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Sea creatures had a thing for bling
This week– E.R DEGGINGER/SPL
SOUNDBITES foraminifera tests they found were mainly composed of common minerals such as quartz, but some of the component grains were unusually rich in metals such as nickel and cobalt, indicating that they had originated in outer space. Even more surprising were microscopic granules of carbon, no more than 10 micrometres across, which were subsequently identified as diamonds. “The foraminifera were deliberately using extraterrestrial diamonds in their shells,” says Kaminski. The majority of these –Diamonds are for foraminifera– microdiamonds were formed from terrestrial graphite rock that was altered by the extreme pressure and temperature of the asteroid impact, but a small proportion was truly extraterrestrial, derived from carbon in the asteroid itself. It seems the main reason the foraminifera chose grains agglutinated foraminifera. containing diamonds and metals These amoeba-like single-celled organisms build protective “tests” for their tests was the lack of other grains of a similar density at this around themselves by sticking particular site. What remains together sediment grains from the sea floor. Curiously, they seem a mystery is how these ancient to prefer heavy grains, presumably foraminifera were able to pick out the densest grains, an ability they to help them sink to the bottom share with their latter-day of the ocean. descendants (pictured). Kaminski’s team looked for Kaminski’s results were fossils in rock samples taken just published last month in the above and below the sediment layer created by the huge asteroid Proceedings of the Seventh impact at the end of the Cretaceous International Workshop on Agglutinated Foraminifera. G period, 65 million years ago. The
Sea creatures had a thing for bling LEWIS DARTNELL
CALL it extraterrestrial bling. Fossilised sea creatures have been found that coated themselves in tiny diamonds created in the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs. The fossils were discovered by a team led by Michael Kaminski, a geologist at University College London. They went to the UmbriaMarche basin of eastern Italy in search of the fossilised remains of deep-ocean creatures called
Why hip fat is good and belly fat’s bad NOT all body fat is bad. Your body may store “good” fat and “bad” fat, similar to good and bad cholesterol. The finding could explain why liposuction has few health benefits. Researchers know that not all body fat is equal. The worst kind is excess fat on the internal organs, which causes a pot belly and is known as visceral fat. People with this are more likely to suffer from 8 | NewScientist | 10 May 2008
heart disease and insulin resistance, which leads to type 2 diabetes, than those who put on fat under their skin on their hips and thighs. But it was assumed that such subcutaneous fat was merely the lesser of two evils. Now it looks like it could be positively beneficial. C. Ronald Kahn and colleagues at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston transplanted subcutaneous fat into the bodies of some mice and visceral fat into others. They found the mice that had received subcutaneous fat ended up with lighter, leaner bodies and less insulin resistance than the animals that got visceral fat and, crucially, those that received no fat transplant
at all (Cell Metabolism, DOI: 10.1016/ j.cmet.2008.04.004). “That increased body fat has a favourable effect is something I buy into,” says John Miles of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. If subcutaneous fat also has benefits in humans, the results could explain why liposuction, which removes this fat, does not reduce diabetes or other side effects of obesity. It also suggests that liposuction may even be bad for you, although that requires further study. How subcutaneous fat exerts its positive influence remains a mystery but Kahn suspects it secretes hormones that speed up metabolism. Bob Holmes G
‹ It is dangerously close to intimidation.› Jeff Jentzen, president of the US National Association of Medical Examiners, comments on Taser International’s decision to sue medical examiners who it thinks have wrongly cited the use of Taser electroshock guns as a cause-of-death factor in their autopsy reports (The Arizona Republic, 2 May)
‹ If you can’t stop mining at the Grand Canyon, where can you stop it?› Richard Wiles of the Environmental Working Group wants to block an expected “uranium rush” (Los Angeles Times, 4 May)
‹ The first reaction was – did someone poison the plants?› Hawaiian flower farmer Tony Bayaoa recalls one effect of the sulphur dioxide which has been wafting from Kilauea volcano in recent weeks, enveloping the region in a volcanic smog, or “vog” (Associated Press, 5 May)
‹ It could be an emotional thing. It could be a physical thing. Or it could be a hormone or something else in the milk that’s absorbed by the baby.› Breastfed children score around 5 per cent higher in IQ tests in the early years of their lives, says Michael Kramer, who carried out a large study at McGill University in Montreal and the Montreal Children’s Hospital (Reuters, 5 May)
‹ If it’s so great to be smart, why have most animals remained dumb?› Tadeusz Kawecki, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, reckons that learning may have an evolutionary cost. In experiments on flies, he found that the insects that learned the fastest also died sooner than their more ignorant peers (The New York Times, 6 May)
