Expedition to help protect Florida’s unique oculina deepwater reefs
On Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005, scientists will begin a six-day expedition to explore one of Florida’s most vital but least familiar marine resources–the spectacular deepwater coral reefs of the Oculina Bank–some 30 years after their discovery. Among the team’s goals is the start of a sustained and critically needed monitoring program to complement , and evaluate the effectiveness of, stricter regul
A peptide identified in a fungus found in northern European pine forests possesses as much power as penicillin as well as vancomycin, according to an international team of researchers.
Reporting in the October 13 issue of Nature, a team from Denmark-based biotech company Novozymes, and researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, say they have isolated “plectasin,” the first defensin ever found in fungi. The research wa
What had been thought to be a minor source of Southern California’s beach sand – erosion from coastal bluffs and cliffs – could account for half of the sand on the region’s beaches.
Coastal geologists have assumed for years that sediment-laden rivers that enter the Pacific Ocean along the Central and Southern California coast supply up to 90 percent of the sand on the region’s beaches. However, new research by two independent groups of UCSD scientists indicates that what had bee
More than 150 years after the discovery of Hassall’s corpuscles in 1849, the function of these round blobs of cells in the human thymus gland has now been explained. The answer, in turn, ends an intense hunt for the origin of regulatory T cells that has been under way for years.
Reporting in the Aug. 25 issue of Nature, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center found that Hassall’s corpuscles produce chemical signals that instruct dendriti
New data suggest that a home-based environmental intervention program is a cost-effective way to improve the health of inner-city children who have moderate to severe asthma. The program successfully decreased allergen levels in the home and reduced asthma symptoms. The data also show that the cost would be substantially lower if the interventions were implemented in a community setting, and that they would be as cost-effective as many drug interventions.
The National Institute of
Ground left fallow in the High Plains to store soil moisture between crops may be better off with a legume crop such as cowpeas, according to a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station researcher.
Dr. Bill Payne of Amarillo said he is trying to make the region’s wheat-sorghum-fallow cropping system more sustainable by getting rid of the fallow component.
Leaving the land idle for one cropping season is a way to retain soil moisture for the following crop. However,
In studies with mice, treatment with a new monoclonal antibody that targets immune system B cells has shown considerable promise for treating leukemias, autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection, according to immunologists at Duke University Medical Center.
B cells are the immune system’s “arms factories,” producing antibodies that target invading microbes for destruction. Abnormal B cell proliferation causes such leukemias as multiple myeloma and acute lymphoblastic leuk
Engineers at Purdue University have shown how researchers might better use tiny hollow fibers called “multi-walled carbon nanotubes” to more precisely measure structures and devices for electronics and other applications. Findings will appear in the November issue of the journal Nanotechnology.
Researchers attach the tubes to the ends of imaging instruments called atomic force microscopes. Because the tubes are long and slender, their shape is ideal for the emerging field of “nan
A Michigan State University researcher and his colleagues have shown that playing violent video games leads to brain activity pattern that may be characteristic for aggressive thoughts.
In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, 13 male research participants were observed playing a latest-generation violent video game. Each participant’s game play was recorded and content analyzed on a frame-by-frame basis.
“There is a causal link between playing the first-
The extinction of the great apes — gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees) and orangutans — is imminent if strict conservation practices are not implemented in the immediate future. Once these practices have been initially implemented, ape populations must be monitored to evaluate their success and to create incentives for effective protection. Dr. Nadine Laporte, an assistant scientist with the Woods Hole Research Center, is involved in international initiatives working to assess
Hurricane Charley came ashore on the southwest coast of Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on Friday, Aug. 13, 2004, and changed the look of North Captiva Island.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are studying the effects of Charley as part of a cooperative research project investigating coastal change.
The USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program investigates the extent and causes of coastal impacts of hurricanes and extreme
Fluid inclusions – tiny bubbles of fluid or vapor trapped inside rock as it forms – are clues to the location of ores and even petroleum; and they are time capsules that contain insights on the power of volcanoes and hints of life in the universe.
But the realization of the scientific value of fluid inclusions is relatively recent. At the Centennial Celebration Symposia for the Society of Economic Geologists, Virginia Tech Distinguished Professor of Geosciences Robert Bodnar wil
Virginia Tech biology researchers have applied tools from geology, geography, and hydrologic modeling to determine the effect of different land uses on stream quality across 10 watersheds of the French Broad River in the North Carolina mountains. The result is a new protocol for determining the health or condition of huge land-water systems. The research has also resulted in a set of tools for predicting the effect of development decisions in the watersheds studied, which are near Ashville, N.C
What happened to the chicken when she crossed the road is less important that what happens to what she eats when it is used as fertilizer.
Organic arsenic is fed to poultry to prevent bacterial infections and improve weight gain. A little bit of arsenic is taken up by the tissue and the majority of it is excreted in urine. Poultry litter — the wood chips, feathers, droppings, and urine from under poultry houses — is rich in nitrogen and phosphorous, so is a logical fertilizer. But
The goal: Control toxin mobility
If you have pathogenic bacteria in the groundwater, flowing through the soil, are those bacteria going to attach to a mineral surface or are they going to reach your well?
Virginia Tech researchers are looking at the mobility of bacteria and of heavy metals in surface and ground water. Geosciences professor Michael Hochella Jr. will present recent findings at the Geological Sciences of America national meeting in Salt Lake City Oct. 16-19
Study examines culvert capacity in Keene, NH
The storm that dropped over 10 inches of rain on the Keene, NH area this past weekend will be a more frequent phenomenon due to climate change, according to two New Hampshire researchers. Michael Simpson and Latham Stack headed a research team within the Environmental Studies Department at Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, NH. Their recently completed study is groundbreaking because it is the first to identify the specifi
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