Why Is It So Important to Be Right? | Psychology Today

Why Is It So Important to Be Right? | Psychology Today

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Problem of Muslim Leadership - WSJ.com

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Problem of Muslim Leadership - WSJ.com

Why Is It So Important to Be Right? | Psychology Today

Why Is It So Important to Be Right? | Psychology Today

Accurate distance measurement resolves major astronomical mystery

Accurate distance measurement resolves major astronomical mystery

Pope Francis: Atheists are all right! - Salon.com

Pope Francis: Atheists are all right! - Salon.com

25-Lecture Course: Human Behavioral Biology (Stanford BIO 250) | Virtual Professors

25-Lecture Course: Human Behavioral Biology (Stanford BIO 250) | Virtual Professors

Avaaz - Zuma: Don't Sign the Secrecy Bill!

Avaaz - Zuma: Don't Sign the Secrecy Bill!

Evolution

Ever seen a deer with fangs?

When you think of male deer fighting over females, you probably think of clashing antlers. After all, this is the way the majority of deer species do it. But water deer, or Hydropotes inermis (meaning "unarmed water-drinker) do things a little differently: when two males want to compete for territory, they stand together and swing their heads down to wound each other's neck and shoulders with their long canines. These fights can cause fairly serious wounds. When one male is defeated he lays his head on the ground, whereupon the victor stops the fight and chases the loser out of his territory.

The water deer's features make it a very unusual member of the Cervidae family, with only muntjacs possessing similar teeth (though they have small antlers too). It also shares its strange appearance with musk deer (which belong to the family Moschidae), who also have tusks rather than antlers.

There are two subspecies of water deer; the Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis inermis) and the Korean water deer (Hydropotes inermis argyropus). Importing and escapes have created a sizeable population of Chinese water deer in Britain. Water deer are relatively small in size, reaching a height of just over 65cm at the shoulder.

Photo: Chinese water deer (credit to Mark Newman/www.flpa-images.co.uk) and a replica of its skull (credit to Bone Clones).

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Hydropotes_inermis/

http://www.chinesewaterdeer.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=4

Dr. Robert Sapolsky's lecture about Biological Underpinnings of Religiosity - YouTube

Dr. Robert Sapolsky's lecture about Biological Underpinnings of Religiosity - YouTube

9 Questions That Atheists Might Find Insulting (And the Answers) | Alternet

9 Questions That Atheists Might Find Insulting (And the Answers) | Alternet

Atheist State Lawmaker Quotes Carl Sagan Instead of Doing Prayer Before House Session - Phoenix - News - Valley Fever

Atheist State Lawmaker Quotes Carl Sagan Instead of Doing Prayer Before House Session - Phoenix - News - Valley Fever

Evolution

Thanks to its incredible camouflage, you could easily pass a Gaboon viper without even knowing it was there. Its cream and brown scales allow it to blend in seamlessly with dead leaves while its black scales resemble gaps on the forest floor. Like real gaps, no light appears to hit the black scales and they seem to possess a depth the rest of the snake's scales don't. But how do Gaboon vipers pull off this illusion?

New research shows this trick is possible thanks to nanostructures. Using a scanning electron microscope, German researchers were able to take the closest look yet at the viper's scales. Black scales possessed more pronounced microstructures than paler scales, and these microstructures had more intricate ridges than structures in lighter areas.

When light hits the black scales it gets reflected and dispersed around these miniscule ridges and structures, and as it bounces around more and more is absorbed by the black pigment. Of the light that hits these black scales, less than 11% is reflected away from the snake's body.

This is the first time a snake has been observed with this microstructure camouflage, but it's not the first animal we know to use it. Butterflies such as the Ulysses butterfly use the same method in the black areas of their wings. In future, the team want to discover more about how these nanostructures work, and their findings could help engineers design durable "ultra-black" materials.

To read the paper: http://bit.ly/19Qt2V0

Photo: West African Gaboon viper (left, credit to Tim Vickers) and the nanostructures on its black scales (right, credit to Spinner et al, 2013).

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/16/the-gaboon-viper-has-ultra-black-scales-so-you-cant-see-it/

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/nanostructures-viper-skin-ultra-black/

Science Is Awesome

This is what a red eyed tree frog looks like with its eyes closed. They actually have three eyelids. The third is called the nictitating membrane, and it allows the frog to protect their eye from danger and to keep it moist while still allowing some visibility.
This membrane is found in many different groups of animals, but most of them it simply looks like an opaque membrane. The tree frog's is a bit more striking!

