April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Climate change, unsustainable fishing, and pollution are serious threats facing coral reefs. A multidisciplinary series of studies is being conducted to understand the underlying processes. The researchers are investigating variability in coral reef community structure and microbial dynamics across gradients of natural and anthropogenic stress.
The results of the “Line Islands Collection – Microbial dynamics of coral reef robustness and decline” – named after their upcoming expedition to the Line Islands – have been published in the new PeerJ open access journal.
The expedition to the Line Islands – located in the central Pacific Ocean with one of the most pristine coral reef systems remaining on Earth – is part of an effort to better understand the effects of anthropogenic influences on these fascinating ecosystems, and specifically how microbial communities affect coral reef robustness and decline. The expedition will be launched in the fall of 2013. In preparation for the expedition, the team is launching a Collection of related articles in PeerJ. The Collection – launched on July 16 with four initial articles – will continue to grow as the work of the research collaboration builds up.
The focus of the expedition to the Line Islands will be to shed light on the intricate interactions between microbes, coral, algae and fish. To accomplish this task, the research team has a wide range of expertise in many different scientific disciplines.
The interactions between microbes and macroorganisms in coral reefs, specifically how these systems respond to perturbation, are being investigated by the Laboratory of Forest Rohwer at San Diego State University.
A team from Scripps, led by Jennifer E. Smith, will investigate how local human impacts – such as fishing, pollution and species invasion-and global human impacts, like warming and acidification – affect competitive dynamics among benthic taxa and alter community structure.
A second Scripps team, led by Stuart Sandin, has interests that are centered on predator/prey dynamics and how those dynamics shape the coral reef community.
Together, these three groups have investigated, and will continue to investigate, the biogeochemical processes which shape coral reef ecosystems, spanning spatial scales from microns to thousands of kilometers.
By creating a comprehensive Collection, the research teams hope to demonstrate some of the implications that result from considering coral reef microbiology on a new scale – something which may help others to see these findings in their broader context.

April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Among mammalian species, female social dominance is rare. However, one of our closest living relatives, bonobos, are known for the relatively high statuses females hold in social groups. This puzzles researchers as the males are often bigger and stronger than the females. A new study from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology has analyzed the dominance relations between male and female wild bonobos, taking particular interest in the high social status of some females.

It is not female alliances that help females win conflicts with males, the study reveals, nor does the context of the conflict seem to be relevant for the outcome either. Instead, the researchers found the determining factor was sexual attractiveness. If the females in the conflicts with males displayed sexually attractive attributes, including sexual swellings, then they tended to win the conflict more easily. The males in these conflicts behave in a less aggressive way as well.

Intersexual dominance relations in bonobo populations have never been thoroughly studied in the wild. However, several theories exist for how females reach their elevated status. One theory proposes bonobo female dominance is facilitated by females forming coalitions which suppress male aggression. Another theory suggests an evolutionary scenario in which females prefer non-aggressive males which renders male aggressiveness a non-adaptive trait.

Recently, a study from the Lui Kotale bonobo project from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology reported on the outcomes of intersexual conflicts in a bonobo community near the Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The analysis of male/female conflicts revealed a sex-independent dominance hierarchy with several females occupying top ranks.

The team also discovered only two factors have a significant influence on the outcome of intersexual conflicts. The first is female motivation to help their offspring, and the second is attractiveness. They found when females defend their offspring against male aggression, often alone but sometimes in groups, males defer to females. They found it even more interesting females are more likely to win conflicts against males during times when they exhibit sexual swellings indicating elevated fecundity.

Martin Surbeck of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology says, “In those situations, males also aggress females less often, which is different from chimpanzees, our other closest living relatives.” The study findings suggest in bonobos both female sexuality and male mating strategies are involved in the shifting dominance relationships between the sexes.

