Science News 05.9.2009

Tall and Short of Disease | Pear Tree Goes Bad | Bioquantum Mechanics
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Good Fat Found

in Adults
Think
Nickel Falls,
Oxygen Rises
Ancient Animals:
BYO Shell
Making
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without
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Where Imagination
Meets Innovation
T
he Georgia Institute of Technology’s InVenture Prize
encourages undergraduate students to explore their potential
by thinking creatively. The continuous glucose monitor, a finalist
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This device represents the type of innovation that occurs daily at
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may 9, 2009 • vol. 175 • no. 10
In The News Features

5 STORY ONE 16 SwARM SAvvY
• A good tree goes bad by cover story: Humans could
hybridizing into a highly learn a little more from bees
invasive species and ants, who have perfected
5 the art of making simple — and
8 LIFE correct — group decisions.
• Curiosity catches the bird By Susan Milius
• Early arthropods geared up 22 THE GENETIC DIMENSION OF
for land with borrowed shells HEIGHT AND HEALTH
• Odd arrangement of DNA may Being a bit taller or shorter
aid nocturnal critters’ vision than average may be a sign of
• Lizards catch rays to get genetic susceptibility to
vitamin D diseases such as cancer,
studies suggest.
10 BODY & BRAIN By Solmaz Barazesh
• Trim adults keep their
26 LIvING PHYSICS
9 baby fat
Scientists explore quantum
• Heartburn drugs no good for
phenomena going on in green
asthma
leaves, purple microbes and
• Low blood sugar events linked migrating birds.
to dementia By Susan Gaidos
12 MATTER & ENERGY

Departments
• Sensor sees, but stays
invisible 2 FROM THE EDITOR
• Two laser lights make
fine-point pen by erasing 4 NOTEBOOk
at nanoscale
30 BOOkSHELF
• Criminal atom clusters appear
22
to break second law
30 FEEDBACk
14 EARTH
32 COMMENT
• Nickel’s fall may have
Physicist Charles Niederriter
prompted oxygen’s rise on
on the Nobel Conference.
early Earth
• Young and thin is a bad sign
for Arctic ice
COvER A photo illustra-
tion shows a group of
15 ATOM & COSMOS ants on the move. New
• Seeing double helps track studies are revealing how
such groups make smart
solar flares decisions collectively.
26 Hans Neleman/Getty
Images
www.sciencenews.org May 9, 2009 | science news | 1

from the editor
MAGAZINE OF THE SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC
MAGAZINE OF THE SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC
publisher Elizabeth Marincola editor in chief Tom Siegfried

editorial staff managing editor Eva Emerson
senior editor⁄policy Janet Raloff
With science at its best,
assistant managing editor Kristina Bartlett Brody
news editor Elizabeth Quill associate editor Emily Krieger answers raise questions
astronomy Ron Cowen staff writer Laura Sanders
behavioral sciences Bruce Bower editorial assistant Birds and bees, ants and plants are
biomedicine Nathan Seppa Rachel Zelkowitz among the most familiar — and most
earth sciences Sid Perkins web specialist ⁄editorial secretary
environment/chemistry Rachel Ehrenberg Gwendolyn K. Gillespie well-studied scientifically — life-forms
life sciences Susan Milius science writer intern on the planet. You’d think that if you
molecular biology Tina Hesman Saey Solmaz Barazesh wanted to know something about how
d e s i g n design director Bob Gray
any of them work, you’d go look it up in a
assistant art directors Joshua Korenblat, Avik Nandy
book (excuse me, I meant the Internet).
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vice chairman Robert W. Fri secretary David A. Goslin
treasurer Michela English members Deborah Blum, Jeanette Grasselli Their quantum skills allow electrons to test multiple path-
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membership and communications associate Nancy Moulding Bees and ants, on the other hand, have evolved elaborate
events management director of events Cait Goldberg communication systems that don’t appear to rely on quantum
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program manager, Intel Science Talent Search Tzeitel Hirni once. When it’s time to move a colony, scout bees or ants seek
manager of international fairs Sharon Snyder new homes and then report back to the group about multiple
office manager June Kee program associates Diane Rashid, Jinny Kim, possible locations. Researchers are just beginning to under-
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2 | science news | May 9, 2009 www.sciencenews.org

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SCIENCE NOTEBOOK
Scientific Observations SN Online

www.sciencenews.org
“As I have told my students … I view a life
in science as a marathon, not as a sprint. EARTH
My goal is to ask simple questions arising Iron in water seeping from
an underground ecosystem
from clearly stated hypotheses, to use
takes on a rusty hue as it
both simple experimental designs and oxidizes (below). Surpris-
transparent statistical analyses, to proceed ingly hearty life forms use
one step at a time, experiment after the iron to breathe in their
long-isolated, dark and
experiment, frequently replicating main
salty home. See “Antarctic
effects, until I can be quite sure that when ecosystem holds unusual
others attempt to repeat my procedures, microbes.”
they will get the same results that I did. Not
exactly the sort of approach likely to reap
accolades today.” BENNETT G. GALEF JR., PROFESSOR
EMERITUS OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AT MCMASTER UNIVERSITY IN
HAMILTON, CANADA, IN THE MARCH 24 CURRENT BIOLOGY
BODY & BRAIN

Science Past | FROM THE ISSUE OF MAY 9, 1959 Science Future High levels of tobacco-
forecast 25% increase in air’s carbon dioxide — related compounds that
A 25% increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the May 10 show up in urine could
earth’s atmosphere during the 150-year period ending in Winners of the “Best Visual
Illusion of the Year Contest” identify which cigarette
2000 A.D. has been forecast. Dr. Bert Bolin announced in Naples, Fla. smokers are most likely to
of the University of Stockholm in Sweden View entries at illusioncontest. develop lung cancer. Mea-
told the National Academy of Sciences neuralcorrelate.com
surements also show how
meeting in Washington that the burning deeply smokers puff and
of coal, oil and gas was adding carbon diox- May 10–15
Intel International Science and how long they inhale. See
ide to the air at about one-half a percent Engineering Fair for students in “A urine test may predict
each year.… The increase in carbon diox- grades 9–12 in Reno, Nev. Visit lung cancer risk.”
ide in the atmosphere during the last 100 years, he said, is www.societyforscience.org
much more likely to be about eight percent than the usu-
ally quoted two percent. Carbon dioxide is believed the June 10–14
The World Science Festival in
cause for earth’s suspected warming trend of two to three New York City. See the lineup at
degrees Fahrenheit in the last 50 years. www.worldsciencefestival.com
Science Stats | FEMALES TESTED MORE THAN MALES Introducing…

Percentage of U.S. adults age 18 and older who have ever been Not only is this jumping
tested for HIV, by age group and sex, data from 2007 spider a new species, it’s
s Male also unusual enough to justify
s Female
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: MCMASTER UNIVERSITY;
naming a new genus. Called Tabuina

Age
varirata, the species belongs on one of the
18–24
sparser, more isolated branches of the spider family tree,
25–34 reports Wayne Maddison in Zootaxa. Maddison, director of the
35–44 Beaty Biodiversity Museum in Vancouver, Canada, named the
B. URMSTON; W. MADDISON
spider after discovering it on a 2008 Conservation Interna-

45–64
tional expedition in Papua New Guinea. After a month in the
>65 country, researchers identified some 600 plant and animal
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% species. Maddison discovered about 50 spiders believed to
SOURCE: 2007 NATIONAL HEALTH INTERVIEW SURVEY, NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS be new to science.
4 | SCIENCE NEWS | May 9, 2009 www.sciencenews.org

“ if you want to communicate, Life risk-taker birds skew studies
”
Dna provides low-light focusing power
this is the cloak for you. — john pendry, page 12
Body & Brain grown-ups got the good fat
In the News
Matter & Energy Drawing a thin line
clusters seem to bounce above the law
Earth explaining the rise of oxygen
Atom & Cosmos seeing the sun in stereo
story one gene pool for the trees to overcome their

usual sterility and pollinate each other.
Landscaper’s darling hybridizes Sadly, it’s not just a few combinations
of the varieties that can produce wild-
into an environmental nuisance ing seeds, Culley and Hardiman show. As
Culley puts it, “It’s everything.”
variation underlies the callery pear tree’s transformation Such cross-variety mixing puts the
of hard, marble-sized fruits, says Theresa Callery pear on the latest list of plants and
By Susan Milius
A
Culley of the University of Cincinnati. animals that have turned invasive after
s in other tales of nice kids Animals distribute the seeds, and they some form of hybridization, says Norm
gone wrong, the Callery pear sprout into dense thickets, sometimes Ellstrand of the University of California,
tree’s troubles can be traced with thorns, that can crowd out other Riverside. The original list, published
to a gang of new pals, a new plants. by Ellstrand and Kristina Schierenbeck
genetic analysis suggests. Callery pears, Pyrus calleryana, have in 2000, included 28 examples. Now
Imported from China, the Callery pear earned both a 2005 Urban Tree of the there’s evidence for 35, Schierenbeck,
won U.S. hearts and yards coast to coast Year award (for the Chanticleer cultivar) with the Agricultural Research Service
for its early spring clouds of white blos- and a place on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife based at the University of Nevada, Reno
soms. The first ornamental variety of the Service list of highly invasive plants in and Ellstrand report, also in the May
species, named Bradford, went on sale in the Mid-Atlantic. Biological Invasions.
the early 1960s. It didn’t form fruit, so What went wrong, Culley and Cincin- The new pear study “does illustrate
there would be no squishies on sidewalks nati colleague Nicole Hardiman report in really nicely this issue of cultivated
or seeds escaping to sprout in native the May Biological Invasions, was the pro- varieties and why we should be care-
areas. Bradford’s success inspired the liferation of other cultivars introduced ful,” says conservation biologist Sarah
introduction of other named varieties. into the ornamental pear market after Reichard of the University of Washington
Now many Callery pear varieties in the Bradford’s success. These later introduc- in Seattle. “We’re not just being arbitrary
From leFt: Frank n. meyer typescript/special collections/national agricultural
eastern United States bear bumper crops tions added enough genetic variety to the when we say, ‘No, your nice, supposedly
library; DaviD J. moorheaD, university oF georgia/bugwooD.org
A survivor in its native Asia, a wild Callery pear

tree photographed in 1917 in China thrived on a
parched mountain (above). The first ornamental
variety of the tree marketed in the United States
was so successful that more followed, leading to
hybridization and wild thickets of the tree (right).
www.sciencenews.org may 9, 2009 | science news | 5

