Eben Bayer: Are mushrooms the new plastic?

Great Pacific Garbage Patch The area of increased plastic particles is located within the North Pacific Gyre, one of the five major oceanic gyres. The Great Pacific garbage patch, also described as the Pacific trash vortex, is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean located roughly between 135°W to 155°W and 35°N and 42°N.[1] The patch extends over an indeterminate area, with estimates ranging very widely depending on the degree of plastic concentration used to define the affected area. The patch is characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of pelagic plastics, chemical sludge and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre.[2] Despite its size and density, the patch is not visible from satellite photography, nor even necessarily to a casual boater or diver in the area, since it consists primarily of a small increase in suspended, often-microscopic particles in the upper water column. Discovery[edit] Charles J. Formation[edit] In 2012, Miriam C.

Fighting Fire With Fire: Vampire Bacteria Has Potential as Living Antibiotic Listen to the UVA Today Radio Show report on this story by Fariss Samarrai: October 31, 2011 — A vampire-like bacteria that leeches onto specific other bacteria – including certain human pathogens – has the potential to serve as a living antibiotic for a range of infectious diseases, a new study indicates. The bacterium, Micavibrio aeruginosavorus, was discovered to inhabit wastewater nearly 30 years ago, but has not been extensively studied because it is difficult to culture and investigate using traditional microbiology techniques. However, biologists in the University of Virginia's College of Arts & Sciences, Martin Wu and graduate student Zhang Wang, have decoded its genome and are learning "how it makes its living," Wu said. The bacterium "makes its living" by seeking out prey – certain other bacteria – and then attaching itself to its victim's cell wall and essentially sucking out nutrients. "We have a map now to work with, and we will see where it leads," he said.

7 Alternative Fuels and Fuel-Powered Vehicles With $4.00/gallon gas prices a not-so-distant memory, alternative fuels are all the rage. But what about the vehicles that run on them? Between hydrogen fuel cells, bio diesel, electricity and compressed air, the industrialized world is hard at work creating the next generation of non-oil consuming vehicles. These new, eco-friendly chariots deserve at least as much attention and fanfare as the fuels that power them, especially these 7 models. Compressed air (Image via DanceWithShadows) Perhaps the most tantalizing of all the alternative fuels is compressed air. Vegetable oil (Image via Biodiesel.org) Environmentalists everywhere have been salivating at the idea of running a car on vegetable oil ever since the idea was first proposed, and we have now taken the leap from concept to reality! Hydrogen fuel cells (Image via ImagesMe) The prospect of hydrogen-powered cars has been enticing eco-friendly motorists for years. Ethanol (Image via InternetAutoGuide) Water (yes, water!) Electrical power

researchers engineered molecule changes itself to detect and attack diseased cells L.A. Cicero Christina Smolke Imagine if your doctor could look for cancer in your body just by checking for green glowing cells, alerting her to the presence of the disease. Imagine further that she could convince any cancerous cells in your body to commit suicide, while leaving your healthy cells unaffected. In Friday's issue of Science, a Stanford researcher reported engineered biological "devices" that could one day offer these kinds of diagnostic and treatment options. These autonomous biological tools are called "sensor-actuator" devices because they sense what's happening in a cell and act upon what they detect. The researchers built these devices by combining different pieces of DNA into one long stretch. The sensor-actuator devices are built with efficient redesign in mind. Or the output could cause a diseased cell to kill itself. The sensor part of the RNA molecule can detect whether a certain protein is present simply by binding to it. Powerful tool for cells

10 Very Rare Cloud Pictures Showcasing cool pictures of rare clouds caught on camera. Clouds fill the skies above us and are part of our every day lives but often go unnoticed. However, there are some clouds that are so rare that you will be very lucky to see them in your lifetime. This is a list of the top 10 most rarest cloud formations (in no particular order) that for those lucky enough to see them, were caught on camera. For those of you more interested in clouds, we recommend Cloud Book: How to Understand the Skies 1. These rare clouds, sometimes called mother-of-pearl clouds, are 15 - 25km (9 -16 miles) high in the stratosphere and well above tropospheric clouds. They have iridescent colors but are higher and much rarer than ordinary iridescent clouds. Nacreous clouds shine brightly in high altitude sunlight up to two hours after ground level sunset or before dawn. Their unbelievably bright iridescent colors and slow movement relative to any lower clouds make them an unmistakable and unforgettable sight. 2. 3.

Oldest human ancestor found in lake sludge › News in Science (ABC Science) News in Science Friday, 27 April 2012 AFP Primordial life After two decades of examining a microscopic algae-eater that lives in a lake in Norway, scientists have declared it to be one of the world's oldest living organisms and human's remotest relative. The elusive, single-cell creature evolved about a billion years ago and did not fit in any of the known categories of living organisms - it was not an animal, plant, parasite, fungus or alga, they say. "We have found an unknown branch of the tree of life that lives in this lake. "So far we know of no other group of organisms that descends from closer to the roots of the tree of life than this species", which has been declared a new genus called Collodictyon. Scientists believe the discovery may provide insight into what life looked like on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago. Collodictyon lives in the sludge of a small lake called Ås, 30 kilometres south of Oslo. Not social creatures "They flourish best alone.

