Biochemistry by design

Creationists are attempting to use biochemistry to win acceptance for their doctrine in the public mind and especially in state-funded schools. Biochemist Michael Behe is a major figure in this effort. His contention that certain cellular structures and biochemical processes - bacterial flagella, the blood-clotting cascade and the vertebrate immune system - cannot be the products of evolution has generated vigorous opposition from fellow scientists, many of whom have refuted Behe's claims. Yet, despite these refutations and a decisive defeat in a US federal court case, Behe and his associates at the Discovery Institute continue to cultivate American supporters. They are also stepping up their efforts abroad and, worryingly, have achieved some success. Should biochemists (and other scientists) be concerned? We think they should be.     

Have Chinese cities achieved the win–win between environmental protection and economic development? From the perspective of environmental efficiency

The development of a regional or national economy is always accompanied by a variety of environmental problems. Using meta-frontier and data envelopment analysis (DEA), this paper investigates the environmental protection mechanisms and economic development of 211 cities in China from the perspective of environmental efficiency. The major conclusions are: (1) the overall environmental efficiency of Chinese cities is low when the most advanced production technology is selected as the reference. Only 10% of cities have achieved a win–win, defined as an effective balance between environmental protection and economic growth. It is possible to increase economy and reduce pollutant emissions at the same time for most of cities. (2) The environmental efficiencies and production technologies of cities in five different groups (based on a widely accepted business index) present significant differences. First-tier cities possess more advanced technology, higher environmental efficiency and, therefore, a higher overall win–win balance between economic development and environmental protection; while the fourth-tier and fifth-tier cities have a relatively large gap between development and protection. (3) To achieve a win–win balance between environmental protection and economic development, the local government of different cities should develop appropriate policies that maximize the use of technology and management practices that enhance both growth and protection.     

Chinatown UK v. Colonial Hong Kong: An early exercise in transnational militancy and manipulation, 1967–1969

In the late 1960s, Hong Kong was hit by a wave of social and political unrest, an echo in the colony of China's Cultural Revolution of 1966–69. The unrest spread to parts of Britain's Chinatown, where a leftist movement emerged in sympathy with the Hong Kong agitation. Among the Chinatown leftists were former supporters of the Communist anti-Japanese guerrillas in Hong Kong's rural New Territories. The colonial authorities reacted to these developments in Britain by drawing up plans to protect and assist overseas Hong Kong residents in an attempt to win their political approval and stymie the pro-Communists. The Hong Kong Government Office [HKGO] in London started providing materials for Chinese-language schools and set up various other communal services. Later, it launched a campaign to foster the emigrants’ “Hong Kong identity”. The scheme was in many ways successful. Chinatowners were usually happy to make use of the facilities on offer. However, there is little evidence that the HKGO succeeded in winning their political allegiance.     

TELECARE,REMOTE MONITORING AND CARE

Telecare is often regarded as a win/win solution to the growing problem of meeting the care needs of an ageing population. In this paper we call attention to some of the ways in which telecare is not a win/win solution but rather aggravates many of the long‐standing ethical tensions that surround the care of the elderly. It may reduce the call on carers' time and energy by automating some aspects of care, particularly daily monitoring. This can release carers for other caring activities. On the other hand, remote and impersonal monitoring seems to fall short of providing care. Monitoring may be used to help elderly users retain independence. But it may also increase the amount of information which flows from users to carers, which can result in a form of function‐creep that actually undermines independence.     

School’s Out: Seasonal Variation in the Movement Patterns of School Children

School children are core groups in the transmission of many common infectious diseases, and are likely to play a key role in the spatial dispersal of disease across multiple scales. However, there is currently little detailed information about the spatial movements of this epidemiologically important age group. To address this knowledge gap, we collaborated with eight secondary schools to conduct a survey of movement patterns of school pupils in primary and secondary schools in the United Kingdom. We found evidence of a significant change in behaviour between term time and holidays, with term time weekdays characterised by predominately local movements, and holidays seeing much broader variation in travel patterns. Studies that use mathematical models to examine epidemic transmission and control often use adult commuting data as a proxy for population movements. We show that while these data share some features with the movement patterns reported by school children, there are some crucial differences between the movements of children and adult commuters during both term-time and holidays.     

