Notebook

The 33 winners in the 11th annual Polaroid International Instant Photomicrography Competition were announced in early December. Prizes totaling $13,750 were awarded for images that best combined artistic beauty and useful scientific information. A panel of top microscopy experts selected the winners from nearly 600 entries from Australia, Austria, Canada, England, Germany, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States. The winning image was a 400X magnification of the feathery structure of a male mosquito's antenna, taken by Gregory Paulson, a biology instructor at Washington State University. Shown here is a 40X electron micrograph of a freshwater crustacean, Daphnia, which won an honorable mention. The image was taken by Jurgen Berger, a technical assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tubingen, Germany. A survey conducted under the auspices of the Laboratory Safety Workshop at Curry College in Milton, Mass., recommends that academic institutions move aggressively to limit class size in laboratory courses. The workshop endorsed guidelines developed by the National Science Teachers Association recommending no more than 24 students per class and no more than the design capacity of the lab. The survey found that only Florida had enforceable legislation regarding lab class size. For more information, contact the Laboratory Safety Workshop, Curry College, Milton, Mass. 02186; (617) 333-0500. Apparently, like humans, pigs are not always happy, even in slop. And it is the discovery of this similarity in the porcine physiological response to stress that has Iowa State University researchers in, uh, hog heaven. "Stress triggers a number of different biological, and behavioral, responses in both animals and humans...," says Iowa State animal scientist Eberhard von Borell. "Stress also inhibits the production of growth hormone, reduces food intake,... and initiates anxiety." A peptide, corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), initiates and coordinates biological and behavioral responses to stress. The scientists believe that by correlating the bioactivity of CRF with the initiation and intensity of endocrine and immune responses to stress, they may be able to indirectly measure degrees of stress by manufacturing CRF. By doing so, they hope to find that point at which stress becomes detrimental to a pig's health, reproductive efficiency, or productive performance. An article in the January/February issue of the New York Academy of Sciences publication The Sciences says that newly inaugurated President Bill Clinton may suffer such illnesses as chronic indigestion, paralyzing depression, anxiety, or heart disease caused by the stress that comes with the office. According to Robert E. Gilbert, a political science professor at Northeastern University in Boston, over the past 150 years, 19 of 23 presidents who died of natural causes did so prematurely, many suffering from these "debilitating medical problems." Gilbert's solutions: close monitoring of the president by mental health specialists, downsizing staff and delegating his authority over the 400-plus White House personnel, and assigning the vice president more responsibility. The Association for Women Geoscientists Foundation will award three Chrysalis Scholarships of $750 each on March 31. The awards will be given to master's or Ph.D. candidates in geoscience who have returned to school after an interruption in their education of one year or longer. The funds are intended to cover expenses associated with finishing one's thesis. To apply, write a letter stating your background, career goals, and objectives; describing how you will use the money; and explaining the length and nature of the interruption in your education. Two letters of reference are also required. Applications and letters of reference are due February 28. For more information, contact Chrysalis Scholarship, Association for Women Geoscientists Foundation, Macalester College Geology Department, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, Minn. 55105-1899; (612) 696-6448. As many dog owners might already have suspected, the brains of domestic cats have regressed in size with evolution, according to a report by University of Tennessee neuroscientist Robert Williams and colleagues published in the January issue of the Society for Neuro-science's Journal of Neuroscience. The discovery strongly challenges accepted evolutionary theory, according to the authors. Comparing the house cat with the Spanish wildcat, a species that has remained largely unchanged over the past 20,000 years, Williams found that the wildcat's brain contains 40 percent to 50 percent more neurons, or nerve cells, in the part of the brain that transmits messages between the retina and cortex. The researchers say that up to seven out of 10 brain cells are killed in domestic cats before birth. The team also found that the skulls of house cats are nearly twice as thick as those of wildcats. The Washington D.C.-based Intellectual Property Owners Inc., a nonprofit organization, is soliciting nominations for its 1993 Inventor of the Year Award for the best invention of 1992. The competition is open to any inventor or team of inventors whose invention: is covered by a U.S. patent, was patented or became commercially available in 1992, and was made in the U.S. The nomination deadline is February 19. Nominations should be sent to Inventor of the Year Award, Intellectual Property Owners, 1255 23rd St., N.W., Suite 850, Washington, D.C. 20037; (202) 466- 2396.

Notebook

The Scientist Staff

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of