Crosstown Science

Golden Delicious Apples

2006-10-16T22:28:00.000-05:00

What makes them deserve that name?!? You can't just make me think that that apple is delcious just because you named it "delicious!" I'll friggin' decide if they are actually delicious.

Thank you.

Back To Hiatus ... (EXTREME working for 7 more weeks ... SEVEN MORE WEEKS EVER!)

HIATUS #2: THE ERA OF SCIENCELINE.ORG

2006-09-15T17:12:00.001-05:00

Hello, People of the Internet. Check out Scienceline.org where I will be posting blog entries. I am announcing THE SECOND "CROSSTOWN" HIATUS! Once I am done with school, and interning at Science World (Scholastic, Inc.), I will have some free time to devote here. For now, I leave you with a link to my most recent blog.

I will no longer carry on as a "nostalgia act," but do not fret, for "Crosstown Science" (I) will return from the ashes, fire and brimstone-amassed with student debts-REVITLIZED!

I leave you with this picture (above) from the June 2000 edition of Pediatrics. It's an x-ray of Festus in fetu, a condition in which a parasite-like twin grows inside its sibling. And you can read more about it in my blog for Scienceline! Farewell, until I graduate in December!!!

Corn to Run

2006-07-12T12:41:00.000-05:00

I had a barbecue last weekend. It was pretty fun. We had all the regular food offerings: hamburgers, hot dogs, some steak, and I grilled some corn on the cob.

I love grillin’ up some corn on the cob. I like it slathered with some garlic and butter, but some people like their corn prepared as fuel, though I wouldn’t eat it!

Results published in the July 11 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that corn grain ethanol and soybean biodiesel are efficient fuels, debunking criticism that it takes more energy to make the fuels than they produce.

To prove their point, the researchers from the University of Minnesota recorded all of the energy used for growing and converting corn and soybeans into the environment-friendly fuel. They also compared how much fertilizer the crops needed and how much greenhouse gases, nitrogen, phosphorus, and pesticide pollutants each released into the environment.

The researchers found that both corn grain ethanol and soybean biodiesel produce more energy than is needed to grow the crops and convert them into biofuels. The soybean biodiesel returns 93 percent more energy than the amount it takes to make it and corn grain ethanol returns 25 percent.

Not only that, but the soybean fuel also produces about 41 percent and corn 12 percent less greenhouse emissions than gasoline.

A common argument from those who love getting their fuel from fossils is that it takes more energy to make the green-fuel than it produces, making it an unrealistic to think that it could replace the energy needs of the US.

Those oil lovers may be right about one thing: it is totally unrealistic to think corn and soybeans can supply enough energy for the US’s needs.

The researchers found that all current corn and soybean supplies in the US would only account for 12 percent of the gasoline demand and 6 percent of the diesel demand.

This may sound disheartening, but things are looking up!

The study helps support the fact that using environmentally friendly fuels are efficient and shouldn’t be counted out. The scientists believe there are other possible sources.
“Prairie grasses have great potential,” says David Tilman, Regents Professor of Ecology and a co-author of the study, in a press release. He suggests prairie grasses, which can be produced on mediocre farmland, for cheap, and have the potential to produce even more energy than the corn or soybean fuels.

Let’s hope that prairie grass can work better than those niblets!

What a Prick!

2006-07-08T11:43:00.000-05:00

Porcupines are quite the feat of evolution!

Apparently, those spiky guys love to climb trees, but there’s one problem: they are clumsy climbers.

You would think that is a bad habit to have. Like jumping out of a plane sans parachute , driving on the autobahn sans driving ability, eating sans teeth … well, maybe that one isn’t so much dangerous as it is messy.

Not only do these rodent pincushions fall and hurt themselves from the sheer impact, but they also impale themselves with their own spines. DOH!

You would think that this would mean big trouble for an animal that doesn’t have the any peroxide and Band-Aids at hand. Don't worry, the porcupine has it covered.

The porcupine secretes a greasy substance from its skin, which coats the spines, and acts as an antibiotic to prevent infection.

Through a gabillion years of evolution, these critters had this advantageous trait selected for through natural selection. What porcupine wouldn’t want this nifty feature? The ones that didn’t have this trait probably died out, falling off tress, and succumbing to their wounds, while the advanced model keeps on truckin’.

The coating on the spines also prevents predators, who get jabbed by the spines, from dying from their wounds. But the porcupine doesn’t really care. All they want is to be left alone so they can climb up some trees and ... BAM!

HIATUS!

2006-06-06T20:08:00.000-05:00

I havn't updated the site in awhile because I've been super busy - full time work and 4 nights of class - so I am officially announcing a "Crosstown Science Hiatus." The said hiatus will end once summer class (hell) is over (i.e. July 2006). I know EVERYONE is busting for something new.

SPAM!

2006-05-18T23:28:00.000-05:00

Sorry if you would like to post from now on you must be a registered user. This is the reason why ...

:::Cue Spinning Red Light and Siren Noise::::::

ATTENTION! BONUS "Late-Night" LINK:

Check out this page the relationship between a pearl fish and sea cucumber! Wild Stuff!

