Smallest rotary motor in biology, the ATP synthase. All the work done in your body is fueled by breaking a chemical bond in ATP, the “currency of energy”. Did you know that you convert your body weight (or an estimated 50 kg) of ATP per day?!

Where does this ATP come from? It is synthesized by an incredibly sophisticated molecular machine, the ATP synthase, embedded in the inner membrane of our mitochondria. Energy from the oxidation of food results in protons being pumped across the membrane to create a proton gradient. The protons drive the rotation of a circular ring of proteins in the membrane that in turn move a central shaft. The shaft interacts sequentially with one of 3 catalytic sites within a hexamer, making ATP (little butterflies in the movie!). The ATP synthase rotates about 150 times/second

To visualize the rotation under a microscope, a very long fluorescent rod (actin filament) was chemically attached to the central shaft. Watch real movies (not animations!) of the enzyme spinning here: http://www.k2.phys.waseda.ac.jp/F1movies/F1long.htm

Notice the rotation is slower with longer rods. The rotor produces a torque of 40 pN nm (40 pico Newtons x nanometer), irrespective of the load. This would be the force you would need to rotate a 500 m long rod while standing at the bottom of a large swimming pool at the rate shown in the movie.

How did this amazing rotor evolve? The hexameric structure is related to DNA helicases that rotate along the DNA double helix, using ATP to unzip the two strands apart. The H+ motor has precedence in flagella motors that use proton gradients to drive rotation of long filaments, allowing bacteria to tumble through their surroundings. At some point, a H+ driven motor came together with a helicase like hexamer to create a rotor driving the hexamer in reverse, to synthesize ATP.

The 1997 Nobel prize in Chemistry was awarded to John Walker and Paul Boyer for solving the structure and cyclical mechanism of the ATP synthase, respectively. This amazing enzyme was also the subject of my own Ph.D. thesis, and my first love!

For #ScienceSunday curated by +Allison Sekuler and +Robby Bowles .

Smallest rotary motor in biology, the ATP synthase. All the work done in your body is fueled by breaking a chemical bond in ATP, the “currency of energy”. Did you know that you convert your body weight (or an estimated 50 kg) of ATP per day?!

Where does this ATP come from? It is synthesized by an incredibly sophisticated molecular machine, the ATP synthase, embedded in the inner membrane of our mitochondria. Energy from the oxidation of food results in protons being pumped across the membrane to create a proton gradient. The protons drive the rotation of a circular ring of proteins in the membrane that in turn move a central shaft. The shaft interacts sequentially with one of 3 catalytic sites within a hexamer, making ATP (little butterflies in the movie!). The ATP synthase rotates about 150 times/second

To visualize the rotation under a microscope, a very long fluorescent rod (actin filament) was chemically attached to the central shaft. Watch real movies (not animations!) of the enzyme spinning here: http://www.k2.phys.waseda.ac.jp/F1movies/F1long.htm

Notice the rotation is slower with longer rods. The rotor produces a torque of 40 pN nm (40 pico Newtons x nanometer), irrespective of the load. This would be the force you would need to rotate a 500 m long rod while standing at the bottom of a large swimming pool at the rate shown in the movie.

How did this amazing rotor evolve? The hexameric structure is related to DNA helicases that rotate along the DNA double helix, using ATP to unzip the two strands apart. The H+ motor has precedence in flagella motors that use proton gradients to drive rotation of long filaments, allowing bacteria to tumble through their surroundings. At some point, a H+ driven motor came together with a helicase like hexamer to create a rotor driving the hexamer in reverse, to synthesize ATP.

The 1997 Nobel prize in Chemistry was awarded to John Walker and Paul Boyer for solving the structure and cyclical mechanism of the ATP synthase, respectively. This amazing enzyme was also the subject of my own Ph.D. thesis, and my first love!

For #ScienceSunday curated by +Allison Sekuler and +Robby Bowles .

SURREAL CIRCLES: In his series Alternative Perspectives, photographer Randy Scott Slavin portrays a 360 degree view of our world by seamlessly stitching together hundreds of shots. The result is surreal art, grounded in reality. He inspires us to "go out and explore the world and take a look at the monuments and reimagine them in a different way".

Source: http://goo.gl/2Ut69

SURREAL CIRCLES: In his series Alternative Perspectives, photographer Randy Scott Slavin portrays a 360 degree view of our world by seamlessly stitching together hundreds of shots. The result is surreal art, grounded in reality. He inspires us to "go out and explore the world and take a look at the monuments and reimagine them in a different way".

Source: http://goo.gl/2Ut69

All for a Pail of Water: This touching photograph shows tribal women in India risking their lives in a human chain to reach water from an agricultural well. Did you know that 1 in 6 people on our planet lack access to clean drinking water? New research offers an elegantly simple solution: sun, lime juice and salt . No, it's not the recipe for a margarita! :)

• What is SODIS? When water in a clear plastic bottle is placed in direct sunlight for 6 hours, the heat and ultraviolet light destroys most viruses, bacteria and parasites. This technique of Solar Disinfection reduces diarrhea and cholera by 70-80%, diseases that claim 4000+ childhood deaths per day in Africa. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University recently showed that adding juice from half a lime per bottle significantly reduced bacterial load and speeded up the process to just 30 minutes, comparable to boiling or other methods of disinfection. Lime juice contains psoralens which form covalent crosslinks between DNA strands in the presence of sunlight, a reaction that prevents DNA replication in the pathogens.

• Lurking in the Murk: When the water drawn from rivers and boreholes is turbid, SODIS does not work well, since the microbes hide out under suspended particles of clay and silt. A study showed that adding a quarter teaspoon of table salt to the water neutralized charges on colloidal clay so that it sedimented out easily. Seeding the water with a little clay (of the type known as bentonite) actually hastens the clarification!

#scienceeveryday FTW! Simple solutions for #Glia .

Further (Free) Reading: http://goo.gl/QRNuO
Photo Credit: G.N.Rao, The Hindu . http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article221561.ece


All for a Pail of Water: This touching photograph shows tribal women in India risking their lives in a human chain to reach water from an agricultural well. Did you know that 1 in 6 people on our planet lack access to clean drinking water? New research offers an elegantly simple solution: sun, lime juice and salt . No, it's not the recipe for a margarita! :)

• What is SODIS? When water in a clear plastic bottle is placed in direct sunlight for 6 hours, the heat and ultraviolet light destroys most viruses, bacteria and parasites. This technique of Solar Disinfection reduces diarrhea and cholera by 70-80%, diseases that claim 4000+ childhood deaths per day in Africa. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University recently showed that adding juice from half a lime per bottle significantly reduced bacterial load and speeded up the process to just 30 minutes, comparable to boiling or other methods of disinfection. Lime juice contains psoralens which form covalent crosslinks between DNA strands in the presence of sunlight, a reaction that prevents DNA replication in the pathogens.

• Lurking in the Murk: When the water drawn from rivers and boreholes is turbid, SODIS does not work well, since the microbes hide out under suspended particles of clay and silt. A study showed that adding a quarter teaspoon of table salt to the water neutralized charges on colloidal clay so that it sedimented out easily. Seeding the water with a little clay (of the type known as bentonite) actually hastens the clarification!

#scienceeveryday FTW! Simple solutions for #Glia .

Further (Free) Reading: http://goo.gl/QRNuO
Photo Credit: G.N.Rao, The Hindu . http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article221561.ece


Destination: Lítla Dímun This cloud covered muffin top is in the Faroe Islands, Kingdom of Denmark. Population: humans (0), European Storm Petrels (5000 pairs) and Atlantic Puffins (10,000 pairs). There are also herds of sheep that are rounded up each fall and lowered using nets to waiting skiffs below.

Destination: Lítla Dímun This cloud covered muffin top is in the Faroe Islands, Kingdom of Denmark. Population: humans (0), European Storm Petrels (5000 pairs) and Atlantic Puffins (10,000 pairs). There are also herds of sheep that are rounded up each fall and lowered using nets to waiting skiffs below.

Spiders on Speed: NASA scientists inexplicably investigated web spinning by stoned spiders. Turns out that the geometrical structure of a web provides a good measure of the condition of its central nervous system.

• LSD: Webs took on a minimalist structure.

• Marijuana: Spiders made a reasonable stab at spinning webs but appeared to lose concentration about half-way through.

• Amphetamine ("speed"): Webs retained their size but showed an increase in spiral spacing and radius irregularity, as well as a decrease in building efficiency. Spiders spin their webs "with great gusto, but apparently without much planning leaving large holes", according to New Scientist magazine.

• Caffeine: makes spiders incapable of spinning anything better than a few threads strung together at random.

• Chloral hydrate (an ingredient of sleeping pills): spiders "drop off before they even get started".

In slightly more relevant work, spiders were shown to spin perfectly good webs in microgravity ▶ http://goo.gl/0T7lK

Source: http://www.trinity.edu/jdunn/spiderdrugs.htm
Pubmed: http://goo.gl/I3U1Q

Extrapolation to Humans: Stunning "under the influence" self portraits of artist Bryan Lewis Saunders in +Feisal Kamil's post here ▶ http://goo.gl/3xYSy  Warning: Do not try this at home!

Confession: Since I'm jet lagged and awake since midnight, I've been abusing caffeine. I won't post a picture of my web. 

Hilarious "mocumentary": Spiders On Drugs

#sciencesunday +ScienceSunday #spidersunday  

Spiders on Speed: NASA scientists inexplicably investigated web spinning by stoned spiders. Turns out that the geometrical structure of a web provides a good measure of the condition of its central nervous system.

• LSD: Webs took on a minimalist structure.

• Marijuana: Spiders made a reasonable stab at spinning webs but appeared to lose concentration about half-way through.

• Amphetamine ("speed"): Webs retained their size but showed an increase in spiral spacing and radius irregularity, as well as a decrease in building efficiency. Spiders spin their webs "with great gusto, but apparently without much planning leaving large holes", according to New Scientist magazine.

• Caffeine: makes spiders incapable of spinning anything better than a few threads strung together at random.

• Chloral hydrate (an ingredient of sleeping pills): spiders "drop off before they even get started".

In slightly more relevant work, spiders were shown to spin perfectly good webs in microgravity ▶ http://goo.gl/0T7lK

Source: http://www.trinity.edu/jdunn/spiderdrugs.htm
Pubmed: http://goo.gl/I3U1Q

Extrapolation to Humans: Stunning "under the influence" self portraits of artist Bryan Lewis Saunders in +Feisal Kamil's post here ▶ http://goo.gl/3xYSy  Warning: Do not try this at home!

Confession: Since I'm jet lagged and awake since midnight, I've been abusing caffeine. I won't post a picture of my web. 

Hilarious "mocumentary": Spiders On Drugs

#sciencesunday +ScienceSunday #spidersunday  

The Double Helix: Top Ten Amazing Facts about DNA!

• You have an estimated 3 billion DNA bases in your genome.

• Your genome would occupy about 3 gigabytes of computer storage space or fill 200 1,000-page New York City telephone directories.

• It would take a person typing 60 words per minute, eight hours a day, around 50 years to type out all the letters of your genome.

• If unwound and tied together, the strands of DNA in one cell would stretch almost six feet but would be only 50 trillionths of an inch wide.

• If you unwrap all the DNA you have in all your cells it would reach to the sun and back over 600 times (100 trillion times six feet divided by 92 million miles).

• You have an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 genes, but they only make up 2-3% of your genome. We are just starting to understand the function of your remaining “junk”.

• Over 99.9% of your DNA sequence is the same as mine!

• You have 1-4% Neanderthal DNA; some of you may have more :)

• The first human genome was patched together over 13 years; today, your genome can be commercially sequenced in 2-3 months.

• Costs for sequencing the genome are falling exponentially: from USD 3 billion in 2001 to USD1,000 today and may fall by another factor of ten!

So, what's in your genes?
___________________________________________________________
Awesome enough for you? Want more? Check out: http://www.eyeondna.com/2007/08/20/100-facts-about-dna/
http://bionumbers.hms.harvard.edu/search.aspx?log=y&task=searchbytrmorg&trm=dna&time=2012%2f01%2f28+16%3a12%3a18.418
Thanks to +Dunken K Bliths for generating this wonderful gif!
Thank you +Konstantin Makov , for finding this hypnotic image :)
#sciencesunday curated by +Allison Sekuler and +Robby Bowles .

The Double Helix: Top Ten Amazing Facts about DNA!

• You have an estimated 3 billion DNA bases in your genome.

• Your genome would occupy about 3 gigabytes of computer storage space or fill 200 1,000-page New York City telephone directories.

• It would take a person typing 60 words per minute, eight hours a day, around 50 years to type out all the letters of your genome.

• If unwound and tied together, the strands of DNA in one cell would stretch almost six feet but would be only 50 trillionths of an inch wide.

• If you unwrap all the DNA you have in all your cells it would reach to the sun and back over 600 times (100 trillion times six feet divided by 92 million miles).

• You have an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 genes, but they only make up 2-3% of your genome. We are just starting to understand the function of your remaining “junk”.

• Over 99.9% of your DNA sequence is the same as mine!

• You have 1-4% Neanderthal DNA; some of you may have more :)

• The first human genome was patched together over 13 years; today, your genome can be commercially sequenced in 2-3 months.

• Costs for sequencing the genome are falling exponentially: from USD 3 billion in 2001 to USD1,000 today and may fall by another factor of ten!

So, what's in your genes?
___________________________________________________________
Awesome enough for you? Want more? Check out: http://www.eyeondna.com/2007/08/20/100-facts-about-dna/
http://bionumbers.hms.harvard.edu/search.aspx?log=y&task=searchbytrmorg&trm=dna&time=2012%2f01%2f28+16%3a12%3a18.418
Thanks to +Dunken K Bliths for generating this wonderful gif!
Thank you +Konstantin Makov , for finding this hypnotic image :)
#sciencesunday curated by +Allison Sekuler and +Robby Bowles .

Bug Eyes are Beautiful! If the eyes are a window to our souls, then these gorgeous compound eyes will surely win you over.

• Each tiny facet (ommatidium) has a lens leading into a crystalline cone with light sensitive cells arranged like the segments of an orange. Individual eyes are insulated from others by a lining of pigment. The final image is a mosaic of light and dark dots, like the halftone illustrations in a newspaper. More ommatidia give a finer pattern of dots and a better resolution. Even so, the resolution of insect eyes is nowhere near that of ours: images we can separate at 60 feet would have to be one foot away to be distinguished by a honey bee.

