When silence says more
Male crickets on the Hawaiian island of Kauai have drastically changed the way they attract females-for the better. In less than twenty generations, male crickets have evolved what seems like a detrimental mutation, the inability to produce a mating song to draw females. Researchers suggest the mutation allows crickets to hide from a parasitic fly that selectively kills male crickets. After locating males with their mating song, the fly deposits larvae, which burrow into the cricket, grow, and kill the cricket when flies emerge from the cricket’s body. Crickets with ‘flat wings,’ wings that cannot generate sound, use their silence to hide from the fly and increase their chances of survival-all without losing mates. Instead, ‘flat wing’ crickets become capitalistic-if not parasitic. They flock to ‘callers,’ the few normal male crickets left on the island, and mate with females that have been drawn to the normal males’ mating song. Researchers are excited to see evolution happening on such a short time scale.
Source: UC Riverside news service
-Sandy Huen
A watery plethora
In a recent study on three flooded homes in New Orleans, mold and bacterial growth have elevated to dangerous levels even after Katrina’s floodwaters flowed away. The levels of toxins created by mold and bacteria in the houses were equal or higher than levels typically found in waste-water treatment plants, leading scientists to warn anyone entering a flood-damaged home to wear protective respirators. The data and recommendations made by the study will inform the procedures in the clean-up of New Orleans and other future disasters.
Source: Mailman School of Public Health news service
-S.H.
Fly with fibre, fall with fat
A new study found that the colon disease, diverticulitis, typically found in patients older than 50 a decade ago, is affecting people under 50 today. Patients under 50 who have the disease are also more often obese than not. The most common cause of diverticulitis is a low fiber diet. When muscles that are responsible for bowel movements become strained, pressure in the colon can increase. This can cause weak spots in the colon to bulge and form diverticula, numerous protruding pouches on the bowel wall. If bacteria infect the diverticula, they not only cause an inflammatory response, but can perforate the wall of the intestine, leading to other serious complications. Researchers warn that after twenty years of age, obese adults are at a serious risk for more outbreaks of inflammation if they have the underlying condition of diverticulitis. Researchers recommend that physicians add diverticulitis to the list of diseases that may affect young people with severe abdominal pain-especially in cases of obesity.
Source: American Journal of Roentgenology
-S.H.
