Tag Archives: university of arizona

The Universe in the Middle of Nowhere

By Guest PostFebruary 17, 2013Culture, General, Scienceastronomy, atomic nuclei, big bang theory, buddhist monastics, buddhist philosophy, chris impey, conflict, cosmology, dalai lama, dharamsala, early universe, earth, ed prather, einstein, finite, forms of religion, fundamental buddhist precepts, gail burd, Galaxy, geological happenings, geshe lhakdor, geshe yeshi choephel, harmonious meeting, hubble expansion, human history, India, infinite, jime gyatso, john templeton foundation, knowledge, mathematics, mexican wrestling masks, middle, model atomic nuclei, modern science, monks program, neuroscience, ngawang lobsang, nowhere, quantum physics, relativity, Science, science and technology, science religion conflict, scientific inquiry, sonam choephel, space and time, spiritual leader, steward observatory, thabke lodoe, tibetan buddhist monastics, tibetan people, tibetan works, universe, university of arizona, weak nuclear force, western educators, zoob

The UA’s Chris Impey has taught cosmology to Tibetan Buddhist monastics in remote parts of India each summer for the past five years. With a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, he detailed his experiences in a book, “Humble Before the Void,” which likely will publish in 2014.

Chris Impey thinks back to the time he spent living on the edge of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, teaching modern cosmology to Buddhist monastics in India: “On a typical day, they would be up at 5 a.m. and have prayed for a few hours or done meditation before you even see them. And their attention is just as good at the end of a long day as at the beginning.” (more…)

UA Scientists Help Discover Most Abundant Ocean Virus

By Guest PostFebruary 14, 2013Scienceabundant ocean virus, biogeochemical cycle, bonnie hurwitz, carbon, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, cellular biology, DNA, global cycle, human genome researcher, j craig venter, marine, marine bacterium sar11, matthew sullivan, methods, molecular, most abundant organism, old fashioned research, oregon state university, oxygen, pelagiphages, phage research lab, planet, sar11 bacteria, stephen giovannoni, tucson, university of arizona, viral diversity, viral infection

Researchers have discovered four previously unknown viruses that infect the Earth’s most abundant organism, the marine bacterium SAR11. Because of their huge numbers, these tiny players have critical roles in the global cycle of carbon and other nutrients.

The greatest battle in Earth’s history has been going on for hundreds of millions of years, isn’t over yet, and until now no one knew it existed, scientists reported today in the journal Nature.

In one corner is the Earth’s most abundant organism: SAR11, an ocean-living bacterium that survives where most other cells would die and plays a major role in the planet’s carbon cycle. It had been theorized that SAR11 was so small and widespread that it must be invulnerable to attack. (more…)

A Boost for Analyzing Biological Sequences

By Guest PostFebruary 10, 2013Scienceanalyzing sequence data, best parameters, biological molecules, biologists, computational biologists, computational model, dan deblasio, detect, DNA, evolutionary past, guessing game, improved software, john kececioglu, model, parameter advising, parameter values, parameters, phenomena, predict missing data, proteins, run alignment software, software tools, species, ua computer scientists, university of arizona

UA computer scientists John Kececioglu and Dan DeBlasio are developing improved software that provides biologists with much more accurate results when analyzing sequence data.

Imagine trying to construct a brick building with fewer than the requisite number of bricks and without a detailed blueprint.

Welcome to the world of computational biologists.

When biologists study proteins, DNA, or other biological molecules that are represented in the computer as sequences, they rely on known information but also must predict missing data. Given that reality, major challenges exist to having accurate results. (more…)

Flies of the World Embrace Vegetarianism

By Guest PostFebruary 2, 2013Nature, Scienceagricultural pests, animal kingdom, australia, bracken ferns, brassicas, canolas, change of lifestyle, convergent phenotypes, cyanogenic compounds, detoxify the plants, earth, evolutionary biologists, Facebook, family drosophilidae, fly detectives, genetic changes, genetic pathways, genome biology evolution, good model organisms, hawaii, hawaiian lineage, herbivores, herbivorous fly species, insects, levels of alcohol, microbe eating flies, mt lemmon, mustard plants, new zealand, noah whiteman, North America, north american flies, organisms, papua new guinea, richard lapoint, scaptomyza nigrita, South Pacific, toxic plants, united kingdom, university of arizona, vegetarianism

Microbe-eating flies from at least three different locations around the world recently have evolved into herbivores, feeding on some of the most toxic plants on Earth. Fly detectives and UA evolutionary biologists Noah Whiteman and Richard Lapoint are trying to find out what genetic pathways led the flies to such a major change of lifestyle.

For millennia, they buzzed through the woods, contentedly munching yeasts off the surfaces of leaves, bracken and rotting duff on the forest floor. But now, flies in the family Drosophilidae, whose disparate members dwell in areas all across the planet, have evolved into all-out vegetarians with a wicked diet of plants that are deadly to most other organisms.

What, University of Arizona scientists would like to know, has caused these flies, yeast-feeders for nearly 80 million years, to independently go cold turkey with respect to their formerly meaty diets? (more…)

Global Warming May Have Severe Consequences for Rare Haleakala Silverswords

By Guest PostJanuary 17, 2013Environment, Natureargyroxyphium sandwicense macrocephalum, biodiversity, biological hotspots, climate change, climate induced stresses, climate related decline, climate trends, decline, extinction, flower heads, geological survey, global climate change, global warming, haleakala national park, haleakala silversword, haleakala volcano, human, inflorescence, lloyd loope, manoa, marcia mcnutt, native habitat, patterns of precipitation, paul krushelnycky, plants, population growth rate, rare haleakala silverswords, risk of extinction, rosette, silversword, tropical agriculture, university of arizona, university of hawaii, usgs director, volcano summit

HONOLULU — While the iconic Haleakalā silversword plant made a strong recovery from early 20^th-century threats, it has now entered a period of substantial climate-related decline. New research published this week warns that global warming may have severe consequences for the silversword in its native habitat.

Known for its striking rosette, the silversword grows for 20-90 years before the single reproductive event at the end of its life, at which time it produces a large (up to six feet tall) inflorescence with as many as 600 flower heads. The plant was in jeopardy in the early 1900s due to animals eating the plants and visitors gathering them. With successful management, including legal protection and the physical exclusion of hoofed animals, the species made a strong recovery, but since the mid-1990s it has entered a period of substantial decline. A strong association of annual population growth rates with patterns of precipitation suggests the plants are undergoing increasingly frequent and lethal water stress. Local climate data confirm trends towards warmer and drier conditions on the mountain, which the researchers warn will create a bleak outlook for the threatened silverswords if climate trends continue. (more…)

Testing Einstein’s E=mc2 in Outer Space

By Guest PostJanuary 5, 2013Sciencealbert einstein, andrei lebed, atomic bomb, conceptual model, cornell university library, curvature, electron, energy, energy level, everything, explosion, galileo galilei, general relativity, gps navigation, gravitational field, gravitational mass, gravity, hydrogen atom, iconic equation, mass, motion, moving object, nucleus, object, paradigm in physics, principles in physics, proton, quantum mechanics, quantum objects, relativistic, Space, special relativity, speed of light, stockholm, theory, theory of gravitation, ua physicist, unifying theory, university of arizona

UA physicist Andrei Lebed has stirred the physics community with an intriguing idea yet to be tested experimentally: The world’s most iconic equation, Albert Einstein’s E=mc2, may be correct or not depending on where you are in space.

With the first explosions of atomic bombs, the world became witness to one of the most important and consequential principles in physics: Energy and mass, fundamentally speaking, are the same thing and can, in fact, be converted into each other.

This was first demonstrated by Albert Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity and famously expressed in his iconic equation, E=mc2, where E stands for energy, m for mass and c for the speed of light (squared). (more…)

Wildlife Monitoring Cameras Click Jaguar and Ocelot Photos

By Guest PostDecember 21, 2012Natureautomated, baboquivari mountains, big cats, boot heel, cat species, central, computer program, distribution of jaguars, ecology and habits, Environment, huachuca mountains, hunter, jaguar survey, lisa haynes, male jaguar, male ocelot, melanie culver, Mexico, monitoring project, mountain ranges, natural resources, neotropical cats, new mexico, ocelot movement, pictures of jaguar, project, rugged arizona landscape, santa rita mountains, sierra vista, sky island, south america, southern arizona, tail photo, united states, university of arizona, whetstone mountains, wildlife monitoring cameras

Automated trail cameras set up by a UA research team have snapped pictures of a male jaguar and a male ocelot roaming the rugged Southern Arizona landscape.

An adult male jaguar and an adult male ocelot have been photographed in two separate Southern Arizona mountain ranges by automated wildlife monitoring cameras. The images were collected as part of the Jaguar Survey and Monitoring Project led by the University of Arizona. Both animals appear to be in good health.

In late November, the UA project team downloaded photos from wildlife cameras set up as part of the research project and found new pictures of a jaguar in the Santa Rita Mountains. A total of 10 jaguar photos were taken by three UA cameras and one Arizona Game and Fish Department camera. The cat’s unique spot pattern matched that of a male jaguar photographed by a hunter in the Whetstone Mountains in the fall of 2011, providing clear evidence that the big cats travel between Southern Arizona’s “sky island” mountain ranges. (more…)

Post-Divorce Journaling May Hinder Healing for Some, UA Study Finds

By Guest PostNovember 28, 2012General, Healthdavid sbarra, divorce, divorced individuals, emotional recovery, failed marriage, feelings, healing, health care, high ruminators, journals, low ruminators, psychology, separation, traditional expressive writing, university of arizona

For those searching for deeper meaning in a failed marriage, writing about their feelings soon after divorce may lead to greater emotional distress, according to new research.

Following a divorce or separation, many people are encouraged by loved ones or health-care professionals to keep journals about their feelings. But for some, writing in-depth about those feelings immediately after a split may do more harm than good, according to new research conducted at the University of Arizona.

In a study of 90 recently divorced or separated individuals, UA associate professor of psychology David Sbarra and colleagues found that writing about one’s feelings can actually leave some people feeling more emotionally distraught months down the line, particularly those individuals who are prone to seeking a deeper meaning for their failed marriage. (more…)