Mathematicians Reveal Eating Behavior Bees

Mathematicians of the Queen Mary School of Mathematical Sience, Rainer Klages and Lars Chittka of the School of Biological and Chemical Science, UK revealed that bees have a unique fly patterns.

Both scientists are observing the behavior of bees while foraging. The results were published in the journal Physical Review Letters this month.

Bees are known to have visited some flower nectar. Occasionally visited by some direct interest to get it. Researchers tested how predators influence such behavior.

"In mathematics, we treat the bees as random objects moving toward the target which is also distributed at random," Klages said as quoted by the site Physorg, Friday (03/02/2012) then.

Snake scales

Scales is key to the snakes in a move that can prevent slipping while on slippery surfaces. Hamid concluded Marvi, a biologist from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA, after doing research tekait functions snake scales.

In the first experiment, Marvi anesthetize snakes are moving and tilting motion of the surface so that the snake fell off. Meanwhile, a second experiment, Marvi disturb the snake's motion to be dropped without him sedated.

In each experiment, Marvi measure the angle and the coefficient of friction is created between the scales and the surface motion. The results showed that the coefficient of friction when the serpent realized 2-fold greater than when anesthetized snakes.

"When the snake did not realize, no controls, no response, no sensory system. But when the snake came to, he could feel. I'm moving so I had to do something. There is an active mechanism involved," said Marvi told New Scientist , Friday (03/02/2012).

Dogs and Cats

Heart disease in dogs and cats are now beginning to be found in the veterinary practice. But practitioners are still constrained by science, medicine, and tools that hard to come by in Indonesia.

This is expressed by small animal practitioners DVM Amir Mahmud told Reuters on Sunday (03/04/2012). Drh Amir is following the National Conference of the Association of Small Animal Veterinary Practitioner Indonesia (National Conference ADHPHKI) and Small Animal Veterinary Scientific Conference, which took place from Friday (02/03/2012) in Surabaya, East Java.

Amir Mahmud DVM is the author of the Dogs Congestive Heart Failure (Congestive Heart Failure in Dogs). This book is the only book of heart disease in dogs the rise in Indonesia.

According to Amir DVM, in a scientific conference on Saturday (03.03.2012), came to light that the micro-surgery, endoscopy, ekhokardiografi, and the science of heart disease in dogs and cats are now growing in Indonesia.

Blind Creatures Found in Deepest Cave

Species of arthropods (animals with jointed legs) are found in cave-Voronja Krubera, the deepest cave on Earth. Depth of the cave is located near the Black Sea that reaches 2191 meters from the mouth of his cave.

One of the new species is Plutomorus ortobalaganensis found at a depth of 1980 meters. Meanwhile, three other species is Anurida stereoodorata, Deuteraphorura kruberaensis, and Schaefferia profundissima.

All species are categorized as springtails, primitive insects without wings. Living in a completely dark environment, all beings are blind. Blindness in the species A. stereoodorata compensated by chemical receptors sensitive.

Creatures eating the mushrooms and biodegradable material that was discovered by Ana Sofia Reboilera from the University of Aveiro in Portugal, and Alberto Sendra of the Valencia Museum of Natural History in Spain. They explore the cave in 2010.

Prior to this discovery, the deepest land creatures ever discovered is Ongulonychiurus colpus (depth of 550 meters in the cave area of ​​Spain) and Tritomurus Veles (430 km depth in the cave area of ​​Croatia)

The discovery of this species suggests that creature life can exist in extreme environments, with no light and little oxygen. The findings were published in the journal Terrestrial Arthropod Reviews recently.

New Kind of like a leaf-nosed bat

Scientists from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology in Hanoi, Vu Dinh Thong, discover new species of bat, later named Griffin Hipposideros griffini or bats.

Bat specimens were found in Chu Mom Ray National Park in Vietnam in 2008. Bats have the leaves on the nose, which in essence is a feature that serves to support echolocation.

Initially, Vu Dinh had thought that the species is a leaf nose bats are already known. However, further research proved that the different bat species.

"When arrested, bat the same size, such as the bat's nose leaf, reacted strongly. But, bats Griffin reacts quite soft," said Vu Dinh told National Geographic site on Friday (02/24/2012).

Vu Dinh and his team analyzed the resulting sound Griffin bat and take the network to perform genetik.Hasil analysis showed that the frequency of sound produced by Griffin bat is different from other leaf-nosed bats. Genetic analysis also showed that Griffin is a new species of bat.

