Cell phone fluorescent microscopes

07/23/2009

Kate Farley

The researchers have added fluorescent microscopy capabilities to their original bright-field cell phone attachment.

Researchers at the University of California (UC), Berkeley have developed a compact fluorescent microscope that attaches to an ordinary camera phone. The CellScope made its debut in April when the research team announced their original bright field microscope model. The latest prototype adds fluorescent microscopy capabilities.

“Fluorescence microscopy requires more equipment - such as filters and special lighting - than a standard light microscope, which makes them more expensive,” said Dan Fletcher, UC Berkeley professor of bioengineering and head of the research team. “In this paper, we’ve shown that the whole fluorescence system can be constructed on a cell phone using the existing camera and relatively inexpensive components.”

The CellScope uses compact microscope lenses attached to a holder that snaps onto a camera phone. The fluorescent microscopy model uses a light-emitting diode (LED) as the light source. Filters restrict the LED to 460 nm, the wavelength that excites the green fluorescent dye that labels the tuberculosis-causing bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The researchers have successfully captured fluorescent images of this bacterium, as well as bright-field images of sickle-shaped red blood cells and Plasmodium faceiparum, the parasite that causes malaria in humans. The images taken with a 3.2 megapixel mass-market camera phone achieved a spatial resolution of 1.2 micrometers.

The phone is designed for field use in areas with poor health care. The images recorded can be analyzed immediately or wirelessly transmitted to clinical centers for remote diagnosis.

The team is currently developing sturdier CellScope prototypes that will be used in more extensive field testing

The findings are published in “Mobile Phone Based Clinical Microscopy for Global Health Applications,” available online at PLoS ONE.

SOURCE: http://www.biotechniques.com/news/Cell-phone-fluorescent-microscopes/biotechniques-172218.html?utm_source=BioTechniques+Newsletters+%26+e-Alerts&utm_campaign=0eb80c0aec-BTN_DAILY&utm_medium=email

The 10-year-old who helped Apollo 11, 40 years later

SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/07/20/apollo11.irpt/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

By Rachel Rodriguez
CNN

(CNN) -- On July 23, 1969, as Apollo 11 hurtled back towards Earth, there was a problem -- a problem only a kid could solve.

At age 10, Greg Force reaches his arm into a tiny hole to fix an antenna crucial to Apollo 11

It sounds like something out of a movie, but that's what it came down to as Apollo 11 sped back towards Earth after landing on the moon in 1969.

It was around 10:00 at night on July 23, and 10-year-old Greg Force was at home with his mom and three brothers. His father, Charles Force, was at work. Charles Force was the director of the NASA tracking station in Guam, where the family was living.

The Guam tracking station was to play a critical role in the return of Apollo 11 to Earth. A powerful antenna there connected NASA communications with Apollo 11, and the antenna was the only way for NASA to make its last communications with the astronauts before splashdown. But at the last minute on that night, a bearing in the antenna failed, rendering it nearly useless.

To properly replace the bearing would have required dismantling the entire antenna, and there was simply no time. So Charles Force thought of a creative solution: If he could get more grease around the failed bearing, it would probably be fine. The only problem was, nobody at the station had an arm small enough to actually reach in through the two-and-a-half inch opening and pack grease around the bearing.

And that's when Greg was called in to save the day. Charles Force sent someone out to his home to pick up Greg. Once at the tracking station, Greg reached into the tiny hole and packed grease around the failed bearing. It worked, and the station was able to successfully complete its communications role in the mission. Apollo 11 splashed down safely the next day.

At the time, Greg didn't think what he was doing was a big deal, and 40 years later, he's still modest about his role in the mission.

"That's all I did, was put my hand in and put grease on it," he says. If he hadn't been there, NASA would not have been able to make its last communications with the mission before splashdown, but Greg says "it wasn't life or death, [from] my understanding."