[Watch the video: Phytoplankton Social Mixers]
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
The motility of phytoplankton allows the tiny ocean plants to determine their fate in ocean turbulence, according to scientists at MIT and Oxford University.
Researchers wrote in the journal Nature Communications that the individual vortices that make up ocean turbulence are like social mixers for phytoplankton. This social mixer brings similar cells into close proximity, helping to enhance sexual reproduction and other ecologically desirable activities.
Scientists previously believed that phytoplankton were passive drifters, unable to defy even the weakest currents orto  travel of their own accord. However, researchers have now shown that many species can actually swim, and do so to optimize light exposure and to avoid predators. The latest study found that when these micro-plants are caught in an ocean vortex, they form highly concentrated patches at the center of the swirl. This process continues to repeat itself, allowing phytoplankton to move from social mixer to social mixer.
“Based on our intuition of turbulence and turbulent mixing, we expected homogeneity to reign,” says Roman Stocker, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT who led the study. “Instead, the phytoplankton surprised us by forming highly concentrated clusters of cells – it’s turbulent un-mixing. For the phytoplankton, this is a vehicle to effectively find cells of the same species without any sensory information on each other’s location or the need to invest in costly means of chemical communication.”
These highly concentrated patches can also have a downside since phytoplankton form the base of the ocean food chain and proximity makes them easy prey.
“While patchiness increases the chance of a fatal encounter with a predator, it also increases the chance of finding other phytoplankton cells, which is needed to form resilient cysts that can survive harsh winter conditions,” says William Durham, the paper’s first author and a lecturer at Oxford University who began working on this study as a doctoral student at MIT.
“This mechanism suggests phytoplankton might tune their motility to have the best of both worlds, minimizing patchiness when there are a lot of predators around while maximizing patchiness when the time is ripe for cyst formation.”
The researchers team first performed experiments using phytoplankton in the lab, then extended their observations to a turbulent ocean using high-resolution simulations. They used a transparent box shaped like the letter H with seawater flowing upward through the vertical bars to create two inner-directed vortices within the horizontal bar. When the team added a red-tide-forming species of phytoplankton known as Heterosigma akashiwo to the mix, they formed dense patches at the centers of the swirls.
The team found that patchiness increased more than tenfold when phyotoplankton swam. This research led to the conclusion that the microorganisms might have evolved to develop the ability to actively adjust their swimming speeds to modulate interactions with others of the same species.
“Life is turbulent in the vast expanses of the ocean – and it’s fascinating to learn how some of the most important organisms on our planet fare and behave in their daily turbulent lives,” Stocker concluded.

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Scientists have successfully tested a powerful new magnet that will be playing a big role in developing a new beam for CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
Researchers collaborated to build a powerful superconducting quadrupole magnet to increase LHC luminosity by an order of magnitude. This new system will help the LHC produce 10 times more high-energy collisions than it was originally designed for.
The HQ02a is the latest in the LHC Accelerator Program’s (LARP) series of High Field Quadrupole magnets with cables of the brittle but high-performance superconductor niobium tin (Nb3Sn). This magnet is able to operate at a higher magnetic field than the final-focus quadrupoles currently operating at the LHC.
According to a recent statement, this new magnet tested at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) was able to achieve all of its objectives.
“Congratulation to all the LARP team for this brilliant result,” said Lucio Rossi, leader of the High Luminosity LHC project at CERN. “The steady progress by LARP and the other DOE supported programs clearly shows the benefits of long-term investments to make serious advances in accelerator technology.”
Eric Prebys of Fermilab, who has served as director of LARP for the last five years, said that this magnet marks the end of the research and development phase and the beginning of focused development of the magnets that will be installed for the LHC luminosity upgrade.
“However, the implications go well beyond that, in that it establishes high performance niobium tin as a powerful superconductor for use in accelerator magnets. This success is a tribute to the skill, hard work, and collaborative spirit of all of the people involved.”
The LHC was able to help scientists finally discover the Higgs boson particle last year, but precise measurements of the God particle have yet to be done. LARP hopes to support CERN’s plan to replace the current focusing magnets in about 10 years as part of the High Luminosity LHC project, which will in turn lead to more precise measurements of the Higgs boson particle.
“The desired performance characteristics were clearly demonstrated by the test recently completed at Fermilab,” says Berkeley Lab’s GianLuca Sabbi, who directed the HQ02 development. “The magnet quickly achieved its design field gradient with low sensitivity to ramp-rate effects. This result was made possible by the expertise and dedication of many scientists, engineers, and technicians at all the collaborating laboratories.”
The scientists said HQ02a’s performance has reaffirmed the key design elements for focusing magnets that will meet the needs of CERN’s High Luminosity upgrade.
“This is a major step forward in reaching our ultimate goals,” said Bruce Strauss, LARP program manager at DOE’s Office of Science. “It should not be regarded as a single accomplishment but rather the realization of a significant number of individual goals in the design, construction, and testing of Nb3Sn beam-line magnets.”

