Parkside professor takes lead in naming dinosaur

From Journal Times: Parkside professor takes lead in naming dinosaur
SOMERS — The Cretaceous was hot and is hot again.

It was hot about 75 million years ago when a small dinosaur roamed what is now Utah. A team led by a University of Wisconsin-Parkside professor named this new species, which is one of the best specimens of its kind from North America before mammals rose to prominence and humans trod the earth.

It took about a year to name the new creature, said Lindsay Zanno. She is a 34-year-old assistant professor of biological sciences at Parkside and research associate at the Field Museum in Chicago. She is also the lead author of the Public Library of Science paper which named Talos sampsoni.

Talos was about the size of a big German shepherd, 80 pounds in weight and 5 to 6 feet long. And it was covered with feathers. The feathers are known from related dinosaurs found in China. Specimens there have been much better preserved, Zanno said, and one was an almost complete skeleton found in a sleeping position with its head tucked under its wing just like a modern bird.

Some of the Chinese specimens even have the remnants of feathers which scientists have been able to analyze to determine color, said Hans Sues, 55, a curator at the National Museum of Natural History, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

BIG FAMILY

What makes Talos such an exciting find is that it contradicts the idea that dinosaurs of the western, interior United States were uniform, Sues said. It is likely, in fact, that this part of the western U.S. was once a hotbed of dinosaur diversity.

"The world was very different than it is today," Zanno said. "There were no polar ice caps and global temperature was high. The oceans were expanding; they were basically flooding onto the continent and creating these very shallow seas."

In North America a shallow sea about 1,800 miles long stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada and divided the continent into East America and West America, Zanno said. So Talos was essentially in a coastal environment that would have been lush, hot and humid. But the seas would also have been pressing against the beginnings of the Rocky Mountains and isolating the animals in this area.

"So there's a very dynamic evolution going on on the continent during this time. And we think that contributed to really high diversity and many different species living there because of the complex interaction because sea and the mountain. I mean, this area is one of the most diverse areas for dinosaurs anywhere in the world. We have a phenomenal number of dinosaur species from this one ‘island,'" Zanno said.

The large eyes of this group of dinosaurs give another clue to their lives, Sues said. They were probably chasing prey at dusk or during early evening, he said. There would have been plenty to eat: smaller dinosaurs, babies of larger animals, eggs, lizards, frogs, salamanders, even insects.

But diet is hard to pin down, Zanno said. Talos probably ate meat and some plants.

AND BRAINS, TOO

This group of animals also had, for dinosaurs, very large brains compared to the size of their bodies. They would not have been as intelligent as a comparable mammal, Sues said, but somewhere in the range between and ostrich and an eagle.

"Neither are intellectually brilliant, but they're certainly capable of complex behaviors," he said.

There is evidence on the Talos skeleton of a rough life. One of its toes was injured, perhaps from a fracture or perhaps a bite, but certainly from some high-risk activity, Zanno said. It lived with that injury for a few months to a year before dying at between age 4 and 6. Like trees, she said, scientists can determine a dinosaur's age by looking at a cross-section of fossilized bone and counting the growth rings.

Much as we may think of dinosaurs as fierce predators, Zanno said, it's important to remember these were living, breathing, complex creatures.

"Something like Talos would have been fierce only when he needed to be," she said. "I think all in all an animal like Talos would have strived not to be seen. And certainly when you're running around in an environment filled with tyrannosaurs, you want to strive not to be seen."

These tyrannosaurs were not the T. rex, still about 10 million years in the future from Talos, but dinosaurs of the same family weighing 2,000 to 4,000 pounds - enough to see a German shepherd-sized dinosaur as dinner.

LIMITED BONES
For all that Zanno and her team learned about Talos, it comes from only part of the animal. The group had the hips and legs and feet, some vertebrae and two forearm bones. And this makes it the best specimen found so far in North America.

The reason is that Talos was a small animal. The bones of a dead Talos would have been scattered by scavengers. And the bones themselves are like those of modern birds: thin-walled and hollow, meaning they could be easily broken or crushed.

Despite all the impediments to recognizing specimens from millions of years ago, dinosaurs are out of their ice age. New species are being announced every few weeks, Sues said, and instead of a few hundred species scientists now believe there were probably thousands of species of dinosaurs.

Far from being a fossilized field, the study of dinosaurs is picking up speed. That is why, in this time of polar ice, the Cretaceous is hot again.

Americans Have No Idea Who Today's Scientists Are

From the Atlantic Wire: Americans Have No Idea Who Today's Scientists Are
Embedded in a New York Times story today on groups calling for scientists to take a more active role in public life is a statistic that caught our eye: When asked to name a scientist, 47 percent of Americans picked Albert Einstein, who has been dead for 56 years. The second most well-known scientist? Yeah, we're not sure either--23 percent answered "I don't know." Another survey revealed that only 4 percent of Americans could name a living scientist. (Stephen Hawking! Come on, people.)

The Times summoned these stats to illustrate the disconnect between the realms of science and politics. Several groups in the U.S. are prodding scientists, who are generally well-informed on energy and global warming and other heavily debated topics in politics, to speak out in their areas of expertise and even run for political office. Only a handful of members of the U.S. House of Representatives--31 of 435--are "technically trained" in a field of science, according to The Times.

