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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27893\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/BabyBlues.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27893\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/BabyBlues.jpg\" alt=\"In some cases a man can be both father and uncle to the same child. The wonderful genetics of chimerism. (Kenny Louie/Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"800\" height=\"466\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In some cases, a man can be both father and uncle to the same child. The reason? Look to the wonderful genetics of chimerism. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_smiling_baby.jpg\">Kenny Louie/Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A couple who used a fertility clinic to conceive was ready to sue when the child’s blood type didn’t match up with mom and dad’s. Obviously the clinic had used the wrong sperm or made some other awful mistake. Except in this case they probably hadn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple, whose case I worked on, gave me permission to write about it; information related to their identity has been withheld.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A detailed genetic test showed the baby was definitely related to dad, but did not appear to be a parent. Instead the man looked like an uncle at the DNA level. One way he could be both an uncle and a father to the same child would be if he was a human chimera.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A human chimera forms in the womb when fraternal twins fuse together very early in development. Because fraternal twins do not have identical DNA, the end result is someone with two sets of DNA. Some of his or her cells have the DNA from the first twin and the rest have the DNA from the second twin. A chimera is a single person with the DNA of two siblings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”AxzxTZDBqcfssMPlXfDPaUAINuWnpLOh”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If this is what happened in this dad’s case, then we can easily explain the fact that he looks like an uncle at the DNA level. By chance, the DNA in the cells from the lining of the father’s mouth (sent in for genetics testing) was from one twin, and the DNA in the sperm that fertilized his wife’s egg was from the other twin. With the right genetic test, he would look like an uncle even though he was the dad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And luckily for this couple they chose the right genetic test. Had they gone with a standard paternity test, they may have missed that they were related to the child, as those tests are not set up to see aunt/uncle and niece/nephew relationships. The most likely result would have been that the couple would have concluded the child was not theirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the very least this probably would have ended in a lawsuit against the fertility clinic. The couple might also have given up the child even though the child was conceived with the man’s sperm and the woman’s egg. A real tragedy was averted by the growing power of genetic testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It Started With a Blood Test\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This couple was having difficulty conceiving and so underwent \u003ca href=\"http://americanpregnancy.org/infertility/intrauterine-insemination/\">intrauterine insemination\u003c/a> (IUI). Basically, the man’s sperm was placed directly into his wife’s womb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She became pregnant and they had a healthy baby. But a blood test showed the baby was AB while both parents were A. Usually two A parents can have only A or O babies (click \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask199\">here \u003c/a>for why that is). This was obviously worrisome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, there are \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask115\">rare exceptions\u003c/a> where A parents can have an AB child, and the parents in this case wanted to rule those out. This is why they turned to a genetic test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thought was simply to determine paternity. If the child did not match the father, it would mean the clinic had made a mistake and used the wrong sperm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But instead of a simply paternity test, the couple used a more sensitive genetics test that’s offered by companies like 23andMe and ancestryDNA. (They used 23andMe in this case.) And it was a good thing they did. They were able to see that the child was related to dad, but not in the way expected. Here are the results:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/sharper-chart.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/sharper-chart.jpg\" alt=\"sharper chart\" width=\"396\" height=\"661\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-28014\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each bar on this chart represents a chromosomal pair comparing the child’s DNA with the dad’s. Remember, we get one chromosome in each pair from mom and one from dad, so that we are 50% related to each parent. This means a parent and a child should completely share one chromosome in each pair. If that were the case, each bar in this image would show one long, unbroken green line. This is not what we see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the two were unrelated or only distantly related, they would share very little of their DNA. There would be an occasional bit of green that represents some distant relative. (Click \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/3rd6thCousins.jpg\">here \u003c/a>for an image of a 3\u003csup>rd\u003c/sup>-6\u003csup>th\u003c/sup> cousin and \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask284\">here \u003c/a>for lots of different relationships.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These two are somewhere in between. They share a lot of their DNA in most chromosome pairs. Totaling everything up shows they are about 25% related which is how much DNA an uncle would share with a niece or nephew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given that the parents visited a fertility clinic, the best explanation is that the father is a chimera. The DNA in the fertilizing sperm was able to contribute a “B” to the child’s blood type, giving the child type AB blood, even though the DNA in dad’s cheek cells lacks that “B.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this goes to show that when something like blood types do not match up, there could be a perfectly reasonable genetic explanation for what was taught in school to be an impossible combination.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And luckily for this couple they chose the right genetic test. Had they gone with a standard paternity test, they may have missed that they were related to the child, as those tests are not set up to see aunt/uncle and niece/nephew relationships. The most likely result would have been that the couple would have concluded the child was not theirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the very least this probably would have ended in a lawsuit against the fertility clinic. The couple might also have given up the child even though the child was conceived with the man’s sperm and the woman’s egg. A real tragedy was averted by the growing power of genetic testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It Started With a Blood Test\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This couple was having difficulty conceiving and so underwent \u003ca href=\"http://americanpregnancy.org/infertility/intrauterine-insemination/\">intrauterine insemination\u003c/a> (IUI). Basically, the man’s sperm was placed directly into his wife’s womb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She became pregnant and they had a healthy baby. But a blood test showed the baby was AB while both parents were A. Usually two A parents can have only A or O babies (click \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask199\">here \u003c/a>for why that is). This was obviously worrisome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, there are \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask115\">rare exceptions\u003c/a> where A parents can have an AB child, and the parents in this case wanted to rule those out. This is why they turned to a genetic test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thought was simply to determine paternity. If the child did not match the father, it would mean the clinic had made a mistake and used the wrong sperm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But instead of a simply paternity test, the couple used a more sensitive genetics test that’s offered by companies like 23andMe and ancestryDNA. (They used 23andMe in this case.) And it was a good thing they did. They were able to see that the child was related to dad, but not in the way expected. Here are the results:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/sharper-chart.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/sharper-chart.jpg\" alt=\"sharper chart\" width=\"396\" height=\"661\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-28014\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each bar on this chart represents a chromosomal pair comparing the child’s DNA with the dad’s. Remember, we get one chromosome in each pair from mom and one from dad, so that we are 50% related to each parent. This means a parent and a child should completely share one chromosome in each pair. If that were the case, each bar in this image would show one long, unbroken green line. This is not what we see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the two were unrelated or only distantly related, they would share very little of their DNA. There would be an occasional bit of green that represents some distant relative. (Click \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/3rd6thCousins.jpg\">here \u003c/a>for an image of a 3\u003csup>rd\u003c/sup>-6\u003csup>th\u003c/sup> cousin and \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask284\">here \u003c/a>for lots of different relationships.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These two are somewhere in between. They share a lot of their DNA in most chromosome pairs. Totaling everything up shows they are about 25% related which is how much DNA an uncle would share with a niece or nephew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given that the parents visited a fertility clinic, the best explanation is that the father is a chimera. The DNA in the fertilizing sperm was able to contribute a “B” to the child’s blood type, giving the child type AB blood, even though the DNA in dad’s cheek cells lacks that “B.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this goes to show that when something like blood types do not match up, there could be a perfectly reasonable genetic explanation for what was taught in school to be an impossible combination.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Vivid New Seadragon Found Hiding in a Museum",
"headTitle": "Vivid New Seadragon Found Hiding in a Museum | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27655\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/ruby_seadragon.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27655\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/ruby_seadragon.jpg\" alt=\"The ruby seadragon Phyllopteryx dewysea.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The ruby seadragon Phyllopteryx dewysea. Above, the animal on deck shortly after collection; below, preserved in ethanol with distinctive features labeled. (Stiller, Wilson, and Rouse 2015, Royal Society Open Science)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They’ve been swimming off the southern coast of Australia for untold millenia, and the first specimen was put in a museum almost a hundred years ago. But they only received a scientific name\u003cem>—\u003c/em>\u003cem>Phyllopteryx dewysea\u003c/em>—and a common name—“ruby seadragon”—one week ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Josefin Stiller, a graduate student at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, described her surprising discovery with two other marine biologists in the journal \u003ca title=\"A spectacular new species of seadragon\" href=\"http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/2/140458\">\u003ci>Royal Society Open Science\u003c/i>\u003c/a>. They introduce seadragons as “fish of mesmerizing beauty,” and the new species is no exception.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27657\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/F3.large_-791x1024.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27657\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/F3.large_-791x1024.jpg\" alt=\"skeletons of seadragons\" width=\"250\" height=\"324\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">X-ray comparison of the three species of seadragons: (a) leafy seadragon, (b) weedy seadragon, (c) ruby seadragon. Scale bars, 1 cm. (Stiller, Wilson, and Rouse 2015, Royal Society Open Publishing)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The two species previously known, the \u003ca title=\"Wikipedia - Leafy seadragon\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leafy_seadragon\">leafy seadragon\u003c/a> and the \u003ca title=\"Wikipedia - weedy seadragon\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weedy_seadragon\">weedy seadragon\u003c/a>, are mostly yellow with motley splotches of color and many decorative appendages. This helps them blend in with seaweeds and seagrasses in the shallow water they call home. The ruby seadragon, by contrast, is a vivid red with no frills—suitable camouflage for its own home in deeper, darker water, where red animals appear almost colorless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their preferred depth is probably the reason ruby seadragons escaped notice for so many years, while their leafy and weedy cousins have attracted scuba divers from around the world. The ruby specimen that caught Stiller’s attention was collected in a deep-water trawl as part of a biodiversity survey in 2007. Although its color was captured by a photograph on board the research vessel, it was labeled a weedy seadragon, preserved in alcohol and archived at the Western Australian Museum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Genetics eventually gave it away. While studying several samples of seadragon tissue from the museum, Stiller found one that was clearly not weedy or leafy. Further analysis proved that it was indeed a new species. She and her colleagues then combed through old museum collections and found several more ruby seadragons that had been misidentified as weedy, the earliest from 1919.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This sort of treasure hunt is not uncommon. \u003ca title=\"Rocha Lab\" href=\"http://www.luizrocha.com/academic/Home.html\">Luiz Rocha\u003c/a>, associate curator of ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences, is familiar with the process in coral reef fish, which tend to be extremely colorful. “The first clue for us to find a new species is when we find something with a different color,” he says. But if the difference isn’t noticed at the time of collection, it disappears. “When we put them in a jar, they lose their color. Very often we come back and we find specimens of the new species that were put in the museum a hundred years ago and were overlooked.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>New species from old fossils\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27650\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/ujvp_a_903260_f0002_b-288x149.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-27650\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/ujvp_a_903260_f0002_b-288x149.jpeg\" alt=\"New Ichthyosaur\" width=\"288\" height=\"149\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The fossil that proved to be a new species, Ichthyosaurus anningae. Scale bar is 10 cm. (University of Manchester)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The ruby seadragon is the first new seadragon that has been discovered in 150 years. Curiously enough, the day after Stiller’s study was published, the first new ichthyosaur in 130 years was also named.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paleontologist Dean R. Lomax of the University of Manchester found his hidden treasure languishing in the collections of the Doncaster Museum. The fairly complete fossil of a marine reptile had been on display for several years in the 80’s, shortly after being dug up, but was then filed away. Lomax was the first to observe that certain bones made this specimen stand apart from every other species of ichthyosaur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With professor Judy Massare from the State University of New York, Lomax used careful measurements of femur and humerus to describe the new species, which they named \u003ci>Ichthyosaurus anningae \u003c/i>in the \u003ca title=\"A new species of Ichthyosaurus from the Lower Jurassic of West Dorset, England, U.K.\" href=\"http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2014.903260#abstract\">\u003ci>Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology\u003c/i>\u003c/a>. As in the case of the seadragon, after recognizing the species the scientists found other archived representatives that had been misidentified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27651\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/ujvp_a_903260_f0010_b-288x100.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-27651\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/ujvp_a_903260_f0010_b-288x100.jpeg\" alt=\"ichthyosaur fossil\" width=\"288\" height=\"100\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An old fossil that was reassigned to Ichthyosaurus anningae, after careful inspection. Scale bar is 10 cm. (NHMUK)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The coincidence of these two discoveries may seem incredible, but in fact it simply illustrates how often new species emerge from museum collections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One reason that so many new species lurk in rows of jars and drawers of fossils is that specimens are often collected by people who are not specialists in the field. When Rocha travels to study the coral reef fish of the Phillipines, for example, he takes the opportunity to collect many other kinds of fish for the museum. Although he does his best to identify them, “They’re not the fish that I study, so I might give it the wrong name. So in 10-20 years a specialist comes to visit the collection,” and maybe finds a new species. “We had a visitor from Singapore who spent six months here and found at least two new species.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The need to name\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”sxcsqWbUlxflMSXQ17RMcGh3JHCkIRLF”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taxonomists, the scientists who specialize in recognizing and classifying species, have grown rare. “Nowadays all the students want to do cutting-edge research. It’s very hard to find a student who’s interested in taxonomy, describing species,” laments Rocha. “A lot of people think taxonomy is not even science.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without taxonomists, however, multiple species are often unknowingly lumped into one, as was the case for the weedy and ruby seadragons. This hampers conservation efforts. \u003ca title=\"IUCN - Leafy Sea Dragon\" href=\"http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/17096/0\">Leafy\u003c/a> and \u003ca title=\"IUCN - Weedy Seadragon\" href=\"http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/17177/0\">weedy\u003c/a> seadragons have suffered from over-collection as well as pollution to their shallow water habitats. Today both are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as Near Threatened, and protected by Australian law. Meanwhile, ruby seadragons have yet to be documented in their natural habitat, and we know nothing about their conservation status. Learning that they exist was a necessary first step.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27649\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Mary_Anning_painting-744x1024.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27649\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Mary_Anning_painting-744x1024.jpg\" alt=\"painting of Mary Anning\" width=\"250\" height=\"344\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A painting of the influential paleontologist Mary Anning in front of a hill famous for its fossils.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ichthyosaurs, of course, have been extinct for 90 million years, so it’s a little late to be concerned about conservation. But the description of a new species expands our picture of the ancient seas and our understanding of evolution. \u003ca title=\"Ichthyosaurs - National Dinosaur museum\" href=\"http://www.nationaldinosaurmuseum.com.au/Ichthyosaur.htm\">Scientists are learning\u003c/a> how these prehistoric swimming reptiles descended from ancestors who walked on land, just as modern whales and dolphins did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taxonomy deserves a comeback. Not only is naming species important, but it’s fun—diving for sunken treasure in museum depths. It’s also an opportunity to offer immortality to pioneers and benefactors. \u003ci>Ichthyosaurus anningae\u003c/i> is named after 19th-century paleontologist Mary Anning, who discovered the first complete ichthyosaur fossil. \u003cem>Phyllopteryx dewysea\u003c/em> honors Mary ‘Dewy’ Lowe, according to Stiller and colleagues, “for her love of the sea and her support of seadragon conservation and research, without which this new species would not have been discovered.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Science has just introduced the first new seadragon species in 150 years, and the first new ichthyosaur species in 130 years. The coincidence illustrates the value of museum collections.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27655\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/ruby_seadragon.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27655\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/ruby_seadragon.jpg\" alt=\"The ruby seadragon Phyllopteryx dewysea.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The ruby seadragon Phyllopteryx dewysea. Above, the animal on deck shortly after collection; below, preserved in ethanol with distinctive features labeled. (Stiller, Wilson, and Rouse 2015, Royal Society Open Science)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They’ve been swimming off the southern coast of Australia for untold millenia, and the first specimen was put in a museum almost a hundred years ago. But they only received a scientific name\u003cem>—\u003c/em>\u003cem>Phyllopteryx dewysea\u003c/em>—and a common name—“ruby seadragon”—one week ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Josefin Stiller, a graduate student at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, described her surprising discovery with two other marine biologists in the journal \u003ca title=\"A spectacular new species of seadragon\" href=\"http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/2/140458\">\u003ci>Royal Society Open Science\u003c/i>\u003c/a>. They introduce seadragons as “fish of mesmerizing beauty,” and the new species is no exception.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27657\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/F3.large_-791x1024.