Ribosomes, Proteins and X-Ray Crystallography: Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been announced, and the intricacies of ribosomes as "protein-makers" in the cell are nicely explained in this Scientific American news article. Quoting from Scientific American news:"The prize will be equally split between biophysicist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge in England, biochemist Thomas Steitz of Yale University and molecular biologist Ada Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, for their work in using x-ray crystallography to get a precise, atomic-scale map of the ribosome—the protein-making machine in all cells with nuclei that makes life possible."

You are who you are because of ribosomes (yeah, ribosomes!) - and, of course, all of those other countless biochemical processes occurring in your body right this second. Learn more about the ribosome's role in this electronic book: Structural aspects of protein synthesis / Anders Liljas. It includes some lovely colored images, made possible by the work of this year's Nobel Prize winners.

A citation analysis of Thomas A. Steitz in the ISI Web of Science revealed that his papers have been cited an average of 680 times per year, with a total of 30,620 citations to his published work. The following paper from Science has been cited most often - 1,544 citations to date: Ban, N., P. Nissen, J. Hansen, P. B. Moore, and T. A. Steitz. 2000. The complete atomic structure of the large ribosomal subunit at 2.4 angstrom resolution. Science 289, (5481) (AUG 11): 905-20 [access in JSTOR, for JSTOR subscribers].

Your Cell Phone, the Internet Backbone, Digital Cameras, all dependent on Nobel Prize winners

NPR's Richard Harris did a fine job of explaining the ubiquitous, essential nature of glass fiber optics and semiconductors, the research developments of three scientists who will share the Nobel Prize for Physics this year. The Nobel Committee said that the work of Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith made possible the "foundation of our networked society." The invention of the Charge-Couple Device or CCD (Boyle and Smith, working at Bell Labs in New Jersey) is a great example of scientists pursuing basic research, seeking a solution to a known problem, and discovering something very exciting with unforeseen benefits for the future. The CCD allows images to be captured digitally rather than on film. Kao's glass fibers, carrying information as light rather electricity, have literally transformed the world of information - certainly the work of librarians - and made possible development of the Internet.

Read some history in this 2001 book, available electronically
Building the global fiberoptics superhighway / C. David Chaffee

The 1970 paper by Boyle and Smith, "Charge coupled semiconductor devices," published in the Bell System Technical Journal, 49(4): 587-93, has been cited nearly 480 times as of this morning, according to a cited reference search in ISI Web of Science.

Telomeres are the Focus of Nobel Prize Winners' Research

NPR's Morning Edition presented an excellent summary of the significance of the research of Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack Szostak, who share this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. "The scientists all study telomeres — structures that act like caps on the ends of chromosomes and protect them when cells divide. Chromosomes are the long strands of DNA that contain a living creature's genetic code." Elizabeth Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco, is the subject of a recent book, Elizabeth Blackburn and the story of telomeres : deciphering the ends of DNA / Catherine Brady. MIT Press, c2007.

Learn more about the role of telomeres in aging and disease, in this electronic book accessible in the OhioLINK Electronic Book Center and at SpringerLink.com: Telomeres and telomerase in aging, disease, and cancer : molecular mechanisms of adult stem cell ageing / K. Lenhard Rudolph, editor. Springer, c2008.

An older book, The telomere by David Kipling, provides a good overview. Find it in the Science library [QH600.3 .K57 1995].

OhioLINK systems off-line on Saturday

Due to a required repair to the Ohio State University electrical systems, all OhioLINK servers will be off-line on Saturday, from 4 a.m. until 8 p.m., or until the work is completed. This includes all databases with rave as part of the server address: Biological Abstracts, GeoRef, and Inspec; as well as the combined library catalog and Electronic Journal Center (EJC).

Updates during downtime will be available on Twitter and Facebook.

You can still use Academic Search Complete, plus other EBSCOHost databases (including Medline Full Text), and export references to your RefWorks account to access later. Or create your own account in Academic Search Complete (click on MyEBSCOHost in the upper right of the search screen to begin), and save all of your references to a folder you can access any time. The Find It! link will be saved with each reference, in RefWorks and MyEBSCOHost, so following the links later is a piece of cake.

Celebrating Geosciences and Planet Earth: October in the Year of Science

We are celebrating the geosciences and planet earth all of October, as the Year of Science enters its last quarter. The planet, our very foundation and life-sustaining island home, so often under-appreciated as simply dirt beneath our feet, is an astoundingly complex system of transformative forces and myriad types of materials. Awesome power is displayed from the minute crystallization of igneous rock and the interplay of organic decomposition in sedimentary layers to vast movements of crustal plates. It is impossible to study earth science without an understanding of chemistry, physics, biology and evolution, at the least, and the geosciences inform all of those disciplines as well. Explore some of the big ideas in geology with the

• American Geological Institute
• American Geophysical Union
• Geological Society of America, and, of course, the
• U.S. Geological Survey.

We are also in the last part of the International Year of Planet Earth; and will observe Earth Science Week this month!

We have so many wonderful new books in the geology section, it is impossible to highlight more than a few. Start with The revolution in geology from the Renaissance to the enlightenment for a bit of historical context, and gain a better understanding of this continent with Ghost mountains and vanished oceans : North America from birth to middle age. Here are just a few more to entice you to read:

• Earthquakes and tsunamis in the past : a guide to techniques in historical seismology
• Introduction to paleobiology and the fossil record
• For the rock record : geologists on intelligent design
• The geology of the Everglades and adjacent areas
  

There is so much more - the Library's guide to geology research resources is a good place to start!

No Impact Week is Coming! Sign up with HuffPost Green

The Huffington Post / HuffPost Green is launching the inaugural No Impact Week, beginning October 18. Sign up to learn more, and to join the No Impact Project mailing list. The No Impact Project is a nonprofit started by Colin Beavan, star of the documentary film No Impact Man and author of the book by the same title. The project has created a detailed guide to reducing your ecological and climate footprint, day by day, throughout the week. Borrow Beavan's books through OhioLINK. All 24 copies in the OhioLINK catalog were checked out when I looked, however, so purchasing your own might be the best bet!