in the news
for today’s top stories, visit

sn today at www.sciencenews.org
safe, sterile cultivar really may not be.’ ” mom’s or dad’s allele, the tree recognizes
Invasive species disrupt ecosystems the similarity should the grains land on
and, to put the problem in more imme- its flowers. The similarity of the alleles
diate terms, cost a lot of money, sug- triggers a mechanism that blocks the pol-
gests work by David Pimentel of Cornell len from fertilizing the flower’s female
University. In his last tally, from 2005, parts. The grain starts growing a tube
unwelcome aliens, from feral pigs and toward the egg, but the intervening tissue
starlings to water weeds and plant secretes an enzyme that destroys pollen
pathogens, cost the United States almost RNA and shuts down the growth.
$120 billion a year. Pears going wild in Ohio are mostly the Those first Bradford trees were
In their native range, however, Callery product of crosses between original vari- genetic clones of a single gorgeous tree.
pear trees are not a problem. “I’ve heard eties. Columns represent trees (102 in They didn’t fruit because, as far as their
it’s actually hard to find this tree growing all), and colors show each tree’s mix of safety lock knew, all the other Bradford
in the wild,” Culley says. DNA inherited from an original variety. trees were still the same tree. As Brad-
The U.S. government paid noted plant ford became popular though, nurseries
explorer Frank N. Meyer to search for in safety lock against self-pollination. started selling other varieties cloned
trees in China in the 1910s and send Called gametophytic self-incompatibility, from different, also remarkable, individ-
back seed. Fire blight disease was ram- this plant system sabotages (male) pollen uals among the Callery pear trees. Some
pant in U.S. pear orchards, so research- that’s genetically similar to the female populations of plants don’t have much
ers culled through trees grown from the tissue of the plant. Researchers have variety in the incompatibility alleles,
imported seed to select disease-resistant identified a single gene for this system but the Callery pears have turned out to
rootstocks. Then researchers looked in the pear and in some other plants, have plenty. And so trees received pol-
through their many trees and selected Culley says. Each tree inherits a version len that, instead of setting off any alarms,
sources: u.s.: pimentel et aL./eCoLogiCaL eConoMiCS 2005. europe: Vilá et aL./FrontierS in eCoLogy and the environMent in press.
images from top: t. culley and n. hardiman/bioLogiCaL invaSionS; stephen ausmus; dan clark; Wilfredo robles; back story data
one to clone and market as an ornamen- of the gene called an allele from mom and bore fruit.
tal — Bradford. another from dad. Forming pollen or egg In their study, Culley and Hardiman
Early on, the Bradford ornamental cells will split the pair. checked nine pieces of the highly vari-
didn’t fruit. Callery pears have a built- But whether a pollen grain inherits able, repetitious DNA called microsat-
ellites to create genetic profiles of the
popular Callery pear clones on the mar-
Back Story | costs of invasives ket. Looking at the mixed-and-matched
the callery pear tree is among some 50,000 foreign species of all sorts that have moved microsatellites in wild trees let the
into the united states, some intentionally, some not. europe’s latest count reveals at least researchers figure out parentage. The
10,000. a small percentage of invasives prove to be a noticeable pain in the pocketbook. results pointed to a surprising amount
Invader Reasons for U.S. cost Cost per year in of hybridizing going on in stands that
Invader
Invader What costs
Reasons for money
U.S. cost Cost perof
millions year in
dollars
Invader Reasons for U.S. cost millions of dollars have sprung up in Ohio, Tennessee and
Purple loosestrife control, loss 45 Maryland. Trees in these weedy patches
Lythrum salicaria
are offspring of two cultivars, of a hybrid
Melaleuca control 3–6
Melaleuca quinquenervia and a cultivar, or of two hybrids.
melaleuca Feral pig loss, damage, control 800.5 Experimental crosses of four common
Sus scrofa pear varieties likewise yielded fruit in
Green crab loss, damage 44 almost all combinations.
Carcinus maenas Reichard reports that she has yet to
Imported fire ant loss, damage, control 1,000 hear of problem pears sprouting along
Solenopsis invicta
the West Coast. Invasiveness varies by
Invader
Invader What costs
Reasons for money
European cost Cost per
Cost per year
year in
in
feral pigs Invader Reasons Reasons
for European cost millions of
of euros
Euros region, and she urges gardeners to keep
Invader Country: for cost millions
an eye out for potential rogues. She rec-
Water hyacinth spain: control, eradication 3.35 ommends that both buyers and sellers
eichhornia crassipes
of plants look up the St. Louis voluntary
Marine alga norway: toxic bloom 8.18
Chrysochromulina polylepis codes of conduct for guidance in keep-
Nutria italy: control, damage 2.85 ing plants from falling into the wrong
Water hyacinth
Myocastor coypus crowd. s
6 | science news | may 9, 2009 www.sciencenews.org

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in the news
Life For longer versions of these and other

life stories, visit www.sciencenews.org
Brash birds get nabbed more often ingness to take risks, researchers deter-
mined how close a bird would let them
personality may affect which flycatchers end up in the lab approach. And for aggressive tendencies,
the researchers observed how vigorously
a territory holder objected to the arrival
By Susan Milius
of a caged male.
Who knows whether birds have their With these data, researchers found
own snarky personality jokes. But links between individuals’ behaviors in
researchers now say collared flycatch- different contexts. Birds that explored
ers with a dashing and curious charac- novelties readily were also likely to
ter are especially likely to get caught in allow humans to get close. After trap-
researchers’ traps. ping attempts, the researchers found
The trappable birds readily explore birds with these two traits were also
novelties and take risks in the wild, more likely to get caught.
says László Zsolt Garamszegi, now at “Your capturing method really influ-
Doñana Biological Station near Seville, New work suggests flycatchers have ences the outcome of your study,” says
Spain. And their susceptibility comes their own versions of personality, influ- Garamszegi. In fact, after dropping data
from that behavioral style, Garamszegi encing their likelihood of getting caught. from shy, untrappable birds, the research-
and colleagues report in the April Ani- ers redid the behavioral syndrome analy-
mal Behaviour. tion, affected the ease of trapping. ses and found the strength of some of the
Early work on bird “personality,” called In a test for readiness to cope with links changed. “When you have a differ-
behavioral syndrome, has tested birds in novelty, researchers assessed each ent sample, you may find completely dif-
controlled settings. But Garamszegi, then male’s typical behavior by placing a live ferent biological patterns,” he says.
at the University of Antwerp in Belgium, female in a cage at his nest box. Then Ann Hedrick of the University of Cali-
and his colleagues watched wild collared researchers attached a novel object, a fornia, Davis, who studies behavioral syn-
flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) to see if piece of white paper, to the male’s nest dromes in crickets, says the work “draws
individuals had syndromes and if those box and watched to see how curiously he attention to an important consideration
syndromes, rather than age and condi- explored the oddity. To grade birds’ will- in designing future studies.”
Arthropods came Much scientific attention has focused

on the water-to-land transition that
farther to the right as the creature turned
left, and more to the left as the creature
ashore in shells vertebrates made around 380 million
years ago (SN: 6/17/06, p. 379; 1/31/09,
turned right, Hagadorn says.
But in the Wisconsin trackways, the
Gear may have kept gills wet p. 30). But by that era, another group of scrapes swung farther to the left of the
during transition onto land creatures — arthropods, the group that footprints regardless of which direction
today includes crustaceans, scorpions the creature was turning. The team spec-
and insects — had been strolling around ulates that the asymmetric impressions
By Sid Perkins
on land for more than 115 million years, were made by a shell that the creature car-
Some of the first creatures to leave the notes James W. Hagadorn of Amherst ried on its back like modern-day hermit
ocean and venture onto land may have College in Massachusetts. crabs do. That shell would have provided
done so by carrying a bit of the sea with Hagadorn and Adolf Seilacher of Yale a humid chamber so the creatures could
them. Fossil trackways left on ancient University studied arthropod trackways extend their foraging time on land.
tidal flats 500 million years ago hint found in 500-million-year-old sandstone “This is a pretty neat study,” says
that some ocean-dwelling arthropods, in central Wisconsin. Some of the track- Anthony Martin of Emory University
like today’s hermit crabs, hauled out onto ways include impressions scraped into in Atlanta. “That Cambrian arthropods
land wearing shells, researchers report the sand on either side of the creature’s had some sort of behavioral adaptation
in the April Geology. Those shells would footprints. If a trailing appendage like for coping with times out of water is not so
MiklOS laczi
have protected the creatures’ delicate a tail had made those impressions, the surprising, but for them to be using shells
gills from drying out and may also have scrapes would be similar to the tire tracks like hermit crabs nearly 500 million years
held small reservoirs of seawater. made by a truck-drawn trailer: extending ago is amazing.”

“everything that must be inside is outside, and everything that
should be outside is inside.” — boris joffe
Oddities in rod DNA stains show inactive (blue, red)

and active DNA (green) in the nuclei of
cells may help mouse rod cells (top left), ganglion cells
(bottom left) and skin cells (right).
with night sight and slower through the dense hetero-

Nocturnal mammals invert chromatin. So the heterochromatin acts
as a lens, slowing photons to focus light.
retinal DNa arrangement Guck’s computer simulations show
that light would be channeled along col-
By Tina Hesman Saey
umns of rod cells with the inverted con-
Mice and cats don’t usually agree, but rets, had the inside-out arrangement in figuration, but that the conventional
both animals have the same bright idea rod cells. But animals active during the DNA arrangement would scatter light.
about night vision. Cats, rats, mice and day had the conventional DNA arrange- This is the first time scientists have
other nocturnal mammals arrange DNA ment with heterochromatin on the out- discovered DNA acting as a lens in photo-
in some eye cells to form miniature lenses side of the nucleus. receptor cells, says Gregory Acland of
that help focus light, a new study shows. The researchers then consulted Jochen Cornell University. But arranging compo-
Scientists at the Ludwig-Maximilians Guck, a biophysicist at the University of nents of retina cells to reduce light scat-
University Munich in Germany and col- Cambridge in England. “It was very obvi- tering isn’t new, he says. Birds and some
leagues discovered the unusual DNA ous to me that the nuclei could only be lizards and fish use oil droplets in cone
arrangement while investigating genes lenses,” Guck says. cells to funnel light.
in the rod cells of mouse eyes, says Boris Placing dense heterochromatin in the Still, this may be the first evidence
Joffe, one of the authors of the new study, center of the nucleus raises the refractiv- for light-funneling in rods, says Trevor
which appears in the April 17 Cell. Rod ity index — the degree to which the mate- Lamb of the Australian National Uni-
cells are light-gathering cells in the retina rial decreases the speed of light through it. versity in Canberra. The team, however,
of the eye. They operate under low-light Photons travel faster through the loosely hasn’t actually shown that the funneling
conditions, while cone cells perform the packed DNA containing active genes would improve night vision, he says.
light-gathering duty when it is bright.
Usually, active genes are located in the
part of DNA at the center of a cell’s nucleus.
There, the genes have easy access to the
Lizards bask for more than warmth
cellular machinery that rewrites instruc- a lounging lizard might not bask just
tions encoded in the DNA into RNA. for warmth — it may be getting a
Inactive DNA is pushed to the periphery much-needed hit of vitamin D.
of the nucleus, where it is out of the way. a new study reports that pan-
But rod cells in the mouse retina shove ther chameleons (one shown)
active genes to the outside of the nucleus, set their sunbathing schedule
the researchers found. The center of the depending on how much vita-
FROM tOp: SOlOvei et al./Cell 2009; GlObalp/iStOckphOtO
nucleus is instead occupied by densely min D they need. the new work,
packed inactive DNA called hetero- published in the May/June Physiologi-
chromatin. Mice give this type of DNA cal and Biochemical Zoology, has implications
center stage in their rod cells. for how zoos and pet owners care for reptiles. Scientists once
“Everything that must be inside is thought that basking was for regulating body temperature alone, says
outside, and everything that should be study leader kristopher karsten of texas christian University in Fort Worth.
outside is inside,” Joffe says. “It was an but sunbathing is also important for modifying a vitamin D precursor
absolutely heretic finding.” found in skin. chameleons fed a diet low in vitamin D spent more time
The team decided to examine retinas basking in the sun than their counterparts, the researchers
from more than a dozen different spe- report. the study “calls attention to the fact that providing
cies of mammals and found that animals ample opportunity for basking is important,” says Mark
active in low-light conditions, including acierno of louisiana State University’s School of veteri-
cats, rats, deer, opossum, rabbits and fer- nary Medicine in baton Rouge. — Rachel ehrenberg

in the news
Body & Brain For longer versions of these and other Body
& Brain stories, visit www.sciencenews.org
Other, friendly colleagues scanned lean and

overweight men at room tem-
fat present in perature (22º Celsius) and 16ºC.

