Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:08:36 GMT

Calla palustris

I suppose if one wanted to be pedantic, this would be the only species one could call a calla lily (though it"s not a lily), as Calla palustris is the sole member of its genus. What many English-speaking people generally call calla lilies are members of the related genus, Zantedeschia. To be fair, though, species now named Zantedeschia were (all?) formerly in Calla.Calla palustris is native to cool temperate areas of the northern hemisphere. Its North American range nearly overlaps the expanse of taiga in North America, so one could draw the same conclusion about its presence in Eurasia roughly paralleling the Eurasian extent of taiga. This is almost the case, though notably it can also be found in central Europe as far southwest as France.

The Plants for a Future database provides information on the economic botany of the species (Calla palustris), including its use as a food (with appropriate cautions).

The epithet palustris refers to the preferred habitat: "of marshes" or "of swamps".

Agriculture resource links: A critical component of global food security is to preserve the various strains of heritage fruits and vegetables. Certain hybrids may be more resistant to particular diseases, others may be more adapted to local climates and others may have the highest nutritional value (as examples of reasons why). I"ve received a number of emails today about the potential destruction of the Pavlovsk Experimental Station, which has "5,500 different varieties of apples, pears, cherries, and numerous berry species -- most of which occur nowhere else on Earth and were developed over hundreds of years by farmers in northern Europe, Scandinavia and Russia" (quoted from The Scientist, read more: "Critical plant bank in danger"). Nature.com is also reporting on the story, "Europe"s largest berry bank faces closure". The Global Crop Diversity Trust is working to prevent the destruction of the station and its crop diversity (if you intend to sign their petition and do not reside in the USA, use this one instead of the one in the middle of the Global Crop Diversity Trust page (which seems to assume one resides in the USA)). Posted by: Daniel Mosquin      Read more     Source

August 26, 2010, 11:17 PM CT

Artificial enzyme removes natural poison

For the first time ever, a completely man-made chemical enzyme has been successfully used to neutralise a toxin found naturally in fruits and vegetables.

Proof of concept for artificial enzymes.

Chemzymes are designed molecules emulating the targeting and efficiency of naturally occurring enzymes and the recently graduated Dr. Bjerre is pleased about her results.

"Showing that these molecules are capable of decomposing toxins mandatory vast amounts of work and time. But it's been worth every minute because it proves the general point that it's possible to design artificial enzymes for this class of task", explains Bjerre.

Simple molecules performing complex tasks.

Most people know enzymes as an ingredient in detergents. In our bodies enzymes are in charge of decomposing everything we eat, so that our bodies can absorb the nutrients. But they also decompose ingested toxins, ensuring that our bodies survive the encounter.

In several important aspects artificial enzymes function in the same way as naturally occurring ones. But where natural enzymes are big and complex, the artificial ones have been pared down to the basics.

The flat-nosed plier of the molecular world.

One consequence of this simplicity is that designing chemzymes for targeted tasks ought to be easier. With fewer parts, there's less to go wrong when changing the structure of chemzymes. And for enzymes as well as for their artificial counterparts even small changes in structure will have massive consequences for functionality......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

August 26, 2010, 7:24 AM CT

Evolution writ small

A unique experiment at Rice University that forces bacteria into a head-to-head competition for evolutionary dominance has yielded new insights about the way Darwinian selection plays out at the molecular level. An exacting new analysis of the experiment has revealed precisely how specific genetic mutations impart a physical edge in the competition for survival.

The new research, which could lead to more effective strategies to combat antibiotic drug resistance, was the most downloaded article this month in the journal Molecular Systems Biology

The research builds upon an ingenious 2005 study involving bacteria called "thermophiles," which thrive at high temperatures. Scientists in the laboratory of Rice biochemist Yousif Shamoo "knocked out" a key gene that allowed the thermophiles to make energy at high temperatures. These crippled versions of the bacteria were then grown inside fermentors for several weeks. Each day, the temperature of the fermentors was increased. As a result, the bacteria were forced to either starve or adapt to survive at high temperature.

