Many researchers will tell you that financing their work–writing grants, securing funding, and budgeting for varying funding levels year to year–is the least rewarding part of life in academia, but there’s no escaping the simple fact that science costs money. … Continue reading
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We often think of cities as major drivers of economic development and growth. Big cities expand our access to infrastructure like public transit and public education. They allow for more efficient distribution of social services such as government assistance and … Continue reading
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The microscope holds a place on the short list of inventions that have changed the world and revolutionized our understanding of science. Microscopes are crucially important public health tools, allowing workers to identify pathogens and correctly diagnose the cause of illnesses. As educational tools, they can excite and engage students, revealing a world invisible to the naked eye. And, as many people who’d love a microscope but don’t have one can tell you, they are also expensive. Millions of doctors, health workers, and patients worldwide lack the resources to benefit from this vital tool, and millions of students have never seen a microscope before. In a dramatic step to address this problem, researchers from Stanford University have designed ultra-low-cost microscopes built from an inexpensive yet durable material: paper. They recently published their designs and data in PLOS ONE.
Meet the Foldscope. Borrowing from the time-honored tradition of origami, the Foldscope is a multi-functional microscope that can be assembled much like a paper doll. Users cut the pieces from a pattern of cardstock, fold it according to the printed lines, and add the battery, LED, and lens, and?voilà?a microscope. 
Click here to watch a video of how one is assembled. Some of their coolest features are as follows:
What’s the total cost, you ask? According to authors, it’s less than a dollar. At that price, it’s easy to imagine widespread use of Foldscopes by many who previously could not afford traditional microscopes. In this TED Talk, Manu Prakash demonstrates the Foldscopes and explains his hopes for them. The authors envision mass producing them and distributing different designs optimized for detecting the pathogens that cause specific diseases, such as Leishmaniasis and E. coli. They could even include simple instructions for how to treat and prepare slides for specific diagnostic tests or provide pathogen identification guides to help health workers in the field make diagnoses. This is just one way in which the ability to see tiny things could make a huge difference in the world.
Low-Cost Mobile Phone Microscopy with a Reversed Mobile Phone Camera Lens
Community Health Workers and Mobile Technology: A Systematic Review of the Literature
Citation: Cybulski JS, Clements J, Prakash M (2014) Foldscope: Origami-Based Paper Microscope. PLoS ONE 9(6): e98781. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0098781
Images: Images are from Figures 1 and 2 of the published paper
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A scientifically literate society is one that can make educated, informed decisions based on the best available evidence. While much of the public harbors a basic interest in science and education, there is still a need to increase and improve efforts to educate and engage with the public about science. In one such effort to strengthen the public’s connection to science, researchers with the Museum für Naturkunde (Natural History Museum) in Berlin encouraged museum visitors to participate in the naming of a new species of wasp found in Thailand. This call was met with keen interest, and the researchers shared their experience with us in a recently published PLOS ONE paper.
This previously undescribed red and black wasp belongs to a group of ant-mimicking cockroach hunters with extraordinary predation techniques. When one of these wasps finds a cockroach that looks tasty, the wasp stings it, stopping the cockroach’s normal escape response without paralyzing its legs, and leaving it in a surprisingly cooperative, docile state. The wasp then leads the complacent cockroach by one antenna back to a location of its choosing, often where it has lain eggs. The cockroach willingly marches to its doom, saving the wasp a lot of heavy lifting. At their final destination, the cockroach becomes a hearty meal that the wasp enjoys from the comfort of home.
