BLOG CENSORSHIP--local laws trump global mindset

 I feel lucky to have the freedom to say what i want when i want. But for many bloggers/online journalists, it's ironic that, in this seemingly boundry-less electronic environment, we ultimately cannot forget where our IP address says we are. Access to a computer doesn't change a country's tendency to support free speech.

Yesterday, in Vietnam, blogger Pham Minh Hoang, a lecturer at a local university and member of Viet Tan, an organization that "aims to bring about democratic changes in Vietnam through nonviolent means and civic engagement," was arrested for spouting his views electronically. If you think back to 2007, you'll remember Saudi Arabian authorities arrested prominent Saudi Arabian political blogger Fouad al-Farhan (who exposed some measure of government corruption), resulting in worldwide controversy. The censorship in al-Farhan's case is much more warranted than in Hoang's. But, it's a testament to the power of e-writing that censorship is being thrust upon these activists in countries that are not ready for their candidness.

Bloggers are also arrested in the United States. But, more than half the arrests since 2003 have happened in the countries China, Egypt, and Iran. Two dozen Iranian journalists and bloggers were arrested in under a week around the time of the Iranian elections back in June 2009. Most bloggers are accused of 'organizing a social protest.'

Tuesday ROUNDUP

Theme: blogs I'm following this week that I wasn't following last week.

• Vitamin D is more effective than vaccine? ERV tears down a recent claim
• How children learn language by phrase. Childs play blog at Scientopia responds to Ben Zimmer's article in the NYT
• The educational value of do-it-yourself. Webb of Science goes to Maker Faire
• Incentives for scientists to communicate Mike the Mad Biologist at Scienceblogs, and David Dobbs original article
• Breastfeading changes gene expression in gut. Melinda Wenner Moyer at Body Politic  
• The blind leading the blind: how ants run in lines. Carin Bondar, biologist with a twist
• 150ft-wide asteroid comes close to earth. Carolyn Collins Peterson tells us about the recent discovery at The Spacewriter's Ramblings
• Frank Oppenheimer, Alice Rose Bell's favourite scientist
• How still images create sensation of movement. Cognition and the Arts

HEAVY METALS SHIELD FLOWERS FROM DISEASE

Look out! This little white flower can protect itself...in a major way. Alpine pennycress, a dandelion-looking plant found growing in the dirt next to former mines can absorb metal and use it to shield itself from disease, says a recent study in PLoS Pathogens. Why are we always so surprised to witness a seemingly primitive plant or animal adapting to things in post-industrial human societies? It's their world, too.

Anyway, back to the story--Zinc, nickel, or cadmium, if sucked up in high enough quantity and stored in Alpine pennycress leaves, can prevent growth of the pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. 50 different strains of Pseudomonas syringae thrive in the plant world, and each infect a different plant, leaving characteristic brown spots where the bacteria digests the leaf. Alpine pennycress has the (so far unique) ability to tuck away metals right where Pseudomonas infiltrates the plant: in the spaces in-between its leaf cells where water and solutes are transported across the leaf (called the apoplast.) Exactly how the metal stamps out the bacteria is unknown.

For this study, scientist injected an increasing amount of metal into the leaf apoplast to test if the metal affected host-pathogen rendezvous. It very much did: the more metal, the less Pseudomonas. Scientists also created Pseudomonas syringae mutants resistant to zinc, nickel, or cadmium which thrived on Alpine pennycress in comparison to regular Pseudomonas syringae. Cool double check.

So, if you're a human you might ask--what the h can we use this for? 

A 2003 report mentions Alpine pennycress as a plant with bioremediation potential, along with about 400 other plants that remove heavy metals from soil. Can we use plants and microbes to clean up our messes? Yes. We can. Some scientist propose to use hydrocarbon-consuming microbes to clean up Deepwater Horizon in the gulf.  In the future, could we simply plant sweet little white flowers everywhere to remove contaminates from drinking water around former mining sites? Maybe. But, let us not forget that we are adapting other species, and that has all kinds of consequences, too (I'm not trying to get all environmentalist, here, I'm just saying--take the science all the way.)

Armored flowers. Very 2011.

Fones H, Davis CA, Rico A, Fang F, Smith JA, & Preston GM (2010). Metal hyperaccumulation armors plants against disease. PLoS pathogens, 6 (9) PMID: 20838462

ODE TO THE WATERMELON

Watermelon rocks. My policy is eat it any which way you can. Civil right activist Petey Greene is a serious watermelon purist. Watch his seriously funny video below. If it's too much for you, you can pause and restart after you finish laughing out your left lung. "Lord have mercy.."

