Science is Cool....

[Fish]

This is a repository for all cool scientific discussion and fascination. Scientific facts, theories, and overall cool scientific stuff that you'd like to share with others. Stuff that makes you smile and wonder at the amazing shit going on around us, that most people don't notice.

Post pictures, vidoes, stories, or links. Ask questions. Share science.

Why should I care?:

[Bearcat]

I've seen that 'one billion birds die flying into windows per year' stat before... freakin' insane. So, if half of those were prevented over a 5 year period and half of those survived over those 5 years, there would be 1.25 billion more birds on the planet.

Out of all those birds, there's one that can't figure out that it can't fly through my living room window, and the ****er hasn't killed itself yet.

[Mr. Plow]

[jiveturkey]

This is a case where science is not cool.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....its-own-grave/

Parasite Forces Host To Dig Its Own Grave

by Ed Yong
If a bumblebee is attacked by a thick-headed fly, it’s doomed. The fly will lay an egg inside it and the larva will eat it alive. And if that wasn’t an ignoble enough fate, the larva also forces the bee to burrow into the ground. The soil is warm and safe, and makes for a better nursery for the developing fly. And the bee? The bee is as good as dead. For its last act, it might as well dig its own grave.

There are around 800 species of thick-headed flies or conopids, and they’re all parasites. They use the hard tips of their abdomens like can-openers to prise apart the body segments of bees and wasps, so they can lay an egg inside. They even do this while flying. A conopid can chase down a bee, grab it in mid-air, open it up, and implant it with an egg, without ever touching the ground.

The fly maggot takes just under two weeks to kill its host, first by draining nutrients from its bodily fluids and then by actually eating it. Shortly, after, it forms a pupa and transforms into an adult.

In 1994, Christine Muller discovered that the vast majority of infested bumblebees bury themselves. As soon as she put them on soil, they started to dig. This behaviour didn’t matter to the bees, but it was critical for the flies.

Conopids have yearly life cycles. The adults emerge in the spring after spending the winter as pupae, hibernating inside their dead hosts. If the host dies in the open, the developing fly faces months of cold, dehydration, fungi, and even other parasites. If the host dies underground, the fly is sheltered and more likely to survive.

These kinds of manipulations are common in the world of parasites, many of which commandeer the brains and bodies of their hosts to ensure their own survival. There are wasps that turn caterpillars into head-banging zombie bodyguards, and fungi that make ants climb to the ideal locations for spores to grow. In this case, a fly turns a bee into a shovel.

But not all bees make equally good shovels.

In the summer of 2012, Rosemary Malfi at the University of Virginia collected three closely related species of bumblebees from a local field. She found that a quarter of them were parasitised by a single conopid species—a black, wasp-like insect called Physocephala tibialis.

The parasite forced all three species of bumblebee to dig, but with varying degrees of success. Around 70 percent of the two-spotted or common eastern bumblebees dug their own graves when infected, but only 18 percent of the brown-belted bumblebees did so.

This isn’t a case of resistance in the classical sense. Host insects often have defences that stop parasitic flies and wasps from implanting them with eggs. If that fails, their immune system can sometimes destroy the developing larva. Some species can even self-medicate (with booze, no less) to cure themselves. These countermeasures can force parasites to be very specific, to only target hosts whose defences they can overcome.

It’s possible that the brown-belted bees in Malfi’s study use one or more of these countermeasures, but they could also protect themselves by resisting manipulation. If they don’t dig their own graves, they’d make poor winter homes for a conopid maggot, and a poor choice of target for a conopid adult. Perhaps they defend themselves from parasites not by being inhospitable hosts, but by being incompetent ones.

PS: Carolyn Beans has written a good post on one of Malfi’s earlier studies on conopid flies. Check it out.

Reference: Malfi, Davis & Roulston. 2014. Parasitoid fly induces manipulative grave-digging behaviour differentially across its bumblebee hosts. Animal Behaviour. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.04.005

[Fish]

****ing parasites....

[Fish]

3D Printed Body Parts Go Mainstream



3D printing technology has been around for two decades, but the price has come down in recent years and more people have been able to make use of it. Consequently, we've started to be able to really tap into its vast potential. 3D printed products are being spewed out left, right and center; from the building blocks of houses to replica shark skin. It almost seems as though the capabilities are endless, and the technology is not anticipated to slow down any time soon.

One really exciting application of 3D printing is the generation of body parts. The level of detail that this technology can produce often supersedes that of traditional methods, offering patients a superior fit or design, and they can often be produced at an impressively low cost.

Researchers have turned to 3D printing to produce a wide variety of body parts. Around two weeks ago we heard the story of a teenager who received a 3D printed bright pink robotic prosthetic arm to replace the arm that she lost in a boating accident many years ago. The arm, which was produced by a trio of biomedical engineering students at Washington University in St. Louis, only cost $200 in total; a fraction of the normal cost of prosthetics which are usually a minimum of $6,000. The recipient, Sydney Kendall, could use shoulder movements to manipulate the arm to perform tasks such as throwing a ball and moving a computer mouse.

