February 19, 2006, 11:19 PM CT
Winter weather not nice for Whoopers
Last weekend's rain and snow on the East Coast caused "major damage" to the endangered species captive propagation complex at the U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. The weather also released nine Whooping Cranes and nine Sandhill Cranes from their pens.

The staff at the Laurel, Md., center worked throughout the weekend, but the storm almost destroyed the birds' flight pens completely, which could affect the current breeding season. The disruption of the Whoopers' activities and environment could reduce their egg production and hinder the center's efforts to reintroduce the Whoopers (above), which remain a highly endangered species.

Staff members recaptured most of the avian escapees by Monday afternoon, but the sandhills remained on the lam. Sandhills serve as surrogate parents to Whooping Crane chicks, so they're vital to the captive-propagation program's success.

For updates, check the center's website.

Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Read more....

February 13, 2006, 11:35 PM CT

Assessing Health of Squid Fisheries

California's $30-million-a-year squid fishery has quadrupled in the past decade, but until now there has been no way to assess the continuing viability of squid stocks. A multi-institutional team of scientists this month reported a new sonar technique to locate squid egg clusters in the murky depths, offering a window onto next year's potential squid population in its nursery.

The scientists demonstrated the new sonar methods off the coast of Monterey, California, where fishermen harvest squid in April and May as the squid return annually to spawn and lay clusters of finger-sized egg capsules on the seafloor. The scientists learned how to distinguish subtle sound signals reflected off gelatinous egg clusters and the adjacent sandy seafloor, and they could detect egg clusters less than 20 inches (0.5 meters) across.

"This method provides an efficient way to map distributions and estimate abundances of squid eggs and monitor them year to year to get a census for next year's population," said Kenneth G. Foote, a marine acoustics expert at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts and lead author of an article published in the February Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. "It has immediate potential to give resource managers sound scientific information to make decisions on how to sustain the fishery. Otherwise, they're just guessing".........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink     


February 5, 2006, 10:49 PM CT

Analyze 650-Million-Year-Old Fossils

UCLA paleobiologist J. William Schopf and his colleagues have produced 3-D images of ancient fossils - 650 million to 850 million years old - preserved in rocks, an achievement that has never been done before.

If a future space mission to Mars brings rocks back to Earth, Schopf said the techniques he has used, called confocal laser scanning microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, could enable researchers to look at microscopic fossils inside the rocks to search for signs of life, such as organic cell walls. These techniques would not destroy the rocks.

"It's astounding to see an organically preserved, microscopic fossil inside a rock and see these microscopic fossils in three dimensions," said Schopf, who is also a geologist, microbiologist and organic geochemist. "It's very difficult to get any insight about the biochemistry of organisms that lived nearly a billion years ago, and this (confocal microscopy and Raman spectroscopy) gives it to you. You see the cells in the confocal microscopy, and the Raman spectroscopy gives you the chemistry.

"We can look underneath the fossil, see it from the top, from the sides, and rotate it around; we couldn't do that with any other technique, but now we can, because of confocal laser scanning microscopy. In addition, even though the fossils are exceedingly tiny, the images are sharp and crisp. So, we can see how the fossils have degraded over millions of years, and learn what are real biological features and what has been changed over time".........

Posted by: William      Permalink


February 2, 2006, 8:43 PM CT

Human-Chimp Connection

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found genetic evidence that seems to support a controversial hypothesis that humans and chimpanzees may be more closely correlation to each other than chimps are to the other two species of great apes - gorillas and orangutans. They also found that humans evolved at a slower rate than apes.

Appearing in the January 23, 2006 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, biologist Soojin Yi reports that the rate of human and chimp molecular evolution - changes that occur over time at the genetic level - is much slower than that of gorillas and orangutans, with the evolution of humans being the slowest of all.

As species branch off along evolutionary lines, important genetic traits, like the rate of molecular evolution also begin to diverge. They found that the speed of this molecular clock in humans and chimps is so similar, it suggests that certain human-specific traits, like generation time, began to evolve one million years ago - very recently in terms of evolution. The amount of time between parents and offspring is longer in humans than apes. Since a long generation time is closely correlated with the evolution of a big brain, it also suggests that developmental changes specific to humans may also have evolved very recently.........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink


January 31, 2006, 0:22 AM CT

Fingerprints To Nanofiber

Fingerprints are commonly used to identify people but, this time, they gave Penn State chemical engineers the crucial clue needed to discover an easy, versatile new method for making nanofibers that have potential uses in advanced filtration as well as wound care, drug delivery, bioassays and other medical applications.

The new technique is based on the way forensic researchers develop fingerprints from a crime scene and is easier and more versatile than either of the current methods, templates or electrospinning, used commercially to make nanofibers.

The first nanofibers generated by the technique are made from the basic ingredient of Super Glue', cyanoacrylate, which is a biologically-compatible material already used in liquid sutures, spheres for drug delivery and in experimental cancer therapy. However, the scientists say that other materials, like cyanoacrylate, that form solid polymers when nudged by a catalyst could potentially also be used in the process.

Dr. Henry C. Foley, professor of chemical engineering who directed the project, says, "The new technique is so versatile that it allows us not only to make nano-scale fibers but also nano-sized flat sheets, spheres and even wrinkled sheets that look tortellini-like."

The scientists can also generate patterned surfaces and say that the process could conceivably be used in an ink jet printer.........