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27657\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/F3.large_-791x1024.jpg\" alt=\"skeletons of seadragons\" width=\"250\" height=\"324\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">X-ray comparison of the three species of seadragons: (a) leafy seadragon, (b) weedy seadragon, (c) ruby seadragon. Scale bars, 1 cm. (Stiller, Wilson, and Rouse 2015, Royal Society Open Publishing)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The two species previously known, the \u003ca title=\"Wikipedia - Leafy seadragon\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leafy_seadragon\">leafy seadragon\u003c/a> and the \u003ca title=\"Wikipedia - weedy seadragon\" href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weedy_seadragon\">weedy seadragon\u003c/a>, are mostly yellow with motley splotches of color and many decorative appendages. This helps them blend in with seaweeds and seagrasses in the shallow water they call home. The ruby seadragon, by contrast, is a vivid red with no frills—suitable camouflage for its own home in deeper, darker water, where red animals appear almost colorless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their preferred depth is probably the reason ruby seadragons escaped notice for so many years, while their leafy and weedy cousins have attracted scuba divers from around the world. The ruby specimen that caught Stiller’s attention was collected in a deep-water trawl as part of a biodiversity survey in 2007. Although its color was captured by a photograph on board the research vessel, it was labeled a weedy seadragon, preserved in alcohol and archived at the Western Australian Museum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Genetics eventually gave it away. While studying several samples of seadragon tissue from the museum, Stiller found one that was clearly not weedy or leafy. Further analysis proved that it was indeed a new species. She and her colleagues then combed through old museum collections and found several more ruby seadragons that had been misidentified as weedy, the earliest from 1919.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This sort of treasure hunt is not uncommon. \u003ca title=\"Rocha Lab\" href=\"http://www.luizrocha.com/academic/Home.html\">Luiz Rocha\u003c/a>, associate curator of ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences, is familiar with the process in coral reef fish, which tend to be extremely colorful. “The first clue for us to find a new species is when we find something with a different color,” he says. But if the difference isn’t noticed at the time of collection, it disappears. “When we put them in a jar, they lose their color. Very often we come back and we find specimens of the new species that were put in the museum a hundred years ago and were overlooked.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>New species from old fossils\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27650\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/ujvp_a_903260_f0002_b-288x149.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-27650\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/ujvp_a_903260_f0002_b-288x149.jpeg\" alt=\"New Ichthyosaur\" width=\"288\" height=\"149\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The fossil that proved to be a new species, Ichthyosaurus anningae. Scale bar is 10 cm. (University of Manchester)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The ruby seadragon is the first new seadragon that has been discovered in 150 years. Curiously enough, the day after Stiller’s study was published, the first new ichthyosaur in 130 years was also named.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paleontologist Dean R. Lomax of the University of Manchester found his hidden treasure languishing in the collections of the Doncaster Museum. The fairly complete fossil of a marine reptile had been on display for several years in the 80’s, shortly after being dug up, but was then filed away. Lomax was the first to observe that certain bones made this specimen stand apart from every other species of ichthyosaur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With professor Judy Massare from the State University of New York, Lomax used careful measurements of femur and humerus to describe the new species, which they named \u003ci>Ichthyosaurus anningae \u003c/i>in the \u003ca title=\"A new species of Ichthyosaurus from the Lower Jurassic of West Dorset, England, U.K.\" href=\"http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2014.903260#abstract\">\u003ci>Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology\u003c/i>\u003c/a>. As in the case of the seadragon, after recognizing the species the scientists found other archived representatives that had been misidentified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27651\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/ujvp_a_903260_f0010_b-288x100.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-27651\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/ujvp_a_903260_f0010_b-288x100.jpeg\" alt=\"ichthyosaur fossil\" width=\"288\" height=\"100\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An old fossil that was reassigned to Ichthyosaurus anningae, after careful inspection. Scale bar is 10 cm. (NHMUK)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The coincidence of these two discoveries may seem incredible, but in fact it simply illustrates how often new species emerge from museum collections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One reason that so many new species lurk in rows of jars and drawers of fossils is that specimens are often collected by people who are not specialists in the field. When Rocha travels to study the coral reef fish of the Phillipines, for example, he takes the opportunity to collect many other kinds of fish for the museum. Although he does his best to identify them, “They’re not the fish that I study, so I might give it the wrong name. So in 10-20 years a specialist comes to visit the collection,” and maybe finds a new species. “We had a visitor from Singapore who spent six months here and found at least two new species.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The need to name\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taxonomists, the scientists who specialize in recognizing and classifying species, have grown rare. “Nowadays all the students want to do cutting-edge research. It’s very hard to find a student who’s interested in taxonomy, describing species,” laments Rocha. “A lot of people think taxonomy is not even science.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without taxonomists, however, multiple species are often unknowingly lumped into one, as was the case for the weedy and ruby seadragons. This hampers conservation efforts. \u003ca title=\"IUCN - Leafy Sea Dragon\" href=\"http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/17096/0\">Leafy\u003c/a> and \u003ca title=\"IUCN - Weedy Seadragon\" href=\"http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/17177/0\">weedy\u003c/a> seadragons have suffered from over-collection as well as pollution to their shallow water habitats. Today both are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as Near Threatened, and protected by Australian law. Meanwhile, ruby seadragons have yet to be documented in their natural habitat, and we know nothing about their conservation status. Learning that they exist was a necessary first step.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27649\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Mary_Anning_painting-744x1024.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27649\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Mary_Anning_painting-744x1024.jpg\" alt=\"painting of Mary Anning\" width=\"250\" height=\"344\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A painting of the influential paleontologist Mary Anning in front of a hill famous for its fossils.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ichthyosaurs, of course, have been extinct for 90 million years, so it’s a little late to be concerned about conservation. But the description of a new species expands our picture of the ancient seas and our understanding of evolution. \u003ca title=\"Ichthyosaurs - National Dinosaur museum\" href=\"http://www.nationaldinosaurmuseum.com.au/Ichthyosaur.htm\">Scientists are learning\u003c/a> how these prehistoric swimming reptiles descended from ancestors who walked on land, just as modern whales and dolphins did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taxonomy deserves a comeback. Not only is naming species important, but it’s fun—diving for sunken treasure in museum depths. It’s also an opportunity to offer immortality to pioneers and benefactors. \u003ci>Ichthyosaurus anningae\u003c/i> is named after 19th-century paleontologist Mary Anning, who discovered the first complete ichthyosaur fossil. \u003cem>Phyllopteryx dewysea\u003c/em> honors Mary ‘Dewy’ Lowe, according to Stiller and colleagues, “for her love of the sea and her support of seadragon conservation and research, without which this new species would not have been discovered.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Melissa DuBose casts a net out into the sea on a crisp winter morning, from a wooden pier near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I come out here every week,” she says. She reels in her net to collect her catch, which appears to be only water, captured in a small bottle dangling from the bottom of the net. DuBose collects sea creatures so small most people never notice them, yet they are critical to all life in the oceans and on land: plankton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27815\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/Dubose-throws-net-with-Josh1280.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27815\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/Dubose-throws-net-with-Josh1280.png\" alt=\"Melissa Dubose of the Romberg Tiburon Center casts her plankton net, with producer Josh Cassidy looking on (Mallory Pickett/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Melissa DuBose of the Romberg Tiburon Center casts her plankton net, with producer Josh Cassidy looking on (Mallory Pickett/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The word plankton comes from the Greek word \u003cem>planktos\u003c/em>, which means drifter, or wanderer.\u003cbr>\nWhich is precisely what plankton are. Tiny wandering plants and animals, drifting at the mercy of ocean waves, tides and winds. The technical definition of plankton is anything that lives in water and isn’t strong enough to swim against the current.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DuBose immediately brings the plankton she collects to a microscope in William Cochlan’s laboratory at the Romberg Tiburon Center, San Francisco State University’s marine lab in Marin County. Cochlan and his lab members study phytoplankton, tiny marine organisms that collect energy from the sun through photosynthesis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because we can’t see them without microscopes they’re kind of invisible to us,” Cochlan says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But magnified, their beautiful shapes and colors are revealed. Diatoms are one of the most common types of phytoplankton, and they are known for making silica (glass) cell walls, in an amazing variety of shapes and sizes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27817\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/Diatom2half-800.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27817\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/Diatom2half-800.png\" alt=\"Mixed diatoms arranged on a microscope slide (Wipeter/Wikimedia commons)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mixed diatoms arranged on a microscope slide (Wipeter/Wikimedia commons)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Diatoms aren’t just beautiful, they’re essential to life on earth. Phytoplankton produce 40 to 60 percent of the oxygen we breathe, and in the ocean they are the base of the food web.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cochlan wants to know how these microscopic plants will be affected by changing ocean conditions, brought about by the billions of tons of carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere every year. The gas traps heat, slowly warming the sea surface. But it also changes the ocean’s chemistry. About a third of the carbon dioxide we emit is absorbed by the oceans, where it reacts with seawater to make it more acidic. As the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has gone up over the past century, the ocean’s acidity has increased by about 30 percent, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really have to find out if ocean acidification is going to negatively impact the phytoplankton,” Cochlan says. In his lab, researchers are growing phytoplankton in water treated with high levels of carbon dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re specifically trying to see if ocean acidification increases their growth rate or slows it down,” he says. So far, the scientists have seen that in some cases phytoplankton grows faster in water with high amounts of carbon dioxide. But Cochlan cautions that growth rate isn’t the only indicator of health, and there could be negative impacts that they haven’t detected yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The jury’s still out,” on how increasing carbon dioxide will affect phytoplankton, he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all plankton depend on carbon dioxide to grow. There is another class of drifters, that act more like animals than plants, called zooplankton. Zooplankton mostly eat phytoplankton, though they sometimes each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27820\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/plankton-copepod-1024x576.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-27820\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/plankton-copepod-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Acartia hudsonica, a species of marine copepod (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Acartia hudsonica, a species of marine copepod (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Zooplankton include all drifting sea animals, from jellyfish to crab larvae. One of the biggest and most plentiful type of zooplankton is krill. They are only about the size of a paper clip, but abundant enough that enormous animals, like blue whales, can survive on a krill-only diet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the reasons there are so many whales in the waters off the Golden Gate, Cochlan says, is that this area is home to a high density of zooplankton. The high density of zooplankton is supported by an ocean process called upwelling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Upwelling is caused by winds stirring up the ocean’s surface, forcing warm surface waters away from shore and bringing cold water up from the deep. Deep water is full of nutrients, because the bottom of the ocean is where everything marine goes to die and decompose, breaking down into material for new life, like a compost bin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27822\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/Upwelling2.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27822\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/Upwelling2.jpg\" alt=\"(Via wikimedia-modified by D. Reed from image by J. Wallace and S. Vogel, El Niño and Climate Prediction. Image courtesy of Sanctuary Quest 2002, NOAA/OER) Upwelling happens when offshore winds push water away from the coast, and water from the deep comes up to replace the displaced surface water.\" width=\"640\" height=\"385\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Via wikimedia-modified by D. Reed from image by J. Wallace and S. Vogel, El Niño and Climate Prediction. Image courtesy of Sanctuary Quest 2002, NOAA/OER). Upwelling happens when offshore winds push water away from the coast, and water from the deep comes up to replace the displaced surface water.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The infusion of nutrients sparks an explosion of life at the surface, starting with the phytoplankton. Most phytoplankton are single-celled organisms, and they reproduce by dividing into two new cells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Typical phytoplankton divide once, doubling per day,” Cochlan says. But after an upwelling, they rapidly accelerate their growth rate. More phytoplankton means more food for zooplankton, which are prey for small fish and big whales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We usually only witness this feeding frenzy from the ocean’s surface — flocks of birds congregating, whales and dolphins diving. But the fuel driving all this energy is below the waves, and too small to be seen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The future of these episodic bursts of productivity is unclear. A paper published last week in the journal Nature predicted that warmer waters and stronger winds will increase upwelling. But the paper’s authors say the separation between warm surface waters and cold deep water could also increase, so the upwelling might not bring up as many nutrients. It is still unknown, they say, how future changes in upwelling will affect marine life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans need plankton, but most people go through life without seeing one up close. Plankton are the unsung heroes of the ocean — the tiny, beautiful, lungs of the planet and food for the sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Humans cannot survive without healthy oceans that support phytoplankton growth,” Cochlan says. “They’re really quite something.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Melissa DuBose casts a net out into the sea on a crisp winter morning, from a wooden pier near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I come out here every week,” she says. She reels in her net to collect her catch, which appears to be only water, captured in a small bottle dangling from the bottom of the net. DuBose collects sea creatures so small most people never notice them, yet they are critical to all life in the oceans and on land: plankton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27815\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/Dubose-throws-net-with-Josh1280.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27815\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/Dubose-throws-net-with-Josh1280.png\" alt=\"Melissa Dubose of the Romberg Tiburon Center casts her plankton net, with producer Josh Cassidy looking on (Mallory Pickett/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Melissa DuBose of the Romberg Tiburon Center casts her plankton net, with producer Josh Cassidy looking on (Mallory Pickett/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The word plankton comes from the Greek word \u003cem>planktos\u003c/em>, which means drifter, or wanderer.\u003cbr>\nWhich is precisely what plankton are. Tiny wandering plants and animals, drifting at the mercy of ocean waves, tides and winds. The technical definition of plankton is anything that lives in water and isn’t strong enough to swim against the current.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DuBose immediately brings the plankton she collects to a microscope in William Cochlan’s laboratory at the Romberg Tiburon Center, San Francisco State University’s marine lab in Marin County. Cochlan and his lab members study phytoplankton, tiny marine organisms that collect energy from the sun through photosynthesis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because we can’t see them without microscopes they’re kind of invisible to us,” Cochlan says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But magnified, their beautiful shapes and colors are revealed. Diatoms are one of the most common types of phytoplankton, and they are known for making silica (glass) cell walls, in an amazing variety of shapes and sizes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27817\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/Diatom2half-800.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27817\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/Diatom2half-800.png\" alt=\"Mixed diatoms arranged on a microscope slide (Wipeter/Wikimedia commons)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mixed diatoms arranged on a microscope slide (Wipeter/Wikimedia commons)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Diatoms aren’t just beautiful, they’re essential to life on earth. Phytoplankton produce 40 to 60 percent of the oxygen we breathe, and in the ocean they are the base of the food web.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cochlan wants to know how these microscopic plants will be affected by changing ocean conditions, brought about by the billions of tons of carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere every year. The gas traps heat, slowly warming the sea surface. But it also changes the ocean’s chemistry. About a third of the carbon dioxide we emit is absorbed by the oceans, where it reacts with seawater to make it more acidic. As the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has gone up over the past century, the ocean’s acidity has increased by about 30 percent, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really have to find out if ocean acidification is going to negatively impact the phytoplankton,” Cochlan says. In his lab, researchers are growing phytoplankton in water treated with high levels of carbon dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re specifically trying to see if ocean acidification increases their growth rate or slows it down,” he says. So far, the scientists have seen that in some cases phytoplankton grows faster in water with high amounts of carbon dioxide. But Cochlan cautions that growth rate isn’t the only indicator of health, and there could be negative impacts that they haven’t detected yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The jury’s still out,” on how increasing carbon dioxide will affect phytoplankton, he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all plankton depend on carbon dioxide to grow. There is another class of drifters, that act more like animals than plants, called zooplankton. Zooplankton mostly eat phytoplankton, though they sometimes each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27820\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/plankton-copepod-1024x576.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-27820\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/plankton-copepod-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Acartia hudsonica, a species of marine copepod (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Acartia hudsonica, a species of marine copepod (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Zooplankton include all drifting sea animals, from jellyfish to crab larvae. One of the biggest and most plentiful type of zooplankton is krill. They are only about the size of a paper clip, but abundant enough that enormous animals, like blue whales, can survive on a krill-only diet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the reasons there are so many whales in the waters off the Golden Gate, Cochlan says, is that this area is home to a high density of zooplankton. The high density of zooplankton is supported by an ocean process called upwelling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Upwelling is caused by winds stirring up the ocean’s surface, forcing warm surface waters away from shore and bringing cold water up from the deep. Deep water is full of nutrients, because the bottom of the ocean is where everything marine goes to die and decompose, breaking down into material for new life, like a compost bin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27822\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/Upwelling2.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27822\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/Upwelling2.jpg\" alt=\"(Via wikimedia-modified by D. Reed from image by J. Wallace and S. Vogel, El Niño and Climate Prediction. Image courtesy of Sanctuary Quest 2002, NOAA/OER) Upwelling happens when offshore winds push water away from the coast, and water from the deep comes up to replace the displaced surface water.