Guest Post – Page 532 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Evidence of 3.5 billion-year-old bacterial ecosystems found in Australia

By Guest PostNovember 25, 2013Environmentancient photosynthetic bacteria, australia, bacterial films, biofilms, carnegie, daniel christian, david wacey, dresser formation, dresser miss fossils, earth, environments, famous geological regions, history, hydrothermal, mars rovers, microfossils, miss, nora noffke, old bacterial ecosystems, old dominion university, oldest sedimentary rocks, pilbara district, playa like setting, polygonal oscillation cracks, robert hazen, stromatolites, tectonic activity, western australia

Washington, D.C.— Reconstructing the rise of life during the period of Earth’s history when it first evolved is challenging. Earth’s oldest sedimentary rocks are not only rare, but also almost always altered by hydrothermal and tectonic activity. A new study from a team including Carnegie’s Nora Noffke, a visiting investigator, and Robert Hazen revealed the well-preserved remnants of a complex ecosystem in a nearly 3.5 billion-year-old sedimentary rock sequence in Australia. Their work is published in Astrobiology.

The Pilbara district of Western Australia constitutes one of the famous geological regions that allow insight into the early evolution of life. Mound-like deposits created by ancient photosynthetic bacteria, called stromatolites, and microfossils of bacteria have been described by scientists in detail. However, a phenomenon called microbially induced sedimentary structures, or MISS, had not previously been seen in this region. These structures are formed from mats of microbial material, much like mats seen today on stagnant waters or in coastal flats. (more…)

29 Aktivisten gegen Kaution aus Gefängnis entlassen: Colin Russell nach wie vor in Untersuchungshaft

By Guest PostNovember 25, 2013Environment, Politics29 aktivisten, alexandre paul, arctic 30, ben ayliffe, canada, colin russell, colins familie, detention centre, England, gegen kaution, gericht, greenpeace international, greenpeace international activist, internationale seegerichtshof, isgh, phil ball, praesident putin, primorskiy court, russland, st. petersburg, tony abbott, vladimir baryshev

Phil Ball aus England verließ heute als Letzter der 29 auf Kaution freigelassenen Aktivisten das Gefängnis in St. Petersburg. Für den Australier Colin Russell wurde für Donnerstag ein neuer Termin vor Gericht anberaumt, bei dem ein Antrag auf Freilassung gegen Kaution angehört wird. Für Russell war die Untersuchungshaft bis Ende Februar verlängert worden.

Noch ist es nicht sicher, ob die Aktivisten, die nicht aus Russland stammen, das Land verlassen und in ihre Heimatländer zurückkehren dürfen. Phil Balls Bruder Steve freut sich über das Ende der Untersuchungshaft: (more…)

Compound stymies polyomaviruses in lab

By Guest PostNovember 25, 2013Sciencebiologist walter atwood, bk polyomavirus, brown university, chembridge, chemical compound, compound stymies, cyclizing reaction, daniel carney, daniel dimaio, dhq, dihydroquinazolinone, drug, endoplasmic reticulum, er, hours of infection, immune systems, infection, intracellular protein, jason sello, lab cell cultures, pathogen infection, paul williard, people with hiv, polyomavirus, retro, ricin, sv40 polyomavirus, toxins, trafficking mechanisms, transportation hub, treat polyomaviruses, yale university

There is no approved medicine to treat polyomaviruses, which afflict people with weakened immune systems, but scientists have found that a chemical compound called Retro-2 is able to reduce significantly the infectivity and spread of the viruses in lab cell cultures. Now they are working to improve it.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A team of scientists reports that a small-molecule compound showed significant success in controlling the infectivity and spread of three polyomaviruses in human cell cultures. To date there has been no medicine approved to treat such viruses, which prey on transplant recipients, people with HIV, and others whose immune systems have been weakened. (more…)

Keeping Our Nuclear Stockpile Safe and Ready

By Guest PostNovember 25, 2013Weaponsnaval reactor, nuclear stockpile, nuclear weapons, testing nuclear weapons, warheads

Testing nuclear weapons is banned by treaty, so the only way to ensure our stockpile’s safety and readiness is virtual weapons testing using the world’s fastest supercomputers to crunch lab data.

