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Sean Nash

Shining the Light on Baby Crabs | Hakai Magazine - 2 views

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    I added this one, which includes detail of an environmental study, to illustrate how creative use of everyday materials can sometimes work to design scientific methods that work!
Sean Nash

Microwaving an insecticide restores its mosquito-killing power - 2 views

  • Heating an insecticide can give it new life.
    • Sean Nash
       
      Wait, what? Do say more.....
  • Microwaving the insecticide deltamethrin rearranges its crystal structure but doesn’t change its chemical composition. The rearrangement renews deltamethrin’s ability to kill mosquitoes that have become resistant to the insecticide, researchers report April 21 in Malaria Journal.
    • Sean Nash
       
      Hmmmm... something similar to this smells like: feasibility.
  • The microwave worked just as well, but Kahr cautions that people shouldn’t use the same microwave for heating food and insecticides.
    • Sean Nash
       
      Ha! No kidding??
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  • insecticide resistance is a growing problem
  • It is encouraging that heated insecticide killed highly resistant mosquitoes, says Hemingway, who directs the Infection Innovation Consortium, a public-private effort to find new ways to combat infectious diseases. But, she says, “this is not something we can take and use that tomorrow.”
    • Sean Nash
       
      OK.... this is how you can find an opening (not saying THIS ONE is necessarily, but, when you see language like: "we can't really do it just yet," that is a screaming opportunity to see what we MIGHT be able to add to that.
  • It’s not certain that the heat-treated deltamethrin would retain its more potent crystal structure through the net-making process.
  • Kahr’s team is working on incorporating the heat-treated crystal into nets.
  • “There are all kinds of social and cultural things that you could propose from a scientific perspective that wouldn’t be welcomed by a community of homeowners.”
    • Sean Nash
       
      Again... this reads: "potential research opportunity."
  • Kahr and colleagues previously discovered that heating deltamethrin changed its crystal structure, which let it work faster
ryleighnyp

Watch ticks fly through the air via the power of static electricity | Science | AAAS - 1 views

    • ryleighnyp
       
      It would be fascinating to find something that could prevent that static electricity, especially on pets. I feel like there are lots of possibilities with this.
Sean Nash

Red algae reduces methane emissions from cow poop - 1 views

  • Adding the algae to decomposing feces might reduce methane emission from cow agriculture
    • Sean Nash
       
      Here's a bit of an engineering problem..... but one with a biological/ecological frame. The article presents promise, but many challenges. Could you imagine a way to sidestep any of the challenges presented here? What other ways could the methane production issue be strategically mitigated?
Sean Nash

Taurine slows aging in mice. Will it ever work for people? - 1 views

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    Interesting bit on the potential benefits of taurine in the diet. Don't rush out and start an energy drink habit, but if you've had one, you likely know the unique taste of this chemical. There are a ton of things mentioned in this short article. Perhaps dig into what we already know about biochemical pathways of taurine...
Sean Nash

Learning in Plants: Lessons from Mimosa pudica - 4 views

  • there is a lack of observational data on the behavior of plants
  • Observational research allows the researcher to establish baseline activity and response levels of the subject
  • Perhaps the first study of learning in plants was a habituation experiment reported by Pfeffer (1873) using the sensitive plant Mimosa. In this experiment, repeated mechanical stimulation of leaflets led to a decrease in sensitivity
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  • the question naturally arises as to whether Mimosa can discriminate between stimuli. This was answered in the affirmative by Holmes and Gruenberg (1965) whose experimental design included a drop of water and finger touch as stimuli
  • the results suggest that Mimosa can discriminate between stimuli
  • Thomas performed an experiment on classical conditioning in Mimosa that took advantage of the finding that, under field conditions, the leaflets of Mimosa slowly drop as dusk approaches and slowly rise at dawn (personal communication). In the experiment, the CS was turning on the light in the growth chamber and the US was touching selected leaflets. Thomas found that leaflets in the paired condition showed conditioning compared to a light only or alternating stimulation condition. This finding should be replicated with controls for pseudoconditioning.
  • Given the importance of the Gagliano et al. (2014) experiment and the failure to replicate some previous experimental results it is critical that the Gagliano et al. (2014) results be repeated by an independent laboratory.
  • In addition to Mimosa, habituation has been found in the carnivorous plant Drosera (sundew
  • Applewhite (1975) cites an experiment by Darwin reportedly showing habituation in the passion flower (Passiflora gracilis). During this experiment, when Darwin mechanically stimulated the passion flower tendrils, the tendrils no longer responded after 54 h of training.
  • Abramson et al. (2002) investigated the use of bioelectrical potentials as a method to explore plant behavior.
  • In an interesting article, Karpinski and Szechynska-Hebda (2010) discuss the intellect of plants from memory to intelligence. By studying recall, the researcher investigates a host of independent variables and that are solidly anchored to a set of dependent variables. This study focused on recall at the cellular level rather than as an externally observable behavior. The discussion of plant learning at various levels, from cellular to organismal and from different scientific fields is exactly what is advocated for in this article
  • There is also interest from behavioral scientists seeking to determine whether the similarities and differences in learning found among invertebrates and vertebrates could also be found in plants (Warden et al., 1940; Applewhite, 1975; Abramson et al., 2002; Guiguet, 2013).
  • The majority of early plant studies used the Sensitive plant (M. pudica). Mimosa has much to recommend it for learning studies. They are easy to maintain, much is known about its natural history, and they have a visible leaf closure response to external stimuli. However, there are drawbacks in the use of Mimosa, for example, it takes about 15 min for a leaf to recover (Holmes and Gruenberg, 1965) and not much is known about its genome in contrast to model species such as Arabidopsis thaliana whose entire genome is known.
  • In the following section we will focus on methods to develop studies utilizing habituation, sensitization, and classical conditioning techniques. Instrumental and operant conditioning will not be covered because at this time there are no Mimosa studies in these areas; although one can envision a situation where the opening and closing of a leaf can be detected electronically. Once detected, the response would produce a consequence such as an airpuff or changes in light intensity.
    • Sean Nash
       
