Giant Squid are More Mysterious than Originally Thought

Parrot-like beaks. Sucker-studded tentacles. Eyes bigger than a human head. Does it sound like something from mythology? In fact, it's just a classic description of your average giant squid.
Most of what we know about giant squids has been obtained from studying carcasses that fishermen bring in, or that wash up on beaches. Recently, DNA evidence was able to reveal more about giant squids. They have an extremely low genetic diversity, but all appear to be part of one interbreeding species (instead of three, as had been previously believed). For this genetic homogeneity to occur, squids must travel long distances. By studying the beaks of adult squids, it was determined that adult squids did not do much traveling, and therefore younger squids must migrate with ocean currents. Also, small diversity is generally linked to small populations, but the giant squid population is believed to be in the hundreds of millions. These results baffled scientists, who have yet to explain population growth and migration. They are working with other scientists in an attempt to find these answers.

NOS Themes:
Science is collaborative
Science is subject to debate and tentative
Science is based on evidence
Role of motivation and curiosity

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/349053/description/Giant_squid_population_is_one_big_happy_species

Sam S.
Hour 1

A Medical First

In Barcelona a medical first occurred when Dr. Paolo Macchiarini transplanted a new windpipe in Claudia Castillo who had serve tuberculosis, and could not even walk without shortness of breath.  The transplant was done using a donor windpipe and Castillo’s stem cells from her bone marrow.  Castillo says she is filling fine and is doing what she loves.  This surgery isn’t only remarkable because it is the first ever windpipe transplant, but because they used stem cells to grow the new windpipe and because they used Castillo’s cells she won’t have to take immunosuppressive drugs.  This surgery is a major step forward in the use of stem cells, and if it works there will be no wait list for organs.

http://www.ivanhoe.com/science/by_subject/biology.html

NOS Theme(s):

1.      Role of motivation and curiosity 

  

Resurrecting extinct species?!?

With todays modern technology, humans have the opportunity to possibly bring exctinct species back to life, such as the famous wooly mammoth, the neaderthals, the dodo bird, and many others. Scientists is Austrailia attemted this by adding the nucleus of cell from an extinct frog, . They were successfull with getting the cells to divide, but it is unlikely the cells will continue to grow. Another attempt was done by some scientists in Spain who cloned an extinct goat species, but the goat had a 3rd lung which made it hard to breathe properly and it died with 10 minutes. Now scientists are saying that creating stem cells of the ancient DNA would enable them to make sperm or egg cells that contain the extinct species' genetic code.
The reason this has been brought up is because truthfully, humans are the cause of many extincions of species on earth. This is due to habitat loss, over-hunting, and a climate change created by humans. It is estimated that the world will loose half of all it's species by the end of this century, which is really sad. Even though it would be a good thing to bring back an exinct species, it may be dangeroud and unhealthy for the world. Species have accustomed to their lives and it would be like bringing an invasive species into an environment. Also, the extinct species has never lived in the world the earth is today and it would be unpredictable if the species would thirve or fail.


NOS Themes
Role of curiosity: Scientists wondered if it would even be possible to bring back a species and some experiments are showing that is he furure it may be possible

Science is subject to debate and tentative: Some scientists are not sure if it is a good idea to bring back species because they are not sure if it will affect the environment badly and don't want the world to forget about the species being brought to extinction.

Article: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=de-extinction-to-bring-back-extinct-species-but-challenges-conservation

Other Info
14 species that could be resurrected: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/photos/14-extinct-animals-that-could-be-resurrected/fit-to-be-cloned

New beetles discovered yet again!

Recently this past month, further exploring in China has yielded another discovery of new beetle species. In my previous blog post, I mentioned how four new species of rove beetles were discovered in the Ningxia Autonomous Region, in China, but this new species of longhorn beetle was found in the Yunnan Province of China. It is quite interesting to note how rare these kinds of beetles are that have been getting discovered in countries such as China, and the potential to research them could significantly increase our knowledge of how these insects are able to thrive in the environments that they are located in. The diversity of this species is astounding, with over 20,000 in the longhorn family of beetles. It is also very bizarre to note how these beetles have antennae that are normally longer than their entire body!

These longhorn beetles are also known to be significant pests to the ecosystem, because as larvae they can commit huge amounts of damage to trees and other wood sources. Longhorn beetles can be found in habitats where leaf litter is present, so where there are forests, these beetles will be there. I did some further research on longhorn beetles and it looks like they are notorious for the damage they can do to living trees. The finding of these new species can help researchers look deeper into why these beetles devour bark from trees and with more discoveries could potentially give us an answer as to how we can prevent these creatures from destruction. Most beetles benefit the environment and are harmless to humans, but pests such as these can impact us negatively if we do not properly manage them.

