Today in science, a new technique that could lead to the creation of cyborg moths has been developed, with projected uses for these machine-moth chimeras including surveillance of disaster scenes. Over the course of their long evolutionary history, crocodilians have colonized the seas and evolved marine species on multiple occasions, and global warming appears to be key.
A remarkable scientific collaboration has created a new way to harvest solar power by combining proteins used in photosynthesis with technology, a development that could lead to the development of semi-artificial leaves. Finally, a bizarre and remarkable rodent called the naked mole rat is able to resist age-related decline in the heart functions. Welcome to the Guardian Liberty Voice Science Daily Digest for Aug. 20, 2014.
Technique for Creating Cyborg Moths DevelopedCyborg moths could someday help monitor disaster scenes and provide data to help guide emergency response personnel, thanks to scientists at North Carolina State University who developed a technique that has the potential to turn moths into remote-controlled 'biobots.' So far the method is in an early stage of development, and only allows scientists to monitor the electric signals in the moths' flight muscles, but this is an important step toward the ability to control those muscles artificially.
During the moths' pupal stage, the scientists implanted electrodes into their developing flight muscles. The moths completed their metamorphosis and emerged from their chrysalises with the electrodes fully integrated into their tissues. The scientists were then able to collect data on the moths' muscle movements by connecting them to special platforms capable of collecting the data from the electrodes. Cyborg moth biobots are still a future proposition, but the scientists are already planning further research to refine their methods, miniaturize the technology involved and test it with moths that will be allowed to fly free.
Ancient Crocodiles Colonized Seas Due to Global WarmingDuring their long evolutionary history crocodiles have repeatedly colonized the seas, and new research indicates that ancient episodes of global warming made this possible. Led by researchers from the University of Bristol in the UK and the Université de Lyon in France, the new study examined the evolution and extinction of marine crocodilians in light of ocean temperatures over the past 200 million years.
Overall, marine crocodilians evolved during periods of global warming, and generally went extinct when the oceans cooled. Crocodilians first colonized the seas about 180 million years ago, during a time when ocean temperatures had risen, only to go extinct when temperatures plummeted about 25 million years later. When the oceans warmed up again, another group of marine crocodilians evolved.
In all, crocodilians colonized the oceans on four different occasions, and in every case but one these marine crocodilians went extinct when temperatures cooled. The single exception was that of the metriorhynchoids, a marine crocodilian lineage that survived a cooling spell during the early Cretaceous that felled the teleosaurids, a different group of marine crocodilians.
The 23 different species of modern crocodilians are overwhelmingly freshwater creatures, but there are two significant partial exceptions. Both the American crocodile ( Crocodylus acutus) and especially the saltwater crocodile ( Crocodylus porosus) are on some occasions found in the sea, though they are not fully marine. The saltwater crocodile in particular frequents coastal waters, and is sometimes found out in the open ocean.
Efficient Solar Power From Semi-Artificial Leaf
A joint effort involving chemists and biologists from Germany's Ruhr-University Bochum has developed a new and highly efficient method for extracting solar power, a discovery that could be used to create semi-artificial leaves with photosynthetic membrane proteins instead of semiconductors. The scientists used protein complexes involved in photosynthesis, set in a matrix of complex artificial materials that conduct electrons.
This science actually managed to improve upon nature, obtaining a rate of electron transfer a full order of magnitude greater than that in natural photosynthesis. While silicon-based photovoltaic cells are still more efficient and stable than this new system for the time being, the scientists believe that further development will enable the creation of semi-artificial leaves capable of providing a cheap and versatile source of solar power.
Naked Mole Rats Have Healthy Hearts That Resist AgingAn unusual rodent called the naked mole rat ( Heterocephalus glaber) maintains remarkable heart health over the course of its exceptionally long life, in complete defiance of the pattern that is common to humans and in fact to most mammals. These subterranean and highly social eastern African rodents have hearts that resist age-related decline over the course of their long lives, up to about 30 years, at least to the point of reaching the equivalent of 92 years in humans.
The first studies on the naked mole rats' remarkable heart functions have now been conducted by Kelly Grimes of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Grimes has found that naked mole rats have resting heart rates of 250 beats per minute, a figure that is a mere half of what would be expected for rodents that weigh between 1-3.3 ounces. However, their heart rates can very easily rise at need to cope with the demands of more energetic activities.
Naked mole rats inhabit subterranean burrows in semi-arid grassland regions of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, where they feed mostly on tubers and roots. In the course of their evolution to an underground lifestyle they have lost most of their hair. In addition to their fantastically long lifespans and healthy hearts, naked mole rats are remarkable for their social structure. Naked mole rats live in colonies not unlike those of ants, termites and other eusocial insects, composed of a single breeding female, also known as the queen, between one and three breeding males and a number of adult male and female workers that do not breed.
Commentary by Michael Schultheiss, Science Editor
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Sources:
Crocodiles:NatureUniversity of BristolAnimal Diversity Web - Crocodylus porosusAnimal Diversity Web - Crocodylus acutus Crocodile image credit: Guillaume Suan
Semi-Artificial Leaves:Ruhr-University BochumPlant cells image credit: Kristian Peters
Naked Mole Rats:HSC News
Main image credit: Roman Klementschitz Entities 0 Name: Nature University of Bristol Animal Diversity Web Count: 1 1 Name: France Count: 1 2 Name: Ethiopia Count: 1 3 Name: Somalia Count: 1 4 Name: Ruhr-University Bochum Count: 1 5 Name: Guillaume Suan Count: 1 6 Name: Heterocephalus Count: 1 7 Name: Kristian Peters Count: 1 8 Name: University of Bristol Count: 1 9 Name: North Carolina State University Count: 1 10 Name: Germany Count: 1 11 Name: San Antonio Count: 1 12 Name: Kelly Grimes Count: 1 13 Name: The University of Texas Count: 1 14 Name: GLV Daily Digest Crime News GLV Daily Digest Gaming News GLV Daily Digest Health News GLV Daily Digest World News Count: 1 15 Name: American Count: 1 16 Name: Michael Schultheiss Count: 1 17 Name: Efficient Solar Power From Semi-Artificial Count: 1 18 Name: Guardian Liberty Voice Science Daily Digest Count: 1 19 Name: Grimes Count: 1 20 Name: Université de Lyon Count: 1 21 Name: UK Count: 1 22 Name: Kenya Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1mmeeEr Title: Tuberculosis Is Newer Than What Was Thought, Study Says Description: After a remarkable analysis of bacterial DNA from 1,000-year-old mummies, scientists have proposed a new hypothesis for how tuberculosis arose and spread around the world. The disease originated less than 6,000 years ago in Africa, they say, and took a surprising route to reach the New World: it was carried across the Atlantic by seals.
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