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
A Canadian team has just won $250,000 for successfully defying gravity with a bicycle-powered helicopter.
Though scientists had long thought the feat to be impossible, the American Helicopter Society (AHS) began offering the prize money to anyone who could lift themselves in the air using only human muscle. The prize had been unclaimed since the Igor I Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition first began in 1980, 33 years ago.
To win the prize, the team of engineers at the University of Toronto had to hover above ground at a height of more than nine feet for more than 60 seconds. While in flight, the vehicle must remain in an area of 32 feet by 32 feet. The team successfully completed the flight on June 13.
It has taken the AHS nearly a month to decide if the aircraft had met all the correct specifications.
Engineer Dr. Todd Reichert and Cameron Robertson led the team, largely staffed by University of Toronto students. Together they built the Atlas, a flying machine made up of four 65-foot long rotors and powered by a bicycle in the middle. Each of the components are held together by lightweight, carbon fiber tubes. The long, slow spinning rotors were inspired by the Gossamer Albatross — the human-powered aircraft that crossed the English Channel in 1979. The airfoils are made of expanded polystyrene foam and balsa wood and held together with carbon fiber tubing and wire. Each rotor is covered with Mylar plastic film, making them transparent.
Dr. Reichert piloted the Atlas by pedaling the bicycle and spinning the giant blades. As each of the giant blades began to spin, the Atlas slowly rose to a height of ten feet. In an interview with Wired, Reichert explained that though the team had been working for many months to earn the 33 year-old prize, their successful flight was almost delayed due to scheduled practice which was set to take place in the soccer arena where the team was flying the Atlas. In addition to being rushed for time, Reichert also said the biggest problems for the team in earlier, lower altitude tests came mid-flight.
“For us, the dangerous part is coming down from altitude,” said the world record-setting pilot, noting the Atlas tended to get pulled down in its own downward force of pressure. “Climbing is no problem — it’s in the time period between 15 and 40 seconds that is really tough.”
Mike Hirschberg, the executive director of the AHS, said there had been many scientific studies which claimed it was impossible for a human to power a helicopter like Reichert had. At the presentation ceremony last Thursday, Hirschberg said, “Several studies ‘proved’ it was, in fact, scientifically impossible.
“Well, it took a third of a century to prove those skeptics wrong. It took that long for the state of the art of vertical flight to see significant technological advances in lightweight structures, computer-aided design, aeromechanics, and multidisciplinary design optimization,” he explained to The Guardian.
Two other teams were vying for the The Igor I Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter prize and lost: teams from the University of Maryland in College Park and California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. The AHS plans to offer “another grand challenge” in the future.

April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

A team of international researchers, led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has created a virtual model of the brain capable of daydreaming like humans do.

The computer model is based on the dynamics of brain cells and the many connections those cells make with their neighbors and cells in other brain regions. The team hopes their model will help further understanding of why certain portions of the brain work together when a person daydreams or is mentally idle. One day, this information should help doctors better diagnose and treat brain injuries.

“We can give our model lesions like those we see in stroke or brain cancer, disabling groups of virtual cells to see how brain function is affected,” said Maurizio Corbetta, MD, the Norman J. Stupp Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “We can also test ways to push the patterns of activity back to normal.”

In the late 1990s to early 2000s, scientists recognized the brain stays busy even when not engaged in mental tasks. Prior research has identified several “resting state” brain networks, which are groups of different brain regions that have activity levels that rise and fall in sync when the brain is at rest. Disruptions in networks associated with brain injury and disease have been linked to cognitive problems in memory, attention, movement and speech.

The new model, described in the Journal of Neuroscience, was developed to help researchers learn how the brain‘s anatomical structure contributes to the creation and maintenance of resting state networks. The team started with a process for simulating small groups of neurons, including factors that decrease or increase the likelihood that a group of cells will send a signal.

“In a way, we treated small regions of the brain like cognitive units: not as individual cells but as groups of cells,” said Gustavo Deco, PhD, professor and head of the Computational Neuroscience Group in Barcelona. “The activity of these cognitive units sends out excitatory signals to the other units through anatomical connections. This makes the connected units more or less likely to synchronize their signals.”

