Biologists Discover How We Detect Sour Taste:
A team headed by biologists from the University of California, San Diego has discovered the cells and the protein that enable us to detect sour, one of the five basic tastes. The scientists, who included researchers from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, suggest that this protein is also the long-sought sensor of acidity in the cerebrospinal fluid.
Cortical Plasticity: It’s Time To Get Excited About Inhibition:
The researchers showed that the lasting cortical shut-down induced by visual deprivation at early stages of development is the result of a massive increase of cortical inhibition. Specifically, the strength of inhibitory synaptic connections between two types of neurons in the layer receiving the input — the inhibitory fast-spiking basket cells and the excitatory star pyramidal neurons — increased 3-fold.
While it has been historically believed that regulation of excitatory synapses is most critical to the development of neuronal circuitry, and that loss of function is the result of a depression of excitation, this research demonstrates that inhibitory synapses play a critical role in proper network wiring and ultimately in preserving — or disrupting – neuronal function.
Sturgeon’s General Warning: Stable For Now, But Beware:
They take a long time before they mate and, once old enough, don’t mate every year. Even so, sturgeons are heavily sought after for their eggs, which are made into caviar. For these and other reasons, many sturgeons — a variety of ancient, bottom-feeding fish — are in trouble.
One In 10 Teenage Girls Have Self-harmed, Study Shows:
One in ten teenage girls self-harm each year and the problem is far more widespread than was previously thought, shows the largest-ever study of self-harm amongst 15 and 16 year olds in England. In a survey of more than 6,000 15 and 16-year-old school pupils, researchers found that girls are four times more likely to have engaged in deliberate self-harm compared to boys, with 11 per cent of girls and 3 per cent of boys reporting that they had self-harmed within the last year.
Ever-happy Mice May Hold Key To New Treatment Of Depression:
A new breed of permanently ‘cheerful’ mouse is providing hope of a new treatment for clinical depression. TREK-1 is a gene that can affect transmission of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is known to play an important role in mood, sleep and sexuality. By breeding mice with an absence of TREK-1, researchers were able create a depression-resistant strain. The details of this research, which involved an international collaboration with scientists from the University of Nice, France, are published in Nature Neuroscience this week.
Rain Forest Insects Eat No More Tree Species Than Temperate Counterparts:
A study initiated by University of Minnesota plant biologist George Weiblen has confirmed what biologists since Darwin have suspected – that the vast number of tree species in rain forests accounts for the equally vast number of plant-eating species of insects.
The research showed that insect species in tropical and temperate forests dine on about the same number of tree species, despite the more diverse menu in the tropics.
“The tropical forest cafeteria offers many more options than the temperate forest,” Weiblen said. “Our study confirms that the choices tropical insects make are quite similar to those of insects in less diverse forests of places like Minnesota.”
The study rejected an alternative theory that tropical insects are actually picky eaters who prefer fewer host plants than their temperate counterparts.
Insect ‘Noses’ The Key To Cybernose Collaboration:
Researchers in the collaborative Cluster between The Australian National University, Monash University and CSIRO’s Food Futures National Research Flagship are trying to understand how simple animals make sense of smells.
The microscopic nematode worm will be central to the Cybernose research due to its highly sensitive molecular recognition system, allowing it to sense smell and flavour qualities in grapes.
The Cybernose will involve putting sensor proteins from insects and nematodes in to an electronic nose to replace the current generation of electronic sensors that are not discriminating enough.
Tight-knit Family: Even Microbes Favor Their Own Kin:
New research published by Rice University biologists in this week’s issue of Nature finds that even the simplest of social creatures – single-celled amoebae – have the ability not only to recognize their own family members but also to selectively discriminate in favor of them.
(Carl has a great article on this here)
Sleeping Sickness Culprit: African Parasite Makes Component Of Fat Differently From All Other Organisms:
Studying the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness, scientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered a previously unknown way of making fatty acids, a component of fat and the outer layer of all cells. The find unveils more about the biology of this hard-to-kill parasite and could lead to a target for designing new drugs to fight the illness that infects a half-million people and kills 50,000 a year worldwide.
eLens: A Digital Take On The Streets Where We Live:
eLens is exploring the next wave of communications technology – building interactions that depend on where you are and what you want to know or say. In the eLens team’s vision, you could aim your mobile phone at your child’s school and start a voice thread to discuss cuts in after-school programs. Or you could let passersby know that the local folk music club serves great vegetarian meals.
The project began with a metaphor, that of an electronic lens that can be aimed at civic institutions and a “viewfinder” that makes these institutions more transparent. Pointing eLens at a train station, for example, might let you retrieve the day’s schedule for different tracks. Pointing it at a museum might list current exhibits and upcoming lectures.
Real-time access to location-based data can be very useful, but Casalegno notes that eLens has been designed to do more than deliver a one-way stream of official information. It’s designed to encourage innovation in how institutions deliver services and communicate with their constituents. Citizens are expected to actively join in the conversation.
If I get my hands on this, the first thing I’ll do is use it out on the road, cussing out the guy who just cut me off, telling the old guy that his turn-signal has been on for 20 miles of driving in a straight line, or yelling at the old lady to get out of my way. In time, this kind of communication would turn faceless cars into humans, making everyone more polite while driving.
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