So far, not much is known about bat Griffin. These animals are also known to exist only on the two national parks in Vietnam although other habitats might be known later.

"The findings show that Vietnam is home to a variety of bats and some of them have not been found," said Vu Dinh.

Squid Responds to Voice

Aran Mooney, scientists from the Woods Hole Oaceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts, United States, found that the squid was reacting to the sound. He presented the findings at the arena Ocean Science Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, last week.

Mooney conducted the study in his laboratory. He put some tail squid in a tank containing sea water. Mooney plays with a variety of sound frequency and volume and then see the response of squid.

"The squid react within 10 milliseconds. Reaction is very fast, and this is a reflex. This is very important in the behavior respin because it suggests that the squid is thought to process the signal, decided not to respond. They just do it," said Mooney.

Monney, as quoted by the BBC on Sunday (2/26/2012), adding, "The response of squid can be very dynamic, can change color, move around quickly or remove the ink. Squid is also a charming cool because you can see some range of color change. "

According to Mooney, the squid can hear thanks to the organ called satocyst. The organ has a similar structure of bone that comes with the hair. Kerika sound waves come, the hair moves and the signal was sent to the brain.

Mooney said the squid may use the hearing to determine the direction of motion, for example away from or close to the reef, to the surface or into the depths of the ocean.

Ability to hear groups of animals were also found in cephalopods except squid. Mooney plans to continue his studies in other types of cephalopods.

'Logic Gates' Made to Program Bacteria as Computers

ScienceDaily (Dec. 8, 2010) — A team of UCSF researchers has engineered E. coli with the key molecular circuitry that will enable genetic engineers to program cells to communicate and perform computations.


The work builds into cells the same logic gates found in electronic computers and creates a method to create circuits by "rewiring" communications between cells. This system can be harnessed to turn cells into miniature computers, according to findings reported in the journal Nature.

That, in turn, will enable cells to be programmed with more intricate functions for a variety of purposes, including agriculture and the production of pharmaceuticals, materials and industrial chemicals, according to Christopher A. Voigt, PhD, a synthetic biologist and associate professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy's Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry who is senior author of the paper.

The most common electronic computers are digital, he explained; that is, they apply logic operations to streams of 1's and 0's to produce more complex functions, ultimately producing the software with which most people are familiar. These logic operations are the basis for cellular computation, as well.

"We think of electronic currents as doing computation, but any substrate can act like a computer, including gears, pipes of water, and cells," Voigt said. "Here, we've taken a colony of bacteria that are receiving two chemical signals from their neighbors, and have created the same logic gates that form the basis of silicon computing."

Applying this to biology will enable researchers to move beyond trying to understand how the myriad parts of cells work at the molecular level, to actually use those cells to perform targeted functions, according to Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, dean of the UCSF School of Pharmacy.

"This field will be transformative in how we harness biology for biomedical advances," said Koda-Kimble, who championed Voigt's recruitment to lead this field at UCSF in 2003. "It's an amazing and exciting relationship to watch cellular systems and synthetic biology unfold before our eyes."

The Nature paper describes how the Voigt team built simple logic gates out of genes and inserted them into separate E. coli strains. The gate controls the release and sensing of a chemical signal, which allows the gates to be connected among bacteria much the way electrical gates would be on a circuit board.

"The purpose of programming cells is not to have them overtake electronic computers," explained Voigt, whom Scientist magazine named a "scientist to watch" in 2007 and whose work is included among the Scientist's Top 10 Innovations of 2009. "Rather, it is to be able to access all of the things that biology can do in a reliable, programmable way."

The research already has formed the basis of an industry partnership with Life Technologies, in Carlsbad, Cal., in which the genetic circuits and design algorithms developed at UCSF will be integrated into a professional software package as a tool for genetic engineers, much as computer-aided design is used in architecture and the development of advanced computer chips.

The automation of these complex operations and design choices will advance basic and applied research in synthetic biology. In the future, Voigt said the goal is to be able to program cells using a formal language that is similar to the programming languages currently used to write computer code.

The lead author of the paper is Alvin Tamsir, a student in the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, and Genetics (Tetrad) Graduate Program at UCSF. Jeffrey J. Tabor, PhD, in the UCSF School of Pharmacy, is a co-author.

'Logic Gates' Made to Program Bacteria as Computers

ScienceDaily (Dec. 8, 2010) — A team of UCSF researchers has engineered E. coli with the key molecular circuitry that will enable genetic engineers to program cells to communicate and perform computations.


