One is the loneliest number

Loneliness can be deadly. A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago tracked people over the age of 50 for six years. It found people who reported chronic feelings of isolation or loneliness had a 14 percent greater likelihood of dying than the sample as a whole.

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Half & Half


Image of the Day: Gorgeous Gynandromorph

A brush-footed butterfly (Lexias pardalis) with male left wings and female right wings—a rare condition known as bilateral gynandromorphy—will be on display at the Drexel University Academy of Natural Sciences starting January 17.

By The Scientist Staff | January 8, 2015

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ANSP ENTOMOLOGY, J.D. WEINTRAUB(See “Extremely Rare Find.”)








Disco clams?

Panic of the Disco Clam

The mollusk’s flashy tactics scare off predators.

By Jenny Rood | January 6, 201


WIKIMEDIA, OPENCAGEThe so-called disco clam Ctenoides ales took the human world by storm last summer when researchers revealed the secret behind its flashing lips, but it was unclear how the light display might benefit the mollusk. This week (January 4), the same team of scientists proposed a potential explanation at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in West Palm Beach, Florida.  The clam’s blinking lips, together with a distasteful chemical discharge, help the animal to fend off fierce predators.

After coming across the disco clam on a dive in Indonesia, study coauthor Lindsey Dougherty of the University of California, Berkeley, and her colleagues determined that small beads of reflective silica nestled inside the edge of the clam’s quivering red lip were responsible for the light show. For a follow-up study presented at the meeting, the scientists tested three possible functions of this showy display: enticing potential mates, attracting prey, and scaring off predators.

The researchers found that the flash effect would be an ineffective mating display because the clams have poor vision. In the presence of both simulated predators and phytoplankton prey, however, the clam doubled its flashing rate. In the final test, the clams shared their tank with a fierce and powerful predator, the mantis shrimp.

Dougherty’s team was surprised to find that the clam’s flashes caused the shrimp to recoil and enter a catatonic state. “[Mantis shrimp] are very aggressive critters, and to have a clam open and flashing, and the mantis shrimp not attacking, is very weird,” Dougherty told LiveScience. Further tests revealed that the clam’s tentacles contained sulfur, an unpleasant-tasting chemical that could drive away shrimp and other foes. The scientists now hope to confirm the protective purpose of the clam’s behavior.

Bankers?

Jason Karaian on a profession that needs a tighter leash. “Are all bankers liars? Of course not. Then again … in an experiment recently published in the scientific journal Nature, bankers distinguished themselves by their dishonesty. Asked to report the results of unsupervised coin flips in return for financial rewards, bankers bent the truth more than any other group

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