I personally love beetles very much, and I think it is worth investing time into seeing how each and every species of beetle shapes our world, because they are the most abundant of all living things as far as number of species. That is remarkable to think that there are over 300,000 different species of beetles, and to know that there are thousands more yet to be discovered. With the diversity and variety of behaviors and abilities, beetles can help us in so many different ways from modeling new technologies, to discovering new medicines contained within the mechanisms inside beetles. The possibilities are endless, since beetles account for about 22% of all living things on earth!

NOS Themes:
1.) Science is collaborative- It took a group of people to confirm and verify these beetles as new discoveries, and a team of researchers to document them.

2.) Person's view and experience can influence data- the finding of these new species gives scientists more data and information to further classify and fill in the missing pieces of this family of beetles.

3.) Role of motivation and curiosity-It took a group of people who wanted to find something new, and they ended up finding some of the most bizarre beetles in the world!


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130314111847.htm
http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2697&q=421754&deepNav_GID=1631
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/VIIB1bBeetles.shtml

Human brain cells in mice increase memory

            The cells that were transplanted were not the cells that people would normally think of when they though of memory.  These cells were not the neurons, but actually the glia.  Glia is one of the support cells in the brain that helps get rid of excess neurotransmitters,  feed the neurons, and basically keep the brain in one piece.  The cells transplanted into the mices' brains were glial progenitor cells.  These cells make more stem cells of that type to help the neurons and brain.  The scientist originally did this with mice that had a genetic disorder kind of like multiple sclerosis.  The human cells healed the mice so they lived a normal life span.  They also found out that the mice learned quicker.  They then looked deeper into this subject.

The green cells are the human cells that are helping out the mice brain cells (blue).

           The scientists tested three groups on how fast they learned how to solve mazes, tell an old object from a new one, and which sound precedes a mild electric shock.  The groups:  normal, mouse cell transplant, and human cell transplant, were subjected to the three tests.  The mice learned at their normal rates.  The only exception was the human cell transplant group.  They learned significantly faster than the other groups.  When the brains were disected, it was discovered that the human glial cells had completely pushed out the mices' cells.  The mices' memory had improved massively.

NOS themes:
1.  Science is collaborative.  The researchers worked together and with the group that did previous research.
2.  Science is based on evidence.  The researchers gathered evidence in the form of behavior notes and a disection.
3.  Importance of repeatability.  The researchers gave a very clear outline of how they did the experiment
4.  Role of curiosity.  The scientists only figured this out because they saw an effect that they didn't expect so they decided to look into it.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/348773/description/Mice_get_brain_boost_from_transplanted_human_tissue

Delicious Beverage or Global Killer?

Every year, people all across the globe drink beverages loaded with sugar. According to a Global Burden of Disease Study, drinking too many sugary drinks can lead to diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and some forms of cancer. Although this study was only done on adults and not children, the researchers still found this growing problem to attribute for 180,000 adult deaths worldwide each year, 25,000 of which were in the U.S. The study linked sugary drinks to 133,000 diabetes deaths, 44,000 cardiovascular disease deaths, and 6,000 cancer deaths. Mexico had the highest death rate due to sugary drinks and Japan had the lowest. Now you may be asking yourself, "how much is too much?" According to the American Heart Association, you should consume no more than 450 calories a week due to sugary beverages (one can of Mountain Dew has 110 calories).

Themes of Science:

• Science is Collaborative
• Science is Based on Evidence
• Role of Credibility
• Role of Motivation and Curiosity

Link:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130319202144.htm

New Breakthrough in Treating Malaria

The article that I read discussed a new drug called ELQ-300 which many scientist believe is the new breakthrough in treating malaria. Malaria is a protozoa that is carried by mosquito that can cause stomach pains, aches, severe fever, and even death. There a currently many medicines available to treat malaria, but the malaria protozoa is a very stubborn bacteria. This new strain is much stronger than previous medicines and breaks down much slower than other medicines. This makes it very difficult for the malaria to adapt to the medicine and render it ineffective. This has been the problem with many medicines in the past because malaria is highly adaptable and can make the medicine ineffective before it has a chance to kill the malaria. San Rafael of the University of California says that this new drug is not worth all the hype because the malaria will find a way around ELQ-300 before the medicine can make a difference. While this is a valid argument, if ELQ-300 can outlast the stubborn malaria, than this medicine could potentially save thousands of lives.

Link to article:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/349137/description/Experimental_malaria_drug_may_be_a_hot_prospect

NOS Themes:

-Science is based on evidence
-Science is subject to debate and tentative
-Role of Skepticism