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Why Male Mammals Choose Monogamy - Unwillingness To Share

Why Male Mammals Choose Monogamy - Unwillingness To Share

Jul 30 2013 | comment(s)

In what the authors are calling perhaps the most comprehensive and definitive effort to date, zoologists say they have explained the processes that drove male mammals to adopt social monogamy as a breeding strategy. 

Because male mammals have a much higher potential to produce offspring in a single breeding season than do their female counterparts (who must endure long gestation periods), it would seem that mating with one female per cycle would be limiting. Yet a percentage of mammalian males do this -- and researchers have debated why, seeking to identify selective advantages social monogamy offers, for decades.

NHS Ward Nurses Say They Are Forced To Ration Care

NHS Ward Nurses Say They Are Forced To Ration Care

Jul 29 2013 | comment(s)

There's still no free lunch. Finite budgets based on taxes that give equal treatment to everyone aren't really resulting in equal quality. Instead, most ward nurses in NHS hospitals say they are forced to ration care, or not complete certain aspects of it — including adequate monitoring of patients — because they don't have enough time, indicates a new paper.

The Evolution Of Monogamy - No Definitive Answers Any Time Soon

The Evolution Of Monogamy - No Definitive Answers Any Time Soon

Jul 29 2013 | comment(s)

Most mammals aren't monogamous, nor are most anything except birds, where it happens in about 90% of cases. 

It's actually quite rare in mammals (5%), so why did it evolve? Was it to be better parents together, to protect offspring from being killed by other males or instead to protect women from competitors? Well, it depends on who you ask.

Being a solitary individual who can't run all over the place protecting females from other males wins the prize, according to Cambridge zoologists Lukas and Clutton-Brock, who looked at 2,000 species of mammals and determined that when breeding females didn't like each other and female density was low, a monogamous mating strategy developed because males were unable to defend multiple females from other males.
Industry Arrogance Is Not A Reason To Deny Science

Industry Arrogance Is Not A Reason To Deny Science

Jul 29 2013 | comment(s)

If you talk to someone who knows food but not science, it won't be long before some jab at Monsanto issues forth. And if you persist in discussing biology, it really won't be long before you get called a shill for Monsanto.

You don't have to use biology, you could also do the same social experiment using energy or medicine, if your test is for left-wing people, or global warming, if you want to see the right go into a tirade about science. 
Biological Insecticides - Entomopathogenic Viruses Control Potato Moth

Biological Insecticides - Entomopathogenic Viruses Control Potato Moth

Jul 29 2013 | comment(s)

New biological insecticides, which make use of “entomopathogenic” viruses that are harmful to insects, have emerged in recent years. The big advantage versus regular pesticides is that they are innocuous to man, vertebrae and plants, and environmental activists have not heard of them yet. Each viral strain attacks a very limited number of insect species.

The baculovirus is frequently studied and to identify the virus in this family that will most effectively control the Guatemalan potato moth, a French-Ecuadorian research team from Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) has analyzed the pathogens among moths from all over the world.  
Fish Aggregation Devices: Why Do Tuna Love Floating Objects?

Fish Aggregation Devices: Why Do Tuna Love Floating Objects?

Jul 29 2013 | comment(s)

2 000 years ago, Roman fishermen knew that some species of fish liked to gather under floating objects.

No one knew why and it didn't matter, that behavioral mechanism was just used to catch more fish in the Mediterranean. Today, artisanal and industrial tuna fisheries exploit this “aggregating phenomenon” in much the same way. Over the last thirty years, seine fishing in particular has developed rapidly through the use of massive floating objects, natural at first, then more recently fish aggregation devices (FADs) remotely monitored using electronic beacons. 

These floating objects help enable 40 % of worldwide tropical tuna catches today.
Ctenus Monaghani : A Hobbit Helps Find A Spider Far From Mt. Doom

Ctenus Monaghani : A Hobbit Helps Find A Spider Far From Mt. Doom

Jul 29 2013 | comment(s)

In J.R.R. Tolkeins's fantasy epic "The Lord of the Rings", a hobbit discovers a giant in the caves under Mt. Doom.

