Weekend Reading January 31, 2014

This is great for the x-ray video of moles digging through Couscous.  Cause EVERYONE wants to watch an x-ray video of moles digging through Couscous.  Right?

http://www.nytimes.com/video/science/100000002674130/sciencetake-moles-on-the-move.html?playlistId=1194811622277

Jurassic Park got it wrong.  A better evaluation of what Dilophosaurus probably looked like.  (please note, though, that the lower image, with the teeth outside of the mouth, is probably completely wrong.  For the vast majority of animals teeth go INSIDE the mouth.)

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/28/how-dilophosaurus-became-a-rock-star/

Most people who are bitten by poisonous snakes are bitten when they are trying to HANDLE the snakes (often when they're trying to kill the dangerous animal, that dangerous animal that would normally flee from the big, stomping human if they were given a chance).  Where you get bitten (hand vs. mouth [disturbingly a common location for snake bites] vs. foot) has a big impact on your prognosis.  New work shows that where the snake is from also has a big impact.  The same species can produce different types of toxins depending on the local environment.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/27/rattlesnakes-two-hours-apart-pack-totally-different-venoms/

Ants do some seriously interesting stuff.  Now it turns out that PLANTS are competing with each other to get the attention of certain species of ant.

http://entomologytoday.org/2014/01/16/certain-plants-compete-for-ants/

Think winter is a time of hibernation [or death] for the insects around us? Then let me introduce you to the SNOW FLEA!  (actually, they're kind of cute!)

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/01/snow-fleas/

Boston area events

There are some upcoming events that might interest the true Biology Afficianados in my classes.  Both are at the Harvard Natural History Museum in Cambridge, MA


The first is a talk about a 25 year study of evolution in E. coli.  What happens when you grow a fast reproducing organism in captivity for over 2 decades?  Lots of surprising things!

"Join microbiologist Dr. Richard Lenski at Time Travel in Experimental Evolution, Wednesday, February 12, at 6:00 pm where he will discuss his twenty-five year study of Escherichia coli (or E. coli), a common form of intestinal bacteria that reproduces and mutates with incredible speed, making it an ideal organism for studying the evolutionary process. Lenski will share his discoveries and the new insights into natural selection, adaptation, and genetic evolution that have resulted from his lengthy study. 

Free and open to the public. Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free event parking is available in the 52 Oxford Street Garage.

Part of the Evolution Matters lecture series, supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit. "

This one is more likely to be interesting to most of my students - how do wild animals adapt to living in and near cities?

"In cities and suburbs around the world, wild creatures such as coyotes, alligators, and mountain lions are showing up where least expected. How can they survive in the contemporary world of concrete, steel, and glass? At Wild Animal Neighbors, on Saturday, February 22, at 2:00 pm, author Ann Downer will discuss the factors that bring these creatures to our backyards and ways to create spaces for people and animals to live side by side.

Regular museum admission rates apply."

Before you ask - no, you don't get extra credit for going to these.

Tips for Success in College

It's the first week of the semester. A fresh start for students, new classes, new instructors,  new chances to start off the semester on the right, or wrong foot.  I have two tips for how to start out the semester to improve your odds of success.

1)  choose where you sit in the classroom very carefully. After years of teaching I can predict students final course grades based on where they sit. Students in the front couple of rows and on the side of the classroom closest to the podium get As and Bs.  Students in the middle get the Cs.  Students in the back and closest to the door tend to do the worst.

There are exceptions - in my larger classes there is always at least one students who sits in the back and makes an A and at least one student who sits in the front and struggles all semester.

Which is the cause and which is the effect?  I'm not completely sure.  Perhaps the students who choose seats in the front are the type who also put in a lot of effort outside of class (I think that's true for most of them).  I do know that the ones who sit near the back don't pay as much attention during lecture and I often spot signs of texting or working on assignments for other classes. It's much harder to be distracted when you're right up near the instructor.

So, just want to pass?  Sit wherever you want, but if you want an A or if you know you're likely to daydream and miss important material, sit up front and make friends with the other front of the classroom students and form study groups.