With all of this information about the wasp in hand, as well as access to information about taxonomy rules and principles, visitors were given ballots with four potential wasp names from which to choose (no write-ins, as species names need to follow certain conventions):
Over 90% of the 300 ballots given out were returned, and the winning name was Ampulex dementor. Apart from formally describing a new species, the authors of the paper note that the naming activity was well-received and seemed to be an appropriate way to educate the public about taxonomic work and the process of classification of species. At least initially, crowd-sourcing may seem more appealing and democratic to the public than some of the other ways to go about naming species:
Sexy Faces in a Male Paper Wasp
Ant-Mimicking Spider Relies on a “Double-Deception” Strategy to Fool Different Audiences
Scientists Popularizing Science: Characteristics and Impact of TED Talk Presenters
How Academic Biologists and Physicists View Science Outreach
Citation: Ohl M, Lohrmann V, Breitkreuz L, Kirschey L, Krause S (2014) The Soul-Sucking Wasp by Popular Acclaim – Museum Visitor Participation in Biodiversity Discovery and Taxonomy. PLoS ONE 9(4): e95068. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0095068
Images: Images are from Figures 1 and 2 of the published paper
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The Copper Age, sometimes referred to as the Chalcolithic period, was a time of technological transition for humans. As stone tools gave way to metal ones, the Levant—which includes parts of modern-day Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria—emerged as a significant hub of copper crafting. Important archaeological finds, like the cache of copper artifacts found in the Nahal Mishmar Cave, are testaments to a robust copper-working tradition in the region, dating back to at least 4500-3800 BC. Although little is known about the origin and proliferation of metallurgy, or metal-working, in the Near East, a recent study published in PLOS ONE may offer new evidence of the earliest known use of copper in the southern Levant.
The recently discovered copper awl
In the study, archaeologists from institutions in Israel and Germany describe a copper awl they discovered at an archaeological dig in Tel Tsaf, Israel, that they estimate dates back to 5100-4600 BC. An awl is a sharp spike, generally attached to a handle, that can be used to pierce holes in leather or textiles. Residue at the base of the spike indicates that it initially was connected to a wooden handle. Researchers found the awl at a complex of mud brick buildings, rectangular rooms, and large circular grain silos. In addition, a multitude of beads, intricately decorated pottery, obsidian objects, and more were also found on site, and they appear to have originated from locations as far away as Armenia, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. The presence of objects from other regions suggests that the site was connected to far-reaching trade networks. The awl in question was found in an elaborate burial with a woman of about forty years of age, along with an ornate necklace made from over 1,500 ostrich eggshell beads. Its favored place as part of a burial indicates that it would have been a highly prized item.
The awl was discovered in this burial of a woman of about 40. A necklace of ostrich eggshell beads is visible in the bottom left corner.
The estimated age of the awl may make it the first known copper artifact in the Levant. Its presence at the excavation site shows that metal tools and objects may have arrived in the southern Levant via long-distance trade networks hundreds of years earlier than previously thought, long before the technology to make it locally was widely understood and adopted in the region.
The authors of this study used X-ray spectroscopy, or the bombarding of a sample with a beam high-energy particles, to determine the awl’s chemical composition by analyzing the unique signal that different elements emit in response. The spectroscopy revealed significant amounts of tin in the awl, an additive that creates bronze when mixed with copper. Bronze, like copper, is so important that it also gets its own Age (the Bronze Age). However, because this awl predates the advent of bronze by thousands of years, the authors speculate that the tin may have actually been incidental and naturally occurring. Copper with traces of tin is known to occur naturally in the Caucuses, a range of mountains stretching between the Caspian and Black Seas, and the awl may have originated there and made its way through trade networks to where it was finally discovered in Tel Tsaf. Copper-working know-how may have proliferated along the same networks, paving the way for widespread local production of copper artifacts, and followed closely, no doubt, by the ever-present scourge of copper theft.
Related Links:
What Early Neolithic People Left Behind: Levantine Arrowheads Found in Saudi Arabia
Dressed-Up Donkey Discovered at Religious Burial Site
Citation: Garfinkel Y, Klimscha F, Shalev S, Rosenberg D (2014) The Beginning of Metallurgy in the Southern Levant: A Late 6th Millennium CalBC Copper Awl from Tel Tsaf, Israel. PLoS ONE 9(3): e92591. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092591
Images: Images are Figures 4 and 5 of the published article
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It behooves us for our brains to have a solid working knowledge of our bodies: to know where our limbs are, what they feel like, and how they’ll interact with objects in the world. Even as you perform the simple act of lifting a glass of water to your mouth, you rely on the assumptions your brain makes about your body to know how hard your muscles should pull to move your arm, where your fingers end, and how hard you should grip the glass. But can these assumptions about your body ever change? A new study from PLOS ONE by researchers in Italy and Germany uses a powerful illusion to show just how fast our brains can update our perceptions of our bodies, given the right sensory cues.
