Tuesday, December 15, 2009

“Australian scientists find octopus that collects, carries and ... - Minneapolis Star Tribune” plus 4 more

“Australian scientists find octopus that collects, carries and ... - Minneapolis Star Tribune” plus 4 more

Australian scientists find octopus that collects, carries and ... - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 06:43 AM PST

SYDNEY - Australian scientists have discovered an octopus in Indonesia that collects coconut shells for shelter — unusually sophisticated behavior that the researchers believe is the first evidence of tool use in an invertebrate animal.

The scientists filmed the veined octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, selecting halved coconut shells from the sea floor, emptying them out, carrying them under their bodies up to 65 feet (20 meters), and assembling two shells together to make a spherical hiding spot.

Julian Finn and Mark Norman of Museum Victoria in Melbourne observed the odd activity in four of the creatures during a series of dive trips to North Sulawesi and Bali in Indonesia between 1998 and 2008. Their findings were published Tuesday in the journal Current Biology.

"I was gobsmacked," said Finn, a research biologist at the museum who specializes in cephalopods. "I mean, I've seen a lot of octopuses hiding in shells, but I've never seen one that grabs it up and jogs across the sea floor. I was trying hard not to laugh."

Octopuses often use foreign objects as shelter. But the scientists found the veined octopus going a step further by preparing the shells, carrying them long distances and reassembling them as shelter elsewhere.

That's an example of tool use, which has never been recorded in invertebrates before, Finn said.

"What makes it different from a hermit crab is this octopus collects shells for later use, so when it's transporting it, it's not getting any protection from it," Finn said. "It's that collecting it to use it later that is unusual."

The researchers think the creatures probably once used shells in the same way. But once humans began cutting coconuts in half and discarding the shells into the ocean, the octopuses discovered an even better kind of shelter, Finn said.

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Study provides new insight on teens’ addiction to drug abuse - News-Medical.Net

Posted: 13 Dec 2009 09:05 PM PST

It is common knowledge that smoking is a health risk but why do teens become addicted to smoking more easily than adults? In an evaluation for Faculty of 1000 Biology, Neil Grunberg looks into why adolescents are more prone to substance abuse.

Grunberg describes the study, published by Natividad et al. in Synapse journal, as "fascinating" and suggests it "may have implications to help understand why adolescents are particularly prone to drug abuse".

Nicotine increases the level of dopamine in the brain, a neurotransmitter that is responsible for feelings of pleasure and wellbeing. The study looked at dopamine levels in adolescent and adult rats after nicotine withdrawal. The authors found that the withdrawal signs (physical and neurochemical) seen in adolescent rats were fewer than those observed in adults.

The study provides previously unknown mechanisms as to why there are differences in nicotine withdrawal between adolescent and adult rats. The key here, as stated by Grunberg, is "age alters [neurological] systems and interactions relevant to nicotine".

The reason that adolescents are prone to drug abuse (in this case, nicotine) is that they have increased sensitivity to its rewarding effects and do not display the same negative withdrawal effects as adults do, due to an underdeveloped dopamine-producing system.

Since rats are not subject to cultural influences, "rat studies of nicotine ... have provided valuable insights that have led to practical behavioural and pharmacological interventions", says Grunberg.

The results of this study may not stop at nicotine. Grunberg continues, "these findings might also be relevant to other addictive and abuse drugs".

Source: Faculty of 1000: Biology and Medicine

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How Do Salamanders Grow a New Leg? Protein Mechanisms Behind Limb ... - Science Daily

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 08:16 AM PST

ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2009) — The most comprehensive study to date of the proteins in a species of salamander that can regrow appendages may provide important clues to how similar regeneration could be induced in humans.

Researchers at the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and colleagues investigated over three hundred proteins in the amputated limbs of axolotls, a type of salamander that has the unique natural ability to regenerate appendages from any level of amputation, with the hope that this knowledge will contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms that allow limbs to regenerate. 

"In some ways this study of the axoltol's proteins was a fishing expedition. Fishing expedition can be a derogatory term in biology but for us it was positive, since we caught some important "fish" that enable us to formulate hypotheses as to how limb regeneration occurs," said David L. Stocum, Ph.D., professor of biology and director of the Indiana University Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine, both in the School of Science at IUPUI, who led the study.

"Comparison of these proteins to those expressed in the amputated frog limb, which regenerates poorly, will hopefully allow us to determine how we might enhance limb regeneration in the frog and ultimately in humans, Dr. Stocum said.

With few exceptions -- notably the antlers of moose, deer and their close relatives, the tips of the fingers and toes of humans and rodents, and the ear tissue of certain strains of mice and rabbits -- the appendages of mammals do not regenerate after amputation.

Limb regeneration in the axolotl occurs when undifferentiated cells accumulate under the wound epidermis at the amputation site, a process known as the establishment of a blastema. These cells are derived by the reprogramming of differentiated cells to a less specialized state, and from resident stem cells.

