,

Humans are like no other species. We have constructed stratified states, colonised nearly every habitat on Earth and we’re now looking to . In fact, we are so advanced that some of our innovations – such as fossil fuel technologies, intensive agriculture and weapons of mass destruction – may ultimately lead to our downfall.

Even our closest relatives, the primates, lack traits such as developed language, cumulative culture, music, symbolism and religion. Yet scientists still haven’t come to a consensus on why, when and how humans evolved these traits. But, luckily, there are non-human animals that have evolved societies and culture to some extent. Our latest study, , investigates what cetaceans (whales and dolphins) can teach us about human evolution.

The reason it is so difficult to trace the origins of human traits is that social behaviour does not fossilise. It is therefore very hard to understand when and why cultural behaviour first arose in the human lineage. Material culture such as art, burial items, technologically sophisticated weapons and pottery is very rare in the archaeological record.

Previous research in primates that a large primate brain is associated with larger social groups, cultural and behavioural richness, and learning ability. A larger brain is , long life spans, and large bodies. But researchers trying to uncover whether each of these different traits are causes or consequences of large brains find themselves at odds with each other – .

One prevailing explanation is the , which argues that our minds and consequently our brains have evolved to solve the problems associated with living in an information rich, challenging and dynamic social environment. This comes with challenges such as competing for and allocating food and resources, coordinating behaviour, resolving conflicts and using information and innovations generated by others in the group.

However, despite the abundance of evidence for a link between brain size and social skills, the arguments rumble on about the role of social living in cognitive evolution. Alternative theories suggest that primate brains have evolved – either in terms of searching for fruit or visually navigating a three dimensional world.

Under the sea

But it’s not just primates that live in rich social worlds. , birds, , and cetaceans do, too.

The latter are especially interesting as, not only do we know that they do interesting things, some live in multi-generational societies and they also have the largest brains in the animal kingdom. In addition, they do not eat fruit, nor do they live in forests. For that reason, we decided to evaluate the evidence for the social or cultural brain in cetaceans.

Another advantage with cetaceans is that research groups around the world have spent decades . These include signature whistles, which appear to identify individual animals, cooperative hunting, complex songs and vocalisations, social play and social learning. We compiled all this information into a database and evaluated whether a species’ cultural richness is associated with its brain size and the kind of society they live in.

We found that species with larger brains live in more structured societies and have more cultural and learned behaviours. The group of species with the largest relative brain size are the large, whale-like dolphins. These include the and .

To illustrate the two ends of the spectrum, killer whales have cultural food preferences – where some populations prefer fish and other seals. They also hunt cooperatively and have matriarchs leading the group. Sperm whales have actual dialects, which means that different populations . In contrast, some of the large , which have smaller brains, eat krill rather than fish or other mammals, live fairly solitary lives and only come together for breeding seasons and at rich food sources.

We still have much to learn about these amazing creatures. Some of the species were not included in our analysis because we know so little about them. For example, there is a whole group of beaked whales with very large brains. However, because they dive and forage in deep water, sightings are rare and we know almost nothing about their behaviour and social relationships.

Nevertheless, this study certainly supports the idea that the richness of a species’ social world is predicted by their brain size. The fact that we’ve found it in an independent group so different from primates makes it all the more important.

, University Research Fellow,

This article was originally published on . Read the .

Read Suzanne's on our site.

A photograph of a mating pair of critically endangered Costa Rican Lemur Leaf Frogs has bagged third place in the Eureka category one of the country's top science photo competitions.

The vivid image, taken by postgraduate student Chris Blount shows how the animals change colour every day - from its day time green skin to brown at night.

He said: "The frog undergoes a rapid and distinct colour change most nights from pale green to dark brown, and is one of a small group of species that reflects strongly in the near infrared region, matching the reflection of the leaves it sits on beyond the visible wavelengths of light.

"As well as teaching me that nature never does quite what you expect, seeing this pair in the same conditions, but different colourations, helped me to design new tests to better understand the unique optical properties of these frogs and the benefits they impart. It was also great to see that with the help of careful conservation, the species is beginning to recover in the wild."

One of the judges was Professor Robert Winston, he said: “It is crucial to promote greater understanding of science and engineering research, the role it plays in making new discoveries, developing new technologies and in making the world a better place for us all. These are truly inspirational images and tell great stories. It was a real pleasure to take part as a judge and I hope people will want to find out more.”

Congratulating the winners and entrants, Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC’s Chief Executive, said: “Yet again, the standard of entries into this year’s competition shows the inquisitive, artistic and perceptive nature of the people EPSRC supports. I’d like to thank everyone who entered; you made judging a very hard but enjoyable task.

“This competition helps us engage with academics and these stunning images are a great way to connect the general public with research they fund, and inspire everyone to take an interest in science and engineering.”

The competition received over 200 entries which were drawn from researchers in receipt of EPSRC funding.

The judges were:

Martin Keene - Group Picture Editor - Press Association;

Professor Robert Winston - Professor of Science and Society and Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College London

Professor Philip Nelson - EPSRC’s Chief Executive

Notes to editors

For further information and images please contact the EPSRC Press Office on 01793 444 404 or email pressoffice@epsrc.ac.uk

New research has revealed how the heart is one of the major factors which determine whether a fish lives or dies in Oceanic Dead Zones.

Dr Holly Shiels, a Senior Lecturer in Animal Physiology at The University of Manchester, says the findings may explain why some fish are able to survive harsh environmental conditions better than others.

The research, published with Open Access in the journal Biology Letters, may help in the battle to understand why fish stocks dwindle in polluted marine environments with low oxygen levels – known as hypoxia.

Hypoxia, says Dr Shiels, is a growing problem in coastal environments, and is likely have enduring impacts on aquatic ecosystems and the fish that live within them.

There are over 400 so called  “Dead zones” worldwide, areas where  aquatic life is limited or  completely absent largely because there isn’t enough  oxygen to support it

But by studying the European sea bass, an important commercial and ecological marine fish, the 91ֱ�� scientists, in collaboration with Guy Claireaux’s group at Ifremer in France, have identified a link between hypoxia-survival and the fish heart. 

They think this link is important in understanding how fish tolerate harsh environments.

First the team revealed that hypoxia-tolerance is a stable trait – during repeated hypoxic-challenges over the 18 month study, certain fish in a population were consistently more tolerant of hypoxia compared with others.

They then went on to show that fish who tolerated hypoxia had hypoxia-tolerant hearts.  This prompted Dr Shiels’ team  to suggest that the heart and the cardiovascular system is a crucial survival factor.

Dr Shiels said: “We were able to show that hypoxia tolerant hearts in fish correlates with a whole body effect. In other words, not only is the heart more resilient to hypoxia, but the fish as a whole is.”

Although fish don’t breathe as humans do with lungs and air, they still take in oxygen through their gills. So when oxygen in water is reduced, fish struggle to breath just as humans would on top of a mountain, where the air is thin.

Hypoxic Dead Zone can occur naturally, but their recent increase in size and distribution is often caused by human input of nutrients into the water, encouraging plant growth and algal blooms. The extra organic matter dies, sinks to the bottom and decays, creating hypoxic conditions.

She added: “Our work is timely as hypoxia is a pervasive and rapidly growing problem in coastal environments world wide. Our study suggests the hypoxia-tolerance of the fish cardiovascular system may be key in determining fish distribution and survival in the changing oceans.”


NOTES FOR EDITORS
The full paper, published today in Biology Letters, is available on request.

Dr Shiels is available for interview

For media enquiries contact:

Mike Addelman
Media Relations Officer
Faculty of Life Sciences
University of Manchester
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A nine-year-old schoolgirl is to front a global educational campaign, launched today, to save one the world’s rarest frogs.

Lucy Marland joined forces with The University of Manchester after coming face to face with a Lemur Leaf Frog, kept at 91ֱ�� Museum and one of only a few hundred left anywhere in the world.

The campaign, called Learning with Lucy, aims to educate primary age school children in the UK and in the Guayacan region of Costa Rica, where the frog still survives, about the amphibian and its threatened rainforest habitat.

Europe’s largest conservation organisation, Nordens Ark, will bring the campaign to Swedish schoolchildren. And University of Manchester students will also take part in conservation work in Costa Rica.

The frog is also one of the world’s most unusual: by day it has silver eyes and a lime green body, but by night, its appearance transforms into chocolate brown eyes and skin. It also never leaves the trees.

Lucy said: "I am so excited to be part of this project because I love frogs and I am very worried about the Lemur Leaf Frog and its survival. I want everyone to know that with a little effort, we can make a difference for these frogs and other endangered animals."

Andrew Gray, curator of herpetology at 91ֱ�� Museum, oversees the amphibian collection in its vivarium and leads the Lemur Leaf Frog Conservation Project.

The scientist has worked closely with Sir David Attenborough on several BBC television series.