Essence of Ovary

2006-05-18T16:33:00.002-05:00

I’m always amazed at the power of certain animals' senses, like a bat’s sonar , a cat’s night vision,elephant’s hearing or a dog’s sense of smell. It turns out that SPERM have a sense of smell, too!

Results published in this week’s Analytical Chemistry show that mouse sperm can detect even the faintest trace of an ovary’s scent. The phenomenon that allows cells to sense certain molecules in their environment is known as chemotaxis.

When mouse sperm are placed in a liquid environment they were observed to swim straight towards extracts of a female mouse’s ovary. The report details the biochemical processes that allow the sperm to pick up on the ovary’s odor.

This may explain how sperm find their way to the egg and may give scientists an understanding of reproduction problems in humans and aid in the development of fertility drugs and treatments.

"Defects in sperm chemotaxis may be a cause of infertility, and consequently, sperm chemotaxis could potentially be used as a diagnostic tool to determine sperm quality or as a therapeutic procedure in male infertility," said Stephen C. Jacobson an Indiana University Bloomington Associate Professor of Chemistry and author of the study in a press release.

Though the scientists did not find the specific molecule that the sperm can sniff-out, they did find that they swam right to the desired target even when the exact of a mouse ovary was diluted 100,000 times.

The study helps to confirm previous knowledge that odor receptor cells found on sperm serve a function.

Check out this video of the li’l buggers swimming right towards the ovary’s aroma!

Shocked By Monkey

2006-05-15T16:05:00.000-05:00

I love monkeys – definitely one of my favorite animals. I've always dreamed of having one as a pet (my Dad had one in college named 'Kong') – so when I read this announcement I thought it was really cool.

A new species of monkey, originally discovered a year ago by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York, has been found to be unique enough that it deserves to be categorized as a new genus. The discovery was published in this week’s journal Science, as is said to be the first new genus of monkey discovered in 83 years (the last being Allen’s Swamp Monkey in 1923).

When the scientists examined the DNA of the monkey they knew they found a unique primate different from any other genus.

The new genus is called Rungwecebus, (pronounced rung-way-CEE-bus), and refers to Mt. Rungwe , in Tanzania (not Tasmania) where the monkey was first observed.

The monkey is called a Kipunji monkey. It is brown with a sort of mohawk hair-do, has long cheek whiskers, an off-white tummy and tail and is around three feet tall.

While it’s always pretty neat to discover a new species, attention to this find should be given more practical consideration. The scientists of the study stress that the monkey is already endangered and risks being wiped out by logging of their habitat. They believe that only 500 remain in the wild.

"It would be the ultimate irony to lose a species this unique so soon after we have discovered it," said primatologist Dr. John G. Robinson director of WCS's International Programs in the press release. "This is a world treasure and as such, we urge the world community to protect it."

Technical Difficulties

2006-05-10T00:50:00.000-05:00

I know that some of the links below don't work ... I'll fix them later. For now, enjoy!

Stupid Horse! Me Crush!

2006-05-10T00:31:00.004-05:00

Even our ancestors were assholes to the Earth! A new study shows that men may have hunted pre-historic horses until extinction.

The discovery was made by an international team of researchers, dispelling the original belief that climate change was the culprit. Nope! Good old mankind! Their results are published in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This research is exciting because it throws open the debate as to whether climate change or over-hunting may have led to the extinction of pre-historic horses in North America," said Karen Robbirt of the University of East Anglia and co-author of the study, in a press release.

The caballoid horsies roamed Alaska during the Pleistocene period -- between 1.64 million and 10,000 years ago.

During this time, glaciers covered much of North America, and it was thought that a period of extreme cooling was the cause of the ancient horses’ demise.

The researchers realized that over-hunting is a possible cause of the extinction after reexamining the fossil record from that period using new statistical methods. They found that humans existed amongst the horses and that they did not die off during the period of extreme cold. That leaves one very obvious possibility – Us!

It is not a sure thing, but seeing how we are screwing up the planet with all we know today, it’s not so hard to believe that our less informed ancestors from ‘back in the day’ kept slaughtering equines without remorse or a thought like: “Hey, Mang , you think we kill too many horses there be no more horses?” Response from Mang: “NAH!”

Landscapers BEWARE! Tiny Grass!

2006-05-05T20:15:00.000-05:00

Suburban kids and teens rejoice! Scientists from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutehave figured out how to make grass that rarely needs to be mowed and is evergreen.

The researchers have figured out how certain steroid hormones in many plants that control growth work. Their results are published in the May 4 issue of Nature.

"By manipulating the steroid pathway…we think we can regulate plant stature and yield," said Joanne Chory, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and the senior author of the new report, in a press release from HHMI.

Brassinosteroids are a family of plant hormones that cause growth, and by blocking their activity scientists are able to make dwarf plants.

"Without them, plants are tiny dwarves, with reduced vasculature and roots, and are infertile," Chory explained in the press release. "They also regulate senescence or aging. Since brassinosteroids mainly regulate cell expansion, though, they are one of the most important hormones that regulate stature."

