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As quantum computers mature, they will be transformational. But there are good reasons why we don’t yet know exactly which problems they will excel at – and that makes them all the more exciting

Today we have a text-and-story from Athayde Tonhasca Júnior, featuring the Insects of Death.  Athayde’s text is indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

That enticing scent of death

During the Victorian era, many naturalists pursued bucolic, relaxing subjects that would elevate their standing among peers, yet suitable to be discussed during social soirees. Shocking the ladies with matters of a raw nature was frowned upon. Dr Murray Galt Motter had no such compunction. On learning that 150 corpses from a cemetery in Washington, D.C., were going to be exhumed for reburial somewhere else, the good doctor saw a rare research opportunity. He assembled a team to help him investigate the invertebrate fauna colonising those cadavers. The resulting report (Motter, 1898), comprising species descriptions and notes on the state of the bodies, soil type, grave depth, etc., became a landmark in the field of forensic science.

Dr Motter’s fauna of the grave contained worms, beetles, bristletails, mites and flies, but one type of creature was predominant: the aptly named coffin flies (family Phoridae). Particular species were not identified in the report, but they were likely to include Megaselia scalaris and Conicera tibialis. These flies feed and breed in decaying organic matter, including human corpses. And C. tibialis has an uncanny ability to find them: gravid females can burrow to a depth of 2 m to reach bodies laid to rest 18 years previously (Martín-Vega et al., 2011).

The coffin fly C. tibialis © Kelsey Bailey, The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County. . . .

…. and its habitat © C.G.P. Grey, Wikimedia Commons:

Coffin flies are just a segment of the family Phoridae. The 4,000 or so described species – the total is believed to be much higher – have a wide range of lifestyles: some are plant feeders (one species is a pest of cultivated mushrooms), others are predators, parasites or parasitoids; the zombie fly parasitises and changes the behaviour of European honey bees (Apis mellifera). Many species are synanthropes (organisms that live in close association with humans and their surroundings); you probably have seen some of them near drain pipes, compost piles or rubbish bins. Phorids look like fruit flies with arched backs, and when spooked they run away before taking flight. Such behaviours explain their other common names: hump-backed flies or scuttle flies.

Phorids have the greatest ecological diversity of all fly families, but most species share one characteristic: their larvae are saprophages, that is, they eat decomposing organic matter such as dung, carrion, dead plants – and human corpses, if available. This behaviour may be off-putting to us, but if plants manage to take advantage of it, they will have an assortment of diligent and resourceful visitors at their disposal, which could be quite handy for pollination services. And that’s exactly what some birthworts, aka pipevines and Dutchman’s pipes (Aristolochia spp.), have done.

Aristolochia is a varied group of about 450 species of shrubs, herbs, vines and lianas from predominately tropical areas. Most species have remarkable adaptations to lure the smallest flies (micromyiophily), or flies that are attracted to dead animals or dung (sapromyiophily). Their flowers are usually large and showy with a spherical base that forms a chamber known as a kettle trap, which allows visitors to get in easily, but entraps them until the following day (arums have similar contraptions). When insects finally manage to leave, chances are they will have pollen grains attached to their bodies.

A Dutchman’s pipe (A. macrophylla) flower © Sten Porse, Wikimedia Commons:

Birthworts dupe their unsuspecting pollinators with scents, and since flies are their target, typical flowery smells won’t do. Different birthwort species produce a range of bouquets that remind us of carrion, rotten fish, dung, sweat, cheese, yeast fermentation or decomposing plants. These aromas are irresistible to many insects, but only phorids, blow flies (Calliphoridae), midges (Ceratopogonidae), gnats (Mycetophilidae, Sciaridae), fruit flies (Drosophilidae) and frit flies (Chloropidae) are known to pollinate the flowers. Among this lot, Megaselia coffin flies are particularly well represented.

The calico flower (A. littoralis), distributed from Argentina to the southern United States and an invasive to Australia, is pollinated by phorid flies © Dick Culbert, Wikimedia Commons:

 

With nearly 1,700 described species and certainly a much larger number to be discovered, Megaselia is one of the largest genus in the animal kingdom. Like the other members of the family, they range from parasites, parasitoids, predators and fungus feeders to saprophages. Several birthwort species take advantage of these omnipresent flies by producing scents loaded with oligosulphides, which are the main volatiles released by decomposing flesh.

