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Bacterial Communication Could Affect Earth’s Climate

By Guest PostOctober 15, 2011Environmentatmospheric carbon dioxide, bacteria, bacterial communication, benjamin van mooy, british columbia, canada, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, clayoquot sound, climate, heat trapping greenhouse gas, laura hmelo, marine plants, microscopic bacteria, ocean, particles, particles of carbon rich detritus, phytoplankton, planet, rose kantor, source of carbon, tiny marine animals, tracy mincer, university of washington, vancouver island, vessel barnes, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution, zooplankton

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists have discovered that bacterial communication could have a significant impact on the planet’s climate.

In the ocean, bacteria coalesce on tiny particles of carbon-rich detritus sinking through the depths. WHOI marine biogeochemists Laura Hmelo, Benjamin Van Mooy, and Tracy Mincer found that these bacteria send out chemical signals to discern if other bacteria are in the neighborhood. If enough of their cohorts are nearby, then bacteria en masse commence secreting enzymes that break up the carbon-containing molecules within the particles into more digestible bits. It has been suggested that coordinated expression of enzymes is very advantageous for bacteria on sinking particles, and Hmelo and her colleagues have uncovered the first proof of this in the ocean. (more…)

Making Germs Glow: New Test Helps Save Lives and Cuts Costs

By Guest PostOctober 15, 2011Scienceadvandx, beneficial bacteria, bioindustry sponsors, blood cultures, bloodstream infections, clinical microbiology laboratories, dna sequence, donna wolk, fluorescence, genetic code, infectious disease, lag time, microbiology, pathogens, peptide nucleic acid fluorescence in situ hybridization, pna fish

*Replacing conventional laboratory tests with a new DNA sequence-based technology to identify pathogens causing bloodstream infections dramatically lowered mortality and health-care costs, a clinical study conducted by an interdisciplinary UA research team found.*

Unlike conventional laboratory tests, a new technology called PNA-FISH is designed to rapidly identify bloodstream pathogens by their genetic code. Results are available within hours instead of days providing pharmacists and physicians with information they can use to rapidly customize antimicrobial treatment for patients with infections.

PNA-FISH is an abbreviation for “peptide nucleic acid fluorescence in situ hybridization.” Rapid reporting of PNA FISH results to pharmacists and physicians cut the mortality of ICU patients with enterococcus or streptococcus bloodstream infections by almost half and slashed mortality from yeast infections by 86 percent. In addition, the intervention resulted in healthcare cost reduction of almost $5 million per year. (more…)

New Technologies Challenge Old Ideas About Early Hominid Diets

By Guest PostOctober 15, 2011Sciencec3 photosynthetic pathway, chimpanzees, early hominids, gorillas, hominid teeth, long-held assumptions, national science foundation, nutcracker man, paranthropus boisei, sponheimer, unger, university of arkansas, university of colorado at boulder

New assessments by researchers using the latest high-tech tools to study the diets of early hominids are challenging long-held assumptions about what our ancestors ate, says a study by the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Arkansas.

By analyzing microscopic pits and scratches on hominid teeth, as well as stable isotopes of carbon found in teeth, researchers are getting a very different picture of the diet habitats of early hominids than that painted by the physical structure of the skull, jawbones and teeth. While some early hominids sported powerful jaws and large molars — including Paranthropus boisei, dubbed “Nutcracker Man” — they may have cracked nuts rarely if at all, said CU-Boulder anthropology Professor Matt Sponheimer, study co-author. (more…)

Personal Relationships Key to Successful Diplomacy: Mulroney

By Guest PostOctober 15, 2011Politicsacid rain accord, alan gotlieb, brian mulroney, canada, canadian prime minister, collapse of communism, george bush, influential player on global security, north american free trade agreement, ottawa, peter munk, prime minister, ronald reagan, second world war, united states, university of toronto, us president, Washington

*Former prime minister’s speech honours Alan Gotlieb, former ambassador to U.S.*

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney, the man entrepreneur Peter Munk described as “one of our greatest statesmen,” attributed much of his success – and Canada’s under his leadership – to the personal relationships he and his ambassador cultivated with leaders south of the border.

Mulroney spoke at a University of Toronto conference, Diplomacy in the Digital Age, Oct. 13, an event held in honour of Alan Gotlieb, the former ambassador to the United States who served three prime ministers. (more…)

Two Seemingly Unrelated Phenomena Share Surprising Link

By Guest PostOctober 14, 2011Scienceelastic film, swinging pendulums, synthetic films, unrelated phenomena, wrinkling energy

A coupled line of swinging pendulums apparently has nothing in common with an elastic film that buckles and folds under compression while floating on a liquid, but scientists at the University of Chicago and Tel Aviv University have discovered a deep connection between the two phenomena. (more…)

Astronomers Find Bounty of Failed Stars

By Guest PostOctober 14, 2011Sciencealeks scholz, astronomical oddballs, brown dwarfs, Chile, dublin institute of advanced studies, eth zurich, failed stars, garching, gas clouds, Germany, giant planets, hawaii, ireland, jupiter, koraljka muzic, mariangela bonavita, motohide tamura, ngc 1333, optical and infrared wavelengths, planets, ray jayawardhana, rho ophiuchi star, sonyc, stars, subaru telescope, substellar objects in nearby young clusters, switzerland, university of toronto, very large telescope, vincent geers, vlt

*One youngster only six times heftier than Jupiter*

TORONTO, ON – A University of Toronto-led team of astronomers has discovered over two dozen new free-floating brown dwarfs, including a lightweight youngster only about six times heftier than Jupiter, that reside in two young star clusters. What’s more, one cluster contains a surprising surplus of them, harbouring half as many of these astronomical oddballs as normal stars.

“Our findings suggest once again that objects not much bigger than Jupiter could form the same way as stars do. In other words, nature appears to have more than one trick up its sleeve for producing planetary mass objects,” says Professor Ray Jayawardhana, Canada Research Chair in Observational Astrophysics at the University of Toronto and leader of the international team that made the discovery. (more…)

Oil Exploration Would Endanger The Most Biodiverse Region in The Western Hemisphere, Say Scientists

By Guest PostOctober 14, 2011Environmentamphibians, anthony di fiore, australia, biodiverse region, biodiversity, birds, canada, Colombia, ecuador, ecuadorian amazon, italian government, mammals, oil exploitation, peak diversity of plants, peru, peter english, president rafael correa, reserves of oil, royal bank of canada, turkey, united nations general assembly, united states, university of texas at austin, western hemisphere, yasuní ishpingo tambococha tiputini trust fund, yasuní itt initiative, yasuní national park

AUSTIN, Texas — An international team of scientists that includes two University of Texas at Austin researchers has found that Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park, which sits on top of massive reserves of oil, is in the single most biodiverse region in the Western Hemisphere.

The announcement is part of a final push for the Yasuní-ITT Initiative at the United Nations General Assembly. The initiative proposes that Ecuador receive compensation for half of the revenues the nation would lose by protecting the estimated 846 million barrels of oil that lie beneath the forest. (more…)

New Computer Programme Promises to Save the Whales

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2011Naturesave the whales, whale watching industry

Researchers at the University of Montreal have developed a computer programme that enables regulators to evaluate the ecological and economic tradeoffs between marine mammal conservation, whale watching and marine transportation activities in the Saint Lawrence Estuary. (more…)

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