CSB #5: The Promise of Silk in the World

Source: "The Reinvention of Silk," New York Times

(Above) Silk creations by Tufts University researchers include a coil made of silk substrate and gold that can help tell when food goes bad.

Silk is one of the most versatile materials in the world. Spiders are usually associated with this useful substance, for they have evolved over millions and millions of years to develop silks that can be used by people. Even in nature, silk is important, for it acts as a natural glue. There has been talk for years that spider silk could be used to make cables stronger and more flexible than steel, or that it could be used to make bulletproof vests that are more effective than the current ones of Kevlar. However, the biggest problem that is faced by scientists is the fact that spiders do not generate enough silk. Also, spiders live alone, and they require a diet of other insects; sometimes they can be cannibals, meaning that they eat other spiders. As a result of this, scientists can not gather a group of spiders and mass produce their silk. 

A way that researchers are working to solve this problem is that they are trying to unlock the secrets of spider silk, so that scientists could reinvent it in a laboratory. However, the artificial silk that they have created is not as strong, elastic, and other qualities of the real thing. 

David Kaplan and other researchers at Tufts University work with silkworms to try and reinvent silkworm silk, because of the fact that they are vegetarians, unlike spiders. However, silkworms also have their drawbacks: they only have one kind of spinneret, whereas spiders have a whole set of spinnerets, allowing it to produce many different silk fibers. The main aspect of natural silk that scientists can't seem to produce, is that the silk is in a liquid form while it is inside a spider or something of the sort, and then comes out as a solid silk. 

The process of making silk into useful things in life, such as transparent films, is "green," meaning that it is water based and that it only requires low temperatures to regulate. “Silk is a wonderful material because it’s biocompatible,” said Dr. Kharlampieva, who is continuing her research at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. “The main drawback is it’s soft. If you want to use it for optical applications, you need to reinforce it.” 

Source: 

Fountain, Henry. "The Reinvention of Silk." The New York Times. The New York 

     Times, 7 Mar. 2011. Web. 7 Mar. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/
     science/
     08silk.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=science&adxnnlx=1299558239-0DSwQnNbU6c
     94Ywx87NmEg>.

CSB #4: Where Did All the Methane from the BP Oil Spill Go?

Definitions: 
1.) hydrocarbon - an organic compound consisting of only carbon and hydrogen.
2.) methane - an odorless, colorless, flammable hydrocarbon, CH_4. It is used as a fuel and contributes greatly to global warming. 


Summary: 
A question that scientists were asking before last Thursday, was: Where did all the methane from the BP Oil Spill go? The question has been very important, because methane is more than 20 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. However, scientists finally reported on Thursday that bacteria had eaten nearly all of the methane from the spill. Fortunately, the bacteria managed to consume all of the methane before it could rise from the sea bottom and rise up into the atmosphere. Two months after the BP spill, methane was not being consumed in and around the wellhead, and many scientists got the idea in their heads that the methane would rise to the atmosphere. The oil spill was an "accidental experiment" and showed that particular bacteria with an all-methane diet, would multiply rapidly. Many other organisms dealt with the other hydrocarbons involved in the spill, such as ethane and propane. 


Discussion: 
The fact that the bacteria consumed all of the methane in the ocean before it could reach the atmosphere is very fortunate, especially considering the fact that nearly 200,000 tons of methane -- more than any other single hydrocarbon emitted in the accident -- were released from the wellhead, and nearly all of it went into the Gulf. Also, the methane-consuming bacteria were the last to arrive to the oil spill. I decided to write about this article because of the fact that methane is so effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere and so much of it was emitted in the oil spill. I wanted to know where all of it went, and by reading the article, I discovered the answer. If the bacteria hadn't multiplied so quickly by consuming the methane, then a significant amount of the hydrocarbon would have risen to the atmosphere and caused climate change, something that should be avoided. 


Questions: 
1.) Was there anything different about the bacteria that consumed the methane?
2.) When was all of the methane completely consumed?