Using data from brain scans, the team assembled 66 cognitive units in each hemisphere of the brain. Then they interconnected them in anatomical patterns similar to the connections present in the biological brain.

The model is constructed so that the individual units went through the signaling process at random low frequencies that had been observed in brain cells in culture and in recordings of resting brain activity.

The model was allowed to run while the researchers slowly changed the coupling, or the strength of the connections between units. At specific coupling values, the interconnections between the units sending impulses began to create coordinated patterns of activity.

“Even though we started the cognitive units with random low activity levels, the connections allowed the units to synchronize,” Deco said. “The spatial pattern of synchronization that we eventually observed approximates very well–about 70 percent–to the patterns we see in scans of resting human brains.”

Simulating 20 minutes of human brain activity required a cluster of powerful computers running the model for 26 hours. The researchers have been able to simplify the mathematics, however, so that the model will run on a typical computer.

“This simpler whole brain model allows us to test a number of different hypotheses on how the structural connections generate dynamics of brain function at rest and during tasks, and how brain damage affects brain dynamics and cognitive function,” Corbetta said.

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

With almost daily reports detailing how human activities are decimating other species, researchers from the University of North Carolina are making the unique call for human intervention in controlling the Atlantic Ocean’s lionfish population.

“Lionfish are here to stay, and it appears that the only way to control them is by fishing them,” said John Bruno, a UNC biologist and lead investigator in a new study detailing the lack of lionfish predation that was recently published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Along with a team of fellow American and Canadian marine biologists, the UNC researchers investigated the proliferation of lionfish in three Caribbean regions. Using a deep-diving submersible, the team was shocked to find major populations of these predatory fish as deep as 300 feet below the surface.

“We expected some populations of lionfish at that depth, but their numbers and size were a surprise,” said co-author Stephanie Green, a research fellow at Oregon State University. “This was kind of an ‘Ah hah!’ moment.”

“It was immediately clear that this is a new frontier in the lionfish crisis, and that something is going to have to be done about it,” Green said. “Seeing it up-close really brought home the nature of the problem.”

Native to the Pacific Ocean, lionfish were accidentally introduced to the Atlantic Ocean in the early 1990s. Without any limiting factors in their new habitat, the ravenous predators swarmed across the Caribbean, reducing various native fish populations by up to 80 percent, according to previous OSU research.

“When I began diving 10 years ago, lionfish were a rare and mysterious species seen deep within coral crevices in the Pacific Ocean,” said co-author Serena Hackerott, a master’s student in marine sciences at UNC. “They can now been seen across the Caribbean, hovering above the reefs throughout the day and gathering in groups of up to ten or more on a single coral head.”

A popular aquarium fish, lionfish have venomous spines in addition to their striking colors and majestic fins. The spines generally make lionfish unappealing for most predators. However, they are eaten by humans – once the spines have been removed.

The researchers said they looked to see if sharks or groupers could help control the lionfish population by out-competing them for prey or eating them directly. They also wanted to determine if overfishing of reef predators had opened the door for an unchecked lionfish invasion.

After surveying 71 disparate reefs over three years, the team said they saw no relationship between the density of lionfish and the concentrations of native predators, suggesting that “interactions with native predators do not influence” the lionfish population. They noted, however, that targeted removal by reef managers had reduced lionfish populations in some protected reefs.

The marine biologists suggested the large-scale introduction of reef predators to achieve a better balance and biodiversity for the fragile ecosystems. However, they made pessimistic predictions about the success of such a plan.

“Active and direct management, perhaps in the form of sustained culling, appears to be essential to curbing local lionfish abundance and efforts to promote such activities should be encouraged,” the study concluded.

April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 286 people were killed in the US in 2012 by West Nile virus, which is carried by mosquitoes. Many bird species eat these mosquitoes and other insects that can be agricultural pests. Rising temperatures are threatening these wild birds, including the Missouri-native Acadian flycatcher, by making snakes more active and hungrier.

University of Missouri biologist John Faaborg led a new study which urges farmers, public health officials and wildlife managers to be aware of complex indirect effects of climate change in addition to the more obvious influences of higher temperatures and irregular weather patterns.

