Science News Digest 14th December 2009
In the science news this week, leaps in evolution, nature's engineering of the super sniffer, the latest addition to the Google search engine, the impact of the Pre-Budget Report and finally....fighting like cats and dogs!
Budget or Bodge it?
The Pre-Budget Report last week has given cause for concern across the scientific community as it was revealed that the government are planning £600m savings from higher education, science and research budgets according to the BBC.
The report outlined where £5bn of savings could be made across the board by 2012-13 to cut overall expenditure.
Campaigners have said the outlook is bleak, but the government have rebuffed this comment by reminding us of the fact that since Labour took office in 1997 its annual spend on the science programme has doubled to £6bn.
They went onto highlight that £600m savings would come "from higher education and science and research budgets from a combination of changes to student support within existing arrangements; efficiency savings and prioritisation across universities, science and research; some switching of modes of study in higher education; and reductions in budgets that do not support student participation."
A spokesman from the department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) assured the BBC that while the government needs to make efficiencies it remained committed to its 10 year science and innovation investment framework, which aims to increase spending in this area by 2.5% a year in real terms. He went onto say that stakeholders would be called upon to help decide where best to make those savings.
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One small step, or a giant leap?
In Nature this week, the widely accepted view of evolution (the eponymous hypothesis) that suggests evolution occurs through a ‘gradual accumulation of small changes over time’ has been challenged on the back of a study of the evolutionary trees of thousands of species.
This new research from the University of Reading shows instead that ‘single rare evolutionary events’ are responsible for the creation of new species, so rather than gradual changes; they suggest that the new species are formed by a ‘jump’ in evolution.
The traditional theory where evolution is driven by a constant churn of sexual selection would mean that all of the species in a family or genus would be forming into a new species at the same rate.
However, the study, which applied four different models of speciation to over 100 groups from both the plant and animal kingdom suggested that the eponymous hypothesis only fitted the histories of 8% of the thousands of different species studied.
In contrast, nearly 80% of the same trees fitted the ‘single rare evolutionary event’ model. These events could include a shift in climate or the sudden emergence of a new mountain range.
Aware that his research could prove controversial, lead researcher at Reading, Mark Pagel said "It really goes against the grain because most of us have this Darwinian view of speciation," "What we're saying is that to think about natural selection as the cause of speciation is perhaps wrong."
Despite the unorthodox methods of analysis, using a largely computerised approach to analyse data from phylogenetic trees, Pagel hopes other researchers will accept it as it “will start to unravel some mysteries about speciation," he says.
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A picture tells a million words.
Lost for words? That won’t matter anymore if you’re trying to get some answers from Google. The next step in their search engine’s evolution is to allow users to search with a picture instead of a word or phrase using their new ‘Goggles’ service.
The system can use images of things like landmarks and artworks or recognise the text from a business card to provide search results based on comparing the ‘signatures’ of objects within the image against their database of more than a billion images.
The software used by the system was developed by Evolution robotics in California and their President and CEO Paolo Pirjanian said;
"It makes it possible to do a lot more than you can describing something by words alone, it is an obvious next step for search."
Given the possibilities of this technology, Google are forward thinking in their approach by not including facial recognition in the service to mitigate against privacy fears.
Read more in New Scientist
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Nosey research.
A recent study into dog’s noses by researchers from Pennsylvania State University has given us a greater understanding into what makes them such superior sniffers.
Scientists have been aware for a long time that animals with an enhanced sense of smell have a nasal cavity with a specialised anatomical structure, but they weren’t fully aware of how air and odours flow once they are inside the nose.
To test the method of sniffing, the team created a special muzzle and applied it to seven dogs to monitor their technique. Despite differing weights and sizes of the samples being sniffed, the dogs all sniffed at approximately the same frequency- five times per second. Furthermore, the team created a computer model of the canine nose using magnetic resonance imaging, which allowed them to calculate the nostril’s aerodynamic reach.
Interestingly, the computer model showed each nostril actually took in a separate odour sample with each sniff, so it can tell which one is pulling in the scent. This helps them find the direction that the scent is coming from. Another interesting result of the study indicates that smells are actually retained in the nasal cavity instead of being exhaled like they are in humans.
The next possible steps on the back of this study are to assist in the development of artificial noses to help find trapped earthquake victims or target drug smugglers.
Read more in ScienceNOW
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What a cat-astrophe!
The age old battle between canine and feline has been settled in the Telegraph this week and the winner is…. Man’s best friend- the dog!
Using 11 categories selected by New Scientist, it was a closely fought competition, with dogs just pipping their counterparts to the post by winning 6 categories compared with the feline’s five.
It wasn’t all bad news for cats though, as they were credited with having more powerful brains, more acute senses, a smaller carbon footprint and their noises were regarded as less intrusive than that of a dog.
However, the dogs eventually won the judges over with their obedience, bonding, intelligence, ability to understand commands, problem solve and generally be more helpful!
They put these differences down to their evolutionary histories, with cats being more independent and dogs being pack animals.
Cats seem to have the last laugh though, as in spite of these results, they are still the most popular domestic pets in the worlds, with the top 10 cat owning countries having 204 million of the furry friends, while the top 10 dog owing countries only have 173 million barking buddies.
