Scouring the genome of a wild Mexican potato, scientists have discovered a gene that protects potatoes against late blight, the devastating disease that caused the Irish potato famine.

The discovery of the gene and its cloning by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was reported today (July 14) in online editions of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The identification of the gene, found in a species of wild potato known as ´ Solanum bulboca

During summertime ozone near the Earth’s surface forms in most major U.S. cities when sunlight and heat mix with car exhaust and other pollution, causing health officials to issue “ozone alerts.” But in other parts of the world, such as the tropical Atlantic, this low level ozone appears to originate naturally in ways that have left scientists puzzled. Now, NASA-funded scientists using four satellites can tell where low level ozone pollution comes from and whether it was manmade or natural.

Thirty three marine species are poised to invade Australian waters, and could seriously alter the balance of marine life or even pose a risk to human health if they reach our coasts.

In an international response to the threat, researchers from CSIRO and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Maryland, have joined forces to develop a rapid response strategy to combat invasion.

CSIRO risk assessment scientists have identified the most damaging marine species from around the

Warmer ocean temperatures may be harming reproduction of the tufted puffin in western Canada and if global temperatures continue to increase, the species could be at risk, says a new study co-authored by a University of Alberta researcher.

Throughout the last two decades, uncharacteristically warm sea-surfaces have persisted near Triangle Island–off the coast of British Columbia–a haven for these birds. Researchers have been studying the reproductive performance of tufted puffins there si

A group of leading U.S. public sector agricultural research institutions has agreed to allow access to each other’s current and future patented agricultural technologies and is exploring ways to ensure that new licensing agreements allow for technologies to be used to fight global hunger and to boost the domestic agricultural sector.

The agreement will accelerate research and development to improve staple crop varieties like rice, cassava, sorghum and potatoes essential to resource-poor fa

Of the estimated 7,000 tigers left in the world, scientists know the least about the roughly 2,000 thought to remain in Southeast Asia.

Unstable or repressive political conditions in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Malaysia have long impeded Western biologists trying to study tigers there. Much of the big cats’ habitat, meanwhile, consists of remote, extremely wild rain forest that offers near-perfect cover to the shy and elusive predators.

So tiger experts are h

Science fiction writers and movie-makers have imagined a world completely covered by an ocean, but what if one really existed? Would such a world support life, and what would this life be like?

ESA could make science fiction become science fact when it finds such a world, if the predictions of a group of European astronomers are correct. The ESA mission Eddington, which is now in development, could be the key.
At the recent ESA co-sponsored ’’Towards Other Earths’’ c

A water-sensing satellite orbits more than 400 miles above Earth. An instrument-packed airplane circles 25,000 feet above three U.S. states and Brazil. Scientists, college students and other volunteers troop into the countryside, armed with sensors and notepads. It’s all about “getting the dirt.” In this case, collecting detailed information about the soil.

The objectives are two-fold — validating soil moisture data gleaned from satellites and working to find the optimum instrument for cond

A tree grows in Brooklyn — despite big-city air pollutants. Meanwhile, identical trees planted downwind of city pollution grow only half as well — a surprising finding that ecologists at Cornell University and the Institute of Ecosystem Studies (IES) reported in the current issue of Nature (July 10, 2003). They attribute the effect to an atmospheric-chemistry “footprint” that favors city trees.

“I know this sounds counterintuitive but it’s true. City-grown pollution — and ozone in parti

Monkeys and toads define priority areas for conservation on a fine geographic scale

Scientific determinations of 25 global “hotspots” – habitats with high concentrations of unique species vulnerable to human activity – are too large to be effectively managed by local conservation authorities, much less put aside as protected areas. Researchers from the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) are making even finer geographic distinctions within these ’hotspots&#1

United Nations-led development efforts in some of the poorest and most remote parts of the globe are being guided by images from space.

The ESA-backed UNOSAT consortium is providing an average of five new satellite-derived maps or data products to UN agencies and non-governmental organisations every week.
The poor Nicaraguan highlands municipality of Matagalpa is just one site among many where UNOSAT-supplied geographical information system (GIS) tools are being used in develop

Warming resulted in part fromfrom human activity

A group of leading climate scientists has reaffirmed the “robust consensus view” emerging from the peer reviewed literature that the warmth experienced on at least a hemispheric scale in the late 20th century was an anomaly in the previous millennium and that human activity likely played an important role in causing it. In so doing, they refuted recent claims that the warmth of recent decades was not unprecedented in the context of the

Space data are set to become an added ingredient in future European wines. ESA is contributing Earth Observation data and expertise to a European Commission-backed project called Bacchus.

The aim is to chart the continent’’s vineyards in unprecedented detail, and provide vine growers with information tools to improve production management and guarantee grape quality.
From Bordeaux to Frascati, there is good reason why wines are always known for their home region. As any connoi

Study clarifies key chemical reaction in atmosphere

While a breeze over the ocean may cool beach goers in the summertime, a new scientific study has revealed that tiny sea salt particles drifting into the atmosphere participate in a chemical reaction that may have impacts on climate and acid rain.
The research, published in the July 3 online issue of Science Express, could have substantial implications for increasing the accuracy of climate models.

The study by scienti

New report points out the high ecological and social costs of farming

Providence, RI – SeaWeb, an ocean conservation organization, today released its report, “What Price Farmed Fish: A Review of the Environmental and Social Costs of Farming Carnivorous Fish,” authored by Michael Weber, a marine conservation consultant. This timely report examines the impacts of farming salmon and warns that the trend toward farming additional carnivorous fish species, including tuna, cod, and halibut

Science has a way of forcing us to reexamine some of our basic assumptions about nature. Consider the following statement: Animals that thrive in high temperatures are more likely to survive global warming than those that are less tolerant to heat. While this conclusion may seem obvious, a new study in the journal Science finds that the opposite may be true.

In an experiment published in the July 4 edition of Science, Stanford University postdoctoral fellow Jonathon H. Stillman examined th