The researchers saw almost no
adult humans brown fat in room temperature

scans, but the fat was apparent
Brown fat could help keep in 23 of 24 men when they were
exposed to cold. The more over-
people warm and slender weight men were, the less brown
Brown fat (black) shows up in a PET-CT scan of fat activity they had.
By Tina Hesman Saey
a man after exposure to cold (right) but is not as A third study found a marker
In the ongoing battle of the bulge, maybe apparent in a scan at room temperature (left). of brown fat in three of three
it is time to fight fat with fat. Three stud- biopsied volunteers.
ies in the April 9 New England Journal of under conditions that would minimize its Scientists suspect brown fat may help
Medicine show that some adult humans visibility, Kahn says. lean people keep weight off. Obese peo-
have brown fat, an energy-burning type Once considered irrelevant, brown fat ple may be overweight partly because
of fat previously thought to be found could be used as a target for fighting obe- they lack brown fat and can’t burn all the
only in animals and human babies. All sity, says Francesco Celi of the National calories they take in, or their white fat
together, the findings suggest brown fat Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and may provide insulation so brown fat isn’t
may be common, the researchers say. Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Md. needed, van Marken Lichtenbelt says.
White fat cells store energy, but brown In another study, Wouter van Marken “It is now without dispute that brown
fat cells burn energy and give off heat. Lichtenbelt of Maastricht University fat is present in adult humans,” Kahn
Mice and human babies have brown fat Medical Center in the Netherlands and says.
on their backs to help maintain body tem-
perature. Mice keep the fat through life,
but brown fat disappears as babies age.
Many researchers thought adult humans Acid reflux link to asthma in doubt
didn’t have it, or if they did, that it didn’t
play an important role in the body.
Heartburn drugs may not help patients with severe attacks
Now, the new studies demonstrate that outward symptoms, would thus ease the
By Nathan Seppa
brown fat is found in adults and it may be bronchial constriction and coughing of
important for regulating body weight and Taking heartburn drugs doesn’t reduce asthma attacks.
blood sugar. But the fat isn’t where people severe attacks among asthma patients, In the new study, the team recruited
expected it. In adults, brown fat was found researchers report in the April 9 New people with asthma that was poorly con-
in the neck, abdomen, above the collar- England Journal of Medicine. The find- trolled by standard drugs but excluded
bone and around the spine. ings cast doubt on a long-held assump- people who reported regular discom-
Ronald Kahn of the Joslin Diabetes tion that even unnoticed acid reflux fort from acid reflux. Tests for acid in
Center and Harvard Medical School in exacerbates asthma. the esophagus showed that about 40 per-
Boston and colleagues examined records Many doctors prescribe proton cent of the participants in both the group
from 1,972 people who had PET-CT scans pump inhibitors such as Nexium or treated with heartburn drugs and the
for medical reasons. The team found Prilosec — used for acid reflux, com- placebo group had silent acid reflux.
evidence of brown fat in 7.5 percent of monly called heartburn — for asthma Nevertheless, over a period of nearly
the women and 3.1 percent of the men. patients. Earlier studies have suggested six months, the rate of severe asthma
The fat was more apparent in people that acid reflux worsens asthma by irri- attacks was no different between the
younger than 50, people with healthy tating nerves that serve the windpipe and people getting the drugs or placebos.
W. van Marken LicHtenBeLt
blood sugar levels and in lean people. esophagus or by sending stomach acid up “This was quite unexpected,” says
Records revealed the fat was more evi- the esophagus and down into the wind- study collaborator Nicola Hanania of
dent in scans taken in cold weather. pipe, says study coauthor Robert Wise of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Though the study found brown fat in a Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Wise estimates that 15 to 65 percent of
minority of scans, the fat may actually be Doctors have reasoned that treating people with asthma get the drugs on the
common because radiologists take scans even silent acid reflux, which causes no assumption it will help their asthma. s

“i wouldn’t want doctors and patients to overreact to this hypoglycemia
issue and leave blood sugar levels to run high.”— philip cryer
Hypoglycemia linked to dementia The scientists then checked for any

dementia diagnoses from 2003 to 2007 in
Severe low blood sugar episodes might heighten risk later this population and found 1,822 cases.
After accounting for differences in age,
She and her colleagues analyzed medi- weight, race, education, gender and dia-
By Nathan Seppa
cal records dating from 1980 to 2002 and betes history, the team found that people
A single episode of low blood sugar severe identified nearly 17,000 people who had with one severe low blood sugar episode
enough to require prompt medical atten- type 2 diabetes but no signs of dementia, on their record were 45 percent more
tion increases a person’s risk of develop- mild cognitive impairment or even mem- likely to have dementia in their later years
ing dementia in old age, a study in people ory complaints during the time span. The than were people who hadn’t had blood
with diabetes suggests. More than one people averaged 65 years of age when sugar crashes. Those with two or more
bout of hypoglycemia seems to heighten surveyed in the mid-1990s. episodes faced more than double the risk.
the risk even further, researchers report The scientists noted any low blood The authors hypothesize that a glucose
in the April 15 Journal of the American sugar episodes requiring a trip to a hos- shortage in brain cells might play a role.
Medical Association. pital or other emergency facility. For such “This is a worrisome association,” says
Chronically high blood sugar is known treatment, Whitmer says, a patient would Philip Cryer of Washington University in
to increase the risk of dementia, but less is have gone beyond just being shaky and St. Louis. But he notes that the find doesn’t
known about the long-term effects of peri- weak. “These were events where patients prove that one factor causes the other. “I
odic low blood sugar, says study coauthor may have fainted or passed out or may wouldn’t want doctors and patients to
Rachel Whitmer of the Kaiser Permanente have been unable to communicate with overreact to this hypoglycemia issue and
Division of Research in Oakland, Calif. others — and were brought in,” she says. leave blood sugar levels to run high.”
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in the news
Matter & Energy for longer versions of these and other matter
& Energy stories, visit www.sciencenews.org
Double-laser
approach leads
to one thin line
Erasing, stenciling offer new
nanolithography techniques
By Rachel Ehrenberg
Cloak for communication a bare sensor disrupts the uniform flow of electromagnetic Michelangelo couldn’t have chiseled
waves (left). unperturbed waves are in yellow, disturbances in red. a new proposal for a cloaked
sensor (right) would perturb the waves much less, while still allowing messages to pass through. David’s features with the edge of a back-
hoe. But just such a challenge faces sci-
Undetectable sensor would still see entists working in the infinitesimally

small world of nanolithography, the
new cloaking method may allow signals to be sent, received ultratiny writing used to make computer
chips, solar cells and other devices. Now
objects would combine destructively and three reports, published online April 9 in
By Laura Sanders
cancel out each other, Engheta says. Science, introduce new methods to erase
Cell phones, radio receivers and GPS The key is that electromagnetic waves writing and stencil patterns, putting a
devices may one day go incognito. In a still enter the cloaked area and hit the finer point on the tools used to sculpt the
paper to appear in Physical Review Let- object — a requirement for an antenna incredibly shrinking nanoworld.
ters, Nader Engheta and Andrea Alù pro- to pick up a signal, for example. This fea- The research “could spawn all kinds of
pose a new cloaking method that would ture is what separates the new work from interesting ideas and new approaches,”
cancel out electromagnetic waves bounc- other cloaking methods that completely says Greg Wallraff of the IBM Almaden
ing off an object. The concept may ulti- isolate objects from the environment. Research Center in San Jose, Calif.
mately lead to surreptitious sensors that The cloak could also be designed to not Current nanolithography techniques
can collect and send messages without interfere with certain types of outgoing use ultraviolet light to etch patterns and
detection. waves (other than the ones being damp- images that can be used, for example, to
“This is a fascinating paper addressing ened), allowing the sensor to still send inscribe circuitry on computer chips.
a very important challenge,” says physi- unperturbed messages. Light is projected through a lens onto
cist Nikolay Zheludev of the University “If you want to communicate, this is a material that reacts upon exposure.
of Southampton in England. “The result the cloak for you,” says John Pendry, a That material is often a liquid compound
could have metrological, environmental theoretical physicist at Imperial Col- called a monomer, which turns into a
and defense applications when the idea lege London. In 2006, Pendry and his hardened, repeating version of itself, a
is developed as a practical device.” colleagues created the type of cloak that polymer, when exposed to light.
The new cloak would manipulate elec- directs microwaves around an object. Progress has been made in using smaller
tromagnetic waves — including light — not Wrapping the new type of cloak around and smaller wavelengths of light to cre-
by blocking out the waves, but by work- devices perched on top of military vehi- ate printed patterns, but that approach is
ing with them. Previous cloaks worked by cles could minimize telltale scatter- limited in part because of how light
diverting waves around an object. “We are ing while still allowing the sending and behaves at such short wavelengths.
asking the question, ‘Is it possible to put receiving of crucial messages. Robert McLeod of the University of
a layer around an object such that when Researchers have a long way to go Colorado at Boulder and his colleagues
a wave hits the object, the wave scatters before these cloaks become a reality. decided instead to use two beams of light
less?’ ” says Engheta, of the University of Each has to be fine-tuned to suit the at the same time — one acting as the ink,
Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. object it’s cloaking and will likely work the other as an eraser. “Imagine trying to
a. alù, n. EnghEta
Separately, the object and the cloak for only a small range of electromagnetic draw a very fine line with a thick marker,”
would both be visible. But the cloak would waves, Engheta says. But the blueprint McLeod says. “We can make that thick
be designed so that when the two are will work for many different types of line thinner if we have an eraser.”
together, the waves scattering off of both waves, he says. Fiddling with the chemistry of the

4
billion
number of transistors
that would fit on a
postage stamp today
light-sensitive monomer made the new Maryland in College Park and colleagues
approach possible. The scientists added report a similar approach: An activating
two ingredients: an initiator that reacts laser beam gets polymerization going,
with blue light and an inhibitor that and a de-activating beam keeps the
reacts with UV light. When the scientists polymerization contained.
project the blue light through the lens Sculpting with light may allow these
onto the monomer, the liquid absorbs researchers to craft tiny gears for tiny
the light and releases radicals hungry to machines or finely detailed screens for
bond. And bond they do, creating a solid controlling where light hits a material.
polymer wherever the blue light hits. In a third paper, Rajesh Menon of MIT
The UV light then acts as the eraser, and his colleagues describe a technique New studies show thinner rings are pos-
the team reports. Around the pinpoint of that also uses two different wavelengths sible with a two-laser approach (right).
blue light, the scientists created a dough- of light. But the researchers blocked light Other methods yield bulkier rings (left).
nut of UV light, stimulating the chemical instead of erasing it.
inhibitor in the monomer. This process The team placed light-sensitive film the stencil to etch the material beneath.
also produces radicals, but these snatch over the material to be patterned. Upon The studies aren’t likely to revolu-
up other radicals, preventing polymeriza- exposure to UV light, the film becomes tionize the semiconductor industry, says
tion. So a fine line is created by sweeping transparent, allowing the scientists to Robert Allen, also of IBM. But “what they
the periphery with UV light. “cut” a window wherever desired. Light of have done with very long wavelengths of
John Fourkas of the University of another wavelength can be shone through light is spectacular.”
Nanoclusters battle second law an apparent violation of the second law.

