Estrogen Turns Male Snakes into Same-Sex Charmers

Estrogen is key to a female's release of pheromones and thus, reproduction. After one year of estrogen supplements, male snakes started secreting a pheromone that seemed to cause other males to swarm to them. The finding has implications for the possible effects of some chemicals and pesticides that mimic the effects of estrogen.

Give a male garter snake a taste of estrogen and watch out, as the hormone turns these lads into the sexiest thing on the block, attracting dozens of other males eager to mate.

The finding, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, has implications for understanding the environmental impact of compounds that mimic the effect of estrogen, found in some chemicals and pesticides.

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Estrogen, the researchers found, is key to a female's release of pheromones and thus, reproduction.

Here's how it works: For the red-sided garter snake, picking up a mate takes but a second and a flick of the tongue. When a male detects a possible mate nearby, he licks the female with a quick flick of his tongue. The chemical cues, called pheromones, exuded by the females are so strong it takes but an instant, the researchers say, for the male to determine the other snake's species, sex, population, reproduction condition, size and age. In fact, the males are totally dependent on these pheromones for snake reproduction.

Every spring, tens of thousands of these garter snakes emerge from their limestone caves north of Manitoba, Canada, for mating. Intense competition ensues, as males swarm (and tongue) female snakes in an effort to be the first to mate with her. The frenzy appears as twisting balls of snakes called mating balls.

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The males tend to choose the larger, more mature gals, because these females can produce more babies; they also have a slightly different chemical signature in their pheromones. While young, small females do get action, they aren't the preferred mates.

Once they mate, the females emit a different pheromone, confirming "no more sex," causing other males to lose interest and leave the area.

In the new study, the researchers implanted male garter snakes in their natural environment, each with a capsule that raised their estrogen levels to approximately match those of female snakes. After one year of these estrogen supplements, the male snakes started secreting a pheromone that seemed to cause other males to swarm to them, forming clumps of writhing snakes tangled together. Apparently, the estrogen caused the males to secrete "female" pheromones.

"We thought this might work, but we were surprised the results were so compelling," study researcher Robert Mason, a professor of zoology at Oregon State University, said in a statement. "The amount of estrogen the male snakes received was nothing unusual, just about what a normal female would produce."

The other males, in fact, preferred the male snakes with boosted estrogen levels to the small female snakes, the researchers found.

When the researchers stopped giving the males estrogen, they reverted back to their normal behaviors.

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

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Solar cell turns windows into generators

For the past four years a team of researchers from Flinders University has been working to make this dream a reality – and now the notion of solar-powered windows could be coming to a not too distant future near you.

As part of his just-completed PhD, Dr. Mark Bissett from the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences has developed a revolutionary solar cell using carbon nanotubes.

A promising alternative to traditional silicon-based solar cells, carbon nanotubes are cheaper to make and more efficient to use than their energy-sapping, silicon counterparts.

“Solar power is actually the most expensive type of renewable energy – in fact the silicon solar cells we see on peoples’ roofs are very expensive to produce and they also use a lot of electricity to purify,” Dr. Bissett said.

“The overall efficiency of silicon solar cells are about 10 per cent and even when they’re operating at optimal efficiency it could take eight to 15 years to make back the energy that it took to produce them in the first place because they’re produced using fossil fuels,” he said.

Dr. Bissett said the new, low-cost carbon nanotubes are transparent, meaning they can be “sprayed” onto windows without blocking light, and they are also flexible so they can be weaved into a range of materials including fabric – a concept that is already being explored by advertising companies.

While the amount of power generated by solar windows would not be enough to completely offset the energy consumption of a standard office building, Dr. Bissett said they still had many financial and environmental advantages.

“In a new building, or one where the windows are being replaced anyway, adding transparent solar cells to the glass would be a relatively small cost since the cost of the glass, frames and installation would be the same with or without the solar component,” Dr. Bissett said.

“It’s basically like tinting the windows except they’re able to produce electricity, and considering office buildings don’t have a lot of roof space for solar panels it makes sense to utilise the many windows they do have instead.”

Dr. Bissett said the technology mimics photosynthesis, the process whereby plants obtain energy from the sun.

“A solar cell is created by taking two sheets of electrically conductive glass and sandwiching a layer of functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes between the glass sheets,” he said.

