It has recently been reported that one in six people in the UK today will live to see their 100th birthday. Interestingly, there was quite a loud outcry from the public who voiced their fears over reaching such a grand old age, but what do we really understand about ageing? In this article I will look at ageing from the genetic, cellular and multicellular level to find out what we know, what we don’t, and whether there’s anything we can do about it.

Growing old is one of life’s inevitabilities and we can see the symptoms of ageing all around us, in the colour of our hair, the texture of our skin, and the functionality of our mind… “What was I saying? Oh yes!” Despite its omnipresence, ageing remains one of science’s great mysteries – why do we age? Is our degenerative destiny mapped out from birth in our DNA? We all know ‘those’ stories of heavy smokers who lived to be a hundred and marathon runners who dropped dead at fifty. Or is it an effect of environment? A morbid summation of the general stresses and strains our body is exposed to during a lifetime which ultimately equals our expiration date. The truth is it is likely to be a combination of the two, but to what extent? And is the science out there which could let us stay forever young?

Geriatric Genes and Senior Cells

Evidence shows there is a heritable component of life span. “So, does this mean it’s all in our genes?” The short answer is, no. If it were “all in our genes” we would expect genetically identical individuals to die at approximately the same time. In humans, scientists have found identical twins to have very different life spans, and studies looking at large groups of animals with identical genetic backgrounds – such as honey bees – found huge variability in longevity. “So, does that mean there are no genes which determine ageing, and it’s all about lifestyle?” Well, again the answer is no. In recent years, many genes have been identified which contribute to an animal’s lifespan, however, further research found the actual contribution of these genes to the realised lifespan of the individual appeared to be very variable. Interestingly, the one result the scientists can agree on is the effect of food. Way back in 1934 Clive McCay and Mary Crowell from Cornell University found underfeeding (without malnutrition) increased a rodent’s lifespan by as much as 50%, and this result has been replicated many times since. However, more than 70 years later the “hows and whys” behind the mechanisms underlying this phenomena are still unknown – so don’t beat yourself up about that festive overindulgence.

“Ok, so the detail’s from the genetics seem to be a bit sketchy. But, what can we see in the ageing cell? How are the cells in someone who is old different from those in someone who is young?”

It was Peter Medwar who put forward the idea that overtime DNA would get worn out and damaged, a lot like the human body. He said that the probability of mutation accumulation (mistakes in the genetic code) increases over a longer period of time, and it is this deterioration of code that influences the ageing process. The genome – or the DNA that makes up your genes – is the recipe for all the proteins in your body. Proteins are like the cogs in a machine – they must be exactly the right shape and size to do their job. If they’re just a fraction off then the mechanism fails, and the machine starts to slow down as efficiency is reduced. There is evidence that such mistakes in protein production are involved in age-related degenerative diseases such as cataracts, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

“Ok, now we’re getting somewhere. But how does the body get rid of these old cells which are rusting up the cogs?” All cells come with a built in ticking time bomb in their DNA in a region called the telomere. The telomere gets shorter with every cell division, and when the code runs out, the cell has two options, either it will go into a suspended state called “senescence”, or it will initiate a “self-destruct mode” whereby intracellular proteins are released which destroys the cell. When this system breaks the cell becomes immortal, and will continue to replicate beyond its expiration date – this is how tumours arise. It is predicted that 85% of tumours are caused by a mutation in the telomere.

The Fountain of Eternal Youth

There is a multi-billion dollar cosmetic industry dedicated to anti-ageing products. Potions and lotions which promise your Grandmother the face of a teenager, and your mother a booty like Beyoncè. The unfortunate truth is, most are just re-packaged moisturisers – but science is making some major leaps forward in masking, and even reversing the effects of ageing.

A team of scientists from Harvard Medical School have managed to reverse the effects of ageing resulting in worn out old wrinkly rodents being rejuvenated into versions of their younger selves. They did this by breeding genetically engineered mice that were unable to produce the enzyme which caused the telomere to shorten during cell division – called telomerase. Mice without this enzyme aged prematurely, however, when the mice were given an injection to reactivate the telomerase enzyme, the signs of ageing were reversed. It is currently under further investigation as to whether this procedure actually increases longevity, but it might help improve the quality of life of individuals showing signs of age related degenerative diseases. This study is still in its early days and not yet safe for human testing, but it is certainly an important discovery into the secrets of the ageing body.

Who Wants to Live Forever?

There are some scientists that believe they will ‘cure’ ageing, allowing us to live… indefinitely. But, is that a good idea? For many, growing old gracefully isn’t an option– just take a look at the profits made by the anti-ageing cosmetic companies. It seems likely that within the next few decades the science behind ageing will take huge leaps forward, to places we find hard to contemplate. There will undoubtedly be companies looking to make some cash, and people willing to put some pretty toxic stuff into their bodies to cover the signs of ageing. I’m reminded of the dark comedy “Death Becomes Her” where two ladies who learn the secret of eternal youth end up, literally, in pieces. Research which carries with it such ethical responsibility is always tricky, but I do not believe in the stifling of knowledge due to fear of the unknown – just in its careful and responsible monitoring and application. However, it’s easy to get up on my high horse when I’m twenty five and the science isn’t there yet – but could I honestly say no? If fifty years from now someone offered me a magic potion which would literally take decades off, allow me to go running again, travel the world, see my great grand-children grow up, would I walk away? … Ask me in fifty years.

Sources
One in six people in the UK today will live to 100, study says; Reported in the Guardian by David Batty, 30 December 2010
Jaskelioff, M. et al. Telomerase reactivation reverses tissue degeneration in aged telomerase-deficient mice. Nature 469 (7328), 102.
Kirkwood, T. B. L. Understanding the Odd Science of Aging. Cell 120 (4), 437 (2005).
McCay, C. M. & Crowell, M. F. Prolonging the Life Span. The Scientific Monthly 39 (5), 405 (1934).
Harvard scientists reverse the ageing process in mice – now for humans; Reported in the Guardian by Ian Sample, 28 November 2010
Vijg, J. & Campisi, J. Puzzles, promises and a cure for ageing. Nature 454 (7208), 1065 (2008).

Like this? Check out my blog at http://celltoself.wordpress.com

Why human flu sufferers are far from alone. Tiny organisms, minor illness, massive influence.

In stuffy offices and classrooms dramatic stories and terrifying statistics spread like wildfire. From killer pandemics to man flu, viruses are hard to escape. In reality severity varies and human targets are not alone.

Angela McLean, professor of Mathematical Biology (University of Oxford), examines patterns underlying virus infection. As human flu suffers retreat, huddling cosy duvets and lemsip powder, it is easy to forget the world outside. Nevertheless, tiny viruses continue to have a massive effect in the animal and plant kingdoms. Dr Chris Gower (Oxford) and Dr Lawrence Kenyon (Head of Virology, AVRDC World Vegetable Centre) illustrate virus emergence in animal ecosystems and agriculture.

While scare stories abound, we are reminded that viruses are highly specific and leaps between species are unusual and limited in size. Understanding virus and earth systems interaction, and maintaining hygiene are perhaps the most effective defences. Just sometimes the best advice might really be to slow down, avoid crowded habitats, and stay home.

What?

To recap, a virus is an infectious agent, consisting of genetic material DNA, RNA wrapped up in a protein coat. One hundred times smaller than bacteria, barley visible through a light microscope, they come in many varieties and reproduce inside cells of other organisms. These tiny, relatively simple microorganisms are perhaps one of the most powerful forces on earth, present in all ecosystems, with the ability to devastate entire populations of almost all other forms of life, generating immensely complex questions for science.

How?

Professor McLean explains, viruses spread in cramped conditions where members of the same species are forced together in a small space. For animals this can happen when habitats are destroyed, even where only a few of the species survive as they crowd together in small remaining areas of habitat.

Virus pandemics emerge through a mixture of ecological and evolutionary processes. When one happens, like Swine Flu the viruses work on ‘power and competition’. From this, in June 2010 Prof McLean predicted the new H1N1 Swine Flu virus will become the regular strain, replacing the previous seasonal flu. It is entirely possibly, although as yet unconfirmed, that this is happening now, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports cases of Swine Flu virus alongside other strains. A case of ‘watch this space?’

“I am interested in how distribution of people such as movement from villages to towns affects how a virus spreads. The more a virus spreads the more it evolves.

In history when Europeans first went to the ‘New World’ devastating outbreaks of smallpox and measles occurred in people who had never encountered these diseases before.”
Professor Angela McLean

Prevention and Treatment

Luckily it is not all doom with preventative vaccines and anti viral medication available. Professor McLean takes a closer look.

“It is amazing how successful vaccinations for viruses have been. The same measles vaccine has been effective for over forty years and the virus has not been able to evolve resistance despite selection pressure put on it by humans. In contrast new flu vaccines are needed every year, reflecting the changing underlying biology of the microorganism, different every year whether you vaccinate or not.”

For viruses where no vaccine is yet available e.g HIV, anti viral drugs are the first line of attack. When using antiviral drugs it is important to use genetic screening in a laboratory to check for resistance and help doctors decide which to use.

“We use information encoded in the RNA extracted from a blood sample (genetic material) to make real treatment decisions in real clinics. The right combination of antiviral drugs will not cure HIV but it can nearly completely suppress the virus and stop it reproducing, so as long as the person is able to continue to take it they will remain well. Failing to screen and using treatments where a patient has natural resistance is harmful in that it delays effective treatment and resistance not previously there can develop, burning through patients options for treatment.”
Professor Angela McLean

Out in the Wild

Our four legged friends can also suffer and domestic animals such as dogs are major virus carriers. Surprisingly it is wild populations like Ethiopian wolves who are left vulnerable, Chris Gower from Oxford University talks about protecting them.

“Ethiopian wolves are smaller than the European wolves that they descended from when they migrated from Europe to Africa. They are a flagship for the Afro Alpine habitat, when they are there you know everything else is present in the habitat ecosystem, including rodents. This important region supplies water for Somali, Egypt and Sudan.” Chris Gower

These wolves are an endangered, not dangerous, with less than 500 remaining in the world. As people move into their habitat in the Ethiopian highlands with dogs and livestock the threat from the transfer of a rabies virus to such a small population is potentially devastating. Strategic vaccination creates barriers of immunised dogs to contain the outbreak. It would be quicker to inoculate the wolves directly, however the only available vaccine now uses Genetically Modified Organisms and is currently not allowed.

Feeding a Cold

What better way to beat the snuffles than vitamin C packed juicy tomatoes? Dr Lawrence Kenyon Head of Virology at the World Vegetable Centre (AVRDC) demonstrates that they too are not immune, often at the mercy of virus carrying insects.

Plant viruses are transferred from plant to plant either by insects such as whitefly or infected plants rubbing together through human and animal contact. Tomato leaf curl is an example of a major crop virus, the leaves of infected plants show symptoms first, curling up to a dry withered crunch before the entire plant dies.

