 |
|
Despite darkness, nocturnal bees learn visual landmarks while foraging at night
August 10, 2004Day-active bees, such as the honeybee, are well known for using visual landmarks to locate a favoured patch of flowers, and to find their way home again to their hive. Researchers have now found that nocturnal bees can do the same thing, despite experiencing light intensities that are more than 100 million times dimmer than daylight. The new findings, reported in the latest issue of Current Biology by a team led by Eric Warrant at Lund University, Sweden, advance our understanding of the visual powers of nocturnal animals.
The competitive and dangerous world of the tropical rainforest has driven many normally day-active animals to adopt a nocturnal lifestyle, with the cover of darkness allowing them to exploit food resources in relative peace. Several groups of bees and wasps - including the Central American halictid bee Megalopta genalis - have become nocturnal, and despite the darkness and their apparently insensitive compound eyes, they have retained remarkable visual abilities. In the new work, performed on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, the researchers used infrared night-imaging cameras to show that by performing special orientation flights, Megalopta visually learns landmarks around the nest entrance prior to foraging and uses these landmarks to locate the nest upon return. The researchers found that if landmarks were moved to a nearby site while the bee was away, upon her return she intently searched for her nest in the landmark-bearing, but wrong, location.
Despite this impressive behavioral sensitivity, optical and physiological measurements revealed that Megalopta's eyes are only about 30 times more sensitive to light than those of day-active honeybees, woefully inadequate to account for Megalopta's nocturnal homing abilities. A solution to this paradox may lie outside the eye. The researchers identified in the bee's brain specialised visual cells with morphologies suited to summing light signals and intensifying the received image.
VetenskapsrÃdet (The Swedish Research Council)
Aging Current Events and Aging News RSSVision problems prompt older drivers to put down the keys
With 30 million drivers in the US aged 65 and over, we count on older Americans to recognize when they can no longer drive safely and decide that it's time to stay off the road. A new study finds that a decrease in vision function is a key factor in bringing about this decision.
Old gastrointestinal drug slows aging, McGill researchers say
Recent animal studies have shown that clioquinol - an 80-year old drug once used to treat diarrhea and other gastrointestinal disorders - can reverse the progression of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.
Another reason to get your hands dirty
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most days of the week in order to maintain and improve optimal health.
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center link blood sugar to normal cognitive aging
Maintaining blood sugar levels, even in the absence of disease, may be an important strategy for preserving cognitive health, suggests a study published by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). The study appeared in the December issue of Annals of Neurology.
Aging brains allow negative memories to fade
It turns out there's a scientific reason why older people tend to see the past through rose-coloured glasses. A University of Alberta medical researcher, in collaboration with colleagues at Duke University, identified brain activity that causes older adults to remember fewer negative events than their younger counterparts.
A fading sense of smell may signal onset of Parkinson's disease
Many individuals with Parkinson's disease are able to recall losing their sense of smell well before the onset of more commonly recognized symptoms such as tremors, impaired dexterity, speech problems, memory loss and decreased cognitive ability.
The medium is the message: Manipulating salmonella in spaceflight curtails infectiousness
Infectious pathogens like Salmonella typhimurium employ a startling array of techniques to skillfully outwit the body's defense mechanisms and produce illness.
Cellular 'brakes' may slow memory process in aging brains
University of Florida researchers may have discovered why some brain cells necessary for healthy memory can survive old age or disease, while similar cells hardly a hairsbreadth away die.
Strategic video game improves critical cognitive skills in older adults
A desire to rule the world may be a good thing if you're over 60 and worried about losing your mental faculties. A new study found that adults in their 60s and 70s can improve a number of cognitive functions by playing a strategic video game that rewards nation-building and territorial expansion.
Cholinesterase inhibitors reduce aggression, wandering and paranoia in Alzheimer's disease
Cholinesterase inhibitors, used to treat cognitive symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, are also a safe and effective alternative therapy for the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, according to a study that appears in the December 2008 edition of Clinical Interventions in Aging.
