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Badwater Basin: Death Valley Microbe Thrives There

By Guest PostDecember 30, 2011Sciencebadwater basin, basin, bw 1, chemistry of the environment, christopher lefevre, david pignol, death valley national park, dennis bazylinski, enriqueta barrera, greigite, greigite producing bacterium, iron oxide, magnetic bacteria, magnetic properties, magnetite, magnetite producing bacteria, microbial magnetism, minerals, nano sized crystals, nanotech, national science foundation, nevada, nicolas menguy of pierre, novel biotech, precious metals, silver state, sulfate reducing bacteria, university of aix marseille, university of nevada las vegas, unlv

*Discovery may lead to novel biotech and nanotech uses*

Nevada, the “Silver State,” is well-known for mining precious metals.

But scientists Dennis Bazylinski and colleagues at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) do a different type of mining.

They sluice through every water body they can find, looking for new forms of microbial magnetism.

In a basin named Badwater on the edge of Death Valley National Park, Bazylinski and researcher Christopher Lefèvre hit pay dirt. (more…)

Geoscientists Find Key to Why Some Patients Get Infections from Cardiac Implants

By Guest PostOctober 26, 2011Health, Scienceamericans, antibiotics, atomic force microscopy, bacteria adhere to mineral surfaces, bacterial and human proteins, bacterial cells, biofilm, biofilm formation, biofilm of persistent bacteria, blood infection bacteremia, charles darwin, common human blood protein, contaminated device, deadly blood infection, defibrillators, duke university medical center, enriqueta barrera, eric taylor, fibronectin, fibronectin binding protein a, gene mutations, genetic variants, geobiologists, heart implants, human body, implanted cardiac devices, infections, l barth reller, molecular dynamics simulations, nadia casillas ituarte, national science foundation, ohio state university, pacemakers, patients with implants, prosthetic cardiac valves, proteins of infectious bacteria, ruchirej yongsunthon, single nucleotide polymorphisms, snips, snps, solid substrate, staph bacteria, staphylococcus aureus, steven lower, supaporn lamlertthon, united states, vance fowler

*Bacterial cells have gene mutations that allow them to ‘stick’ to the devices*

New research suggests that some patients develop a potentially deadly blood infection from their implanted cardiac devices because bacterial cells in their bodies have gene mutations that allow them to stick to the devices.

Geoscientists were the major contributors to the finding.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published the study results online this week. (more…)

Mars: Red Planet’s Rapid Formation Explains Its Small Size Relative to Earth

By Guest PostMay 27, 2011Scienceali pourmand, atmosphere, chemical behavior, chondrites, composition of chondrites, computer simulation, dauphas and pourmand, earth, embryos, enriqueta barrera, fine scale chronology, geophysicist, hafnium, lithophile elements, mantle of mars, mars, martian meteorites, national science foundation, nicolas dauphas, non volatile elements, nsf, radioactive decay, red planet, refractory, solar system, tungsten in meteorites, tungsten isotopic composition, university of chicago, xenon content

*Mars developed far more quickly than our blue planet*

Mars developed in as little as two to four million years after the birth of the solar system, far more quickly than Earth, according to results of a new study published in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.

The red planet’s rapid formation helps explain why it is so small, say the study’s co-authors, Nicolas Dauphas at the University of Chicago and Ali Pourmand at the University of Miami. (more…)

Widespread Ancient Ocean “Dead Zones” Challenged Early Life

By Guest PostJanuary 8, 20111 commentEnvironmentanoxic, atmospheric oxygen, bacteria, benjamin gill, cambrian period, chesapeake bay, dead zone, diversification of life, earth, enriqueta barrera, fluctuations, gulf of mexico, iron, late ediacaran period, maryland, molybdenum, nitrogen, ocean, oceanic oxygen, oxygen level, oxygen rich, phosphorus, timothy lyons, ucr, virginia

*Persistent lack of oxygen in Earth’s oceans affected animal evolution*

The oceans became oxygen-rich as they are today about 600 million years ago, during Earth’s Late Ediacaran Period. Before that, most scientists believed until recently, the ancient oceans were relatively oxygen-poor for the preceding four billion years.

Now biogeochemists at the University of California-Riverside (UCR) have found evidence that the oceans went back to being “anoxic,” or oxygen-poor, around 499 million years ago, soon after the first appearance of animals on the planet. (more…)

New Evidence Supports Snowball Earth as Trigger for Early Animal Evolution

By Guest PostNovember 2, 20101 commentSciencebiogeochemists, enriqueta barrera, glacial events, glaciations, mid-neoproterozoic, noah planavsky, oceans, phosphorus, snowball earth, snowball earth hypothesis, tim lyons

Geologist Noah Plavansky examines rocks deposited after a "Snowball Earth" glacial event. Image credit: Lyons Lab, UC-Riverside

*Spike in ancient marine phosphorus concentrations linked to emergence of complex life*

Biogeochemists have found new evidence linking “Snowball Earth” glacial events to the rise of early animals. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Study results appear in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.

The controversial Snowball Earth hypothesis posits that, on several occasions, the Earth was covered from pole to pole by a thick sheet of ice lasting for millions of years.

These glaciations, the most severe in Earth history, occurred from 750 to 580 million years ago. (more…)

Study Adds Clue to How Last Ice Age Ended

By Guest PostSeptember 15, 20101 commentEnvironment, Sciencebob anderson, cosmogenic isotope beryllium-10, cosmogenic isotopes, enriqueta barrera, gulf stream reconfigures, ice core records, joerg schaefer, journal nature, lamont-doherty, meltwater, michael kaplan, paleoclimatology, younger dryas

As the last ice age was ending, about 13,000 years ago, a final blast of cold hit Europe, and for a thousand years or more, it felt like the ice age had returned.

But oddly, despite bitter cold winters in the north, Antarctica was heating up.

(more…)

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