Chile quake defies expectations

Highlight—Tiny, Unseeing Mite Defies Expectations

For those who love and study insects and arachnids, they can see the underappreciated wonders of the biological realm. In the face of so much diversity, so much remains to be discovered. A recent study in Genome Biology Evolution is a case in point. Researchers sequencing the genome of a mite have found what might seem stranger than fiction: a mite that has retained genes important to sight, de...

Samara Reck-Peterson: Dynein defies expectations

T here are 14 different dyneins in the human genome, but 13 of these are found in cilia and fl agella. Just one—cytoplasmic dynein 1—handles the bulk of minus end–directed microtubule trafficking for organelles, vesicles, and other cargoes. It is only recently that scientists have started to understand this motor better, and, surprisingly, they have discovered that how it walks can be quite ran...

Quake hits pandas

at the interface between biology, biochemistry and physics raised concerns that the slicing up of the organisation into disciplines might discourage such interdisciplinary work and make it harder to obtain funding for it. SLR cofounder and spokesman Alain Trautmann, head of the department of cellular biology at the Institut Cochin at Paris, expressed doubts that the plans will really amount to ...

Quake warnings, seismic culture.

ince 1990, nearly one million people have died from the impacts of earthquakes. Reducing those impacts requires building a local seismic culture in which residents are aware of earthquake risks and value efforts to mitigate harm. Such efforts include earthquake early warning (EEW) systems that provide seconds to minutes notice of pending shaking. Recent events in Mexico provide an opportunity t...

Terrorism: behavior defies psychiatric diagnosis.