Bat research: not just about bats

One of the top science stories this week has been the discovery of a type of pitcher plant in which bats rest and defaecate during the day. Bats are indeed interesting creatures.

International 'Year of the Bat' takes place (bizarrely over two years) during 2011 and 2012 and aims to educate people regarding "the essential roles of bats in maintaining healthy ecosystems and human economies", according to Merlin Tuttle, an American ecologist and bat researcher.

"Bats are found nearly everywhere and approximately 1,200 species account for almost a quarter of all mammals. Nevertheless, in recent decades their populations have declined alarmingly. Many are now endangered, though they provide invaluable services that we cannot afford to loose" said Tuttle.

But bat research isn't just about saving the flying mammals; researchers investigating how to protect bats from extinction are also working with the US air force to design unmanned aircraft based on the mechanics of bat flight. Understanding how bats are able to fly in vast crowds without injury is key to designing drones which can fly in cluttered skies.

The sounds that bats make are also of interest to scientists. Australian scientists have recently shown that bats there have distinctive regional calls. Scientists took 4,000 bat calls and analysed them using custom-made software and was able to identify different species and sources.

The bats us the calls to navigate and hunt using the echolocation technique - where sounds, inaudible to humans, hit objects and bounce back.

There is also some evidence where bats have been useful for humans, particularly in the area of medicine. Researchers in the US have looked into using an enzyme present in vampire bat saliva to thin human blood and help save brain cells in stroke patients. Desmoteplase, a drug based on an enzyme from Desmodus Rotundus have produced mixed results.

Prof. Christopher Bladin, who also works on the same enzyme in Australia, is enthusiastic about the ability of bats to impact on human medicine: "Well vampire bats, you have to love them. I mean, they've got a range of novel pharmaceutical drugs inside them, so they're an animal dear to my heart and more importantly, dear to my brain".

You can find out more about bats and the Year of the Bat here.

Speaking of Education...

Communicate Science - Guest Post

This is not an article about promoting maths to second level students. 

The Teaching Council just this week suggested that higher level maths should be a prerequisite for trainee primary school teachers. No one disputes the benefits of encouraging young people to be more fluent in basic mathematics and of persuading those with ability to study higher level maths rather than being one more person to take part in the most popular examination in the state, ordinary level maths.

In fact, my proposal for encouraging more and better prepared young people to opt for careers in engineering and science, as well as developing an essential skill for all students is to establish an English language oral examination.

I wear as a badge of honour that I once gave a presentation using acetates and an overhead projector. They were simpler times. The dream of having complete control over the flamboyance of how your new slide appeared on screen for your audience was then just a utopian vision, along the lines of the paperless office or a world where the hat was, once again, an accepted everyday item of clothing. My delivery was, I’m sure, awful. Nervous, rambling and perhaps an injustice to the work I had so diligently prepared.

How much better I have become in delivering presentations is not for me to judge but I know I have improved. This is due to a combination of practice and the professional and personal self-confidence which naturally comes with life experience.

An English oral examination is, I think, an idea worthy of further study. Perhaps it would just do what better schools have always done, to teach students how to present themselves to the world in a coherent and impressive manner. But perhaps it would put an emphasis on this skill in schools where, for whatever reason, this crucial skill is not given the recognition it deserves.

The examination might take the format of a presentation on a single topic of the students choice without slides but allowing one prop that can be carried by hand followed by a spontaneous discussion. The Leaving Certificate is often criticised for being about rote learning. A discussion based on a random glance at the morning’s letters page in the Irish Times might shake things up.

The goal is to encourage in young people the skills necessary to be able to present ones ideas confidently, to discuss specialised topics with laypeople and to hold up ones side of random, polite conversation. These are skills necessary for many career paths. One of the key competences of a scientist or engineer must be to use effective communication and interpersonal skills to work with others of all levels and to effectively present and discuss ideas. A sound basis in this skill at an early age will help people in any career path and will certainly assist students entering the science and engineering fields.

Kieran Lettice is an engineer and renewable energy consultant. 

Government needs to fund agri-education properly

In the next seven weeks, politicians from all parties will turn up at your day looking for your vote. I know I'll be asking them all about their commitment to education.

It's worrying then, to see the effect that cutbacks are having on Ireland's agricultural development agency Teagasc and particularly on their educational remit.

Despite the Irish food industry having a bumper year, Prof. Gerry Boyle, Teagasc Director, says that they have had turn away 250 young farmers because they don't have the staff to train them.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Prof. Boyle explains the effect the governments moratorium on recruitment is having: "We had around 150 contract advisors, but they have all been let go. We are down to around 240 advisors from our previous level of 400.

"As for teaching and lecturing staff, you can get by without staff in some areas, but not without teachers...Agri is being treated differently to other areas in education. For the life of me, I don't understand that.

"We have had to turn away about 250 students due to the moratorium. While I recognise that there is a need to reduce numbers in the public sector, there is a need to ring-fence specialist roles.

"We are under-resourced in beef where applied research is concerned. We need a stronger genetics input. Plant pathology is a crucial competence in managing disease resistance, but we don't even have one plant pathologist".

All this, when Bord Bia is reporting how huge an impact food and agriculture had on the Irish economy last year. Food and drink exports was worth €7.9 billion to Ireland in 2010 and that figure is set to grow again.

Aiden Cotter, Bord Bia Chief Executive was upbeat in his assessment: "In a year in which the world’s population will reach seven billion, growth in global demand is set to underpin food markets well into the future".

If this, or any government is committed to a national recovery, they must realise that food and agriculture is already at the centre of that recovery. While savings in the public sector must be made, it is not in our long term interest to stop training those farmers will be part of that recovery. Maybe mention that to the politicians when they call.

My Secret Life - Animals at Play

My latest guest post for PBS NOVA's Secret Life of Scientists blog is now online. This week's episode features engineer and product designer Judy Lee talking about her love of design and how she's sharing that love on TV.


You can read the post and watch the episode here.

In this month's post, I look at how animals can demonstrate they're playful side.

Pterosaur egg discovered

Female Darwinopterus with egg (Lu et al., 2011)

Scientists working in China have discovered a female Pterosaur fossil alongside its egg. 

The researchers believe the 3-foot long flying reptilian was caught in a storm which may have broken here wing and washed her into a lake where she died, with the pressure of the mud expelling her egg.

David Unwin (University of Leicester) whose analysis of the fossil was published in Science yesterday describes it as a "tragedy" for the pterosaur, but that the find could answer some important questions about differences in gender in the pterosaur.

The 160 million years old fossil was identified as a Darwinopterus, a type of pterosaur (flying reptile) which lived in the middle of the Jurassic.

The egg appears to have been soft, inficating it would have been buried and left after laying rather than tended to constantly like a bird's egg.

The bird lacks a bony headcrest and Unwin believes that this, along with an enlarged pelvis are defining characteristics of a female pterosaur.

Unlike dinosaurs, whose features are preserved in modern day birds, pterosaurs were an 'evolutionary dead end'.

David Bellamy - Happy Birthday

Today is the birthday of British botanist, broadcaster and author David Bellamy who was born in 1933. Although he has some controversial views on the environment and global warming, as a science broadcaster he was ahead of his time.

'Irish Giant' Documentary

We recently covered the story of Charles Byrne, the so-called 'Irish Giant' and the recent scientific breakthroughs which have been made using his remains.

Ronin films have produced an excellent documentary (As Gaeilge) for the BBC. The documentary aired last night and the opening sequence is presented here.