“When light shines on the cell, electrons are generated within the carbon nanotubes and these can be used to power electrical devices.”

Although small prototypes have been developed in the lab, he said the next step would be to test the carbon cells on an “industrial stage”.

If all goes to plan, the material could be on the market within 10 years.

“When we first started the research we had no idea if it would work because we were the first in the world to try it so it’s pretty exciting that we’ve proved the concept, and hopefully it will be commercially available in a few year’s time,” Dr. Bissett said.

Dr. Bissett is a winner of Flinders inaugural Best Student Paper Award, a now annual program which aims to recognise excellence in student research across the University.

Provided by Flinders University

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The Chill Can turns warm drinks into cold in seconds

The age-old annoying issue of how to chill a beverage quickly has found a solution.

West Coast Chill, an all natural energy drink, features the Chill Can, a patented beverage can created by Joseph Company International. This self-chilling can contains a built-in heat exchange unit that uses a C-CO2 adsorbent-desorption system to cool the beverage in the can. A reduction of the pressure of CO2 gas inside the can absorbs the heat from the beverage, reducing its temperature by 30o within three minutes.

With the push of a button, this energy drink goes from warm to cold, so it’s always almost ready to enjoy. Available in the U.S. and aparantly the UK, I wonder when this technology will be available for other refreshments like our favorite brew? One can dream!

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Cuppow Transformer Top turns a canning jar into a coffee cup

Our generation seems to be rather concerned with ?going green?. This means recycling, using less plastics, and trying to reuse things as opposed to throwing them away. If you happen to have a canning jar lying around, then Cuppow might just be a first step for reusing an old item if you haven’t started already.

Cuppow is a silicone coffee lid that will fit underneath the cap of a canning jar, where normally a round silver plate would go. This way you can sip coffee, tea, or any other beverage, as if you were drinking from a fancy travel mug. It only costs $7.99, but would mean you’d need to have a jar on hand if you wanted to put it to use. Take caution when drinking anything that is hot, as a glass jar doesn’t do such a great job of insulating, which means it will get toasty on the outside.

Cuppow Transformer Top turns a canning jar into a coffee cup

Our generation seems to be rather concerned with ?going green?. This means recycling, using less plastics, and trying to reuse things as opposed to throwing them away. If you happen to have a canning jar lying around, then Cuppow might just be a first step for reusing an old item if you haven’t started already.

Cuppow is a silicone coffee lid that will fit underneath the cap of a canning jar, where normally a round silver plate would go. This way you can sip coffee, tea, or any other beverage, as if you were drinking from a fancy travel mug. It only costs $7.99, but would mean you’d need to have a jar on hand if you wanted to put it to use. Take caution when drinking anything that is hot, as a glass jar doesn’t do such a great job of insulating, which means it will get toasty on the outside.

http://www.cuppow.com/

View the original article here

Cuppow Transformer Top turns a canning jar into a coffee cup

Our generation seems to be rather concerned with ?going green?. This means recycling, using less plastics, and trying to reuse things as opposed to throwing them away. If you happen to have a canning jar lying around, then Cuppow might just be a first step for reusing an old item if you haven’t started already.

Cuppow is a silicone coffee lid that will fit underneath the cap of a canning jar, where normally a round silver plate would go. This way you can sip coffee, tea, or any other beverage, as if you were drinking from a fancy travel mug. It only costs $7.99, but would mean you’d need to have a jar on hand if you wanted to put it to use. Take caution when drinking anything that is hot, as a glass jar doesn’t do such a great job of insulating, which means it will get toasty on the outside.

Cuppow Transformer Top turns a canning jar into a coffee cup

Our generation seems to be rather concerned with ?going green?. This means recycling, using less plastics, and trying to reuse things as opposed to throwing them away. If you happen to have a canning jar lying around, then Cuppow might just be a first step for reusing an old item if you haven’t started already.

Cuppow is a silicone coffee lid that will fit underneath the cap of a canning jar, where normally a round silver plate would go. This way you can sip coffee, tea, or any other beverage, as if you were drinking from a fancy travel mug. It only costs $7.99, but would mean you’d need to have a jar on hand if you wanted to put it to use. Take caution when drinking anything that is hot, as a glass jar doesn’t do such a great job of insulating, which means it will get toasty on the outside.

http://www.cuppow.com/

View the original article here