Test 1

The Sleeper must awaken...

Zombies Would Wipe Out Humans in Less than 100 Days
By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | January 6, 2017

Click here for the Zombie Math Article

The zombie apocalypse won't take long.

A new article in a peer-reviewed student journal finds that the zombie hordes would take Earth's population down to a mere 273 survivors in 100 days.

I've got my anti-zombie kit already prepared (but no, I won't share it with you). Are you ready yet?

World wildlife 'falls by 58% in 40 years'

The Living Planet assessment, by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and WWF, suggests that if the trend continues that decline could reach two-thirds among vertebrates by 2020.

The figures suggest that animals living in lakes, rivers and wetlands are suffering the biggest losses.

Human activity, including habitat loss, wildlife trade, pollution and climate change contributed to the declines.

Dr Mike Barrett. head of science and policy at WWF, said: "It's pretty clear under 'business as usual' we will see continued declines in these wildlife populations. But I think now we've reached a point where there isn't really any excuse to let this carry on.

"We know what the causes are and we know the scale of the impact that humans are having on nature and on wildlife populations - it really is now down to us to act."

Wow, this is heavy - While I probably won't be around much in 40 years, I'd hate to think that all the creatures, great and small, won't be around for my granddaughter to see live, and maybe not even in a zoo!  Maybe the next generation can do a better job than mine did...so long and thanks for all the fish! - JG

Welcome New Students!

Hey new student dudes and dudettes! You've found my blog!

Already you've proved how much smarter you are, compared to that guy next to you (eeek!). 

Every now and then, you'll find a story or video link to something of interest in science. Visit the link, read the article or watch the video, and in the comments section, write me one or two sentences explaining what it was about, and include your name (so I can give you credit for it). 

If you like, you could email me your comment at jgiacobbe@nakedscience.org or john.giacobbe@royalpalmcharter.com

Awesome! You are such a good student!

Chimpanzees Are Able to Plan Ahead, Use Tools as Weapons

This is pretty cool...read it and watch the video...and reply for extra credit!!!

Scientists: Chimpanzees Are Able to Plan Ahead, Use Tools as Weapons

link to the video

Well, we've been really quiet for some time now, but I think things are about to change...to start, how about some thoughts....

I think, what a joy it is to be alive, 
and wonder if I will ever leap inward, 
to the root of this flesh, 
and know myself as I truly am?
The root is there, 
and any random act of will, or word, or thought, may free me. 
Until then all things a man may do are mine. 
I but await the event that will free me.....

Biggest Scientific Breakthroughs of 2014

Biggest Scientific Breakthroughs of 2014

Well, here are some cool science stuff from last year. Check them out, visit a link or two (or more), and write me a line or two in either the comments section or by email for some extra credit

First, let's look at our own ancestors, and wonder at their abilities...

...art is not unique to modern humans

Next, we've created a Living Organism With An Expanded Genetic Alphabet...

Or, if that's not to your taste, how about an Artificial Yeast Chromosome Was Built From Scratch

Maybe your interests tend towards the far out, so how about the discovery of the First Earth-Sized Habitable Zone Planet?

if that's not cool and weird enough, how about the Worlds First Birth With A Donated Womb?

and lastly, just so we can get to know our future robot overlords, how about this first step, the Largest Robotic Swarm In History Takes Shape

Some Cool News in Science.....10.2014

Some Cool News in Science.....

