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New Understanding of How Humans and the Environment Interact

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2011Environmentadaptation to climate change, ancient maya, animal populations in the chobe river region of botswana, cnh, dynamics of coupled natural and human systems program, e coli, earth natural systems, eastern africa, ecosystem services, environmental change today, ignacio peralta, justin brashares, microbe, national science foundation, sarah ruth, sierra foothills of california, steven beissinger, tom baerwald, water quality and environmental health in botswana, wetlands

*National Science Foundation Grants Awarded for Research on Coupled Natural and Human Systems*

Water quality and environmental health in Botswana; wetlands in a working landscape; the collapse of the ancient Maya and what that has to tell us about society and environmental change today.

These and other projects that address how humans and the environment interact are the focus of $21 million in National Science Foundation (NSF) grants to scientists, engineers and educators across the country to study coupled natural and human systems. (more…)

Anderson Forecast: U.S. Economy stalled, Employment ‘Horrible,’ but No New Recession

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2011Economycoastal california, david shulman, domestic product growth, edward leamer, far worse, forecast economists remain, intellectual capital, no recession alarm, stall speed, the california forecast, the national forecast, ucla anderson forecast, university of california

In its third quarterly report of 2011, the UCLA Anderson Forecast says the outlook for the nation’s economy is “far worse” than it was just three months ago.

Considering the weak, revised data for the first half of the year, the forecast calls for average gross domestic product growth of just 0.9 percent on average for the five quarters — this year’s four and the first quarter of 2012.

However, Forecast economists remain steadfast in their assertion that the U.S. is not currently in a recession, nor is there a recession in the forecast through 2013. (more…)

Smells May Help Birds Identify Their Relatives

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2011Nature, Sciencebirds, brookfield zoo, bryan d neff, chicago zoological society, convergent evolution, heather coffin, humboldt penguins, hunter college, jason watters, jill mateo, mark e hauber, monogamous pairs, penguins, penguins at zoo, potential mate, preen gland, spheniscus humboldti, university of chicago, university of western ontario, zoo

Birds may have a more highly developed sense of smell than researchers previously thought, contend scholars who have found that penguins may use smell to determine if they are related to a potential mate.

The research by the University of Chicago and the Chicago Zoological Society, which manages Brookfield Zoo, shows how related birds are able to recognize each other. The study, published Wednesday, Sept. 21 in the article, “Odor-based Recognition of Familiar and Related Conspecifics: A First Test Conducted on Captive Humboldt Penguins (Spheniscus humboldti),” in the journal PLoS ONE, could help conservationists design programs to help preserve endangered species.

“Smell is likely the primary mechanism for kin recognition to avoid inbreeding within the colony,” said Heather Coffin, lead author of the paper. (more…)

Exeter Physicist Advances Early Universe Theory

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2011Scienceearly universe theory, extrasolar planets, intergalactic media, magnetic fields, star formation

Research by a University of Exeter astrophysicist has helped to explain how the first stars and galaxies formed

Research led by Professor Gilles Chabrier of the University of Exeter suggests that large magnetic fields were generated shortly after the Big Bang and played a key role in the formation of the first stars and galaxies

The international team of researchers, headed by Professor Chabrier and Dr Christoph Federrath of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France), used three-dimensional computer simulations to make their discovery. Their simulations show that even under extreme physical conditions, magnetic fields are efficiently amplified by turbulent flows. The findings are now published in the journal Physical Review Letters. (more…)

UCLA Scientists Find H1N1 Flu Virus Prevalent in Animals in Africa

By Guest PostSeptember 24, 2011Scienceanimals in africa, avian and human influenza viruses, Bangladesh, center for tropical research, China, diagnostic test called elisa, egypt, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, genetic elements of swine, ground zero, H1N1, h1n1 virus, hilary godwin, human pandemic, human strain of h1n1, human to human infection, influenza a, kevin njabo, livestock in cameroon, microbial animal diseases, pandemic, pigs, pigs in cameroon, san diego, swine flu, thomas b smith, village in northern cameroon, virus

UCLA life scientists and their colleagues have discovered the first evidence of the H1N1 virus in animals in Africa. In one village in northern Cameroon, a staggering 89 percent of the pigs studied had been exposed to the H1N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu.

“I was amazed that virtually every pig in this village was exposed,” said Thomas B. Smith, director of UCLA’s Center for Tropical Research and the senior author of the research. “Africa is ground zero for a new pandemic. Many people are in poor health there, and disease can spread very rapidly without authorities knowing about it.” (more…)

UF-led study: Invasive Amphibians, Reptiles in Florida Outnumber World

By Guest PostSeptember 24, 2011Environment, Scienceamerican alligator, bishop museum in honolulu, brown anole, burmese pythons, cargo ships, cement walls, Cuba, everglades, florida, florida museum of natural history, fred kraus, greenhouse frog, iguanas, invasion of lizards, invasive amphibian and reptile, kenneth krysko, lizards, python, turtles, university of florida, west indies, zootaxa

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida has the world’s worst invasive amphibian and reptile problem, and a new 20-year study led by a University of Florida researcher verifies the pet trade as the No. 1 cause of the species’ introductions.

From 1863 through 2010, 137 non-native amphibian and reptile species were introduced to Florida, with about 25 percent of those traced to one animal importer. The findings appear online today in Zootaxa. (more…)

Physicist Detects Movement of Macromolecules Engineered into Our Food

By Guest PostSeptember 24, 2011Healthcry toxins, food, genetically engineered, movement of macromolecules, pore-forming toxins, toxin proteins

Toxin proteins are genetically engineered into our food because they kill insects by perforating body cell walls, and Professor Rikard Blunck of the University of Montreal’s Group for the study of membrane proteins (GÉPROM) has detected the molecular mechanism involved. In recognition of his breakthrough, he received the Traditional Paul F. Cranefield Award of the Society of General Physiologists yesterday evening. (more…)

Book Traces Long Trail of Global Warming Scholarship

By Guest PostSeptember 24, 2011Environmentcarbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide emissions, climate simulations, co2 data, computer simulations, crystalline substances, david archer, earth climate, foundations of global-warming science, geophysical sciences professor, global warming, global warming and climate change, global warming class, greenhouse effect, humans, impact on climate, infrared intensity of moonlight, louis block professor, methane hydrates, nobel laureate, oceanic sediments, ray pierrehumbert, rising temperatures, svante arrhenius, the smoking gun

Geophysical Sciences Professor David Archer polled the 200 students in one of his Global Warming classes about whether they believed that humans have had an impact on climate. Approximately 90 percent of the students responded “yes,” reflecting the lessons of climate simulations that Archer had shared earlier with the students.

Those computer simulations are able to reproduce the trend toward rising temperatures, but only when they include data on rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. Simulations that omit the CO2 data do not accurately reproduce the changes. Archer says the link helps reveal carbon dioxide emissions as “the smoking gun” behind global warming and climate change. (more…)

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