Tag Archives: africa

Great ape genetic diversity catalog frames primate evolution and future conservation

By Guest PostJuly 5, 2013Natureafrica, aids, ashmael, barcelona, behavioral disorders, belinga, bornean orangutan, chimpanzees, cognitive, dna segment, eastern gorilla, evan eichler, future conservation, genetic code, genetic diversity catalog, genetic variation, genome sciences, geographic isolation, gorillas, great ape, great ape species, humans, indonesia, javier prado martinez, map, migration, model, orangutans, origin of hiv, peter sudmant, primate evolution, seattle, simian immunodeficiency virus, siv, spain, suzie a, tomas marques bonet, universitat pompeu fabra, university of washington, virus, western lowland gorilla

A model of great ape history during the past 15 million years has been fashioned through the study of genetic variation in a large panel of humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. The catalog of great ape genetic diversity, the most comprehensive ever, elucidates the evolution and population histories of great apes from Africa and Indonesia. The resource will likely also aid in current and future conservation efforts which strive to preserve natural genetic diversity in populations.

More than 75 scientists and wildlife conservationists from around the world assisted the genetic analysis of 79 wild and captive-born great apes. They represent all six great ape species: chimpanzee, bonobo, Sumatran orangutan, Bornean orangutan, eastern gorilla, and western lowland gorilla, and seven subspecies. Nine human genomes were included in the sampling. (more…)

What Happened to Dinosaurs’ Predecessors After Earth’s Largest Extinction 252 Million Years Ago?

By Guest PostMay 4, 2013Scienceadam huttenlocker, africa, after the extinction, Antarctica, asilisaurus, australia, biogeographic patterns, brandon peecook, christian sidor, daril vilhena, dinosaurs in tanzania, dinosaurs predecessors, earliest dinosaur, earth, expeditions to antarctica, fossil hunting expeditions, fossil record, four legged animals, h richard lane, India, karoo, ken angielczyk, largest extinction, linda tsuji, mass extinction, museum fossils, national science foundation, nyasasaurus parringtoni, paleontologist, pig sized dicynodon, predecessors to dinosaurs, roger smith, sebastien steyer, snapshots, South Africa, south america, southern pangea, southwest russia, species distributions, sterling nesbitt, university of washington, unorthodox places, zambia, zambian basins

Fossil-hunting expeditions to Tanzania, Zambia and Antarctica provide new insights

Predecessors to dinosaurs missed the race to fill habitats emptied when nine out of 10 species disappeared during Earth’s largest mass extinction 252 million years ago.

Or did they?

That thinking was based on fossil records from sites in South Africa and southwest Russia.

It turns out, however, that scientists may have been looking in the wrong places. (more…)

Multi-Toxin Biotech Crops Not Silver Bullets, UA Scientists Warn

By Guest PostMarch 31, 2013Environment, Natureafrica, bacillus thuringiensis, bacterium, biotech crops, bruce tabashnik, bt, bt cotton, bt toxin, caterpillars, cirad, corn earworm, cotton bollworm, cry1, cry1ac, cry2 toxins, cry2ab, entomologists, Environment, epa, genetically engineered crops, helicoverpa zea, insecticide sprays, multi toxin, one toxin, pest control, pest killing proteins, pyramid strategy, silver bullets, simulation models, two toxin, university of arizona, US, yves carriere

The popular new strategy of planting genetically engineered crops that make two or more toxins to fend off insect pests rests on assumptions that don’t always apply, UA researchers have discovered. Their study helps explain why one major pest is evolving resistance much faster than predicted and offers ideas for more sustainable pest control.

A strategy widely used to prevent pests from quickly adapting to crop-protecting toxins may fail in some cases unless better preventive actions are taken, suggests new research by University of Arizona entomologists published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Corn and cotton have been genetically modified to produce pest-killing proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt for short. Compared with typical insecticide sprays, the Bt toxins produced by genetically engineered crops are much safer for people and the environment, explained Yves Carrière, a professor of entomology in the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences who led the study. (more…)

Male lions use ambush hunting strategy

By Guest PostMarch 21, 2013Nature3d maps, africa, african savanna, ambush style hunting, animal behavior, balance, cao aircraft, carnegie, carnegie airborne observatory, craig tambling, female lions, females, gps tracking, greg asner, habitats, hunting, kruger national park, lidar scanner, male lions, open grassy savannas, petr kratochvil, predators, prey, savanna vegetation, scott loarie, South Africa, species, university of pretoria, viewsheds

Washington, D.C.— It has long been believed that male lions are dependent on females when it comes to hunting. But new evidence suggests that male lions are, in fact, very successful hunters in their own right. A new report from a team including Carnegie’s Scott Loarie and Greg Asner shows that male lions use dense savanna vegetation for ambush-style hunting in Africa. Their work is published in Animal Behavior.

