minerals

UCSB scientists probe sea floor venting to gain understanding of early life on Earth

... of life on Earth may be found in the microbes and minerals vented from below the ocean floor, say scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The UCSB scientists are making new contributions to this field of inquiry in their studies of seafloor hydrothermal fluid discharge into the Earth's oc...

Yellowstone microbes fueled by hydrogen, according to U. of Colorado study

...ings' colors are the result ofinteractions between minerals and the microbes living in the pools.Hotter water usually shows colors from minerals, and cooler water playshost to photosynthetic pigments."Based on what I've seen in this analysis, I think hydrogen probablydrives a lot of life in a lot of environme...

Antibiotic Resistant Bacterium Uses Sonar-like Strategy to “See?Enemies or Prey

...sed to see otherthings in the environment, such as minerals or possibly otherdisease-causing bacteria,?says Gilmore....

New Clues Add 40,000 Years to Age of Human Species

...t, precisely dating the outcrops required volcanic minerals with elements that undergo radioactive decay. Brown and McDougall collected rocks containing volcanic debris, which McDougall dated to approximately 195,000 years old. Forty years ago, radiometric dating methods were less accurate and suggested an ...

NC State scientist finds soft tissue in T. rex bones

...ecules) and minerals. In modern bone, removing the minerals leaves supple, soft organic materials that are muc...o organics are present. Attempting to dissolve the minerals from a piece of fossilized bone, so the theory goes, would merely dissolve the entire fossil. But t...

Taking the piste out of Alpine vegetation

...made from river and lake water which contains more minerals and other chemical compounds than natural snow. The findings are particularly important as ski resorts begin to feel the heat of climate change, developing higher altitude runs and using more artificial snow to keep skiers happy. As this happens, Wi...

Hydrogen and methane provide raw energy for life at 'Lost City'

...oke when it hits the icy cold seawater. Carbonate minerals from fluids at Lost City drape nearby cliffs in brilliant white and form vents ranging in shape from tiny toadstools to the 18-story column, named Poseidon, which dwarfs most known black smoker vents by at least 100 feet. Some places resemble the sor...

Proteomics brings researchers closer to understanding microbes that produce acid mine drainage

... how the organisms live together and interact with minerals to produce the hot, heavy-metal rich and highly acidic water that drains from the mine and contaminates surrounding streams. The film, which can form a tough sheet that is millimeters thick, sits atop green, 108 degree Fahrenheit runoff containing zi...

Genetic links could unlock clues to leading cause of blindness

...stitute has shown that taking certain vitamins and minerals can reduce the risk of developing the disease by 25 percent over five years. "With the increasing number of people living beyond the age of 85, it heightens the importance of this disease and the concern about (what will happen) if we don't come up ...

Logging changed ecological balance for monkeys, damaged health

...ey report, are getting much less protein and vital minerals than their counterparts in undisturbed forests. Recovery of the forest also has been hampered by the growth of acanthus, an invasive shrub that has overwhelmed much of the forest floor where trees were removed, Gilllespie said. Because elephants lov...

Affymetrix and ParAllele Launch Industry's Most Comprehensive Product Line for Targeted Genotyping

...ey report, are getting much less protein and vital minerals than their counterparts in undisturbed forests. Recovery of the forest also has been hampered by the growth of acanthus, an invasive shrub that has overwhelmed much of the forest floor where trees were removed, Gilllespie said. Because elephants lov...

President Bush's cut to AIDS prevention in Africa would be devastating

...ey report, are getting much less protein and vital minerals than their counterparts in undisturbed forests. Recovery of the forest also has been hampered by the growth of acanthus, an invasive shrub that has overwhelmed much of the forest floor where trees were removed, Gilllespie said. Because elephants lov...

Crisis in African fish supplies looms, experts warn Africa leaders

...ish contain combinations of proteins, vitamins and minerals that help fortify people with HIV and AIDS against secondary infections while increasing the effectiveness of retroviral drugs. "Small fish ponds are a valuable addition to farms without substantially adding to the labour burden," says Daniel Jamu, ...

Leptin-signaling Protein Maintains Normal Body Weight And Energy Balance In Mice

...ish contain combinations of proteins, vitamins and minerals that help fortify people with HIV and AIDS against secondary infections while increasing the effectiveness of retroviral drugs. "Small fish ponds are a valuable addition to farms without substantially adding to the labour burden," says Daniel Jamu, ...

India's smoking gun: Dino-killing eruptions

...ion about the Earth's magnetic field with magnetic minerals that align with Earth's field like millions of tiny compasses before the lava cools. When the lava solidifies, the compasses are locked in place. Lava layers that erupted within two or three centuries of each other will record similar magnetic field...

Plant genes identified that can form basis for crops better adapted to environmental conditions

... the root system and determines how much water and minerals a plant can absorb. As early as 1937, scientists k...ble the cultivation of crops that absorb water and minerals more efficiently. An important step toward a more environment-friendly, sustainable agriculture in a...