      The remainder of this comprehensive article is to outline the main lines of research in this area:
  • Learning in Plants: Lessons from Mimosa pudica
    • Sean Nash
       
      This well-compiled article does a really nice job of outlining the history of study regarding plant behavior. It also suggests model organisms for study. Mimosa is a favorite of mine as their response is VERY rapid and quite visible for a plant! There are all sorts of feasible project ideas that could arise from this area of research.
Sean Nash

New patch might replace some finger-prick testing of blood sugar - 2 views

  • Teen’s color-changing device tests glucose in sweat to signal when insulin is needed
    • Sean Nash
       
      This is from a 2023 ISEF project just last week!
Sean Nash

Hand dryers can infect clean hands with bathroom germs - 3 views

  • In tests, the hot-air machines spread far more microbes than paper towels
    • Sean Nash
       
      Another ISEF project from just last week!
elijahjenkins

Fluorine-based new drug synthesis at lightning speed -- ScienceDaily - 0 views

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    Researchers synthesize fluorine-based compound via rapid biphasic (gas and liquid) mixing.
Grant Reed

Study Finds Carrying Pollen Heats Up Bumble Bees, Raising New Climate Change Questions - 3 views

  • This new understanding of active bumble bee body temperatures raises questions about how these species will be impacted by a warmer world due to climate change.
    • Grant Reed
       
      Trying out the highlight feature. This might be an interesting research topic.
izzy kelly

Study finds brain connectivity, memory improves in older adults after walking -- Scienc... - 0 views

  • They become disconnected, and as a result, people lose their ability to think clearly and remember things. We're demonstrating that exercise training strengthens these connections."
  • walking may decrease cerebral blood flow and improve brain function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment.
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    correlation between exercise and memory. i'd be interested to see the long-term effects.
ryleighnyp

The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing... - 2 views

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    This is something I'm interested in and it has lots of potential for projects.
ryleighnyp

Electrical grounding technique may improve health outcomes of NICU babies -- ScienceDaily - 2 views

  • "What we can conclude is that a baby's autonomic nervous system is able to sense the electrical environment and it seems as though a baby is more relaxed when grounded,"
  • redesigning incubators to ground babies and cancel out the electrical field
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    I think a possible research idea could be redesigning NICU incubators to allow for less electromagnet interference with the babies with the use of grounding.
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    Interesting, for sure. Two things... the actual measurements they made on children (skin tests, etc.) are a no-go for us. I'm not sure what our model system could be for checking the electrical outputs of whatever design changes were made. We would need to know a lot more about the current setup in NICUs. There is no doubt a lot of design in how things are currently set up. Essentially: why things are set up the way they are right now? You would have to know every variable currently considered, and then look for spots where simple changes can be made. Second thing: go back to the ISEF categories in Engineering and check out how those projects look at the national level. Just go get a feel. Engineering is a bit different from typical "hypothesis testing" seen in most natural sciences. Very cool, but different. Give it a look.
Sean Nash

Satellite Monitoring of Biodiversity Moves Within Reach | Current Science Daily - 2 views

  • Data for the study came from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). The network uses standardized methods to collect biodiversity and Earth observation data across the United States which are then made publicly available. NEON imaging spectrometer data collected from research flights have a pixel size of 1x1 meter.
    • Sean Nash
       
      I wonder if any of the imagery they have is: 1. Accessible by us, and 2. Available for our area. If so, it might be as simple as doing plant diversity surveys to look for ground truth in our area (young forests & grasslands) between what is REALLY on the ground here, vs. what the satellite imagery shows.
  • Biodiversity monitoring from space possible via satellite
  • The reflectance of plants is determined by their chemical, anatomical and morphological characteristics, which are important for interactions among plants and with their environment. “Plants with similar traits, as well as closely related species, therefore tend to have similar reflectance spectra,” explains Schweiger.
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  • Spectral diversity calculated in forests with closed canopies and large individual trees matched plant diversity determined on the ground better than spectral diversity calculated in open landscapes dominated by small herbaceous plants and grasses.
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