Life But Not As We Know It, Jim

Reports that scientists from Scripps Institute in the USA have engineered the E. coli gut bacterium to have an entirely novel DNA are intriguing (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jan/23/organisms-created-with-synthetic-dna-pave-way-for-entirely-new-life-forms). Regular DNA has a code composed of 4 bases (adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine, A pairing with T and C with G). Triplets of the bases specify which amino acid should be added to growing polypeptides to make particular proteins (and also when the process should start and stop). The scientists hope to engineer particular cultures of bacteria to produce particular proteins (and other substances?) that would be of utility to humans. One of the concerns has been the possibility of the 'bugs' escaping from the laboratory. What the scientists have done is to create modified bacteria with 2 novel additional bases (X and Y) which do not occur in nature. The claim (and current experience) is that the strains would not be able to persist outside the laboratory (the X and Y presumably constitute a 'suicide' component, preventing a 'Jurassic Park' type event). The other main change is an improved immune responsiveness of the bacterial cultures that augments their viability in the laboratory. Whilst nothing can be entirely safe (bacteria can swap genes or bits of genes), this does appear to be a useful potential development.

Gullable

Got an thought-provoking internal email from Swansea University asking people to stop feeding Herring gulls near Fulton House. The account is sensible except for the claim that the gulls are being 'aggressive'. From the gull's perspective, the presence of a large, messy colony of food-clutching primates near 'their' environment of flat-roofed 'cliffs'(the buildings of the Singleton campus), which provide safe nesting opportunities and up-draught for efficient flight, is an added bonus. The birds have no concept of 'ownership' of the food (we don't criticise Blue tits for eating the peanuts we put out for them in feeders). The use of the term 'aggression' is an example of what is called 'negative apperception'- 'they are aggressive, we defend ourselves'! Provision of open-topped waste bins in the vicinity can be problematic as it attracts the birds.

Getting to the Cour(gette)

There has been some panic about the 'great courgette crisis' in the UK (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/22/courgette-crisis-cold-weather-spanish-farmers-hope-worst-over) that has been linked to flooding and snow in areas, like Murcia, in Spain. These weather conditions might well reflect climate change but historically they do get snows in that region about every 15 years. The current upside, for the farmers, is that there has been a rocketing of prices for all vegetables (also including broccoli) produced in that region (it certainly illustrates how dependent, at this time of the year, the UK is on vegetables grown in Southern Europe). It might even (temporarily?) curb the odd recent habit of 'refashioning' courgettes into 'pasta' in restaurants.

You're Toast!

Great excitement, at breakfast time, due to the 'relevation' that animal experiments have suggested that acrylamide is a carcinogen (https://www.food.gov.uk/science/acrylamide-0). Acrylamide is produced when high starch foods (such as bread and potato) are exposed to high temperatures in baking, frying, roasting or toasting so much focus has fallen on toast (especially the 'burnt' variety), crisps and deep-fried foods. The link to cancer is important (and it's difficult to think of a way not using animal experiments to have established this possibility, given the range of foods that can generate acrylamide) but it is important not to lose sight of the fact that taking in too much of these starchy and oily foods can impair health, simply by making the eater obese. I suppose it's one more thing to worry about.

Birder's Bonus 173

Images of Jackdaws (Corvus monedula) pre-roosting flights on the Loughor estuary.

Seeing the Changes 1133

Colour is starting to return. In Loughor, Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) and Crab apple (Malus sylvestris) are in flower. In Penclacwydd, Hazel (Corylus avellana) displayed both male and female flowers.

Zombie mice?

There is an odd interpretation of a study involving the activation, using lasers, of 'chase and grab' areas of the brain in genetically-modified laboratory mice (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jan/12/scientists-use-light-to-trigger-walking-dead-killer-instinct-in-mice-optogenetics). The claim is that the 2 circuits (the chase and the grab) could be operated, to some extent, separately and that the mice behaved in a zombified fashion when activated by the laser. There was also some speculation about the relationship of this certainly predatory behaviour to 'aggression'. The first thing to note, is that it is well-established that the laboratory mouse is derived from an omnivorous ancestor (wild House mice have stomach contents that are often 40% insect and spider remains and laboratory strains will routinely kill and consume locusts introduced to their cages). The second thing to note is that predation and other forms of murine attack seem to be completely unrelated. I personally think that describing the triggering of predation by activating of neural circuits as "assuming the qualities of zombies" is poetic licence.