ANN ARBOR — Mixing energy drinks with alcohol is riskier than just drinking alcohol alone, according to a new study that examines the impact of a growing trend among young adults.
Published in the current issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, the study was conducted by Megan Patrick of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research and Jennifer Maggs of Penn State University. (more…)
WWF vergleicht Haltungsbedingungen von Gans, Ente und Pute
Anlässlich der beginnenden Adventszeit hat der WWF die Haltungsbedingungen von Gans, Ente und Pute (Truthahn) unter die Lupe genommen. Die Naturschutzorganisation rät Verbrauchern, auf ökologische und tiergerechte Haltung zu achten. „Gänsekeule, Entenbrust und Truthahnbraten sind etwas Besonderes und kommen häufig als Festessen auf den Tisch. Gerade deshalb sollte auf hochwertiges Bio-Fleisch aus tiergerechter Haltung geachtet werden“, sagt Markus Wolter, WWF-Referent für Tierhaltung. Gänse, Puten und Enten aus Bio-Haltungen leben laut dem WWF-Vergleich mehr als doppelt so lang wie in der konventionellen Mast. Auch die ökologischen Auswirkungen seien geringer: durch den Verzicht auf Soja-Futter würden Regenwaldflächen geschont. (more…)
A research expedition to the Arctic, as part of the Catlin Arctic Survey, has revealed that tiny crustaceans, known as copepods, that live just beneath the ocean surface are likely to battle for survival if ocean acidity continues to rise.
The study found that copepods that move large distances, migrating vertically across a wide range of pH conditions, have a better chance of surviving.
The increasing level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is changing ocean chemistry leading to seawater moving down the pH scale towards acidity. Some areas of the Arctic Ocean are already experiencing the fastest rates of acidification on the planet and, combined with sea-ice loss and warming temperatures, the impacts of climate change are likely to hit Arctic marine life first. (more…)
Scientists have figured out how calcium channels – the infinitesimal cell membrane pores that generate electrical signals by gating a charged-particle influx – have solved a “needle in a haystack” problem.
The solution to the longstanding riddle is reported in the Nov. 24 advanced online edition of Nature by UW and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators. Dr. Ning Zheng, a noted X-ray crystallographer, and Dr. William Catterall, a pioneer in ion channel research, were the senior researchers, and Dr. Lin Tang and Dr. Tamer Gamal El-Din headed the project. (more…)
Without any sort of legal protections in place, journalists reporting on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) massive surveillance program are facing a huge challenge, said Spencer Ackerman, the Guardian’s U.S. national security editor, during a panel discussion at the Law School on Dec. 5.
Ackerman took part in a discussion titled “Investigative Reporting, Espionage and NSA Leaks” with James Bamford, who is widely regarded as the chief chronicler of the NSA, and Gabriel Schoenfeld, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. The discussion, sponsored by KLAMP and the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism, was moderated by David A. Schulz, the Floyd Abrams Clinical Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School and partner at Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz LLP in New York. (more…)
Opens new applications for the nearly 5.5 billion pounds of PET bottles and jars available annually for recycling
SAN JOSE, Calif – 09 Dec 2013: Researchers from IBM and the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology have made a nanomedicine breakthrough in which they converted common plastic materials like polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into non-toxic and biocompatible materials designed to specifically target and attack fungal infections. This research was published today in the peer-reviewed journal, Nature Comm. (more…)
Es ist makaber: Japans Walfangflotte erhält Subventionen aus den Hilfstöpfen für die Tsunamiopfer – und fängt Wale, die keiner essen will. Die Nachfrage nach dem Fleisch der sanften Riesen auf dem japanischen Markt ist nämlich zu gering, um die Kosten des blutigen Fangbetriebes zu decken.
“Eine Prüfungskommission kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die Gelder an die Walfangflotte aus den Wiederaufbaufonds inakzeptabel sei”, sagte Junichi Sato, Geschäftsführer von Greenpeace Japan. „Wir verlangen von Japans “Forschungs”-Walfängern, die gesamte Summe von 2.28 Milliarden Yen (etwa 16 Millionen Euro zurückzuzahlen.”
Greenpeace appelliert an die japanische Regierung, ihren unprofitablen Walfang einzustellen. Japans Walfangflotte stach am 7. Dezember Hafen Shimonoseki in See mit Kurs auf die Antarktis. (more…)
Washington, D.C.— Life originated as a result of natural processes that exploited early Earth’s raw materials. Scientific models of life’s origins almost always look to minerals for such essential tasks as the synthesis of life’s molecular building blocks or the supply of metabolic energy. But this assumes that the mineral species found on Earth today are much the same as they were during Earth’s first 550 million years—the Hadean Eon—when life emerged. A new analysis of Hadean mineralogy challenges that assumption. It is published in American Journal of Science.
Carnegie’s Robert Hazen compiled a list of every plausible mineral species on the Hadean Earth and concludes that no more than 420 different minerals—about 8 percent of the nearly 5,000 species found on Earth today—would have been present at or near Earth’s surface. (more…)
