Features

 Highlights from OU science in the news this week:

Where does the Manx Shearwater go on its 20,000km migration?

A team of scientists including Oxford's Tim Guilford have been following the seabird on its travels using electronic tags.

As BBC Online's Mark Kinver reports, unusually for seabirds migrating over the open sea, Manx make 'pit-stops'. Tim said: 'Every one of the 12 birds made at least one stop during its migration in one place for up to two weeks.'

It's thought that they've adopted this strategy so as not to carry the extra fat they would need to make the trip in one go. Their travels take them over Africa, to South America and back to Britain via the Atlantic. The team hope to do similar work on puffins.

Galaxy helpers
Can the public make light work of big science?

The lesson from the Galaxy Zoo project, as Suw Charman-Anderson writes in The Guardian, is that it certainly can.

She talks to one of the founders of Galaxy Zoo, Dr Chris Lintott about how the galaxy-classifying site became a runaway success that turned into an exemplar of how 'crowdsourcing' and web tech can transform science. 

Chris and colleagues are now thinking about how these lessons could be applied to processing data from other science projects, such as images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Chris comments: 'It's like Nasa does the map and we'll write the guide book.'

Atishoo!
That's the sound of your cells activating each other according to research by Oxford's Anant Parekh.

Anant told BBC Online and BBC South Today Oxford about his work examining how cells interact to create the sort of extreme allergic response suffered by around 20 million people in the UK.

'They have shown that once a mast cell has been activated, it chemically activates other mast cells. These cells act together to create an allergic response,' the article explains. The hope is that further research will lead to medications that block this response.

Rare roar
News of the Caspian tiger's demise may have been somewhat exaggerated...

At least that's a conclusion you could draw from research led by Carlos Driscoll of Oxford's WildCRU into the tiger family tree. As ScienceNOW highlights, the mitochondrial DNA of the extinct Caspian and the living Siberian tiger differs by just one letter of genetic code.

This means that, in a sense, the Caspian tiger never became extinct, just that there never was any separate animal known as a 'Siberian' tiger. 

Sexy/smelly
An essay on pheromones in this week's Nature made Wired Science sniff a story, as they quizzed the author, Tristram Wyatt from the Department of Zoology, about the challenging search for human pheromones.

'We produce a large number of compounds, and bacteria ferment our secretions,' said Wyatt. 'You're trying to find a few active compounds from a forest of thousands of compounds.' Don't believe in love potions just yet as Tristram estimates it could still take decades to find these elusive molecules.

Moving maths 
If you ever wondered what attracts people to mathematics then read up about Oxford's Marcus du Sautoy in The Times and Mail on Sunday.

Telling the moving story of Jonathan, his stillborn son, Marcus writes: 'I became a mathematician because I like things to make sense. I like structure and logic... I have never been able to cope with the uncertainty and lack of control in the physical world. That is why I was drawn to the clean, unforgiving logic of the mathematician's lab.'

And finally...
Do methane plumes mean there's life on Mars?

A lot of headline writers seemed convinced by the latest data from NASA on the Red Planet but Oxford's Fred Taylor told Lewis Smith in The Times (and others) that it was useful evidence but no real proof.

Fred explained: 'If it's focused it’s much more likely to be coming from the interior of the planet, and therefore it's quite hard to think of a non-biological source. It could be that some kind of chemistry nobody understands is occurring. You can make methane inorganically in a chemistry lab quite easily... This paper doesn’t settle anything finally. What it says is ’come and have a look’. We need to go there.'

A summer holiday on Mars? Now there's a thought...

Today's Nature features an essay by Oxford's Tristram Wyatt on pheromones, I quizzed him about these intriguing chemicals:

OxSciBlog: What purpose do pheromones serve?
Tristram Wyatt: Animals use pheromones in all sorts of ways and pheromones are probably the commonest form of communication across all species of the animal kingdom (even though we cannot hear or see the messages).

Sex pheromones are used by many species and it was the silk moth sex pheromone that was the first one identified, 50 years ago this year. Dogs use a powerful sex pheromone as every dog owner will know – though this is one pheromone that we've not yet identified.