Celebrate the National Parks, "America's best idea," with Ken Burns

From the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC):
National parks are "America's best idea," filmmaker Ken Burns says in his new PBS documentary. He talks to NRDC's OnEarth magazine about the tragedy of wolf hunts, the need for wilderness preservation and the threat of global warming.

The National Parks film by Ken Burns has been spectacular so far. Tune in and you will be inspired by the stories of dedicated individuals who campaigned to preserve some of the most extraordinary wild places in our country.

The library has an enormous amount of material devoted to the national parks; just search national parks and reserve as a subject heading in OBIS to get started. Virtually explore any national park at the National Park Service web site.

Visit NRDC's Action Center at www.nrdc.org/action.

Environment Ohio Seeks Advocates for Clean Water Act Enforcement

Environment Ohio is launching an urgent campaign to document support for cleaning up and protecting Ohio's rivers and streams. You can join the campaign online.

From their web site:"Since 1990, Environment Ohio staff have filed 12 lawsuits under the Clean Water Act, forcing illegal polluters to pay over $2 million in fines. In a landmark case, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel paid $700,000 for polluting the Ohio River." Read more.

Learn more about water pollution in Ohio from library materials found with a subject search in OBIS on "water pollution ohio", including this Scientific Investigations report from the U.S. Geological Survey:
Occurrence of organic wastewater compounds in the Tinkers Creek watershed and two other tributaries to the Cuyahoga River, northeast Ohio [electronic resource] / by J.S. Tertuliani.

A Solar Panel That Produces Oil

This just arrived in my email from Scientific American, and was too intriguing not to share.
September 17, 2009
Oil Rig of the Future: A Solar Panel That Produces Oil
Researchers propose a novel approach to producing biofuel using diatoms

By Saswato R. Das
a brief excerpt:
"Scientific analysis of diatom oil has shown that it is very suitable for use as biofuel, says T. V. Ramachandra, a professor of ecological sciences at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) who is working on this project with IISc researchers Durga Mahapatra and Karthick Balasubramanian, along with Richard Gordon, a radiology professor at the University of Manitoba in Winnepeg.

[Rmachandra says,] "The oil can be as much as a quarter of the total mass of a diatom cell, and if a way could be found to efficiently wrest it from diatoms, he adds, a hectare of "diatom cultivation could produce 10 to up to 200 times the oil that is produced by soybean cultivation."

Read the article and many comments that express both skepticism and support, at the Scientific American web site.

Want more information on algae as a biofuel? Search:
(algae or algal or diatom*) and biofuel*
in ISI Web of Knowledge (from an OhioLINK library). Over 70 references result, including a number of articles in oil trade publications and business sources as well as technical papers on algae bioengineering.

The library has many books on biofuels, including some ebooks:
Biofuels, solar and wind as renewable energy systems: benefits and risks / David Pimentel, editor. Springer, 2008.
Biofuels for road transport: a seed to wheel perspective / Lucas Reijnders, Mark A.J. Huijbregts. Springer, 2009.

These books, published by Springer, are accessible electronically from any OhioLINK library on the OhioLINK EBook Center. They can also be accessed by OhioLINK members at SpringerLink.com.

Michael Pollan on Health Care Reform

Living on Earth interviewed Michael Pollan this past week (author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food), who argued that health care reform begins with improving what "we put on our plates."

Here is a snippet of the conversation, considering the difficulty faced by people on limited incomes who want to eat healthy food.
Pollan - "You can get 1,250 calories per dollar of chips or cookies but only 250 calories of carrots or broccoli. Um, that is due to the fact that the farm policies we have are favoring the really unhealthy calories. We subsidize corn and soy, which are really the building blocks of fast food. We subsidize feedlot meat, we do a lot to ensure that fast food is cheap. So, I think the personal responsibility argument breaks down pretty quickly and I think you really need to look at the environment in which we're eating and the system that is dictating the choices that we supposedly have."

Listen to this segment on loe.org for September 18, 2009.

Jane Goodall Trumpets Biodiversity on Diane Rhem Show

Why Study Biodiversity? - the big question of the focus for September in the Year of Science - was beautifully answered by Jane Goodall on the Diane Rhem show September 9. One remarkable example given by Ms. Goodall was the endangered burying beetle, which systematically buries carcasses that will provide food for its young and transports the tiny mites which eat fly larvae off the carcass. The marvels of co-evolution are evident in the life cycles of both beetle and mite, as well as the impact on the environment if that partnership is disrupted by the extinction of either.

Listen to the episode, and hear Ms. Goodall discuss the essential roles played by organisms of all types and sizes, the vast number of species in danger of extinction before they are even described or understood, and our dependency on biodiversity for maintaining healthy ecosystems that support human as well as other forms of life. A copy of Goodall's new book is on its way to the Science Library:
Hope for animals and their world : how endangered species are being rescued from the brink / Jane Goodall, with Thane Maynard and Gail Hudson.

• See a preview on You Tube.
• You can also borrow the book through OhioLINK.

Textbooks in the Science Library

Is your required science textbook on reserve in the Science Library? It's quite likely. We routinely look at the textbooks listed for science courses on the Oberlin College Bookstore website, and often decide to add the required textbook to the science library collection.

It is not guaranteed, however, and even if we do place the text on reserve your use is limited to 3 hours at a time and not for overnight use. So it does not take the place of owning your own book, with all of the benefits of being able to write in the margins, underline and highlight text to your heart's content, or read far into the night if necessary. We are just a bit more convenient than lugging around 1200+ pages of biochemistry (Voet and Voet is perhaps the heaviest text on reserve and one of the most popular for in-library reading).

Once you've found your textbook listed at the college bookstore, search OBIS and you'll see whether we own it and the course number for which it is reserved. Read all about reserve policies.

Health Care Reform Questions? FactCheck.org helps.

Competing ideas and accusations over health care reform are flying through the media and in town hall meetings across the country. Many of the recent articles on FactCheck.org address common misconceptions and expose false claims regarding different plans being considered by Congress. Help someone without internet access by reading through these articles and passing along accurate, nonpartisan information. Have a specific question that isn't addressed in an article? Pose your question directly on the web site.

