August 12, 2006, 2:48 PM CT

Tiny animals on fingers

Please note: I didn't take any of these photographs. Where possible, I have included credits, or at least a link to where the photo is from. I encourage you to send in anything you think is good!

Hmmm........

Posted by: Beverly      Permalink         Source

August 12, 2006, 2:38 PM CT

Art On The Moon

The only piece of art on the moon (depending, we suppose, on one's definition of art) is a 3?-tall aluminum sculpture titled "Fallen Astronaut".

It was created by Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck and installed by Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott, along with a plaque bearing the names of the 14 astronauts and cosmonauts who died in the service of space exploration.........

Posted by: Ethen      Permalink         Source

August 12, 2006, 2:26 PM CT

Blooming Of Amorphophallus Titanum

The titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) is one of the world's most remarkable plants. Native to tropical forests in Sumatra, it produces a monstrous four- to nine-foot-tall flower head, which releases a monstrous stench of putrefaction at peak bloom (another name for the plant is the corpse flower!). The species rarely flowers in cultivation-the last time one bloomed in New York was 1939. However, Brooklyn Botanic Garden's ten-year-old specimen recently began to flower. It's in peak bloom right now!!.

Don't miss this major botanical event! Visit our webpage for daily photo and plant-growth updates, as well as daily weblogs from members of BBG's horticultural staff. A webcam provides an updated image of the titan arum every 60 seconds. On this webpage, you'll also find links to articles on the natural history of the titan arum, the history of BBG's specimen, information about growing and conserving this threatened species, and more.........

Posted by: Beverly      Permalink         Source

August 12, 2006, 6:26 AM CT

Herceptin Effective Even With Low HER-2 Levels

Northwestern University and Evanston Northwestern Healthcare scientists have discovered that the monoclonal antibody Herceptin (trastuzumab) used in combination with certain cancer chemotherapies effectively treats breast cancer tumors that produce low or undetectable amounts of the HER-2 oncogene but overexpress the growth factor heregulin (HRG), an activator of the HER-2 cancer oncoprotein. Increased levels of HER-2 are linked to poor patient prognosis, enhanced metastasis (cancer spread) and resistance to chemotherapy.

Until now it was believed that trastuzumab combined with cytotoxic drug treatment was effective only in HER-2--positive, or HER-2--overexpressing, breast cancer - which represents about 25 percent of all breast cancers, said Dr. Ruth Lupu, director of translational breast cancer research at the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute, who led the study, reported in the August 10 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Lupu is also professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a researcher at The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

The study was conducted as part of the Cancer Center's breast cancer SPORE (Specialized Program of Research Excellence) grant.........

Posted by: Beverly      Permalink         Source

August 12, 2006, 6:18 AM CT

Breast Cancer Survivors Change Lifestyle

Breast cancer survivors' beliefs about what may have caused their cancer are connected to whether they make healthy lifestyle changes after a cancer diagnosis. This is the finding of a research study appearing in the August 2006 issue of Psycho-Oncology by researchers at The Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical School.

"We found that breast cancer survivors who believed that an unhealthy behavior - such as consuming an unhealthy diet, contributed to their cancer - were more likely to say that they had changed that behavior since their diagnosis," says lead author Carolyn Rabin, PhD, a psychologist at The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine. "Likewise, breast cancer survivors who believed that a healthy behavior- such as consuming a healthy diet, could ward off a cancer recurrence - were more likely to say that they had adopted that behavior since their diagnosis".

Due to advances in detection and treatment, there are now more than 10 million Americans who are cancer survivors, according to the American Cancer Society. However, researchers have not yet determined why some cancer survivors are motivated by a cancer diagnosis to make healthy lifestyle changes, while others are not. This question prompted the study by researchers at The Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical School.........

Posted by: Beverly      Permalink         Source

August 11, 2006, 9:38 PM CT

What Keeps Lizards' Blue Genes from Fading?

Scientists have reported the first direct evidence that cooperative behavior in side-blotched male lizards arises from their genes. The findings, published in the May 9 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by University of California--Santa Cruz's Barry Sinervo and colleagues, represent some 20 years of research into the altruistic or "self-sacrificing" behavior.

Side-blotched lizards, it turns out, come in three different throat colors--blue, orange or yellow. Sinervo had previously demonstrated the three throat colors in the males correlate with strikingly different behaviors.

The blues form partnerships, while the oranges are aggressors and the yellows are sneaky.

Say a pair of blue-throated males, for example, is protecting its territory from roaming orange-throated bullies. In a true act of selflessness, one blue throat steps forward to battle an intruding orange aggressor--thereby sacrificing his own chances to successfully mate.

Meanwhile, as blue throats and orange throats battle it out, yellow throats quietly sneak into unprotected territories to find females.

In nature, altruism seems contradictory to an animal's goals of survival and passing on its genes, so researchers have been trying to understand why one of the blue males in a partnership will put himself in harm's way to allow the other to reproduce. Even though it may forfeit their own reproductive chances, the fighting blue throats secure the persistence of their genes in future generations by enabling their blue buddies to avoid the aggressors and go on to mate.........

