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New science + good writing = Not Exactly Rocket Science. Articles on new discoveries written so that anyone can understand them.
Ed Yong
211 posts
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- April 8, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 5 views
GPS backpacks identify leaders among flocking pigeons
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
A freewheeling flock of birds is one of nature’s most endearing spectacles. The flock’s members move with uncanny coordination, changing direction in unison, splitting and reforming, and even landing as one. The intricacies of these synchronised flights are very difficult to entangle. Who is following whom? Is there even a leader and, if so, does [...]... Read more »
Nagy, M., Ákos, Z., Biro, D., & Vicsek, T. (2010) Hierarchical group dynamics in pigeon flocks. Nature, 464(7290), 890-893. DOI: 10.1038/nature08891
- March 31, 2010
- 01:00 PM
- 5 views
Movies of life show the dance of dividing cells
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
Imagine filming a movie hundreds of thousands of times with an infinitely patient crew. Every time you shoot it, you remove just one thing, be it an actor, a line of dialogue or a crew member. By comparing the resulting films, you’d soon work out which elements were vital to the movie’s success, and which [...]... Read more »
Neumann, B., Walter, T., Hériché, J., Bulkescher, J., Erfle, H., Conrad, C., Rogers, P., Poser, I., Held, M., Liebel, U.... (2010) Phenotypic profiling of the human genome by time-lapse microscopy reveals cell division genes. Nature, 464(7289), 721-727. DOI: 10.1038/nature08869
- March 27, 2010
- 01:00 PM
- 8 views
Dormant viruses can hide in our DNA and be passed from parent to child
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
During our early childhoods, the vast majority of us are boarded by a stowaway that can stay with us for the rest of our lives. It can rear its head when we are at our weakest and it can wriggle its way down our family tree into our children and grandchildren. It’s a virus called [...]... Read more »
Arbuckle, J., Medveczky, M., Luka, J., Hadley, S., Luegmayr, A., Ablashi, D., Lund, T., Tolar, J., De Meirleir, K., Montoya, J.... (2010) The latent human herpesvirus-6A genome specifically integrates in telomeres of human chromosomes in vivo and in vitro. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(12), 5563-5568. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0913586107
- March 15, 2010
- 09:30 AM
- 10 views
Pocket Science - a psychopath's reward, and the mystery of the shark-bitten fossil poo
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
The rewarding side of being a psychopath
What goes on in the brains of psychopaths? They can seem outwardly normal and even charming, but tthese people typically show a lack of empathy, immoral behaviour and an impulsive streak. Joshua Buckholtz found that the last of these traits - impulsivity - may stem from a hyperactive reward system in the brain and unusually high levels of the signalling chemical dopamine.
When given small doses of amphetamines, people who come out as more impulsive on ........ Read more »
Godfrey, S., & Smith, J. (2010) Shark-bitten vertebrate coprolites from the Miocene of Maryland. Naturwissenschaften. DOI: 10.1007/s00114-010-0659-x
- March 14, 2010
- 03:00 PM
- 8 views
'Wasabi protein' responsible for the heat-seeking sixth sense of rattlesnakes
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
Take a whiff of mustard or wasabi and you'll be hit with a familiar burning sensation. That's the result of chemicals in these pungent foods hitting a protein called TRPA1, a molecular alarm that warns us about irritating substances. The same protein does a similar job in other animals, but rattlesnakes and vipers have put their version of TRPA1 to a more impressive and murderous purpose. They use it to sense the body heat of their prey.
Pit vipers are famed for their ability to detect the infr........ Read more »
Gracheva, E., Ingolia, N., Kelly, Y., Cordero-Morales, J., Hollopeter, G., Chesler, A., Sánchez, E., Perez, J., Weissman, J., & Julius, D. (2010) Molecular basis of infrared detection by snakes. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature08943
- March 7, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 10 views
Smell a lady, shrug off flu - how female odours give male mice an immune boost
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
Sex might be fun but it's not without risks. As your partner exposes themselves to you, they also expose you to whatever bacteria, viruses or parasites they might be carrying. But some animals have a way around that. Ekaterina Litvinova has found that when male mice get a whiff of female odours, their immune systems prepare their airways for attack, increasing their resistance to flu viruses.
Litvinova worked with a group of mice that were exposed to bedding that had previously been soiled by ........ Read more »
Litvinova, E., Goncharova, E., Zaydman, A., Zenkova, M., & Moshkin, M. (2010) Female Scent Signals Enhance the Resistance of Male Mice to Influenza. PLoS ONE, 5(3). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009473
- March 4, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 7 views
Beer makes humans more attractive to malarial mosquitoes
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
We've all heard about "beer goggles", the mythical, invisible eyewear that makes everyone else seem incredibly attractive after a few pints too many. If only beer had the reverse effect, making the drinker seem irresistibly attractive. Well, the good news is that beer does actually do this. The bad news is that the ones who are attracted at malarial mosquitoes.
