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Sean Nash

Learning in Plants: Lessons from Mimosa pudica - 4 views

www.frontiersin.org/...full

Mimosa learning plants botany research SCI-I science student lab potential research idea biology HSR HSR-2023

shared by Sean Nash on 23 Jun 23 - No Cached
  • 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
      Sean Nash on 23 Jun 23
       
      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
      Sean Nash on 23 Jun 23
       
      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

E-learning courses - GrowNextGen - 2 views

grownextgen.org/elearning

agriculture food foodscience courses SCI-I topicselection resources learning research ideas environmental science botany biology HSR HSR-2023

shared by Sean Nash on 23 Jun 23 - No Cached
  • These self-guided digital resources allow students to work independently. Pre- and posttests can be used to check knowledge gains.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 23 Jun 23
       
      An interesting set of open online courses to take your learning to the next level in some area... These might be interesting early on in the problem-finding phase, but also once a topic is chosen... you need to get up to speed in an area of science much more quickly than in traditional teacher-led courses. Perhaps one of these can help you build early background expertise in some area?
ryleighnyp

The night gardeners: Immune cells rewire, repair brain while we sleep -- ScienceDaily - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...191021111835.htm

HSR HSR-2023 Sleep

shared by ryleighnyp on 06 Jun 23 - No Cached
  • implications for brain plasticity, diseases like autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and dementia, which arise when the brain's networks are not maintained properly, and the ability of the brain to fight off infection and repair the damage following a stroke or other traumatic injury.
  • implications for brain plasticity, diseases like autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and dementia, which arise when the brain's networks are not maintained properly, and the ability of the brain to fight off infection and repair the damage following a stroke or other traumatic injury.
    • ryleighnyp
      ryleighnyp on 06 Jun 23
       
      It would be interesting to look deeper into these process and the mechanism behind maintenance of the brain.
  • This research shows that the signals in our brain that modulate the sleep and awake state also act as a switch that turns the immune system off and on."
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  • plasticity, the ongoing process by which the complex networks and connections between neurons are wired and rewired during development and to support learning, memory, cognition, and motor function.
    • ryleighnyp
      ryleighnyp on 06 Jun 23
       
      I think it would be cool to look into the difference between this function in people's brains with and without learning disabilities.
  • high levels of norepinephrine, the microglia became inactive and were unable to respond to local injuries and pulled back from their role in rewiring brain networks.
katherine-medina

https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-2962278/v1/95a4813e-7c91-423d-8608-d3e697f79... - 0 views

assets.researchsquare.com/...c91-423d-8608-d3e697f797f4.pdf

MRSA stilbene polyphenols antibiotics HSR-2023 Research-idea pigeon-peas

shared by katherine-medina on 27 Jun 23 - No Cached
    • katherine-medina
      katherine-medina on 27 Jun 23
       
      A. Besides, the results implied that these stilbenes effectively inhibited the levels of adhesion and virulence genes and downregulate the production of -hemolysin. This study showed that stilbenes from pigeon pea have anti-Staphylococcus potential, and they also inhibited bacterial proliferation, biofilm formation, and key gene expressions related to adhesion and virulence of MRSA.
    • katherine-medina
      katherine-medina on 27 Jun 23
       
      "Over the past few years, bacterial biofilm has aroused wide attention. And the biofilm can be called sessile microbial community where cells are attached to the surface or to other cells and can embed themselves in a protective extracellular polymeric matrix." This is a pretty interesting piece of information.
    • katherine-medina
      katherine-medina on 27 Jun 23
       
      Moreover, as an ethnological herb, pigeon pea is adopted in traditional medicine for its treatments of diabetes (Al-Saeedi and Hossain 2015; Talukdar 2013), hepatic-disorder (Ghosh et al. 2006), necrosis of femoral head (Luo et al. 2009), measles (Nwodo Page 4/20 et al. 2011) and osteoporosis HUH that is really interesting considering the amount of pigeon peas I have had in arroz con gondules.
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    • katherine-medina
      katherine-medina on 27 Jun 23
       
      Additionally, the epidermis was the external barrier of the body and thus HaCaT (human keratinocyte) was used to investigate the cytotoxicity of these stilbenes. As a result, these compounds had no discernible harmful effects on HaCaT at concentrations of 1/4 of their MIC, and their IC50 on HaCaT were 9.58 ± 0.22, 12.76 ± 0.31, 18.38 ± 0.41 µg/mL, respectively. Hence, the maximum concentrations of these stilbenes were set at 1/4 MIC in the follow-up research It is quite remarkable that pigeon peas are that effective.
    • katherine-medina
      katherine-medina on 27 Jun 23
       