Your Daughter's Science Role Model: A Cartoon Space Chimp

From The Atlantic Wire: Your Daughter's Science Role Model: A Cartoon Space Chimp
There's a reason girls and science don't mix: there's a role model shortage, especially in children's movies. The lack of ladies in STEM (science, technology engineering and math) fields is "troubling," reports The Washington Post's Anna Holmes. "According to a report released last month by the Department of Commerce, although females fill almost half of the jobs in the American economy, less than 25 percent of jobs in STEM fields are held by women." One reason ladies might shy away from geekier professions, argues Holmes, "there were no depictions of female characters involved in any sort of STEM career in children’s movies." That's not quite true: the study Holmes cites out of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media found three. So what exactly do these precious few role models look like?

Your daughter gets two choices: Astronaut or zany lab scientist. The study found three movies that have female characters in STEM jobs: Space Chimps, Horton Hears a Who and Fly Me to the Moon. Both Space Chimps and Fly Me to the Moon are movies about cartoon astronauts. One of the main monkeys in Space Chimps is indeed a girl chimp named Luna She's surrounded by boys, but she has a leading role, unlike Fly Me to the Moon in which all the main space-venturing bugs are boys. There is one lady bug though, Nadia, a soviet hottie who saves the bugs from space-crash death.

Beyond space travel, Horton Hears a Who features Dr. Mary Lou Larou, which the Suess Wiki describes as "a bit scatterbrained at times but also the "smartest of the staff at Who University." If your daughter is scared of heights or has more down to earth career goals, she might aspire to academia.

And that's it, those are all of the options. Not only was that it for STEM professions, but you can forget about medicine, business, law or politics. The study found zero women in any of those professions in children's films.

Fossil hunter Mary Anning celebrated in Lyme Regis

From BBC News: Fossil hunter Mary Anning celebrated in Lyme Regis

It is 200 years since a young girl made a landmark discovery in Dorset.

In 1811, Lyme Regis fossil hunter Mary Anning - aged just 12 - and her older brother Joseph unearthed the 2m (6.5ft) long skull of an ichthyosaur.

Anning spent a year extracting the dinosaur fossil from 205 million-year-old Blue Lias cliffs on the beach.

It remains one of the most famous geological finds on the Jurassic Coast, yet Anning was never credited as a scientist.


The ichthyosaur fossil is on display in Lyme Regis until the end of September Her life is being celebrated on 24 September during Mary Anning Day: 200 Years Of Discovery at Lyme Regis Museum.

But perhaps her most remarkable legacy is that her pioneering work still motivates many of today's experts.

Geologist Paddy Howe, from Lyme Regis, said: "Mary Anning had a huge amount of determination and is a great inspiration to me.

"To make the discoveries she did she must have been out in some terrible storms, and after landslides when the cliffs had been disturbed."

Born in 1799, Mary Anning, who is thought to have inspired the tongue-twister "She sells sea shells", was a self educated, working class woman from the "poor side" of town.

Her other discoveries included fossilised dinosaur faeces known as coprolites.

However, her sex and social class, in a society dominated by wealthy men, prevented her from fully participating in the scientific community of early 19th Century Britain.

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Tracy Chevalier

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Mary Goodwin, curator of Lyme Regis Museum which is built on the site of Anning's birthplace, said: "You were nothing in those days until you had your name published on a scientific paper."

A tool thought to have been used to extract fossils from the cliffs by Anning is housed at the museum, along with her notebook from the 1830s.

The book is filled with quotes and poems that were important to her.

Ms Goodwin said: "The book shines a light on her as a person, as opposed to the fossils she discovered.

"Although she never married or had children, the book suggests she had a romantic side."

American novelist Tracy Chevalier, who has written a fictional book based on facts about Anning, said: "There's evidence to suggest Mary had a romantic relationship that ended badly, but no one knows with whom.


One of Anning's discoveries was fossilised dinosaur faeces "Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas James Birch organised an auction of specimens he had purchased from the Anning family in 1820 which raised £400.

"That was an awful lot of money in those days and he donated it back to the Anning family.

"I think that was a huge romantic gesture."

Anning also had a firm friendship with fossil collector Elizabeth Philpot.

Ms Chevalier said: "Elizabeth was a middle class woman and for the pair to be friends was most unusual.

"In other circumstances Mary would most likely have been a servant to Elizabeth, not a friend."

Anning survived a lightning strike as a baby which killed three other people.

Ms Chevalier said: "She was a sickly baby but became a lively and intelligent child and adult, which many people attributed to the lightning strike.

"She was an incredible woman."

Anning died of breast cancer in 1847, aged 47.

Girl Scouts: Girls invited to science education evening

I'm a couple days late with this story - so anyone in Indiana has already missed it. However, it illustrates a point - if you're the mother of a young girl, or a young girl yourself (and I know I number those among my readers) check out the girl scouts in your area and see if they have a program to encourage girls to study the sciences. If they don't - and you're a parent, why not become a girl scout or brownie leader and do it yourself. (Always understanding that volunteers are so scarce these days that they'll latch on to you quickly and never let you go!)

Exploring archeology, discovering how to become a color scientist, learning about fingerprint types and even exploring a worm's life all will be part of an exploration evening offered for girls Thursday at the Townsend Community Center in Richmond.