Sources: 
Article: 
Zabarenko, Deborah. "Bacteria Gobbled Methane from BP Spill: Scientists." 
     Scientific American. Scientific American, 6 Jan. 2011. Web. 9 Jan. 2011.
     <http://www.scientificamerican.com/
     article.cfm?id=bacteria-gobbled-methane-bp>.

Image: 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=bacteria-gobbled-methane-bp

CSB #3: How Do Cats Drink Water?

Definitions: 

1.) high speed photography - a way of taking clear pictures of a very fast action. 

2.) Froude's number - a dimensionless number comparing inertia and gravitational forces. 

3.) hydrodynamic - relating to the force of liquid in motion.

Summary: 

How do cats drink water? Animals like us humans drink liquid by creating suction in our mouths, which is only made possible if the animal can close its mouth fully. However, cats cannot do this and so four scientists, Pedro M. Reis and Roman Stocker of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, joined by Sunghwan Jung of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Jeffrey M. Aristoff of Princeton joined together to find out how exactly cats "lap" water. Last Thursday, the engineers reported that "the cat’s lapping method depends on its instinctive ability to calculate the point at which gravitational force would overcome inertia and cause the water to fall." What happens is that the cat touches the liquid with the smooth tip of its tongue and flicks it upwards, bringing along with it a column of liquid (see picture above). Right before the column begins to fall, the cat snaps its mouth shut, consuming 3/100 of a tablespoon. This is a significant amount, considering that a cat laps 4 times a second. Using a piston and a glass plate at the end of it, the engineers mimicked the cat's lapping to find the speed of tongue movement that would get the most water; it turns out that the speed they found was exactly the speed of an average cat's lapping: 1 meter per second. The engineers also developed an equation that would calculate how fast a cat would have to lap in comparison to its size. Going to the Zoo New England, they used the equation to find the speeds for lions, leopards, jaguars and ocelots, and their predictions were correct. 

Discussion:

I find the fact that the way a cat drinks water, an action that seems so simple but is actually complex, perplexing. Unlike dogs, cats lap their water/liquid much classier than dogs do. Dogs stick their tongues out and form a crude cup/bowl and bring the small amount of water back in to their muzzles. I never thought that a cat would have a natural instinct about gravitational pull and inertia. The fact that the engineers also found a complex equation to find what speed a tongue must go in order for optimized effects is amusing to me, almost satirical. All of this research and study was started from Cutta Cutta, Stocker's cat. While having breakfast, he wondered what hydrodynamic problems the cat might be solving as it drank its water, and so the study began. 

Questions: 

1.) How did the engineers come up with the equation?

2.) Do all cats drink water like this? Are there any exceptions?

Sources:

Article:

Wade, Nicholas. "For Cats, a Big Gulp With a Touch of the Tongue." The New York
     Times. The New York Times, 11 Nov. 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2010.
     <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/science/12cats.html?_r=2&ref=science>.   

Image: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/science/12cats.html?_r=2&ref=science

CSB #2: Quizzing Yourself Can Improve Memory

 

Definitions: 

1. mediator - a word, phrase, idea, or concept. 
2. disparate - significantly different.

Summary:

What's better: studying by just repeatedly reading a word to memorize it and its definition, or covering up the word and quizzing yourself? The truth is, quizzing yourself improves memory, as is shown in the article. A pair of researchers at Kent State University in Ohio conducted an experiment on this subject. The researchers asked 118 college students to study 48 pairs of Swahili and English words. Half of them studied the words side by side and tried to memorize the definitions, and half were quizzed by being shown one word and asked to say the word in the other language. In both groups, researchers asked what mediator the students used to link the words to their definitions. For example, wingu means "cloud" in Swahili. The student could remember the definition of wingu because of the word "wing," as in a wing of a bird flying in the clouds. When the students were tested one week later, students who had been quizzed remembered their mediators 51 percent of the time. However, students in the unquizzed group remembered their mediators only 34 percent of the time.