And, if you're small enough, this might be a good strategy:

Tuesday ROUNDUP

• Interview with John McPhee at the Paris Review. The art of nonfiction.
• Lab Spaces tells us physicists can now control spin of single charges. One step toward quantum computers becoming reality.
• Stick figure science cartoon contest winners announced
• Matthew Nisbet at Big Think asks Is The Daily Show the best place for engaging wider audiences with science?
• Neuroscience of searching for your lost dog by Malia Wong at Cognition and the Arts blog. 
• Volcanic cyclones at Visual Science (Discover blogs)
• Some serious amateaur paleontology: the double-sickle-clawed dromaeosaur discovered in Romania by Matt Martyniuk at DinoGoss.
• Webcam of why songbirds sing at Futurity, perhaps a good tack-on to a post I wrote about virtual avian dating not long ago
• A fair book review of The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking by John Murawski at the Charlotte Observer
• The psychopathy of creativity post by Andrea Kuszewski at science 2.0, highly related to last week's post by Jonah Lehrer, Are distractable people more creative?
• Jonathan Eisman hands out his Overselling the microbiome and probiotics award at Tree of Life blog

OUCH! First ID of proteins involved in pressure-type pain

 Ouch! I just pinched my finger in the silverware drawer...again. The signal travels up my peripheral nerve fibers, contacts nociceptors, and proceed into my thalamus, insular cortex (which  distunguishes pain from things like itch and cold), and other places in my brain. Soon, I'm shouting PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! But, until now, scientists had nothing but guesses as to the molecular domino that starts the cascade of effects. What happens directly after a pinch?

One team of scientists may have a clue. The Patapoutian lab at Scripps, La Jolla have identified, down to the molecule, how pressure initiates pain response. Their first job was to find cells that have a clear and consistent "mechanically activated current" (the current that eventually shoots PAIN! signals into the brain.) Mouse neuroblastoma cells, a type of cancer cell, fit the bill. Next, they wanted to figure out which genes in the cells might be creating proteins respond to pressure like falling hard on your knee...or banging your shin against the dining room table...again. They took the most mechanically activated cells, and found (via microarray) which genes were being activated most.

Scientists confirmed gene Fam38A (by something called knockdown tests) to be one gene responsible. They named their new-found molecular pain channel Piezo1, Greek for pressure. They also went on to find another possible gene and molecular pain channel they named Piezo2. These may not be the only pressure-pain channels, but they seem to be the most prevalent ones. Piezo1 and 2 live in cells all over the body, and in other animal cells, too: 

Piezo1 expression was observed in bladder, colon, kidney, lung and skin.....Piezo2 expression was observed in bladder, colon and lung as well, but less abundant in kidney or skin....Piezo 1 and 2 are expressed in various tissues, and their homologs are present throughout animals, plants, and protozoa, raising the possibility that Piezo proteins have a broad role in mechanotransduction.

The last sentence mentions that Piezo1 and Piezo2 have homologs in other animals who experience pressure-related pain. It makes sense that evolution would conserve this essential response to our environment. If not for the sharp OUCH! how would we know to take our finger out of the drawer, lest we cut it off completely?

Apart from it's obvious usefulness, pain is probably the most common reason for a doctor's visit. All the more important that we find out how it works. From the press release: "We are very excited about this finding," said Scripps Research Professor Ardem Patapoutian. "Piezo1 and Piezo2 could have a critical function in many biological systems and diseases. Scientists studying a variety of fields - pain and touch, hearing, sensing blood pressure, and so forth - have been hunting for these types of proteins for a long time."



Coste B, Mathur J, Schmidt M, Earley TJ, Ranade S, Petrus MJ, Dubin AE, & Patapoutian A (2010). Piezo1 and Piezo2 Are Essential Components of Distinct Mechanically Activated Cation Channels. Science (New York, N.Y.) PMID: 20813920




Thanks JuniorProf for explaining... 

TO BE A FLIER

 

I plucked this vimeo from Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish. He calls it "mental health break." I call it "what it's like to be a flier." It's a plane taking off, but like a childhood dream, I imagine my own feet running down the length of the runway, speeding up fast enough to be able to lift off at the very end and take flight over all my neighbor's roofs. On second thought, it IS kinda therapeutic. When I was young, more than anything, i wanted to obtain some sort of wider perspective, and to get away from feeling trapped. Sometimes i imagined myself as a towering apatosaurus, chomping on neighborhood trees. But, flying was the ultimate solution.

