cafecuriosity

Putting the Bite On the Economy

Australia's recent spate of shark attacks has me even more confused than I am normally. You see. according to George Burgess the director of the International Shark Attack File based at the University of Florida, shark attacks dropped in the U.S. in 2008 as the recession kicked in. Burgess pointed to fewer people holidaying at the beach for economic reasons. The U.S. accounts for two-thirds of shark attacks world-wide so their dip saw shark attacks fall to their lowest level in five years. Now contrary to U.S. experience, Australia has experienced three shark attacks in 18 days. Is Australia less severely impacted by the recession than the U.S? Is our economy more resilient than the U.S.? Or is this yet another case of causality gone astray in search of a headline? More likely, perhaps shark attacks have nothing to do with economics and everything to do with the distribution of surfer dudes, the banning of commercial fishing in Sydney Harbour, climate and lifestyles!   http://news.ufl.edu/2009/02/19/shark-attacks/   Image: George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File, University of Florida

Cancer's Delayed Fuze

If anyone doubts how history continues to haunt us, you only have to consider the fate of the tropical Isla de Vieques off Puerto Rico. Twenty one miles long and 5 miles wide, it was once part of the Spanish Virgin Islands. In 1948 the U.S. navy arrived and nicked 70% of the island. In 1977 the Navy scuttled the hulk of the former USS Killen, a WWII Fletcher class destroyer. The Killen had been used as a guided missile target ship from 1961 - 1969. Indeed the area was used as a What wasn't well known was the Killen was also a target in Operation Hardtack a series of nuclear bomb tests carried out in the Pacific in 1958.

Sandstorms Helping the Atlantic to Bloom

One of the benefits of relocating to a new and unfamiliar country is the change in perspective that comes with the physical move. Living in Dubai, you become accustomed to sand storms. However I didn't appreciate the interplay between those Saharan sand storms and the Atlantic Ocean. Just to demonstrate that everything connects, the Atlantic Ocean had been seen as an 'ocean desert', lacking the iron, nitrogen and phosphorous nutrients required for cyanobacteria to do their thing. Nitrogen is available from the atmosphere but there is little dissolved iron present in the surface ocean and almost no phosphorous. However, those sandstorms spread across the Atlantic bringing with them the missing iron and phosphorous trace elements. What was once thought of as a wet desert actually supports thriving populations of  cyanobacteria. Next time I'm cursing the sand storms, I may just pause to appreciate the web of connections linking the Gulf with Africa, Europe and the Atlantic Ocean!   http://www.liv.ac.uk/news/press_releases/2008/07/saharan-dust-storms.htm   Image: 1 & 2. View of Atlantic from deck of research vessel, 3. Saharan sand storm, iStockphoto, Christian Peeters

High Lift, Low Drag Flippers (and tails)

Global warming and the search for alternative energy sources is driving the development of a new generation of wind turbine design. Engineers have traditionally plumped for simple, rigid lifting structures to deliver continuous, stable flow patterns. Nature however confounds conventional engineering theory by opting for bumpy flexible surfaces for whale flippers and dolphin tails. The bumpy leading edges of a humpback's flippers create vortices generating additional lift and improving the whale's maneuverability - useful in rounding up clouds of krill when feeding. For its part, the vertical motion of a dolphin's tail produces vortices, creating a jet in the dolphin's wake, and providing enormous thrust and swimming efficiency. Biomimetics is inspiring a new engineering approach to wind turbine designs that increase lift, reduce drag and delay stall.

Fish, F. E., Howle, L. E. and Murray, M. M. 2008. Hydrodynamic flow control in marine mammals;
Integrative and Comparative Biology 211: 1859-1867.   Image: 1. Dolphin, E. Paterson, 2. Large vortices forming behind leading edge, E. Paterson

Taking the Plunge in Brazil's Abrolhos

It's a gloomy time to be a marine biologist if you specialize in coral reefs. Coral bleaching, ocean acidification and increasing UV levels are contributing to prognostications of a dismal future for reef lovers. A ray of sunshine peeped through this gloom recently, when biologists discovered Brazil's Abrolhos Bank was a much more extensive reef network than had been previously suspected. Extending between fifteen and two hundred kilometers off the coast of Brazil's Bahai state, the reefs plunge from 20 meters down to 73 meters and are teeming with sea life. The reefs are biological hotspots, recording population densities 30 times higher than the better known shallow reefs. In one stroke, researchers have doubled the size of the South Atlantic's reef structure. Ironically, the reefs have survived mainly because no-one knew they were there, which is just as well as many of the fish, mollusks and soft corals are only found on the Abrolhos shelf. Question is, will the reefs still be there in twenty years time, or will global warming, coastal development, offshore drilling and over-fishing overwhelm them?   http://www.conservation.org/newsroom/pressreleases/Pages/New-Reefs-in-Brazil.aspx   Image: 1. Black grouper, Mycteroperca bonaci, Abrolhos Bank, Brazil, RB Francini-Fiho, 2. Dog snapper, Lutjanus jocu, Abrolhos Bank, Brazil, RB Francini-Fiho.