The Benefit of Doubt for Decision Making in a Civil Society

Doubt is an important part of scientific inquiry, in part because it causes the investigator to consider different variables and conditions necessary to test a hypothesis and evaluate research results. Sociologist Peter Berger argues (with not a small amount of certainty) that doubt is just as necessary in civil discourse. Listen to a provocative interview between Berger and Diane Rhem on the second segment of today's Diane Rhem Show (National Public Radio on WAMU.org). Podcast or transcripts are available approximately one hour after the end of the show.

From the Web site: "Civil discourse today is in danger of being shouted down by talking heads and single-minded bloggers. How doubt can help people on opposite sides of an issue to disagree more agreeably." Peter Berger is a faculty member at Boston University and founder of Boston University's Institute of Culture, Religion, and World Affairs. His newest book: In Praise of Doubt: How to Have Convictions Without Becoming a Fanatic. A very timely message as we witness the distinctly un-civil discourse around Town Halls on health care reform.

Find other books by Peter Berger in the college library [this newest title is not yet ordered].

One Man's Search for Natural Silence in a Noisy World

"Silence is not the absence of something but the presence of everything." So says author Gordon Hempton, acoustic ecologist, in the prologue to his new book One Square Inch of Silence (now on the new book shelf). Hempton's early work for the book was considered by another author promoting stillness during the June 13, 2003 edition of Living on Earth. Richard Mahler, author of Stillness, pointed out that "clinical studies confirm that stillness may also lower stress and blood pressure while promoting a sense of happiness and well being." Yet silence is vanishing from our lives and from even the most pristine wilderness. Gordon Hempton warns that the "unchecked loss of silence is a canary in a coal mine -- a global one. If we cannot make a stand here, if we turn a deaf ear to the issue of vanishing natural quiet, how can we expect to fare better with more complex environmental crises?"

A sound disc accompanies the book, so you can listen to the sounds of silence or the "silences of nature." I did, on one of the wonderful new Macs in our public computer area, which has remarkably good speakers. Twittering birds and crickets were clearly audible in the silence of a western preserve; then, the unmistakable rumble of distant traffic blurred the edge of birdsong. I suggest you try this without the distraction of multiple computers and the ever present hum of lights and the HVAC system in the science library - even in the middle of summer, without another soul in the library, it is not a peaceful silence.

• One Square Inch blog.
• Free Press: a division of Simon & Schuster.

Comet Calamity Considered in Sky & Telescope

The July issue of Sky & Telescope just arrived, in time for the last few days of July's theme: Celebrate Astronomy! as part of the Year of Science. The cover, by S&T artist Casey Reed, is sure to draw you in, illustrating the question "Did a comet wipe out early North Americans and the huge beasts they hunted?" How can you resist such a provocative query? "Demise of the megabeasts" indeed - and what role was played by the Clovis people thought to be in North America at the time? Those "ice age big game hunters" were sophisticated predators, notes Paul Martin of the University of Arizona.

Science is so fascinating when astronomy, geology, paleontology and anthropology mesh together like reading a good mystery or detective story.

The article, Ice Age Impact, was written by Ivan Semeniuk. Listen to a podcast of scientists who were interviewed for the article at SkyandTelescope.com/iceageimpact.

NPR Interviews Natl Geographic Spelunker and Photographer Stephen Alvarez

National Public Radio unveiled its re-imagined NPR.org site today and a host of great stories are suddenly at your fingertips. I was immediately drawn to The Picture Show, featuring "Caves, Cameras, and Explosives," and applaud NPR's collaboration with National Geographic to broaden the audience of photographer Stephen Alvarez. I was entranced by all of the photos, from the sublime and awesome to the arguably undignified (the shot of a spelunker's feet in the air, upper torso down a hole is such a great contrast to the grandeur of spelunker suspended in Ellison's Cave, Georgia). The feature article, "Deep Southern Caves" by Mark Jenkins was published June 2009, and can be perused in print in the Main library (Azariah's Cafe popular magazine collection) or explored online.

Scientific American on 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11

from Scientific American: The 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11
"Four decades after mankind's giant leap, a look at the harrowing first lunar landing, the Apollo missions that never flew, and how the historic event looked from the Soviet Union."

Related resource from Springer and Praxis Publishing, available to Oberlin users electronically at SpringerLink.com:

Author	Harland, David M
Title	The first men on the moon [electronic resource] : the story of Apollo 11 / David M. Harland
Publish Info	New York ; Berlin : Springer ; Chichester, U.K. : Praxis Publishing, 2007

Carbon, Oil Peak, and Climate Change

This title, now on the new book shelf, may answer questions raised by Sarah Palin's op-ed piece last week (and also explains relevant issues that Ms. Palin did not address):

Carbon shift : how the twin crises of oil depletion and climate change will define the future / edited by Thomas Homer-Dixon with Nick Garrison.
[Toronto] : Random House Canada, 2009.
QC981.8.G56 C36 2009.

From the publisher's web site:
Carbon Shift brings together six of Canada’s world-class experts to explore the question of where we stand now, and where we might be headed. It explores the economics, the geology, the politics, and the science of the predicament we find ourselves in. And it gives each expert the chance to address what they think are the most important facets of the complex problem before us.

PLoS One Projected to Become Largest Scholarly Journal Worldwide

This message was sent by Heather Morrison today, with exciting news regarding one of the newest journals from the Public Library of Science (PLoS):

"PLoS One is projected to publish about 4,300 articles in 2009, making it the world's third largest journal (and already the world's largest non-physics journal). In 2010, PLoS One is anticipated to publish 8,000 articles, which would make it the world's largest scholarly journal, by far.

"One of the world's other really large journals - the American Physical Society's Physical Review D - is on the list of journals 100% convertible to the SCOAP3 Open Access Consortium. So it is entirely possible that TWO of the world's dozen largest journals will be fully open access within the next year or so."

Read more at Heather Morrison's blog, The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics

A Plethora of New Books

The July shipment of books offers enough reading for this summer and the next three, possibly, in nearly every subject area of the Science Library. Books on worms, hedgerows, nutrigenomics, chaos mathematics, corridor ecology (and that doesn't refer to mold and mites in the hallway in your building), evolutionary genetics, Einstein, color, atmospheric thermodynamics, molecular networks, polymers, the Medea hypothesis, fluvial systems, hormones, Valles Caldera, marsupials, stem cells, wild mushrooms, phytoplankton, ants, bioinorganic chemistry... the list could go on and on!