“A warmer climate may be causing snakes to become more active and seek more baby birds for food,” said Faaborg, professor of biological sciences in MU’s College of Arts and Science. “Although our study used 20 years of data from Missouri, similar threats to bird populations may occur around the world. Increased snake predation on birds is an example of an indirect consequence that forecasts of the effects of climate change often do not take into account.”

Cooler temperatures in the heart of Missouri’s Ozark forest usually make snakes less active than those found in the edge of the forest or in smaller pockets of woodland. During abnormally hot years, however, even the deep interior of the forest increases in temperature. Warmer temperatures make cold blooded snakes more active and increase their need for food. Prior studies used video cameras to discover snakes are major predators of young birds.

During the last two decades, research by Faaborg and his colleagues has shown fewer young Acadian flycatchers (Empidonax virescens) and young Indigo buntings (Passerina cyanea) survived during hotter years. One reason for this, the study suggests, is an increase in snake activity.

The findings of the study, published in Global Change Biology, are based on data collected over 20 years of fieldwork performed by Faaborg, his colleagues and former students.

“Low survival in the Ozark nests harms bird numbers in other areas,” Faaborg said. “Birds hatched in the Ozark forest spread out to colonize the rest of the state and surrounding region. Small fragments of forests in the rest of the state do not support successful bird reproduction, so bird populations in the entire state depend on the Ozarks.”

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
While many studies have focused on how ocean acidification may impact various individual species, an international team of researchers has just published a study on how an entire ecosystem can be affected by a more acidic ocean.
As one of the consequences of climate change, ocean acidification is expected to significantly increase if carbon emissions continue at current rates.
According to the study, which was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), ocean waters with higher levels of acidity will result in ecosystems with less diversity.
“The background, low-grade stress caused by ocean acidification can cause a whole shift in the ecosystem so that everything is dominated by the same plants, which tend to be turf algae,” said lead author Kristy Kroeker, a postdoctoral researcher at the Bodega Marine Laboratory at the University of California, Davis.
“In most ecosystems, there are lots of different colorful patches of plants and animals — of algae, of sponges, of anemones,” Kroeker explained. “With ocean acidification, you lose that patchiness. We call it a loss of functional diversity; everything looks the same.”
To reach their conclusion, the research team headed to Castello Aragonese, a 14th century castle off the western coast of Italy, at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples.
In the waters near the castle, natural volcanic vents release carbon dioxide gas, which creates a gradient of different levels of acidity for the surrounding area. This gradient allowed the research team to get a first-hand view of how increasingly acidic waters might look across time and how ecosystems may react to them.
First, the researchers selected three reef zones: low, high and extremely high acidity. Each area was used to represent world ocean conditions for the present day, 2100 and 2500, respectively. Next, the team removed animals and vegetation from the rocks in all three zones. Over the course of three years, Kroeker would dive to the different study regions every three months to photograph them and see how each recovered.
After analyzing the different recoveries among all three zones, the team found that the two regions with higher acidity recovered with a reduced number and variety of species.
In particular, they noted that turf algae would colonize and grow in the low acidity zone, only to be preyed upon by sea urchins and snails, which eventually allowed for increased diversity over time.
However, in the more acidic regions, the turf algae would grow to dominate the zones, as grazers avoided the area or did not prey on the algae while in these areas.
Known as calcareous grazers, sea urchins and snails play key roles in establishing and maintaining the balance within marine ecosystems. These species are also considered among the most susceptible to ocean acidification.
“Our research is showing that if the role of these grazers changes with ocean acidification, you might expect to see cascading effects of the whole ecosystem,” Kroeker said. “If the pattern holds for other calcareous grazers, this has implications for other ecosystems, as well.”

Susan Bowen for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

A recent discovery about earthworm excrement could help scientists improve our models of future climate change. Most earthworms excrete balls of calcium carbonate crystals, a chalk-like material. What makes these crystals interesting is that they retain a memory of the temperature at which they were created.

Scientists at the Universities of Reading and York conducted an experiment in which earthworms were kept at differing temperatures and their excretions measured using isotopic testing. These modern earthworms produced chalk balls that maintained a record of the temperature at which they were created.

Principal Investigator, Professor Mark Hodson, stated, “There are many conflicting theories about why earthworms produce calcite granules, but until now, the small lumps of chalk-like material found in earthworm poo have been seen as little more than a biological curiosity. However, our research shows they may well have an important role to play, offering a window into past climates.”