More Aging Current Events and Aging News Articles
 | Toward Healthy Aging: Human Needs and Nursing Response (Toward Healthy Aging (Ebersole)) by Priscilla Ebersole, Theris Touhy, Patricia Hess, Kathleen Jett, Ann Schmidt Luggen As the most comprehensive resource on health promotion and maintenance for older adults and their families and caregivers, Toward Healthy Aging, 7th Edition includes the most current information you need to provide effective holistic care, promote healthy lifestyle choices, and address end-of-life issues. Grounded in the core competencies recommended by the AACN in collaboration with the... |
| Adult Development and Aging by John C. Cavanaugh, Fredda Blanchard-Fields This book should be of interest to students on gerontology, nursing, psychology and social work... | |
 | Adult Development and Aging by Diane Papalia, Harvey Sterns, Ruth Feldman, Cameron Camp Papalia�s Adult Development and Aging delivers the most current research findings in the field while providing a clear and concise writing style praised by students and instructors. The Third Edition provides a positive perspective on adult development and aging, enhanced by strong multicultural and diversity coverage. The Third Edition includes new content on younger and middle-aged adults,... |
 | Aging and The Life Course: An Introduction to Social Gerontology: An Introduction to Social Gerontology by Jill Quadagno This groundbreaking text is the first to take a life course perspective, examining the relationship between the quality of one's life in old age and one�s experiences, earlier choices, opportunities, and constraints. The text gives students a broad background for understanding current policy debates through a distinctive chapter entitled "Old Age and the Welfare State" (Chapter 11) and through... |
 | Aging With Grace: What the Nun Study Teaches Us About Leading Longer, Healthier, and More Meaningful Lives by David Snowdon In 1986 Dr. David Snowdon, one of the world’s leading experts on Alzheimer’s disease, embarked on a revolutionary scientific study that would forever change the way we view aging—and ultimately living. Dubbed the “Nun Study” because it involves a unique population of 678 Catholic sisters, this remarkable long-term research project has made headlines worldwide with its provocative... |
 | Gerontological Nursing and Healthy Aging by Priscilla Ebersole, Patricia Hess, Theris Touhy, Kathleen Jett Gerontological Nursing & Healthy Aging provides thorough coverage of promoting healthy aging when caring for older adults. The intent throughout the book is to facilitate the healthiest adaptation possible for any older adult, regardless of the situation and disease process. The majority of the book is devoted to discussing the significant problems that may occur and methods that nurses may use... |
 | Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being by Andrew Weil In each of his widely acclaimed, best-selling books, Dr. Andrew Weil has been an authoritative and companionable guide through a uniquely effective combination of traditional and nontraditional approaches to health and healthy living. Now he gives us a book about aging that is unlike any other. Drawing on the new science of biogerontology (the biology of aging) as well as on the secrets of... |
 | Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Harvard Study of Adult Development by George E. Vaillant Now in paperback, the acclaimed bestseller that reveals the scientific secrets to ensuring that our golden years are truly golden. Based on the longest and most complete study of adult development in the world, AGING WELL draws from the individual histories of 824 men and women from a variety of backgrounds to illustrate the most important factors involved in reaching and enjoying a happy,... |
 | Aging: Concepts and Controversies The sixth edition of this student friendy textbook provides both a thorough explanation of the issues, as well as current research and controversies, exploring health care, socioeconomic trends, and the life course. This thoroughly revised new edition contains nine new readings, over 35 new photographs and an instructor'sresource... |
 | How to Care for Aging Parents (Morris, How to Care for Aging) by Virginia Morris, Robert M. Butler The best and bestselling book of its kind. Originally published in 1995, How to Care for Aging Parents, with 220,000 copies in print, won a Books for a Better Life Award and was praised as "an indispensable book" (AARP) and "a compassionate guide of encyclopedic proportion" (The Washington Post). It also catapulted its author, Virginia Morris, to national prominence as a recognized eldercare... |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |