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Sailing in a Sea of Microbes

By Guest PostMarch 4, 2012Sciencealgae, Arctic, atmospheric chemistry, bacteria, biogeochemical cycles, biomass, carbon dioxide, Chile, climate, daniel stolte, easter island, Environment, food production, genome, Germany, global warming, grassroots initiative, greenhouse gas, matt sullivan, melissa duhaime, microbe, ocean water, oceans, oxygen production, pacific ocean, research vessel, saguaro cacti, sequence, tara oceans, ua, university of arizona, wolves, world of viruses, world of webs

Researchers led by Matt Sullivan at the UA are among the first to dive into the world of viruses drifting through the world’s oceans.

Surrounded by the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean stretching from horizon to horizon, a lonely dot is glinting in the sun. It is the aluminum hull of a sailboat, a 118-foot schooner with white sails billowing from two masts.

On the deck, crewmembers and scientists are milling about. Commands are flying back and forth, and soon a strange contraption consisting of tubes clustered around an array of sensors dangling from a crane is lowered into the water, until it disappears in the clear blue depths. (more…)

Foot Bones Allow Researchers To Determine Sex of Skeletal Remains

By Guest PostMarch 3, 2012Sciencebiological sex, foot bones, forensic context, skeletal remains

Law enforcement officials who are tasked with identifying a body based on partial skeletal remains have a new tool at their disposal. A new paper from North Carolina State University researchers details how to determine the biological sex of skeletal remains based solely on measurements of the seven tarsal bones in the feet. (more…)

Amoeba May Offer Key Clue to Photosynthetic Evolution

By Guest PostMarch 3, 2012Scienceamoeba, animal cells, arthur grossman, bacterial cells, carbohydrates, cell wall, chemical energy, chloroplasts, chromatophores, cyanobacteria, endosymbiotic cyanobacterium, eva nowack, light energy, mitochondria, paulinella chromatophora, photosynthetic process, plant, silica scales, single celled bacteria, sugar breakdown, sugars

Stanford, CA— The major difference between plant and animal cells is the photosynthetic process, which converts light energy into chemical energy. When light isn’t available, energy is generated by breaking down carbohydrates and sugars, just as it is in animal and some bacterial cells. Two cellular organelles are responsible for these two processes: the chloroplasts for photosynthesis and the mitochondria for sugar breakdown. New research from Carnegie’s Eva Nowack and Arthur Grossman has opened a window into the early stages of chloroplast evolution. Their work is published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the week of February 27-March 2. (more…)

Asteroid 2011 AG5 – A Reality Check

By Guest PostMarch 2, 2012Sciencearizona, asteroid 2011 ag5, cassegrain reflector telescope, catalina mountains, don yeomans, earth interception, gravitational influence, mars, mount lemmon, near earth object, orbit, space rock, spaceguard, torino impact hazard scale, tucson

Asteroid 2011 AG5 has been receiving a lot of attention lately because of a very unlikely scenario which would place it on an Earth-interception course 28 years from now. Here is a scientific reality check of this relatively nondescript space rock which is currently ranked a “1” on the 1 to 10 Torino Impact Hazard Scale

As of Feb. 26, 2012, asteroid 2011 AG5 is one of 8,744 near-Earth objects that have been discovered. It is approximately 460 feet (140 meters) in size and its orbit carries it as far out as beyond Mars’ orbit and as close to the sun as halfway between Earth and Venus. It was discovered on Jan. 8, 2011, by astronomers using a 60-inch Cassegrain reflector telescope located at the summit of Mount Lemmon in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona. (more…)

How Megakaryocytes Get so Big — and The Bad Things That Happen When They Don’t

By Guest PostMarch 2, 2012Scienceblood cells, cell division, diane krause, DNA, ect2, ee chun cheng, elenoe smith, endomitosis, gef h1, gene, giant blood cells, guanine exchange factors, krause lab, leukemia, lin wang, malfunction, malignant leukemias, megakaryoblastic leukemias, megakaryocyte maturation, megakaryocytes, mkl1, mutant, platelets, process, protein, sharon lin, siying zou, stephanie halene, supernova, yuan gao

Yale researchers have discovered how megakaryocytes — giant blood cells that produce wound-healing platelets — manage to grow 10 to 15 times larger than other blood cells.

The findings, to be published March 13 in the journal Developmental Cell, also hint at how a malfunction in this process may cause a form of leukemia. (more…)

It Takes Two to Tango: Pairs of Entwined Proteins Handle The Stress

By Guest PostMarch 2, 2012Sciencebacterial protein, bleach, cell paper, dana reichmann, dance floor, function, helper protein, hsp33, jim erickson, michael fitzgerald, molecular chaperone, oxidants, protein, protein folding process, stress specific, tango, university of michigan, ursula jakob, ying xu

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Imagine two tango dancers sweeping across the dance floor and suddenly encountering a slick spot. To avoid a slip or even a nasty tumble, the pair must work together to support one another and glide safely through the stressful moment.

In a similar way, a certain type of helper protein called a stress-specific molecular chaperone prevents its client proteins from collapsing during stressful situations by uncoiling a long, supportive arm that wraps around them, a University of Michigan-led research team has shown. (more…)

UCLA Scientists ID Cell, Signaling Pathway That Regulate Blood Stem Cells in Placenta

By Guest PostMarch 2, 2012Scienceblood stem cells, placenta, placental niche, placental vasculature, signaling pathway

UCLA stem-cell researchers have identified a certain type of cell and a signaling pathway in the placental niche that play a key role in stopping blood stem cells from differentiating into mature blood cells in the placenta. Preventing this premature differentiation is critical to ensuring a proper blood supply for an individual’s lifetime. (more…)

Torosaurus is Not Triceratops, Yale Researchers Say

By Guest PostMarch 1, 2012Scienceanatomical difference, dinosaur research, horned dinosaurs, torosaurus, triceratops

A year-long study by Yale University paleontologists concludes that two related horned dinosaurs are different animals and not adult and juvenile versions of the same. (more…)

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