• The big advantage to compound eyes is that they pick up movements very well because ommatidia can quickly turn on and off to give a flicker effect. Ever tried to swat a fly? Insects can see ultraviolet too.

These images were taken by photographer +Thomas Shahan . Checkout more insect macrophotography at: http://thomasshahan.com/photos

More on compound eyes: http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/C/CompoundEye.html

Bug Eyes are Beautiful! If the eyes are a window to our souls, then these gorgeous compound eyes will surely win you over.

• Each tiny facet (ommatidium) has a lens leading into a crystalline cone with light sensitive cells arranged like the segments of an orange. Individual eyes are insulated from others by a lining of pigment. The final image is a mosaic of light and dark dots, like the halftone illustrations in a newspaper. More ommatidia give a finer pattern of dots and a better resolution. Even so, the resolution of insect eyes is nowhere near that of ours: images we can separate at 60 feet would have to be one foot away to be distinguished by a honey bee.

• The big advantage to compound eyes is that they pick up movements very well because ommatidia can quickly turn on and off to give a flicker effect. Ever tried to swat a fly? Insects can see ultraviolet too.

These images were taken by photographer +Thomas Shahan . Checkout more insect macrophotography at: http://thomasshahan.com/photos

More on compound eyes: http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/C/CompoundEye.html

Talent and humor, ¡Bravo! Slovakian musician Lukáš Kmit was playing a lovely piece on his viola when he was interrupted by a Nokia ringtone (0:40 into the video). What a charming, humorous response!

P.S. The Nokia ringtone originated from a classic 1902 piece by Spanish guitarist Francisco Tárrega called “Gran Vals.” It is lovely: Gran Vals - Francisco Tárrega

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/01/22/nokia-ringtone-interrupts/

Talent and humor, ¡Bravo! Slovakian musician Lukáš Kmit was playing a lovely piece on his viola when he was interrupted by a Nokia ringtone (0:40 into the video). What a charming, humorous response!

P.S. The Nokia ringtone originated from a classic 1902 piece by Spanish guitarist Francisco Tárrega called “Gran Vals.” It is lovely: Gran Vals - Francisco Tárrega

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/01/22/nokia-ringtone-interrupts/

First Women in STEM: A Tribute to International Women’s Day. Here is a celebration of some of the brilliant women who changed the course of history for the better. Women of G+ , do you have stories of your own to share? What personal achievement are you proud of, whether in your family, community or profession?

• Marie Curie: First woman to receive a Nobel Prize, once for Physics (1903) and then again for Chemistry (1911), she pioneered the study of radioactivity. She died of aplastic anemia brought on by lethal exposure to radiation. Despite her two Nobels, she was not elected to the French Academy of Sciences by two votes.

• Mary Kies. Hats off to the First woman granted a US patent (1809) for a process to weave straw with silk or thread in hat making. This was a time when women could not legally own property independent of their husbands. Her patent is credited with boosting American industry at a time when Napoleon imposed a blockade on export of European goods.

• Ada Lovelace: Charles Babbage called her Enchantress of Numbers, History calls her First Programmer. Daughter of Lord Byron, in 1843, her notes on the Analytical Engine are credited as the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine.

• Elizabeth Garrett Anderson: physician and feminist, first woman qualified to practice in England (1865), created a medical school for women, first Dean of a medical school, first woman to be elected to a school board and first woman mayor and magistrate in Britain. The day she passed the licensing exam, with highest marks, the Society of Apothecaries immediately amended their rules to prevent other women from obtaining a license.

• Florence Sabin: First woman faculty at Johns Hopkins medical school (MD, 1900 from the first batch of female medical students admitted), she was also first woman to achieve Professorship there (1917), to be elected to the National Academy of Science, and head a department at Rockefeller Institute (she was passed over for Department Head at Hopkins, in favor of her own student, a male).

• Valentina Tereshkova: Russian cosmonaut who was the First woman in space, in 1963, aboard Vostok 6. She completed 48 orbits in 71 hours. Her call sign was Chaika (seagull), a nickname that she carries to this day. She turned 75 two days ago.

Whom did I leave out of this very short and inadequate list?

First Women in STEM: A Tribute to International Women’s Day. Here is a celebration of some of the brilliant women who changed the course of history for the better. Women of G+ , do you have stories of your own to share? What personal achievement are you proud of, whether in your family, community or profession?

• Marie Curie: First woman to receive a Nobel Prize, once for Physics (1903) and then again for Chemistry (1911), she pioneered the study of radioactivity. She died of aplastic anemia brought on by lethal exposure to radiation. Despite her two Nobels, she was not elected to the French Academy of Sciences by two votes.

• Mary Kies. Hats off to the First woman granted a US patent (1809) for a process to weave straw with silk or thread in hat making. This was a time when women could not legally own property independent of their husbands. Her patent is credited with boosting American industry at a time when Napoleon imposed a blockade on export of European goods.

• Ada Lovelace: Charles Babbage called her Enchantress of Numbers, History calls her First Programmer. Daughter of Lord Byron, in 1843, her notes on the Analytical Engine are credited as the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine.

• Elizabeth Garrett Anderson: physician and feminist, first woman qualified to practice in England (1865), created a medical school for women, first Dean of a medical school, first woman to be elected to a school board and first woman mayor and magistrate in Britain. The day she passed the licensing exam, with highest marks, the Society of Apothecaries immediately amended their rules to prevent other women from obtaining a license.

• Florence Sabin: First woman faculty at Johns Hopkins medical school (MD, 1900 from the first batch of female medical students admitted), she was also first woman to achieve Professorship there (1917), to be elected to the National Academy of Science, and head a department at Rockefeller Institute (she was passed over for Department Head at Hopkins, in favor of her own student, a male).

• Valentina Tereshkova: Russian cosmonaut who was the First woman in space, in 1963, aboard Vostok 6. She completed 48 orbits in 71 hours. Her call sign was Chaika (seagull), a nickname that she carries to this day. She turned 75 two days ago.

Whom did I leave out of this very short and inadequate list?

Gutsy school children. School children in Lebak, Indonesia cling perilously to a damaged rope bridge across the Ciberang river to get to school. Hopefully this publicity will mean that the bridge gets repaired quickly.

Reuters video in the link.
Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/brave-kids-indonesia-walk-damaged-bridge-river-school-article-1.1009218

Gutsy school children. School children in Lebak, Indonesia cling perilously to a damaged rope bridge across the Ciberang river to get to school. Hopefully this publicity will mean that the bridge gets repaired quickly.

Reuters video in the link.
Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/brave-kids-indonesia-walk-damaged-bridge-river-school-article-1.1009218

The Cosmos: Macro versus Micro

☼ The images on the left are night views of brightly lit metropolitan cities taken from the International Space Station. On the right, are fluorescent images of neurons. Like a neuron, the city seems to have a cell body, branching dendrites and a main axon like highway extending out.

☼ The ancient Greeks of the Neo-Platonic school of philosophy saw  the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the largest scale (macrocosm or universe-level) all the way down to the smallest scale (microcosm or sub-sub-atomic or even metaphysical-level). In their philosophy, Man is in the middle.

☼ Did you know that the word cosmos (Greek, κόσμος) means "order" and is the conceptual opposite of "chaos"? In Mandarin Chinese, cosmos and universe are both translated as 宇宙 yǔzhòu, which means "space-time".

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”

-William Blake

Source: http://infinity-imagined.tumblr.com/page/6

#ScienceSunday

The Cosmos: Macro versus Micro

☼ The images on the left are night views of brightly lit metropolitan cities taken from the International Space Station. On the right, are fluorescent images of neurons. Like a neuron, the city seems to have a cell body, branching dendrites and a main axon like highway extending out.

☼ The ancient Greeks of the Neo-Platonic school of philosophy saw  the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the largest scale (macrocosm or universe-level) all the way down to the smallest scale (microcosm or sub-sub-atomic or even metaphysical-level). In their philosophy, Man is in the middle.

☼ Did you know that the word cosmos (Greek, κόσμος) means "order" and is the conceptual opposite of "chaos"? In Mandarin Chinese, cosmos and universe are both translated as 宇宙 yǔzhòu, which means "space-time".

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”

-William Blake

Source: http://infinity-imagined.tumblr.com/page/6

#ScienceSunday

WHEN EINSTEIN MET TAGORE: An attempt to explain Truth and Beauty at the intersection of Science and Spirituality. It was July 14, 1930 when Einstein met Rabindranath Tagore- poet, polymath and first non-European to win the Nobel for Literature (for Gitanjali).

Regardless of your philosophy, religion or lack thereof, the following conversation will blow your mind. Excerpt:

EINSTEIN: Truth, then, or Beauty is not independent of Man?
TAGORE: No.
EINSTEIN: If there would be no human beings any more, the Apollo of Belvedere would no longer be beautiful.
TAGORE: No.
EINSTEIN: I agree with regard to this conception of Beauty, but not with regard to Truth.
TAGORE: Why not? Truth is realized through man.

Read more here: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/27/when-einstein-met-tagore/

The conversation goes from the tangibility of a table to Pythagorean geometry, concluding with:

EINSTEIN: Then I am more religious than you are!
TAGORE: My religion is in the reconciliation of the Super-personal Man, the universal human spirit, in my own individual being.

Many Thanks to +Pravin Bhojwani for the original share!

WHEN EINSTEIN MET TAGORE: An attempt to explain Truth and Beauty at the intersection of Science and Spirituality. It was July 14, 1930 when Einstein met Rabindranath Tagore- poet, polymath and first non-European to win the Nobel for Literature (for Gitanjali).

Regardless of your philosophy, religion or lack thereof, the following conversation will blow your mind. Excerpt:

EINSTEIN: Truth, then, or Beauty is not independent of Man?
TAGORE: No.
EINSTEIN: If there would be no human beings any more, the Apollo of Belvedere would no longer be beautiful.
TAGORE: No.
EINSTEIN: I agree with regard to this conception of Beauty, but not with regard to Truth.
TAGORE: Why not? Truth is realized through man.

Read more here: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/27/when-einstein-met-tagore/

The conversation goes from the tangibility of a table to Pythagorean geometry, concluding with:

EINSTEIN: Then I am more religious than you are!
TAGORE: My religion is in the reconciliation of the Super-personal Man, the universal human spirit, in my own individual being.

Many Thanks to +Pravin Bhojwani for the original share!

Art or Alcohol? Scientist Michael Davidson began taking photomicrographs of alcohol in the 1990's to raise funds for his lab. He crystallized samples of beer, tequila, vodka and other liquors on a slide, then imaged them under polarized light to reveal these gorgeous colors. You can purchase them as prints for your wall from bevshots.com.

Note: I've not been able to post science-y stuff all week as I am carousing (er, conferencing) with 5000+ biophysicists in sunny San Diego. This collection of photographs seems particularly appropriate ;)

H/T to Huff Post Arts for featuring this story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/artsy-side-of-alcohol_n_1304880.html#s731641

Art or Alcohol? Scientist Michael Davidson began taking photomicrographs of alcohol in the 1990's to raise funds for his lab. He crystallized samples of beer, tequila, vodka and other liquors on a slide, then imaged them under polarized light to reveal these gorgeous colors. You can purchase them as prints for your wall from bevshots.com.

Note: I've not been able to post science-y stuff all week as I am carousing (er, conferencing) with 5000+ biophysicists in sunny San Diego. This collection of photographs seems particularly appropriate ;)

H/T to Huff Post Arts for featuring this story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/artsy-side-of-alcohol_n_1304880.html#s731641

WHO declares India polio-free! An incredible feat for a nation once the polio epicenter with 200,000 cases in 1988. As recently as 2009, India accounted for half of all cases in the world, but infections plummeted to 42 in 2010 and none in the last 12 months. The Indian government has spent $2 billion over the last 10-15 years to eradicate this crippling disease, which strikes children under the age of 5. However, 3 other countries (Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan) have reported a massive increase in new polio cases.

More: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/WHO-takes-off-India-from-polio-list/articleshow/12038508.cms

WHO declares India polio-free! An incredible feat for a nation once the polio epicenter with 200,000 cases in 1988. As recently as 2009, India accounted for half of all cases in the world, but infections plummeted to 42 in 2010 and none in the last 12 months. The Indian government has spent $2 billion over the last 10-15 years to eradicate this crippling disease, which strikes children under the age of 5. However, 3 other countries (Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan) have reported a massive increase in new polio cases.

More: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/WHO-takes-off-India-from-polio-list/articleshow/12038508.cms

Down Syndrome Day

Today, 3/21, is World Down Syndrome Day. Also known as Trisomy 21, because it involves three copies of chromosome 21 instead of the usual two (see image), Down syndrome is the most complex of genetic disorders that is compatible with survival (other trisomies are more common, but are lethal). Even Down syndrome is associated with ~50% lethality of embryos. In the US, 1 in 691 babies is born with Down syndrome.

Too much of a good thing: Anywhere from 300 to 500 genes have altered levels and function, resulting 80 or 90 possible symptoms and an instantly recognizable phenotype (physical appearance). For example, patients have a 1 in 5 chance of developing a hole in the heart, compared to an incidence of 1:10,000 in the normal population. Down syndrome is extraordinarily complex, and my friend and colleague Roger Reeves has dedicated his career to helping patients with his research.

Cerebellar size: Dr. Reeves showed that the reduced size of the cerebellum in patients was due to defects in the sonic hedgehog signaling pathway. Using a drug that activated this pathway, he was able to restore the number of cerebellar cells to normalcy in a mouse model of Down syndrome, pointing to a therapeutic potential for the central nervous system deficits in patients.

Tweaking circuits: In the hippocampus—that part of the brain that’s used to navigate landmarks and fix memories, Down syndrome patients show an excess of inhibitory pathways compared to excitatory ones. A drug that is already FDA-approved works wonders on mice with the equivalent of Down syndrome, restoring balance to their brain. This drug is now in clinical trials for  Down syndrome patients.

It's not all bad: Research on Down syndrome has broad impact. For example, having three copies of a tumor suppressor gene means that patients have a 93% lower incidence of developing certain cancers. This insight could help treat cancers in the general population. Plus, as Roger likes to say, if you know anyone with Down syndrome, they tend to be pretty interesting individuals in their own right.

