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News for May 9, 2008
Partnerships of Deep-Sea Methane Scavengers Revealed
The sea floor off the coast of Eureka, California, is home to a diverse assemblage of microbes that scavenge methane from cold deep-sea vents. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have developed a technique to directly capture these cells, lending insight into the diverse symbiotic partnerships that evolved among different species in an extreme environment.
The community's interconnected metabolism sheds light on how the anaerobic microbes, which consume nearly 80 percent of the methane leaked from marine sediments, limit oceanic emissions of this potent greenhouse gas.
How Fairness Is Wired in the Brain
In the biblical story in which two women bring a baby to King Solomon, both claiming to be the mother, he suggests dividing the child so that each woman can have half. Solomon's proposed solution, meant to reveal the real mother, also illustrates an issue central to economics and moral philosophy: how to distribute goods fairly. Now, researchers at the California Institute of Technology have discovered that reason struggles with emotion to find equitable solutions, and have pinpointed the region of the brain where this takes place. The concept of fairness, they found, is processed in the insular cortex, or insula, which is also the seat of emotional reactions. "The fact that the brain has such a robust response to unfairness suggests that sensing unfairness is a basic evolved capacity," notes Steven Quartz, an associate professor of philosophy at Caltech and author of the study.
California Clean Innovation Conference
Members of the Caltech community and the public are encouraged to attend this year's California Clean Innovation Conference. The event is intended for a wide audience, including industry leaders, entrepreneurs, investment professionals, policy makers, lawyers, journalists, and university staff, faculty and students. The all-day program is cosponsored by Caltech and will take place on Friday, May 9, in UCLA's Thomas Bradley Hall. Keynote speakers will include Ira Ehrenpreis, general partner for Technology Partners venture capital firm, and Stuart Hemphill, vice president of renewable and alternative power for Southern California Edison. For details and registration, go to http://www.cacleaninnovation.com.
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