“It’s an interesting observation. For me,
in simulations, collisions can increase velocity, reduce entropy it was also counterintuitive,” comments
Jörn Dunkel, a theoretical physicist at the
the ball’s energy is siphoned as heat. University of Oxford in England.
By Laura Sanders
In the nanoworld, though, normal rules This superbounce comes from the
Nobody’s above the law. But tiny clusters do not always apply, the results suggest. random fluctuations of motions of the
of colliding atoms may duck below the Researchers Hisao Hayakawa of Kyoto atoms that make up each nanocluster,
second law of thermodynamics. In simu- University and Hiroto Kuninaka of Chuo the researchers say. Depending on the
lations, researchers in Japan found that University in Tokyo developed a computer exact motions, some fluctuations can
in rare cases, tiny clusters of atoms rico- program to model head-on collisions of give the collision an extra boost, like an
chet off each other faster than their squishy collections of several hun- extra springy trampoline.
approaching speeds. The results, dred atoms called nanoclusters. “Nanoscale physics involves such
from top: fourkas et al./Science/aaas; kuninaka et al./phySical review e
in the March Physical Review E, At speeds around 5 meters per unexpected events,” Hayakawa says.
seem to violate the second law’s second, most of the clusters in the But this extra boost works only in tiny
requirement that any work simulation stuck together like two systems. When the researchers increased
squanders a little bit of energy in candied apples in the sun. Others the size of each nanocluster in the sim-
the form of waste heat, leaving a just bumped into each other and ulation to over 1,000 atoms, the super-
system with higher entropy. moved away at a slower rate than bounce disappeared entirely. “In order to
In collisions big enough to their approach. see a violation of the second law, you need
see, like those between a tennis But about 5 percent of the time, a very small number,” Dunkel says.
ball and a gym floor, the speed the colliding nanoclusters sped These clusters evade the second law
of an object’s approach is up after bumping, exhib- on a statistical technicality: The average
always faster than its speed Nanoclusters some- iting what the research- speed of all the outgoing nanoclusters is
after impact. A ball dropped times gained speed ers call a super rebound. In less than the approaching speed. Even
against the floor bounces a after colliding in sim- these rebounds, the outgoing though individual nanoclusters appear to
little slower and comes up ulations, seeming to energy exceeded the incom- violate the second law occasionally, the
shorter on each bounce defy the second law ing energy, meaning that the average behavior of all the nanoclusters
because a small amount of of thermodynamics. system overall lost entropy, falls in line with the law’s constraints.

in the news
Earth for longer versions of these and other earth

stories, visit www.sciencenews.org
Drop in oceanic nickel may have

set stage for atmospheric oxygen
Banded iron formations point to changes in early seawater
2.4 billion years ago when oxygen lev-
By Solmaz Barazesh
els increased in what scientists call the
A decrease in the amount of dissolved Great Oxidation Event. Researchers
nickel in ocean waters beginning 2.7 bil- debate how these atmospheric changes
lion years ago could have stifled meth- occurred.
ane-producing bacteria and set the In the new research, Kurt Konhauser
scene for oxidation of the Earth’s atmo- of the University of Alberta in Edmon-
sphere, researchers report in the April 9 ton, Canada, and his colleagues mea-
Nature. sured nickel-to-iron ratios in banded
Billions of years ago, methane-produc- iron formations, rocks consisting of lay- Nickel-to-iron ratios in ancient rocks
ing bacteria called methanogens thrived ers of iron, silica and trace metals that suggest a decrease in the amount of
in nickel-rich seas. The large amounts of formed from sediments in ocean water dissolved nickel in seawater could have
methane pumped into the environment billions of years ago. The composition of led to the Great Oxidation Event.
by this early life may have prevented the rocks provides a record of the metals
oxygen accumulation in the atmosphere that were in the oceans when the rocks began to drop about 2.7 billion years
because the methane would have reacted formed, Konhauser says. ago, and that levels had halved by 2.5 bil-
with any oxygen, creating carbon dioxide By measuring about 30 rock forma- lion years ago. The researchers used the
and water, the researchers suggest. tions of different ages, the team found rock data to calculate decreases in the
The Earth’s atmosphere changed that the amount of nickel in the rocks amount of dissolved nickel in seawater.
“This is a really interesting data set,”
says David Catling of the University of
1981– 2000 Median 2009 Washington in Seattle. “As far as I’m
aware, no one else has deduced nickel
concentrations in the ocean over time.”
The lower nickel content of the ocean
waters could have reduced the activity
of the methanogens, so the supply of
methane gas diffusing from water to
clockwise from top riGHt: stefan lalonde (BotH); national snow and ice data
atmosphere would have decreased over
center, courtesy of J. maslanik and c. fowler/univ. of colorado (BotH)

time. “Methanogens use nickel-based
enzymes to power their many important
metabolic reactions,” Konhauser says.
■ First- year ice (< 1 year old) ■ Second-year ice (1–2 years old) ■ Older ice (>2 years old) That decrease in methane would have
allowed atmospheric oxygen levels to
Less, thinner Arctic ice increase, the researchers speculate.
the spring melting of the arctic ocean’s ice cap has already begun, and data suggest Changes that occurred as the Earth’s
that the ice is more vulnerable than ever: the ocean area covered by ice is one of the upper mantle cooled probably caused
lowest ever measured by satellites, and a record high fraction of it is capped by thin, the decrease in nickel, the researchers
first-year ice (gold) that’s more prone to melting than older, thicker ice (reds). satellite say. Volcanic eruptions from a cooler
images reveal that for march 2009 an average of 15.16 million square kilometers of mantle created fewer nickel-rich rocks,
arctic seas was covered by ice, says walt meier of the national snow and ice data making less of the metal available to dis-
center in Boulder, colo. that’s 730,000 square kilometers more than the record-low solve in the oceans.
ice extent measured in the spring of 2006 and about 590,000 square kilometers — an Catling notes that nickel might be one
area slightly smaller than texas — less than the long-term average, as tallied between of several factors that contributed to the
1979 and 2000, he said during a press teleconference on april 6. — Sid Perkins changing atmosphere.

in the news
Atom & Cosmos For more atom & Cosmos stories,

visit www.sciencenews.org
Solar flares now Previously, data from STEREO enabled

scientists to follow a flare from the sun to
trackable in 3-D Earth (SN: 3/3/07, p. 133). Now, research-

ers can accurately assess the 3-D structure
Craft positioning improves of flares as they develop, says STEREO
mission scientist Angelos Vourlidas of the
imaging of mass ejections Naval Research Laboratory in Washing-
New STEREO views of a massive solar ton, D.C. “We can actually see the shape of
By Sid Perkins
flare (arrows) allow scientists to assess the material,” he said at a news conference
WASHINGTON — For the first time, scien- its size, shape, speed and trajectory. held April 14 at NASA headquarters.
tists can accurately assess the size, shape Coronal mass ejections spew billions
and speed of massive flares as they leave probes now orbits the sun about 50 mil- of tons of charged particles into space.
the sun, allowing better estimates of lion miles ahead of Earth, and the other When those eruptions sweep past Earth,
when the flares might strike Earth and orbits about 50 million miles behind the they can trigger geomagnetic storms that
cause widespread electrical disruptions. planet. The broad span between the craft, disrupt radio communications and knock
Since early 2007, NASA researchers like the separation between human eyes, out satellites (SN: 7/31/04, p. 74). Particu-
have been gathering solar data using now provides scientists with two side- larly bad episodes can pummel electrical
sensors onboard two craft known as long views of the most massive flares, or grids across large regions and threaten
STEREO, the Solar Terrestrial Relations coronal mass ejections. The resulting 3-D high-flying jets at far-north latitudes, says
Observatory (SN: 2/10/07, p. 93). One depth perception helps track a flare as it Michael Kaiser of NASA’s Goddard Space
nasa
of those golf-cart–sized, 620-kilogram speeds through space. Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
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feature | SWARM SAVVY
Swarm
Savvy
How bees, ants and other animals avoid dumb collective decisions
By Susan Milius
T
his is a phone conversation, Bees, ants, locusts and plenty of other Even compared with gatherings of
so if Tom Seeley rolls his eyes, animals collectively make life-or-death diplomats in bespoke suits, bee nests
that’s his business. He’s a dis- choices. The biologists studying animal and ant colonies have plenty to contrib-
tinguished behavioral biolo- groups are finding strange lab fellows ute to the field. “The really lovely thing
gist, full professor at Cornell University, these days in economists, social scientists, is that we can take these things apart and
member of the American Academy of even money market specialists. They are put them back together again, and we can
Arts & Sciences and so on. Yet he takes trading tales of humans and of nonhuman challenge them with different problems,”
it pretty well when asked whether hon- animals to understand collective behavior Franks says. Seeley notes that studying
eybees could have had a real estate crisis and what makes it go right or wrong. honeybees has taught him a lot about
and crashed their banking system. “There is a new excitement in this how to run faculty meetings.
Seeley, at least voice-wise, stays polite whole field of decision making these All but the darkest view of university
and treats this as a serious question. days,” says ant biologist Nigel Franks professors credits them with more cog-
Which it is. of the University of Bristol in England. nitive power than can be found in the
Of course honeybees don’t have a bank- Franks and Seeley organized a multi- minuscule brains (sorry, bees) of insects.
ing system, but they do exhibit collective disciplinary conference on collective So one might wonder how well collective
behavior. The queen bee doesn’t decide decision making held in January at the wisdom works for nonhuman animals.
what the colony needs to do. Instead, each Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico. And That question is what makes the
colony member does her or his bee thing, both biologists contributed to a special research so intriguing. Bee colonies have
and out of hundreds or thousands of inter- issue of Philosophical Transactions of the been making collective decisions for
actions, a collective decision emerges. Royal Society B (March 27) on the same about 30 million years, Seeley says, “so
Seeley’s next book, due out in 2010, will topic. The issue considers insects as well they’ve had lots of chances for failing sys-
be called Honeybee Democracy. as the European Parliament. tems to get pruned out by natural selec-

FROM TOP: T. SEELEY; DEJAN750/iSTOckPhOTO; ARchiTEcT OF ThE cAPiTOL
Rock ants (magnified, top), dabbed with paint so researchers can track who does what, have evolved a quorum system to
cope with the challenges of collectively choosing a home. Other forms of this handy way of balancing the need for indepen-
dent observation with the logistics of moving or leading in a group have also evolved in fish and primates (middle, bottom).

FEATURE | SWARM SAVVY
tion.” Bees have unique needs of course, in 1907. Two reports looked at 787 con- the swarm needs a new home, and fast.
but when it comes to real estate (alas, testants competing to guess the weight of In the 1940s, biologist Martin Lindauer
humans), bees almost always get it right. a particular ox after butchering. Collec- noticed that some bees on the outer layer
tively, guessers came within 10 pounds of a swarm waggle-danced. He knew that
The human hive (looking at the median of guesses) or just foraging bees danced to report flower
To be fair, today’s research on these a pound short (looking at the mean) of locations, but these waggling bees looked
successful insects draws from studies of the correct weight of 1,198 pounds. as if they had picked up soot from a chim-
the first animal to be analyzed in detail Examples appear in abundance in ney or grit from construction debris. He
for collective wisdom: Homo sapiens. business writer James Surowiecki’s realized these bees had been scouting for
In the 18th century, Marie-Jean- best-seller The Wisdom of Crowds new nest cavities and were dancing about
Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de (2004). What enthusiasts of crowd wis- the possibilities.
Condorcet, welcomed the French Revolu- dom (though not Surowiecki) tend to In his later years Lindauer told Seeley
tion and used mathematical probabilities overlook is that the accuracy is in the about running through the rubble of war
to argue for the virtues of shared decision arrangements. Those perfect systems of torn Munich trying to keep flying bees in
making. Known today as Condorcet’s jury independent deciders who evaluate their sight. What finally made decisive tests
theorem, his work describes conditions own information are tricky to create in possible (and easier) were affordable,
in which members of a group voting by the busy real world. And human crowds high-quality video cameras, Seeley says.
majority rule are more likely to render a can go so very, very wrong. In the 1990s, he and his coworkers filmed
correct choice between two alternatives and analyzed the intel that scouts waggle
than is any individual in the group. One Smart swarms to each other on swarm surfaces.
of the critical conditions for a happy out- Honeybees do real estate well. But only Out of a swarm of 10,000 bees, some
come, the Marquis contended, was that in the last decade has a technical break- 300 to 500 females buzz off to scout possi-
each group member vote independently through let Seeley and his colleagues ble nest sites. Important features include
GRAPHICS ADAPTED FROM T. SEELEY/AMERICAN SCIENTIST, 2006

rather than copy another (possibly mis- figure out how. Now he has used recent enough room for storing honey and a
taken) juror. biological insights to work with a scholar small entrance to minimize winter drafts.
Human groups deciding as a whole have from the London School of Economics and “Every scout we’ve seen is an elderly bee
scored spooky triumphs. “Nearly every- Political Science and a mathematician to that has a lot of experience going around
body is miles out, but when you take the analyze how bees balance independence the countryside,” Seeley says.
average of these guesses, they’re usually and going along with the crowd. Elderly bees still manage to check out
very, very accurate,” says Ashley Ward, a When a robust colony splits, the queen the possibilities over some 30 square
fish behaviorist at the University of Syd- and some two-thirds of the workers move kilometers. A good cavity is hard to find,
ney in Australia, whose work is cited in out to search for a new home. Bees swarm though. Seeley reports that only a few of
the special Transactions issue. The idea out to a temporary perch such as a branch, the scouts, maybe 25, come across some-
goes by the name “many wrongs,” as in where they cling to each other in a dan- thing worth reporting to their sisters.
many wrongs make a right. gling clump. Having no protection from At first scouts dance for a wide vari-
A classic example appeared in Nature predators or weather and no food stores, ety of sites, perhaps 20 or 30. The dance
How a honeybee swarm decides