For more on Roger's research: http://goo.gl/uSJWm

#ScienceEveryday #DownSyndrome  

Down Syndrome Day

Today, 3/21, is World Down Syndrome Day. Also known as Trisomy 21, because it involves three copies of chromosome 21 instead of the usual two (see image), Down syndrome is the most complex of genetic disorders that is compatible with survival (other trisomies are more common, but are lethal). Even Down syndrome is associated with ~50% lethality of embryos. In the US, 1 in 691 babies is born with Down syndrome.

Too much of a good thing: Anywhere from 300 to 500 genes have altered levels and function, resulting 80 or 90 possible symptoms and an instantly recognizable phenotype (physical appearance). For example, patients have a 1 in 5 chance of developing a hole in the heart, compared to an incidence of 1:10,000 in the normal population. Down syndrome is extraordinarily complex, and my friend and colleague Roger Reeves has dedicated his career to helping patients with his research.

Cerebellar size: Dr. Reeves showed that the reduced size of the cerebellum in patients was due to defects in the sonic hedgehog signaling pathway. Using a drug that activated this pathway, he was able to restore the number of cerebellar cells to normalcy in a mouse model of Down syndrome, pointing to a therapeutic potential for the central nervous system deficits in patients.

Tweaking circuits: In the hippocampus—that part of the brain that’s used to navigate landmarks and fix memories, Down syndrome patients show an excess of inhibitory pathways compared to excitatory ones. A drug that is already FDA-approved works wonders on mice with the equivalent of Down syndrome, restoring balance to their brain. This drug is now in clinical trials for  Down syndrome patients.

It's not all bad: Research on Down syndrome has broad impact. For example, having three copies of a tumor suppressor gene means that patients have a 93% lower incidence of developing certain cancers. This insight could help treat cancers in the general population. Plus, as Roger likes to say, if you know anyone with Down syndrome, they tend to be pretty interesting individuals in their own right.

For more on Roger's research: http://goo.gl/uSJWm

#ScienceEveryday #DownSyndrome  

Walking Heads: Kinesin or The Little Engine That Could :)
Have you wondered how things (like vesicles and mitochondria) move about inside a cell? They don’t just drift aimlessly through the thick cytoplasmic soup-rather they are ferried by kinesin, a hard working molecular motor.

To watch mitochondria motor down an invisible highway inside a nerve cell see: Mitochondrial Moving in an Axon.mov

The kinesin highway is made of microtubules : a bundle of 13 filaments that have distinct ends (known as + and – ends). Kinesins move cargo towards the + end (from the center of the cell to the periphery) and dyneins move them in the opposite direction. Watch what happens when fluorescent microtubules are placed on a slide coated with kinesin! Kinesin-1 gliding motility assay, whole casein passivation.avi

Cargo is tethered to kinesin by a long coil. The two heads of the motor walk along the microtubule in a hand-over-hand mechanism using ATP hydrolysis as a power source. Each ATP moves the motor one 8 nanometer step. Notice that kinesin is a processive motor: once it is attached to the microtubule it takes (on average)100 steps, before it lets go.

For a narrated 2 min mechanism see:Kinesin Walking Narrated Version for Garland

Many, many thanks to +Kevin Staff for being such a sport and converting the kinesin video into an animated gif! Special shout out to +Andreas Schou who requested some ‘kinesin love’ and to +Henry K.O. Norman who is working on an animated production on cellular mechanisms.

For #ScienceSunday curated by +Allison Sekuler and +Robby Bowles .

Walking Heads: Kinesin or The Little Engine That Could :)
Have you wondered how things (like vesicles and mitochondria) move about inside a cell? They don’t just drift aimlessly through the thick cytoplasmic soup-rather they are ferried by kinesin, a hard working molecular motor.

To watch mitochondria motor down an invisible highway inside a nerve cell see: Mitochondrial Moving in an Axon.mov

The kinesin highway is made of microtubules : a bundle of 13 filaments that have distinct ends (known as + and – ends). Kinesins move cargo towards the + end (from the center of the cell to the periphery) and dyneins move them in the opposite direction. Watch what happens when fluorescent microtubules are placed on a slide coated with kinesin! Kinesin-1 gliding motility assay, whole casein passivation.avi

Cargo is tethered to kinesin by a long coil. The two heads of the motor walk along the microtubule in a hand-over-hand mechanism using ATP hydrolysis as a power source. Each ATP moves the motor one 8 nanometer step. Notice that kinesin is a processive motor: once it is attached to the microtubule it takes (on average)100 steps, before it lets go.

For a narrated 2 min mechanism see:Kinesin Walking Narrated Version for Garland

Many, many thanks to +Kevin Staff for being such a sport and converting the kinesin video into an animated gif! Special shout out to +Andreas Schou who requested some ‘kinesin love’ and to +Henry K.O. Norman who is working on an animated production on cellular mechanisms.

For #ScienceSunday curated by +Allison Sekuler and +Robby Bowles .

Chemis-Tea

• The Science of Tea: For 4,700 years, this infusion from the tender leaves of Camellia sinensis has been delivering a cupful of healthy antioxidants and good cheer. Did you know that tea is the most widely consumed beverage, after water? To celebrate the birthday of +Siromi Samarasinghe , who has a PhD in tea chemistry, here is some chemis-tea.

•  Caffeine : Did you know that weight for weight, dry tea has more caffeine than coffee? But because more coffee is used per cup than tea, brewed tea has significantly less caffeine (~90 mg/250 ml).

• L-Theanine: A rare amino acid (γ-glutamylethylamide), found almost exclusively in tea, it has a calming effect on the brain. Theanine suppresses the stimulation by caffeine of brain excitability, reduces blood pressure and protects against neuronal cell death.  It is a structural analog of glutamine, which is a byproduct of glutamate, the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain. Theanine inhibits the transport of glutamine and dampens neurotransmission.

• Catechins: Up to 30% of dry weight in tea, catechins are a type of antioxidant also found in chocolate and wine (Mmm..). Catechins are classified as flavonoids and have been shown to reduce the risk of stroke and cancer.

There are many other antioxidants and polyphenols found in tea. Tea is best drunk in company, but if you are alone, you can still have a tea party:

I had a little tea party
This afternoon at three.
'Twas very small-
Three guest in all-
Just I, myself and me.

Myself ate all the sandwiches,
While I drank up the tea;
'Twas also I who ate the pie
And passed the cake to me.
-Jessica Nelson North

Image: http://goo.gl/fRk6V

#happybirthdaysiromi #ScienceEveryday  

Chemis-Tea

• The Science of Tea: For 4,700 years, this infusion from the tender leaves of Camellia sinensis has been delivering a cupful of healthy antioxidants and good cheer. Did you know that tea is the most widely consumed beverage, after water? To celebrate the birthday of +Siromi Samarasinghe , who has a PhD in tea chemistry, here is some chemis-tea.

•  Caffeine : Did you know that weight for weight, dry tea has more caffeine than coffee? But because more coffee is used per cup than tea, brewed tea has significantly less caffeine (~90 mg/250 ml).

• L-Theanine: A rare amino acid (γ-glutamylethylamide), found almost exclusively in tea, it has a calming effect on the brain. Theanine suppresses the stimulation by caffeine of brain excitability, reduces blood pressure and protects against neuronal cell death.  It is a structural analog of glutamine, which is a byproduct of glutamate, the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain. Theanine inhibits the transport of glutamine and dampens neurotransmission.

• Catechins: Up to 30% of dry weight in tea, catechins are a type of antioxidant also found in chocolate and wine (Mmm..). Catechins are classified as flavonoids and have been shown to reduce the risk of stroke and cancer.

There are many other antioxidants and polyphenols found in tea. Tea is best drunk in company, but if you are alone, you can still have a tea party:

I had a little tea party
This afternoon at three.
'Twas very small-
Three guest in all-
Just I, myself and me.

Myself ate all the sandwiches,
While I drank up the tea;
'Twas also I who ate the pie
And passed the cake to me.
-Jessica Nelson North

Image: http://goo.gl/fRk6V

#happybirthdaysiromi #ScienceEveryday  

Chameleon Catapult

Chameleons are among the slowest moving reptiles. But their protruding eyes swivel independently for a 360 degree range, so they can look for prey in different directions at the same time. When a hapless insect victim is detected, both eyes focus on it to judge range and distance with superb accuracy. 

• Ballistic Brilliance! The chameleon then launches its tongue, which is 1.5 times its body length, at speeds of 26 body lengths per second. That works out to 13.4 miles per hour or 6 meters per second . The initial acceleration is enormous: 500 m s−2 or 51g. For comparison, the space shuttle launches at 3g and humans pass out at accelerations approaching 10g. It takes less than a tenth of a second for the chameleon to snag its prey!

• Corkscrew Collagen: This impressive performance exceeds the capability of any muscle in biology by an order of magnitude. So what’s the secret behind the ballistics? The chameleon’s tongue has energy stored in concentric layers of a springy fiber, called collagen, wrapped around a stiff cartilage core. The powerful tongue muscle initially primes the spring by compressing it, to the same effect as a bow being pulled taut. When the tongue is launched, the spring uncoils explosively, slipping off the cartilage core. Once the sticky end snares the prey, the muscles work more slowly to reel it back in. This gives chameleons a competitive edge over lizards and other reptiles. Watch ▶ http://goo.gl/EBFty

• Breakfast at Dawn: Another advantage to this strategy is that the chameleon can catch its prey even at chilly temperatures when its muscles slow down drastically: unlike birds and mammals, reptiles are cold blooded and at the mercy of their ambient temperature. Watch how only the retraction of the tongue is slowed at low temperatures ▶ http://goo.gl/gT2hd

REF ▶ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691657/

Slo Mo ▶ http://vimeo.com/12068409

H/T to +Panah Rad for the gif ▶ http://i.imgur.com/XCytc.gif

#ScienceSunday  

Chameleon Catapult

Chameleons are among the slowest moving reptiles. But their protruding eyes swivel independently for a 360 degree range, so they can look for prey in different directions at the same time. When a hapless insect victim is detected, both eyes focus on it to judge range and distance with superb accuracy. 

• Ballistic Brilliance! The chameleon then launches its tongue, which is 1.5 times its body length, at speeds of 26 body lengths per second. That works out to 13.4 miles per hour or 6 meters per second . The initial acceleration is enormous: 500 m s−2 or 51g. For comparison, the space shuttle launches at 3g and humans pass out at accelerations approaching 10g. It takes less than a tenth of a second for the chameleon to snag its prey!

• Corkscrew Collagen: This impressive performance exceeds the capability of any muscle in biology by an order of magnitude. So what’s the secret behind the ballistics? The chameleon’s tongue has energy stored in concentric layers of a springy fiber, called collagen, wrapped around a stiff cartilage core. The powerful tongue muscle initially primes the spring by compressing it, to the same effect as a bow being pulled taut. When the tongue is launched, the spring uncoils explosively, slipping off the cartilage core. Once the sticky end snares the prey, the muscles work more slowly to reel it back in. This gives chameleons a competitive edge over lizards and other reptiles. Watch ▶ http://goo.gl/EBFty

• Breakfast at Dawn: Another advantage to this strategy is that the chameleon can catch its prey even at chilly temperatures when its muscles slow down drastically: unlike birds and mammals, reptiles are cold blooded and at the mercy of their ambient temperature. Watch how only the retraction of the tongue is slowed at low temperatures ▶ http://goo.gl/gT2hd

REF ▶ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691657/

Slo Mo ▶ http://vimeo.com/12068409

H/T to +Panah Rad for the gif ▶ http://i.imgur.com/XCytc.gif

#ScienceSunday  

Ode to Mitosis

Mitosis is a process
For One cell to become Two
There are Four distinct phases
Happening within You

First comes Prophase
The Chromatin strands condense
They now become visible
Through a microscope lens

Next comes Metaphase
The important Stage Two
Chromosomes attach to Spindle Fiber
Using Molecular Glue

Then comes Anaphase
It's really quite sad
Sister Chromatids separate
To opposite poles- too bad :(

Finally, it's Telophase
Nuclear membranes reform
Spindle fibers disperse
And Two new cells are born.

Poem: Playfully plagiarized, willfully altered and spell-checked from the original "reallygoodpoetry" at http://goo.gl/OVTvb

Images: Gifs from http://infinity-imagined.tumblr.com/page/4
Watch original movie here: http://goo.gl/7HjG7

#ScienceSunday  

Ode to Mitosis

Mitosis is a process
For One cell to become Two
There are Four distinct phases
Happening within You

First comes Prophase
The Chromatin strands condense
They now become visible
Through a microscope lens

Next comes Metaphase
The important Stage Two
Chromosomes attach to Spindle Fiber
Using Molecular Glue

Then comes Anaphase
It's really quite sad
Sister Chromatids separate
To opposite poles- too bad :(

Finally, it's Telophase
Nuclear membranes reform
Spindle fibers disperse
And Two new cells are born.

Poem: Playfully plagiarized, willfully altered and spell-checked from the original "reallygoodpoetry" at http://goo.gl/OVTvb

Images: Gifs from http://infinity-imagined.tumblr.com/page/4
Watch original movie here: http://goo.gl/7HjG7

#ScienceSunday  

Feel Good Friday: 8 am on March 5, 2012. Idyllic blue ocean and ripples of surf. Suddenly, a pod of dolphins appear and beach themselves on this Brazilian coast. Watch the amazingly efficient rescue.

Feel Good Friday: 8 am on March 5, 2012. Idyllic blue ocean and ripples of surf. Suddenly, a pod of dolphins appear and beach themselves on this Brazilian coast. Watch the amazingly efficient rescue.

Toxoplasma: Cats, Rats and Mind Hacks

Bizarre and Beautiful: More than a third of the world's population is infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. We pick it up from uncooked meat or from changing a cat's litter box. Although apparently harmless to healthy adults, "Toxo" is dangerous to the human fetus and to immuno-compromised people. This is why pregnant women and people with vulnerable immune systems are advised to avoid cats.

