Tag Archives: microscope

Research Enables Fishermen to Harvest Lucrative Shellfish on Georges Bank

By Guest PostMay 13, 2013Environment, Sciencealexandrium cells, alexandrium fundyense, bloom dynamics, cape cod, chrissy petitpas, cysts, darcie couture, dave townsend, dave wallace, deana erdner, delaware, dennis mcgillicuddy, dna evidence, don anderson, ecohab, fda, georges bank, gomtox project, gulf of maine, harmful algal blooms, marine biotoxins, massachusetts, microscope, mindy richlen, nccos, new england shellfisheries, new jersey, noaa, nova scotia, ocean quahogs, offshore population, paralytic shellfish poisoning, phytoplankton, psp, red tides, rhode island, robert magnien, sea watcher, sea water samples, smast, stacey degrasse, surf clams, toxicity, toxicity in shellfish, united states, university of maine, university of massachusetts, university of texas, whoi

Combined research efforts by scientists involved in the Gulf of Maine Toxicity (GOMTOX) project, funded by NOAA’s Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) program, and administered by the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), have led to enhanced understanding of toxic algal blooms on Georges Bank. This new information, coupled with an at-sea and dockside testing protocol developed through collaboration between GOMTOX and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigators, has allowed fishermen to harvest ocean quahogs and surf clams in these offshore waters for the first time in more than two decades.

The shellfish industry estimates the Georges Bank fishery can produce up to 1 million bushels of surf clams and ocean quahogs a year, valued $10 – 15 million annually. “There is a billion dollars’ worth of shellfish product on Georges Bank that is property of the United States but that can’t be harvested because of the threat of toxicity, and 99.9% of the time, it is good wholesome product,” says Dave Wallace of North Atlantic Clam Association and a GOMTOX participant. “In an unusual and unique partnership, we worked with GOMTOX scientists, the FDA, and the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Delaware and now that huge resource can go into commerce, which helps the entire country.” (more…)

Cambrian Fossil Pushes Back Evolution of Complex Brains

By Guest PostOctober 10, 2012Nature, Scienceancient animal, arachnids, arizona, arthropods, brain anatomy, branchiopod brain, branchiopods, brine shrimp, cambrian fossil, cambrian period, China, common ancestor, complex brain, course, crustaceans, dna sequence, evolution, evolutionary biologist, fuxianhuia protensa, gregory edgecombe, hypothesis, insects, malacostracans, microscope, missing link, modern brain, modern malacostracan, molecular data, morphology, mudstone, multicellular animals, Nature, neural anatomy, neurobiologist, neurocladistics, neuropils, nicholas strausfeld, optic lobes, origin, sensory organ, species, taxonomic group, transformative discovery, university, xianguang hou, xiaoya ma, yunnan province, yunnan university. kunming

Complex brains evolved much earlier than previously thought, as evidenced by a 520-million-year-old fossilized arthropod with remarkably well-preserved brain structures.

The remarkably well-preserved fossil of an extinct arthropod shows that anatomically complex brains evolved earlier than previously thought and have changed little over the course of evolution. According to University of Arizona neurobiologist Nicholas Strausfeld, who co-authored the study describing the specimen, the fossil is the earliest known to show a brain.

The discovery will be published in the Oct. 11 issue of the journal Nature. (more…)

New Tool for CSI? Geographic Software Maps Distinctive Features inside Bones

By Guest PostOctober 1, 2012Scienceagricultural tool, amanda agnew, anthropology, arcgis, body size, bones, compression, crime statistics, cross section, david rose, disease, excavation site, flood model, foot bone, geographic, gis, human, human remains, information system, julie field, mapping software, metatarsal, microscope, ohio state, osteons, osteoporosis, pattern, sam stout, scientific criteria, sex, skeletal variation, spatial data, statistical measure, study, tension

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A common type of geographic mapping software offers a new way to study human remains.

In a recent issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, researchers describe how they used commercially available mapping software to identify features inside a human foot bone – a new way to study human skeletal variation. (more…)

Oil Spill Cleanup: Smart Filter Can Strain Oil Out of Water

By Guest PostAugust 30, 2012Environmentanish tuteja, arun kota, canola oil, capillary action, chemical detergent, cleanup, configuration, cosmetics industry, crude oil, deepwater horizon, emulsion, filter, fuel application, gibum kwon, gravity, hydrogen bond, mayonnaise, michigan, microscope, mixture, natural substance, novel nanoparticle, oil purification, oil spill, oleophobic, polyester fabric, polymer, rubbery, solution, surface tension, ultraviolet light, university, wastewater treatment, water, waterway, window screen

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— A smart filter with a shape-shifting surface can separate oil and water using gravity alone, an advancement that could be useful in cleaning up environmental oil spills, among other applications, say its University of Michigan developers.

