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A Schooner of Science
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- June 8, 2011
- 02:44 AM
- 201 views
Nubia, irrigation and parasitic worms, a tale told by a Mummy
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
A few months ago I wrote about Ancient Nubians and their antibiotic beer, delivering a dose of tetracycline in every brew. Now bioarcheologist George Armelagos has co-authored a study showing that early irrigation channels changed how humans were affected by parasites. I’ll describe the research at the end, but first – a story! Make yourself [...]... Read more »
Hibbs AC, Secor WE, Van Gerven D, & Armelagos G. (2011) Irrigation and infection: The immunoepidemiology of schistosomiasis in ancient Nubia. American journal of physical anthropology, 145(2), 290-8. PMID: 21469072
- June 8, 2011
- 02:44 AM
- 231 views
Nubia, irrigation and parasitic worms, a tale told by a Mummy
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
A few months ago I wrote about Ancient Nubians and their antibiotic beer, delivering a dose of tetracycline in every brew. Now bioarcheologist George Armelagos has co-authored a study showing that early irrigation channels changed how humans were affected by parasites. I’ll describe the research at the end, but first – a story! Make yourself [...]... Read more »
Hibbs AC, Secor WE, Van Gerven D, & Armelagos G. (2011) Irrigation and infection: The immunoepidemiology of schistosomiasis in ancient Nubia. American journal of physical anthropology, 145(2), 290-8. PMID: 21469072
- April 7, 2011
- 08:30 PM
- 585 views
Sex and mosquitoes – transmitting the Zika virus
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
When Brian Foy returned home to America from a field trip in Senegal, Africa, he didn’t know he was infected with the mosquito spread Zika virus. But just a few days later he was sick with extreme fatigue and joint pain, and so was his wife Chilson. A new study coauthored by the pair and [...]... Read more »
Foy, B. (2011) Probable Non–Vector-borne Transmission of Zika Virus, Colorado, USA. Emerging Infectious Diseases. DOI: 10.3201/eid1705.101939
- February 23, 2011
- 05:28 AM
- 726 views
Brontomerus mcintoshi – the dinosaur with thunder thighs
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
Across my twitter feed today we welcomed a new dinosaur. Brontomerus mcintoshi was named for it’s “thunder-thighs” and as honour to retired physicist and avocational paleontologist “Jack” McIntosh. I hope Jack has no hang-ups about his thighs, as I can assure you if someone called a dinosaur “Thunder-thighs skelletti” I would whap them with my [...]... Read more »
Michael P. Taylor, Mathew J. Wedel, and Richard L. Cifelli. (2011) A new sauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah, USA. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 56(1), 75-98. info:/10.4202/app.2010.0073
- January 31, 2011
- 06:30 PM
- 551 views
Death of a hive, a science story
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
It was late afternoon, and Aethina could smell a hive in danger. Heavy with eggs she felt compelled to investigate. The scent wafted softly though the hot and hazy air, so faint it was barely discernible. Driven by survival, she flew as fast as she could. Weak as the smell was it was hard to [...]... Read more »
Ellis, J., Hepburn, H., Ellis, A., & Elzen, P. (2003) Social encapsulation of the small hive beetle ( Aethina tumida Murray) by European honeybees ( Apis mellifera L.). Insectes Sociaux, 50(3), 286-291. DOI: 10.1007/s00040-003-0671-7
- January 29, 2011
- 08:44 PM
- 423 views
Radioactive decay of teaspoons in the workplace
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
Have you ever noticed a mysterious loss of teaspoons at your workplace? Maybe it’s not teaspoons, but some other cutlery item. At my old work it was forks, which dwindled even when I bought new replacement ones. At the Australian National University neither spoon nor fork were safe, causing some students to eat salad with [...]... Read more »
Lim, M. (2005) The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute. BMJ, 331(7531), 1498-1500. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.331.7531.1498
- January 11, 2011
- 07:23 AM
- 678 views
A Vampire Flying Frog by any other name…
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
Actually, it’s not QUITE as cool as it sounds. This new frog species, the Vampire Flying Frog, was discovered in Vietnam by scientists from the Australian Museum. Rhacophorus vampyrus was a latecomer to the International Year of Biodiversity, which yielded a wealth of newly discovered creatures. But the name. The name. To be honest, it [...]... Read more »
Rowley, J. et al. (2010) A new tree frog of the genus Rhacophorus (Anura: Rhacophoridae) from southern Vietnam. Zootaxa. info:/
- December 6, 2010