Mind Control: The parasite infects the limbic areas of the brain near the fear and sexual attraction regions. Because it carries a gene that codes for an enzyme crucial in dopamine production, it can alter levels of this neurotransmitter. Infected rats become oddly fearless of cats but not of anything else, making it likely that they end up in a cat's intestine, the only place where the parasite can reproduce! They also make more testosterone and mate more, ensuring the spread of the parasite to other rats. The ability of parasites to manipulate host behavior for their own benefit is extremely rare in mammals because our blood brain barrier is so effective in keeping most pathogens out. But not this one.

Why Cats Rule the Internetz: If this parasite can profoundly affect rats, what about people? Studies have shown that infected men have altered behavior and personality including a tendency to disregard rules, higher suspiciousness and jealousy. Schizophrenics are more likely to be infected with Toxoplasma, and there are disturbing links to suicide as well. A 2006 study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B found that antipsychotic drugs, commonly used to treat schizophrenia, reverse the fearlessness effects of T. gondii in the brain. This is why the CDC classifies toxoplasmosis as a neglected parasitic disease. 

Image: A rosette of Toxoplasma gondii cells by Markus Meissner (University of Glasgow, UK) from Nature Methods http://goo.gl/E825h

Facts: http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/

#ScienceSunday  

Toxoplasma: Cats, Rats and Mind Hacks

Bizarre and Beautiful: More than a third of the world's population is infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. We pick it up from uncooked meat or from changing a cat's litter box. Although apparently harmless to healthy adults, "Toxo" is dangerous to the human fetus and to immuno-compromised people. This is why pregnant women and people with vulnerable immune systems are advised to avoid cats.

Mind Control: The parasite infects the limbic areas of the brain near the fear and sexual attraction regions. Because it carries a gene that codes for an enzyme crucial in dopamine production, it can alter levels of this neurotransmitter. Infected rats become oddly fearless of cats but not of anything else, making it likely that they end up in a cat's intestine, the only place where the parasite can reproduce! They also make more testosterone and mate more, ensuring the spread of the parasite to other rats. The ability of parasites to manipulate host behavior for their own benefit is extremely rare in mammals because our blood brain barrier is so effective in keeping most pathogens out. But not this one.

Why Cats Rule the Internetz: If this parasite can profoundly affect rats, what about people? Studies have shown that infected men have altered behavior and personality including a tendency to disregard rules, higher suspiciousness and jealousy. Schizophrenics are more likely to be infected with Toxoplasma, and there are disturbing links to suicide as well. A 2006 study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B found that antipsychotic drugs, commonly used to treat schizophrenia, reverse the fearlessness effects of T. gondii in the brain. This is why the CDC classifies toxoplasmosis as a neglected parasitic disease. 

Image: A rosette of Toxoplasma gondii cells by Markus Meissner (University of Glasgow, UK) from Nature Methods http://goo.gl/E825h

Facts: http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/

#ScienceSunday  

Happy Birthday, Ernst Haeckel! German biologist and artist, Haeckel (1834-1919) left his mark in thousands of beautiful, accurate and intricate drawings of life forms at a time before microscopes could take pictures. Did you know that he coined many terms that we take for granted today including ecology , phylum , stem cell and Protista? He is even credited for the first use of the phrase "First World War" to describe the "Great European War" in 1914.

Flamboyant and passionate, Haeckel was both spectacularly right and completely wrong! He sent his students to Indonesia to look for the remains of ancient humans, resulting in the first human fossil of Pithecanthropus (Homo erectus). He also believed that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny: that embryos go through stages in development where they resemble lower orders of life. Although junior looked a bit like a fish at one time, but not literally, right? ;)

Read more about this fascinating scientist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Haeckel

Happy Birthday, Ernst Haeckel! German biologist and artist, Haeckel (1834-1919) left his mark in thousands of beautiful, accurate and intricate drawings of life forms at a time before microscopes could take pictures. Did you know that he coined many terms that we take for granted today including ecology , phylum , stem cell and Protista? He is even credited for the first use of the phrase "First World War" to describe the "Great European War" in 1914.

Flamboyant and passionate, Haeckel was both spectacularly right and completely wrong! He sent his students to Indonesia to look for the remains of ancient humans, resulting in the first human fossil of Pithecanthropus (Homo erectus). He also believed that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny: that embryos go through stages in development where they resemble lower orders of life. Although junior looked a bit like a fish at one time, but not literally, right? ;)

Read more about this fascinating scientist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Haeckel

The Genetics of Autism

Contrary to popular belief (and Jenny McCarthy), autism is the most genetic and inheritable of all neurodevelopmental disorders. Identical twins have >80% chance of shared diagnosis, versus a much lower ~10% chance in fraternal twins, a classic indication of underlying common genetic cause. 

What is autism? Classical autism is part of a broader group of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) characterized by (i) impaired social communication and interaction, (ii) absence or delay in language and (iii) restricted, repetitive behavior. These features vary hugely, from severe intellectual disability to mild personality traits. Intellectual delays occur in 30-60%, and 30% also suffer seizures. Current rates of diagnosis are 1 in 88 children. This is partly due to a broadening of the diagnosis but could also reflect impact of changing environment on genetic susceptibility. 

Monogenic cases of autism are known as syndromes. About 10% of children diagnosed with ASD have mutations in a single gene. The most common is Fragile X syndrome (FXS), which accounts for 5% of autism cases with as many as 50% of individuals with FXS meeting criteria for autistic disorder. Other syndromes that present with ASD are Tuberous Sclerosis, Retts, and Neurofibromatosis. Although the primary diagnosis is not ASD, the symptoms include ASD. 

Polygenic disorders are caused by additive effects of multiple genes. Because inheritance patterns of autism are not Mendelian, it was initially thought to be polygenic, like traits of hypertension, height or skin color. Austism superficially fits this definition because of the continuous spectrum of characteristics. But, it’s a lot more complex because no single gene appears to account for more than 1% of the non-syndromic cases. 

Heterogenic disorders occur when mutations at any of a number of different genes can give rise to the same phenotype. In autism, many of the mutations are unique, rare and arise de novo, not being found in parents or recent ancestry. Most mutations occur on only one allele (one of two copies of the gene). Many are copy number variations, affecting gene dosage, caused by insertions and deletions in the chromosome. The emerging theory is that many different mutations converge on a common function: synaptic transmission. 

The synapse: Information transfer occurs at the synapse or junction between neurons. The first synapses in human cortex appear 40 days after conception. The most dramatic change takes place around birth. During the first three years of life, more synaptic contacts are formed, but only some will be stabilized. Many genes implicated in autism (image) function at the synapse, and the timing of appearance of autistic characteristics coincides with synapse maturation.

REF: Autism and Brain Development. Walsh et al., Cell (free read) http://goo.gl/hkbsC

#ScienceSunday  

The Genetics of Autism

Contrary to popular belief (and Jenny McCarthy), autism is the most genetic and inheritable of all neurodevelopmental disorders. Identical twins have >80% chance of shared diagnosis, versus a much lower ~10% chance in fraternal twins, a classic indication of underlying common genetic cause. 

What is autism? Classical autism is part of a broader group of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) characterized by (i) impaired social communication and interaction, (ii) absence or delay in language and (iii) restricted, repetitive behavior. These features vary hugely, from severe intellectual disability to mild personality traits. Intellectual delays occur in 30-60%, and 30% also suffer seizures. Current rates of diagnosis are 1 in 88 children. This is partly due to a broadening of the diagnosis but could also reflect impact of changing environment on genetic susceptibility. 

Monogenic cases of autism are known as syndromes. About 10% of children diagnosed with ASD have mutations in a single gene. The most common is Fragile X syndrome (FXS), which accounts for 5% of autism cases with as many as 50% of individuals with FXS meeting criteria for autistic disorder. Other syndromes that present with ASD are Tuberous Sclerosis, Retts, and Neurofibromatosis. Although the primary diagnosis is not ASD, the symptoms include ASD. 

Polygenic disorders are caused by additive effects of multiple genes. Because inheritance patterns of autism are not Mendelian, it was initially thought to be polygenic, like traits of hypertension, height or skin color. Austism superficially fits this definition because of the continuous spectrum of characteristics. But, it’s a lot more complex because no single gene appears to account for more than 1% of the non-syndromic cases. 

Heterogenic disorders occur when mutations at any of a number of different genes can give rise to the same phenotype. In autism, many of the mutations are unique, rare and arise de novo, not being found in parents or recent ancestry. Most mutations occur on only one allele (one of two copies of the gene). Many are copy number variations, affecting gene dosage, caused by insertions and deletions in the chromosome. The emerging theory is that many different mutations converge on a common function: synaptic transmission. 

The synapse: Information transfer occurs at the synapse or junction between neurons. The first synapses in human cortex appear 40 days after conception. The most dramatic change takes place around birth. During the first three years of life, more synaptic contacts are formed, but only some will be stabilized. Many genes implicated in autism (image) function at the synapse, and the timing of appearance of autistic characteristics coincides with synapse maturation.

REF: Autism and Brain Development. Walsh et al., Cell (free read) http://goo.gl/hkbsC

#ScienceSunday  

Panspermia: Hoax or Hope?

☼ Fire in the Sky: On December 29, 2012 a fireball exploded in the skies above Sri Lanka, followed by a meteorite that fell near the ancient city of Polonnaruwa. A sample was sent to the Buckingham Institute of Astrobiology and Cardiff University. Researchers now report in the Journal of Cosmology of finding fossils of diatoms enmeshed within the meteorite. Because of the way the microfossils were distributed within the rock, they rule out surface contamination.

☼ Panspermia (from the Greek "all" and "sperm") is the idea that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by meteoroids, asteroids and planetoids. So, is this compelling evidence of Panspermia or life in outer space?

☼ Red Rain: The researchers claim that the mysterious red rain that fell in the area within days of the meteorite, reported by our own +Siromi Samarasinghe (http://goo.gl/dq7Jq), was seeded from the meteorite. Reports of red rain were first made in Homer's Iliad and may simply be from airborne algal spores. Is this red rain a red herring?

☼ Earthly Origin? Could it be that this rock was initially blasted off from earth, by the Mesozoic-ending impact on the Yucatan Peninsula, and is now falling back to earth after a grand journey? The article does mention that similar fossils have been found that date back to the time of the dinosaurs.

☼ Hasty Science? The meteorite only just landed, less than 3 weeks ago! How much of a review did this paper get? The authors make the grand statement that "identification of fossilised diatoms in the Polonnaruwa meteorite is firmly established and unimpeachable" and with several self-citations, that "the idea of microbial life carried within comets and the theory of cometary panspermia is thus vindicated". Their final sentence is a WIN, in my opinion: The universe, not humans, must have the final say to declare what the world is really like. What do you think?

Reference (with pictures!): http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Polonnaruwa-meteorite.pdf

#ScienceEveryday  

Panspermia: Hoax or Hope?

☼ Fire in the Sky: On December 29, 2012 a fireball exploded in the skies above Sri Lanka, followed by a meteorite that fell near the ancient city of Polonnaruwa. A sample was sent to the Buckingham Institute of Astrobiology and Cardiff University. Researchers now report in the Journal of Cosmology of finding fossils of diatoms enmeshed within the meteorite. Because of the way the microfossils were distributed within the rock, they rule out surface contamination.

☼ Panspermia (from the Greek "all" and "sperm") is the idea that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by meteoroids, asteroids and planetoids. So, is this compelling evidence of Panspermia or life in outer space?

☼ Red Rain: The researchers claim that the mysterious red rain that fell in the area within days of the meteorite, reported by our own +Siromi Samarasinghe (http://goo.gl/dq7Jq), was seeded from the meteorite. Reports of red rain were first made in Homer's Iliad and may simply be from airborne algal spores. Is this red rain a red herring?

☼ Earthly Origin? Could it be that this rock was initially blasted off from earth, by the Mesozoic-ending impact on the Yucatan Peninsula, and is now falling back to earth after a grand journey? The article does mention that similar fossils have been found that date back to the time of the dinosaurs.

☼ Hasty Science? The meteorite only just landed, less than 3 weeks ago! How much of a review did this paper get? The authors make the grand statement that "identification of fossilised diatoms in the Polonnaruwa meteorite is firmly established and unimpeachable" and with several self-citations, that "the idea of microbial life carried within comets and the theory of cometary panspermia is thus vindicated". Their final sentence is a WIN, in my opinion: The universe, not humans, must have the final say to declare what the world is really like. What do you think?

Reference (with pictures!): http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Polonnaruwa-meteorite.pdf

#ScienceEveryday  

One Gif to Rule Them All: From Amphipod to Diatom to Bacterium. Captured in this amazing image is an electron microscope scan that zooms in on a tiny bacterium perched upon a diatom, lodged near the leg of an amphipod (a type of crustacean). Watch the scale at bottom right, go all the way from a millimeter, through the range of micrometers, down to 500 nanometers!

I was reminded of the verse by Jonathan Swift (1733):
"So nat'ralists observe, a flea
Hath smaller fleas that on him prey,
And these have smaller fleas that bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum ."

Image Credit: "Fractal Cosmos" by James Tyrwhitt-Drake at the University of Victoria.
Stunning images of Diatoms: http://goo.gl/smk3w

#scienceeveryday +ScienceSunday 

One Gif to Rule Them All: From Amphipod to Diatom to Bacterium. Captured in this amazing image is an electron microscope scan that zooms in on a tiny bacterium perched upon a diatom, lodged near the leg of an amphipod (a type of crustacean). Watch the scale at bottom right, go all the way from a millimeter, through the range of micrometers, down to 500 nanometers!

I was reminded of the verse by Jonathan Swift (1733):
"So nat'ralists observe, a flea
Hath smaller fleas that on him prey,
And these have smaller fleas that bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum ."

Image Credit: "Fractal Cosmos" by James Tyrwhitt-Drake at the University of Victoria.
Stunning images of Diatoms: http://goo.gl/smk3w

#scienceeveryday +ScienceSunday 

Got any good Pi jokes? Here are a few of my favorites :)

Got any good Pi jokes? Here are a few of my favorites :)

Precious Purses:  Who is the Artist?

☼ Caddisflies are common insects of the order Trichopterae resembling butterflies. The larvae build protective tubes held together with silk, often incorporating grains of sand, bits of shell and twigs from their aquatic environment. Artist Hubert Duprat wondered what would happen if he upgraded their raw material with gold shavings, pearls and turquoise. The larvae obliged by creating beautiful art!