Conventional land‐use intensification reduces species richness and increases production: A global meta‐analysis

Most current research on land‐use intensification addresses its potential to either threaten biodiversity or to boost agricultural production. However, little is known about the simultaneous effects of intensification on biodiversity and yield. To determine the responses of species richness and yield to conventional intensification, we conducted a global meta‐analysis synthesizing 115 studies which collected data for both variables at the same locations. We extracted 449 cases that cover a variety of areas used for agricultural (crops, fodder) and silvicultural (wood) production. We found that, across all production systems and species groups, conventional intensification is successful in increasing yield (grand mean + 20.3%), but it also results in a loss of species richness (?8.9%). However, analysis of sub‐groups revealed inconsistent results. For example, small intensification steps within low intensity systems did not affect yield or species richness. Within high‐intensity systems species losses were non‐significant but yield gains were substantial (+15.2%). Conventional intensification within medium intensity systems revealed the highest yield increase (+84.9%) and showed the largest loss in species richness (?22.9%). Production systems differed in their magnitude of richness response, with insignificant changes in silvicultural systems and substantial losses in crop systems (?21.2%). In addition, this meta‐analysis identifies a lack of studies that collect robust biodiversity (i.e. beyond species richness) and yield data at the same sites and that provide quantitative information on land‐use intensity. Our findings suggest that, in many cases, conventional land‐use intensification drives a trade‐off between species richness and production. However, species richness losses were often not significantly different from zero, suggesting even conventional intensification can result in yield increases without coming at the expense of biodiversity loss. These results should guide future research to close existing research gaps and to understand the circumstances required to achieve such win‐win or win‐no‐harm situations in conventional agriculture.     

Male attractiveness covaries with fighting ability but not with prior fight outcome in house crickets

In many species males that tend to win fights against othermales are more attractive to females. There are three ways inwhich male fighting ability and attractiveness may be associated:(1) attractiveness and fighting ability are influenced by thesame underlying traits (e.g., body size), (2) females prefermales that have directly observed winning fights, or (3) winningprevious fights indirectly improves a male's chance of beingpreferred by females. The last possibility may arise as a consequenceof the "loser effect"; in many species when a male loses a fighthis probability of losing subsequent fights increases. Thereare, however, no studies testing whether such a "loser effect"also influences male attractiveness. Here we show that maleattractiveness and fighting ability are positively correlatedin the house cricket, Acheta domesticus. Our experiment wasdesigned so that females could not directly observe the outcomeof fights, thus eliminating possibility (2) above. We then testedbetween possibilities (1) and (3) by making use of the factthat in some cricket species the "loser effect" can be eliminatedexperimentally by ‘shaking’ a male and stimulatingthe motor program for flying. We showed that in A. domesticus‘shaking’ does affect the outcome of subsequentfights. Males that had won two previous fights were less likelyto win a fight after being ‘shaken’ than when subjectto a control treatment. In contrast, males that had lost twoprevious fights were more likely to win a fight after being‘shaken’ than when they were not shaken. There was,however, no effect of ‘shaking’ on male attractiveness.We conclude that the "loser effect" does not alter the tendencyfor large, dominant males to be attractive to females. Instead,it appears that there are traits correlated with both fightingability and attractiveness. One such trait is body size. Fightwinners were significantly larger than losers and attractivenesswas positively correlated with male body size.     

Matter of Size or Matter of Residency Experience? Territorial Contest in a Green Hairstreak,Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)

Territorial residents usually win asymmetrical owner‐intruder contests and a variety of hypotheses have been proposed to explain this phenomenon. In the butterfly Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), male territorial residents defended their territories against intruders during numerous contests and kept them for many successive days. Field observations and experiments were conducted to examine the factors related to this superiority of residents. Forewing length did not differ between residents and intruders, suggesting that body size is not correlated with resource holding potential. Removal–replacement experiments demonstrated that residency did not serve as an arbitrary means for contest settlement, and did not support the recently presented alternative hypothesis that males with higher body temperature are more likely to win. New residents fought longer in defense of the territory as their residence duration in the territory increased. I discuss these results in light of game theory and suggest that the superiority of residents in C. smaragdinus may be based on the asymmetry of resource (territory) value for residents and intruders.     

Exploring the Potential of a School Impact on Pupil Weight Status: Exploratory Factor Analysis and Repeat Cross-Sectional Study of the National Child Measurement Programme

Schools are common sites for obesity prevention interventions. Although many theories suggest that the school context influences weight status, there has been little empirical research. The objective of this study was to explore whether features of the school context were consistently and meaningfully associated with pupil weight status (overweight or obese). Exploratory factor analysis of routinely collected data on 319 primary schools in Devon, England, was used to identify possible school-based contextual factors. Repeated cross-sectional multilevel analysis of five years (2006/07-2010/11) of data from the National Child Measurement Programme was then used to test for consistent and meaningful associations. Four school-based contextual factors were derived which ranked schools according to deprivation, location, resource and prioritisation of physical activity. None of which were meaningfully and consistently associated with pupil weight status, across the five years. The lack of consistent associations between the factors and pupil weight status suggests that the school context is not inherently obesogenic. In contrast, incorporating findings from education research indicates that schools may be equalising weight status, and obesity prevention research, policy and practice might need to address what is happening outside schools and particularly during the school holidays.     