- 05:24 AM
- 511 views
How marsupial embryos develop (a short story)
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
Marsupials are just plain weird when it comes to procreating. I’m not talking about bifurcated penises (where the penis has two heads) although that’s pretty freaking weird. I’m talking about the embryos. When a baby marsupial is born after a 4-5 week gestation, it’s a tiny pink speck of nothing much. About the same size [...]... Read more »
Keyte, A., & Smith, K. (2010) Developmental origins of precocial forelimbs in marsupial neonates. Development, 137(24), 4283-4294. DOI: 10.1242/dev.049445
- December 2, 2010
- 10:52 PM
- 615 views
Science that’s only skin deep
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
I’m a guest blogger for the RiAus, and this post also appeared on their fancy website. To tell the truth, I really wanted to call this post “Hormonally Yours” in homage to the Shakespeare Sisters (anyone?) but I’ll save it for another post. Recently I was in Arnhem Land, visiting some Indigenous communities with a [...]... Read more »
Yuen, A., & Jablonski, N. (2010) Vitamin D: In the evolution of human skin colour. Medical Hypotheses, 74(1), 39-44. DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2009.08.007
Jablonski, N. (2000) The evolution of human skin coloration. Journal of Human Evolution, 39(1), 57-106. DOI: 10.1006/jhev.2000.0403
- November 24, 2010
- 07:40 AM
- 642 views
Physics of lapping lets cats drink without mess
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
First up, apologies on the lateness of my post. A whole week has gone past! Oh me! I humbly do beseech you to forgive this old salt and do throw myself upon the deck in penance. Me only defense is that I have just moved from Canberra to Adelaide, and me Schooner does need an [...]... Read more »
Reis, P., Jung, S., Aristoff, J., & Stocker, R. (2010) How Cats Lap: Water Uptake by Felis catus. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.1195421
- November 18, 2010
- 06:18 AM
- 733 views
CERN trap 38 atoms of antimatter
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
For the first time ever, antimatter has been trapped by a magnetic field allowing it to be studied in detail. The 38 atoms were antihydrogen, theoretically the same as hydrogen but having the opposite charge. Where hydrogen is made of one proton, one electron, antihydrogen is made with an antiproton and a positron. Antihydrogen was [...]... Read more »
Andresen, G., & et al. (2010) Trapped antihydrogen. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature09610
- November 8, 2010
- 07:23 AM
- 655 views
Gold nanoparticles make plants glow in the dark
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
Imagine if instead of having sensor lights to illuminate a garden path, you could line it with light-emitting plants. You could stroll along bio-luminescent flower beds, dancing in dappled moonlight and delighting in eerily lit peace, free from the shackles of electricity. It could be possible with sea urchin shaped gold nanoparticles. Seriously, every time [...]... Read more »
Su, Y., Tu, S., Tseng, S., Chang, Y., Chang, S., & Zhang, W. (2010) Influence of surface plasmon resonance on the emission intermittency of photoluminescence from gold nano-sea-urchins. Nanoscale. DOI: 10.1039/C0NR00330A
- October 29, 2010
- 09:20 AM
- 570 views
Thought controlled computers? Recent research says yes.
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
Imagine being able to control a computer with your mind! No longer would we be tied down to keyboards, mice and touchscreens! We need NEVER put down our coffee to work! It’s not fantasy, that just happened. Twelve subjects sat in front of a computer and looked at two superimposed images on a screen, focusing [...]... Read more »
Cerf, M., Thiruvengadam, N., Mormann, F., Kraskov, A., Quiroga, R., Koch, C., & Fried, I. (2010) On-line, voluntary control of human temporal lobe neurons. Nature, 467(7319), 1104-1108. DOI: 10.1038/nature09510
- September 7, 2010
- 09:30 PM
- 699 views
Antibiotic beer, as drunk by the ancient Nubians
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
Today’s schooner of science is literally science in a schooner. Plus it comes with a new career path – bioarcheologist, expert in ancient diets. George Armelagos is the bioarcheologist in question, and he’d been studying the ancient Nubians who lived just south of ancient Egypt in present-day Sudan. George was looking at some bones and [...]... Read more »
Nelson ML, Dinardo A, Hochberg J, & Armelagos GJ. (2010) Brief communication: Mass spectroscopic characterization of tetracycline in the skeletal remains of an ancient population from Sudanese Nubia 350-550 CE. American journal of physical anthropology, 143(1), 151-4. PMID: 20564518
- July 20, 2010
- 08:05 PM
- 924 views
Ivy vs UV, could plant nanoparticles be the new sunscreen?
