Many of the Pentagon's most advanced weapon systems -- including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and PAC-3 Patriot missile system -- were compromised by Chinese hackers, according to a classified document obtained by the Washington Post. The list of weapons was part of an earlier DoD report condemning Chinese cyber-espionage activities, but had been confidential until now. Other systems hacked are said to include the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), the Navy's Aegis ballistic-missile defense system, the F/A-18 fighter, V-22 Osprey and the Littoral Combat Ship used for shore patrol. Many of these form the foundation of defense systems from Europe to the Persian Gulf -- and their breach goes a long way toward explaining Washington's unprecedented dressing-down of China.
Contact: Joan Robinson joan.robinson@springer.com 49-622-148-78130 Springer
New study reveals how bumblebees steal birds' nests
A new study highlights the 'parasitism by theft' of bumblebees that invade birds' nests and claim them as their own. Their warning buzz helps bumblebees to "scare" the bird away from the nest. The work by Piotr Jablonski and colleagues, from the Laboratory of Behavioral Ecology and Evolution at Seoul National University in South Korea, is published online in Springer's journal, Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology.
Conspicuous warning signals - visual, auditory or mixed - help prey to deter predators by signaling the presence of defenses (chemical, mechanical, etc). These warning signals help the predator to remember how to recognize the distasteful or poisonous prey that should be avoided.
Birds are predators of bumblebees. In temperate forests, birds and bees use tree cavities for their nesting activities. Because bumblebees prefer cavities filled with plant materials for insulation, they may benefit from stealing freshly built nests from the birds.
Jablonski and team studied the interactions between bumblebees and cavity-nesting Oriental and Varied tits in nestboxes. They were particularly interested in whether bumblebees attempted to settle in those boxes to which the birds brought fresh nest materials, and whether their warning signals provided an advantage in taking over the nests from birds.
In the slopes of the Gwanak Mountain that surround Seoul National University Campus, the researchers observed that bumblebees were detected in up to 21 percent of freshly built nests of tits and were not detected in nestboxes without any bird nests.
The researchers conducted experiments in which they played a bumblebee buzz to the incubating birds. To do this, they built a little device through which they could play the buzzing sound inside of a tit nest. They glued a dead bumblebee onto a toothpick, and they glued the toothpick onto a flat miniature speaker. The device was then hidden inside of the nest material with the bumblebee just under the upper layer of mosses. When a bird arrived at a nestbox, the researchers played the bumblebee buzz and observed the bird's response through a small camera inside the nestbox.
The birds were distressed and often flew out of the nest. For control, they played songs of common birds. Incubating birds were less stressed by the control sound, indicating that the bumblebee buzz indeed may help the insects to take over the nest.
The authors conclude: "The bumblebees' buzz appears to help them oust birds from their freshly built nests. We have provided evidence that a warning signal, known to help deter predatory attacks on a potentially harmful prey, may also help the prey to win ecological competition with its predators."
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Reference
Jablonski, P.G. et al (2013). Warning signals confer advantage to prey in competition with predators: bumblebees steal nests from insectivorous birds. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology; DOI 10.1007/s00265-013-1553-2
The full-text article, a photo and video clip are available to journalists on request.
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Contact: Joan Robinson joan.robinson@springer.com 49-622-148-78130 Springer
New study reveals how bumblebees steal birds' nests
A new study highlights the 'parasitism by theft' of bumblebees that invade birds' nests and claim them as their own. Their warning buzz helps bumblebees to "scare" the bird away from the nest. The work by Piotr Jablonski and colleagues, from the Laboratory of Behavioral Ecology and Evolution at Seoul National University in South Korea, is published online in Springer's journal, Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology.
Conspicuous warning signals - visual, auditory or mixed - help prey to deter predators by signaling the presence of defenses (chemical, mechanical, etc). These warning signals help the predator to remember how to recognize the distasteful or poisonous prey that should be avoided.
Birds are predators of bumblebees. In temperate forests, birds and bees use tree cavities for their nesting activities. Because bumblebees prefer cavities filled with plant materials for insulation, they may benefit from stealing freshly built nests from the birds.
Jablonski and team studied the interactions between bumblebees and cavity-nesting Oriental and Varied tits in nestboxes. They were particularly interested in whether bumblebees attempted to settle in those boxes to which the birds brought fresh nest materials, and whether their warning signals provided an advantage in taking over the nests from birds.
In the slopes of the Gwanak Mountain that surround Seoul National University Campus, the researchers observed that bumblebees were detected in up to 21 percent of freshly built nests of tits and were not detected in nestboxes without any bird nests.
