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Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for August 26, 2016:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
Astronomy & Space news
 | Astronomers find a brown dwarf companion to a nearby debris disk host star(Phys.org)—Astronomers have detected a brown dwarf orbiting HR 2562 – a nearby star known to host a debris disk. The newly discovered substellar companion is the first brown dwarf-mass object found to reside in the inner hole of a debris disk. The findings were presented in a paper published Aug. 23 on the arXiv pre-print server. |
 | NASA's Juno to soar closest to Jupiter this SaturdayThis Saturday at 5:51 a.m. PDT, (8:51 a.m. EDT, 12:51 UTC) NASA's Juno spacecraft will get closer to the cloud tops of Jupiter than at any other time during its prime mission. At the moment of closest approach, Juno will be about 2,500 miles (4,200 kilometers) above Jupiter's swirling clouds and traveling at 130,000 mph (208,000 kilometers per hour) with respect to the planet. There are 35 more close flybys of Jupiter scheduled during its prime mission (scheduled to end in February of 2018). The Aug. 27 flyby will be the first time Juno will have its entire suite of science instruments activated and looking at the giant planet as the spacecraft zooms past. |
 | Spitzer Space Telescope begins 'Beyond' phaseCelebrating the spacecraft's ability to push the boundaries of space science and technology, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope team has dubbed the next phase of its journey "Beyond." |
 | SpaceX Dragon heads back to Earth with station science, gearA SpaceX Dragon capsule headed back to Earth on Friday with a load of science experiments and gear from the International Space Station. |
 | SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship splashes down in PacificSpaceX's unmanned Dragon cargo ship splashed down Friday in the Pacific Ocean, returning a load of NASA research from the International Space Station, the US space agency said. |
NASA nears the end of its splashdown tests for Mars craftNASA on Thursday conducted the second to last splashdown test for its Orion spacecraft as the agency prepares to eventually send humans to Mars. | |
 | NASA awards launch services contract for Mars 2020 rover missionNASA has selected United Launch Services LLC of Centennial, Colorado, to provide launch services for a mission that will address high-priority science goals for the agency's Journey to Mars. |
 | Image: Third Bosphorus Bridge progressThese 17 images from the Sentinel-2A satellite show a year of progress on the Third Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey. |
 | GOES-3 satellite decommissionedThe National Science Foundation (NSF) late last month decommissioned a 38-year-old communications satellite that for 21 years had helped to link NSF's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station with the outside world. It was among the oldest, continuously operating satellites in the skies. |
NASA awards Next Generation Land Mobile Radio contractNASA has awarded the Next Generation Land Mobile Radio contract to Motorola Solutions, Inc., of Linthicum Heights, Maryland. | |
 | Image: Space station view of Grand Canyon National ParkTo celebrate the centennial of the U.S National Park Service, Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams of NASA has taken hundreds of images of national parks from his vantage point in low Earth orbit, aboard the International Space Station. Here, a series of Williams' photographs are assembled into this composite image of the Grand Canyon. Sharing with his social media followers, Williams wrote, "The mighty @grandcanyonnps adorns the Arizona desert. #FindYourPark #NPS100." |
Technology news
 | Apple issues update after cyber weapon capturedApple iPhone owners on Friday were urged to install a quickly released security update after a sophisticated attack on an Emirati dissident exposed vulnerabilities targeted by cyber arms dealers. |
 | Wearable integrated thermocells based on gel electrolytes use body heatElectronics integrated into textiles are gaining in popularity: Systems like smartphone displays in a sleeve or sensors to detect physical performance in athletic wear have already been produced. The main problem with these systems tends to be the lack of a comfortable, equally wearable source of power. Chinese scientists are now aiming to obtain the necessary energy from body heat. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, they have introduced a flexible, wearable thermocell based on two different gel electrolytes. |
 | Chemists develop promising cheap, sustainable battery for grid energy storageChemists at the University of Waterloo have developed a long-lasting zinc-ion battery that costs half the price of current lithium-ion batteries and could help enable communities to shift away from traditional power plants and into renewable solar and wind energy production. |
 | Activist discovers iPhone spyware, sparking security updateThe suspicious text message that appeared on Ahmed Mansoor's iPhone promised to reveal details about torture in the United Arab Emirates' prisons. All Mansoor had to do was click the link. |
Netflix taunts N. Korea on-demand TV service on TwitterNetflix is poking fun at North Korea's recent foray into on-demand TV, calling itself a "Manbang knockoff" on its Twitter bio. | |