\" width=\"640\" height=\"385\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Via wikimedia-modified by D. Reed from image by J. Wallace and S. Vogel, El Niño and Climate Prediction. Image courtesy of Sanctuary Quest 2002, NOAA/OER). Upwelling happens when offshore winds push water away from the coast, and water from the deep comes up to replace the displaced surface water.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The infusion of nutrients sparks an explosion of life at the surface, starting with the phytoplankton. Most phytoplankton are single-celled organisms, and they reproduce by dividing into two new cells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Typical phytoplankton divide once, doubling per day,” Cochlan says. But after an upwelling, they rapidly accelerate their growth rate. More phytoplankton means more food for zooplankton, which are prey for small fish and big whales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We usually only witness this feeding frenzy from the ocean’s surface — flocks of birds congregating, whales and dolphins diving. But the fuel driving all this energy is below the waves, and too small to be seen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The future of these episodic bursts of productivity is unclear. A paper published last week in the journal Nature predicted that warmer waters and stronger winds will increase upwelling. But the paper’s authors say the separation between warm surface waters and cold deep water could also increase, so the upwelling might not bring up as many nutrients. It is still unknown, they say, how future changes in upwelling will affect marine life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans need plankton, but most people go through life without seeing one up close. Plankton are the unsung heroes of the ocean — the tiny, beautiful, lungs of the planet and food for the sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Humans cannot survive without healthy oceans that support phytoplankton growth,” Cochlan says. “They’re really quite something.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27639\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 638px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Napfschnecke3.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27639\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Napfschnecke3.jpg\" alt=\"Limpets are found on rocky shorelines, not usually on their back as in this photo. Their tiny teeth have been found to be the strongest natural material in the world. (Janek Pfeifer/Wikimedia)\" width=\"638\" height=\"638\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Limpets are found on rocky shorelines, clinging tight to the surface with their large foot and protected by their conical shell. Their tiny teeth have been found to be the strongest natural material in the world. (\u003ca title=\"Limpet by Janek Pfeifer, Wikimedia\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Napfschnecke3.jpg\">Janek Pfeifer/Wikimedia\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Limpets are a type of mollusk found along our coasts, in and around sub-tidal and “splash zone” ocean habitats. They slowly crawl on their single muscular foot to scrape algae off the rocks during high tide, and hunker down in their “home scar” during low tide. About a dozen species live in the bay and near-shore Pacific around the Bay Area. The lowly limpet isn’t often in the news, but a \u003ca title=\"Scientist Finds Strongest Natural Material, UOPnews\" href=\"http://www.port.ac.uk/uopnews/2015/02/18/scientists-find-strongest-natural-material/%20\">study from the University of Portsmouth\u003c/a> published on February 18\u003csup>th\u003c/sup>, has revealed that these unobtrusive animals grow the strongest natural material in in the world – found in the tiny teeth on its rasping tongue, or radula. This knocks spider silk, long proclaimed as the strongest natural material, into second place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This finding concerns much more than bragging rights of limpets versus spiders. The new study’s lead scientist, Dr. Asa Barber says the properties of the fibrous, high-strength teeth could be copied to produce things like “Formula 1 racing cars, the hulls of boats and aircraft structures” along with bullet-proof vests and computer electronics. This principle of looking at living things for engineering solutions is known as biomimicry. As the Biomimicry.org website puts it, “failures have become fossils,” and only the fit survive. Biomimicry has provided examples of viable solutions inspired by nature, ranging from wind turbines that mimic humpback whales fins for efficiency to supersonic trains designed like a bird head to reduce sonic booms. You can see some of these examples of how “failures have become fossils,” and only the fit survive at \u003ca title=\"Biomimicry examples, Biomimicry.org\" href=\"http://biomimicry.org/biomimicry-examples/\">Biomimicry.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27638\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 156px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Goethite-154713-156x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-27638\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Goethite-154713-156x162.jpg\" alt=\"The iron mineral, Goethite, makes limpet teeth strong with its crystals positioned over the tooth surface. (Rob Lavinsky/Wikimedia)\" width=\"156\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The common iron mineral, Goethite, makes limpet teeth strong with its crystals arranged over the tooth surface. (\u003ca title=\"Goethite by Rob Lavinsky, Wikimedia\" href=\"Goethite-154713.jpg\">Rob Lavinsky/Wikimedia\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Do we need to worry about a sudden rush to harvest these limpets for these tiny teeth of titanic strength? Thankfully, no. Engineers don’t need the actual teeth, just the inspiration and “blueprint” of how they’re constructed to begin designing and synthesizing new materials with these same or similar properties. Next time you explore a shoreline at low tide, take some time to examine the intertidal life. Perhaps, if you’re lucky, you’ll spy one of the limpets that contributed to this new discovery. You can view a limpet video to see them \u003ca title=\"Limpet videos, Arkive.org\" href=\"http://www.arkive.org/common-limpet/patella-vulgata/video-08.html\">up close\u003c/a> and \u003ca title=\"Limpet Battles Sea Star, BBC, YouTube\" href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd7KkAKSIiA%20\">battling with a sea star\u003c/a>. As Aldo Leopold once said in ‘A Sand County Almanac,’ “The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts” of our ecosystems. You never know what might prove to be important in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The strongest natural material in the world has just been discovered: limpet teeth. Learn more about how this discovery could improve our future technology and innovations through biomimicry.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27639\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 638px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Napfschnecke3.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27639\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Napfschnecke3.jpg\" alt=\"Limpets are found on rocky shorelines, not usually on their back as in this photo. Their tiny teeth have been found to be the strongest natural material in the world. (Janek Pfeifer/Wikimedia)\" width=\"638\" height=\"638\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Limpets are found on rocky shorelines, clinging tight to the surface with their large foot and protected by their conical shell. Their tiny teeth have been found to be the strongest natural material in the world. (\u003ca title=\"Limpet by Janek Pfeifer, Wikimedia\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Napfschnecke3.jpg\">Janek Pfeifer/Wikimedia\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Limpets are a type of mollusk found along our coasts, in and around sub-tidal and “splash zone” ocean habitats. They slowly crawl on their single muscular foot to scrape algae off the rocks during high tide, and hunker down in their “home scar” during low tide. About a dozen species live in the bay and near-shore Pacific around the Bay Area. The lowly limpet isn’t often in the news, but a \u003ca title=\"Scientist Finds Strongest Natural Material, UOPnews\" href=\"http://www.port.ac.uk/uopnews/2015/02/18/scientists-find-strongest-natural-material/%20\">study from the University of Portsmouth\u003c/a> published on February 18\u003csup>th\u003c/sup>, has revealed that these unobtrusive animals grow the strongest natural material in in the world – found in the tiny teeth on its rasping tongue, or radula. This knocks spider silk, long proclaimed as the strongest natural material, into second place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This finding concerns much more than bragging rights of limpets versus spiders. The new study’s lead scientist, Dr. Asa Barber says the properties of the fibrous, high-strength teeth could be copied to produce things like “Formula 1 racing cars, the hulls of boats and aircraft structures” along with bullet-proof vests and computer electronics. This principle of looking at living things for engineering solutions is known as biomimicry. As the Biomimicry.org website puts it, “failures have become fossils,” and only the fit survive. Biomimicry has provided examples of viable solutions inspired by nature, ranging from wind turbines that mimic humpback whales fins for efficiency to supersonic trains designed like a bird head to reduce sonic booms. You can see some of these examples of how “failures have become fossils,” and only the fit survive at \u003ca title=\"Biomimicry examples, Biomimicry.org\" href=\"http://biomimicry.org/biomimicry-examples/\">Biomimicry.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27638\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 156px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Goethite-154713-156x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-27638\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Goethite-154713-156x162.jpg\" alt=\"The iron mineral, Goethite, makes limpet teeth strong with its crystals positioned over the tooth surface. (Rob Lavinsky/Wikimedia)\" width=\"156\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The common iron mineral, Goethite, makes limpet teeth strong with its crystals arranged over the tooth surface. (\u003ca title=\"Goethite by Rob Lavinsky, Wikimedia\" href=\"Goethite-154713.jpg\">Rob Lavinsky/Wikimedia\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Do we need to worry about a sudden rush to harvest these limpets for these tiny teeth of titanic strength? Thankfully, no. Engineers don’t need the actual teeth, just the inspiration and “blueprint” of how they’re constructed to begin designing and synthesizing new materials with these same or similar properties. Next time you explore a shoreline at low tide, take some time to examine the intertidal life. Perhaps, if you’re lucky, you’ll spy one of the limpets that contributed to this new discovery. You can view a limpet video to see them \u003ca title=\"Limpet videos, Arkive.org\" href=\"http://www.arkive.org/common-limpet/patella-vulgata/video-08.html\">up close\u003c/a> and \u003ca title=\"Limpet Battles Sea Star, BBC, YouTube\" href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd7KkAKSIiA%20\">battling with a sea star\u003c/a>. As Aldo Leopold once said in ‘A Sand County Almanac,’ “The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts” of our ecosystems. You never know what might prove to be important in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Scientists Tackle a Dual Threat: More Acid, Less Oxygen in the Ocean",
"headTitle": "Scientists Tackle a Dual Threat: More Acid, Less Oxygen in the Ocean | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27418\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 593px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/HIOC-BML-photo-e1424466621114.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-27418\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/HIOC-BML-photo-e1424466621114.jpg\" alt=\"Marine scientists at work on Hog Island in Tomales Bay, California (Tessa Hill/UC Davis)\" width=\"593\" height=\"332\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine scientists at work on Hog Island in Tomales Bay, California. (Tessa Hill/UC Davis)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Every summer for the past decade, fishermen and beachgoers along the Oregon coast have noticed dead crabs scattered along the shore, sometimes washed up in bunches. No one knows for sure why it’s happening, but scientists think “dead zones” formed by low oxygen levels in coastal waters could be the culprit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oceans absorb about a third of the carbon dioxide we pump into Earth’s atmosphere, which means that as we increase carbon dioxide in the air, we increase it in the ocean as well. The carbon dioxide reacts with water to create an acid, so that, over time, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say, ocean acidity has risen by \u003ca href=\"http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/What+is+Ocean+Acidification%3F\">about 30 percent\u003c/a> and oxygen levels have dropped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists say the combined impacts of decreasing oxygen and increasing acidity could be disastrous for marine ecosystems and the humans who depend on them, \u003ca href=\"http://www.nrdc.org/oceans/acidification/state-vulnerability.asp\">not only in California and along the West Coast, but on the East and Gulf Coasts as well\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘It’s a big problem and we need people to work together to think integratively.’\u003ccite>— Tessa Hill, U.C. Davis\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Mollusks such as oysters and clams depend on minerals in the ocean to form their shells — specifically, calcium carbonate minerals. Increasingly acidic waters deplete the storehouse of calcium carbonate minerals, threatening the ability of shellfish to grow the structures in which they live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shellfish, and most other marine organisms, also need oxygen in the water to survive. When oxygen levels get to too low — a condition called hypoxia — it can kill them, which is what scientists think happened to the crabs on Oregon’s beaches. Canadian scientists in 2007 found that oxygen levels off the West Coast have already declined by 20 percent over the past 50 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Threat to Food and Fishing Economies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v5/n3/full/nclimate2508.html\">A study\u003c/a> published this week in \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nclimate/index.html\">Nature Climate Change\u003c/a> found that oyster, clam, crab and other fisheries in the Pacific Northwest, Mid-Atlantic, New England and the Gulf of Mexico are \u003ca href=\"http://www.nrdc.org/oceans/acidification-hotspots/default.asp\">among the most vulnerable\u003c/a> in the U.S. to the impacts of ocean acidification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2012 assessment conducted by the state of Washington estimated that ocean acidification has already cost the oyster industry in the Pacific Northwest more than $100 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a big problem and we need people to work together to think integratively,” says Tessa Hill, an oceanographer at U.C. Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why Hill and marine scientists from Canada, Washington, Oregon and California formed \u003ca href=\"http://westcoastoah.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The West Coast Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Panel\u003c/a> last year. Working under the auspices of the \u003ca href=\"http://calost.org/\">California Ocean Science Trust\u003c/a>, the group aims to help governments plan for the future of a rapidly changing ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group released \u003ca href=\"http://westcoastoah.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/EnvisioningFutureSciLandscape-2015.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">its first report\u003c/a> this month, outlining how scientific research can help policymakers craft smarter strategies for dealing with more acidic ocean waters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How Can Science Help?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nScientists need to know more about how the multiple effects of ocean acidification, warming waters, and other stressors affect marine life. The report recommends developing studies that use real-life time scales and large environments, outside the lab, to help make predictive modeling more accurate. For example, scientists are partnering with shellfish farmers to gather data on how shellfish are affected by the chemistry of the water they’re exposed to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also recommends adding chemical and biological sensors to existing ocean buoys. That would cut the cost of installing the sensors and allow the network of ocean observers to share data more easily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another key idea is to share data between researchers and government to help policymakers evaluate programs already in place: marine protected areas, or water quality monitoring networks. Using feedback on how conservation programs are working, political leaders could, in theory, change policies as needed to be more effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists agree the long-term answer to ocean acidification is to decrease our fossil fuel emissions. Meanwhile, they hope to be able to foster resilience in marine ecosystems along West Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are lots of groups coming together to try and address the problem in an innovative way,” Hill says.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Marine scientists from up and down the West Coast say it's a one-two punch to the Pacific food web.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27418\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 593px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/HIOC-BML-photo-e1424466621114.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-27418\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/HIOC-BML-photo-e1424466621114.jpg\" alt=\"Marine scientists at work on Hog Island in Tomales Bay, California (Tessa Hill/UC Davis)\" width=\"593\" height=\"332\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine scientists at work on Hog Island in Tomales Bay, California. (Tessa Hill/UC Davis)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Every summer for the past decade, fishermen and beachgoers along the Oregon coast have noticed dead crabs scattered along the shore, sometimes washed up in bunches. No one knows for sure why it’s happening, but scientists think “dead zones” formed by low oxygen levels in coastal waters could be the culprit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The oceans absorb about a third of the carbon dioxide we pump into Earth’s atmosphere, which means that as we increase carbon dioxide in the air, we increase it in the ocean as well. The carbon dioxide reacts with water to create an acid, so that, over time, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say, ocean acidity has risen by \u003ca href=\"http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/What+is+Ocean+Acidification%3F\">about 30 percent\u003c/a> and oxygen levels have dropped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists say the combined impacts of decreasing oxygen and increasing acidity could be disastrous for marine ecosystems and the humans who depend on them, \u003ca href=\"http://www.nrdc.org/oceans/acidification/state-vulnerability.asp\">not only in California and along the West Coast, but on the East and Gulf Coasts as well\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘It’s a big problem and we need people to work together to think integratively.’\u003ccite>— Tessa Hill, U.C. Davis\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Mollusks such as oysters and clams depend on minerals in the ocean to form their shells — specifically, calcium carbonate minerals. Increasingly acidic waters deplete the storehouse of calcium carbonate minerals, threatening the ability of shellfish to grow the structures in which they live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shellfish, and most other marine organisms, also need oxygen in the water to survive. When oxygen levels get to too low — a condition called hypoxia — it can kill them, which is what scientists think happened to the crabs on Oregon’s beaches. Canadian scientists in 2007 found that oxygen levels off the West Coast have already declined by 20 percent over the past 50 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Threat to Food and Fishing Economies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v5/n3/full/nclimate2508.html\">A study\u003c/a> published this week in \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nclimate/index.html\">Nature Climate Change\u003c/a> found that oyster, clam, crab and other fisheries in the Pacific Northwest, Mid-Atlantic, New England and the Gulf of Mexico are \u003ca href=\"http://www.nrdc.org/oceans/acidification-hotspots/default.asp\">among the most vulnerable\u003c/a> in the U.S. to the impacts of ocean acidification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2012 assessment conducted by the state of Washington estimated that ocean acidification has already cost the oyster industry in the Pacific Northwest more than $100 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a big problem and we need people to work together to think integratively,” says Tessa Hill, an oceanographer at U.C. Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why Hill and marine scientists from Canada, Washington, Oregon and California formed \u003ca href=\"http://westcoastoah.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The West Coast Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Panel\u003c/a> last year. Working under the auspices of the \u003ca href=\"http://calost.org/\">California Ocean Science Trust\u003c/a>, the group aims to help governments plan for the future of a rapidly changing ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group released \u003ca href=\"http://westcoastoah.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/EnvisioningFutureSciLandscape-2015.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">its first report\u003c/a> this month, outlining how scientific research can help policymakers craft smarter strategies for dealing with more acidic ocean waters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How Can Science Help?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nScientists need to know more about how the multiple effects of ocean acidification, warming waters, and other stressors affect marine life. The report recommends developing studies that use real-life time scales and large environments, outside the lab, to help make predictive modeling more accurate. For example, scientists are partnering with shellfish farmers to gather data on how shellfish are affected by the chemistry of the water they’re exposed to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also recommends adding chemical and biological sensors to existing ocean buoys. That would cut the cost of installing the sensors and allow the network of ocean observers to share data more easily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another key idea is to share data between researchers and government to help policymakers evaluate programs already in place: marine protected areas, or water quality monitoring networks. Using feedback on how conservation programs are working, political leaders could, in theory, change policies as needed to be more effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists agree the long-term answer to ocean acidification is to decrease our fossil fuel emissions. Meanwhile, they hope to be able to foster resilience in marine ecosystems along West Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are lots of groups coming together to try and address the problem in an innovative way,” Hill says.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Scientists Create the Most Precise 3D Map of the Human Genome Yet",