Backing the campaign, Sir David said: “I wholeheartedly support 91ֱ�� Museum's campaign, headed by Lucy Marland, to save the Lemur Leaf Frog. It is after all, one of the world's most unusual and rarest amphibians – and it is in real trouble."

Mr Gray said: “One major aim is to teach Guayacan children about protecting their own threatened natural resources and the biodiversity and natural history of their country: Costa Rica.

“It’s surprising how little they know; educational resources, a booklet and field trips will play a part in correcting that, as well as three films we have had made for the project.”

An education pack for primary school children and part-funded placements in Costa Rica for Biological Sciences undergraduates are also part of the mix.

He added: “It was incredible to witness the instant effect this tiny amphibian had on Lucy.

“She decided there and then that one day she would be a zoologist and once home, with the help of her mother Marie, she wrote to the University and it all happened from there.

“It all starts with you, our theme, is about each and every one of us making an impact on the world around us.
“That someone so young can fully grasp that concept, immediately take it on board, and actively start doing something about it is extra special.”

Anna Kell, a University of Manchester undergraduate studying biology, went on a field course Costa Rica this year to conduct research on hummingbirds.

She said: “It was a wonderful opportunity to go to Costa Rica on a field course to explore and study an ecosystem that I would never get the chance to otherwise.

“It’s such an amazing experience to be thrown into conducting your own research on something you’re passionate about in a new and beautiful environment.”

Professor Amanda Bamford, Associate Dean for Social Responsibility said: “That this 91ֱ�� university project also supports environmental education in primary schools in Costa Rica, where these frogs occur in the wild, not only reflects a genuine commitment to helping conserve endangered species but also provides us with a wonderful opportunity for our undergraduates to exercise their global citizenship.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS
The ambassador for Costa Rica, Enrique Castillo, will be visiting 91ֱ�� Museum on January 27 to meet staff, academics, and visitors to celebrate the project, which is called ‘Learning with Lucy’.

91ֱ�� museum has the largest and most important collection of live Costa Rican frogs in the world outside Costa Rica.

The museum’s vivarium, where rare frogs are maintained an exhibited, is open to the public 7 days a week and admission is free. The vivarium is actively engaged in the international conservation of amphibians and the Lemur frog Project, conserving rare amphibians in  captivity and supporting them in the wild through research, engagement and public engagement.

The theme of the vivarium and related education project is ‘It all starts with you’

Images are available. Please use the use the credit: Copyright Andrew Gray/lemurfrog.org/91ֱ�� Museum if using the David Attenborough image

The videos are available at

For more details visit:

Scientists have discovered the cells driving the annual body clock in animals which adapts their body to the changing seasons.

Human intelligence and knowledge depends on how we collect and use sharable resources, according to scientists from The University of Manchester.Marco Smolla and Dr Susanne Shultz say in contrast with humans, the impact of competition means it is often costly for animals to learn from, or share information with others.

Using a computer simulation to mimic the behaviour of animals, the findings cast important new light on our understanding of human  - and animal  - behaviour.

The research is published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B today.

Dr Shultz said: “Unique human traits include generosity, teaching and imitation. Our model suggests the key to both of these behaviours might lie in how we overcame the impact of competition, allowing us to share resources and information between us.

“It does not pay to share a blade of grass or a leaf from a tree. So animals that eat such foods do better by making their own decisions about what to eat rather than copying others.

“However, it does make sense to copy individuals using highly valuable foods even if the proceeds need to be shared.

“So, it is possible a key part of human evolution was learning to use sharable resource, for example by hunting large game.”

Until now, scientists have struggled to explain why animals chose not to learn from those around them when it seems a much easier and less risky way to get information than learning by yourself.

And the team realised that up to now, researchers had excluded competition from their models.

However, competition is one of the major mechanisms that shape interactions between individuals and groups.

Their computer program simulated individual animals that search, collect, and compete for food.

The food was spread over patches that could change over time.

But the crucial difference to earlier models was that individuals had to share food items if they foraged in the same place.

The simple addition resulted in animals ignoring others when using evenly spread out resources, but learning from others when using rare, highly profitable ones.

Marco Smolla said: “What is surprising and previously unexplained is that non-human animals do not share or copy as much information as they might: this is almost as true for honey bees as it is for apes.

“But our study shows that competition for limited resources provides a compelling explanation.

“We found that when rewards are more evenly distributed in the environment or when our simulated patches quickly change the amount of food items, individuals are less likely to share or copy information.

“There is simply not much use in following others when an individual could also just find food on its own and then doesn’t have to compete with others.”

The paper ‘Competition for resources can explain patterns of social and individual learning in nature’ is available on request

For the first time scientists have come up with a precise explanation for why lobsters change colour from blue/black to red when cooked.

And the findings could have uses in the food industry and even in the delivery of some anti-cancer drugs.

When alive and living in the sea, lobsters are naturally a dark-blue/black colour. It is thought that natural selection led to this as it makes them harder to spot for predators. But put them in a pan of boiling water and they soon turn the familiar orange-red that is the colour that most people think for lobsters, ie on their dinner plates.

Now scientists from the School of Chemistry at The University of Manchester with their international collaborators have come up with a precise explanation for why, after years of academic discussion. In a paper published in one of the journals of the Royal Society of Chemistry the team describe their findings.

The key is a chemical called astaxanthin, which has the orange-red colour of a cooked lobster, and how it interacts with a complex of proteins called crustacyanin which lobsters produce.  The reaction of astaxanthin with the protein complex gives the creature its dark blue colour. But crucially, when the lobster is cooked the protein is denatured and the astaxanthin is released and reverts to its orange-red state. This much was known from the X-ray crystal structure published by members of the same team in 2002.

The remaining scientific issue was the mechanism underlying the colour shift of free to bound astaxanthin.  This is a much more complicated question! The clue is that astaxanthin can behave as an acid, a property that has emerged as important when it reacts with the lobster’s crustacyanin proteins. It is this that the new publication has discovered to create the blue colour.

Professor John Helliwell of The University of Manchester, who led the team which carried out the research, said: “Over the last thirteen years since our X-ray crystal structure there have been competing groups studying this coloration mechanism, but hopefully now the issue is solved. It is a scientific curiosity, but it may also have important applications in the real world.”

“The coloration is quite a complex process to do with the 3 dimensional structure of the proteins in complex with the astaxanthins it binds, and the implications could be very useful.”

“For example astaxanthin is an antioxidant, so it has many health properties. But because it is  insoluble in water the problem is how to deliver it to a target. But our findings suggest that mixing it with crustacyanin could do that and allow the astaxanthin to get to a target such as via the stomach.”

“It could also be used as food dye, for example to help create blue coloured ice cream.  Or it could be used in food stuffs to help people know when food has been cooked properly; a dot on the food that changes colour when it reaches a certain temperature could be used.”

“Most fundamental of all is arousing the curiosity of children and the public in basic science and our marine environment. In the era of climate change it is important for all to think about the delicate nature of life and the sustainability of life on the planet. How and why has lobster evolved this elaborate and delicate coloration mechanism? It is a beautiful and yet intriguing phenomenon.”

Notes for editors

The paper On the origin and variation of colors in lobster carapace has been published in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, a journal  of The Royal Society of Chemistry DOI: 10.1039/c4cp06124a

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In a paper published in Nature Communications, Professor Andrew MacDonald and his team at the 91ֱ�� Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research discovered a new way that immune cells control inflammation during worm infection or an allergic response like asthma. It’s important to understand how this type of inflammation is controlled as it can be very damaging and in some cases lead to long term conditions.

Professor MacDonald explains the reasons behind his work: “Although both worm infections and allergies exert a devastating global impact and lack effective vaccines or refined treatments, basic knowledge of the key cell types and mediators that control immunity and inflammation against either condition is currently limited.”

To study how inflammation is controlled the team looked at dendritic cells - a particular type of cell in the immune system that is a vital first responder to worms or allergies. The main function of dendritic cells is to recognise infection and switch on channels to combat it, including inflammation. 

What isn’t known is precisely how immune cells switch on the kind of inflammation found during worm infections or allergies.

Professor MacDonald and his team studied dendritic cells in the lab and animal models to see how they were activated by parasitic worms, or lung allergens such as house dust mites.

They found that a particular protein called Mbd2 is central to the ability of dendritic cells to switch on inflammation in these kinds of settings. When the protein was removed it resulted in very different cells with a dramatically impaired ability to switch on inflammation.

The team also identified that Mbd2 is able to influence a wide range of genes important for multiple aspects of dendritic cell function without altering their DNA sequence, meaning that Mbd2 is an ‘epigenetic’ regulator.

Professor MacDonald explains: “For the first time we have identified that this protein is a key controller of dendritic cells during inflammation against parasitic worms or allergens. It’s an important step, as all inflammation is not identical, and scientists try to understand which specific cells and chemicals are more important in the body’s response to particular infections. In the past, medicines have had a broad approach, affecting all aspects of a condition rather than being targeted. In the future it might be possible to create medicines that control the inflammation caused specifically by an allergy or a parasitic worm, rather than by a virus such as a common cold.”