More recently, another famous hobbit helped discover a much smaller kind of spider. And the researchers who get credit for it named Ctenus monaghani after him.

Actor Dominic Monaghan, who played  Hobbit Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybock in the recent motion picture trilogy, has a new nature documentary called “Wild Things” and Dr. Peter Jäger, expert consultant to the “Wild Things” team in the forests and caves of Laos, discovered the new, eight-legged critter and named it after the actor in recognition of Monaghan's natural world enthusiasm, which even extends to inconspicuous and unpopular animals such as spiders.
Same CO2 But Much Higher Warmth During Pliocene Explained

Same CO2 But Much Higher Warmth During Pliocene Explained

Jul 29 2013 | comment(s)

A year-round ice-free Arctic Ocean surface could explain why the Earth of the Pliocene Epoch had the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that we have today, but we remain 3 to 9 degrees cooler than the Earth was then.

Cockatoos Understand Full Object Permanence - Including Invisible Trajectories

Cockatoos Understand Full Object Permanence - Including Invisible Trajectories

Jul 29 2013 | comment(s)

At a young age, kids learn that the cookies are still there, even though they have been placed in a jar. And they learn that a car driven into a tunnel will reappear on the other side. 

The ability to represent and to track the trajectory of objects which are temporally out of sight is important in many aspects - and also cognitively demanding. In non-human primates, only the great apes have shown convincing abilities there.

Alice Auersperg and her team from the University of Vienna and Oxford have shown that "object permanence" abilities in the Goffin Cockatoo (Cacatua goffini) equals apes and four year old human toddlers. 

Solar Hydrogen Energy, Artificial Photosynthesis, Production Breakthrough

Solar Hydrogen Energy, Artificial Photosynthesis, Production Breakthrough

Jul 29 2013 | comment(s)

A new solar cell and a photo anode made of a metal oxide has resulted in storing nearly five percent of solar energy chemically, in the form of hydrogen.

The solar cell is simpler than that of traditional high-efficiency triple-junction cells based on amorphous silicon or expensive III-V semiconductors.

Trekking in the Dolomites

Trekking in the Dolomites

Jul 29 2013 | comment(s)

The Dolomites are a mountain range in north-eastern Italy. They take their name from the mineral called dolomite, a carbonate rock which gives these mountains a characteristic pale pink colour, especially notable at sunset. Their composition is also responsible, at least in part, for their shape.

Most of the peaks are in the 2500-3000 meters of height above sea level, the tallest being mount "Marmolada", at 3342 meters. Despite being less tall than other mountain ridges in the Italian Alps, the Dolomites are reknowned for their breathtaking landscapes, as well as for the ski slopes they offer, especially -but not only- in the region around Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Young Marijuana Smokers Know The Health Risks

Young Marijuana Smokers Know The Health Risks

Jul 29 2013 | comment(s)

Like with cigarettes and alcohol, no amount of awareness campaigns about health risks are needed. People know by now and some choose to do it anyway.

Among Swiss men, average age 20, 91 percent drink alcohol, almost half of whom drink six beverages or more in a row and would be categorized as at-risk drinkers. 44 percent smoke tobacco, and are categorized as at-risk smokers (because they smoke at least once a day) and 36 percent smoke cannabis, where over half are at-risk consumers, using the drug at least twice a week.

Coffin Within A Coffin Found At Richard III Burial Site

Coffin Within A Coffin Found At Richard III Burial Site

Jul 29 2013 | comment(s)

University of Leicester archeologists lifted the lid of a medieval stone coffin near the final resting place of Richard III this week - and found a mysterious coffin-within-a-coffin.

Congratulations Carissa Yip, Youngest Female Chess Expert In The US

Congratulations Carissa Yip, Youngest Female Chess Expert In The US

Jul 29 2013 | comment(s)

9-year-old Carissa Yip is probably better at chess than you. She is certainly better than me and already better than 93 percent of the 51,000 plus players registered with the U.S. Chess Federation.