2)  Read the syllabus. I know, I know, most of the material in there is boring boilerplate. But the stuff that's in there is in there for a reason and that reason is that some student before you messed up and did poorly in the class as a result. And I would really, really like every student to succeed.  Really.  So copy the dates of quizzes and exams into your calendar so you don't miss them, make sure you know all the ways you can earn (or loose) points and pay attention to the study suggestions.

If every student in my class earned an A I'd be thrilled. But I'd settle for students learning basic business etiquette.  You know, arriving on time, staying the full length of class, not causing disruptions for the other students and writing complete sentences in emails.  That's stuff that will help anyone be more successful in their careers, whether they remember any biology or not.

Let me finish with a cat picture.  Because this is the internet and it is ruled by cats.

Weekend Reading January 24, 2014

Like Monarch butterflies?  Eat less corn.

http://www.myrmecos.net/2014/01/20/the-midwestern-dead-zone/?utm_content=buffer0c4a7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Don't [want] to believe in Global Climate Change?  Born after 1976?  "Then you’ve never experienced an average year: 2013 isthe 37th year in a row with temperatures above the 20th century average."

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/01/22/global_warming_2013_ties_for_fourth_hottest_year_on_record.html

Looking for a good topic to do your biology presentation?  Here are a couple of websites that consistently feature interesting animals.

http://wtfevolution.tumblr.com/  and http://www.realmonstrosities.com/ and http://thesmallermajority.com/

The idea of race is a difficult one to discuss in a Biology class because, biologically speaking, it doesn't exist. It's a social construct, but in the Real World race does matter - it affects how people respond to a person.  Here's an exceptional discussion of race and why the concept of race should be left out of science (especially medical science).

http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/74248541745/race-a-scientific-idea-ready-for-retirement

Peacock Mantis Shrimp are one of the coolest animals on the planet!  Not only can they punch with the force of a 22 caliber rifle, not only do their arms move so fast that the water around them literally boils, but instead of a measly three color receptors (like us) they have 12 - 16 different color receptors! (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp)  Can you image WHAT they can see?

Wait, what's that?  Someone actually tested their vision and it's not what anyone expected?  Huh.

Still, the speed and power of a 22 caliber rifle in the arms of an animal that gets to be AT MOST 12 inches long is wicked cool!

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/23/the-mantis-shrimp-sees-like-a-satellite/

State of Fisheries

As a biology professor I'm used to being asked all kinds of questions.

"I saw a yellow bird on a purple plant - what was it?"  

[a goldfinch on a thistle plant]

"Here's a weird bug, will it hurt me?" 

[most bugs won't, even the ones that sting or bite would rather run from you]

"My doctor told me I had the galloping dandruff, what is it and what should I do about it?" 

[normally I'd say listen to your doctor but in this case I think you need to change doctors.  I suspect Galloping Dandruff is a made up disease]

So when I was in Florida over break and The Husband asked me "why don't any of the restaurants have local catch of the day fish on their menus?" I was surprised to not know the answer as fact, but I have an educated guess. 

Fisheries collapse.

As the human population grows we are using more and more of our natural resources, including fish. Add to that the increasing understanding that eating (certain) fish is good for us and improved transportation from coastal areas to restaurants and groceries stores inland and what you get in a lot of pressure on the wild fish populations.

Fisheries (industries based on harvesting a particular species of wild fish) are collapsing at an increasingly rapid pace. Most species of edible fish are in rapid decline. Our oceans are becoming less the source of bounty our ancestors knew and more wet deserts, with life scattered widely and less of that life in the form of tasty fish.

So what are we to do? 

As always in the Real World - it's complicated.

Biologically speaking, in an ideal world we would quit harvesting wild fish from our oceans for several years to allow the populations to rebound, and then we would place strict limits on the number of fish that could be taken.

Cod, photo by Hans-Petter Fjeld (CC-BY-SA)

BUT that would put people who rely on fishing for income out of jobs. 