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
Research published in June shows that nanoparticles from the English Ivy might make superior sunscreen to current brands, offering high broad spectrum protection and lasting for longer than current creams.
The trend towards organics has influenced industries like food, coffee and shampoo as well as pretty much everything you can conceivably imagine. Over the past few [...]... Read more »
Xia, L., Lenaghan, S., Zhang, M., Zhang, Z., & Li, Q. (2010) Naturally occurring nanoparticles from English ivy: an alternative to metal-based nanoparticles for UV protection. Journal of Nanobiotechnology, 8(1), 12. DOI: 10.1186/1477-3155-8-12
- July 13, 2010
- 10:14 AM
- 794 views
World’s sweetest antibiotic? The five ways honey kills bacteria.
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
You’re at the doctors with a suspected infection, but instead of offering penicillin or erythromycin, they prescribe honey. Would you switch toast toppings? Take a honey pill? How about letting the doctor smear medical grade honey over the infected area?
People have been using honey (not mad honey) as medicine since ancient times, but until now [...]... Read more »
Kwakman, P., te Velde, A., de Boer, L., Speijer, D., Vandenbroucke-Grauls, C., & Zaat, S. (2010) How honey kills bacteria. The FASEB Journal, 24(7), 2576-2582. DOI: 10.1096/fj.09-150789
- July 11, 2010
- 10:13 AM
- 668 views
Frilled dinosaur Mojoceratops is groovy baby, yeah
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
Mojo: The libido. The life force. The essence. The right stuff. What the French call a certain… I don’t know what.
Mojoceratops was discovered when Nicholas Longrich from Yale University was looking at existing fossils from American Museum of Natural History in New York. They had been classified as another species, Chasmosaurus, but Nicholas believed [...]... Read more »
Longrich, Nicholas R. (2010) Mojoceratops perifania, A New Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid from the Late Campanian of Western Canada. Journal of Paleontology, 84(4), 681-694. info:/
- May 22, 2010
- 07:52 AM
- 698 views
What is the synthetic cell?
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
Two days ago scientists at J. Craig Venter announced the creation of the first self-replicating synthetic cell, a bacteria with DNA made in a lab. How did they do it, and what does it mean for us in the future?
First up, the scientists didn’t make life out of nothing, and they didn’t make a new [...]... Read more »
Gibson, D., & et al. (2010) Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.1190719
- May 15, 2010
- 07:51 PM
- 808 views
Mice make morphine, humans might too
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
A recent study has found that mice are able to turn something normally found in mice brains into morphine.
Morphine is a potent painkiller harvested from opium poppies. We can make it synthetically in the lab, but it’s cheaper to let plants do the hard work. If you haven’t taken morphine, you may have taken its [...]... Read more »
Grobe, N., Lamshoft, M., Orth, R., Drager, B., Kutchan, T., Zenk, M., & Spiteller, M. (2010) Urinary excretion of morphine and biosynthetic precursors in mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(18), 8147-8152. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1003423107
- April 22, 2010
- 10:05 AM
- 791 views
The needle free vaccine, how Nanopatch works
by Captain Skellett in A Schooner of Science
Researchers from Queensland University have discovered a new way to administer vaccines, a Nanopatch. Smaller than a postage stamp, the patch puts the vaccine through your skin. No need for an injection.
So how does it work?
The Nanopatch is full of micro-nanoprojections containing antigen – part of the bacteria or virus you are immunising [...]... Read more »
Crichton, M., Ansaldo, A., Chen, X., Prow, T., Fernando, G., & Kendall, M. (2010) The effect of strain rate on the precision of penetration of short densely-packed microprojection array patches coated with vaccine. Biomaterials, 31(16), 4562-4572. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2010.02.022
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