Oldest relative to universal ancestor found
The remains of a man who died in 315 B.C. in southern Africa have identified him as the closest known relative to humanity's common female ancestor, a study published in Genome Biology and Evolution reports. "He belongs to the earliest diverged lineage -- the oldest we know of," said study leader Vanessa Hayes of the Garvan Institute in Australia. He lived more than 100,000 years after his female ancestor, and is the first ancient human from sub-Saharan Africa to undergo DNA sequencing, researchers say. New Scientist (10/9)

Invasive species evolutionarily predisposed to compete
Some plants and creatures are evolutionarily predisposed to do well in non-native environments while others are not, according to a study inGlobal Ecology and Biogeography. Researchers studied locations where many invasive species originate and found they had a high diversity of competing species, making them predisposed to adapt to different environments. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (10/9)

Finding Clues in Genes of ‘Exceptional Responders’

“Grace Silva has a horrible form of thyroid cancer that is considered untreatable — usually, patients are sent to a hospice and die within months of learning they have the disease. But she is still alive four years after her diagnosis. She is what cancer doctors call an exceptional responder: someone who defies all expectations by responding dramatically to a drug tried not with a real rationale but more out of a doctor’s desperate urge to do something.”  NY Times (10/9)

New Stem Cell Treatment, Successful in Mice, May Someday Cure Type 1 Diabetes

“When his infant son Sam was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes two decades ago, Doug Melton made himself a promise: He would cure it. When his daughter Emma was diagnosed with the same autoimmune disease at 14, he redoubled his efforts.  Finally he can see the finish line. In a paper published Thursday in the journal Cell, Melton announces that he has created a virtually unlimited supply of the cells that are missing in people with type 1 diabetes.”  National Geographic (10/10)

New class of fatty molecules battles diabetes in mice

“Lipids, the chemical family that includes fats and related molecules, get blamed for clogged arteries and heart attacks. But thanks to careful detective work tracking the effects of a particular protein, researchers have discovered a class of lipids that prevent or reverse some of the harmful metabolic changes of diabetes and similar disorders in mice. These molecules might be therapeutic themselves, or they could lead researchers to new drugs.” Science NOW (10/10)

Fish fail to see reflections as rivals

“Mirrors are often used to elicit aggression in animal behavioural studies, with the assumption being that creatures unable to recognize themselves will react as if encountering a rival. But research suggests that such work may simply reflect what scientists expect to see, and not actual aggression.  For most people, looking in a mirror does not trigger a bout of snarling hostility at the face staring back. But many animals do seem to react aggressively to their mirror image, and for years mirrors have been used to trigger such responses for behavioural research on species ranging from birds to fish.”  Nature News and Comment  (10/10)

Sidewinder snakes show researchers how to climb slippery sand
Scientists have turned to sidewinder snakes and their robotic counterparts to discover how the creatures navigate sandy terrain without sliding. Researchers hope that learning how the snakes traverse the tricky terrain may one day lead to robots that can easily navigate rubble in search-and-rescue missions or archaeological sites. National Geographic News (free registration)/Weird & Wild blog (10/9) NY Times(10/9)

The Surprising Beauty and Biodiversity of Freshwater Fauna [Slide Show]

“When most people think about biodiversity they envision rainforests or coral reefs. Filmmaker Jeremy Monroe is on a mission to change that and teach about the amazing species that live in freshwater. Many people know only the freshwater animals that are commonly caught as sport fish, such as the largemouth bass.”  Scientific American (10/10)

Study: Responses to various types of humor change with age
What people find funny can depend on their age, according to a study in Psychology and Aging. Researchers showed comedy clips to subjects of various ages and found that older adults disapprove of jokes they consider aggressive or mean. The Washington Post (tiered subscription model) (10/9)

Plant Biology Informs the Origins of the Stradivarius

“By day, Dan Chitwood of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis is a plant morphologist who studies how the form and structure of tomatoes evolves differently as they adapt to new environments. By night, when he needs to think through a problem or take a break, he plays the viola.  Chitwood has now crossed his passions for plants and stringed instruments by publishing a study that documents the evolution of violin shapes using the same methods that he uses for charting the evolving form of leaves. The study published Oct. 8 inPLoS One used these methods to examine the shape of 9,000 instruments built over a period of 400 years.”  Scientific American (10/10)

