Tag Archives: plants

Previous Studies on Toxic Effects of BPA Couldn’t be Reproduced, says MU Research Team

By Guest PostJanuary 9, 2013Environmentagouti, agouti signaling protein, animal numbers, asip, bpa, cheryl rosenfeld, controversial chemical, dietary supplement, equal ratios, estrogenic compound, exposure, famine, fat tissue, frederick vomsaal, gene, genistein, humans, metabolic disorders, mice, obesity, obesity related disease, offspring, pancreas, plants, plastic bottles, replicate, reproduce, soy beans, thrifty genotype, type 2 diabetes, university of missouri, uterine environments, womb, yellow coat color

The MU study is not claiming that BPA is safe, but that the previous series of studies are not reproducible.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Following a three-year study using more than 2,800 mice, a University of Missouri researcher was not able to replicate a series of previous studies by another research group investigating the controversial chemical BPA. The MU study is not claiming that BPA is safe, but that the previous series of studies are not reproducible. The MU study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also investigated an estrogenic compound found in plants, genistein, in the same three-year study.

“Our findings don’t say anything about the positive or negative effects of BPA or genistein,” said Cheryl Rosenfeld, associate professor of biomedical sciences in MU’s Bond Life Science Center. “Rather, our series of experiments did not detect the same findings as reported by another group on the potential developmental effects of BPA and genistein when exposure of young occurs in the womb.” (more…)

Blanket Bogs Need Protection from Climate Change

By Guest PostSeptember 7, 2012Environmentalaska, amphibians, angela gallego sala, archaeological material, birds, blanket bogs, Britain, british countryside, canada, climate change, coastal area, devon, ecosystem, emission, exeter, flooding, future temperature, greenhouse gas, habitat, high latitude, norway, outer hebrides, plants, rainfall, reptiles, risk, russia, shetland, small mammals, sssi, uk, university, vegetation, wildlife

Blanket bogs, which provide vital habitats for a unique range of plants, birds, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians, are at risk of declining as a result of climate change.

Research by the Universities of Exeter and Bristol in the UK and Macquarie University in Australia, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, shows for the first time how rising temperatures will threaten these sensitive ecosystems.

The study highlights the urgency of developing a plan to protect these important habitats.

Found in wet, coastal areas of high latitude regions, blanket bogs cover around 700,000 hectares of land in the UK, much of it designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Blanket bogs are found in the north and west of the UK, extending from Devon in the south to Shetland in the north, and it has been estimated that 10 to15 per cent of the world’s blanket bog occurs in Britain. As well as being crucial in supporting wildlife, blanket bogs also capture and store large amounts of carbon, helping to mitigate against climate change, and reduce the risk of flooding, by slowing down water flow. With some blanket peat being over 9,000 years old, they also hold historically-significant archaeological material. (more…)

New Findings of Endangered Birds at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge Give Hope to Recovery Efforts

By Guest PostJune 27, 2012Environment, Natureakiapolaau, american people, avian disease, avian malaria, awehi stream, carter t atkinson, climate change, endangered birds, endangered species, extinction, forest bird survey, forest habitat, hakalau forest, hawaii akepa, hawaii creeper, hawaii island, hawaiian forest birds, high elevation rainforest, marcia mcnutt, mauna kea, mosquito, pacific island ecosystems, plants, pox virus, robyn thorson, steve kendall, U.S. Geological Survey, usgs, wildlife, wildlife refuge

HAWAI’I ISLAND, Hawai‘’— Three of Hawai’i Island’s rarest endangered forest birds have been detected at lower elevations of Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge for the first time in 30 years.

The rediscovery of the three endangered species at lower elevations than expected was part of a joint U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey project on the potential impact of climate change on avian disease. All three species are believed to be highly susceptible to mosquito-transmitted diseases, limiting their distribution to the cooler, higher elevations of the refuge. These new observations significantly extend the current known range of these species at the refuge. (more…)

It’s in the Genes: Research Pinpoints How Plants Know When to Flower

By Guest PostMay 27, 2012Nature, Scienceandrew millar, arabidopsis, barley, benjamin to, biofuels, biology, circadian clock, factors, fkf1 protein, flowering locus t, flowering plants, know, mathematical model, molecular changes, molecular events, photoreceptor, plant, plants, prediction, protein, robert smith, sandra hines, scientists, sequence, shoot apex, sunlight, takato imaizumi, time keeping mechanism, university of edinburgh, university of washington, uw lab, wheat, when to flower, young hun song

Scientists believe they’ve pinpointed the last crucial piece of the 80-year-old puzzle of how plants “know” when to flower.

Determining the proper time to flower, important if a plant is to reproduce successfully, involves a sequence of molecular events, a plant’s circadian clock and sunlight.

