Science Small Plate (May 17, 2013) [updated]

Fungi 4 by ahisgett on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license.

I love a little science with my coffee.

The internet has been a-buzz since Angelina Jolie’s New York Times op-ed about her decision, based on gene test results, to undergo a double mastectomy and dramatically reduce her risk of breast cancer. But does the science support her decision? And what is the math behind her 87 percent risk of cancer?
When aphids attack, plants send out an alarm, and it looks like they do it by calling each other on the fungiphone.
It usually takes months to design a flu vaccine. Using a combination of gene sequencing and synthetic biology, a research team was able to cut the design time for a vaccine against a new flu strain to about a week. (Boston Globe subscription required)
Dolly the sheep was created through a process called nuclear transfer. It’s a process for creating stem cells that’s never worked with human cells — until now.
As previously mentioned, the cicadas are afoot, which could be great if you’re hungry. Because they’re edible. Just like a lot of other bugs.
And while we’re on the subject of food: Lab-grown meat doesn’t come cheap — a five-ounce burger will run about $325,000. But as a proof of concept, it could open the doors to big reductions in resource use and gas emissions associated with raising and slaughtering livestock.
Dog’s are more than Man’s best friend. We may have evolved hand-in-hand, er, hand-in-paw over thousands of years.
Our ability to hear relies on three tiny bones — the malleus, incus and stapes — in the middle ear; they carry vibrations from the eardrum to cochlea (where the vibrations get translated into nerve signals). Scientists have now found the oldest known examples of the three bones, from the 2 million year-old skull of a human ancestor found in South Africa.
To get a feel for biodiversity, you don’t have to look to the rainforest or the ocean. Just look at the dirt under your feet.
Having trouble with complex math problems? A gentle electric shock to the brain might help. (No sticking fingers into sockets, please.)

And if you want to read some awesome science blogging, I recommend checking out the list of this year’s Science Seeker Awards.

UPDATE: Last thing I’ll say about cicadas, I swear (for now). I just listened to this Radiolab podcast about cicadas and their “orchestra of sex.” Click through to hear it for yourself.