Social insects run their whole societies with pheromones, from trails and nest building to alarm pheromones to bring rapid defence of the colony. Social insects also provide good examples of primer pheromones, which have longer term effects on physiology. The queen honey bee sends a pheromone message round the hive which stops the workers laying their own eggs.

Underwater animals use pheromones too – for example goldfish have sex pheromone duets and lobsters do too. Humans undoubtedly have pheromones but none have been chemically identified.

OSB: Do animals send false pheromone signals?
TW: Yes, one of the most spectacular is the bolas spider which synthesizes moth pheromones which are so good that they attract male moths (to their death). Some orchids do a similar thing with the pheromones of wasps and bees to lure them to visit the flower to take on pollen – and deliver it to the next flower when they are duped again by the fake pheromones.

OSB: Why do you think theories about human pheromones are so controversial?
TW: I think we find it disturbing to imagine our behaviour could be influenced by chemicals given off by another human being! Yet at the same time most perfumes are advertised with the promise of just this kind of effect.

There may be a reluctance still to accept that we are mammals – and as mammals it is highly likely that we use pheromones, though there's no evidence for ones with instant effects like the dog or moth sex pheromone.

OSB: What are the biggest questions about human pheromones that remain to be answered?
TW: Well the first challenge is to chemically identify the first one. We are at the stage where we have some phenomena, for example hormonal effects on women when they smell sweat extracts from male armpits, which are pheromonal but the chemicals involved have not been identified.

We're at an early stage of understanding. It has been likened to the way that for hundreds of years doctors used foxglove leaf extracts to help with heart disease but it was relatively recently that the active molecule, digitalis (digoxin), in the leaf extracts was isolated, identified and synthesized.

Another candidate is the pheromone produced by women that appears to mediate the effect of menstrual syncrony in women living in close proximity. Again this has been shown to be produced by the armpits. I know that at least one team is trying to track down the chemical identity of the molecule. If they can find it, a whole new range of drug targets for contraceptive agents may open up.

Dr Tristram Wyatt is based at Oxford's Department of Zoology

It's no secret that OxSciBlog likes elephants but how do they feel about us and each other?

BBC 1's The Secret Life of Elephants [starts 14 Jan, 9 pm] intends to answer this question by giving us the gamut of elephant emotion from love and lust, through jealousy, fear and anger to grief.

The show follows elephants at the Samburu reserve in Northern Kenya and one of the featured researchers is Iain Douglas-Hamilton, a Research Associate at Oxford's Department of Zoology, founder of the charity Save the Elephants (STE).

A scan of STE's helpful blurb reveals that the three-part series will highlight some of the most interesting findings from the Samburu researchers over the past couple of years, including pachyderm compassion and grief, and how human influence is relegating elephants to smaller and smaller safe areas they find it stressful to navigate between.

I enjoyed what I caught of BBC 2's Elephants of Samburu last year [presented by Iain's daughter Saba] so I'm looking forward to a return with more emphasis on the science and conservation of these magnificent beasts.

Professor Helen Mardon is codirector of the Oxford Stem Cell Institute, part of the James Martin 21st Century School at the University of Oxford. I asked her about the potential for stem cell research:

OxSciBlog: What are stem cells and how could they be used in medicine?
Helen Mardon: Stem cells are cells from embryos, umbilical cord blood, or various sites in the adult such as bone marrow that can multiply and also have the capacity to form a range of different cell types in the body – to ‘differentiate’.

The capacity for such differentiation depends on the origin of the stem cells. Stem cells from the embryo have the ability to differentiate into all the different cell types that make up tissues such as cardiac muscle, pancreatic tissue, brain tissue and so on. Stem cells from adult sources, such as the bone marrow, have a more limited capacity.

Stem cell technology thus offers remarkable scope for the development of new cell-based treatments for a diverse range of diseases by allowing tissues in the body to be repaired or regenerated. This could include therapies for heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and tissue damage caused by injury.

OSB: What are the main challenges in making stem cell therapies a reality?
HM: There are several major challenges in developing successful stem cell-based therapeutics. For example, stem cells derived from human embryos currently need compounds derived from animal sources to grow, and this needs to be avoided if the cells are to be transplanted into humans. We need to understand exactly how to get stem cells to differentiate or turn into the particular type of cell for a desired type of tissue in the body, whether skin, heart muscle, or pancreatic tissue. Once transplanted into a patient, we want the stem cells to stay where we want them, and not disperse.