Budget or Bodge it?
The Pre-Budget Report last week has given cause for concern across the scientific community as it was revealed that the government are planning £600m savings from higher education, science and research budgets according to the BBC.
The report outlined where £5bn of savings could be made across the board by 2012-13 to cut overall expenditure.
Campaigners have said the outlook is bleak, but the government have rebuffed this comment by reminding us of the fact that since Labour took office in 1997 its annual spend on the science programme has doubled to £6bn.
They went onto highlight that £600m savings would come "from higher education and science and research budgets from a combination of changes to student support within existing arrangements; efficiency savings and prioritisation across universities, science and research; some switching of modes of study in higher education; and reductions in budgets that do not support student participation."
A spokesman from the department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) assured the BBC that while the government needs to make efficiencies it remained committed to its 10 year science and innovation investment framework, which aims to increase spending in this area by 2.5% a year in real terms. He went onto say that stakeholders would be called upon to help decide where best to make those savings.
-----------------------------------
One small step, or a giant leap?
In Nature this week, the widely accepted view of evolution (the eponymous hypothesis) that suggests evolution occurs through a ‘gradual accumulation of small changes over time’ has been challenged on the back of a study of the evolutionary trees of thousands of species.
This new research from the University of Reading shows instead that ‘single rare evolutionary events’ are responsible for the creation of new species, so rather than gradual changes; they suggest that the new species are formed by a ‘jump’ in evolution.
The traditional theory where evolution is driven by a constant churn of sexual selection would mean that all of the species in a family or genus would be forming into a new species at the same rate.
However, the study, which applied four different models of speciation to over 100 groups from both the plant and animal kingdom suggested that the eponymous hypothesis only fitted the histories of 8% of the thousands of different species studied.
In contrast, nearly 80% of the same trees fitted the ‘single rare evolutionary event’ model. These events could include a shift in climate or the sudden emergence of a new mountain range.
Aware that his research could prove controversial, lead researcher at Reading, Mark Pagel said "It really goes against the grain because most of us have this Darwinian view of speciation," "What we're saying is that to think about natural selection as the cause of speciation is perhaps wrong."
Despite the unorthodox methods of analysis, using a largely computerised approach to analyse data from phylogenetic trees, Pagel hopes other researchers will accept it as it “will start to unravel some mysteries about speciation," he says.
----------------------------------
A picture tells a million words.
Lost for words? That won’t matter anymore if you’re trying to get some answers from Google. The next step in their search engine’s evolution is to allow users to search with a picture instead of a word or phrase using their new ‘Goggles’ service.
The system can use images of things like landmarks and artworks or recognise the text from a business card to provide search results based on comparing the ‘signatures’ of objects within the image against their database of more than a billion images.
The software used by the system was developed by Evolution robotics in California and their President and CEO Paolo Pirjanian said;
"It makes it possible to do a lot more than you can describing something by words alone, it is an obvious next step for search."
Given the possibilities of this technology, Google are forward thinking in their approach by not including facial recognition in the service to mitigate against privacy fears.
Read more in New Scientist
----------------------------------
Nosey research.
A recent study into dog’s noses by researchers from Pennsylvania State University has given us a greater understanding into what makes them such superior sniffers.
Scientists have been aware for a long time that animals with an enhanced sense of smell have a nasal cavity with a specialised anatomical structure, but they weren’t fully aware of how air and odours flow once they are inside the nose.
To test the method of sniffing, the team created a special muzzle and applied it to seven dogs to monitor their technique. Despite differing weights and sizes of the samples being sniffed, the dogs all sniffed at approximately the same frequency- five times per second. Furthermore, the team created a computer model of the canine nose using magnetic resonance imaging, which allowed them to calculate the nostril’s aerodynamic reach.
Interestingly, the computer model showed each nostril actually took in a separate odour sample with each sniff, so it can tell which one is pulling in the scent. This helps them find the direction that the scent is coming from. Another interesting result of the study indicates that smells are actually retained in the nasal cavity instead of being exhaled like they are in humans.
The next possible steps on the back of this study are to assist in the development of artificial noses to help find trapped earthquake victims or target drug smugglers.
Read more in ScienceNOW
---------------------------------
What a cat-astrophe!
The age old battle between canine and feline has been settled in the Telegraph this week and the winner is…. Man’s best friend- the dog!
Using 11 categories selected by New Scientist, it was a closely fought competition, with dogs just pipping their counterparts to the post by winning 6 categories compared with the feline’s five.
It wasn’t all bad news for cats though, as they were credited with having more powerful brains, more acute senses, a smaller carbon footprint and their noises were regarded as less intrusive than that of a dog.
However, the dogs eventually won the judges over with their obedience, bonding, intelligence, ability to understand commands, problem solve and generally be more helpful!
They put these differences down to their evolutionary histories, with cats being more independent and dogs being pack animals.
Cats seem to have the last laugh though, as in spite of these results, they are still the most popular domestic pets in the worlds, with the top 10 cat owning countries having 204 million of the furry friends, while the top 10 dog owing countries only have 173 million barking buddies.
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