Anopheles gambiae (the mosquito that transmits malaria) tracks its victims by their smells. By wafting the aromas of humans over thousa........ Read more »
Lefèvre, T., Gouagna, L., Dabiré, K., Elguero, E., Fontenille, D., Renaud, F., Costantini, C., & Thomas, F. (2010) Beer Consumption Increases Human Attractiveness to Malaria Mosquitoes. PLoS ONE, 5(3). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009546
- February 28, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 8 views
Quicker feedback for better performance
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
We've all experienced the agonising wait for feedback, whether it's for exam grades, news from a job interview, or results from a grant application. These verdicts can have a massive influence in our lives but they can often take weeks or even months to arrive. And that's a big problem, according to Keri Kettle and Gerald Häubl from the University of Alberta.
They have found evidence that we do better at tasks the sooner we expect news about our performance. If we think we'll be evaluated qui........ Read more »
Kettle, K., & Haubl, G. (2010) Motivation by Anticipation: Expecting Rapid Feedback Enhances Performance. Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/0956797610363541
- February 19, 2010
- 08:30 AM
- 10 views
Parasitic wasps hitchhike on butterflies by smelling for chemical chastity belts
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
It's not every day that you hear about spy missions that involve a lack of sex, but clearly parasitic wasps don't pay much attention to Hollywood clichés.
These insects merge the thriller, science-fiction and horror genres, They lay their eggs inside other animals, turning them into slaves and living larders that are destined to be eaten inside-out by the developing grubs. To find their victims, they perform feats of espionage worthy of any secret agent, tapping into their mark's communication........ Read more »
Huigens, M., Woelke, J., Pashalidou, F., Bukovinszky, T., Smid, H., & Fatouros, N. (2010) Chemical espionage on species-specific butterfly anti-aphrodisiacs by hitchhiking Trichogramma wasps. Behavioral Ecology. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arq007
- December 26, 2009
- 12:00 PM
- 10 views
The 13,000-year old tree that survives by cloning itself
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
In California's Jurupa Mountains, there is a very unusual group of tree - a Palmer's oak. Unlike the mighty trees that usually bear the oak name, this one looks like little more than a collection of small bushes. But appearances can be deceiving. This apparently disparate group of plants are all clones of a single individual, and a very old one at that.
By repeatedly cloning itself, the Palmer's oak has lived past the separation of Britain from continental Europe, the demise of the mammoths an........ Read more »
May, M., Provance, M., Sanders, A., Ellstrand, N., & Ross-Ibarra, J. (2009) A Pleistocene Clone of Palmer's Oak Persisting in Southern California. PLoS ONE, 4(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008346
- December 16, 2009
- 09:09 AM
- 24 views
One gene stops ovaries from turning into testes
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
In science, we don't often get to talk about male repression, but a new discovery gives us just such a chance. It turns out that ovaries can only remain ovaries by constantly suppressing their ability to become male. Silence a single gene, and adult ovaries turn into testes. That adult tissues can be transformed in this way would be surprising enough, but doing so by changing a single gene is truly astonishing.
As embryos, our gonads aren't specific to either gender. Their default course is a f........ Read more »
Uhlenhaut, N., Jakob, S., Anlag, K., Eisenberger, T., Sekido, R., Kress, J., Treier, A., Klugmann, C., Klasen, C., & Holter, N. (2009) Somatic Sex Reprogramming of Adult Ovaries to Testes by FOXL2 Ablation. Cell, 139(6), 1130-1142. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2009.11.021
- November 30, 2009
- 09:17 AM
- 26 views
Delay not deviance: brains of children with ADHD mature later than other
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
This article is reposted from the old Wordpress incarnation of Not Exactly Rocket Science.Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is the most common developmental disorder in children, affecting anywhere between 3-5% of the world's school-going population. As the name suggests, kids with ADHD are hyperactive and easily distracted; they are also forgetful and find it difficult to control their own impulses.
While some evidence has suggested that ADHD brains develop in fundamentally different w........ Read more »
Shaw, P., Eckstrand, K., Sharp, W., Blumenthal, J., Lerch, J., Greenstein, D., Clasen, L., Evans, A., Giedd, J., & Rapoport, J. (2007) From the Cover: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is characterized by a delay in cortical maturation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(49), 19649-19654. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0707741104
- November 25, 2009
- 08:05 AM
- 25 views
Neck-breaking, disembowelling, constricting and fishing - the violent world of raptors
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
The role of Velociraptor's infamous claw has received much attention from scientists ever since they clicked their way across a movie kitchen. In comparison, the formidable claws of living raptors (birds of prey) have received little attention. Eagles, hawks, falcons and owls are some of the most widespread and well-liked of all birds. They are superb hunters and even though it's always been suspected that they use their talons to kill, we know amazingly little about their techniques.
