mass in Biological News

Surviving mass extinction by leading a double life

Drifting across the world's oceans are a group of unicellular marine microorganisms that are not only a crucial source of food for other marine life but their fossils, which are found in abundance, provide scientists with an extraordinary record of climatic change and other major events in the hi...

Wiping out the world's mass migrations

Densely packed wildebeests flowing over the Serengeti, bison teeming across the Northern Plainsthese iconic images extend from Hollywood epics to the popular imagination. But the fact is, all of the world's large-scale terrestrial migrations have been severely reduced and a quarter of the migratin...

Scientists develop a new HIV microbicide -- and a way to mass produce it in plants

In what could be a major pharmaceutical breakthrough, research published online in The FASEB Journal ( http://www.fasebj.org ) describes how scientists from St George's, University of London have devised a one-two punch to stop HIV. First the report describes a new protein that can kill the viru...

Team IDs genesis of mass migrations

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--For the first time, MIT engineers and colleagues have observed the initiation of a mass gathering and subsequent migration of hundreds of millions of animals in this case, fish. The work, conducted using a novel imaging technique, "provides information essential to the conser...

Current mass extinction spurs major study of which plants to save

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) The Earth is in the midst of the sixth mass extinction of both plants and animals, with nearly 50 percent of all species disappearing, scientists say. Because of the current crisis, biologists at UC Santa Barbara are working day and night to determine which species mus...

Oceans on the precipice: Scripps scientist warns of mass extinctions and 'rise of slime'

Human activities are cumulatively driving the health of the world's oceans down a rapid spiral, and only prompt and wholesale changes will slow or perhaps ultimately reverse the catastrophic problems they are facing. Such is the prognosis of Jeremy Jackson, a professor of oceanography at Scripp...

Instances of mass die-offs in wild lions precipitated by extreme climate change

An international research team has published the first clear example of how climate extremes can create conditions in which diseases that are normally tolerated singly may converge and bring about mass die-offs in wildlife. In a report issued June 25 by PLoS ONE, an online peer-reviewed rese...

The mystery of mass extinctions is no longer murky

If you are curious about Earth's periodic mass extinction events such as the sudden demise of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, you might consider crashing asteroids and sky-darkening super volcanoes as culprits. But a new study, published June 15, 2008, in the journal Nature , suggests that...

Recovering from a mass extinction

The full recovery of ecological systems, following the most devastating extinction event of all time, took at least 30 million years, according to new research from the University of Bristol. About 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian, a major extinction event killed over 90 per cen...

U. Mass Medical School and Carnegie announce licensing agreements with Oxford BioMedica

The University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Carnegie Institution of Washington announced today that they have entered into licensing agreements with Oxford BioMedica (LSE: OXB), a gene therapy company, that grants the company rights to key RNA interference (RNAi) patent rights. Th...

Fossil record supports evidence of impending mass extinction

Global temperatures predicted for the coming centuries may trigger a new mass extinction event, where over 50 per cent of animal and plant species would be wiped out, warn scientists at the Universities of York and Leeds. The research team has, for the first time, discovered a close associatio...

Carnegie Mellon scientist uses mass spectrometer to weigh virus particle, von Willebrand factor

BOSTONWith unprecedented sensitivity, Carnegie Mellon Universitys Mark Bier has characterized large viral particles and bulky von Willebrand factors using a novel mass spectrometer. These exciting results may lead to new biological discoveries and represent a step closer to rapid disease diagnosis...

Brain background to body mass

A genetic study of more than 90,000 people has identified six new genetic variants that are associated with increased Body Mass Index (BMI), the most commonly used measure of obesity. Five of the genes are known to be active in the brain, suggesting that many genetic variants implicated in obesity...

Older people who diet without exercising lose valuable muscle mass

BETHESDA, Md. (Sept. 17, 2008) - A group of sedentary and overweight older people placed on a four-month exercise program not only became more fit, but burned off more fat, compared to older sedentary people who were placed on a diet but did not exercise. The new study also showed that when old...

