A new study from biologists at Brown University shows that fruit flies live longer if they are engineered so as not to produce eggs or sperm cells. Indeed, scientists have known for some time that delayed reproduction corresponds with longer lifespans in most animals. The new research suggests a mechanism for this effect.
The longevity effect seems to be associated with insulin, as it is with caloric restriction. What surprised scientists was the fact that the altered flies actually produced more insulin, rather than less. Excess insulin shortens lifespan in most instances, so they had to look further to explain why, in this case, it was associated with longer lives.
They discovered that the gonads of the sterile insects were producing a protein that blocked the insulins effectiveness. The protein binds to the insulin, making it inactive. Thus, one of the researches said:
“… when insulin signaling is reduced, the body goes into a state of high repair. The body becomes more stress resistant. Tissues protect themselves really well – and that increases longevity.
We have all seen the folks on TV starving themselves in hopes of living longer — now we can expect a flood of idiots racing to the doctor’s office to be sterilized. That’s great for the gene pool!
It seems that a big earthquake in California is inevitable in the next 30 years. Even the normally cautious scientists now say there is a 99% chance (that 1% wiggle room is ‘being cautious’) that California will see a major earthquake (magnitude 6.7 or higher) within the next 30 years.
Why not just give it back to Mexico and let them deal with it? Can you imagine what the costs will be? I’m sure the rates for quake insurance have already doubled at the news, and that is just in anticipation. We have enough problems with global warming and increased hurricanes and flooding.
It is not like earthquakes are anything new for California. Did you know that more than 10,000 quakes rock the state every year? Most of them are too soft to be felt, but seismic instruments measure that number. There have ‘only’ been two large quakes in California in the past 20 years: the Northridge quake in 1993 killed more than 50 people and injured over 7,000 — and that was just 6.7 magnitude; and the Loma Prieta quake in 1989, which was slightly bigger at 6.9 magnitude, and killed 63 people and caused over $6 billion in damages. The 1908 San Francisco earthquake is estimated to have been about 7.8 magnitude (remember 7 magnitude is 10 times as strong as 6 — it is a logarithmic scale). Imagine something like that in San Diego or San Francisco today?
Yes, scientists say, the Genistein in soy foods can help prevents breast cancer — but only if it is consumed during puberty. According to Dr Leena Hilakivi-Clarke, professor of oncology at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown:
Timing seems to be vitally important in use of this bioactive food, and if we can figure out why that is so, then we may be able to help prevent breast cancer in the widest sense possible.
Obviously, the Genistein must confer some cancer-protection on cells during breast development. There is some evidence that use of genistein in puberty cut the number of so-called “terminal end buds” in the breast, and/or modified the expression of genes in those terminal end buds, but scientists are unable to explain at this point why that would lessen the incidence of later cancers.
Another theory is that Genistein activates cells known to suppress tumors, specifically BRCA1, p53, and PTEN. Those genes may continue to be more active later in life, though the exact mechanism is not yet known.
It all began with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the new particle accelerator that will give scientists information on the origin of the universe, among other things. That is scheduled to begin operation later this summer, but years ago the developers realized that the new accelerator, once complete, will generate data at prodigious speed and in amazing quantities. Experiments on the LHC are expected to produce 15 million gigabytes of data per year. The scientists realized early on that if they wanted to share that data with institutions around the globe they were not going to be able to use the Internet without causing such a bottle-neck that the whole thing would come to a grinding halt. And they have to spread the data around for analysis, because all the computers at CERN do not have enough power to analyze that much data.
So they built a new high-speed replacement for the Internet, and called it The Grid. Sounds like something out of science fiction, doesn’t it? But this is real and it exists today. Developed at CERN, the same organization responsible for developing the Internet, it consists entirely of state of the art components, high speed and high capacity routers and fiber optic cable. With this new network it is possible to send data 10,000 times faster than any current broadband internet speeds.
You won’t be seeing any improvement in Internet speed when The Grid is activated this summer though — it is a private network between major research institutions around the world, and will not be handling Internet traffic. But it may serve as a model for commercial development of the next generation Internet, where holograms will be transferred as quickly and easily as small JPEGs today.
A surprising study shows that non-lethal electric shocks may increase the production of useful chemical compounds in plants. According to the report:
Exposing plants to electricity can boost production of useful plant chemicals and may provide a cheaper, safer, and more efficient method for producing medicines, pesticides, and other commercially important plant-based materials…
Hmmm. I wonder if a battery in the grow room would improve THC levels in those Cannabis plants Uncle Henry grows? Just kidding of course … Brunch Coffeeshop, it’s management and employees do not encourage or support or endorse illegal activities of any sort — including spitting on the sidewalk.
Archaeologists have discovered the jaw-bone from a human-like ‘hominin’ (I rather preferred the old term, ‘hominid’ — it sounded less like ‘a word that sounds like another’). Found in Spain, it has been dated to 1.2 million years ago, making it the earliest hominin fossil from Europe. Researchers say it was from an individual 30 to 40 years old, but the sex has not been determined.
Dubbed Homo antecessor there have been a few other finds of this species, but not so old as this example. They appeared to have hunted large game, and used stone tools to remove the meat from the bones, and then to crack-open the large bones to get the marrow. They are not believed to be ancestral to Homo sapiens, but may have been ancestors of Homo neanderthalensis. Other research has suggested that modern man came out of Africa at a later date, and found Europe already occupied by Neandertals — a close cousin. Not close enough, however, for any significant interbreeding, according to recent DNA studies.
Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have photographed a white killer whale off the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Not quite Captain Ahab’s giant, it is only about eight meters long and 4500 kg, typical size for an adult of that species. Nor is it a true albino, apparently, as parts of its body has a light yellowish-brown tinge.
I suppose some Japanese whaling boat will slaughter this poor beast (for research purposes only, of course…) before it reaches its potential old-age of 70 or 80 years. Killer whales are normally black and white, so the white is really not so odd — it is that yellowish part, which should be black, that is the anomaly. Moby Dick was probably not a killer whale (i.e. Orca species), though he was a killer of a whale with an appetite for sailor hors d’oeuvres.
I have done a lot of genealogical research — that’s family history stuff for those of you who don’t like big words — and noticed that most people know the details about their parents and grand-parents, but few can go further back than that. Now a study out of Iceland gives some explanation for this social phenomena — it is better to marry your third cousins! (Biologically speaking, that is.)
Don’t believe me? You can read the study here. Third cousins who marry have more children and grandchildren than those more distantly related. In small communities, if you can manage to forget who your great-grandparents were, you can enjoy the fiction that the third-cousin you just met is not related to you.