Tag: "melt" at biology news

Dirty snow may warm Arctic as much as greenhouse gases

...the snow is gone, the soot that caused the snow to melt continues to have an effect because the ground surface is darker and retains more heat,” Zender said. Dirty snow is prevalent in East Asia, Northern Europe and Northeastern United States. Zender believes policymakers could use these research re...

Antarctic warming to reduce animals at base of ecosystem, shift some penguin populations southward

...n the valleys. We have seen lake levels rise, more melt from the surrounding glaciers and more aquatic ecosystems replacing soil-based ecosystems." Lyons sees what is happening now looking similar to what existed during the Eemian warming period ?a time 130,000 years ago before the last major glacial ...

Common mechanisms for viral DNA replication

...in of replication. SV40 T-ag can also cause DNA to melt or unwind. In a new study published online in the open access journal PLoS Biology, Gretchen Meinke, Andrew Bohm, and colleagues report the crystal structure of the DNA-binding domain of SV40 T-ag on a DNA fragment derived from the viral origin of re...

Satellites shed light on global warming

... influence on climate. Because any increase in the melt rate of ice sheets and glaciers has the potential ... by climate warming, which caused prolonged summer melt seasons and the formation of extended melt water streams and ponds on the ice shelf surfaces," Rott ...

NASA snow data helps maintain nation's largest, oldest bison herd

... in the park. Knowing when and where the snow will melt is key to whether the bison will stay within park boundaries. To better inform the management team, park officials use a model of snowpack dynamics developed by Watson and his staff to provide the most up-to-date projections on snowpack distribution ...

Chewing up a key regulator of fat synthesis keeps mice lean despite a high-fat diet

...icially "on" during both fasting and feeding might melt away fat depots. And that's exactly what happened. Mice genetically engineered to express permanently elevated levels of TRB3 protein in fat tissue were 10-20 percent skinnier than normal mice. "Even when we put them on a high-fat diet, these mice j...

Scientist measures role of science's coolest player: The snow

...e work comes amidst mounting reports on the steady melt of Arctic ice. "I wanted to quantify the influence of global snow cover on the present-day climate because that has relevance for the type of climate changes we are expecting in the future." Vavrus will discuss his findings today during the fall mee...

Fresh water affected by salt from deicing roads

...er, not just in the winter when salt is applied to melt snow, suggesting that salt is accumulating in the environment." If current trends continue over the next century, many surface waters could become unfit for human consumption and toxic to some aquatic life throughout the region. Reversing the pro...

Freeze-dried mats of microbes awaken in Antarctic streambed

...re below freezing for most of the year and glacial melt water flows for only five to 12 weeks annually, said Professor Diane McKnight of CU-Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. Such research on life in extreme environments is of high interest to astrobiologists, who consider Antarctica's McM...

World-first technology enables study of ancient bacteria

...However, we know little about gas hydrates as they melt during recovery due to the fall in pressure. Professor R. John Parkes, of the School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences at Cardiff University, is leading part of a major European Union project, called HYACINTH which is developing systems to reco...

One gene links newborn neurons with those that die in diseases such as Alzheimer's

...icrodissection technique uses a low-power laser to melt a small circle of film into the tissue. When the film is lifted, the cell body - including its RNA - comes with it, as if removed by a hole punch. After collecting, purifying, and amplifying the RNA from 3,500 cells for each bird, the researchers us...

Antarctic ice shelf retreats happened before

...m current, Circumpolar Deep Water, is causing high melt rates on the underside of an ice shelf in Pine Island Bay*. The gradual removal of this ice shelf may be causing the glaciers inland to flow faster, which could lead to enhanced drainage of part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and a consequent rise ...

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