NIH researchers discover protein that appears to regulate bone mass loss, the cause of osteoporosis

An estimated ten million Americans suffer from osteoporosis, and another 34 million Americans are at risk of developing the disease, which is characterized by a severe loss of bone mineral density, fragile bones and an increased risk of hip, spine and wrist fractures. The basic mechanism behind ost...

High-throughput oncogene mutation detection in human cancers by mass spectrometry-based genotyping

Researchers have devised a new method to detect a spectrum of known gene mutations in a variety of cancer genes that they say is both sensitive and cost-effective. They say that if validated, this method of genotyping might ultimately be used in "real time" to match patients to available targeted t...

Study reveals mass migration of mormon crickets driven by hunger, fear

An international team of researchers, including Kent State University professor Dr. Patrick D. Lorch, have revealed the motivating factors behind the seasonal mass migration of Mormon crickets in western North America. The scientists report hunger for protein and salt, and a fear of cannibalism...

Researchers use mass spectrometry to detect norovirus particles

Scientists have used mass spectrometry for decades to determine the chemical composition of samples but rarely has it been used to identify viruses, and never in complex environmental samples. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health recently demonstrated that proteomic...

New influenza vaccine takes weeks to mass produce

Using cell-based methods researchers have developed a commercially viable method for mass producing effective vaccines against potential pandemic influenza strains in weeks instead of the months required for traditional egg-based vaccines. They report their results today at the 2006 ASM Biodefense ...

Super predators and mass extinctions

Mass extinctions seem to occur on Earth roughly every 26 million years, leading some scientists to propose that they may be caused by rare collisions with comets or asteroids. A researcher in Poland thinks it may be possible that extraordinary predators are at fault instead. Adam Lipowski (Adam M...

AGU journal highlights -- Aug. 6, 2009

...lived chemicals get to the stratosphere How ocean mass flows around Antarctica A 3-D model of ocean dyna...doi.org/10.1029/2009JD011785 10. How ocean mass flows around Antarctica Understanding the dynam...ocean circulation and the climate system. To study mass flows in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica and ho...

Sustainable agriculture at the ESA Annual Meeting

...In each test, the researchers found perennial fields to be healthier and more sustainable ecosystems. In the perennial fields, the plants' total root mass was more than seven times that of the annuals, and the roots infiltrated about a foot deeper into the ground. The perennial fields also had higher soi...

Restoring a natural root signal helps to fight a major corn pest

...ed on root hairs and bore themselves into the maize roots. The results are devastating: The plants take up less water and nutrients, and with the root mass severely reduced the plants lodge and collapse. In areas in Germany where the corn rootworm is a potential threat, the Federal Office of Consumer Prot...

Fossil plants bring Wilf distinguished speaker honor

...entina and the western interior U.S. This time interval shaped the modern world and included the latest Cretaceous climate changes, the end-Cretaceous mass extinction and recovery, and global warming across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. He also looks at modern insect herbivory, leaf shape-to-climate rela...

August 2009 Geology and GSA Today media highlights

...gy Company, 6001 Bollinger Canyon Rd, San Ramon, California 94583, USA. Pages 719-722. The most extreme biological crisis on Earth, the end-Permian mass extinction, is recorded in terrestrial vertebrate fossil assemblages and paleosol horizons of the spectacularly preserved Karoo Basin, South Africa. B...

Reducing risk of hospitalization in the elderly

... of a person's risk of hospitalization than muscle mass or size. The relative risk for hospitizations was...r for those with poor walking or less dense muscle mass "Our research suggests that we need to re-think...initions of sarcopenia today tend to focus on lean mass or muscle size, our study shows that is looking at...

Research shows rates of severe childhood obesity have tripled

...ximately 71 million U.S. children ages 2 to 19 years. Severe childhood obesity is a new classification for children and describes those with a body mass index (BMI) that is equal to or greater than the 99th percentile for age and gender. For example, a 10-year-old child with a BMI of 24 would be consid...