Female lions have long been observed to rely on cooperative strategies to hunt their prey. While some studies demonstrated that male lions are as capable at hunting as females, the males are less likely to cooperate, so there were still questions as to how the males manage to hunt successfully. The possibility that male lions used vegetation for ambushing prey was considered, but it was difficult to study given the logistics and dangers of making observations of lions in densely vegetated portions of the African savanna. (more…)

NASA’s Aquarius Sees Salty Shifts

By Guest PostMarch 1, 2013Environmentafrica, amazon river mouth, aquarius, aquarius instrument, arabian sea, argentine built, bay of bengal, caribbean, changing global climate, chronicle, cold polar waters, conae, cycling of freshwater, eastern tropical pacific, eric lindstrom, flag data, ganges, gary lagerloef, gene carl feldman, global rainfall patterns, heavy rain, ice free oceans, land contamination, large freshwater plume, mediterranean sea, microwave emissions, microwave radiometer, middle east, monsoon rains, NASA, ocean circulation, ocean salinity patterns, ocean salinity satellite, panama coast, pulses of freshwater, salinity processes, salinity variations, salty arabian sea, salty shifts, salty world, seasonal stirrings, smos, soil moisture, spacecraft, spurs, surface salinity data, varying salinity patterns, winter

The colorful images chronicle the seasonal stirrings of our salty world: Pulses of freshwater gush from the Amazon River’s mouth; an invisible seam divides the salty Arabian Sea from the fresher waters of the Bay of Bengal; a large patch of freshwater appears in the eastern tropical Pacific in the winter. These and other changes in ocean salinity patterns are revealed by the first full year of surface salinity data captured by NASA’s Aquarius instrument.

“With a bit more than a year of data, we are seeing some surprising patterns, especially in the tropics,” said Aquarius Principal Investigator Gary Lagerloef, of Earth & Space Research in Seattle. “We see features evolve rapidly over time.” (more…)

‘To the Mountaintop’: Journalist Discusses Social Justice Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

By Guest PostFebruary 18, 2013Culture, Politicsactivist, africa, african americans, aids, american culture, american dream, author, award winning journalist, charlayne hunter gault, civil rights movement, constitution, equity, future generations, highest hiv rates, hiv, james p comer, maggie, mainstream media, martin luther king, new haven, philosopher frantz fanon, public health, social justice, South Africa, success, timeless, to the mountaintop, transcendent, women of color, yale

Award-winning journalist, activist, and author Charlayne Hunter-Gault told a packed audience at Yale that lessons learned from the civil rights movement still have relevance for current and future generations.

Hunter-Gault delivered a lecture titled “Social Justice, Equity, and Public Health” during a Branford College master’s tea on Feb. 5. (more…)

Kofi Annan to students: ‘It’s your world now’

By Guest PostFebruary 13, 2013General, Politicsabsolutely essential, afghanistan, africa, arab league, city college, civil war, cuny, east timor, economic prospects, egypt, geneva, global food security, India, international monetary fund, jackson institute, Japan, jean krasno, john negroponte, kofi annan, kosovo, latin america, macalestar college, minnesota, native ghana, new york, nigeria, nutrition, Pakistan, political, radical change, russia, security council, sub-saharan africa, switzerland, syria, town hall meeting, un secretary general, united states, violent world conflicts, world economy

Former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan predicted during a campus visit that the civil war in Syria will become even more tragic before the international community takes action to help resolve the conflict, but said he is optimistic about the political and economic prospects for Africa in the years ahead. (more…)

U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and DISA Expand Access to Microsoft Technologies through Cost-Saving Modernization Agreement

By Guest PostJanuary 4, 2013Technologyadvanced mobility, africa, air force base, alabama, asia-pacific, big data, cloud computing, cybersecurity, defense, department of defense, disa, dod, Europe, fort huachuca, gunter annex, information systems agency, insight enterprises, insight public sector, it costs, microsoft corp., microsoft office 2013, microsoft solutions, middle east, mobility, North America, reduce, sharepoint 2013, tim solms, us air force, us army, windows 8

Insight Public Sector selected to deliver licensing agreement aimed at reducing IT costs while offering advanced mobility, collaboration and cloud computing capabilities to personnel.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Jan. 4, 2013 — In an effort to modernize technology infrastructure, reduce costs and foster new levels of cross-agency collaboration, the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) are expanding access to Microsoft solutions by entering into a transformative three-year Joint Enterprise Licensing Agreement for enterprise licenses and software assurance. The agreement provides all three organizations with a single vehicle for accessing the latest Microsoft technologies in support of top IT priorities around datacenter consolidation, collaboration, cybersecurity, mobility, cloud computing and big data.

This is the most comprehensive licensing agreement Microsoft Corp. has ever established with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), covering nearly 75 percent of all DoD personnel. The net new contract was awarded to Insight Public Sector, a division of Insight Enterprises Inc., one of the largest global Microsoft Large Account Resellers. (more…)