In other words, they can make tiny and resilient grass.

To do so, the scientists made sense of the complex pathway of hormones that turn off and on the activity of the brassinosteroids.

Think of a line-up of dominos. By hitting the first domino, the next falls, then the next and blah, blah blah, but if one is out of place the progression stops.

It’s way more complicated than that, so if you would like to learn a little more click here.

Humans have been messing with plants for thousands of years, but figuring out how this hormonal pathway works gives us sapiens the most influence over plant structure and growth.

Grass isn’t the only plant this new technique can be applied to. Almost every plant the researchers examined had these hormones.

Man, is there anything better than a grape-sized watermelon?

POST EXAMPLES OF SOME TINY PLANTS YOU THINK WOULD BE COOL!

Texas the Sequel: AUSTRALIA

2006-05-04T16:19:00.000-05:00

Apparently Aussies love gettin’ fat just like us Americans. Way to go Australia!

Two-thirds of Australians are eating fast foods for lunch according to a new ACNeilsen Omnibus poll of 1400 Australians, boosting the population’s intake of saturated fats, sugars and salt.

These foods include hot chips (that’s ‘Freedom Fries’ for my fellow Americans), hamburgers, and meat pies (a pot pie filled with minced meat that could be likened to the hot dog phenomenon in the US – sold from street vendors and take-out joints).

Diets that are high in saturated fats are linked to heart disease, including high blood pressure or hypertension and arteriosclerosis, a hardening of the arteries caused by the formation of plaques – a build-up of white blood cells, cholesterol and calcium within the blood vessels. These circulatory conditions may lead to a stroke, heart attack, and coronary heart failure, which can impair the ability of the heart to fill with or pump a sufficient amount of blood throughout the body.

Good to know that the Aussies are trying to balance out the weight on the East-Side of the planet. I was afraid that Houston, TX was going to throw off the rotation of the Earth.

I bet those Aussies would love some more of our delicious treats.

Maybe we should start sending over cheese-steaks from Philly or deep-dish pizza from Chicago, the fattest metropolis in the US (and I'm just gonna guess that its the fattest in the whole world). Houston, TX used to hold top honors for the past couple of years, but now has dropped down to fifth; however, Texas still has more fat cities than any other state.

Here's the whole list, according to the Chicago Sun Times.

Oh wait, surprise! That is exactly what is happening.

Apparently, it is the fast food industry from the US that is probably to blame for getting them all fattened up

The press release warns against eating such US staples as Micky D’s (there are 730 McDonald’s restaurants in Australia), KFC and Subway, recommending salads over burgers and gigantic value meals from these popular establishments.

Another tip is to substitute white wheat flour baked goods with whole-wheat products.

Or, you can keep on eating that American poison and end up in an extra-wide sized coffin!

New Species of Insect? - Look At Its Genitals!

2006-04-28T07:07:00.000-05:00

Walking through the tropics of Grande Terre, the largest island of New Caledonia, a group of islands in the South Pacific about 750 miles east of Australia, he cuts his way through brush looking for undiscovered treasure. However, the booty is not the Holy Grail or some other relic from ancient history promising eternal life or supernatural power – he is looking for new species of animals. He is sure they are around him – somewhere. It’s around 80 degrees F and very humid. Temperatures on the island only vary around 10 oF all year round – a perfect incubator – there’s a reason why the place is nicknamed “the eternal spring.” This is what Eden could have looked like – lush and peaceful – a place for life to be born and discovered. It’s around here somewhere – what he is looking for.

A flicker catches his eye. It could be what he has been searching for his whole life. The elusive beast he has sought for his entire career is within his grasp; he can feel it. This emotion – discovering the unknown – is what drives him.

There sitting on a leaf among the emerald labyrinth is what he has traveled across the globe to find: a new species of insect.

“Those of us that work on insects are kind of blasé about those kinds of things,” says entomologist Randall “Toby” Schuh, the George Willett Curator and Chair of the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History and head project instructor of the Plant-Bug Inventory, a project that’s focus is to collect and categorize insects from the family Miridae.

Dr. Schuh has found thousands of new insects from this family. The easiest way to know that he has found a new species is by looking at its genitals.

“You start with the genitalia first,” says Schuh, describing how he figures out if he has found a new species. The tiny differences in the shapes and structures of the genitalia of insects can tell entomologists if a species is different from another.

This is an easier and less costly way of figuring out if you have found a new BUG X or just another Honeybee. Compared to doing expensive DNA sequencing experiments (one insect’s DNA is sampled that is the closest relative to the unidentified bug, their genomes - their genetic fingerprint – are compared and if they are different, it is a definite new find), just taking a peak at an insect's penis is the easiest way to categorize them.

“I let one of my younger colleagues handle that,” says Schuh, regarding DNA sequencing techniques, “I stick to the gross anatomy.”

Here is a cool page that has a video of a scientist looking at an insect's erection to tell if it is a new species!