Last Week In Science: April 27th 2020
All the cool stories not covered because of COVID!
Yes, COVID-19 continues to dominate headlines worldwide, but we could all use a break hearing about it once in while. Fortunately for us all, in spite of quarantines and lock-downs, scientific progress meanders on! Here are some stories from across the week that you may have missed!
Hubble at 30
“Hubble has given us stunning insights about the universe, from nearby planets to the farthest galaxies… and will continue to inspire humanity for years to come" — Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA
To celebrate the 30th birthday of the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA has released new images of distant nebula. The image (pictured below) shows two nebula (NGC 2014 and NGC 2020) from the Large Magellanic Cloud and and has been dubbed the Cosmic Reef.
Charismatic Invaders
“An appearance perceived as beautiful or cute can make the management of species invasions more difficult, because then public support is often lacking” — Ivan Jaric
As a British person, I can confirm that complaining about grey squirrels is somewhat of a national past time, but we all are familiar with invasive species and the damage they can cause to local ecosystems. Rapid reproduction and lack of natural predators are commonly cited as reasons for their success, but one factor you may not have considered is charisma. According to a paper published this week in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment however, this trait should not be overlooked. Ornamental species such as aquarium fish or garden flowers may have an advantage in this regard as they have already been selected as being appealing to humans and are more likely to be the subjects of cultivation and trade, but the factors contributing to a species charisma are complex. One rather bizarre case cited in the review describes a population of feral hippopotamuses living in Colombia. The hippopotamuses were imported by Pablo Escobar in the ‘80s and have been breeding successfully ever since. Despite the extreme damage they have caused to the environment, there has been strong public opposition (in many ways understandably) to culling or controlling the population. So how can we change public perception to ease the management of invasive species? One strategy proposed in the paper is to paint an equally charismatic species as the victim. A poster child in the propaganda war against invasive species!
Classifying Crap
“The archaeological record is full of dog poop.” — Proffessor Christina Warinner
You can learn a lot from poo. The constituents of your faeces can provide information about your diet, lifestyle and health. The same is true of fossilised faeces in the archaeological record, coprolites. Sequencing surviving DNA from coprolites provides insight into not only the diets of ancient people, but into the evolution of parasites, disease and our own microbiomes. Unfortunately, identifying the source of coprolites can be taxing, particularly when trying to discriminate between those of humans and dogs due to the close cohabitation of humans with their canine friends. To solve this problem, Maxime Borry, Professor Christina Warinner and colleges have developed a tool to help researchers identify the source of coprolites. By using machine learning to analyse large data sets of DNA (metagenomes) the team developed a tool to automatically assign the source of a coprolite. The so-called CoproID was able to reliably identify the source organism in more than half of the sample data set. Borry notes that, the power of the tool should only increase over time as more reference data sets become available.
Lizards Change Their Cologne
“This is only the beginning for understanding what the lizards are saying to each other.” — Dr. Colin Donihue
Just as humans use perfume to attract potential partners, so do animals. Many reptiles excrete pheromones as a method of seeking out and determining the fitness of potential mates. A new study in the Journal of Animal Ecology has found that they can also change the chemical composition of these signals to suit their environment. Sex signals are vital for finding a mate, but are also conspicuous to potential predators. As such, the signals excreted by the lizards must be finely balanced to attract only the right kind of attention. Take away the predators however, and the complexity of these signals will rapidly and reliably evolve to be more complex in a matter of generations. It just goes to show the importance of picking the right cologne.
On the Binge
“Mice will drink enough alcohol… to achieve blood alcohol levels that would define it as a binge episode.” — Professor Howard C. Becker
It isn’t pleasant to admit, but binge drinking is one of the most common ways many of us consume alcohol. This is bad news for a bunch of reasons, but particularly at risk are those who binge drink at a young age as they are more likely to develop drinking problems later in life. In an attempt to understand this phenomenon, Professor Howard Becker and his team at the Medical University of South Carolina have been investigating systems of opioid receptors in the brain. By blocking specific receptors in the brains of binge-drinking mice (yes, you read that correctly) the team were able to reduce alcohol consumption to a much lower level. Although the purpose of the study was not to develop new therapies to combat binge drinking, Becker believes the study will improve the understanding of potential drug targets and how such therapies could help people quell their desire to binge.
