pheromones

Two male mice often fight when put in a cage, but if one is neutered they get along fine. Decades ago, scientists found out that dabbing urine from an intact male mouse on the back of a neutered mouse gave the latter the chemical signature of an unaltered male. The neutered mouse soon found himself brawling with the guys. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.de

Combining this behavioral test with modern biochemical analyses, molecular biologist Lisa Stowers and her colleagues at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., now reveal some of the chemistry behind the aggression.

In male mouse urine, proteins in a cluster called the major urinary protein (MUP) complex function as pheromones that literally strike a nerve in other males, the scientists report in the Dec. 6 Nature. An individual mouse has only a few of the 20 or so proteins that can show up in an MUP cluster. In the study, those few were enough to act as a fight pheromone when researchers dabbed them on neutered males.http://Louis-J-Sheehan.de

Because neutered mice don't make significant amounts of testosterone, they lack MUP proteins, Stowers notes.

http://Louis-J-Sheehan.de Pheromones are chemical cues given off by animals that trigger others' behavior by binding to sensory receptors in the vomeronasal organ in mice.

To substantiate the behavioral findings, Stowers and colleagues placed the urine proteins in contact with live neurons obtained from male mouse vomeronasal organs in a lab dish. Using imaging techniques, the researchers detected when 1 of the roughly 250 receptors on the neurons was activated. The tests verified that the MUC proteins were pheromones and revealed that two neuron receptors, called Gnao and V2Rs, act as docking ports for them.

sea

The earth’s average temperature rose steadily throughout the 20th century, with only a few short blasts of cooling recorded in the climate data. But if a team of scientists led by David Thompson at Colorado State University is correct, one of the largest recorded cool-downs ever documented might have never happened. http://louis1j1sheehan.us How did the mistake occur? According to Thompson, through a bucket blunder.

Scientists had always struggled to find a physical cause of the 0.3 °C drop in global temperature around 1945, right at the end of World War II. But according to Thompson, the measured cooling happened because of cross-cultural confusion. http://louis1j1sheehan.us During the war, Americans sailors measured the sea surface temperatures by testing water their ship took in to cool its engines. But when the British retook most of the recording responsibility in 1945, they simply drew buckets of ocean water and tested them outside. The difference between the warm engine room where the Americans tested and the non-insulated British buckets accounts for temperature drop in the record, Thompson says.

Neither navy wrote down their methods in the logbook, so Thompson had to venture deep into shipping records and consult foreign sea experts to figure out the flub. In addition, Americans preoccupied with fighting also took fewer measurements during the war, says Phil Jones from the University of East Anglia in the U.K., a colleague of Thompson. That reduction in measurements makes the American data and its link to a post-war cooling even sketchier, he says.

The team’s finding could be a blow to those who claim the mid-century cooling proved that the earth wasn’t heating up as quickly or consistently as most scientists have said, or that carbon dioxide doesn’t cause global warming. But while the discovery of the Great Bucket Error could let climate modelers off the hook for never explaining the post-war drop in temperature , it also could mean our global climate data was biased in other places, too. And Thompson and his team say they don’t know exactly what the temperature charts will look like once researchers try to correct for buckets’ bias toward cold.

funeral

MAY 18TH.—Showers and sunshine, the first preponderating.

Our killed and wounded in Beauregard’s battle amount to some 1500. The enemy lost 1000 prisoners, and perhaps 1500 killed and wounded. http://Louis-J-sheehan.info

Railroad men report heavy firing this morning near Fredericksburg, and it is believed another battle is in progress.

From the West we have a report, derived from the enemy at Natchez, that Gen. Banks has surrendered to Lieut.-Gen. Smith. http://Louis-J-sheehan.info

It is rumored likewise that President Lincoln has called for 60,000 militia, to defend Washington.

A fortnight ago, Mr. Benjamin procured passports for one or two of his agents “to pass the lines at will.” They may have procured information, but it did not prevent the enemy from coming.

Attended a funeral (next door to us) ceremony this afternoon at 5 P.M. over the body of Abner Stanfield, a nephew of Mrs. Smith, our next door neighbor, who fell in battle day before yesterday, near Drewry’s Bluff. By the merest accident his relatives here learned of his fall (by the paper we loaned them), and Mr. S. had his body brought to his house, and decently prepared for the grave. His bloody garments were replaced by a fine suit of clothes he had kept with Mr. S.; his mother, etc. live in Northern Virginia, and his cousins, the Misses S., decorated the coffin beautifully with laurels, flowers, etc. He was a handsome young hero, six feet tall, and died bravely in his country’s defense. He was slain by a shell. The ceremony was impressive, and caused many tears to flow. But his glorious death and funeral honor will inspire others with greater resolution to do and to dare, and to die, if necessary, for their country. The minister did him justice, for the hallowed cause in which he fell.