A News Focus covering a trend identified at a conference: opsins (light-responsive GPCRs) are found in myriad tissues, including primitive phylogenies (incl. sea-urchins and jelly-fish). These researches have led to an increased appreciation of the variety of roles opsins may serve: Light-responsive roles (cf. vision) (e.g. modulating likelihood of stinging cells firing in hydra). Part of multi...
Concepts: Psudeoenzymes Source: A News Focus piece in Science (April 5, 2013). History: A 2002 study found that of 518 human protein kinases encoded in the DNA, about 10% lack at least one of three amino acids necessary for phosphate transfer. This was the first time the magnitude of the phenomenon was appreciated. Likely mechanisms for creation: (1) duplication of enzyme’s gene followed by...
Concept: Floral electric fields, bumblebee multimodal cues Source: A (original research) Report in Science (April 5, 2013). Background: Already known that flowers often exhibit negative field potential versus pollinators’ positive field potential. Also, that multimodal floral cues enhance foraging efficiency and pollination. Also that bees transfer information back to the plant for later...
Fact: “When humans cannot tell where the gaze is focused, they assume that people are looking at them.” {Narcissistic gaze prediction}. Source: A Research Highlight in Nature (April 11, 2013) on original research in Current Biology. Fact: Not all neurons follow neurotrophic theory, some die per pre-programming independent of environment. Source: Perspective in Science (April 5, 2013)...
Concepts: Geoneutrinos Source: A News piece in Nature (April 3, 2013). History: The 2011 Fukushima disaster, and the consequent closure of Japanese nuclear reactors, silenced the barrage of particles to which the Japanese underground particle detector KamLAND was normally exposed. Thus KamLAND could clearly read the trickle of neutrinos that originate within Earth, produced by radioactive decay...
Concept: Adaptive diversification. Also: allopatric diversification; sympatric diversification; frequency-dependent selection. Source: An (original research) article published in PLoS Biology (February 19, 2013) Background: A dichotomy of diversification follows depending on whether the ancestral populations were geographically isolated from each other (allopatric diversification) or not...
Concept: Oncometabolites. Also: Dynamic interplay of metabolome and epigenome. Source: News and Views in Nature (April 3, 2013) of a study published in Science. Background: It was already known that mutations in proteins involved in metabolism may be associated with cancer, but this is the first study to show that a metabolite may be sufficient for oncogenesis. Previous studies identified...
Editorial notes: This is the first in a series of 30 Science News, documented mostly in Evernote between April 2013 and October 2014. Concepts: Neural decoding of dreams. Also: hypnagogic hallucinations. Source: A News and Analysis and an (original research) Report, both in Science (April 5, 2013). History: A 2005 study developed an algorithm that could read fMRI recordings to determine which one...
I have two small embryos preserved in alcohol, that I forgot to label. At present I am unable to determine the genus to which they belong. They may be lizards, small birds, or even mammals. Karl von Baer (1828) The changes undergone by a developing embryo forms an hourglass: early on embryos from different species vary significantly, later on, they converge to be similar, and finally, they...
Bipolar is often treated with lithium… If the bipolar lifestyle is a rollercoaster ride, then lithium is one of the more established seatbelts available. Lithium is considered the gold standard treatment for bipolar. While it is not as effective in the treatment of acute depression, it is very effective for acute mania as well as for maintaining stability. Technically lithium is just...
