Lunar Eclipse Photo Special

Pictures hot off the press of tonight's total lunar eclipse. Taken at Rosscarbery in West Cork. Click on each for a larger version.

 

Science Gallery: Dublin Zoo

Regular readers will know that we here at Communicate Science very much believe in the old saying that 'a picture paints a thousand words'. 

With that in mind, we sent our part-time roving reporter Daniel Lettice to Dublin Zoo recently to work his photographic magic and bring us some wonderful examples of the type of animals that the Zoo is home to.

Dublin Zoo was opened in 1831 and received all of its animals from the recently opened London Zoo.

The Zoo has had an interesting history since then: receiving its first giraffe in 1844; its first lions in 1855;surviving the 1916 rising by feeding some of the less fortunate animals to the lions; right up to the present day when it is one of the most visited attractions in the state.

Our first photo is of one of the Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) - the smallest of all still existing tiger subspecies. The tigers are critically endangered in the wild. Around 400-500 were thought to exist in 1998 and their numbers continue to decline.

Next, it's the Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiaca): an easily recognisable yellow-eyed bird. This guy is a male - the males are virtually pure white, while the females have dark markings.

This hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) looks right at home in the water. Dublin's hippos are named Henri, Hoovie and Heidi. native to central and southern Africa, they are classified as 'vulnerable' in the wild.

Finally, an Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus), from the herd at Dublin Zoo. they have smaller ears than their African counterpart and those ears (kind of) look like India! it's estimated that there are only around 35-50,000 Asian Elephants left in the wild.

Dublin Zoo is open all year round; except for Christmas Day and St. Stephens Day. It's really worth a visit.

Remarkable Trees

National TreeWeek came to an end in Ireland last weekend and to celebrate, some pictures of trees from the main campus of University College Cork:

The first is a very special tree - the largest of its types in Ireland. This Chinese Privet (Ligustrum lucidum) is 9 metres high and 3.19 m in girth and is classified by the Tree Council of Ireland as an "exceptional specimen tree".

The species is the largest growing of its genus, reaching up to 25 m in height.

The next is an impressive specimen of weeping willow (Salix babylonica). The species is native to China and gets its species name, apparently, from a misunderstanding by Linnaeus, who catalouged it, and thought it was a tree mentioned in the Bible: "By the rivers of Babylon... hung our harps upon the willows".

The last image is a pair of magnificant Giant Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) located at the entrance to the Boole Library. The species is the only living species in the genus and can live for up to 1800 years or more. The species contains the tallest trees on earth, reaching up to 115 metres in height.

You can see an interactive map of some of the important tree specimens on the UCC campus here.

Images of Science

The 11th Wellcome Image Awards were announced on 23 February 2011, recognising the creators of the most informative, striking and technically excellent images among recent acquisitions to Wellcome Images, as chosen by a panel of judges.
All of the winners can be seen on the awards website. A few of my favourites are presented below.

Cavefish Embryo
Confocal micrograph of a cavefish embryo at around five-days-post-fertilization, viewed from the side (lateral view). The embryo has been stained with an antibody that targets a calcium binding protein (calretinin) shown in green, which highlights different neuronal types and their processes in the nervous system. This staining also reveals taste buds, that in the cavefish are located around the mouth and extend along the body.

The eyes are still present at this stage of development but they will degenerate naturally during the lifetime of the fish as they live in a dark environment where eyes are redundant. Thus, adult cavefish are blind.

Ruby tailed wasp
Photomicrograph of the ruby-tailed wasp. Chrysis ignita is the most commonly observed (of several) species of the ruby-tailed wasp. It is easily recognised by the vibrant iridescent colours on its body. The head and thorax is a metallic green / blue, while the abdomen is a ruby red / bronze colour, which gives it its name. The underside of the abdomen is also concave, which allows the wasp to roll itself into a protective ball if threatened.

Ruby tailed wasps are 'parasitoids' meaning that they eventually kill their hosts. Chrysis ignita parasitizes Mason Bees - the females lay their eggs in the same nest as mason bees, so, when the ruby-tailed wasp larvae hatch, they feed on the mason bee larvae. Ruby tailed wasps do have a sting but it is not functional and most species have no venom.

Cell division and gene expression in plant cells
Fluorescent micrograph showing cell division in an Arabidopsis seedling used to study in vivo gene expression and cell growth analysis, cell by cell from living tissue

Using this technique fluorescent proteins are targeted to the nucleus, so plants can be imaged as they grow, this also allows for simultaneous and automated quantification of gene activity and cell growth in a cell-by-cell basis. As the plant is alive different time points can be captured to track changes in cell size and gene activity in each cell. Information regarding cell growth and gene activity can be extracted from living tissue at different stages.

The red fluorescence is always expressed (acts as a reference), other promoters of interest are fused to different fluorescent proteins and co localized to the nucleus. In this case the green fluorescent protein (GFP) is regulated by a gene of interest (and is therefore only expressed when that gene is active and is therefore variable among cells). A third fluorescent protein is attached to plasma membrane to visualise the segmentation of cells as they grow.

Small red cells that don't have the gene active and do not express GFP are precursors of stomata. Cells that are yellow have both the red and green expressed.

Ergot fungus infection in wheat
Fluorescent micrograph showing wheat stigmas infected with the ergot fugus (Claviceps), which causes ergotism in humans.

The Art of Science

The Art of Science is a wonderful creative arts competition run by the Faculty of Medical and Veterinary Sciences at University of Bristol. Researchers are challenged to look for "aesthetic beauty in their experimental work".

This year's winners and a few of the runners-up are presented here to give you a flavour of what is submitted. I think it's a wonderful idea, something that could be replicated across many research institutes and universities.

Brain Mesh by Abigail Benn

The Black Coat by Anya Sawasdichai

Skinaesthesia II by Bronwen Burton

Rose by Dr. Nathaniel Harran

Science Snapshot Three: Castles in the Air

Science Week is ongoing in Ireland and continues until the 14th. For more details of events taking place around the country, you can visit here.


Here on Communicate Science, for the duration of Science Week, along with our usual posts, we'll be posting a 'Science Snapshot' every day. If you have a Science Snapshot you'd like to share, you can email here and we'll post the best later in the week.

The next picture is a shot of Blackrock Castle in Cork City. A castle was built on the site first around 1600 at the behest of Queen Elizabeth 1 who suggested it would "repel pirates and other invaders" from the City of Cork.

The original castle was destroyed in 1827 by fire and it was rebuilt (as it currently stands) by 1829. The castle came into public hands in 2001 when Cork City Council purchased it.

It now houses Ireland's first fully interactive astronomy centre and a team of astronomical researchers from Cork Institute of Technology.

The castle and astronomy centre is open to the public and has picked up a number of awards for its exhibitions.