Hypoallergenic Cats

The world's first specially-bred hypoallergenic cats have gone on sale for almost $4,000 each. A biotech company was able to naturally selectively breed them by reducing a certain type of protein that triggers allergic reactions.

The company tested huge numbers of cats trying to find the tiny fraction which do not carry the glycoprotein Fel d1 - contained in their saliva, fur and skin - which produces allergies. Those cats were then used to breed the hypoallergenic cats.

According to the company, this is a "natural gene divergence within the cat DNA - one out of 50,000 cats will have this natural divergence ... so candidates of natural divergent cats were found and then bred, so there is really no modification of the gene."

Seeds 200 years old breathe again!

The BBC reports that some seeds which have been stored away since the time of King George III have been brought to life. Scientists from the Millennium Seed Bank, operated by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (near London), have induced seeds from three species to germinate. They had been brought to Britain from South Africa by a Dutch merchant in 1803, and were found in a notebook stored in the British National Archives.

The three successes are a legume, Liparia villosa, and two species not yet identified, one a protea and the other an acacia (pictured on the right).

When the plants are older, the scientists plan to compare the old plants with modern-day equivalents to determine how the species have changed and adapted over the last two centuries.

These are not the oldest seeds ever germinated. Four years ago scientists in the US germinated lotus seeds which had been carbon-dated as 500 years old; more recently, an Israeli team claimed to have grown a date palm from a 2,000 year old seed.

Cleanup of the Osborne "Rubber Reef"

In the 1970's, about 2 million tires covering 36 acres were dumped into the ocean off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The site, known as "Osborne Reef," was intended to serve as a massive artificial reef that would promote marine life (listen to the NPR story here).

Unfortunately, the tires did not successfully create an artificial reef. Metal clips that held the tires together corroded, and the tires spilled across the ocean floor. Unlike sunken barges also used to build artificial reefs, the tires moved with the tide, and marine life never formed. Over the years, many of the tires have washed ashore following tropical storms and hurricanes. In addition, the movement of tires during storms has caused damage to the existing reefs.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Broward County Environmental Protection Department, and the U.S. Navy now have a pilot project in place to determine if the pile of tires can be collected and disposed of properly. It is estimated that it would take about 3 years to clean up all the tires.

How Cool are Sloths?

From Sloths.org.

New Critters from Bird's Head Seascape

A team of scientists from Conservation International has discovered dozens of new undersea species (reports: 1, 2, 3) off the coast of Indonesia's Papua province in an area known as Bird's Head Seascape. The scientists believe the region may be the most biologically diverse in all of the oceans.

The team has claimed to have discovered 52 new species, including 24 new species of fish, 20 new species of coral and eight new species of shrimp. One of the highlights is the epaulette shark (pictured below) that walks on its fins, a praying mantis-like shrimp, and many reef-building corals.



The Bird's Head region is hugely rich in diversity of fish and coral; it contains more hard coral species than Australia's Great Barrier Reef which covers an area 10 times larger. In the below picture, fish are swimming around the reef:



Some of the other land animals the scientists came into contact with on the expedition were unafraid of humans. Long-beaked echidnas (pictured below), primitive egg-laying mammals, were happy to be picked up:



One of the highlights was the scientists' discovery of a new species of birds, including the smoky honeyeater -- the first new bird species to be sighted on the island of New Guinea in more than 60 years. The honeyeater is the black and yellow bird pictured below. Click to enlarge and check out its whiskers!





The Foja Mountains appear to be one of the richest sites for frogs in the Asia-Pacific region. More than 20 new species of frogs were found:

Rare bird species: Bugun Liocichla

The BBC reports on a new species of bird that has been discovered in the north-east of India, according to an ornithological journal. The rare species has been named Bugun Liocichla, and only 14 of these birds are known to exist.

Blue-Ringed Octopus

The Blue Ringed Octopus starts life the size of a pea and is fully grown at about the size of a golf ball. However, it carries enough poison to kill 26 adults within minutes! The blue rings are only visible when it is about to attack. The blue-ringed octopus is currently the most toxic known sea creature in the world.