“Plant viruses do have pandemics but it is not so dramatic as seen with swine flu because as a rule plants don’t get on aeroplanes, requiring insects for transmission.”
Dr Lawrence Kenyon

In Taiwan ‘power and competition’ is in action as indigenous tomato leaf curl virus is being replaced by the more aggressive Thailand leaf curl virus, affecting peppers as well as tomatoes.

Plants like cabbages can act as whitefly sources, encouraging virus spread. Measures to prevent this in crops include; careful choice of species planted together, regular clearing of dead and dying plants, and housing in net cages. Spraying can also be used with more or less toxic agents. Reflective distracts the insects’ visual systems stopping them from landing on surrounded crops, and artificial coatings can be used on fruits. Selective breeding and genetic interventions to produce disease resistance, provide an alternative where other methods are too expensive or impractical.

Commercially desirable characteristics such as sweet juicy fruits make plants more vulnerable to viruses. Insects find hairy plants less attractive to land on, increasing their resistance to infection. This principle explains why commercial thorn less roses can only be grown in glass houses.

Non native environments also increase vulnerability. Cassava or Manioc now a widely grown staple crop in Africa was introduced from South America over two hundred years ago. Cassava Mosaic virus is now a major agricultural problem in Africa.

“If you go back to the centre of origin of Cassava it is not found at all, or anything like it. Scientists think it must have come from the native African plants and found Cassava to be a better host.”
Dr Lawrence Kenyon

Making a Leap?

I asked the scientists just how big a leap can virus species make between hosts. They agree;
“Viruses can jump from dogs to wolves, pigs to people and some of the genes move between species. They get inside cells where they can grow so there needs to be enough similarity between the cell types. Every gardener knows humans don’t get sick from plant viruses, the cell receptors are too different. The biggest jump we have seen in nature is SARS, from birds to people. This is exceptional and still within vertebrates.”
Professor Angela McLean

“Plant viruses have evolved to affect plants, just a few will also affect the insect carrying vector. Animal cells produce antibodies to foreign material and a plant virus will be recognised as such so animals don’t get infected.”
Dr Lawrence Kenyon

Who’s Life is it Anyway?

Personally I consider finding acceptable mechanisms of virus prevention an example of a really difficult dilemma and wonder whether ‘natural’ gene pool conservation can be considered desirable and achievable in today’s fast moving society. I would also like to know whether human created computer viruses exhibit similar emergence patterns to human, animal and plant varieties. Certainly, migration and translation generate immensely complex evolutionary effects across the earth’s systems.

Christmas is here, and magic is in the air. On December the 24th children will be asleep in their beds hoping they’ve been good enough to have earned a visit from jolly old St. Nicholas – and this got me thinking about Santa Claus and his mystical existence. After much deliberating, I have come to a rather bizarre conclusion: Santa’s main occupation is not a magical delivery man, but a superb scientist. And his elves? They’re top notch research assistants, working away until Christmas day, to ensure every boy and girl around the world receive something special to make them smile. Of course, the sophisticated research and development programme behind Santa’s Christmas eve antics are top secret – but using a little scientific logic, I propose a few hypotheses of how Santa, and his faithful crew, might just do it.

The Science of the Sleigh

So let’s start by doing a little light maths. As of 2008, UNICEF calculated there were 2.2 billion children in the world under the age of 18. The average number of children per household across the world is 2.5, so that makes 880 million chimneys to visit. Over a land mass area of 58 million square miles, and assuming the houses are equidistant from each other, means Santa would have to travel about 229 million miles over the course of Christmas eve. That’s one major commute!

In order to reach every house in 24 hours Santa must visit over 36 million houses per hour (or 10,000 houses per second), at an average speed of 9.5 million miles per hour. But, in fact, Santa has 48 hours to deliver all the presents, because if you assume Santa will start delivering from the first country to pass through the international date line at midnight on December the 24th, he can then work against the rotation of the Earth, thus doubling his delivery time, and visiting 5,000 houses per second, at only 4.75 million miles per hour (ok, I haven’t taken into account the hours of darkness, but let’s not quibble) – piece of cake! Well, not quite, but it is not against the physical laws of relativity – Einstein showed the speed of light is absolute, and cannot be exceeded, but the speed of light is at around 186,000 miles per second, and Santa is travelling at a mere 1,319 miles per second, 141 times slower!

These, however, are not trivial speeds, and the technology required to allow Santa and his reindeer to withstand such large g-forces as would be experienced at 1,319 miles per second is something quite remarkable. The only way Santa could survive such force would be to create an artificial atmosphere around his sleigh which could respond to the accelerating force with some kind of reactionary anti-gravitational field. But there is another problem – Santa may be nowhere near the speed of light, but he would have to travel faster than the speed of sound (which is about 750 miles per hour). When an object exceeds the speed of sound there is a loud noise called “the sonic boom”. This happens because the travelling object catches up with the pressure waves it generates while moving, thus producing a shock wave, which is heard as a large bang. So why are we not continuously woken up on Christmas eve by Santa’s speedy sleigh? The technology we’re considering is already getting a little sci-fi, so why not propose teleportation?

Perhaps not quite as science fiction as one might think it was realised in 1998 when a group of physicists from the Californian Institute of Technology, along with two other groups from Europe, managed to successfully teleport a photon – a particle of energy that carries light – a few feet across a room, without crossing any physical distance in between. Since then in 2002, researchers from the Australian National University transported a laser beam, and most recently, in 2009 Christopher Monroe of the Joint Quantum Institute and his team, teleported matter in the form of a few sub atomic particles from one atom, to another. At the moment this is only possible for atomic and sub atomic particles because of their unusual physical properties which allows them to adopt an “entangled state”. Once two objects are entangled, their properties are inextricably linked and thus the state of one object instantly determines the state of the other, irrespective of physical distance. However, the teleportation of larger particles is theoretically not impossible, assuming one could recreate the atomic conditions of one place somewhere else, and entangle the atoms between the two locations together.

Our technologies are far from enabling Starship Enterprise-like travel, but then again, the elves might be intellectually superior to the human race, so if we can assume that Santa’s elves are much more technologically advanced in the field of quantum mechanics, perhaps Santa’s sleigh no longer needs to fly, and as the population of the world increased, technology met Santa’s growing demands, and he never had to let a child down at Christmas. This also conveniently overcomes the problem of chimneyless houses, and so I am happy to propose a modern day Santa has abandoned flight for a more modern approach of teleportation. So we may have a satisfactory hypothesis behind Santa’s travel technology, but what about those reindeer?

The Research behind Rudolph

My research into reindeer life-history revealed a shocking revelation regarding Rudolph’s true identity – he might, in fact, be a she. The history of Rudolph can be traced back to 1939, when a red nosed reindeer appeared in a book by Robert L. May, since then Rudolph has become a common part of Christmas folklore. However, though reindeer are the only deer species where both males and females possess antlers, the males lose theirs just after the mating season when they are no longer required for rutting, which means males do not bear antlers during the winter months. It is possible that due to the male dominated social politics of the time, Rudolph’s true identity was covered up, and she was masculinised. Another possible explanation for Rudolph’s antlers comes from traditional Sami practises. Sami’s (indigenous nomadic people of northern Scandinavia, many of whom still practise reindeer herding) castrate the male reindeer they use to pull or carry loads, in order to subdue aggressive tendencies during the breeding season. This alters the normal antler cycle and they tend to keep their antlers for longer than sexually functional males. So perhaps Santa, whose location has been suggested as Lapland in Northern Finland where Sami still live and herd their reindeer today, has adopted these practises.

The last mystery I want to tackle is that of Rudolph’s nose. In the dark dreary conditions of Christmas eve it is Rudolph’s responsibility to guide Santa’s sleigh safely through the night (or at least it was before the advancements of teleportation), but what makes his nose glow so bright? My guess is bioluminescence.
Bioluminescence describes the process where living animals are able to produce light by controlled chemical reactions. This impressive skill is used by many animals from marine to land, and microorganisms to vertebrates. For example, the Hawaiian Bobtail squid and the light producing bacteria Vibrio fischeri form a symbiotic relationship whereby each species helps the other out. The squid often falls prey to hunters at night, when they are most active. Squid feed near the surface of the water, and predators usually wait in the depths to look for shadows cast by the squid as they pass through the moonlit waters. In order to camouflage themselves, squid will house colonies of light producing bacteria on their underside which breaks up the shadow, and so, allows them to pass over the predator undetected. In return, the squid provides shelter and nutrients for the bacteria. So, could Rudolph have a similar symbiotic relationship with an arctic equivalent of Vibrio fischeri? The North Pole is dark for about six months of the year. A mutualism with a light producing microorganism would provide Rudolph with an evolutionary advantage, by allowing him to find food and other resources in the dark months. The bacteria would have to be extremophiles in order to survive the harsh conditions of the North Pole – extremophiles are organisms which are able to survive in extreme geological and physical conditions, such as in extraordinarily hot, acidic, or indeed, freezing conditions. By forming a mutualistic relationship with Rudolph, these bacteria would be exposed to far less extreme conditions, compared to the outside world. Overtime, both bacteria and Rudolph could evolve to be reliant on each-other for survival, and as such, a long term mutualism will evolve. If Santa realised its potential, he could perhaps even collect and culture the bacteria which live in Rudolph’s nose. This way he could artificially increase the intensity of light by inoculating Rudolph with an extra dose of bacteria when required – on Christmas eve.

Unfortunately we will never know how Santa does it. And perhaps, there is a little magic required for it to all come together, but if Clement Clark Moore knew what we did when he wrote “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, it might have read a little more like this:

“It’s the eve before Christmas, and all though the night
Santa is travelling with entangled flight,
With millions of children asleep in their beds,
The teleport keeps him one step ahead.
And silently working hard through the night,
The reindeer still sore from their castrated plight,
And relying on bugs in Rudolph’s red nose,
They pull with their might, though their tiredness grows
And as hours go on, and day is in sight,
They drop the last present off for the night,
And back to the pole, with a “beam me up Scotty”,
Santa can rest, with a well-earned hot toddy.”

Merry Christmas everyone.

Sources:
Many ideas and concepts from this article were taken from a wonderful book: “Can reindeer fly?”, by Roger Highfield

Additional Sources:
Olmschenk S., Matsukevich D.N., Maunz P., Hayes D., Duan L.M. & Monroe C. (2009). Quantum Teleportation Between Distant Matter Qubits. Science 323: 486-489.
Teleportation breakthrough made, Reported on BBC news by Paul Rincon, 2004
Photon teleportation achieved, Reported in the Cern Courier, 2000
Teleportation Milestone Achieved, Reported in LiveScience, 2009
Bubenik GA, Schams D, White RJ, Rowell J, Blake J, Bartos L (1997). Seasonal Levels of Reproductive Hormones and Their Relationship to the Antler Cycle of Male and Female Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part B: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 116: 269-277.
Why is Ruldolph’s nose red? By John Fuller, for TLC Family

‘Mind Change’

Baroness Susan Greenfield outlines the concept of ‘Mind Change’, which could be as significant as ‘Climate Change’ for the future of the human race, taking our brains to another dimension.