Earlier on this year a story emerged of a teenage boy from South Sudan, Daniel Omar, who lost his hands when a bomb exploded when he was 14. Two years on, he received a 3D printed prosthetic arm from an American startup called Not Impossible Labs which cost only $100 to produce. Once again movements by the user could trigger the fingers to move.

One of the most incredible reports yet is that of a young woman from the Netherlands who underwent an operation in March this year to replace almost all of her skull with a 3D printed implant. The procedure was carried out by a team of neurosurgeons at the University Medical Centre Utrecht. The woman suffered a chronic bone disorder and the thickness of her skull had increased from 1.5cm to 5cm, and consequently she had started to lose her vision. If her skull had not been replaced doctors predicted that serious brain damage may have ensued.

To add to the growing list of 3D printed body part recipients is a British woman named Meryl Richards who was injured in a traffic accident almost 40 years ago. In a report just last week it was revealed that she received a 3D printed hip replacement at Southampton General Hospital after six hip operations had failed to fix the problem. A CT scan was used as the basis for the design of the joint, which was made from powdered titanium. Stem cells were also taken prior to surgery from her hip which were then cultured in order to produce a bigger batch. These cells were then put back in the patient in order to encourage new bone formation around the implant. This surgery was not cheap, however, and cost in total around $20,000; around 10 times more than usual replacement joints.

Perhaps even more impressively, earlier this year a man was given a 3D printed pelvis to replace the half he lost due to a rare type of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma. The pelvis was also produced using powdered titanium, and he was given a standard hip replacement alongside the new pelvis.

What other awesome body parts can be produced by 3D printers? A UK-based company called Fripp Design has been collaborating with various universities in the UK in order to produce 3D printed facial prosthetics and 3D printed eyes. The products that they can churn out are cheap and can be created in batches so can be replaced at low cost. The level of detail on the prosthetic eyes is also incredible as they come in a variety of sizes with precise color matches.

Princeton University scientists have also been experimenting with the capabilities of this technology and last year revealed their 3D printed “bionic ear” that is capable of detecting a range of radio frequencies far greater than humans. Rather than being designed to replace human ears this was more of a proof of principle experiment aimed at bridging electronics with materials. The team printed layers of a matrix composed of hydrogel and calf cells with silver nanoparticles that formed a coiled antenna. The bovine cells then later turned into cartilage. The team hope that they can develop the technology so that the ear can detect acoustic sounds, and suggest that maybe one day it could be used to restore or enhance human hearing.

Cornell University researchers have also been working on 3D printed ears using a similar process of injecting cartilage cells encapsulated in a hydrogel into a collagen mold. The cells then go on to develop cartilage which replaces the mold over a few months. These ears are being designed with the goal of being used in reconstructive surgery, for example in children born with ear deformities or people who have lost their ears from accidents.

So there you have it- some pretty incredible examples of what 3D printing has achieved so far. Imagine what the future will hold.

[ToxSocks]

Parasites creep me the **** out, man. Some people don't like Spiders, some people don't like snakes....it's parasites for me.

ewwahhaa /shudder

[Mr. Plow]

[Fish]

Gentlemen! Behold!

The Chicken Matrix!



These Virtual Reality Headsets Make Farmed Chickens Believe They Roam Free



“Who wants a virtual reality headset?” “Cluck cluck.” “… I’ll take that as a resounding yes.”

In recent years, people have started to take animal welfare very seriously and slowly we are starting to see a change in the way that animals are treated. But what first springs to mind as a feasible idea to improve the lives of animals destined for human consumption? Bigger roaming areas? Free range? The Matrix? Wait… What?

An assistant professor in design at Iowa State University, Austin Stewart, has released ideas for a project named “Second Livestock” which involves tricking chickens into thinking that they are free range, while they are actually contained within small enclosures. This would be achieved by strapping virtual reality headsets onto farmed chickens (stop laughing). These “Cockulus Rift” headsets would therefore make the chickens believe that they are in a nicer, less stressful environment (really, try to stop laughing).



Is this a big joke? Well, kind of, but not necessarily a futile one. Stewart created this project in order to spur people into talking about animal welfare, and also as a kind of experiment to look at our relationship with technology, and of course to see how many people would actually believe that researchers intend on doing this. That being said, he told Techcrunch that he would be willing to work with anyone who is willing to offer their services to make it happen.

“In my presentations I try to present the project with an earnestness that makes the audience question whether or not it’s real,” Stewart told journalist Liz Dwyer. “Most people are on the ‘this is fake’ side of the fence until I announce that they will be able to try out the technology behind Second Livestock in a few minutes. It is pretty great to watch the faces of the audience at this moment.”

So- any takers?

[kepp]

Originally Posted by Fish

****ing parasites....

Holy crap...how was that mantis still alive? What was that thing?

