Winning margins in the Tour de France can be tight. In 2010 just 39 seconds separated the top two after more than 90 hours in the saddle. When every second counts, riders do all they can to gain competitive advantage, from aerodynamic carbon fibre bikes to the latest sports nutrition.
Now there could be a new, completely legal and rather surprising weapon for riders aiming to shave vital seconds off their time – beetroot juice. (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Biologically diverse streams are better at cleaning up pollutants than less rich waterways, and a University of Michigan ecologist says he has uncovered the long-sought mechanism that explains why this is so.
Bradley Cardinale used 150 miniature model streams, which use recirculating water in flumes to mimic the variety of flow conditions found in natural streams. He grew between one and eight species of algae in each of the mini-streams, then measured each algae community’s ability to soak up nitrate, a nitrogen compound that is a nutrient pollutant of global concern. (more…)