 | Where does AlphaGo go?On March 15, 2016, Lee Sodol, an 18-time world champion of the ancient Chinese board game Go, was defeated by AlphaGo, a computer program. The event is one of the most historic in the field of artificial intelligence since Deep Blue bested chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov in the late 1990s. The difference is that AlphaGo may represent an even bigger turning point in AI research. As outlined in a recently published paper, AlphaGo and programs like it possess the computational architecture to handle complex problems that lie well beyond the game table. |
 | New tool for medical students' anatomy lessons – a virtual scalpelFirst-year medical students at the University of British Columbia will begin using a state-of-the-art touch-screen table that displays detailed images of internal anatomy that can be rotated, enlarged and even sliced open. |
 | New approach to computing boosts energy efficiencyA European research project led by Chalmers University of Technology has launched a set of tools that will make computer systems more energy efficient – a critical issue for modern computing. Using the framework of the project programmers has been able to provide large data streaming aggregations 54 times more energy efficient than with standard implementations. |
 | Virtual reality robots could help teleport juries to crime scenesJuries are seldom allowed to visit crime scenes. There are exceptions, usually in difficult, high-profile murder cases such as the O.J Simpson trial in 1995 in the US and the Jill Dando murder trial in 2001 in the UK. But asking jurors to become fact finders in this way comes with myriad problems, from possible biases to the logistical and security challenges of taking them to the crime scene. |
 | Structural, regulatory and human error were factors in Washington highway bridge collapseWhen an important bridge collapsed on Interstate 5 near Mount Vernon, Washington, in 2013, questions were raised about how such a catastrophic failure could occur. A new analysis by a team of civil engineering faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign outlines the many factors that led to the collapse, as well as steps that transportation departments can take to prevent such accidents on other bridges of similar design. |
 | Study provides voice for evacuation needs of mobility impairedA fire alarm sounds. An announcement comes over the office public address system: "A fire has been reported in the building. This is not a drill. Please move to the nearest stairwell and exit the building." |
 | Businesses spent $341 billion on R&D performed in US in 2014Businesses spent $341 billion on research and development (R&D) performed in the United States in 2014, a 5.6 percent increase over the previous year, according to a new report from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). |
 | Pokemon doughnuts, exercise classes tap game's popularity.Weeks into the "Pokemon Go" craze, demand remains strong for "Poke Ball"-shaped treats made by a high-end doughnut company, one of many businesses and organizations coming up with creative ways to lure players in their search for the elusive "pocket monsters." |
Medicine & Health news
 | Basic research fuels advanced discoveryClinical trials and translational medicine have certainly given people hope and rapid pathways to cures for some of mankind's most troublesome diseases, but now is not the time to overlook the power of basic research, says UC Santa Barbara neuroscientist Kenneth S. Kosik. |
 | Discovery of a novel Wnt inhibitor with potential to eradicate colorectal cancer stem cellsA team including the National Cancer Center (NCC), the RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies (CLST), and Carna Biosciences Inc. has jointly announced the development of a novel small-molecule Wnt inhibitor named NCB-0846. Wnt signaling is a key pathway of cancer stem cell (CSC) development. The inhibitor may provide a new therapy option for patients with drug-refractory colorectal cancer. |
 | Scientists shed new light on the role of calcium in learning and memoryWhile calcium's importance for our bones and teeth is well known, its role in neurons—in particular, its effects on processes such as learning and memory—has been less well defined. |
 | Important advance made with new approach to 'control' cancer, not eliminate itResearchers have created a new drug delivery system that could improve the effectiveness of an emerging concept in cancer treatment - to dramatically slow and control tumors on a long-term, sustained basis, not necessarily aiming for their complete elimination. |
 | Next steps in understanding brain functionThe most complex piece of matter in the known universe is the brain. Neuroscientists have recently taken on the challenge to understand brain function from its intricate anatomy and structure. There is no sure way to go about it, and Dr. Javier DeFelipe at the Cajal Institute in Madrid proposed a solution, in his Frontiers in Neuroanatomy Grand Challenge article "The anatomical problem posed by brain complexity and size: a potential solution." |
 | Researchers find a new way to identify and target malignant aging in leukemiaResearchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center have identified RNA-based biomarkers that distinguish between normal, aging hematopoietic stem cells and leukemia stem cells associated with secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML), a particularly problematic disease that typically afflicts older patients who have often already experienced a bout with cancer. |