Girls in grades kindergarten to six are invited by the Girl Scouts to the free event, which will be 5:30-7 p.m. at the Townsend center, 855 N. 12th St.

In addition to the exploration and education programs, girls and their families can learn about Girl Scout programs. Girls may register for Girl Scouts during the event by paying $12 membership dues. Financial assistance is available.

Girl Scouts offers a comprehensive program for girls in kindergarten through 12th grade. The Girl Scout leadership development program helps girls learn to discover their own values, connect with their peers and adults, and take action to improve their communities.

The 15 benefits of the Girl Scout Leadership Experience range from girls learning how to resolve a conflict to identifying and addressing a community need. According to the Girl Scout Research Institute , two-thirds of girls want to be leaders, but only one girl in five believes she has the skills to lead.

"Girl Scouts helps every girl discover the leader she can be, and connect with others to have an effect on her world," said Sherri Becker, membership development manager who has worked in the Richmond area. "We know how girls learn to lead. Girls Scouts has pioneered the first national system of outcomes measurement for girls' leadership development. This helps our adult volunteers, our funders, and the girls themselves see how they are succeeding."

For more information about Girl Scout membership, contact Becker at (877) 474-2248, ext. 6877; email sbecker@girlscoutsindiana.org; or visit the website www.girlscoutsindiana.org.

Girl Scouts of Central Indiana serves more than 41,000 girls in 45 counties across central Indiana.

Science is golden when the plot is hot

From Sydney Morning Herald: Science is golden when the plot is hot
JO CHANDLER hung out of a Hercules aircraft and wept at the beauty of the Antarctic below - which was not a good idea, as her tears turned to ice. Elizabeth Finkel spent a year figuring out how to tell stories about chromosomes. Jane McCredie found herself standing on a street corner, looking at passers-by, waiting to meet a stranger who once was female but now was male.

The Melbourne Writers Festival session was billed as ''Writing in Lab Coats'' but science writing as portrayed by these journalists was anything but clinical. Whether writing about climate change (Age journalist Chandler's Feeling the Heat), micro-organisms (Finkel's Stem Cells) or gender bending (McCredie's Making Girls and Boys), all the writers found themselves on a thrilling journey in which the biggest challenge was to communicate to the reader exactly what was going on.

Popular science writing is huge internationally: think of the success of people such as Carl Sagan, Dava Sobel, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins and Simon Winchester in bringing apparently dry and difficult subjects to wondrous and exciting life. Science is one area where journalism is much in demand - The Guardian in Britain is running a competition to find new science writers.
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But with some celebrated exceptions, there hasn't been much Australian science writing in book form. It's astonishing that only now are we seeing such pieces in an anthology. In November, New South will publish The Best Australian Science Writing 2011, edited by Stephen Pincock, with a foreword by Peter Doherty and work from authors as diverse as Tim Flannery, Germaine Greer, Anna Funder and Paul Davies.

Science writing is becoming more celebrated but also more contentious. ABC science journalist Natasha Mitchell, who chaired the festival panel, said science writers were becoming part of the story themselves and sometimes copped ''incredible aggression and vitriol'' from those who disagreed with them: ''I've had colleagues who've been very damaged by the crap they're getting.''

The writers had all struggled with how to present complex and controversial issues. Chandler said she decided to put herself into the story of climate change as ''a confused, anxious, sometimes distressed person'', speaking with scientists on the front line as a war correspondent would.

Finkel, who has worked as a research scientist, decided the way through a mass of facts and figures was to look for stories. She wanted to avoid ending up in a corner, being combative: ''That's not what my voice should be; I have to be like the judge in the courtroom.''

McCredie thought it was important to tell personal stories, especially ones that weren't stereotypical about the sexes. She kept questioning herself: what authority did she have as a non-scientist to write about scientific questions?

''I decided the only authority I could ever have is as a journalist and as a woman. I see myself as a friend of science rather than a participant. And like any friend, sometimes I have to be critical.''

But difficult as it is to strike a balance and transform a mass of facts into a gripping story, all agreed that writing about science was marvellous and essential. The human genome project had catapulted us into a new universe; we were asking fundamental questions about what it meant to be a girl or boy; and climate change was an epic adventure story of men and women trying to figure out the planet.

Gillibrand seeks to empower women in business

From Buffalo News.com: Gillibrand seeks to empower women in business

Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand called for a revival of the "Rosie the Riveter" campaign Friday to galvanize women to become economically empowered during a round-table discussion with local female business owners and entrepreneurs.

The junior senator from New York said she would sponsor a bill for a $6,000 tax credit to reduce the high cost of day care -- a major impediment for women aspiring to own a business or advance in their careers.

About 40 people attended the discussion held at Sweet_ness 7 Cafe on Grant Street, a West Side woman-owned business.

"Right now we need our generation of Rosie the Riveters," Gillibrand said, refering to the icon of the women who worked in the factories during World War II. "Our economy, our country needs women on the front lines of job growth and innovation."

But women continue to be hindered by lower pay, fewer opportunities in the workforce and family obligations, she said.

"My goal through these round-tables is to solicit your feedback for solutions to help empower and create economic opportunities for New York's women," she said, "and provide valuable resources for advancement in today's economy."

Women in attendance came from both the public and private sectors and spoke of the need for more training and funding for women in high-tech industries.

"Women shouldn't feel limited to certain fields," said Marnie LaVigne, director of business development for New York State Center for Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, adding that careers in science and technology should be encouraged and backed by policies that provide financing.

Norma Nowak, whose research made significant contributions to the Human Genome Project, said she hit a financial road block when she decided to launch a business.

"She's a woman scientist, so who was going to listen to her?" LaVigne said. But with assistance from the bioinformatics center, Nowak's started Empire Genomics four years ago and last year, its revenues reached $1 million.

Access to grants and subsidies for businesses were also a hot topic, especially for companies that are too old to be eligible for start-up assistance. Joy Kuebler, owner of Joy Kuebler Landscaping and Architecture, said that she has maxed out personal loans and that it is increasingly difficult with low funds to operate and compete with larger firms.

"We are very much trying to play with the big boys," she said.

Bernice Radile, an energy consultant who said she's the only female engineer at her job, supported the idea of a 21st century Rosie the Riveter.

"We have to band together in this," the 25-year-old said. "It's intimidating being the only woman all day long."

"It's the same thing in Congress," Gillibrand said.

The women agreed to help re-create the campaign used during World War II to attract women to the workforce. Gillibrand said women are an untapped resource, and once gender inequities are addressed, they can lead the country's economic rebirth.

"As we continue on a path to economic recovery, women must play a critical role in fueling the country's economic strength and competitiveness and rebuilding our middle class."

Five U.S. Female Scientists Receive Prestigious For Women in Science Fellowship Awards From L'Oreal USA

Five U.S. Female Scientists Receive Prestigious For Women in Science Fellowship Awards From L'Oreal USA

NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Today five of America's most promising post-doctoral female scientists received the L'Oreal USA Fellowships For Women In Science Award. This national awards program was created in 2003 to support the advancement of women in science and rewards the most promising post-doctoral female scientists from across the country. This year's awards presentation ceremony was held at the Kennedy Caucus Room in Washington, D.C. The program featured speeches from key congressional supporters of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). These include, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ).

The 2011 Fellowship recipients are working on breakthrough scientific research, which address critical global challenges that could aid millions around the world. Their research fields include stroke rehabilitation, therapeutic prevention for Alzheimer's, robotics that will improve prosthetic fittings and function, LEDs and colored light creation, and the spread of influenza and other viruses. Each Fellow will receive up to $60,000 to continue their post-doctoral research. Additionally, the L'Oreal USA Fellowships For Women in Science offers professional development workshops for awardees and helps these Fellows build networks with accomplished female leaders in corporate, academic, governmental and scientific fields. The program is facilitated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

L'Oreal USA's passion and commitment to science was validated by a nationwide survey conducted earlier this month. The results of this survey show that Americans support the program's goal of encouraging women to pursue careers in scientific fields. The survey asked about the public's overall interest in the field of science and specifically their thoughts on the presence of women, and contributions from women, to science. Survey respondents included male and females over 18 years of age and revealed:

* 'Science' is the field that most people (42%) want to see women take a more dominant role in, even more so than 'Finance' (25%) or 'Law' (22%).
* 'Inventor' is the top dream job (25%), followed by 'Stay-at-home Parent' (20%)
* 'Scientist' (17%) and 'Doctor' (15%) came in third and fourth respectively for dream job.
* 'Reality TV Star' came in last for dream job (3%). Despite seeing how reality television megastars of today seem to be universally adored, people would rather have the job of the American President (4%), one of the most stressful jobs in the world, over that of a reality TV star.
* Most people are concerned with inventing something to combat 'Disease' (25%) over other issues.
* 'None of the above' came in second highest (28%) when given a list of items and asked to choose which were invented by women. Half of the listed items provided were invented by women including the dishwasher, disposable diaper, refrigerator and circular saw.


This year's fellowship grant recipients embody the survey's findings, including a desire for more women in the sciences. Although the future of women contributing to science seems to be expanding, the history of the many contributions already made by women to science must be shared and taught; women in science is far from new, it is just now growing at a pace unseen before.

The 2011 L'Oreal USA Fellowship grants will support the following female scientists and their work:

Dr. Trisha Andrew, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA – organic chemist in the field of organic electronics. During college, Dr. Andrew realized that she loved Organic Chemistry, both for the everyday routine of a synthetic organic chemist and for the ability to logically explain natural phenomena based on the chemical reactivity of molecules. The L'Oreal USA Fellowships For Women In Science award will help Dr. Andrew investigate the interaction of organic chromophores with interesting optoelectronic materials known as "quantum dots" and fabricate unique light-emitting diodes and solar cells from these composite materials.

Dr. Karlin Bark, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA – mechanical engineer in the field of haptics. The L'Oreal USA Fellowships For Women In Science award will allow Dr. Bark to study the potential use of haptic feedback in stroke rehabilitation. She will work alongside clinical specialists at the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute to develop, refine, and test an affordable upper-limb rehabilitation system that can be used in clinics and homes to assist stroke survivors in retraining the motor pathways needed to complete everyday tasks. Additionally, athletic coaches, dance trainers, and motor skill education specialists could adopt this technology to help teach proper motions and skills with the aim of achieving better technique and preventing future injuries.