Despite Our Ignorance Life Finds A Way

We humans have always been fascinated by our origins. The question, 'How did life begin?' has concentrated scientific minds long before the concept of 'scientist' had been established. The conventional scenario has early microbial life teeming in the Earth's warm shallow waters. The abyssal depths were thought too cold, too energy poor and too inhospitable to nurture life. Even when the first hydrothermal vents were discovered, they were thought to be exceptions to a rule. Now a USC geomicrobiologist has discovered there are thousands of times more bacteria living happily on the seafloor than in the overhead water. So, 'If these deep underwater basalt plains are bulging with microbes, what do they live off?' I hear you ask. It seems the microbes live off the very rocks forming the Earth's crust itself. Chemical reaction with the basalt seam (all 60,000 km of it) generates sufficient energy to overcome their carbon poor environment. It may even be that life first fired up in the calm, stable deep water before migrating towards the light. Now wouldn't that be an ironic reversal of a popular scientific theory!

Thriller writers around the globe were looking smug and saying, 'I told you so.' as news of the discovery of a new ultra-small species of bacteria (Chryseobacterium greenlandensis) that survived despite being frozen in a Greenland glacier for 120,000 years hit the news wires. These bacteria are so small they easily slide through standard microbiological filters. It is one of only 10 to have been found to date in glaciers and polar ice. 

http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/15317.html   http://live.psu.edu/story/31052   Image: 1. Microbial life ecosystem, Nicolle Rager-Fuller/National Science Foundation, 2. Scientists work with a 6m ice core section in Greenland, Mark Twickler, University of New Hampshire/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Paleoclimatology Program/department of Commerce, 3. Cutting core samples for analysis, Todd Sowers, Penn State University.

Creature Feature #11

Never underestimate the lengths biologists go to, to save endangered species. This month veterinarians at the Smithsonian National Zoo performed the very first reverse vasectomy on Minnesota a fine specimen of Przewalski's horse. Native to China and Mongolia, only 1,500 of these ancient horses are thought to be left in zoos around the world and none survive in the wild. Minnesota has bounced back gamely from his op and is eager to do his duty (tough job!) and add his genes to the pool. The entire species is based on genes from 14 base animals so every little bit of diversity helps!

Conventional wisdom has it that corals frolic in sun drenched shallow waters. Now new DNA based research has surfaced indicating hard corals such as lace corals (Stlasterids) evolved in the deep sea and migrated upwards three times over the past 40 million years. From these findings, biologists are now interpreting deep-sea ecosystems as being far more dynamic than the isolated habitats depicted in earlier ecosystem models.

Finally, Dutch ecologists claim to have discovered a hitherto unsuspected ability for underground and surface insects to communicate with each other chemically using plants as their telephone! Yes, I kid you not. Subterranean insects release a chemical signal which is transmitted to surface insects via traces in the plants leaves. Studies show that surface insects develop more slowly when the plant they are feeding on is also host to underground insects. This chemical signaling system enables insects to avoid competing with each other for food. As if that wasn't enough, predatory wasps can also detect chemical emissions from underground insects. Only to mother wasp this indicates an abundant food source for her offspring is in the offering!

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AsiaTrail/News/PHorse.cfm   http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0002429   http://www.nwo.nl/nwohome.nsf/pages/NWOA_7DLG9H_Eng   Image: 1. Minnesota, a Przewalski's horse, Ann Batdorf/Smithsonian National Zoo, 2. Bubblegum coral and lace coral 150 meters down off Adek Island, Alberto Lindner/NOAA, 3. Illustration of communication between subterranean and surface insects, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research

Creature Feature #10

There's a reason they call them wild animals! The Javan Rhino is usually extremely shy and retiring, posing quite a challenge for researchers trying to monitor them. Video traps are proving to be an increasingly popular solution. It doesn't stress the animal and requires little training or resources to set up and service. The video cameras use infra-red to avoid scaring the animals when activated. At least that's the theory. One rhino mother however took exception and charged the video camera. Round 1 to the rhino! The now shop soiled video camera was re-mounted on its stand the next day and has been happily filming away.

Frank Gallagher, the retired mail supervisor at The Academy of Natural Sciences received his 15 minutes of fame this month when ichthyologist Dr. Mark Sabaj Perez named a new species of catfish (Rhinodoras gallagheri) after him. Known as the Orinoco thicklip catfish, its a shy thing, hiding during the day and hunting for aquatic insects at night. Now, Rhinodoras gallagheri wasn't discovered as such by some intrepid explorer fishing the Orinoco's exotic waterways. No, Perez was looking through the Academy's collection of 1.3 million fish when he noticed two specimens collected in Venezuala in 1989 were different from the rest! Frank's response to his serendipitous honour was classy, "I thought it was nice of him" he said.

Ah, the power! From a humble postman to rock and roll legend, the species name game knows few boundaries as a biology professor from East Carolina University discovered. Jason Bond is a self-confessed Neil Young freak, so it seemed natural to name a new species of trapdoor spider after him.Bond pickeup $750,000 in grants to classify the trapdoor species for the National Science Foundation's 'Tree of Life' project. Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi now takes its place in biology's pantheon!

