New research has it that evolution is a tinkerer, not an engineer. It echoes what Nobel laureate François Jacob famously declared in 1977: “Evolution does not produce novelties from scratch. It works with what already exists.” A team of scientists led by researchers at UC Santa Barbara has discovered an unlikely role played by opsins in our sensory perception. Opsins are known as a group of light-sensitive proteins — the universal photoreceptor molecules of all visual systems in animals. The new finding attributes a light-independent capability to these proteins. Opsins also function as taste receptors! This raises questions about what purpose did they serve in ancient organisms. Researcher Craig Montell speculates that the original role of opsin proteins may have been chemical reception because it is a more basic requirement for life than is light reception. Knowing what to eat and what to avoid serves a more ancient survival function than does the ability to detect light. Perhaps by chance, a retinal factor became bound to an opsin and conferred light sensitivity to it.
SNEAK PEEK
1. Cooling concussion
In the future, treating brain injuries could be as simple as cooling the brain, but it’s a bit more finicky than applying an ice pack to the head. For this treatment to be successful, there’s a sweet spot — can’t cool too little; can’t cool too much.” Who identified the sweet spot?
1. Christian Franck (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
2. Differently lonely
Different generations are equally lonely but for different reasons. However, those who are better at adapting to stressful situations face less risk of loneliness at any age. And social isolation is not critically associated with loneliness in the 45-69 age group. Who found it?
2. Dr Drew Altschul (University of Edinburgh)’
3. Forms of walking
The feet of Homo naledi (an extinct hominin) were the most human-like part of their body. But some other parts of the body suggest that they didn’t walk in the same way we do. Evidently, walking straight couldn’t be the only form of two-feet locomotion. Who figured it out?
3. William Harcourt-Smith (American Museum of Natural History)
4. A quarter of them
An analysis of data covering more than 80,000 individuals who attempted or died by suicide shows that 25% of them had problems in basic sensory experiences, such as hearing or seeing things that aren’t really there! — “perceptual abnormalities”. Who did the analysis?
4. Dr Ian Kelleher, RCSI Psychiatry Researcher
5. Those cocky kids!
Overconfidence in one’s own abilities, despite clear evidence to the contrary, is a cognitive bias. It has been observed in business executives, bankers and physicians. But the same overconfidence of risk-taking bankers can be found even in 4-year-olds. Who evinced it?
5. Dr Dominik Piehlmaier (University of Sussex Business School)
6. Back of my hand
“I know it like the back of my hand.” Well, how well do you know it?. Your perception of the width of the back of your hand.is different when the hand is held upright compared to when it is held sideways. No variation is seen in perception for the palm. Who reported this?
6. Psychologist Laurence Harris (York’s Faculty of Health)
7. Days were warmer
Rainforests existed 90 million years ago near the South Pole. This seems to indicate that the climate was notably warm at the time. “Even during months of darkness, swampy temperate rainforests were able to grow close to the South Pole.” Who provided this detail?
7. Tina van de Flierdt (Imperial College London)
8. A rebound effect
In 2009, a “swine flu” hit Mexico City. A 2019 study found that, during the days of “social distancing”, people’s behavioral response to the outbreak was initially strong but waned sooner than expected. This dynamic is interpreted as a “rebound effect”. Who led the study?
8. UC Davis economist Michael Springborn
9. The same principle
COVID-19 is like global warming seen in super-fast motion. The disease is playing out faster than the effects of global warming, but the principle is the same. “Everything with climate is decades; here it’s days. Climate is centuries; here it’s weeks.” Who put it this way?
9. NYU climate economist Gernot Wagner
[ANSWERS]
1. Christian Franck (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
2. Dr Drew Altschul (University of Edinburgh)’
3. William Harcourt-Smith (American Museum of Natural History)
4. Dr Ian Kelleher, RCSI Psychiatry Researcher
5. Dr Dominik Piehlmaier (University of Sussex Business School)
6. Psychologist Laurence Harris (York’s Faculty of Health)
7. Tina van de Flierdt (Imperial College London)
8. UC Davis economist Michael Springborn
9. NYU climate economist Gernot Wagner
QUIZ No. 949
1. Dinosaurs didn’t sing! Who deduced this from the fossilised vocal organ of a bird?
– Jean Albert Gaudry
– Mario Costa Barberena
– Julia Allison Clarke
1. Julia Allison Clarke
2. Power, fuel. Who said that physics and economics are two sides of the same coin?
– Adrian Bejan
– Captain Henry Metcalfe
– William H. Swanson
2. Adrian Bejan
3. Who suggested using birds as natural guides to help us design diversified farms?
– Jeffrey Smith
– Herbert G. Andrewartha
– Warder Clyde Allee
3. Jeffrey Smith
4. Who filed a patent for a design to make aircraft practically invisible when in the air?
– Mary Taylor Brush
– Charles Kingsford Smith
– Vladimir Kokkinaki
4. Mary Taylor Brush
5. Which mathematician wrote mathematically themed mysteries under a pen name?
– Leila Schneps
– Howard Jerome Keisler
– Theodore Kaczynski
5. Leila Schneps