☼ In this collaborative project between the insects and the artist, the lines between the craftsman and the creator are blurred. Is the insect the true artist, or merely the executer of Duprat's creative expression? 

#ScienceEveryday   
Watch: Caddis Fly Larva Art More: http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/25/duprat.php

Precious Purses:  Who is the Artist?

☼ Caddisflies are common insects of the order Trichopterae resembling butterflies. The larvae build protective tubes held together with silk, often incorporating grains of sand, bits of shell and twigs from their aquatic environment. Artist Hubert Duprat wondered what would happen if he upgraded their raw material with gold shavings, pearls and turquoise. The larvae obliged by creating beautiful art!

☼ In this collaborative project between the insects and the artist, the lines between the craftsman and the creator are blurred. Is the insect the true artist, or merely the executer of Duprat's creative expression? 

#ScienceEveryday   
Watch: Caddis Fly Larva Art More: http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/25/duprat.php

Gluten Be Gone: Synthetic Biology Solution for Celiac Disease

What is Celiac Disease? Celiac disease or gluten allergy comes from eating wheat, rye or barley. Most common in people of N. European descent, the symptoms include diarrhea, weight loss and an increased risk of cancer. 

Why is gluten allergenic? Gluten contains an unusual protein called alpha gliadin, which has many repeats of the amino acids Proline and Glutamine (PQ motifs) that are resistant to the digestive enzymes in our stomach. In some people, these PQ-rich fragments cause severe allergy and inflammation.  

Clinical trials: A natural bacterial enzyme from Sphingomonas capsulata that can break down PQ motifs is in clinical trials as an Oral Enzyme Therapeutic. But it works poorly in the acidic compartment of our stomach, and attempts to engineer it to become acid tolerant have not worked. 

Trial by Acid: Univ. Washington undergraduates tackled the problem from the opposite direction. They found an enzyme called Kumamolysin-AS in a heat and acid loving bacterium Alicyclobacillus sendaiensis that was already acid tolerant. They tinkered with it, using the Fold-It protein folding game, until they found variants predicted to change the enzyme’s preference from Proline Arginine (PR) to Proline Glutamine (PQ). When they made and tested ~260 engineered enzymes, they found one that had a 116-fold increase in ability to digest the gluten peptide in acidic conditions, with a switch in preference of 800-fold! The new enzyme, KumaMAX, could be used in oral therapy or engineered into common bacteria found in yogurt to make probiotics.

So Much Win!: This work (1) could help millions of gluten allergy sufferers world wide, (2) was done by undergraduates competing in iGEM, an annual synthetic biology competition originally founded at MIT, (3) using gaming software, (4) built on basic research done on an obscure bacterial enzyme, and (5) published with student authors in a peer-reviewed journal. 

Images: Normal catalytic triad of protease enyzmes (left) and acid tolerant substitution (right) found in bacteria growing in acid, hot springs (middle).

Paper: Computational Design of an α‑Gliadin Peptidase; Gordon et al., (2012) JACS 134, 20513−20520

Team UW iGEM: http://goo.gl/vgvTX

#ScienceSunday   #syntheticbiology   

Gluten Be Gone: Synthetic Biology Solution for Celiac Disease

What is Celiac Disease? Celiac disease or gluten allergy comes from eating wheat, rye or barley. Most common in people of N. European descent, the symptoms include diarrhea, weight loss and an increased risk of cancer. 

Why is gluten allergenic? Gluten contains an unusual protein called alpha gliadin, which has many repeats of the amino acids Proline and Glutamine (PQ motifs) that are resistant to the digestive enzymes in our stomach. In some people, these PQ-rich fragments cause severe allergy and inflammation.  

Clinical trials: A natural bacterial enzyme from Sphingomonas capsulata that can break down PQ motifs is in clinical trials as an Oral Enzyme Therapeutic. But it works poorly in the acidic compartment of our stomach, and attempts to engineer it to become acid tolerant have not worked. 

Trial by Acid: Univ. Washington undergraduates tackled the problem from the opposite direction. They found an enzyme called Kumamolysin-AS in a heat and acid loving bacterium Alicyclobacillus sendaiensis that was already acid tolerant. They tinkered with it, using the Fold-It protein folding game, until they found variants predicted to change the enzyme’s preference from Proline Arginine (PR) to Proline Glutamine (PQ). When they made and tested ~260 engineered enzymes, they found one that had a 116-fold increase in ability to digest the gluten peptide in acidic conditions, with a switch in preference of 800-fold! The new enzyme, KumaMAX, could be used in oral therapy or engineered into common bacteria found in yogurt to make probiotics.

So Much Win!: This work (1) could help millions of gluten allergy sufferers world wide, (2) was done by undergraduates competing in iGEM, an annual synthetic biology competition originally founded at MIT, (3) using gaming software, (4) built on basic research done on an obscure bacterial enzyme, and (5) published with student authors in a peer-reviewed journal. 

Images: Normal catalytic triad of protease enyzmes (left) and acid tolerant substitution (right) found in bacteria growing in acid, hot springs (middle).

Paper: Computational Design of an α‑Gliadin Peptidase; Gordon et al., (2012) JACS 134, 20513−20520

Team UW iGEM: http://goo.gl/vgvTX

#ScienceSunday   #syntheticbiology   

Under the Electron Microscope. WOW! Can you guess what these everyday objects are?
More: http://egotvonline.com/2012/03/13/25-everyday-objects-under-an-electron-microscope/

Under the Electron Microscope. WOW! Can you guess what these everyday objects are?
More: http://egotvonline.com/2012/03/13/25-everyday-objects-under-an-electron-microscope/

Give Me a Hand

☼ A quadriplegic woman, paralyzed from the neck down from a neurodegenerative disorder, was able to feed herself chocolate and give high-fives thanks to the most sophisticated prosthetic arm yet, with 7 degrees of freedom. Within the second day of training, she was able to perform basic tasks, with a 92% success rate of controlling the robotic arm. This study is the first to demonstrate feasibility of human brain implants to control an external device .

☼ Brain-Machine Interfaces convert brain signals into movement. The researchers first mapped the signals generated in the patient's brain when she thought of moving her arm and programmed the response of the prosthetic arm accordingly. Two small computer 4mm chips were implanted into the patient’s left motor cortex. The chips were 96 channel microchips designed to detect and record small electrical potentials that motor cortex brain cells produce when executing a movement. "The result is a prosthetic hand, which can be moved far more accurately and naturalistically than previous efforts."

☼ Future Scenarios include tactile feedback using sensors to feed into the patient's sensory cortex, wireless communication, and possibly activation of the patient's own muscles with implants.

Story and Video: http://www.livescience.com/25600-quadriplegic-mind-controlled-prosthetic.html

Original paper: http://extremelongevity.net/wp-content/uploads/brain-machine1.pdf

#ScienceEveryday  

Give Me a Hand

☼ A quadriplegic woman, paralyzed from the neck down from a neurodegenerative disorder, was able to feed herself chocolate and give high-fives thanks to the most sophisticated prosthetic arm yet, with 7 degrees of freedom. Within the second day of training, she was able to perform basic tasks, with a 92% success rate of controlling the robotic arm. This study is the first to demonstrate feasibility of human brain implants to control an external device .

☼ Brain-Machine Interfaces convert brain signals into movement. The researchers first mapped the signals generated in the patient's brain when she thought of moving her arm and programmed the response of the prosthetic arm accordingly. Two small computer 4mm chips were implanted into the patient’s left motor cortex. The chips were 96 channel microchips designed to detect and record small electrical potentials that motor cortex brain cells produce when executing a movement. "The result is a prosthetic hand, which can be moved far more accurately and naturalistically than previous efforts."

☼ Future Scenarios include tactile feedback using sensors to feed into the patient's sensory cortex, wireless communication, and possibly activation of the patient's own muscles with implants.

Story and Video: http://www.livescience.com/25600-quadriplegic-mind-controlled-prosthetic.html

Original paper: http://extremelongevity.net/wp-content/uploads/brain-machine1.pdf

#ScienceEveryday  

It’s Nasty: Thigmonasty (Greek thigma for touch and nastos for pressed close). Closure of the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), at 40-100 milliseconds, is one of the fastest movements in plant kingdom. Little surprise that it involves action potentials: electrical signals typical of nerve communication in animals. The trap is triggered when at least two of the tiny surface hairs are touched by an insect or spider within 20 seconds of each other. Since the movement costs energy, this coincidence of two stimuli safeguards against waste from accidental triggers.

• There’s no chemistry: Unlike chemical signals, like hormones, action potentials can fire within a millisecond and propagate rapidly over long distances. Although plants have the basic necessities for electrical signaling (ion channels, motor proteins), they have nowhere near the sophistication achieved in animals. Still, an action potential can achieve speeds of up to 40 m/s in plants and is used to respond to environment.

• Touch me: The first step is the opening of mechanically-sensitive ion channels that sense deformity of the hair. This causes the cell membranes to depolarize by reducing the distribution of charges across the cell. If this depolarization exceeds a certain threshold, additional chloride and potassium channels open to let in more ions. Movement of protons makes the cell wall acidic, allowing it to soften and let the cell elongate rapidly. Despite intensive study for ~130 years, the exact mechanism of signaling is not clear.

• Food fight: Recently, the digestive juice of the Venus flytrap was analyzed and found to closely resemble enzymes used in the fight against pathogens, rather than the digestive enzymes of animals. This suggests an evolution from defense pathways to food acquisition in carnivorous plants. Read more: http://www.asbmb.org/News.aspx?id=17935

The Doors - Touch Me

An early submission for #sciencesunday since I will be traveling tomorrow (Viva Barcelona!).

It’s Nasty: Thigmonasty (Greek thigma for touch and nastos for pressed close). Closure of the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), at 40-100 milliseconds, is one of the fastest movements in plant kingdom. Little surprise that it involves action potentials: electrical signals typical of nerve communication in animals. The trap is triggered when at least two of the tiny surface hairs are touched by an insect or spider within 20 seconds of each other. Since the movement costs energy, this coincidence of two stimuli safeguards against waste from accidental triggers.

• There’s no chemistry: Unlike chemical signals, like hormones, action potentials can fire within a millisecond and propagate rapidly over long distances. Although plants have the basic necessities for electrical signaling (ion channels, motor proteins), they have nowhere near the sophistication achieved in animals. Still, an action potential can achieve speeds of up to 40 m/s in plants and is used to respond to environment.

• Touch me: The first step is the opening of mechanically-sensitive ion channels that sense deformity of the hair. This causes the cell membranes to depolarize by reducing the distribution of charges across the cell. If this depolarization exceeds a certain threshold, additional chloride and potassium channels open to let in more ions. Movement of protons makes the cell wall acidic, allowing it to soften and let the cell elongate rapidly. Despite intensive study for ~130 years, the exact mechanism of signaling is not clear.

• Food fight: Recently, the digestive juice of the Venus flytrap was analyzed and found to closely resemble enzymes used in the fight against pathogens, rather than the digestive enzymes of animals. This suggests an evolution from defense pathways to food acquisition in carnivorous plants. Read more: http://www.asbmb.org/News.aspx?id=17935

The Doors - Touch Me

An early submission for #sciencesunday since I will be traveling tomorrow (Viva Barcelona!).

The Glia Club. Neurons are flashy, but an estimated 90% of your brain is made up of glial cells! Derived from the Latin word for “glue”,glia hold your brain together, allowing neurons to communicate. For too long, glia have been dismissed as the domestic servants of the electrically elite neurons: feeding them, mopping up neurotransmitters in a synapse, and repairing injured or diseased neurons.

• But it’s the variety and number of our glia that make our brain unique. Only vertebrates have special glial cells that wrap around nerve axons providing electrical insulation (seen as white matter in the brain), making transmission of action potentials 50-100 times faster!

• A postmortem of Einstein’s brain revealed no clues to his genius from his neurons. Interestingly, he had disproportionately larger numbers of glial cells in his cerebral cortex, an area involved in complex reasoning,math and imagery. Astrocytes, a type of glial cell, have bushy processes that can make as many as 30,000 connections to neighboring neurons. Researchers are trying to figure out exactly how these cells influence neurons.

• Glia communicate using chemical signals in the form of calcium waves, seen in the time lapse image. Calcium makes a fluorescent indicator glow, with brightness color-coded into warmer colors. The glia are responding to firing of action potentials in the long axons of neurons, seen as lightning bolts. Glia synchronize their signals by gap junctions or specialized channels between cells.
_____________________________________________________________
Google+ collaborations: ☆+Kevin Staff made this amazing animated gif from R. Douglas Field’s Movie: http://stke.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/3/147/tr5/DC1

♬ +Konstantin Makov picked out the music that evokes rapid fire connections flashing in our brains: Schnittke - Concerto Grosso No. 1 (Kremer)

Dedicated to +Glia - The Social Glue founded by +Gregory Esau +Jeff Jockisch and others..check them out. For #ScienceSunday curated by +Allison Sekuler and +Robby Bowles .

The Glia Club. Neurons are flashy, but an estimated 90% of your brain is made up of glial cells! Derived from the Latin word for “glue”,glia hold your brain together, allowing neurons to communicate. For too long, glia have been dismissed as the domestic servants of the electrically elite neurons: feeding them, mopping up neurotransmitters in a synapse, and repairing injured or diseased neurons.

• But it’s the variety and number of our glia that make our brain unique. Only vertebrates have special glial cells that wrap around nerve axons providing electrical insulation (seen as white matter in the brain), making transmission of action potentials 50-100 times faster!

• A postmortem of Einstein’s brain revealed no clues to his genius from his neurons. Interestingly, he had disproportionately larger numbers of glial cells in his cerebral cortex, an area involved in complex reasoning,math and imagery. Astrocytes, a type of glial cell, have bushy processes that can make as many as 30,000 connections to neighboring neurons. Researchers are trying to figure out exactly how these cells influence neurons.

• Glia communicate using chemical signals in the form of calcium waves, seen in the time lapse image. Calcium makes a fluorescent indicator glow, with brightness color-coded into warmer colors. The glia are responding to firing of action potentials in the long axons of neurons, seen as lightning bolts. Glia synchronize their signals by gap junctions or specialized channels between cells.
_____________________________________________________________
Google+ collaborations: ☆+Kevin Staff made this amazing animated gif from R. Douglas Field’s Movie: http://stke.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/3/147/tr5/DC1

♬ +Konstantin Makov picked out the music that evokes rapid fire connections flashing in our brains: Schnittke - Concerto Grosso No. 1 (Kremer)

Dedicated to +Glia - The Social Glue founded by +Gregory Esau +Jeff Jockisch and others..check them out. For #ScienceSunday curated by +Allison Sekuler and +Robby Bowles .

