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For more information on these science news and feature story tips, please contact the public information officer at the end of each item at (703) 292-8070. Editor: Bill Noxon Contents of this News Tip:
PLANTS AND THEIR 'BODYGUARDS' ARE MUTUALLY BENEFICIALTiny pockets and hair tufts that appear on the undersides of leaves offer the shelter necessary to house a population of plant-protecting bugs -- bodyguards if you will -- against predatory plant-eaters. National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported researchers at the University of California at Davis recently simulated these naturally occurring shelters, known as "leaf domatia," on cotton plants. By doing so, the scientists reduced cotton-eating spider mites and boosted cotton yield by 30 percent. These results offer the first experimental evidence that plants and certain bugs both benefit from the presence of domatia. "Results of this research indicate that domatia may offer a natural biological control strategy as an alternative to the use of pesticides," explains researcher Anurag Agrawal of UC-Davis. Spider mites, the third largest cotton pest nationwide, have been difficult to control because they produce a new generation every seven to ten days, and are resistant to many chemical pesticides. [Cheryl Dybas] THE FEELING IS MUTUALAmericans say "happy" while the Japanese say "ureshii;" but do they experience these emotions in the same way, or does culture convert feelings? In a new NSF-funded study, a research team led by anthropologist A. Kimball Romney of the University of California at Irvine interviewed native speakers in English and Japanese. The team then mapped how the two groups perceived similarities of paired words describing good vs. bad feelings, active vs. passive. The researchers found strikingly similar responses in most cases, suggesting that humans experience basic emotions like anger, happiness, envy and love almost identically, despite different cultural beliefs, social norms and languages. Differences that did appear in the study were slight compared to the similarities. English speakers rated "shame" as a bit more negative an emotion than the Japanese, says Romney. The research, funded through NSF's Methodology, Measurement and Statistics Program, contributes to science's nature vs. nurture debate. Findings seemingly side with those who believe that humans are pretty much the same no matter where they are born and raised. [George Chartier] CLONING IS NOT SO SPECIAL?Cloning is not a revolutionary technology, it presents no radically new ethical issues and it does not deserve the hysteria heaped on it by the media. "We have to stop thinking about cloning as something completely 'good' or 'bad' and instead look hard at individual situations, at the many potential benefits as well as dangers" before rushing to judgment, Allen Buchanan, a medical ethicist conducting National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research, says. Buchanan has been studying ethical issues arising from the commercial development of new genetic technologies. Buchanan, a professor of philosophy, business ethics and medical ethics at the University of Wisconsin's School of Medicine, argues that there are other technologies which pose more immediate threats to society. Society has been addressing similar moral dilemmas, he says, such as "playing God with nature" long before cloning became an issue. [George Chartier] **Receive NSF news releases and tipsheets electronically via NSFnews. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to mailto:listmanager@nsf.gov; in the body of the message, type "subscribe nsfnews" and then type your name. Also see NSF news products at: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/start.htm, http://www.eurekalert.org/, and http://www.ari.net/newswise.
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