[Fish]

Originally Posted by kepp

Holy crap...how was that mantis still alive? What was that thing?

That's a disgustingly bizarre horsehair worm.

The Horsehair Worm. Pretty Gross Parasite, Super Cool Story.



While collecting aquatic insects last week in this pleasant stream in Malibu, CA (left) I came across this little wriggler, commonly called the Horsehair worm but more fancily called Nematomorpha (right). I placed the worm next to a pen so you can get a better perspective, it comes in at over 13″ long. That’s one heck of a parasitic worm. Luckily for me, it is no parasite of humans, it prefers the much smaller prey. Here’s a video of me moving it around a bit:



These worms have an amazing story. They are endoparasites of arthropods, which means that they grow up feeding off the insides of things like crabs, crickets, cockroaches, and beetles. One particularly cool species is a grasshopper parasite. Once the worm has grown to its massive adult size, it infects the brain of the grasshopper, takes over some of its natural instincts, and ‘instructs’ the grasshopper to jump into water, an otherwise very unnatural behavior.

Once in the water, the grasshopper drowns, the worm escapes, and it goes on to live happily as a free-living adult in the stream/pond/puddle that the grasshopper jumped in to. There it meets other horsehair worms, mates, lays a goopy mass of eggs, and the story goes on.

Here’s where people can get scared though: sometimes, these worms end up in your toilet. This can cause an immediate alarm in people, thinking they might have some parasitic worm living in their intestine. Luckily, there is an easy way to distinguish our harmless horsehair worms from the potentially nasty human parasite. Horsehair worms have a distinctly clefted/forked rear end, as seen in the picture below, while human parasites have a hooked/blunt end.



So, if that worm in your toilet has a forked end you’re likely in luck, it probably contributed to one less cockroach running around your house by parasitizing it. However, if there is no forked end, I’d recommend the not-so-fun task of putting it in a jar and visiting your doctor.

These worms got their name from people in the olden days believing that they formed from horse hairs coming to life when they fell into a stream. As cool as that would be, I think their actual natural history story is even better.

[alnorth]

Heads up: On Friday night/Saturday morning from 1am to 3am CDT there will be a meteor shower. No one knows how good it'll be, because it'll be the first time Earth has ever crossed that debris trail. It could be anything ranging from terrific to total bust. Some think it could be a couple hundred shooting stars per hour.

[ShortRoundChief]

Originally Posted by Fish

That's a disgustingly bizarre horsehair worm.

The Horsehair Worm. Pretty Gross Parasite, Super Cool Story.



While collecting aquatic insects last week in this pleasant stream in Malibu, CA (left) I came across this little wriggler, commonly called the Horsehair worm but more fancily called Nematomorpha (right). I placed the worm next to a pen so you can get a better perspective, it comes in at over 13″ long. That’s one heck of a parasitic worm. Luckily for me, it is no parasite of humans, it prefers the much smaller prey. Here’s a video of me moving it around a bit:



These worms have an amazing story. They are endoparasites of arthropods, which means that they grow up feeding off the insides of things like crabs, crickets, cockroaches, and beetles. One particularly cool species is a grasshopper parasite. Once the worm has grown to its massive adult size, it infects the brain of the grasshopper, takes over some of its natural instincts, and ‘instructs’ the grasshopper to jump into water, an otherwise very unnatural behavior.

Once in the water, the grasshopper drowns, the worm escapes, and it goes on to live happily as a free-living adult in the stream/pond/puddle that the grasshopper jumped in to. There it meets other horsehair worms, mates, lays a goopy mass of eggs, and the story goes on.

Here’s where people can get scared though: sometimes, these worms end up in your toilet. This can cause an immediate alarm in people, thinking they might have some parasitic worm living in their intestine. Luckily, there is an easy way to distinguish our harmless horsehair worms from the potentially nasty human parasite. Horsehair worms have a distinctly clefted/forked rear end, as seen in the picture below, while human parasites have a hooked/blunt end.



So, if that worm in your toilet has a forked end you’re likely in luck, it probably contributed to one less cockroach running around your house by parasitizing it. However, if there is no forked end, I’d recommend the not-so-fun task of putting it in a jar and visiting your doctor.

These worms got their name from people in the olden days believing that they formed from horse hairs coming to life when they fell into a stream. As cool as that would be, I think their actual natural history story is even better.

A couple of things. First: It starts out cohabitating, gets tired of this and drives a mofo crazy. It's a female. Second: If I see a worm crawling out of my ass I have immediately found a problem. I don't care if it is laying golden eggs, he's a dead worm.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by Mr. Plow

This post has been blowing up my Facebook feed. I'm curious what resident scientists think about this as an actual possibility?

[Donger]

Originally Posted by NewChief

This post has been blowing up my Facebook feed. I'm curious what resident scientists think about this as an actual possibility?

Technical possibility or fiscal?

[Coochie liquor]

Originally Posted by Fish

****ing parasites....

Looks like a freaking Tool video!