The researchers conducted experiments in which they played a bumblebee buzz to the incubating birds. To do this, they built a little device through which they could play the buzzing sound inside of a tit nest. They glued a dead bumblebee onto a toothpick, and they glued the toothpick onto a flat miniature speaker. The device was then hidden inside of the nest material with the bumblebee just under the upper layer of mosses. When a bird arrived at a nestbox, the researchers played the bumblebee buzz and observed the bird's response through a small camera inside the nestbox.
The birds were distressed and often flew out of the nest. For control, they played songs of common birds. Incubating birds were less stressed by the control sound, indicating that the bumblebee buzz indeed may help the insects to take over the nest.
The authors conclude: "The bumblebees' buzz appears to help them oust birds from their freshly built nests. We have provided evidence that a warning signal, known to help deter predatory attacks on a potentially harmful prey, may also help the prey to win ecological competition with its predators."
###
Reference
Jablonski, P.G. et al (2013). Warning signals confer advantage to prey in competition with predators: bumblebees steal nests from insectivorous birds. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology; DOI 10.1007/s00265-013-1553-2
The full-text article, a photo and video clip are available to journalists on request.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Editor?s note: Freelance War Reporter Alex Quade embedded long-term with Operational Detachment Alpha Teams of the 10th Special Forces Group in Diyala province, Iraq in 2007 and 2008. One of those ?A- Teams? was ODA-072. Quade covered their pre-mission training at Fort Carson, Colorado and followed up with them and their families through the years. Per Special Operations Command embed guidelines: no last names of operators were used; military public affairs officers in Iraq, as well as at Fort Carson reviewed every frame of Quade?s video to ensure no techniques, tactics & procedures are revealed. Also, 10th Special Forces Group Operational Detachment number designations changed after 2007. Most Team members retired or moved on. They shared their personal photos. Alex Quade returned to Diyala Province repeatedly to cover U.S. troop movements and progress. Six years later, she is allowed to share more information and locations, since U.S. forces and bases are no longer there, after the U.S. military departure.
(Read Part 1 here.)
Reporting from DIYALA, Iraq and COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. ?
GOLD STAR FAMILY
U.S. Army Special Operations Command holds a ceremony for families of fallen operators at Fort Bragg, N.C. every Memorial Day. Gold Star families from the past year meet each other and learn they are not alone, as the command gives them tours and lunches. They learn more about what their sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers did.
In May 2008, Staff Sgt. Robert R. Pirelli?s father, Bob, invited me to attend the ceremony with him and his daughter Stacey. His son, Rob, a Green Beret, was killed in action in 2007. Rob?s Special Forces A-Team, ODA-072, was already redeployed to Iraq ? and I was heading back over to cover them again.
The Pirellis braced themselves by reiterating that Rob was a hero.
?His captain summed it up by saying, ?Rob never turned back; he never ran. He served forward.? And they [his A-Team] didn?t stop: they finished the mission for Rob,? the senior Pirelli told me.
Earlier that day, I?d given Bob a photo of Rob?s team in front of the cement T-wall in Diyala, Iraq, with ?Combat Outpost Pirelli? painted on it. Bob took that photo to a tattoo parlor and ?got inked? before the ceremony. The insignia showed on the length of his calf ? just as Medic Tim had done on his arm.
It was pouring at the solemn ceremony. An honor guard stood at attention while rivulets streamed down the faces of Green Berets, Rangers, and ?Night Stalkers? (members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment). A bell rang after every name killed in action. Team liaisons escorted families to the remembrance wall to read the name of their loved one freshly engraved in the dark marble, and to leave carnations.
As team liaisons Chief Warrant Officer Jim and Engineer Aaron escorted Bob and Stacey Pirelli to the wall, Bob froze. He turned back to me with tears in his eyes.
?I can?t do it,? he said and hugged me. Chief Jim looked at me annoyed.
?Yes,? I whispered in his ear firmly, ?You can.?
?Do it for Rob,? I said. ?Rob would want you to do it for his team who is back over there [in Iraq] right now.? The father immediately pulled himself together and walked forward with his daughter to the wall.
After the ceremony, Bob told me that he believed his son was watching over his Team re-deployed to Iraq.
?I know that every day they must think of Rob, because I hear it in their telephone calls and emails,? Bob said.
?We trusted Rob with everything; trusted him with our lives,? Chief Jim said. ?He was the guy who you knew would be there to support you no matter what was going on. We?re always looking out for each other, that?s the way pretty much all SF is. It?s a team,? he added.