Farming with nature or Organic agriculture might be the most seasonal of titles, along with Fresh: a perishable history, as we are in the midst of the northern growing season and harvesting local produce already.

Check out the new books list and borrow something interesting for summer reading!

YoS July: Celebrate Astronomy!

The Year of Science focus for July is ASTRONOMY, and our shelves are overflowing with great, new books on the subject. Do a subject search, limited to 2007-2009, in OBIS.

The Day We Found the Universe is one of dozens of books received in our latest new books shipment. From the book overview in Google Books [link there from OBIS]: "On January 1, 1925, thirty-five-year-old Edwin Hubble announced the observation that ultimately established that our universe was a thousand trillion times larger than previously believed, filled with myriad galaxies like our own."

This is a fascinating account of early astrophysics. Follow that historical review with books on current research, perhaps a title on Kerr black holes.

2009 is also the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). The U.S.A. web site for IYA offers Galileoscopes to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s use of a telescope to study the skies.

The web site includes a calendar of current and historical events in astronomy, including moon phases and positions of observable planets in the night sky. Full moon, Tuesday July 7 at 3:21 a.m. Later that day (4pm) the moon will be at Apogee. Learn more about the difference between Apogee and Perigree.

Art of Science Competition - Help Select People's Choice Winner

Princeton University's Art of Science Competition is underway, and you are invited to participate! Look for beauty in the representation of scientific results, by comparing images side by side and making a judgment as to which is "more Art of Science." The People's Choice competition remains open through noon, July 1, 2009. Click on Cast Your Votes to get started. Details on the science behind each art piece is part of the online exhibit. According to American Scientist (July-Aug 2009, p. 292) a competition is already being planned for 2010, and Andrew Zwicker of the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, one of the show's organizers and a past prizewinner, encourages other communities to hold similar competitions.

H1N1 Virus Declared a Pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the swine flu pandemic. Read or listen to the story and related information on NPR. On Wednesday, WHO said 74 countries had reported nearly 27,737 cases of swine flu, including 141 deaths [from the AP]. Find more information on H1N1 in the USA at the Center for Disease Control, and GenBank sequences for the 2009 outbreak at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

Earth 2100: the Final Century of Civilization?

Received from the Sierra Club, Northeast Ohio group:

"Earth 2100" is a two-hour television event from ABC, scheduled for Tuesday, June 2, at 9 p.m. ET. Bob Woodruff explores the potential scientific scenarios for our future, with the underlying premise that the planet is at risk: population growth, resource depletion, and climate change could bring catastrophe in the next century. Two possible futures will be considered, ending with an optimistic outlook that presents the actions humanity must take now, in 2009, to create a future that ensures health and sustainability for ourselves and the rest of the planet.

Earth 2100 News and Related Stories from ABC News.

Fossil Could be Common Ancestor of Humans, Other Primates

Here is very exciting news in the still-developing story of human evolution. From Science News Daily: "Scientists have found a 47-million-year-old human ancestor. Discovered in Messel Pit, Germany, the fossil, described as Darwinius masillae, is 20 times older than most fossils that explain human evolution.

"Known as 'Ida,' the fossil is a transitional species – it shows characteristics from the very primitive non-human evolutionary line (prosimians, such as lemurs), but is more related to the human evolutionary line (anthropoids, such as monkeys, apes and humans)." [Read the full story]

See also this title on our new book shelf:
99% ape : how evolution adds up / edited by Jonathan Silvertown ; authors, Caroline M. Pond ... [et al.].
Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2009.
QH367 .A13 2009.

Endangered Species Day Puzzle: Which Species Need Protection in Your Home State?

Today is the fourth annual Endangered Species Day, begun in 2006 with the leadership of Senator Dianne Feinstein. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency offers a complete list of endangered species and information for each on their Web site. You can view the list for your state here.

Scientific American gives more information on Endangered Species Day in their 60-second science blog. Check it out!

As Finals Fade, Grab a Book for Summer

Finals are underway, and taking on unassigned reading may be the last thing on your mind!

There are many new titles on the new book shelf that will ease you from the intensity of finals week into summer. And, for graduating seniors who have a week to prepare for commencement/reunion weekend, one of the new books may fill any spare moments you have.

Three new titles fom author Clive Roots look particularly fun to dip into, with great photos and fascinating facts: Flightless Birds, Hibernation, and Nocturnal Animals.

The Flying Circus of Physics (expanded, updated 2nd edition) by Jearl Walker promises a great many aha! moments of revelation. From the publisher's description: ..."where death-defying stunts, high-flying acrobatics, strange curiosities, and mind-bending illusions are all part of everyday life."

Take a break and browse the new book shelf; it will do you good!

Origins, Spread, Treatment of Swine Flu

Science and Nature have given extensive coverage to information and research on the H1N1 virus since the outbreak began.
Today in Science News of the Week:

Swine Flu Outbreak: Out of Mexico? Scientists Ponder Swine Flu's Origins
by Jon Cohen
"The origin of the virus behind the current swine flu outbreak, its muscle power, and how much of a threat it presents remain mysteries. After Mexico, the United States has had the most cases, which on 5 May totaled 403. The almost simultaneous confirmations of the outbreak in both Mexico and the United States initially added further confusion to the outbreak's origins. But the virus itself has helped clear up some matters. The greatest concern is what will this confusing virus, which combines genes from swine, avian, and human influenza strains, do next?"
Read more.

Accessing or Borrowing Library Materials Over the Summer

Any currently enrolled student who will be returning in the fall continues to have access to our online resources, and may borrow books and other materials over the summer. Off campus access to online resources is explained in the "Connect from Off Campus" web page. Summer borrowing just requires completing the summer address form so we know how to contact you. Find out more.