Does a virus have color? Actually, no. Because viruses are smaller than the wavelength of light (400-700 nanometer), they hide within its waves and can only be seen with an electron microscope. Viruses range in size from 20-300 nm. Yet, most images of viruses are pseudocolored, either to visualize detail or for aesthetic appeal.

• Glass artist Luke Jerram, who is color blind himself, works closely with virologists to create transparent jewel-like replicas of microbes 1,000,000 times their actual size. Virus shapes can be helical, icosahedral (12-sided), prolate (capped cylinder), enveloped or rounded.

Check out his gallery online: http://www.lukejerram.com/glass/gallery

#scienceeveryday #sciencesunday

Does a virus have color? Actually, no. Because viruses are smaller than the wavelength of light (400-700 nanometer), they hide within its waves and can only be seen with an electron microscope. Viruses range in size from 20-300 nm. Yet, most images of viruses are pseudocolored, either to visualize detail or for aesthetic appeal.

• Glass artist Luke Jerram, who is color blind himself, works closely with virologists to create transparent jewel-like replicas of microbes 1,000,000 times their actual size. Virus shapes can be helical, icosahedral (12-sided), prolate (capped cylinder), enveloped or rounded.

Check out his gallery online: http://www.lukejerram.com/glass/gallery

#scienceeveryday #sciencesunday

I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
― Robert McCloskey (1914-2003), Author of Make Way For Ducklings

Image via http://imgur.com/gallery/4xPWp

I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
― Robert McCloskey (1914-2003), Author of Make Way For Ducklings

Image via http://imgur.com/gallery/4xPWp

Roses are Red, Blood Cells Blue

❤ The heart is a symbol of love, and on this Mother's Day, let's consider the cardiovascular changes in a pregnant mother. As the sole provider of nourishment to the baby, the mother's cardiac output (blood volume) increases by 50% during pregnancy...that's an extra liter and half. Her heart will enlarge and beat faster, by about 15 beats/min. The growing fetus pushes her heart upwards and to the left. She will need more red blood cells to carry extra oxygen, although the increased numbers do not keep up with the blood volume. The higher requirement for iron and the dilution of red cells in blood can make mama-to-be tired and anemic.

❤ A pregnant woman is hypercoagulable: more likely to form clots. This is thought to be an evolutionary precaution against hemorrhaging after delivery, but it puts the mother at risk for dangerous embolisms. In scanning electron microscope images of blood smears from non-pregnant and pregnant women, clot-forming platelets were never associated with red cells in non-pregnant women (A) but invariably found attached to red cells through early (B) and late (C) pregnancy and 6-8 week postpartum (D). These platelets developed long processes (pseudopodia) that link the red cells together, making it easier to form clots.

❤ A Biologist's Mother's Day Song
Just like two strands of DNA are spirally entwined
Your nature and your nurture are inspiringly combined
Scientists remind me and I find that it is true
Slightly more than half of everything I am is thanks to you

Image source ▶ http://goo.gl/QrFOV
Pregnancy and Cardiovascular Changes ▶ http://goo.gl/Quj1t

#ScienceSunday #MothersDay  

Roses are Red, Blood Cells Blue

❤ The heart is a symbol of love, and on this Mother's Day, let's consider the cardiovascular changes in a pregnant mother. As the sole provider of nourishment to the baby, the mother's cardiac output (blood volume) increases by 50% during pregnancy...that's an extra liter and half. Her heart will enlarge and beat faster, by about 15 beats/min. The growing fetus pushes her heart upwards and to the left. She will need more red blood cells to carry extra oxygen, although the increased numbers do not keep up with the blood volume. The higher requirement for iron and the dilution of red cells in blood can make mama-to-be tired and anemic.

❤ A pregnant woman is hypercoagulable: more likely to form clots. This is thought to be an evolutionary precaution against hemorrhaging after delivery, but it puts the mother at risk for dangerous embolisms. In scanning electron microscope images of blood smears from non-pregnant and pregnant women, clot-forming platelets were never associated with red cells in non-pregnant women (A) but invariably found attached to red cells through early (B) and late (C) pregnancy and 6-8 week postpartum (D). These platelets developed long processes (pseudopodia) that link the red cells together, making it easier to form clots.

❤ A Biologist's Mother's Day Song
Just like two strands of DNA are spirally entwined
Your nature and your nurture are inspiringly combined
Scientists remind me and I find that it is true
Slightly more than half of everything I am is thanks to you

Image source ▶ http://goo.gl/QrFOV
Pregnancy and Cardiovascular Changes ▶ http://goo.gl/Quj1t

#ScienceSunday #MothersDay  

Food Rules! While you are enjoying your holiday feast today, did you wonder why some flavors come together like a match made in heaven? Wine and cheese. Tomato and basil. Green eggs and ham. Okay, maybe not the last. A new study released in Nature investigates the science behind “The flavor network and principles of food pairing”. (Do you think field trips to restaurants were part of the study?).

Hypothesis: Ingredients sharing flavor compounds taste better together than ingredients that do not. Currently held in vogue by many chefs and food scientists, this has led to new pairings of white chocolate and caviar, as they share trimethylamine and other flavor compounds, and of chocolate and blue cheese that share at least 73 flavor compounds (Chocolate, anyone?). Checkout http://www.foodpairing.com so you can experiment for yourself.

Method and Analysis: Scientists used >56,000 recipes taken from three popular sites, epicurious.com, allrecipes.com (both American based) and menupan.com (Korean). Each ingredient had on average 51 flavor compounds (previously identified by food chemists). They then constructed a flavor network in which any two nodes (ingredients) were connected if they shared flavors. The more flavors shared, the thicker the connecting line. Only statistically significant links are shown (figure).

Results: Network analysis showed that North American and Western European cuisines do indeed contain ingredients with many shared flavors. This was traced to abundant use of milk, butter, cocoa, vanilla,cream, and egg. Unexpectedly the opposite is true for East Asian cuisine! Asian food relies heavily on soy, ginger, scallions, pork and cayenne, ingredients that share very few flavor compounds. The study also identified “flavor principles”, or the most distinctive or authentic flavors of each culture: North American food relies heavily on dairy products, eggs and wheat; by contrast, East Asian cuisine is dominated by plant derivatives like soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice and ginger. (Okay, we knew this already ;) Also, South European cuisine is closer to Latin American in its flavor profiles whereas Western European food is similar to North American.

Food for thought: As any good scientist knows, the discussion has to include evolution and fitness ;) The copy-mutate model : each ingredient is assigned a random fitness value, which represents the ingredient's nutritional value, availability, or flavor. For example, some ingredients are selected because of their antimicrobial properties. The mutation phase of the model replaces “less fit” ingredients with fitter ones. Meanwhile, the copy mechanism keeps copying the founder ingredients (ingredients in early recipes) and makes them abundant in the recipes regardless of their fitness value. What do you think?

The paper is open access, do give it a read: http://www.nature.com/srep/2011/111215/srep00196/full/srep00196.html
Higher Res Figure http://www.nature.com/srep/2011/111215/srep00196/fig_tab/srep00196_F2.html

For #ScienceSunday curated by +Allison Sekuler and +Robby Bowles , who probably have better things to do today.

Food Rules! While you are enjoying your holiday feast today, did you wonder why some flavors come together like a match made in heaven? Wine and cheese. Tomato and basil. Green eggs and ham. Okay, maybe not the last. A new study released in Nature investigates the science behind “The flavor network and principles of food pairing”. (Do you think field trips to restaurants were part of the study?).

Hypothesis: Ingredients sharing flavor compounds taste better together than ingredients that do not. Currently held in vogue by many chefs and food scientists, this has led to new pairings of white chocolate and caviar, as they share trimethylamine and other flavor compounds, and of chocolate and blue cheese that share at least 73 flavor compounds (Chocolate, anyone?). Checkout http://www.foodpairing.com so you can experiment for yourself.

Method and Analysis: Scientists used >56,000 recipes taken from three popular sites, epicurious.com, allrecipes.com (both American based) and menupan.com (Korean). Each ingredient had on average 51 flavor compounds (previously identified by food chemists). They then constructed a flavor network in which any two nodes (ingredients) were connected if they shared flavors. The more flavors shared, the thicker the connecting line. Only statistically significant links are shown (figure).

Results: Network analysis showed that North American and Western European cuisines do indeed contain ingredients with many shared flavors. This was traced to abundant use of milk, butter, cocoa, vanilla,cream, and egg. Unexpectedly the opposite is true for East Asian cuisine! Asian food relies heavily on soy, ginger, scallions, pork and cayenne, ingredients that share very few flavor compounds. The study also identified “flavor principles”, or the most distinctive or authentic flavors of each culture: North American food relies heavily on dairy products, eggs and wheat; by contrast, East Asian cuisine is dominated by plant derivatives like soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice and ginger. (Okay, we knew this already ;) Also, South European cuisine is closer to Latin American in its flavor profiles whereas Western European food is similar to North American.

Food for thought: As any good scientist knows, the discussion has to include evolution and fitness ;) The copy-mutate model : each ingredient is assigned a random fitness value, which represents the ingredient's nutritional value, availability, or flavor. For example, some ingredients are selected because of their antimicrobial properties. The mutation phase of the model replaces “less fit” ingredients with fitter ones. Meanwhile, the copy mechanism keeps copying the founder ingredients (ingredients in early recipes) and makes them abundant in the recipes regardless of their fitness value. What do you think?

The paper is open access, do give it a read: http://www.nature.com/srep/2011/111215/srep00196/full/srep00196.html
Higher Res Figure http://www.nature.com/srep/2011/111215/srep00196/fig_tab/srep00196_F2.html

For #ScienceSunday curated by +Allison Sekuler and +Robby Bowles , who probably have better things to do today.

Eye See You

• Fish eyes continue to grow larger throughout their lives because of stem cells that are concentrated at the ends of the red arcs (nerve tissue) seen in this zebrafish eye. This allows the visual cells of the retina to be repaired and regenerated continuously. The retina is seen wrapped around the lens (green circle with black center) in this cross-section.

• The eye is really an outgrowth of the brain formed during embryo development. Take a look at the orange cells in the eyefield (inset A; ef) pushed to form two lateral bulges by the advancing midline (A-B; blue).

• Humans (and other mammals) lack stem cells in the adult eye although research is focusing on Müller cells, a type of glial cell that may be able to regenerate neurons and photoreceptors lost to disease and injury.

Image source: http://bpod.mrc.ac.uk/archive/2013/3/7
Inset diagram: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/zebrafish-group/research/eye.php
#ScienceEveryday  

Eye See You

• Fish eyes continue to grow larger throughout their lives because of stem cells that are concentrated at the ends of the red arcs (nerve tissue) seen in this zebrafish eye. This allows the visual cells of the retina to be repaired and regenerated continuously. The retina is seen wrapped around the lens (green circle with black center) in this cross-section.

• The eye is really an outgrowth of the brain formed during embryo development. Take a look at the orange cells in the eyefield (inset A; ef) pushed to form two lateral bulges by the advancing midline (A-B; blue).

• Humans (and other mammals) lack stem cells in the adult eye although research is focusing on Müller cells, a type of glial cell that may be able to regenerate neurons and photoreceptors lost to disease and injury.

Image source: http://bpod.mrc.ac.uk/archive/2013/3/7
Inset diagram: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/zebrafish-group/research/eye.php
#ScienceEveryday  

FLOWER POWER: The insignificant little plant, Arabidopsis thaliana or thale cress, is a boon to biological research. And even the most ordinary flower looks beautiful through the eyes of a microscope, does it not?

• Those of us focused on understanding human disease don't pay much attention to research in plants. But plant biologists have taught us about micro RNAs, transposons, active demethylation, 'decoy' RNAs, and more. The wonderful world of genetics was first revealed through the patterns of inheritance of sweet peas, by one Austrian friar named Gregor Mendel.

• That's why I go to a plant conference once every few years. I never know what I may pick up and plant biologists are gracious enough to listen to our animal work.

#floralfriday +FloralFriday

Image: Mendel's Dream Arabidopsis flower captured with confocal microscopy by Heiti Paves, Centre of Excellence ENVIRON, Estonia.

FLOWER POWER: The insignificant little plant, Arabidopsis thaliana or thale cress, is a boon to biological research. And even the most ordinary flower looks beautiful through the eyes of a microscope, does it not?

• Those of us focused on understanding human disease don't pay much attention to research in plants. But plant biologists have taught us about micro RNAs, transposons, active demethylation, 'decoy' RNAs, and more. The wonderful world of genetics was first revealed through the patterns of inheritance of sweet peas, by one Austrian friar named Gregor Mendel.

• That's why I go to a plant conference once every few years. I never know what I may pick up and plant biologists are gracious enough to listen to our animal work.

#floralfriday +FloralFriday

Image: Mendel's Dream Arabidopsis flower captured with confocal microscopy by Heiti Paves, Centre of Excellence ENVIRON, Estonia.

THE VISIBLE HUMAN: a complete, anatomically detailed, three-dimensional scan of the male and female human body.

How was this done? The male cadaver was frozen in gelatin and cut horizontally at 1 mm intervals into 1,871 slices and photographed to give 65 GB of high resolution images. The female was cut at 0.3 mm intervals resulting in ~40 GB of data. In addition, the bodies were scanned by CT (computer assisted tomography) and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

If that wasn’t macabre enough: Both bodies were donated to science but because the donors did not know their specific use and the male died by lethal injection, ethical issues have been raised. Also, these are not perfect bodies. The male lacks one testicle. The female shows signs of cardiovascular disease.

Art and Anatomy: Artist Lisa Nilsson was inspired by the images to create painstakingly realistic replicas with rolled up paper, an art form known as quilling. Her artwork takes weeks to create and sells for up to $7,000.
See the slide show here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/26/lisa-nilsson-art-paper_n_1456502.html

Watch complete scan (1:15 min) in HD: it is stunning The visible human project - Male (HD)

Sponsored by the US National Library of Science (NLM), the goal of this ambitious project was to facilitate scientific discovery and teaching of anatomy. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html

H/T to +Daniel Mariani who found the animated gif from Reddit (original creator unknown). +Chad Haney knows way more about imaging than I do.