Don't Miss

• Explore the Apollo landing sites
• The 12 men who walked on the moon

"My dad explained to me why it was important," he says, "but it kind of caught me by surprise afterwards, all the attention." iReport.com: Read Greg's firsthand account

That attention came from the media and even the astronauts themselves. Greg's small but important part in Apollo 11 was a story told by news outlets around the world. He even got a nice thank-you note from Neil Armstrong, whom he met when Armstrong went on a tour of NASA stations with the other astronauts to thank the staff after the mission. "To Greg," reads the note, which Armstrong wrote on a newspaper clipping of Greg's story, "with thanks for your help on Apollo 11. Neil Armstrong."

Perhaps not surprisingly, like many other kids who grew up during the Apollo era, Greg dreamed of becoming an astronaut. He says he remembers visiting his dad's office to listen to astronauts communicating with NASA officials on the ground.

"We could sit and listen to the actual communication with the astronauts as it was happening, and it was hard to understand, but I loved to do that," he says. "On Guam we didn't have good television coverage, so I think I listened to the [moon] landing on the radio. To me it was a huge thing."

Greg pursued his dreams of space exploration all the way through college, where he majored in physics. Unfortunately, he was unable to pass the vision test for the space program because of his colorblindness, but even that couldn't squelch his interest. Greg went on to get his pilot's license, and even though his career now as a gymnastics school owner isn't exactly space-related, he says that "ever since then, I've followed the space program."

And as a lover of space exploration, Greg hopes to see more missions to the moon.

"I think it would be an important step as far as going further, like to Mars," he says. "I would love to see us go back to the moon."

But for now, on the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, he can remember the small but crucial role he played in bringing Apollo 11 home safely.

"It kind of caught me by surprise," he says, "but I'm real proud to have been even a little tiny part of it."

SOURCE:http://www.usnews.com/blogs/professors-guide/2009/06/17/10-reasons-to-pick-a-community-college.html

10 Reasons to Pick a Community College

June 17, 2009 02:19 PM ET | Lynn F. Jacobs, Jeremy S. Hyman | Permanent Link | Print

One of the fastest-growing and most important segments of the American college scene is the community college (in some cases called two-year, junior, or technical colleges). Including such institutions as Miami-Dade College, Broward College, Northern Virginia Community College and the many campuses of the Maricopa Community Colleges (Phoenix), City College of San Francisco, City College of New York, Los Angeles Community College District, and Houston Community College Systems, community colleges enroll a full 44 percent of U.S. undergraduate students. That's 6.7 million credit students, plus 5 million students who are not candidates for a degree, at 1,177 urban, suburban, and rural institutions. To find out what the main differences are between the community college and the four-year liberal arts institution—and whether you should consider applying to a community college—we invited visiting blogger George R. Boggs, president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges and former president of Palomar College (a two-year college in California), to offer his thoughts. Here's what he has to say:

With family budgets now under the microscope, community colleges have become attractive alternatives to the more expensive four-year colleges and universities. There are many reasons that nearly half of American undergraduates choose to start their higher education in a community college. Here are the top 10:

1. Affordability. Average annual tuition and fees for a full-time student at community colleges average $2,402, versus $6,585 at a public four-year college or university and $25,143 at a private institution. In addition, students can live at home and save on housing and food. To help meet even these reduced expenses, community college students often find they qualify for financial aid while attending. And in many cases, the colleges offer work-study or part-time jobs for students.

2. Convenience. Community colleges offer classes at times and locations that are convenient for students. Classes are often offered at off-campus locations and in the evenings or on weekends in addition to the more traditional day classes. An abundance of online classes provides yet another alternative to make education convenient to those who must fit school around work or family responsibilities. And students can choose to attend on a full-time or a part-time basis.

3. Open access. Community colleges do not have exclusive admissions standards that require high scores on an admissions test or a certain grade-point average from high school. Anyone with a high school diploma or equivalent can enroll. Some students even enroll while in high school to get a head start on college. Starting at a community college gives students a chance to improve a high school record before transferring to a university. However, open access does not mean that students can take any course; students usually are given placement examinations and then advised or placed into developmental courses if they are not up to college-level work.