She has set a goal to reach 2,100 this year; an Expert is anyone ranked over 2,000 while at 2,200 you are considered a Master. She also wants to one day become the first female to win the overall championship — not just in the female category, her father told The Boston Globe.
Despite What We Might Say, We Don't Like Unfamiliar Music

Despite What We Might Say, We Don't Like Unfamiliar Music

Jul 28 2013 | comment(s)

Though we have access to a seemingly limitless amount of new music each day, we keep coming back to songs or albums, mostly stuff we liked at college age.

It's common to prefer the familiar - even by college students who may self-identify as preferring new music. People pick familiar with even when they believe they would prefer less familiar music. It's one of the reasons why the Pandora algorithm is regarded so highly. Yet we often hear the complaint that radio stations are playing the same songs over and over - and even Pandora plays the same 50 or 100.
Canadian Boreal: Conservation Of The World's Last Great Forest

Canadian Boreal: Conservation Of The World's Last Great Forest

Jul 28 2013 | comment(s)

The Canadian boreal forest,  stretching from the Yukon in the west to Newfoundland and Labrador in the east, remains one of the world's great natural treasures.

The ecologically diverse region contains the largest blocks of intact forest and wetlands left on Earth and scientists have found 1 billion to 3 billion nesting birds from 300 species there. Its abundant wildlife and freshwater have sustained Aboriginal communities for millennia.
History Of Hemp Retting Preserved In Sedimentary Cannabinol Tracks

History Of Hemp Retting Preserved In Sedimentary Cannabinol Tracks

Jul 28 2013 | comment(s)

Hemp (Cannabis sp.) has been a fundamental plant for the development of human societies. Its fibers have long been used for textiles and rope making, which requires prior stem retting.

This process is essential for extracting fibers from the stem of the plant but can adversely affect the quality of surface waters. The history of human activities related to hemp - its domestication, spread, and processing - is frequently reconstructed from seeds and pollen detected in archaeological sites or in sedimentary archives, but this method does not always make it possible to ascertain whether retting took place.

To Food Mullahs, It's Not About Ingredients, It's About Your Incorrect World View

To Food Mullahs, It's Not About Ingredients, It's About Your Incorrect World View

Jul 28 2013 | comment(s)

"Those among us who are anthropologically inclined tend to view a can or bottle of soda as an instantly recognizable symbol of everything that is wrong with Western civilization as we know it" is the first sign indication that you have left planet Earth and officially joined the alternative universe of Woo.

And your tour guide is the features director at Martha Stewart Living. Now, when it comes to celebrity criminals, I like Martha Stewart, mostly because Steve Madden never really bounced back after his prison sentence while Stewart became more popular than ever after her conviction. And I appreciate people who can win against adversity.
The Politics Of Denormalization: Public Smoking Bans Aren't Evidence-Based

The Politics Of Denormalization: Public Smoking Bans Aren't Evidence-Based

Jul 27 2013 | comment(s)

Over the last few years, you may have noticed more "no smoking" signs have cropped up on parks and beaches. They're part of a larger trend banning smoking at outside, public areas. In fact, smoking has been banned in 843 parks and more than 150 beaches in the last two decades.

In California, where a law was passed banning smoking in bars and restaurants without a vote, they are now trying to can smoking on outdoor patios of bars and restaurants. And in cars. And in private homes.

Public health officials have long argued the bans are meant to eliminate dangers from secondhand, or "sidestream smoke," reduce the environmental impact of cigarette butts and to keep young, impressionable children from picking up on bad habits. Makes sense, right?
Massive Muon Ring Move Up The Mighty Mississippi Completed

Massive Muon Ring Move Up The Mighty Mississippi Completed

Jul 27 2013 | comment(s)


The Muon g-2 team has completed transport of a 50-foot-wide electromagnet from Long Island to the Chicago suburbs in one piece. The move began on June 22nd at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and concluded this week at Fermilab, a 3,200 mile journey - at least the way they did it.

Why such a torturous route? They couldn't flex it. Or twist it. And it doesn't exactly travel well on highways.