Global Warming Causes Outbreak Of Rare Algae Associated With Corals, Study Finds

Posted on September 12, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

This image was taken in October 2005 during the 2005 coral-bleaching event in the Caribbean. The white corals have lost their symbiotic algae and appear "bleached." (Credit: Todd LaJeunesse, Penn State)

A rare opportunity has allowed a team of biologists to evaluate corals and the essential, photosynthetic algae that live inside their cells before, during, and after a period in 2005 when global warming caused sea-surface temperatures in the Caribbean Ocean to rise.

The team, led by Penn State Assistant Professor of Biology Todd LaJeunesse, found that a rare species of algae that is tolerant of stressful environmental conditions proliferated in corals as the more-sensitive algae were being expelled from corals. The results will be published in the online version of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B on 9 September 2009.

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Posted in BIODIVERSITY, climate change, Global Warming | 1 Comment

Refurbished Hubble Space Telescope Transmits Spectacular Images

Posted on September 10, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

Hubble's view of 100,000 stars in the crowded core of the massive globular cluster Omega Centauri, which encompasses nearly 10 million stars. (Photo courtesy NASA)

Scientists  released images that slice across billions of light-years to probe the cosmic-web structure of the universe and map the distribution of elements that are fundamental to life. The images look back to times when the universe was millions of light-years younger than it is today.

Named after American astronomer Edwin Hubble, the space telescope was carried into orbit by the space shuttle in April 1990. The Hubble is the only telescope ever designed to be serviced in space by astronauts, but after the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident, the fifth servicing mission was canceled on safety grounds. After much public discussion, NASA reconsidered, and administrator Mike Griffin approved one final Hubble servicing mission.

During the mission launched in May 2009, astronauts installed two new instruments and made numerous repairs. The latest servicing should allow the telescope to function until at least 2014, when its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is due to be sent aloft.

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Posted in Solar System | 1 Comment

Plant Waste Used to Recover Waste Uranium

Posted on September 9, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

Waste uranium at the the Coeur d’Alene Basin Mine in Idaho

Researchers at the UK’s Birmingham University have recovered uranium from the radioactive waters of uranium mines using bacteria and inositol phosphate, a chemical parallel of a cheap waste material from plants. The same technology can also be used to clean up nuclear waste, they said.Professor Lynne Macaskie Sunday presented the group’s work to the Society for General Microbiology’s meeting at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.Bacteria, in this case, E. coli, break down a source of inositol phosphate, also called phytic acid, a phosphate storage material in seeds, to free the phosphate molecules.

The phosphate then binds to the uranium, forming a uranium phosphate precipitate on the bacterial cells that can be harvested to recover the uranium.

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Posted in Environment, Minerals | Leave a comment

Humans Causing Erosion Comparable To World’s Largest Rivers And Glaciers, Study Finds

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

A new study finds that large-scale farming projects can erode the Earth’s surface at rates comparable to those of the world’s largest rivers and glaciers.Published online in the journal Nature Geoscience, the research offers stark evidence of how humans are reshaping the planet. It also finds that – contrary to previous scholarship – rivers are as powerful as glaciers at eroding landscapes.

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Posted in Landforms, opinions | 2 Comments