Arantxa Aranburu, doctor of the University of the Basque Country and lecturer of the Department of Geology, has proved that the bones of Homo heidelbergensis found in Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca, are even older than thought.

In the gallery of Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca, a speleothem was found during a stonecutting, over the bones of the ancestors of the Neanderthals, the Homo heidelbergensis . Speleohtem is a carbonate precipitate, that is, it is made of the same material

A new study reveals a far greater diversity of plants on earth than previously estimated. Writing in the latest Plant Talk magazine (published on 12 June), leading botanist and conservationist Dr David Bramwell calculates that there are around 422,000 species of flowering plants (termed Angiosperms) in the world. Until now, most scientists had worked from a much lower figure of some 270,000 or 320,000 species.

The increased estimate shows that there is an even more urgent need to complete t

Three new varieties of tangerines – the TDE2, TDE3, and TDE4 – are the University of California’s most recent citrus varieties to be released for commercial production. The tangerines, which are complex hybrids, are siblings since they share the same parents. The varieties will be patented and eventually be given trademarked names. The three tangerines are large fruited compared to other varieties, have a sweet taste, and bear fruit with a deep orange rind.

“While the new tangerines share

Constructed wetlands: a green technology for integrated water management

The quality of our Flemish surface waters has improved significant during the last decade. Nevertheless, in a densely populated area like Flanders we are still confronted with polluted surface water. The main reason for the current degree of pollution of our rivers and canals are the numerous (untreated) discharges caused by the households, the industry and the agricultural sector. In completing the construction

A discovery reported in the latest edition of the journal Nature (June 13, 2002) — that fungi on the roots of some trees in the Northeastern United States help supply much-needed calcium in forest soils battered by acid rain — would seem to ease worries about the worrisome form of pollution.

But don’t stop worrying just yet, warns Timothy J. Fahey, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Natural Resources at Cornell University and a co-author of the report, “Mycorrhizal weathering of ap

Introducing genetically modified organisms into wild populations holds a greater theoretical risk of extinction of natural species than previously believed, according to two Purdue University scientists.

William Muir, professor of animal sciences, and Richard Howard, professor of biology, used computer modeling and statistical analyses to examine the hypothetical risks of introducing genetically modified organisms into wild populations.

“We examined these hypothetical situations bec

Technology May Help Remove Contaminants from Drinking Water Supplies

Membrane filter technology is helping to remove barriers to cleaner drinking water.

University of Houston researchers are studying how membrane filters, such as those currently used in some home water purification systems, might someday be used on a large scale to remove contaminants and organic compounds that can affect the purity and color of municipal water supplies.

Understanding how such filte

Farmers growing corn in the mid-Atlantic region will have a new tool to help them identify appropriate cultural practices for the types of soils in their fields, thanks to research conducted by researchers from Virginia Tech and Colorado State University.
“Soils vary in their ability to hold water,” said Mark Alley, professor of crop and soil environmental sciences at Virginia Tech. “If a farmer knows the water-use efficiency of the soils in his field, he has a very important clue on how to mana

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor Part of International Research Group Refuting Popular Theory

In 1996, marine geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman published a scientifically popular hypothesis, titled Noah’s Flood Hypothesis. The researchers presented evidence of a bursting flood about 7,500 years ago in what is now the Black Sea. This, some say, supports the biblical story of Noah and the flood.

But, such a forceful flood could not have taken place, says

Rare images of the Himalayan snow leopard in its natural habitat are expected to help improve the survival chances of the world’s elusive and little-known fifth-largest big cat. A research expedition backed by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) used remote camera technology to record some of the first-ever photos of this endangered animal’s behaviour in the wild.

The innovative experiment, high in the Indian Trans-Himalaya, is encouraging for snow leopard conservation and demonstrates

Will the oilfields of the future be full of sunflowers? They could be if Leeds fuel and energy researchers succeed in producing hydrogen from sunflower oil.
Hydrogen is seen as the fuel of the future – able to create electricity with no harmful emissions – to power everything from cars, portable generators to flashlights and even homes and factories.

But where is the hydrogen to come from, and can we mass-produce it without creating more pollution problems? Researchers Valerie Dupont (

A Northwestern University environmental engineer has received a U.S. patent for a treatment device that renders perchlorate — a thyroid-damaging ingredient of rocket fuel and a drinking water problem — harmless. The applications extend beyond the safety of drinking water and this one pollutant.

Bruce E. Rittmann, John Evans Professor of Environmental Engineering at the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, received U.S. Patent No. 6,387,262 for a hollow-fiber membra

Researchers at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (UWA) have developed a new rapid procedure which will enable food producers to detect the bacterial contamination of their meat products.

Their findings, published this week in Applied and Environmental Microbiology1 (Vol. 68, No.6 June 2002, p.2822 – 2828) demonstrate a novel analytical approach that can enhance and accelerate the detection of microbial spoilage, providing rapid, accurate and quantitative results in real time so that appr

Smithsonian scientist shows pollination by exotic honeybees increases coffee crop yields by more than 50 percent

Debunking the widely held belief that the self-pollinating shrub that produces the popular Arabica coffee bean has no use for insects, David W. Roubik of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama has demonstrated that pollination – particularly by naturalized, non-native African honeybees – dramatically boosts the yield from shade-grown coffee plants.

University at Buffalo scientists working with ice cores have solved a mystery surrounding sunspots and their effect on climate that has puzzled scientists since they began studying the phenomenon.

The research, published in a paper in the May 15 issue of Geophysical Research Letters, provides striking evidence that sunspots — blemishes on the sun’s surface indicating strong solar activity — do influence global climate change, but that explosive volcanic eruptions on Earth can complet

Agricultural breeders have long observed that when plants or animals from different strains are interbred, the offspring tend to be stronger, healthier or generally more fit than either of their parents, although no one knew why this occurred. Now plant geneticists investigating the maize (corn) genome at Rutgers’ Waksman Institute of Microbiology have discovered a possible explanation for this phenomenon, known as heterosis or hybrid vigor.

The Rutgers findings, presented by research