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Created on Monday, 11 June 2012 19:51
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Written by sciencedaily
As recreational fishing activity has reduced predators in many of Cape Cod's salt marsh ecosystems, Sesarma crabs have feasted on grasses, causing dramatic die-offs of the marshes, according to a new study. The researchers assessed the "trophic cascade" in several experiments that also ruled out alternative explanations for the problem. Recreational fishing is a major contributor to the rapid decl
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Created on Saturday, 09 June 2012 19:56
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Written by sciencedaily
New research published June 8 in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Genomics reveals that the Malaysian parasitic plant Rafflesia cantleyi, with its 50cm diameter flowers, has 'stolen' genes from its hostTetrastigma rafflesiae. Analysis of these genes shows that their functions range from respiration to metabolism, and that some of them have even replaced the parasites own gene activity. Ve
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Created on Wednesday, 06 June 2012 18:02
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Written by sciencedaily
An international pear genome consortium, composed of seven universities and institutes, has completed the first pear genomic sequence. Pear (Pyrus spp.) is one of the major and oldest cultivated fruit trees in the temperate regions, which is likely to have originated during the Tertiary period (65-55 million years ago) in southwestern China. It is genetically diverse with more than 5,000 cultivar
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Created on Wednesday, 06 June 2012 18:00
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Written by sciencedaily
Cocaine is one of the most commonly used (and abused) plant-derived drugs in the world, but we have almost no modern information on how plants produce this complex alkaloid. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, have just discovered a key reaction in cocaine formation in the coca plant from South America, and identified the responsible enzyme. This enzyme
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Created on Wednesday, 06 June 2012 17:58
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Written by sciencedaily
In just a few decades shrubs in the Arctic tundra have turned into trees as a result of the warming Arctic climate, creating patches of forest which, if replicated across the tundra, would significantly accelerate global warming. Scientists from Finland and Oxford University investigated an area of 100,000 km2, known as the northwestern Eurasian tundra, stretching from western Siberia to Finland.
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Created on Saturday, 02 June 2012 01:49
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Written by sciencedaily
As illustrated by theE. coli outbreak in Germany in 2011, any delay in identifying the source of food poisoning outbreaks can cost lives and cause considerable political and economical damage. An international multidisciplinary team of scientists have shown that difficulties in finding the sources of contamination behind food poisoning cases are inevitable due to the increasing complexity of a gl
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Created on Sunday, 27 May 2012 17:26
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Written by sciencedaily
Using camera traps, wildlife researchers including doctoral candidate Jennifer McCarthy and environmental conservation professor Todd Fuller of the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently captured photographs of one of the rarest animals on earth, the Sumatran striped rabbit. They say it may now be found only in two remote national parks on the Indonesian island. Their pictures and other obse
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Created on Sunday, 27 May 2012 17:23
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Written by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have created a human-made oasis in the desert with the successful application of a solar-powered desalination system that provides water for irrigation in arid regions. The project was made possible with support from American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU). The solar-powered system uses nanofiltration membranes to treat t
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Created on Sunday, 27 May 2012 17:19
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Written by Oregon State University scientists
Oregon State University scientists just identified a new reason why some curry dishes, made with spices humans have used for thousands of years, might be good for you. New research has discovered that curcumin, a compound found in the cooking spice turmeric, can cause a modest but measurable increase in levels of a protein that's known to be important in the "innate" immune system, helping to prev
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