End of Semester Hours

The Science library will be open extra hours this Saturday, for your studying pleasure during Reading Period. Our End of Semester Hours:

Saturday, May 9 - 12:30-11pm

Sunday, May 10 - 12:30 - 11pm

Monday, May 11 - Thursday May 14 - 8:30am-11pm

Friday, May 15 8:30am-7pm

Saturday, May 16 12:30-5:30pm

Sunday, May 17 12:30-4:30pm

Don't hesitate to contact staff for last-minute help with library research! Best of luck with exams.

Dancing Cockatoos! Story on NPR

Dancing is not so uniquely human, apparently. Check out the YouTube video of a sulfur-crested cockatoo named Snowball dancing to the Backstreet Boys. More than a pet trick, neurobiologist Aniruddh Patel explains the significance for understanding how the brain processes music. Tecumseh Fitch, an evolutionary biologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, suggests that the findings open the way for new research on the origins of music. He asks the question, "what genes are turned on while a bird is dancing?" Read more (and see the video) at NPR.

New Books! and a New Call Number.

Today's shipment of new books brought our first book in the relatively new LC class of QV. Pharmacology and drug development, as a quickly burgeoning field, now has it own Library of Congress classification.

For now, Strategies for organic drug synthesis and design by Daniel Lednicer, is our only 'QV'. I'm sure this seems like a very modest development to those of you who don't manage libraries, but it caused me to take notice as we unpacked the new books! Now I'm looking forward to receiving books in the other new call number sequences at the end of the Qs:
QU Biochemistry
QW-QX Microbiology, Immunology, Parasites
QY-QZ Pathology, Clinical pathology

All of these topics were formerly lumped into QR (or with chemistry in QD) or with medicine (R, RM), so the additional LC class assignments will make browsing the entire collection of immunology books, for example, a bit more complicated in the future. But it should do a very nice job of bringing together newer materials in the interdisciplinary subject of biochemistry.

This development is minor compared to the leap from Dewey Decimal to Library of Congress classification back in 1974. Ah, change! Information and library management is all about change, as human knowledge expands and scholarly communication evolves.

Pres. Obama addresses the National Academy of Sciences

President Barack Obama spoke to members of the National Academy of Sciences this morning during the Academy’s 146th annual meeting, announcing historic investments in science. You can read the transcript of his speech here. Audio recording is on the NAS Web site, along with video recording and photos.

Early in his speech, Pres. Obama targeted the swine flu outbreak, saying: "our capacity to deal with a public health challenge of this sort rests heavily on the work of our scientific and medical community. And this is one more example of why we cannot allow our nation to fall behind."

The President then made this commitment: "I am here today to set this goal: we will devote more than three percent of our GDP to research and development. We will not just meet, but we will exceed the level achieved at the height of the Space Race, through policies that invest in basic and applied research, create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science. This represents the largest commitment to scientific research and innovation in American history."

Dance based on scientific research articles: see the AAAS / Science Dance Contest

The Gonzo Scientist

Can science-turned-art be turned back into science? The Gonzo Scientist asks readers to view the final outcome of the 2009 AAAS/Science Dance Contest and see if they can figure out which dance was based on which scientific research article. See the videos, take the challenge.

From Science News this week. See SCIENCE News Summaries: Volume 324, Issue 5926, April 24 2009.

How will you celebrate Earth Day?

I finally remembered to turn the calendar above my desk to April, and was rewarded by National Wildlife Federation's photo of two squirrels poking their heads out of a tree hole barely big enough for one, let alone two. The little fella on the left is definitely feeling squished. This quote from John Muir greeted me as well: "When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." Since google just found about 20,300 occurrences of this phrase, I'm obviously coming late to this Muir quote. No matter, it still resonates. How to celebrate and protect these immutable connections as Earth Day approaches?

On April 22 keep in mind at least that your day-to-day survival is completely dependent on circumstances far too numerous to list. We aim for independence while ignoring the balance required to maintain the charade. You are here because there are plankton in the ocean, worms in the soil, bees in the pollen, and clouds in the air. Gravity, star dust, oxygen and carbon, caribou, mushrooms, dung beetles and water... all connected, contributing, making the whole so much more than the sum of the parts.

We, you, us - the people - are in the thick of it, of course. Not above, aside, or apart, but a part. We can be the part that works to the keep the whole together, or the part that tears it asunder. April 22, 2009 - the 39th Anniversay of Earth Day - is a good day to strive for the former.

Join the Countdown to the 40th Anniversary, and be part of the Green Generation.

EPA Proposes Greenhouse Gas Regulation

NPR BREAKING NEWS: EPA Proposes Greenhouse Gas Regulation

The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a proposed finding that six greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that can threaten public health — a first step toward regulation. Read the story by Jeff Brady.

Related story in the Washington Post, March 24, 2009: EPA Presses Obama to Regulate Warming Under Clean Air Act.

Laura Russo, '08, publishes in The Plant Cell

The February 2009 issue of Plant Cell includes an article by Oberlin alumna Laura Russo, '08 and Pablo Jenik, formerly of the Biology Department. Their article, co-authored with researchers at Univ. of Wisconsin, reports results of research undertaken at Oberlin. Congratulations to them both. Professor Jenik is now with the Biology Department of Franklin and Marshall College.

The RPN5 Subunit of the 26s Proteasome Is Essential for Gametogenesis, Sporophyte Development, and Complex Assembly in Arabidopsis.
Adam J. Booka, Jan Smallea,1, Kwang-Hee Leea, Peizhen Yanga, Joseph M. Walkera, Sarah Caspera, James H. Holmesa, Laura A. Russob, Zachri W. Buzzinottic, Pablo D. Jenikb,c and Richard D. Vierstraa,2

a Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin
b Department of Biology, Oberlin College
c Department of Biology, Franklin and Marshall College

Tell Congress not to sacrifice our forests as "bio-energy"

From the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
"Right now Congress is considering legislation to increase the amount of electricity production from renewable sources like wind, solar and "biomass" -- organic matter that can come from sustainable sources, but could also come from natural forests and grasslands. Biomass can be an important part of the solution, but we need strong safeguards to ensure that it comes from sustainable crops and does not involve destroying forest habitats or turning them into cropland and sterile tree plantations." Take action.

Related 2009 hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

More resources in the library's catalog on biomass for fuel and energy.