A M. scalaris coffin fly © Charles Schurch Lewallen, Wikimedia Commons:

Besides birthworts, Megaselia flies are known to pollinate some orchids and a handful of other plants, but this meagre list of hosts is more likely to reflect our ignorance than their true contribution to pollination; the same can be said about flies in general (Raguso, 2020). Flies are not the most glamorous insects, and their reputation is not helped by their involvement with unsavoury business such as decomposition. But we need to keep in mind that recycling of nutrients and organic matter depends on these filth-muckers. They are also important for plant reproduction, even though we have only an inkling about their workings. We may not pick a fly as our favourite animal, but it would be unwise to ignore their value for biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems.

Water falls on Earth every day as rain, and now scientists seem to have found a way of using it to create renewable electricity

I think it’s important to recognize not only how fake science can degrade medicine and exploit health care consumers, but also how real science can benefit medicine and consumers. It’s also important to separate hype from reality, because there often is science-based snake oil, meaning that there are fake treatments based on the hype of real science. We are near the beginning […]

The post Mapping the Brain first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

How can we successfully collect and return samples from Mercury and Venus to Earth? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address as a pair of researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) discussed how future missions could successfully conduct sample return missions from the two innermost planets in our solar system. This study has the potential to help scientists, engineers, and mission planners better understand new methods for conducting sample returns throughout the solar system, and specifically from hard-to-reach destinations.

Observations of Jupiter show that ammonia is unevenly distributed in the upper atmosphere, against expectations of uniform mixing. Scientists found evidence for a complicated but apparently real process associated with fierce lightning storms: strong updrafts generate slushy, ice-coated hailstones of ammonia and water that eventually plunge into the planet and deplete areas of ammonia. This is part of the first 3D picture of the planet's atmosphere, which shows storms are primarily shallow.

The colossal squid is the largest invertebrate on the planet, but it is also surprisingly elusive. An image of a 30-centimetre-long juvenile is our first glimpse of the animal in its natural habitat

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In 2021, Major League Baseball banned the usage of resin, and since batting averages have gone up. A group of researchers set out to reveal the science behind this.

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A team has developed an explainable AI model for automatic collision avoidance between ships.

A team has developed an explainable AI model for automatic collision avoidance between ships.

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Diamonds with certain optically active defects can be used as highly sensitive sensors or qubits for quantum computers, where the quantum information is stored in the electron spin state of these colour centeres. However, the spin states have to be read out optically, which is often experimentally complex. Now, a team has developed an elegant method using a photo voltage to detect the individual and local spin states of these defects. This could lead to a much more compact design of quantum sensors.

Diamonds with certain optically active defects can be used as highly sensitive sensors or qubits for quantum computers, where the quantum information is stored in the electron spin state of these colour centeres. However, the spin states have to be read out optically, which is often experimentally complex. Now, a team has developed an elegant method using a photo voltage to detect the individual and local spin states of these defects. This could lead to a much more compact design of quantum sensors.

Growing cells in the laboratory is an art that humans have mastered decades ago. Recreating entire three-dimensional tissues is much more challenging. Researchers are developing a new hydrogel-based material that makes it possible to engineer artificial skin tissues, which can serve as living three-dimensional models of human skin for better understanding and treating skin diseases.

Researchers have developed a machine learning workflow to optimize the output force of photo-actuated organic crystals. Using LASSO regression to identify key molecular substructures and Bayesian optimization for efficient sampling, they achieved a maximum blocking force of 37.0 mN -- 73 times more efficient than conventional methods. These findings could help develop remote-controlled actuators for medical devices and robotics, supporting applications such as minimally invasive surgery and precision drug delivery.

A researcher has analyzed the most frequent situations faced by football goalkeepers. The aim is to compile data to facilitate the design of more effective training. The work stresses the importance of practicing the deflections and first touch shots that are produced.

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First ever supercomputer simulations of Mars with a fully molten core could explain the Red Planet's unusual magnetic field. Billions of years ago, Mars had an active magnetic field. Mysteriously, its imprint is strongest in the southern hemisphere. Researchers found that Mars could have produced a one-sided magnetic field with a fully molten core, rather than the traditional, Earth-like solid inner core setup.