Hummingbird Hawk-moth

The Hummingbird Hawk-moth is a type of moth that is capable of hovering in place, while making an audible humming noise. These features make it look very much like a hummingbird when it feeds on flowers.

Check out the embedded video below, as well as the additional pictures below:

Just how smart are dolphins?

The intelligence of our dolphin friends continues to amaze us humans. From a neat article in the Guardian comes the below story:

At the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi, all of the dolphins are trained to hold onto any trash that falls into their pools until they see a trainer, when they can trade the trash for fish. In this way, the dolphins help to keep their pools clean.

A dolphin named “Kelly” has taken this one step further. When people drop paper into the water she hides it under a rock at the bottom of the pool. The next time a trainer passes, she goes down to the rock and tears off a piece of paper to give to the trainer. After a fish reward, she goes back down, tears off another piece of paper, gets another fish, and so on. This behavior shows that Kelly has a sense of the future and delays gratification. She has realized that a big piece of paper gets the same reward as a small piece and so delivers only small pieces to keep the extra food coming. She has trained the humans!

That’s not all Kelly has learned – one day she grabbed a sea gull that flew into her pool and waited to give it to the trainers, who in turn gave her lots of fish. This gave her an idea -- the next time she was fed, instead of eating the last fish, she took it to the bottom of the pool and hid it under the rock where she had been hiding the paper. When no trainers were present, she brought the fish to the surface and used it to lure the seagulls, which she would catch to get even more fish. She then taught her calf this stategy, who in turn taught other calves, and now baiting seagulls has become a pastime among the dolphins.

Amazing!

Tall, Tall, Trees

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the 370-foot "Stratosphere Giant" in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park is the reigning world's tallest tree. However, this summer researchers in California have found not one, but three Redwood trees that exceed the current record holder! The tallest of the three new finds has been named "Hyperion" and measures 378.1 feet. Once confirmed, it is expected to take the top stop in the Guinness book.

Some other interesting Tree Records:

Tallest recorded tree (non-living): Unnamed eucalyptus, 500-plus feet, recorded in 1872 in Australia

Most massive living tree: General Sherman (giant sequoia), estimated weight 4 million pounds, Sequoia National Park

Largest tree canopy: A great banyan in Calcutta's Indian Botanical Garden covers three acres.

Oldest living tree: Methuselah (Bristlecone pine), estimated 4,650 years old, California's White Mountains

Mice don't like cheese!

Researchers have found that contrary to popular belief, mice don’t actually like cheese. The scientists instead note that mice prefer foods with high sugar content like grains and fruit and would not eat something as strong in smell and rich in taste as cheese. Cheese is not something that would be available in their natural environment.

Ultra-Energy-Efficient House

BusinessWeek has an article on an ultra-energy-efficient house in Santa Monica, CA which is the first home in the country to be given "platinum" status in the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED rating system (for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

Some of the neat, energy-saving features of this environmentally-friendly house include:

- Living Roof: A garden of deer grass and other native plants will help insulate the house, keeping it cooler in the summer and retaining heat in the winter.

- Hot Water: A panel of glass tubes is positioned on the roof. Water pumped through the tubes is heated by the sun and stored in an insulated tank for use in showers and sinks. Hot water is also circulated through a series of plastic tubes embedded in the house's floors. This radiant heating system is more energy-efficient than forced air and doesn't spread pollen, dust, or germs.

- Recycled Water: Rainwater collected from the roof and yard is stored in a cistern buried under the house. So-called "gray water" from the sinks and showers is run through an underground filtration system consisting of asphalt, rock, and soil. Both sources are used to water the rooftop garden and grounds.

Be sure to check out the accompanying graphic and slideshow!

Animation of Life Inside a Cell

Harvard University has decided to use animations as a tool to enhance the performance of its students in biology. A company called XVIVO has produced the animations for the university. One entitled "The Inner Life of the Cell" has already won awards. The animation takes students on a three-dimensional journey through the microscopic world of a cell. Below is a 3 minute sample of the movie:



Thanks to Slashdot for the link.

Update:
Here is a link to a Wired News article that includes further information on the video, including an interview with its creator.