Understanding how flowering works in the simple plant used in this study – Arabidopsis – should lead to a better understanding of how the same genes work in more complex plants grown as crops such as rice, wheat and barley, according to Takato Imaizumi, a University of Washington assistant professor of biology and corresponding author of a paper in the May 25 issue of the journal Science. (more…)

Hacking Code of Leaf Vein Architecture Solves Mysteries, Allows Predictions of Past Climate

By Guest PostMay 27, 2012Environment, Natureancient greeks, carbon dioxide, christine scoffoni, climate, conifers, cycads, Environment, ferns, flowering plants, fossil record, global ecology, hacking code, images of leaves, lawren sack, leaf fossils, leaf sizes, leaf vein architecture, leaf vein systems, mathematical equation, mathematical linkages, michael rawls, past climate, photosynthesis, photosynthetic rate, plants, prediction, respiration, scaling patterns, superhighways, theophrastus of lesbos, tropical forest tree, ucla life scientists, vein network, water transport, xylem pipes

UCLA life scientists have discovered new laws that determine the construction of leaf vein systems as leaves grow and evolve. These easy-to-apply mathematical rules can now be used to better predict the climates of the past using the fossil record.

The research, published May 15 in the journal Nature Communications, has a range of fundamental implications for global ecology and allows researchers to estimate original leaf sizes from just a fragment of a leaf. This will improve scientists’ prediction and interpretation of climate in the deep past from leaf fossils.

Leaf veins are of tremendous importance in a plant’s life, providing the nutrients and water that leaves need to conduct photosynthesis and supporting them in capturing sunlight. Leaf size is also of great importance for plants’ adaptation to their environment, with smaller leaves being found in drier, sunnier places. (more…)

The Success of Homo sapiens May Be Due to Spatial Abilities

By Guest PostMay 12, 2012Scienceaesthetic stone, africa, altai mountains, anthropology, ariane burke, climate stress, cold climate, daniel baril, environmental condition, environmental stress, eurasia, Europe, glacial, homo ergaster, homo sapiens, iberian peninsula, middle east, middle paleolithic period, mystery, neanderthals, necklaces, northern plains, nuts, paleoanthropologist, plants, population stress, postglacial period, sexually differentiated, shellfish, social behaviour, spatial abilities, stress, success, symbolic objects, upper paleolithic period, weapon decorations

While the disappearance of Neanderthals remains a mystery, paleoanthropologists have an increasing understanding of what allowed their younger cousins, Homo sapiens, to conquer the planet. According to Ariane Burke, Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Université de Montréal, the rapid dispersal of anatomically modern humans was not so much due to superior intelligence or improved hunting or gathering techniques, but rather to the creation of symbolic objects that allowed them to extend their social relations across vast territories.

Symbolism and social exchanges

Homo sapiens arrived in Europe some 45,000 years ago, from Africa. In less than 15,000 years, they managed to occupy the whole of Europe and Eurasia—an extremely rapid expansion. Neanderthals, on the other hand, were born of Europe, appearing on the continent more than 250,000 years ago, after their ancestors, Homo ergaster, had established there 600,000 years earlier. Though physiologically well adapted to the cold climate of the glacial and postglacial periods, why were Neanderthals not as successful as their newly landed rivals in colonizing the continent? (more…)

Another World, Magnified

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2012Scienceaesthetics, animals, arts and sciences, beauty and art, canada, ersilia anghel, fulgurite, human anatomy, humans, magnified, minerals, Netherlands, photograph, pituitary gland, plants, romania, sarah moore, sci pho, triple citizenship, united kingdom, university of arizona

UA undergraduate researcher Ersilia Anghel has been collecting artistic photographs of minerals, plants, animals and humans, illustrating the intersections between the arts and sciences.

Scientists and artists have long collaborated to produce illustrative images and paintings of medical procedures, human anatomy and botanical displays.

But with the emergence of new, advanced technologies, scientists have begun to more readily produce their own photographic works, often times revealing the aesthetics of another world around us. (more…)

Ancient Domesticated Dog Skull Found in Siberian Cave

By Guest PostJanuary 22, 2012Scienceaccelerator mass spectrometer, altai mountains, atmospheric circulation, beam of carbon, belgium, best friend, carbon 12, carbon 13, carbon 14, carbon beam, carbon isotopes, cave, chihuahua, climate change, crowded, dog domestication, dog skull, domestication, earth, euro asia, glacial maximum, greg hodgins, half life, last glacial maximum, last ice age, lgm, man, mass spectrum, modern dogs, organic molecules, photosynthesis, plants, radioactive carbon, radiocarbon, radiocarbon age, razboinichya cave, rottweiler, Siberia, siberian mountain, teeth

*A 33,000-year-old dog skull unearthed in a Siberian mountain cave presents some of the oldest known evidence of dog domestication and, together with an equally ancient find in a cave in Belgium, indicates that modern dogs may be descended from multiple ancestors.*

If you think a Chihuahua doesn’t have much in common with a Rottweiler, you might be on to something.

An ancient dog skull, preserved in a cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia for 33,000 years, presents some of the oldest known evidence of dog domestication and, together with equally ancient dog remains from a cave in Belgium, indicates that domestication of dogs may have occurred repeatedly in different geographic locations rather than with a single domestication event. (more…)