Mind Change describes the outcome of changes to the way our brains take in and process information becoming ‘hard wired’ as a result of prolific connection to digital technologies. This could have a profound effect on our thoughts, feelings, behaviour and relationships, ultimately affecting the cultural fabric of society.

Potential culprits are prolonged exposure to action packed sensory stimulation through computer games and bombardment with disjointed information from the internet, social networks and advertising. Neurological and psychological testing and informal reports indicate that on the one hand rapid decision making, co-ordination and performance on traditional IQ tests may improve. However, distracted attention resulting in shallow processing and reclusive individualistic behaviour with increased risk taking, could be a drawback.

Lady Greenfield acknowledges that effects visible in humans may be complex and subtle while technology develops so rapidly that scientific measures struggle to keep pace, creating uncertainty for legislators and policy makers. Nevertheless, she reasons we cannot afford to ignore the possibility that our thought patterns could change beyond recognition, with implications as serious as climate change in terms of human sustainability and longevity.

By telephone, Lady Greenfield discussed her ideas for a novel which have emerged during her lifetime researching neuroscience, pharmacology and the brain.

Describe your current interest?

One hundred years from now, we could be creating a society where cybernisation of the planet is the norm, especially as innovations like high definition TV become more and more vivid. This could have a profound effect on human consciousness, skills and relationships. While prolonged participation in activities such as computer games can improve skills like sensory motor co-ordination and response speed they may reduce concentration and empathy resulting in shallower information processing and dramatically different ‘mindsets’.

This might sound speculative because it is difficult to prove effects when you can’t control what people take in from screens day to day. Scientists can’t prove a negative and safely say it hasn’t had an effect. All they can do is look at trends. As brains attempt to keep up with proliferation of media in the environment we could be looking at an economy of attention.

How are our brains affected by information in the environment?

Minds are like a mobile phone network with cheaper calls for more frequently used numbers, numbers can become blocked or be forgotten if rarely used. This mechanism is called synaptic plasticity. This network is vulnerable to ‘lost and stolen’ processes, ‘hacking’ and ‘spam’.

How would you describe a ‘sensory’ and a ‘cognitive’ experience?

A sensory experience provides sights, sounds, smells, and movement, for example going to a disco or skiing. A cognitive experience involves reading a book, having a conversation, looking for meaning and narrative. People need a balance of both. Screen technology encourages a bias towards the sensory and can literally ‘blow your mind’.

Beyond receiving digital information from screens, what are the possible effects for developments such as Nanotechnology and Synthetic Biology?

Emerging technologies, such as body monitoring systems using nanotechnology challenge the notion of the body’s firewall with the outside world, eroding our sense of privacy which opens us up to third party intervention and scenarios such like ‘Brain Hacking’.

What would you say to those who might call you a scare monger?

This is only justified only if you know it is not a problem and it isn’t too complacent to suggest everything is just fine. I would prefer to be called a scare monger and be proved wrong than sleepwalk my way into a future where it is too late.

Mind change is a neutral term which doesn’t imply a good thing or a bad thing, it is simply a description of how we may evolve. In writing a novel I am aware it is a personal view, not a textbook, a little like ‘brave new world’. I allude to where the science is real and introduce people to democracy, concepts and possibilities, ideas and predictions that emanate from science and are interesting enough to read for pleasure.
“We need to think ahead, becoming the master not the servant of technology, defining what we want it to do, otherwise we are not serving the next generation well”.

How effective are current methods for studying brain activity?

Brain imaging acts like a ‘virtual photograph’. You can’t see the movement and the exposure is too slow. It is also invasive and expensive. Tests given to people in the imager are ‘blunt tools’ and there are many effects occurring in a person’s individual internal environment during the scanning process that are difficult to control and affect the result. It is still better than doing nothing. Studying mechanisms such as attention bias in addiction in a laboratory can inform brain scanning, indicating what to look for.

Scientists need to collaborate with web designers and educators to decide new things that could be done to develop software and focus the many possible tasks for studying cognition, attention, emotion and behaviour.

How are our brains affected by the way we interact with technology?

Our interaction with computers is an ongoing two sided dialogue. We design them to help us in learning e.g. developing cognitive processes such as driving. At the same time our brains adapt to this environment and our skill base changes becoming more machine like.

Simulations are very powerful e.g analysis of electrical signals in the brain which occur before a movement is initiated still happen in people who are paralysed. Tapping into this could further our intimate connection with technology for example, using it to control a robotic arm.

What do you think about techniques such as Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)?

Neural connectivity is the basis of how we come to see the world a different way, working with different problems. This can involve responses to words as well as actual things. Presentation can affect development of goods and services, influencing risk taking and leadership in the workforce.

How does ‘climate change relate to the concept of ‘mind change’?

Mind change and climate change are both critical scenarios concerning governments and negotiations between countries. There is sometimes an idea that science can save us through climate policy and eco products. An example of how quickly mind change can happen is the way that everyone now recognises the telephone. It may affect boys and girls differently according to the technologies they interact with and influence relations with developing countries. Time spent in virtual environments could lead to behaviour which is individualistic, reclusive, and child like with a high level of greed, impulsivity and disregard for consequences.

How can scientists and society at large tackle Mind Change?

Scientists need to anticipate and ‘see’ potential future impacts, considering economics and taking a multidisciplinary approach with dialogues transcending academic disciplines.
Regulation sometimes isn’t helpful and the processes happen too late. It can appear negative, stopping people from doing things. Instead it is better to be constructive, consulting people and giving them alternatives.

“We need to focus on, education, not regulation and work with the art of the possible. I would like to hear what parents and children think.”

We could devise a questionnaire to measure parents concerns and look for effects of age and gender, making observations and looking for consensus.

How would you define Progress?

“Enabling people to reach their full potential, which is now higher than ever before, using the best mixture of skills and talents.”

Having spoken to Baroness Greenfield the concept of ‘mind change’ is a great way to describe something that is already here, with individuals affected to a matter of degree. At a societal level there are already signs of a backlash from screen addiction. In the UK on trains and buses, casual observation suggests that books and newspapers are as popular as mobile phones and laptops. On the high street the stationary market appears to be booming while people are flocking to spas retreats, fleeing the countryside in droves at the weekend, weather permitting.

From my point of view, while the science remains uncertain, nourishing my brain is a top priority. This involves participating in activities, and discussion including both sensory and cognitive components. Making it acceptable to rely solely on technology for information could allow new embodied cultural divides to really set in. Given its elusive nature, here is a danger that the concept of Mind Change could disappear from our conscious awareness and fail to benefit from the attention it deserves, leaving us wide open to isolation and erosion of our autonomy and identity.

Continuing to allow machines to shape us could affect our ability to deeply engage with complex material and relate to others, essential attributes for collectively combating global climate change. Our minds are perhaps the most important tool we have in terms of conserving the planet, so it seems essential the two concepts are considered hand in hand.

More Information:
Baroness Greenfield: http://www.pharm.ox.ac.uk/research/greenfield

It’s Halloween: time to turn down the lights, and gather round for a horrific tale of what waits for you in the shadows… luring you into its lair… creatures capable of turning ordinary souls into monsters… and beasts that can control your mind to carry out their evil bidding. This is a true story of some unpleasant parasites that might just be coming, for you.

Parasites survive by exploiting their hosts. A parasitic way of life is arguably one of the most successful on the planet. For every organism, there are parasites which can infect it. There are even parasites of parasites, and like a Russian doll, these get smaller still, until you begin to consider genetic parasites, which are no more than rogue pieces of DNA, manipulating the host genome to do its dirty work. What’s more, parasites have evolved some very sneaky ways to manipulate, control and deceive their hosts to ensure their survival and transmission. Here are a few particularly gruesome examples of parasitic tricks of the trade.

MASTERS OF MIND CONTROL

“Brainwashing” hosts to increase transmission rates is a common ploy for parasites. One of the better understood mechanisms is that of the parasitic protozoa; Toxoplasma gondii. T. gondii has two life stages, a sexual stage which takes part inside the gut of a cat, and an asexual phase where the parasite forms cysts within the brain and muscles of an intermediate host which can be any small mammal or bird. The parasite relies on the intermediate host falling prey to a feline in order to complete its lifecycle, and it has evolved a rather ingenious way of ensuring its transmission. Ajai Vyas and his team from Stanford University found that rodents infected with T. gondii seemed to be attracted by the smell of cat urine, an aroma uninfected individuals would actively avoid. Vyas found parasitic cysts tended to concentrate in the amygdala in the rodent’s brain. This part of the brain is associated with fear and anxiety, and they believe the parasite is able to target specific neural pathways in order to manipulate normal behavior of cat aversion, and as such, significantly increase the chances of the rodent becoming feline food.

Mosquitoes are a human ectoparasite (a parasite which lives outside the host), but these are not the pests I want to talk about. At times they can be a nuisance, but they can also make a deadly delivery. Malaria is one of the most important causes of human mortality in the modern world. The mosquito acts as a vector for the protist, Plasmodium falciparum (the organism which causes malaria), which uses the mosquito as an intermediate host in order to reach its target – humans. Research by Lacroix and his team found the malaria parasite was able to manipulate the behaviour of the mosquito, to find humans infected with the transmissible stage of malaria to be more attractive than other potential hosts. Others studies also showed differences in biting behaviour, with a decreased biting frequency during early infection (thus increasing the chances of host survival until the protist has time to develop), and increased biting frequency once the protist was infective to humans (thus increasing transmission rate). The mechanisms which the protist uses to alter its host’s behaviours are not understood, but research such a Vyas’s team into Toxoplasma gives hope that one day we might understand such mechanisms which could help develop better prevention strategies and ultimately save lives.

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

Some parasites are small and subtle, stealthily changing the characteristics of their host to increase transmission. Other parasites have more of a “bull in a china shop” approach with their host, as is the story of the hairworm and the grasshopper. Hairworms excrete a cocktail of chemicals into the grasshopper which mimic the natural neural signals, and so, highjack the grasshopper’s nervous system. This triggers suicidal “death leaps” into water, where the parasite needs to reach in order to complete its lifecycle. A grasshopper becomes infected after drinking larvae infested water. Once ingested, the worm will grow inside the grasshopper until it takes up almost its entire body cavity (only the legs and head will be unoccupied). At this point the grasshopper can been observed to take a suicidal spring into water, where (and here’s the gruesome bit) a worm, which is up to four times larger than the grasshopper, emerges from its rear end and swims off to find a mate. Hugh Loxdale, president of the London-based Royal Entomological Society, said “It’s one of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen… It makes the science fiction film Alien look pretty tame in comparison.”