The work builds into cells the same logic gates found in electronic computers and creates a method to create circuits by "rewiring" communications between cells. This system can be harnessed to turn cells into miniature computers, according to findings reported in the journal Nature.

That, in turn, will enable cells to be programmed with more intricate functions for a variety of purposes, including agriculture and the production of pharmaceuticals, materials and industrial chemicals, according to Christopher A. Voigt, PhD, a synthetic biologist and associate professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy's Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry who is senior author of the paper.

The most common electronic computers are digital, he explained; that is, they apply logic operations to streams of 1's and 0's to produce more complex functions, ultimately producing the software with which most people are familiar. These logic operations are the basis for cellular computation, as well.

"We think of electronic currents as doing computation, but any substrate can act like a computer, including gears, pipes of water, and cells," Voigt said. "Here, we've taken a colony of bacteria that are receiving two chemical signals from their neighbors, and have created the same logic gates that form the basis of silicon computing."

Applying this to biology will enable researchers to move beyond trying to understand how the myriad parts of cells work at the molecular level, to actually use those cells to perform targeted functions, according to Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, dean of the UCSF School of Pharmacy.

"This field will be transformative in how we harness biology for biomedical advances," said Koda-Kimble, who championed Voigt's recruitment to lead this field at UCSF in 2003. "It's an amazing and exciting relationship to watch cellular systems and synthetic biology unfold before our eyes."

The Nature paper describes how the Voigt team built simple logic gates out of genes and inserted them into separate E. coli strains. The gate controls the release and sensing of a chemical signal, which allows the gates to be connected among bacteria much the way electrical gates would be on a circuit board.

"The purpose of programming cells is not to have them overtake electronic computers," explained Voigt, whom Scientist magazine named a "scientist to watch" in 2007 and whose work is included among the Scientist's Top 10 Innovations of 2009. "Rather, it is to be able to access all of the things that biology can do in a reliable, programmable way."

The research already has formed the basis of an industry partnership with Life Technologies, in Carlsbad, Cal., in which the genetic circuits and design algorithms developed at UCSF will be integrated into a professional software package as a tool for genetic engineers, much as computer-aided design is used in architecture and the development of advanced computer chips.

The automation of these complex operations and design choices will advance basic and applied research in synthetic biology. In the future, Voigt said the goal is to be able to program cells using a formal language that is similar to the programming languages currently used to write computer code.

The lead author of the paper is Alvin Tamsir, a student in the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, and Genetics (Tetrad) Graduate Program at UCSF. Jeffrey J. Tabor, PhD, in the UCSF School of Pharmacy, is a co-author.

How cockroaches 'talk' about food

Cockroaches "recommend" good food sources to each other by communicating in chemicals, according to scientists.

The much-maligned insects appear to make a collective decision about the best food source.

The study, carried out by a team from Queen Mary, University of London, helps explain why the creatures are often found feeding en masse in our kitchens late at night.

It was published in the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology.

Dr Mathieu Lihoreau from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences led the research. He pointed out that people tend to "kill cockroaches rather than study them".

"I can understand that," he told BBC News. "But it means we don't know very much about their behaviour."

It was generally accepted that the insects foraged individually, "but that's definitely not true," said Dr Lihoreau. "Anyone who has cockroaches in their home will tell you that's wrong - you see them in groups."

To test his suspicion that the creatures were in fact communicating with each other, he and his colleagues gave a group of cockroaches a food choice test.

"We released them into a small arena where there were two identical food sources," he explained. "If they didn't communicate, we would expect that they should just distribute on the two food sources equally."

But the majority of the hungry cockroaches (Blattella germanica) fed solely on one piece of food until it was all gone.

By following individual insects, it also emerged that the more of cockroaches there were on one piece of food, the longer each one would stay to feed.

"We don't know how they communicate, but we know they're using chemicals," Dr Lihoreau explained. "That will be the next step - to find the chemicals involved in the communication.

"These observations coupled with simulations of a mathematical model indicate that cockroaches communicate through close contact when they are already on the food source."

He believes that the insects signal to each other using a "foraging pheromone" - possibly a chemical in their saliva or a hydrocarbon on their bodies.

"We think they encounter another cockroach, touch it and say 'ok, that's another cockroach, its eating good food, I'll stay'," he said.

Once identified, a man-made foraging pheromone could be used to improve pest control, making insecticide gels more effective or be used to create an insecticide-free trap.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10236515.stm