Claire Asher
I'm a science writer / communicator
Evolution, genetics, animal behaviour, conservation
PROJECTS
Science
A new pesticide may be as harmful to bees as the old one
Bees around the globe are in trouble, and many scientists worry that a common pesticide bears some blame. Now, scientists have shown that a chemical hailed as a potential replacement has similar harmful effects, reducing the number of new queens and males in bumblebee colonies. The finding could force farmers to seek alternative solutions to reduce crop damage from insect pests.
news.mongabay.com
Trase.earth tracks commodities, links supply chains to deforestation risk
Launched in 2016, Trase is an innovative Internet tool, available to anyone, which tracks commodities supply chains in detail from source to market, and can also connect those chains to environmental harm, including deforestation. Until the advent of Trase, knowledge of supply chains was sketchy and difficult to obtain.
The Trase Yearbook 2018 is the first in an annual series of reports on countries and companies trading in such commodities as soy, sugarcane and maize, which also assesses the...
Nature
Why spit is key to building a butterfly
Moths and butterflies assemble their tube-like mouth parts with help from a self-made material: spit. The tubular proboscis that moths and butterflies use to sip nectar develops in two halves, which join up after the insects become adults. How an adult keeps these structures from falling apart as they interlock, however, has long puzzled scientists.
Nature
Eye evolution came easy for simple sea creatures
Jellyfish and their kin have no brains and make do with rudimentary nervous systems. But an analysis now shows that these simple sea creatures evolved eyes multiple times, transforming basic precursor cells into a wide range of useful visual systems. Using DNA sequences, Natasha Picciani and Todd Oakley at the University of California, Santa Barbara, created an evolutionary tree of Cnidaria, the large grouping — or phylum — that includes jellyfish, sea anemones and corals.
Nature
American dogs arrived domesticated in the New World
Domestic dogs probably first arrived in North America with early human settlers from Siberia, only to be wiped out by Europeans half a millennium ago.
Using genome sequences from archaeological remains and modern breeds, Laurent Frantz at the University of Oxford, UK, and his colleagues constructed an evolutionary tree for dogs. They found that the earliest dogs in North America were not domesticated from local wolves, but probably arrived alongside humans who migrated there between 17,000 an...
Nature
Koala genome reveals secrets to surviving a deadly diet
Koalas feed almost exclusively on eucalyptus leaves, which are fragrant but toxic. Now, genomic data reveal how these unusual creatures thrive on a diet that would kill many mammals.
news.mongabay.com
Plant response to rising CO2 levels may alter rainfall patterns across tropics
Increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could dry out the Amazon and drench Indonesia, all because rising carbon dioxide levels in the air are changing how plants breathe, according to new research published in Nature Climate Change. James Randerson and Gabriel Kooperman at the University of California, Irvine and colleagues investigated how the physiological response of trees to rising atmospheric greenhouse gas levels affect the output of global climactic models.
The Scientist
Artificial Intelligence to Boost Liquid Biopsies
Machine-learning algorithms tuned to detecting cancer DNA in the blood could pave the way for personalized cancer care. Modern cancer medicine is hampered by two big challenges—detecting cancers when they are small and offering cancer patients personalized, dynamic cancer care. To find solutions, several academic labs and biotech firms are turning to artificial intelligence, working to develop machine-learning algorithms that could help decipher weak signals in the blood that can identify cancer...
Nature
First known haven for baby rays found off Texas coast
Giant manta rays can take up to a decade to reach maturity, but where they spend their youth has been a mystery. Joshua Stewart at the University of California, San Diego, and his colleagues set out to fill that gap. The researchers compiled data from surveys and logs collected over 24 years in the three coral-reef habitats...
Nature
A crab spider’s guide to going airborne
Spiders can take to the skies by deploying special silk threads to catch the wind. But scientists have been stumped by how large spiders pull off this aerobatic feat, known as ballooning. Moonsung Cho at the Technical University of Berlin and his colleagues observed crab spiders (Xysticus spp.) weighing up to 25 milligrams, as the arachnids took flight in a park and a wind tunnel. The team found that the spiders raised one front leg into the air before extruding ballooning threads from organs...
news.mongabay.com
Hunting, fishing causing dramatic decline in Amazon river dolphins
Both species of Amazon river dolphin appear to be in deep decline, according to a recent study. Boto (Inia geoffrensis) populations fell by 94 percent and Tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis) numbers fell by 97 percent in the Mamirauá Reserve in Amazonas state, Brazil between 1994 and 2017, according to researchers.
Nature
DNA offers glimmer of hope for critically endangered rhino
The world’s last male northern white rhinoceros died in March, leaving two females as the sole survivors of their kind. But a genomic analysis shows that frozen rhino cells contain enough genetic diversity to help revive these great beasts.
Nature
The invasive snail that fooled zoologists
Conservationists have got the wrong snail on their list, according to a genetic analysis.
Takumi Saito at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, and his colleagues studied DNA from 66 freshwater limpets — a type of aquatic snail — collected in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam and Russia. On the basis of visible traits, each of the individuals was identified as belonging to one of three species considered native to Japan.
New Scientist
The curious fate of the eighth wonder of the world
In the early hours of 10 June 1886, the ground beneath Mount Tarawera on New Zealand’s North Island began to shake. After an intensifying swarm of earthquakes, the volcano erupted from three domes, spewing hot gases and rocks into the air. Surveyor Henry Roche observed the inferno from his camp nearby, describing “the striking spectacle of a dark, flat-topped mountain more than a mile long, red hot along its crest, and surmounted by a wall of fire 1500 feet high”.
Nature
Streams may skew carbon cycle as climate warms
Rising global temperatures could prompt some streams to release more carbon dioxide than they do now, exacerbating climate change. As their environment warms, algae and microbes living in streams photosynthesize faster and absorb more CO2 from the air. But they also grow faster, releasing extra CO2. To calculate the net impact of such changes, Chao Song at the University of Georgia in Athens and his colleagues monitored the temperature, dissolved oxygen lev...