4. Teaching quality. Community college classes are taught by faculty who care about teaching and student learning, not by teaching assistants. The faculty members are fully committed to teaching and are not pulled away by research interests or the need to publish in order to get tenure. And community colleges are accredited by the same agencies that accredit major universities.

5. Class size. Class sizes at community colleges are much smaller than those found in the freshman and sophomore year at public universities. Most classes have fewer than 35 students and provide more opportunities for students to interact with teachers and other students. Faculty members are accessible and want to help their students be successful.

6. Support services. Community colleges offer a variety of services to help students, and the wise ones learn how valuable these services can be. Services that are often found at community colleges include counseling, advising, tutorials, health care, financial aid, and library services. There are usually computer labs on campus to make it easier for students to complete assignments.

7. Choices. Community colleges offer both vocational programs and academic transfer programs. For example, community colleges prepare most of the nation's registered nurses, police officers, paramedics, firefighters, and advanced-skill technicians. Of course, community colleges also offer courses that transfer into universities and count toward a bachelor's degree. Certificate programs can be completed in a year or less, while associate degree programs take two full years of course work. Of course, it's always important to check with a counselor to be sure that the courses count toward the degree that the student is seeking and that they transfer to the university program the student has identified.

8. Diversity. Community colleges serve the most diverse group of students in higher education. Students differ by age, ethnicity, degree of disability, socioeconomic status, and in many other ways. International students add yet another perspective. The opportunity to interact with and to learn from other students from many different backgrounds and with a variety of life experiences is another big advantage of starting at a community college.

9. Access to modern technology. Because of their strong partnerships with business and industry, community colleges often have cutting-edge equipment that is used by students in the classroom. Employers want job candidates who have experience with the equipment being used by industry, including the most modern computers and scientific instruments. Since community colleges offer classes only at the freshman and sophomore levels, the use of the best equipment isn't reserved for juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

10. Good company. In case a student feels discouraged by the prospect of attending a local community college rather than his or her first-choice university, here are some people who are glad that they started in a community college: J. Craig Venter, the person who mapped the human genome; Richard Carmona, former U.S. surgeon general; Eileen Collins, the first NASA female space shuttle commander; Nick Nolte, actor; Harry Reid, Senate majority leader; and Nolan Ryan, retired baseball pitcher. Several Nobel laureates, state governors, members of Congress, famous sports figures, famous actors, and distinguished business executives got their start in community colleges, but so have many thousands of nurses, skilled technicians, artists, police officers, firefighters, and EMTs.

For more info about community colleges, visit the American Association of Community Colleges.

©2009 Professors ' Guide LLC. All rights reserved.

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10 Reasons to Pick a Community College

June 17, 2009 02:19 PM ET | Lynn F. Jacobs, Jeremy S. Hyman | Permanent Link | Print

One of the fastest-growing and most important segments of the American college scene is the community college (in some cases called two-year, junior, or technical colleges). Including such institutions as Miami-Dade College, Broward College, Northern Virginia Community College and the many campuses of the Maricopa Community Colleges (Phoenix), City College of San Francisco, City College of New York, Los Angeles Community College District, and Houston Community College Systems, community colleges enroll a full 44 percent of U.S. undergraduate students. That's 6.7 million credit students, plus 5 million students who are not candidates for a degree, at 1,177 urban, suburban, and rural institutions. To find out what the main differences are between the community college and the four-year liberal arts institution—and whether you should consider applying to a community college—we invited visiting blogger George R. Boggs, president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges and former president of Palomar College (a two-year college in California), to offer his thoughts. Here's what he has to say:

With family budgets now under the microscope, community colleges have become attractive alternatives to the more expensive four-year colleges and universities. There are many reasons that nearly half of American undergraduates choose to start their higher education in a community college. Here are the top 10:

1. Affordability. Average annual tuition and fees for a full-time student at community colleges average $2,402, versus $6,585 at a public four-year college or university and $25,143 at a private institution. In addition, students can live at home and save on housing and food. To help meet even these reduced expenses, community college students often find they qualify for financial aid while attending. And in many cases, the colleges offer work-study or part-time jobs for students.

