who have problems with shyness.  These people, when presenting to an audience, focus on a face that is portraying negative thoughts instead of the people who are relaxed.  This app flashes two pictures onto the screen, one with the hostile face and one with the relaxed face. Then the faces disappear and a letter flashes onto the screen.  The letter is completely useless, it just tries to take the focus away from the hostile face toward the relaxed face.  This new research also applies to children with chronic anxiety.  The app according to studies significantly decreased the children’s anxiety problems.

But this app does not seem to work for everyone.  With all the positive reviews it has been getting, there are also negative ones.  There are definitely a few quirks to work out, but this new app could be a positive installment for the future.  Instead of needing to pay a lot of money for a therapy session or someone without access to a therapist, this could be very useful and a very positive installment in their lives.

Are Early Birds and Night Owls Just Neurologically Wired Differently?

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

Photo Credit: National Media Museum

Are you an early bird? Perhaps you’re a night owl? Well researchers at the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta have been doing studies that have found that their may be neurological differences between morning and night people.

After using a questionnaire to separate subjects based on habits, researchers used magnetic torque imagining-guided brain stimulation to test things like muscle torque and excitability of pathways through the nervous system. The tests found that while morning people’s brains were most excitable at 9 in the morning and increased throughout the day, evening people were most stimulated at 9 at night. However, researchers found that night people’s strength increased throughout the day and morning people’s strength maxed out by night time. This is interesting because both groups increased reflex pathway ability for stimulation as the day went on, but the night group didn’t max out as the morning group did. This is evidence supporting the notion that everyone’s nervous systems function differently.

“What does this mean though? Why’s it important?” Well increasing our understanding of the NS allows us to enhance our ability to work towards cures for neurologic diseases. The principle that everyone’s brain and nervous system functions differently could lead to multiple methods specialized for curing patients and ultimately higher success. On top of this, it could lead to a better understanding as to why certain people do certain things (ex: psychopaths vs. normal), why some people are rhythmically sick more often than others, and why some teenagers are more antisocial and prone to depression.

 

http://www.sciencecodex.com/morning_people_and_night_owls_show_different_brain_function_university_of_alberta_study

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-07-09/health/night.owl.morning_1_owls-spinal-cord-morning?_s=PM:HEALTH

http://www.archives.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article/2009/06/10281.html

http://www.sciencecodex.com/read/psychopaths_brains_show_differences_in_structure_and_function-82007

http://www.sciencecodex.com/read/differing_structures_underlie_differing_brain_rhythms_in_healthy_and_ill-79772

http://www.sciencecodex.com/differences_in_mammalian_brain_structure_and_genitalia_linked_to_specific_dna_regions_in_new_study

http://www.sciencecodex.com/brain_scans_reveal_differences_in_brain_structure_in_teenagers_with_severe_antisocial_behavior

Quarter Horse? More like Million Dollar Horse! But is it all worth it?

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post


According to the article, “How the Quarter Horse won the Rodeo” , quarter horses are known for their superior speed, agility, and tranquility.   Why are these horses so superior? According to BioMed Central’s open access journal, BMC Genomics, used sequencing to map variation in the genome of the quarter horse male. The sequencing revealed that the quarter horse’s genome was enriched for variants in genes involving sensory perception, signal transduction and the immune system.  Further research was done on the genetic variants of these horses by the researchers from Texas A&M University. The researchers evaluated genetic variants in quarter horses such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), copy number variants (CNV), and insertions and deletions (INDELs).

Not only do these variants help explain the uniqueness and superiority of these horses, but they have also been of use to equine breeders and veterinary medicine to improve the health and performance of these horses. For example, these variants can be used to fix HERDA, a disease in which the skin of the quarter horses is fragile and thus tears easily. So, in the spirit of the film GATTACA and the ethics of genetic engineering, what are your feelings on using these variants to enhance these quarter horses? And what about enhancing humans?

The Female Brain book review

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever wondered why women have more friends than men? Why men allegedly do better in math than women? Or why women aren’t in alot of science and math related fields? Finally, Dr. Louann Brizendine has uncovered this mystery for us in a scientific light; the female and the male brain are not the same. Whether it is a difference in hormones or varying sections in size of certain parts of the brain, the two brains are very distinct from each other.

The bookThe Female Brain  written by Dr. Louann Brizendine, uncovers that women have larger sections of: the anterior cingulate cortex which makes decisions, the prefrontal cortex (deals with planning and some aspects of one’s personality), the insula (or the center that processes gut feelings) and the hippocampus (the long term memory storage housein the brain). Men have smaller sections of the preceding but have a larger amygdala which is responsible for emotions.  The larger it is in a certain species corresponds with the levels of aggression. In fact when males are castrated their amygdala gets smaller by thirty percent.

Dr. Brizendine uncovers that women thrive on social connections, are family oriented and can read faces, which means that a women can tell how a person is feeling by looking at his face. Men however, do not thrive on social connections and cannot read faces.

Dr. Brizendine gives an example of this with mathematical and engineering occupations. Their are not many females in those two fields; many people believed that they are not smart enough to think in such a complex way. The reality is that those two occupations are very isolated and women like to be in occupations where they can interact with people more. That is why there are many more women as lawyers and journalists than men. It is a well known fact that their are more women’s magazines than men’s magazines because women seem to flock towards these areas of occupation.

