227 posts · 133,031 views
Associate Professor of Biology at The University of Texas-Pan American.
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- February 3, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 31 views
Jumping spiders still have use for muscles
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
You can’t push on a rope.
This is why you typically need two muscles to get things done. Muscles only shorten; if you flex a joint, you can’t expand your muscles to push that joint back to its original position. You have to pull a different muscle, with different insertion points, to get that limb back to where it was. For instance, you have biceps to flex your forearm, and triceps to extend it.
Spiders have always been something of a puzzle, because many of their limb joints have unpaired........ Read more »
Weihmann T, Gunther M, & Blickhan R. (2012) Hydraulic leg extension is not necessarily the main drive in large spiders. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 215(4), 578-583. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.054585
- January 26, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 59 views
Once more into the cave
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
Caves. There’s a whole series of things that tends to happen in creatures that become cave-dwellers. Over and over and over again, animals that live exclusively in caves tend to be blind compared to their closest living relatives.
This makes cave species great for studying evolution, because each cave is a “natural experiment.” Mexican cave fish are a particularly cool case, because we have in the same species both cave dwellers, which are blind, and surface fish, which are not. And they ........ Read more »
Bradic M, Beerli P, Garcia-de Leon FJ, Esquivel-Bobadilla S, & Borowsky RL. (2012) Gene flow and population structure in the Mexican blind cavefish complex (Astyanax mexicanus). BMC Evolutionary Biology, 9. info:/10.1186/1471-2148-12-9
- January 25, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 96 views
Males have bigger brains than females, if those males are sticklebacks from Iceland
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
This supershort paper contains an interesting fact: there is a population of male stickleback fish out there with big brains. The males fish that have brains 23% larger than the females of approximately equal size.
This is a bit of an unfair characterization. The paper does talk a little bit about how the look for differences in brain size according to the local eco-type that they found the fish and: mud or lava. the nails from allow the environments have bigger brains than those from muddy env........ Read more »
Kotrschal A, Räsänen K, Kristjánsson B, Senn M, & Kolm N. (2012) Extreme sexual brain size dimorphism in sticklebacks: a consequence of the cognitive challenges of sex and parenting?. PLoS ONE, 7(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030055
- January 24, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 65 views
Tuesday Crustie: Fresh ink
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
Keeping with last week’s hydrothermal vent crustaceans...
This is another hydrothermal vent shrimp, Alvinocaris komaii. The tattoo belongs to one of the authors who formally described it for science, Kevin Zelnio of Deep Sea News. It was completed last week at the Science Online 2012 conference, by Dogstar Tattoo.
This shrimp lives near hydrothermal vents just north of New Zealand, where they normally are found on beds of mussels. They are probably generalist feeders.
One of the recurrin........ Read more »
Zelnio K, & Hourdez S. (2009) A new species of Alvinocaris (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea: Alvinocarididae) from hydrothermal vents at the Lau Basin, Southwest Pacific, and a key to the species of Alvinocarididae. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 122(1), 52-71. DOI: 10.2988/07-28.1
- January 23, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 70 views
The disembodied tail
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
When things are bad, and I mean really bad, horribly you-are-in-the-jaws-of-death bad, sometimes you have to let go of something.
Like a tail.
This leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) can, when hassled, have its tail fall off. Losing a limb (autotomy) is not a particularly unusual trick for this species. Lots of animals can drop legs and tails if necessary. But this one is noteworthy because if it does so, the tail doesn’t just come off, but it will continue to twist and writhe for up to........ Read more »
Higham T, & Russell A. (2012) Time-varying motor control of autotomized leopard gecko tails: multiple inputs and behavioral modulation. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 215(3), 435-441. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.054460
- January 18, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 79 views
Delivering postcards supercars: big neurons and information transfer
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
In the world of neurons, bigger may not be better, but it is usually faster – which is almost as good.
The wider an axon, the faster a signal travels along it. You can see this readily by playing around with a computer simulations. This is the traditional explanation for why the largest, fattest neurons are almost always found in escape circuits. Escape systems push neurons to the limit of what is physically possible to shave off every possible microsecond in the response time, because every........ Read more »
Perge JA, Niven JE, Mugnaini E, Balasubramanian V, & Sterling P. (2012) Why do axons differ in caliber?. The Journal of Neuroscience, 32(2), 626-638. info:/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4254-11.2012
- January 17, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 121 views
Tuesday Crustie: Hot or not?
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
This shrimp is a new species that is mentioned in a new paper on a new hydrothermal vent community by Connelly and colleagues.
The Daily Mail recently ran this story on this discovery with the headline:
So how on Earth do you cook THIS? The shrimp that lives in water four times hotter than boiling point
Time for a classic facepalm.
I can see how this headline got cobbled together, but still... sigh. No. No, no, no, and again, no. These are not invulnerable super shrimp.
