Though most of the dogs I’ve owned in my life have come from shelters, chance encounters, and friends begging to be relived up unexpected puppies, we did one purchase a Golden Retriever from a very nice kennel. What encouraged me to do so was being invited out one day to watch a retriever trial.
If you’ve never seen one of these events … go. It’s fantastic. At the event I attended, all types of dogs participated. There were, as you would expect, a lot of Goldens and Labs, but also a lot of less-than-purebred dogs at all levels down to shrug-who-knows-what that simply liked to grab things and bring them back. There was one three-legged mixed breed that was right up there with some of the best.
But out there on the field that day was a dog named “Cotton.” Cotton, named because his fur was closer to white than gold, participated in an event where a number of canvas decoys were hidden in high grass and behind obstacles in a field. While they were being hidden—I kid you not—the dogs were blindfolded or turned away so they couldn’t look. Then, at the sound of a starting whistle, the dogs were off. With instructions from their owner, they scoured the field, found the decoys, and returned them. When it was his turn, Cotton flew across the field like off-white lightning. He would occasionally glance back at his owner who, with a few gestures, steered the dog to every decoy in much less time that it takes to explain. Cotton was back with a stack of decoys in a time that was jaw-dropping. And a couple of months later, I bought one of his kids.
Our dog, Tigger, was the bouncy, lovable, sweet-tempered ideal of a Golden Retriever. She saw our son through grade school, high school, and college before getting stopped by a second bout of cancer at the age of 17, She was also, and I say this with a kind of mystified pride, the Worst Retriever Ever. She was quite possibly the only Golden Retriever ever minted who, when you threw a ball, would look back at you with an expression that clearly said “Hey, you lost your ball.” And display not the least bit of interest in doing a damn thing about it.
So … just how good are breeders at producing marvels among sporting dogs? A study from the National Health Institutes looked into the connection between genetics and sporting dog athleticism.
We found that hundreds of years of selection by humans have produced sport-hunting breeds of superior speed and athleticism through strong selection on multiple genes relating to cardiovascular, muscle, and neuronal functions. We further substantiated these findings by showing that genes under selection significantly enhanced athleticism, as measured by racing speed and obstacle course success, using standardized measures from dogs competing in national competitions.
When Darwin set out to explain natural selection, he had a ready example: Human selection. His go-to proof that characteristics could be preserved and enhanced through generations of breeding was right there on every farm lot in Britain with plenty of chicken, sheep, and pigs to prove his point. Not surprisingly, the wide variety of dogs was also a handy reference when showing how different demands could affect development. The NIH researchers have this science down to … a science. They’ve identified some single genes where variants make a tremendous difference in performance. What makes a Whippet so … whippy? One allele on TRPM3.
Now, I’m ready to present them a real puzzle. Our current dog, Pi (who we adopted on March 14 … get it?), is lightening fast, strong as an ox … and really, really odd. Call me up, researchers.
Climate Change
As the world gets warmer, much of Siberia gets colder winters.
One of those reasons hat the term climate change is generally preferred to the entirely accurate but less-used global warming, is that a warming globe doesn’t necessarily mean more heat for every point on that globe. Case in point, a multiple university team that looked into how Siberia will fare as ice decreases in polar seas.
We present a robust “cold Siberia” pattern in the winter following sea ice loss over the Barents-Kara seas in late autumn in an advanced atmospheric general circulation model, with a well-resolved stratosphere. Additional targeted experiments reveal that the stratospheric response to sea ice forcing is crucial in the development of cold conditions over Siberia, indicating the dominant role of the stratospheric pathway compared with the direct response within the troposphere. In particular, the downward influence of the stratospheric circulation anomaly significantly intensifies the ridge near the Ural Mountains and the trough over East Asia. The persistently intensified ridge and trough favor more frequent cold air outbreaks and colder winters over Siberia.
So, if you’re in Siberia and thinking that this global warming thing just can’t happen fast enough … sorry.
Improving climate models.
A bi-coastal team of US researchers has, like everyone else, been frustrated that fact that while broad predictions about climate change have held true, models providing more detailed forecases from the effects of climate change don’t seem to be improving very rapidly. Their suggestion is that the models haven’t made necessary refinements in a single factor — how CO2 drives results.
This lack of progress over the past 25 years is disconcerting. The spread in model calculations of CO2 forcing does not represent an uncertainty in radiative transfer theory, but rather the failure to implement that theory consistently in radiative transfer parameterizations. This introduces unnecessary noise into the model experiments that is difficult to remove. Although the users of these models are largely unaware of this ongoing problem, the unsatisfactory implementation of CO2 forcing propagates needlessly onto efforts to reduce uncertainty in projections of future climate change.
Though many newer models have stacked one factor on top of another, the noise generated from poor understanding of CO2 forcing can drown out other effects. Trying to make better models may consist of first getting the CO2 then worrying about everything else.
Rivers and sea level
Woods Hole researchers demonstrate a correlation between river discharge and local sea level. Which suggests that predictions of the affects of sea level rise on coast areas needs to take better account of rainfall events and general discharge from area rivers.
We explore the relation between observed river discharge and sea level on the United States Atlantic and Gulf coasts over interannual and longer periods. We formulate a theory that predicts the observed correspondence between river discharge and sea level, demonstrating a causal relation between the two variables. Our results highlight a significant but overlooked driver of coastal sea level, indicating the need for (1) improved resolution in remote sensing and modeling of the coastal zone and (2) inclusion of realistic river runoff variability in climate models.
A double-pulse and fast change at the start of the last Ice Age.
An international team took a look at climatic conditions around 31,000 years at the start of the last “Glacial Maximum” or Ice Age. What they found was that things changed … then changed again, with surprising speed.
