Sand Dollar: It’s Alive!

Biologists create beetle with functional extra eye

On “Game of Thrones,” a three-eyed raven holds the secrets of the past, present and future in a vast fantasy kingdom. But for real-world biologists, a “three-eyed beetle” may offer a true glimpse into the future of studying evolutionary development.

Using a simple genetic tool, IU scientists have intentionally grown a fully functional extra eye in the center of the forehead of the common beetle. Unraveling the biological mechanisms behind this occurrence could help researchers understand how evolution draws upon pre-existing developmental and genetic “building blocks” to create novel complex traits, or “old” traits in novel places.

The study’s results appear in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The work also provides deeper insights into an earlier experiment that accidentally produced an extra eye as part of a study to understand how the insect head develops.

“Developmental biology is beautifully complex in part because there’s no single gene for an eye, a brain, a butterfly’s wing or a turtle’s shell,” said Armin P. Moczek, a professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology. “Instead, thousands of individual genes and dozens of developmental processes come together to enable the formation of each of these traits.

Eduardo E. Zattara, Anna L. M. Macagno, Hannah A. Busey, Armin P. Moczek. Development of functional ectopic compound eyes in scarabaeid beetles by knockdown oforthodenticle. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017; 114 (45): 12021 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1714895114

The creation of three-eyed beetles through a new technique developed at IU provides scientists a new way to investigate the genetic mechanisms responsible for the evolutionary emergence of new physical traits.Credit: Photo by Eduardo Zattara

Outrage after Kyrgyzstan reburies its only ancient mummy

Scientists have called for Kyrgyzstan’s only mummy to be immediately dug back up after the 1,500-year-old relic was taken from a museum and hastily reburied on the eve of a presidential election in a decision celebrated by self-professed psychics.

The female mummy was put back in the ground in mid-October in the same dusty corner of southern Kyrgyzstan where it was discovered in 1956 after a sudden ruling by a state commission.

The decision was made despite strong opposition from the only archaeologist on the commission and culture minister Tugelbai Kazakov, who played the decisive role in the call, resigned on Saturday. 

Kazakov said the mummy had been largely neglected by scientists and the country lacked the finances to keep it in good condition. Read more.

“Lane” is the most complete Triceratops specimen known to date.

5 Future Predictions For The Human Race

Good News: Soil Could Be a Much Larger Carbon Sink Than We Hoped

Soil minerals just a little way underground could act as a huge carbon sink to help balance out the dangerous levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, according to new research.

If we can tap into its potential to suck even more carbon pollution out of the air, it would be a massive advantage.

Draper made a robotic insect that can fly. 🦋🐝🐞 - they call it the DragonflEye | #djiphantom4 #djiglobal #uav #gopro #3drobotics #djiinspire1 #quadcopter #miniquad #djiphantom3 #robotics #robot #aerialphotography #fpv #drones #hexacopter #octocopter #tricopter #djiphantom #arduino #hobbyking #drone #multirotor #dronephotography #rcplane #spacex #sparkfun #adafruit #nasa #raspberrypi #mavicpro (at West Hollywood, California)

This month, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary teamed up with partners to assess damage to the coral reef from Hurricane Irma. 

Preliminary reports from the team found extensive shifting of sand and heavy sediment accumulation, which can smother and prevent corals from getting enough sunlight, as well as some structural damage to individual corals and the reef itself. This effort is the first step in a longer recovery process. Here, a science diver notes reef conditions. 

Learn more about the assessment here and see more images here.

(Photo: Brenda Altmeier/NOAA)