Dr. Sasha Devore, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY – neuroscientist examining health sciences and technology. With the support of the L'Oreal USA Fellowships For Women In Science award, Dr. Devore will employ techniques for selectively activating and recording from large ensembles of neurons in behaving animals in order to study the function of feedback pathways in sensory processing. Numerous neurological diseases and disorders are linked with dysfunction in the brain's feedback pathways and are typically accompanied by impairments in sensory processing. Dr. Devore hopes that her experiments will lead to improved therapeutic interventions, in addition to providing important insight into the regulation of information processing in the brain.

Dr. Tijana Ivanovic, Harvard Medical School, with work to be carried out at the University of Colorado at Boulder – virologist in the research field of virus entry into cells. The L'Oreal USA Fellowships For Women In Science award will enable Dr. Ivanovic to build a custom Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF) microscope and use it to study the fusion mechanism of the influenza virus by visualizing the fusion process of individual virus particles in real time. The Fellowship will also fund additional equipment and reagents necessary to carry out experiments designed to address questions about fusion protein cooperativity during influenza membrane fusion.

Dr. R. Blythe Towal, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA – biomedical engineer in the field of computational neuroscience. With the support of the L'Oreal USA Fellowships For Women In Science award, Dr. Towal will design and build novel instruments to measure human eye movements during normal, active-sensing behavior as opposed to the highly artificial conditions of the laboratory. These instruments will enable her to measure where people look and determine how the properties of the environment are combined with the goals of the person to allow them to perceive their surroundings and select appropriate actions under natural conditions. Dr. Towal hopes that these experiments will lead not only to improved robotic technologies but also to a deeper understanding of information processing in the nervous system.

The 2011 L'Oreal USA Fellows were selected from a competitive pool of candidates by a Review Panel and Jury of distinguished career scientists. During the past seven years, L'Oreal USA has recognized and rewarded career contributions of 40 young postdoctoral women researchers in the life and physical/materials sciences, awarding more than $1 million in Fellowship grants. The L'Oreal USA Fellowships For Women In Science is a national extension of the global L'Oreal – UNESCO For Women In Science program which, since 1998, has recognized 67 Laureates, two of whom received the Nobel Prize in 2009. The program has also awarded 864 International Fellowships which have been granted to young women scientists from 93 countries so that they can continue their research projects. The program has become a benchmark of scientific excellence on an international scale, revealing the contributions of these scientific women each year.

For more information, please visit www.lorealusa.com/forwomeninscience or the L'Oreal USA For Women in Science Facebook page.

ABOUT L'OREAL USA

L'Oreal USA, headquartered in New York City, with 2010 sales of over $4.7 billion and 9,800 employees, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of L'Oreal SA, the world's leading beauty company. In addition to corporate headquarters in New York, L'Oreal USA has Research and Innovation, Manufacturing and Distribution facilities across six other states including New Jersey, Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois, Ohio, and Texas.

L'Oreal's impressive portfolio of brands includes Lancome, Giorgio Armani Beauty, Yves Saint Laurent Beaute, Viktor & Rolf, Diesel, Cacharel, L'Oreal Paris, Garnier, Vichy, La Roche-Posay, L'Oreal Professionnel, Kerastase and Shu Uemura Art of Hair. The U.S. is the base for the product development, international marketing and advertising for L'Oreal's twelve American brands: Maybelline New York, Soft-Sheen.Carson, Kiehl's Since 1851, Ralph Lauren Fragrances, Essie Cosmetics, Redken 5th Avenue NYC, Matrix, Mizani, Pureology, SkinCeuticals and Dermablend. For more information on our brands visit www.lorealusa.com.

ABOUT AAAS

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org) as well as Science Translational Medicine (www.sciencetranslationalmedicine.org) and Science Signaling (www.sciencesignaling.org). AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.

Barbara Wueringer, vertebrate biologist

From ABC Science: In Depth, Meet A Scientist: Barbara Wueringer, vertebrate biologist

Dr Barbara Wueringer has been investigating one of the most mysterious fishes in the sea.

From a school girl who didn't like biology, Barbara is now a passionate scientist whose experiments show how sensitive sawfish are to electric fields and where a sawfish can detect them.

Right now, I am working on ...
Several publications. After writing up my research outcomes in my thesis, it is now important to get these chapters published. Some of the work on sawfish senses is in print right now, while other behavioural work with sawfish will be published soon!

A typical day is ...
There is no typical day for me. Sometimes I spend days in the laboratory dissecting sawfish and other sharks and rays that were accidentally caught in fishing gear. Other days I am out in the field taking measurements of the environment that my study animals live in. And there are days when I do experiments with animals in tanks.

That research has to be analysed later (which means hours of watching the footage and taking measurements from it, and then analysing it statistically), and written up.

On days when I do experiments with the animals, their activity determines when I start to work, and on days when I write, I might get up later and write until late at night.

My research is important because ...
We do not know much about sawfish. As these animals are endangered globally, there is an urgent need to understand them better in order to implement more directed conservation measures. I have also worked with other sharks and rays and similarly I think it is important to better understand these animals.

My most memorable day at work was ...
I cannot remember a particular day, but a time of two months during which I did lots of behavioural experiments with three little sawfish.

Sharks and rays have a sense that allows them to detect electric fields in their environment. This allows them to hunt in darkness and also in murky waters. My experiments tested how sensitive sawfish are to electric fields and where a sawfish can detect them.