Borrow a Kill-A-Watt, Reduce Your Energy Consumption

How much energy is sucked up by the charger while your phone is not even charging? How many watts is your computer chugging down while in sleep mode? How about that MP3 charger, languishing in the wall outlet?

You can find out by plugging a Kill-A-Watt energy monitor into the outlet, then plugging your device into the energy monitor.

There are 14 Kill-a-Watts in both Main and the Science libraries. Provide the name of your dorm when checking out the device, and your dorm earns points in the Ecolympics competition. The loan period is 4 days. First come, first served.

Walk around the corner toward the north entrance to the Science Center Commons and you'll find a display of softly glowing globes, illustrating current energy consumption in each dorm. At this moment, Barrows and Harkness are both a lovely shade of green (good!) while Price and Bailey are glowing red (not so energy efficient).

Kill-A-Watt devices are offered for sale over the internet (possibly locally, too; try Watson's). Search google and there are plenty of options. iKitchen.com has a good price.

Gil Nathanson on campus today

Gil Nathanson from the University of Wisconsin, Madison will be speaking on Dirty Droplets in the Atmosphere: A Microscopic View of Gas-Liquid Reactions? Science Center, Room A255. Reception will be in the Love Lounge at 4:30pm.

Recent books on atmospheric chemistry are on display in the library's front window, along with a list of Dr. Nathason's recent publications. Three of the most recent indexed in Science Citation Index are listed here, and can all be accessed at the American Chemical Society Publications web site:

• Park S, Burden DK, Nathanson GM. 2009. Surfactant control of gas transport and reactions at the surface of sulfuric acid. Acc Chem Res 42(2):379-87.
• DeZwaan JL, Brastad SM, Nathanson GM. 2008. Evidence for interfacial [FDCl](-) in collisions between DCl and F- in KF-glycerol solutions. Journal of Physical Chemistry C 112(39):15449-57.
• DeZwaan JL, Brastad SM, Nathanson GM. 2008. The roles of salt concentration and cation charge in collisions of ar and DCl with salty glycerol solutions of NaI and CaI2. Journal of Physical Chemistry C 112(8):3008-17.

Science (and so much more!) on the Diane Rehm Show

We are honored to have Diane Rehm on campus today, as a speaker in the Convocation series. If you are in class when the Diane Rehm Show airs locally on 90.3 WCPN (Idea Stream!), check out the podcast on the NPR podcast directory.

Diane frequently interviews scientists, science administrators, science policy advisers and science writers, considering topics that relate especially to politics and society. Here are a few recent segments you might like to listen to on the show's web site:
Russia and natural gas.
President Bush's environmental legacy.
Health care reform.
Federally funded stem cell research.
Clean coal technology.

Diane Rehm also interviewed Toni Morrison about her newest book A Mercy. That show was rebroadcast on January 1, 2009. If you haven't yet read A Mercy, this interview is a good introduction. Do read it and join a discussion group during the week Ms. Morrison will be on campus!

Finally, here is a segment of special interest to me:
The role of libraries in economic hard times.

Geology of the Red River Floodplain

As the people of Fargo, North Dakota continue to watch the Red River and pile up the sandbags, a review of the geology of the river explains its tendency to overflow. See the Minneapolis Star Tribune for March 24, 2009: Blame the Ice Age glacial lake that left the river in a flat, wide valley, by Richard Mayhew. The Fargo Flood homepage maintained by the North Dakota State University Geosciences department includes a thorough consideration of the geology of the area.

Turn Off Your Lights! Earth Hour Saturday March 28

Your light switch is your vote : Earth Hour 2009: Saturday, March 28, 8:30 - 9:30 pm.

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote. Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF (World Wildlife Fund) is urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday. Sign up to officially support Earth Hour.

VOTE EARTH by simply switching off your lights for one hour, and join the world for Earth Hour on Saturday, March 28, 8:30-9:30pm local time. The Science Center lights will be off for Earth Hour.

[Most of this text was lifted from an email message sent from the Bishop Payne Library]

World Water Day Spills Over

Water distribution worldwide has been in a crisis state for many years. World Water Resources... from UNESCO is one of many dozen books in the library that review the problems.

World Water Day, March 22, was an opportunity to highlight the crisis; today, Diane Rehm and a panel of experts examined the problems on the Diane Rehm Show (WAMU, NPR; 11am program for March 25: U.S. Water Infrastructure). It was a highly enlightening conversation, examining water rights struggles among western states in the USA and the downstream impact of coal mining by mountain-top removal, among other concerns.

The first call for World Water Week 2009, to be held in August, was made public in February. Hosted and organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), World Water Week in Stockholm "has been the annual focal point for the planet’s water issues since 1991. The Week provides a unique forum for the exchange of views and experiences between the scientific, business, policy and civic communities. It focuses on new thinking and positive action toward water-related challenges and their impact on the world’s environment, health, economic and poverty reduction agendas."

Two excellent documentaries will be shown in the coming weeks, focusing on water access struggles in a Michigan town and on equitable distribution of water to communities worldwide. I hope you will find time to watch them both.

• The Water Front (also available on OhioLINK loan)
  

Monday March 30, 7:30 pm
Mt. Zion Fellowship Hall

• Flow: for love of water (owned by OC Library)

Saturday April 4, 7:30 pm
Mt. Zion Fellowship Hall

• Both films, back to back -

Wednesday, April 1, 7:30 pm
Hallock Auditorium, Adam Joseph Lewis Center

Unlocking Secrets of the Brain

Discover magazine recently held a panel discussion with four of the world's leading brain researchers. Watch these insightful videos posted by Discover magazine on YouTube!

• Dr. Daniel Leviton, McGill Univ. Why do we remember old pop songs but forget where our keys are?
• Dr. Michael Gazzaniga, UC Santa Barbara. Is brain damage a good alibi for violent behavior?
• Dr. Samuel Wang, Princeton Univ. What tricks of the mind helped perpetuate lies about Barak Obama?
• Dr. Rebecca Saxe, MIT. Are all of us potential Abu Ghraib guards?

Discover magazine is also available, in print, in the science library. Check it out the next time you stop by. Or read Discover online.

BioTour Bus On Campus Now!

