Tag Archives: Germany

Smarter Toxins Help Crops Fight Resistant Pests

By Guest PostOctober 11, 2011Scienceb rogers leonard, bacillus thuringiensis, bacterium, beneficial insects, bruce tabashnik, bt, bt cotton, bt toxins, cadherin, cadherin mutations, caterpillars, change in molecular structure, crop protecting proteins, david heckel, fangneng huang, genetic engineering, Germany, jena, lady bugs, manduca sexta, max planck institute for chemical ecology, mukti ghimire, pectinophora gossypiella, pests, pink bollworm, rna interference, tobacco hornworm

*A slight change in molecular structure introduced by genetic engineering gives crop-protecting proteins called Bt toxins a new edge in overcoming resistance of certain pests, a UA-led team of researchers reports in Nature Biotechnology.*

One of the most successful strategies in pest control is to endow crop plants with genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt for short, which code for proteins that kill pests attempting to eat them.

But insect pests are evolving resistance to Bt toxins, which threatens the continued success of this approach. In the current issue of Nature Biotechnology, a research team led by UA Professor Bruce Tabashnik reports the discovery that a small modification of the toxins’ structure overcomes the defenses of some major pests that are resistant to the natural, unmodified Bt toxins. (more…)

NASA Leads Study of Unprecedented Arctic Ozone Loss

By Guest PostOctober 2, 2011Science1989 montreal protocol, alfred wegener institute for polar and marine research, amount of ozone, Antarctic, antarctic ozone hole, Arctic, arctic ozone loss, arctic polar vortex, arctic stratospheric temperatures, aura and calipso spacecraft, boulder, canada, chemical ozone destruction, chlorine monoxide, denmark, depletion of earth ozone layer, finland, Germany, gloria manney, Japan, jet propulsion laboratory in pasadena, low temperatures, NASA, new mexico institute of mining and technology in socorro, noaa earth system research laboratory, ozone hole, potsdam, russia, spain, stratosphere, stratospheric ozone layer, the netherlands, ultraviolet rays, united states, winter

PASADENA, Calif. – A NASA-led study has documented an unprecedented depletion of Earth’s protective ozone layer above the Arctic last winter and spring caused by an unusually prolonged period of extremely low temperatures in the stratosphere.

The study, published online Sunday, Oct. 2, in the journal Nature, finds the amount of ozone destroyed in the Arctic in 2011 was comparable to that seen in some years in the Antarctic, where an ozone “hole” has formed each spring since the mid-1980s. The stratospheric ozone layer, extending from about 10 to 20 miles (15 to 35 kilometers) above the surface, protects life on Earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. (more…)

Android Captures #2 Ranking Among Smartphone Platforms in EU5

By Guest PostSeptember 13, 2011Technologyandroid device, apple ios, Comscore, eu5, european markets, france, Germany, Google, google android platform, growth trends of smartphone, htc, italy, jeremy copp, Microsoft, mobile, mobile media landscape, rim, spain, symbian, united kingdom

*HTC and Samsung Emerge as Top Android Device Manufacturers*

LONDON, UK, 13 September 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service analysing growth trends of the smartphone platforms across the five leading European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom). In July 2011, nearly 1 in 4 smartphone users in EU5 reported using smartphones running on the Google Android platform. HTC had the highest market share among mobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), accounting for 34.6 percent of Android devices used across the region in this period, followed closely by Samsung with 31.7 percent of Android devices. (more…)

Testing the Water for Bioenergy Crops

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2011Environmentanjuli bamzai, atmospheric humidity, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, changing climate, corn, darren drewry, energy, environmental advocates, Germany, grasses, hydrologic cycle, hydrology, land conversion, large scale biofuel production, large scale land conversion, limiting factor, max planck institute, miscanthus, phong le, praveen kumar, rainfall patterns, runoff, soil moisture, switchgrass, university of illinois at urbana champaign, vietnam education foundation, water

*Water significant limiting factor in growing crops like switchgrass*

Energy researchers and environmental advocates are excited about the prospect of gaining more efficient large-scale biofuel production by using large grasses like miscanthus or switchgrass rather than corn.

They have investigated yields, land use, economics and more, but one key factor of agriculture has been overlooked: water.

