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Curious Cat Science and Egineering blog full tag cloud
3281 FEET: BATHYPELAGIC ZONE
The ocean is dark at this level; the only glow is from bioluminescent animals. There are no living plants, and creatures subsist by eating the debris that falls from the levels above, including dead or dying fish and plankton.
3,281 feet: Maximum diving depth of the sperm whale. To navigate in the darkness, these whales emit high pitched sounds and use echoes to determine the location of prey.
3,937 feet: Maximum diving depth of the leatherback sea turtle.
4,000 feet: The domain of the Pacific sleeper shark, the largest toothed shark ever photographed. It can reach lengths of 28 feet.
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5,187 feet: Maximum diving depth of the elephant seal.
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13,123 FEET: ABYSSOPELAGIC ZONE
In the pitch-dark of the abyss, there is no light at all, the water temperature is near freezing. Of the few creatures found at these crushing depths, most are blind and have long tentacles - tiny invertebrates such as shrimp, basket stars, and small squids.
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19,685 FEET: HADOLPELAGIC ZONE
Despite the intense pressure and frigid temperature in the deepwater trenches and canyons, life still exists here, especially near hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor. Invertebrates such as starfish actually thrive.
Related: Ocean Life - Giant Star Fish and More in Antarctica - ocean related posts - Female Sharks Can Reproduce Alone
Do dolphins sleep?, MIT:
Related: Why do We Sleep? - Energy Efficiency of Digestion - interesting science facts - Why is the Sky Blue?
In Our Genes, Old Fossils Take On New Roles
The thousands of human endogenous retroviruses, or HERVs, sketch a history of rough times during the 550 million years of vertebrate evolution. The best-preserved one, HERV-K113, probably arrived less than 200,000 years ago, long after human beings and chimpanzees diverged from a common ancestor.
But these retroviruses are more than just curiosities. They are some of the most important enemies we ever had. They helped mold the immune system that is one of the evolutionary marvels of life on Earth.
I must say there is tons of amazing stuff I learn about but I still find retroviruses amazing.
Related: Amazing Science: Retroviruses - Old Viruses Resurrected Through DNA - One Species’ Genome Discovered Inside Another’s - Our Genome Changes as We Age - posts on genes and genome
The webcast goes into the human eye while describing the microscopic details of the human eye. See more such videos: The Eyes of a Fly - Zoom Into a Fish - Zoom Into a Butterfly
Related: Non-Newtonian Fluid Demo - posts on biology - science webcasts
Silent Spring by Lauren Monaghan, Cosmos
But the truth is quite the opposite. The exclusion zone is teeming with wildlife of all shapes and sizes, flourishing unhindered by human interference and seemingly unfazed by the ever-present radiation. Most remarkable, however, is not the life buzzing around the site, but what’s blooming inside the perilous depths of the reactor.
Sitting at the centre of the exclusion zone, the damaged reactor unit is encased in a steel and cement sarcophagus. It’s a deathly tomb that plays host to about 200 tonnes of melted radioactive fuel, and is swarming with radioactive dust.
But it’s also the abode of some very hardy fungi which researchers believe aren’t just tolerating the severe radiation, but actually harnessing its energy to thrive.
“Our findings suggest that [the fungi] can capture the energy from radiation and transform it into other forms of energy that can be used for growth,” said microbiologist Arturo Casadevall from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York, USA.
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Taken together, the researchers think their results do indeed hint that fungi can live off ionising radiation, harnessing its energy through melanin to somehow generate a new form of biologically usable growing power.
If they’re right, then this is powerful stuff, said fungal biologist Dee Carter from the University of Sydney. The results will challenge fundamental assumptions we have about the very nature of fungi, she said.
It also raises the possibility that fungi might be using melanin to secretly harvest visible and ultraviolet light for growth, adds Casadevall. If confirmed, this will further complicate our understanding of these sneaky organisms and their role in ecosystems.
Pretty amazing stuff. It really is great all that nature gives us to study and learn about using science.
Related: Radiation Tolerant Bacteria - Not Too Toxic for Life - Bacterium Living with High Level Radiation - What is an Extremophile?
Wasps are members of the family Vespidae, which includes yellow jackets and hornets. Wasps generally have two pairs of wings and are definitely not fuzzy. Only the females have stingers, but they can sting people repeatedly.
Hornets are a small subset of wasps not native to North America (the yellow jacket is not truly a hornet). Somewhat fatter around the middle than your average wasp, the European hornet is now widespread on the East Coast of the U.S. Like other wasps, hornets can sting over and over again and can be extremely aggressive.
Photo by Justin Hunter
Related: Bye Bye British Bees - Wasps Used to Detect Explosives - Colony Collapse Disorder Continues - Bye Bye Bees - Vanishing Giant Nests of Yellow-jackets
A great list of Cosmology Questions Answered, including: Why do we think that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating? What is quintessence? What is the Universe expanding into?
The last few days a bird like this one has been chasing a crow in my yard (unfortunately I have not been able to get an action picture of that). If you know what type of bird this is please add a comment.
When I see robins pecking away in the grass sometimes I see them get worms but my guess is they often are eating other stuff. I also see starlings feeding on my lawn. I found some online links that I quote below on what robins and starlings eat.
