Farmers, pharmacists and energy experts!
Leaf-cutter ants put on quite a show.
In established colonies, millions of "workers" cut and carry sections of leaves larger than their own bodies as part of a well choreographed, highly functioning society.
"Anyone who has ever come across a trail of ants cutting leaves and watched that trail run through the forest can recognize how charismatic, and what kind of large impact they have on the tropical ecosystems in which they occur," says bacteriologist Cameron Currie.
With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Currie and his team study ants and their complex, productive societies to help address some of human society's most pressing challenges, such as better drugs and cleaner energy.
But for Currie, the research is more than just finding solutions to problems. "My doctoral work on leaf-cutting ants was not from an 'Oh, we can discover enzymes for bio-energy,' or 'Oh, we can discover antibiotics for medicinal use.' It was from a fascination with understanding the interaction of organisms in the natural world," says Currie from his lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
For example, these ants may have been the planet's first farmers. The insects chew up the leaves they cut and integrate them into a fungus garden, which then becomes both their food and their living space. This "mutualism" between the ants and the fungus was discovered in the late 1800s.
In the wild, primarily in Central and South America, large colonies may have as many as five to 10 million workers, with up to seven different castes, or job categories. Different-sized animals do different tasks. The queen, far larger than the others, may lay 50 million eggs over a lifetime. Soldiers protect the nest; workers gather leaf material. "Minima" or smaller workers are specialized for moving around in the small spaces of the fungus garden.
"This includes elaborate behaviors for tending their food crop. So, they actually groom it, and clean it, and prune it," explains Currie.
There is also a specialized group of ants that are the trash workers, who carry the old garden material and put it in specialized refuse dumps.
A third "player" is also crucial in this symbiotic city.
Bacteria found on the bodies of the ants produce antibiotics that help maintain the health of the fungus garden. "Our current evidence indicates that the ants have been dealing with diseases in their fungus gardens for millions of years," says Currie.
Over the years, these bacteria appear to have evolved new antibiotics to keep the gardens healthy. This co-evolution could help researchers create new antibiotics for humans.
Energy experts
Leaf-cutter ants are also adept teachers in energy research. The Currie Lab works with a wide range of experts at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), a multi-institutional partnership at the University of Wisconsin-Madison working to create fuel from the non-edible parts of plants, known as cellulosic ethanol.
"Our understanding of the process of breaking down that plant material to produce digestible nutrients for the ants is very limited," says Currie.
Figuring out how the ants do it could lead to cleaner replacements for petroleum.
"We hope to both reduce society's dependence on fossil fuels and generate those fuels from a feedstock that isn't part of the food chain," explains Tim Donohue, professor of bacteriology and director of GLBRC. "We think biofuels have a clear position in replacing the fossil fuels that go into the automotive and aviation sector, and we hope that we'll be able to generate fuels that are efficient, cost effective, [and] equally important, sustainable, from an economic and environmental perspective."
GLBRC is supported by the office of science in the U.S. Department of Energy. Donohue says the success of this renewable energy work could also provide farmers and foresters with a second revenue stream from their agricultural products; essentially another income from what is now a waste product.
Still fun to watch!
The nonstop work of these social insects can be mesmerizing to just about anyone who observes them. There's a display of a live leaf-cutter community in the lobby of the Microbial Sciences Building on the Madison campus, and an Ant Cam.
"The display is really a great thing for education," says Joseph Moeller, a lab technician in the Currie Lab. "We have lots of people of all ages, always interested in the types of things these leaf-cutter ants can do, and interested in how we travel down to Panama and Costa Rica to collect these ants to come back and study them."
For Currie, who has had his share of bites from angry "soldiers" over the years, the discoveries never get old.
"Working on leaf-cutter ants, doing field work is a major passion," he says. "The connection of seeing your study organism in the field, what it is doing, watching the ants carry leaves, it's captivating, and very exciting seeing the ants in their ecosystem, and their role and their function."
Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent
Marsha Walton, Science Nation Producer
Apr 27, 2012
Feb 28, 2012
The Discovery Files: Past Restored?
Wetland restoration is a billion-dollar-a-year industry in the United States that aims to create ecosystems similar to those that disappeared over the past century. But a new analysis of restoration projects shows that restored wetlands seldom reach the quality of a natural wetland.
Credit: NSF/Karson Productions
Audio Transcript:
Carbon Blueprint.
I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files--new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
(Sound effect: wetlands) America's wetlands--ecological treasure troves of biodiversity. Keys to carbon storage, water purification, erosion control and fish production. During the last century, over half the wetlands in North America, Europe, China and Australia have disappeared at the hands of humans. A study out of UC-Berkeley shows that often the only way to restore wetlands to their original quality is not to destroy them in the first place.
But what about the long-established practice of "wetland restoration?" You know, destroy a natural wetland area through land development, and build a new man-made wetland to take its place. Sounds like a fair trade-off. But the authors of this study show that there may be some serious flaws in that logic.
They say a restored wetland may look natural, but it can take hundreds of years before it accumulates the plant varieties and carbon resources of the original it was meant to replace. On average, a restored wetland is 25 percent less productive than a natural one and in colder climes, as much as 50 percent less even after more than 50 years.
(Sound effect: wetlands) The theory that we can create wetland ecosystems as effectively as nature--may be "all wet."[1]
The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.
-----------------
Notes:
[1] all wet
Completely wrong, mistaken.
Credit: NSF/Karson Productions
Audio Transcript:
Carbon Blueprint.
I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files--new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
(Sound effect: wetlands) America's wetlands--ecological treasure troves of biodiversity. Keys to carbon storage, water purification, erosion control and fish production. During the last century, over half the wetlands in North America, Europe, China and Australia have disappeared at the hands of humans. A study out of UC-Berkeley shows that often the only way to restore wetlands to their original quality is not to destroy them in the first place.
But what about the long-established practice of "wetland restoration?" You know, destroy a natural wetland area through land development, and build a new man-made wetland to take its place. Sounds like a fair trade-off. But the authors of this study show that there may be some serious flaws in that logic.
They say a restored wetland may look natural, but it can take hundreds of years before it accumulates the plant varieties and carbon resources of the original it was meant to replace. On average, a restored wetland is 25 percent less productive than a natural one and in colder climes, as much as 50 percent less even after more than 50 years.
(Sound effect: wetlands) The theory that we can create wetland ecosystems as effectively as nature--may be "all wet."[1]
The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.
-----------------
Notes:
[1] all wet
Completely wrong, mistaken.
Feb 21, 2012
5 Presentation Lessons From The King’s Speech
5 Presentation Lessons From The King's Speech
View more presentations from @JESSEDEE
Nov 21, 2011
The Discovery Files: Convincing Evidence
Want to convince someone to do something? A University of Michigan study examines how various speech characteristics influence people's decisions to participate in telephone surveys. But its findings have implications for many other situations, from closing sales to swaying voters to getting spouses to see things your way.
Credit: NSF/Karson Productions
Audio Transcript:
It's Not Always What You Say, It's How You Say It.
I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files -- new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
From convincing your spouse to closing a sale, researchers at the University of Michigan have identified some speech characteristics that may help your success ratio.
The team broke down 1,380 phone calls made by 100 male and female interviewers trying to convince people to participate in a telephone survey. Here are the findings -- which may not always work, but could give you a better overall chance.
Speed: Interviewers who spoke moderately fast (about 3½ words per second or the pace I'm speaking now) had better luck; any faster and you come off as untrustworthy; slower and you seem unsure, not too bright.
Liveliness:The team found that too many inflections make you sound fake or like you're trying too hard.
Pitch: Depends on if you're a man or a woman. Men with higher-pitched voices fared worse than men with deep voices. With women, pitch was not a factor.
