How Long Can the US Stay on Top? Universities are increasingly tied to #philanthropy vs federal & state #funding
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6139/1394.summary
Robber Baron University: Stanford, JHU, Rockefeller, CMU, Vanderbilt, Rice, Drexel
Genome-Wide Comparison of Medieval & Modern M. #leprae, reveals ~1600 #pseudogenes, w/ slightly more in modern strain
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6142/179.abstract
QT:{{”
Most bacteria will have some pseudogenes in their genome, maybe, you know, in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, for instance a close relative, there are 4,000 genes
present and perhaps 20 pseudogenes. In Mycobacterium leprae, there are 1,600 real
genes and as many pseudogenes. For me, this has always been puzzling, because bacteria
generally tend to, once a function has been lost, the corresponding genes are usually
eliminated and we see the genome shrinking. This hasn’t happened in Mycobacterium
leprae, because there’s still such a huge number of pseudogenes present. And that makes
me think that maybe Mycobacterium leprae emerged in this form only very recently and
that there hasn’t therefore been sufficient time for these pseudogenes to be lost.
However, this is clearly speculation, and it needs to be tested by further experiment. For
instance, looking at older samples might be helpful because the analysis described in the
recent Science paper shows that there are more, a few more pseudogenes present in
modern strains of Mycobacterium leprae than there were in medieval European strains.
So if we could go back a few thousand years more, we might find that actually there were
a couple more functional genes at that particular point.
….
Now is there any evidence that the successive number of pseudogenes contributes to
either its slow growth or its resistance to growing in the lab or its just kind of long
standing plague on humanity?
….
Yes, I think while there’s no experimental evidence to prove that the pseudogenes are
responsible for the slow growth, I think it’s highly likely that they do contribute because
lots of very essential functions have been lost, and this means that M. leprae, for instance,
has difficulty in acquiring iron because it’s lost the genes required for iron uptake.
“}}
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene
High-Strength Chemical-Vapor–Deposited #Graphene and Grain Boundaries. Sheets of this are the strongest material yet!
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6136/1073.abstract
Science for All. Interesting factoids on #India: more cellphones than toilets & plans for national #biometric numbers
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6136/1032.abs
QT:{{”
Nationwide connectivity is transforming India in other ways as well. Today, the country has 900 million cell phones. “Only about 35% of Indian homes have toilets. About 60% have mobile phones,” says Jairam Ramesh, who as India’s minister for rural development is searching for innovative solutions for poverty alleviation (see p.1034).
…
Prime Minister Singh threw his weight behind the venture, and in July 2009 the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was formed. Its ambitions have since grown: UIDAI is now striving to assign a random 12-digit “Aadhaar” ID number to every resident of India, based on photos, iris scans, and a full set of 10 fingerprints. Some critics blast the program as far too ambitious to succeed. Others say it feels like Big Brother; they point out that security agents will have access to the database. Nevertheless, 300 million people have received Aadhaar numbers since the authority’s enrollment centers, scattered across the country, opened in September 2010.
“}}
Are Isle Royale’s Wolves Chasing Extinction? Maybe from
#globalwarming; now population of ~10 wolves & ~1000 moose
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6135/919.summary
Great tidbits on how olives & wine seem less sour together than individually
Following the Flavor. Great tidbits on retronasal olfaction & how combos #taste different together than individually
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6134/808.summary
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6134/1235009.abstract
Impact of Shale #Gas Development on Regional Water Quality: Disposal of #fracking wastewater will be a future issue
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6134/1235009.abstract
Trnp1 Regulates Expansion and Folding of the Mammalian Cerebral #Cortex: less in mice gives more human-like folds
http://www.cell.com/retrieve/pii/S0092867413003498
Glossary of Their Quarry. #exoplanet types: circumbinary, pulsar, core & rogue. Hot Jupiters, waterworlds, #exomoons
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6132/570.summary
And a Glossary of Their Quarry.
Quoting from the podcast summary…
QT:{{”
So far, scientists have uncovered over 800 exoplanets roaming the cosmos—but as Sara Seager said earlier, we’re still searching for that Earth-like, Goldilocks planet.
…
Most of the planets we’ve discovered up until this point are what’s called Hot
Jupiters, which are gas giants about the size of Jupiter in our solar system with a pretty
big range on either side, so the smallest Hot Jupiters would be about 50 Earth masses.
…
The nastiest place to live would probably be pulsar planets.
…
And I
think another really unpleasant place to be would be a core planet. So core planets, they
sort of resemble something like Mercury, the size of Mercury, maybe even smaller.
…
I think just like in the solar system, actually, some of the best places for potentially
finding life outside of our solar system might be moons. So we call them exomoons or
moons orbiting exoplanets.
…
But we have seen and are seeing more and more of are theses
circumbinary planets,
which means a planet with two suns. So, Tatooine is sort of the iconic example.
…
Yes, waterworlds. So those are pretty diverse, and they are usually super-Earth-size so
they’ll be like 10 times the mass of Earth.
…
And then there are some planets that just go rogue.
“}}
Interesting discussion of a new sleep medication related to orexin, which is a protein that when removed is associated with narcolepsy.
http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/5/179/179ra44
Genome Res. 2001 Apr;11(4):531-9.
Identification and functional analysis of mutations in the hypocretin (orexin) genes of narcoleptic canines.
Hungs M, Fan J, Lin L, Lin X, Maki RA, Mignot E.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11282968
#Orexin Receptor Antagonists Differ from Standard #Sleep Drugs… Interesting discussion of a new insomnia medication
http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/5/179/179ra44