2. Convenience. Community colleges offer classes at times and locations that are convenient for students. Classes are often offered at off-campus locations and in the evenings or on weekends in addition to the more traditional day classes. An abundance of online classes provides yet another alternative to make education convenient to those who must fit school around work or family responsibilities. And students can choose to attend on a full-time or a part-time basis.

3. Open access. Community colleges do not have exclusive admissions standards that require high scores on an admissions test or a certain grade-point average from high school. Anyone with a high school diploma or equivalent can enroll. Some students even enroll while in high school to get a head start on college. Starting at a community college gives students a chance to improve a high school record before transferring to a university. However, open access does not mean that students can take any course; students usually are given placement examinations and then advised or placed into developmental courses if they are not up to college-level work.

4. Teaching quality. Community college classes are taught by faculty who care about teaching and student learning, not by teaching assistants. The faculty members are fully committed to teaching and are not pulled away by research interests or the need to publish in order to get tenure. And community colleges are accredited by the same agencies that accredit major universities.

5. Class size. Class sizes at community colleges are much smaller than those found in the freshman and sophomore year at public universities. Most classes have fewer than 35 students and provide more opportunities for students to interact with teachers and other students. Faculty members are accessible and want to help their students be successful.

6. Support services. Community colleges offer a variety of services to help students, and the wise ones learn how valuable these services can be. Services that are often found at community colleges include counseling, advising, tutorials, health care, financial aid, and library services. There are usually computer labs on campus to make it easier for students to complete assignments.

7. Choices. Community colleges offer both vocational programs and academic transfer programs. For example, community colleges prepare most of the nation's registered nurses, police officers, paramedics, firefighters, and advanced-skill technicians. Of course, community colleges also offer courses that transfer into universities and count toward a bachelor's degree. Certificate programs can be completed in a year or less, while associate degree programs take two full years of course work. Of course, it's always important to check with a counselor to be sure that the courses count toward the degree that the student is seeking and that they transfer to the university program the student has identified.

8. Diversity. Community colleges serve the most diverse group of students in higher education. Students differ by age, ethnicity, degree of disability, socioeconomic status, and in many other ways. International students add yet another perspective. The opportunity to interact with and to learn from other students from many different backgrounds and with a variety of life experiences is another big advantage of starting at a community college.

9. Access to modern technology. Because of their strong partnerships with business and industry, community colleges often have cutting-edge equipment that is used by students in the classroom. Employers want job candidates who have experience with the equipment being used by industry, including the most modern computers and scientific instruments. Since community colleges offer classes only at the freshman and sophomore levels, the use of the best equipment isn't reserved for juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

10. Good company. In case a student feels discouraged by the prospect of attending a local community college rather than his or her first-choice university, here are some people who are glad that they started in a community college: J. Craig Venter, the person who mapped the human genome; Richard Carmona, former U.S. surgeon general; Eileen Collins, the first NASA female space shuttle commander; Nick Nolte, actor; Harry Reid, Senate majority leader; and Nolan Ryan, retired baseball pitcher. Several Nobel laureates, state governors, members of Congress, famous sports figures, famous actors, and distinguished business executives got their start in community colleges, but so have many thousands of nurses, skilled technicians, artists, police officers, firefighters, and EMTs.

For more info about community colleges, visit the American Association of Community Colleges.

©2009 Professors ' Guide LLC. All rights reserved.

Tags: community colleges | students | education

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Reader Comments

Read all 12 comments about this article

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I notice two things about this article. One is that it is based on the views of a guy whose job is to promote community colleges. He is hardly an unbiased source. Second, most of the comments seem to come from people who work at or run community colleges. Naturally, they have a high opinion of their abilities and their institutions. They may not be the best judges.