For weeks my experiments did not work, either the electrodes flooded with saltwater or the connectors were loose, or the video camera gave up. Whenever I got upset because nothing was working I put everything aside and just sat in front of the tank watching the animals. I think sawfish are some of the most amazing creatures on this planet and I probably learned most about them just sitting there watching them.

My biggest disaster/disappointment in the field was ...
None. Even on a bad day in the field I just look around me and appreciate the amazing places my work takes me to.

At school I was ...
Not very interested in biology. I always loved being out in nature, but I never realised this could be a career. I chose to study architecture. After one year I realised that the most interesting thing that I had learned was how many modern buildings integrate designs from nature. For example, some buildings in warm areas have air cooling systems that are designed after those of termite mounds.

I wish I hadn't ...
I normally try to make decisions in way that I do not regret them afterwards, even if they were wrong. I find a bad decision can be a good learning process.

One thing people don't know about my work is ...
That I do spend a lot of time behind a desk. Working with endangered species requires a lot of paper work and it is also important to publish research findings to make them available to the wider research community.

My biggest achievement in the field has been ...
To change our understanding of the importance of the use of the sawfish's saw.

I'm always being asked ...
If I spend a lot of time diving with sharks and rays and sawfish. I don't because most of the research with such large predatory animals means that you catch them from a boat. Also, sawfish live in really murky waters in Northern Australia where you also find saltwater crocodiles, so it's probably not a good idea to snorkel with them.

One day, I would like to ...
Travel to Antarctica. It's the only continent I have not been to and I would love to see it.

In the next life, I'd like to come back as ...
A great white shark. I would swim to South Africa and find a nice spot where I can breach a lot. But only in a world without shark finning.

My secret non-science obsession is ...
Travelling. Luckily I get to travel a lot as part of my job. I love the moment when I step out of the airport in a country I have never been to. When you breathe in you know that the place is new as the smell is unfamiliar. And then you have to find your way around in unknown places and discover new cultures. Travelling is addictive. You never know how your day will end, what you will experience and whom you may meet.

Barbara Wueringer is research assistant at the University of Western Australia and an Australian 2011 Fresh Scientist . She was interviewed by Abbie Thomas.

"Marie Curie: Mother of Modern Physics"

From ChicoER.com: "Marie Curie: Mother of Modern Physics"
Every school year students come into the library looking for biographies for their school reports. The library has an array of biographies of famous and historical figures from Henry Ford to Justin Bieber. Most of these biographies are located in the non-fiction section of the children's room.

One such biography is about Madame Curie, a female scientist who with her husband Pierre received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and later won a second in 1911 for her work in chemistry, a very noble achievement for a woman in the 1900s. Born Maria Salomea Sklodowska in Poland in 1867, Madame Curie went by the nickname "Manya." When she moved to Paris in 1891 to study at the Faculty of Science at Sorbonne, she changed her name to Marie.

"It was at that moment that she signed the French version of her name, Marie, the name by which she would come to be known around the world, for the first time."

She was 24 years old.

Learn more about Marie Curie's struggles, discoveries and successes in this biography for students in sixth through ninth grade.

From Susie Serrano, Paradise library

Just 12% of CSIRO's senior scientists women

From The Age.com.au (Australia): Just 12% of CSIRO's senior scientists women

WOMEN are grossly under-represented among the ranks of senior CSIRO scientists, figures show.

While at entry level almost 50 per cent of post-doctorate graduates are female, just 12 per cent of senior specialists are women. Female research managers and consultants make up a similar proportion, while just over a quarter of the CSIRO's general management and executive roles are held by women.

The organisation, Australia's largest employer of scientific researchers, will today honour a pledge to publish long-term data revealing the stark gender imbalance as it grapples with the challenge of boosting the proportion of women it employs.
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As part of a commitment in April at the national Women in Science forum in Canberra, some of the nation's top research and education institutes undertook to improve gender balance.

Despite the pledges, few have yet publicly reported on gender participation.

The figures from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation reveal that it is outside the CSIRO's scientific roles where women dominate: 85 per cent of administration staff and 55 per cent in general services are female.

CSIRO researcher Amanda Barnard was key to getting the figures published online after attending the Women in Science forum organised by Science and Technology Australia in April.

Dr Barnard said that while there had been improved participation rates in the past 15 years, the representation of women in technical areas remained low. As head of the Virtual Nanoscience Laboratory in Clayton, she is among a minority of women to lead a lab.

''Currently I have one female staff member and in 10 years it's the first time I have ever been in a research group with another female,'' she said.

Dr Barnard said although much of the information was published in annual reports, collating it centrally would bring focus to the issue and foster change.

''As more things become available we will add to it,'' she said. ''This is about putting our numbers out there and admitting to it, but also challenging universities to be as transparent about it as we are.''

Science and Technology Australia executive director Anna-Maria Arabia praised the CSIRO's willingness to publish the data. She said that while the figures were not great, they would provide an impetus for change that could be monitored and measured.

''I think this will make an enormous difference,'' she said. ''While the baseline data which is today's results might not look particularly encouraging, by next year I'm sure there will have been changes that make it a good news story.''

