krazy kat's korner

This is so cool! From the Sydney Morning Herald:

WILD dolphins are being taught to "tailwalk" by a dolphin which learned the trick in captivity before it was freed.

Three dolphins in a pod living off the Adelaide coast have taken to tailwalking, and scientists say they seem to do it simply for fun.

"Dolphins only do the tailwalk after they have been taught to do it by humans in captivity," said Mike Bossley of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

He has watched the Adelaide dolphins for many years and was stunned when he found one female bottlenose dolphin, Billie, teaching others. ''I couldn't believe my eyes," Dr Bossley said. "We had no idea dolphins could teach each other behaviour like this.

"Billie was held in captivity 20 years ago for a few weeks and must have seen other captive dolphins tailwalking to get food rewards.

"After she was released she met up with a pod and started tailwalking in front of them.

"Only adult females are doing it. We haven't been able to tell if they are doing it to impress the males, or just showing off their skills."

This is bloody amazing.

A MYSTERIOUS device salvaged from an ancient Roman shipwreck has astounded scientists who have finally unlocked its secrets.

After a century of study, the 2100-year-old device, known as the Antikythera Mechanism, has been shown to be a complex and uncannily accurate astronomical computer. Recovered in 82 highly corroded fragments, it could predict the positions of the sun and planets, show the location of the moon and even forecast eclipses.

Experts believe it to be the earliest-known device to use gear wheels and by far the most sophisticated object to be found from the ancient and medieval periods. ...

Detailed imaging of the mechanism suggests it dates to between 150 and 100BC and had 37 gear wheels enabling it to follow the movements of the moon and the sun through the zodiac, predict eclipses and even re-create the irregular orbit of the moon.

The motion, known as the first lunar anomaly, was developed by the astronomer Hipparcus of Rhodes in the 2nd century BC, and he may have been consulted in the machine's construction, the scientists speculate.

Remarkably, scans showed the device uses a differential gear, which was previously believed to have been invented in the 16th century. The level of miniaturisation and complexity of its parts is comparable to that of 18th-century clocks.


Hot today, the coast escaped the worst, but up to 40C (104F) across the rest of Sydney. And drawing close to 1am, it's still up to 29C (84F) across parts of Sydney.

The east coast low (also known as an east coast bomb) more than delivered.

Wettest September day since 1883. Between last evening and 9am this morning, some parts of Sydney had up to 107mm (4 inches) of rain. Most parts had up to 2 inches. There was quite a bit of thunder too. There's localised flooding, and the Parramatta Rivercat can't get all the way up the Parramatta River. There was even snow in the Blue Mountains.

Hasn't rained much since 9am, passing showers, but it's blowing a gale.

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My sister has put some amazing photos of the Parkes radio telescope here and here, including commentary. It is so huge.

They had to stow it this afternoon for about 35 minutes when the wind got up too high (and they nearly missed the moon landing :injoke for the fans of the movie The Dish:).

If you want to see my sister and her colleagues operating the Parkes radio telescope, go here. You can see where the Dish is pointing now, and see a video of the last 24 hours.

I'm most disappointed she doesn't get a certificate announcing her "licence" to drive the Dish.

George has been rumbling here the last few hours and along with Huey is sending down some good rain.

My sister is up at The Dish at Parkes. She (and co) will start observing Wednesday morning at 3 am, through to midnight on Wednesday, three hours off, then start 3 am on Thursday and go through to 11:45 pm Thursday.

And she may get to drive (and not crash) it! I'm so excited that I'll know someone who actually observed on The Dish! *geek* (for those who don't know, the Parkes Radio Telescope was instrumental in both the Moon Landing and rescuing Apollo 13)

( And here's a photo she took today )

My other brother called at 10 tonight. He said he was supposed to be in bed an hour before (he's on early shift which I think is a 6 or 6.30am start), but West Wing had sucked him in (ABC was showing the final ep of season 4 and the first ep of season 5). He said, "I have to know, does Zoey survive?" He loved Toby and the twins :)

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Budgies went to the vet this morning to have their nails clipped. Quite an adventure. First getting them in the boxes (2 in each). I think Danny was trying to fly in it, because for the first few minutes all we heard was a thump as a little head hit the top of the box. Dad put his finger through a hole in the side of that box, and a little bird (probably Woodstock) came and sat on it. CJ and Snoopy were very good in their box.

CJ managed to escape the vet's clutches twice, but being a small room and CJ's habit of running into things, the vet kept on ending up with CJ sprawled against her. But the poor little bird was so exhausted and anxious you could hear his breathing :( A couple of nails bled (he has long veins in some of them) and they had to be cauterised. As soon as she got CJ out she said what a beautiful bird he is.