These chalky crystals are commonly found at archeological sites, and will help archaeologists in determining the climatic context of their finds. They will also provide an additional way of determining what the climate was like in ages past. Scientists are now gathering samples from archaeological sites that are thousands of years old for sampling.

Climate data using instruments only goes back about 150 years. Prior to that period other methods have to be used. In addition to human records, scientists use such techniques as measuring tree rings and ice cores and analyzing pollen distribution.

Adding earthworm poop to the arsenal has several advantages. Tree ring thickness, for example, can be influenced by other things besides climate, including the clearing of surrounding trees. In addition, many of the other methods may use samples that are thousands of miles from the archaeological site. These chalk deposits are right there in the exact same context as the surrounding dig site. This proximity will provide data on more localized environments and increase the accuracy of the climate data at any given place.

The part of the value of this localized data will be in improving current climate models. In an article in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, lead author Dr Emma Versteegh explains, “This knowledge about past climates is of vital importance for developing and benchmarking climate models that make predictions for the future. Many different proxies already exist, but no proxy is perfect, or is available in every location, so it is good to have many different ones.”

The more accurately we are able to measure climate fluctuations in the past and their consequences, the better we will be able to predict what might befall our planet in the future.

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
While the entire genome has been sequenced and the codes of many genes have been identified, there are is a wide range of unknown mechanisms that interact with the code without changing “letters” of the DNA. These chemical changes to DNA are referred to as the epigenome, and a new study in the journal Science has revealed significant epigenomic activity during brain development.
DNA includes four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). An epigenomic process known as DNA methylation usually occurs where a cytosine base sits next to a guanine base in the DNA chain, known as CpG sites.
Previous research has shown in human embryonic stem cells and certain types of stem cells, DNA methylation also occurs when G does not follow C, a phenomenon called “non-CG methylation.” This type of methylation was thought to disappear when stem cells later differentiate into specific body cells. However, the new study showed non-CG methylation appears in the brain’s neurons long after stem cell differentiation, usually during childhood and adolescence when the brain is developing.
The scientists reached their findings by sequencing the genomes of mouse and human brain tissue, including neurons and glial cells taken during various life stages.
“This shows that the period during which the neural circuits of the brain mature is accompanied by a parallel process of large-scale reconfiguration of the neural epigenome,” said co-author Joseph R. Ecker, professor and director of Salk Institute’s Genomic Analysis Laboratory.
“The human brain has been called the most complex system that we know of in the universe,” said co-author Ryan Lister, who worked in Ecker’s laboratory at Salk and is now a group leader at The University of Western Australia. “So perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised that this complexity extends to the level of the brain epigenome.
“These unique features of DNA methylation that emerge during critical phases of brain development suggest the presence of previously unrecognized regulatory processes that may be critically involved in normal brain function and brain disorders.”
The researchers said the construction of networks within the brain requires a long maturation process in which brain cells need to tweak the way they express their genetic code.
“DNA methylation fulfills this role,” said study co-author Terrence J. Sejnowski, head of Salk’s Computational Neurobiology Laboratory. “We found that patterns of methylation are dynamic during brain development, in particular for non-CG methylation during early childhood and adolescence, which changes the way that we think about normal brain function and dysfunction.”
The team noted their study could form a critical foundation for exploring how methylation patterns may be linked to psychiatric disorders or other diseases. Some recent studies have shown DNA methylation playing a role in schizophrenia, depression, suicide and bipolar disorder.
“Our work will let us begin to ask more detailed questions about how changes in the epigenome sculpt the complex identities of brain cells through life,” said co-author Eran Mukamel, from Salk’s Computational Neurobiology Laboratory.
The study researchers said their future work will focus on determining whether minor alterations in the DNA methylation process could be associated to neurodevelopmental disorders.

[ Watch the Video: Falling Insects Electrostatically Deform Web ]

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

A new study from the University of California claims spider webs don’t attract the prey; rather, the prey attracts the web. As insects such as aphids or bees fly through the air, carried by their tiny and quickly beating wings, they build up a positive electrostatic charge. This charge may be enough to attract the thin and flexible strands of spider’s silk which contains a neutral or negative charge.