Professor MacDonald continues: “With billions of people affected by both allergies and worm infections around the world it is vital that we develop better methods of treatment. It’s also important to tackle the inflammation caused by these conditions, as it has been shown to play a role in the development of longer term diseases such as asthma.”

Notes for editors

The paper “A dominant role for the methyl-CpG-binding protein Mbd2 in controlling Th2 induction by dendritic cells” will be published in Nature Communications.

For interview requests please contact:

Morwenna Grills
Media Relations Officer
Faculty of Life Sciences
The University of Manchester

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New research from The University of Manchester and the Institute of Zoology has shed light on the complex challenge facing scientists battling one of the world’s most devastating animal diseases.

Chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) is thought to be behind the decline or extinction of at least 200 species of frogs. It is also one of the reasons why 31% of amphibian species are currently listed as threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

This latest study used bacteria from frogs in Belize to test the limitations of probiotic treatments. This form of treatment aims to introduce bacteria cultivated from amphibians that aren’t affected by the disease to those at risk of infection to boost their immunity. 

Dr Rachael Antwis who carried out the study whilst completing her PhD at 91ֱ��’s Faculty of Life Sciences explains: “Using beneficial bacteria to act as ‘probiotics’ for disease mitigation is already common in agriculture and human health. In fact, many bacteria that reside on amphibian skin have been shown to inhibit the growth and survival of B. dendrobatidis. However, the reliability of the potential probiotics hasn’t been tested against the shifting targets the disease presents.” 

To assess the effectiveness of probiotic treatments, the team used bacteria taken from frogs in Belize, where the species has shown resilience despite the long term presence of the disease in the area. 56 strains of bacteria were isolated and stored for use in the laboratory. 

The team challenged the bacteria against different genetic strains of the disease, and then looked at whether the bacteria had inhibited the growth of the disease in its various forms. They found the bacteria performed in a variety of ways with only a small number inhibiting all forms of the disease. The bacteria that had an impact on one strain of the disease didn’t have the same impact on the other genetic variations. 

Dr Trenton Garner from The Zoological Society of London’s Institute of Zoology explains the results: “Because only a small proportion of the bacteria that could be used as candidate probiotics showed broad-spectrum inhibition against the global pandemic B. dendrobatidis lineage, we believe probiotic treatments are unlikely to be consistently successful when confronting a variety of fungal genotypes. Because of the enormous genetic variability of the disease and its ability to rapidly evolve, it’s vital that any treatment takes this into account.”

He continues: “We suggest that a variety of bacteria be used when creating probiotic treatments as this is likely to offer more comprehensive protection of hosts from B. dendrobatidis and other threatening amphibian pathogens.”

The results of the study have been published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Moving forwards the scientists say that further research is needed to fully understand how bacteria inhibit B. dendrobatidis growth and the ability to infect hosts. Looking at the B.  dendrobatidis genome for virulence factors will be fraught with difficulty but this study demonstrates some hope for finding effective probiotic treatments from within the amphibian community.

Dr Antwis concludes: “A lot more work is definitely needed before we can identify an effective cure for this devastating disease. But as a scientist I believe we not only have a moral obligation to keep searching, but an ecological one too. Amphibians inhabit the middle of food chain, making up a vital part of our ecosystem. If they go then that could spell disaster for many more species.”

Notes for editors

Images of the frogs used in the study are available from the press office.

All frogs used for bacterial samples were released unharmed back into the wild.

The paper: “Amphibian symbiotic bacteria do not show universal ability to inhibit growth of the global pandemic lineage of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis” has been published online in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

For image and interview requests please contact:

Morwenna Grills
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The University of Manchester

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Led by graduate student Angela Bruno, researchers at The University of Manchester and Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago mapped how neurons fired in the brain of the large sea slug Aplysia while it moved. 

Dr Mark Humphries, a Medical Research Council Fellow at 91ֱ��’s Faculty of Life Sciences, explains why they used sea slugs: “What happens in the brain during movement is currently only well understood for small, dedicated neural circuits. The sea slug brain has some of the complexity of higher organisms, yet has large neurons that make it possible to record a substantial amount of what is happening in the brain during movement.” 

Until very recently scientists have had to study brain activity one neuron at a time, but the latest imaging methods make it possible to take a systems approach, recording entire neural networks at single neuron resolution. The resulting data flood is spawning fruitful new collaborations, such as in this study, between experimenters skilled in gathering this technically demanding type of data and theoreticians skilled in decoding what the information reveals about how our brain works.

Professor William Frost from The Chicago Medical School says: “This is a really exciting time. This collaboration has created an approach that cuts the time taken to map neural networks from years to a few hours!”  

Dr Humphries adds: “My role in this project was to find the hidden organisation within the data collected by the Chicago team. Describing the dynamics of a neural population and decoding the neural programme is still very challenging. We hope that this research will help to build a language and toolkit for future researchers using any network-scale recording technology.”

The research, which is being published in the journal Neuron and was supported by the Medical Research Council, demonstrates how Aplysia’s complex locomotion network can be dramatically simplified and interpreted. The researchers found that co-active neurons formed large groups, and these groups were laid out like tiles across the network. One group's activity repeatedly drew a loop across the network, likely the source of constant activity needed to sustain locomotion over many minutes. 

Dr Humphries says: “This research introduces new methods for pulling apart neural circuits to expose their inner building blocks. Our methods could be used to help understand how brain networks change in disease states and how drugs act to restore normal brain function.”

Notes for editors

The paper “Modular deconstruction reveals the dynamical and physical building blocks of a locomotion motor program” will be published in the journal Neuron.

For image and interview requests please contact:

Morwenna Grills
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And the findings, published today in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, could have implications for conserving the species living in the vast area affected by monsoon rains.

A team including researchers from the University of Manchester, the University of Bristol, the Chinese Academy of Science, and Harvard University looked at the pattern of variation of the South Asian monsoon over time and compared it with the evolution of African mole rats and bamboo rats as revealed by a full analysis of their relationships coupled with studies of their distribution in space and through time and of their evolutionary rates.

They found the first proof that weakening and strengthening monsoon rains played a key role in the evolution of these species. Over a period of 24 million years, the changes observed in the teeth and head shape of the rodents examined, matched the varying strength of the monsoon. Of the 38 species studied only six still exist today and the changing rains seem to have driven several species into extinction.

Dr Fabien Knoll, a senior researcher at The University of Manchester, said:  “It was natural to assume that a mighty climatic phenomenon like the monsoon would play a part in evolution, but until now there has never been any decisive evidence thereof. We have now found that.”

The monsoon is a key driver of the environment in that part of the world. When it was strong forest cover and vegetation would be a lot fuller than in periods when the rains were weaker.

Dr Knoll added: “We used rodents in this study because they are the most common mammals in the fossil record, and they evolved rapidly and are very sensitive to any changes in their habitat.”

The researchers found that in periods when the monsoon was weaker the teeth of these rodents changed, as did other body parts they would use for digging, and they started to burrow underground. This would have provided them with resources as well as protection from predators when the forest cover was a lot thinner.

The authors of this study added: “We suggest that the variations in the monsoon intensity have impacted the evolution of most, if not all, mammals living in this region, although this remains to be proved convincingly (using our methodology or others) and the pattern would probably vary from group to group.”

Notes for editors

Ref: The paper “Causal evidence between monsoon and evolution of rhizomyine rodents” will be published in the journal Scientific Reports on Wednesday March 11. DOI: 10.1038/srep09008

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The fossil had been in the collections of Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery for more than 30 years until Dean Lomax (25) palaeontologist and Honorary Scientist at The University of Manchester, uncovered its hidden secrets.

Dean first examined the fossil in 2008 when he noticed several abnormalities in the bone structure which made him think he had something previously unidentified. Working with Professor Judy Massare of Brockport College, New York, he spent over five years travelling the world to check his findings and a paper explaining the discovery is published today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Dean said: “After examining the specimen extensively, both Professor Massare and I identified several unusual features of the limb bones (humerus and femur) that were completely different to any other ichthyosaur known. That became very exciting. After examining perhaps over a thousand specimens we found four others with the same features as the Doncaster fossil.”

Similar-shaped to dolphins and sharks, ichthyosaurs, which are often misidentified as ‘swimming dinosaurs’, swam the seas of the earth for millions of years during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, before being wiped out. The Doncaster fossil is between 189 and 182 million years old, from a time in the early Jurassic period called the Pliensbachian. It is the world’s most complete ichthyosaur of this age.

“The recognition of this new species is very important for our understanding of ichthyosaur species diversity during the early Jurassic, especially from this time interval, ” Dean added.