Geoscientists follow arsenic from chicken feed to streambeds

...t show a strong adsorption of inorganic arsenic to minerals in the soils and aquifer sediments, a surprising finding from water samples from streams receiving runoff is that low concentrations of arsenic are transported to streambeds instead of being retained by the aquifers, Schreiber said. "We think that th...

New class of antibiotics effective against drug-resistant bacteria discovered in fungi

...t show a strong adsorption of inorganic arsenic to minerals in the soils and aquifer sediments, a surprising finding from water samples from streams receiving runoff is that low concentrations of arsenic are transported to streambeds instead of being retained by the aquifers, Schreiber said. "We think that th...

There's something fishy about human brain evolution

...es provided essential brain boosting nutrients and minerals that launched Homo sapiens brains past their primate peers, says Dr. Cunnane, the Canada Research Chair in Brain Metabolism and Aging. Brain development and function requires ample supplies of a particular polyunsaturated fatty acid: docosahexaenoic...

Relic of life in that Martian meteorite? A fresh look

...r organic compounds and tiny globules of carbonate minerals imbedded in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills 8400...onate globules from the meteorite seem to resemble minerals that arise from microbial activity on Earth. The team focused on whether macromolecular carbon (MMC)...

Bioactive cement scaffold may improve bone grafts

...wn cells and is formed with a cement paste made of minerals also found in natural bone. The paste is mixed with beads of a natural polymer (made from seaweed) filled with bone cells. The paste is shaped or injected into a bone cavity and then allowed to harden with the encapsulated cells dispersed throughout ...

Leave it to salmon to leave no stone unturned

... in this month's BioScience journal that the silt, minerals and nutrients that are unleashed have ecosystemwide effects, causing changes in rivers and lakes far from the nests. From decreasing the amount of algae there is to eat to possibly influencing when aquatic insects emerge, spawning salmon can be extr...

UCLA scientists strengthen case for life more than 3.8 billion years ago

...nce for life has been challenged, as have been the minerals to determine whether life was present, whether the...istorted, heated and compressed so much that their minerals are very different from what they were originally," Harrison said. Why Akilia Island in Greenland?...

Methane-belching bugs inspire a new theory of the origin of life on Earth

... two researchers realized that, in the presence of minerals containing iron sulfides, acetate could have been catalytically converted to a sulfur-containing derivative called an acetate thioester. Attached to the mineral surface, a "protocell" containing primitive forms of these two enzymes could then have ge...

Corals switch skeleton material as seawater changes

...ge their skeletons, building them out of different minerals depending on the chemical composition of the seawater around them. That's the startling conclusion drawn by a Johns Hopkins University marine geologist, writing in the July issue of the journal Geology. Postdoctoral fellow Justin Ries and his coll...

Dust to gust

...ce of the Amazon rainforest depends on a supply of minerals washed off by rain from the soil in the Sahara and...on the quantity of dust needed to supply the vital minerals for the continued existence of the Amazon rainforest. The researchers suggest that the Bodélé val...

Bacteria that use radiated water as food

...nergy, however. Radiation emanating from uranium minerals in or near the fracture allows for the formation of hydrogen gas from decomposition of water and formation of sulfate from decomposition of sulfur minerals. Hydrogen gas is highly energetic if it reacts with oxygen or other oxidants like sulfate, as ...

Selecting life: Scientists find new way to search for origin of life

...to research that has identified processes by which minerals may have prompted the transition from a geochemica...the molecules of life." Like amino acids, some minerals have pairs of crystal surfaces that have a mirror relationship to each other, called left and right ...

ASU researchers test antibacterial effects of healing clays

...ime (probably older, since meteorites contain clay minerals from other celestial bodies) or as young as I can make them in my lab in a few hours. They form when the chemistry, temperature and pressure conditions are right. In the case of the two French clays we are testing, their chemical structures are almos...

Scientists identify a candidate gene for osteoporosis

...rocess called bone resorption, releasing important minerals such as calcium, phosphate, and magnesium into the bloodstream. This causes a reduction in BMD. To confirm the involvement of DARC in regulating BMD, Mohan's team characterized the skeletal phenotype of mice with and without the DARC gene. Th...

Organic is healthier: Kiwis prove that green is good

... levels of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and important minerals compared with their conventionally grown counterparts (Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture DOI 10.1002/jsfa.2820). Their work differed to previously inconclusive studies, as they were able to compare like-for-like with kiwis grown next to ...

Vitamins: Science doesn't always match policy

...advancing the scientific knowledge of vitamins and minerals in an article published in a January supplement of...ins should be composed of clusters of vitamins and minerals that are presently supported by research to benefit public health. "We really need to encourage good...

In nature, proteins sweep up nanoparticles

...se, we see an intimate association of proteins and minerals that takes place as far as hundreds of microns awa... ago. The presence of fine particulate sulfides in minerals is one such biosignature, although it is only suggestive of life. Now, the presence of sulfide nano...