This paper aims to answer the call for a transdisciplinary approach in addressing science popularization (SP) by bridging Translation Studies, Science Communication, and the History of Science. ...Embracing the ‘continuum model’, it understands SP as an inseparable part of science communication, challenging the ‘diffusionist model’ that isolates scientists from the public. The study delves into the connections between SP and translation, advocating for a broader perspective, emphasizing the concepts of interepistemic translation and translationality. Using a case study on the dissemination of Darwinism in Brazil, the paper demonstrates the relevance of this approach by tracing the translational path from Charles Darwin through German intellectuals Heinrich Georg Bronn, Ernst Haeckel, and Ludwig Büchner to Brazilian popularizer Augusto César de Miranda Azevedo, emphasizing translation's pivotal role in the global circulation and transformation of scientific knowledge.
Landscapes are becoming increasingly urbanized, causing loss and fragmentation of natural habitats, with potentially negative effects on biodiversity. Insects are among the organisms with the largest ...diversity in urbanized environments. Here, we sampled predator (Ampulicidae, Sphecidae and Crabronidae) and parasitoid (Tachinidae) flower-visiting insects in 36 sites in the city of Rome (Italy). Although the diversity of herbivorous insects in urban areas mostly depends on the availability of flowering plants and nesting sites, predators and parasitoids generally require a larger number of resources during their life cycle, and are expected to be particularly influenced by urbanization. As flower-visitors can easily move between habitat patches, the effect of urbanization was tested at multiple spatial scales (local, landscape and sub-regional). We found that urbanization influenced predator and parasitoid flower-visitors at all three spatial scales. At the local scale, streets and buildings negatively influenced evenness of predators and species richness and abundance of parasitoids probably acting as dispersal barrier. At the landscape scale, higher percentage of urban decreased predator abundance, while increasing their evenness, suggesting an increase in generalist and highly mobile species. Area and compactness (i.e. Contiguity index) of urban green interactively influenced predator communities, whereas evenness of parasitoids increased with increasing Contiguity index. At the sub-regional scale, species richness and abundance of predators increased with increasing distance from the city center. Compared to previous studies testing the effect of urbanization, we found little variation in species richness, abundance and evenness along our urbanization gradient. The current insect fauna has been probably selected for its tolerance to habitat loss and fragmentation, being the result of the intensive anthropogenic alteration occurred in the area in the last centuries. Conservation strategies aimed at predator and parasitoid flying insects have to take in account variables at multiple spatial-scales, as well as the complementarity of resources across the landscape.
In 1948, Angus Bateman published a paper on fruit flies that tested Charles Darwin's ideas of sexual selection. Based on this one fruit fly study, Bateman concluded that because males are able to ...produce millions of small sperm, males are likely to behave promiscuously, mating with as many females as possible. On the other hand, because females produce relatively fewer, larger, and presumably more expensive eggs, females are likely to be very discriminating in selecting only one high-quality sexual partner. He also posited that a male's reproductive success increases linearly with the number of females he is able to mate with, but that a female's reproductive success peaks after she mates with only one male. Consequently, in almost all organisms, sexual selection acts most strongly on males. These ideas became a recurring theme in attempts to explain wide-ranging differences in male and female behavior not only in nonhuman animals but also in humans. As such, Bateman's conclusions and predictions have become axiomatic and, at times, have gone unquestioned even when modern empirical data do not conform to this model. This article reviews the origins and history of these ideas and uses modern data to highlight the current and growing controversy surrounding the validity and general applicability of this paradigm.
Powerful venom Ball, Philip
The Lancet,
11/2017, Letnik:
390, Številka:
10110
Journal Article, Book Review
Recenzirano
It can't be said that Venom: Killer and Cure, the new exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London, UK, will set your mind at ease. Never mind the giant cobra straight out of B-movie nightmare ...or the huge, hairy (but harmless to humans) Burgundy Goliath birdeater tarantula; it's the insects that are the worst.