Posted by: Kevin      Permalink


January 28, 2006, 8:24 PM CT

Plants Size And Metabolism

Researchers have found a universal rule that regulates the metabolism of plants of all kinds and sizes, and that may also offer a key to calculating their carbon dioxide emissions. That number must be known precisely to construct valid models of global carbon dioxide cycling.

In a report reported in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Nature, biologist Peter Reich of the University of Minnesota and colleagues found that the rate of plant metabolism, or respiration--and its related emissions of carbon dioxide--can be deduced from the nitrogen content of any plant.

Plants carry out respiration during the dark hours when they, like animals, take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide. During daylight, plants carry out photosynthesis, in which the process is reversed.

Scientists have estimated that plant respiration releases five to 10 times as much carbon dioxide as fossil fuel burning. It's crucial, they say, to know the amount of plant emissions more accurately. Yet, "the amount of carbon dioxide given off by plants is one of the weak spots in models of global carbon cycling," Reich said. The research was conducted at the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Cedar Creek Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in Minnesota, one of 26 such NSF LTER sites.........

Posted by: Jessica      Permalink


January 18, 2006, 8:32 PM CT

Pikas Marching Toward Extinction

The tiny rabbit-like American pika, an animal species considered to be one of the best canaries in a coal mine for detecting global warming in the western United States, appears to be veering toward the brink of extinction in the Great Basin.

New research indicates the small mammals, which are very sensitive to high temperatures, are being pushed upward in their mountain habitat and are running out of places to live. Climate change and human activities appear to be primary factors imperiling the pika, reports University of Washington archaeologist Donald Grayson in the current issue of the Journal of Biogeography.

Grayson's research, which looks at a 40,000-year record of archaeological and paleontological sites, combined with yet unpublished work by several other researchers, paints a bleak future for the American pika (Ochotona princeps) in the Great Basin.

"Human influences have combined with factors such as climate change operating over longer time scales to produce the diminished distribution of pikas in the Great Basin today. This makes controlling our current impacts on them all that more important," said Grayson.

Human activities that appear to impact the animals include the proximity of roads to their habitat and pressure from grazing livestock.........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink


January 18, 2006, 7:40 PM CT

Sequencing Three Fungus Genomes

From garden compost to forest greenery, the mold Aspergillus fumigatus lurks across much of the world. And so does its impact. The most common mold causing infection, A. fumigatus triggers allergic reactions, asthma attacks--and even deadly infections among people with weakened immune systems.

Now, in the December 22 issue of the journal Nature, scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and their collaborators report the mold's sequenced genome. The genome could lead researchers to A. fumigatus genes with the potential to generate better diagnostics and treatment for fungal infection. "This genome sequence is going to be central for developing tools for effectively managing A. fumigatus infections as they become more prevalent in the aging population," predicts first author William Nierman, a microbiologist at TIGR.

Nierman co-authored two additional Aspergillus genome papers in the same issue of Nature. One describes a genome project on Aspergillus oryzae, a nonpathogenic food industry workhorse that has produced sake (rice wine), miso (soybean paste), and shoyu (soy sauce) for 2,000 years. The third paper reports the genome sequence of model organism Aspergillus nidulans and compares the organism to A. oryzae and A. fumigatus. The work was carried out collaboratively at several institutions in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Japan, France, Brazil, Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. David Denning of the University of Manchester coordinated the projects.........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink


January 11, 2006, 8:44 PM CT

Epicenters of Earth's Imminent Extinctions

Safeguarding 595 sites around the world would help stave off an imminent global extinction crisis, according to new research published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Conducted by researchers working with the 52 member organizations of the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE), the study identifies 794 species threatened with imminent extinction, each of which is in need of urgent conservation action at a single remaining site on Earth.

The study found that just one-third of the sites are known to have legal protection, and most are surrounded by human population densities that are approximately three times the global average. Conserving these 595 sites should be an urgent global priority involving everyone from national governments to local communities, the study's authors state.

The United States ranks among the ten countries with the most sites. These include Torrey Pines in California, a cave in West Virginia, a pond in Mississippi, and six sites in Hawaii. The whooping crane and the recently rediscovered ivory-billed woodpecker are two spectacular American species that qualify for inclusion. Particular concentrations of sites are also found in the Andes of South America, in Brazil's Atlantic Forests, throughout the Caribbean, and in Madagascar.........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink


January 11, 2006, 8:33 PM CT

How Humans differ from Greyhounds

New research that was published recently has identified the fundamental differences between two and four legged animals that explain what limits their top speeds.

The research, published in the journals Nature and Biology Letters and funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), shows how a human running into a high-speed corner is forced to slow down and increase the amount of time their foot is in contact with the ground in order to withstand increased centripetal forces. Four legged animals do not appear to have this limitation.

The scientists at The Royal Veterinary College studied the results of 200m races at the 2004 Olympics and World Indoor Championships to demonstrate that the tighter bends used for the indoor event slow the runners down. To examine if this affects other animals they used high-speed video recording of greyhounds running time trials in an arena. Greyhounds barely change their stride when they sprint around and successfully withstand the increased forces. This is because they appear to power their running in a completely different way to humans.

Dr Jim Usherwood, the project leader, said, "Human sprinters use muscles to run that also have to deal with weight from the combination of centripetal and gravitational forces. Greyhounds get their motive power by torque around their hips and by extending their backs. This means that like a human on a bicycle there is a separation of the body structures providing power and the body structures supporting weight. A greyhound's top speed is not constrained by cornering forces in the same way a human sprinter's is".........

Posted by: Ashley      Permalink

Older Blog Entries   1