Science Buzz Lunch in Mixer Room, Bldg 1, Jan. 28, 2013

Science Buzz Lunch in Mixer Room, Bldg 1, Jan. 28, 2013

Topics discussed included:

1) A report in this week's Nature titled:  Japan's stimulus package showers science with cash

2)  A News & Views article in this week's Nature titled:  The to and fro of tumour spread. It features two papers in the most recent issue of Cancer Cell shedding light on the roles of cellular transitions between the epithelial and mesenchymal states during cancer metastasis, These papers reveal that cancer metastasis requires not only an initial EMT transition to escape the tumor site, but also a subsequent MET transition to establish new tumors at new sites. This provides insights into which cellular processes should be targeted in cancer treatment.

Science Buzz Lunch in Mixer Room, Bldg 1, Jan. 21, 2013

Science Buzz Lunch in Mixer Room, Bldg 1, Jan. 21, 2013

Topics discussed included:

1) Highlights of the International Biogeography meeting in Miami last week, including studies of the relationship between population differentiation and dispersal duration of murine species

    Sightings of one Green Anole on each coconut tree on the campus of          Miami International University

2) The paper in Nature this week by Jesse N. Weber, Brant K. Peterson and Hopi E. Hoekstra  about the use of genetic crossing and gene sequencing studies to identify the genes responsible for complex burrow evolution in Peromyscus mice

Science Buzz Lunch in Mixer Room, Bldg 1, Jan. 15, 2013

Science Buzz Lunch in Mixer Room, Bldg 1, Jan. 15, 2013

Topics discussed included:

1) The first deep-sea (about 800 meters depth) films made recently of giant squid (probably the kraken of ancient sea monster lore) near the Ogasawara Islands about 1000 kilometers south of Tokyo

2) Attendees' favorite scientific meetings, and how those good meetings differ from less rewarding meetings

Science Buzz Lunch in Mixer Room, Bldg 1, Jan. 8, 2013

Science Buzz Lunch in Mixer Room, Bldg 1, Jan. 7, 2013

Topics discussed included:

The probable inappropriateness of using brain volume or brain mass relative to body mass as a measure of a species' relative intelligence 

Science Buzz Lunch in Mixer Room, Bldg 1, Jan. 7, 2013

Science Buzz Lunch in Mixer Room, Bldg 1, Jan. 7, 2013

Topics discussed included:

1) A recent paper in Cell Stem Cell  12, 114 - 126  (Jan. 3, 2013)

by Toshinobu Nishimura et al. titled

Generation of Rejuvenated Antigen-Specific T Cells by Reprogramming to Pluripotency and Redifferentiation

We discussed potential applications of the iPS cell technology for adoptive immunotherapy.

2) A recent paper by Cullen et al. in PLoS ONE titled

Evolutionary Novelty versus Exaptation: Oral Kinematics in Feeding versus Climbing in the Waterfall-Climbing Hawaiian Goby Sicyopterus stimpsoni

which explains how the extreme waterfall-climbing behavior of this fish might have evolved by exaptation of an oral sucker used for feeding on algae