Mendelian laws provide the universal founding paradigm for the mechanism of genetic inheritance through which characters are segregated and assorted. In recent years, however, parallel with the rapid ...growth of epigenetic studies, cases of inheritance deviating from Mendelian patterns have emerged. Growing studies underscore phenotypic variations and increased risk of pathologies that are transgenerationally inherited in a non-Mendelian fashion in the absence of any classically identifiable mutation or predisposing genetic lesion in the genome of individuals who develop the disease. Non-Mendelian inheritance is most often transmitted through the germline in consequence of primary events occurring in somatic cells, implying soma-to-germline transmission of information. While studies of sperm cells suggest that epigenetic variations can potentially underlie phenotypic alterations across generations, no instance of transmission of DNA- or RNA-mediated information from somatic to germ cells has been reported as yet. To address these issues, we have now generated a mouse model xenografted with human melanoma cells stably expressing EGFP-encoding plasmid. We find that EGFP RNA is released from the xenografted human cells into the bloodstream and eventually in spermatozoa of the mice. Tumor-released EGFP RNA is associated with an extracellular fraction processed for exosome purification and expressing exosomal markers, in all steps of the process, from the xenografted cancer cells to the spermatozoa of the recipient animals, strongly suggesting that exosomes are the carriers of a flow of information from somatic cells to gametes. Together, these results indicate that somatic RNA is transferred to sperm cells, which can therefore act as the final recipients of somatic cell-derived information.
Charles Darwin laid the foundation for all modern work on sexual selection in his seminal book The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. In this work, Darwin fleshed out the mechanism of ...sexual selection, a hypothesis that he had proposed in The Origin of Species. He went well beyond a simple description of the phenomenon by providing extensive evidence and considering the far-reaching implications of the idea. Here we consider the contributions of Darwin to sexual selection with a particular eye on how far we have progressed in the last 150 years. We focus on 2 key questions in sexual selection. First, why does mate choice evolve at all? And second, what factors determine the strength of mate choice (or intensity of sexual selection) in each sex? Darwin provided partial answers to these questions, and the progress that has been made on both of these topics since his time should be seen as one of the great triumphs of modern evolutionary biology. However, a review of the literature shows that key aspects of sexual selection are still plagued by confusion and disagreement. Many of these areas are complex and will require new theory and empirical data for complete resolution. Overall, Darwin's contributions are still surprisingly relevant to the modern study of sexual selection, so students of evolutionary biology would be well advised to revisit his works. Although we have made significant progress in some areas of sexual selection research, we still have much to accomplish.
Evolutionary theory made its stage debut as early as the 1840s, reflecting a scientific advancement that was fast changing the world. Tracing this development in dozens of mainstream European and ...American plays, as well as in circus, vaudeville, pantomime, and 'missing link' performances, this study reveals the deep, transformative entanglement among science, art and culture in modern times.
Stable isotopes of oxygen (δ18O) in seawater reflect the combined influences of ocean circulation and atmospheric moisture balance. However, it is difficult to disentangle disparate ocean and ...atmosphere influences on modern seawater δ18O values, partly because continuous time series of seawater δ18O are rare. Here we present a nearly nine‐year, continuous record of seawater δ18O values from the Galápagos. Seawater δ18O values faithfully track sea surface salinity and salinity along the equator at 50 m depth. Zonal current velocity within the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC), directly west of the Galápagos, is strongly correlated with Galápagos surface seawater δ18O values with a 1‐month lag. Reconstructions of Galápagos seawater δ18O values could thus provide a window into past variations in the strength of the EUC, an important influence on large‐scale tropical Pacific climate.
Plain Language Summary
The Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) flows beneath the surface of the equatorial Pacific Ocean from west to east, transporting cold, salty, nutrient rich waters. When this current hits the Galápagos, it rises to the surface. Its high nutrient levels serve as the foundation for the diverse Galápagos ecosystem and its colder temperature helps set up a strong sea surface temperature gradient that is the foundation of the tropical Pacific climate system. Despite its importance, little is known about how this current has varied prior to the short period of instrumental observations, and it remains challenging to reproduce in climate models. Here we show how Galápagos seawater stable isotope values track the strength of the EUC. Our findings open up possibilities to extend the record of the EUC back in time with isotope‐based paleoclimate proxies from the Galápagos region.
Key Points
Galápagos seawater δ18O values strongly covary with equatorial cold tongue salinity values
Seawater δ18O values are higher with a stronger Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent west of Galápagos
Cooperative Evolution offers a fresh account of evolution consistent with Charles Darwin's own account of a cooperative, inter-connected, buzzing and ever-changing world. Told in accessible language, ...treating evolutionary change as a cooperative enterprise brings some surprising shifts from the traditional emphasis on the dominance of competition. The book covers many evolutionary changes reconsidered as cooperation. These include the cooperative origins of life, evolution as a spiral rather than a ladder or tree, humans as a part of natural systems rather than the purpose, relationships between natural and social change, and the role of the individual in adaptive radiation onto new ground. The story concludes with a projection of human evolution from the past into the future.
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