Who said scientists lack entrepreneurial skills? When Florida Museum of Natural History researchers George Austin and Andrew Warren discovered a new species of owl butterfly (named after the eyespots on its wings!) they put the naming rights up for auction online. An anonymous donor kicked in $40,800 to name the new species Opsiphanes blythekitzmillerae or the Minerva owl butterfly after Margery Minerva Blyth Kitzmiller of Ohio. Minerva is the first new owl butterfly to be discovered in 100 years. It has a unique wing shape and translucent wing scales. Like similar discoveries, Austin found Opsiphanes blythekitzmillerae while curating the McGuire center's 6 million Lepidoptera specimens! 

http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/media/press/2008/WWFPresitem9174.html   http://www.ansp.org/press/release/Fish_named_for_mailman_6-08.pdf    http://www.ecu.edu/cs-admin/news/releases/2008/5/05082008ecubondneilyoungspider.cfm   http://news.ufl.edu/2007/11/21/butterfly-name/   Image: 1. Javanese rhino with calf, WWF Indonesia, 2. Rhinodoras gallagheri, Mark Sabaj/ANSP, 3. Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi, UCU News Services, 4. Opsiphanes blythekitzmillerae, Priscilla Brodkin

Sailing the Briny Deep

Poor Ferdinand Magellan! You'd think having captained the first circumnavigation of the Earth (1519-22) discovering Guam and reaching The Philippines in the process, he would be forgiven for overshooting Indonesia's Spice islands by a mere 1,500 miles! Now through a combination of computer modeling and historical data, two researchers have fingered El Nino as the invisible hand guiding Magellan's voyage of discovery. The researchers hypothesised Magellan sailed around Cape Horn and into the remnants of an El Nino event. While the drought typically associated with El Nino events may have devastated island food supplies prompting Magellan to sail north, its prevailing northerly winds and current, combined with benign weather made for easy sailing. If correct, this would be the earliest record of an El Nino climate event.

Still on things nautical, a former MIT undergraduate student took time out from her dual majors in nuclear and mechanical engineering to mess about with a replica of the large ocean going rafts which plied the seas between Chile and western Mexico over a thousand years ago. A strong pre-Columbian connection between the Andean and Mesoamerican civilizations emerged from analysis of the metallurgy used in producing silver and copper goods, as well as the trade in the prized spondylus shell beads. Now detailed computer analysis of the replica's seaworthiness, handling and cargo capacity demonstrate the feasibility of ancient oceanic trade routes. At 10-30 tons capacity, the rafts could make the six to eight week voyage during the trade wind window (the rafts couldn't sail again the wind). The MIT paper is the first to use advanced marine engineering analysis to identify the design parameters of ancient water craft - quite a stretch from nuclear engineering!

http://news.ncsu.edu/news/2008/05/wmsfitzpatrickmagellan.php   http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/raft-tt0319.html   Image: 1. Ferdinand Magellan, Wikipedia, 2. Magellan's voyage of discovery, www.oceansatlas.com 2. MIT students aboard the replica raft, Dinna Coveney, MIT, 3. Early 17th Century sketch of native raft, Joris von Spilbergen

Bio Inspired Engineering #2

I've dived with squid and I've eaten squid but I've never really thought about how they are put together. Engineering however has turned to the robust Humboldt squid to better understand how you combine a very hard cutting tool with a soft squishy body. Joining things of different constituency is trickier than we tend to think - particularly if you want to avoid rivets, bolts and adhesives! In a mechanical environment, attaching a scalpel to a bowl of jelly would produce a very messy outcome!  Nature however has come up with one of the hardest and stiffest organic materials in the world and one of the softest bodies, creating a beak with an extremely stiff tip with cascading graduations of stiffness, allowing it to attach to the squid's body without tearing it to pieces. Its situation specific however, when the squid beak dries out, it loses its graduation rendering the base of the beak just as rigid as the tip.

NASA's return to manned exploration is stimulating a fascinating search for inspiration. NASA and other agencies are looking for climbing robots, highly maneuverable unmanned aerial vehicles, a new generation of spacecraft and its astronauts are looking to improve their maneuverability in space. One of the sources of new design philosophy is the humble house gecko. Geckos rely on their tails for stability to avoid falling from vertical surfaces, propping themselves up with their tail which acts as a fifth leg. If they do succumb to gravity, they use their tails to course correct in mid air, like a skydiver gliding in for a soft landing. Subjecting the poor little buggers to wind tunnel tests, researchers discovered the gecko could hover in the air stream before using their tail to steer to a safe perch. The gecko's active tail it seems is pivotal to navigating slippery surfaces. Geckos are yet another example of how basic research delivers unexpected applications.

http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=1745   http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/03/17_gecko.shtml   Image: 1. Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas, NOAA/MBARI 2006 2. Flat-tailed house gecko skydiving in a wind tunnel, Robert Full/UC Berkeley, PNAS/NAS