Participants in the experiment first completed a questionnaire about how their right hand felt: its stiffness, heaviness, hardness, temperature, naturalness, and sensitivity. Next, they donned headphones and placed one hand behind a screen. Researchers then repeatedly tapped each participant’s hand with a small hammer for five minutes, and every time they did, they played the sound of a hammer striking stone. To maximize the illusion, the stone-hammer sound started at a very low volume and became louder over time. After the hammer session, participants filled out the same survey about their hand. Survey results showed that test subjects felt their hand was harder, heavier, stiffer, and less natural than before. In other words, as the brain started perceiving a strong auditory indication that the arm was hard and stone-like, it seems it also started updating its assumptions about the arm’s properties very quickly.
To validate these findings, researchers also took physical measurements of skin sensitivity on a subset of the group, both before and after the hammer hits. Our skin conducts electricity, and as it responds to stimuli—a painful prick, a change in temperature, or even an emotion—its conductivity varies. Measuring the resistance between electrodes connected to two points on the skin gives us a physiological measure of skin sensitivity and arousal, which is sometimes called the Galvanic skin response. The authors found that after the hand-hammering illusion, participants’ physiological response to a threatening stimulus (in this case, watching a needle approach their hand) increased significantly.
The authors conducted several other control experiments to better understand the mechanism behind the illusion. They repeatedly struck the hands of participants in a control group with a hammer and played the same hammer-on-stone sound, but did not time the hammer hits and the sound to sync up perfectly. This group did not report the same change in hand feeling or perception that the experimental group did, nor did it display a change in Galvanic skin response. The team also tested the effect of playing a pure tone with each hammer tap, rather than a hammer-and-stone sound, and found that this also had no significant effect on hand perception or Galvanic skin response. Finally, participants who heard the natural, unaltered sound of the hammer hitting their skin did not report any changes in their hand perception after their hand was hammered.
Control is not an illusion: In one control, the hammer sounds and hammer hits were staggered
The authors state that these controls help demonstrate how the illusion works. When incoming signals do not appear related—for instance, when the hammer hits and sounds don’t come at the same time—our brains can easily keep them separate. It is only when signals come at the same time and seem to be related that the illusion occurs. Rather than using static information about your body, your brain can take the extraordinary step of updating its understanding of the body to match the incoming signals, even when the new body perception is at odds with what we know to be true. Seeing is believing, and so too, it seems, is hearing and feeling.
Related links:
A Sense of Embodiment Is Reflected in People’s Signature Size
Out-of-Body Experiences Make It Harder To Encode Memories
Citation: Senna I, Maravita A, Bolognini N, Parise CV (2014) The Marble-Hand Illusion. PLoS ONE 9(3): e91688. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0091688
Images: Figures are panels A and B of Figure 1 of the full manuscript
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Peregrine falcons, the world’s fastest-moving animal, are found on six continents around the world. Once an endangered species in the United States, their population comeback has been attributed to the widespread ban of DDT and other pesticides in the 1970s, and is a great success story in conservation. It is easy to see why these remarkable birds are so charismatic. Peregrine falcons hunt unknowing prey by diving from above at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour, maintaining an astounding degree of maneuverability and precision. However, conducting in-depth analysis of the aerodynamic properties of peregrine falcons is no easy task. Dives are infrequent in the wild, we usually only see them from a distance, and their blistering speeds make the birds difficult to film. Nevertheless, that is exactly what a team of researchers in Germany managed to do, and they recently published the results in PLOS ONE.