A survey of more than 1000 female scientists and engineers last year by the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia found almost a quarter expected to have left their profession within five years. The most common reasons included pay inequity and lack of flexible working conditions.

Why I Like Science

From Surprising Science (Smithsonian Insitution): Why I Like Science

Posted By: Sarah Zielinski

Science is under siege these days. Some politicians proudly proclaim that evolution is just a theory and that climate change is a conspiracy among scientists. Health gurus advocate homeopathy or “natural” remedies rather than modern medicine. Parents ignore the advice of doctors and experts and refuse to vaccinate their children against deadly diseases. People who are quite happy to reap the benefits of science—new medical treatments, for example, or sci-fi-like technological devices—advocate for schools to teach religion in science class.

And so I think it’s time for the rest of us to speak up. Let’s explain what it is about science that satisfies us, how science improves our world and why it’s better than superstition. To that end, I’m starting a new series here on Surprising Science: Why I Like Science. In coming months, I’ll ask scientists, writers, musicians and others to weigh in on the topic. And I’m also asking you, the readers, why you like science. If you’d like to participate, send a 200- to 500-word essay to WhyILikeScience@gmail.com; I’ll publish the best.

And to start us off, here’s why I like science:

When we are little, we ask “why.” “Why is the sky blue?” “Why do balls fall down and not up?” “Why can’t my fish live outside water?” Good parents root their answers in science. The sky is blue due to the way light is scattered in the atmosphere. Balls fall down because of gravity. Your fish doesn’t have lungs, and gills only work in water.

But science doesn’t just give us answers to the why’s of our childhoods; it gives us the tools we need to keep answering them as we grow up.

Science is the tool I use to understand the world around me. It provides logic and sense and order in what might otherwise seem chaotic. And though the answer to the why’s of my adulthood may sometimes be “we don’t know,” it’s really just “we don’t know yet”—the answer will eventually be found, with science.

And then there’s the act of finding those answers, putting the methods of science into action, that I find more fascinating than any bit of fiction. There are astronomers who use telescopes to peer back in time. Biologists who discover new species in both familiar and faraway places and struggle to figure out how to save others from extinction. Even a non-scientist sitting at a computer can help to solve molecular structures, hunt for planets or decipher ancient Egyptian texts during lunch break. Science is often, simply, fun.

Science is also the light that keeps us out of the dark ages. It may not solve all of our problems, but it usually shows us the path to the solutions. And the more we know, the more questions we find. It’s a never-ending search for answers that will continue for as long as the human race exists. And guaranteed satisfaction for the little girl inside me, the one that still asks “why.”

A Scientist's Life: 10 Things Salk's Beverly Emerson Has Done

From Sign On San Diego: A Scientist's Life: 10 Things Salk's Beverly Emerson Has Done
Meet Beverly Emerson, a biochemist in the Regulatory Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute in La Jolla.

Beverly Emerson, biochemist, the Salk Institute — Salk Institute Emerson studies the behavior of genes, notably how they are turned on and off. She’s earned wide acclaim for her work on p53, a protein that suppresses tumors. The protein, say Salk officials, involves a gene that may play a role in more than half of all cancers.

The journey that brought her to the Salk has been filled with humor and insight, which became obvious when we asked her to list ten things that she’s done or experienced that give us a sense of the life and times of Beverly Emerson.

I was born on my father’s 50th birthday, the last of the litter for him and the first and only for my mother.

My dad was an amateur boxer and an excellent marksman. He taught me to shoot and to be his sparring partner. I inherited his weaponry and boxing trunks.

My mom was an optimist who loved to gamble. She took me out of school for about a month each year to accompany her on road trips to Nevada. She was very lucky and would station me outside of casinos to wait for her, with a stack of comic books for entertainment and a Shirley Temple to drink. Mom would check on me periodically and bring all of her silver dollar jackpots in plastic containers for me to guard. I was very serious about my guard duties and thought about becoming a banker (but, curiously, not a gambler.)

I was an entrepreneurial child and started several businesses: an ice cream stand, a newspaper, a magazine, an import/export company and a detective agency. My mom would set me up in each enterprise and was usually my only customer. She was very encouraging.

During college, I worked as a carhop (no roller skates) at Shoney’s Big Boy and later as a waitress at a steak house. I wasn’t very good, but I meant well. On my worst day, I made 97 cents in tips. Once, there was a shoot-out in the restaurant. Everyone scattered, and I hid in the kitchen behind our formidable chef, Cookie, a retired Marine.

Originally inspired by "It’s a Small World" at Disneyland and Cost-Plus stores, I was very interested in other cultures from a young age. I have traveled extensively and lived in Switzerland and Scotland for one year each.

I was intrigued by the approach to food and eating described in the book, "French Women Don’t Get Fat." Like many Americans, I can easily wolf down a meal in five minutes when pressed and I always carry an emergency burrito when traveling. But I learned that by making a small effort to prepare each meal using a variety of high quality ingredients and some touch of presentation (a cloth napkin, real silverware, a flower), you are actually doing yourself a kindness, which reduces stress and changes your relationship to food.

I am increasingly concerned about the welfare of animals, especially the dire conditions under which factory farm-raised animals are kept. I collected several hundred signatures to put Proposition 2, the Humane Farming Initiative, on the California ballot, which now sets an important example for the nation.

