Posted on May 22, 2019  Comments (5)

I saw this squirrel gathering leaves for its nest in its mouth and then climbing a tree in my backyard. It repeated this many times all morning. I saw it doing so at least 5 times and likely it did so many times when I did not see it.

See more backyard wildlife posts on the Curious Cat Science Blog

Related: Squirrel Eating Holly Berries – Backyard Wildlife: Red-tailed Hawk – Backyard Wildlife: Family of Raccoons

Posted on April 19, 2019  Comments (1)

$3.1 million in prizes was awarded through the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2019, including $2,000 to each of the top 300 scholars and their schools. The top award was for $250,000. If you want to watch the video without knowing the winner, watch it before reading the rest of this post.

Every year the accomplishments of high school students provide amazing hope for the future. I am glad for the organizations that highlight the efforts of these students and provide awards for a few of the most amazing accomplishments. The top 40 students all get at least $25,000 (with the top 10 getting more).

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Posted on March 24, 2019  Comments (1)

Malaria is estimated to have killed more than half the people that have ever lived. And it continues to kill millions. One big challenge is diagnosing malaria is difficult (those infected have flu like symptoms).

The video shows two great appropriate technology solutions to help diagnose malaria and save millions of lives. Manu Prakash from Stanford talks about 2 of his labs’ inventions the Foldscope and the Paperfuge. Combined these cost only 68 cents and they can be used to diagnose Malaria. Both of these are examples not only of simple, brilliant design, but of how engineering is used to make a positive dent in the world.

Read more about the Paperfuge: an ultra-low cost, hand-powered centrifuge inspired by the mechanics of a whirligig toy (open access paper).

This solution also shows the huge benefit people everywhere have gained when immigrants can take their skills and desires to institutions like Stanford to create solutions that greatly benefit the world. This powerful force has been creating huge benefits that we all have enjoyed for decades.

Related: Appropriate Technology and Focus on Improving Lives at MIT (2014) – $1 Device To Give Throat Cancer Patients Their Voice Again (2016) – Video showing malaria breaking into cell (2011) – Engineering: Cellphone Microscope (2009) – One Scientists 20 Year Effort to Defeat Dengue Fever (2012)

Posted on February 24, 2019  Comments (2)

The scientists used the ciliate predator Paramecium tetraurelia to select for the de novo evolution of multicellularity in outcrossed populations of C. reinhardtii. They show that multicellular life cycles that evolved were passed on to future generations (the change was heritable). The evolved multicellular life cycles are stable over thousands of asexual generations in the absence of predators. Because C. reinhardtii has no multicellular ancestors, these experiments represent a novel origin of multicellularity.

De novo origins of multicellularity in response to predation

The control populations remained unicellular. The populations subjected to predation evolved in different ways including one that formed stereotypic eight-celled clusters (Fig. 1A), with an apparent unicellular and tetrad life stage.

Scanning electron micrographs of representative multicellular colonies from evolved populations. (A) Shows an amorphous cluster from population B2. Cell number varies greatly between clusters in this clone and between clones in this population. (B) Shows an eight-celled cluster from population B5. Octads were frequently observed in both populations.

The article also provides details on the scientific inquiry process where theory meets practical realities of observation. I think these ideas are very important and we often gloss over such details. This article was shared as an open access article and is written so that those who are interested in science but are not scientists can understand, which is a valuable. The research was funded by USA National Science Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, the NASA Astrobiology Institute, a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship and a Packard Foundation Fellowship. And the researchers work at public and private universities. Such research should all be published in an open access manner.

Related: The Amazing Reality of Genes and The History of Scientific Inquiry – Parasite Evolved from Cnidarians (Jellyfish etc.) – Why Don’t All Ant Species Replace Queens in the Colony, Since Some Do – Scientific Inquiry Leads to Using Fluoride for Healthy Teeth – Mechanical Gears Found in Jumping Insects