Figure 1: The sequence of events as the hairworm emerges from its grasshopper host. The grasshopper irrationally jumps into the water (due to neural cues induced by the hairworm), and once in contact with the water, the worm emerges and swims away to find a mate. The grasshopper, inevitably, dies.
Credit: VB Films/CNRS Images Media

Figure 2: The tongue-eating louse eats and replaces its host’s tongue and feeds.
Credit: Dr. Nico Smit

Talking of Alien, does figure 2 remind you of anything? This terrifying invader is Cymothoa exigua, more commonly known as the tongue-eating louse. This little louse enters its host fish through the gills, and attaches itself to the base of the tongue. Frontal claws are used to drain blood from the tongue until it wastes away. The parasite then attaches itself to the muscles of the tongue’s stub, and replaces the organ. Gruesome as it seems, the parasite does not appear to cause any additional damage to its host, feeding only on small amounts of blood and mucus from the fish’s mouth, and the fish can use its new squatter almost as it would its old tongue. It is unknown how long this association can last, but neither the host nor the parasite benefit from the fish’s death, and so it seems, the partnership could potentially last a lifetime.

THE PARADOXICAL PARASITE

As a final note, I thought I’d end on a horrid high note. The concept of a harmonious hookworm might seem contradictory, but sometimes the dark forces can be used for good. The hookworm is very prevalent within the third world. Infection is usually caused by walking barefoot in soil contaminated with faecal matter. The worm will burrow into the foot and migrate through the vascular system to the lungs. From there they crawl up the trachea, and are swallowed in order to reach the digestive system. Their final resting place is in the intestine where they latch onto the intestine wall and feed off the host’s blood. In large numbers these critters can cause anaemia and protein deficiency, including emaciation, cardiac failure and abdominal distension. So why, you might ask, would people in the developed world be purposefully infecting themselves with such vile creatures?

Autoimmune diseases; such as Crohn’s disease, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome (IBD), multiple sclerosis, type I diabetes and allergies, are common in the developed world. In these diseases an over-reactive immune system begins to attack the body, which can result in some serious complications. The “hygiene hypothesis” proposes that the increased rate of autoimmune diseases has been caused by over-sterility of the environment during early childhood. Reducing exposure to infectious agents such as microorganisms and parasites (which in evolutionary terms our body is evolved to encounter) during the maturation of the immune responses might have negative effects. Under-stimulation of the immune system during early years can lead to an overactive long term response to foreign agents in the body; the result is an autoimmune disease.

This has led to the development of “helminthic therapy”, which is the use of parasitic helminths (worms) to “dampen down” the response of the immune system. It is not entirely clear how the immune responds to the worms, but patients suffering from autoimmune disorders have too many over-sensitive T-helper cells (which identify potentially dangerous agents and mark them for irradiation by the body’s “solider cells” such as macrophages and antibodies). T-cells are self-regulating, and so activation of certain types (in this case, by the presence of the worms) will result in the deactivation of others. Under these conditions a negative feedback is established, and eventually, a healthy balance can be established.

So would you be tempted to take a drink of probiotic parasitic worms to treat your hay fever, or IBD? There are now many subscribers to the new treatments, and so far the reports back are very positive. But more research is required to understand the specific relationship between the parasite and host, and how numbers and transmission rates are to be controlled.

And so, perhaps you were disgusted, intrigued, or even converted by my horrific tales of parasite behaviour. Writing this article, I for one was amazed at how parasites have evolved so many ways to manipulate and deceive their hosts, but I’m not sure I want one of my own yet!

SOURCES

• Parasite “Brainwashes” Rats Into Craving Cat Urine, Study Finds By Ben Harder for National Geographic News, 2007
• Vyas A, Kim SK, Giacomini N, Boothroyd JC, Sapolsky RM (2007). Behavioral changes induced by Toxoplasma infection of rodents are highly specific to aversion of cat odors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104: 6442-6447.
• Lacroix R, Mukabana WR, Gouagna LC, Koella JC (2005). Malaria Infection Increases Attractiveness of Humans to Mosquitoes. PLoS Biol 3: e298.
• Suicide Grasshoppers Brainwashed by Parasite Worms, By James Owen for National Geographoc News, 2005
• Biron DG, Marche L, Ponton F, Loxdale HD, Galeotti N, Renault L et al (2005). Behavioural manipulation in a grasshopper harbouring hairworm: a proteomics approach. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences 272: 2117-2126.
• Brusca RC, Gilligan MR (1983). Tongue Replacement in a Marine Fish (Lutjanus guttatus) by a Parasitic Isopod (Crustacea: Isopoda). Copeia 1983: 813-816.
• Eat worms – feel better, Reported on BBC news, 2003
  Reddy A, Fried B (2009). An update on the use of helminths to treat Crohn’s and other autoimmunune diseases. Parasitology Research 104: 217-221.
• McKay DM (2006). The beneficial helminth parasite? Parasitology 132: 1-12.

Well…erm…

OK, I will have shocked you nicely and perhaps intrigued you almost as much with the blog title. Indeed, the title is not altogether different from Dr Petra Boynton’s title of her Science Oxford Live talk that she gave on 7th October, and I suspect it intrigued just as many people. (As an occasional volunteer at Science Oxford Live, I had said I would be available on that date, and was amused to receive an e-mail reply saying that “I’ve put you down for The Brain on 30th September, and Sex on 7th October”!)

Dr Petra Boynton describes herself as a “Sex educator, Agony Aunt, Academic” on her website, and goes on to say that she is involved in academic research (focussed on sex and relationships in themselves but also on how policy, modernisation and new technologies may affect sexual education and sexual health in various countries), but also in teaching doctors, nurses and other health professionals about sex education. And she certainly comes across as an engaging speaker – but then I guess you’d have to be, with that sort of field of research, wouldn’t you?

Dr Boynton was one of the speakers asked to come back ‘by popular demand’ to Science Oxford Live as part of its 5th birthday celebrations and she certainly proved why she had been so popular the first time round. Her very engaging style contrasted greatly with the most simplistic presentation I had ever seen, consisting only of a set of questions, one per slide. “Those that were asked by previous audiences at talks, in e-mails and past discussions”, she told us, suggesting that they would give a good framework for the talk to come.

“What is sex?” the as-yet shy audience were asked. There were some suggestions about the “special cuddle” and the thing that happens “when a man loves a woman”, but Dr Boynton was having none of that, putting up a list of all the things that sex might represent. For those of you intrigued, these may include anything from masturbation (alone or with a partner), to vaginal penetration, and through more obscure practices such as BDSM (the audience appeared pleased that one of us had the courage to ask what this acronym means!) to phone/text/e-mail sex (the interesting question being, do you have to be in physical contact with someone to be having sex?). In fact, rather interestingly, Dr Boynton pointed out that such lack of clarity can often confuse some sex surveys, because people don’t always agree on what sex actually means!

“Why do people have sex?”, she continued. It appeared that the audience was slightly more conservative with their answers (“because it feels good” or “to have children”) than some of the undergraduate students that had previously answered a survey carried out to find out the answer to this question (amongst others), with their more bizarre answers ranging from “wanting to feel closer to God”, “being bored” and simply “feeling like it”. On a more serious note, Dr Boynton explained that sometimes sexual education for teenagers concentrates far too much on the sexual health itself rather than trying to encourage young people to find things to do that they enjoy, and as a result not be subject to the boredom that often leads them to have sex simply because they’re bored (a fact I didn’t know before, but apparently the prevalence of teenage pregnancies goes up in the summer school holiday months).

“How do you research sex?”, you might have wondered. Well, so did many other people before you and Petra duly explained that, to many people’s disappointment, much of this work is carried out through surveys and by analysing study subjects’ “sex diaries”. And although experiments in the lab, where the subjects are wired up to measure all sorts of bodily signals (eg. brain activity) whilst having sex, are carried out, these are much rarer because of the unnaturalness of the whole set-up (apparently it takes a couple quite a lot of practice to be able to have sex in a laboratory whilst managing to be wired up to several different machines…).

In that vein, Dr Boynton’s talk continued, covering questions ranging from whether female ejaculate exists and what it is, what the correct erection etiquette during dancing is (what should you do – as either the bloke or the girl – if a man and a woman dance together, with the guy getting excited and this being noticed?), how often one should have sex (apparently, there isn’t a “should” about this, and the answer is very individual), all the way to whether she used to scare men away when dating when she told them what her job was. And although shy at the beginning, as a result of Dr Boynton’s flamboyant and open attitude and approach, the audience got more and more drawn in to discussing a topic that is often seen as a taboo even though it shouldn’t be (nevertheless, I am still debating how best to cover the talk in this blog without offending anyone!). By the end of the talk, people were happy to ask questions (even though there had been a box provided before the talk for anonymous questions, if they existed), and the talk provided a partly light-hearted but partly serious discussion on a topic that almost everyone knows something about.

You can read more about Dr Petra Boynton on http://www.drpetra.co.uk/ and you can watch her talk via the webcasting section of the Science Oxford Live website http://www.scienceoxfordlive.com/watch-us-archive/science-oxford-live-s-greatest-hits-sex-webcast

How Do Scientists Compute Probabilities for Near-Earth Object Collisions with Earth?

OK, there will probably not be an Apocalypse, but scientists did discover an asteroid that has a 1 in 1000 chance of hitting Earth in 2182. It’s really far away and a pretty low probability, so why should anyone
care? Well, it’s not quite like 1 in 1000 chance that someone will lose 100 bucks in a stupid bet or a 1 in 1000 chance that it rains on someone’s wedding day. This is a 1 in 1000 chance that millions, billions (or trillions by that point?) of humans beings and countless other species may be vaporized. That’s why. 172 years is not exactly a long time on the scale of the universe either.

How do scientists come up with this probability? They could just be making it up and no one would know the difference…but they’re not. They use a technique called Monte Carlo simulation. They make a mathematical model of the situation at hand – in this case, an asteroid and the Earth in orbit around the Sun. The orbit of the Earth is very well-known, but the orbit of the asteroid is not known as well and may even change a bit. Many simulations – or trials – are run, each with slightly different conditions. The different conditions may be, for example, slight variations on current position, size, speed and rotation of the asteroid based on what is already known about it from measurements. The number of simulations run must make it so that the determined probability of the event in question – in this case, the asteroid hitting Earth – is statistically significant.

Statistical Significance and Rare Events

As an example of what statistically significant means, imagine flipping a coin. Each flip is a simulation. If the coin is flipped twice, it may land head-head by chance. One could say from the two simulations that a coin has a 100% probability of landing heads up, but this is incorrect. It happened by chance that there were two heads. If the two-flip experiment were run again, the experiment would probably not yield the same results.

Many simulations have to be run so that nothing is left to chance. If the coin were flipped 100 times, there would probably be close to 50 heads…if it were flipped 1000 times, it would probably be even closer to
500 heads, meaning that the probability of getting heads is approaching 50%. An experiment of 100 coin flips gives a statistically significant estimate, where two flips does not. The two-flip experiment would change a lot between different experiments, but the 100-flip experiment would not change that much between experiments. This is the crux of statistical significance.

The number of simulations required depends inversely on how likely the event is. If the event is rare, like an asteroid hitting Earth, 1000 simulations may be run, all of them without the event occurring. This doesn’t mean that the event will never occur. It is just likely that it doesn’t occur in the first 1000 simulations, so many, many more simulations need to occur.