When thousands of honeybees swarm off to find a new home, the emigrants first cluster at a temporary spot while some of the experienced foragers
scout sites. Back at the swarm, scouts dance to communicate promising locations, giving other scouts incentive to go look for themselves.
1 2 3
Anatomy of a bee dance 40º Debate and decide
swarm F=1
Scouts reporting on a This schematic shows H=1
possible nest site use scouts in a honeybee debate A=6
A=8
the basic rules of the about 11 possible nest sites 0m
E=1 3,10 D=3
waggle dance foragers that ends with all scouts 3,100m
D=5
use to describe flower finally favoring location G B=4 E=1 G=4
locations. The slant of (possible sites are A through N B=11
the dance’s main axis K). Each panel tallies scouts 0 1 2
C=1
indicates a site’s direc- going to and from the swarm kilometers
C=2
tion relative to the sun. (center). Arrow thickness
How long a bee waggles indicates the number of JULY 20
along the axis indicates bees dancing in favor of a Time: 11:00–13:00 13:00–15:00
how far to fly. The more site. The scouts “decide” Scout bees: 18 Scout bees: 30
repetitions, or waggle when enough meet at a site, Dances: 68 Dances: 70
runs, the more enthusi- but all scouts must dance Waggle runs: 547 Waggle runs: 2,376
astic the scout is about for the same site at the end Site A has eight scouts. Site B has 11 scouts.
the site’s quality. for the swarm to stay united.
18 | SCIENCE NEWS | May 9, 2009 www.sciencenews.org

encodes the direction and distance to the appear from the dance floor faster than misguided nest mate. In the real world,
cavity, and the more enthusiastic a scout primo sites. The decaying interest makes honeybees “balance interdependence
is, the more times she repeats her waggle the decision possible. “We’ve all been in and independence,” Seeley says.
report. Her dance may inspire her sis- committee meetings where agreement
ter scouts to take off and check it out for was never reached because nobody would Ants do it
themselves. They in turn come back to ever give up,” Seeley says. Handy idea, that quorum. Rock ants
the swarm and dance their opinion. As the search goes on, scouts dance have evolved one too.
This recruitment step is critical to the about fewer and fewer sites. By the time Only a few millimeters long, rock ants
success of the process, Seeley says. Other the swarm takes off, scouts are almost (Temnothorax albipennis) prove difficult
scouts will look for themselves. As See- always unanimous in dancing about a to track in the wild but excellent for the
ley puts it, “Scouts search autonomously, single site. And that’s where they go. tabletop world of the laboratory.
report freely and argue.” Seeley and his colleagues have estab- When something terrible happens to a
Human groups can falter at this step, lished that a decision doesn’t occur at rock ant home, such as a researcher lifting
Seeley says. They tend to rush to a deci- the swarm at all. It’s what happens at the off the roof, the majority of ants cluster in
sion when they could benefit from explor- candidate nest sites that matters. It’s all the ruins. A quarter to a third of the colony
ing more options. And a rush to judgment about quorum. scurries out looking for new possibilities.
was what went wrong for the bees the As the better site builds a bigger “I think of the ants as a sort of search
one time Seeley saw a swarm fumble a fan base, more and more scouts shut- engine,” Franks says. In one set of tests,
decision in the wild. Support had been tle between it and the swarm. When he and his students disrupted a nest
building for a nest site that was sort of some 15 or so scouts meet outside the and watched to see what the ants would
OK when a scout discovered a superior nest site — with probably another 30 to make of a series of new possibilities that
cavity in an old tree and returned to the 50 bees inside — bingo, that’s the new improved with distance. The best nest was
swarm to report. “She danced like fury,” home. Some of the scouts do continue almost three meters distant, nine times as
Seeley says, but she failed to redirect a dancing. But while dancers finish their far from the original home as a nearby but
decision that was already solidifying. convergence, scouts start motivating the less appealing choice. “It was just such fun
Scouts also go back to a site multiple swarm to fly. doing this experiment because the ants
times, returning to the swarm between Seeley and his colleagues’ new model of won,” Franks says.
trips to dance about it again. For all sites, this process appears in the Transactions In spite of the epic distances, the ants
great to dubious, a scout dances to the issue. The model shows that changing typically found and agreed to move into
swarm with fewer repetitions, perhaps the values can crash the system. Requir- the best nest. “They’re fantastic at it,”
15 fewer than the time before. Eventually ing that bees in the model act more inde- Franks says.
she stops. “It’s a clever thing,” Seeley says. pendently of each other than they actually Franks and Elva Robinson, also of the
“They allow their enthusiasm to decay.” do in nature, for example, can keep them University of Bristol, monitored rock
Repeat dances for all sites dwindle, but from making a decision at all. Yet too lit- ants by fitting them with radio-frequency
the ho-hum possibilities, first reported tle independence can easily lead to stu- identification tags. The data suggest that
with a small number of repetitions, dis- pid decisions as bees too readily copy a each scout follows a simpler rule than
4 J=1 5 6 7 8
K=1 K=3 K=2
I=1
A=5 K=1
H=1
0 m D=4
3,10
E=1 I=1 D=1
G=10 D=2
B=17 G=14 G=32 G=20 G=73
D=1 B=12 B=17 B=4
G=9
B=13
JULY 21 JULY 22
15:00–17:00 17:00–19:00 07:00–09:00 09:00–11:00 11:00–11:54 09:00–11:58
Scout bees: 38 Scout bees: 27 Scout bees: 29 Scout bees: 52 Scout bees: 27 Scout bees: 73
Dances: 66 Dances: 45 Dances: 53 Dances: 99 Dances: 43 Dances: 352
Waggle runs: 2,400 Waggle runs: 1,877 Waggle runs: 868 Waggle runs: 1,697 Waggle runs: 713 Waggle runs: 3,100
Site B has 17 scouts. Site B has 13 scouts. Site G has 14 scouts. Site G has 32 scouts. Site G has 20 scouts. Site G has 73 scouts.
www.sciencenews.org May 9, 2009 | SCIENCE NEWS | 19

feature | SWARM SAVVY
previously thought, Robinson, Franks and For example, forcing a crisis among the
their colleagues report online April 22 in ants demonstrates that they will, in a
Proceedings of the Royal Society B. pinch, trade accuracy for speed. When
Instead of making direct comparisons researchers destroy an old nest so that
between sites, a scout follows a thresh- ants are completely exposed, the ants
old rule. If she finds a poor site, she keeps scope and relocate within hours. Other
searching. When she finds a site that experiments that just offer the ants a bet-
exceeds her “good enough” threshold, she ter nest but don’t ruin their current one
returns to the original nest. can result in days of deliberation. Speed
Next, previous work shows, the scout has its costs, and ants in a hurry now and
recruits a new scout to join her on a trek to then make mistakes, such as splitting the
the good site. She dashes around tapping colony between two nests. Slower moves
her antennae on other ants and releasing a prove more accurate.
pheromone from her sting gland, explains Ants and bees may run the best-studied
Stephen Pratt of Arizona State University decision quorums, but Pratt sees evidence
in Tempe. Usually she finds a volunteer for similar doings in other animals. Stud-
within a minute or so, and the two set off ies of cockroaches choosing between hid-
tandem running. ing places find that a crevice already full
Scout A, who knows the way, runs back of roach buddies attracts more recruits.
toward the nest while her follower, B, jogs That phenomenon alone wouldn’t qualify
closely enough to tap antennae against the as a quorum, Pratt says in an article in the
leader. Should A sprint a little too fast and Transactions issue. Yet the roaches don’t
dash beyond antennae range, she slows pay a lot of attention to a few lurkers, find-
until her partner catches up. Periodically ing larger numbers quite attractive. Now
the two ants stop, and the newbie looks that, Pratt says, looks like a quorum.
around as if learning landmarks. It’s a slow One of the best examples of quo-
way to get to the site, and Franks argues rum behavior in a vertebrate other
that it qualifies as animal teaching. than a human comes from three-spined
When the ants do reach the possible stickleback fish. In a lab setup, the fish
site, the recruit explores it and, depend- readily swim toward shadowy nooks to
ing on her assessment, returns to recruit hang around. But choosing which nook
yet another scout. can depend on the choices made by other
As with the bees, it’s the quorum of fish, Ward and his colleagues reported in
scouts at the sites that matters. When Proceedings of the National Academy of
enough of them gather at a particular Sciences in 2008.
place to encounter each other at a suffi- To test fish decision making, research-
ciently high rate, they’ve got a decision. ers offered two inviting corners of a tank,
Once scouts reach that decision, their each with a path rigged for towing along
behavior changes. Each scout dashes back fake sticklebacks of painted resin. When
to the nest, but instead of coaxing a nest researchers let two or more real fish watch
mate for a tour, she just grabs somebody. a single fake “swimming” to one of the cor-
She uses a mouthpart hook, an over-the- ners, the real fish ignored the singleton.
shoulder throw, and off she goes with the Released to choose a corner, the live fish
passive nest mate curled on her back in swam off in their own direction regard-
an ant version of the fetal position. Car- less of where the fake fish went. However,
rying takes about a third as long as lead- when researchers towed two artificial fish
ing would, and scouts can haul the rest of to a particular corner, the real fish paid
the colony to a new home within hours. attention and proved more likely to favor
The ants shift from the independent info the same corner.
gathering of scouts to group implementa- “They wouldn’t take one fish’s word for
tion of the quorum’s decision. it, but they would take two fish’s word for
Rock ants’ willingness to thrive in the it,” Ward says. Going from one fish to two
lab allows experiments on finer points may not seem like a big deal, but Ward
of collective decision making, Pratt says. argues that it should reduce risk. If one

fish, for example, has a 1 in 20 chance of the whole quorum will reach the same
making a stupid choice, the chance of two wrong decision. But flukes can happen.
fish making the same dumb mistake would In most uses of a quorum, “it’s going to
drop to 1 in 400, Ward notes. Requiring make a decision more accurate,” he says,
even a small fish quorum, he says, becomes “but it also slightly increases the incidence
“a really nice simple mechanism of reduc- of these rare events when you get it really
ing the chance of completely going wrong spectacularly wrong.”
and following an idiot.” Bees and ants don’t mess up that often,
A real fish all by itself, possibly desper- but they have been making fewer kinds of
ate in its isolation, didn’t bother with the decisions, about nest sites for example, and
quorum. Towing even one fake fish to a for millions of years. For humans, “there’s
particular corner influenced the loner to a lot more creativity going on in the kinds
choose that direction. of problems we solve,” Pratt says. Our
When a fake predator, a plastic perch, A rock ant leads a second scout in a inventive species has to cope with ever-
moved along one path, a loner still tended slow tandem run to a possible nest changing structures, societies and other
to swim along that route if researchers site (top). Once they reach a quorum, challenges without millions of years for
offered just one fake stickleback for com- scouts stop leading nest mates and natural selection to hone the systems.
pany. The experiment “shows the possibil- just carry them (bottom). Pratt sounds wistful in remarking that
ity that isolated social animals, and that ants don’t have a stock market. “If they
includes human beings, can easily be mis- ing for carefully balanced independence did,” he says, “we could rely on them to
led by a mendacious leader,” Ward says. plus some shortcut speed. Yet the system have figured the whole thing out.”
Tricking a whole group of live fish “has a dark side,” he acknowledges. Once
proved much more difficult. individuals have made their indepen- Explore more
The quorum system could be wide- dent assessments and then a quorum has s Iain D. Couzin. “Collective cognition
spread in group behavior in nature, Pratt reached agreement, fellows copy the quo-
S.PRAtt
in animal groups.” Trends in Cognitive