Naturally, with tens of millions of people having gone to community colleges, one might expect at least a few hundred successful people would be among their attendees.

While community colleges may sound cheap, they are heavily subsidized by taxpayers -- the real cost is much higher.

Teaching quality can't be measured by the fact that teachers get paid to teach and don't have to do original work in research. Bureaucracies generally hire and keep people -- community colleges are no different from other government-run schools. There are some fine teachers, many mediocre ones, and some incompetents or misfits.

As for diversity, as Thoreau observed, the most valuable thing you get at college costs nothing: a chance to associate with other brilliant students. As a rule, nearly all community college students are from the same town, they come from poorer families, and they were in the bottom half of their high school classes. This may explain why so many politicians are among the acclaimed graduates of community colleges.

A better route for those interested in a cheaper, more convenient education with no admissions process or no community college bureaucracy to deal with, is self-education. You can choose the best books, watch videos like the Teaching Company lectures by professors considered the best in top US universities (available at good public libraries for free), and hire a tutor for any special assistance you may need. The class size is one and pace is ideal, since you set it yourself. The only reason for preferring community college is to get a piece of paper that says you have an education. As a result of the increasing bureaucratization of our society, you now need a diploma for work that high school graduates or even capable dropouts can do.

As for practical knowledge, get a job in the field that interests you -- you'll get paid for learning how things are really done, instead of paying teachers to tell you how they think things are done. Albert Einstein skipped his physics classes, because he felt the teacher was seventy years behind the times. Warren Buffett dropped out of Wharton because the teachers weren't worth the money. It would be foolish to think that typical community college teachers will be better.

Among the famous self-educated (non-college graduates) are Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Tom Cruise, Bill Gates (Microsoft), Michael Dell (Dell Computers), and about one out of six of the Forbes 400 richest people in America.

Fredric Dennis Williams of XX
Jul 16, 2009 10:29:17 AM [permalink] [report comment]

would like to leave Mia and go to school in CA

I really like CA and would like to move there. I am tired of living in Miami and sick of the mosquitos, humidity, and suffocating heat. I am looking at different schools in CA for me and my kids. Any suggestions for a Grad School, Community College and High School for me and my daughters. I would like to move into an area that is in the middle of all three or relatively in the area. My oldest teenager and I are pursuing Psychology and youngest teenager is entering 10th grade.

Gloria M. Taborda of CA
Jul 14, 2009 10:43:03 AM [permalink] [report comment]

Quality Instruction/Great Place to Work

No one so far has mentioned the often wonderful quality of the instruction. As English department chair at Oakland Community College, and former dean of academics, I know how dedicated and intelligent the community college faculty can be. Students get a great education from highly motivated faculty. For example, many of my students have gone on to publish in magazines and journals; one even has his first book published. Several students have earned their MFA's in creative writing.

As a place to work, the community college is a great environment. I can publish and do research without the overbearing pressure, knowing my job does not depend upon my output. My job depends upon me being a good teacher, motivating students, holding high standards, and creating growth in people. What a wonderful set of duties...

David James

English

Oldest Bible made whole again online

SOURCE: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31761140/ns/tech_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

1,600-year-old texts include numerous revisions, additions and corrections

3032075180

Reuters

3032075180

updated 4:51 p.m. CT, Mon., July. 6, 2009

LONDON—

The surviving parts of the world's oldest Bible were reunited online Monday, generating excitement among scholars striving to unlock its mysteries.

The Codex Sinaiticus was handwritten by four scribes in Greek on animal hide, known as vellum, in the mid-fourth century around the time of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who embraced Christianity.

Not all of it has withstood the ravages of time, but the pages that have include the whole of the New Testament and the earliest surviving copy of the Gospels written at different times after Christ's death by the four Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Bible's remaining 800 pages and fragments — it was originally 1,400 pages long — also contain half of a copy of the Old Testament. The other half has been lost.