In 2010 the Pentagon revealed it had a total of 5,113 warheads in its nuclear stockpile, down from a peak of 31,225 at the height of the Cold War in 1967. (more…)

Colossal New Predatory Dino Terrorized Early Tyrannosaurs

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2013Nature, Scienceacrocanthosaurus, carcharodontosaur, carnivorous dinosaur, cedar mountain formation, early tyrannosaurs, largest ever discovered, late cretaceous period, lindsay zanno, meeker family, neovenatoridae, new predatory dino, new species, North America, north Carolina, paleontologist, peter makovicky, siats meekerorum, skeleton, small bodied tyrannosaurs, state university, tyrannosaurus rex, utah, ute tribal legend

A new species of carnivorous dinosaur – one of the three largest ever discovered in North America – lived alongside and competed with small-bodied tyrannosaurs 98 million years ago. This newly discovered species, Siats meekerorum, (pronounced see-atch) was the apex predator of its time, and kept tyrannosaurs from assuming top predator roles for millions of years.

Named after a cannibalistic man-eating monster from Ute tribal legend, Siats is a species of carcharodontosaur, a group of giant meat-eaters that includes some of the largest predatory dinosaurs ever discovered. The only other carcharodontosaur known from North America is Acrocanthosaurus, which roamed eastern North America more than 10 million years earlier. Siats is only the second carcharodontosaur ever discovered in North America; Acrocanthosaurus, discovered in 1950, was the first. (more…)

UCLA doctors test stem-cell therapy to improve blood flow in angina patients

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2013Healthali nsair, angina patients, angioplasty, blood flow, cd34 protein, coronary bypass, heart attack, heart in 3d, heart muscle, heart transplant, jonathan tobis, las vegas, marty greenfield, phase 3, pluripotent cell, rubine gevorgyan, stem cell injection, stem cell therapy, ucla doctors, william suh

Clinical trial evaluates treatment for patients who haven’t responded to other FDA–approved procedures

Marty Greenfield lives with crushing pain every day due to angina, a condition that is caused by an inadequate supply of blood to the heart. He has suffered a heart attack, and a coronary bypass procedure and angioplasty have provided little relief. His doctor referred him to UCLA to be considered for a heart transplant.

Dr. Jonathan Tobis, a UCLA clinical professor of cardiology, performed an angiogram and angioplasty on Greenfield, 64, but found that the patient was not a candidate for a heart transplant because his heart muscle function was still good. (more…)

Kleidung unter der Detox-Lupe: Neuer Einkaufsratgeber für giftfreie Mode

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2013Environmentadidas, axel kirchhof, chemie experte, China, detox kampagne, detox lupe, deutsche, gesundheit, gots, Greenpeace, greenpeace tests, ivn best, john javellana, kleidung, manfred santen, mexiko, nike, Pakistan, schadstofffreie kleidung, textiles vertrauen, textilindustrie, textilproduktion, trinkwasser, umwelt, umweltproblem

Kennen Sie das schmutzige Geheimnis Ihrer Kleidung? Egal ob billig oder teuer – Kleidung wird mit viel Chemie traktiert, bevor sie auf dem Bügel hängt. Der neue Textilratgeber von Greenpeace zeigt, welche Label dem Verbraucher wirklich schadstofffreie Kleidung bieten – und welche nur Feigenblättchen sind.

In unserer Kleidung sind etliche Substanzen, die selbst in kleinsten Mengen Umwelt und Gesundheit schädigen. Vor allem die kostbare und rare Ressource Wasser wird mit den giftigen Stoffen aus den Kleiderfabriken verschmutzt. Die Textilindustrie – so zeigen Greenpeace-Tests – ist eine Industrie, die dringend entgiften muss. (more…)

Snow melts faster under trees than in open areas in mild climates

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2013Environmentbrian henn, california, cascade mountains, cedar river, city of seattle, diverse animal habitat, ibutton, james lutz, jessica lundquist, maritime forests, mediterranean climates, mild climates, municipal watershed, nicoleta cristea, open areas, phenomenon, researcher, rolf gersonde, sierra nevada range, sites to monitor, snow melting, snowmelt behavior, susan dickerson lange, tree canopy, under trees, university of washington, utah state university

It’s a foggy fall morning, and University of Washington researcher Susan Dickerson-Lange pokes her index finger into the damp soil beneath a canopy of second-growth conifers. The tree cover is dense here, and little light seeps in among the understory of the Cedar River Municipal Watershed about 30 miles east of Seattle.

She digs a small hole in the leaf-litter soil, then pushes a thumb-sized device, called an iButton, about an inch beneath the surface. If all goes well, this tiny, battery-powered instrument will collect a temperature reading every hour for 11 months. Researchers hope this tool and a handful of other instruments will help them map winter temperatures throughout the watershed as they track snow accumulation and melt. (more…)

Author Archives: Guest Post