says. Overall it’s a beautiful tool, allow- rum behavior. The chances are low that Sciences. January 2009.
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feature | the Genetic heiGht anD health
The genetic
It may be no tall tale: A few inches
F
rom Danny Devito to Yao Ming,
the world is filled with short
people and tall people and
everyone in between. While
factors such as nutrition influence
height differences, much of that varia-
tion depends on genes. After all, both of
Ming’s parents were basketball stars, and
Devito’s were not.
But the genes that made Ming grow to
7 feet 6 inches and Devito stop growing
several feet shorter could be important
for more than sports. Changes in how
height genes work could not only add
or subtract a few centimeters from leg
length, but could also affect underlying
cell biology in ways that can lead to dis-
ease, recent research suggests.
Statistical studies find that shorter peo-
ple are more likely to get heart disease,
diabetes and osteoarthritis. Other stud-
ies show that the same genes that make
healthy cells multiply to make a person
grow taller can also make cancer cells
proliferate in tumors. On the other hand,
genes that make bones grow longer can
form extra cartilage in joints, protecting
them from the ravages of osteoarthritis.
The long and short of it is that height
genes might affect health as well as
height — although scientists don’t com-
pletely understand how.
Some genes that have been implicated

dimension of height and health
taller or shorter could signal a risk for some diseases By Solmaz Barazesh
in determining height have been well- mal variations in height. So far, the sus-
studied for their connections to par- picion that height genes affect health is
ticular diseases, but not as well-studied supported mostly by statistical studies.
for how they affect height. And while In 2001, for instance, epidemiologist
statistical links between height and dis- David Gunnell of the University of Bris-
ease are robustly documented, scientists tol in England and colleagues found that
don’t completely understand if or how taller people can face a 20 to 60 percent
the same genes could set the foundation greater risk for various cancers, including
for both height and disease. of the breast, prostate and colon.
Pinning down that connection could Last year, epidemiologist Luisa
have payoffs for treating disease and Zuccolo, also of Bristol, followed up on
ensuring health. Gunnell’s work with a study focused on
“When you take a kid to the pedia- the link between height and prostate
trician, the first thing they do is mea- cancer. The risk of developing prostate
sure the child’s height,” says geneticist cancer increased by 6 percent for every
Guillaume Lettre of Children’s Hospi- 10 centimeters over the median height of
tal Boston and of the Broad Institute, the 1,357 men in the study, Zuccolo and
in Cambridge, Mass. He is coauthor of a colleagues reported in Cancer Epidemiol-
facinG paGe: Jennifer pottheiser/Getty imaGes; this paGe: Upi photo/
study that identified several genes asso- ogy, Biomarkers & Prevention. Despite the
ciated with height. link, height was still less of a risk factor
Growing too fast or too slow could be a than age and family history, but “under-
sign of health problems such as hormone standing why height is associated with
terry schmitt; photo illUstration by J. korenblat
imbalances. But if the genes controlling prostate cancer could help us to under-
height were well known, pediatricians stand its causes,” Zuccolo says.
could easily determine whether a short- One molecule that taller people have
for-their-age child simply inherited the in abundance compared with shorter
gene variants that denote a more dimin- people is insulin-like growth factor 1, or
utive stature, or actually has a more seri- IGF-1. The insulin-like molecule stimu-
ous condition, Lettre says. lates the growth of cells and tissues, and
Linking height genes to health is dif- higher levels of the molecule have also
ficult, though, because details of the been linked to the incidence and progres-
genetic pathway to height are complex. sion of several different types of cancer.
Many genes work together to create nor- IGF-1 can bind to the tumors of can-

feature | THE GENETIC DIMENSION OF HEIGHT AND HEALTH
cers of the breast, prostate and bladder, In a 2004 study of IGF-1, height and genome by comparing genomes of thou-
stimulating the growth of tumor cells. disease, Gunnell and his colleagues sands of people for variations associated
Zuccolo speculates that the IGF-1 gene found that shorter stature is linked to with a specific trait. To hunt for height
could link height and prostate cancer. heart disease and to insulin resistance. genes, researchers try to identify genetic
Researchers aren’t sure why, but large variations that crop up more often in
Stimulating growth amounts of the IGF-1 protein increase shorter people or taller people.
IGF-1 is a protein that binds to recep- insulin sensitivity, which can reduce a So far, several studies have related
tor molecules on other cells, triggering a person’s risk for heart problems. Insen- about 40 different genes to height. But
cascade of events that eventually stimu- sitivity to insulin, or insulin resistance, more genes are likely to be found, says
late cell growth. associated with type 2 diabetes is linked Gonçalo Abecasis, a statistical geneti-
A study reported in 2007 in Science to the inflammation that leads to heart cist at the University of Michigan in
found that variations in the IGF-1 gene disease, but the mechanism of this link Ann Arbor who collaborated on two of
were one reason that Chihuahuas don’t is not known. the studies. “There are lots of different
grow as large as Great Danes. Geneticist More evidence of an IGF-1–heart dis- genes that each only make a small con-
Nathan Sutter, then at the National Human ease link comes from a 2007 finding that tribution to height,” he says.
Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, IGF-1 injections lowered the incidence The researchers expect that the list of
Md., and colleagues found that small dog of heart disease in mice fed a high-fat height genes will run into the hundreds.
breeds had one particular variant of the diet. The study, by Patrice Delafontaine “We’re making progress, but there are
gene for IGF-1, but almost all giant breeds of Tulane University School of Medicine many more height genes to find,” says
had a different version of the gene. in New Orleans and colleagues, was pub- geneticist Michael Weedon of the Penin-
A 1993 study by Michael Ranke and lished in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and sula Medical School in Exeter, England.
colleagues at University Children’s Hos- Vascular Biology. The researchers think Weedon and his colleagues used
pital in Tübingen, Germany, found that that increased IGF-1 reduces the inflam- genome-wide association studies to
shorter children had lower levels of IGF-1. mation that can cause heart disease. identify height gene candidates and
Ranke and his colleagues speculate that But while IGF-1 is known to function found that the gene at the top of their list
lower levels of IGF-1 could cause a reduc- in both disease and height, it’s not yet is also a well-known cancer gene. Vari-
tion in growth in early childhood. known exactly how the two intersect. ants of the high-mobility group A2 gene,
In 2001, Gunnell and colleagues called HMGA2, correlated with small
reported that leg length is the height A height and cancer suspect variations in height within a population
component most strongly associated Genome-wide association studies of just over 19,000 people, the research-
with coronary heart disease and with offer one way to sift through the human ers reported in Nature Genetics in 2007.
insulin resistance, a condition that can
lead to type 2 diabetes. After measur-
ing leg length and trunk length in 2,429
men and tracking coronary heart disease The short path to osteoarthritis
over 15 years, the team found that insulin Taller people may be at a higher statistical risk of cancer, but short people
resistance and heart disease were more face height-related disease risks too.
frequent in men with shorter legs, while A gene called growth differentiation factor 5, or GDF5, is related to height;
trunk length showed less association. it encodes a protein important for bone and cartilage growth and skeletal
But it’s not height itself that makes peo- development. Geneticist Karen Mohlke of the University of North Carolina at
ple sick, researchers say. The ratio of leg Chapel Hill and her colleagues found that slight differences in the GDF5 gene
length to trunk length could signal IGF-1 caused differences of about 0.3 to 0.7 centimeters in height. The people on
levels and thus, possibly, a likelihood for the shorter end of these differences were more likely to have the particular
certain diseases. Small variations in the GDF5 variant associated with osteoarthritis, a type of arthritis caused by the
amount of IGF-1 produced can affect breakdown of cartilage in joints.
growth during childhood, and also alter People with lower levels of the GDF5 protein have shorter bones and less
the incidence of disease later in life. cartilage in their joints. Shorter people are more susceptible to osteoarthritis
Lower levels of IGF-1 may have other because they have less cartilage to wear down.
effects. One study found that individuals “It makes sense that a reduction in GDF5 would decrease bone growth
with the lowest IGF-1 levels had a two- and lead to reduced height,” says Gonçalo Abecasis, a statistical geneticist
fold increase in heart disease incidence, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and a coauthor of the study, which
epidemiologist Torben Jørgensen of the was published in Nature Genetics in 2008. “And as well as this, there would
University of Copenhagen and colleagues be less cartilage in the joints, which could increase susceptibility to osteoar-
reported in 2002 in Circulation. thritis,” he says. — Solmaz Barazesh

Height and disease risk
Statistical studies among large populations suggest links
between height and the chances of certain diseases. Genes are
the likely connectors, but the mechanisms remain unclear.
Prostate cancer Heart disease Insulin resistance Breast cancer

The incidence of The risk of coro- Insulin resistance The incidence
prostate cancer nary heart disease (linked to type 2 of breast cancer
increased 6 percent decreased 6 percent diabetes) decreased increased 11 percent
for every 10 centime- for every 4.4 cm, or 11 percent for every for every 5 cm, or
ters, or 3.9 inches, 1.7 inches, over the 6.5 cm, or 2.6 inches, 2 inches, over the
over the median median leg length over the median median height among
height among among 2,429 men. leg length among 3,340 women.
1,357 men. 2,429 men.
G. Davey Smith et al. M. Ahlgren et al.
L. Zuccolo et al. Journal of Epidemiology G. Davey Smith et al. New England
Cancer Epidemiology, and Community Health, 2001 Journal of Medicine,
Biomarkers & Prevention, December 2001 October 14, 2004
September 2008
That study was the first evidence that ing how DNA is stored. To package huge to do with differences in the HMGA2
small variations in the gene could pro- amounts of DNA inside each cell, the gene. While HMGA2 is implicated in
duce normal height differences among DNA is twisted and coiled into the chro- both cancer and height, “the mechanis-
people. mosomes, then compacted in an orderly tic dots have not yet been connected,”
“Sometimes it’s hard to link the fashion so that the correct section is eas- says Lettre.
gene you find to a height-related func- ily available when needed. The HMGA2 “Right now, we fall short of explaining
tion — but this one was easy,” says Lettre, protein recognizes and binds to specific exactly how HMGA2 controls height,”
a coauthor on the study. twists in chromosomes in order to acti- he says. “We don’t know exactly how
Scientists already knew that rare vate the genes needed for a wide array variations in HMGA2 that correlate
HMGA2 mutations could have severe of biological processes, including the with height could affect how the gene
effects on body size. Take 13-year-old growth and proliferation of cells. Weedon works.”
Brenden Adams of Ellensburg, Wash., and colleagues speculate that mutations And while genes such as HMGA2 are
for example. An average-sized newborn, in the HMGA2 gene can affect how much already well-characterized because of
Adams began growing faster than any- of the protein is produced. their roles in disease or development,
one could explain and now stands 7 feet Previous work also showed that little is known about many of the height
and 3 inches. the HMGA2 gene is active only dur- genes that the statistical studies turn up.
At first, doctors couldn’t figure out ing embryo development in both mice Figuring out what these genes do could
why. Then they took a look at his chro- and people. In mature tissues, gene explain the links between height and dis-
mosomes. A portion of one copy of activity was almost undetectable, a ease. “We’re not there yet,” says Abecasis.
Adams’ chromosome 12 is inverted, as sign that the gene may not have much “But when you start looking at all these
if a piece of the chromosome had broken effect on the later stages of growth and different genes, you find that they are
off, flipped around and then reattached. development. linked to lots of different things.”
The genes on this inverted section “It seems that the contribution of Adds Lettre: “We’re interested in
seemed to be undamaged — except for this gene is laid down early in life,” says learning more about how genes control
where the chromosome broke, which geneticist Peter Visscher of the Queens- height. But we’re hoping that some of
turned out to be at HMGA2. land Institute of Medical Research in the height genes will have other effects
Azra Ligon and Brad Quade of Brigham Brisbane, Australia. on health too.” That would help the sci-
and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Med- But the gene does get turned on at entists gain insights into the biological
ical School in Boston studied Adams’ later stages in cancerous cells. HMGA2 processes of growth. “Time will tell, but
case. They aren’t sure exactly how the proteins are found in the tumors of sev- that is certainly a hope.” s
change to HMGA2 is making Adams eral different types of cancer, including
grow so much, but they speculate that those of the breast, pancreas and lung, Explore more
the chromosome inversion disrupted suggesting that the gene may help cancer s Michael Weedon and Timothy Frayling.
the normal regulation of the gene. cells grow and proliferate. But scientists “Reaching new heights: insights
The HMGA2 gene encodes a protein don’t know whether the increased risk into the genetics of human stature.”
that activates other genes by rearrang- of cancer in taller people has anything Trends in Genetics. December 2008.