"The Codex Sinaiticus is one of the world's greatest written treasures," said Scot McKendrick, head of Western manuscripts at the British Library.

"This 1,600-year-old manuscript offers a window into the development of early Christianity and firsthand evidence of how the text of the Bible was transmitted from generation to generation," he said.

The texts include numerous revisions, additions and corrections made during its evolution down through the ages.

"The Codex ... is arguably the oldest large bound book to have survived," said McKendrick, pointing out that each page is 16 inches tall by 14 inches wide (40 by 35 centimeters).

"Critically, it marks the definite triumph of bound codices over (papyrus) scrolls — a key watershed in how the Christian Bible was regarded as a sacred text," he said.

Four-year project
The ancient parchments, which appear almost translucent, are a collection of sections held by the British Library in London, the Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai, Egypt, the National Library of Russia and Leipzig University Library in Germany.

Each institution owns different amounts of the manuscript, but the British Library, which digitized the delicate pages of the entire book in London, holds by far the most.

The four-year joint project, which began in 2005 with the aim of "virtually reunifying" and preserving the Bible as well as undertaking new research into its history, has shed new light on who made it and how it was produced.

Importantly, experts at the British Library say, the project has uncovered evidence that a fourth scribe — along with the three already recognized — worked on the texts.

The assembly and transcription of the book includes previously unpublished pages of the Codex found in a blocked-off room at St. Catherine's Monastery, at the foot of Mount Moses, Sinai, in 1975, some of which are in a poor condition and have been difficult to study.

But there are still many unanswered questions about how the book came to be, said the British Library's Juan Garces, project manager of Greek manuscripts, who worked on the digitization.

For instance, where was it made? Which religious order commissioned it? And how long did it take to produce?

"The limits on access to this manuscript previously have meant that people (academics) have tended to dip, so that they have seized on particular things" to advance theories, McKendrick told Reuters.

He said the Web site will enable research to be carried out in a holistic way for the first time, forcing top scholars to view their theories in context.

A good example, he said, was evidence advanced by some academics pointing to the theory that it could have been made in the ancient city of Caesarea in Israel.

"It is our hope this will provide the catalyst for new research and it is already creating great interest," Garces told Reuters.

The Bible, which can be viewed online free, includes modern Greek translations and some sections translated into English.

Amoebas turn to family during tough times

SOURCE: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27915075/ns/technology_and_science-science/

When food supplies run low, the organisms cluster together

This image shows how two genetically different strains of an amoeba species (shown in red and green) begin to cluster together as the cells clump into an aggregate or multi-cellular organism.

By Jeanna Bryner

updated 4:55 p.m. CT, Tues., Nov . 25, 2008

When times are tough, many of us turn to family and develop closer ties. So, too, with amoebas.

Some of these single-celled organisms tighten family bonds and cooperate when food is in short supply, new research shows.

The research, published this week in the journal PLoS Biology, shows how one amoeba species can distinguish genetically similar individuals, and how an incredibly simple life-form can display some sophisticated, social behaviors. (Not only is an amoeba a single cell, it reproduces asexually. So one parent cell divides into two daughter cells, which can continue to divide and produce more amoebas.)

"These single cells aggregate based on genetic similarity, not true kinship," said researcher Gad Shaulsky, professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Shaulsky added that this demonstrates a discrimination between "self" and "non-self" that is similar to that seen in the immune systems of higher organisms.

Amoeba community
Called Dictyostelium discoideum, this amoeba species generally keeps to itself when living in a healthy environment with enough grub.

But when food supplies run low, the free-living organisms clump together into a community of individuals. The result is a multi-cellular organism. Each amoeba takes on one of two roles in this organism: They either become spores, which can survive and reproduce, or they die and the dead cells form stalks that lift the spores above the ground to increase the chances the spores will disperse to more favorable environments.