Peregrine falcon in flight
Researchers first trained several peregrine falcons to dive from the top of a dam to the bottom, following a specific and predictable flight path. A trainer at the top of the dam released a falcon from the same spot each time, and a second trainer at the base used a lure to attract the bird’s attention. High-speed cameras facing the dam wall filmed falcon dives from different angles. The authors used the dam in the background of the video footage as a frame of reference to precisely and accurately recreate the peregrine’s diving trajectory, something that is nearly impossible to do filming peregrines in the wild against the sky.
Stages of a peregrine falcon’s dive
Back at the lab, the scientists positioned the wings and body of a stuffed peregrine falcon to resemble a falcon diving at maximum speed, and then used it to create a life-sized plastic version. The plastic falcon was analyzed in a wind tunnel using two different methods of analysis: oil-painting-based flow visualization and particle image velocimetry. A brief description of both techniques:
Peregrine falcon model after oil-painting-based flow visualization, showing the air flow across the body
By combining their wind tunnel analysis with the data from the video footage, the researchers created the most comprehensive analysis of a peregrine falcon dive to date, including factors such as lift, drag, acceleration, and trajectory. In particular, the high-speed footage revealed that small feathers pop up during the dive in key locations on the peregrine falcon’s body. The authors say that the feather position and wind tunnel analysis support the explanation that these feathers help keep air flowing smoothly over the bird’s body to reduce drag, similar to flaps on an airplane wing.
As if you needed someone to tell you that this bird is aerodynamic!
Diving peregrine and 3D computer model
Having trouble calibrating your own particle image velocity experiments? This video may help, but be careful: lasers are dangerous!
Love fluid dynamics and tunnels? Whisker Shape and Orientation Help Seals and Sea Lions Minimize Self-Noise
And, this is just plain fun: Peregrine falcon chases a mountain bike
Citation: Ponitz B, Schmitz A, Fischer D, Bleckmann H, Brücker C (2014) Diving-Flight Aerodynamics of a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus). PLoS ONE 9(2): e86506. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0086506
Images: Picture of flying falcon from Mike Baird. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th pictures taken from Figures 7, 15, and 4 of the published paper, respectively.
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Pedestrian traffic flow
At last check, the population of the world was around 7.1 billion and counting. As we all know, the sheer number of people on the planet presents a host of new challenges and exacerbates existing ones. The overarching population problem may seem daunting, but there’s still plenty we can do to make a crowded, urbanized world livable. A new study in PLOS ONE focuses on the specific issue of pedestrian traffic and how to accurately model the flow of people through their environment.
Researchers with Siemens and the Munich University of Applied Sciences examined video recordings of commuters walking through a major German train station on a weekday, during both the morning and evening peak commute times. Scientists analyzed the videos to determine individual pedestrians’ paths and walking speeds, and used the resulting data to set the parameters for a simulation of pedestrian traffic flow. According to the authors, this kind of calibration of theoretical models using real-world data is largely missing from the most pedestrian flow models, which are under-validated and imprecise.
Footage from train station
The authors utilized a cellular automaton model to form the basis of this simulation. Cellular automatons are models in which cells in a grid evolve and change values through steps based on specific rules. In this instance, the authors used a hexagonal grid and a few simple rules about pedestrian movement:
Pedestrian traffic flow model (Settlers of Catan Pedestrian Expansion?)
This model also borrowed from electrostatics by treating people like electrons. As the authors write:
“Pedestrians are attracted by positive charges, such as exits, and repelled by negative charges, such as other pedestrians or obstacles.”
Add to this model rules about when and where pedestrians appear, the starting points and destinations, and the relative volume of traffic from each starting point to different destinations, and you’ve got a basic model of pedestrian traffic.