The Community Sustainability Weekend: BioTour is here! A great follow-up to Powershift'09. Check out the schedule on Facebook, and talk to the BioTour folks on Sunday afternoon (1-6 pm), March 15, by Wilder Bowl.

Is Technology Changing Your Brain?

iBrain : surviving the technological alteration of the modern mind, by Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan, is now on the new book shelf.

The authors present a different perspective from Born Digital (in the main library), and you might like to read both.

Keep in mind that the human brain has been evolving for eons (Brain Evolution and Cognition is a good book for that review), and the technological advances now challenging the modern mind are very recent developments. For a reminder of our evolutionary past - and the persistence of certain behavioral responses despite the course of human history - listen to the rebroadcast of Morality from WNYC's Radio Lab. Included in that segment is a fascinating look inside the brains of individuals caught in a moral dilemma, showing that human brains are remarkably similar (in some respects) to our closest primate relatives.

Scientific Mysteries Top the List

The new book shelf is brimming with such diversity it's impossible to focus on just one title. From
13 things that don't make sense : the most baffling scientific mysteries of our time by Michael Brooks
to
The prefrontal cortex by Joaquin M. Fuster, there are tantalizing topics to draw you away from your required course reading.

Thanks to recent catalog enhancements in OBIS, you can learn a bit about nearly every new book on the list by clicking on the link "Information [or Preview] at Google Books" that appears on the right side of the OBIS display.
See, for example, this OBIS record:
Agroecological economics : sustainability and biodiversity by Paul A. Wojtkowski - which leads to a very helpful Google Books entry.

So, if you don't have time to browse the new book shelf in person, OBIS can provide the next best thing.
See the new book list.

Dept of Transportation in Science.gov - so much more than you might expect!

Thanks to Tim Byrne, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, who sent this information:

The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has joined Science.gov. This means that when you launch a search at the Science.gov gateway, your single query can find science information from 14 government agencies, including the DOT National Transportation Library (NTL) Integrated Search and more than 30 DOT websites. Major subject areas of highway and transportation engineering, statistics, planning,policies, and research are included in the Science.gov basic search.

The DOT Web site includes links to a number of specialized libraries, such as coast guard, pipeline safety, and transportation law collections.
Try a search on pipeline safety in Science.gov, then refine the results with the additional keyword alaska, for an example of finding DOT results within a broader search.

Global Warming by the Numbers: 13 Facts for Friday the 13th

From the Environmental Defense Fund:

Friday the 13th just got a little scarier. Here are 13 facts about the realities of global warming. The numbers speak for themselves -- we must make 2009 the showdown year for global warming action. There is no time to lose.

Read the Facts. Take Action.

Support Science Funding in the Economic Stimulus Bill

The American Institute of Physics FYI: Bulletin of Science Policy News for February 12 presents a succinct summary of science and technology funding in the economic stimulus bill. If you support funding for research, recognizing the importance of science and technology advancement for job creation and the economic health of the country, urge your legislators to vote for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act when in comes before the House and Senate today and tomorrow.

The following is from the AIP site:
The first details about this $790 billion bill, which provides significant funding increases for science and technology programs, appear in a document from the Office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Direct quotations from this document appear below. FYI will report on the details of this agreement as they are released.

The Speaker’s “Fact Sheet,” characterized as a “Preliminary Overview,” explains that the conference agreement will “Restore science and innovation as the keys to new American-made technology, preventing and treating disease, and tackling urgent national challenges like climate change and dependence on foreign oil.” [Read more]

Darwin and Lincoln: men of vision and reason

Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were both born 200 years ago today. Consider the remarkable impact each man made on humanity, and celebrate science and reason by reading some of their own words.

Peruse the Darwin Correspondence Project online, or browse through the 16 printed volumes in our collection: Correspondence of Charles Darwin. The Darwin Day Celebration web site offers a wide range of resources, including audio files.

Robert Krulwich (Class of '69) presented a fascinating look at Darwin's life on NPR's Morning Edition this morning, considering the possibility that love for his wife and the tragedy of the death of a beloved daughter, directly influenced the timing of publication of On the Origin of Species. Listen to the story.

The library owns many editions and reproductions of Darwin's work [search OBIS by title], or you can read a reproduction online.

Lincoln's Bicentennial is being celebrated across the country. The Kentucky Abraham Bicentennial Commission web site is a good place to explore some of the events, documents, photos and links to other sites.

Don't let the day slip away without giving some thought to the enduring legacy of Lincoln and Darwin!

Stimulus Package Compromise Announced -- Scientists Hope for Jolt to Research

National Public Radio posted this breaking news this afternoon: Congressional Leaders Announce Stimulus Deal and Scientists Hope Stimulus Will Give Jolt to Research. Richard Harris, in his report on science research funding, noted that the stimulus package includes billions in funding for the National Institutes of Health. Raynard Kington, the NIH's acting director, says that NIH currently has 14,000 peer-reviewed applicants, worthy of funding, waiting for support. "Give the NIH the money, he says, and in just a few weeks the money can flow out the door and into a thousand labs or more." Read more or listen online.

Help for Off-Campus Access to the EJC

Getting access through the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center to publishers' web sites is a little more complicated if you are off-campus. Follow these steps:

1. login to the proxy server or the VPN client on your computer [download it here]
2. find the journal you need in the OhioLINK EJC
3. link to the publisher's web site from the EJC
4. if you do not have immediate access, look for this option: "Oberlin College - OhioLINK Trial, Oerlin College", rather than "Oberlin College, Oberlin College_IP," which is for our local subscriptions.

You will have access only to those journals purchased by OhioLINK, which does not include the pre-1995 archives of all publishers.

These procedures will be necessary only until the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center is completely restored.

Update on OhioLINK EJC

OhioLINK staff are working diligently to restore access to the Electronic Journal Center, as explained in this message from Director Tom Sanville. Updates will be posted in OhioLINK's What's New.
-------
Important Message to the OhioLINK community of students, faculty, and staff:

Beginning Wednesday afternoon, February 4, the OhioLINK computer disk storage system suffered a widespread, and supposedly not possible, multiple component failure affecting all major services with the exception of the OhioLINK Library Catalog. We have restored all services except the Electronic Journal Center (EJC). Restoration of the EJC remains under vigorous analysis, but unfortunately we know that any solution will not be immediate. In light of this, we are taking immediate steps to provide alternative access to the resources of the EJC through the various Web sites of the EJC journal publishers.

