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Mercury levels in Pacific fish likely to rise in coming decades

By Guest PostSeptember 4, 2013Environmentatmospheric problem, bacteria, bioaccumulation, China, coal burning, fish, India, isotopic fractionation, isotopic measurement technique, joel blum, lantern fish, mercury, mercury emission reductions, mercury pollution, methylmercury, moonfish, north pacific ocean, ocean surface, opah, open ocean fish, organic matter, pacific ocean, photochemical degradation, power plants, rainfall, source, toxic form, toxin, university of hawaii, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR — University of Michigan researchers and their University of Hawaii colleagues say they’ve solved the longstanding mystery of how mercury gets into open-ocean fish, and their findings suggest that levels of the toxin in Pacific Ocean fish will likely rise in coming decades.

Using isotopic measurement techniques developed at U-M, the researchers determined that up to 80 percent of the toxic form of mercury, called methylmercury, found in the tissues of deep-feeding North Pacific Ocean fish is produced deep in the ocean, most likely by bacteria clinging to sinking bits of organic matter. (more…)

Poor concentration: Poverty reduces brainpower needed for navigating other areas of life

By Guest PostSeptember 4, 2013Scienceanandi mani, cognitive function, easy, eldar shafir, financial woe, hard, harvard university, ifmr trust, India, iq, jiaying zhao, journal science, mental tax, money situation, new jersey, poor concentration, poverty reduces brainpower, scenario, sendhil mullainathan, university of warwick in britain

Poverty and all its related concerns require so much mental energy that the poor have less remaining brainpower to devote to other areas of life, according to research based at Princeton University. As a result, people of limited means are more likely to make mistakes and bad decisions that may be amplified by — and perpetuate — their financial woes.

Published in the journal Science, the study presents a unique perspective regarding the causes of persistent poverty. The researchers suggest that being poor may keep a person from concentrating on the very avenues that would lead them out of poverty. A person’s cognitive function is diminished by the constant and all-consuming effort of coping with the immediate effects of having little money, such as scrounging to pay bills and cut costs. Thusly, a person is left with fewer “mental resources” to focus on complicated, indirectly related matters such as education, job training and even managing their time. (more…)

Lesbian and gay young people twice as likely to smoke and drink alcohol

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2013Healthalcohol drinking patterns, bisexual, bmj open, depression, drink alcohol, frequent intoxication, gareth hagger johnson, gay, hazardous alcohol drinking, heterosexism, heterosexual peers, homophobia, lesbian, london metropolitan university, longitudinal study, minority stress, public health england, research, smoke, social change, symptoms of anxiety, ucl, university of cambridge, young people

Young people who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are twice as likely to have smoked than their heterosexual peers, according to new research published in BMJ Open. Lesbian and gay young people were also more likely to drink alcohol frequently and more hazardously.

The interdisciplinary research team comprised researchers from five UK Universities (UCL, University of Cambridge, London Metropolitan University, De Montfort University Leicester and Brunel University), a doctor working in General Practice and a consultant from Public Health England. (more…)

Gauck auf den Spuren der Wölfe

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2013Naturefreilebende Woelfe, nabu projekt, rueckkehr der woelfe, spur der woelfe, willkommen wolf, wolfsbotschafter, wolfsforscher

NABU-Wolfsbotschafter auf dem Bürgerfest des Bundespräsidenten

Beim alljährlichen Bürgerfest des Bundespräsidenten im Park des Schloss Bellevue hat sich Bundespräsident Joachim Gauck am Wochenende am Stand der Wolfsbotschafter über die Rückkehr der Wölfe informiert. (more…)

Fifty years later: ‘I have a dream’

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2013Politicsamerican history, civil rights, civil rights movement, dream forever, have a dream

U faculty and leaders reflect on the historic day and its aftermath

Fifty years ago, on August 28, 1963, a young preacher delivered a speech that would go down as one of the most important and powerful in all of American history. “I Have a Dream” became the cornerstone of the March on Washington, a march which galvanized a people and energized the civil rights movement. One year later, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. (more…)

Nourishing people and an economy

By Guest PostSeptember 2, 2013Economydairy farmers, dairy industry, farmers in malawi, malawi, native farmers, white revolution

Milk has a reputation for strengthening bones. In Malawi, the growing dairy industry is strengthening the livelihoods of small dairy farmers and the health of the country’s inhabitants. (more…)

Protest gegen Aigners verfehlte Agrarpolitik

By Guest PostSeptember 2, 2013Environmentaigner, aigners verfehlte agrarpolitik, bayer und syngenta, bienenvoelker, csu, deutsche oekolandbau, deutschland, die wirkstoffe, dirk zimmermann, efsa, eu, europa, fipronil, klimawandel, landwirtschaft, pestizid, protest, umwelt

Nicht alle wollen die Biene schützen: Bayer und Syngenta klagen gegen das Pestizidverbot der EU, in Deutschland hat Ilse Aigner (CSU) als Bundeslandwirtschaftsministerin versagt. Greenpeace-Aktivisten protestieren dagegen in München mit einem großen Plakat. Eine Fotomontage zeigt, wie Aigner inmitten eines Rapsfeldes steht und lächelnd Pestizide versprüht.

“Die Industrie bestreitet die nachgewiesene Bienengefährlichkeit der Pestizide”, sagt Dirk Zimmermann. “Unabhängig vom Rechtsstreit zwischen Industrie und EU fordern wir von der nächsten Bundesregierung ein wasserdichtes nationales Verbot der Bienenkiller.” (more…)

Ultracold Big Bang experiment successfully simulates evolution of early universe

By Guest PostSeptember 1, 2013Scienceabsolute zero, andrei sakharov, background radiation, beginning of universe, big bang, black holes, chao lin kuo, chen lung hung, cheng chin, cmb, cobe, cosmic microwave, dynamics, early universe, evolution, excitations, galaxy formation, infant universe, initial conditions, john carlstrom, laboratory simulation, matter and radiation, michael turner, phenomenon, power of physics, russian physicist, sakharov acoustic oscillations, sakharov oscillations, simulation, sound wave excitations, stanford university, ultracold big bang, ultracold cesium atoms, university of chicago, vacuum chamber, wayne hu, wmap

Physicists have reproduced a pattern resembling the cosmic microwave background radiation in a laboratory simulation of the Big Bang, using ultracold cesium atoms in a vacuum chamber at the University of Chicago.

“This is the first time an experiment like this has simulated the evolution of structure in the early universe,” said Cheng Chin, professor in physics. Chin and his associates reported their feat in the Aug. 1 edition of Science Express, and it will appear soon in the print edition of Science. (more…)

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