Time to become... a........ Read more »
Connelly D, Copley J, Murton B, Stansfield K, Tyler P, German C, Van Dover C, Amon D, Furlong M, Grindlay N.... (2012) Hydrothermal vent fields and chemosynthetic biota on the world's deepest seafloor spreading centre. Nature Communications, 620. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1636
- January 12, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 99 views
Error bars
by Zen Faulkes in Better Posters
Comparing averages should be one of the easiest kinds of information to show, but they are surprisingly tricky.Most people know that when they show an average, there should be an indication of how much smear there is in the data. It makes a huge difference to your interpretation of the information, particularly when glancing at the figure.For instance, I’m willing to bet most people looking at this...Would say, “Wow, the treatment is making a big difference compared to the control!”I’m l........ Read more »
Cumming G, Fidler F, & Vaux D. (2007) Error bars in experimental biology. The Journal of Cell Biology, 177(1), 7-11. DOI: 10.1083/jcb.200611141
- January 9, 2012
- 05:51 PM
- 120 views
ESA still not supporting open access
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
The Ecological Society of America drew attention to itself last week for a statement regarding open access for scientific publication. Jonathan Eisen covered it here.
I posted the link to Eisen’s post this on ESA’s Facebook page, and today, there was this comment:
ESA’s recent letter in response to OSTP’s Request for Information has generated discussion in the social media realm. This is perhaps a good example of the inherent conflict between the interests of those who believe researc........ Read more »
ESA. (2012) ESA membership survey, February 2011 summary of results. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, 93(1), 13-23. DOI: 10.1890/0012-9623-93.1.13
- January 9, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 112 views
Hidden potential, and the concept of syngeny
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
There’s much excitement about a new paper in Science that shows how ants have hidden potential. In short, there are a few species of ants that can produce “supersoldiers”. Other ant species, however, can also make supersoliders when they are experimentally give the right dose of hormone.
Crudely, it looks like the ants’ ancestors had the ability by changing the hormone levels, but the pathway that was sensitive to the hormone remained. When species started to evolve differences in hormo........ Read more »
Butler A, & Saidel W. (2000) Defining sameness: historical, biological, and generative homology. BioEssays, 22(9), 846-853. DOI: 10.1002/1521-1878(200009)22:93.0.CO;2-R
Rajakumar R, San Mauro D, Dijkstra M, Huang M, Wheeler D, Hiou-Tim F, Khila A, Cournoyea M, & Abouheif E. (2012) Ancestral developmental potential facilitates parallel evolution in ants. Science, 335(6064), 79-82. DOI: 10.1126/science.1211451
- January 8, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 93 views
“The scientists are coming, run!”
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
Animals on some islands are famously unafraid of humans (click here to watch an example). In almost every case, this tameness hasn’t lasted long, ending either with the animals become very wary or harvested to extinction.
A new paper by Delibes and colleagues tells a story about the behaviour of an island animal, but it’s too early to tell if this one will have a better ending. Delibes and company were collecting lizards, the orange-throated whiptail (Aspidoscelis hyperythra). As you can se........ Read more »
Delibes M, Blázquez M, Soriano L, Revilla E, & Godoy J. (2011) High antipredatory efficiency of insular lizards: a warning signal of excessive specimen collection?. PLoS ONE, 6(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029312
- January 6, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 144 views
Calling Nemo
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
Everyone knows clownfish are pretty. Almost everyone knows they live among the tentacles of anemones. But I’m willing to bet fewer people know that clownfish are noisy.
Fishes make noises for the same sorts of reasons that other animals make noise. Sometimes, it’s to say, “This is what species I am!” Sometimes, it’s to say, “Listen to how big I am!” All kinds of important signals can be contained in sounds. Such behaviours can become important drivers in evolution. Certain kinds o........ Read more »
Colleye O, Vandewalle P, Lanterbecq D, Lecchini D, & Parmentier E. (2011) Interspecific variation of calls in clownfishes: degree of similarity in closely related species. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11(1), 365. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-11-365
- December 26, 2011
- 04:52 PM
- 166 views
Sand crab shrinkage?
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
I spent the day in my office working on two talks I have to give next month. One is for the Subtropical Biology meeting we are hosting (13 January), and one is a public talk at the South Padre Island Birding Center (28 January).
It was lovely to just have the day to think about how to do these talks. Nobody else around. No interruptions. Just a chance to think about how to explain the science in a (hopefully) engaging way.
And along the way, I solved a puzzle that lets me fix a 25 year old err........ Read more »
Stuck KC, & Truesdale FM. (1986) Larval and early postlarval development of Lepidopa benedicti Schmitt, 1935 (Anomura: Albuneidae) reared in the laboratory. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 6(1), 89. DOI: 10.2307/1547933
- December 16, 2011
- 08:00 AM
- 397 views
When bluebells aren’t blue: Pollinator pulling power for flowers
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
Why do flowers have such beautiful colours? The quick answer that you’ll probably think of is, “To attract pollinators.”
