Spider Zombies!!!

     In the rainforests of Costa Rica, a species of spider, known as Anelosimus octavius, sometimes displays a strange but interesting habit. Periodically the spider would abandon their web and secrete a new one, however it’s not for them. Rather it’s built for a ‘parasitic wasp’ that was once living there. Ultimately the spider dies, but comes back from the dead as a zombie… The parasitic wasp has ‘hijacked’ and taken control of the spiders brain and the wasp’s larva comes from inside the spider’s body. Other organisms that perform similar actions are: viruses, fungi, protozoans, wasps, tapeworms and a ‘vast number of other parasites can control the brains of their hosts and get them to do their bidding’. Recently scientists have looked closer on sophisticated biochemistry that the parasites use. Co-editor of the new issue, Shelley Adamo, of the Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, notes that: “the knowledge that parasites can manipulate their hosts is old. The new part is how they do it, the last 5 to 10 years have really been exciting” (Adamo). According to research on the Costa Rican spider, the new web is perfect for the wasp and it’s plan. The spider’s old web was mostly of threads where as the new web created has a platform topped by a thick sheet that protects it from precipitation. With this in mind, the wasp larva crawls to the edge of the platform and spins a cocoon that hangs down through an opening that the spider has provided for the parasite. Humans need no worry of this ‘zombie-parasite’ because it is only lethal to small moths and other parasites. 

* Information obtained at www.nytimes.com

* Pictures obtained at www.3quarksdaily.com & www.ruleofthedice.com

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Birds-of-Paradise

     Isolated in the rainforests of New Guinea, a paradise-bird species has evolved with absolutely no predators. With this said, the birds have sexually selected themselves to be mostly females, as the male species is not very important. Ed Scholes, an ornithologist at Cornell University and National Geographic photojournalist Tim Laman have conducted an analysis within the rainforest of New Guinea and Australia for the past eight years in search of every one of the birds-of-paradise’s 39 species. Scholes and Laman have taken over 40,000 photographs of the bird’s behavior as well as courtship rituals. The project is said to launch in mid-January however they have put up a clip of the bird species to view. A question that arises is how did evolution create this intriguing species? More will be clarified in the beginning of 2013. 

* Information obtained at www.discovermagazine.com

* Pictures obtained at www.press.nationalgeographic.com & www.jawwad.org

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Attack of the King Crabs

     Off the coast of Antarctica, a group of researches in an RV, Nathaniel B. Palmer, idled 30 kilometers with a cable stretching 1,400 meters down on the continental shelf, a remote-operated vehicle. Surveying the ocean floor it came across a grey mudscape and discovered a precursor. Many species were previously found on this 57-day research escapade along the Antarctic Peninsula in 2010, many being invertebrates.  The ROV’s camera picked up a red-shelled crab, spidery and with a ‘leg-span as wide as a chessboard’. Marine ecologist from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Craig Smith, stated, “They're natural invaders,” “They're coming in with the warmer water” (Smith). According to Smith and his team of researchers the crabs have been kept out of this area for over 30 million years due to the cold temperatures, however the rise in temperature has caused the unfamiliar drift of crabs along the continental shelf. Smith also reports in an analysis suggesting that ‘1.5 million crabs already inhabit Palmer Deep, the sea-floor valley that the ROV was exploring that night’. Smith notes, “There are no hard-shell-crushing predators in Antarctica, when these come in they're going to wipe out a whole bunch of endemic species” (Smith). 

* Information obtained at www.scientificamerican.com

* Pictures obtained at www.newswhip.com & www.scientificamerican.com

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Bats: Rare Immune Disease

     An epidemic broke out within some North American bats as they leave hibernation with little notice of the harmful side effects of a fungal virus known as, ‘white-nose syndrome’. Since the emergence of this virus, in the winter of 2005, approximately five million bats have died. According to a new study, the immune systems of these bats have become immune to the fungal virus, however the bats system is stimulated into ‘overdrive’. Wildlife pathologist, Carol Meteyer of the U.S. Geological Survey in Madison, Wisconsin, reports: “is the first potential example of IRIS that has ever been seen outside a human patient” (Meteyer). IRIS denotes immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome, which immunologists are concluding that the bats have developed this new condition. Most patients with this disorder (IRIS) have been HIV patients treated with medicines to restore weakening immune systems, until this new discovery. This unusual condition, Meteyer recalls: “I was being sent bats found in front yards. They could not fly.” She quickly dismissed her initial suspicion, rabies, after examining the first animal’s wings. “Under microscopy, I could see the wings were tattered with holes.” Further probing would link inflammation to this damage (Meteyer). 