“While we are looking for solutions for energy through bioenergy crops, dependence on water gets ignored, and water can be a significant limiting factor,” said Praveen Kumar, an environmental engineer and atmospheric scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (more…)

UK Mobile Retail Access via Smartphone Grew 163 Percent in Past Year

By Guest PostJuly 29, 2011Technologyapp access for mobile, benchmarks, Comscore, eu5 region, european markets, france, Germany, italy, jeremy copp, mobile devices in europe, mobile subscribers, online retail sites, smartphone ownership, smartphone users, spain, uk

*Mobile Browsers, Rather than Apps, Drive Access to Mobile Retail Activities Across EU5*

LONDON, UK, 29th July, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service showing that 13.5 million users across the five leading European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK), accounting for 5.8 percent of all mobile subscribers, accessed online retail sites in the three month average period ending May 2011. In the EU5 region, the number of smartphone users accessing online retail sites has increased by 80 percent over the past year. This growth is even stronger in the UK, with a 163-percent increase in smartphone users accessing retail sites since May 2010. (more…)

Earliest Image of Egyptian Ruler Wearing “White Crown” of Royalty Brought to Light

By Guest PostJuly 8, 2011Culture, Generalakap, archaeologists, aswan, aswan kom ombo archaeological project, belgium, cutting edge digital methodology, dynasty 0 and narmer, egypt, egyptian crown, egyptian dynastic power, egyptian ruler, egyptian western desert, egyptologists, epigraphic survey in luxor, fifth dynasties, following of horus, gatto and antonio curci, Germany, hieroglyphic annotation, hieroglyphic text, human and divine power, image, italy, john coleman darnell, labib habachi, maria carmela gatto, nag el hamdulab, nag el hamdulab scenes, northern nubia, palermo stone, pharaonic cycles, predynastic jubilee, provinciale hogeschool of limburg, royal court, royal economic control, royal jubilee, royal pharaonic jubilee, the nile, university of bologna, west bank, white crown, yale university

The earliest known image of an Egyptian ruler wearing the “White Crown” associated with Egyptian dynastic power has been brought to light by an international team of archaeologists led by Egyptologists from Yale University.

Carved around 3200 BCE, this unique record of a royal celebration at the dawn of the Egyptian dynastic period was found at a site discovered almost a half-century ago by Egyptologist Labib Habachi at Nag el-Hamdulab, on the West Bank of the Nile to the north of Aswan. (more…)

Breaking the Chain: ‘Molecular cap’ Blocks Processes that Lead to Alzheimer’s, HIV

By Guest PostJune 24, 2011Health, Sciencealzheimer disease, amino acids, amyloid diseases, amyloid fibers, biochemists, brain cells, california nanosystems institute, david baker, david eisenberg, disease, enzymes, fatal diseases, Germany, hiv infection, jan münch, jie liu, jorge barrio, lin jiang, lou gehrig, mad cow disease, meytal landau, microcrystallography, molecular inhibitors, onofrio zirafi, orange g, parkinson disease, proteins, semen derived enhancer of viral infection, sevi, sexual transmission of hiv, steric zippers, stuart sievers, synthetic amino acids, tau protein, treatments, united states, university of ulm, vqivyk

A new advance by UCLA biochemists has brought scientists one step closer to developing treatments that could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and prevent the sexual transmission of HIV.

The researchers report that they have designed molecular inhibitors that target specific proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease and HIV to prevent them from forming amyloid fibers, the elongated chains of interlocking proteins that play a key role in more than two dozen degenerative and often fatal diseases. (more…)

Germany Leads Europe in Online Video Viewing

By Guest PostJune 14, 2011Technologybbc sites, Comscore, comscore video metrix, dailymotion, european countries, Facebook, france, Germany, Google, italy, mike read, online video viewing, prosiebensat1 sites, russia, spain, turkey, uk, YouTube, youtube channel

*Internet Users in Germany, Turkey, Spain and UK Watch Average of At Least 30 Minutes a Day of Online Video*

LONDON, UK, 14 June, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released April 2011 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that Germany leads in online video viewing across several reporting metrics for the European countries currently reported in comScore Video Metrix (France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, Turkey and UK).

“Online video is beginning to compete with traditional television viewing for people’s attention, and Internet users in several European countries are leading the way,” said Mike Read, comScore SVP of Europe. “Germany is not only the largest European market for online video viewing but also the most engaged at nearly 20 hours per viewer per month, while several other countries are not far behind.” (more…)