Only cells that form spores can pass on their genetic information to future amoebas. So the preferred position is spore. About 20 percent of the cells, however, do turn into stalks.

Previous research has shown that Dictyostelium cells sometimes cheat and ditch stalk duty. Instead, they turn into spores while reaping the benefits (passing on genes) provided by other stalks.

Chummy cells
Perhaps there's a way to avoid being cheated, the researchers wondered. If being a stalk means one amoeba could ensure the survival and success of genetically similar individuals, evolutionarily, it makes sense to take one for the family.

To find out, the researchers mixed cells from genetically distinct strains of the amoebas. They found that the amoebas segregated into clusters of genetically similar individuals once they congregated into a multi-cellular formation.

In this way, the researchers determined that Dictyostelium reduces the likelihood that it will become a stalk cell that will die to assist in the survival of a genetically distant individual.

"The big thing we found is that Dictyostelium discoideum have social behavior," said researcher Mariko Katoh of Baylor College of Medicine. "We didn't really know if they could discriminate when the genetic differences were small. That was the surprising part."

Amoebas, along with plants, animals, protists and fungi, are considered eukaryotes by biologists. Sociality has also been detected among the other major group of organisms, prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea), which are generally single-celled organisms.

The amoeba research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Keck Center for Interdisciplinary Bioscience Training of the Gulf Coast Consortia.

© 2009 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Mashed-up genomes could produce biofuels

SOURCE: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31767229/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Dependency of ants, fungi and bacteria gives clues on producing energy

By Eric Bland

updated 5:45 p.m. CT, Mon., July 6, 2009

The genomes of 17 different ants, fungi and bacteria that eat through hundreds of pounds of leaf matter a year could ultimately lead to new techniques for making biofuels.

Scientists from the University of Wisconsin, the Joint Genome Institute and Emory University are sequencing the first-ever community genome, searching for clues to how what's essentially a 50 million-year-old bioreactor operates.

"These leaf cutter ants, fungi and bacteria can plow through over 400 kilograms [880 pounds] of dry leaves each year," said Garret Suen, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who is working on the project.

"We believe that the whole community effort helps achieve this," Suen told Discovery News.

In the wild, armies of leaf cutter ants fan out across the rainforest floor searching for leaves. Using their powerful jaws, they cut out sections of leaves and then carry them back to their underground nests, where they feed the leaves to carefully tended gardens of fungi.

The fungi secrete enzymes onto the leaves that break down various molecules, leaving behind sugar that the ants use as food.

Once the fungi have broken down all they can, the ants remove the leaf pieces from the fungal garden, carry them to the surface and discard them in heaps around the nest. Bacteria continue to break down the leftover leaves, so the waste doesn't overwhelm the ant colony.

Exactly which molecules the fungi and the bacteria break down is still under investigation.

Only two other insect species have evolved such a close symbiotic relationship with fungi. Without the fungi, the ant colonies die. Without the ants, the fungi cannot survive. The bacteria are dependent on both for their food.

Over the last 50 million years, the three groups of organisms have optimized their relationship to squeeze the maximum amount of energy out of the leaves. How the community does this is still a mystery — one the scientists hope to unravel using a grant from Roche to sequence the genomes of all 17 organisms, including three different leaf cutter ant species.

Scientists estimate that there are roughly 1.5 billion base pairs spread out across the 17 different organisms. The human genome alone contains about 3 billion base pairs.

Locked inside the community genome could be clues that could eventually lead scientists to new enzymes or techniques that could enable humans to produce biofuels more efficiently.

"A systems approach is important for the biofuels field, because the breakdown of lignocellulosic with enzymes is still too expensive and cumbersome," said Lars Angenent, a scientist who studies how various microorganisms break down cellulose to produce biofuels at Cornell University.

"I think the work at Wisconsin should be applauded, because it does not sequence individual bacteria or insects, but rather the entire biological system," said Angenent.

Do you know where your condiments come from?

SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/homestyle/07/03/mf.where.condiments.come.from/index.html

By Ethan Trex

(Mental Floss) -- Have you ever wondered about the origins and namesakes of our favorite spreads, sauces, and dressings? Here are a few stories that you can use to regale your friends the next time you chow down.

Peppers were imported from the Mexican state of Tabasco to make spicy Tabasco sauce, giving the condiment its name.

1. Thousand Island Dressing

Is the delicious dressing that gives a Reuben its tanginess named after an actual chain of islands? You bet it is. The Thousand Islands are an archipelago that sits in the Saint Lawrence River on the U.S.-Canada border, and there are actually 1,793 of them, some of which are so small that they contain nothing more than a single home.

So why is the dressing named after an archipelago? No one's quite sure. Some people claim that early film star and vaudevillian May Irwin, who summered on the Thousand Islands, named it, while others contend that George Boldt, the famed proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, gave the dressing its name because of his own summer place in the region. No matter who named it, it's tough to beat on a sandwich.

2. Ranch Dressing

Yep, the beloved dressing and dipping sauce actually got its start on a real ranch. When Steve and Gayle Henson opened a dude ranch in California in 1954, they had an ace up their sleeves: a delicious dressing that Steve had concocted while the couple was living in Alaska.

The couple did a nice business at their Hidden Valley Ranch, but guests were always flipping out over just how tasty Steve's dressing was. Eventually, the Hensons started bottling the stuff, and the popularity grew so quickly that they had to hire a twelve-man crew just to help mix up each batch. Steve's culinary creativity turned out to be lucrative; in 1972 Clorox forked over $8 million for the recipe. Mental Floss: Foods named after people

3. A1 Steak Sauce

According to the brand's Web site, A1 has been around for quite a while. Henderson William Brand worked as the personal chef for King George IV from 1824 to 1831, and at some point during this employment mixed up a new sauce for the king to use on his beef. George IV allegedly took one bite of Brand's creation and declared that it was "A1." Brand then left the king's employ in order to go peddle his new sauce.

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4. Tabasco Sauce

Tabasco sauce is perhaps the most famous of all hot sauces, but where did it get its name? When Edmund McIlhenny, a former banker, invented the sauce in Louisiana in 1868, he didn't have a huge supply of chili peppers at his disposal. To keep cooking, he imported peppers from the Mexican state of Tabasco and slapped the region's name on his bottles. Mental Floss: The origins of salt, pepper and other popular spices

5. Heinz 57

Legend has it that Heinz 57 takes its name from H.J. Heinz's company formerly marketing 57 products at once, and except for the number, the story holds up. Heinz's Web site tells a story that Henry John Heinz was riding a train when he saw a billboard advertising 21 varieties of shoes. He so liked the idea he wanted to try it with his own condiment company. Thus, he started touting Heinz's 57 varieties.

There was only one catch: Heinz marketed well over 60 products at the time. So where did the 57 come from? Heinz thought the number was lucky. Five was Heinz's lucky number, and seven was his wife's. He mashed the charmed digits together, got 57, and never looked back.

6. Tartar Sauce

Fish's best friend is named after an alternate spelling of the word "Tatar," which was how Western Europeans once referred to almost anyone of Mongolian or Turkic descent. Many of these Tatars/Tartars ran roughshod over Europe in the time of Genghis Khan, but they knew how to cook. One of the dishes they left behind, beef tartare, came back into fashion in 19th-century France. These helpings of steak tartare came with a number of garnishes, including the creamy white stuff that eventually became generically known as tartar sauce. Mental Floss: The history of utensils (spork included)

7. Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise, the lemon-butter-and-egg yumminess that Eggs Benedict can't live without, isn't actually Dutch. Instead, it's one of the most well known French sauces. The sauce first appeared in French cooking in the 17th century, and is apparently named both because it somewhat resembles an old Dutch sauce and because the Dutch had such thriving butter and egg industries that provided two of the sauce's main ingredients.