Prof. Kamal Sarabandi and ECE PhD student Navid Barani won a best paper award for their research on how biological cells may use electromagnetic signal transmission to communicate.| The project is funded by the DARPA RadioBio program.
tag > Biology
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Mind-controlling fungus makes zombie cicadas lure other cicadas to a zombie fate
Male cicadas infected by a particularly gruesome parasitic fungus become zombies with an undercover mission: They broadcast a female's sexy come-hither message to other male cicadas, luring their unsuspecting victims to join the zombie cicada horde. Researchers recently discovered this unusual twist to the cicada's already horrific zombification story. As the parasitic fungus called Massospora eats away at a cicada's abdomen, replacing it with a mass of yellow spores, the fungus also compels males to flick their wings in movements that are typically performed by females to attract mates.
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Can electrostatic fields limit the take-off of tiny whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci)?
Electrostatic fields are abundant in the natural environment. We tested the idea that electrostatic attraction forces between tiny whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci) and the substrate could be substantial to the point of limiting their take-off. These insects are characterized by a very small body mass and powerful take-offs that are executed by jumping into the air with the wings closed. Wing opening and transition to active flight occur after the jump distanced the insect several body lengths away from the substrate. Using high-speed cameras, we captured the take-off behavior inside a uniform electrostatic field apparatus and used dead insects to calculate the electric charge that these tiny insects can carry. We show that electrostatic forces stimulate the opening of the insect's wings and can attract the whole insect toward the opposite charge. We also found that whiteflies can carry and hold an electrical charge of up to 3.5 pC. With such a charge the electrostatic field required to impede take-off is much stronger than those typically found in the natural environment. Nevertheless, our results demonstrate that artificial electrostatic fields can be effectively used to suppress flight of whiteflies, thus providing options for pest control applications in greenhouses.
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The internet information platform EMF-Portal of the RWTH Aachen University summarizes systematically scientific research data on the effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF). All information is made available in both English and German. The core of the EMF-Portal is an extensive literature database with an inventory of 31,713 publications and 6,775 summaries of individual scientific studies on the effects of electromagnetic fields.
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Quote by Luc Montagnier - The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008
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The appearance of endogenous electromagnetic fields in biological systems is a widely debated issue in modern science. The electrophysiological fields have very tiny intensities and it can be inferred that they are rapidly decreasing with the distance from the generating structure, vanishing at very short distances. This makes very hard their detection using standard experimental methods. However, the existence of fast-moving charged particles in the macromolecules inside both intracellular and extracellular fluids may envisage the generation of localized electric currents as well as the presence of closed loops, which implies the existence of magnetic fields. Moreover, the whole set of oscillatory frequencies of various substances, enzymes, cell membranes, nucleic acids, bioelectrical phenomena generated by the electrical rhythm of coherent groups of cells, cell-to-cell communication among population of host bacteria, forms the increasingly complex hierarchies of electromagnetic signals of different frequencies which cover the living being and represent a fundamental information network controlling the cell metabolism. From this approach emerges the concept of electromagnetic homeostasis: that is, the capability of the human body to maintain the balance of highly complex electromagnetic interactions within, in spite of the external electromagnetic noisy environment. This concept may have an important impact on the actual definitions of heal and disease.
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Quantum Teleportation on the Nanoscale Using a Chemical Reaction
“By generating entangled electrons through photochemistry that interact with a third electron in an organic radical, we can teleport information from one end of a molecule to another through electron transfer and ensure that it is moved without compromising, or changing, the information carried.” — Matthew D. Krzyaniak
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DNA teleportation is a claim that DNA produces electromagnetic signals (EMS), measurable when highly diluted in water. This signal can allegedly be recorded, transmitted electronically, and re-emitted on another distant pure water sample, where DNA can replicate through polymerase chain reaction despite the absence of the original DNA in the new water sample.[1] The idea was introduced by the Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier in 2009. It is similar in principle to water memory, a concept popularised by Jacques Benveniste in 1988.
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When they germinated, people in Europe still lived in the Stone Age. Scientists are now arguing whether some tree species even completely negate the aging process.
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Western Bumblebee Population Drops Up To 93% Over the Last 20 Years
The western bumblebee is one of around 30 bumblebee species in the western U.S. and Canada. Now a federal review "unveils an alarming trend for the western bumblebee population, which has seen its numbers dwindle by as much as 93% in the last two decades".
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Chronophobia is anxiety over the passage of time. Chronophobia is especially common in prison inmates and the elderly, but it can manifest in any person who has an extreme amount of stress and anxiety in their life.
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Scientists Hack Mouse Brains to "Erase" Opioid Addiction
One of the hardest parts of treating addiction is keeping patients from relapsing. Now, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences say that they’ve “interrupted the brain pathway responsible for morphine-associated memories in mice, that is, ‘erasing’ the drug-associated memory from the brain.” To treat the mice, the team gave them brain implants: a fiber optic that shined light onto a region called the paraventricular thalamus and blocked withdrawal symptoms. A day later, the mice no longer sought out morphine and relapse — or at least do the lab mouse version of relapsing — even after two weeks.
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Dogs May Use Earth's Magnetic Field to Navigate
Dogs are renowned for their world-class noses, but a new study suggests they may have an additional — albeit hidden — sensory talent: a magnetic compass. The sense appears to allow them to use Earth's magnetic field to calculate shortcuts in unfamiliar terrain.
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People who are easily hypnotized are more likely to be addicted to their smartphones
New research published in Frontiers in Psychology suggests that being absorbed by your smartphone might bear some resemblance to a hypnotic trance. A hypnosis experiment found that students with heightened smartphone addiction scores followed more hypnotic suggestions than their counterparts.
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Bullshit of the day: Microsoft Courts New Customers on the Farm: Cows
The software company reveals a partnership with dairy cooperative Land O'Lakes that will equip cows with sensors and other gear to improve yields.
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Plants Can Secretly Send Underground Electrical Signals. Here’s How They Do It
A new study offers a better understanding of the hidden network of underground electrical signals being transmitted from plant to plant – a network that has previously been shown to use the Mycorrhizal fungi in soil as a sort of electrical circuit.