FEATURE | LIVING PHYSICS
Livin From green le
Leaf cell
Photosynthesis goes quantum

Plants and certain bacteria capture energy from
light and use it to make food through the pro-
cess of photosynthesis. The initial stage of the
process is remarkably efficient — so efficient, Chloroplast
in fact, that scientists are looking to quantum
phenomena to explain what’s happening.
Chlorophyll-
1. Harvesting light Photosynthesis begins studded
when photons of light are absorbed by light- membranes
harvesting proteins. Generally, photosyn-
thesizers use pigment molecules such as
chlorophylls or carotenoids to harvest sunlight.
These molecules are packed closely together
in membranes inside the cell.
Sunlight Paths of
excited
electrons
Light-
harvesting Chlorophyll
protein molecule
3. Particle or wave?
Traditionally, scientists have believed that
excited electrons carry energy through a
Membrane photosynthetic system by hopping at random
from one molecule to the next. But some
now believe that electrons take advantage of
the weirdness of quantum physics, traveling
in the form of a coherent wave that can try
out different pathways simultaneously. The
electrons could then choose the best route,
explaining photosynthesis’s high efficiency.
2. Efficient electron transport
Light energy absorbed by light-harvesting
molecules is transferred to other membrane-
bound molecules by excited electrons, ulti-
mately reaching the reaction center. There,
the energy can power chemical reactions that Reaction center
produce ATP, the molecule that acts as the
energy currency of the cell and energizes the
creation of carbohydrates in later steps.
ngphysics
ng
aves to bird brains, biological systems may exploit quantum phenomena
By Susan Gaidos • Illustrations by Nicolle Rager Fuller
U
ntil a century or so ago, nobody systems, scientists are looking for ways one molecule to another, the electron
had any idea that there even was to tell how, or even if, nature exploits ultimately reaches the “reaction center,”
such a thing as quantum phys- these effects to confer an advantage. where the energy is converted into a form
ics. But while humans oper- “We can’t tell nature to ignore quan- the cell can use to make carbohydrates.
ated for millennia in quantum darkness, tum mechanics, so we might need to It’s these initial, near instantaneous
it seems that plants, bacteria and birds measure it and see what happens,” says energy transfers that are so remarkably
may have been in the know all along. Graham Fleming, a chemist at the Uni- efficient — scientists estimate that more
Quantum effects, human research- versity of California, Berkeley, who than 95 percent of the energy in the light
ers have only recently discovered, may coauthored a paper in the 2009 Annual hitting a leaf reaches the photosynthe-
explain how the first steps of photosyn- Review of Physical Chemistry outlining sis reaction center. Although each of the
thesis convert light to chemical energy recent studies showing quantum effects biochemical steps that follow adds a loss
with such high efficiency. Other studies in photosynthesis. in energy efficiency, the first steps in the
suggest that quantum tricks may enable Understanding how natural systems process closely approach the ideal of one
migratory birds to navigate using Earth’s use quantum effects to their advantage photon leading to one electron transfer.
magnetic field lines. might help researchers find ways to Previous models of photosynthesis
Through studies like these, scientists control, and ultimately harness, such assumed that the light energy stored in
are beginning to understand how quan- processes. By copying the quantum tricks excited electrons found its way to the
tum mechanics — weirdness supposedly used by plants, for example, researchers reaction center via random hops, par-
confined to the realm of subatomic physics might be able to develop new technolo- ticles moving in a step-by-step manner
— affects everyday biology. gies, such as more efficient solar cells. to successively lower energy levels. But
On one level, it seems perfectly natu- some scientists seeking to explain plants’
ral that quantum mechanics would serve Making waves in the lab superefficient energetics have consid-
a function at life’s foundation. After all, Photosynthesis is carried out by molec- ered the notion that plants may have a
quantum principles define the proper- ular machinery embedded in membranes way to exploit the quantum behavior of
ties of atoms, from which living matter is in the interior of plant cells and some electrons.
made. And yet the quantum rules, which bacteria. Like all chemical reactions, it In the odd quantum world, particles
allow particles like electrons to exist in relies on the action of electrons. can behave like waves. Rather than simply
two places at once and sometimes behave In green plants, light particles are moving from one chlorophyll to another,
like waves rather than particles, seem an absorbed by pigment molecules — pri- electrons can exist as whirling clouds of
unlikely driver of life’s tightly regulated marily chlorophyll — found in leaves. energy, jostling back and forth between
processes. Bizarre quantum properties An incoming light particle, or photon, the molecules. In this wavelike state, the
are supposed to govern objects such as boosts an electron in the chlorophyll into electrons become connected, or coupled,
individual atoms, not great clumps of a mobile state. Once excited, the electron and act in a concerted manner so the
matter like redwoods or robins. is quickly shuttled from the chlorophyll to excitation is actually “sloshing around”
Now, with growing evidence that quan- a nearby “acceptor” molecule, setting off a between the molecules, Fleming says.
tum weirdness indeed exists in biological series of electron transfers. Moving from Scientists theorized that this and other

feature | Living physics
quantum effects could allow for more like motions of energy flowing through ple provided a clear view of the different
efficient movement of energy but were the system. energies at play inside the protein. The
faced with a problem in trying to cap- Fleming’s team, publishing in Nature, resulting map showed how individual
ture evidence of such effects in the lab. noted that quantum coherence could electrons coordinated their movements
In the classical world, either molecule A explain the extreme efficiency of pho- as they jostled energy back and forth:
or B is excited, and scientists can track tosynthesis by enabling electrons to Shifts to the left or right showed electrons
the transfer of excitation by measuring simultaneously sample all the various connecting, while vertical shifts indicated
changes in the molecules over time. But potential pathways to the reaction cen- energy was being passed or received.
in the quantum world, things appear ter and choose the most efficient one The methods allowed the scientists to
to exist in a multitude of states, mak- (SN: 4/14/07, p. 229). Rather than hop- distinguish random hopping of energy,
ing measurements more complicated. ping from one molecule to another in a or particle behavior, from the wave-
Besides measuring changes of excita- step-by-step manner, the electrons could like movements of electrons behaving
tion in A and B over time, the scientists try various routes to find the path of least collectively. The study, published in
needed a way to measure simultaneous resistance. the Feb. 6 Physical Review Letters, will
excitations of A and B — a signature of a help scientists better model how quan-
quantum effect called coherence. Intelligent design tum effects such as coherence influ-
In 2005, Fleming and his colleagues Photosynthetic organisms are ence energy transfer in photosynthesis,
developed a way to capture these simul- designed for efficiency. The light- Mercer says.
taneous excitations, or oscillations, in a absorbing chlorophyll molecules found “We’ve been needing a better pair of
photosynthetic protein found in green in leaves, for example, aren’t just arbi- eyes to see how molecules are doing the
sulfur bacteria. Using ultrafast lasers, the trarily scattered throughout the cell, but tricks that they do,” he says.
scientists flashed the sample with three are tightly packed into tiny organelles,
pulses from different beams to stimulate crammed into spaces where they touch Going for a spin
energy absorption and transfer. A fourth each other frequently. So when excited by Birds may give scientists another pair
pulse was then delivered to amplify the a photon, the chlorophylls no longer act of eyes in which to view quantum effects
signal. as individuals, but band together to cre- in living cells. Studies suggest that migra-
The timing of the flashes allowed the ate a system that works in concert, says tory birds about to embark on their sea-
scientists to follow energy flow in two Thorsten Ritz, a theoretical physicist at sonal journeys may tap into a quantum
dimensions, watching it in time and the University of California, Irvine. property called spin to help them “see”
space as it moved from one chlorophyll And acting in concert has advantages. Earth’s magnetic field using photosensi-
to another. For one, it allows plants to absorb energy tive proteins in their eyes.
The method provided a way to follow in different ranges of light. Such a sys- The idea that birds rely on some sort
a system’s vibrational state, tracking its tem also permits other light-absorbing of biochemical reaction to orient them-
many wavelengths to see when they are pigment molecules, such as carotenoids, selves during migration was first pro-
what scientists call “in phase.” When to transfer energy into the system in an posed more than 30 years ago. Eleven
numerous particles such as electrons efficient manner. years ago, Ritz and his colleagues iden-
move in phase, all atoms are moving, Early this year, scientists in Ireland tified cryptochrome, a protein con-
spinning and tipping in synchronicity. and England used an ultrafast laser with taining a light-sensitive pigment, as a
Such a system is in a coherent state. multiple color wavelengths to get an even candidate molecule capable of creating
Uncertain he would find such wave- closer view of energy moving through a such a reaction.
like behavior in a photosynthetic bacte- photosynthetic system. Ian Mercer of Cryptochrome is found in the nerve
rium, Fleming nonetheless considered it University College Dublin, along with layers of birds’ eyes. Research shows
possible. “What changed is that we could researchers at Imperial College London, that when cryptochrome interacts with
stop considering [the quantum effect] flashed a light-absorbing protein from a specific wavelength of blue-green light
as a possibility and actually measure it,” purple bacteria with a series of pulses it can trigger a cascade of electron trans-
Fleming says. lasting less than one ten-thousandth of fers similar to those that occur in photo-
In 2007, a sharp-eyed postdoc using a billionth of a second each. synthesis.
the two-dimensional laser technique When it hit the bacterial protein, the Normally, the electrons in crypto-
spotted the telltale signature in a sam- light energized a series of reactions that chrome exist in pairs. The energy from
ple of green sulfur bacteria after blast- ultimately led the protein to emit light light, however, can rip the electrons
ing it with the laser. When the scientists of its own. Because the laser pulses were apart, leaving one electron on the origi-
repeated the experiment, their data made up of a broad spectrum of colors, nal molecule and sending the other off
showed the oscillations meeting and with each color corresponding to a spe- to another molecule. The result is two
interfering constructively, forming wave- cific energy, the light emitted by the sam- charged molecules, or ions.