      The growth cures suggested that 1 MIC and 1/2 MIC of these compounds had remarkable inhibitory effects on the MRSA growth. Wow
    • katherine-medina
      katherine-medina on 27 Jun 23
       
      It is incredibly important that the article states this, "However, current researches barely reveal the anti-MRSA biofilm ability of stilbenes from pigeon pea." This makes me want to learn more and more about how pigeon pea polyphenols work mostly because it is a very unexplored area of biochemistry.
  • katherine-medina on 27 Jun 23
     
    This article is about three different stilbenes in pigeon peas that were found to fight against MRSA.
katherine-medina

Nowcasting lightning occurrence from commonly available meteorological parameters using... - 0 views

www.nature.com/...s41612-019-0098-0

weather lightning AI-prediction HSR-2023 meteorology environmental

shared by katherine-medina on 03 Jun 23 - No Cached
  • They hypothesized that the mesoscale environment indirectly influences CG lightning polarity by directly controlling the storm structure, dynamics, and microphysics, which in turn control storm electrification and ground flash polarity.
  • he lightning forecast is made 30–45 min before rainfall occurs
    • katherine-medina
      katherine-medina on 03 Jun 23
       
      I guess that would make sense considering the fact that the electricity in the air before a storm is active.
  • katherine-medina on 03 Jun 23
     
    An article about how AI can now predict where lightning will occur
Sean Nash

Large Data Sets - Society for Science - 1 views

www.societyforscience.org/...large-data-sets

resources HSRTC SFS research data sets society SCI-I projectdevelopment questioning statistical analysis HSR-2023 HSR science

shared by Sean Nash on 23 Jun 23 - No Cached
  • Locate a data set that interests you, see how others students have used large data sets in their research, and learn about current scientific studies fueled by big data.
  • Sean Nash on 23 Jun 23
     
    Another really solid pathway into project development is the examination and study of already existing large data sets. I have seen excellent projects that didn't even require students to generate their own data. Instead, they utilize already existing data to answer questions others may not have posed before in relation to that data set. At the very least, becoming familiar with these lines of research can help you discover a line of research that is most compelling to you!
Sean Nash

Mysterious Underwater Acoustic World of British Ponds Revealed in New Study | Current S... - 3 views

currentsciencedaily.com/...sh-ponds-revealed-in-new-study

hydrophone sound survey pond potential research idea biology physics computer science environmental science HSR HSR-2023

shared by Sean Nash on 04 Jun 23 - No Cached
  • The previously hidden and diverse underwater acoustic world in British ponds has been revealed by a team of researchers at the University of Bristol.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 04 Jun 23
       
      So... my immediate thought is: How cool would it be to do this here? One thing we DO have: PONDS. See if this *sounds* interesting. Get it? ;)
  • Acoustic monitoring has been shown to effectively survey birds and monkeys in rainforests, and marine mammals in the oceans. However, freshwater environments have remained largely unexplored despite their diverse soundscapes.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 04 Jun 23
       
      BOOM. Again, "relatively unexplored" is super exciting verbiage to me. Acoustics. Hydrophones. Is this feasible? Is the equipment affordable? If not, could we borrow one? Dig into it. What are the possibilities?
  • analysis of the audio files revealed clear daily acoustic activity cycles in each pond
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 04 Jun 23
       
      Aside from the exploratory surveys you would do just to see "what's out there" and assess what we CAN learn from listening to a pond, you could make it experimental by comparing ponds you've assessed the health of by other means. In other words, do acoustic comparisons between two ponds correlate with what you find by doing a macroinvertebrate sampling? I really LIKE the possibilities in this one!
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  • Typically, a nocturnal chorus is made by aquatic insects that compete to attract mates by producing strange scratching sounds as they rub their genitals against their abdomens. During the daytime, however, aquatic plants dominate the underwater orchestra with rhythmic whining and ticking sounds produced as tiny oxygen bubbles are released by plants respiring in the hot sun.
  • Using this acoustic method, the presence of species, and a determination of ecological health, can be inferred simply by listening to the natural world without disturbing the environment or harming the plants and animals within it.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 04 Jun 23
       
      Here is the obvious value proposition if you could work this out.
  • Publication: Jack A. Greenhalgh, et al., Diel variation in insect-dominated temperate pond soundscapes and guidelines for survey design, Freshwater Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1111/fwb.14092.
    • Sean Nash
      Sean Nash on 04 Jun 23
       
      BEST THING YET: Here is the FULL TEXT of the actual research paper!
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