According to Victor Manuel Ortega-Jimenez, a post-doctorate fellow at the University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley), sticky spider’s silk gets some help from static electricity in the effort to ensnare passing insects. Furthermore, he now wonders if the lighter form of silk eventually developed due to its light weight and ability to deform and come away from the web to grab hold of passing insects. Ortega-Jimenez’s work is now published in the journal Scientific Reports.

“Electrostatic charges are everywhere, and we propose that this may have driven the evolution of specialized webs,” said Ortega-Jimenez in a statement.

He normally studies the way hummingbirds fly but says he became interested in a potential positive charge on insect’s wings when he was playing with his young daughter.

“I was playing with my daughter’s magic wand, a toy that produces an electrostatic charge, and I noticed that the positive charge attracted spider webs,” he said. “I then realized that if an insect is positively charged too it could perhaps attract an oppositely charged spider web to affect the capture success of the spider web.”

A flying insect’s wings will naturally build up a positive charge as they push through the air. As the wings beat against air molecules, friction is built up, resulting in a positive charge. In some ways this phenomenon is similar to walking across a carpet on a dry day just before touching a doorknob. When we experience a build-up of positive charge, we can see a spark leap from the metal door knob. When bees experiences the same type of charge (on a markedly smaller scale), they’re able to attract pollen to their legs when they land on flowers.

As it can sometimes be tricky to coerce a bee to fly into a spider’s web (and even harder to document it), Ortega-Jimenez worked with dead insects such as aphids, bees and fruit flies. He then applied a positive charge to the dead bugs with an electrostatic generator and dropped them on neutral spider webs in a lab environment.

“Using a high speed camera, you can clearly see the spider web is deforming and touching the insect before it reaches the web,” said Ortega-Jimenez. In the high speed photos and videos, tiny strands of thinner silk are reaching out like the positive peaks of a sound wave.

“You would expect that if the web is charged negatively, the attraction would increase.” He pointed out this attraction between web and bug is not observed when the insects are not positively charged.

This effect would not be seen if it weren’t for the different types of silk a spider produces. The thicker and more resilient silk used to create the spokes give the web its strength and structure which a thinner and more flexible silk fill it out. This new study suggests this finer silk may do more than just add some surface area to the overall web; it also reaches out and grabs an attractive insect passing by.

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

For years, the military has used radio signals to jam an enemy’s radar and a new study in the journal Biology Letters suggests hawk moths use the same technique to evade predation by bats.

According to the study’s authors from the University of Florida, hawk moths emit sonic pulses from their genitals in response to the high-frequency echolocation that bats produce to locate prey.

“This is just the first step toward understanding a really interesting system,” said study co-author Akito Kawahara, assistant curator of Lepidoptera at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

“Echolocation research has been focused on porpoises, whales and dolphins,” he continued. “We know some insects produce the sounds, but this discovery in an unrelated animal making ultrasound, potentially to jam the echolocation of bats, is exciting.”

Hawk moths are a favorite insect among researchers and particularly geneticists due to their large size. The study was conducted in Malaysia, which holds the highest level of diversity for hawk moths anywhere in the world.

Previous studies have shown tiger moths use ultrasound as a defense mechanism. However, tiger moths use a vibrating membrane on the thorax to produce the sound, while hawk moths emit the sound from their genitals.

Kawahara said the hawk moths may use the sound to warn others or to jam bats’ echolocation system, disrupting the predators’ ability to identify and hone in on an object.

“So much work has been focused on animals that are active during the day, but there are a lot of really interesting things happening at night, and we just don’t know a lot about what is actually going on – because we can’t hear or see it,” Kawahara said. “The fascinating part is that there are a lot of new discoveries to be made. It’s a totally unknown, unexplored system.”

Using high-energy lamps to capture the hawk moths in the jungle, the research team played pre-recorded bat sounds to the insects and captured the sounds the hawk moths made in response. They found at least three different hawk moth species produce the sound, including both males and females.

“As a museum, we are creating a library of life,” Kawahara said. “Museum specimens are usually preserved immediately, but we are trying to understand the behavior of these organisms so that we have a record of their behavior along with the specimen and DNA. This is why there are so many interesting things we’re starting to discover.”

In addition to providing more information about a particular species, echolocation research could also translate into improvements in ultrasound medical technology, the researchers suggested.