www.newscientist.com
SOUNDBITES foraminifera tests they found were mainly composed of common minerals such as quartz, but some of the component grains were unusually rich in metals such as nickel and cobalt, indicating that they had originated in outer space. Even more surprising were microscopic granules of carbon, no more than 10 micrometres across, which were subsequently identified as diamonds. “The foraminifera were deliberately using extraterrestrial diamonds in their shells,” says Kaminski. The majority of these –Diamonds are for foraminifera– microdiamonds were formed from terrestrial graphite rock that was altered by the extreme pressure and temperature of the asteroid impact, but a small proportion was truly extraterrestrial, derived from carbon in the asteroid itself. It seems the main reason the foraminifera chose grains agglutinated foraminifera. containing diamonds and metals These amoeba-like single-celled organisms build protective “tests” for their tests was the lack of other grains of a similar density at this around themselves by sticking particular site. What remains together sediment grains from the sea floor. Curiously, they seem a mystery is how these ancient to prefer heavy grains, presumably foraminifera were able to pick out the densest grains, an ability they to help them sink to the bottom share with their latter-day of the ocean. descendants (pictured). Kaminski’s team looked for Kaminski’s results were fossils in rock samples taken just published last month in the above and below the sediment layer created by the huge asteroid Proceedings of the Seventh impact at the end of the Cretaceous International Workshop on Agglutinated Foraminifera. G period, 65 million years ago. The
Sea creatures had a thing for bling LEWIS DARTNELL
CALL it extraterrestrial bling. Fossilised sea creatures have been found that coated themselves in tiny diamonds created in the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs. The fossils were discovered by a team led by Michael Kaminski, a geologist at University College London. They went to the UmbriaMarche basin of eastern Italy in search of the fossilised remains of deep-ocean creatures called
Why hip fat is good and belly fat’s bad NOT all body fat is bad. Your body may store “good” fat and “bad” fat, similar to good and bad cholesterol. The finding could explain why liposuction has few health benefits. Researchers know that not all body fat is equal. The worst kind is excess fat on the internal organs, which causes a pot belly and is known as visceral fat. People with this are more likely to suffer from 8 | NewScientist | 10 May 2008
heart disease and insulin resistance, which leads to type 2 diabetes, than those who put on fat under their skin on their hips and thighs. But it was assumed that such subcutaneous fat was merely the lesser of two evils. Now it looks like it could be positively beneficial. C. Ronald Kahn and colleagues at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston transplanted subcutaneous fat into the bodies of some mice and visceral fat into others. They found the mice that had received subcutaneous fat ended up with lighter, leaner bodies and less insulin resistance than the animals that got visceral fat and, crucially, those that received no fat transplant
at all (Cell Metabolism, DOI: 10.1016/ j.cmet.2008.04.004). “That increased body fat has a favourable effect is something I buy into,” says John Miles of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. If subcutaneous fat also has benefits in humans, the results could explain why liposuction, which removes this fat, does not reduce diabetes or other side effects of obesity. It also suggests that liposuction may even be bad for you, although that requires further study. How subcutaneous fat exerts its positive influence remains a mystery but Kahn suspects it secretes hormones that speed up metabolism. Bob Holmes G
‹ It is dangerously close to intimidation.› Jeff Jentzen, president of the US National Association of Medical Examiners, comments on Taser International’s decision to sue medical examiners who it thinks have wrongly cited the use of Taser electroshock guns as a cause-of-death factor in their autopsy reports (The Arizona Republic, 2 May)
‹ If you can’t stop mining at the Grand Canyon, where can you stop it?› Richard Wiles of the Environmental Working Group wants to block an expected “uranium rush” (Los Angeles Times, 4 May)
‹ The first reaction was – did someone poison the plants?› Hawaiian flower farmer Tony Bayaoa recalls one effect of the sulphur dioxide which has been wafting from Kilauea volcano in recent weeks, enveloping the region in a volcanic smog, or “vog” (Associated Press, 5 May)
‹ It could be an emotional thing. It could be a physical thing. Or it could be a hormone or something else in the milk that’s absorbed by the baby.› Breastfed children score around 5 per cent higher in IQ tests in the early years of their lives, says Michael Kramer, who carried out a large study at McGill University in Montreal and the Montreal Children’s Hospital (Reuters, 5 May)
‹ If it’s so great to be smart, why have most animals remained dumb?› Tadeusz Kawecki, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, reckons that learning may have an evolutionary cost. In experiments on flies, he found that the insects that learned the fastest also died sooner than their more ignorant peers (The New York Times, 6 May)
www.newscientist.com