The system could provide a more efficient way to remove crude oil from waterways without using additional chemical detergents, or even after detergents have been added, said Anish Tuteja, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering. Tuteja is the corresponding author of a paper on the research published in the Aug. 28 issue of Nature Communications.

The researchers created a filter coating that repels oil but attracts water, bucking conventional materials’ properties. Most natural substances soak up oil, and the few that repel it also repel water because water has a higher surface tension. (more…)

IBM THINK Exhibit App for iPad and Android Tablets Traces Ancient Roots of Modern Innovation

By Guest PostJuly 26, 2012Technology2011 think, ancient roots, android tablet, breath sensor, charles, China, computer watson, diabetes detector, epcot center, exhibit app, ibm think, India, indonesia, ipad, jeopardy, lee green, lincoln center, mathematica, microscope, modern art, modern innovation, museum, new york city, orlando, plane prototype, ray eames, rfid chips, russia, Thailand, turkey, walt disney, wright brothers

ARMONK, NY – 26 Jul 2012: To celebrate centuries of science and technology innovations, IBM has reinvented its award-winning 2011 THINK exhibit at New York City’s Lincoln Center as a free interactive app for iPad and Android tablets. Geared to tech fans and educators, the IBM THINK exhibit app is an “innovation time machine” that shows how early tools have evolved into modern advances that create healthier populations, greener energy and safer, less congested cities.

Through interactive content and thousands of images and historical anecdotes, the IBM THINK Exhibit app is filled with stories of progress, from space exploration to weather prediction and medical advances. It documents the roots of Big Data, from early charts, clocks and scales to microscopes and telescopes, from RFID chips and biomedical sensors in clothing to breath-sensor diabetes detectors. (more…)

Pollination with Precision: How Flowers Do It

By Guest PostMay 23, 2012Naturearabidopsis plants, brown university, chaotic frenzy, female gametes, fertilization, gamete fusion, hap2, kristin beale, logistical efficiency, mark johnson, mechanism, microscope, model, mothers day, mutant sperm, ovule, pollen grains, pollen tubes, pollination, polytubey, precision, reproduction, sex cells, sperm

Pollination could be a chaotic disaster. With hundreds of pollen grains growing long tubes to ovules to deliver their sperm to female gametes, how can a flower ensure that exactly two fertile sperm reach every ovule? In a new study, Brown University biologists report the discovery of how plants optimize the distribution of pollen for successful reproduction.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Next Mother’s Day, say it with an evolved model of logistical efficiency — a flower. A new discovery about how nature’s icons of romance manage the distribution of sperm among female gametes with industrial precision helps explain why the delicate beauties have reproduced prolifically enough to dominate the earth.

In pollination, hundreds of sperm-carrying pollen grains stick to the stigma suspended in the middle of a flower and quickly grow a tube down a long shaft called a style toward clusters of ovules, which hold two female sex cells. This could be a chaotic frenzy, but for the plant to succeed, exactly two fertile sperm should reach the two cells in each ovule — no more, no less. No ovule should be left out, either because too many tubes have gone elsewhere, or because the delivered sperm don’t work. (more…)

New Technique Lets Scientists Peer Within Nanoparticles, See Atomic Structure in 3-D

By Guest PostMarch 23, 2012Science3 d, atom, atomic scale resolution, atomic structure, chien chun chen, chris regan, chun zhu, conundrum, electronic property, gold atom, gold nanoparticle, gold particle, high energy electron, honeycomb, image, jianwei john miao, mary scott, material, matthew mecklenburg, microscope, nanomaterial, nanometer, nanostructure, peter ercius, radiation, rui xu, three dimensions, ucla, ulrich dahmen, x ray crystallography

UCLA researchers are now able to peer deep within the world’s tiniest structures to create three-dimensional images of individual atoms and their positions. Their research, published March 22 in the journal Nature, presents a new method for directly measuring the atomic structure of nanomaterials.

“This is the first experiment where we can directly see local structures in three dimensions at atomic-scale resolution — that’s never been done before,” said Jianwei (John) Miao, a professor of physics and astronomy and a researcher with the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA. (more…)

New Views Show Old NASA Mars Landers

By Guest PostFebruary 9, 2012Scienceball aerospace, bonneville crater, canadian space agency, color image, denver, earth, hirise camera, liquid water, lockheed martin space systems, mars, mars reconnaissance orbiter, martian arctic winter, martian soil particles, martian surface, meteorite, microscope, NASA, Phoenix, spacecraft, telescopic camera, three petal lander, university of arizona

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded a scene on Jan. 29, 2012, that includes the first color image from orbit showing the three-petal lander of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit mission. Spirit drove off that lander platform in January 2004 and spent most of its six-year working life in a range of hills about two miles to the east.

Another recent image from HiRISE, taken on Jan. 26, 2012, shows NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander and its surroundings on far-northern Mars after that spacecraft’s second Martian arctic winter. Phoenix exceeded its planned mission life in 2008, ending its work as solar energy waned during approach of its first Mars winter. (more…)