The Ed's Up #88

How Do African Grasslands Support So Many Plant-Eaters?

"Across the savannahs of Africa, millions of stomachs are busy converting plant tissue into animal flesh. The continent’s leaves and grasses are under constant assault from impala, wildebeest, buffalo, zebra, gazelles, and giraffes. Even acacia trees get bulldozed by elephants. There can be up to 25 species of these large plant-eaters in a given place, and many of them gather in gargantuan herds. How do they co-exist?" (Image: Christopher Michel)
 

The Microbe That Invaded Caribbean Coral Reefs

"Think of giant pythons, cane toads, rats... these re all classic examples of invasive species. Here is another, and it’s very different. It’s a microscopic alga called Symbiodinium trenchii. Unlike the python or the cane toad or the rat, this tiny brown bauble seems fairly benign—even beneficial. It lives in the cells of corals and provides them with food, by harnessing the sun’s energy to make sugars. It typically does this in its native waters in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. But somehow, it recently found its way to the Caribbean, on the other side of the world. And there, it displays all the characteristics of an invasive species." (Image: Allison Lewis)
 

Smart probiotics: Wiring friendly bacteria to take out disease

This is my new feature in New Scientist, which, sadly, is only free to subscribers. "Chang is just one of a growing club of scientists who are tweaking our microbiome, the microbes that live in or on our bodies, in pursuit of better health. Armed with the tools of synthetic biology, they are stuffing bacteria with circuitry composed of new combinations of genes, turning them into precision-targeted micro-drones designed to detect and fix specific problems. Welcome to the age of smart probiotics, where specially designed bacterial rangers patrol the gut, reporting on the state of the environment, eliminating weedy species, and putting out fires. Will this micromanagement of our microbiome lead to a healthier ecosystem or are we jumping in when we can’t yet swim?" (Image: Brett Ryder)
 

More good reads

• Meanwhile in the Future is an awesome podcast by Rose Eveleth, which combines science, science-fiction, radio drama, and fun speculation. I recommend it. Highlights real future scenarios (end of antibiotics) to fun implausible ones (space pirates drag second moon to Earth).
• On rabbit-holes, real, figurative, and both. By the peerless Kathryn Schulz, who is clearly having too much fun at the New Yorker.
• “If the GoPro camera is first-person singular, the camera trap is third-person plural.” Wonderful piece and slide-show about Serengeti camera traps, spying on Africa’s wildlife. By Alan Burdick.
• "Using less than a drop of blood, a new test can reveal nearly every virus a person has ever been exposed to.” Okay, sure, every known virus, but this is still a cool technique with many possible applications.  
• Sea spiders: not spiders; move in slow motion; genitals on legs. By Matt Simon
• DARPA had a robotics challenge. Here's a vid of robots falling down.
• What? Oh, nothing. Just an injectable polymer mesh that can wire nanoscale electrodes up to the brain. La dee da. By Elizabeth Gibney.
• Please welcome the wonderful Robert Krulwich to Phenomena!
• My New Scientist feature about programming gut microbes to fight disease & improve health. Paywall, sadly.
• "Blanket octopuses literally rip the tentacles right off portuguese men-o-war and use them like little nunchuks". And other amazing facts, curated by Rebecca Helm.
•  “Among the most puzzling aspects of Ebola virus, since its first recognized emergence almost four decades ago, is that it disappears for years at a time.” David Quammen tries to track down its hiding place.
• “How many times does the world have to be threatened with a deadly pandemic that moves from one species to another before people get the point?” Michael Specter on our relative unconcern over bird flu in chickens
• The surprisingly fascinating science of how Swiss cheese gets its holes. By Nicola Twilley

 

More good links will be released in tomorrow's linkfest on Not Exactly Rocket Science.

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And that's it! Thanks for reading.

-Ed