As more and more simulations are run, it is less and less likely that something happened by chance and a more accurate probability can be determined. Possibly millions of simulations are needed to determine the probability of such a rare event with any statistical significance. The lack of respect for statistical significance leads to a lot of bad science.

Why this asteroid is significant (in the non-statistical context)

This isn’t the first asteroid discovered that may collide with Earth someday, but this asteroid is special. It was determined that if this asteroid needed to be deflected to avoid hitting Earth, it would have to be deflected before 2080 because of the uncertainty in its path due to the Yarkovsky effect. The Yarkovsky effect changes the trajectory of the asteroid because it is radiating absorbed heat from the sun while rotating, which causes a force on the asteroid.

Discovering this asteroid suggests that the window for searching for Earth-bound asteroids should be extended beyond the current window of 100 years, because if this asteroid were not discovered until 2080, we would not be able to change its course with technology we have available today.

Article by Tiffany Taylor

The reign of Big Brother may have come to an end, but relatively recent craze of reality TV shows have allowed us to become bystanders to the lives of strangers, and the increasing usage of surveillance technology means there are few places we are completely “off the radar”. But can the knowledge of being watched change our perception of decency? And perhaps, could it be used to create a more honest and generous society?

In the University of Newcastle an ethologist, Melissa Bateson, wanted to see whether she could manipulate her colleagues’ generosity through subtle visual cues. An honesty box had been in use for many years in the University staff room to cover the cost of tea and coffee. Above the honesty box at eye level an image was placed which alternated weekly between eyes and flowers (Figure 1). The results showed that just the photocopied image of a pair of eyes was enough to significantly increase the weekly contribution compared to an image of flowers. This suggested that people were more likely to contribute if they felt like their actions were being watched. The researchers believed this behaviour was driven by a desire to maintain a positive reputation within a social group.

This result is perhaps not surprising, but it conjured up a number of questions for me: why do we feel the need to maintain this reputation, is it through fear of punishment, or hope of reward? Can such behaviour be observed in other animals? And, can it be used to influence and manipulate social groups?

The Evolution of Being Nice

It’s not only humans that have this concern for social perception, Bshary and Gutter found the cleaner wrasse fish (which forms a mutualism with larger fish helping clear them of parasites) must be seen to be honest before it will be allowed a meal. Occasionally cleaner fish will “cheat” and take small nips out of a bigger fish’s flesh, however, if caught in the act by another potential customer they are less likely to get a feed and may also be subject to punishment by the violated client. As such, it’s been shown that the presence of bystanders will reduce the frequency of cheating behaviour. Punishment for bad behaviour is also used by meerkats. In this hierarchical society it is only the dominant female who is allowed to breed, as she requires the help of the whole group to maximise the survival of all her offspring. If however, a subordinate female is showing signs of pregnancy, the dominant female will harass the subordinate resulting in the abortion her foetus. These examples are based on punishment, but there are also social groups which reward “good” behaviour. The vampire bat requires a nightly blood meal in order to survive, but sometimes they inevitably come home after a night foraging with empty bellies. The bat will beg to a neighbour in the hope that they may take pity and share a small amount of their blood meal, the neighbour can either choose to regurgitate a small amount or keep his dinner to himself. However, those which are not charitable are more likely to be refused a meal in the future when it is their time of need. As such, it pays to be seen being sympathetic, as the donator knows they are likely to be returned the favour in the future. Explaining the maintenance of cooperation in a group has been a tricky biological problem, what is to stop free-loading and uneven contribution? But “enforced cooperation”, i.e. a mechanism which rewards those that cooperate and punishes those who exploit, could help explain how cooperative behaviour is maintained. In terms of human evolution it is thought this theory of reciprocity, that is be nice to those who have been nice to you in the past, has been an important mechanism in the evolution of our own cooperative behaviour, therefore it makes sense that being “seen to be kind” might be engrained in our psychology and provide a direct benefit in a highly social group, such as humans.

“Did you see that?”

Psychologists are well aware of people’s desire to appear to be contributing to society or “prosocial” behaviour to use the jargon. This made me contemplate ways that we could be influenced, and even manipulated, by clever use of an implied witness to our actions creating a sense of accountability. Two very interesting studies showed how people might be manipulated subconsciously to become more generous by invoking the thought of an invisible presence. The first study was by Azim Shariff and Ara Norenzayan who invited participants to play a game whereby they were given $10 each, and could choose whether to share any of it with an anonymous player. Before the game commenced, participants were asked to unscramble sentences which were designed to prime either the notion of a God, thoughts of a civic institution, or some other neutral prime. Results showed that participants who had been primed to invoke the image of a God or a non-religious altruistic community gave more than $4 on average (this was independent of whether the participant claimed to be religious or not), compared to $2.56 which was the average amount given away by those primed with neutral content.

In the second experiment, Kevin Haley and Daniel Fessel played an identical game to that described above, however this time the experimenters had one of two images displayed on a computer desktop when the participant entered the room. Half the participants saw a stylised depiction of the human eye, whereas the others saw a warehouse background (Figure 2). Here, the results show participants exposed to the eyes gave on average 55% more, compared to those which were not exposed ($3.79 compared with $2.45).

“With great power, comes great responsibility”

I find this potential for subtle manipulation a bit disconcerting and wondered what role it might play in policing and consumerism today. Here is an example of research which could theoretically be applied for “the greater good”. Using psychology to influence the perception of being watched giving accountability for our actions might, in fact, encourage cooperative and prosocial behaviour, but can we justify using manipulation and subconscious stimuli to control social groups based on this fact? Or am I being naive to think it isn’t already used as a tool in today’s society? In my opinion, it’s all seems a bit nineteen eighty-four to me.

SOURCES
Bateson M., Nettle D., and Roberts G. (2006). Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting. Biology Letters 2: 412-414.
Bshary R., and Grutter A.S. (2006). Image scoring and cooperation in a cleaner fish mutualism. Nature 441: 975-978.
West S.A., Griffin A.S., and Gardner A. (2007). Evolutionary Explanations for Cooperation. Current Biology 17: R661-R672.
Jaeggi A.V., Burkart J.M., and Van Schaik C.P. (2010) On the psychology of cooperation in humans and other primates: combining the natural history and experimental evidence of prosociality. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 365: 2723-2735.
Shariff A.F., Norenzayan A. (2007). God Is Watching You. Psychological Science 18: 803-809.
Haley K.J., Fessler D.M.T. (2005). Nobody’s watching?: Subtle cues affect generosity in an anonymous economic game. Evolution and Human Behavior 26: 245-256.

Article image credit: Big Brother 2011: The eye has been revealed Photo: ©Channel 4

In Egypt there are stories of supernatural activities surrounding the tombs of ancient kings. It is said that the hieroglyphics etched into tomb walls frequently carry warnings of ‘Pharanoic hexes’ for those who may wish to steal from or disturb the resting king. So when a number of people present at the excavation of Tutankhamen’s tomb died under mysterious circumstances, was it down to black magic, bad luck or biological bugs?

On February 17th 1923, a crowd gathered in the ‘Valley of the Kings’ to witness Howard Carter’s team unseal the infamous Tutankhamen’s burial chamber. The excavation revealed treasures fit for a king, whose body still lay resting in his extravagant solid gold coffin.

However, this tale of discovery took a more gruesome turn when in April 1923 a number of those which were present at the excavation allegedly began dying under mysterious circumstances. First to meet his maker was the project’s chief financier, Lord Carnavon, though this was equated to a mosquito bite that he received while on expedition which later became infected. Still, rumours began to flourish and reports of a “mummy’s curse” hit the headlines.

Soon after, the media reported many other deaths which were claimed to be linked to the curse: Lord Carnavon’s brother; Howard Carter’s assistant; Lady Elizabeth Carnarvon; Carter’s partner; two Egyptian workmen; and the financier, George Jay Gould I.

HEX OR HOGWASH?

Along with these deaths followed a media runaway reporting curses and black magic. Such fantastical claims enraged the archaeological and scientific communities and researchers made every attempt disprove the sensationalist stories emerging from the press. Until eighty years later when an Australian scientist, Mark Nelson, published a study which showed the survival rates of forty-four Westerners connected with the excavation, twenty-five of which were present at the opening of the tomb, or examination of the mummy. He found no significant difference in the average age of death to those which had been exposed to the ‘mummy’s curse’ by physical contact with the tomb or mummy, and those which were unexposed. And so it seemed the deaths surrounding King Tut’s final farewell were a concoction of coincidence and media hype.

CASE CLOSED?

But like all good ghost stories, the tales continued to be told, and this has resulted in some interesting research which might reopen the case of ‘the mummy’s curse’.

Modern studies have shown pathogenic microbiological agents such as bacteria and fungal moulds are present in Egyptian tombs. Food was left for the deceased deity as part of the burial ritual and combined with rotting flesh this would encourage the growth of microbiological nasties. Theoretical work initiated by a French scientist, Sylvain Gandon, has hypothesised that the longer a pathogen is able to survive outside the host in a dormant state (such as a spore), the more harmful the infection is likely to be; and pathogens with such life-histories, like Anthrax, could have described Lord Carnavon’s demise. Since this paper was published in 1998, there have been a large number of theoretical and empirical studies to extend the hypothesis, but the jury is still out as to whether such competition between infective agents is common in nature – but there is certainly an argument for its existence in certain scenarios. Kenneth Feder (co-editor of the book Dangerous Places: Health, Safety, and Archaeology) agrees that there is “at least a possibility of being exposed to some nasty stuff”.

MORAL OF THE STORY

I believe the morals of this story are twofold. Firstly, it is an important science lesson not to immediately dismiss the improbable as impossible; by approaching such myths and magical tales with a logical and scientific head, what was once a bedtime story can become a route to discovery and innovation. For example, Darwin’s theory of natural selection, or Einstein’s general theory of relativity, could never have been developed had they just believed what they had been told. Secondly, this story highlights the dangers of sensationalised science. The media has a reputation for dramatising its articles in order to sell stories, and science has in no way been spared. Ignoring expert advice and favouring scaremongering has led to a drop in MMR vaccinations due to its unverified links with autism, and the media are now moving to attacking the cervical cancer vaccination with headlines like “Eight deaths linked to labour’s new sex jab for school girls” (source article). I don’t think calling it a “sex jab for schoolgirls” was really the message the scientists who developed this revolutionary drug were trying to send. That is not to say scientists are faultless in this relationship. Poor communication between public and academic factions means messages can get lost in translation, and it is often this misunderstanding which can lead to fear and suspicion of new scientific advancements in the public eye. Either way, mutual trust must be established between the media and scientific communities to ensure the public are aware of new research and discoveries being made today; otherwise science just becomes a ‘secret club’ and the consequence is surely a stifling of discovery.

And so, I will end with this thought: whether it was deadly spores, ghostly curses or natural causes which resulted in the deaths surrounding King Tut’s excavation, it has produced some interesting research; some lessons in exploration and science communication; and, a great bedtime story.

