Extinct Goat Species Revived Through Cloning
The Pyrenean ibex is a mountain goat that lived in the Pyrenees mountains, along the French/Spanish border. The last known living specimen, a female named Celia, died on January 6, 2000 when she was crushed by a falling tree. In 2009, she was brought back to life.
Yes, it’s Jurassic Park, but instead of dinosaurs, it’s a goat. Skin samples were collected from Celia and preserved in liquid nitrogen. DNA was then extracted from these samples and moved into the eggs of a domestic goat. The clone was birthed naturally, but died shortly afterwards due to physical defects in its lungs.
According to Dr. Jose Folch, from the Centre of Food Technology and Research of Aragon in Spain, “the delivered kid was genetically identical to the [ibex]. In species such as the [ibex], cloning is the only possibility to avoid its complete disappearance.”
A total of 439 eggs were taken from domestic goats, and 57 of these were implanted into surrogate female goats. Out of the 57, seven of the embryos resulted in pregnancies, but only one resulted in a successful birth….for seven minutes, until it dropped dead.
This is the major obstacle concerning cloning animals, especially ones that have been extinct for quite some time. They just don’t have a long, healthy life. DNA degrades over time, and DNA from an animal that is 10,000 years old, or even just 10 years old, will be wrought with decay. Even preserving it in ice does not stop the DNA from degrading.
“I think this is an exciting advance as it does show the potential of being able to regenerate extinct species,” states Robert Miller, director of the Medical Research Council’s Reproductive Sciences Unit at Edinburgh University. “Clearly there is some way to go before it can be used effectively, but the advances in this field are such that we will see more and more solutions to the problems faced.”
Call me when you’ve resurrected a T-rex, Miller.
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
Scientists R in Ur Head, Messin’ With Ur Brain
Researchers from Japan’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have discovered a way to extract images directly from your brain. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine (fMRI), they’ve mapped blood flow changes that occurred in the visual cortex as subjects viewed various images. The participants were shown 400 random 10″ x 10″ black and white images for a period of 12 seconds each. A computer recorded the blood flow changes, and soon was able to associate blood flow changes with a particular image. Then, the subjects were shown a new series of photographs, and the computer was able to reconstruct the image on a computer screen just by analyzing the change in blood flow in the subject’s visual cortex.
Though the system is currently only able to reconstruct black and white images, Dr. Kang Cheng, a researcher from RIKEN Brain Science Institute believes that they will soon be able to reproduce color images. “These results are a breakthrough in terms of understanding brain activity,” he states. “In as little as 10 years, advances in this field of research may make it possible to read a person’s thoughts with some degree of accuracy.”
This all sounds a bit “Brave New World” to me. The idea that someone else would be able to read and analyze my thoughts when even I don’t know what I’m thinking half the time scares me.
Source: Pink Tentacle
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Thanks, idiot445
You Don’t Kill the Messenger, and You Don’t Kill the Cleaner Fish
Cleaner fish specialize in eating parasites off of other fish. They set up underwater car washes, and larger, toothier fish line up and wait to get a Super Deluxe Parasite Removal Wash. The cleaner fish often work in male – female pairs; with both fish avidly picking delectable parasites from their customer’s scales. However, sometimes a female cleaner fish will bite a little too hard in a bid to get a taste of the mucus lying underneath the scales of a fish – the Ferrero Rocher chocolates of the ocean. Once this happens, the male cleaner will swiftly bitch slap her like an unpaid pimp.
As in all businesses, biting the customer is a big no-no. Once a female has taken too big a bite, the fish being cleaned will swim away and look for a more honorable cleaner company. This denies the cleaner fish their source of food. Whenever the male fish catches the female going for the mucus, he either chases her away or takes a bite out of her.
One would think the male does this to keep the customer happy. However, it’s not just business-savvy that makes the male punish the female, it’s appetite. “The male’s dinner leaves if the female cheats,” explains Nichola Raihani from the Zoological Society of London. “By punishing cheating females, the males are not really sticking up for the clients but making sure they get a decent meal.”
To determine if males were punishing females, Redoaun Bshary, a behavioral psychologist at Switzerland’s Université de Neuchâtel, set up a tank with a male and female cleaner fish, fish flakes to represent their normal diet of parasites, and prawns to represent the delicious mucus.
Whenever a female ate a prawn, all of the food was immediately removed from the tank. The males then chastised the females, and the females would then stop eating the prawns whenever they were reintroduced into the tank.
Females aren’t the only sex that tries to get a taste of the mucus; male cleaner fish often do the same. However, since males are quite larger than the females, their actions often remain unpunished. After all, you wouldn’t try to punish Mike Tyson if he bit someone.
Source: Discover
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Desired Objects Seem Closer
Beautiful women need to wear a sign that says “Caution: Objects you desire may be further than they appear.” According to the New Look approach, perception is largely determined by our needs and values. Psychologists Emily Balcetis and David Dunning at Cornell University have found that, like looking into the side view mirror of your ’74 Pinto, the desirability of an object influences how close it appears.
In the study, 90 grad students were asked to sit across a table from a full bottle of water. Half were assigned to a “thirsty” condition, and given pretzels to eat. The others were assigned to be “quenched,” and told they could drink all the water they wished. Both groups were asked how long it had been since they had a drink, how thirsty they were and how appealing the bottle of water was. Then they were asked to estimate the distance from the bottle to themselves, using a 1 inch line as a reference.
The “thirsty,” pretzel-chomping participants reported that they were parched, as expected, and indicated desirous affections for the water bottle. They also estimated the water bottle to be closer to them than their “quenched” counterparts.
In a follow-up study, Balcetis and Dunning asked a set of students to estimate their distance from a $100 bill. One group was told they could win the money in a card game, the other group was told that the money belonged to the researchers. The first group found the money more desirable, and judged their distance from the $100 bill to be closer.
The researchers also had a third set of participants to fill out a survey that was designed to assess their sense of humor. Half were told that their sense of humor was “above average,” the others were told that they were “below average.” The surveys were then clipped to a stand and the participant was asked to estimate how far away it was. Those that were told they were the next Tina Fey found the stand to be closer than those who were told they were doomed to be forever a Dane Cook.
And here’s another experiment that may explain your massive failure rate at the state fair when you’re playing the ring toss, trying to win that six-foot stuffed Daffy Duck. In another study, participants threw a rubber bean bag towards a voucher, and whoever tossed theirs closest to the voucher would win it. Half of the participants were told that the voucher was worthless, the other group was told it was worth $25. The participants who believed the voucher was worth something thought it was closer than it actually was, and underthrew the bean bag.
All of these studies show that your psychological state directly affects visual perception and how you perceive the world around you. When you desire something, it appears closer than it actually is, which may contribute to a person’s growing obsession with objects they desire.
Source: Science Blogs
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Lauren Admire is desiring some pretzel ice cream.
Published: Jan 11, 2010 10:00 pm