+ScienceSunday

THE VISIBLE HUMAN: a complete, anatomically detailed, three-dimensional scan of the male and female human body.

How was this done? The male cadaver was frozen in gelatin and cut horizontally at 1 mm intervals into 1,871 slices and photographed to give 65 GB of high resolution images. The female was cut at 0.3 mm intervals resulting in ~40 GB of data. In addition, the bodies were scanned by CT (computer assisted tomography) and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

If that wasn’t macabre enough: Both bodies were donated to science but because the donors did not know their specific use and the male died by lethal injection, ethical issues have been raised. Also, these are not perfect bodies. The male lacks one testicle. The female shows signs of cardiovascular disease.

Art and Anatomy: Artist Lisa Nilsson was inspired by the images to create painstakingly realistic replicas with rolled up paper, an art form known as quilling. Her artwork takes weeks to create and sells for up to $7,000.
See the slide show here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/26/lisa-nilsson-art-paper_n_1456502.html

Watch complete scan (1:15 min) in HD: it is stunning The visible human project - Male (HD)

Sponsored by the US National Library of Science (NLM), the goal of this ambitious project was to facilitate scientific discovery and teaching of anatomy. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html

H/T to +Daniel Mariani who found the animated gif from Reddit (original creator unknown). +Chad Haney knows way more about imaging than I do.

+ScienceSunday

Soldier Gets a Rare Double Arm Transplant

Brendan Marrocco was on patrol in Iraq 3 years ago when an explosion claimed all four of his limbs. He was the first Army soldier to survive a quadruple amputation. Now, he is the first soldier to receive a very rare double arm transplant at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is 26 years old.

• Logistics: The surgeons practiced four times on cadavers before the real thing. There were 4 teams of 3 surgeons each: one for each arm from donor and recipient. The deceased donor and living recipient do not need to match in gender, but in size, skin color, tissue and blood type.

• How They Did it: First, the skin is peeled back and bones are sawed at an angle to dovetail into each other when attached  by metal plates- good carpentry, in essence. Next, the muscles and tendons are tagged with pieces of light blue sterile bandage that are sewn in place and labeled in permanent black marker, before being connected. The arteries and veins are painstakingly attached under a microscope, and finally the skin is sewn together.

• What was New: Brendan was given an infusion of bone marrow from vertebrae in the donor’s lower spine. This lowered the chance of rejection and cut back on the use of potentially dangerous drugs.

• Two Thumbs Up: Brendan's nerves will grow into his new arms at a rate of an inch a month. In the one month since his landmark surgery, he can already move one arm around. Eventually, patients are expected to be able to "tie shoes, use chopsticks and put their hair in ponytails". Brendan might consider growing his hair longer for that :)

Video and Story ▶ http://goo.gl/XFPse

#ScienceEveryday  

Soldier Gets a Rare Double Arm Transplant

Brendan Marrocco was on patrol in Iraq 3 years ago when an explosion claimed all four of his limbs. He was the first Army soldier to survive a quadruple amputation. Now, he is the first soldier to receive a very rare double arm transplant at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is 26 years old.

• Logistics: The surgeons practiced four times on cadavers before the real thing. There were 4 teams of 3 surgeons each: one for each arm from donor and recipient. The deceased donor and living recipient do not need to match in gender, but in size, skin color, tissue and blood type.

• How They Did it: First, the skin is peeled back and bones are sawed at an angle to dovetail into each other when attached  by metal plates- good carpentry, in essence. Next, the muscles and tendons are tagged with pieces of light blue sterile bandage that are sewn in place and labeled in permanent black marker, before being connected. The arteries and veins are painstakingly attached under a microscope, and finally the skin is sewn together.

• What was New: Brendan was given an infusion of bone marrow from vertebrae in the donor’s lower spine. This lowered the chance of rejection and cut back on the use of potentially dangerous drugs.

• Two Thumbs Up: Brendan's nerves will grow into his new arms at a rate of an inch a month. In the one month since his landmark surgery, he can already move one arm around. Eventually, patients are expected to be able to "tie shoes, use chopsticks and put their hair in ponytails". Brendan might consider growing his hair longer for that :)

Video and Story ▶ http://goo.gl/XFPse

#ScienceEveryday  

Jane Goodall: Chimpanzees still need our help desperately. There are less than 300,000 chimps left, spread thinly over 21 African nations. Their numbers have been plummeting now that hunters can gain ready access into the bush using logging roads. We lose 10 hectares of forest per minute on this planet. Goodall says that the most effective way to save the chimps is to save the forests.

http://www.janegoodall.org/
Source: http://tinyurl.com/7e26ccl
#threatenedthursday in support of conservation and the new themed page curated by +Sumit Sen et al.

Jane Goodall: Chimpanzees still need our help desperately. There are less than 300,000 chimps left, spread thinly over 21 African nations. Their numbers have been plummeting now that hunters can gain ready access into the bush using logging roads. We lose 10 hectares of forest per minute on this planet. Goodall says that the most effective way to save the chimps is to save the forests.

http://www.janegoodall.org/
Source: http://tinyurl.com/7e26ccl
#threatenedthursday in support of conservation and the new themed page curated by +Sumit Sen et al.

Today is Ada Lovelace Day

• Who? Augusta Ada King (nee Byron), Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852), was an English mathematician and the brains behind Charles Babbage's analytical engine. This Enchantress of Numbers is considered (by some) as the first computer programmer.

• Why? The goal is to raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering and maths by encouraging people around the world to talk about the women whose work they admire. Psychologist Penelope Lockwood says, “Outstanding women can function as inspirational examples of success. They demonstrate that it is possible to overcome traditional gender barriers, indicating to other women that high levels of success are indeed attainable.”

How? Just follow these simple steps to become a part of the worldwide celebration of women in STEM: Write about a woman in science, technology, engineering or maths whose achievements you admire. Publish your story online at findingada.com and here on G+, tagged #adalovelaceday .

#stemwomen #scienceeveryday #adalovelaceday  

Today is Ada Lovelace Day

• Who? Augusta Ada King (nee Byron), Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852), was an English mathematician and the brains behind Charles Babbage's analytical engine. This Enchantress of Numbers is considered (by some) as the first computer programmer.

• Why? The goal is to raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering and maths by encouraging people around the world to talk about the women whose work they admire. Psychologist Penelope Lockwood says, “Outstanding women can function as inspirational examples of success. They demonstrate that it is possible to overcome traditional gender barriers, indicating to other women that high levels of success are indeed attainable.”

How? Just follow these simple steps to become a part of the worldwide celebration of women in STEM: Write about a woman in science, technology, engineering or maths whose achievements you admire. Publish your story online at findingada.com and here on G+, tagged #adalovelaceday .

#stemwomen #scienceeveryday #adalovelaceday  

ANAMORPHOSIS: An art form where the image is greatly distorted, appearing only from a specific vantage point or upon reflection in a cylindrical mirror (or reflecting cones and pyramids). The painting (by Julian Beever) on the pavement is fragmented and meaningless to most viewers. But find the sweet spot, and Whoa! A giant snail appears to crawl on the city bench. (www.julianbeever.net)

• Leonardo da Vinci is thought to have made the first anamorphic drawing in 1485, at a time when Renaissance artists were experimenting with perspective (Leonardo's Eye -Illusion).  Hidden images conveyed dangerous political statements, heretical ideas, and even erotic images.

• The Ambassadors: A famous example is the 1533 painting by Hans Holbein called "The Ambassadors". When viewed from an extreme angle, a smudge at the bottom in an otherwise conventional painting reveals itself to be a grinning skull. Hans_Holbein the younger_The Ambassadors (amazing skull )
What does it mean? Holbein's skull - Part one | Paintings | The National Gallery, London

• Medusa's Head pays homage to the legend of Perseus, who could only look upon the snake headed monster in the reflection of his shield: http://www.moillusions.com/2011/12/an-anamorphic-medusa-painting.html

What are your favorites in illusory art?

ANAMORPHOSIS: An art form where the image is greatly distorted, appearing only from a specific vantage point or upon reflection in a cylindrical mirror (or reflecting cones and pyramids). The painting (by Julian Beever) on the pavement is fragmented and meaningless to most viewers. But find the sweet spot, and Whoa! A giant snail appears to crawl on the city bench. (www.julianbeever.net)

• Leonardo da Vinci is thought to have made the first anamorphic drawing in 1485, at a time when Renaissance artists were experimenting with perspective (Leonardo's Eye -Illusion).  Hidden images conveyed dangerous political statements, heretical ideas, and even erotic images.

• The Ambassadors: A famous example is the 1533 painting by Hans Holbein called "The Ambassadors". When viewed from an extreme angle, a smudge at the bottom in an otherwise conventional painting reveals itself to be a grinning skull. Hans_Holbein the younger_The Ambassadors (amazing skull )
What does it mean? Holbein's skull - Part one | Paintings | The National Gallery, London

• Medusa's Head pays homage to the legend of Perseus, who could only look upon the snake headed monster in the reflection of his shield: http://www.moillusions.com/2011/12/an-anamorphic-medusa-painting.html

What are your favorites in illusory art?

Flowers that Fly: Science of the Butterfly Wing

Butterflies are beautiful: Their eggs rival Faberge’s for sheer art. The migration of the Monarch butterfly holds navigational secrets still beyond our ken. But the wings are truly remarkable for their mimicry, polymorphism (variation) and aposematism (warning coloration). Like tiny shingles on a roof, microscopic overlapping scales cover the wings with brilliant, iridescent colors.

Structural Coloration: Black and brown colors are from melanin, but the blues, greens and reds are created by the microstructure of the scales and not by pigments. Originally observed by Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton, the principle of wave interference was described by Thomas Young a century later. Surfaces scored with fine parallel lines or thin layers on the same scale as the wavelength of light reflect multiple sets of waves. These can interfere with one another by adding or subtracting, to give rise to iridescence.
For more, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_coloration

A Quick Getaway: The scales of a butterfly wing readily detach, allowing for quick escape from a spider’s web or predator’s grasp. Thomas Eisner experimented by dropping various insects on a spider web. Of the butterflies and moths, he noted, “They all left impact marks on the webs where scales became detached to the viscid strands. Moth scars we came to call such telltale sites, and soon learned that they were common." Most birds largely ignore butterflies. It turns out they are rather difficult to catch, without a large net, due to their erratic flying trajectories. Read Thomas Eisner’s essay on Butterfly Wings: http://goo.gl/5Sfon

• Beauty of the Butterfly Egg: http://goo.gl/0cnas

• Migration of the Monarch Butterfly: http://goo.gl/WuT6z

• If you like Opera: Maria Callas (Μαρία Κάλλας): Madama Butterfly - Puccini

• Blue-Butterfly Day by Robert Frost:

It is blue-butterfly day here in spring,
And with these sky-flakes down in flurry on flurry
There is more unmixed color on the wing
Than flowers will show for days unless they hurry.

But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:
And now from having ridden out desire
They lie closed over in the wind and cling
Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire.

#ScienceSunday  

Flowers that Fly: Science of the Butterfly Wing

Butterflies are beautiful: Their eggs rival Faberge’s for sheer art. The migration of the Monarch butterfly holds navigational secrets still beyond our ken. But the wings are truly remarkable for their mimicry, polymorphism (variation) and aposematism (warning coloration). Like tiny shingles on a roof, microscopic overlapping scales cover the wings with brilliant, iridescent colors.

Structural Coloration: Black and brown colors are from melanin, but the blues, greens and reds are created by the microstructure of the scales and not by pigments. Originally observed by Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton, the principle of wave interference was described by Thomas Young a century later. Surfaces scored with fine parallel lines or thin layers on the same scale as the wavelength of light reflect multiple sets of waves. These can interfere with one another by adding or subtracting, to give rise to iridescence.
For more, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_coloration

A Quick Getaway: The scales of a butterfly wing readily detach, allowing for quick escape from a spider’s web or predator’s grasp. Thomas Eisner experimented by dropping various insects on a spider web. Of the butterflies and moths, he noted, “They all left impact marks on the webs where scales became detached to the viscid strands. Moth scars we came to call such telltale sites, and soon learned that they were common." Most birds largely ignore butterflies. It turns out they are rather difficult to catch, without a large net, due to their erratic flying trajectories. Read Thomas Eisner’s essay on Butterfly Wings: http://goo.gl/5Sfon

• Beauty of the Butterfly Egg: http://goo.gl/0cnas

• Migration of the Monarch Butterfly: http://goo.gl/WuT6z

• If you like Opera: Maria Callas (Μαρία Κάλλας): Madama Butterfly - Puccini

• Blue-Butterfly Day by Robert Frost:

It is blue-butterfly day here in spring,
And with these sky-flakes down in flurry on flurry
There is more unmixed color on the wing
Than flowers will show for days unless they hurry.

But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:
And now from having ridden out desire
They lie closed over in the wind and cling
Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire.

#ScienceSunday  

The Physics of Champagne

Champagne is a multicomponent hydroalcoholic system supersaturated with dissolved CO2 gas molecules formed together with ethanol during the second fermentation process. 

Better Bubbles: Did you know that a bottle of champagne (0.75 L) holds about 10 g/L of dissolved CO2. When uncorked, this equals 9 L of gas (6 times the volume of the bottle!) which quickly escapes the supersaturated liquid to form a new thermodynamic equilibrium with air. The quality of champagne is determined by the fineness and abundance of effervescence: the bubbles tickle mechanoreceptors and taste buds in our mouth and carry volatile aromatics to our nose. 

Tradition vs. Science: In bars and restaurants, champagne is poured vertically to hit the bottom of the glass, providing a thick head of foam, which quickly extends up and then progressively collapses during serving. But if champagne is poured like beer, it flows along the inclined edge and progressively fills the flute. Infrared thermography (left image) and measurement of dissolved CO2 (right image), showed that the beer-like method is best, but this scientifically validated method has not been adopted because of prejudice associated with the more plebian beer.  

Chill It: The colder the champagne, the more dissolved CO2 is retained during the pouring step, as seen in the graph. 