Posted by: Beverly      Permalink         Source

August 11, 2006, 9:26 PM CT

Fossils Links from Ape-men

A team of researchers working in an eastern Ethiopian desert has discovered fossil bones and teeth from individuals they believe link the genus Australopithecus--precursors of humans--to a decidedly more ape-like animal of the genus Ardipithicus. Because the fossils were found in areas known to contain evidence of both older and younger specimens, the researchers say evidence of when the three hominid types existed will provide valuable information about human evolution.

Still, 'it is fair to say that some species of Ardipithicus gave rise to Australopithecus," said Tim White, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California-Berkeley and one of the team leaders.

White and coworkers from 17 countries have published their findings in the April 13 issue of the journal Nature.

The fossils are from the most-primitive Australopithecus species, known as Au. anamensis, dating from about 4.1 million years ago, said White, and push the species closer in time to its last known ancestor. "This new discovery closes the gap between the fully blown Australopithecines and earlier forms we call Ardipithecus," White said. "We now know where Australopithecus came from before 4 million years ago".

Even though the two are separated by only 300,000 years, Au. anamensis could have rapidly evolved from Ardipithecus. Or, fossils placing the two hominid types on Earth at the same time may yet be found. Nevertheless, White said, the new fossils show clear descent from the genus Ardipithecus, two species of which have been identified over the genus's 2 million years of existence.........

Posted by: Beverly      Permalink         Source

August 11, 2006, 9:20 PM CT

Nanogenerators To Spark Miniature Machines

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have crafted tiny nanowires that generate electricity when they vibrate. Just like the quartz crystal in a watch, the zinc-oxide nanowires are piezoelectric, which means bending causes them to produce an electrical charge.

Only 20-40 billionths of a meter in diameter, each fiber partners with millions of others to form a nanogenerator capable of producing significant amounts of energy from the slightest activity. As per the researchers, motions from body movement, the stretching of muscles and even the flow of liquids should be able to generate electric charges in the wires--perfect for implantable medical devices, "smart" apparel and a variety of other applications.

Supported by the National Science Foundation Division of Materials Research Metals program, NASA and DARPA, physicist Zhong Lin "ZL" Wang and graduate student Jinhui Song report their findings in the Apr. 14, 2006, issue of the journal Science.........

Posted by: Beverly      Permalink         Source

August 11, 2006, 9:16 PM CT

Drilling Into Fossil Magma Chamber Deep Under the Ocean

Scientists aboard the research drilling ship JOIDES Resolution have, for the first time, drilled into a fossil magma chamber under intact ocean crust. There, 1.4 kilometers beneath the sea floor, they have recovered samples of gabbro: a hard, black rock that forms when molten magma is trapped beneath Earth's surface and cools slowly.

The scientists, affiliated with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), published their findings on April 20 in Science Express, the online edition of the journal Science.

Although gabbro has been sampled elsewhere in the oceans where faulting and tectonic movements have brought it closer to the seafloor, this is the first time gabbro has been recovered from intact ocean crust.

The borehole into the magma chamber took nearly five months to drill, and required the use of twenty-five hardened steel and tungsten carbide drill bits. Getting there "is a rare opportunity to calibrate geophysical measurements with direct observations of real rocks," said geophysicist Doug Wilson of the University of California at Santa Barbara, lead author on the Science Express paper. "Finding the right place to drill was probably the key to this success".

Wilson and his IODP colleagues found that place by identifying a region of the Pacific Ocean that formed some 15 million years ago when the East Pacific Rise was spreading at a "superfast" rate of more than 200 millimeters per year, faster than any mid-ocean ridge on Earth today.........

Posted by: Ethen      Permalink         Source

August 11, 2006, 9:07 PM CT

Hyena Mothers Give Dose of Hormones

Researchers have discovered that a dominant hyena puts her cubs on the road to success before they are born by passing on high levels of certain hormones that make her budding young leaders more aggressive and sexually advanced.

The report, reported in the April 27 issue of Nature, is the first study in mammals to demonstrate a relationship between a female's social rank and her ability to influence her offspring's behavior through prenatal hormone transfer. Previously, this phenomenon had only been documented in birds.

Michigan State University's Kay Holekamp, together with her colleagues, spent almost 10 years sampling androgen levels from free-ranging hyenas in Kenya. Androgens are hormones, such as testosterone, that control development of typically masculine characteristics like aggression, muscle development and sexual behavior.

The team observed that alpha females had higher androgen levels late in pregnancy when in comparison to the subordinate, pregnant females in the pack. Consequently, the cubs of the alpha females were more aggressive and exhibited more sexual play, characteristics that elevate the chances for life-success in both sexes.

In hyena packs, male-female social roles are reversed from what is normally found in nature--that is, female hyenas are larger, more aggressive and dominate the group. They even have deceptively male-like genitalia, leading to the misconception that they are hermaphrodites.........

Posted by: Beverly      Permalink         Source

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