Of the hundreds of possible mutations, only five proved successful in allowing the cells to adapt and survive at high temperature. Each of these had mutations in a gene that creates a key enzyme that helps make energy at high temperature. Each of the five made a slightly different version of the enzyme......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

August 26, 2010, 7:03 AM CT

Fuel treatments reduce wildfire severity

A study conducted by U.S. Forest Service and University of Washington (UW) researchers has observed that fuel therapyseven of only a few acrescan reduce fire severity and protect older trees desirable for their timber, wildlife, and carbon-storage value. The finding is part of a three-year study of the 175,000-acre Tripod Fire and is reported in the recent issue of Canadian Journal of Forest Research

"This study provides the most definitive evidence yet of the effectiveness of fuel therapys in dry forests of the Pacific Northwest," said Susan Prichard, a UW research scientist and senior author of the study. "If dense forests are thinned and the surface fuels are removed, then ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir trees have a better chance of surviving an intense wildfire".

Prichard and her Forest Service colleagues quantified tree mortality on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in an area affected by the 2006 Tripod Fire, which burned through forested areas managed to reduce potential fire hazard. Because of the management history of the area, the scientists were able to compare untreated stands, stands that were thinned, and stands that were thinned and then underwent prescribed burns to remove surface fuels.

Results of the comparison revealed that the Tripod Complex fires killed over 80% of trees in stands without therapy and in stands with thinning only. Nearly 60% of trees survived in stands with thinning plus fuel therapy, and three-quarters of larger treesthose with diameters larger than 8 inchessurvived......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

August 24, 2010, 7:19 AM CT

Explaining graphene mystery

Nanoscale simulations and theoretical research performed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are bringing researchers closer to realizing graphene's potential in electronic applications.

A research team led by ORNL's Bobby Sumpter, Vincent Meunier and Eduardo Cruz-Silva has discovered how loops develop in graphene, an electrically conductive high-strength low-weight material that resembles an atomic-scale honeycomb.

Structural loops that sometimes form during a graphene cleaning process can render the material unsuitable for electronic applications. Overcoming these types of problems is of great interest to the electronics industry.

"Graphene is a rising star in the materials world, given its potential for use in precise electronic components like transistors or other semiconductors," said Bobby Sumpter, a staff scientist at ORNL.

The team used quantum molecular dynamics to simulate an experimental graphene cleaning process, as discussed in a paper published in Physical Review Letters. Calculations performed on ORNL supercomputers pointed the scientists to an overlooked intermediate step during processing.

Imaging with a transmission electron microscope, or TEM, subjected the graphene to electron irradiation, which ultimately prevented loop formation. The ORNL simulations showed that by injecting electrons to collect an image, the electrons were simultaneously changing the material's structure......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

August 11, 2010, 7:24 PM CT

Building muscle doesn't require lifting heavy weights

Current gym dogma holds that to build muscle size you need to lift heavy weights. However, a newly released study conducted at McMaster University has shown that a similar degree of muscle building can be achieved by using lighter weights. The secret is to pump iron until you reach muscle fatigue.

The findings are published in PLoS ONE

"Rather than grunting and straining to lift heavy weights, you can grab something much lighter but you have to lift it until you can't lift it anymore," says Stuart Phillips, associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University. "We're convinced that growing muscle means stimulating your muscle to make new muscle proteins, a process in the body that over time accumulates into bigger muscles."

Phillips praised main author and senior Ph.D. student Nicholas Burd for masterminding the project that showed it's really not the weight that you lift but the fact that you get muscular fatigue that's the critical point in building muscle. The study used light weights that represented a percentage of what the subjects could lift. The heavier weights were set to 90% of a person's best lift and the light weights at a mere 30% of what people could lift. "It's a very light weight," says Phillips noting that the 90-80% range is commonly something people can lift from 5-10 times before fatigue sets in. At 30%, Burd reported that subjects could lift that weight at least 24 times before they felt fatigue......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 03:49:04 GMT

Interview with Victor Ambros

There is an interesting interview with Victor Ambros in the latest edition of PLoS Genetics.

Here"s his thoughts on his Lasker Award:
And so it has very little to do, frankly, with the particular person getting the award. What the award represents is a process that involves interactions amongst many, many people. And the end, one person ends up getting the award. It"s really important to try to acknowledge that and understand the fact that really everything that happens in science, including the discoveries that people try to acknowledge by awards, are really the products of this confluence of people"s histories and people"s interactions. I really believe that science gets done by people with average abilities and talents, for the most part, and when something special happens, enough so that people want to acknowledge it with an award, it was really…in large part…luck!

We try to say to the public, here"s an award for somebody who"s really, really special. But actually, it"s not the somebody who is really special, it"s the science that is special. The way we do science, and the way it works is so amazing. I wish non-scientists would better understand this. That science is a community exercise, that it involves people interacting, that it involves a lot of good fortune in the context of people trying to do something really carefully and following curiosity. That"s why it works so well!