Flute or Coupe?: Measurements of CO2 fluxes outgassing from glasses showed significantly higher losses in the coupe than in the flute, providing analytical proof that the flute prolongs the drink’s chill and helps it to retain its effervescence, in contrast with the wide, broad brimmed coupe.

The Glug-Glug Effect: The first few glasses of champagne have less dissolved CO2, so be gracious and wait your turn! This turns out to be due to the onomatopoeic “glug–glug” effect caused by the liquid first flowing rather chaotically out of the bottle, through a succession of jets of liquid and admissions of air bubble, inexorably accelerating the loss of dissolved CO2 concentration through turbulences and bubble entrapment. Later, as the bottle fills with air, the champagne flows out more smoothly retaining more CO2. 

References: On the losses of dissolved CO(2) during champagne serving.
Liger-Belair et al., 2010 J Agric Food Chem. 58:8768-75. 

Monitoring gaseous CO2 and ethanol above champagne glasses: flute versus coupe, and the role of temperature. Liger-Belair et al.,2012 PLoS One. 7:e30628. 

NPR listen/read: http://goo.gl/O68Qe

#HappyNewYear   #ScienceEveryday  

The Physics of Champagne

Champagne is a multicomponent hydroalcoholic system supersaturated with dissolved CO2 gas molecules formed together with ethanol during the second fermentation process. 

Better Bubbles: Did you know that a bottle of champagne (0.75 L) holds about 10 g/L of dissolved CO2. When uncorked, this equals 9 L of gas (6 times the volume of the bottle!) which quickly escapes the supersaturated liquid to form a new thermodynamic equilibrium with air. The quality of champagne is determined by the fineness and abundance of effervescence: the bubbles tickle mechanoreceptors and taste buds in our mouth and carry volatile aromatics to our nose. 

Tradition vs. Science: In bars and restaurants, champagne is poured vertically to hit the bottom of the glass, providing a thick head of foam, which quickly extends up and then progressively collapses during serving. But if champagne is poured like beer, it flows along the inclined edge and progressively fills the flute. Infrared thermography (left image) and measurement of dissolved CO2 (right image), showed that the beer-like method is best, but this scientifically validated method has not been adopted because of prejudice associated with the more plebian beer.  

Chill It: The colder the champagne, the more dissolved CO2 is retained during the pouring step, as seen in the graph. 

Flute or Coupe?: Measurements of CO2 fluxes outgassing from glasses showed significantly higher losses in the coupe than in the flute, providing analytical proof that the flute prolongs the drink’s chill and helps it to retain its effervescence, in contrast with the wide, broad brimmed coupe.

The Glug-Glug Effect: The first few glasses of champagne have less dissolved CO2, so be gracious and wait your turn! This turns out to be due to the onomatopoeic “glug–glug” effect caused by the liquid first flowing rather chaotically out of the bottle, through a succession of jets of liquid and admissions of air bubble, inexorably accelerating the loss of dissolved CO2 concentration through turbulences and bubble entrapment. Later, as the bottle fills with air, the champagne flows out more smoothly retaining more CO2. 

References: On the losses of dissolved CO(2) during champagne serving.
Liger-Belair et al., 2010 J Agric Food Chem. 58:8768-75. 

Monitoring gaseous CO2 and ethanol above champagne glasses: flute versus coupe, and the role of temperature. Liger-Belair et al.,2012 PLoS One. 7:e30628. 

NPR listen/read: http://goo.gl/O68Qe

#HappyNewYear   #ScienceEveryday  

If at first you don't succeed.....

• ... try, try, try again. ~William Hickson
• ....do it like your mother told you. ~Author Unknown
• ....destroy all evidence that you tried. ~ Steven Wright
• ....then skydiving definitely isn't for you. ~Steven Wright
• ... find out if the loser gets anything. ~Bill Lyon
• ....before you try again, stop to figure out what you did wrong. ~Leo Rosten
• ....redefine success. ~Author unknown.
• ....failure may be your style.~Author unknown.
• ....try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it. ~W. C. Fields

Source: Photographer Christopher Tomas captured this shot of a Qantas Dash 8 plane flying across the surface of the moon after many, many tries. No tricks, no Photoshop.

If at first you don't succeed.....

• ... try, try, try again. ~William Hickson
• ....do it like your mother told you. ~Author Unknown
• ....destroy all evidence that you tried. ~ Steven Wright
• ....then skydiving definitely isn't for you. ~Steven Wright
• ... find out if the loser gets anything. ~Bill Lyon
• ....before you try again, stop to figure out what you did wrong. ~Leo Rosten
• ....redefine success. ~Author unknown.
• ....failure may be your style.~Author unknown.
• ....try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it. ~W. C. Fields

Source: Photographer Christopher Tomas captured this shot of a Qantas Dash 8 plane flying across the surface of the moon after many, many tries. No tricks, no Photoshop.

The Art of Science: "Science is an inherent contradiction — systematic wonder — applied to the natural world. In its mundane form, the methodical instinct prevails and the result, an orderly procession of papers, advances the perimeter of knowledge, step by laborious step. Great scientific minds partake of that daily discipline and can also suspend it, yielding to the sheer love of allowing the mental engine to spin free. And then Einstein imagines himself riding a light beam, Kekule formulates the structure of benzene in a dream, and Fleming’s eye travels past the annoying mold on his glassware to the clear ring surrounding it — a lucid halo in a dish otherwise opaque with bacteria — and penicillin is born . Who knows how many scientific revolutions have been missed because their potential inaugurators disregarded the whimsical, the incidental, the inconvenient inside the laboratory?”

Excerpt: A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon.
Source: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/02/23/systematic-wonder/

☼ Do You want to Live in the Overlap? ☼

The Art of Science: "Science is an inherent contradiction — systematic wonder — applied to the natural world. In its mundane form, the methodical instinct prevails and the result, an orderly procession of papers, advances the perimeter of knowledge, step by laborious step. Great scientific minds partake of that daily discipline and can also suspend it, yielding to the sheer love of allowing the mental engine to spin free. And then Einstein imagines himself riding a light beam, Kekule formulates the structure of benzene in a dream, and Fleming’s eye travels past the annoying mold on his glassware to the clear ring surrounding it — a lucid halo in a dish otherwise opaque with bacteria — and penicillin is born . Who knows how many scientific revolutions have been missed because their potential inaugurators disregarded the whimsical, the incidental, the inconvenient inside the laboratory?”

Excerpt: A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon.
Source: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/02/23/systematic-wonder/

☼ Do You want to Live in the Overlap? ☼

Connection-Junction: The Synapse. It’s all about networking. Synapses connect nerve cells to each other, or to muscles and glands.

• The word synapse is derived from the Greek syn (together) and haptein (to clasp).

• There are an estimated 100-500 trillion (that’s 10^14) synapses in the human brain.

• The space (synaptic cleft) at the junction is narrow, only 20 nanometers wide.

• Messages travel down the nerve fiber in the form of an electric pulse known as the action potential. When they get to the synaptic terminal, these messages must be converted to a chemical signal that crosses the narrow cleft (within microseconds) to trigger a new electrical signal at the connecting nerve or muscle cell. The chemical signal is the neurotransmitter (glycine, acetylcholine, etc.).

• These chemicals are packaged into small vesicles that lie just under the nerve membrane, docked and ready to fuse. When the action potential arrives, the vesicles execute a quick “kiss and run” to release the neurotransmitter into the cleft.

• Here is a beautiful scanning electron microscope image of a nerve ending in which the membrane has been sheared away, revealing hundreds of spherical vesicles ready to release their neurotransmitter cargo into the synaptic cleft.

• Synapses are targets for hundreds of toxins, psychoactive drugs and poisons including curare, cocaine, LSD and morphine. Botox is a formulation of botulinus toxin, and works by cleaving the proteins that allow the vesicles to fuse. By blocking neurotransmitter release, the nerve cannot signal the muscle to contract. Voila, no wrinkles!

Image from: http://www.cellimagelibrary.org/images/214

Connection-Junction: The Synapse. It’s all about networking. Synapses connect nerve cells to each other, or to muscles and glands.

• The word synapse is derived from the Greek syn (together) and haptein (to clasp).

• There are an estimated 100-500 trillion (that’s 10^14) synapses in the human brain.

• The space (synaptic cleft) at the junction is narrow, only 20 nanometers wide.

• Messages travel down the nerve fiber in the form of an electric pulse known as the action potential. When they get to the synaptic terminal, these messages must be converted to a chemical signal that crosses the narrow cleft (within microseconds) to trigger a new electrical signal at the connecting nerve or muscle cell. The chemical signal is the neurotransmitter (glycine, acetylcholine, etc.).

• These chemicals are packaged into small vesicles that lie just under the nerve membrane, docked and ready to fuse. When the action potential arrives, the vesicles execute a quick “kiss and run” to release the neurotransmitter into the cleft.

• Here is a beautiful scanning electron microscope image of a nerve ending in which the membrane has been sheared away, revealing hundreds of spherical vesicles ready to release their neurotransmitter cargo into the synaptic cleft.

• Synapses are targets for hundreds of toxins, psychoactive drugs and poisons including curare, cocaine, LSD and morphine. Botox is a formulation of botulinus toxin, and works by cleaving the proteins that allow the vesicles to fuse. By blocking neurotransmitter release, the nerve cannot signal the muscle to contract. Voila, no wrinkles!

Image from: http://www.cellimagelibrary.org/images/214

My Day on the Hill

This week, several hundred scientists - astronomers, chemists, biologists and engineers from across the nation, descended on Capitol Hill to lobby for science. We asked for sustained and predictable federal funds for scientific research. We voiced our worry that deep cuts in grants would destroy a generation of scientists: that research is not a faucet that can be turned on and off, because the well at the source dries up. We brought a personal face to the projects we were working on.

What did I learn? Our visit began with a briefing at the AAAS auditorium in Washington, DC. The Office of Science and Technology from the White House gave us the executive branch perspective by breaking down the budget into entitlements and discretionary spending, and showing us the thin slice of pie that went to Federal R&D. Then we got a Congressional perspective from both the House and Senate committees on Science, Space and Technology. These career administrators were scientists themselves, very much "on our side". The next day was a blur of individual visits to offices of senators and congressmen from our states, efficiently organized by the +Biophysical Society whom I was representing. The deal was that we spoke to staffers, and the staffers spoke to the elected members of Congress. We handed out folders full of statistics, talking points and projections. We shook hands, took pictures and exchanged cards.

Was it worth it? In the long run, yes. Maybe. Like the democratic process, visiting Congress is both our right and responsibility. I left with a better understanding of how Congress runs, and hopefully, made some contacts. It's going to be easier to write to my elected representative the next time I'm called upon to lobby for science.

Was it fun? Definitely, this was an unforgettable experience. Senate offices are posh! Marbled halls, deep carpeting, brass-studded heavy doors. The House? Not so much. Congress is run by 20-30 somethings: smart but poorly paid, staffers put in long hours and typically don't last more than a year. It was fun to spot faces: there was Sen. Barbara Boxer rushing past us, Rep. John Dingell leaning heavily on his cane, while another senator saw off some fund raisers at his door. 

#ScienceEveryday  

My Day on the Hill

This week, several hundred scientists - astronomers, chemists, biologists and engineers from across the nation, descended on Capitol Hill to lobby for science. We asked for sustained and predictable federal funds for scientific research. We voiced our worry that deep cuts in grants would destroy a generation of scientists: that research is not a faucet that can be turned on and off, because the well at the source dries up. We brought a personal face to the projects we were working on.

What did I learn? Our visit began with a briefing at the AAAS auditorium in Washington, DC. The Office of Science and Technology from the White House gave us the executive branch perspective by breaking down the budget into entitlements and discretionary spending, and showing us the thin slice of pie that went to Federal R&D. Then we got a Congressional perspective from both the House and Senate committees on Science, Space and Technology. These career administrators were scientists themselves, very much "on our side". The next day was a blur of individual visits to offices of senators and congressmen from our states, efficiently organized by the +Biophysical Society whom I was representing. The deal was that we spoke to staffers, and the staffers spoke to the elected members of Congress. We handed out folders full of statistics, talking points and projections. We shook hands, took pictures and exchanged cards.

Was it worth it? In the long run, yes. Maybe. Like the democratic process, visiting Congress is both our right and responsibility. I left with a better understanding of how Congress runs, and hopefully, made some contacts. It's going to be easier to write to my elected representative the next time I'm called upon to lobby for science.

Was it fun? Definitely, this was an unforgettable experience. Senate offices are posh! Marbled halls, deep carpeting, brass-studded heavy doors. The House? Not so much. Congress is run by 20-30 somethings: smart but poorly paid, staffers put in long hours and typically don't last more than a year. It was fun to spot faces: there was Sen. Barbara Boxer rushing past us, Rep. John Dingell leaning heavily on his cane, while another senator saw off some fund raisers at his door. 

#ScienceEveryday  

True or False? You only use 10% of your brain. This is a popular myth that has been proven false by brain imaging. While not all of the brain is active at the same time, fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) shows widespread activation of the brain for even simple tasks. Take a moment to admire the connectivity of our brain in the image, made by a type of MRI called diffusion spectrum imaging.

Brain Awareness Week: Today kicks off a global campaign to focus attention on the field of neuroscience, improve public health and outreach by informing on brain research and brain disorders, and to inspire the next generation of scientists. Look for more brain posts and cool neuroscience research all this week!

Sponsored by The Dana Foundation (http://www.dana.org/brainweek/) and partnered with the Society for Neuroscience (http://www.sfn.org/index.aspx?pagename=baw_home).

True or False? You only use 10% of your brain. This is a popular myth that has been proven false by brain imaging. While not all of the brain is active at the same time, fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) shows widespread activation of the brain for even simple tasks. Take a moment to admire the connectivity of our brain in the image, made by a type of MRI called diffusion spectrum imaging.

Brain Awareness Week: Today kicks off a global campaign to focus attention on the field of neuroscience, improve public health and outreach by informing on brain research and brain disorders, and to inspire the next generation of scientists. Look for more brain posts and cool neuroscience research all this week!

Sponsored by The Dana Foundation (http://www.dana.org/brainweek/) and partnered with the Society for Neuroscience (http://www.sfn.org/index.aspx?pagename=baw_home).