Zoo-ropa and Mad Fax

[jenarael]

My PI bought me a printer because I rather needed a new one in my office, and it's a haul to the next building over to print stuff in my lab. Unfortunately, I think (despite switching from Mac to PC repeatedly in the course of a day, writing my own statistical analysis programs for my research, and even programming a DVD player) that I have fallen

Comments

Re: Happy b-day and a nerdy question

[jenarael]

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

Hornet flight being powered by solar energy is a crazy field, and not really related to my research, but I did attend an interesting talk on the subject last year. The cuticle itself actually generates a voltage when exposed to UV rays, and this voltage is channeled to the flight muscles (which connect to the mesocuticular layer, or middle part of the cuticle). The polypeptide which attaches the phosphate to turn ADP --> ATP works a lot like a rotational motor protein, but beyond that I really don't know.

I can, however, ask my physiology professor and get back to you; I'm curious about the answer myself!

[martianmoons]

If the new "printer" makes coffee, at least it is good for something! ;)

That wasp found in GA is interesting....wonder if they have been there all along, and one just happened to be identified?

[jenarael]

I'm sure they've been there for a while -- you'd be surprised how many insect species have yet to be discovered, let alone identified! :)

[martianmoons]

And what I find so interestingly amazing is that you don't have to be in the tropical rain forest, but practically literally just in your own back yard! I am so in amazement of insects, in so many respects! :)

[mathemajician]

And I thought all the wasps in NZ weren't native...

Got any good references for papers on insect intelligence? Could be good for my thesis.

[jenarael]

Depends on if you want operative intelligence? My thesis is focusing on the ability of hymenopterans (wasps/ants/bees) to learn and memorise new patterns or choose hosts they're conditioned to (in the case of parasitoids). I do have quite a few papers on bee "language" and its neurological basis, if that interests you? If you'd like, send me an email requesting what you need.

[mathemajician]

What's operative intelligence?

If you're interested in ant learning from the perspective of information theory you might be interested in,

@Article{Reznikova:86,
author = "Zh. I. Reznikova and B.Ya. Ryabko",
title = "Analysis of the language of ants by information-theoretic methods",
journal = "Problems Inform. Transmission",
volume = "22",
pages = "245--249",
year = "1986",
}

Postscritto

[jenarael]

This wasp was, until very recently, only seen in New Zealand and South America. It probably found its way from Costa Rica to your island via some route.

Namely, some scientist. ;)