NASA ready to track comet as it flies by Mars
In a little over a week, a mountain-sized comet will zip by Mars, and NASA is ready for its close-up. The space agency has an array of spacecraft, the Mars rovers and myriad telescopes set to track comet Siding Spring from various angles and lights as it passes the red planetOct. 19. "This particular comet has never before entered the inner solar system, so it will provide a fresh source of clues to our solar system's earliest days," said NASA's John Grunsfield. Los Angeles Times (tiered subscription model) (10/9)

Drought reveals remains of once-submerged Oregon town
A drought has revealed the remnants of a community in Oregon that had once been submerged in a man-made reservoir, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Archaeologists are excavating the buildings, dating back to 1920, which were left behind in the 1960s when the reservoir was constructed and residents of Klamath Junction were relocated. Depending on the findings, the site may be considered for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Reuters (10/10)

Ancient Antikythera wreckage holds treasure trove of artifacts

Researchers excavating the 2,000-year-old wreckage of the Antikythera in Greece have found a treasure trove ancient goods. "The evidence shows this is the largest ancient shipwreck ever discovered," said marine archaeologist Brendan Foley. The wreckage was discovered more than a century ago but the current excavation has found it covers a larger area than was previously thought. LiveScience.com (10/9)

Nearby galaxy offers clues about how universe went from dark to light
A nearby galaxy densely packed with young stars is helping researchers understand how the early universe went from dark to light, according to a study published in Science. Stars forming in the galaxy J0921+4509 emit high levels of extreme-ultraviolet light, some of which escapes the dense fog of hydrogen gas. The Christian Science Monitor (10/9)

Science in the News:

Why Some Males Evolved to Be Small and Sneaky

“Bigger males may get a lot of attention, but sometimes being smaller—and sneakier—is more successful when it comes to mating.  In the East African cichlid fish, Lamprologus callipterus, males come in two sizes: giants or dwarves that are 40 times smaller than their beefier rivals. (Watch a video of male cichlid fish fighting.)  It’s an example of male polymorphism, a phenomenon in which males of the same species take different forms. Though people vary in height, men don’t come in two different sizes like the cichlids. Several research studies suggest that tall men—those over 5’7″—are more successful in dating and in their careers—but they get divorced at higher rates.”  National Geographic (9/18)

A World with 11 Billion People? New Population Projections Shatter Earlier Estimates

“Warning: The 21st century may get a lot more crowded than previously thought. In a paper published Thursday in Science, demographers from several universities and the United Nations Population Division conclude that instead of leveling off in the second half of the 21st century, as the UN predicted less than a decade ago, the world's population will continue to grow beyond 2100. (Read "Population Seven Billion" in National Geographic magazine.)”  National Geographic (9/18)

For Trees under Threat, Flight May Be Best Response

“The whitebark pine grows in the high, cold reaches of the Rocky and Sierra Mountains, and some individuals, wind-bent and tenacious, manage to thrive for more than a thousand years.  Despite its hardiness, the species may not survive much longer.  A lethal fungus is decimating the pines, as are voracious mountain pine beetles. Making matters worse, forest managers have suppressed the fires that are required to stimulate whitebark pine seedlings.”  NY Times (9/18)

Why Tiny Microbes Mean Big Things for Farming

“On a frigid day last February, Maren Friesen drove eight hours across snow-covered plains to Centralia, Pennsylvania. A fire ignited a seam of coal below the town in 1962, and more than 60 years later it's still smoldering away underground. The place is a steaming, smoldering wasteland—one that may hold a key to feeding the world. Friesen, a microbiologist, is on a hunt for a microbe thought to live in these strange, hot soils. The humble bacterium has an unusual ability that may help farmers grow more crops.” National Geographic (9/18)

Dogs show signs of pessimism, study suggests
Dogs, often thought of as eternal optimists, can be pessimists too, according to a study published in PLOS ONE. Researchers taught a group of dogs to identify two specific tones, associating one with tasty milk and the other with plain water, then introduced a third tone to see if the dogs would respond enthusiastically, as if expecting milk, or not respond at all. The unresponsive, or pessimistic, dogs were more cautious and easily discouraged, researchers say. Discovery (9/18)

