Hot on a scent
Figuring out how insects smell, and what they do about it, has netted Dr. Pingxi Xu Science’s 2005 international prize in Neurobiology. Xu studies how fruitflies influence each others’ behaviour via scented chemicals called pheromones. Xu has discovered “odorant binding proteins” which bind pheromone molecules to the flies’ nervous system, which in turn affects the flies’ behaviour. Knowledge of these molecules will help scientists develop effective means of controlling the behaviour of insect pests that impact human health and agriculture.
-Chris Damdar
Source: Science
‘Fill’er up with canola’
With gasoline prices skyrocketing and the demand for alternate fuel sources growing, oil producers in Texas are realizing Canola oil’s potential as a biodiesel. Canola’s career began as a lubricant for machinery during World War II, but shifted to human consumption in the 70s. Without even buying new equipment, Texan producers associated with agronomists at Texas State University believe they can cultivate canola for fuel use. With both food and fuel markets vying for canola, producers can expect increased profits.
-C.D.
Source: Texas A&M University
‘He was a good pachyderm…’
Elephants may also mourn their dead, suggest findings in Biology Letters. When researchers at the University of Sussex and in Kenya presented African elephants (Loxodonta africana) with bones of elephants of the same species, they showed more interest and reacted more strongly to them than when the remains on display were those of other mammals.
“African elephants … exhibit unusual behaviours on encountering the bodies of dead con-specifics, becoming highly agitated and investigating them with the trunk and feet. [They] also to pay considerable attention to the skulls, ivory and associated bones of elephants that are long dead,” the researchers reported.
In one experiment, where the elephants were presented with an elephant skull, a piece of ivory and a piece of wood, the animals always paid more attention to the ivory than to any of the other objects. They placed their feet on the ivory, rocking it back and forth. The scientists concluded that elephants show evidence of empathy, a trait once considered unique to humans.
But their work could not test hearsay theories that elephants specifically visit the bodies of close relatives. Other mammals, such as chimpanzees, engage in complex interactions with dead social partners, but abandon them when the carcass begins to decompose.
-Mike Ghenu
Source: Biology Letters