* Information obtained at www.sciencenews.org 

* Pictures obtained at www.sciencenews.org & www.washingtonpost.com

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Climate Change and Sandy

     It is definitely difficult to conclude that climate change could be causing immense storms such as, Hurricane Sandy, but here’s why. Climate change cannot be classified as the sole factor that causes a hurricane or any storm in fact as immense as Hurricane Sandy. However, it can be a contributing factor. Many variables have to be considered when analyzing the reason behind such a large and devastating storm. This statement goes without saying that immense storms are becoming larger due to climate change and science proves it. Scientists have been conservative and drawn back from the issue but more are linking climate change and directing it to immense storms as well as other extreme weather events, ‘such as the warm 2012 winter in the eastern U.S. and the frigid one in Europe at the same time’. Hurricane Sandy intensified due to it coasting up north along the U.S. coast, where the ocean water is still warm at this time of year, causing the storms energy to be increased. With that in mind, the storm strengthened to a high level of cold jet streams from Canada into the eastern U.S. 

* Information obtained at www.scientificamerican.com

* Pictures obtained at www.scientificamerican.com & www.washingtonpost.com

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Purgatorius - Early Primate

     Stephen Chester of Yale University announced October 19 at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology that several 65-million-year-old fossil ankle bones belong to a species, Purgatorius, known to inhabit trees, has more than a mouth. The first discovery that this species existed was excavated in northeastern Montana nearly fifty years ago and was quite close to the excavation site where the first Tyrannosaurus rex was discovered. Researcher William Clemens of the University California Museum of Paleontology and his colleagues analyzed and indicated the details within mouth as well as the teeth, however the rest of the body has yet to be analyzed. Ken Rose of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland states, “the teeth were so primitive we didn’t know much” (Rose). Rose also heard the presentation and noted that the early history of primates and the many lineages diverged makes conclusions difficult. 

* Information obtained at www.sciencenews.org

* Pictures obtained at www.answersingenesis.org & www.romanticbeast.blog39.fc2.com

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Early Hominids

     Last year marked the discovery of a three million year old foot bone that resembled an early hominid species. This scientific breakthrough revealed that a member of the hominid species known as, Lucy might have walked upright. Research and analyses indicated that the early species of hominids known as, Australopithecus afarensis, were able to climb trees as well as travel on four limbs. The study of the anatomical structure of the shoulder bones on a three-year-old hominid, Selam, concluded these statements. Zeresenay Alemseged, a paleoanthropologist at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco indicates, “The position or orientation of the shoulder joint was very gorilla like”. “We compared it to the primate database” (Alemseged). According to Alemseged and his colleague David J. Green, an anatomist at Midwestern University, “this is the earliest, most complete scapula ever analyzed” (Alemseged, Green). The two researchers also published their findings in the current issue of the journal Science. Speculation arose that the early species Lucy, Selam and their kin climbed trees to protect themselves from predators as well as in search of food and maybe even shelter. The amount of time the early hominids resided in trees is unknown and difficult to infer, however research has revealed many similar characteristics with this species to human like bone structure. 

* Information obtained at www.nytimes.com

* Pictures obtained at www.cryptomundo.com & www.popular-archaeology.com

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Gold & HIV. Who Would of Guessed?

     Could the expensive mineral, gold lead to the production of cheaper medical tests? This article clarifies the new knowledge that yes a golden solution can in fact be a vital mixture in creating inexpensive tests for HIV. Individuals with a low level income in a lesser-developed nation such as, India for example, cannot afford medical diagnostic tests to detect cancer or infections because the tests are too expensive. Currently, a group of researchers at the Imperial College in London, England have developed a theory that gold could be the answer. A common type of diagnostic test known as the ‘enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay’ (ELISA) uses a miniscule dish coated with antibodies that bind to a target molecule from a germ or tumor cell present in blood serum. With this said, the additional antibodies add chemicals by carrying enzymes that can be made to change color. A machine analyzes the antibodies and carefully measures color change to determine whether there is a presence of tumor cells. This particular field in the department of medicine is rather expensive, especially the equipment. 

* Information obtained at www.newscientist.com

* Pictures obtained at www.newscientist.com & www.theinformationdaily.com

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