The Biology, Agriculture, and Paleontology thread

Little from column A, little from column B. But yeah, the contribution to the evolution of anti-biotic resistant bacterial strains is a big reason, especially for little gain.

A hairy situation: Hair increases surface area for animals by 100 times: "A review study about the role hair plays in collecting dirt on animals and insects and the roles it plays in helping to keep them clean. A honeybee and a squirrel have the same amount: 3 million. A beaver has about 300 million. A moth has 10 billion. The study also identifies true surface area: the total area where dirt can possibly collect on an animal. A sea otter has the true surface area of a hockey rink."

Early maternal loss has lifelong effects on chimpanzees: "Wild-caught chimpanzees, who were orphaned and imported from Africa in their early infancy, exhibit an impaired social behavior also as adults. So far, long-term effects of early traumatic experiences on social behavior were known only for humans and socially isolated chimpanzees."

Antibiotics as a prevention method rather than as a treatment can be quite dangerous, specially if they are so overused as they are now.

Remember, penicilin was discovered not even 100 years ago, and now MANY strains are resistant to it. If we keep using them at that rate, well, bacterian populations will just adapt to them, and they can adapt faster that we can develop new antibiotics.

It is a losing battle, the best we can do is stall it, and we are doing a piss poor job at that because of cost efficiency at raising crops and lifestock.

New 'short-crested lizard' found in Montana: "The newly described Probrachylophosaurus bergei, a member of the Brachylophosaurini clade of dinosaurs, has a small flat triangular bony crest extending over the skull and may represent the transition between a non-crested ancestor, such as Acristavus, and the larger crests of adult Brachylophosaurus, according to a new study."

Extinction can spread from predator to predator: "The extinction of one carnivore species can trigger the demise of fellow predators, conservation biologists have confirmed. A ground-breaking study has backed up theories and previous laboratory research demonstrating the phenomenon of horizontal extinction cascades, where extinctions of carnivore species can have a ripple effect across species triggering further unexpected extinctions of other carnivores."

Ant colony responds to predation simulation as a 'superorganism': "Ants may respond to disturbances in their nest as one highly organized 'superorganism', according to a new study."

New species of duckbilled dinosaur neatly fills an evolutionary gap: "A previously undiscovered dinosaur species showcases an evolutionary transition from an earlier duckbilled species to that group's descendants. The findings highlight how the new species of duckbilled dinosaur neatly fills a gap that had existed between an ancestral form with no crest and a descendant with a larger crest, providing key insight into the evolution of elaborate display structures in these gigantic extinct herbivores."

Ancient mass extinction led to dominance of tiny fish, paleontologist shows: "According to new research, a mass extinction 359 million years ago known as the Hangenberg event triggered a drastic and lasting transformation of Earth's vertebrate community."

Researchers sequence genomes of parasite that is actually a 'micro jellyfish': "Researchers have revealed how a jellyfish — those commonplace sea pests with stinging tentacles — have evolved over time into 'really weird' microscopic organisms, made of only a few cells, that live inside other animals."

So on really weird shit in science tonight.

High-tech analysis of proto-mammal fossil clarifies the mammalian family tree: "A new analysis of the jaw of one of the earliest known proto-mammals sheds light on efforts to accurately date the period when mammals first evolved and clarifies the mammalian family tree. The study suggests that the great explosion in mammal diversification occurred in the Jurassic around 175 million years ago — more than 30 million years after the forerunners to mammals diversified in the Triassic."

Recognizing the basic structure of language is not unique to the human brain: "A team led at Newcastle University, UK, has shed light on the evolutionary roots of language in the brain.

Publishing in Nature Communications, the team led by Dr Ben Wilson and Professor Chris Petkov explain how using an imaging technique to explore the brain activity in humans and monkeys has identified the evolutionary origins of cognitive functions in the brain that underpin language and allow us to evaluate orderliness in sequences of sounds.

This new knowledge will help our understanding of how we learn — and lose — language such as in aphasia after a stroke or in dementia."

Ruff bird orgies have four ‘sexes’ thanks to a supergene flip: "The ruff has one of the weirdest sexual systems in the world – all thanks to a large piece of chromosome that was flipped over 3.8 million years ago.

A type of wading sandpiper, ruffs are named after the large showy feathers sported by males around their necks during breeding season.