A visual nudge can disrupt recall of what things look likeInterfering with your vision makes it harder to describe what you know about the appearance of even common objects, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. | |
Israeli lifestyle and environment may pose exceptional risks for Hodgkin's lymphomaHodgkin's Lymphoma (HL) is a common malignancy in early adulthood, accounting for approximately 30 percent of all lymphomas (cancers of the lymph system). The incidence of HL in Israel is among the highest in the world: based on GLOBOCAN estimates for 2012, Israeli females have the highest age-standardized incidence rate of HL worldwide, and Israeli males have the second highest worldwide. From 1960 through 2005, Israel experienced a sharp rise in the incidence of HL among Israeli-born Jews of both sexes, with similar rates in the Jewish and non-Jewish populations. | |
New test needed to assess the quality and safety of sunglassesRevision of standards is needed to test sunglasses quality and establish safe limits for the lenses' UV filters, according to research published in the open access journal Biomedical Engineering OnLine. | |
Experts say inexpensive drug could slow heart disease for type 1 diabetic patientsScientists at Newcastle University believe a drug commonly prescribed for Type 2 diabetes could be routinely taken by Type 1 diabetic patients to slow the development or delay heart disease. | |
Physician advice to patients on e-cigarettes varies, reveals knowledge gaps, study showsIf you ask two different doctors about e-cigarettes, you might get two different answers. | |
Fused genes found in esophageal cancer cells offer new clues on disease mechanismsDespite years of research, cellular mechanisms contributing to cancers like esophageal adenocarcinoma have remained elusive. What has puzzled researchers was how genes in the healthy cells lining the esophagus turned the normal cells into malignant ones. Now, researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have characterized structurally abnormal genes in esophageal adenocarcinoma, the findings of which could pave way for developing new biomarkers in this fatal disease. The National Cancer Institute estimates that nearly 37,000 people are living with esophageal cancer in the United States and nearly $1.6 billion is spent on related care each year. | |
 | In sub-Saharan Africa, cancer can be an infectious diseaseIn 1963, Irish surgeon Denis Parson Burkitt airmailed samples of an unusual jaw tumor found in Ugandan children to his colleague, Anthony Epstein, at Middlesex Hospital in London. Epstein, an expert in chicken viruses and an early adopter of the electron microscope, cultured the tissue and took a look. What he found has become known as Epstein-Barr virus, the cause of mononucleosis, the "kissing cold", and also, it turns out, an ingredient of the jaw tumor in which it was originally found, now known as Burkitt's lymphoma. |
Novel inhibitory brain receptor may be mechanism for remission of epilepsy in adolescenceMore than half of children with epilepsy outgrow their seizures, yet the mechanism underlying this remission is unknown. | |
Leading chikungunya vaccine in clinical trial phase 2With the first patient vaccinated, a phase 2 clinical trial of a promising prophylactic vaccine candidate against Chikungunya fever has now commenced. The product is the most advanced Chikungunya vaccine candidate globally and is developed by the Austrian biotech company Themis Bioscience GmbH. It is based on the company's proprietary Themaxyn platform, a standard measles vaccination vector developed in collaboration with the Institut Pasteur, that offers an excellent immunogenicity and safety profile. The vaccine candidate already showed high seroconversion rates in the preceding phase 1 clinical trial: Up to 100 percent of all vaccinated subjects produced neutralizing antibodies against the Chikungunya virus. In total 320 volunteers will be enrolled for this phase 2 dose confirmation study that is carried out in centers in Germany and Austria. | |
Study challenges idea that clinicians should dress formally to be taken seriouslyClinicians can ditch the suit and tie and instead dress comfortably when attending patients in their practice, according to findings from a recent study. | |
Bacteria in smokeless tobacco products may be a health concernSeveral species of bacteria found in smokeless tobacco products have been associated with opportunistic infections, according to a paper published August 26 in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. | |
 | Egyptian women say doctors don't discourage female genital cuttingMore Egyptian women are seeking the opinions of physicians on whether their daughters should undergo female genital cutting, which is illegal in the country, but they say doctors don't advise against the procedure. |
More chemo drugs don't improve treatment of rare bone cancerOsteosarcoma patients with tumors that haven't responded well to the standard chemotherapy regimen have unimproved outcomes and more side effects when given two additional drugs, a large international trial has found. | |
Polio eradication effort challenged, but not derailedDecades of innovation, collaboration and old-fashioned sweat and tears have yielded the fewest polio cases to date, with the world on the cusp of complete eradication of polio. Yet to date, smallpox is the only disease that has been eradicated. | |