Bioterrorism and disaster preparedness explored in special issue of Medical Decision Making

...covert aerosol anthrax releases in a major city, even with highly effective mass prophylaxis campaigns. The article, written by Nathaniel Hupert, incorpo...ting of the disaster response. "Evaluating the Capability and Cost of a mass Influenza and Pneumococcal Vaccination Clinic via Computer Simulation" ...

DOE-funded research projects win 46 R&D 100 Awards for 2009

... the U.S. flammability tests. The PCM adds thermal mass to buildings, thus generating heating and cooling ...dependent Kinetic-Energy-Reducing Inlet System for mass Spectrometers - permits high-resolution mass analysis of large, intact biological molecules wit...

UTMB study identifies women at risk of gaining excessive weight with injectable birth control

...nts who gain significant weight within the first six months of use. Researchers found that early gainers exhibited three major risk factors: A body mass index under 30, having children before starting DMPA and a self-reported increase in appetite after six months of DMPA use. The study, which appear...

Spring cold snap helps with stream ecosystem research

... sun angle is relatively high." For this particular study, an Arctic air mass sent temperatures to below 28 degrees Fahrenheit for several nights in succ...ntain productivity. "The stream ecosystem cannot depend on an Arctic air mass moving in every year, killing the leaves and exposing the stream to sunligh...

Scripps-led study shows ocean health plays vital role in coral reef recovery

...efore and after a major bleaching event in 1998. "It is clear that Mesoamerican corals really fell off a cliff in 1998 -- nearly everybody suffered mass bleaching," said Dick Norris, Scripps professor of paleooceanography and co-author of the study. "There are no pristine reefs in the region, but the ...

Life on Earth came from other planets

...Earth and whose ancestry can be traced back to the solar system of the parent star. Because the parent star lost 40 percent to 80 percent of its mass after it became a red giant (blown away by its solar winds) its gravitational influences were reduced. Therefore, its planets would have increased orb...

When children have breathing problems

...rked contrast. Key culprits also appear to have been filtered out of the mass of pollutants. "Using novel statistical techniques, we identified the finge...nd to what extent children's health improves as a result. Whether the total mass of particulates or the number of particles per cubic centimetre is more imp...

Scientists report first remote, underwater detection of harmful algae, toxins

...ants that ingested sardines and anchovies, which had accumulated the domoic acid by feeding on a bloom of the toxic algae. In the spring of 1998, a mass mortality of sea lions in and around the Monterey Bay area was attributed to the sea lions' feeding on domoic acid contaminated anchovies. Since that ...

Study explains potential failure of oral contraceptives with obese women

...e generally do not include people with a high body mass index," Cherala said. "But body weight and amounts... of whom were of normal weight and 10 with a "body mass index" of more than 30 a common measure of obesit...en women just considered "overweight," with a body mass index of 25-30, may also be at increased risk of c...

'Science Under Siege'

...and reason and been the leading voice for reliable scientific examination of the paranormal and other questionable claims popularized by the media and mass culture. In this new collection of outstanding recent articles, SCIENCE UNDER SCIEGE: DEFENDING SCIENCE, EXPOSING PSEUDOSCIENCE (Prometheus Books, $21...

Probiotics help gastric-bypass patients lose weight more quickly, Stanford study shows

... Americans are morbidly obese, and bypass surgery is becoming an increasingly common treatment for the problem. Some 150,000 Americans who have a body mass index of more than 40 who are typically at least 100 pounds overweight have the procedure each year. Morton said the study was prompted by the fa...

New technique can fast-track better ionic liquids for biomass pre-treatments

...ss for a more efficient conversion into fuels. However, the best ionic liquids in terms of effectiveness are also prohibitively expensive for use on a mass scale. Furthermore, scientists know little beyond the fact that ionic liquids do work. Understanding how ionic liquids are able to dissolve lignocellu...

Forsyth scientists suggest linkages between obesity and oral bacterial infection

... Summary of Study In order to measure the salivary bacterial populations of overweight women, samples were collected from 313 women with a body mass index between 27 and 32 (classifying them as overweight). Using DNA analysis, the researchers measured the bacterial populations of this group and com...