Science News - March 24, 2012

Alvinocaridid \al-vin-oh-CEHY-ri-did\ n. A type of shrimp found at deep-sea hydrothermal vents, including a species (right) described in the Jan. 10 Nature Communications as living in the Cayman Trough in the Caribbean. The shrimp are so named because they resemble Alvinocaris, a genus found in the late 1970s at the world’s first known hydrothermal vents, in the Galápagos Rift in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Alvinocaris, in turn, got its name from the deep-diving submersible Alvin, which explored such unknown worlds. Alvinocaridids don’t have full-fledged eyes, but some can navigate using a light-sensing organ to detect volcanic energy pouring from the seafloor. — Alexandra Witze

SN Online www.sciencenews.org

LIFE Plants use adhesion and bubbles to spread spores. See “Plants’ reproductive weaponry unfurled.” Sharp scales (shown) help propel sharks. See “Shark’s skin adds forward boost.”

Science Past | FROM THE ISSUE OF MARCH 24, 1962

AN TI-PARTICLE DISCOVERED — Three international teams
of scientists, working in the United States, Switzerland
and France, have discovered and identified one of the last
predicted anti-particles of matter, the
anti-Xi-minus. Also known as the anti-
cascade-hyperon, the tiny particle of
anti-matter exists only for one ten-
billionth of a second. Nevertheless, it
has been observed, measured and photo-
graphed, the scientists report in Physical
Review Letters, March 15, 1962. The discovery confirms
the theory that there is an anti-particle for every known
elementary particle.... The anti-Xi-minus is the heaviest
of the predicted elementary particles to be observed. It
has a positive charge.

The (-est)

Scientists have re-created what may be the oldest love song ever heard by human ears: the chirp made by a 165-million-year-old katydid rubbing its wings together. “It sounded a lot like a modern-day cricket,” says biologist Fernando Montealegre-Zapata of the University of Bristol in England. He and his colleagues based their reconstruction on an exceptionally preserved katydid fossil, as reported online February 6 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The pure tones of the extinct insect’s nocturnes may have carried long distances through noisy Jurassic forests, says Montealegre-Zapata, and could have identified the creature as a potential mate — or a potential meal. —Devin Powell

Science Future

April 4

Artists and scientists come together at the Leonardo Art/ Science Evening Rendezvous at Stanford University. See bit.ly/ SNartnite

MOLECULES The sugar in corn syrup may be a concern for diabetics. Read “Taste of fructose revs up metabolism.”

April 13–29 Science talks, lab tours and hands-on activities will be held statewide as part of the North Carolina Science Festival. For a schedule of events, go to www.ncsciencefestival.org

DELETED SCENES BLOG
Measurements of the
W boson hint at the mass
of its more famous cousin.
See “Higgs running out of
hiding places.”

Like uptowners and downtowners, different bacterial communities hang out on your cell phone and your shoes. Scientists from the Home Microbiome Study swabbed the shoe soles and phones of about 30 reporters (including one from Science News) in February at the AAAS meeting in Vancouver. The researchers found similar bacterial pro;les across reporters, including two types normally found in the throat that appeared to prefer cell phones. SOURCE: HOME MICROBIOME STUDY Science Stats | GERMS YOU CARRY AROUND