Ichnological analysis: The common ground between ichnofacies workers and ichnofabric analysts

This work compares the approaches taken by the two schools of applied ichnology (ichnofacies and ichnofabric analysts) and proposes an integrated approach for future improvement. There are many similarities between the two approaches, which mainly differ in the resolution at which ichnological analysis is undertaken. Ichnofabric work is by necessity performed on a bed-by-bed basis and interpreted at a scale consistent with that of the sedimentologist's facies. Ichnofacies studies, in contrast, seldom report bed-by-bed changes in ichnological content, instead highlighting bedset to facies association-scale changes in ichnology through comparison with summary models of ichnological trends.This work highlights the fact that workers from both schools utilize the same tools, with slightly different emphases, to reach their ichnological conclusions. Contention between the two schools has in recent years centred upon which is the better method for studying trace fossils—an artificial construct that detracts from the fact that both are extremely useful to sedimentological and palaeoenvironmental studies. Ichnofabric analysis is in addition, a highly effective means of documenting bioturbated sedimentary fabrics, as the basis for petrophysical studies. Ichnofacies and ichnofabric analysts use the same toolbox of ichnological methods to determine ancient palaeoenvironments—the scale of observation is generally different, but the results closely comparable. The recognition of key stratal surfaces on ichnological grounds is also possible with both methodologies. Ichnofacies analysts look to recognise Glossifungites ichnofacies firmgrounds in offshore mudstones. Ichnofabric studies would look to recognise overprinting of fabrics created by groups of organisms from different palaeoenvironments, but associated with the same key surface.It is proposed that the terms “ichnofacies method” and “ichnofabric analysis” are abandoned in favour of a neutral Ichnological Analysis Method, encompassing the approaches and terminology of both to produce a unified, scientifically rigorous, user-friendly methodology.     

Redefining Genomic Privacy: Trust and Empowerment

Fulfilling the promise of the genetic revolution requires the analysis of large datasets containing information from thousands to millions of participants. However, sharing human genomic data requires protecting subjects from potential harm. Current models rely on de-identification techniques in which privacy versus data utility becomes a zero-sum game. Instead, we propose the use of trust-enabling techniques to create a solution in which researchers and participants both win. To do so we introduce three principles that facilitate trust in genetic research and outline one possible framework built upon those principles. Our hope is that such trust-centric frameworks provide a sustainable solution that reconciles genetic privacy with data sharing and facilitates genetic research.     

How territorial animals compete for divisible space: a learning-based model with unequal competitors

It is widely assumed that aggressive behavior affects space acquisition in territorial species, but to date most workers have focused on competition for indivisible space, that is, space that cannot be divided or shared. We present a learning-based model that investigates the effects of aggressive interactions on space acquisition when unequal competitors arrive and settle in patches of divisible space. This model assumes that aggressive interactions act as punishment, in the sense that previous aggressive interactions in a given area reduce an individual's likelihood of returning to that area. Individually based, spatially explicit simulations incorporating this and other assumptions were used to investigate the effects of different types of aggressive interactions on the space use of individuals and dyads settling in divisible space. At the individual level, final space use was related to the amount of punishment that individuals inflicted on their opponents during aggressive interactions; in general, highly aggressive individuals acquired larger, more exclusive home ranges than less aggressive individuals. At the dyadic level, the division or sharing of space between competitors depended on both the relative and absolute punishment that competitors inflicted on one another during aggressive interactions. Aggressive interactions in which both participants strongly punished one another (e.g., escalated fights) produced mutually exclusive home ranges, interactions with intermediate levels of punishment produced asymmetrical space use patterns proportional to asymmetries in punishment levels, and interactions involving little punishment for either participant generated large home ranges with extensive home range overlap. Overall, our model implies that territorial animals need not "win" aggressive interactions to win divisible space, that repeatedly "nagging" an opponent may also be a viable strategy for gaining space, and that a learning-based approach can account for puzzling patterns in the territorial literature, for example, observations of individuals who acquire space by initiating aggressive interactions that they never win.     

Function of weaponry in females: the use of horns in intrasexual competition for resources in female Soay sheep

In many species, females show reduced expression of a trait that is under sexual selection in males, and this expression is thought to be maintained through genetic associations with the male phenotype. However, there is also the potential for the female trait to convey an advantage in intrasexual conflicts over resources. We tested this hypothesis in a feral population of Soay sheep, in which males and females have a polymorphism for horn development, producing either full (normal horned), reduced (scurred) or no (polled, females only) horns. During the lambing period, females who possessed horns were more likely to initiate and win aggressive interactions, independent of age, weight and birthing status. The occurrence of aggression was also context dependent, decreasing over the lambing period and associated with local density. Our results demonstrate that a trait that confers benefits to males during intrasexual competition for mates may also be used by females in intrasexual competition over resources: males use weaponry to gain mates, whereas females use weaponry to gain food.     