The research also looked at the size and age of the new species, and enabled a look at sexual differences (males and females). This included comparison with other groups of reptiles (living and extinct), whose limb bones are different between males and females, something that had never before been applied to ichthyosaurs. The limb bones of the Doncaster specimen were professionally prepared and removed, funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, as part of a grant awarded to Doncaster Museum Service.

The new species has been named Ichthyosaurus anningae in honour of the British collector, and woman in science, Mary Anning, who first collected ichthyosaurs in the early 1800’s. It is the first new Ichthyosaurus identified for almost 130 years.

Dean added: “Mary worked tirelessly to bring the ichthyosaurs, among other fossils, to the attention of the scientific world. Mary and her brother, Joseph, discovered the first ichthyosaur specimen to be scientifically recognised, collected at Lyme Regis around 1811.”

“It is an honour to name a new species, but to name it after somebody who is intertwined with such an important role in helping to sculpt the science of palaeontology, especially in Britain, is something that I’m very proud of. In fact, one of the specimens in our study was even found by Mary herself! Science is awesome.”

“This discovery shows that new species, and not only ichthyosaurs, are awaiting discovery in museum collections. Not all new discoveries are made in the field.”

Notes for editors

Ref: The paper: “A new species of Ichthyosaurus from the lower Jurassic of West Dorset, England” will be published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

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Scientists at The University of Manchester, working with colleagues at Stanford University in America, have discovered how prized bluefin tuna keep their hearts pumping during temperature changes that would stop a human heart.

The research helps to answer important questions about how animals react to rapid temperature changes, knowledge that’s becoming more essential as the earth warms.

Pacific bluefin tuna are top predators renowned for their epic migrations across the Pacific Ocean. They are also unique amongst bony fish as they are warm bodied (endothermic) and are capable of elevating their core body temperature up to 20°C above that of the surrounding water. They are also capable of diving down below 1000 m into much colder water which affects the temperature of their heart. 

Dr Holly Shiels at the university’s Faculty of Life Sciences says: “When tunas dive down to cold depths their body temperature stays warm but their heart temperature can fall by 15°C within minutes. The heart is chilled because it receives blood directly from the gills which mirrors water temperature. This clearly imposes stress upon the heart but it keeps beating, despite the temperature change. In most other animals the heart would stop.”  

The mis-match between oxygen demands of the tunas’ warm swimming muscles and the cardiac system that operates at water temperature is a puzzle the team has long been trying to solve. 

“Tunas are at a unique place in bony fish evolution” says Professor Barbara Block at Stanford. “Their bodies are almost like ours - endothermic, but their heart is running as all fish at ambient temperatures. How the heart keeps pumping as the fish moves into the colder water is the key to their expanded global range.”

To study the problem the team, including Dr Gina Galli from 91ֱ��’s Medical and Human Sciences Faculty, worked at the Tuna Research and Conservation Center at Stanford University one of the only places on the planet with live tuna for research. 

Professor Block’s team used electronic tags to monitor bluefin tuna in the wild: “These fish are born in the waters off Japan and will swim across the ocean in their first year of life to California. Here we tag the tunas and follow their migrations for years. The data reveals the tuna are very broad ranging in their thermal tolerances and the team from 91ֱ�� and Stanford University have worked together for nearly two decades to reveal how the heart of this unique fish is specialised for meeting these temperature changes.”

Tracking bluefin tuna in the wild using archival tags, the researchers were able to measure three things: the depth of the fish; its internal body temperature and the ambient water temperature. They then used the wild data to set the experimental conditions in the lab with single tuna heart cells to see how they beat. The results have been published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Dr Shiels explains their findings: “We discovered that changes in the heart beat due to the temperate, coupled with the stimulation of adrenalin by diving adjusts the electrical activity of the heart cells to maintain the constant calcium cycling needed to keep pumping. If we went through this temperature change our calcium cycling would be disrupted, our hearts would stop beating and we would die.”

Professor Block says that the discovery may explain some strange behaviour they’d monitored in the tagged tuna: “We were recording the fish swimming down into colder depths only to resurface quickly into the warmer surface waters, a so called “bounce” dive. From work at sea and in the lab we now know the fish hearts slow as they cool and as they resurfaced it sped up. Our findings suggest adrenalin, activated by the stress of diving, plays a key role in maintaining the heart’s capacity to supply the body with oxygen.”

The next step for the team will be to test other fish species to see if this method of keeping the heart pumping at low temperatures is unique to bluefin tuna.

Professor Block says: “We’re also exploring the bluefin’s heart at the warmest temperatures possible as this may be where their limitations are. To date, the studies have pushed the bluefin heart to 28C.”

Dr Shiels concludes: “This research was about understanding how animals perform under dramatic environmental changes. This gives us a clear insight into how one species maintains its heart function over varying temperatures, something we will need to study further given recorded changes in the earth’s temperature.”

Notes for editors

Video of footage of bluefin tuna is available as well as a clip of Dr Holly Shiels.

Please use this credit for the video: courtesy of Sea Studios and Stanford University. 
For the image please credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium/Randy Wilder 

The paper: “Cardiac function in an endothermic fish: cellular mechanism for overcoming acute thermal challengers during diving” was published online by Proceedings of the Royal Society B on 24 December 2014 and in hard copy on 7 February 2015.

For interview requests or for a copy of the paper please contact:

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In a unique partnership, The University of Manchester and The Natural History Museum have created short, personalised online courses for the public. The courses bring together the world-leading knowledge and teaching expertise of both institutions, covering topics such as extinctions, forensics and the biology and classification of biodiversity. 

The first series of courses is expected to start in Spring 2015 focusing on extinction, ranging from ancient extinction events, including what happened to the dinosaurs, through to modern and potential future extinctions. 

Professor Norman MacLeod, Dean of Postgraduate Education and Training at the Museum, says: “The researchers and curators of The Natural History Museum are world-renowned for their contributions to scholarly knowledge through their books and technical journal articles and also through the lectures they give and students they supervise. Now, advances in information technology and our partnership with The University of Manchester will enable us to reach out to audiences beyond London and the UK. We hope these courses will advance awareness, curiosity and learning about the natural world as well as promoting responsible stewardship of our planet.”

Rather than opting to run the courses as massive open online courses (MOOCs), these two world leading institutions will offer a more intimate and personal approach to online learning.

Professor Clair Baldock, Deputy Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning and Students for the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University explains: “The large numbers of students enrolled on MOOCs make it difficult for each student to interact personally with the teaching experts. For the most part, MOOC students are recipients of information. We want our short-course students to benefit from a more interactive and engaging learning experience.”

The Faculty of Life Sciences has extensive experience in the successful delivery of online courses. It is currently offering a range of short courses on Ancient Egypt throughout the year, covering topics such as Tutankhamen, Queens of Ancient Egypt, and Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. 

For more information or to enroll visit:

Information about the courses will also be released on Twitter via @NHM_London and @LSNewsfeed.

Notes for editors

Interview and image requests should be made to the press office.

For further information please contact:

Morwenna Grills
Media Relations Officer
Faculty of Life Sciences
The University of Manchester

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Mob: 07920 087466
Email: morwenna.grills@manchester.ac.uk

The Natural History Museum Press Office
Tel: 020 7942 5654 
Email: press@nhm.ac.uk

The model could provide new insights into the mechanisms behind motor disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease. It may also shed light on conditions involving abnormal learning, such as addiction.

Dr Mark Humphries from The University of Manchester explains the research: “We wanted to look at how we learn from feedback – particularly how we learn to associate actions to new unexpected outcomes. To do this we created a series of computational models to show how the firing of dopamine neurons caused by receiving reward ultimately translates into selecting the causative action more frequently in the future.”

Learning to associate rewarding outcomes with specific actions is a key part of survival, for example searching for food or avoiding predators.  It is already known that actions are represented in the cortex—the brain’s outer layer of neural tissue—and rewarding outcomes activate neurons that release a brain chemical called dopamine.

These neuronal signals are sent to another area of the brain, the striatum – the input station for a collection of brain structures called the basal ganglia - which plays an important role in selecting which action to take.

Collectively, this evidence suggests that dopamine signals change the strength of connections between cortical and striatal neurons, thereby determining which action is appropriate for a specific set of circumstances. But until now, no model had integrated these strands of evidence to test this.

Dr Humphries explains why they created the model: “Essentially within this area of research we are tackling a puzzle in which we have an unknown number of pieces and no picture to guide us. Some pieces have been intensively studied individually, so the questions were: could we put the pieces of the puzzle together and prove that they made a coherent picture? And could we guess at the missing pieces? The only way to build the puzzle from the individual pieces was through using a computational model, which allows us to do things impossible in experiments - not least, provide solutions and guesses for the unknown, missing pieces.”

Their model revealed how several brain signals work together to shape the inputs from the cortex to the basal ganglia so the appropriate action is chosen.

