Riddle me this…

As you have no doubt seen – we are giving away the rather marvellous Art of Science game. Chock full of incredibly testing science questions, it is sure to keep the trivia addict in all of us satisfied. And so in this spirit, we have two questions for you – questions you won’t find even in the vast vaults of a science based board game.

1.) How do you know if a panda is pregnant?

2.) How many ants does it take to change a phone network?

…Anyone? Without wishing to be accused of Paxman-esque impatience, we will have to hurry you…no? Well, ok then time for some answers.

Let us turn first to that most enduring of conservationist icons – the giant panda. Brief consideration of the challenges facing zoologists in getting these monotone cuties to breed seems daunting enough: A single estrous period per year with sexual receptivity lasting only one to three days, mate incompatibility, lack of sexual interest, and failure to give birth following optimal timing of insemination. It’s like nature is playing a rather cruel trick on the dedicated conservationists involved.

But that isn’t the end of it – after even all of these reproductive hurdles have been vaulted, the final problem lies in the pandas acutely private nature. A nature that extends even as far as the beast’s endocrine system – you see not even hormonal tests can give away a female panda’s pregnancy. Female giant pandas spontaneously ovulate and undergo a phenomenon known as pseudopregnancy, wherein a female’s reproductive hormones are similar in concentration as during pregnancy. This renders diagnostic hormonal tests utterly useless.

It turns out that scientists have been trying to solve this problem for decades, and it is a problem that zookeepers at Edinburgh Zoo have recently become very interested in. As we write this they are very excited indeed. Tian Tian – the UK’s only female panda and proud resident of Edinburgh Zoo – is showing signs of being pregnant. But of course, they’d like to know for sure.

What about ultrasound? Tricky say the zoo keepers – for one thing a panada foetus is tiny and difficult to detect, for another pandas don’t always want to be scanned. As a recent report on the efforts to screen Tian Tian brilliantly states: “An ultrasound did not prove possible as Tian Tian chose not to participate.” Fair enough – you can’t argue with a pregnant panda – pseudo or otherwise.

Now scientists in the US think they have the answer in the shape of ceruloplasmin – and all you need to measure it is a urine sample. Even pandas don’t mind that. Ordinarily one of the raft of proteins involved in the inflammation response, a US team has found that a pregnant panda’s urine levels of ceruloplasmin increase within one week after conception.

OK, panda pregnancy dealt with, now to ants and phone networks. Hairy wood ants to be precise – and their unusual tendency to form a network between many nests. Rather than stick to insular and distinct communities, they have expanded into the global market place of the hairy wood ant world. As a result, trails of bustling ants can be seen busily making their way between nests. One brave biology PhD student – Samuel Ellis – thinks the way the ants use this network has important implications for our information and telecommunications networks. Why brave you ask? Well – the only way to examine how their networks work is the old fashioned way. Manually. Samuel tags the ants with miniature radio transmitters using nothing other than adhesive, cotton buds and an iron will. After tagging, he releases them and monitors the way they operate within this vast network. But how many does he need to observe? Well, over a whole week he tags around 1000 ants – and with that you have your answer, please use it wisely. By which we mean bore your colleagues with it at coffee time.