Kurzy prvej pomoci - Slovenský Červený kríž Kurz inštruktora prvej pomoci - 24 hodín Slovenský Červený kríž je držiteľom Rozhodnutia Ministerstva zdravotníctva SR o vydaní osvedčenia o akreditácii Kurzu inštruktora prvej pomoci č. 23795-2013-OZdV zo dňa 14. 6. 2013. Zdravotnícki pracovníci (s vyšším odborným alebo vysokoškolským vzdelaním v zdravotníckych štúdiách), ktorí majú záujem stať sa inštruktormi prvej pomoci môžu absolvovať kurz inštruktora aj v Slovenskom Červenom kríži v Bratislave. Učebný plán a osnova 24 hod. kurzu.Cena kurzu je 265 € (7 983,40 Sk).Prihlášku na kurz nájdete fileadmin/user_upload/dokumenty/Kurzy_prvej_pomoci/prihlaska_na_kurz_IPP_2013.doctu Aktuálny termín kurzu je 6.6. - 8. 6. 2014 v Bratislave. V prihláške prosíme uviesť termín kurzu, na ktorý sa prihlasujete. Bližšie informácie vám poskytneme taktiež počas pracovných dní medzi 9:00 a 15:00 hod. na čísle 02/5710 23 02 alebo e-mailom silvia.erdelyiova(at)redcross.sk. Kurz prvej pomoci - 8 hodín Kurz pre autoškoly Európsky certifikát - 16 a 33 hodín

NOAA Scientists Confirm BP Oil Spill Harms Dolphins and Deep-Sea Corals | Environment | English - StumbleUpon Scientists Find Sick Dolphins and Deep-Water Corals in Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Zone Two groups of scientists say they have identified signs of poor health in dolphins and in deep-sea corals due to exposure to polluted water in the northern Gulf of Mexico where the Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred nearly two years ago. The deadly April 2010 disaster is the worst off-shore oil spill in U.S. history. A team of biologists assessing the health of a resident pod of dolphins in the Gulf’s Barataria Bay say their preliminary findings indicate the marine mammals are suffering from low body weight, anemia, low blood sugar, and symptoms of liver and lung disease. Also, nearly half of the 32 dolphins they tested in mid-2011 have abnormally low levels of certain hormones that help with stress response, metabolism and immune function. One of the dolphins they examined was found dead in January, and the researchers fear more will die. The dolphin study is part of the U.S.

Exploiting the smell of genetically modified fear - StumbleUpon 29 March 2012Last updated at 11:06 GMT Biotechnology is back on the political agenda today with the launch of a field trial designed to assess a new variety of aphid repelling GM wheat. Scientists have used genetic engineering to add a peppermint plant gene to wheat that expresses an alarm pheromone that aphids associate with danger. It's the same smell that aphids themselves produce when they're under attack from a predator - warning other bugs to keep clear. Aphids are a major pest problem for cereal crops across northern Europe, causing £80m to £120m worth of losses to UK farmers every year. "It's a very clever combination of biotechnology, chemistry and natural ecology" according to Professor Maurice Maloney the Director of Rothamsted Research. The pheromone, E-beta-Farnesene, is produced by aphids as a chemical distress signal that's released when they come under attack from predators. The peppermint plant odour attracts aphid predators, including ladybirds

Sleeper cells: How to fight bacteria that play dead - 28 March 2012 - New Scientist - StumbleUpon Editorial: "Antibiotics are wonder drugs no more" TAKE a lawnmower to a field of grass and, with the blades on the right setting, you can raze it to the ground. It might look brutal, but all you are removing is the leaves. The roots remain. After the mower is gone, the plants start to grow again and within a few days, the field is back. It now looks as if bacteria have a similar trick up their sleeve.

Bacteria use chat to play the prisoners dilemma game in deciding their fate When faced with life-or-death situations, bacteria -- and maybe even human cells -- use an extremely sophisticated version of "game theory" to consider their options and decide upon the best course of action, scientists reported in San Diego March 27. In a presentation at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), they said microbes "play" a version of the classic "Prisoner's Dilemma" game. José Onuchic, Ph.D., who headed the research team, said these and other new insights into the "chat" sessions that bacteria use to communicate among themselves -- information about cell stress, the colony density (quorum-sensing peptides) and the stress status and inclinations of neighboring cells (peptide pheromones) -- could have far-reaching medical applications. "Using this form of cell-to-cell communication, colonies of billions or trillions of bacteria can literally reach a consensus on actions that impact people," Onuchic explained.

Next-generation epigenetic cancer pill shown to be safe in phase I trial Scientists have shown that a brand new type of cancer pill that exploits the emerging field of epigenetics is safe for human use, according to a Phase I trial reported May 1 in Clinical Cancer Research. Instead of targeting faults in the DNA code, the drug -- discovered in a collaboration between The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and Chroma Therapeutics -- targets cancer-causing errors in the way the body reads the DNA code. This second and equally important set of instructions takes the form of a series of chemical switches that determine whether genes are turned on or off, and ultimately what the cell will look like and how it will function. Epigenetics influence nature in many ways including the ability of a caterpillar to morph into a butterfly, even though its DNA does not change. Alterations in epigenetic control can also lead to cancer. Lead author Dr Udai Banerji from the ICR and The Royal Marsden says: "This is a new angle of attack against cancer.

logy Magazine The major difference between plant and animal cells is the photosynthetic process, which converts light energy into chemical energy. When light isn't available, energy is generated by breaking down carbohydrates and sugars, just as it is in animal and some bacterial cells. Two cellular organelles are responsible for these two processes: the chloroplasts for photosynthesis and the mitochondria for sugar breakdown. It is widely accepted that chloroplasts originated from photosynthetic, single-celled bacteria called cyanobacteria, which were engulfed by a more complex, non-photosynthetic cell more than 1.5 billion years ago. A similar process resulted in the creation of mitochondria. To sustain the function of the organelle, proteins encoded by the transferred genes are synthesized in the cytoplasm, or cell's interior, and then imported back into the organelle. Clearly the events that gave rise to chloroplasts and mitochondria changed the world forever.