An illustration of the Narwhal Whale
Tusk for Touch, not "Touche"
Scientists have discovered the function of the narwhal tusk, object of both myth and mystery. For years, people have speculated that the tusk is used for anything from piercing ice, to spearing fish, to wooing females, to establishing dominance. But researchers from Harvard and the National Institute of Standards and Technology have determined the tusk is actually a sensory organ of extraordinary size and sensitivity. Ten-million nerve endings in the tusk detect small changes in temperature, pressure and other characteristics of its surroundings.
"This whale is intent on understanding its environment," Martin T. Nweeia, the team's leader and a clinical instructor at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, told The New York Times. "The tusk is not about guys duking it out with sticks and swords." (Source: the New York Times)
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Buffy the "Theory Slayer"
A newly discovered large object beyond Pluto has scientists baffled. Buffy, as the object is called, has a nearly circular orbit around the sun, but its plane of orbit is tilted at 47 degrees to most of the orbits of similar objects. This combination of circularity and tilt seem to exclude the possibility that Buffy was once deflected by Neptune. This goes against many formation theories, such as the belief that Neptune is responsible for scattering all Kuiper Belt objects with highly eccentric elliptical paths.
"Maybe Buffy is going to be a bit of a theory slayer," researcher Lynne Allen told New Scientist. (Source: New Scientist)
Swatting Flies, Smashing Pumpkins
A softball looks bigger when you're doing a good job of hitting it, according to a new study out of the University of Virginia. Researchers went to several softball fields after players had finished their games and checked the players' batting averages for the day. They showed the players eight circles of different sizes and asked them to choose the one that best represented the size of the softball they had been trying to hit. The players with higher averages chose the larger circles, and the players batting over .500 that day chose the largest circle. (Source: University of Virginia)
A front view of the army ant Cheliomyrmex, showing its fearsome jaw and teeth. Credit: Michael Kaspari, U of Oklahoma
The Ants Go Marching 1000 By 1000
Army ants may have evolved mass, cooperative food foraging as a way to subdue large prey, according to animal behaviorist Sean O'Donnell. O'Donnell came up with the theory when he witnessed a 16-inch earthworm erupt from a nature preserve floor, only to be pursued by a column of hundreds of army ants, who paralyzed and killed it. This particular brand of army ant, Cheliomyrmex, does not follow the usual pattern of attacking other social insect colonies. Instead, it has claw-shaped jaws, long spiny teeth and toxic venom which are capable of killing large prey. O'Donnell said he believes the behavior of this ant may be an evolutionary predecessor of the killing style of other army ants. (Source: University of Washington)
Micro-notables
- Clones v. Bones: According to a survey of 1,005 US adults, 33% of Americans would never buy milk again if they found out it came from the offspring of cloned cows. The FDA has not yet said that milk from cloned cows is identical to milk from conventionally-bred ones, but a University of Connecticut study shows that milk production of cloned cows is no different from that of other cattle. (Source: Dairy Today)
- Face-Off: The face transplant saga continues, as British surgeons prepare for the first full-transplant operation, scheduled for next year. The team has been granted ethics-board approval to seek five patients for the physically and psychologically risky surgery. (Source: the Guardian)