Evolution

In the fight for survival, invasive harlequin ladybirds are decimating their competitors. New research reveals their success may be thanks to a biological weapon - a parasite which kills native ladybird species but is harmless to the harlequin.

Originally imported from central Asia to control aphids in greenhouses, the harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) has since spread across Europe. New research reveals it carries single-celled fungal parasites known as microsporidia its whole life. Somehow the ladybird keeps them in an inactive state in its haemolymph (the arthropod equivalent to blood), but when they find their way into native ladybirds - for example, by eating harlequin larvae or eggs - they become active and kill their new host.

“I have worked on insect immunity for 20 years, and I had never seen a haemolymph sample that was full of microsporidians that do not harm the carrier,” says Andreas Vilcinskas (Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany and involved in the study).

As well as having an edge in attack, the harlequin's no slouch in defence. Its immune system is extremely powerful and allows it to fight off pathogens more easily than native species can. One element of its immune system, a compound called harmonine, has even been suggested a possible target for drug development.

According to the German team behind the research, the harlequin is on a course for conquering the world. As well as the factors discussed above, it can also live in a wide range of zones (and they've started appearing in South America and South Africa). "I don't see any which way to stop them now - it's too late in my opinion," said Dr Heiko Vogel (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany, and co-author).

Photo: Harlequin ladybird (right) and native species the seven-spot ladybird (left). Credit to J. C. Carton/Photoshot.

http://www.nature.com/news/invasive-ladybird-has-biological-weapon-1.13011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22554162

Evolution

In the fight for survival, invasive harlequin ladybirds are decimating their competitors. New research reveals their success may be thanks to a biological weapon - a parasite which kills native ladybird species but is harmless to the harlequin.

Originally imported from central Asia to control aphids in greenhouses, the harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) has since spread across Europe. New research reveals it carries single-celled fungal parasites known as microsporidia its whole life. Somehow the ladybird keeps them in an inactive state in its haemolymph (the arthropod equivalent to blood), but when they find their way into native ladybirds - for example, by eating harlequin larvae or eggs - they become active and kill their new host.

“I have worked on insect immunity for 20 years, and I had never seen a haemolymph sample that was full of microsporidians that do not harm the carrier,” says Andreas Vilcinskas (Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany and involved in the study).

As well as having an edge in attack, the harlequin's no slouch in defence. Its immune system is extremely powerful and allows it to fight off pathogens more easily than native species can. One element of its immune system, a compound called harmonine, has even been suggested a possible target for drug development.

According to the German team behind the research, the harlequin is on a course for conquering the world. As well as the factors discussed above, it can also live in a wide range of zones (and they've started appearing in South America and South Africa). "I don't see any which way to stop them now - it's too late in my opinion," said Dr Heiko Vogel (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany, and co-author).

Photo: Harlequin ladybird (right) and native species the seven-spot ladybird (left). Credit to J. C. Carton/Photoshot.

http://www.nature.com/news/invasive-ladybird-has-biological-weapon-1.13011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22554162

Evolution added a photo from May 16, 2013 to their timeline.

"Endling" might just be the loneliest term in the English language. An endling is the last member of a species or subspecies, and when this lone individual dies its species is extinct.

Several endlings have been recorded in recent times. Martha, the last passenger pigeon, died in 1914 in Cincinnatti Zoo. She was the last of a species that had numbered several billion before Europeans arrived in North America. Human actions are a oft-repeated theme in the story of endlings.

The animal in the photo is Benjamin, the last thylacine (or Tasmanian Tiger). Benjamin - who may have actually been female - lived out his days in Hobart Zoo. On the 7th of September, 1936, Benjamin died due to neglect. Other species endlings have included the last quagga and the Caspian tiger, though there are certainly more we don't know of.

Perhaps the most well-known recent endling is the Pinta Island giant tortoise Lonesome George, who died on 24th June last year. George's status as an endling may be rescinded in time; DNA from 17 hybrid tortoises indicates that they have some genetic material from George's subspecies. Given tortoises' long lifespans, the researchers have hope that the hybrids' parents may still be alive somewhere on the Galápagos islands. Unless these purebred specimens are found (if they are still alive), Lonesome George holds a special place as our most famous and recent endling.

