The world’s bravest (or stupidest) cat

February 4, 2013 • 6:55 am

Alert reader Randy sent me an email titled “A well-balanced cat,” with instructions on how to see the moggie.

Follow these instructions, and when you get to the Golden Gate Bridge, look very carefully. The object is to find the cat. Randy’s email:

To  see, perhaps, the WORLD’S BRAVEST CAT, and among the  world’s most spectacular 360-degree   panoramic  vistas,

in HD, and set to music ….

Go to:   “AIRPANO.COM”

Click  on:   “ALL PANORAMAS”  on top edge  f  screen.

Scroll Down To:   “SAN FRANCISCO, USA” near bottom of page.

Click on:    “FULL SCREEN”

Image  will “Auto Rotate,” or  drag the  cursor across  the  image
to  rotate  for  a  full  360-degree  view  including  straight  up  or
down.

When you find the cat, zoom in on it by clicking on the plus sign ( + ) in the lower left-hand corner of the image.

And remember, the drop to San Francisco Bay is 220 feet.

The other panoramas on the page are stunning. Spend some time there if you want some visual entertainment.

In three minutes: two stupendous video histories of life on Earth #wonders

February 3, 2013 • 1:36 pm

by Matthew Cobb

Two brief videos that sum up, in very different ways, our story.  The first – just 2 minutes long – was made by a high school student call Joe Bush and was first posted on YouTube back in May. It has been seen by over 6 million times, but I only just noticed in on UK journalist John Snow’s Twitter feed. See what you think:

The second video is even older, and is one I show to my students every year. Joe’s video is not to scale – understandably, there’s a massive amount of time devoted to the last 100 years. This video, by Claire Evans, shows the evolution of life on Earth in 60 seconds, but told proportionately. Much of that minute, as you will see, is thus devoted to unicellular organisms just sitting there and doing there thing. The real action begins in the last 9five seconds, after the Cambrian Explosion (sorry for the spoiler). And of course, at this time-scale, human history just isn’t visible.

PS. I’m sure I’ve posted this before on WEIT, but can’t find it on the site. And it should be ‘last banded iron (not ion) formations’. A corrected version was posted by Claire, but I can’t find it anywhere.

PPP. The reason for the hashtag in the title is because in the UK, tonight is the second episode of Wonders of Life with Brian Cox on BBC2, and I thought we might pick up some extra readers!

 

Darwin Day resolution introduced in U.S. House

February 3, 2013 • 7:41 am

by Greg Mayer

The New York Times reports that Rep. Rush Holt (D-New Jersey) has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives to support the designation of February 12, 2013 as Darwin Day. Holt, a former research physicist and Jeopardy champion, represents Princeton, New Jersey, where his supporters, with a slight exaggeration, sport bumper stickers proclaiming “My Congressman IS a Rocket Scientist“. Holt worked with the American Humanist Association in introducing the resolution, H.Res. 41, on January 22, and commented:

Only very rarely in human history has someone uncovered a fundamentally new way of thinking about the world – an insight so revolutionary that it has made possible further creative and explanatory thinking. Without Charles Darwin, our modern understandings of biology, ecology, genetics, and medicine would be utterly impossible, and our comprehension of the world around us would be vastly poorer. By recognizing Darwin Day, we can honor the importance of scientific thinking in our lives, and we can celebrate one of our greatest thinkers.

Holt once told the Times, “420 [of the House’s 435 members] don’t know much about science and choose not to. … We know more than our colleagues, but not more than they could know.” (The “we” refers to Holt, Bill Foster (D-Illinois), and Vernon Ehlers (R-Michigan), the only physicists in congress; Ehlers has since retired.) Curiously, the Times chose to emphasize the fact that Holt is a Quaker in its coverage, even putting the article in its “Beliefs” section. The Times also notes in the same article that the Worst–Congressman–Ever ™, Paul Broun (R-Georgia), is going to run for the Senate in 2014. Here’s the text of the resolution; note that it mentions global warming denialism as well as creationism:

Expressing support for designation of February 12, 2013, as Darwin Day and recognizing the importance of science in the betterment of humanity.

Whereas Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by the mechanism of natural selection, together with the monumental amount of scientific evidence he compiled to support it, provides humanity with a logical and intellectually compelling explanation for the diversity of life on Earth;

Whereas the validity of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection is further strongly supported by the modern understanding of the science of genetics;

Whereas it has been the human curiosity and ingenuity exemplified by Darwin that has promoted new scientific discoveries that have helped humanity solve many problems and improve living conditions;

Whereas the advancement of science must be protected from those unconcerned with the adverse impacts of global warming and climate change;

Whereas the teaching of creationism in some public schools compromises the scientific and academic integrity of the United States education systems;

Whereas Charles Darwin is a worthy symbol of scientific advancement on which to focus and around which to build a global celebration of science and humanity intended to promote a common bond among all of Earth’s peoples; and

Whereas February 12, 2013, is the anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin in 1809 and would be an appropriate date to designate as Darwin Day: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved,

    That the House of Representatives–
      (1) supports the designation of Darwin Day; and
          (2) recognizes Charles Darwin as a worthy symbol on which to celebrate the achievements of reason, science, and the advancement of human knowledge.