"headTitle": "Scientists Create the Most Precise 3D Map of the Human Genome Yet | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27218\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Nucleome.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27218\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Nucleome.jpg\" alt=\"The human genome is packaged into a series of loops. This representation is from the Genome: Unlocking Life's Code exhibition, currently at The Tech Museum in San Jose. Each color represents a separate chromosome. \" width=\"800\" height=\"469\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The human genome is packaged into a series of loops. This representation is from the \u003ca href=\"http://www.thetech.org/genome\">Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code\u003c/a> exhibition, currently at \u003ca href=\"http://www.thetech.org/\">The Tech Museum\u003c/a> in San Jose. Each color represents a separate chromosome. (The Tech Museum)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most people know our genetic code involves the letters A, T, C and G (adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine) to make up DNA. But what fewer people know about is the code found in the packaging of DNA. And there is a lot of it there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until recently, we didn’t have a good way to systematically get at that information. Science took a big step forward in being able to do this with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(14)01497-4\">publication of the most precise map to date\u003c/a> of how human cells organize their 6 feet of DNA into their nuclei, a space that has a diameter of only around 0.0000016 inches. This kind of map will not only tell us how the instructions in our DNA lead to making each one of us, but it may also provide new ways to understand and even treat diseases like cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this study, Baylor College of Medicine researcher Suhas Rao and coworkers focused on a part of nuclear organization called DNA loops. Basically, our DNA forms a set of loops that each act as an independent region. Each loop has a set of controls for genes in that loop that don’t affect genes outside of that loop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the most surprising results of this study was that instead of the one million loops that many scientists expected, the authors found only around 10,000 of them. Not simple to study but definitely a more manageable number than one million!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to think about these results is that it is a bit like the original human genome project. Just like that original DNA sequence, it is providing us with a reference to which all other studies like this can be compared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27220\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/BreastCancer.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27220\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/BreastCancer.jpg\" alt=\"Understanding how DNA is packaged may help us understand why certain mutations can cause cancers. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"320\" height=\"213\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Understanding how DNA is packaged may help us understand why certain mutations can cause cancers. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Breast_cancer_cells_(1).jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists will be able to, for example, determine how DNA is packaged in the cells of people with certain diseases and compare it to this reference map. From that comparison they may be able to better understand why a certain DNA change leads to a certain disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This matters because many of the DNA differences scientists are discovering that are important in human disease happen outside of the 2 percent of DNA that comprise our genes. This makes it very hard to know why a DNA change is causing a certain problem. And if we don’t know the reasoning, it is hard to come up with a treatment for that disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most likely many of these DNA differences affect how a piece of DNA controls a gene but it has proven very tricky to connect the gene to the DNA difference. This becomes much easier with the mapping of DNA loops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, this sort of map has been deemed so important that the \u003ca href=\"http://www.nih.gov/\">National Institutes of Health\u003c/a> has launched a new initiative called the \u003ca href=\"http://commonfund.nih.gov/4Dnucleome/index\">4D Nucleome project\u003c/a> which will create even more detailed maps. The project will involve many researchers all working together to map the 3D structure of the genome in a wide variety of healthy and diseased cell types over time. (Time is the 4\u003csup>th\u003c/sup> dimension in 4D.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Linking DNA Differences to Genes \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most people have heard of genes, those stretches of DNA that each have the instructions for one small part of us. But as scientists have known for quite a while, this 2 percent of our DNA is not the whole story of our genome. The other 98 percent plays an important role in determining when and where a gene should be on and to what level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way that genes are controlled is with short DNA sequences called enhancers. These enhancers turn on genes in some cells and not in others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What has been hard to understand with these enhancers is how they know which genes to turn on and which ones to leave alone. In the bacterial world it is easy…the equivalent of an enhancer turns on whatever gene is closest. The same is not true in eukaryotes like us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enhancers sometimes ignore genes that are closest to them and instead activate a set of genes that is much further away. It turns out that one way they are able to pull this off is by only working within their own DNA loop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So imagine a bit of DNA that turns on many nearby genes. We will call it ENH for an enhancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now let’s imagine that a gene that can cause cancer when it is turned on is in a nearby loop. This gene might have been important during development when an embryo was becoming an infant, but it is now dangerous and so is tucked away in a place where it stays off. The situation looks something like this:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/TwoDNAloops.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27208\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/TwoDNAloops.jpg\" alt=\"TwoDNAloops\" width=\"394\" height=\"223\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the enhancer is in a different loop, it doesn’t affect this gene. The gene stays safely off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now imagine something has happened, perhaps a mutation, that leads to a different DNA loop pattern. Here is the new situation:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/OneDNAloop.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27209\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/OneDNAloop.jpg\" alt=\"OneDNAloop\" width=\"394\" height=\"219\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two loops have merged into one big loop. Now the enhancer can turn on the gene causing cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This would be very hard to figure out without a map like this. The mutation that caused it isn’t in the enhancer or in the gene itself. It is somewhere else that affected how the DNA in the cell was looped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is for situations like this that precise 3D maps of the human genome will prove to be so useful. And of course, science isn’t just about curing disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maps like these will also help us understand why different kinds of cells look and act differently even though they all share the exact same DNA. Or how a single cell develops into the trillions that make up a human. Or about a million other cool things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following short video is a great way to learn what else Rao and coworkers learned in this study about human DNA:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dES-ozV65u4\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.thetech.org/\">The Tech Museum of Innovation\u003c/a> is hosting a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian, \u003ca href=\"http://www.thetech.org/genome\">Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code\u003c/a> until April 27, 2015. Come and see it to learn more about what that original human genome project has allowed us to learn about ourselves over the past decade or so.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Until recently scientists have not been able to figure out the information coded in the folding of our DNA in the nucleus. A new map now makes this task simpler. This kind of map will not only tell us how the instructions in our DNA lead to making each one of us, but it may also provide new ways to understand and even treat diseases like cancer.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27218\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Nucleome.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27218\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Nucleome.jpg\" alt=\"The human genome is packaged into a series of loops. This representation is from the Genome: Unlocking Life's Code exhibition, currently at The Tech Museum in San Jose. Each color represents a separate chromosome. \" width=\"800\" height=\"469\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The human genome is packaged into a series of loops. This representation is from the \u003ca href=\"http://www.thetech.org/genome\">Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code\u003c/a> exhibition, currently at \u003ca href=\"http://www.thetech.org/\">The Tech Museum\u003c/a> in San Jose. Each color represents a separate chromosome. (The Tech Museum)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most people know our genetic code involves the letters A, T, C and G (adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine) to make up DNA. But what fewer people know about is the code found in the packaging of DNA. And there is a lot of it there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until recently, we didn’t have a good way to systematically get at that information. Science took a big step forward in being able to do this with the \u003ca href=\"http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(14)01497-4\">publication of the most precise map to date\u003c/a> of how human cells organize their 6 feet of DNA into their nuclei, a space that has a diameter of only around 0.0000016 inches. This kind of map will not only tell us how the instructions in our DNA lead to making each one of us, but it may also provide new ways to understand and even treat diseases like cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this study, Baylor College of Medicine researcher Suhas Rao and coworkers focused on a part of nuclear organization called DNA loops. Basically, our DNA forms a set of loops that each act as an independent region. Each loop has a set of controls for genes in that loop that don’t affect genes outside of that loop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the most surprising results of this study was that instead of the one million loops that many scientists expected, the authors found only around 10,000 of them. Not simple to study but definitely a more manageable number than one million!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to think about these results is that it is a bit like the original human genome project. Just like that original DNA sequence, it is providing us with a reference to which all other studies like this can be compared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27220\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/BreastCancer.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27220\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/BreastCancer.jpg\" alt=\"Understanding how DNA is packaged may help us understand why certain mutations can cause cancers. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"320\" height=\"213\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Understanding how DNA is packaged may help us understand why certain mutations can cause cancers. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Breast_cancer_cells_(1).jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists will be able to, for example, determine how DNA is packaged in the cells of people with certain diseases and compare it to this reference map. From that comparison they may be able to better understand why a certain DNA change leads to a certain disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This matters because many of the DNA differences scientists are discovering that are important in human disease happen outside of the 2 percent of DNA that comprise our genes. This makes it very hard to know why a DNA change is causing a certain problem. And if we don’t know the reasoning, it is hard to come up with a treatment for that disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most likely many of these DNA differences affect how a piece of DNA controls a gene but it has proven very tricky to connect the gene to the DNA difference. This becomes much easier with the mapping of DNA loops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, this sort of map has been deemed so important that the \u003ca href=\"http://www.nih.gov/\">National Institutes of Health\u003c/a> has launched a new initiative called the \u003ca href=\"http://commonfund.nih.gov/4Dnucleome/index\">4D Nucleome project\u003c/a> which will create even more detailed maps. The project will involve many researchers all working together to map the 3D structure of the genome in a wide variety of healthy and diseased cell types over time. (Time is the 4\u003csup>th\u003c/sup> dimension in 4D.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Linking DNA Differences to Genes \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most people have heard of genes, those stretches of DNA that each have the instructions for one small part of us. But as scientists have known for quite a while, this 2 percent of our DNA is not the whole story of our genome. The other 98 percent plays an important role in determining when and where a gene should be on and to what level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way that genes are controlled is with short DNA sequences called enhancers. These enhancers turn on genes in some cells and not in others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What has been hard to understand with these enhancers is how they know which genes to turn on and which ones to leave alone. In the bacterial world it is easy…the equivalent of an enhancer turns on whatever gene is closest. The same is not true in eukaryotes like us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enhancers sometimes ignore genes that are closest to them and instead activate a set of genes that is much further away. It turns out that one way they are able to pull this off is by only working within their own DNA loop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So imagine a bit of DNA that turns on many nearby genes. We will call it ENH for an enhancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now let’s imagine that a gene that can cause cancer when it is turned on is in a nearby loop. This gene might have been important during development when an embryo was becoming an infant, but it is now dangerous and so is tucked away in a place where it stays off. The situation looks something like this:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/TwoDNAloops.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27208\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/TwoDNAloops.jpg\" alt=\"TwoDNAloops\" width=\"394\" height=\"223\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the enhancer is in a different loop, it doesn’t affect this gene. The gene stays safely off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now imagine something has happened, perhaps a mutation, that leads to a different DNA loop pattern. Here is the new situation:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/OneDNAloop.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27209\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/OneDNAloop.jpg\" alt=\"OneDNAloop\" width=\"394\" height=\"219\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two loops have merged into one big loop. Now the enhancer can turn on the gene causing cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This would be very hard to figure out without a map like this. The mutation that caused it isn’t in the enhancer or in the gene itself. It is somewhere else that affected how the DNA in the cell was looped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is for situations like this that precise 3D maps of the human genome will prove to be so useful. And of course, science isn’t just about curing disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maps like these will also help us understand why different kinds of cells look and act differently even though they all share the exact same DNA. Or how a single cell develops into the trillions that make up a human. Or about a million other cool things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following short video is a great way to learn what else Rao and coworkers learned in this study about human DNA:\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/dES-ozV65u4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/dES-ozV65u4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.thetech.org/\">The Tech Museum of Innovation\u003c/a> is hosting a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian, \u003ca href=\"http://www.thetech.org/genome\">Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code\u003c/a> until April 27, 2015. Come and see it to learn more about what that original human genome project has allowed us to learn about ourselves over the past decade or so.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Banana Slugs: Secret of the Slime",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Article by Mallory Pickett\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Below the majestic trees and prehistoric ferns that grace California’s redwood forests lives a weird and slimy creature: the banana slug.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Named for their bright yellow color, banana slugs aren’t that different from the slugs you might try to keep out of your garden. They belong to the same family of animals, called gastropods, which have no spine and only one foot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Banana slugs are important members of the redwood forest community, even if they aren’t the most exalted. They eat animal droppings, leaves and other detritus on the forest floor, and then generate waste that fertilizes new plants. Being slugs, they don’t move very quickly, and without a shell, they need other protection to keep themselves from becoming food and then fertilizer. Their main defense: slime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-10.05.12-PM-1024x576.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-27297\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-10.05.12-PM-1024x576.png\" alt=\"Banana slugs live on the floors of coastal forests from Santa Cruz, California to Alaska. This slug was found in Henry Cowell Redwood State Park after a day of rain.\" width=\"640\" height=\"5360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Banana slugs live on the floors of coastal forests from Santa Cruz, California to Alaska. This\u003cbr>slug was found in Henry Cowell Redwood State Park after a day of rain.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Slime refers to mucus—the same stuff that coats your nose and lungs—found on the outside of an animal’s body. Banana slug slime contains nasty chemicals that numb the tongue of any animal that attempts to nibble it, discouraging predators like raccoons, who have to go to the trouble of removing the slime if they want to eat the slug. But this is just one of many ways slugs depend on slime, and they use it for everything from locomotion to nutrition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slime can absorb up to 100 times its original weight in water. So it helps slugs, which are mostly water, stay moist. It’s also both a great lubricant and a sticky glue, so they can use it to glide over a razor blade or stick to a windowpane. Engineers are fascinated by these dual lubricant/adhesive properties, and would love to learn to make slug slime in the lab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27296\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-10.06.23-PM-1024x576.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-27296\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-10.06.23-PM-1024x576.png\" alt=\"Slime can be both smooth and sticky, and slugs use it to glide over rough terrain and climb vertical surfaces.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Slime can be both smooth and sticky, and slugs use it to glide over rough terrain and climb vertical surfaces.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Christopher Viney is one of these engineers. He’s a materials engineer at the University of California, Merced, and a slime expert. Viney has spent years studying its chemical and physical properties, something very few scientists had done before. He and team harvested slime from dozens of banana slugs, which he says are “a very clean, reproducible source of mucus.” They discovered that the slime, which is chemically very similar to human mucus, has special properties that set it apart from other bodily fluids. For one thing, it’s not really a liquid, at least not a conventional one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27295\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/dl-slugs-lc-gif-500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27295\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/dl-slugs-lc-gif-500.gif\" alt=\"Mucus is a liquid crystal, a special physical state somewhere in between a liquid and solid.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mucus is a liquid crystal, a special physical state somewhere in between a liquid and solid.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Viney discovered that mucus is a liquid crystal, which means it’s somewhere in between the liquid and solid state, as its molecules are more organized than a typical liquid but not as rigidly ordered as a solid. It’s composed of strands of glycoproteins — molecules in which a protein backbone is decorated with carbohydrate side chains — that are semi-ordered, like braided hair, instead of being tangled together randomly like a bowl of spaghetti.