Next, the authors calibrated this model by setting parameters using real-world, observational data from the train station videos: where people at each starting point were going, distance kept from walls, the distribution of walking speeds, and so on. To test their model and parameters, the authors validated it by running predictive simulations and comparing it to real-world scenarios. Based on the results, the authors suggest that this kind of model, which includes parameters based on real-world observation, more accurately represents pedestrian flow than other models of walkers that do not incorporate observational data.
The authors also changed multiple parameters to determine which ones had the largest impact on the simulation. The parameter that had the largest effect when altered was the source-target distribution (the destinations of people coming from specific starting points), so the authors note that this is critical to measure accurately and precisely.
The ability to precisely predict the flow of traffic has many clear applications, from the design of buildings and public spaces to the prediction and prevention of unsafe crowd densities during large events or emergencies.
Next research question: when it’s crowded, does pushing really not make it go faster?
Related papers:
Citation: Davidich M, Köster G (2013) Predicting Pedestrian Flow: A Methodology and a Proof of Concept Based on Real-Life Data. PLoS ONE 8(12): e83355. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083355
Images: All images come from the manuscript
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Do you ever fight with your siblings? Unless you’re regularly biting, head-butting, and threatening each other all night long, things could probably be worse. The authors of a new PLOS ONE study investigate how well crocodilians get along with each other as youngsters.
Researchers observed seven species of hatchling and juvenile captive-raised crocodilians in Darwin, Australia and Chennai, India. The animals were divided into small groups and then introduced into new mixed water and land enclosures. The scientists counted, classified, and analyzed instances of aggressive interactions, postures and behavior among the animals. Because crocodilians are at their most active in the evenings and during the night (and at their most amiable during the day), the authors analyzed footage from 4pm until 8am the next morning.
Siblings aren’t always so bad: juvenile Siamese crocodiles socializing
Some but not all of the awesome aggressive behaviors the authors observed during the study included:
Based on the observed behaviors, the authors classified the seven species according to levels of aggression. The authors suggest that the significant overall differences in relative temperament likely arise from each species’ unique ecological environment and adaptations. Some species, like the American alligator, the gharial (native to India), and the freshwater crocodile, were highly tolerant of one another and had relatively few aggressive interactions. When these species did display aggressive behavior, the vast majority of aggressive incidents appeared to be accidental and low-intensity. Other more aggressive species, like the saltwater crocodile and the New Guinea crocodile, displayed pronounced dominance patterns and had a higher incidence of deliberate, intense aggression. These species used direct challenges like biting to establish dominance, and submissive behaviors such as raising the head into the air to yield. Bites and head pushes were the most common forms of aggressive contact across all the species, although many behaviors were species-specific. For example, slender-snouted crocodilians tended to avoid aggressive interactions and the most potentially damaging behaviors, perhaps due to a relatively higher risk of injury.
The researchers suggest that aggressive behavior in young crocodilians could be a survival strategy to help them learn social queues and minimize their chances of being injured in social settings. The extent of the hatchling’s aggression may affect how long it takes them to abandon their initial family groups. Babies will spend anywhere from a few weeks to a few years with siblings and a small number of adults, until (like so many humans) they leave their families and strike out on their own “due to a growing intolerance of each other.”
The authors indicate that this research may have implications for effectively rearing multiple species in captivity and may also inform the planning, management, and success of effective reintroduction and conservation programs worldwide.
Related Content:
Determinants of Habitat Selection by Hatchling Australian Freshwater Crocodiles
Why the Long Face? The Mechanics of Mandibular Symphysis Proportions in Crocodiles
Citation: Brien ML, Lang JW, Webb GJ, Stevenson C, Christian KA (2013) The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Agonistic Behaviour in Juvenile Crocodilians. PLoS ONE 8(12): e80872. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080872
Images: Siamese crocodiles picture by chem7, other pictures taken from Figure 1 of the published paper.
From snakes that look like they have two heads to color-shifting chameleons, deception is at the heart of many animals’ survival strategies. Both visual and chemical predator deterrence are well-documented phenomena in the animal world, but new research on ant-mimicking spiders, published in PLOS ONE, may be the first documented case of a species that uses visual deception to elude one group of predators, and chemical deception to escape another.