This New Zealand bluebell (Wahlenbergia albomarginata) is – despite the name – usually mostly white. There is variation in this species, though; you can see some of this in the picture at right. Most of the related species are blue, and the typical explanation for why this species is white is that the pollinators that visit the flower dislike blue.
Campbell and col........ Read more »
Campbell D., Bischoff M., Lord J., & Robertson A. (2011) Where have all the blue flowers gone: pollinator responses and selection on flower colour in New Zealand Wahlenbergia albomarginata. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02430.x
- December 8, 2011
- 08:00 AM
- 206 views
Burn your tables
by Zen Faulkes in Better Posters
A new paper provides empirical evidence for something that many people, like Edward Tufte, have been saying for years: graphs and figures are better than tables.Cook and Teo took the results of statistical simulations, and presented them to people in the form of graphs or tables. Everyone were able to answer questions about the data more quickly using a graph. Less experienced people (i.e., undergraduates compared to postgraduates) were able to make more accurate statements about the results whe........ Read more »
Cook A, & Teo S. (2011) The communicability of graphical alternatives to tabular displays of statistical simulation studies. PLoS ONE, 6(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027974
- November 30, 2011
- 08:00 AM
- 283 views
Aerobics grows your brain, but does it make you smarter?
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
Here’s what looks to be a straightforward claim:
Increased hippocampal volume translates to improved memory function(.)
But a simple line in the Discussion section may not convey the trickiness of the analysis in the Results section.
This paper, by Erickson and company, is looking for ways to prevent or reverse cognitive decline as people age. The hippocampus is part of the brain critical to the formation of memory, something we’ve known from many unfortunate people like Henry Molaison (kn........ Read more »
Erickson K, Voss M, Prakash R, Basak C, Szabo A, Chaddock L, Kim J, Heo S, Alves H, White S.... (2011) Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(7), 3017-3022. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1015950108
- November 22, 2011
- 08:00 AM
- 141 views
The curious case of crustacean colours
by Zen Faulkes in Marmorkrebs
From time to time, you will see news of a lobster being caught with some unusual colour, like orange, blue, or calico. Some even become celebrities, of sorts. And within the pet trade, brightly coloured variations of crayfish (typically bright blue) are widely prized.
What determines colour in crustaceans generally? It’s a complicated mix.
The most dramatic colour variants are caused by genetics. In crayfish, several colour morphs are due to simple recessive genes (Black and Huner 1980), of ........ Read more »
Black J., & Huner J. (2009) Genetics of the red swamp crawfish, Procambarus clarkii (Girard): state-of-the-art. Proceedings of the World Mariculture Society, 11(1-4), 535-543. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-7345.1980.tb00147.x
- November 18, 2011
- 07:32 PM
- 257 views
Non-nuclear nano neurons
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
Living things are made out of cells. Most people with even a passing familiarity with cells knows some of the parts that they have. A membrane to keep the outside out and the inside in. Some mitochondria for energy. Some endoplasmic reticulum to make your proteins. But the part of the cell that is the most familiar, the most famous, the big mac daddy of organelles, is the home of DNA, the center, the nucleus.
But now, my friends! Prepare to be amazed! Prepare to be astonished! Prepare to enter......... Read more »
Polilov A. (2011) The smallest insects evolve anucleate neurons. Arthropod Structure . DOI: 10.1016/j.asd.2011.09.001
- October 25, 2011
- 12:49 PM
- 131 views
Celebrate diversity: Absent fathers might not be missing fathers
by Zen Faulkes in Marmorkrebs
That you don’t see males around when a female gives birth or lays eggs doesn’t mean that a male wasn’t involved. Females of many species can store sperm for long periods, sometimes their entire lives. Queen honeybees, for instance, go on a single “nuptial flight”, and the the sperm they gain on that flight is enough for the rest of her life, which can be several years.
A rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) is making the news with this point. A female that had been isolated for five year........ Read more »
Booth W., & Schuett G. (2011) Molecular genetic evidence for alternative reproductive strategies in North American pitvipers (Serpentes, Viperidae): long-term sperm storage and facultative parthenogenesis. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2011.01782.x
- October 21, 2011
- 08:00 AM
- 301 views
Jump! Fish are surprisingly good on land
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
It’s another new fish out of water paper!
I’ve written about terrestrial fish, and fish the beach themselves for long times. Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) don’t take their air time as seriously: they seem to use land as refuges for short periods of time, and then flip back into water. But while on land, they have to jump to get around, and eventually back into the water.
In a nice little paper, Gibb and colleagues describe the jumping behaviour of these fish on land. To test if mosqui........ Read more »
Gibb A, Ashley-Ross M, Pace C, & Long J. (2011) Fish out of water: terrestrial jumping by fully aquatic fishes. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological Genetics and Physiology. DOI: 10.1002/jez.711
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