But in 2006, researchers noticed something odd: a rare type of male that looks exactly like a female, only slightly larger.

Unlike territorial males, with their coloured ruffs, head tufts and big showy displays to impress females, these female mimics pursue a different mating strategy.

In the frenzy of ruff mating, which can involve many aggressive and displaying males, copulation is a speedy process. When a female has picked a male, she presents her genital opening, or cloaca, to him, but can instead be fertilised by a female mimic, which rushes in first.

'They seem to operate by complete subterfuge,' says Terry Burke at the University of Sheffield, UK.

Mating strategies like this have been seen in a range of animals. But Burke’s team, and a second team led by Leif Andersson at Uppsala University in Sweden, have independently found the genetic changes behind the ruff’s strange system, making it the best understood of its kind."

Bird with four sexes? I knew ruffs were weird but...

They're not the only ones. Check out the Bizarre Alien Sexes page's real-life section, specifically the "white-throated sparrow" entry.

This is great news for creationists. Until now they've been demanding a link between A and C. Now that B's been found they can start complaining about two gaps - A-B and B-C. That's doubled the power of their argument!

Would "serially escalating nitpicking" be an accurate term to describe such behavior? Or should it be "serial escalation of nitpicking"?

edited 18th Nov '15 2:01:22 PM by MarqFJA

I may have misread a u as an i on my first reading of this sentence, no points for guessing which u it was.

What does the term "referred species" mean in taxonomy?

And another thing: Where does the term "omnivore" stand with respect to the terms "hypercarnivore" (diet is more than 70% meat), "mesocarnivore" (diet is 50-70% meat), and "hypocarnivore" (diet is less than 30% meat)?

edited 19th Nov '15 11:41:54 AM by MarqFJA

Omnivore's the generalist term for anything that eats both plant and animal matter, the other terms are more specialist.

Hummingbirds rely on raw power, not physique, to outmaneuver rivals: "Brute strength is surprisingly important to the ability of hummingbirds to outmaneuver rivals for nectar and evade predators, according to new research. An intensive study of 20 Anna's hummingbirds, Calypte anna, has revealed that birds with the highest muscle capacity are able to accelerate faster and make more demanding, complex turns."

Our closest wormy cousins: About 70% of our genes trace their ancestry back to the acorn worm: "Scientists have analyzed the genomes of two acorn worm species and found that approximately two-thirds of human genes have counterparts in the ancestors of these marine animals. These ancient genes, and their organization within the genome, were already in place in the common ancestor of humans and acorn worms that lived over half a billion years ago."

New camouflage mechanism fish use in the open ocean: "Fish have a remarkable way to hide from their predators using camouflage techniques. A new study shows that fish scales have evolved to not only reflect light, but to also scramble polarization. Researchers identified the tissue structure that fish evolved to do this, which could be an analog to develop new materials to help hide objects in the water."

Marine animals use new form of secret light communication: "A new form of secret light communication used by marine animals has been discovered by scientists. The findings may have applications in satellite remote sensing, biomedical imaging, cancer detection, and computer data storage."

Animal magnetic sense explained by tiny protein 'compasses': "When it was first proposed, the notion that animals can detect the Earth’s magnetic field was ridiculed, but we now know that everything from birds and whales to butterflies, worms, and wolves know instinctively where north is thanks to an innate magnetic sense. How else are dogs supposed to find their preferred north-south pooping axis?

What scientists couldn’t figure out was how they do it. Now, for the first time, a team in China has identified tiny clumps of protein that appear to align themselves with Earth’s geomagnetic field lines like a compass, and it’s thought that they can influence the nervous system to help animals navigate their surroundings."

A whiff from blue-green algae likely responsible for Earth's oxygen: "Earth's oxygen-rich atmosphere emerged in whiffs from a kind of blue-green algae in shallow oceans around 2.5 billion years ago, according to new research."

Electronic plants created: "Researchers have created analog and digital electronics circuits inside living plants. The scientists have used the vascular system of living roses to build key components of electronic circuits."

New vision for multifunctional materials: "Taking a cue from nature, scientists have deciphered how the biomineral making up the body armor of a chiton mollusk has evolved to create functional eyes embedded in the animal's protective shell. The findings could help determine so far still elusive rules for generating human-made multifunctional materials."

Lungfishes are not airheads

edited 22nd Nov '15 12:23:44 AM by rmctagg09

Yeah, but brain size doesn't really matter.