Here's some personal flying machines:

Bell rocket belt

Carbone one

Millennium Jet Inc SoloTrek XFV

The International Bognor Birdman competition

Ritchel's flying machine

Tuesday ROUNDUP

Check it out:

• Neurodojo compares the language of science papers with the language of science blogs
• Bacteria lightbulbs by Lab Rat
• Ed Yong's new post: is complex life related in a tree or ring formation?
• The weak bite of the Stegosaurus over at Smithsonian's Dinosaur Tracking
• One week to decide about stem cells says Science Progress  
• Today is the last day for voting on the Kavil science video contest
• The gene for myopia (nearsightedness) discussed at Lab Spaces 
• Meet the new Wired science blogs team (some seriously profesh bloggers)
• Sean B. Carroll's NYT article about hybrid animals including a whale/dolphin a grizzly/polar bear and others
• Why do astronauts fingernails fall off at Discoblog

MAX-C: what's the right way to do sample return?

Not long ago, I interviewed JPL scientist Abigail Allwood over the phone about a new Mars rover called MAX-C which, if given the go-ahead next year, would travel to Mars on an Atlas 5 rocket alongside the European ExoMars rover in 2018. The project is officially still a "concept" until it gets the green light for funding, but before I did the interview, *someone* told me "the idea is well-liked in Washington."(Who knows if that really means anything.) Regardless of other realities, MAX-C has the potential to capture the imagination of even the most oblivious lay person; It could do something other rovers have only dreamed of--drumroll please--bring stuff back from Mars.

The proposed rover, Dr. Allwood explained in a thick Australian accent, would look very much like the Mars Science Lab rover Curiosity (to be launched next year) except for two major things: (1) much more precise tools looking for physical and chemical signs of life (2)  a big bucket (or "cacher") to carry dirt back. Precise tools (1) make sense because, if there's life on Mars, it's probably ancient and microbial which means it might look something like modern stromatolite on earth, says Allwood, and we would want to look at a smaller scale, like with do in Strelley pool, Australia, where she works.  The MAX-C instruments would allow scientists to create a high resolution map of the chemical composition of the surface rather than just scooping up and averaging what's there.

As for the cacher/bucket-o-dirt (2), here's where it gets wild and crazy. The cache will actually be left on the surface of Mars to be picked up and brought back to earth in a subsequent visit to Mars by a different craft and it's accompanying Mars Ascent Vehicle. So, this is how it would work: first the Atlas 5 rocket would drop off MAX-C and ExoMars rovers at an interesting spot, perhaps a location that Curiosity found fascinating or perhaps where astronomers' orbital data say is worth looking at, in 2018. A few years later, another rocket would drop off the Mars Ascent Vehicle to land, grab the sample, and take off from the surface of Mars to fly back to earth. I think NASA is also considering the option of landing them both in 2018, at the same time.

But, the fact remains--no one has ever brought back a uncontaminated sample from Mars. Samples of moon rock were sling-shot back to earth in fully automatic missions by the Soviet Union in the 70's, (see Luna  missions) and scientists have been dreaming of a fully automatic Martian sample return since then. If realized, astrobiologists all around the world could mount efforts to study the Martian soil on earth with the kind of rigorous and heft tools that can't be fastened to a rover the size of your dog.

The MAX-C mission would make that possible. But, I'm left wondering--is this the best way?

First of all, there are a lot of moving parts here. If one breaks, the whole mission is lost. This fallability risk is supposedly what scared planners from pushing through a Mars sample return mission in the late 90s.

Second, is it a smart use of money to build a rover whose only job is to come pick up a packaged sample when it could be exploring the other side of Mars, to survey terrain elsewhere? And more importantly--if we send the first rover in 2018, what guarantee do we have that a future NASA project manager will deem the second rover/retriever worthy of its cost when the time comes? Sending both rovers down at the same time would solve the problem of relying on future project managers. But, i think it might make the MAX-C/ExoMars package too heavy. So, that's a no go.

Third, how exactly do you keep a sample uncontaminated for years while it's waiting for pickup? If you seal the sample, then it's contents will be under different conditions than where it came from for long enough for its composition to change, no?

I need to pick up the phone and ask Ms. Allwood these questions that won't leave me alone. But in the mean time....I want to welcome any comments that shed light on these points. From one curious homo sapien to another. The MAX-C team is due for another meeting in September, and I'm thinking about writing about it.

COMMENTS PEOPLE!