Related: Backyard Wildlife: Sharpshinned Hawk - Cool Crow Research - Backyard Wildlife: Fox - Backyard Wildlife: Turtle
Cornell University: American Robin
History And Biology Of European Starlings In North America
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Bacteriophages: The Most Common Life-Like Form on Earth
Photo credit: Wikipedia Electron micrograph of bacteriophages attached to a bacterial cell. These viruses have the size and shape of coliphage T1.; Insert: Mike Jones
Related: webcast of Bacteriophage T4 - types of microbes - What are Viruses? - Amazing Science: Retroviruses - Using Bacteria to Carry Nanoparticles Into Cells
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin. A great piece from the University of Chicago, Fish out of Water, provides a good preview to the book:
Two of my more controversial posts have been: Evolution is Fundamental to Science and Understanding the Evolution of Human Beings by Country. Evolution is not controversial scientifically. Just as gravity is not. Obviously this understanding is far from universal however.
But it is just a matter of time: similar to Galileo Galilei and heliocentric cosmology. See: Galileo’s Battle for the Heavens - Copernican System - Galileo). We now sit maybe 100 years after Galileo’s death (based on the evidence available in support of each scientific theory). At some point the evidence is accepted and life continues. Though I must admit it, I find it a bit disappointing how long it is taking for some people to accept the evidence of evolution. But I probably need to learn to be more patient - I have been told that more than once. All I can do is try to help present some small amount of the great work so many scientists have done to advance our knowledge. And here I am talking about evolution - for the 28% of those in the USA that couldn’t provide the answer that earth revolves around the sun, in 1998, well, they need much more help than I can provide.
From page 115 of Good Gems, Bad Germs:
Related: Blocking Bacteria From Passing Genes to Other Bacteria - Bacteria generous with their genes - Disrupting the Replication of Bacteria - articles on the overuse of anti-biotics - Raised Without Antibiotics
Related: Try to Answer 6 Basic Science Questions - Bdelloid Rotifers Abandoned Sex 100 Million Years Ago - Non-Newtonian video
Facts about Rainforests by The Nature Conservancy
Photo of John Hunter in Costa Rican rain forest, by Justin Hunter.
Related: Incredible Insects - 10 Science Facts You Should Know - Curious Cat Hoh Rain Forest Photo Essay
Humans Carry More Bacterial Cells than Human Ones
How cool is science? Very, I think 
Related: Tracking the Ecosystem Within Us - Beneficial Bacteria - Energy Efficiency of Digestion - Large Number of Bacteria on our Skin - Where Bacteria Get Their Genes - Amazing Science: Retroviruses
One of the great things about writing this blog is I find myself more focused on reading about interesting science. Retroviruses are very interesting and frankly amazing. Darwin’s Surprise by Michael Specter, The New Yorker:
When the sequence of the human genome was fully mapped, in 2003, researchers also discovered something they had not anticipated: our bodies are littered with the shards of such retroviruses, fragments of the chemical code from which all genetic material is made. It takes less than two per cent of our genome to create all the proteins necessary for us to live. Eight per cent, however, is composed of broken and disabled retroviruses, which, millions of years ago, managed to embed themselves in the DNA of our ancestors. They are called endogenous retroviruses, because once they infect the DNA of a species they become part of that species. One by one, though, after molecular battles that raged for thousands of generations, they have been defeated by evolution. Like dinosaur bones, these viral fragments are fossils. Instead of having been buried in sand, they reside within each of us, carrying a record that goes back millions of years. Because they no longer seem to serve a purpose or cause harm, these remnants have often been referred to as “junk DNA.” Many still manage to generate proteins, but scientists have never found one that functions properly in humans or that could make us sick.
How amazing is that? I mean really think about it: it is incredible. The whole article is great. Related: Old Viruses Resurrected Through DNA - DNA for once species found in another species’ Genes - New Understanding of Human DNA - Retrovirus overview (Tulane) - Cancer-Killing Virus
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Watch video of Professor Werren describing the genome-in-a-genome at the University of Rochester.
More incredible gene research. Scientists at the University of Rochester and the J. Craig Venter Institute have discovered a copy of the genome of a bacterial parasite residing inside the genome of its host species. The research, reported in today’s Science, also shows that lateral gene transfer—the movement of genes between unrelated species—may happen much more frequently between bacteria and multicellular organisms than scientists previously believed, posing dramatic implications for evolution.
Such large-scale heritable gene transfers may allow species to acquire new genes and functions extremely quickly, says Jack Werren, a principle investigator of the study. If such genes provide new abilities in species that cause or transmit disease, they could provide new targets for fighting these diseases.
The results also have serious repercussions for genome-sequencing projects. Bacterial DNA is routinely discarded when scientists are assembling invertebrate genomes, yet these genes may very well be part of the organism’s genome, and might even be responsible for functioning traits.
“This study establishes the widespread occurrence and high frequency of a process that we would have dismissed as science fiction until just a few years ago,” says W. Ford Doolittle, Canada Research Chair in Comparative Microbial Genomics at Dalhousie University, who is not connected to the study. “This is stunning evidence for increased frequency of gene transfer.”
Related: Opossum Genome Shows ‘Junk’ DNA is Not Junk - Bdelloid Rotifers Abandoned Sex 100 Million Years Ago - Scientists discover new class of RNA - Where Bacteria Get Their Genes - New Understanding of Human DNA - Old Viruses Resurrected Through DNA
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