As noted on [EJC welcome page], we have immediate access to many EJC publisher sites and are working to expand access to the rest as quickly as possible. While the EJC is down, we will continue to improve this site to direct you to the proper publishers. We will also work to adjust our systems that link article citations to full text in the EJC by redirecting links to the publisher sites. We are examining every possibility to keep you connected to resources you need and to improve that connectivity as quickly as possible, while the EJC is not available.

The OhioLINK staff is sincerely sorry for this significant disruption in services. We remain committed, as we have since 1992, to providing high quality information resources on a consistent and reliable basis to the Ohio higher education community.

Sincerely,

Tom Sanville, Executive Director, tom@ohiolink.edu tom@ohiolink.edu>

Drastic Reductions Proposed for Science Funding in Senate bill

From Science Debate 2008, 9 am this morning:

"I am writing to alert you to efforts underway this morning to zero out a large portion of the science funding from the Senate American Reinvestment and Recovery Act as a part of a $77.9B reduction effort led by Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME).

"As you know better than most, science and technology are responsible for half of the economic development of the United States since WWII and yet, if current trends hold, some, such as the Business Roundtable, have predicted that 90% of all scientists and engineers will live in Asia within 5 years.

"The United States simply MUST renew our investment in the single greatest economic engine this country has ever known. Small federal investments in scientific research have helped produce things like the internet and the transistor that have consistently delivered multi-trillion dollar economies.

"The United States is at a critical juncture, and if this concerns you we suggest now would be a time to contact your Senators and urge them to support science funding. Here is what is being proposed to be cut from the bill, according to TPM:

NASA exploration $750,000,000 = 50%
NSF $1,402,000,000 = 100%
NOAA $427,000,000 = 34.94%
NIST $218,000,000 = 37.91%
DOE energy efficiency & renewable energy $1,000,000,000 = 38%
DOE office of science $100,000,000 = 100%"

Larry Squire '63 on NPR: Memory, the Hippocampus and Alzheimer's

Oberlin alumnus Larry R. Squire, class of 1963, and Principal Investigator of the Memory Research Laboratory (University of California, San Diego and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Diego) explained recent findings on NPR's Morning Edition today. Dr. Squire's study, co-published with Christine N. Smith, is published in the newest issue of Journal of Neuroscience:

• Medial Temporal Lobe Activity during Retrieval of Semantic Memory Is Related to the Age of the Memory. Christine N. Smith and Larry R. Squire. The Journal of Neuroscience, January 28, 2009, 29(4):930-938; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4545-08.2009
  

From the Morning Edition story:

"What we found was that the hippocampus was most active when subjects were recalling memories about new events that occurred just a year or two earlier," Squire says. "The hippocampus became less active as subjects recalled memories that were five years or 10 years old."

As people tried to remember older events, the scientists saw more and more activity on the surface of the brain.

The results suggest that the hippocampus is necessary to form new memories and to retrieve recent memories, says Russell Poldrack, a brain scientist at UCLA. But it plays little or no role once memories are a few years old.

"This is the clearest demonstration yet of what happens as memories get older," Poldrack says. "It's pretty compelling evidence." [more]

Related reading in the library:
The library is grateful to Dr. Squire for his many contributions to the collection, including his most recent monograph co-authored with Eric R. Kandel, Memory: from mind to molecules.

See other books in OBIS authored by Larry Squire.

Eat Right, Save the Planet: Bittman on NPR

Hear NPR's interview with Mark Bittman, author of Food matters: a guide to conscious eating. Mark Bittman is a food columnist for The New York Times and an advocate for '"conscious eating." Bittman's book is an obvious choice after reading Michael Pollan's The omnivore's dilemma and In defense of food.

All copies of Mark Bittman's book in OhioLINK are currently checked out, and Oberlin's copy already has two holds. Read an excerpt at NPR, and place a hold on Oberlin's copy if desired.

From the synopsis @ Barnes & Noble: "The simple truth, as he points out, is that as long as you eat more vegetables and whole grains, the result will be better health for you and for the world in which we live."

What You Need to Know About Energy, from Natl Acad Press

The National Academies Press invites you to download and read, for free, more than 4,000 books! One of their newest offerings is What You Need to Know About Energy.

Listen also to the podcast America's Energy Future and link to related resources from the NAP web site. Browse books by topic or search specific keywords. Free PDF books will have a "sign in" link in the "purchase options" box. Click on the link, complete a short survey, and you will be able to download the book.

2009 is the Year of Science! Celebrating How We Know What We Know

Year of Science 2009 Kicks Off this Week Across the Nation [COPUS Press Release]

The Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) kicked off Year of Science 2009 (YoS2009) -- a national, yearlong, grassroots celebration--this week in Boston at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. COPUS, which represents more than 500 organizations, is celebrating how science works, who scientists are, and why science matters. Ira Flatow, host of Science Friday, broadcast every week on National Public Radio, launched the week’s events.

One of the themes for January 2009 is Communicating Science. The library is over-flowing with wonderful books that do just that - engaging and enlightening, books by scientists and science writers for the general public are regularly featured on our new books shelf.

Start with the annual series "Best American Science and Nature Writing" for a sample of excellent articles. The 2008 volume is now on the new book shelf.

Think you're smart? Plenty of other animals are also adept at complex thinking.

Scientific American Mind features the intelligence of animals in a Dec. 2008 article by Paul Patton:

One World, Many Minds: Intelligence in the Animal Kingdom

From the introduction: "complex brains and sophisticated cognition have arisen multiple times in independent lineages of animals during the earth’s evolutionary history. So-called lower animals, such as fish, reptiles and birds, display a startling array of cognitive capabilities. Goldfish, for instance, have shown they can negotiate watery mazes similar to the way rats do in intelligence tests in the lab."

Read the whole story at Scientific American Mind. While you're there, check out some of the latest stories, including "Did a Comet Hit Earth 12,000 Years Ago?", posted Jan. 2.