Months later, at home in Franklin, Mass., Bob Pirelli had developed the daily habit of visiting Rob?s gravesite to drink his morning coffee and talk to his son.
One morning, he found it vandalized.
Someone had backed into it with a truck, knocking over the headstone.
Bob blasted photos and angry notes over the internet: Who would do something like this? Desecrate a hero?s resting place?
An investigation found a family member involved. As often happens after deaths: tragedy, grief and stress can bring families closer together ? or deepen already established rifts.
?Rob told me in a dream to ?Just let it go,? Bob said. No charges were filed.
He moved to Albuquerque, N.M. to start over. Other family members made the closest thing they could to replicate the ?Combat Outpost Pirelli? cement T-wall in Iraq for Bob?s front yard: a four foot tall, 300-pound slab of rock with ?Combat Outpost Pirelli? engraved into it.
?I want to see the real Combat Outpost Pirelli,? Bob told me on the phone before I left for Iraq to link up with 10th Special Forces Detachment Teams again. ?I?m talking to my congressman about trying to get over there,? Pirelli said. He asked me to check on his son?s Outpost while I was back in Iraq.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) ? Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals says it will buy eye-health company Bausch + Lomb for $8.7 billion in cash in a massive expansion of its ophthalmology business.
Valeant says the deal will help it capitalize on increasing demand for contact lenses and other products because of aging populations, growing demand in emerging markets and increasing rates of diabetes.
Investment firm Warburg Pincus, which leads an investment group that owns Bausch + Lomb, will receive $4.5 billion in cash. The remaining $4.2 billion will be used to repay Bausch + Lomb's debt.
Rochester, N.Y.-based Bausch + Lomb Holdings Inc. makes contact lenses, eye drugs and ophthalmic surgical devices.
Bausch + Lomb will keep its name and become a division of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., based in Laval, Quebec.
Evolution could now favor cockroaches with an aversion to glucose, the sugary flavoring that disguises the taste of the poison in roach bait.
By Eoin O'Carroll,?Staff / May 23, 2013
This image made from video provided by Ayako Wada-Katsumata shows glucose-averse German cockroaches avoiding a dab of jelly, which contains glucose, and favoring the peanut butter.
Ayako Wada-Katsumata/AP
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Thanks to natural selection, some cockroaches have rapidly evolved the ability to check out of Roach Motels.
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Since the 1970s, bait traps that use glucose to disguise the taste of a deadly toxin have been a popular way to rid the bugs from homes. But beginning in the 1990s, the traps began losing their effectiveness. Scientists found that some roaches had evolved an aversion to the glucose. The pest-control industry moved on to new types of bait, but exactly how the insects lost their sweet tooth has remained a mystery.
Now a team of biologists at North Carolina State University say that they have uncovered the neural mechanism behind the cockroaches' adaptation. A study published in the current issue of Science reports that for some roaches, glucose activates taste receptors normally associated with bitter compounds, such as caffeine, that the insects don't care for.
The scientists performed experiments on groups of normal and glucose-averse German cockroaches, a species that makes its home in apartments, hotels, and restaurants worldwide.
Like many other insects, cockroaches taste with tiny hairs around their mouths and other parts of their bodies that can distinguish between sweet and bitter flavors by firing specialized taste neurons. In normal German cockroaches, glucose activates the sweet neurons. But the scientists discovered that, in the glucose-averse roaches, the bitter neurons were also firing.?
It's well known that populations of pests can often develop resistance to insecticides. But in this case, poison is triggering a behavioral change.?
?Most times, genetic changes, or mutations, cause the loss of function,? said NC State entomologist and study co-author Coby Schal, in a press release. ?In this case, the mutation resulted in the gain of a new function ? triggering bitter receptors when glucose is introduced. This gives the cockroach a new behavior which is incredibly adaptive. These roaches just got ahead of us in the arms race.?
This adaptation comes at a cost, however: The glucose-averse roaches tend to grow and reproduce more slowly than their less-picky counterparts.?
As you can see in this video below, the normal cockroaches seem to enjoy both jelly that contains glucose and peanut butter that doesn't. But the glucose-averse roaches ignore the jelly and flock to the peanut butter. ??
If looking at all these roaches crawling on a plate gives you the willies, just remind yourself that your aversion to the roaches ? just like their aversion to glucose ?is in part an adaptive trait that helped your ancestors flourish.?
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Public release date: 28-May-2013
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