Finally, the risk of rejection of the cells by the body's immune system has to be overcome, as is the case for any tissue transplants. This can be done either by generating huge numbers of different stem cell lines to have the best chance of finding a good tissue match, or by manipulating the cells so that the immune system is not triggered.

OSB: How will the work of the new Oxford Stem Cell Institute approach these challenges?
HM: The Oxford Stem Cell Institute has brought together scientists from across the University who are leading world experts in different aspects of stem cell research. Between us, we are addressing these challenges in bringing stem cell therapies to the clinic. The Institute has enabled Oxford scientists with their different backgrounds to collaborate and facilitate a combined effort to take stem cell technology forward.

OSB: How should scientists, governments, and the public respond to ethical dilemmas about the use of stem cells?
HM: There should be open debate and discussion between scientists, governments and the public. It is critical that scientists are transparent about their research and are provided with a forum for conveying their discoveries and the possible implications to the public. Widening of public understanding of stem cell science is essential: an informed public is better placed to make reasoned judgements about ethical dilemmas.

OSB: What landmarks should we expect for stem cell science and medicine in the 21st century?
HM: We should be cautiously optimistic. We should expect to see major advances in stem cell science and its application in medicine as the technology improves. The bringing together of stem cell scientists from different backgrounds, together with continued significant funding opportunities, should drive the science forward toward the use of stem cells in the clinic. We are already seeing adult stem cells being used therapeutically and now it should be possible to begin to exploit the potential of embryonic stem cells.

Highlights from Oxford science in the news over Christmas:

Could that Christmas chocolate and wine have done you some good?

As newspapers including the Telegraph, The Sun and The Daily Mail reported, Oxford research focusing on the elderly suggests it just might.

Oxford and Norwegian researchers found that small amounts of chocolate, wine and tea can significantly boost the cognitive performance of the over-70s.

Flavonoids, micronutrients found in all three foodstuffs, may be behind the effect (although the researchers say other factors specific to these foods can't yet be ruled out).

Let in the lynx
Would reintroducing the lynx to Britain be the best way to control deer populations?

In the run up to the publication of the State of Britain's Mammals report David Macdonald of Oxford's WildCRU told The Independent lynx would provide a natural way of controlling deer numbers.

David comments that we shouldn't worry about sharing our landscape with these wild cats: 'There is enough food – there are all these roe deer that people are having to control and the lynx could help out... As far as I'm aware, there is no recorded case of lynx being any danger to people.'

Txt ur mood 
A system that enables clinicians to monitor a patient's moods by text message can help in the treatment of mental illness.

Developed by Oxford's Department of Psychiatry, with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health, the system contacts patients every day and asks them to text back a letter code that corresponds to their mood.

As BBC Online report this simple approach enables clinicians to plot a patient's mood swings, monitor the effect of medication and identify when a face-to-face appointment or further assessment is needed.

Oxford's John Geddes said: 'When I see the patient in clinic I pretty much know how they have been... Basically, with this system we would hit the ground running and we can focus on trying to help them and their treatment.'

Nano-walker 
A new kind of 'walking' molecular machine might one day shift cargo around 'nano-factories' according to New Scientist.

They report on work by Oxford's Andrew Turberfield and colleagues into a 'nanobot' with DNA feet which 'walks' along a DNA track. Clever design ensures the Oxford nanobot doesn't detach itself from or destroy the track as it moves - there's no backtracking either as it can only move forward.

Andrew comments: 'At the moment, the nanobot has taken a single step but our ambition is to make it move 100 nanometres or more... We can already stop and start our motor by controlling the amount of fuel we add, but we could add other control signals to make walkers interact with each other, and could easily attach a cargo to the region that links the two legs.'

Species showdown
Finally, what animal could humans not live without?

During a debate at the Earthwatch Institute broadcast on BBC Radio 4 five scientists slugged it out to decide which species was irreplaceable.

After being put to an audience vote George McGavin of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History won the day with his persuasive argument in favour of bees.