The last characteristic was pauses. The least successful interviewers had no pauses and came off sounding scripted. Pausing a lot did better but tended to make the speaker sound uninformed. The right amount of pauses seems to be about 4 or 5 per minute.
Now using these guidelines get out there and talk someone into something. Some "convincing" evidence.
Credit: NSF/Karson Productions
Audio Transcript:
It's Not Always What You Say, It's How You Say It.
I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files -- new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
From convincing your spouse to closing a sale, researchers at the University of Michigan have identified some speech characteristics that may help your success ratio.
The team broke down 1,380 phone calls made by 100 male and female interviewers trying to convince people to participate in a telephone survey. Here are the findings -- which may not always work, but could give you a better overall chance.
Speed: Interviewers who spoke moderately fast (about 3½ words per second or the pace I'm speaking now) had better luck; any faster and you come off as untrustworthy; slower and you seem unsure, not too bright.
Liveliness:The team found that too many inflections make you sound fake or like you're trying too hard.
Pitch: Depends on if you're a man or a woman. Men with higher-pitched voices fared worse than men with deep voices. With women, pitch was not a factor.
The last characteristic was pauses. The least successful interviewers had no pauses and came off sounding scripted. Pausing a lot did better but tended to make the speaker sound uninformed. The right amount of pauses seems to be about 4 or 5 per minute.
Now using these guidelines get out there and talk someone into something. Some "convincing" evidence.
The Discovery Files: Power Grab
Researchers have discovered a way to capture and harness energy transmitted by such sources as radio and television transmitters, cell phone networks and satellite communications systems.
Credit: NSF/Karson Productions
Audio Transcript:
(Sound effect: Electronic sucking sound)Power Grab[1]. (Sound effect: theme music) I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files -- new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
Shhhh. Can you hear it? Do you feel it all around you? Probably not, but it's there, (Sound effect: light hum and buzz of many radio, telephone, and electrical sources fades in) ambient energy. You know, the electromagnetic energy emitted by cell phone and radio and TV towers even satellite systems. It's just coursing through the air.
Researchers at Georgia Tech have discovered a way to harvest and store ambient energy. In order to be able to pick from the many frequency ranges, the team used an ultra-wideband antenna that can get everything from FM radio to radar signals. Their scavenging devices capture, then convert the power from AC to DC, and store it in capacitors or batteries.
(Sound effect: hair dryer)Now you're not gonna exactly going to be running your hairdryer with ambient power just yet. More likely small electronic devices like sensors and microprocessors.
The team is using inkjet printers to "print" sensors, antennas and energy-capture capabilities on paper or flexible polymer material. Imagine wireless, self-powered sensors in airport security for detection, monitoring temperature and humidity throughout your home, in buildings and bridges to warn of structural problems, even as inexpensive food-spoilage detectors and (Sound effect: beeping from medial machine) wearable bio-monitors that observe patient medical issues.
All powered with energy harvested in an electromagnetic field. Sort of a high-tech dream-catcher[2].
The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.
-----------------
Notes:
[1] power grab
The original meaning means the attempt or action of acquiring or accomplishing something that was previously unattainable but is now possible through newly acquired power. However, here the word "power" indicates electrical energy.
[2] dream-catcher
A Native American craftwork consisting of a small hoop covered with string, yarn, or horsehair mesh and decorated with feathers and beads and believed to give its owner good dreams.
Credit: NSF/Karson Productions
Audio Transcript:
(Sound effect: Electronic sucking sound)Power Grab[1]. (Sound effect: theme music) I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files -- new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
Shhhh. Can you hear it? Do you feel it all around you? Probably not, but it's there, (Sound effect: light hum and buzz of many radio, telephone, and electrical sources fades in) ambient energy. You know, the electromagnetic energy emitted by cell phone and radio and TV towers even satellite systems. It's just coursing through the air.