A video of Benjamin is available here: http://bit.ly/YJjZ6h

Photo: Thylacine at Hobart Zoo, 1928. Credit to the Australian Museum, http://bit.ly/11EwQuH.

http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/sci-tech/2012/06/sense-endling

http://fennerschool-associated.anu.edu.au/environhist/links/publications/reviews/pdfs/robin-rev1.pdf

http://news.nationalgeographic.co.uk/news/2012/11/121116-lonesome-george-not-extinct-galapagos-tortoise-science/

Science Is Awesome

Only around 2% of the human genome actually codes for proteins. The rest is known as non-coding DNA, and much of it seems to be the remnants of evolutionarily defunct genes and viruses that hijacked a ride on our chromosomes. Biologists have long puzzled over this seemingly redundant DNA and many hypothesis have been put forward for why it exists.

A study published this week suggests that contrary to previous hypothesis, non-coding DNA is not necessary for complex life. Researchers have sequenced the genome of genome of the carnivorous plant Utricularia gibba and found that more than 97% of the genome consists of coding DNA and DNA that controls these genes. Unlike humans and most other examined genomes, U. gibba seems to have the ability to delete non-coding "junk" DNA.

More info: http://bit.ly/12pnXBC

Swazi broomstick flying witches to fly low

Swazi broomstick flying witches to fly low: Witches flying broomsticks in Swaziland above 150m will be subjected to arrest and a hefty fine of R500 000, civil aviation authorities say, according to a report.

Science Is Awesome

These photographs show a human botfly being surgically removed from a boy's eyeball.

Female botflies capture mosquitoes and attach their eggs to the mosquitoes body. They then release it. Eventually the mosquito makes its way to an animal and bites it, inserting the eggs while it feeds on the blood. The eggs then gestate under the skin and hatch as a larva. The larvae develop within the subcutaneous layers for up to eight weeks before they drop out and pupate beneath the soil.

This is one of the only known examples of a botfly infecting a human eye. The case study was first published in the July 2000 issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, and explains:
"A 5-YEAR-OLD boy with inferior orbital swelling and an erythematous mass arising from the inferior cul-de-sac of his right eye (Figure 1 and Figure 2 to the right) was seen by an Air Force Mobile Ophthalmic Surgical Team working in a rural area of the Republic of Honduras. The respiratory pore of a late-stage larva of the human botfly (Dermatobia hominis) was located in the anterior orbit. The larva was gently removed under general anesthesia through a small incision in the conjunctiva (Figure 3, Figure 4, and Figure 5 to the right)."

Evolution

Platypus poison spurs

Finishing off the posts about monotremes, we have the poisonous spurs of the duck-billed platypus, the only known venomous mammal in Australia. All adult males have a spur located above the heel which receives venom from the crural gland in its thigh, peaking production during the breeding season. For this reason it is assumed that the main purpose of the spike is mainly used for competing for mates or breeding territories. However, that doesn't mean that they won't use them for defense as well. In fact, back when platypus were hunted for their fur, dogs were sometimes found dead after going into the water to retrieve a wounded platypus.

The venom produced is quite unique as well, as it acts on pain receptor cells, which makes it a viable candidate for creating a new type of painkiller.

What about the other extant monotreme: the echidna? It's got a spike too on its ankle but lacks the gland to produce venom.

http://rainforest-australia.com/platypus_poison.htm

Skeptics; Atheists; Realists; Agnostics; Humanists

Out of Sync: Body Clocks Altered at Cell Level in Depression

Every cell in our bodies runs on a 24-hour clock, tuned to the night-day, light-dark cycles that have ruled us since the dawn of humanity. The brain acts as timekeeper, keeping the cellular clock in sync with the outside world so that it can govern our appetites, sleep, moods and much more.

But new research shows that the clock may be broken in the brains of people with depression -- even at the level of the gene activity inside their brain cells.
It's the first direct evidence of altered circadian rhythms in the brain of people with depression, and shows that they operate out of sync with the usual ingrained daily cycle.

Read at http://bit.ly/17ZUEYE
Image: The researchers used gene expression patterns to try to predict the time of death for each person in the study (inner circles), and then compared it with the actual time of death (outer circles). The two matched closely in healthy people, as shown by the short lines between the two points in the left diagram. But in depressed people, the two were out of sync, as seen with the longer lines at right. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Michigan Health System)

Evolution

A hormone has been discovered that significantly increases the number of pancreatic beta cells in mice. This is interesting because these beta cells are responsible for the production of the hormone insulin, insulin is one of the hormones responsible for regulation of blood glucose levels in humans and an inability to produce insulin is a form of diabetes. This new hormone has been named betatrophin and is found in humans. In the event that a treatment is developed from this newly discovered hormone, it could become an excellent way of combating some forms of diabetes.

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/04/could-new-liver-hormone-treat-di.html?ref=em