Fishing is a hard, difficult job with low profit margins. You need specific skills to do that job; skills that are not easily transferred to other careers; skills that are honed over a lifetime on the sea. So what is a fisherman to do? More and more fishermen who learned the craft from their fathers are struggling to answer this question.

Then there's the Big Money issue. The love of money corrupts. While fishermen may not be making a lot of profit, there are lots of people who do make Big Money from fish and they will fight tooth and nail to limit government "interference" with their profits (even at the expense of future profits). These are not the people on the boats, these are the people who own chain restaurants, who manufacture and sell "fish oil supplements," and whoever owns the brand name fish frozen fish sticks.

Can fisheries be managed so that we can all eat fish and fishermen can make a living? Yes, but it will take compromise to make sure that our children can continue to eat fish or make a living on the sea.  And it will take a lot of people leaving the fishing industry and a lot of people cutting back on their fish consumption.

 In the meantime; if you're in the fishing industry start making plans to change careers. Fishing for a living may not be an option in another decade or two.

Image from USAID Bangladesh (public domain)

Weekend Reading January 17. 2014

The cool science just keeps on coming - whether class is in session or not!

Check out the Pink Fairy Armadillo.  Yes, that's right, a PINK FAIRY ARMADILLO.   A creature so rarely spotted that scientists don't even have a clue how common or rare they are!

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/01/absurd-creature-of-the-week-pink-fairy-armadillo-crawls-out-of-the-desert-and-into-our-hearts/?viewall=true

Carnivorous pitcher plants lure insects into their pitchers and then digest them as a source of nitrogen.  Our limited range of vision that doesn't allow us to see in the ultraviolet range hid one of their secrets from us until recently - they use ultraviolet light to lure insects to their deaths!

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/these-carnivorous-plants-glow-under-ultraviolet-light-to-attract-prey-180948058/

Humans have driven many species to extinction but only once before has this been done deliberately.  In the early 1970s the virus that causes Smallpox was deliberately destroyed.  Now it looks like another disease causing organism is on its way to deliberate extinction - the Guinea Worm.  The only place this disease still occurs is in South Sudan.  Let's home the warring factions there don't get in the way of destroying this painful, debilitating disease.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/24/the-guinea-worm-a-fond-obituary/

Baby, it's cold outside.  But the Snow Flea doesn't care!  This nearly microscopic invertebrate is quite active even when there is snow and ice on the ground.  How does it do it?  Hint:  it's not magic, it's AMAZING.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/01/snow-fleas/

Curious about your genes?  Here's a look at the ethics of personal genome sequencing.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/15/my-risk-benefit-ratio-for-personal-genetics/

Weekend Reading Jan. 10, 2014

I took a little time off and missed several good news stories (like - that so called "piranha attack" which wasn't and the "shark" in the wave that wasn't).  But I'm back now and I'm starting off with CLIMATE CHANGE.

Let's start the year off with a bang! Or maybe a shiver. What If answers that burning question:  how many humans would a T. rex need to eat in a day?

http://what-if.xkcd.com/78/

This article tries to explain why global climate change (also known as global warming) is causing record cold temperatures across the US.  Remember Climate is not the same as Weather.

http://news.yahoo.com/global-warming-freezing-104500272--politics.html

It's called Global Warming because the average temperature of the entire planet is increasing; this means that when it comes to weather there is greater instability and more likely to be extreme events.  Go set a pot of water on the stove to boil.  See how, as you raise the temperature, things get a bit crazy?  That's what's happening to our planet.  Some places will have bubbles (heat), or steam (rain) others won't.

Think you know at least one fact about fish - that they live in water? Biology just doesn't read the textbook.  The leaping blenny is a fish that lives on land!

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/2013/12/31/wonderful-things-leaping-fish-spends-entire-life-on-land/

How do "cold blooded" animals survive a Polar Vortex?  Here's a look at The Fly Who Came In From The Cold

http://www.biodiversityinfocus.com/blog/2014/01/07/the-fly-who-came-in-from-the-cold/