Professor Kevin Gurney says: “The computational framework works across several scales of description, linking data on plastic change at single synapses between cortex and striatum, with behavioural data on learning the association between actions and outcomes. The model reveals that the relative strength of cortical inputs, which represent different possible actions, to the two populations of dopamine responsive cells, determines whether an action is selected or suppressed.”

He continues: “Moreover, the correct timing of neuronal activity, the type of dopamine responsive cells, and dopamine level are necessary for generating neuronal activity patterns that result in successful learning.”

Dr Humphries concludes: “The fact that the pieces of our puzzle all fitted together to produce a single coherent picture is evidence that we (as a field) are converging on a complete theory for how the brain learns from reward.”

This study provides strong support for the hypothesis that cortical inputs to neurons in the striatum are crucial for learning the association between action and outcome.

Moving forward, the model provides a common framework in which to place new findings on all aspects of learning from outcomes. In the clinical realm, it could also reveal novel insights into the mechanisms behind motor disorders and shed light on abnormal learning related to conditions such as addiction, where the association becomes so strong that the action is repeatedly chosen even when it is not appropriate to do so. The striatum is the focus of much addiction research precisely because of the proposed role in learning this association, and because so many drugs, for example cocaine, interfere with the dopamine system. 

Notes for editors

The paper “New framework for cotico-striatal plasticity: behavioural theory meets in vitro data at the reinforcement-action interface” has been published in PLOS Biology.

The research was carried out jointly between Professors Kevin Gurney and Peter Redgrave of the University of Sheffield and Dr Mark Humphries of The University of Manchester.

For interview requests please contact:

Morwenna Grills
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He says: "When our jawed vertebrate ancestors overtook their jawless relatives 400 million years ago, it seems that it might not have been through direct competition but instead the inability of our jawless cousins to adapt to changing environmental conditions."

In this research, Dr Sansom, PhD student Emma Randle and Phil Donoghue from the University of Bristol studied the patterns of diversity of fossil jawless fish. These boney fish with a tank like construction (ostracoderms) were dominant and diverse in ancient seas. The team found that patterns of ostracoderm diversity were correlated with changing environmental and geological conditions; the fish were strongly reliant on the availability of shallow water seas and ecosystems. 

Dr Sansom says: "Our research suggests the dependence of these armoured fish on shallow environments is likely to be a factor behind their demise and eventual extinction in the Devonian period when sea levels rose."

The findings also suggest the jawless fish could have existed earlier than previously thought.

Dr Sansom explains: "Understanding the relationship between biodiversity and changing conditions at this time reveals a long missing fossil record for our jawless cousins. It is possible that they could have radiated and evolved up to 20 million years before their first known occurrences as fossils."

He continues: "As such, using biological and geological data helps us understand an important evolutionary event and reconstruct our own origins as jawed vertebrates."

Notes for editors

An image is available with this story. Please contact the press office.

The paper “Discriminating Signal from noise in the fossil record of early vertebrates reveals cryptic evolutionary history” will be published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 

The authors would like to thank the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for funding for this work.

For more information, image and interview requests please contact:

Morwenna Grills
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Faculty of Life Sciences
The University of Manchester

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Email: Morwenna.Grills@manchester.ac.uk 

Scientists at The University of Manchester are attempting to map the genes of an endangered British sea creature to aid a captive breeding programme.

A team from the Faculty of Life Sciences is unraveling the genetic secrets of the undulate ray, a protected species in UK waters where its numbers have declined sharply.

Their data will be used to check the heritage of around 120 undulate rays in European aquariums, to draw up family trees and help pair up breeding adults to produce healthy offspring.

The team is looking at how diverse undulate ray DNA is – which gives an idea of how inbred an individual is. In a small breeding group inbreeding can result in frequent still-births and shorten the life-spans of offspring.

“This approach has never been used to aid captive breeding in sharks and rays before,” says evolutionary biologist , who is heading up the 91ֱ�� team.

“It is exciting for myself and my students to be working on a project with such a worthwhile practical application as well as strong scientific value.”

 

Marine biologist Jean-Denis Hibbitt at , who has been managing the UK population since 2010, is now managing the European breeding and monitoring programme for the species.  

There have already been 29 successful births at 10 different aquariums in the UK since the programme was launched, including at SeaLife Blackpool.

Dr Fitzpatrick estimates his team will have identified the genetic markers required to check for family relationships between the captive undulates within two years. 

“The first objective of the breeding programme is to provide undulate rays for public display to help raise awareness of their plight,” said Jean-Denis.

“This added awareness and the ability for people to identify the species, will subsequently allow them to question whether illegally landed rays are on sale in their local fishmonger,” he added.

“If numbers in the wild fall to a critical level it is feasible we could help with a reintroduction programme.”

Jean-Denis has compiled a stud-book and travelled Europe micro-chipping the rays to make each individual’s details and history easier to check in the future. 

Populations of undulate ray in the Channel and off Southern Ireland are at the northern edge of their range, which stretches down the East Atlantic to the Mediterranean.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature reports that fishery catches in some areas fell by between 60 and 80-per-cent between 1988 and 2004.

Named after the distinctive wavy lines on their upper bodies, undulate rays live typically at depths of 50 to 200 metres.

Growing to over 85 cms in length, they feed on crustacea including crabs, and females lay distinctive leathery oblong eggs – called mermaid’s purses - in the summer. They can live for 20 years.

Commercial fishing is blamed for the dramatic decline of the species, and was banned in 2009. 

“Many of those housed at Sea Life centres and other aquariums had changed homes on one or more occasions and details of each individual’s antecedence had become very murky,” said Jean-Denis.

“Their long lifespan has also meant that many rays have been at aquariums longer than many of their keepers! That’s why this collaboration with The University of Manchester could be invaluable.”

University of Manchester student Iulia Darolti has travelled the UK taking DNA swabs from all 45 undulate rays in British aquariums. 

She and Jean-Denis also accompanied a sports fishing expedition and managed to swab two wild undulate rays for comparison before these were released.

“It has been a challenging assignment,” said Iulia. “To expose the rays to as little stress as possible we developed non-invasive sampling techniques that allowed us to collect DNA from the skin.

Travelling the country working with rays is something I never imagined myself doing, but it has been a very rewarding experience,” she added.

PhD student Graeme Fox has been doing much of the laboratory work and says: “We developed a set of genetic markers to help discover whether the rays are related or not. After screening the DNA, we were able to identify regions that were likely to be highly variable. That allowed us to give each ray a unique genetic signature, and this will enable us to determine whether they are brothers, sisters, parents, or distantly related to one another. Our hope is that this data will enable Sea Life to plan the optimum management strategy to secure the genetic health of this beautiful and sadly increasingly scarce species.”

Jean-Denis is also hopeful the DNA testing will ultimately be extended to the UK’s wild populations.

Undulate rays typically have a patchy distribution in the wild, especially in the English channel. 

“If it is found that the shrinking population has led to localised inbreeding it would sound alarm bells for the future survival of an iconic species in our waters,” he said.

Notes for editors

For image and interview requests please contact:

Mark Oakley at Sea Life 
Tel: 01202 440040 

Morwenna Grills at The University of Manchester
Tel: 0161 275 2111
Mob: 07920 087466
Email: Morwenna.Grills@manchester.ac.uk

Researchers say climate change isn’t threatening reindeer on the Norwegian high arctic archipelago of Svalbard.

Instead the populations in the region are thriving because of rising temperatures according to a study undertaken by scientists from The University of Manchester and the Norwegian arctic university in Tromsø.

The research team found out that the numbers of Svalbard reindeer have increased by 30% in the last year. This year's result continues the trend which has been observed accurately over the last 36 years.

The scientists discovered this by counting the number of reindeer in the valley of Adventdalen in central Spitsbergen, part of a long term study of a reindeer population in Svalbard.

This is one of only a very few studies on animal populations and climate change that involves animals being physically counted annually rather than estimated.

The total number of reindeer (including all births and all deaths) in Adventdalen have been recorded annually since 1979 by a team led by Dr Nicholas Tyler of the Norwegian arctic university.

The population of reindeer in Svalbard had increased in close parallel with winter warming in the last 35 years, growing from an average of around 600 animals in the early 1980s to an average of around 1,000 today.

Dr Tyler said: “Winter warming is widely held to be a major threat to reindeer across the arctic but, in the high arctic archipelago of Svalbard global warming has had the opposite effect. Our data provides remarkable confirmation of this counter intuitive observation.”

This summer a team from The University of Manchester, led by Dr Jonathan Codd and Mr Nathan Thavarajah, assisted with the annual census of reindeer in Adventdalen.

Dr Codd, who is the programme director for zoology at the university, said: “The results revealed a remarkably successful year for Svalbard reindeer. Despite very high numbers in 2013, the population increased by almost 30% and reached a new record of just over 1300 animals, more than three times the population size in 1979 when the present series of counts began.”

The team found very little winter mortality and very high calving – there were over 300 calves in the valley which was the second highest number ever recorded.

