New Carnivorous Sponges Discovered

COTU © DC Comics

Nine new species of carnivorous sponges (Cladorhiza segonzaci, Chondrocladia koltuni, C. lampadiglobus, Asbestopluma agglutinans, A. (Helophloeina) formosa, Abyssocladia huitzilopochtli, A. inflata, A. dominalba and A. naudur) are described.

Eight of the sponges were collected from the French IFREMER manned submersible Nautile near active hydrothermal sites of the East Pacific Rise and of the North Fiji and Lau Basins, one from the Russian submersible Mir 2 in the Northwest Pacific near Bering Island, and one from the US submersible Alvin south of Easter Island. Their life conditions are described from direct observations from the submersibles. Some remarks are presented on the taxonomy of Cladorhizidae and more generally of carnivorous Poecilosclerida. The study suggests a very high degree of diversity in the deep Pacific carnivorous sponges.

New carnivorous sponges (Porifera, Poecilosclerida) collected from manned submersibles in the deep Pacific. 2006. J. Vacelet. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 148: 553–584.

DNA Nanobots Unleashed!

Scientists have developed a DNA cassette through which a nanomechanical device can be inserted and function within a DNA array, allowing for the motion of a nanorobotic arm. The results mark the first time scientists have been able to employ a functional nanotechnology device within a DNA array.

He added that the results pave the way for creating nanoscale “assembly lines” in which more complex maneuvers could be executed.

The Zeroids!

The results are based upon a previously developed device that eables the translation of DNA sequences, thereby potentially serving as a factory for assembling the building blocks of new materials. The invention has the potential to develop new synthetic fibers, advance the encryption of information, and improve DNA-based computation.

The new cassette-like device can control sequences or insertion sequences that would allow the researchers to manipulate the array or insert it at different locations. They visualized their results by atomic force microscopy (AFM), which permits features that are a few billionths of a meter to be visualized. Link

Operation of a DNA Robot Arm Inserted into a 2D DNA Crystalline Substrate. 2006. B. Ding and N. C. Seeman. Science 314: 1583 – 1585.

Warning! Robotic Bjork ahead…:

Flowing Water On Mars

The discovery of bright deposits on Mars could indicate that liquid water has recently flowed on a few locations on the planet.


Art © Frazetta

It has been an established fact for several years now that water exists on Mars. However, the big question is how much of it – if any – is in liquid form. The newly discovered deposits were identified by comparing different images of the same area taken by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MOC camera), over a period of few years. The images suggest that water may have flowed there sometime within the past seven years.


Photo: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

ESA’s Mars Express has found large reservoirs of water underground using its radar experiment MARSIS. All are frozen, with the largest in Mars's polar regions. Such frozen underground lakes might be driven to temporarily thaw and flow across the surface by changes in temperature, caused by changes in illumination from the Sun or, possibly, by local variations in the underground pressure.


Art © Frank Cho

Visit Scenic Barsoom:

100 Million Year Old Bee Found In Amber

The discovery of a 100-million-year old bee embedded in amber, perhaps the oldest bee ever found, pushes the bee fossil record back about 35 million years.



Scientists have long believed that bees first appeared about 120 million years ago -- but previous bee fossil records dated back only about 65 million years. Danforth and Poinar's fossil provides strong evidence for a more remote ancestry. The fact that the bee fossil also has some wasp traits suggests an evolutionary link between wasps and bees.

In a related study, published in the Oct. 10 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Danforth and colleagues examined early bees' structures in combination with bee DNA, producing the largest molecular and morphological study to date on bee family-level phylogeny -- the evolutionary development and diversification of a species. Their goal was to examine the early evolutionary pattern of bees and how their evolution relates to the evolution of flowering plants.



Until now, many researchers believed the most primitive bees stemmed from the family Colletidae, which implies that bees originated in the Southern Hemisphere (either South America or Australia). However, the work of Danforth and his group suggests that the earliest branches of the bee's evolutionary tree originate from the family Melittidae. That would mean that bees have an African origin and are almost as old as flowering plants, which would help explain a lot about the evolutionary diversification of these plants. link


Invisible Kid and Chameleon Boy © DC Comics

A Fossil Bee from Early Cretaceous Burmese Amber. 2006. G. O. Poinar. Science 314: 614.

When Dinosaurs Bikinis Ruled The Earth

Posters

Watch the Trailer for “When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth”.

Vaughn Bodé’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea: Part 3

Back in the 60’s Vaughn Bodé illustrated a number of classics that had been rewritten for “reading challenged” kids. The books were published by Frank E. Richards and sold exclusively to schools.

Because these books are almost impossible to find at reasonable prices I’ll be posting all the illos from the best book of the bunch, “Jules Verne’s ’20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” in eight installments.

Read: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

Science Levitates Bugs

“What will happen if a living animal is put into the acoustic field? Will it also be stably levitated?", asked researcher Wenjun Xie, a materials physicist at Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Image courtesy Wenjun Xie

From Live Science:

Xie and his colleagues employed an ultrasound emitter and reflector that generated a sound pressure field between them. The emitter produced roughly 20-millimeter-wavelength sounds, meaning it could in theory levitate objects half that wavelength or less.

After the investigators got the ultrasound field going, they used tweezers to carefully place animals between the emitter and reflector. The scientists found they could float ants, beetles, spiders, ladybugs, bees, tadpoles and fish up to a little more than a third of an inch long in midair. When they levitated the fish and tadpole, the researchers added water to the ultrasound field every minute via syringe.

The levitated ant tried crawling in the air and struggled to escape by rapidly flexing its legs, although it generally failed because its feet find little purchase in the air. The ladybug tried flying away but also failed when the field was too strong to break away from.

The editors at Live Science note that acoustic levitation has been used for many years. Watch a video of a micro-gravity experiment for a NASA-related project done in 1987 by David Deak: