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Scientists Discover Thriving Colonies of Microbes in Ocean ‘Plastisphere’

By Guest PostJuly 21, 2013Environmentartificial microbial reefs, autotrophs, cholera, colonies of microbes, degrading hydrocarbons, ecological habitat, environmental condition, erik zettler, flecks of plastic, gastrointestinal maladies, genus vibrio, heterotrophs, human made flotilla, linda amaral zettler, marine microbe, mbl, north atlantic ocean, ocean ecosystem, ocean plastisphere, plastic debris, plastic surfaces, scanning electron microscopy, sea, sea education association, suctorian ciliate, symbionts, symbiotic bacteria, synergistic relationships, tracy mincer, whoi, woods hole

Scientists have discovered a diverse multitude of microbes colonizing and thriving on flecks of plastic that have polluted the oceans—a vast new human-made flotilla of microbial communities that they have dubbed the “plastisphere.”

In a study recently published online in Environmental Science & Technology, the scientists say the plastisphere represents a novel ecological habitat in the ocean and raises a host of questions: How will it change environmental conditions for marine microbes, favoring some that compete with others? How will it change the overall ocean ecosystem and affect larger organisms? How will it change where microbes, including pathogens, will be transported in the ocean? (more…)

Berkeley Lab Researchers Use Metamaterials to Observe Giant Photonic Spin Hall Effect

By Guest PostApril 1, 2013Scienceantenna configurations, arm configuations, artificial nanoconstructs, berkeley lab, ccd, charge coupled device, doe, electron, future of computing, geometry parameters, gold nanoantennas, hall effect, image, junsuk rho, magnetic moment, metamaterials, optical properties, photonic spin, physical motion, physicist edwin hall, quantized angular momentum, quantum measurements, quantum mechanics, scanning electron microscopy, spin, xiang zhang, xiaobo yin, yuan wang, ziliang ye

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have once again demonstrated the incredible capabilities of metamaterials – artificial nanoconstructs whose optical properties arise from their physical structure rather than their chemical composition. Engineering a unique two-dimensional sheet of gold nanoantennas, the researchers were able to obtain the strongest signal yet of the photonic spin Hall effect, an optical phenomenon of quantum mechanics that could play a prominent role in the future of computing.

“With metamaterial, we were able to greatly enhance a naturally weak effect to the point where it was directly observable with simple detection techniques,” said Xiang Zhang, a faculty scientist with Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division who led this research. “We also demonstrated that metamaterials not only allow us to control the propagation of light but also allows control of circular polarization. This could have profound consequences for information encoding and processing.” (more…)

Human’s Oldest Ancestor Found in Burgess Shale

By Guest PostMarch 6, 2012Scienceamerican palaeontologist, burgess shale, cambrian explosion, canada, charles doolittle walcott, chordate family, earthworms, fossil, jean bernard caron, leeches, marine organisms, myomeres, nerve cord, pikaia, pikaia gracilens, predator, primitive, primitive chordate, rom, royal ontario museum, scanning electron microscopy, simon conway morris, siphusauctum, tegopelte, university of cambridge, university of toronto, vascular system, vertebrate, worm, yoho national park

*Pikaia is most primitive vertebrate known*

Researchers from the University of Toronto, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and the University of Cambridge have confirmed that a 505 million-year-old creature, found only in the Burgess Shale fossil beds in Canada’s Yoho National Park, is the most primitive known vertebrate and therefore the ancestor of all descendant vertebrates, including humans.

The research team’s analysis proves the extinct Pikaia gracilens is the most primitive member of the chordate family, the group of animals that today includes fish, amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals. Their study is based on the analysis of 114 specimens and is published in the British scientific journal Biological Reviews. (more…)

Tag Archives: scanning electron microscopy

Scientists Discover Thriving Colonies of Microbes in Ocean ‘Plastisphere’

Berkeley Lab Researchers Use Metamaterials to Observe Giant Photonic Spin Hall Effect

Human’s Oldest Ancestor Found in Burgess Shale