“The substantial increase in the numbers of reindeer is linked with frequent and pronounced periods of warm weather last winter,” said Dr Codd. “In February the temperature rose above freezing for six days reaching a maximum of +4.2°c and the streets of the Norwegian settlement at Longyearbyen were reported awash with melt water.”
 

Notes for editors

A selection of images are available on request.

Dr Jonathan Codd and Dr Nicolas Tyler are available for interview through the Media Relations Office.

Kath Paddison
Media Relations Officer
Faculty of Life Sciences
The University of Manchester
Tel. +44 (0)161 275 2111
Email: kath.paddison@manchester.ac.uk

The 91ֱ�� team, working with scientists in Argentina, were able to laser scan a 40 metre-long skeleton of the vast Cretaceous Argentinosaurus dinosaur. Then using an advanced computer modeling technique involving the equivalent of 30,000 desktop computers they recreated its walking and running movements and tested
its locomotion ability tested for the very first time.

The study, published in , provides the first ever ‘virtual’ trackway of the dinosaur and disproves previous suggestions that the animal was inflated in size and could not have walked.

Dr Bill Sellers, lead researcher on the project from the University’s Faculty of Life Sciences, said: “If you want to work out how dinosaurs walked, the best approach is computer simulation. This is the only way of bringing together all the different strands of information we have on this dinosaur, so we can reconstruct how it once moved.”

Dr Lee Margetts, who also worked on the project, said: “We used the equivalent of 30,000 desktop computers to allow Argentinosaurus to take its first steps in over 94 million years.
“The new study clearly demonstrates the dinosaur was more than capable of strolling across the Cretaceous planes of what is now Patagonia, South America.”

The team of scientists included Dr Rodolfo Coria from Carmen Funes Museum, Plaza Huincal, Argentina, who was behind the first physical reconstruction of this dinosaur that takes its name from the country where it was found. The dinosaur was so big it was named after a whole country.

Dr Phil Manning, from 91ֱ�� who contributed to the paper, said: “It is frustrating there was so little of the original dinosaur fossilized, making any reconstruction difficult. The digitization of such vast dinosaur skeletons using laser scanners brings Walking with Dinosaurs to life…this is science not just animation.”

Dr Sellers uses his own software (Gaitsym) to investigate locomotion both living and extinct animals have to overcome.

“The important thing is that these animals are not like any animal alive today and so we can’t just copy a modern animal,” he explained. “Our machine learning system works purely from the information we have on the dinosaur and predicts the best possible movement patterns.”

The dinosaur weighed 80 tonnes and the simulation shows that it would have reached just over 2 m/s - about 5 mph.

Dr Sellers said the research was important for understanding more about musculoskeletal systems and for developing robots.
 
He added: “All vertebrates from humans to fish share the same basic muscles, bones and joints. To understand how these function we can compare how they are used in different animals, and the most interesting are often those at extremes. Argentinosaurus is the biggest animal that ever walked on the surface of the earth and understanding how it did this will tell us a lot about the maximum performance of the vertebrate musculoskeletal system. We need to know more about this to help understand how it functions in ourselves.

“Similarly if we want to build better legged robots then we need to know more about the mechanics of legs in a whole range of animals and nothing has bigger, more powerful legs than Argentinosaurus.”

The University of Manchester team now plans to use the method to recreate the steps of other dinosaurs including Triceratops, Brachiosaurus and T. rex.

The Collection will be freely available to read in .

ENDS

Notes for editors

Image and video attached are available on request. Please credit Dr Bill Sellers, The University of Manchester.

Dr Bill Sellers will be in San Francisco from Tuesday and has limited interview availability. For more information and to request an interview, please contact: Alison Barbuti | Media Relations Officer | The University of Manchester
Tel. +44 (0)161 275 8383 | Mobile 07887 561 318 | Email: alison.barbuti@manchester.ac.uk

The paper is published in PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science) 30 October Sellers WI, Margetts L, Coria RA, Manning PL (2013) March of the Titans: The Locomotor Capabilities of Sauropod Dinosaurs. PLoS ONE 8(10): e78733. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0078733

The collection is freely available to read in PLOS:

It is hardly possible to talk about fossil insects in amber without the 1993 movie Jurassic Park entering the debate.

The idea of recreating dinosaurs by extracting DNA from insects in amber has held the fascination of the public for two decades. Claims for successful extraction of DNA from ambers up to 130 million-years-old by various scientists in the early 1990s were only seriously questioned when a study at the Natural History Museum, London, was unable to replicate the process. The original claims are now considered by many to be a text-book example of modern contaminant DNA in the samples. Nonetheless, some scientists hold fast to their original claims.

Research just published in the journal by a team of researchers from the Faculty of Life Sciences at The University of Manchester can now confirm that the existence of DNA in amber fossils is highly unlikely. The team led by amber expert Dr David Penney and co-ordinated by ancient DNA expert Professor Terry Brown used highly-sensitive ‘next generation’ sequencing techniques – the most advance type of DNA sequencing - on insects in copal, the sub-fossilized resin precursor of amber.

The research was conducted wearing full forensic suits in the dedicated ancient DNA facility at The University of Manchester, which comprises a suite of independent, physically isolated laboratories, each with an ultra-filtered air supply maintaining positive displacement pressure and a managed access system.

According to Professor Brown: “In the original 1990s studies DNA amplification was achieved by a process called the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which will preferentially amplify any modern, undamaged DNA molecules that contaminate an extract of partially degraded ancient ones to give false positive results that might be mistaken for genuine ancient DNA. Our approach, using ‘next generation’ sequencing methods is ideal for ancient DNA because it provides sequences for all the DNA molecules in an extract, regardless of their length, and is less likely to give preference to contaminating modern molecules.”

The team concluded that their inability to detect ancient DNA in relatively young (60 years to 10,600 years old) sub-fossilized insects in copal, despite using sensitive next generation methods, suggests that the potential for DNA survival in resin inclusions is no better, and perhaps worse, than that in air-dried museum insects (from which DNA has been retrieved using similar techniques). This raises significant doubts about claims of DNA extraction from fossil insects in amber, many millions of years older than copal.

Dr Penney said: “Intuitively, one might imagine that the complete and rapid engulfment in resin, resulting in almost instantaneous demise, might promote the preservation of DNA in a resin entombed insect, but this appears not to be the case. So, unfortunately, the Jurassic Park scenario must remain in the realms of fiction.”

-ENDS-

Notes for editors

Dr David Penney is available for interview. For further information or to request an interview, please contact: Alison Barbuti | Media Relations Officer | The University of Manchester
Tel. +44 (0)161 275 8383 | Mobile 07887 561 318 | Email: alison.barbuti@manchester.ac.uk
Images available: David Penney in Forensic Suit and/or sub-fossilized bee in copal

Full journal reference: Penney, D., Wadsworth, C., Fox, G., Kennedy, S.L., Preziosi, R.F. & Brown, T.A. (2013) Absence of ancient DNA in sub fossil insect inclusions preserved in 'Anthropocene' Colombian copal. PLoS ONE, in press.
To view the paper in The Public Library of Science ONE (PLOS ONE), please click here: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0073150.

Scientists at The University of Manchester have made a surprising finding after studying how tadpoles re-grow their tails which could have big implications for research into human healing and regeneration.

It is generally appreciated that frogs and salamanders have remarkable regenerative capacities, in contrast to mammals, including humans. For example, if a tadpole loses its tail a new one will regenerate within a week. For several years Professor Enrique Amaya and his team at The Healing Foundation Centre in the Faculty of Life Sciences have been trying to better understand the regeneration process, in the hope of eventually using this information to find new therapies that will improve the ability of humans to heal and regenerate better.

In an earlier study, Professor Amaya’s group identified which genes were activated during tail regeneration. Unexpectedly, that study showed that several genes that are involved in metabolism are activated, in particular those that are linked to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) - chemically reactive molecules containing oxygen. What was unusual about those findings is that ROS are commonly believed to be harmful to cells.

Professor Amaya and his group decided to follow up on this unexpected result and their new findings will be published in the next issue of Nature Cell Biology. 

To examine ROS during tail regeneration, they measured the level of H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide, a common reactive oxygen species in cells) using a fluorescent molecule that changes light emission properties in the presence of H2O2. Using this advanced form of imaging, Professor Amaya and his group were able to show that a marked increase in H2O2 occurs following tail amputation and interestingly, they showed that the H2O2 levels remained elevated during the entire tail regeneration process, which lasts several days.

Talking about the research Professor Amaya says: “We were very surprised to find these high levels of ROS during tail regeneration. Traditionally, ROS have been thought to have a negative impact on cells. But in this case they seemed to be having a positive impact on tail re-growth.” 