 Discussion:

This article's title interested me. As a student, I look for better studying techniques and this articles title caught my eye. I was interested in the fact that students use mediators to remember words; I do the exact same thing when I study for Spanish tests. I found it interesting that there is almost a twenty percent increase of memorization just by being quizzed and not just trying to read and memorize. I also find it easier to memorize words when quizzing myself with flashcards, Quizlet, and such. This article is directly related to my life and my study methods, and that is why I chose this article. 

Questions:

1. Which college students did the researchers ask? (Which college, etc.?)
2. Would there be different results if the words were in a different language?

Resources:


Image link: 
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cdn-3.androidzoom.com/screenshots/26561-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/travel/english-to-swahili-flashcards_enfi.html&usg=__GG6ydmQehgUO3vSVq8gWUuMvPK0=&h=854&w=480&sz=81&hl=en&start=0&sig2=yWCxAzx7SsaG1Naz7jV6dw&zoom=1&tbnid=NTotPet9j0p9MM:&tbnh=162&tbnw=91&ei=x9q3TKCMDY7GsAPh8oXmCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSwahili%2Bflashcards%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DXnc%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D594%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=447&oei=x9q3TKCMDY7GsAPh8oXmCA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=22&ty=85

Article Citation: 
Cevallos, Marissa. "How Testing Improves Memory: Quizzes Inspire Keywords That
     Spur Recall." ScienceNews. Society for Science & the Public, 14 Oct. 2010.
     Web. 14 Oct. 2010. <http://sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/64316/title/
     How_testing_improves_memory>. 





 

 

CSB #1: Native Indonesian Amphibeans Take on Yellow Crazy Ants

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jason-stevens.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/yellow_crazy_ant.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.jason-stevens.com/2010/08/yellow-crazy-ants-invade-johnston-atoll/&usg=__Jz-0_8lqI8_IWreEcz74JmMkXs0=&h=326&w=481&sz=61&hl=en&start=0&sig2=5HfWgt_KXWNz6fZmGPPycQ&zoom=1&tbnid=v6ZCV9ix3vL6sM:&tbnh=156&tbnw=224&ei=djWRTM7xIIe2sAO09u3FAg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dyellow%2Bcrazy%2Bants%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1211%26bih%3D567%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=146&vpy=275&dur=2643&hovh=185&hovw=273&tx=120&ty=161&oei=djWRTM7xIIe2sAO09u3FAg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=11&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0

Definitions:

Feces - digestive waste, or in other words, poop. 

Lesions - abnormal tissue from an organism; an injury. 

Summary:

In Indonesia, there are yellow crazy ants (image shown above) colonizing there. These ants get their name from their color, and the erratic movements they make when walking. Recently, they have been driving out native ants and taking control of the ecosystem. However, the native Sulawesi toad turns out to be a devourer of ants, even invading ones. "During a week of toad abundance on Sulawesi farms, tests plots hopping with toads had as little as one-third of the invasive ant populations found on plots where fencing kept toads out, Wanger and his colleagues report in a paper released online the week of September 6 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B." 

Discussion

These yellow crazy ants are a big issue right now, for they are disrupting ecosystems everywhere, killing off native ant species. The native ants of Indonesia have been shown to help cacao pests away on plantations. But if the yellow crazy ant keeps driving on, they will be pushed into a different area, not being able to help the cacao plantations. Luckily, the Sulawesi toad feasts on these ants, keeping the population in check. So, the toads indirectly help keep cacao plantations safe from pests. Because of their importance to the agriculture and economy in Sulawesi, the local people are trying to conserve the amphibian. 

Questions:

1. Are the Sulawesi toads endangered? Is that why they are featured in this article?

2. When did the yellow crazy ants start colonizing in the area and how many are there?

Sources:

Works Cited:  

Milius, Susan. “Not in This Toad’s Backyard: Native Indonesian Amphibian Takes on Invading Ants.” ScienceNews. N.p., 7 Sept. 2010. Web. 21 Sept. 2010. <http://sciencenews.org/‌view/‌generic/‌id/‌63119/‌title/‌Not_in_this_toad%E2%80%99s_backyard>.