SOURCES
The Curse of the Pharaohs: Truth, Myth or Microbiology? By Tracy Morris for Firefox News, 2009

Kamo M, Boots M (2004). The curse of the pharaoh in space: free-living infectious stages and the evolution of virulence in spatially explicit populations. Journal of Theoretical Biology 231: 435-441.

Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing”the fear and folly of nuclear weapons.” It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming.

Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) published results today describing the successful construction of the first self-replicating, synthetic bacterial cell. The team synthesised the 1.08 million base pair chromosome of a modified Mycoplasma mycoides genome. The synthetic cell is called Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 and is the proof of principle that genomes can be designed in the computer, chemically made in the laboratory and transplanted into a recipient cell to produce a new self-replicating cell controlled only by the synthetic genome.

This research will be published by Daniel Gibson et al in the 20th May edition of Science Express and will appear in an upcoming print issue of Science.

‘For nearly 15 years Ham Smith, Clyde Hutchison and the rest of our team have been working toward this publication today – the successful completion of our work to construct a bacterial cell that is fully controlled by a synthetic genome,’ said J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., founder and president, JCVI and senior author on the paper. ‘We have been consumed by this research, but we have also been equally focused on addressing the societal implications of what we believe will be one of the most powerful technologies and industrial drivers for societal good. We look forward to continued review and dialogue about the important applications of this work to ensure that it is used for the benefit of all.’

According to Dr Smith, ‘With this first synthetic bacterial cell and the new tools and technologies we developed to successfully complete this project, we now have the means to dissect the genetic instruction set of a bacterial cell to see and understand how it really works.’

To complete this final stage in the nearly 15 year process to construct and boot up a synthetic cell, JCVI scientists began with the accurate, digitised genome of the bacterium, M. mycoides. The team designed 1,078 specific cassettes of DNA that were 1,080 base pairs long. These cassettes were designed so that the ends of each DNA cassette overlapped each of its neighbours by 80bp. The cassettes were made according to JCVI’s specifications by the DNA synthesis company, Blue Heron Biotechnology.

The JCVI team employed a three stage process using their previously described yeast assembly system to build the genome using the 1,078 cassettes. The first stage involved taking 10 cassettes of DNA at a time to build 110, 10,000 bp segments. In the second stage, these 10,000 bp segments are taken 10 at a time to produce eleven, 100,000 bp segments. In the final step, all 11, 100 kb segments were assembled into the complete synthetic genome in yeast cells and grown as a yeast artificial chromosome.

The complete synthetic M. mycoides genome was isolated from the yeast cell and transplanted into Mycoplasma capricolum recipient cells that have had the genes for its restriction enzyme removed. The synthetic genome DNA was transcribed into messenger RNA, which in turn was translated into new proteins. The M. capricolum genome was either destroyed by M. mycoides restriction enzymes or was lost during cell replication. After two days viable M. mycoides cells, which contained only synthetic DNA, were clearly visible on petri dishes containing bacterial growth medium.

The initial synthesis of the synthetic genome did not result in any viable cells so the JCVI team developed an error correction method to test that each cassette they constructed was biologically functional. They did this by using a combination of 100 kb natural and synthetic segments of DNA to produce semi-synthetic genomes. This approach allowed for the testing of each synthetic segment in combination with 10 natural segments for their capacity to be transplanted and form new cells. Ten out of 11 synthetic fragments resulted in viable cells; therefore the team narrowed the issue down to a single 100 kb cassette. DNA sequencing revealed that a single base pair deletion in an essential gene was responsible for the unsuccessful transplants. Once this one base pair error was corrected, the first viable synthetic cell was produced.

Dr Gibson stated, ‘To produce a synthetic cell, our group had to learn how to sequence, synthesise, and transplant genomes. Many hurdles had to be overcome, but we are now able to combine all of these steps to produce synthetic cells in the laboratory.’ He added, ‘We can now begin working on our ultimate objective of synthesising a minimal cell containing only the genes necessary to sustain life in its simplest form. This will help us better understand how cells work.’

This publication represents the construction of the largest synthetic molecule of a defined structure; the genome is almost double the size of the previous Mycoplasma genitalium synthesis. With this successful proof of principle, the group will now work on creating a minimal genome, which has been a goal since 1995. They will do this by whittling away at the synthetic genome and repeating transplantation experiments until no more genes can be disrupted and the genome is as small as possible. This minimal cell will be a platform for analysing the function of every essential gene in a cell.

According to Dr Hutchison, ‘To me the most remarkable thing about our synthetic cell is that its genome was designed in the computer and brought to life through chemical synthesis, without using any pieces of natural DNA. This involved developing many new and useful methods along the way. We have assembled an amazing group of scientists that have made this possible.’

As in the team’s 2008 publication in which they described the successful synthesis of the M. genitalium genome, they designed and inserted into the genome what they called watermarks. These are specifically designed segments of DNA that use the ‘alphabet’ of genes and proteins that enable the researcher to spell out words and phrases. The watermarks are an essential means to prove that the genome is synthetic and not native, and to identify the laboratory of origin. Encoded in the watermarks is a new DNA code for writing words, sentences and numbers. In addition to the new code there is a web address to send emails to if you can successfully decode the new code, the names of 46 authors and other key contributors and three quotations: ‘TO LIVE, TO ERR, TO FALL, TO TRIUMPH, TO RECREATE LIFE OUT OF LIFE.’ – JAMES JOYCE; ‘SEE THINGS NOT AS THEY ARE, BUT AS THEY MIGHT BE.’ – A quote from the book, ‘American Prometheus’; ‘WHAT I CANNOT BUILD, I CANNOT UNDERSTAND.’ – RICHARD FEYNMAN.

The JCVI scientists envision that the knowledge gained by constructing this first self-replicating synthetic cell, coupled with decreasing costs for DNA synthesis, will give rise to wider use of this powerful technology. This will undoubtedly lead to the development of many important applications and products including biofuels, vaccines, pharmaceuticals, clean water and food products. The group continues to drive and support ethical discussion and review to ensure a positive outcome for society.

Funding for this research came from Synthetic Genomics Inc., a company co-founded by Drs. Venter and Smith.

Bats’ remarkable ability to ‘see’ in the dark uses the echoes from their own calls to decipher the shape of their dark surroundings. This process, known as echolocation, allows bats to perceive their surroundings in great detail, detecting insect prey or identifying threatening predators, and is a skill that engineers are hoping to replicate.

A team of British researchers has worked with six adult Egyptian fruit bats from Tropical World in Leeds to record and recreate their calls. These calls are pairs of ‘clicks’ from the bats’ tongues that they use to fill their surroundings with acoustic energy; the echoes that return allow the bats to form an image of their environment.

New research published today, Tuesday 11 May, in IOP Publishing’s Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, describes how engineers and biologists from the Universities of Strathclyde and Leeds worked with the bats to record their double-click echolocation call, and its returning echoes, using a miniature wireless microphone sensor mounted on the bat whilst in flight.

During echolocation, some bats are known to use a natural acoustic gain control. This allows them to emit high-intensity calls without deafening themselves, and then to hear the weak echoes returning from surrounding objects. The researchers replicated this system in electronics to allow the sensor to record both the emitted and reflected echolocation signals, providing an insight into the full echolocation process.

The six bats performed up to sixteen flights each along a flight corridor. Each flight was short – lasting only about three seconds – but, with the bats’ clicks only lasting a quarter of a millisecond, a large number of calls were recorded for the scientists to analyse.

Once back into the laboratory, the researchers were able to accurately recreate the echolocation calls using a custom-built ultrasonic loudspeaker. This technique will allow the signals and processes bats use to be applied to human engineering systems such as sonar. Specifically, the researchers are looking to apply these techniques in the positioning of robotic vehicles, used in structural testing applications.

Lead author Simon Whiteley from the Centre for Ultrasonic Engineering at the University of Strathclyde, said, “We aim to understand the echolocation process that bats have evolved over millennia, and employ similar signals and techniques in engineering systems. We are currently looking to apply these methods to positioning of robotic vehicles, which are used for structural testing. This will provide enhanced information on the robots’ locations, and hence the location of any structural flaws they may detect.”

A team of scientists from Columbia University, Arizona State University, the University of Michigan, and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have programmed an autonomous molecular “robot” made out of DNA to start, move, turn, and stop while following a DNA track.

The development could ultimately lead to molecular systems that might one day be used for medical therapeutic devices and molecular-scale reconfigurable robots—robots made of many simple units that can reposition or even rebuild themselves to accomplish different tasks.

A paper describing the work appears in the current issue of the journal Nature.

The traditional view of a robot is that it is “a machine that senses its environment, makes a decision, and then does something—it acts,” says Erik Winfree, associate professor of computer science, computation and neural systems, and bioengineering at Caltech.

Milan N. Stojanovic, a faculty member in the Division of Experimental Therapeutics at Columbia University, led the project and teamed up with Winfree and Hao Yan, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Arizona State University and an expert in DNA nanotechnology, and with Nils G. Walter, professor of chemistry and director of the Single Molecule Analysis in Real-Time (SMART) Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, for what became a modern-day self-assembly of like-minded scientists with the complementary areas of expertise needed to tackle a tough problem.

Shrinking robots down to the molecular scale would provide, for molecular processes, the same kinds of benefits that classical robotics and automation provide at the macroscopic scale. Molecular robots, in theory, could be programmed to sense their environment (say, the presence of disease markers on a cell), make a decision (that the cell is cancerous and needs to be neutralized), and act on that decision (deliver a cargo of cancer-killing drugs).

Or, like the robots in a modern-day factory, they could be programmed to assemble complex molecular products. The power of robotics lies in the fact that once programmed, the robots can carry out their tasks autonomously, without further human intervention.

With that promise, however, comes a practical problem: how do you program a molecule to perform complex behaviors?

“In normal robotics, the robot itself contains the knowledge about the commands, but with individual molecules, you can’t store that amount of information, so the idea instead is to store information on the commands on the outside,” says Walter. And you do that, says Stojanovic, “by imbuing the molecule’s environment with informational cues.”

“We were able to create such a programmed or ‘prescribed’ environment using DNA origami,” explains Yan. DNA origami, an invention by Caltech Senior Research Associate Paul W. K. Rothemund, is a type of self-assembled structure made from DNA that can be programmed to form nearly limitless shapes and patterns (such as smiley faces or maps of the Western Hemisphere or even electrical diagrams). Exploiting the sequence-recognition properties of DNA base pairing, DNA origami are created from a long single strand of DNA and a mixture of different short synthetic DNA strands that bind to and “staple” the long DNA into the desired shape. The origami used in the Nature study was a rectangle that was 2 nanometers (nm) thick and roughly 100 nm on each side.

The researchers constructed a trail of molecular “bread crumbs” on the DNA origami track by stringing additional single-stranded DNA molecules, or oligonucleotides, off the ends of the staples. These represent the cues that tell the molecular robots what to do—start, walk, turn left, turn right, or stop, for example—akin to the commands given to traditional robots.

The molecular robot the researchers chose to use—dubbed a “spider”—was invented by Stojanovic several years ago, at which time it was shown to be capable of extended, but undirected, random walks on two-dimensional surfaces, eating through a field of bread crumbs.