Lisa Pratt, David Beaty, Abigail Allwood (2010). The Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher (MAX-C): A Potential Rover Mission for 2018 Astrobiology, 10 (2), 127-163 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2010.0462

U-Ventures: The choose-your-own-adventure iphone app

I usually don't give a flip about new iphone apps. But oh-my-gosh....when the "Choose your own adventure" book series creator Edward Packer decided to make one...I'm listening... It's $3.99 and could it have a more exciting title? "Return to the Cave of Time." I bought it. My step-son will love it. I will love it secretly, too.

Melissa Ford asked Packard (in a new blog post at Blogher)--how is it different from the book?:

Packard: ...I'll give a specific example: In the first U-Ventures app, Return to the Cave of Time, if you've made a choice to try to swim to shore from a ship on which you've been imprisoned, the text describes how you are tiring, making little progress. You may not make it. The next screen page is a color picture of the surface of the sea -- your view of the water you're swimming through. Normally, the page after that would be a continuation of the text. But in the app, when you swipe the screen (the equivalent of turning to the next page), the same picture of the surface of the sea comes up (with slight variations in the waves); the next page is yet another variation of the picture. This goes on for a while before the text resumes, the idea being that the feeling of frustration of not getting past the wavetop-eye-view pictures of the sea, reinforces and enhances meaning of the text.

NPR also interviewed Packer:

The first U-Venture is a sort of a sequel to a classic title, The Cave of Time. In "Return to the Cave of Time," the U-Venture, "you go back in the cave — you don't have a choice on that," Packard tells NPR's Neal Conan. But from that point on, the reader chooses her own course. But beware — "you can't always be sure of everything coming out all right, even if you make the right choice," warns Packard. "The idea in writing one of these is to try to mirror a daring adventure," one that would be too dangerous to undertake in real life. Ultimately, the goal is escape, says Packard. Lost in worlds too treacherous for your typical day, "you can really let yourself go."

Good stuff.

Tuesday ROUNDUP

Check it out:

• Bora is hosting a plant-themed blog carnival  this month. Deadline for submish is Sept. 28th at 6PM.
• Natalie Angier's such a great storyteller. See her new article entitled "Nature's game of charades" at the NYT.
• Chris Mooney asks "What happened to BPs $500 million pledge for oil spill research"
• Ancient Digger blog features a Lost civilization of Etrurieducational-style video
• Vintage Dinosaur Art at Love in the time of chasmosaurs blog
• Jason Goldman writes about a what foxes might tell us about the domestication of dogs at SciAm
• David Sloan Wilson wonders about Richard Dawkis, "Why are you still in denial about group selection?"
• Ed Yong looks at how the drawing of evolutionary trees has changed over the last 200 years
• The birthday of Comte de Buffon at Strange behaviors blog.
• "Did we find life on mars and kill it?" at Complete Idiot's blog for college biology
• A new study about the real nutritional quality of organic foods at NeuroLogica blog
• And...the "most significant breach" ever in computer security at American Scientist.

THE SCIENCE BLOGGING SQUARE DANCE

This month has seen as many shifts in the blog community as I could imagine--new networks, old ones minus the familiar faces we've come to know, and it seems like everyone is just on the edge of finding a (fingers crossed) better place to settle down into a blogging future. It's getting harder and harder to remember who used to be where and where they are now...

PloSone has a new blogging community, including:

Deborah Blum, journalism professor and president elect of NASW

Steve Silberman, longtime Wired science writer

Emily Anthes, talented science writer whose book i just read, and liked

.....and other former Scienceblogs alumni, scientists, and enthusiasts.

The Guardian Science section has a new blogging community, including:

Martin Robbins of the Lay Scientist

Grrl Scientist from Scienceblogs (and her new 'blarg' )

Jon Butterworth writing about physics

And Evan Harris writing about politics

ScienceBlogging (a totally new thing put together by Bora, former Scienceblogs alumni working at PLoS and Dave Munger, former Scienceblogs alumni who started Researchblogging) offers a bird's eye view of the daily activities of the biggest science blogging niches and networks. Look to this homepage as a survey of what science bloggers are talking about today.

Scientopia is a new purportedly democratic, self managed blogging community made up of about half former Scienceblogs alumni, almost as a response to the events of earlier this month....

....which counts as the first of this wave of change--the Scienceblogs debocle, sent droves of bloggers rushing off elsewhere, while the one blogger responsible for 30% of their traffic negotiated a stay.

I've been following all the moving and shaking for the last few months, and I can tell you, I'm exhausted with trying to keep up, but EXCITED to see what's in store for all these new experiments. I'm also left wondering why this all happened at once? Were the plans for these new networks already set and just happened to coincide with the Scienceblogs mass exodus? Or did the scienceblogs exodus provide the perfect time for everyone to do something they've always wanted to do?