 | Is tailgating toxic?While tailgating this football season you may want to take a step back from the grill and generator—for your health. |
 | Clearing up common myths about psoriasisPsoriasis is a misunderstood disease, often kept under wraps by sufferers who want to hide their skin lesions. This week, Dr. Sara Ferguson, a dermatologist at Penn State Medical Group in State College, separates fact from myth about psoriasis and the various treatment options. |
Research center completes 10-year evaluation of health care studyThe Center for Health Care Policy and Research (CHCPR) at Penn State has completed a novel 10-year evaluation of a massive community health care study undertaken by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). | |
Report explores factors that might attract children to marijuana ediblesWhen Washington legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, a primary concern was how to ensure it was kept out of the reach of children. | |
 | Pediatric allergist discusses EpiPen controversyMembers of Congress are calling for an investigation into the EpiPen maker Mylan. The pharmaceutical company has increased the price of EpiPens, from about $100 in 2008 to more than $500 today. |
 | Young people with cancer should have affordable options to preserve their fertilityDue to significant advances in diagnosis and treatment, many Australians with cancer can expect to survive and lead a normal life. For those of reproductive age this includes the chance to have their own family in the future. But fertility can be affected by both the cancer itself and the treatment received. |
Stiff arteries linked with memory problems, mouse study suggestsAs we age, our arteries gradually become less flexible, making it harder for the heart to pump blood throughout the body. This hardening of the arteries occurs faster in people with high blood pressure and increases the risk for heart problems. Using a new mouse model, researchers have found that stiffer arteries can also negatively affect memory and other critical brain processes. | |
 | How a nasty, brain-eating parasite could help us fight cancerWe've known since the turn of the 20th century that some infectious diseases are a major risk for developing specific cancers. More worryingly, about one-sixth of cancers worldwide are attributable to infectious agents. Globally, more than 2m cancer cases are linked to certain carcinogenic viral, bacterial or parasitic agents. Two-thirds of these occur in developing countries. |
Western diet increases Alzheimer's riskGlobally, about 42 million people now have dementia, with Alzheimer's disease as the most common type of dementia. Rates of Alzheimer's disease are rising worldwide. The most important risk factors seem to be linked to diet, especially the consumption of meat, sweets, and high-fat dairy products that characterize a Western Diet. For example, when Japan made the nutrition transition from the traditional Japanese diet to the Western diet, Alzheimer's disease rates rose from 1% in 1985 to 7% in 2008, with rates lagging the nutrition transition by 20-25 years. The evidence of these risk factors, which come from ecological and observational studies, also shows that fruits, vegetables, grains, low-fat dairy products, legumes, and fish are associated with reduced risk. "Using Multicountry Ecological and Observational Studies to Determine Dietary Risk Factors for Alzheimer's Disease," a review article from the Journal of the American College of Nutrition presents the data. | |
 | Ultrasonography can guide drug modification in arthritis(HealthDay)—Ultrasonography can be useful for guiding modification of anti-rheumatic drugs and steroids for patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA), according to a study published online Aug. 19 in the International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases. |
 | Diabetes, insulin resistance adversely affect LV function(HealthDay)—Early exposure to diabetes mellitus (DM) or higher insulin resistance (IR) has an adverse effect on left ventricular (LV) remodeling and function, according to research published online Aug. 17 in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging. |
 | Intussusception hospitalization rate up at age 8 to 11 weeks(HealthDay)—Children aged 8 to 11 weeks have an increased rate of intussusception hospitalization after introduction of rotavirus vaccine, according to a study published online Aug. 24 in Pediatrics. |
 | Allergic response to house dust mites is age-dependentIn adults with a house dust mite allergy, a cascade of inflammatory signals on the surface of the airways leads to airway remodeling. This process cannot be influenced by standard cortisone therapy. Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich have reported these findings in the latest issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. |
Safe opioid prescribing working group details successThe Massachusetts Medical Education Working Group, a first-in-the-nation collaboration between state medical schools and health officials convened to develop cross-institutional core competences for the prevention and management of prescription drug misuse, has published a paper about the state-of-the-art core competencies it developed in Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. | |
Acute Zika virus infection associated with sensory polyneuropathyA group of researchers from Honduras, Venezuela and the USA has described the first case of sensory polyneuropathy associated with acute Zika virus infection. The scientific paper was published in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences online. | |