The team said they plan to continue researching the hawk moths’ ultrasound capabilities with an emphasis on determining the evolution of this defense mechanism.

“We think hawkmoths are a primary food source for bats because none appear to be chemically defended, which is why they have evolved anti-bat ultrasound strategies,” Kawahara said. “Hawkmoths have evolved different ways of avoiding bats – I can’t even explain how amazing the system is, it is just fascinating.”

With more than 1,400 species worldwide, hawk moths are some of the fastest and most proficient flying insects. They are also considered to be important pollinators, with many plants dependent solely on hawk moths for reproduction.

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

The Solar Impulse team of Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg are now preparing for the final flight of their HB-SIA zero-fuel airplane in the Across America 2013 campaign. Borschberg will take control of the solar-powered airplane for this final leg of the journey from Washington, DC to New York.

Borschberg is scheduled to take off from Washington Dulles International Airport on Saturday, July 6 at around 5:00 am EDT. The estimated landing time is 2:00 am at JFK International Airport on July 7. The NY landing will be the culmination of an epic journey that began in San Francisco, California on May 3.

The ambitious Across America 2013 journey was not only taken on to show off the capabilities of an airplane that can fly both day and night solely on the power of the sun’s energy, but also to inspire governments and the public to take a broader stance on clean technologies. During the Washington, DC layover, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz met with the Solar Impulse team. The highlights of the meeting were to emphasize how Solar Impulse aligns with four key DOE priorities: solar energy, energy storage, energy efficiency and advanced materials.

Along with the Across America 2013 campaign, Piccard and Borschberg promoted their Clean Generation initiative, offering specially designed flags at each of the key destinations throughout the mission. Clean Generation is also meant to inspire people to seek cleaner technologies and, to help promote the idea, all those who signed up for the initiative had a chance to ride in the Solar Impulse airplane as virtual passengers — their names being carried on a USB stick along with Piccard and Borshcberg during their flights.

The Solar Impulse team has also initiated a landing contest for New York City residents. The contest will allow 50 lucky persons the chance to greet the Solar Impulse team as it lands at JFK on the morning of July 7, completing the Across America 2013 project.

Google will also hold a live broadcast of the final flight on a dedicated Google page that will also include information about the final leg and the overall project, including links to Solar Impulse’s live broadcast and their YouTube channel.

A Google Hangout is also scheduled with the Solar Impulse pilots, moderated by Wired Mag’s Jason Paur. The Hangout will feature guests including Erik Lindbergh, the grandson of aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh.

The Solar Impulse team is also encouraging citizens to go out during the final flight and see if they can spot the plane as it passes overhead along key landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty, scheduled at around 12:00 am, a few hours before touchdown at JFK. People can check out real-time location updates on the Solar Impulse webpage via their mobile devices and can even post pictures and videos on the group’s social media page.

Also, the Solar Impulse team will be carrying a special edition of the book ‘The Little Prince’ for the final leg of the journey. This is to help mark the 70th anniversary of the book’s publication in New York in 1943, which is linked to the history of aviation. The book is also being honored by the Antoine de Saint Exupery Youth Foundation.

Once the team lands in NY several events are scheduled to take place, including a press conference on Monday at noon at JFK, participation in the NASDAQ Opening Bell Ceremony and a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday, July 9.

But before all this occurs, the zero-fuel airplane must complete the final leg of the Across America 2013 mission. While the flight has been confirmed, mission operators said the schedule could change depending on weather conditions.

Tentatively, the final flight is scheduled to begin at 5:00 am on July 6, with Borschberg taking off from Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington DC. The plane should cross Chesapeake Bay at around 6:45 am and head toward Cambridge in Maryland. The plane should fly across Delaware Bay at around 8:00 am, crossing into New Jersey and following the coast toward Atlantic City.

At around 9:15 am, Borschberg should be in the proximity of Atlantic City before flying 11 miles offshore for a long holding pattern until 9:00 pm, when he will then return toward land to complete the flight. He will enter the Lower Bay at around 11:40 pm, fly over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and toward the Statue of Liberty around 12:00 am, and then on to Upper Bay, where he will hold until about 1:15 am.

Borschberg is expected to land the solar-powered aircraft at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York at 2:00 am on July 7.

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Image Below: An itinerary map of the entire Across America 2013 campaign. Credit: Solar Impulse