Ant mimicry, or myrmecomorphy, is a tactic used by numerous spider species, and with good reason, since many predators steer clear of preying on ants due to their aggressive tendencies and often unpleasant taste. Ant-mimicking spiders can have body shapes that closely resemble those of ants, as well as colored patches that look like ant eyes. Combine these characteristics with behaviors such as waving their front legs in the air to resemble probing ant antennae, and these spiders can successfully convince predators to look elsewhere for their next meal. The jumping spider Peckhamia picata is one such ant mimic whose visual signals are an effective deterrent for visually focused predators, such as other species of jumping spiders. The picture below shows a jumping spider on the left and the ant it imitates on the right.
The PLOS ONE study shows that the ant-mimicking spider can also elude predators that rely heavily on chemical signals to identify their prey. In the current study, the spiders successfully eluded spider-hunting mud-dauber wasps (pictured below), and received significantly less aggression from the ants they mimic than other non-mimicking jumping spiders. The researchers presented wasps with a choice between freshly killed ant-mimicking and non-mimicking spiders. In all of the trials conducted, the wasp probed both types of spiders with their antennae, but every time the wasps chose to sting and capture a spider (seven out of eight times), it chose the non-mimicking spider.The researchers also staged encounters between Camponotus ants and live ant-mimicking and non-mimicking spiders. After probing them with their antennae, the ants were significantly less likely to bite the ant-mimicking spiders than non-mimicking ones. These results demonstrate that the jumping spider has a remarkably effective ability to deceive potential predators who focus on chemical cues when selecting prey.
The researchers point out that the spider is not a chemical mimic of the ant species it emulates. Insects rely heavily on hydrocarbons secreted from their cuticles (the hard outer covering of invertebrates) to identify and signal one another. It turns out that ant-mimicking spiders have very low levels of these molecules, only a small fraction of the amount found in non-mimicking spiders and the ants themselves. While further research is required to fully explain the jumping spider’s chemical mechanism for predator evasion, a likely explanation is that the low level of these chemicals does not register as significant to a probing ant or wasp, and the chemical evasion is accomplished in this way.
This study may be the first to describe an animal using a “double-deception” strategy: visual tricks and a deceptive chemical signature, both intended for different audiences. The authors hypothesize that this kind of chemical deception is likely widespread among other visual mimics in the animal kingdom.
Related links:
Video of a ramblin’ ant-mimicking jumping spider (great music)
Spiders gather in groups to impersonate ants
Citation: Uma D, Durkee C, Herzner G, Weiss M (2013) Double Deception: Ant-Mimicking Spiders Elude Both Visually- and Chemically-Oriented Predators. PLoS ONE 8(11): e79660. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079660
Images: Images come from Figure 1 of the manuscript
Do you like fancy coffee? Birds do too, but not for the morning pick-me-up that millions of people rely on every day.
Agroforestry, the practice of growing crops alongside larger native trees and shrubs in a heterogeneous landscape, can provide a host of benefits to farmers and the environment, from increased crop productivity and soil fertility to protection against erosion, winds, and flooding. In Costa Rica, where coffee is often grown in agroforests, there may be yet another advantage to this kind of land use: birds have taken a liking to these shade-grown coffee plantations.
In the past, global conservation efforts were largely focused on setting aside as much pristine land as possible, but increasingly, the effort to protect the environment includes recommending steps we can take to use land in a more eco-friendly way. Given the habitat loss from shrinking forests in Costa Rica, researchers from the University of Georgia asked how well shade-grown coffee plantations could function as a “surrogate habitat” for birds. Past research has found a high degree of biodiversity in Costa Rica’s coffee agroforests, but much of it was limited in scope or focused on individual species. This latest research, published in PLOS ONE, provides a detailed analysis of avian populations in these coffee agroforests.