To assess how vital the presence of ROS are in the regeneration process, Professor Amaya’s team limited ROS production using two methods. The first was by using chemicals, including an antioxidant, and the second was by removing a gene responsible for ROS production. In both cases the regeneration process was inhibited and the tadpole tail did not grow back. 

Professor Amaya says: "When we decreased ROS levels, tissue growth and regeneration failed to occur. Our research suggests that ROS are essential to initiate and sustain the regeneration response. We also found that ROS production is essential to activate Wnt signalling, which has been implicated in essentially every studied regeneration system, including those found in humans. It was also striking that our study showed that antioxidants had such a negative impact on tissue regrowth, as we are often told that antioxidants should be beneficial to health."

The publication of Professor Amaya's study comes just days after a paper from the Nobel Prize winner and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, James Watson, suggested antioxidants could be harmful to people in the later stages of cancer.

Professor Amaya comments: "It's very interesting that two papers suggesting that antioxidants may not always be beneficial have been published recently. Our findings and those of others are leading to a reversal in our thinking about the relative beneficial versus harmful effects that oxidants and antioxidants may have on human health, and indeed that oxidants, such as ROS, may play some important beneficial roles in healing and regeneration."

The next step for the team at the Healing Foundation Centre will be to study ROS and their role in the healing and regenerative processes more closely. With a better understanding, Professor Amaya and his team hope to apply their findings to human health to identify whether manipulating ROS levels in the body could improve our ability to heal and regenerate tissues better. Thus these findings have very important implications in regenerative medicine.

Notes for editors

Professor Amaya is available for interviews and can be arranged through the press office.
Images can also be obtained from the press office.

The paper “Amputation-induced reactive oxygen species are required for successful Xenopus tadpole tail regeneration” will be published in Nature on Sunday 13 January 2013.

The research work in this paper was supported by a Wellcome Trust Program Grant (E.A.), a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship (J.L.G.), a Wellcome Trust PhD Studentship (P.K.), and grants from the BBSRC (K.D.), The Healing Foundation (N.R.L., Y.C., E.A.) and The National Science Foundation (N.R.L.).

The Healing Foundation Centre represents a 25 year, £10 million commitment between The Healing Foundation and The University of Manchester to advance the understanding of wound healing and tissue regeneration. The ultimate goal of the centre is to identify treatments that will improve the lives of patients with disfigurements, either congenital, or following accident and disease.

For more information or for interview and image requests please contact:

Morwenna Grills
Media Relations Officer
Faculty of Life Sciences
The University of Manchester

Tel: 0161 275 2111
Mob: 07920 087466
Email: Morwenna.Grills@manchester.ac.uk 

Researchers report that an arctic relative of the grouse has evolved to cope with its extreme environment by moving efficiently at high speeds or when carrying winter weight.

This discovery is of relevance to welfare in the poultry industry where birds are bred to be heavier. Ultimately, better understanding the physiology of a natural animal model of extreme weight gain could one day lead to improving the welfare and meat yield of domesticated breeds and so contribute to preventing a future food security crisis.

The University of Manchester team, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (), has studied the Svalbard rock ptarmigan within the arctic circle in collaboration with colleagues at Norway’s Tromso university; today (02 February) they publish their findings in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

, who led the research team, said: “We can learn a lot from the Svalbard rock ptarmigan because it is so well adapted for life in an extreme environment – minus 20 degrees and dark all day in the winter and then light for almost 24 hours a day in the summer. Like most wild birds, they put on fat for the winter to insulate them from the cold and also as an emergency energy store. For Ptarmigans this fat can be up to 32% of their body weight in the winter.

“We are hoping that the knowledge we gain from our studies will eventually help the poultry meat industry to breed birds that can put on weight quickly but have the necessary physiological features so that they don’t suffer as a result.”

In an additional paper, published in PLoS ONE during November 2010, Dr Codd’s team showed that – somewhat counter intuitively – Ptarmigans are actually more energy efficient in their movements when they are heaviest, making them particularly good at conserving resources during the extreme arctic winters when food is scarce and hard to find.

Dr Codd continued: “You can see why this might be relevant to farmed birds that put on a lot of weight very quickly. For example, if Ptarmigans have a particular musculoskeletal structure that means being heavy doesn’t cause them discomfort, and even makes them more efficient at storing energy, then we might be able to look for these features to breed into farmed birds.”

Following this finding, the team went on to investigate the different gaits used by the Ptarmigan. In the work published today, they have shown that the most energy efficient gait for the Ptarmigan is aerial running at high speeds where both feet leave the ground.

, lead author on the paper, said: “In the lab, the Ptarmigan use three different gaits: walking, aerial running and an in between gait that we call ‘grounded’ running because unlike aerial running, but like walking, one foot is always in contact with the ground.

“Much like humans, the aerial running gait involves a springing off of the foot in contact with the ground, which then launches the body up and onwards into the next aerial stride. The leg may be thought of as a pogo stick, the spring compressing when the foot contacts the ground and the weight of the body lands upon it. The main difference being that the spring in the leg comes from elasticity in the tendons. In grounded running, there is still a spring forward from the grounded leg, but not so much as in aerial running when both feet leave the floor.”

The research so far has been carried out in the lab where Ptarmigans have been trained to run on a treadmill inside a controlled environment within a Perspex box. This allows the researchers to measure the rate at which they are using Oxygen and therefore how energy efficient their movements are. The next stage of the research is to explore the energy efficiency of Ptarmigan movements in the wild.

Dr Nudds continued: “We’re actually not sure if the Ptarmigan definitely use grounded running in the wild – it could just be that we are asking them to move at a speed they don’t particularly use outside.”

Dr Codd added: “The terrain may be very important as well. If it is very rough or if obstacles are covered by snow, they will need to be able to change direction quite quickly and so having both feet off the ground would be a distinct disadvantage. In that case they might be more likely to use walking or grounded running, which while less energy efficient, probably overall would enable them to find more food.”

Professor Janet Allen, Director of Research, BBSRC said: “It is really important that we increase food production and that includes meat. Our aim is to do this sustainably and with the same or improved welfare of the animals that are farmed. Studies such as this that tell us about the basic underlying biology of animals that operate in extreme environments are not only fascinating but can also tell us a great deal about how to breed farmed animals that are fit, healthy and productive.”

Ends

Notes for editors

Images and video are available to download here (please note copyright info):

About BBSRC:

BBSRC is the UK funding agency for research in the life sciences and the largest single public funder of agriculture and food-related research.

Sponsored by Government, in 2010/11 BBSRC is investing around £470 million in a wide range of research that makes a significant contribution to the quality of life in the UK and beyond and supports a number of important industrial stakeholders, including the agriculture, food, chemical, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.

BBSRC provides institute strategic research grants to the following:

The Babraham Institute, Institute for Animal Health, Institute for Biological, Environmental and Rural Studies (Aberystwyth University), Institute of Food Research, John Innes Centre, The Genome Analysis Centre, The Roslin Institute (University of Edinburgh) and Rothamsted Research.

The Institutes conduct long-term, mission-oriented research using specialist facilities. They have strong interactions with industry, Government departments and other end-users of their research.

For more information see:

For further information contact:

BBSRC External Relations:

Nancy Mendoza, Tel: 01793 413355, email: nancy.mendoza@bbsrc.ac.uk

Mike Davies, Tel: 01793 414694, email: mike.davies@bbsrc.ac.uk

Matt Goode, Tel: 01793 413299, email: matt.goode@bbsrc.ac.uk

Or Aeron Haworth
Media Relations
Faculty of Life Sciences
The University of Manchester

Tel: 0161 275 8383
Mob: 07717 881563
Email: aeron.haworth@manchester.ac.uk

The research team, led by Dr Hugues Dardente and Professor David Hazlerigg at the University of Aberdeen and including Professor Andrew Loudon and Dr Sandrine Dupre at 91ֱ��’s Faculty of Life Sciences, has pinpointed the ‘switch’ controlling seasonal hormone production, based on the changing daily cycle of light and darkness.

Their findings, published today in Current Biology, give new insight into the link between daily and seasonal timing in mammals and suggest that an ancient mechanism has remained largely unchanged during vertebrate evolution. The extent to which such mechanisms are "hard-wired" will have a major impact on how animals cope with changing seasons in a warming world.

The study, in collaboration with the universities of Manchester and Edinburgh, looked at the primitive Soay breed of sheep, which relies on strong seasonal biology to survive in the wild on the North Atlantic islands of St Kilda.

The team identified the key signal to the brain controlling seasonal behaviour and physiology in a previous study in 2008. It found that a chemical known as thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) acts in the brain to control the activation of seasonal breeding in sheep, and is regulated by day length. But the researchers did not know how changes in the daily cycle of light and dark triggered the production of high levels of TSH in the spring and a decline in the autumn.

Professor Loudon said: “We have now indentified that ‘switch’, linking the daily ‘circadian clock’ to the yearly seasonal clock. This reveals a potential genetic mechanism as to how local populations may adapt and is going to be crucial as we explore the implications of global climate change for timing of breeding and production of young.

“The evidence is that species in the high arctic are going to be in serious trouble, as they will not be able to adjust their annual clock to match altered local seasons.”

Professor Hazlerigg said: “"Understanding this process is vital as seasonal changes in day length are used by animals to synchronise major life-history events such as migration, moulting, and reproduction.

“It enables seasonal animals to anticipate and prepare biologically for what is going on in the outside world rather than adapting to it once it has happened, for example growing a thick coat in preparation for winter.

“Because the switch we describe is based on day length, it performs reliably, regardless of whether we have snow in November or an unseasonably warm March.”

This has important implications for the adaptation of strongly seasonal animals to climate change. Animals with systems that are highly reliant on day length as a cue may struggle to adapt as global warming starts to affect the timing of favourable conditions for growth and breeding. For example, a warm spring might lead to birds arriving at a spring feeding area after the peak of food availability has already passed, to the detriment of their breeding success. By defining the molecular pathways through which day length synchronisation operates, we open the way for genetic analyses of the impact on climate change on seasonal species, and may be able to predict species vulnerability dependent on habitat and genetic makeup.

Notes for editors

For more information or an interview with Professor Andrew Loudon please contact Media Relations Officer Mikaela Sitford on 07768 980942 or Mikaela.Sitford@manchester.ac.uk.

The paper "A molecular switch for photoperiod responsiveness in mammals", Dardente, H et al, is published in 2010 Current Biology Volume 20, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2010.10.048

Scientists from The University of Manchester have identified preserved organic molecules in the skin of a dinosaur that died around 66-million years ago.

The well-preserved fossil of the plant-eating hadrosaur – known as ‘Dakota’ – has been analysed by researchers writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The team report how the fossil's soft tissues were spared from decay by fine sediments that formed a mineral cast.

A wide range of tests have shown that the fossil still holds cell-like structures, although the constituent proteins have decayed.

Advanced imaging and chemical techniques have revealed that the mummified duckbilled dinosaur had two layers of skin – just like the skin of modern birds and reptiles, which scientists believe are closely related to duckbilled dinosaurs.

They believe the hippo-sized Dakota fell into a watery grave, with little oxygen present to speed along the decay process. Meanwhile, very fine sediments reacted with the soft tissues of the animal, forming a kind of cement.

As a result, the 66 million-year-old fossil still retains some of the organic matter of the original dinosaur, mixed in with the minerals.

"You're looking at cell-like structures; you slice through this and you're looking at the cell structure of dinosaur skin,” said Dr Phil Manning, Senior Lecturer in Palaeontology & Research Fellow School of Earth, Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences (SEAES). “That is absolutely gobsmacking."
 

Notes for editors

For more information please contact Alex Waddington, Media Relations Officer, The University of Manchester, Tel 0161 275 8387.

A copy of the paper and images are available on request.

The 91ֱ�� research team comprised Dr Phil Manning (SEAES and 91ֱ�� Museum), Peter Morris (SEAES and the Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science), Adam McMahon and Emrys Jones (Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre), Andy Gize and Joe Macquaker (SEAES), Prof Simon Gaskell and Onrapak Reamtong (91ֱ�� Interdisciplinary Biocentre), Dr Bill Sellers (Faculty of Life Science), Bart van Dongen (SEAES and Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science), Mike Buckley and Dr Roy Wogelius (SEAES and Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science)

Scientists at The University of Liverpool, 91ֱ�� Metropolitain University, Yale University and The University of York also took part in the study.
 

Now Dr Roland Ennos and his team at The University of Manchester are trying to find out: why do we have them?

Dr Ennos, at the University’s Faculty of Life Sciences, said: “I have been thinking about this for years and, having played around with it for a bit, realised that skin is rubbery so the ridges in fingerprints might actually reduce grip.

“Our experiments – using a plastic cup, weights and strips of Perspex (acrylic glass) to develop a simple machine in the lab – proved me right.”

He added: “What is interesting is that not only primates have fingerprints. Koalas, which are marsupials, have fingerprints too, while there are monkeys in South America that have them on their tails.

“So what are these prints for? My preferred theory is that they allow the skin to deform and thus stop blistering. That is why we get blisters on the smooth parts of our hands and feet and not the ridged areas: our fingerpads, palms and soles.

“We are now testing that theory and two others, that fingerprints improve grip on rough surfaces and that they increase sensitivity.”

Dr Ennos disproved the long-held assumption that fingerprints help primates to grip with a simple machine, three strips of perspex and the right hand of Masters student Peter Warman. They tested Peter’s grip on each finger and thumb on three different widths of perspex as the machine pulled the perspex strips down via a weight in a plastic cup. They also tested grip at three different angles by bending the fingers and thumb. This wide range of testing conditions allowed them to separate pressing force from the contact area and overcome any confounding variables.

The team, whose results are published and discussed in the (June 2009), found friction increased with surface area, against the normal law of physics which states that friction does not change with surface area. This is because skin is rubbery and not a normal solid.

The team also measured the contact area by covering the fingers and thumb with ink and taking prints at different forces, aligning them with the results. This showed that fingerprints reduced contact area by one third compared with flat skin, which would have reduced friction.

The results showed that fingertips behaved more like rubbers than hard solids; their coefficients of friction fell at higher normal forces and friction was higher when fingers were held flatter against wider sheets and hence when contact area was greater. The shear stress was greater at higher pressures, suggesting the presence of a biofilm between the skin and the surface. Fingerprints reduced contact area by a factor of one third compared with flat skin, however, which would have reduced the friction. This casts severe doubt on their supposed frictional function.

Dr Ennos said: “The experiment was so simple, this discovery could have been made 100 years ago; but scientists make assumptions and tend to look at complicated things instead.

“I like to think differently, I am interested in the ‘why’ questions and look at things that affect people in their daily life. Everyone thinks science is all about the impossible but it’s not – it helps us understand the world around us.”

He added: “There are potential spin-offs for this work. For example some people who suffer nerve damage that prevents sweating have slippery fingers and cannot grip: we could develop something to treat that.”

He and the team will now test how fingerprints affect grip on rough surfaces and on wet surfaces, to see if their function is to channel water away via their grooves. They will also test if and how fingerprints prevent blisters.

Notes for editors

For more information, a copy of the paper, images or an interview with Dr Roland Ennos, contact Media Relations Officer Mikaela Sitford on 0161 275 2111, 07768 980942 or Mikaela.Sitford@manchester.ac.uk.

The paper ‘’ is available.

The University of Manchester’s Faculty of Life Sciences, with more than 1,000 people involved in research, 1,700 undergraduate students and an annual total budget of £65 million, is one of the largest and most successful unified research and teaching organisations of its kind in Europe. See .

A rare female frog has been seen for the first time in 20 years during an expedition to Central America by scientists from The University of Manchester and .

The tiny tree frog Isthmohyla rivularis was seen in Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve.

This species was thought to have become extinct two decades ago, but last year from The University's found and photographed a male.

But the discovery of the pregnant female and also more males suggests this species is breeding and has been able to survive – while many other species have been killed by a deadly fungal skin disease.

Speaking to BBC Online, which is accompanying the party in Costa Rica, Andrew Gray from 91ֱ�� Museum at the University of Manchester, said: "This has been the highlight of the whole of my career.

"Now that we know that both sexes exist in the wild, we should intensify efforts to understand their ecology and further their conservation."

The team trekked deep into the forest to a spot close to where the male Isthmohyla rivularis was spotted last year. They had few clues about where the frogs might be and the search could only take place at night.

After discovering another male from its soft insect-like call, Luis Obando, head of park maintenance at Monteverde's Tropical Science Centre, found the tiny female, which was sitting on a leaf.

Mr Gray told the BBC: "It is hard to describe just how unlikely it was to have discovered a female of this particular species.

"The only time you ever come across a female is by chance - and it is only once in a blue moon that they come down to lay their eggs. You really have to be in the right place at the right time.

"You could come out here every night for a year and not see a thing. I really think that this time we have had luck on our side."

The 2.5cm-long female was released after the discovery – but only after a swab was taken from its skin to test whether it is carrying the deadly chytrid fungus.

In recent days, physicist from at The University has been able to use a small, portable pen-like device called a spectrometer to examine the skin of several tree frogs.

This non-invasive technique allows them to see how much light the frog is reflecting and understand more about the properties of their skin.

The researchers believe that the ability to sit out in the sun may allow the frogs' skin to heat up just enough to kill off the fungus - preventing the disease from taking its grip.

However, there are concerns that increased cloud cover in their natural habitat as a result of global warming may limit their opportunities for sunbathing.

A team from The University of Manchester and Chester Zoo has been working out in Costa Rica over the last two weeks.

Notes for editors

For more information please contact Alex Waddington, Media Relations Officer, The University of Manchester, Tel 0161 275 8387 / 07717 881569.