Words to live by! Posted by: Dennehy      Read more     Source

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 03:25:01 GMT

Butomus umbellatus

Thank you once again to Marianne, aka marcella2@Flickr, for contributing a photograph to Botany Photo of the Day (original image | Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool). Always glad to have an image from a vascular plant family that hasn"t yet been featured on BPotD!

Butomus umbellatus is the sole member of the monotypic genus Butomus, itself in turn the sole member of the monotypic Butomaceae. The closest living relatives to this freshwater aquatic are species in the Hydrocharitaceae (a family that includes both freshwater and marine aquatics).

Known as flowering rush (though it isn"t a true rush), Butomus umbellatus has a distribution that spans much of Europe and western Asia. Introduction into North America (believed to be for use as a garden plant) has resulted in widespread dispersal through the north temperate parts of the continent, and it is considered an invasive species. The page on Butomus umbellatus from the Noxious Weeds of King County explains the difficulty in controlling this species once it has established, so preventing dispersal is paramount.

For additional photographs, see the Flora of Israel"s page on Butomus umbellatus or the Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium"s page on Butomus umbellatus.

On a technical BPotD note: a few people have noticed that BPotD images are failing to display completely on a consistent basis. I believe this is because of the IUCN Red List "Species of the Day" box that appears at the bottom of the daily posting. The "Species of the Day" is an embedded feed -- meaning that for it to display, the IUCN web server is contacted each time a BPotD daily page is loaded and then the IUCN web server supplies the graphic. I think that from time to time, the IUCN web server gets overloaded -- and this halts the loading of the BPotD page (and images) while your browser tries (and tries) to gather the information it needs from the IUCN server. Two possible solutions: 1) you can reload / refresh the page when this does occur (Ctrl-R on a PC with Firefox, or hit the reload button); or 2) I can remove the IUCN Red List Species of the Day box (which will be done anyway come Jan. 1). My preference is for option 1.

Photography resource link: the landscape photography of Joel Truckenbrod (portfolio), emphasizing the Upper Midwest of the USA. Posted by: Daniel Mosquin      Read more     Source

July 23, 2010, 7:01 AM CT

Nanowick at heart of new system

Scientists have shown that an advanced cooling technology being developed for high-power electronics in military and automotive systems is capable of handling roughly 10 times the heat generated by conventional computer chips.

The miniature, lightweight device uses tiny copper spheres and carbon nanotubes to passively wick a coolant toward hot electronics, said Suresh V. Garimella, the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University.

This wicking technology represents the heart of a new ultrathin "thermal ground plane," a flat, hollow plate containing water.

Similar "heat pipes" have been in use for more than two decades and are found in laptop computers. However, they are limited to cooling about 50 watts per square centimeter, which is good enough for standard computer chips but not for "power electronics" in military weapons systems and hybrid and electric vehicles, Garimella said.

The research team from Purdue, Thermacore Inc. and Georgia Tech Research Institute is led by Raytheon Co., creating the compact cooling technology in work funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

The team is working to create heat pipes about one-fifth the thickness of commercial heat pipes and covering a larger area than the conventional devices, allowing them to provide far greater heat dissipation......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source

July 8, 2010, 6:49 AM CT

New Clue Into Cellular Aging

The ability to combat some age-related diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, may rest with researchers unlocking clues about the molecular and cellular processes governing aging. The underlying theory is that if the healthy portion of an individual's life span can be extended, it may delay the onset of certain age-related diseases. In the search to understand these molecular processes, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have uncovered an important new DAF-16 isoform - DAF-16d/f - that collaborates with other DAF-16 protein isoforms to regulate longevity.

Part of the insulin signaling pathway, DAF-16 plays a critical role in many biological processes in C. elegans, including longevity, lipid metabolism, stress response and development, and is the center of a complex network of genes and proteins. Prior studies have identified the isoform - a different form of the same protein - DAF-16a as a regulator of longevity; genetically knocking down the DAF-16a isoform shortens C. elegans' life span. In a newly released study appearing in the July 7 advanced online edition of Nature, Heidi A. Tissenbaum, PhD, associate professor of molecular medicine, and his colleagues in the Program in Gene Function and Expression at UMass Medical School, show that the newly discovered isoform DAF-16d/f works in concert with DAF-16a to promote organismal life span......... Posted by: Beverly      Read more         Source