Dissections
November 20, 2008
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Animal and Plant Cells
November 20, 2008
How do plant and animal cells differ? Are plants living? How do plants get food? Why are Read more
Prokaryotic v/s Eubacteria
November 19, 2008
Which are you? How do you know!!!!!!!!! What does it mean by a “true nucleus”? Are your cells composed of a true nucleus? What’s in the nucleus? Talk to me Read more
Corralling The Carbon Cycle: Calculating How Much Carbon Dioxide Is Absorbed And Released By Plants
November 18, 2008
Scientists may have overcome a major hurdle to calculating how much carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed and released by plants, vital information for understanding how the biosphere responds to stress and for determining the amount of carbon that can be safely emitted by human activities.
The problem is that ecosystems simultaneously take up and release CO2. The key finding is that the compound carbonyl sulfide, which plants consume in tandem with CO2, can be used to quantify gas flow into the plants during photosynthesis. The research is published in the November 14, issue of Science.
“In photosynthesis, plants ‘breath’ in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and, with sunlight energy, convert it and water into food and oxygen, which they then ‘exhale,’” explained co-author Joe Berry from the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology. “In ecosystems, plants and other organisms respire producing carbon dioxide. We can measure the net change in CO2, but we do not have an accurate way to measure how much is going in or out and how this is affected by climate. Understanding this photosynthesis-climate feedback riddle is key to understanding how climate change may affect the natural processes that are a sink for human-made carbon emissions.”
Mysterious Microbe May Play Important Role In Ocean Ecology
November 18, 2008
An unusual microorganism discovered in the open ocean may force scientists to rethink their understanding of how carbon and nitrogen cycle through ocean ecosystems. A research team led by Jonathan Zehr, professor of ocean sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, characterized the new microbe by analyzing its genetic material, even though researchers have not been able to grow it in the laboratory.
Zehr said the newly described organism seems to be an atypical member of the cyanobacteria, a group of photosynthetic bacteria formerly known as blue-green algae. Unlike all other known free-living cyanobacteria, this one lacks some of the genes needed to carry out photosynthesis, the process by which plants use light energy to make sugars out of carbon dioxide and water. The mysterious microbe can do something very important, though: It provides natural fertilizer to the oceans by “fixing” nitrogen from the atmosphere into a form useable by other organisms.
Bacteria II
November 18, 2008
Bacteria infections are terrible and can be very dangerous to the human body. Usually when a person has a bacteria infection antibiotics are prescribed. Why should you take the entire prescription for the alloted time Read more
Alternative Fuels: Retooled Approach May Make Bio-based Butanol More Competitive With Ethanol
November 17, 2008
A modified method of producing biobutanol could make the fuel more competitive with ethanol as a clean-burning alternative to gasoline.
According to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) chemical engineer Nasib Qureshi, biobutanol offers several advantages. It can be transported in existing pipelines, it’s less corrosive, it can be mixed with gasoline or used alone in internal combustion engines, and it packs more energy per gallon than ethanol.
Predatory Bacterial Swarm Uses Rippling Motion To Reach Prey
November 17, 2008
Like something from a horror movie, the swarm of bacteria ripples purposefully toward their prey, devours it and moves on.
Researchers at the University of Iowa are studying this behavior in Myxococcus xanthus (M. xanthus), a bacterium commonly found in soil, which preys on other bacteria.
Despite its deadly role in the bacterial world, M. xanthus is harmless to humans and might one day be used beneficially to destroy harmful bacteria on surfaces or in human infections, said John Kirby, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology in the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine.
Bacteria
November 17, 2008
Is bacteria a bad thing or a good thing? or BOTH? Where will you find bacteria—-where will you find bacteria in your body? Here is the award wining question. Yogurt is a wonderful food that claims to good Read more
Dirty Brown Clouds Impact Glaciers, Agriculture And The Monsoon
November 16, 2008
Cities from Beijing to New Delhi are getting darker, glaciers in ranges like the Himalayas are melting faster and weather systems becoming more extreme, in part, due to the combined effects of man-made Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABCs) and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
These are among the conclusions of scientists studying a more than three km-thick layer of soot and other manmade particles that stretches from the Arabian Peninsula to China and the western Pacific Ocean.
The team has just announced their latest and most detailed assessment of the phenomenon, drawn from research centres in Asia including China and India, Europe and the United States.
The brown clouds, the result of burning of fossil fuels and biomass, are in some cases and regions aggravating the impacts of greenhouse gas-induced climate change, says the report.
This is because ABCs lead to the formation of particles like black carbon and soot that absorb sunlight and heat the air; and gases such as ozone which enhance the greenhouse effect of CO2.
