Research from Iron Mountain mine sheds light on acid drainage

Examining life extracted from toxic runoff at a northern California mine, researchers for the first time have reconstructed multiple individual genomes from a microbial community taken from an environmental sample rather than from a laboratory culture.

According to Jill Banfield, the leader of the scientific team behind the discovery, “This takes the study of natural biogeochemical systems to a new level.”

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute discover the normal prion protein may contribute directly to disease

In a surprising twist on a timely topic, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute are presenting evidence that mad cow disease prions cannot kill neurons on their own and that normal, healthy cellular prion protein may be a direct accomplice in unleashing neuronal destruction.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, is caused by prions, a

Researchers have discovered a mineral gel created when rocks abrade each other under earthquake-like conditions. If present in faults during a quake, the gel may reduce friction to nearly zero in some situations, resulting in larger energy releases that could cause more damage.

Terry Tullis and David Goldsby of Brown University in Providence, R.I., and Giulio Di Toro of the University of Padova in Italy announce their findings in the Jan. 29 issue of the journal Nature.

The research

Freighters, cruise lines, marine rescuers and coastal managers are among those who could benefit from prototype three-dimensional, three-day ocean condition forecasts created with the assistance of NASA satellite data, computer models and on-site ocean measurements.

Scientists hope to forecast ocean conditions several days ahead, much like regional weather forecasts broadcast on television news. “It’s a three-dimensional look at the ocean, from the surface to the ocean bottom,” said Yi

Ruby is mineralogically the chromiferous variety of corundum gemstone, in other words an aluminium oxide in which some of the aluminium ions have been substituted by chromium. Chromium contributes, along with vanadium, another metal constituent of ruby, to the crystal’s red colour. The most prized ruby deposits are those of Central and South-East Asia, like in the celebrated Mogok deposit in Myanmar (ex-Burma), from which the highest gem-quality rubies are extracted, reputed for their intense “pigeo

A system designed to optimise fertilising strategies for radiata pine plantations in the Green Triangle (SE South Australia and SW Victoria) is being jointly developed by CSIRO, the Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation (FWPRDC) and key softwood growers in the region.

According to CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products (CFFP) spokesman, Dr Barrie May, improved nutrient management practices could significantly increase the productivity of Australia’s radiata pine plan

In the 19th century a fossil was uncovered in Belgium that was believed to be the jaw of a fish. Now a team of scientists have shown that it is in fact a fossil from an ancestor of all present-day land animals. It is the first discovery of a so-called tetrapod from the Devonian Period in continental Europe, which may trigger an interest in re-examining objects in museums.

In collaboration with researchers from France, England, and Belgium, Per Ahlberg, professor of evolutionary organism bio

The cooler and drier conditions in Southern California over the last few years appear to be a direct result of a long-term ocean pattern known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), according to research presented at the 2004 meeting of the American Meteorological Society.

The study, by Steve LaDochy, associate professor of geography at California State University-Los Angeles; Bill Patzert, research oceanographer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.; and others, su

Last fall, ecologists at Ohio State University cracked open an acorn they had found in an Ohio park and discovered a colony of extremely rare ants.

They had uncovered Leptothorax minutissimus, an ant species that has been found in only four other areas of the eastern United States. The researchers found the acorn at a Columbus metro park – the first time the ant has been found in Ohio.

“What makes this find special is the lifestyle of these ants,” said Joan Herbers, an ant expert a

Since traditional cultivation methods can erode soil, new research taps companion crops for weed control

Organic soybean producers may be able to use winter cereal rye as an inter-seeded companion crop to control weeds, according to research led by a Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) crop and soil scientist.

Traditionally, organic growers have used only mechanical cultivation to control weeds, but this method has been shown to cause soil erosion and lead to poo

The rapidly changing face of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is portrayed by contrasting Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images taken less than four years apart, most notably as a whole new artificial island is seen to rise from the seabed.

An initial radar image of Dubai was taken by ERS-2’s SAR instrument in May 1999. The coastal city has since been re-imaged by the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument aboard Envisat, ESA’s latest Earth Observation satellite. Unlike optica

Poaching nearly eliminated in Central American nesting ground

Poaching of a critically important population of endangered hawksbill sea turtles along the coast of Nicaragua has dropped by more than 79 percent, thanks to a unique program developed by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society that enlists support from local communities, fishing groups, and government agencies.

Over a four-year period, the practice of illegally removing turtle eggs from nests has droppe

Russia incurs significant losses as a result of breaking fishing rules. Satellite-based control over domestic and foreign illegal fishers is most efficient. Watching the industrial fishing vessels by satellite is already practiced in Kamchatka.

Joint effort of the State Committee for Fisheries of the Russian Federation, Basin Administration for Fish Conservation of the Federal State Office “Sevvostryvod”, and Kamchatka Centre of Communication and Monitoring (KCCM) has allowed for testing the

Physically damaged or chewed plants produce a volatile chemical that may serve as a primer to prepare nearby plants to defend themselves against insect attack, according to a team of researchers.

“We know that when caterpillars chew on plants, eventually the plants produce chemicals attracting wasps that are the natural enemy of the caterpillar,” says Dr. James H. Tumlinson, the Ralph O. Mumma endowed professor of entomology at Penn State. “Natural predators can be an effective method of bi

In September of the past year, Russian scientists made sensational findings on the famous mammoth’ burial site Lugovskoe in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area. Particularly, about 300 human-shaped stone objects and a mammoth’s vertebra pierced by a spear or javelin head were found. The pierced vertebra is the first indisputable proof that men hunted mammoths. A site of human settlement that functioned about 14 000 years ago is discovered by the researchers. This is the northernmost settlement

A statistical model from Ohio State University is forecasting sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean in a new way.

The model gives scientists a way to quantify the uncertainty that surrounds the climatic phenomenon known as El Niño, which triggers severe weather changes in North and South America and Australia and endangers crops and wildlife, said Noel Cressie, professor of statistics and director of the university’s Program in Spatial Statistics and Environmental Sci