Field Stations Foster Serendipitous Discoveries In Environmental, Biological Sciences
April 15, 2009
North America’s biological field stations have long been home to a rich legacy of research results, scientists say, making them important places for serendipitous discoveries in the biological and environmental sciences.
In a paper published in the April issue of the journal BioScience, researchers affiliated with the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network and other groups state that few people realize the value of the data and specimens held at field stations–until an event such as a disease outbreak or environmental disaster triggers their use.
“At a time when we are reinvesting in our nation’s academic infrastructure, it’s critical that we also invest in one of our greatest treasures–America’s biological field stations,” said William Michener, a biologist at the University of New Mexico and co-author of the paper.
Peter McCartney, program director in NSF’s Division of Biological Infrastructure, agrees. “Support for field stations is an important part of NSF’s overall investments in biological infrastructure,” he said. “They provide scientists with research opportunities, while fostering the regional and continental scale sampling provided through the LTER Network and the National Ecological Observatory Network [NEON].”
The paper, “Biological Field Stations: Research Legacies and Sites for Serendipity,” cites three examples in which major serendipitous discoveries occurred at field stations:
Microbes In Mud Flats Clean Up Oil Spill Chemicals
April 6, 2009
Micro-organisms occurring naturally in coastal mudflats have an essential role to play in cleaning up pollution by breaking down petrochemical residues.
Research by Dr Efe Aganbi and colleagues from the University of Essex, presented at the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting at Harrogate March 30, reveals essential differences in the speed of degradation of the chemicals depending on whether or not oxygen is present.
In aerobic conditions (where oxygen is present), benzene, toluene and naphthalene, which all occur in petroleum, were rapidly degraded by microbes. In the absence of oxygen degradation was slower and only toluene was significantly broken down. This means that in a healthy marine ecosystem where the water is oxygenated, petrochemical contamination can biodegraded by micro-organisms, but if the oxygen supply is depleted by pollution and other processes leading to the breakdown of organic matter in the soil, the contamination will persist.
While almost all known aromatic hydrocarbons (the petroleum breakdown products) are degraded with oxygen only a few can be completely broken down in the absence of oxygen. However, in a contaminated environment oxygen is quickly depleted and anaerobic breakdown (without oxygen) becomes an important mechanism for getting rid of contaminants
The scientists also investigated the impact of the three chemicals on the make-up of different estuarine microbial communities. Over time the types of micro-organisms changed as the compounds were degraded. In aerobic conditions, benzene and toluene did not appear to affect community structure but naphthalene stimulated the growth of Cycloclasticus spirillensus, a bacterium known to break down oil residues. These bacteria might be used as a natural way of cleaning up pollution.
DNA Shape Is Constrained By Evolution: Structural Approach To Exploring DNA
March 19, 2009
A team led by researchers from Boston University and the National Institutes of Health has developed a new method for uncovering functional areas of the human genome by studying DNA’s three-dimensional structure — a topographical approach that extends the more familiar analysis of the sequence of the four-letter alphabet of the DNA bases.
Unlike the well-understood genomic sequences that code for proteins and comprise about two percent of the human genome, the remaining 98 percent is the non-coding portion, which encodes many functions. However, little is known about how this functional non-coding information is specified.
In a study which appears March 12 in the online edition of Science, the researchers focused on examining the non-coding regions of the genome for areas that are likely to play a key role in human biological function.
To do this, the researchers developed a method which incorporates information about the structure of DNA to compare sequences of genomes from humans and 36 mammalian species that included the mouse, chimpanzee, elephant and rabbit.
By examining the shapes, grooves, turns and bumps of the DNA that comprises the human genome, the team discovered that 12 percent of the human genome appears to be constrained by evolution. That’s double the six percent detected by simply comparing the linear order of DNA nucleotides (A, T, G, and C, the familiar letters that make up the genome). The huge increase stems from finding some DNA sequences that differ in the order of nucleotides, but have very similar topographical shapes, and so may perform similar functions.
They went on to show that the topographically-informed constrained regions correlate with functional non-coding elements better than constrained regions identified by nucleotide sequence alone. Read more
New Genre Of Sugar-coated ‘Quantum Dots’ For Drug Delivery
March 11, 2009
Scientists in Switzerland are reporting an advance that could help tap the much-heralded potential of “quantum dots”— nanocrystals that glow when exposed to ultraviolet light — in the treatment of cancer and other diseases.