Denver ........ Read more »
Fowler, D., Freedman, E., & Scannella, J. (2009) Predatory Functional Morphology in Raptors: Interdigital Variation in Talon Size Is Related to Prey Restraint and Immobilisation Technique. PLoS ONE, 4(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007999
- November 10, 2009
- 04:56 PM
- 30 views
Measuring dino fitness - more evidence that two-legged dinosaurs were warm-blooded
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
The question of whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded or cold-blooded is one of the most enduring in palaeontology. Did they generate their own body heat like today's mammals; was their temperature more influenced by their environment like today's reptiles; or did they use a mixture of both strategies? Scientists have put forward a slew of arguments for all of these alternatives, but Herman Pontzer from Washington University has a new take on things which suggests that many dinosaurs were indeed w........ Read more »
Pontzer, H., Allen, V., & Hutchinson, J. (2009) Biomechanics of Running Indicates Endothermy in Bipedal Dinosaurs. PLoS ONE, 4(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007783
- November 9, 2009
- 09:25 AM
- 28 views
Leaf beetle protects itself with a mobile home made of faeces
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
The female case-bearing leaf beetle Neochlamisus platani tries to give her children a head-start in life, but most mothers might not be keen on how she does it - encasing her young in an armoured shell made of her own faeces. After she lays her eggs, she seals each one in a bell-shaped case. When the larva hatches, it performs some renovations, cutting a hole in the roof and enlarge the structure with their own poo. By sticking its head and legs out, it converts its excremental maisonette into a........ Read more »
Brown, C., & Funk, D. (2009) Antipredatory properties of an animal architecture: how complex faecal cases thwart arthropod attack. Animal Behaviour. DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.10.010
- October 27, 2009
- 08:56 PM
- 27 views
Holy fellatio, Batman! Fruit bats use oral sex to prolong actual sex
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
Many humans whinge about not getting oral sex often enough, but for most animals, it's completely non-existent. In fact, we know of only animal apart from humans to regularly engage in fellatio - the short-nosed fruit bat (Cynopterus sphinx).
The bat's sexual antics have only just been recorded by Min Tan of China's Guangdong Entomological Institute (who are either branching out, or are confused about entomology). Tan captured 60 wild bats from a nearby park, housed them in pairs of the opposi........ Read more »
Tan, M., Jones, G., Zhu, G., Ye, J., Hong, T., Zhou, S., Zhang, S., & Zhang, L. (2009) Fellatio by Fruit Bats Prolongs Copulation Time. PLoS ONE, 4(10). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007595
- October 5, 2009
- 08:01 AM
- 31 views
Tuberculosis, not cancer, killed Dr Granville's mummy
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
Around 2600 years ago in Egypt, a woman called Irtyersenu died. She was mummified and buried at the necropolis at Thebes, where she remained for over two millennia before being unearthed in 1819. Her well-preserved body was brought to the British Museum where it was examined by the physician and obstetrician Augustus Bozzi Granville. It was the first ever medical autopsy of an Egyptian mummy and Granville presented his results to the Royal Society in 1825. His conclusion: Ityersenu died of ovari........ Read more »
Donoghue, H., Lee, O., Minnikin, D., Besra, G., Taylor, J., & Spigelman, M. (2009) Tuberculosis in Dr Granville's mummy: a molecular re-examination of the earliest known Egyptian mummy to be scientifically examined and given a medical diagnosis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1484
- September 4, 2009
- 11:00 AM
- 27 views
Dogs and babies prone to same classic mistake
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
pDomestic dogs are very different from their wolf ancestors in their bodies and their behaviour. They're more docile for a start. But man's best friend has also evolved a curious sensitivity to our communication signals - a mental ability that sets them apart from wolves and that parallels the behaviour of human infants. Dogs and infants are even prone to making the same mistakes of perception.
Like infants less than a year old, dogs fail at a seemingly easy exercise called the "object permane........ Read more »
Topal, J., Gergely, G., Erdohegyi, A., Csibra, G., & Miklosi, A. (2009) Differential Sensitivity to Human Communication in Dogs, Wolves, and Human Infants. Science, 325(5945), 1269-1272. DOI: 10.1126/science.1176960
- August 25, 2009
- 01:00 PM
- 26 views
Holding heavy objects makes us see things as more important
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
Gravity affects not just our bodies and our behaviours, but our very thoughts. That's the fascinating conclusion of a new study which shows that simply holding a heavy object can affect the way we think. A simple heavy clipboard can makes issues seem weightier - when holding one, volunteers think of situations as more important and they invest more mental effort in dealing with abstract issues.
In a variety of languages, from English to Dutch to Chinese, importance is often described by words p........ Read more »
Jostmann, N., Lakens, D., & Schubert, T. (2009) Weight as an Embodiment of Importance. Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02426.x
- August 12, 2009
- 01:23 PM
- 60 views
Anthrax bacteria get help from viruses and worms to survive
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
When the bacteria that cause anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) aren't ravaging livestock or being used in acts of bioterrorism, they spend their lives as dormant spores. In these inert but hardy forms, the bacteria can weather tough environmental conditions while lying in wait for their next host. This is the standard explanation for what B.anthracis does between infections, and it's too simple by far. It turns out that the bacterium has a far more interesting secret life involving two unusual partn........ Read more »
Schuch, R., & Fischetti, V. (2009) The Secret Life of the Anthrax Agent Bacillus anthracis: Bacteriophage-Mediated Ecological Adaptations. PLoS ONE, 4(8). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006532
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