Snoopy was pretty good, though gave her a few bites. She nearly lost Danny, he was a little more difficult, but she also commented on his beautiful sapphire colour. And Woody was a shock. He behaved and didn't grumble. Don't know what was wrong with him. We think he may have a bit of a problem, he doesn't seem to be able to stretch his legs out much. He waddles and can't stand up tall like the others. Doesn't interfere with his climbing and playing though.

They had problems when we got them home, their nails don't grip the perches as well and there were a few slides off. And after their fly we had to clean CJ's and Danny's feet with iodine and parrafin oil to clear up an infection. Poor CJ has had enough today.

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On Catalyst they just started a little series: This TV documentary series follows the journey of Australia’s brightest student biologists, fighting for a chance to bring home gold from the International Biology Olympiad.Thousands try, twenty-four made the shortlist, but only four will make the Australian team.

BATTLE OF THE BRAINS is the inside story of the world’s toughest teen biology competition, and what it takes to compete with the smartest kids in the world.

I'm hooked! There's a website if anyone's interested.

From SMH:

Chronic fatigue syndrome, often dismissed as the imaginings of depressed whingers, is actually caused by genetic mutations that impair the central nervous system's ability to adapt to stress.

Small changes in genes in the brain prevent the nervous system from rebounding from everyday stress, eventually triggering a cascade of molecular responses that leave the patient severely debilitated, researchers from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported in the journal Pharmacogenomics.

"This is the first credible evidence for a biological basis [for the syndrome]," said a CDC director, Dr Julie Gerberding.

The findings will provide immediate help in diagnosing the disorder, which often puzzles physicians because of the broad spectrum of symptoms and the absence of defining biochemical markers.

It could lead to the development of effective treatments for patients, who now receive only therapy to mitigate symptoms - or are scoffed at as slackers.

Added info here.

The medical stuff just keeps coming...from SMH:

Australian researchers believe chronic fatigue syndrome may be the biological equivalent of a hit and run injury to the brain.

If their hunch is right, it's likely to offer relief to chronic fatigue sufferers worldwide, many of whom suffer in silence because of the stigma associated with an unexplained illness.

The Australian scientists suspect the cause may be an infection, like glandular fever, which hits parts of the brain controlling perception of fatigue and pain during the early stages of the virus.

In about 10 per cent of sufferers, long after the virus has left the body, the researchers speculate the brain remains inflamed, taking months, or even longer, to heal - hence a diagnosis of chronic fatigue.

A 12-month study of 39 Australians with glandular fever, including eight patients who developed chronic fatigue syndrome, found neither the virus nor an abnormal immune response explained the differences between the two groups.

In an article in this week's Journal of Infectious Diseases, the researchers said the study found personality style, such as neuroticism, and psychological disorders like depression failed to predict prolonged illness.

Lead researcher Andrew Lloyd, of the University of NSW, said the study was part of the ongoing Dubbo Infection Outcomes Study which was tracking the long-term health of people infected with Ross River virus, Q fever infection and Epstein-Barr virus, which causes glandular fever.

The unique study, which began in 1999, was partly funded by the United States government.

Already, 700 people have been involved.

Professor Lloyd, an infectious diseases physician, said the ultimate goal was to discover the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome and an appropriate treatment.

He said despite around 40 scientific trials of various treatments including anti-depressants, multi-vitamins, anti-viral drugs and immunological therapies, none had been useful.

Only rehabilitation-style therapies such as graded exercise have been shown to help.

"We've looked at the immune system and at the bugs that might be relevant. That's not where the money is," Prof Lloyd said in an interview.

"It's not too big a leap of faith to say after that, it's in the brain, because of the nature of the symptoms - it's fatigue, it's pain, sleep disturbance, concentration and memory difficulties and mood disturbance. They're very much brain symptoms."

Prof Lloyd said the next step would be to perform sophisticated neurological tests and brain imaging to prove the theory.

Nurse Debbie Connell, one of the participants in the Dubbo study, said until she suffered from chronic fatigue herself, she was ignorant about the condition despite working in the medical profession.

"Basically, I think the general consensus is that it's a mental thing, rather than an actual physical thing," the 38-year-old mother said from her home at Mudgee, on the NSW central tablelands.

"You suffer in silence because of the stigma associated with it.

"Honestly, I think generally speaking, people think it's just a crock.

"It's just sheer ignorance. They have no idea what it feels like."

Chronic fatigue syndrome has struck a number of high profile Australians including former AFL star Alastair Lynch, swimmers Linley Frame and Johanna Griggs and actress Totti Goldsmith.

Although during the 1990s the condition was dismissed as the yuppie flu, Prof Lloyd said suggestions the syndrome was a form of malingering had generally been rejected by the medical community.

© 2006 AAP

A better article on the depression gene.