 | Sights set on the next generation of shuttle peptides to target the brainIRB Barcelona scientists Benjamí Oller, Macarena Sánchez, Ernest Giralt, and Meritxell Teixidó, all from the Peptides and Proteins Lab of the Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Programme, have written a review on the emerging field of shuttle peptides—molecules that have the capacity to transport drugs across the blood-brain barrier and thus treat diseases affecting the central nervous system. The article will be featured on the cover of September's issue of Chemical Society Reviews. |
Banning tobacco sales near schools could reduce socioeconomic disparities, new study showsBanning tobacco sales within 1,000 feet of schools could reduce socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in tobacco density across neighborhoods, according to a study being published today in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research. | |
Alaska identifies first case of H5N2 bird fluThe bird flu strain that wiped out millions of turkeys and chickens in the Midwest last year has been found in Alaska for the first time. | |
 | Officials: Zika spread through sex by man with no symptomsU.S. health officials on Friday reported the first case of Zika spread through sex by a man with no symptoms of the disease. |
US urges all donated blood undergo tests for ZikaDonated blood should be tested for the Zika virus, which can cause birth defects, US regulators warned Friday amid a mounting outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus in the United States. | |
 | Study finds nasal spray effective and safe anesthesia for dental workA fear of pain causes many people with dental phobias to avoid or delay needed treatment. In some cases, the injection of a numbing agent can be the most painful part of the visit. But with a new United States Food and Drug Administration-approved anesthetic that is administered with a brief nasal spray, that injection may not be necessary to achieve pain relief. |
 | Sensor systems identify senior citizens at risk of falling within three weeksEach year, millions of people—especially those 65 and older—fall. Such falls can be serious, leading to broken bones, head injuries, hospitalizations or even death. Now, researchers from the Sinclair School of Nursing and the College of Engineering at the University of Missouri found that sensors that measure in-home gait speed and stride length can predict likely falls. This technology can assist health providers to detect changes and intervene before a fall occurs within a three-week period. |
Breast milk sugar may protect babies against deadly infectionA type of sugar found naturally in some women's breast milk may protect new born babies from infection with a potentially life threatening bacterium called Group B streptococcus, according to a new study from Imperial College London. | |
Mechanism identified through which lead may harm neural cells, children's neurodevelopmentResearchers have identified a potential molecular mechanism through which lead, a pervasive environmental toxin, may harm neural stem cells and neurodevelopment in children. The study, from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, suggests that lead exposure can lead to oxidative stress—a process that can change cell behavior and has been linked with health problems—among certain proteins within neural stem cells. | |
 | Novel schistosomiasis vaccine: New phase of clinical studiesThe Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will start the phase II clinical trials of a vaccine for schistosomiasis, called 'Sm14 Vaccine'. The initiative is one of the health research and development projects prioritized by the World Health Organization (WHO), aiming to ensure the access of populations from developing countries to public health tools based on cutting edge technologies. The phase II clinical studies will be carried out in a partnership involving Fiocruz, public foundation attached to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, and the Brazilian biotechnology company Orygen Biotecnologia S.A.. |
Looking for ways to stay cool during heatwavesAs sunbathers enjoy this week''s hot weather, scientists at the University of Brighton are researching ways the elderly can avoid heat-related illnesses which claim 2,000 lives in the UK each year. | |
Judge refuses to suspend California's assisted death lawA California judge on Friday rejected a request by physicians to immediately suspend a new state law allowing terminally ill people to end their lives. | |
Maker recalls fresh-cut vegetables from stores in SoutheastFresh-cut vegetables are being recalled from grocery, discount and convenience stores across the Southeast because the food may be contaminated with potentially fatal Listeria bacteria. | |
Biology news
 | Lyme bacteria mark out cell division locations for their progenyAmong bacteria, the spirochetes are characterized by their spiral shape and remarkable length—as much 50 times longer than most other bacteria. This can make cell elongation and division a laborious process. One of those spirochetes, Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme Disease, has evolved an unusual way of doing this process: Borrelia cells mark the location where their daughters will divide before dividing themselves. |