To build the 4-nm-diameter molecular robot, the researchers started with a common protein called streptavidin, which has four symmetrically placed binding pockets for a chemical moiety called biotin. Each robot leg is a short biotin-labeled strand of DNA, “so this way we can bind up to four legs to the body of our robot,” Walter says. “It’s a four-legged spider,” quips Stojanovic. Three of the legs are made of enzymatic DNA, which is DNA that binds to and cuts a particular sequence of DNA. The spider also is outfitted with a “start strand”—the fourth leg—that tethers the spider to the start site (one particular oligonucleotide on the DNA origami track). “After the robot is released from its start site by a trigger strand, it follows the track by binding to and then cutting the DNA strands extending off of the staple strands on the molecular track,” Stojanovic explains.

“Once it cleaves,” adds Yan, “the product will dissociate, and the leg will start searching for the next substrate.” In this way, the spider is guided down the path laid out by the researchers. Finally, explains Yan, “the robot stops when it encounters a patch of DNA that it can bind to but that it cannot cut,” which acts as a sort of flypaper.

Although other DNA walkers have been developed before, they’ve never ventured farther than about three steps. “This one,” says Yan, “can walk up to about 100 nanometers. That’s roughly 50 steps.”

“This in itself wasn’t a surprise,” adds Winfree, “since Milan’s original work suggested that spiders can take hundreds if not thousands of processive steps. What’s exciting here is that not only can we directly confirm the spiders’ multistep movement, but we can direct the spiders to follow a specific path, and they do it all by themselves—autonomously.”

In fact, using atomic force microscopy and single-molecule fluorescence microscopy, the researchers were able to watch directly spiders crawling over the origami, showing that they were able to guide their molecular robots to follow four different paths.

“Monitoring this at a single molecule level is very challenging,” says Walter. “This is why we have an interdisciplinary, multi-institute operation. We have people constructing the spider, characterizing the basic spider. We have the capability to assemble the track, and analyze the system with single-molecule imaging. That’s the technical challenge.” The scientific challenges for the future, Yan says, “are how to make the spider walk faster and how to make it more programmable, so it can follow many commands on the track and make more decisions, implementing logical behavior.”

“In the current system,” says Stojanovic, “interactions are restricted to the walker and the environment. Our next step is to add a second walker, so the walkers can communicate with each other directly and via the environment. The spiders will work together to accomplish a goal.” Adds Winfree, “The key is how to learn to program higher-level behaviors through lower-level interactions.”

Such collaboration ultimately could be the basis for developing molecular-scale reconfigurable robots—complicated machines that are made of many simple units that can reorganize themselves into any shape—to accomplish different tasks, or fix themselves if they break. For example, it may be possible to use the robots for medical applications. “The idea is to have molecular robots build a structure or repair damaged tissues,” says Stojanovic.

“You could imagine the spider carrying a drug and bonding to a two-dimensional surface like a cell membrane, finding the receptors and, depending on the local environment,” adds Yan, “triggering the activation of this drug.”

Such applications, while intriguing, are decades or more away. “This may be 100 years in the future,” Stojanovic says. “We’re so far from that right now.”

“But,” Walter adds, “just as researchers self-assemble today to solve a tough problem, molecular nanorobots may do so in the future.”

The other coauthors on the paper, “Molecular robots guided by prescriptive landscapes,” are Kyle Lund and Jeanette Nangreave from Arizona State University; Anthony J. Manzo, Alexander Johnson-Buck, and Nicole Michelotti from the University of Michigan; Nadine Dabby from Caltech; and Steven Taylor and Renjun Pei from Columbia University. The work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, the Searle Foundation, the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and a Sloan Research Fellowship.

Contact: Kathy Svitil ksvitil@caltech.edu

Image Credit: Courtesy of Paul Michelotti

PETMAN
“PETMAN is an anthropomorphic robot for testing chemical protection clothing used by the US Army. Unlike previous suit testers, which had to be supported mechanically and had a limited repertoire of motion, PETMAN will balance itself and move freely; walking, crawling and doing a variety of suit-stressing calisthenics during exposure to chemical warfare agents. PETMAN will also simulate human physiology within the protective suit by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating when necessary, all to provide realistic test conditions.”

Find out more about PETMAN here.

RiSE: The Amazing Climbing Robot.
“RiSE is a robot that climbs vertical terrain such as walls, trees and fences. RiSE uses feet with micro-claws to climb on textured surfaces. RiSE changes posture to conform to the curvature of the climbing surface and its tail helps RiSE balance on steep ascents.”

Find out more about RiSE here.

BigDog: The Most Advanced Rough-Terrain Robot on Earth
“BigDog is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics robots. It is a rough-terrain robot that walks, runs, climbs and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by an engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog has four legs that are articulated like an animal’s, with compliant elements to absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule; about 3 feet long, 2.5 feet tall and weighs 240 lbs.”

Find out more about BigDog here.

Visit the Boston Dynamics website here.

Two new stud­ies of­fer rare glimpses in­to how chim­panzees deal with the deaths of those clos­est to them, sci­en­tists say.

Chimps’ “aware­ness of death is prob­ably more highly de­vel­oped than is of­ten sug­gested. It may be re­lat­ed to their sense of self-awareness, shown through phe­nom­e­na such as self-recognition and em­pa­thy,” said said James An­der­son of the Uni­vers­ity of Stir­ling in the U.K., who col­la­bo­rat­ed in one of the stud­ies.

In that re­search, An­der­son and col­leagues de­scribed the fi­nal hours and death of an old­er fe­male chimp liv­ing in a small group at a U.K. sa­fa­ri park as cap­tured on vid­e­o. In the oth­er stu­dy, sci­en­tists watched as two chimp moth­ers in the wild car­ried their in­fants’ mum­mi­fied re­mains for weeks af­ter they were lost to an ill­ness.

Re­search­ers have posted vid­e­os from both stud­ies on­line. Both stud­ies are pub­lished in the April 27 is­sue of the jour­nal Cur­rent Bi­ol­o­gy.

Few have wit­nessed chimps’ re­sponse at the mo­ment a mem­ber of their group dies, An­der­son said. Moth­er chimps have been known to car­ry their dead in­fants, he noted, and some ob­servers have seen the com­mo­tion that fol­lows when an adult chimp is lost to some sort of sud­den trau­ma.

“In con­trast to the fren­zied, noisy re­sponses to trau­matic adult deaths, the chim­panzees wit­ness­ing the fe­male’s death in our case were mostly calm,” An­der­son said.

In the days lead­ing up to the old­er chim­p’s death, the group was very qui­et and paid close at­ten­tion to her, the re­search­ers re­port. Right be­fore she died, she re­ceived much groom­ing and ca­ress­ing from the oth­ers, who seemed to test her for signs of life as she died. They left her soon af­ter, but her adult daugh­ter re­turned and re­mained by her moth­er all night, sci­en­tists said. When keep­ers re­moved the moth­er’s body the next day, the chim­panzees re­mained sub­dued and stayed that way for some time. For sev­er­al days they avoided sleep­ing on the plat­form where the fe­male had died, though it was nor­mally a fa­vored sleep­ing spot.

“In gen­er­al, we found sev­er­al si­m­i­lar­i­ties be­tween the chim­panzees’ be­hav­ior to­ward the dy­ing fe­male, and their be­hav­ior af­ter her death, and some re­ac­tions of hu­mans when faced with the de­mise of an eld­erly group mem­ber or rel­a­tive,” An­der­son said.

In the sec­ond stu­dy, Do­ra Bi­ro of the Uni­vers­ity of Ox­ford and her col­leagues wit­nessed the deaths of five mem­bers, in­clud­ing two in­fants, of a sem­i-i­so­lat­ed chimp com­mun­ity that re­search­ers have been stu­dying for over three dec­ades in forests around Bossou, Guin­ea.

“We ob­served the deaths of two young in­fants—both from a flu-like res­pi­ra­to­ry ail­ment,” Bi­ro said. “In each case, our ob­serva­t­ions showed a re­mark­a­ble re­sponse by chim­pan­zee moth­ers to the death of their in­fants: they con­tin­ued to car­ry the corpses for weeks, even months, fol­low­ing death.”

In that time, the corpses mum­mi­fied com­plete­ly, and the moth­ers showed care of the bod­ies rem­i­nis­cent of their treat­ment of live in­fants: they car­ried them ever­ywhere dur­ing their daily ac­ti­vi­ties, groomed them, and took them in­to their day and night nests dur­ing rest times, Bi­ro said. Over this ex­tend­ed pe­ri­od, they al­so be­gan to “let go” of the in­fants grad­u­al­ly, Bi­ro added. They al­lowed oth­er group mem­bers to han­dle them more and more often and tolerat­ed long­er pe­ri­ods of separa­t­ion from them, in­clud­ing in­stances where oth­er in­fants and ju­ve­niles were al­lowed to car­ry off and play with the corpses.

Oth­er group mem­bers showed some in­ter­est in the bod­ies, and al­most none showed any aver­sion to­ward the corpses, ac­cord­ing to Bi­ro and col­leagues. She not­ed that a mem­ber of her team made very si­m­i­lar ob­serva­t­ions fol­low­ing the death of one chim­pan­zee in­fant in Bossou back in 1992.

“Chim­panzees are hu­mans’ clos­est ev­o­lu­tion­ary rel­a­tives, and they have al­ready been shown to re­sem­ble us in many of their cog­ni­tive func­tions: they em­pa­thize with oth­ers, have a sense of fair­ness, and can co­op­er­ate to achieve goals,” Bi­ro said. “How they per­ceive death is a fas­ci­nat­ing ques­tion, and lit­tle da­ta ex­ist so far” con­cern­ing it.

“Our ob­serva­t­ions con­firm the ex­istence of an ex­tremely pow­er­ful bond be­tween moth­ers and their off­spring which can per­sist, re­mark­ably, even af­ter the death of the in­fant, and they fur­ther call for ef­forts to elu­ci­date the ex­tent to which chim­panzees un­der­stand and are af­fect­ed by the death of a close rel­a­tive or group-mate. This would both have im­plica­t­ions for our un­der­standing of the ev­o­lu­tion­ary ori­gins of hu­man per­cep­tions of death and pro­vide in­sights in­to the way chim­panzees in­ter­pret the world around them.”

Shooting lasers at the sky can make the germ of a raincloud, a new study shows. In an experiment that smacks of science fiction, scientists used a high-powered laser to squeeze water from air, both indoors and out.

Although the technique is unlikely to be an instant rainmaker anytime soon, it could plant the seeds for more eco-friendly cloud manipulation.

“This is the first time that a laser was used to condense water from both laboratory experiments and from the atmosphere,” says Jérôme Kasparian of the University of Geneva, a coauthor of the study. The work appeared in the May 2 Nature Photonics.

Atmospheric scientists have been trying to build artificial clouds since the 1940s, with mixed success. The most popular method, shooting particles of silver iodide into the sky, relied on the fact that raindrops need something to condense around.