Still creationism after all these years: understanding and counteracting intelligent design

Despite denials by proponents of intelligent design (ID) thatID is creationism, critical analysis by scientists and scholars,as well as statements by the proponents of ID themselves, hasestablished beyond any doubt ID's true identity as neo-creationism.Despite de-emphasizing elements of earlier creationism suchas belief in a young earth and "flood geology," ID bears marksof its descent from "creation science" and is defined by itsleading proponents in overtly religious, and specifically Christian,terms. These facts enabled the plaintiffs in the first ID legalcase, Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District (2005),to win a decisive victory over the Dover, PA, school board,which had required that a pro-ID statement be read to biologystudents at Dover High School. Kitzmiller was also a defeatfor ID proponents at the Discovery Institute's Center for Scienceand Culture (CSC). Yet, although the CSC continues efforts toundermine the teaching of evolution even in the wake of thisdefeat, their tactics are increasingly stale and transparent.Their current strategy, disguising pro-ID policy proposals withcode language to avoid using the term "intelligent design,"is yet another tactic used by earlier creationists after consistentlegal defeats. Moreover, the ID movement's continued executionof their agenda has enabled ID critics to compile an ever-lengtheninglist of further congruencies between ID and creation science.Such powerful evidence of ID's identity as neo-creationism,combined with modest but promising demographic changes in theUnited States, suggest that increased public support for teachingevolution is possible through effective outreach to the relevantdemographic groups. Scientists must take advantage of this opportunityto cultivate such support and to counteract ID by engaging inpro-science activism, making use of the many resources availableto support their efforts.     

Wings versus legs in the avian bauplan: Development and evolution of alternative locomotor strategies

Wings have long been regarded as a hallmark of evolutionary innovation, allowing insects, birds, and bats to radiate into aerial environments. For many groups, our intuitive and colloquial perspective is that wings function for aerial activities, and legs for terrestrial, in a relatively independent manner. However, insects and birds often engage their wings and legs cooperatively. In addition, the degree of autonomy between wings and legs may be constrained by tradeoffs, between allocating resources to wings versus legs during development, or between wing versus leg investment and performance (because legs must be carried as baggage by wings during flight and vice versa). Such tradeoffs would profoundly affect the development and evolution of locomotor strategies, and many related aspects of animal ecology. Here, we provide the first evaluation of wing versus leg investment, performance and relative use, in birds—both across species, and during ontogeny in three precocial species with different ecologies. Our results suggest that tradeoffs between wing and leg modules help shape ontogenetic and evolutionary trajectories, but can be offset by recruiting modules cooperatively. These findings offer a new paradigm for exploring locomotor strategies of flying organisms and their extinct precursors, and thereby elucidating some of the most spectacular diversity in animal history.     

dMyc transforms cells into super-competitors

Overexpression of myc protooncogenes has been implicated in the genesis of many human tumors. Myc proteins seem to regulate diverse biological processes, but their role in tumorigenesis remains enigmatic. Here we use Drosophila imaginal discs to mimic situations in which cells with unequal levels of Myc protein are apposed and show that this invariably elicits a win/lose situation reminiscent of cell competition; cells with lower levels of dMyc are eliminated by apoptosis whereas cells with higher levels of dMyc over-proliferate. We find that this competitive behavior correlates with, and can be corrected by, the activation of the BMP/Dpp survival signaling pathway. Hence the heritable increase in dMyc levels causes cells to behave as "super-competitors" and reveals a novel mode of clonal expansion that causes, but also relies on, the killing of surrounding cells.     

Who was... Emil von Behring?

Emil von Behring was first in the line of distinguished immunologists to win the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine. His contributions to our knowledge of immunity ignited an impassioned argument between French and German scientists at the end of the 19th century, the first of many scientific debates in the immunological world.     

fungi4schools - the new BMS education website

The one place it's almost impossible to find fungi is in the UK National Curriculum for schools. The state of the National Curriculum (NC) is a real concern because the current specifications all contain material on animal and plant comparisons with little or no consideration for the largest group of higher organisms on Earth: Kingdom Fungi. This means that children are missing out on being taught about the importance of an entire Kingdom of higher organisms. To try to compensate for this educational deficiency, the British Mycological Society has taken up the challenge by devising resources teachers can use within the current NC because they address NC topics and also give proper representation to fungi. These resources include specially-produced and ready-to-use lessons and classroom activities, teacher's guides and pupil class sheets, all classroom tested and well received by pupils. But the resources also feature articles published over many years in the Society's journals that need to be brought out of the library archives and made immediately accessible to schools. These resources are available now for free download from the British Mycological Society's new education website at www.fungi4schools.org, which is described in this article.