 | Mapping signal paths in proteins could reveal new direction for drug developmentUsing maths previously applied to traffic jams and electrical grids, researchers have developed a new method to map signal propagation in proteins. |
 | Moth takes advantage of defensive compounds in Physalis fruitsResearchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology found that the specialist moth Heliothis subflexa benefits from secondary plant components by turning the original defensive function of these compounds into its own advantage. Withanolides, which are present in Physalis plants, usually act as immune suppressants and feeding deterrents in insects. Surprisingly, Heliothis subflexa uses these plant defenses as immune-system boosters. Moreover, withanolides protect the moth from harmful effects caused by pathogenic bacteria. The new study demonstrates a unique benefit to host-plant specialization. |
 | Shifts in the microbiome impact tissue repair and regenerationResearchers at the Stowers Institute have established a definitive link between the makeup of the microbiome, the host immune response, and an organism's ability to heal itself. |
Probing how CRISPR-Cas9 works: Study examines DNA targeting dynamics in live cellsA study in The Journal of Cell Biology by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School reveals important new details about the inner workings of the CRISPR-Cas9 machinery in live cells that may have implications for the development of therapeutics that use the powerful gene editing tool. | |
 | Climate change taking toll on American pika's Western landsPopulations of a rabbit-like animal known as the American pika are vanishing in many mountainous areas of the West as climate change alters its habitat, according to findings released Thursday by the U.S. Geological Survey. |
 | Discovery of an ape virus in an Indonesian rodent speciesThe gibbon ape leukemia virus (GALV) is a medically important tool in cancer therapies. GALV is a retrovirus pathogenic to its host species, the southeast Asian lar gibbon (Hylobates lar) and thought to have originated from a cross-species transmission and may not originally be a primate virus at all. An international research team headed by the German Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) screened a wide range of rodents from southeast Asia for GALV-like sequences. The discovery of a new GALV in the grassland melomys (Melomys burtoni) from Indonesian New Guinea supports the hypothesis that this host species, and potentially related rodent lineages in Australia and Papua New Guinea, may have played a key role in the spread of GALV-like viruses. The findings were published in the scientific journal Journal of Virology. |
 | Predicting plant-soil feedbacks from plant traitsIn nature, plants cannot grow without soil biota like fungi and bacteria. Successful plants are able to harness positive, growth-promoting soil organisms, while avoiding the negative effects of others. Which plant traits can predict these interactions, or the success of a plant? Researchers and plant breeders like to know. In a paper in the Journal of Ecology of August 24 a team from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen University and the Universität Leipzig tested exactly this and found thick roots to be a leading trait. |
Thousands of mussels wash up on shores of Long IslandThousands of dead mussels have washed up this week on the shores of Long Island. | |
 | Sunflowers move from east to west, and back, by the clockIt's summertime, and the fields of Yolo County, Calif., are filled with rows of sunflowers, dutifully facing the rising sun. |
 | From rigid to flexibleIn order for cells to function properly, cargo needs to be constantly transported from one point to another within the cell, like on a goods station. This cargo is located in or on intracellular membranes, called vesicles. These membranes have a signature, and only those with the correct signature may fuse with the membrane of another organelle into one compartment. The membrane itself must be recognized by a target membrane, which employs long tethering proteins to find its match. |
 | US government seeks ban on swimming with Hawaii dolphinsUS federal officials are seeking a ban on swimming with Hawaii's spinner dolphins, saying the encounters popular with tourists are harming the nocturnal creatures' sleeping habits. |
 | Indonesia seizes hundreds of frozen pangolinsIndonesian authorities have seized more than 650 critically endangered pangolins found hidden in freezers and arrested a man for allegedly breaking wildlife protection laws, police said on Friday. |
 | Conflict and drought threaten Mozambique's Gorongosa parkPassing through the aged faded gates into Gorongosa National Park, it's difficult to imagine you've just entered Mozambique's largest wildlife sanctuary. |
 | Obama creates world's largest marine protected areaPresident Barack Obama on Friday expanded a national monument off the coast of Hawaii, creating a safe zone for tuna, sea turtles and thousands of other species in what will be the world's largest marine protected area. |
 | Goodbye, herring? Biotech bait gives lobstermen alternativeLobster and crab fishermen have baited traps with dead herring for generations, but an effort to find a synthetic substitute for forage fish is nearing fruition just as the little fish are in short supply, threatening livelihoods in a lucrative industry. |
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