Scientists identify molecule that boosts stem cells in cord blood
Researchers from the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer at the University of Montreal announced the discovery of the molecule UM171 that could be used to multiply cultured cord blood stem cells by a factor of 10. The method could be used to make cord blood stem cells a viable transplant option for adults, and a clinical study of the molecule is scheduled to begin this year. The findings were reported in the journal Science. Medical News Today (9/18)

Ancient Roman fort found in Germany
The remnants of a 1,900-year-old Roman fort have been found in the German town of Gernsheim. Researchers had long suspected a fort existed in the area, which once was the site of a village in the first to third centuries, but until now no fort had been found. "It was assumed that this settlement had to have been based on a fort, since it was customary for the families of the soldiers to live outside the fort in a village-like settlement," said archaeologist Thomas Maurer of the University of Frankfurt. LiveScience.com (9/18)

Remains of pre-Civil War slaves found at renovation site at Nashville Zoo
Human remains found during a renovation at the Nashville Zoo appear to have belonged to slaves buried between 1820 and 1850 in a cemetery on what was once known as the Grassmere farm. An analysis of nine of the skeletons shows that they were African-Americans and each showed signs of having lives of hard labor. Archaeologists and zoo officials have reburied the remains found in the site's 19 graves in another area of the zoo and hope to create exhibits "to tell exactly who these people were, to what extent that we know," said the zoo's historic site manager Tori Mason.The Tennessean (Nashville) (tiered subscription model) (9/18)

Disc galaxies can form from massive collisions, study finds
Several collisions between galaxies can result in the creation of disc galaxies like the Milky Way, according to research published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement. Researchers were surprised by their findings after studying colliding galaxies 40 million to 600 million light-years from Earth, believing that only elliptical galaxies were born during mergers. "This is a large and unexpected step towards understanding the mystery of the birth of disc galaxies," said Junko Ueda of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the lead researcher. Space.com (9/17)

Strange signal detected on space station could offer clues to dark matter
Evidence of the existence of dark matter may have been found by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle detector on the International Space Station. The AMS has detected an unknown signal that researchers think is a neutralino, a dark matter particle. While researchers have stopped short of saying they've found definitive proof of dark matter, "we still need to measure how quickly the positron fraction falls off at the highest energies in order to rule out astrophysical sources such as pulsars," said Samuel Ting of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and CERN, and lead AMS researcher. Discovery (9/18)

Welcome to a New Year!

Since you've already found this place, consider yourself one up on everyone else. If you visit here regularly, you'll find opportunities for extra credit, and rather cool bits, if I do say so myself.

For your first extra credit, all you have to do is comment on this post! Look for the comment buttons at the bottom, and tell me your name, and how clever you are for doing this cake-walk extra credit.

Good Luck!
Mr. Giacobbe

Current Events in Science - June 20th

Current Events in Science

Life Science:

Fish Fossils Shed Light on Origin of Jaws

Several fossil specimens of a Cambrian fish called Metaspriggina walcotti recently discovered in Canada shed new light on the development of the earliest vertebrates, including the origin of jaws.  The details in the fossils are stunning; even the eyes are beautifully preserved and clearly evident.  The fossils, which date from 505 million years ago, also show pairs of exceptionally well-preserved arches near the front of the fish’s body.  These arches have long been known to have played a key role in the evolution of vertebrates, including the origin of jaws.  Until now, however, a lack of quality fossils has meant that the arrangement of these arches in the first vertebrates had been hypothetical.  So here we have another example where a prediction is actually verified by observation — a hallmark of science.)  The first of the pairs or arches, closest to the head, eventually led to the evolution of jaws in vertebrates.  Also, the arrangement of the muscles shows that Metaspriggina walcotti were active swimmers, not unlike a trout, and the animals saw the world through a pair of large eyes and sensed their surrounding environment with nasal structures.
http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/science-fish-fossils-metaspriggina-walcotti-origin-jaws-01986.html

Earth Science:

Canadian Scientists Discover Northernmost Perennial Spring

A team of researchers has announced the discovery of the earth’s highest latitude perennial spring, located in the polar desert of the Canadian High Arctic.  The Ice River Spring demonstrates that deep groundwater circulation through the cryosphere occurs, and can form gullies in a region of extreme low temperatures and with morphology remarkably similar to those on Mars.  Recordings show that this spring flows year-round, even during 24 hours of darkness in the winter months, when air temperatures are as low as –50°C (–58°F). 

http://www.sci-news.com/geology/science-northernmost-perennial-spring-01997.html

Climate Change:

Earth Has Its Warmest May on Record

Two of the leading centers that track global surface temperatures have reported their data for May, and they both found it to be the warmest such month on record for the planet.  NASA found that May had an average global temperature that was 1.38 degrees Fahrenheit above average, which would make it the warmest such month, coming out far ahead of May 2012.  The Japanese Meteorological Agency's separate analysis also found both May and the meteorological spring months of March through May to be the warmest on record.  Later this week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will release their global numbers, which typically closely match the other centers’.
http://mashable.com/2014/06/17/earth-warmest-may-spring/

Physical Science and Technology:

Silicon Could Be Replaced By Carbon Nanotubes in Many Circuits

When it comes to electronics, silicon will now have to share the spotlight.  Researchers have developed a flexible, energy-efficient circuit using carbon nanotubes.  Carbon nanotubes consist of carbon atoms arranged into microscopic tubes.  These could take the place of silicon as the traditional material used in electronic chips, since carbon nanotubes are more transparent, flexible, and lower cost.  The potential applications for this kind of integrated circuitry are numerous, including light-emitting diodes, digital circuits, radio frequency identification tags, sensors, and wearable electronics. Even heads-up displays on vehicle dashboards could soon be a reality.  The new technology also has medical applications.  To obtain medical information from a patient such as heart rate or brainwave data, stiff electrode objects are placed on several fixed locations on the patient's body. With this new flexible circuit, electrodes could be placed all over the patient's body with just a single large but flexible object.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140617164332.htm   

Astronomy:

Galaxy Images Extended to Ultraviolet

Astronomers previously captured long-exposure photos of galaxies in the direction of the constellation Fornax in visible and infrared light.  Galaxies were revealed that are so far away that the light we see today left those galaxies over 10 billion years ago.  Now new photos have been acquired in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, which reveal the formation process of galaxies, particularly at their younger stages.  The previous lack of information from ultraviolet light made studying the galaxies like trying to understand the history of families without knowing about the grade-school children. The addition of the ultraviolet fills in this missing range.

http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/science-hubble-ultra-deep-field2014-01967.html

Science & Society

Thirst for water moves and shakes California

In California’s Central Valley, removing groundwater to irrigate crops may trigger small earthquakes and uplift nearby mountains.  California’s thirst for water is creating unrest. During the dry season, tiny earthquakes rattle the state.  And GPS measurements show that its mountains have begun creeping higher, bit by bit.  Scientists have linked the two phenomena to the heavy pumping of water from natural reserves below California’s Central Valley.  The groundwater provides drinking water and irrigates some of the country’s most productive farms.  All that water has a lot of mass. The ground acts similar to a mattress after you get out of bed.  So removing all that water weight from beneath the Central Valley has allowed the ground nearby to rise back up.  In California, that upward movement has taken the surrounding mountains with it.

https://student.societyforscience.org/article/thirst-water-moves-and-shakes-california 

Science News for June 11th

Science News.......

Life Science:

New Fossil Bug Species Found in 45-Million-Year-Old Baltic Amber

Over 99.9% of the species to have ever inhabited the Earth are now extinct.  One member of an extinct bug species was found trapped in a 45-million-year-old honey-colored, transparent piece of Baltic amber.  (Baltic amber is a fossilized tree resin found near the shores of the eastern Baltic Sea in Europe.)  Living species of the same genus, Aradus, commonly live on and under the bark of dead trees, which could be an explanation why so many species are well preserved in amber deposits.  The new species has been named Aradus macrosomus. The specific name comes from the Greek words ‘macros’ (large) and ‘soma’ (body), referring to the unusually large size of the bug.
http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/science-fossil-bug-species-baltic-amber-01962.html      

Earth Science:

Scientists Discover New Underwater Volcano on Hawai’i

The Hawaiian Islands formed as the Pacific plate moved over a source of volcanism (a “hot spot”).  The islands formed successively, with each island or submerged seamount in the chain successively older toward the northwest, ranging in age from 7 million to 28 million years.  As we know it today, the island O’ahu is the remnants of two eruptions. But scientists have found that extending almost 100 km from the western tip of this island is a large region called the submarine Ka’ena Ridge.  It is that region that has now been recognized to represent a precursor volcano to the island of O’ahu, and on whose flanks the later volcanoes formed, creating the island as we see it today.
http://www.sci-news.com/geology/science-kaena-volcano-hawaii-01931.html          

Physical Science:

Physicists Detect Energy-Carrying “Exciton” in Metal

An interesting fact about the reflection of light is that the photon (particle of light) that gets reflected from a mirror is not the same photon that first hit the mirror.  The original photon gets absorbed and an identical photon is created emitted in a process that involves a kind of particle called an exciton.  Excitons have been difficult to detect, because they last for only one ten-thousandth of a millionth of a millionth of a second!  But now they have been detected.  The ability to detect excitons in metals will help scientists better understand how light is converted to electrical and chemical energy in plants and solar cells.  In the future it may result in more efficient methods of communication using light.

http://www.sci-news.com/physics/science-exciton-energy-carrying-quasiparticle-metal-01958.html  

Astronomy:

Gas Dwarfs: Astronomers Identify New Type of Extrasolar Planets

Our Solar system hosts small, rocky terrestrial planets like Earth and Mars and large gas giants like Neptune and Jupiter.  But it’s missing planets between about one and four times the size of Earth.  NASA’s Kepler mission has recently discovered that this type of planet is very common around other stars.

http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/science-gas-dwarfs-new-type-extrasolar-planets-01963.html        

Science & Society

Gender Bias May Influence Hurricane Preparedness

Hurricane names help to make public safety messages memorable, but new research shows that the choice of name may influence how people react to evacuation orders.  Although the World Meteorological Organization assigns the storms alternating male and female names, historical records show that those with more feminine names had higher death tolls.  Could people be avoiding evacuation because they assume that female-named storms will be gentler?  Researchers tested this idea with written scenarios that described an upcoming storm and asked respondents how dangerous they expected the storm to be and whether they would follow a voluntary evacuation order.  No matter which names they used —Victor/Victoria, Christopher/Christine, or selections from the upcoming hurricane name lists — respondents who read about male-named hurricanes judged them as riskier and said they would be more likely to evacuate than people who read about hurricanes with female names.  The researchers say that this may reflect an "implicit sexism" that gets in the way of understanding and responding to public safety messages.  A new naming system perhaps based on animals or objects may be in order, they suggest.

http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavior/2014/06/female-hurricanes-are-deadlier  

Dolphin whistle instantly translated by computer

Software has performed the first real-time translation of a dolphin whistle – and better data tools are giving fresh insights into primate communication too

IT was late August 2013 and Denise Herzing was swimming in the Caribbean. The dolphin pod she had been tracking for the past 25 years was playing around her boat. Suddenly, she heard one of them say, "Sargassum".

"I was like whoa! We have a match. I was stunned," says Herzing, who is the director of the Wild Dolphin Project. She was wearing a prototype dolphin translator called Cetacean Hearing and Telemetry (CHAT) and it had just translated a live dolphin whistle for the first time.

It detected a whistle for sargassum, or seaweed, which she and her team had invented to use when playing with the dolphin pod. They hoped the dolphins would adopt the whistles, which are easy to distinguish from their own natural whistles – and they were not disappointed. When the computer picked up the sargassum whistle, Herzing heard her own recorded voice saying the word into her ear.

Read the rest of the article here

Petrified National Forest

What Wiped Out the American West? Investigating a Triassic Extinction

Strewn across the dusty ground is the wreckage of a wetland forest that suddenly wilted and died 215 million years ago. Paul Olsen gestures at the broken lumps of white, red, and black quartz scattered about. “You see how it looks ropey?” he asks. He holds up a piece. “It looks like someone took little pieces of rope, snipped them up, and laid them down.”

Olsen believes that these scattered rocks mark the moment of a mass extinction that wiped out many species across North America. He would like to identify the calamity that triggered this extinction. But as I stand beside him in the midday sun, I’m unable to see the subtle clues that his trained eye perceives so easily. As I look at the rocks all about, I simply don’t see the ropey, cylindrical shapes that he’s talking about.

To read the rest of the story, click here...

Alleged jewel thief's kiss for victim leads to DNA fingerprint - and arrest

Alleged jewel thief's kiss for victim leads to DNA fingerprint - and arrest

French police hold man after taking swab from pecked cheek of gagged Paris store owner, then finding DNA database match...

An alleged jewel thief who sealed his crime with a kiss was caught after police analysed the DNA on his victim's cheek. Forensic scientists at the scene swabbed the woman's cheek to isolate the genetic profile.

The robber and an accomplice were said to have tied up, gagged and threatened the owner of a Paris jewellery store after following her home. They poured what they claimed was petrol over her head and told her they would set it alight if she did not give them the codes for the shop alarm.

When one of the robbers returned from clearing out the shop of jewels the pair released the woman, 56, who had been tied to a chair for four hours. It was then that the 20-year-old thief made his mistake. "The crook gave the victim a kiss on the cheek, in what was apparently a sign of compassion after the ordeal he had put her through," a police source told Le Parisien newspaper. "As soon as she was free the victim alerted the police.

"We hoped we could isolate the genetic fingerprint of her assailant. And indeed his DNA was identified and found to be on the national genetic print database."

A few months later detectives discovered the DNA matched a man who was being held by the authorities near Nîmes, southern France, on suspicion of other crimes.

During questioning the man admitted kissing his victim to "make up for the trauma". He has been remanded in custody while detectives trace his accomplice.

Immortal jellyfish: Does it really live forever?

The Turritopsis nutricula jellyfish has displayed a remarkable ability to regenerate its cells in times of crisis. 

 

 

While it is often joked that cats have nine lives, a certain species of jellyfish has been deemed “immortal” by scientists who have observed its ability to, when in crisis, revert its cells to their earliest form and grow anew. That means that these tiny creatures, 4 mm to 5 mm long, potentially have infinite lives.

 

The creature, known scientifically as Turritopsis nutricula, was discovered in the Mediterranean Sea in 1883, but its unique regeneration was not known until the mid-1990s. How does the process work? If a mature Turritopsis is threatened — injured or starving, for example — it attaches itself to a surface in warm ocean waters and converts into a blob. From that state, its cells undergo transdifferentiation, in which the cells essentially transform into different types of cells. Muscle cells can become sperm or eggs, or nerve cells can change into muscle cells, “revealing a transformation potential unparalleled in the animal kingdom,” according to the original study of the species published in 1996.

 

Since the Turritopsis’ virtual immortality was discovered, so have swarms of genetically identical jellyfish far from their original habitat, including in Japan, Spain and the Atlantic Ocean side of Panama. Researchers have concluded that these multiplying creatures are getting caught in ballast waters, water that is sucked into and pumped out of the long distance cargo ships. Polyps also could be growing on the ship’s hulls. Though genetically identical, these jellyfish seem to have adapted to their new environments. For example, specimens from swarms living in tropical waters have been found to have eight tentacles, while those discovered in temperate regions have 24 or more tentacles.

 

Read the rest here....