In this study, scientists hung mist nets in both undeveloped forest patches and in coffee agroforests, to capture and count nearly one hundred different bird species in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica, a major ecotourism hotspot (arial photo of collection site below). Using models that accounted for seasonal differences in the two habitats, capture rates for different bird species, and bird community behaviors, the researchers described three different bird communities–insectivores, omnivores, and frugivores (fruit eaters)–in secondary forest habitats and in shade-grown coffee agroforests. In particular, the analysis showed that the bird community composition and dynamics in shade-grown coffee plantations embedded in the tropical landscape are very similar (although not identical) to those found in secondary forests, a finding which supports the hypothesis that coffee agroforests can be a suitable surrogate habitat for birds.
The authors also suggest that the coffee agroforests may serve as wildlife corridors for birds, allowing them to move freely between larger patches of forest within a fragmented landscape. This kind of habitat linkage is critical, as connecting wild spaces via such corridors maximizes the ecological benefits they provide. The authors do caution that providing managed habitat for birds in the form of shade-grown coffee should be viewed as a complementary rather than a contradictory strategy for protecting bird habitat, as nothing can substitute for the preservation of forest habitat. But in a region where ecotourism and birdwatchers are primary economic drivers (the Three-wattled Bellbird and Resplendent Quetzal are two prominent locals), this knowledge could help inform the land management decisions that are so crucial to birds and humans alike.
Related Posts:
Read more about conservation efforts in the forests of Borneo
What animals might you find in southern California avocado orchards?
Citation: Hernandez SM, Mattsson BJ, Peters VE, Cooper RJ, Carroll CR (2013) Coffee Agroforests Remain Beneficial for Neotropical Bird Community Conservation across Seasons. PLoS ONE 8(9): e65101. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065101
Image 1: Coffee agroforest in Costa Rica from Wikipedia
Image 2: Image of a Resplendent Quetzal on Flickr by Frank Vassen
Image 3: Figure 1 of the manuscript
While it doesn’t always pay to take the path of least resistance, sometimes it’s best to just go with the flow. New research on seal and sea lion whiskers help explain how they are adapted to do just that.
Whiskers, more technically known as vibrissae, provide their owners with important sensory information about the world around them. The follicle of each whisker is connected to many nerves, allowing an animal to “feel” its surroundings by picking up tiny vibrations in air or water. Sea lions (pictured left) and seals (right), like land mammals, are equipped with a highly sensitive array of whiskers that allows them to detect disturbances from afar or zero in on the wake of their next meal. A new study published in PLOS ONE explores the characteristics of seal and sea lion whiskers that make them particularly well-suited to underwater signal detection.
Researchers at the University of Florida investigated the hydrodynamic properties — the natural properties of liquids in motion — of whiskers from three different pinniped species: harbor seals, northern elephant seals, and California sea lions. Using CT scanning, researchers precisely measured the shape of each species’ whiskers. While the cross sections of whiskers in land mammals are almost perfectly circular, seal and sea lion whiskers are somewhat flattened, in the shape of an oval. In this study, the researchers ran water currents over the pinniped whiskers at different angles, watched how the whiskers responded, and, measured the amount of whisker vibration at different orientations relative to the current.
The orientation of the whiskers, it turns out, affects how much they vibrate. The authors found that when the skinny edge of the whisker angled into the flow of water, the whisker vibrated far less than when the flat side faced the current.
The authors suggest that the flat shape of each whisker and its resting orientation — specifically, skinny side angled into the flow of water — may minimize the amount of self-induced whisker vibration generated by normal, forward swimming (video). The reduced base-level “whisker noise” may help whiskered marine mammals better detect important vibrations in the water, caused by the environment and nearby animals. And that, really, is what the whiskers are there for in the first place.
Citation: Murphy CT, Eberhardt WC, Calhoun BH, Mann KA, et al. (2013) Effect of Angle on Flow-Induced Vibrations of Pinniped Vibrissae. PLoS ONE 8(7): e69872. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069872
Image: Image comes from Figure 5 of the manuscript