Relative to the Holocene epoch, atmospheric carbon dioxide was about 100 parts per million lower and tropical sea surface temperatures were about 3 to 5 degrees Celsius lower. The Last Glacial Maximum began when global mean sea level (GMSL) abruptly dropped by about 40 metres around 31,000 years ago … Here we show that sea level at the shelf edge of the Great Barrier Reef dropped by around 20 metres between 21,900 and 20,500 years ago, to −118 metres relative to the modern level.
Changes that take place over a millennium may not seem that scary when compared to the usual “within this century” predictions of climate change that we are used to dealing with. But not the scale of these changes — a sea level drop of 400’ at the maximum. Even divided up into tenths, it would be an enormous change.
Medicine and Health
Lymphatic system around the brain directly implicated in Alzheimer’s Disease.
Though the meningeal lymphatic system—the lymphatic system of the membranes surrounding the central nervous system—was identified over two hundred years ago, it was pretty much ignored, or even denied, until a very few years ago when researchers first recognized the role of this system in regulating fluids within the brain. Now some of the same researchers who first brought this system back into the scientific limelight, are back with a new study showing a direct connection with the function of this system and the accumulation of plaques associated with Alzheimer’s and similar diseases.
Here we show that meningeal lymphatic vessels drain macromolecules from the CNS (cerebrospinal and interstitial fluids) into the cervical lymph nodes in mice. Impairment of meningeal lymphatic function slows paravascular influx of macromolecules into the brain and efflux of macromolecules from the interstitial fluid, and induces cognitive impairment in mice.
The big news here is that this poorly understood system may be key to a clear understanding of Alzheimer’s. And the potentially even bigger news is that …
Treatment of aged mice with vascular endothelial growth factor C enhances meningeal lymphatic drainage of macromolecules from the cerebrospinal fluid, improving brain perfusion and learning and memory performance.
In the research, mice were given relief of Alzheimer’s like symptoms by improving the function of the lymphatic system and reducing plaques. While this treatment clearly won’t revert severe cases where voids have formed in the brain, this new understanding could lead to whole new approaches to both prevention and treatment.
Physics
The word “optics” would seem to require that photons be involved. But when the word “quantum” is added to anything, the results are often counter-intuitive. Researchers from Stony Brook University have used atoms trapped in a special lattice to mimic the behavior of photons employed in quantum optics and the results are … yeah, counter-intuitive.
Here we demonstrate similar behaviour in a system of artificial emitters, realized using ultracold atoms in an optical lattice, which decay by emitting matter-wave, rather than optical, radiation into free space. By controlling vacuum coupling and the excitation energy, we directly observe exponential and partly reversible non-Markovian dynamics and detect a tunable bound state that contains evanescent matter waves.
If you’re still stumbling over the idea of a “matter wave,” it’s actually a key component of quantum theory. All atoms can display both wave-like and particle-like behavior. So in a sense there’s nothing super-special here when it comes to quantum mechanics. It’s just a long way from everyday experience — and it could be key to understanding several possible scenarios for spontaneous emission of electrons. Odds are that this experiment, strange as it seems terminology wise, and basic as it seems when compared to the origins of quantum mechanics, is pointing toward some new and useful electronic behaviors and potential components.
Sociology
A team led by researchers from MIT looked at how “skills” are connected to workplace conditions, job mobility, and other factors. What they found was that the types of skills demanded now are contributing to “hollowing out” the Middle Class and helping to drive a split down the center of worker’s experiences. And that split isn’t really based on experience or ability, but on extremely different treatment for two different classes of acquired skill: cognitive skills and physical skills.
And these different values result in a lack of mobility among some workers that keep them locked in lower-paying jobs, in lower-conditions, with fewer options. Workers who start off in jobs demanding physical skills, are under pressures to stay there. And since those jobs have a much lower “ceiling” than jobs requiring cognitive skills, it contributes to a split in the work force, even if both groups start off at similar levels.
We provide three types of evidence: (i) Workers tend to transition between occupations relying on the same skill set; (ii) workers are unable to switch away from occupations relying equally on cognitive and physical labor; and (iii) this constraining effect is reflected in the national employment statistics.
A lack of mobility in the workforce is a strong contributor to the destruction of the middle class.
Geology / Paleontology
Life got a very early start on planet Earth, with the earliest fossil evidence showing up shortly after it was possible to have a planet with liquid water on the surface. But it wasn’t until the last billion years that life seemed to get beyond a very simple form. Researchers from Australian National University looked at compounds from rocks dating back to 1.1 billion years, and found that even something as complex as green algae was a rare component of life at that time.
But in a world where bacteria ruled, things might at least have been a little more colorful than you might expect.
Based on fossil carotenoids, anoxygenic green (Chlorobiacea) and purple sulfur bacteria (Chromatiaceae) also contributed to photosynthate. The low εpor values, in combination with a lack of diagnostic eukaryotic steranes in the time interval of 1,600–1,000 million years ago, demonstrate that algae played an insignificant role in mid-Proterozoic oceans. The paucity of algae and the small cell size of bacterial phytoplankton may have curtailed the flow of energy to higher trophic levels, potentially contributing to a diminished evolutionary pace toward complex eukaryotic ecosystems and large and active organisms.
Green bacterial slime, purple bacterial slime, and some spots of algae. Not exactly going to be at the top of every time traveler’s must visit list.
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Note
I dropped a whole piece about giant, exploding plasmonic bubbles. Because I found that after reading it, and writing on it for over half a hour, I still wasn’t able to relay significant information, despite the cool subject, Someone with a decent physics background, please give it a shot.