Given that it’s already February 3, I suspect no action will be taken by the House on the resolution.

 

An officer and a gentleman—and his squirrel (and an interim travel report)

February 3, 2013 • 7:18 am

Quick report: I think my talk went okay last night: the audience seemed to like it and there was an hour of questions. Since it was a humanist society, there wasn’t much opposition, but one person in the audience asked me repeatedly if I could explain how evolution could create molecular complexity. I mentioned gene duplication and the creation of hemoglobins, whereupon he responded, “But they’re still hemoglobins!” You’ll recognize this as the molecular equivalent of “sure, microevolution can make different species of cats, but they’re still all cats. Show me a cat evolving into a dog!” I gave him other examples, involving more drastic molecular transitions like lactic dehydrogenase forming crystalline proteins of the eye lens, and he went quiet.

At the end of my book signing, he came up to me and said, “I have just one question for you, Dr. Coyne: have you heard of Pascal’s Wager?”  Knowing what I was in for, I just said, “Of course,” and he walked away.  I’m sure I’ll have more pushback when I speak in South Carolina.

The lagniappe:  Al Stefanelli, a well-known atheist and writer whom many of you must know (or know of) came to my talk and we had a pleasant chat over drinks (his wife is bartender at a private club). A lovely man.

That’s the report, and now the squee:

This is too cute not to post, but I can’t vouch for its truthfulness, although the story is on msn now:

Soldiers are known for being tough as nails, but when this fellow in the Belarusian army found a sick squirrel under a tree, his inner softie came out. Warrant officer Pyotr Pankratau discovered the tiny creature unconscious and barely alive. Taking him back to the base, the officer fed him milk from a syringe every four hours. After two weeks, the little guy began to pep up and ended up staying on the base with Pankratau for the next two years. When they were released, the officer took his furry right-hand man, whom he’d named “Minsk,” with him and the two now drive a taxi cab together. Scroll through the gallery above to see photos of the adorable pair.

Image from imgur.com:

RhqFKjU

h/t: Gattina

Why cats like being stroked

February 3, 2013 • 3:41 am

by Matthew Cobb

Everyone knows that kittehs love being stroked. Indeed it’s something that is common to many mammals. But why and how? A paper in Nature by Sophia Vrontou and co-workers addresses the “how” question – that is, what are the underlying mechanisms – looking at mice. The opening sentences are limpid:

Stroking of the skin produces pleasant sensations that can occur during social interactions with conspecifics, such as grooming:.  Despite numerous physiological studies, molecularly defined sensory neurons that detect pleasant stroking of hairy skin in vivo have not been reported.

They identified a particular set of sensory neurons that innervate hairy skin in mice and are activated by stroking, not pinching, and were able to show that this stimulation is apparently rewarding for the mice.

I won’t go into it any more, because Nature has made an excellent LOLcat video which explains everything about the mechanism [MAKE SURE YOU WATCH IT RIGHT TO THE END]. The issue now is to try to understand where and when this sense evolved in the mammalian lineage.

The article even made the cover!

Sophia Vrontou, Allan M. Wong, Kristofer K.Rau, H.Richard Koerber & David J. Anderson (2013) Genetic identification of C fibres that detect massage-like stroking of hairy skin in vivo. Nature 493:669–673

h/t My ex-PhD student @marvel_matt

Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner, 1943-2013

February 2, 2013 • 2:14 pm

by Greg Mayer

Funk is one of the many distinctive (mostly African-) American musical styles: scratchy guitar, horns, bass and drums providing plenty of bottom to put one nation under a groove. Pioneered by greats like James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone, and brought to its apotheosis by the Parliament Funkadelic collective (whose name I like to think of as a neo-Normanism) featuring such masters as George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, and Diaperman, one of its most prominent and popular exponents in the 1970s was the Ohio Players. Fronted by Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner, resplendent in his Afro turned Veronica Lake-style over his left eye, he plays double-necked guitar in this live, extended, version of “Fire” from 1975, which features the dancing, costuming, and showmanship characteristic of funk (part of a broad reaction to the ascetic and pretentious stylings of early ’70s rock). If you were between about 12 and 35 at the time you’ll know this tune (although you may have your own funk faves).

Sugarfoot, who could imbue the word “well” with unprecedented meanings and pronunciations, died last week (Jan. 26, 2013), the cause not announced, at the age of 69. He had still been playing, and Ohio Players’ music has and will live on in covers and widespread sampling.

Say what.