Dr. Brizendine uncovers the mysteries of the Female brain in seven insightful and entertaining chapters. The chapters go through the life of a female. Each chapter goes from the birth of the female brain  to the mature female brain. This a must read for Women and Men across the globe.

Other links:

http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/how-male-female-brains-differ

http://www.thirdage.com/love-romance/the-male-vs-the-female-brain

If you want to hear a passage of the Female brain from Louann Brizendine:

http://fora.tv/2006/11/17/Female_Brain

 

Gene-swapping: Could our understanding of Evolution be incomplete?

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

Alloteropsis Cimicina Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons under GMU Free Documentation License

 

 

Recent scientific evidence has suggested that our understanding of how evolution occurs may be incomplete. Although the passing of genes from parents to offspring will certainly remain the main method by which organisms inherit their DNA, it seems that their may also be another way. Scientists from Universities in the United States, United Kingdom, and France believe to have stumbled across an entirely new way that plants of different species can exchange DNA.

In order to test their theory, this group of scientists investigated the ancestry of two genes that encode enzymes essential to C4 photosynthesis (phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase) These genes were chosen because they are present in three closely related C4 plants, and their common C3 ancestor.

In order to accommodate the commonly accepted theory of how genes are inherited, it was initially assumed that these genes must have been initially inactive in the C3 plant, and were later modified to become photosynthetic agents for C4 photosynthesis. If this were true, the scientists would discover that the genes for these enzymes in C4 plants would be closely related to the inactive genes of their ancestor. However, this was not the case.

Instead, the scientists found that these two genes were actually closely related to those of completely different species of C4 plants. They found that in four cases, the ppc or pck enzymes found in the Alloteropsis plants (the type of C4 plant that they initially selected to study) were also found in other C4 clades.

The only explanation for these occurrences is what scientists are now calling “lateral gene transfer.” In their current model for this process, the scientists hypothesize that the genetic material from the pollen of a plant of one species is accidentally taken up by a plant of another species in an “illegitimate pollination event.” If it proves to be valid, this discovery would prove that plants have a way of creating biological diversity that was previously completely unknown to us.

What do you think the larger consequences of this discovery are? Do you think we might be able to incorporate genetic material from different species into our own bodies some day?

For the original article, click here

Sugar Motivates You.

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

Dumdums by Linuxerist

A study from a few years ago created a theory called The Energy Model of Self Control. This stated that willpower lessens as your brain lacks sugars, that it previously used for provious exertions. Basically, once you perform a task that requires motivation, you will have a harder time completing the following task that requires motivation, because you have used up the sugars that allow you motivate yourself.

Daniel Molden, a scientist from Nothwestern University, was skeptical of such claims. He recently recreated the study and used more technologically advanced machines, to measure the results. What he found was that the claim that once you perform a task that requires willpower, you will have a harder time to perform the following task that demands that same. He then challenged that “acts of self-control lower blood glucose levels.” After performing a self motivated task, volunteers rinse with either a sugar-water solution or an artificial sugar-water solution. In the previous research, subjects had to eat or drink sugar, to experience the effects. The results showed that participants that rinsed with the real sugar-water solution were able to motivate themselves for the next task, whereas volunteers that rinsed with what tasted like a sugar-water solution, but actually contained no sugar, were not able to self-motivate themselves. The results also showed that the sugar didn’t need to be metabolized, as the results were immediate. Molden and partners have concluded that the mouth can register the presence of carbohydrates in the solution and then signals the brain that energy is coming. The dopamine system motivates the brain to work harder. “In short, the sugar motivates — rather than fuels — willpower.”  These scientists have decided that self-control is a lack of motivation, and can be restored with a simple sugar rinse.

Different things motivate different people, some people just need a goal and they’ll do whatever it takes to reach it. I myself am very bad at motivating myself todo work and have no self-control to see to it that I complete what needs to be done. For a person like me, this is very interesting, and something I will definitely try in the future! Will you try rinsing your mouth with sugar and water to keep yourself motivated?

Photo: CC Liscensed photo by Linuxerist

Walking on Walls

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On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

 

Photo Credit: dirk huijssoon flickr

Have you ever wished you could walk on walls? Ever wished you could get your new plasma TV on the wall and be able to easily move it later? Well, now you can do both of those things. Using the gecko‘s feet as a model, scientists were able to replicate the adhesive mechanism that geckos use to get around.

The gecko’s feet can stick to almost any smooth surface whether it be vertical, horizontal, slanted, or curved. In addition, they never leave any sticky residue behind and never have trouble moving. The ability to put things, particularly heavy things, on walls and easily remove them later without any damage is something that everyone would like to be able to do. Scientists researched the intricate mechanisms in the geckos feet to determine how the gecko can firmly stick to smooth surfaces and move so easily. They determined that it was a combination of the pads on the gecko’s feet along with the arrangement of tendons and muscles in the feet. This new idea allowed scientists to develop an adhesive, “Geckskin”, that could stick to a smooth surface, hold 700 pounds, and be easily removed. This new adhesive is still being perfected but soon you could actually be able to walk on walls, just like the gecko.

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