Author Archives: Science News Releases

Hundreds of millions of years ago the oceans teamed with eel-like conodonts that had incredibly sharp teeth, fossils show

The tiny teeth of a long-extinct vertebrate – with tips only two micrometres across: one twentieth the width of a human hair – are the sharpest dental structures ever measured, new research from the University of Bristol and Monash University, … Continue reading →

Silver nanoparticles in our environment may damage testicles and decrease male fertility

Silver nanoparticles cause more damage to testicular cells than titanium dioxide nanoparticles, according to a recent study by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. However, the use of both types may affect testicular cells with possible consequences for fertility.

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‘New’ E. coli generates high-cetane biodiesel – future trucks on sugar?

A class of chemical compounds best known today for fragrance and flavor may one day provide the clean, green and renewable fuel with which truck and auto drivers fill their tanks. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have engineered Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria to generate significant quantities of methyl ketone compounds from glucose. In subsequent tests, these methyl ketones yielded high cetane numbers – a diesel fuel rating comparable to the octane number for gasoline – making them strong candidates for the production of advanced biofuels.

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Bee honey naturally rich in lactic acid bacteria, perhaps our first probiotic food – CCD implications?

The stomachs of wild honey bees are full of healthy lactic acid bacteria that can fight bacterial infections in both bees and humans.

A collaboration between researchers at three universities in Sweden – Lund University, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Karolinska Institutet – has produced findings that could be a step towards solving the problems of both bee deaths and antibiotic resistance.

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Nitrogen fertilisation by invasive species damages nutrient-poor ecosystems

Nitrogen fertilisation invasive species ecosystems

Nitrogen fertilisation invasive species damages nutrient-poor ecosystems. Picture shows the proliferating Australian Sydney golden wattle. Credit: Bielefeld University

Biologists at Bielefeld University have developed a new method for quantifying the effect of non-native species on ecosystem functioning.

They can now estimate whether native plants in the neighbourhood of invasive species incorporate the nitrogen fixed by the latter.

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Red meat consumption shortens lifespan, Harvard study concludes

A new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers has found that red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of total, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality. The results also showed that substituting other healthy protein sources, such as fish, poultry, nuts, and legumes, was associated with a lower risk of mortality.

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When economy goes bad, people no longer want to ´believe´ in climate change, turn skeptic

In recent years, the American public has grown increasingly skeptical of the existence of man-made climate change. Although pundits and scholars have suggested several reasons for this trend, a new study shows that the recent Great Recession has been a major factor.

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Meteorites Reveal Another Way to Make Life’s Components

Meteorite

A meteorite analyzed in the study at its collection site in Antarctica. Credit:Antarctic Search for Meteorites program, Case Western Reserve University

Creating some of life’s building blocks in space may be a bit like making a sandwich – you can make them cold or hot, according to new NASA research. This evidence that there is more than one way to make crucial components of life increases the likelihood that life emerged elsewhere in the Universe, according to the research team, and gives support to the theory that a “kit” of ready-made parts created in space and delivered to Earth by impacts from meteorites and comets assisted the origin of life.

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Mid-Atlantic suburbs can expect an early spring thanks to the heat of the big city

Urban heat island effect

Urban heat island around Washington and Baltimore would lead to longer growing season, warmer autumn and spring

If you’ve been thinking our world is more green than frozen these days, you’re right. A recent study has found that spring is indeed arriving earlier – and autumn later – in the suburbs of Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The reason? The urban landscape traps heat in the summer and holds it throughout the winter, triggering leaves to turn green earlier in the spring and to stay green later into autumn. The result is a new, extended growing season.

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