"We found proteins that point to several areas that need to be studied closely to give us vital information about the mechanisms that operate to form a blastema that then goes on to regenerate the missing parts of the limb," said Dr. Stocum, an internationally respected cell and developmental biologist who has studied limb regeneration for over three decades.

Investigating the proteins found in the axolotl limb, the researchers noted three findings that appear to have significance in reprogramming cells to grow new limbs:

  1. Quantities of enzymes involved in metabolism decreased significantly during the regeneration process.
  2. There were many proteins that helped cells avoid cell death. Because amputation is very traumatic, this is critical.
  3. A protein which appears to keep cells from dividing until they are fully dedifferentiated and reprogrammed to begin forming a new limb was expressed at high levels throughout blastema formation.

Findings were published online in the journal Biomedical Central Biology on November 30 (BMC Biology 7:83, 2009). Co-authors of the study, which was funded by the W. M. Keck Foundation, are Nandini Rao, Ph.D. and graduate student Behnaz Saranjami of the School of Science; graduate student Deepali Jhamb and Mathew Palakal, Ph.D. of the IU School of Informatics; Fengyu Song, D.D.S., M.S., Ph.D. of the IU School of Dentistry; Mu Wang, Ph.D. and Michael W. King, Ph.D. of the IU School of Medicine; Bingbing Li, Ph.D. of Central Michigan University; S. Randal Voss, Ph.D. of the University of Kentucky; and Derek J. Milner, Holly L. D. Nye and Jo Ann Cameron, Ph.D. of the University of Illinois. All except the final four are also affiliated with the IU Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine.

The School of Science, IU Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine, IU School of Dentistry, IU School of Informatics, and IU School of Medicine are all located on the IUPUI campus.

Story Source:

Adapted from materials provided by Indiana University School of Medicine, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Lycoming College receives grant for biology equipment purchase - Williamsport Sun-Gazette

Posted: 14 Dec 2009 08:35 PM PST

Lycoming College announced its reception of a $327,913 grant from the National Science Foundation Monday for the purchase of three scientific instruments to study types of bacteria in a variety of environments.

"This grant will support the purchase of cutting edge scientific instruments needed in Dr. Newman's research on the cleanliness of streams and rivers in our area," said Dr. James Douthat, college president.

Dr. Jeffrey Newman, an associate biology professor who applied for the grant, said the instruments will be used primarily by students and faculty to gain insight on the complete research process from the discovery to the publication of information on new species of bacteria.

"It's more about understanding the diversity of the organisms that live in different environments," Newman said. "From a scientific perspective, these instruments will allow us to complete the analysis of many unique species of bacteria discovered by Lycoming students during diversity studies in local creeks."

Newman believes the most important aspect of the grant is that it will provide access to modern, high quality equipment to the students training in the biology field.

In addition, Newman said the project will be presented at Lycoming's High School Biology Teacher workshop, which is held on campus each year the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

The goal will be to inform and inspire area high school teachers interested in conducting summer research in microbiology and those who have students interested in competing in the Intel Science Talent Search.

The grant is funded by the National Science Foundation's Major Research Instrumentation and Recovery and Reinvestment Program, using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Aussie Scientists Find Coconut-Carrying Octopus - ABC News

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 07:19 AM PST

Australian scientists have discovered an octopus in Indonesia that collects coconut shells for shelter — unusually sophisticated behavior that the researchers believe is the first evidence of tool use in an invertebrate animal.

The scientists filmed the veined octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, selecting halved coconut shells from the sea floor, emptying them out, carrying them under their bodies up to 65 feet (20 meters), and assembling two shells together to make a spherical hiding spot.

Julian Finn and Mark Norman of Museum Victoria in Melbourne observed the odd activity in four of the creatures during a series of dive trips to North Sulawesi and Bali in Indonesia between 1998 and 2008. Their findings were published Tuesday in the journal Current Biology.

"I was gobsmacked," said Finn, a research biologist at the museum who specializes in cephalopods. "I mean, I've seen a lot of octopuses hiding in shells, but I've never seen one that grabs it up and jogs across the sea floor. I was trying hard not to laugh."

Octopuses often use foreign objects as shelter. But the scientists found the veined octopus going a step further by preparing the shells, carrying them long distances and reassembling them as shelter elsewhere.

That's an example of tool use, which has never been recorded in invertebrates before, Finn said.

"What makes it different from a hermit crab is this octopus collects shells for later use, so when it's transporting it, it's not getting any protection from it," Finn said. "It's that collecting it to use it later that is unusual."

The researchers think the creatures probably once used shells in the same way. But once humans began cutting coconuts in half and discarding the shells into the ocean, the octopuses discovered an even better kind of shelter, Finn said.

The findings are significant, in that they reveal just how capable the creatures are of complex behavior, said Simon Robson, associate professor of tropical biology at James Cook University in Townsville.

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
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