Researchers at Georgia Tech have discovered a way to harvest and store ambient energy. In order to be able to pick from the many frequency ranges, the team used an ultra-wideband antenna that can get everything from FM radio to radar signals. Their scavenging devices capture, then convert the power from AC to DC, and store it in capacitors or batteries.
(Sound effect: hair dryer)Now you're not gonna exactly going to be running your hairdryer with ambient power just yet. More likely small electronic devices like sensors and microprocessors.
The team is using inkjet printers to "print" sensors, antennas and energy-capture capabilities on paper or flexible polymer material. Imagine wireless, self-powered sensors in airport security for detection, monitoring temperature and humidity throughout your home, in buildings and bridges to warn of structural problems, even as inexpensive food-spoilage detectors and (Sound effect: beeping from medial machine) wearable bio-monitors that observe patient medical issues.
All powered with energy harvested in an electromagnetic field. Sort of a high-tech dream-catcher[2].
The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.
-----------------
Notes:
[1] power grab
The original meaning means the attempt or action of acquiring or accomplishing something that was previously unattainable but is now possible through newly acquired power. However, here the word "power" indicates electrical energy.
[2] dream-catcher
A Native American craftwork consisting of a small hoop covered with string, yarn, or horsehair mesh and decorated with feathers and beads and believed to give its owner good dreams.
Nov 20, 2011
The Discovery Files: Stress Test
In her research, University of Chicago associate professor in psychology Sian Beilock, has shown the brain can work to sabotage performance, often in pressure-filled situations that deplete brain power critical to many everyday activities.
Credit: NSF/Karson Productions
Audio Transcript:
Stress for Success.
I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files -- new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
(Sound effect: college classroom sound)"Ok, listen up, 'cause there's going to be a test." Those words can send students everywhere into a panic. It seems for some, no matter how much they've studied, the stress of the test can get the best of them -- while others appear to thrive on it.
Sian Beilock (see-on bye-lock) and her research team at the University of Chicago gave 73 undergrads a stressful math test and measured two things: the students' working memory, how well they temporarily manage and store information and their level of math anxiety -- or fear about doing math. (Sweaty palms anyone?)
(Audio: Sian Beilock)"We have a variety of brain and body reactions under pressure in stressful situations but what our research shows is that it's not so much about these bodily reactions, but how you interpret them whether you interpret them as a sign you're going to succeed, or a sign that you're ready for failure that predicts whether you thrive or dive in the pressure-filled situation."
The research honed in on cortisol[1], "the stress hormone." If you're a student with a large working memory but with a fear of math, rising cortisol levels can lead you to choke. No fear of math? The more your cortisol goes up, the more your test score might, too. So change your perspective, and you might just change your grade. One caveat: you still have to know the material -- a point worth "stressing."
The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.
-----------------
Notes:
[1] cortisol
腎上腺皮質素 An adrenal-cortex hormone. For more information, please refer to the following links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol
http://www.symcl.com.tw/check_single.php?tname=B&sno=122
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/teenty/20474731
Credit: NSF/Karson Productions
Audio Transcript:
Stress for Success.
I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files -- new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
(Sound effect: college classroom sound)"Ok, listen up, 'cause there's going to be a test." Those words can send students everywhere into a panic. It seems for some, no matter how much they've studied, the stress of the test can get the best of them -- while others appear to thrive on it.
Sian Beilock (see-on bye-lock) and her research team at the University of Chicago gave 73 undergrads a stressful math test and measured two things: the students' working memory, how well they temporarily manage and store information and their level of math anxiety -- or fear about doing math. (Sweaty palms anyone?)
(Audio: Sian Beilock)"We have a variety of brain and body reactions under pressure in stressful situations but what our research shows is that it's not so much about these bodily reactions, but how you interpret them whether you interpret them as a sign you're going to succeed, or a sign that you're ready for failure that predicts whether you thrive or dive in the pressure-filled situation."