Initially, the electrons in these mol-
ecules spin in opposite directions. In the
presence of an external magnetic field,
however, the dynamics of the spins will
change, altering their orientation rela-
tive to each other. The veering spins cre-
ate a biochemical reaction allowing the
birds to perceive the Earth’s magnetic Studies suggest that migrating birds
lines as patterns of color or light super- exploit quantum effects in their visual
imposed on their surroundings, Ritz systems to sense magnetic fields.
speculates, similar to a dashed line in
the middle of a road. influence the efficiency of photosynthesis
Though scientists have yet to prove or migrating birds’ ability to navigate.
that cryptochrome can create this reac- “Would plants not work so well if
tion in birds, evidence for the theory is this didn’t happen?” Fleming asks. “I
mounting. think we need to be a bit cautious about
In a 2004 Nature study, Ritz and his about photosynthesis are true here, as answering that at this point. It’s a com-
colleagues showed that disrupting the well,” Ritz says. “How does this system plicated question. You have to be very
local magnetic field around captive birds maintain coherence when you have all sophisticated in how you model things
preparing to migrate interfered with the kinds of fluctuations that could, in prin- to show that the quantum effect is really
birds’ internal compasses. By disrupt- ciple, disrupt it? It’s a big open question making the system work better. You can’t
ing the field, for example, the scientists that we don’t have good answers to at just turn it on and off.”
could induce the birds to take off in the this point.” Not yet, anyway. Fleming, who says
wrong direction. he is looking for “a higher standard of
Last spring, in a proof-of-theory trial A higher standard of proof proof,” has worked out two new theoret-
published in Nature, researchers at the While coherent quantum states can ical models that will allow scientists to
University of Oxford in England and Ari- be maintained in controlled laboratory perform experiments and better simulate
zona State University in Tempe showed settings, most scientists have been dis- bioquantum effects in the lab. The new
how a cryptochrome-like molecule could missive of the idea that such coherence models will appear in an upcoming issue
respond to the direction of a weak mag- could be achieved in the hot, messy realm of the Journal of Chemical Physics.
netic field, such as the Earth’s. of living cells. Atoms and molecules in “Once you have a really good theory,
The scientists created a synthetic mol- such a system are continually assailed you can turn things off to see what hap-
ecule made up of three light-absorbing by influences from their environment. pens,” he says.
pigments. When flashed with a laser And the slightest insult can mangle the Discovering how quantum effects
beam, electrons in the molecule first sep- phases of their waves, causing them to play out in photosynthesis and bird
arated briefly, as predicted, then recom- lose their coherence. navigation may point scientists to other
bined. The amount of time the electrons When Fleming measured the persis- examples of the quantum in biological
spent in a separated state varied with the tence of these wavelike states in pho- systems.
angle of the magnetic field. When the tosynthetic bacteria, he found that the “Photosynthesis, after all, is one of the
electrons returned to their paired state, coherence lasted surprisingly long — up oldest processes around,” Ritz says. “If
the energy caused a change in the shape to 660 billionths of a second. On the we see that nature learned at the very
of the molecule. timescale of molecular events, that’s an beginning, when they were still bacteria,
Ritz is now looking for ways to isolate eternity. to control quantum processes, there’s no
cryptochrome in fruit flies to test these “For some reason it seems that nature reason why nature should have forgot-
effects in animals. Though the light- has maybe coordinated the movement or ten that in the future for more complex
absorbing pigments in cryptochrome done something else to let this coherence things.” s
trigger a different cascade of electron survive,” Ritz says. “And what that reason
transfers than those generated in photo- is would be very interesting to find out Susan Gaidos is a science writer in Maine.
synthesis, Ritz says both systems appear because it may give us a clue of how we
to be influenced by the wavelike nature of could control processes at that level.” Explore more
quantum mechanics. But how biological While recent work has found evidence s Yuan-Chung Cheng and Graham
systems can maintain what most consider for the presence of quantum effects in liv- Fleming. “Dynamics of Light Harvest-
such a fragile effect is still a puzzle. ing systems, researchers have yet to dem- ing in Photosynthesis.” Annual Review
“The same questions that I asked onstrate that those effects can actually of Physical Chemistry. May 2009.

bookshelf
Darwin’s Sacred Cause: apart from white Europeans. And Afri- Nanoscale: Visualizing
How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped cans were fettered to the lowest rung of a an Invisible World
Darwin’s Views on Human Evolution natural hierarchy. Darwin confronted this Kenneth S. Deffeyes
Adrian Desmond and James Moore worldview through his bold idea that all and Stephen E. Deffeyes
W hile forming his theory of com- animals — including all races of human- Illustrations reveal the
mon descent, Charles Darwin kind — descend from a common ances- nanoscale world in rich
peered beyond his observations of ants, tor and change over time. Slavery was an detail. MIT, 2009, 133 p., $21.95.
barnacles and blue-footed boobies to amoral practice at odds with nature.
try to comprehend a broader subject: By showing Darwin as a participant in The Fifth Postulate:
human slavery. He encountered the the raging scientific debate over slavery, How Unraveling a
slave trade’s horrors the authors bring him to life. His oppo- Two-Thousand-Year-
through stories told nents range from bumbling phrenolo- Old Mystery Unrav-
within his moneyed, gists, who believed bumps on the skull eled the Universe
abolitionist family. determined intelligence, to overt racists, Jason Socrates Bardi
After visiting slave- who peddled fables of long-heeled Afri- The story of the dis-
holding nations on cans unable to stand on their own. Others covery of non-Euclidean geometry.
the Beagle, Darwin seemed to present a more authoritative Wiley, 2009, 253 p., $27.95.
was forever haunted argument, the authors say, but prejudices
by the distant cry of a corrupted their work. Earthquakes,
tortured slave, the authors write. One scientist, geologist Charles Lyell, Volcanoes,
Desmond and Moore, who received was an early mentor to Darwin. Lyell sym- and Tsunamis:
acclaim for a 1991 Darwin biography, per- pathized with slaves but argued that slaves Projects and
suasively show Darwin as a great unifier. were unable to live without their owners, Principles for
He balanced his heated belief in abolition- despite his seeming awareness of the sci- Beginning Geologists
ism with scientific discipline — not letting entific shortcomings in his argument. The Matthys Levy and Mario Salvadori
one affect the other (despite the book’s book’s portrayal of Lyell as a product of his Kid-friendly activities reveal the
subtitle). The landmark result: On the Ori- times highlights Darwin’s true leg- science behind natural disasters.
gin of Species with, the authors contend, a acy — using the scientific method to over- Chicago Review, 2009, 136 p., $14.95.
refutation of slavery at its heart. come the prejudices and polemics of his
How to Order To order these books or others,
In Darwin’s day, slavery supporters contemporaries. — Joshua Korenblat visit www.sciencenews.org/bookshelf. A click on
believed black Africans were a species Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009, 448 p., $30. a book’s title will transfer you to Amazon.com.
feeDbAck
Don’t dismiss Lamarck point was the Human Genome Project. him a fine scientist, and Darwin himself
Your January 31 special birthday edi- It is now becoming clear that a type acknowledged Lamarck’s contributions
tion on Darwin (SN: 1/31/09, p. 17) was of formative causation may be real, in to science. Scientists today do agree
excellent, but I believe that science spite of the fact that most biologists that inheritance is messier than previ-
has allowed Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s still gag on the word. Just because one ously realized and that it involves more
contributions to be overshadowed by can show that natural selection works than genes. For example, epigenetic
Darwin’s. The change that can occur does not prove that it is the correct changes to the way DNA is tagged or
to an organism’s genetic makeup dur- mechanism. packaged — triggered by environmental
ing its own lifetime harks away from O. Frank Turner, Pueblo West, Colo. factors such as stress or diet — may be
Darwin’s slow evolutionary process by inherited. But the various kinds of inher-
chance mutations and argues toward Lamarck did argue that traits acquired itance have themselves evolved through
Lamarck’s heritable changes within a during an organism’s lifetime could be Darwinian natural selection, which does
lifetime. inherited, a notion almost universally not require that selection be based only
Robert Powell, Austin, Texas accepted in his day. Since then, the term on genetics . — Rachel Ehrenberg
“Lamarckian inheritance” has been
Take a vote of biologists today and applied to several mechanisms, includ- Send communications to:
Darwin will win hands down. But ing some far from his original ideas. Editor, Science News
I predict that in 20 years that will Many of his ideas have been largely dis- 1719 N Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
change, and the new most influential credited. Yet, the late Stephen Jay Gould or editors@sciencenews.org
biologist will be Lamarck. The turning wrote eloquently about Lamarck, calling All letters subject to editing.

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at www.sciencenews.org
At Nobel Conference, scientists and public converse
P
hysics professor Charles why did you choose this year’s theme of Another one I can think of is the issues
Niederriter of Gustavus “H20 Uncertain Resource”? separating creationism from evolution.
Adolphus College directs the Many, many faculty members have That’s been a long, ongoing debate, and
Nobel Conference, an annual been involved in this and thought about one I think where the words that sci-
forum where scientists and the public it for years.… Hearing quotes like “The entists use to describe things may feed
discuss a contemporary scientific topic. next war will be fought over water,” or the fire of a person who is trying to fight
Held every year at Gustavus Adolphus, going to the Four Corners region, where against it by using words like “theories.”
in Saint Peter, Minn., this year’s Nobel you shoot somebody for And [scientists] don’t
Conference, October 6–7, will examine stealing your water, those always communicate
the current state of water resources. are the kinds of things you to the public that these
Staff writer Laura Sanders recently hear from people. And then are well-tested theories,
talked with Niederriter about the con- all of the advances that they’re not just guesses.
ference and why scientists need to speak have been made in water I think that’s the kind
clearly to the public. purification and recycling of thing that is a really
prompted us to start think- broad-based problem we
How did the nobel conference begin? ing about how we make use have — that the words that
In the early 1960s … the president of of water and how we can scientists use to talk about
the college approached the Nobel Foun- continue to reuse water.
The words things have different con-
dation and asked to use the Nobel name And one more piece to that scientists notations and meanings
to name a new science building. The this … is that pharmaceu- use to talk than what the general
Nobel Foundation said, “That’s a great ticals are things that our about things public uses.
idea, and what you should do when you water treatment facilities
dedicate the building is to invite as many don’t seem to be designed
have different why is it important for
Nobel laureates as you can.” So the col- to remove. So it’s really a connotations scientists to speak clearly
lege invited all the living Nobel laure- shotgun approach — a lot of and meanings to the public about their
ates to attend, and 26 of them showed different things. than what the work?
up. They spent four or five days on cam- If scientists can com-
pus talking to each other and talking what other topics are in
general public municate what they are
to the public who came for the dedica- the works? uses. doing, then the normal
tion, and several of them said this was a We’re working on the person on the street
great opportunity to get together, talk to 2010 conference, which will be on food really has more trust in what they’re
people they don’t usually talk to and talk and nutrition. It’s going to be an inter- doing, has more of an understanding
about their work with the public. esting conference with a lot of different that what they’re doing is not frivo-
things, involving food economics, food lous and could potentially be useful,
what does the conference aim to do? security and safety, and taste.… We’ve or maybe is already useful for them as
Many of the scientists who have also talked about something called individuals. If scientists don’t com-
come have said it’s a great opportunity affective neuroscience. Effectively it’s a municate clearly then there are a lot
to essentially be a public think tank.… religion-neuroscience-chemistry combi- of other people who will communi-
They make their presentation, and in nation, essentially trying to understand cate for them in a bad sense, people
the questions and answers afterward, where emotions and religion might fit who try to tell the public what scien-
there’s as much back and forth between into a scientific view of the brain. tists are doing with maybe malicious
the panelists and the other speakers on intent, or with ignorance, and get
stage as there is between the speakers what are some other issues that need things wrong. So it’s important that
and the audience. There’s a lot of “Well to be clearly communicated to the scientists do it themselves, and do it
I think you’re wrong there,” or “I think public? right, in such a way that the average
you missed this point that I said earlier.” The global warming issue is certainly person can understand it. s
It’s really a wonderful example for the one where people have tried very hard
lifetouch
public to see how scientists hash these … to get things out in the open, and for Nobel Conference website: gustavus.edu/
things out. whatever reason it’s been unsuccessful.… events/nobelconference/2009

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Tall and Short of Disease | Pear Tree Goes Bad | Bioquantum Mechanics

Good Fat Found

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