“It’s just like when you take a shower with hot water — it’s very humid in your bathroom, but it’s not raining,” Kasparian says. Water droplets need a surface to condense on, like a mirror in a bathroom or a speck of dust or pollen in the atmosphere.

Previous experimenters hoped droplets would form around flakes of silver, salt or other materials just like on a bathroom mirror. “The idea is, you provide more condensation nuclei, you get more condensation,” Kasparian says. “It seems obvious, but in practice no one could really prove that it works.”

Kasparian and colleagues took inspiration from a mist-making apparatus that was invented in 1911 to detect cosmic rays, highly energetic subatomic particles that come from deep space. A physicist named Charles Wilson noticed that when cosmic rays strike a sealed container filled with water vapor, they leave a visible trail of water droplets behind them. This works because the cosmic rays knock electrons off the water molecules, leaving behind charged particles that act like specks of dust for water to congeal around.

“Our idea was to mimic what happens in a Wilson chamber,” Kasparian says. “If you get some condensation with cosmic rays, we should get even more condensation with a laser.”

Kasparian and his colleagues tested this idea by shooting a high-powered infrared laser into a cloud chamber. The laser shot extremely short pulses of intense light, which each carrying several terawatts — or a trillion watts — of energy.

The view fogged up immediately. Droplets about 50 micrometers in diameter formed first, and grew to about 80 micrometers in diameter over the next three seconds. “The effect in the cloud chamber was very spectacular and visible by bare eye,” Kasparian says. “We expected an effect, definitely. But that magnitude was pretty much a surprise.”

Next, the researchers took the laser out in the backyard to try it on the sky. They rolled the laser, called “Teramobile” for its terawatt power and its mobility, onto the lawn behind the physics building at the Free University of Berlin on several nights in the fall of 2008. The clouds, if they formed, would be too distant to see with the naked eye, so the team used a second laser to confirm the cloudy view.

“It also worked quite well in the free atmosphere,” Kasparian says. “That was quite surprising, and a very good surprise.”

Kasparian thinks lasers could provide a more reliable and environmentally friendly way to build clouds. “If you can seed clouds and get some control or at least modulation on the weather, the implications are huge for agriculture, many other economic sectors, many aspects of human life,” Kasparian says. “There are potentially huge consequences.”

“It is a clever technique,” says John Latham of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. But he’s skeptical that laser-built clouds could actually make it rain on demand. “Rainfall production requires many conditions to be met,” he cautions.

Image Credit: Jean-Pierre Wolf / University of Geneva

Imagine if your fear of spiders, heights or flying could be cured with a simple injection. Research published in BioMed Central’s open access journal, Behavioural and Brain Functions suggests that one day this could be a reality.

The cerebellum, an area of the brain thought to be involved with the development of our fears, was studied in goldfish by researchers at the University of Hiroshima in Japan. Using classical conditioning, Masayuki Yoshida and Ruriko Hirano taught their fish to become afraid of a light flashed in their eyes. By administering a low voltage electric shock every time a light was shone, the fish were taught to associate the light with being shocked, which slowed their hearts – the typical fish reaction to a fright. Yoshida explains, ‘As you would expect, the goldfish we used in our study soon became afraid of the flash of light because, whether or not we actually gave them a shock, they had quickly learned to expect one. Fear was demonstrated by their heart beats decreasing, in a similar way to how our heart rate increases when someone gives us a fright.’

Humans can also be ‘trained’ to become afraid, and in fact, simple classical conditioning rooted in our childhood and early development can explain many of our behaviours. In this study however, the team discovered that fish that had first been injected in the cerebellum with lidocaine had stable heart rates and showed no fear when the light was shone – they were unable to learn to become afraid.

Since the brains of goldfish show many similarities with those of mammals, including humans, it is hoped that with further study it may soon be possible to understand more about the biological and chemical processes that cause us to become afraid. For the goldfish, the effect of lidocaine is only temporary – fearless fish return to being frightened fish as soon as the anaesthetic has worn off. Nevertheless, one day, our irrational phobias could become a thing of the past.

Combining observations from the CoRoT satellite and the ESO HARPS instrument, astronomers have discovered the first “normal” exoplanet that can be studied in great detail. Designated Corot-9b, the planet regularly passes in front of a star similar to the Sun located 1500 light-years away from Earth towards the constellation of Serpens (the Snake).

“This is a normal, temperate exoplanet just like dozens we already know, but this is the first whose properties we can study in depth,” says Claire Moutou, who is part of the international team of 60 astronomers that made the discovery. “It is bound to become a Rosetta stone in exoplanet research.”

“Corot-9b is the first exoplanet that really does resemble planets in our solar system,” adds lead author Hans Deeg. “It has the size of Jupiter and an orbit similar to that of Mercury.”

“Like our own giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, the planet is mostly made of hydrogen and helium,” says team member Tristan Guillot, “and it may contain up to 20 Earth masses of other elements, including water and rock at high temperatures and pressures.”

Corot-9b passes in front of its host star every 95 days, as seen from Earth. This “transit” lasts for about 8 hours, and provides astronomers with much additional information on the planet. This is fortunate as the gas giant shares many features with the majority of exoplanets discovered so far.

“Our analysis has provided more information on Corot-9b than for other exoplanets of the same type,” says co-author Didier Queloz. “It may open up a new field of research to understand the atmospheres of moderate- and low-temperature planets, and in particular a completely new window in our understanding of low-temperature chemistry.”

More than 400 exoplanets have been discovered so far, 70 of them through the transit method. Corot-9b is special in that its distance from its host star is about ten times larger than that of any planet previously discovered by this method. And unlike all such exoplanets, the planet has a temperate climate. The temperature of its gaseous surface is expected to be between 160 degrees and minus twenty degrees Celsius, with minimal variations between day and night. The exact value depends on the possible presence of a layer of highly reflective clouds.

The CoRoT satellite, operated by the French space agency CNES, identified the planet after 145 days of observations during the summer of 2008. Observations with the very successful ESO exoplanet hunter — the HARPS instrument attached to the 3.6-metre ESO telescope at La Silla in Chile — allowed the astronomers to measure its mass, confirming that Corot-9b is indeed an exoplanet, with a mass about 80% the mass of Jupiter.

This finding is being published in this week’s edition of the journal Nature.

For the first time, a woman has given birth to two children after her fertility was restored using transplants of ovarian tissue that had been removed and frozen during her cancer treatment and then restored once she was cured.

Following her ovarian transplant, Mrs Stinne Holm Bergholdt gave birth to a girl in February 2007 after receiving fertility treatment to help her become pregnant. But then, in 2008, she discovered she had conceived a second child naturally and gave birth to another girl in September 2008.

Her doctor, Professor Claus Yding Andersen, reports her case in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction. “This is the first time in the world that a woman has had two children from separate pregnancies as a result of transplanting frozen/thawed ovarian tissue,” he said. “These results support cryopreservation of ovarian tissue as a valid method of fertility preservation and should encourage the development of this technique as a clinical procedure for girls and young women facing treatment that could damage their ovaries.”

So far, nine children have been born worldwide as a result of transplanting frozen/thawed ovarian tissue (including Mrs Bergholdt’s two). Three have been born in Denmark after treatment carried out by Prof Andersen, who is Professor of Human Reproductive Physiology at the University Hospital of Copenhagen (Denmark). “Mrs Bergholdt gave birth to the first and the third babies and another woman delivered the second baby. This is the highest number of children born from one ovarian cryopreservation programme worldwide. It is interesting to note that nearly all of the nine pregnancies have occurred in Europe and so Europe is in the absolute forefront with this technology,” he said.

Mrs Bergholdt, from Odense, Denmark, who is also one of the authors of the paper, was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma when she was 27 in 2004. Before she began chemotherapy, part of her right ovary was removed and frozen (her left ovary had been removed some years before because of a dermoid cyst, a type of benign ovarian tumour). Her cancer treatment was successful but, as expected, the drugs caused a menopause. In December 2005 six thin strips of ovarian tissue were transplanted back on to what remained of her right ovary. Her ovary began to function normally again and, after mild ovarian stimulation, she became pregnant and gave birth to her first daughter, Aviaja, in February 2007.

She breast-fed Aviaja until October 2007 and in January 2008 she returned to Prof Andersen’s fertility clinic for additional IVF treatment so that she could conceive again. However, a pregnancy test revealed she was already pregnant naturally, and in September she gave birth to a healthy girl, Lucca.

Prof Andersen said: “This showed that the original transplanted ovarian strips had continued to work for more than four years and that Mrs Bergholdt still has the capacity to conceive and give birth to healthy children. It is an amazing fact that these ovarian strips have been working for so long and it provides information on how powerful this technique can be. She continues to have natural menstrual cycles and, at present, is using pregnancy-preventing measures to avoid becoming pregnant again.
“She has seven more ovarian strips in the liquid nitrogen tank and may return, if she wishes so, to have more tissue transplanted in order to maintain her ovarian function once the current strips stop working. So, in total, by having around one third of an ovary removed she has the possibility of maintaining her ovarian function for many years. As long as the tissue remains properly stored in liquid nitrogen, it could remain functional for as long as 40 years. However, we do not know this for certain at present.”

Mrs Bergholdt, who is now 32, said: “When I found out I was pregnant for the first time I was of course very happy and excited – but also very afraid and sceptical since I found it very hard to believe that my body was really working again. My cancer had been diagnosed very late because the doctors didn’t take my complaints seriously at that time and kept on telling me that nothing was wrong, so I also wondered if it was really true that I was completely recovered from it. But eventually I started to believe that the pregnancy was really happening and began to enjoy every aspect of it.

“The second time it was quite a surprise to find out I was pregnant since we hadn’t been working on it – we thought we needed assistance like the first time. We had an appointment at the fertility outpatient clinic to talk about the possibility of a second baby, but it turned out that I was already pregnant – naturally. It was a very nice surprise to find out that my body was now functioning normally and that we were having a baby without having to go through the fertility treatment. It was indeed a miracle!”

Mrs Bergholdt said she and her husband had not decided yet whether they wanted more children. “The girls are still so small and need a lot of attention, but maybe in a couple of years we might think about it again.”

Will 2010 be the warmest year on record? How do the recent U.S. “Snowmageddon” winter storms and record low temperatures in Europe fit into the bigger picture of long-term global warming?

NASA has launched a new web page to help people better understand the causes and effects of Earth’s changing climate.

The new “A Warming World” page hosts a series of new articles, videos, data visualizations, space-based imagery and interactive visuals that provide unique NASA perspectives on this topic of global importance.

The page includes feature articles that explore the recent Arctic winter weather that has gripped the United States, Europe and Asia, and how El Nino and other longer-term ocean-atmosphere phenomena may affect global temperatures this year and in the future. A new video, “Piecing Together the Temperature Puzzle,” illustrates how NASA satellites monitor climate change and help scientists better understand how our complex planet works.

The new web page is available on NASA’s Global Climate Change Web site
at:
http://climate.nasa.gov/warmingworld

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov