Thejoyofscience - This Is For All The Nerdy Girls

New project!

I received a new research project in my lab today on concurrent ehrlichia infections in dogs! All the happy feels! 

2021 BABY LETS GO

Amazing Annual Monarch Butterfly Migrations

Monarch butterflies in other countries also migrate with the season, but it’s those in North America that travel the greatest distance. Each year, there are two major Monarch Butterfly migrations in North America. Those monarchs that live east of the Rocky Mountains fly down to Mexico, while the more western population stops in California. Monarchs do not like the cold, and as soon as things start to get a little chilly up north, they take off south (and west) for warmer climates.

The largest group travels over 1,250 miles from the Rocky Mountains to spend the winter in Michoacán, Mexico. The government of Mexico has managed to almost stamp out logging in the monarch’s wintering areas, a practice which once threatened the migrating insects. Working with environmental organizations and individuals, they have been encouraging communities to start eco-tourism enterprises by planting trees for the butterflies to nest. The monarch is a butterfly ruled by the sun. When the autumn sun reaches fifty two degrees above the horizon, the monarch reproduction cycle shuts down, and their great migration begins. When they begin their flight down to Mexico, they have never been there, yet every generation is able to find the exact same spot year after year where their previous ancestors spent the winter.

The second group travels from Ontario, Canado to spend their winters in Santa Cruz, California. You may wonder why the monarchs don’t simply stay and enjoy the warmer weather there year round. That’s because they need the milkweed plants on which their larvae feed, and those are more plentiful up north. So as soon as the weather starts to warm up, that’s where they return every year. Interestingly, not every generation of monarchs migrate. Some simply remain in their breeding ground. Those that do migrate are born at the end of summer or early autumn. Because of their trip to warmer climes, this special generation will outlive several younger generations that stay put. It will then be the migratory monarchs’ great grandchildren that follow the beat of their forebears’ wings.

in Ontario, Canada, in their summer home. It’s thought that the distinctive bright coloring of the monarchs acts as a warning to predators to stay away. Monarch butterflies are also poisonous and will make any animal that tries to eat them sick – hopefully sick enough not to try snacking on them a second time! The poison comes from the milkweed that they eat while they are caterpillars. This doesn’t always work, however. Certain bird species, for example, have learned that some parts of the butterflies are not as toxic, while other predators are resistant or immune to the poison altogether.

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There was a sensitive pragmatic question which needed to be answered, however. To put it bluntly: Was Arya going to be naked on camera? Many cast members have appeared nude on the show, though typically signed on when they were at least 18 years old (and often agreed to nudity as part of their deal). The 22-year-old Williams joined Thrones when she was 11 and has grown up in front of fans. Williams says the showrunners let her decide precisely how much to show. “David and Dan were like: ‘You can show as much or as little as you want,’” Williams says. “So I kept myself pretty private. I don’t think it’s important for Arya to flash. This beat isn’t really about that. And everybody else has already done it on the show, so…”

Still, when it came time to film the encounter, Williams had to be naked-ish on set, and that was a naturally a bit awkward. “In the beginning, everyone was really respectful,” she says. “No one wants to make you feel uncomfortable which kind of makes you feel more uncomfortable, because no one wants to look at anything that they shouldn’t look at which in turn makes you feel like you look awful because everyone is kind of like—” [Williams averts her eyes]. “You want people to act more normal.”

Continues Williams: “Then [the scene] was rushed. We were [directed by] David Nutter, who has a habit of speaking fast anyway. By the end we’re rushing to finish the scene and David is going, ‘Okay, you’re going to come in and do this and do that and, great, take your top off’ — and then walked off. And I’m like … ‘Okay. Let’s do it.”

Dempsie suggested the experience was strange for him too for given how long he’s known Williams, who’s about a decade younger than him. “It’s obviously slightly strange for me because I’ve known Maisie since she was 11, 12 years old,” says the 31-year-old actor. “At the same time, I don’t want to be patronizing toward Maisie — she’s a 20-year-old woman. So we just had a lot of fun with it.”

But Williams says what’s most important to her about Arya’s battle-eve night of romance wasn’t reading the scene or even filming it, but rather what this moment meant for her character. Year after year, Arya has been laser-focused on survival and training and revenge. Being with Gendry meant that, for one night at least, Arya had an experience that put her back in touch with her humanity.

“It was really interesting because it’s a very human relationship for Arya,” Williams says. “This is something she’s stayed away from, an emotion we’ve never really seen her engage with. David and Dan were like, ‘It’s the end of the world, what else would you have her do?’ This may be is a moment where Arya accepts death tomorrow, which she never does — ‘Not Today.’ So it was that moment where she says, ‘We’re probably going to die tomorrow, I want to know what this feels like before that happens.’ It’s interesting to see Arya be a bit more human, speak more normally about things people are scared of.” — Maisie Williams discusses Arya’s surprise Gendry scene

Contest Entries: Hypatia of Alexandria

My favorite Female Scientist by Drziggystardust

Mathematician, philosopher, astronomer- Mostly known for her work in mathematics because she is the first well documented woman in the field. Her life and work were so important that many scholars agree that her brutal murder by religious zealots marks the end of the Classical Antiquity era, at the very least her death marked the downfall of intellectual life in Alexandria.    

What do you name a virus that is 1,000 times larger than the flu virus, has 200 times as many genes, and 93% of those genes are previously unknown to science? The mythical Pandora’s Box seemed an appropriate inspiration, and so the genus was dubbed Pandoravirus.  These extra-large viruses may have been missed in the past because of their size, and were likely thought to be bacteria. Pandoraviruses do not behave typically, and may re-open the conversation regarding viruses as a life form. More info: http://bit.ly/1bwvYuY Image via Chantal Abergel and Jean-Michel Claverie

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Hitchhiking bacteria might help their host navigate via magnetic fields

Deep in the mud of the Mediterranean Sea, scientists have caught microscopic protists dancing to a strange beat—the beat of Earth’s magnetic fields. Now, a new study reveals how these tiny clusters of cells orient themselves along those fields: by letting magneto-sensing bacteria hitch a ride on their outer membranes.

Researchers used microscopes to examine protist-packed sediment taken from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea near Carry-le-Rouet, France. When they placed a magnet with its north pole facing a water droplet from the sediment, the hundreds of protists inside immediately began to swim toward the droplet’s edge. When the researchers reversed the magnet so its south pole was facing the droplet, the protists fled in the other direction (above).