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Viney has since moved on to studying spiders and silkworms, but many other engineers, biologists, and even medical doctors are still studying banana slugs. Engineers at MIT tried to copy the unique way slugs and snails move by building a “robo-snail,” which they hoped would be more stable and better able to traverse rough terrain than a robot that walks like a human or moves on wheels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27293\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/5_RoboII5-04.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27293\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/5_RoboII5-04.jpg\" alt=\"Anette Hosoi and Brian Chan at MIT made a robot called the “Robosnail” that mimics how gastropods like slugs and snails move, using foot pads that mimic gastropod foot muscles and synthetic slime.\" width=\"640\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anette Hosoi and Brian Chan at MIT made a robot called the “Robosnail” that mimics\u003cbr>how gastropods like slugs and snails move, using foot pads that mimic gastropod foot muscles and synthetic slime.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The robo-snail has foot muscles and even synthetic slime. It can crawl over glass and up walls and ceilings, but it can’t quite achieve the mobility, grace and stickiness that come so effortlessly to slugs and snails. Janice Lai, a graduate student at Stanford University, used a special camera to observe every detail of a banana slug’s muscular movements and to model them, so that the next generation of robot snails and slugs can be a little bit closer to the real thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Janet Leonard, a staff scientist, and Brooke Wagner, a former graduate student, both of the University of California-Santa Cruz, have spent a lot of time closely observing banana slugs too, during the slug’s most intimate moments. They study banana slug mating: a long, slimy and occasionally carnivorous ritual (the slugs sometimes eat each other’s penises after mating, and no one really knows why).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27291\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27291\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/7_penis.jpg\" alt=\"Banana slugs are simultaneous hermaphrodites, and can mate as male or female at any time. Banana slugs penises can be as long as the slug itself, one of the biggest penis:body size ratios in the animal kingdom. Photos: courtesy of Brooke Miller.\" width=\"640\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Banana slugs are simultaneous hermaphrodites, and can mate as male or female at any time. Banana slugs penises can be as long as the slug itself, one of the biggest penis:body size ratios in the animal kingdom. Photos: courtesy of Brooke Miller.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mating rituals are different for each of the three species of banana slugs, but some species spend over four hours on the process: two hours of courtship and two hours of repeated fertilization. After all this time in one place, the couple will be left in a big puddle of slime—which they eat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to recycle those nutrients,” Leonard says. “That time spent mating is expensive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The banana slug’s mating behavior, and its slime, have evolved over millions of years. After all this time, the banana slug is very well adapted to the redwood forest environment, scientists say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ilaria Mazzoleni at the Southern California School of Architecture, and biologist Shauna Price at UCLA want to capitalize on these millennia of evolution. They say they want to learn from some of the slug’s tricks to create a building that is equally well suited to the redwood environment. With a group of architecture students they built a prototype for a greenhouse with special silicone units that capture and release water, inspired by the banana slug’s mucus secretions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27290\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/8_slug_greenhouse-1024x802.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-27290\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/8_slug_greenhouse-1024x802.jpg\" alt=\"Southern California Institute of Architecture students Astri A. Bang, Maya Alam, and Janni S. Pedersen, under the guidance of Ilaria Mazzoleni and Shauna Price, created a design for a banana slug inspired greenhouse. They made silicone prototypes of bladders that would encase the building and store and release water, inspired by the slug’s mucus secretions and permeable skin.\" width=\"640\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Southern California Institute of Architecture students Astri A. Bang, Maya Alam, and Janni S. Pedersen, under the guidance of Ilaria Mazzoleni and Shauna Price, created a design for a banana slug inspired greenhouse. They made silicone prototypes of bladders that would encase the building and store and release water, inspired by the slug’s mucus secretions and permeable skin.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mazzoleni acknowledges that some people, including her own mother, find banana slugs “quite gross.” But she says architecture “is a functional art,” and the banana slug is “a great source of inspiration for that function.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Beneath the towering redwoods lives one of the most peculiar creatures in California: the banana slug. They're coated with a liquid crystal ooze that solves many problems slugs face in the forest -- and maybe some of our own.",
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"title": "Banana Slugs: Secret of the Slime | KQED",
"description": "Beneath the towering redwoods lives one of the most peculiar creatures in California: the banana slug. They're coated with a liquid crystal ooze that solves many problems slugs face in the forest -- and maybe some of our own.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Article by Mallory Pickett\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Below the majestic trees and prehistoric ferns that grace California’s redwood forests lives a weird and slimy creature: the banana slug.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Named for their bright yellow color, banana slugs aren’t that different from the slugs you might try to keep out of your garden. They belong to the same family of animals, called gastropods, which have no spine and only one foot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Banana slugs are important members of the redwood forest community, even if they aren’t the most exalted. They eat animal droppings, leaves and other detritus on the forest floor, and then generate waste that fertilizes new plants. Being slugs, they don’t move very quickly, and without a shell, they need other protection to keep themselves from becoming food and then fertilizer. Their main defense: slime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-10.05.12-PM-1024x576.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-27297\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-10.05.12-PM-1024x576.png\" alt=\"Banana slugs live on the floors of coastal forests from Santa Cruz, California to Alaska. This slug was found in Henry Cowell Redwood State Park after a day of rain.\" width=\"640\" height=\"5360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Banana slugs live on the floors of coastal forests from Santa Cruz, California to Alaska. This\u003cbr>slug was found in Henry Cowell Redwood State Park after a day of rain.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Slime refers to mucus—the same stuff that coats your nose and lungs—found on the outside of an animal’s body. Banana slug slime contains nasty chemicals that numb the tongue of any animal that attempts to nibble it, discouraging predators like raccoons, who have to go to the trouble of removing the slime if they want to eat the slug. But this is just one of many ways slugs depend on slime, and they use it for everything from locomotion to nutrition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slime can absorb up to 100 times its original weight in water. So it helps slugs, which are mostly water, stay moist. It’s also both a great lubricant and a sticky glue, so they can use it to glide over a razor blade or stick to a windowpane. Engineers are fascinated by these dual lubricant/adhesive properties, and would love to learn to make slug slime in the lab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27296\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-10.06.23-PM-1024x576.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-27296\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-16-at-10.06.23-PM-1024x576.png\" alt=\"Slime can be both smooth and sticky, and slugs use it to glide over rough terrain and climb vertical surfaces.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Slime can be both smooth and sticky, and slugs use it to glide over rough terrain and climb vertical surfaces.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Christopher Viney is one of these engineers. He’s a materials engineer at the University of California, Merced, and a slime expert. Viney has spent years studying its chemical and physical properties, something very few scientists had done before. He and team harvested slime from dozens of banana slugs, which he says are “a very clean, reproducible source of mucus.” They discovered that the slime, which is chemically very similar to human mucus, has special properties that set it apart from other bodily fluids. For one thing, it’s not really a liquid, at least not a conventional one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27295\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/dl-slugs-lc-gif-500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27295\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/dl-slugs-lc-gif-500.gif\" alt=\"Mucus is a liquid crystal, a special physical state somewhere in between a liquid and solid.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mucus is a liquid crystal, a special physical state somewhere in between a liquid and solid.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Viney discovered that mucus is a liquid crystal, which means it’s somewhere in between the liquid and solid state, as its molecules are more organized than a typical liquid but not as rigidly ordered as a solid. It’s composed of strands of glycoproteins — molecules in which a protein backbone is decorated with carbohydrate side chains — that are semi-ordered, like braided hair, instead of being tangled together randomly like a bowl of spaghetti.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Viney has since moved on to studying spiders and silkworms, but many other engineers, biologists, and even medical doctors are still studying banana slugs. Engineers at MIT tried to copy the unique way slugs and snails move by building a “robo-snail,” which they hoped would be more stable and better able to traverse rough terrain than a robot that walks like a human or moves on wheels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27293\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/5_RoboII5-04.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27293\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/5_RoboII5-04.jpg\" alt=\"Anette Hosoi and Brian Chan at MIT made a robot called the “Robosnail” that mimics how gastropods like slugs and snails move, using foot pads that mimic gastropod foot muscles and synthetic slime.\" width=\"640\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anette Hosoi and Brian Chan at MIT made a robot called the “Robosnail” that mimics\u003cbr>how gastropods like slugs and snails move, using foot pads that mimic gastropod foot muscles and synthetic slime.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The robo-snail has foot muscles and even synthetic slime. It can crawl over glass and up walls and ceilings, but it can’t quite achieve the mobility, grace and stickiness that come so effortlessly to slugs and snails. Janice Lai, a graduate student at Stanford University, used a special camera to observe every detail of a banana slug’s muscular movements and to model them, so that the next generation of robot snails and slugs can be a little bit closer to the real thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Janet Leonard, a staff scientist, and Brooke Wagner, a former graduate student, both of the University of California-Santa Cruz, have spent a lot of time closely observing banana slugs too, during the slug’s most intimate moments. They study banana slug mating: a long, slimy and occasionally carnivorous ritual (the slugs sometimes eat each other’s penises after mating, and no one really knows why).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27291\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27291\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/7_penis.jpg\" alt=\"Banana slugs are simultaneous hermaphrodites, and can mate as male or female at any time. Banana slugs penises can be as long as the slug itself, one of the biggest penis:body size ratios in the animal kingdom. Photos: courtesy of Brooke Miller.\" width=\"640\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Banana slugs are simultaneous hermaphrodites, and can mate as male or female at any time. Banana slugs penises can be as long as the slug itself, one of the biggest penis:body size ratios in the animal kingdom. Photos: courtesy of Brooke Miller.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mating rituals are different for each of the three species of banana slugs, but some species spend over four hours on the process: two hours of courtship and two hours of repeated fertilization. After all this time in one place, the couple will be left in a big puddle of slime—which they eat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to recycle those nutrients,” Leonard says. “That time spent mating is expensive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The banana slug’s mating behavior, and its slime, have evolved over millions of years. After all this time, the banana slug is very well adapted to the redwood forest environment, scientists say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ilaria Mazzoleni at the Southern California School of Architecture, and biologist Shauna Price at UCLA want to capitalize on these millennia of evolution. They say they want to learn from some of the slug’s tricks to create a building that is equally well suited to the redwood environment. With a group of architecture students they built a prototype for a greenhouse with special silicone units that capture and release water, inspired by the banana slug’s mucus secretions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_27290\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/8_slug_greenhouse-1024x802.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-27290\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/8_slug_greenhouse-1024x802.jpg\" alt=\"Southern California Institute of Architecture students Astri A. Bang, Maya Alam, and Janni S. Pedersen, under the guidance of Ilaria Mazzoleni and Shauna Price, created a design for a banana slug inspired greenhouse. They made silicone prototypes of bladders that would encase the building and store and release water, inspired by the slug’s mucus secretions and permeable skin.\" width=\"640\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Southern California Institute of Architecture students Astri A. Bang, Maya Alam, and Janni S. Pedersen, under the guidance of Ilaria Mazzoleni and Shauna Price, created a design for a banana slug inspired greenhouse. They made silicone prototypes of bladders that would encase the building and store and release water, inspired by the slug’s mucus secretions and permeable skin.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mazzoleni acknowledges that some people, including her own mother, find banana slugs “quite gross.” But she says architecture “is a functional art,” and the banana slug is “a great source of inspiration for that function.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Elephant Seals Battle for Love With Mating Songs and Bravado",
"headTitle": "Elephant Seals Battle for Love With Mating Songs and Bravado | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s Note: This story won a national \u003ca href=\"http://rtdna.org/content/2014_national_edward_r_murrow_award_winners#.VNVTRJ3F98E\">Edward R. Murrow Award\u003c/a> in 2014 for Use of Sound. We bring it back to you as our Valentine from KQED Science. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Love is in the air on California beaches this time of year, when northern elephant seals arrive by the thousands for breeding season. Males make plenty of noise at \u003ca href=\"http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=1115\">Año Nuevo State Reserve\u003c/a>, north of Santa Cruz, but it sounds more like a chorus of motorcycles than the sultry sounds of Annie Lennox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, researchers at \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucsc.edu/\">UC Santa Cruz\u003c/a> are decoding this complex communication system and learning how males use it to boost their reputation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elephant seals spend most of the year alone in the Pacific Ocean, so there’s plenty of action packed into the two months they’re on land every winter. “That’s mating behavior,” says naturalist Lisa Wolfklain, pointing at two elephant seals in a sea of hundreds of males, females and pups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0px none;overflow: hidden;float: right;margin: 10px\" src=\"http://kqed03.streamguys.us/anon.kqed/slideshow/elephant_seals/elephantseals.html\" width=\"270\" height=\"700\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Male elephant seals are the size of an SUV — fifteen feet long and 4,000 pounds. They’re known for their proboscis, the huge, fleshy nose that hangs over their mouth. There are plenty of available females this time of year, but most males will strike out. The dating scene is controlled by alpha males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The alpha strategy is to be dominant over a group of females, the harem,” says Wolfklain. “And they want to have the first right to mate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can spot the alpha males right in the middle of their groups of 10 to 100 females. The other males, known as betas, are on the outskirts, just watching, waiting for their chance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So this guy’s coming in,” says Wolfklain, pointing at one beta male moving quickly toward a female. The alpha male perks up and snorts a warning with customary bravado. Sometimes the fight ends there, but not this one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ooh, now they’re hitting with their heads,” the commentary continues, as the two lunge at each others’ chests. A few strikes seem to be enough for the beta male and he retreats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These fights can be bloody and all the while, other males are taking advantage and sneaking in. It adds up to a very stressful time for male elephant seals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It’s All About Reputation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not advantageous for males to fight all the time,” says Caroline Casey, a researcher at UC Santa Cruz. She says fights can be risky. “Sometimes they can result in death and we’ve seen that,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elephant seals also don’t eat while on land, so they need to conserve energy. Casey says, as with humans, one way to avoid fighting is communication. But until now, no one was really sure what the males were saying to each other. So, she and her colleagues have been studying a patch of beach with about 50 males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Elepahant-Seal-numbers-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-27084\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Elepahant-Seal-numbers-1-420x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Elepahant Seal numbers 1\" width=\"207\" height=\"505\">\u003c/a>“We have come up with this ranking system where we assign each male a score,” she says. It’s similar to systems used in professional sports, where the males win or lose points with every fight. Casey and her team also recorded the males’ calls and found remarkable differences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One beta male, X579, has a call that ends in a flourish. “His call, to me, is my favorite,” she says. “He always has this really lovely note at the end of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>X579 was a beta male with a lot of competition. “He tends to vocalize and challenge everybody right when he gets there,” Casey says. He challenged GL, an alpha male with a very short, staccato call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is what’s so incredible,” Casey says. “All of the animals sound completely different from one another.” What’s more, Casey’s team found that each male seems to use the same call year after year, whether he has a harem or not. It’s their signature call – and they flaunt it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A larger, more dominant animal will come up to a smaller animal, maybe beat him up a little bit,” says Casey, “call at him before and after, like, ‘Hey, this is me. I’m Bob. Don’t mess with me.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s all about spreading your reputation around. “That’s called associative learning and that’s very unique among marine mammals,” Casey explains. “That means that every male has the potential to be learning every other male based on their acoustic signature at that site.”\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Elephant-seal-map.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-27074\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Elephant-seal-map-721x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Print\" width=\"236\" height=\"336\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These complex communication systems have been studied in songbirds and other animals, but Casey says less is known about marine species. “I think it’s just a piece of larger puzzle in understanding how these animals breed and how they’re going to survive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A century ago, elephant seals were hunted to near extinction for their blubber. Fewer than 100 lingered off the coast of Mexico. With protective laws in place, today there are more than 150,000 northern elephant seals — and growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s good news for Casey’s loner elephant seal X579. This year, he’s an alpha male for the first time. As for the others, there’s always next year.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s Note: This story won a national \u003ca href=\"http://rtdna.org/content/2014_national_edward_r_murrow_award_winners#.VNVTRJ3F98E\">Edward R. Murrow Award\u003c/a> in 2014 for Use of Sound. We bring it back to you as our Valentine from KQED Science. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Love is in the air on California beaches this time of year, when northern elephant seals arrive by the thousands for breeding season. Males make plenty of noise at \u003ca href=\"http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=1115\">Año Nuevo State Reserve\u003c/a>, north of Santa Cruz, but it sounds more like a chorus of motorcycles than the sultry sounds of Annie Lennox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, researchers at \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucsc.edu/\">UC Santa Cruz\u003c/a> are decoding this complex communication system and learning how males use it to boost their reputation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elephant seals spend most of the year alone in the Pacific Ocean, so there’s plenty of action packed into the two months they’re on land every winter. “That’s mating behavior,” says naturalist Lisa Wolfklain, pointing at two elephant seals in a sea of hundreds of males, females and pups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0px none;overflow: hidden;float: right;margin: 10px\" src=\"http://kqed03.streamguys.us/anon.kqed/slideshow/elephant_seals/elephantseals.html\" width=\"270\" height=\"700\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Male elephant seals are the size of an SUV — fifteen feet long and 4,000 pounds. They’re known for their proboscis, the huge, fleshy nose that hangs over their mouth. There are plenty of available females this time of year, but most males will strike out. The dating scene is controlled by alpha males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The alpha strategy is to be dominant over a group of females, the harem,” says Wolfklain. “And they want to have the first right to mate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can spot the alpha males right in the middle of their groups of 10 to 100 females. The other males, known as betas, are on the outskirts, just watching, waiting for their chance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So this guy’s coming in,” says Wolfklain, pointing at one beta male moving quickly toward a female. The alpha male perks up and snorts a warning with customary bravado. Sometimes the fight ends there, but not this one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ooh, now they’re hitting with their heads,” the commentary continues, as the two lunge at each others’ chests. A few strikes seem to be enough for the beta male and he retreats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These fights can be bloody and all the while, other males are taking advantage and sneaking in. It adds up to a very stressful time for male elephant seals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It’s All About Reputation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not advantageous for males to fight all the time,” says Caroline Casey, a researcher at UC Santa Cruz. She says fights can be risky. “Sometimes they can result in death and we’ve seen that,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elephant seals also don’t eat while on land, so they need to conserve energy. Casey says, as with humans, one way to avoid fighting is communication. But until now, no one was really sure what the males were saying to each other. So, she and her colleagues have been studying a patch of beach with about 50 males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Elepahant-Seal-numbers-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-27084\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Elepahant-Seal-numbers-1-420x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Elepahant Seal numbers 1\" width=\"207\" height=\"505\">\u003c/a>“We have come up with this ranking system where we assign each male a score,” she says. It’s similar to systems used in professional sports, where the males win or lose points with every fight. Casey and her team also recorded the males’ calls and found remarkable differences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One beta male, X579, has a call that ends in a flourish. “His call, to me, is my favorite,” she says. “He always has this really lovely note at the end of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>X579 was a beta male with a lot of competition. “He tends to vocalize and challenge everybody right when he gets there,” Casey says. He challenged GL, an alpha male with a very short, staccato call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is what’s so incredible,” Casey says. “All of the animals sound completely different from one another.” What’s more, Casey’s team found that each male seems to use the same call year after year, whether he has a harem or not. It’s their signature call – and they flaunt it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A larger, more dominant animal will come up to a smaller animal, maybe beat him up a little bit,” says Casey, “call at him before and after, like, ‘Hey, this is me. I’m Bob. Don’t mess with me.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s all about spreading your reputation around. “That’s called associative learning and that’s very unique among marine mammals,” Casey explains. “That means that every male has the potential to be learning every other male based on their acoustic signature at that site.”\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Elephant-seal-map.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-27074\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Elephant-seal-map-721x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Print\" width=\"236\" height=\"336\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These complex communication systems have been studied in songbirds and other animals, but Casey says less is known about marine species. “I think it’s just a piece of larger puzzle in understanding how these animals breed and how they’re going to survive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A century ago, elephant seals were hunted to near extinction for their blubber. Fewer than 100 lingered off the coast of Mexico. With protective laws in place, today there are more than 150,000 northern elephant seals — and growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s good news for Casey’s loner elephant seal X579. This year, he’s an alpha male for the first time. As for the others, there’s always next year.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Every one of us started out as a single cell, dividing into two, then three and four cells during the first two days after fertilization. But only a few early embryos – about one in three – have a genetic makeup that’s good enough to let them continue their development. Scientists don’t know why, but together with cheetahs and horses, we humans are some of the least fertile mammals around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 10 to 15 percent of couples have trouble conceiving. Among them, some end up needing in vitro fertilization (IVF), a treatment in which doctors join a woman’s eggs with a man’s sperm in the lab, in hopes of creating several healthy embryos that they can transfer into a woman’s uterus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26874\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Day_3_embryo_RSCBA_scaled_02.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26874\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Day_3_embryo_RSCBA_scaled_02.jpg\" alt=\"A human embryo three days after fertilization, at the Reproductive Science Center of the San Francisco Bay Area, in San Ramon. At this stage, healthy embryos like this one have six to 10 cells of similar size. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A human embryo three days after fertilization, at the Reproductive Science Center of the San Francisco Bay Area, in San Ramon. At this stage, healthy embryos like this one have six to 10 cells of similar size. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For IVF patients, any information on which of their embryos has the best chance of growing into a baby is invaluable. Because several embryos are often transferred, in vitro fertilization patients who get pregnant have \u003ca href=\"http://www.asrm.org/BOOKLET_Multiple_Pregnancy_and_Birth/\">much higher rates of twin and triplet pregnancies\u003c/a> than the general population. These pregnancies can be risky for the mother and the babies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26877\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Embryo_fragmented_RSCBA_scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26877\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Embryo_fragmented_RSCBA_scaled.jpg\" alt=\"This human embryo three days after fertilization shows signs of “fragmentation,” a phenomenon that makes it less likely to continue growing. While healthy embryos look like a little bunch of grapes, with cells of the same size, this one has developed tiny fragments. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This human embryo three days after fertilization shows signs of “fragmentation,” a phenomenon that makes it less likely to continue growing. While healthy embryos look like a little bunch of grapes, with cells of the same size, this one has developed tiny fragments. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And many IVF patients don’t get pregnant at all. According to the Centers for Disease Control, only 46 percent of embryo transfers culminate with a birth. And that’s among women under 35, who have a better chance of getting pregnant than older women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Auxogyn, a company in Menlo Park, has developed a test that company officials say can help with this problem. The so-called \u003ca href=\"http://www.eevatest.com\">Eeva Test\u003c/a> was cleared by the FDA in 2014 and is already being used in more than 30 fertility clinics, said Alice Chen, Auxogyn’s director of biomedical research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The test’s goal is to help embryologists at fertility clinics pick out the early embryos with the best chance of making it to day five, a critical milestone. On the fifth day after fertilization, the embryo has about 200 cells and is getting ready to break out of its shell, a dramatic event that allows it to then burrow into the uterus and continue its growth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If an embryo reaches day five, it has an increased chance of implanting and growing into a live baby,” said Chen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26872\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Green_embryos_viable_export.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26872\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Green_embryos_viable_export.jpg\" alt=\"By examining time-lapse videos of developing embryos, like the one this still came from, Stanford University scientists discovered in 2010 that the embryos that made it to day five had followed a precisely timed pattern. (Wong et al, Nature Biotechnology, 2010)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">By examining time-lapse videos of developing embryos, like the one this still came from, Stanford University scientists discovered in 2010 that the embryos that made it to day five had followed a precisely timed pattern. (Wong et al, Nature Biotechnology, 2010)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Eeva Test is the result of \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v28/n10/abs/nbt.1686.html\">a key finding about embryo development made at Stanford University in 2010.\u003c/a> By examining time-lapse videos of developing embryos, scientists there discovered that the embryos that made it to day five had actually followed a precisely timed pattern, something like an embryonic clock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are strict parameters around normal development,” said Renee Reijo Pera, the scientist who led the Stanford research. “An embryo can’t spend the first couple of days without making progress or else it won’t have the right structure to attach to the uterus. It really, really, really matters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Up until then, researchers – including Reijo Pera – thought that embryos could grow at many different rates and still be healthy. But her research, and subsequent studies by Auxogyn, have shown that embryos that divide from two to three cells in nine to 11 hours, and then from three to four cells in under two hours, have the best chance of making it to day five.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The timings can’t be too fast or too slow,” said Chen. “When the timings are just right, those embryos have a higher chance of developing to day five.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26871\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Embryos_in_Eeva_dish_scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26871\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Embryos_in_Eeva_dish_scaled.jpg\" alt=\"In the Eeva Test, embryos in a petri dish, like these, are placed under a tiny camera in an incubator that photographs them every five minutes. Embryos just hours after fertilization are about one and a half times the width of a human hair. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the Eeva Test, embryos in a petri dish, like these, are placed under a tiny camera in an incubator that photographs them every five minutes. Embryos just hours after fertilization are about one and a half times the width of a human hair. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Auxogyn developed the Eeva Test based on this knowledge. In the test, embryos – which at this point are one and a half times the width of a human hair – are placed inside tiny wells in a petri dish. The dish is then placed under a microscope that goes inside the incubator. A tiny camera in the microscope takes photos of the embryos every five minutes as they divide and develop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26875\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Eeva_dish_under_scope_scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26875\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Eeva_dish_under_scope_scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Danielle Gilbert, at Auxogyn, places a petri dish with early embryos under a microscope in an incubator. A tiny camera in the microscope will photograph the embryos during the first three days after fertilization, and a computer algorithm will track their development to determine which ones have the best chance of reaching day five, a critical milestone. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danielle Gilbert, at Auxogyn, places a petri dish with early embryos under a microscope in an incubator. A tiny camera in the microscope will photograph the embryos during the first three days after fertilization, and a computer algorithm will track their development to determine which ones have the best chance of reaching day five, a critical milestone. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Using this time-lapse video, a computer algorithm automatically tracks the development of each embryo. The software gives a “high” grade to the embryos that most closely followed the pattern identified by the Stanford team. The embryos that deviated the most from the pattern get a “low” grade. This information helps embryologists select day three embryos with a higher chance of growing to day five.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was important that the system be automated and amenable to complement what embryologists are already doing,” said Reijo Pera, who now works as vice president for research at Montana State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26876\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Eeva_test_12_embryos_scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26876\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Eeva_test_12_embryos_scaled.jpg\" alt=\"The Eeva Test grades three-day-old embryos “high” or “low.” Embryos with a “high” grade are most likely to reach day five, says the Menlo Park company Auxogyn, which developed the test. (Courtesy Auxogyn) \" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Eeva Test grades three-day-old embryos “high” or “low.” Embryos with a “high” grade are most likely to reach day five, says the Menlo Park company Auxogyn, which developed the test. (Courtesy Auxogyn)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Embryologists at fertility clinics traditionally have graded embryos by looking at them under a microscope three days after fertilization, when they look like a tiny clump of grapes. They look for embryos with six to 10 cells of the same size. But that system has shortcomings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they have a group of decent-looking embryos, it’s hard to decide which ones have the best chance,” said Chen. “That’s where the Eeva information is most useful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The test allows clinics to transfer one or two three-day-old embryos with the best chance of reaching day five. The test is part of an effort among fertility doctors \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v28/n10/abs/nbt.1686.html\">that started in the late 1990s\u003c/a> to bring down the rate of multiple pregnancies among IVF patients. In 2011, doctors transferred an average of two to three embryos, according to the CDC, and about one woman in 100 who got pregnant through IVF in the US ended up having triplets. Naturally, triplets occur in about one in 10,000 pregnancies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s an international effort to move towards single embryo transfers,” said Kelly Athayde Wirka, an embryologist at Auxogyn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Author’s note:\u003c/strong> We received a question as to whether any data has shown that the Eeva Test leads to an increase in live births among IVF patients. No research results to date show that the test increases the rate of live births among patients. Auxogyn’s Alice Chen said that the company is collecting data on this question.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Every one of us started out as a single cell, dividing into two, then three and four cells during the first two days after fertilization. But only a few early embryos – about one in three – have a genetic makeup that’s good enough to let them continue their development. Scientists don’t know why, but together with cheetahs and horses, we humans are some of the least fertile mammals around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 10 to 15 percent of couples have trouble conceiving. Among them, some end up needing in vitro fertilization (IVF), a treatment in which doctors join a woman’s eggs with a man’s sperm in the lab, in hopes of creating several healthy embryos that they can transfer into a woman’s uterus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26874\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Day_3_embryo_RSCBA_scaled_02.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26874\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Day_3_embryo_RSCBA_scaled_02.jpg\" alt=\"A human embryo three days after fertilization, at the Reproductive Science Center of the San Francisco Bay Area, in San Ramon. At this stage, healthy embryos like this one have six to 10 cells of similar size. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A human embryo three days after fertilization, at the Reproductive Science Center of the San Francisco Bay Area, in San Ramon. At this stage, healthy embryos like this one have six to 10 cells of similar size. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For IVF patients, any information on which of their embryos has the best chance of growing into a baby is invaluable. Because several embryos are often transferred, in vitro fertilization patients who get pregnant have \u003ca href=\"http://www.asrm.org/BOOKLET_Multiple_Pregnancy_and_Birth/\">much higher rates of twin and triplet pregnancies\u003c/a> than the general population. These pregnancies can be risky for the mother and the babies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26877\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Embryo_fragmented_RSCBA_scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26877\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Embryo_fragmented_RSCBA_scaled.jpg\" alt=\"This human embryo three days after fertilization shows signs of “fragmentation,” a phenomenon that makes it less likely to continue growing. While healthy embryos look like a little bunch of grapes, with cells of the same size, this one has developed tiny fragments. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This human embryo three days after fertilization shows signs of “fragmentation,” a phenomenon that makes it less likely to continue growing. While healthy embryos look like a little bunch of grapes, with cells of the same size, this one has developed tiny fragments. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And many IVF patients don’t get pregnant at all. According to the Centers for Disease Control, only 46 percent of embryo transfers culminate with a birth. And that’s among women under 35, who have a better chance of getting pregnant than older women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Auxogyn, a company in Menlo Park, has developed a test that company officials say can help with this problem. The so-called \u003ca href=\"http://www.eevatest.com\">Eeva Test\u003c/a> was cleared by the FDA in 2014 and is already being used in more than 30 fertility clinics, said Alice Chen, Auxogyn’s director of biomedical research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The test’s goal is to help embryologists at fertility clinics pick out the early embryos with the best chance of making it to day five, a critical milestone. On the fifth day after fertilization, the embryo has about 200 cells and is getting ready to break out of its shell, a dramatic event that allows it to then burrow into the uterus and continue its growth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If an embryo reaches day five, it has an increased chance of implanting and growing into a live baby,” said Chen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26872\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Green_embryos_viable_export.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26872\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Green_embryos_viable_export.jpg\" alt=\"By examining time-lapse videos of developing embryos, like the one this still came from, Stanford University scientists discovered in 2010 that the embryos that made it to day five had followed a precisely timed pattern. (Wong et al, Nature Biotechnology, 2010)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">By examining time-lapse videos of developing embryos, like the one this still came from, Stanford University scientists discovered in 2010 that the embryos that made it to day five had followed a precisely timed pattern. (Wong et al, Nature Biotechnology, 2010)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Eeva Test is the result of \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v28/n10/abs/nbt.1686.html\">a key finding about embryo development made at Stanford University in 2010.\u003c/a> By examining time-lapse videos of developing embryos, scientists there discovered that the embryos that made it to day five had actually followed a precisely timed pattern, something like an embryonic clock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are strict parameters around normal development,” said Renee Reijo Pera, the scientist who led the Stanford research. “An embryo can’t spend the first couple of days without making progress or else it won’t have the right structure to attach to the uterus. It really, really, really matters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Up until then, researchers – including Reijo Pera – thought that embryos could grow at many different rates and still be healthy. But her research, and subsequent studies by Auxogyn, have shown that embryos that divide from two to three cells in nine to 11 hours, and then from three to four cells in under two hours, have the best chance of making it to day five.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The timings can’t be too fast or too slow,” said Chen. “When the timings are just right, those embryos have a higher chance of developing to day five.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26871\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Embryos_in_Eeva_dish_scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26871\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Embryos_in_Eeva_dish_scaled.jpg\" alt=\"In the Eeva Test, embryos in a petri dish, like these, are placed under a tiny camera in an incubator that photographs them every five minutes. Embryos just hours after fertilization are about one and a half times the width of a human hair. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the Eeva Test, embryos in a petri dish, like these, are placed under a tiny camera in an incubator that photographs them every five minutes. Embryos just hours after fertilization are about one and a half times the width of a human hair. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Auxogyn developed the Eeva Test based on this knowledge. In the test, embryos – which at this point are one and a half times the width of a human hair – are placed inside tiny wells in a petri dish. The dish is then placed under a microscope that goes inside the incubator. A tiny camera in the microscope takes photos of the embryos every five minutes as they divide and develop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26875\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Eeva_dish_under_scope_scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26875\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Eeva_dish_under_scope_scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Danielle Gilbert, at Auxogyn, places a petri dish with early embryos under a microscope in an incubator. A tiny camera in the microscope will photograph the embryos during the first three days after fertilization, and a computer algorithm will track their development to determine which ones have the best chance of reaching day five, a critical milestone. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danielle Gilbert, at Auxogyn, places a petri dish with early embryos under a microscope in an incubator. A tiny camera in the microscope will photograph the embryos during the first three days after fertilization, and a computer algorithm will track their development to determine which ones have the best chance of reaching day five, a critical milestone. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Using this time-lapse video, a computer algorithm automatically tracks the development of each embryo. The software gives a “high” grade to the embryos that most closely followed the pattern identified by the Stanford team. The embryos that deviated the most from the pattern get a “low” grade. This information helps embryologists select day three embryos with a higher chance of growing to day five.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was important that the system be automated and amenable to complement what embryologists are already doing,” said Reijo Pera, who now works as vice president for research at Montana State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26876\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Eeva_test_12_embryos_scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26876\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/02/Eeva_test_12_embryos_scaled.jpg\" alt=\"The Eeva Test grades three-day-old embryos “high” or “low.” Embryos with a “high” grade are most likely to reach day five, says the Menlo Park company Auxogyn, which developed the test. (Courtesy Auxogyn) \" width=\"300\" height=\"169\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Eeva Test grades three-day-old embryos “high” or “low.” Embryos with a “high” grade are most likely to reach day five, says the Menlo Park company Auxogyn, which developed the test. (Courtesy Auxogyn)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Embryologists at fertility clinics traditionally have graded embryos by looking at them under a microscope three days after fertilization, when they look like a tiny clump of grapes. They look for embryos with six to 10 cells of the same size. But that system has shortcomings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they have a group of decent-looking embryos, it’s hard to decide which ones have the best chance,” said Chen. “That’s where the Eeva information is most useful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The test allows clinics to transfer one or two three-day-old embryos with the best chance of reaching day five. The test is part of an effort among fertility doctors \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v28/n10/abs/nbt.1686.html\">that started in the late 1990s\u003c/a> to bring down the rate of multiple pregnancies among IVF patients. In 2011, doctors transferred an average of two to three embryos, according to the CDC, and about one woman in 100 who got pregnant through IVF in the US ended up having triplets. Naturally, triplets occur in about one in 10,000 pregnancies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s an international effort to move towards single embryo transfers,” said Kelly Athayde Wirka, an embryologist at Auxogyn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Author’s note:\u003c/strong> We received a question as to whether any data has shown that the Eeva Test leads to an increase in live births among IVF patients. No research results to date show that the test increases the rate of live births among patients. Auxogyn’s Alice Chen said that the company is collecting data on this question.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Building a Better Bionic Arm by Teaching the Brain a New Signal",
"headTitle": "Building a Better Bionic Arm by Teaching the Brain a New Signal | KQED",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"audio-wrap\">\n\u003ch2>Listen:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2015/01/20150130ArtificiallimbsScience.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26749\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/Bionic-arm-e1422650054858.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-26749 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/Bionic-arm-e1422650054858.jpg\" alt=\"Jason Koger, a father of three from Owensboro, Kentucky, uses a pair of high-tech bionic hands. Both his arms were amputated below the elbow after an ATV accident seven years ago. (Danny Beeler/Heart of the City Design)\" width=\"640\" height=\"358\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jason Koger, a father of three from Owensboro, Kentucky, uses these old-style hooks, and has a pair of bionic arms. Both his arms were amputated below the elbow after an ATV accident seven years ago. (Danny Beeler/Heart of the City Design)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Researchers have made dramatic improvements with artificial limbs in the last few years. Bionic hands, for example, are so dexterous they can pick up a quarter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for prosthetics to move more naturally, they need both good engineering and a way to communicate with the brain. That’s something scientists at \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucsf.edu/\">UC San Francisco\u003c/a> are working on, and their success hinges on the brain’s ability to make new connections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jason Koger lost both his arms in an ATV accident seven years ago. A father of three from Owensboro, Kentucky, Koger doesn’t mind showing off the high-tech bionic hands he wears now. With them, he’s able to open soda cans and work gadgets that have pressure-sensitive touchscreens – but a few things are missing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have a three year old, a little boy,” Koger says, “and I can hold his hand, and we’re fixing to cross the street. But then all of the sudden I kind of look around and I look back and he’s not even holding my hand, and I thought he still was.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not just touch that’s absent. Koger has a hard time sensing where his bionic hands are when he can’t see them. Say, for example, he tries to thread a belt through the loops in the back of his blue jeans. He has to do it before putting them on. The bionic hands lack a sense called \u003ca href=\"http://io9.com/sensing-your-own-body-is-more-complicated-than-you-real-1473461740\">proprioception\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Body’s Sense of Spatial Awareness\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26756\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 423px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/Artifical-limbs-photo.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-26756\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/Artifical-limbs-photo.jpg\" alt=\"Though Koger owns a pair of high-tech bionic hands, he sometimes opts for old-fashioned hooks, like when he’s planning to work outside or when he expects rain. (Danny Beeler/Heart of the City Design)\" width=\"423\" height=\"282\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Koger tosses a pitch to his daughter while wearing his hooks. (Danny Beeler/Heart of the City Design)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The human body has a built-in sense for where its various parts are in space, explains \u003ca href=\"http://profiles.ucsf.edu/philip.sabes\">Philip Sabes\u003c/a>, a professor and neurophysiologist at UC San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are sensors that live in your muscles, in your joints, even in your tendons,” Sabes says, “that tell your brain about where you body is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is why you can touch your nose even with your eyes closed; proprioception tells you where your nose is with respect to your hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As you move, proprioception gives the brain feedback, and this feedback lets you refine your movement, moment by moment. But amputees controlling a prosthetic have to do without this sense. Generally, they rely on sight instead, which isn’t as fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Visual feedback is much slower to get to the parts of the brain that control movement than proprioception is,” Sabes says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sabes’ research is backed by the \u003ca href=\"http://www.defense.gov/\">Department of Defense\u003c/a> research agency, \u003ca href=\"http://www.darpa.mil/default.aspx\">DARPA\u003c/a>. There are hundreds of thousands of amputees in the U.S., including some 1,500 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sabes’ Experiment\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sabes is researching how an artificial limb might be able to send useful feedback to the brain of an amputee. What if the signal were artificial, he asked, could the brain figure out what it meant and put it to use?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sabes began with a monkey that was trained to move his hands in response to a dot on a screen, that is, a visual signal. Then Sabes added a signal to the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The signal went to a tiny chip, surgically implanted just inside the monkey’s skull. It delivered tiny fractions of a volt to the motor cortex — an amount of electricity so small, Sabes says, you probably wouldn’t feel it on your hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26757\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 427px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/Prof-Sabes-1024x683.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-26757\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/Prof-Sabes-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Philip Sabes is a professor and neurophysiologist at UC San Francisco, where he researches brain science and engineering in hopes of developing a better connection between man and machine. (Cindy Chew/UCSF)\" width=\"427\" height=\"284\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Philip Sabes is a professor and neurophysiologist at UC San Francisco, where he researches brain science and engineering in hopes of developing a better connection between humans and machines. (Cindy Chew/UCSF)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“And so that signalled to the monkey,” Sabes says, “that maybe there was something lightly touching his arm or his elbow or his shoulder.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers paired this stimulation alongside the visual signals the monkey was already used to reading. Sabes says initially, it didn’t make much difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over days and weeks,” he says, “we noticed that the monkey started to perform better and better when he had both cues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The monkey’s brain was incorporating the new signal — putting it to use, so he had to rely less on visual cues alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After a few weeks, he was so good we actually let him do the task with just stimulation alone,” Sabes says. “So then he was able to sit in a dark room with no visual feedback, nonetheless he could reach from one target to the next to the next, because he could feel where those targets were, via the stimulation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What It Means\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe results show that the primate brain, given an arbitrary kind of signal, can adapt to understand it as a kind of faux proprioception. Knowing that the brain can do this could someday lead to giving amputees a sense of where their artificial limbs are in space. Such signals could be delivered through feedback, Sabes says, via either the nerves or small implants in the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how long until this kind of technology is far enough along it can help amputees control their prosthetics well enough to move like the real thing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m going to be bullish,” Sabes said. “Fifteen to 20 years until it’s as natural as normal movement.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Even the best prosthetics today lack a natural sense that tells the brain where the body is in space. That makes it hard to comb the back of your hair, for example, or thread a belt.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/div>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26749\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/Bionic-arm-e1422650054858.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-26749 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/Bionic-arm-e1422650054858.jpg\" alt=\"Jason Koger, a father of three from Owensboro, Kentucky, uses a pair of high-tech bionic hands. Both his arms were amputated below the elbow after an ATV accident seven years ago. (Danny Beeler/Heart of the City Design)\" width=\"640\" height=\"358\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jason Koger, a father of three from Owensboro, Kentucky, uses these old-style hooks, and has a pair of bionic arms. Both his arms were amputated below the elbow after an ATV accident seven years ago. (Danny Beeler/Heart of the City Design)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Researchers have made dramatic improvements with artificial limbs in the last few years. Bionic hands, for example, are so dexterous they can pick up a quarter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for prosthetics to move more naturally, they need both good engineering and a way to communicate with the brain. That’s something scientists at \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucsf.edu/\">UC San Francisco\u003c/a> are working on, and their success hinges on the brain’s ability to make new connections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jason Koger lost both his arms in an ATV accident seven years ago. A father of three from Owensboro, Kentucky, Koger doesn’t mind showing off the high-tech bionic hands he wears now. With them, he’s able to open soda cans and work gadgets that have pressure-sensitive touchscreens – but a few things are missing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have a three year old, a little boy,” Koger says, “and I can hold his hand, and we’re fixing to cross the street. But then all of the sudden I kind of look around and I look back and he’s not even holding my hand, and I thought he still was.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not just touch that’s absent. Koger has a hard time sensing where his bionic hands are when he can’t see them. Say, for example, he tries to thread a belt through the loops in the back of his blue jeans. He has to do it before putting them on. The bionic hands lack a sense called \u003ca href=\"http://io9.com/sensing-your-own-body-is-more-complicated-than-you-real-1473461740\">proprioception\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Body’s Sense of Spatial Awareness\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26756\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 423px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/Artifical-limbs-photo.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-26756\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/Artifical-limbs-photo.jpg\" alt=\"Though Koger owns a pair of high-tech bionic hands, he sometimes opts for old-fashioned hooks, like when he’s planning to work outside or when he expects rain. (Danny Beeler/Heart of the City Design)\" width=\"423\" height=\"282\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Koger tosses a pitch to his daughter while wearing his hooks. (Danny Beeler/Heart of the City Design)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The human body has a built-in sense for where its various parts are in space, explains \u003ca href=\"http://profiles.ucsf.edu/philip.sabes\">Philip Sabes\u003c/a>, a professor and neurophysiologist at UC San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are sensors that live in your muscles, in your joints, even in your tendons,” Sabes says, “that tell your brain about where you body is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is why you can touch your nose even with your eyes closed; proprioception tells you where your nose is with respect to your hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As you move, proprioception gives the brain feedback, and this feedback lets you refine your movement, moment by moment. But amputees controlling a prosthetic have to do without this sense. Generally, they rely on sight instead, which isn’t as fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Visual feedback is much slower to get to the parts of the brain that control movement than proprioception is,” Sabes says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sabes’ research is backed by the \u003ca href=\"http://www.defense.gov/\">Department of Defense\u003c/a> research agency, \u003ca href=\"http://www.darpa.mil/default.aspx\">DARPA\u003c/a>. There are hundreds of thousands of amputees in the U.S., including some 1,500 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sabes’ Experiment\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sabes is researching how an artificial limb might be able to send useful feedback to the brain of an amputee. What if the signal were artificial, he asked, could the brain figure out what it meant and put it to use?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sabes began with a monkey that was trained to move his hands in response to a dot on a screen, that is, a visual signal. Then Sabes added a signal to the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The signal went to a tiny chip, surgically implanted just inside the monkey’s skull. It delivered tiny fractions of a volt to the motor cortex — an amount of electricity so small, Sabes says, you probably wouldn’t feel it on your hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26757\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 427px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/Prof-Sabes-1024x683.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-26757\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/Prof-Sabes-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Philip Sabes is a professor and neurophysiologist at UC San Francisco, where he researches brain science and engineering in hopes of developing a better connection between man and machine. (Cindy Chew/UCSF)\" width=\"427\" height=\"284\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Philip Sabes is a professor and neurophysiologist at UC San Francisco, where he researches brain science and engineering in hopes of developing a better connection between humans and machines. (Cindy Chew/UCSF)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“And so that signalled to the monkey,” Sabes says, “that maybe there was something lightly touching his arm or his elbow or his shoulder.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers paired this stimulation alongside the visual signals the monkey was already used to reading. Sabes says initially, it didn’t make much difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over days and weeks,” he says, “we noticed that the monkey started to perform better and better when he had both cues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The monkey’s brain was incorporating the new signal — putting it to use, so he had to rely less on visual cues alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After a few weeks, he was so good we actually let him do the task with just stimulation alone,” Sabes says. “So then he was able to sit in a dark room with no visual feedback, nonetheless he could reach from one target to the next to the next, because he could feel where those targets were, via the stimulation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What It Means\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe results show that the primate brain, given an arbitrary kind of signal, can adapt to understand it as a kind of faux proprioception. Knowing that the brain can do this could someday lead to giving amputees a sense of where their artificial limbs are in space. Such signals could be delivered through feedback, Sabes says, via either the nerves or small implants in the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how long until this kind of technology is far enough along it can help amputees control their prosthetics well enough to move like the real thing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m going to be bullish,” Sabes said. “Fifteen to 20 years until it’s as natural as normal movement.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Genetically Speaking, Americans Really Are a Melting Pot of Diversity",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26515\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/BrazillianFamily.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26515\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/BrazillianFamily.jpg\" alt=\"A new genetic study shows that the U.S. really is a great melting pot. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"800\" height=\"441\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A new genetic study shows that the U.S. really is a great melting pot. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reden%C3%A7%C3%A3o.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the outstanding science fiction novel, \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lathe_of_Heaven\">\u003cem>Lathe of Heaven\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, racism is solved by turning everyone’s skin color to the same light gray shade. It turns out that if we peel away the skin and pay attention to just the DNA, we might not need this magical solution. At the DNA level, people in the U.S. are more similar than their outward appearance might suggest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is the conclusion of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.cell.com/ajhg/abstract/S0002-9297(14)00476-5\">new study\u003c/a> that used genetics to trace the ancestry of over 160,000 U.S. customers of 23andMe, a personal genomics company located in Mountain View, CA. The researchers found that most people who self-identified as European-American, Latino or African -American actually had DNA from the one or both of the other groups as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, people who self-identify as African-American had, on average, 24% European and 0.8% Native American ancestry. And people who self-identify as Latino had, on average, 6.2% African, 18% Native American and 65% European ancestry. Although the numbers were not as large for those who report themselves to be European-American, they still had on average around 0.2% African and 0.2% Native American heritage.