Two New Posts at AAAS Member Central

Two of my latest blog pieces have been published at AAAS Member Central.

Researchers from Emory University are, for the first time, looking inside the brains of domesticated dogs using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Read more!

A new study settles a century-long debate among scientists regarding the age of human and mammal remains found at Vero Beach, Florida, in the early 1900s. Bruce MacFadden and colleagues determined all the bones are from the same time period, providing evidence that modern humans coexisted with extinct ice-age beasts 13,000 years ago in the Western Hemisphere. Read more!

 

 

New on AAAS: Orangutan Engineers

Orangutans create sturdy and elaborate nests in treetops each night to sleep safely and comfortably. Scientists at the University of Manchester spent a year studying the physical properties of these nests and found the great apes are skillful and knowledgeable engineers. Read my blog post here.

New on AAAS – New Home for Ancient Reptiles

Henry, a Tuatara in captivity at Invercargill, New Zealand, fathered young at 111 years old. (Photo: KeresH)

Check out my latest blog post at AAAS Member Central. Tuataras existed alongside dinosaurs, but today they  face threats from habitat loss and the black market trade in reptiles. Sixty of these unusual reptiles were released in New Zealand to establish a new breeding population. Read about this conservation effort, and some of the peculiarities of tuataras here.

 

My Latest Science Note – Ants’ Social Immunity

 

Healthy worker ants remove the infectious fungal pathogen from an exposed ant (marked with a red dot) by grooming. (Photo: Matthias Konrad, IST Austria)

Listen to my latest Note on Emerging Science on last week’s Living on Earth.  Scientists have discovered that ant colonies function like a giant immune system. When one ant gets sick, others take action to immunize the rest of the colony.

Ask an Engineer

Do you have a question for an engineer? The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has the website for you. Browse previous questions or submit your own here. I recently wrote my first answer for ‘Ask an Engineer,’ with the help of post-doc Antoine Allanore in MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Check out “How Does a Battery Work?‘

 

New on AAAS: Tracking Endangered Whales? There’s an App for That

See how an iPhone app is helping ships avoid collisions with rare Atlantic right whales. My latest blog post at AAAS Member Central.

New on Animal Minds: Cancer-Sniffing Canines

Go to my Animal Minds blog at Psychology Today to read my latest post. Could your dog know you’re sick before your doctor? People use dogs’ keen sense of smell to hunt, find hidden explosives, and follow the trail of missing persons. Can they also smell disease in our bodies? Find out in Dr. Dog: Medicine’s Best Friend.