They are publishing the first study showing that giving quantum dots an icing-like cap of certain sugars makes these nanoparticles accumulate in the liver but not other parts of the body. That selective targeting could be used to deliver anti-cancer drugs to one organ,
New Test For Detecting Fake Organic Milk
March 3, 2009
Scientists in Germany are reporting development of a new, more effective method to determine whether milk marketed as “organic” is genuine or just ordinary milk mislabeled to hoodwink consumers.
Artificial Cells, Simple Model For Complex Structure
February 23, 2009
A simple, chemical materials model may lead to a better understanding of the structure and organization of the cell according to a Penn State researcher.
“Cells are interesting because they show organization even at the level of the cytoplasm, and while it is thought to be important for cell functions, it is not always clear how this organization is achieved,” said Christine Keating, associate professor of chemistry. “We are taking a materials chemistry approach in developing simple experimental models for cytoplasm organization,” she told attendees at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Cytoplasm is the material that fills the cell and is crowded with very large molecules. It surrounds the organelles — tiny organs like mitochondria and the nucleus. Unlike organelles, the cytoplasm is a fundamental feature of all cells. Many important biochemical processes take place here, and so cytoplasm is interesting as a major player in cell function.
Hydrogen Fuel From Woodchips And Other Non-food Sources
February 17, 2009
Tomorrow’s fuel-cell vehicles may be powered by enzymes that consume cellulose from woodchips or grass and exhale hydrogen.
Researchers at Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the University of Georgia have produced hydrogen gas pure enough to power a fuel cell by mixing 14 enzymes, one coenzyme, cellulosic materials from nonfood sources, and water heated to about 90 degrees (32 degrees Celsius).
The group announced three advances from their “one pot” process: 1) a novel combination of enzymes, 2) an increased hydrogen generation rate — to as fast as natural hydrogen fermentation, and 3) a chemical energy output greater than the chemical energy stored in sugars – the highest hydrogen yield reported from cellulosic materials. “In addition to converting the chemical energy from the sugar, the process also converts the low-temperature thermal energy into high-quality hydrogen energy – like Prometheus stealing fire,” said Percival Zhang, assistant professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech.
New Technology For Purifying Exhaust Gas From Diesel Engines
February 9, 2009
An increasing proportion of the Danish vehicle fleet consists of diesel vehicles. In urban areas diesel vehicles are causing air pollution (from carbon particles, nitrogen oxides (NOX)) and unburned hydrocarbons). As the European legislation tightens the rules for emissions, it will become more difficult and expensive to meet the requirements for particulate filters and DeNOx technologies.
A new four-year project at Risø DTU is going to develop an effective method for purifying flue gases, especially exhaust gases from diesel engines. The project has received DKK 17 million from the Danish Council for Strategic Research (the Programme Commission on Sustainable Energy and Environment).
Electrochemical flue gas purification
Existing solutions to air pollution require the installation of particulate filters and either an SCR catalyst (Selective Catalytic Reduction) a NOx absorber or recirculation of the exhaust gas. This leads to additional expenditure when modifying diesel vehicles to be less polluting.
New Catalyst Paves The Path For Ethanol-powered Fuel Cells
February 2, 2009
A team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Delaware and Yeshiva University, has developed a new catalyst that could make ethanol-powered fuel cells feasible. The highly efficient catalyst performs two crucial, and previously unreachable steps needed to oxidize ethanol and produce clean energy in fuel cell reactions.
Robot Inspects Wind Energy Converters
January 20, 2009
The material of wind energy converters must withstand intense forces. Are rotor blades damaged? A new robot inspects wind energy converters more precisely than a human ever could. It detects the minutest damage – even below the surface.
It appears reliably and appears alone. Nimbly and quickly, it pulls itself up a rope meter for meter until it reaches a wind energy converter’s giant rotor blades. Then it goes to work. It thoroughly inspects every centimeter of the rotor blades’ surface. Nothing escapes it. It registers any crack and any delamination in the material and relays their exact positions. In this job, a robot is superior to humans.