The research honed in on cortisol[1], "the stress hormone." If you're a student with a large working memory but with a fear of math, rising cortisol levels can lead you to choke. No fear of math? The more your cortisol goes up, the more your test score might, too. So change your perspective, and you might just change your grade. One caveat: you still have to know the material -- a point worth "stressing."
The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.
-----------------
Notes:
[1] cortisol
腎上腺皮質素 An adrenal-cortex hormone. For more information, please refer to the following links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol
http://www.symcl.com.tw/check_single.php?tname=B&sno=122
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/teenty/20474731
Oct 31, 2011
The Discovery Files: Power Nap
A new "subconscious mode" for smartphones and other WiFi-enabled mobile devices could extend battery life by as much as 54 percent for users on the busiest networks.
Credit: NSF/Karson Productions
Audio Transcript:
(Sound effect: Smart phone ring) A Smarter Smart Phone.
(Sound effect: theme music) I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files--new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
When your smart phone is waiting for your next hookup, it's on alert looking for messages and searching for clear communication channels. Did you know that it could be using as much power then as when it's sending and receiving messages? Researchers at the University of Michigan are working to make that idle time a lot less of a drain.
Meet "E-MILI," which stands for "Energy Minimizing Idle Listening." A way to have smart phones go into a slower, deeper mode of sleep, but still be ready to jump to full power when needed. The team believes that by using this new technology most smart phones could still keep one eye open for incoming messages while using as much as 44% less power.
E-MILI slows the clock in your Wi-Fi card to one-sixteenth of its normal frequency, that's easy, the hard part is to get the phone to recognize incoming messages while almost in a coma, so it can jolt back to full speed. Their solution was to get it to recognize just the headers of incoming messages. So they found a new way to encode the address header. To do this, it's going to require firmware modifications by the Wi-Fi chipset manufacturers, as well as getting the makers of smart phones onboard to install the chips in new phones. The project is in the proof-of-concept stage and could be reality soon.
Smart phones taking a real "power nap" -- would that make them "sleeper cells?[1]"
The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.
-----------------
Notes:
[1] sleeper cells
It is used as a pun here. Sleeper cells originally means secret people who receive specialized training in their home countries and are then assigned to assimilate into another country's culture and society. These sleeper cells may spend years performing their regular duties while living deep undercover, then suddenly receive orders from their overseas handlers to either commit an act of terrorism or provide aid to those who will.
Credit: NSF/Karson Productions
Audio Transcript:
(Sound effect: Smart phone ring) A Smarter Smart Phone.
(Sound effect: theme music) I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files--new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
When your smart phone is waiting for your next hookup, it's on alert looking for messages and searching for clear communication channels. Did you know that it could be using as much power then as when it's sending and receiving messages? Researchers at the University of Michigan are working to make that idle time a lot less of a drain.
Meet "E-MILI," which stands for "Energy Minimizing Idle Listening." A way to have smart phones go into a slower, deeper mode of sleep, but still be ready to jump to full power when needed. The team believes that by using this new technology most smart phones could still keep one eye open for incoming messages while using as much as 44% less power.
E-MILI slows the clock in your Wi-Fi card to one-sixteenth of its normal frequency, that's easy, the hard part is to get the phone to recognize incoming messages while almost in a coma, so it can jolt back to full speed. Their solution was to get it to recognize just the headers of incoming messages. So they found a new way to encode the address header. To do this, it's going to require firmware modifications by the Wi-Fi chipset manufacturers, as well as getting the makers of smart phones onboard to install the chips in new phones. The project is in the proof-of-concept stage and could be reality soon.
Smart phones taking a real "power nap" -- would that make them "sleeper cells?[1]"
The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.
-----------------
Notes:
[1] sleeper cells
It is used as a pun here. Sleeper cells originally means secret people who receive specialized training in their home countries and are then assigned to assimilate into another country's culture and society. These sleeper cells may spend years performing their regular duties while living deep undercover, then suddenly receive orders from their overseas handlers to either commit an act of terrorism or provide aid to those who will.
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