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Komodo Virgin Birth

Baby parthenogen hatching - Photo by Ian Stephen, London Zoo

Apparently it's not just miracles that are responsible for virgin births. In the case of Komodo Dragons, the giant carnivorous lizards of Indonesia, virgin births can happen when males are too scarce to make the normal path to reproduction possible. This was discovered recently when two zoos in the UK found their female dragons had laid clutches of viable eggs, but no father was to be found. Richard Gibson, the curator of herpetology at the Zoological Society of London says that genetic testing confirmed that the baby dragons were parthenogens - offspring of the mother only. Somehow the animals have the ability to effectively "fertilize" their own eggs. Interestingly because of the genetics of these lizards, all of the offspring were male.

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Nature 21 December 2006
London Zoo

Tonguefish at the Vents

Look carefully and you'll see the tongue fish - Courtesy, NOAA

One of the most extreme environments on the planet Earth has to be a deep sea vent. These are underwater volcanoes at the bottom of the ocean that spew out molten lava, boiling water and, in some cases, liquid sulphur. And yet that's exactly where Dr. John Dower, from the University of Victoria, and his colleagues found a new species of tonguefish. Tonguefish are a type of flat fish, similar in appearance to halibut or flounder, although smaller. These particular tonguefish seem to specialize in living right at the openings of the underwater volcanoes in places most fish would, and do, die. It's a species humans have never identified before, and Dr. Dower is hoping to return to the Mariana Arc, where he found these fish, and learn more about their extreme lifestyle later next year.

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Related Links

Dr. Dower's homepage
The Submarine Ring of Fire Web site
The Mariana Arc

When Cats get Dementia

Dementia in cats is similar to that in humans - Courtesy, University of Edinburgh

One of the less desirable aspects of aging is the potential for dementia. The risk of various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's Disease, increase as we get older. While Alzheimer's Disease is well documented in humans, less is known about dementia in other species. In the wild, most animals don't live long enough to potentially develop dementia. But our pets are another story. Dr. Danielle Gunn-Moore, from the University of Edinburgh School of Veterinary Medicine, has recently discovered that cats not only suffer from dementia, but the pathology of the brain is almost identical to Alzheimer's Disease in humans.

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Related Links

Dr. Gunn-Moore's homepage
News Release from the University of Edinburgh
The Alzheimer's Society of Canada Web site

Squirrels vs. Trees

Courtesy, Barb Thomas

Every fall, a battle rages between the trees in Canada's northern forests and the red squirrel. The trees want to produce enough seeds to be able to ensure new seedlings grow, while the squirrels want to steal as many seeds as possible. In an attempt to beat the squirrels, the trees have adopted a sneaky strategy. Some years, all the trees in a forest will produce very few seeds and many of the squirrels will starve. In other years, the trees produce lots of seed, but if there aren't many squirrels around, most of that seed will end up in the ground, potentially growing into seedlings. By randomly varying the amount of seed, theory suggests the squirrels will never catch up, and the trees will flourish. But the squirrels have fought back. Dr. Stan Boutin, from the University of Alberta, has been monitoring squirrels in Canada's north, and found that they are capable of predicting the years when trees will produce bumper seed crops. The squirrels respond by producing extra young the season before the seeds appear, meaning they can take advantage of the extra food. Dr. Boutin doesn't know how the squirrels are doing this, but is now working hard to figure it out.

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Related Links

Dr. Boutin's homepage
Dr. Boutin's paper in Science Magazine
News Release from the University of Alberta
Information on the Red Squirrel

The Science of Santa Claus

Santa Flying over New Zealand - Courtesy, NORAD

Delivering all those presents to millions of children in just one night is an incredible task. And yet, each year Santa manages to do it. There are naysayers who point out the challenges the jolly old elf faces in making his rounds, and suggest it's impossible. But Dr. Larry Silverberg, an engineering professor at North Carolina State University, has all the aspects of Santa's journey figured out. In order to make it all the way around the world in the blink of an eye, Santa invokes Einstein's theory of relativity to bend space and time. Then Santa uses nanotechnology to build the presents right under each home's tree. All with the assistance of a team of elves and a large herd of reindeer!

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Related Links

The original legend, suggesting Santa can't deliver all the presents
Dr. Silverberg's Theory in more detail
An Alternative Theory

Question of the Week: Static Clothes in the Dryer

This week's question comes to us from Patrick Sullivan in Uxbridge, Ontario, who asks: Why can't they make a dryer that grounds the machine, to let off all the static electricity that is created inside? I mean, it's already plugged in and has a ground, so why doesn't it ground the static out of the clothes?

For the answer, we go to Dr. Sylvie Morin, a professor of chemistry and Canada Research Chair at York University.

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