As a scientist, I approach my research with great optimism, thinking that solving any difficult problem is possible. I have learned, as in life, to be able to see the possibilities in shades of gray and to work in small persistent steps toward a clear answer. If I had required black-and-white proof of my eventual success or been unable to work through uncertainties, I wouldn’t have gotten very far.

As a biochemist, I also have come to believe that a better approach to treating cancer may be to view rogue cells not as individuals that must be killed (since they become drug-resistant) but as cells that must be re-integrated within their tissue community to reduce their stressed survivor behavior. Interestingly, this breakdown of the social contract has parallels in human societies

Stanford scientist studies the sex life of corn

From Silicon Valley's Mercury News.com: Stanford scientist studies the sex life of corn

In a sun-dappled cornfield on the Stanford University campus, romance is in the air.

There's a LeBron James-like swagger to the tall male tassels. Round female ears await, coquettishly.

But corn conception, and development, is poorly understood. So biology professor Virginia Walbot devotes her career to tackling one of botany's big puzzles: the sex life of corn.

"It is really one of the deep, fundamental mysteries of plants," she said during a recent walk through late summer's towering stalks. "It is exceedingly important to understand every step of the process, so we can produce better seeds for American farmers."

Her lab's discoveries in developmental biology could help change how corn is grown and boost yield.

An estimated 80 million acres of corn are planted in the United States every year. Innovations in plant reproduction could add to the productivity of that acreage if, for example, farmers could plant more densely and use less gas, fertilizer and water.

But that juicy ear on your picnic plate? It almost didn't happen.

The parent plant could have just as easily decided to make a big green leaf instead, Walbot said. No one knows why, or how, corn decides to create a female ear or a male tassel. Or simply grow more vegetation.

"How does that switch occur, from being vegetative to reproductive? What are the early steps that it commits to, to produce sperm or eggs?" she said. "It's still unclear."

Walbot has a lifelong affection for corn, having helped grow and sell it from her family's truck farm in Southern California, on fertile acreage now covered by a runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

As a little girl, "I asked for plants, not dolls," she recalled.

Studying at Stanford, then Yale University, she became interested in the bigger picture: plant development and evolution. The most pivotal moment in her life came in the 1970s, when she met pioneering geneticist Barbara McClintock, who also worked with corn. They shared long phone conversations, then Walbot visited McClintock's Cold Spring Harbor lab -- and she was hooked.

Rich corn history
Like McClintock, Walbot is part of a long tradition of scientists who have found corn to be the perfect organism for answering some of the fundamental questions about plant genetics and development.

That's because each ear has a few hundred seeds, making it easy to generate huge populations very quickly. This means that even a rare event, like a particular mutation, is easy to find.

Her small Stanford field is rich with corn history, evoking memories of "The Farm" that drew founder Leland Stanford to the peninsula. Adjacent is the small summer home -- now boarded up, its paint peeling and doors latched -- where Nobel Prize-winning geneticist George Beadle lived in the early 1940s so he could be close to his plants.

"We keep track of every ear, in perpetuity," she said. "It's like the kings and queens of England. We can go back 30 years and tell you the whole history of a plant -- who's who. ... It's very valuable material."

There's nothing illicit going on in this field. Rather, Walbot's team practices "safe sex," so each pollination is carefully controlled. Walbot pollinates by hand, carefully selecting mates.

Then, to prevent added random pollination, the pollen-laden tassels are covered with paper bags so they won't drift onto nearby ears, which are the corn's eggs. The ears are also bagged. Then each bag is identified with the date of pollination, and its parentage: "8/16 - 88-11," for instance.

In these dwindling summer days, pollination is almost over. Then Walbot will wait for seed to mature.

She'll harvest from Sept. 20 to Oct. 10. Then the ears will be placed on wax paper and stored for a week in a warm walk-in drying room.

Once dried, seeds are stored -- they can last a decade -- in a special room near her campus laboratory, where it's cool and dry. Or they may be sent to a national seed bank in Illinois; Stanford has contributed 40,000 seeds there.

Answers in the shoots
Using microscopes and high-end tech tools, Walbot studies the kernel's DNA to learn what genes, or sequence of genes, might trigger development. She also studies mutations that alter how genes behave.

This is what's different about plants: Unlike animals, they are continuously making new organs, like leaves, from scratch. So scientists such as Walbot can study the development of the same type of organ, over and over.

"It's like a human producing new hands every week," she said. "If you need to repair a watch, you'd grow little bitty hands. Or if you want to play the piano, you'd grow really long fingers.

"We don't have that flexibility, but a plant does."

She thinks this difference relates to how creatures respond to stress. Animals can move when times get tough. But plants are stuck in place -- so they're forced to change. They might drop leaves. Or if times improve, add new leaves, grow tall, or reproduce.

But how? In the tips of their shoots is a complicated sequence of genetic on-off switches. That's what she seeks to better understand.

"If we understood this early step, we could inhibit it," she said, so farmers could hit a pause button on reproduction. "Or we could help engineer a tassel that's not so huge ... so the plant's energy goes into making more and larger kernels."

So she waits for her new kernels to mature in late summer's warm sun, hoping that nature will reveal, begrudgingly, a new clue to the genetic puzzle of plant development.

"Every question that is answered raises three more questions," she said, brightly. "You always have more things you can explore, rather than fewer, over time."