Though I expect lungfish to be pretty smart.

Hydra can modify its genetic program: "Champion of regeneration, Hydra is capable of reforming a complete individual from any fragment of its body. It is even able to remain alive when all its neurons have disappeared. Researchers have discovered how: cells of the epithelial type modify their genetic program by overexpressing a series of genes, among which some are involved in diverse nervous functions."

New research may draw a 'curtain of fire' on dinosaur extinction theory: "New research may draw a 'curtain of fire' on dinosaur extinction theory.

The role volcanic activity played in mass extinction events in the Earth's early history is likely to have been much less severe than previously thought, according to a study led by the University of Leeds."

Ants filmed building moving bridges from their live bodies (w/ Video): "Army ants build living bridges by linking their bodies to span gaps and create shortcuts across rainforests in Central and South America. An international team of researchers has now discovered these bridges can move from their original building point to span large gaps and change position as required. The bridges stop moving when they become so long that the increasing costs incurred by locking workers into the structure outweigh the benefit that the colony gains from further shortening their trail. Bridges dismantle when the ants in the structure sense the traffic walking over them slows down below a critical threshold.

Co-lead author Dr Christopher Reid, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sydney's Insect Behaviour and Ecology Lab and formerly with the New Jersey Institute of Technology, said the findings could be applied to develop swarm robotics for exploration and rescue operations. By analysing how ants optimise utility, researchers may be able to create simple control algorithms to allow swarms of robots to behave in similar ways to an ant colony."

Loss of mastodons aided domestication of pumpkins, squash: "If Pleistocene megafauna — mastodons, mammoths, giant sloths and others — had not become extinct, humans might not be eating pumpkin pie and squash for the holidays, according to an international team of anthropologists."

Biologists induce flatworms to grow heads and brains of other species: "Biologists have succeeded in inducing one species of flatworm to grow heads and brains characteristic of another species of flatworm without altering genomic sequence. The work reveals physiological circuits as a new kind of epigenetics — information existing outside of genomic sequence — that determines large-scale anatomy."

Scientists create genetically modified malaria-blocking mosquitoes: "Using a groundbreaking gene editing technique, scientists have created a strain of mosquitoes capable of rapidly introducing malaria-blocking genes into a mosquito population through its progeny, ultimately eliminating the insects' ability to transmit the disease to humans. This new model represents a notable advance in the effort to establish an antimalarial mosquito population, which with further development could help eradicate a disease that sickens millions worldwide each year."

Another reason why megafauna extinction was a giant disaster.

The lack of pumpkin pie would be more than made up for by the existence of mammoth steak.

Similar proteins protect the skin of humans, turtles: "n a genome comparison conducted by a working group led by molecular biologist Leopold Eckhart of the University Department of Dermatology at Med Uni Vienna, it was discovered that genes for important skin proteins arose in a common ancestor shared by humans and turtles 310 million years ago. The study has now been published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution."

New species of early anthropoid primate found amid Libyan strife: "A previously unknown anthropoid primate — a forerunner of today's monkeys, apes and humans — has been found in Libya. Researchers have dubbed their new find Apidium zuetina."

Missing link between dinosaur nests and bird nests: "The links between dinosaurs and birds keep getting stronger: skeletal structures, feathers—and now nests. Whereas some dinosaurs buried their eggs crocodile-style, a new analysis suggests that other dinosaurs built open nests on the ground, foreshadowing the nests of birds."

The tardigrade genome has been sequenced, and it has the most foreign DNA of any animal: "Scientists have sequenced the entire genome of the tardigrade, AKA the water bear, for the first time. And it turns out that this weird little creature has the most foreign genes of any animal studied so far – or to put it another way, roughly one-sixth of the tardigrade's genome was stolen from other species."

OK — in another organism, I'd be weirded out. But, let's be realistic... the tardigrade practically exists to be the weirdest thing it can be without actually coming from Neptune.

edited 27th Nov '15 7:07:30 AM by Euodiachloris

Exactly...

Unless it does...

One would think an animal that is known to survive outer space comes from another planet.

BUT NOW IT'S BACK. FROM OUTER SPACE. I JUST LOGGED IN TO DISCUSS YOU HERE WITH THAT SAD LOOK UPON YOUR...FACE?

Is that even a face? What the fuck is that shit oh god.