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">We are all way more similar than our cultural labels might imply.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>This doesn’t sound like a lot but if we extrapolate the results with European Americans to the U.S. population, it means that more than 6 million of these folks carry some African ancestry and over 5 million carry some Native American ancestry. We are all way more similar than our cultural labels might imply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, this doesn’t mean the labels are totally wrong. Another finding is that self-reporting lined up very well with the majority of people’s ancestry. For example, if you are mostly of African ancestry, odds are you have self-identified as such.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This last result does not change the fact that scientists can see in people’s DNA there has been a whole lot of mixing since Europeans and Africans came to the U.S. The U.S. really has been and still is a great melting pot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Moms Not Dads\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are able to tease out how much of a certain ancestry came from mom’s side of the family and how much from dad’s by comparing a person’s X chromosome with his or her other chromosomes. Remember, men have an X and a Y chromosome and women have two X’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By doing such an analysis, the scientists in this study concluded that the non-European ancestry tended to come more from mom’s side of the family. For example, European-Americans might have ten times as many female Native American ancestors as male ones. And African-Americans have four times as many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a couple of possible explanations for this. One obvious one is exploitation. European men may have taken advantage of Native American women meaning that Native American ancestry would flow in from the maternal side of the family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another possible explanation has to do with there being more men than women on the frontier. In that situation, many of these men needed to turn to Native American women if they wanted a partner. We can see the results of their successful searches in modern DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Digging Deeper\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA amass more and more genomes in their database, they will be able to parse out everyone’s genomes more and more precisely. For example, in this study the researchers were able to see that the European part of the ancestry of Latinos tended to come from Spain and Portugal as we might expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They were also able to see that most of the mixing we see in the U.S. population happened over the last 500 years or so. They are not seeing some ancient mixing of African and European populations back in the Old World. No, they are seeing the results of everyone coming together in the New World.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is lots more in \u003ca href=\"http://www.cell.com/ajhg/abstract/S0002-9297(14)00476-5\">this study\u003c/a> too that you can peruse at your leisure (it is open access which means anyone can read it.) And these sorts of studies are just a start. I can’t wait to learn even more about our ancestry in the future.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_26515\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/BrazillianFamily.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26515\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/BrazillianFamily.jpg\" alt=\"A new genetic study shows that the U.S. really is a great melting pot. (Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"800\" height=\"441\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A new genetic study shows that the U.S. really is a great melting pot. (\u003ca class=\"nofancybox\" href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reden%C3%A7%C3%A3o.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the outstanding science fiction novel, \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lathe_of_Heaven\">\u003cem>Lathe of Heaven\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, racism is solved by turning everyone’s skin color to the same light gray shade. It turns out that if we peel away the skin and pay attention to just the DNA, we might not need this magical solution. At the DNA level, people in the U.S. are more similar than their outward appearance might suggest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is the conclusion of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.cell.com/ajhg/abstract/S0002-9297(14)00476-5\">new study\u003c/a> that used genetics to trace the ancestry of over 160,000 U.S. customers of 23andMe, a personal genomics company located in Mountain View, CA. The researchers found that most people who self-identified as European-American, Latino or African -American actually had DNA from the one or both of the other groups as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, people who self-identify as African-American had, on average, 24% European and 0.8% Native American ancestry. And people who self-identify as Latino had, on average, 6.2% African, 18% Native American and 65% European ancestry. Although the numbers were not as large for those who report themselves to be European-American, they still had on average around 0.2% African and 0.2% Native American heritage.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">We are all way more similar than our cultural labels might imply.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>This doesn’t sound like a lot but if we extrapolate the results with European Americans to the U.S. population, it means that more than 6 million of these folks carry some African ancestry and over 5 million carry some Native American ancestry. We are all way more similar than our cultural labels might imply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, this doesn’t mean the labels are totally wrong. Another finding is that self-reporting lined up very well with the majority of people’s ancestry. For example, if you are mostly of African ancestry, odds are you have self-identified as such.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This last result does not change the fact that scientists can see in people’s DNA there has been a whole lot of mixing since Europeans and Africans came to the U.S. The U.S. really has been and still is a great melting pot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Moms Not Dads\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are able to tease out how much of a certain ancestry came from mom’s side of the family and how much from dad’s by comparing a person’s X chromosome with his or her other chromosomes. Remember, men have an X and a Y chromosome and women have two X’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By doing such an analysis, the scientists in this study concluded that the non-European ancestry tended to come more from mom’s side of the family. For example, European-Americans might have ten times as many female Native American ancestors as male ones. And African-Americans have four times as many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a couple of possible explanations for this. One obvious one is exploitation. European men may have taken advantage of Native American women meaning that Native American ancestry would flow in from the maternal side of the family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another possible explanation has to do with there being more men than women on the frontier. In that situation, many of these men needed to turn to Native American women if they wanted a partner. We can see the results of their successful searches in modern DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Digging Deeper\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA amass more and more genomes in their database, they will be able to parse out everyone’s genomes more and more precisely. For example, in this study the researchers were able to see that the European part of the ancestry of Latinos tended to come from Spain and Portugal as we might expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They were also able to see that most of the mixing we see in the U.S. population happened over the last 500 years or so. They are not seeing some ancient mixing of African and European populations back in the Old World. No, they are seeing the results of everyone coming together in the New World.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is lots more in \u003ca href=\"http://www.cell.com/ajhg/abstract/S0002-9297(14)00476-5\">this study\u003c/a> too that you can peruse at your leisure (it is open access which means anyone can read it.) And these sorts of studies are just a start. I can’t wait to learn even more about our ancestry in the future.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Electric light makes the modern world possible. But not all kinds of light are good for us. Numerous studies show that blue light – like the light of a tablet – can suppress our bodies’ flow of melatonin and encourages us to be alert. The resulting loss of sleep can have \u003ca href=\"http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Health_Letter/2012/May/blue-light-has-a-dark-side/\">serious health consequences\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"http://news.psu.edu/story/339372/2014/12/22/research/light-emitting-e-readers-detrimentally-shift-circadian-clock\">a 2014 Penn State study\u003c/a>, people read from either light-emitting devices or paper books before sleep. The subjects who had read from the devices took longer to fall asleep, slept less restfully and performed worse on cognitive tests the next day compared to those who had read paper books.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/neon.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-73693\" src=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/neon-640x358.png\" alt=\"neon\" width=\"640\" height=\"358\">\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/neon2.png\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>It’s not just the chemical impact of electric light on our bodies that can be harmful, scientists say, but the way it enables us to be active any time of day or night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Electric lighting allows us to stay up later, but we still get up early, so we are scrunching our sleep,” said Stanford professor Jamie Zeitzer, a sleep researcher who is preparing an undergraduate course on the historical impact of electric light on society. “I do think our use of electric lighting has long-term consequences for our health,” he added. “But what the consequences are, we don’t yet know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_73701\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 252px\">\u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/Goltzius_Saenredam_Night-252x360.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-73701 size-large\" src=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/Goltzius_Saenredam_Night-252x360.jpg\" alt=\"Roger Ekirch discovered hundreds of references to segmented sleep, including this Roger Ekirch says this 1595 engraving by Jan Saenredam.\" width=\"252\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roger Ekirch discovered hundreds of references to segmented sleep, including \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goltzius_Saenredam_Night.jpg\">this 1595 engraving\u003c/a> by Jan Saenredam. (Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But we’ve traded away something else for the privilege of 24-7 illumination – something most of us aren’t even aware we’ve lost. In the 1990s, Virginia Tech historian \u003ca href=\"http://www.history.vt.edu/Ekirch/sleepcommentary.html\">Roger Ekirch\u003c/a> discovered a once-common pattern of “segmented,” or divided, sleep – two roughly four-hour periods of sleep separated by an hour or two of calm wakefulness. According to hundreds of historical references, people used this calm time to pray, read, write, have sex or quietly socialize. It was a period particularly conducive to reflection and creativity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ekirch’s theory was boosted by an influential 1992 \u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2869.1992.tb00019.x/abstract\">sleep experiment\u003c/a> by Thomas Wehr, former chief of the Clinical Psychobiology branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. In Wehr’s month-long study people deprived of artificial light reverted to segmented sleep patterns after several weeks of sleeping for 11 hours a night. In the period of waking between the two sleeps, the brain produces high levels of prolactin, the relaxation hormone enjoyed by breastfeeding mothers and postcoital lovers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ekirch thinks segmented sleep is our natural pattern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Segmented sleep, in my view, was the dominant pattern of slumber, arguably, since time immemorial, to judge from ancient literary texts,” he said. “It was, indeed, our natural form of sleep, (and is) still prevalent in pre-industrial cultures around the world without the benefit of artificial illumination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the sun went down, our ancestors’ activities were dramatically limited. This was just as well, because uncertainty and danger lurked in the darkness, and it was considered safest to stay close to home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/fishcandle.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-73698\" src=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/fishcandle-640x357.png\" alt=\"fishcandle\" width=\"640\" height=\"357\">\u003c/a>But humans have always rebelled against the darkness. Our first artificial lights were campfires and torches. Oil-filled stone lamps were found deep in the cave at Lascaux, France, where they were used 30,000 years ago to light Cro-Magnon artists’ work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes, people even enlisted the help of animals for illumination. They threaded an oily fish or bird with a wick and lit it, or trapped fireflies in a cage. Much later, whale oil, and gas street lamps in the 1800s made it fashionable and easier to socialize after dark. And sleep patterns began to shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/lightbulb.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-73696\" src=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/lightbulb-640x357.png\" alt=\"lightbulb\" width=\"640\" height=\"357\">\u003c/a>But it was electric light that changed everything. Thomas Edison’s ingenious filament bulb in 1879 swiftly became ubiquitous in much of the world. As people became accustomed to light on demand, our fundamental relationship to time changed as well. Suddenly, the night was open for business, and we began to take advantage of it with greater and greater demands on our productivity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that there’s no going back, experts say there are steps we can take to protect our sleep. Zeitzer noted that the amount of light we are exposed to during the day determines how susceptible we are to blue light in the evening. The more light we are exposed to during the day, the less our sleep will be disturbed by nighttime lighting. He recommends taking a walk in the sunlight during the day to mitigate the effects of light use at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/eyesun-e1421357094781.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-26343\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/eyesun-e1421357094781.png\" alt=\"eyesun\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Electric light has fundamentally altered the relationship between human behavior and the environment,” Zeitzer said. “This has led to massive increases in productivity and available entertainment, but the cost may be our long-term health and mental well-being.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Electric light makes the modern world possible. But not all kinds of light are good for us. Numerous studies show that blue light – like the light of a tablet – can suppress our bodies’ flow of melatonin and encourages us to be alert. The resulting loss of sleep can have \u003ca href=\"http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Health_Letter/2012/May/blue-light-has-a-dark-side/\">serious health consequences\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"http://news.psu.edu/story/339372/2014/12/22/research/light-emitting-e-readers-detrimentally-shift-circadian-clock\">a 2014 Penn State study\u003c/a>, people read from either light-emitting devices or paper books before sleep. The subjects who had read from the devices took longer to fall asleep, slept less restfully and performed worse on cognitive tests the next day compared to those who had read paper books.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/neon.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-73693\" src=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/neon-640x358.png\" alt=\"neon\" width=\"640\" height=\"358\">\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/neon2.png\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>It’s not just the chemical impact of electric light on our bodies that can be harmful, scientists say, but the way it enables us to be active any time of day or night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Electric lighting allows us to stay up later, but we still get up early, so we are scrunching our sleep,” said Stanford professor Jamie Zeitzer, a sleep researcher who is preparing an undergraduate course on the historical impact of electric light on society. “I do think our use of electric lighting has long-term consequences for our health,” he added. “But what the consequences are, we don’t yet know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_73701\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 252px\">\u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/Goltzius_Saenredam_Night-252x360.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-73701 size-large\" src=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/Goltzius_Saenredam_Night-252x360.jpg\" alt=\"Roger Ekirch discovered hundreds of references to segmented sleep, including this Roger Ekirch says this 1595 engraving by Jan Saenredam.\" width=\"252\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roger Ekirch discovered hundreds of references to segmented sleep, including \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goltzius_Saenredam_Night.jpg\">this 1595 engraving\u003c/a> by Jan Saenredam. (Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But we’ve traded away something else for the privilege of 24-7 illumination – something most of us aren’t even aware we’ve lost. In the 1990s, Virginia Tech historian \u003ca href=\"http://www.history.vt.edu/Ekirch/sleepcommentary.html\">Roger Ekirch\u003c/a> discovered a once-common pattern of “segmented,” or divided, sleep – two roughly four-hour periods of sleep separated by an hour or two of calm wakefulness. According to hundreds of historical references, people used this calm time to pray, read, write, have sex or quietly socialize. It was a period particularly conducive to reflection and creativity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ekirch’s theory was boosted by an influential 1992 \u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2869.1992.tb00019.x/abstract\">sleep experiment\u003c/a> by Thomas Wehr, former chief of the Clinical Psychobiology branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. In Wehr’s month-long study people deprived of artificial light reverted to segmented sleep patterns after several weeks of sleeping for 11 hours a night. In the period of waking between the two sleeps, the brain produces high levels of prolactin, the relaxation hormone enjoyed by breastfeeding mothers and postcoital lovers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ekirch thinks segmented sleep is our natural pattern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Segmented sleep, in my view, was the dominant pattern of slumber, arguably, since time immemorial, to judge from ancient literary texts,” he said. “It was, indeed, our natural form of sleep, (and is) still prevalent in pre-industrial cultures around the world without the benefit of artificial illumination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the sun went down, our ancestors’ activities were dramatically limited. This was just as well, because uncertainty and danger lurked in the darkness, and it was considered safest to stay close to home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/fishcandle.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-73698\" src=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/fishcandle-640x357.png\" alt=\"fishcandle\" width=\"640\" height=\"357\">\u003c/a>But humans have always rebelled against the darkness. Our first artificial lights were campfires and torches. Oil-filled stone lamps were found deep in the cave at Lascaux, France, where they were used 30,000 years ago to light Cro-Magnon artists’ work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes, people even enlisted the help of animals for illumination. They threaded an oily fish or bird with a wick and lit it, or trapped fireflies in a cage. Much later, whale oil, and gas street lamps in the 1800s made it fashionable and easier to socialize after dark. And sleep patterns began to shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/lightbulb.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-73696\" src=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/2015/01/lightbulb-640x357.png\" alt=\"lightbulb\" width=\"640\" height=\"357\">\u003c/a>But it was electric light that changed everything. Thomas Edison’s ingenious filament bulb in 1879 swiftly became ubiquitous in much of the world. As people became accustomed to light on demand, our fundamental relationship to time changed as well. Suddenly, the night was open for business, and we began to take advantage of it with greater and greater demands on our productivity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that there’s no going back, experts say there are steps we can take to protect our sleep. Zeitzer noted that the amount of light we are exposed to during the day determines how susceptible we are to blue light in the evening. The more light we are exposed to during the day, the less our sleep will be disturbed by nighttime lighting. He recommends taking a walk in the sunlight during the day to mitigate the effects of light use at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/eyesun-e1421357094781.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-26343\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/01/eyesun-e1421357094781.png\" alt=\"eyesun\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Electric light has fundamentally altered the relationship between human behavior and the environment,” Zeitzer said. “This has led to massive increases in productivity and available entertainment, but the cost may be our long-term health and mental well-being.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"code-switch-life-kit": {
"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
}
},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Science-Podcasts/Hidden-Brain-p787503/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
}
},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
"imageAlt": "KQED Hyphenación",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/xtTd",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0c2d153-ad36-4c8d-901d-f1da6a724824/political-breakdown",
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