There are nine subspecies of Jaguar:
Panthera onca onca – Amazon Rainforest
Panthera onca arizonensis – Mexico
Panthera onca centralis – Central America
Panthera onca goldmani – Mexico, Belize
Panthera onca hemandesii – Mexico
Panthera onca palustris – Southern Brazil
Panthera onca paraguensis – Paraguay
Panthera onca peruvianus – Peru, Ecuador
Panthera onca veracrucis – Texas
Average life span in the wild:
12 to 15 years
Size:
Head and body, 5 to 6 ft (1.5 to 1.8 m); tail, 27.5 to 36 in (70 to 91 cm)
Weight: 100 to 250 lbs (45 to 113 kg)
Wouldn’t it be great if you could imagine a chemical compound and then go to a computer, plug in the properties you wanted to have and presto, your new designer compound. Say you wanted a plastic that was easily made from cheap renewable materials that broke down into inert particles, or a drug that targeted only liver tumors and not healthy cells or a glue that was super strong but not toxic. One of the reasons those things are easy to imagine and difficult to create is trying to predict how a combination of complex molecules will react with each other. There is still a lot of trial and error in chemistry. Molecules from scratch without the fiendish physics
The chief enemy of computer-aided chemical design is the Schrödinger equation. In theory, this mathematical beast can be solved to give the probability that electrons in an atom or molecule will be in certain positions, giving rise to chemical and physical properties.
…His team focused on a basic property: the energy tied up in all the bonds holding a molecule together, the atomisation energy. The team built a database of 7165 molecules with known atomisation energies and structures. The computer used 1000 of these to identify structural features that could predict the atomisation energies.
When the researchers tested the resulting algorithm on the remaining 6165 molecules, it produced atomisation energies within 1 per cent of the true value. That is comparable to the accuracy of mathematical approximations of the Schrödinger equation, which work but take longer to calculate as molecules get bigger (Physical Review Letters, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.058301).
What Robot Fish Can Tell Us About Parallel Evolution and how complex gene expression can be.
Another interesting thing about evolution, which has only been appreciated in recent decades, is the fact that there is not a simple correspondence between genes and traits. Rarely does one gene determine one trait, and rarely does one trait vary because of one gene.
…In a 2005 study, scientists looked at a gene (Eda) that determines the growth of the bony plate and found that freshwater sticklebacks had a variant of the gene that caused fewer plates to form in those populations. The gene Eda probably serves a regulatory function, so it could determine one of a range of phenotypes from the fully armored saltwater version to the two lesser armored versions found in fresh water. A combination of genetic and population analysis led the researchers to discover that most freshwater sticklebacks in the Northern Hemisphere which exhibit a loss of bony plates do so because they all inherited a variant of Eda that is rare in the original saltwater populations. So the trait evolved in parallel in many lineages, all of which came from different saltwater populations, but it also evolved from a single pre-existing form of the gene. However, it was also found that one or more of the Northern Hemisphere sticklebacks with reduced bony plates got this trait from an entirely different genetic change.
This trait is thus an example of a feature determined by more than one gene, and an example of parallel evolution occurring by more than one means.
Because there are fewer predators for freshwater sticklebacks to deal with there is little incentive for the growth of the full armor plating that is expressed by salt water sticklebacks.
High speed trains – at least for the time being – do not seem to make sense for many areas of the U.S. I tend to think they would be great for some travel corridors of the U.S. – from San Fransisco to Los Angeles, and one that connects New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington D.C. Perhaps what is needed is a new generation of commuter trains. Like this one, only a little faster – China Firm Produces Low-Cost Maglev Train
A firm in Hunan province unveiled a magnetically levitated (maglev) train that is both far less expensive and more environmental-friendly than conventional trains, according to China Economic Net.
The train has a top speed of 100 km per hour (63 mph) and carry 600 passengers in its three cars, said Xu Zongxiang, general manager of Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive which is a subsidiary of state-owned China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation (CSR).
Because the Zhuzhou train levitates on guideways, it produces no rolling friction, making it much quieter than conventional trains.
“It’s ideal for mass transportation, as it is quiet and environmental-friendly. Its manufacturing cost is about 75% of a conventional light-rail train,” said Xu. “It’s an ideal public transport option for Chinese cities and major tourist destinations.”
The 600 passenger Zhuzhou maglev train
Maglev trains can attain high speeds not possible with conventional rail systems. Japan’s CJR’s MLX01 superconducting maglev set a speed record of 581 km/h (361 mph) was achieved in 2003.
The Ajiro Bamboo Bike is Grown From the Ground Up. It seems that the designers grow the frame of the cycle directly into a mold. Bamboo is known to be very flexible in its growth habits. More info and pics at the link.
I’ve liked turtles sense I was a kid and had a painted turtle for a pet. Sometimes, though not always to the consternation of drivers, I have stopped on a few highways to rescue them. So I found this turtle diary easy to relate to – Eastern Box Turtles, Take 3: Momentum
