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| December 19, 2013 |
 Tropical forests mitigate extreme weather events Panama City, Panama (SPX) Dec 19, 2013 - Tropical forests reduce peak runoff during storms and release stored water during droughts, according to researchers working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Their results lend credence to a controversial phenomenon known as the sponge effect, which is at the center of a debate about how to minimize flood damage and maximize water availability in the tropics. Durin ... more |  |
 New hope for stem cells, regenerative medicine emerges from the lab London, UK (SPX) Dec 19, 2013 - The Journal of Visualized Experiments, has published a novel technique that could resolve a snag in stem cell research for application in regenerative medicine-a strategy for reprograming cells in vivo to act like stem cells that forgoes the risk of causing tumors. Dr. Kostas Kostarelos, principal investigator of the Nanomedicine Lab at the University of Manchester, said that he and his co ... more |  |
 Cells from the eye are inkjet printed for the first time London, UK (SPX) Dec 19, 2013 - A group of researchers from the UK have used inkjet printing technology to successfully print cells taken from the eye for the very first time. The breakthrough, which has been detailed in a paper published today, 18 December, in IOP Publishing's journal Biofabrication, could lead to the production of artificial tissue grafts made from the variety of cells found in the human retina and may ... more |  |
Significant advance reported with genetically modified poplar trees Corvallis OR (SPX) Dec 19, 2013 - Forest geneticists at Oregon State University have created genetically modified poplar trees that grow faster, have resistance to insect pests and are able to retain expression of the inserted genes for at least 14 years, a report in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research just announced. The trees are one of the best successes to date in the genetic modification of forest trees, a field t ... more |  |
Scientists find a groovy way to influence specialization of stem cells London, UK (SPX) Dec 19, 2013 - Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have shown for the first time that the specialised role stem cells go on to perform is controlled by primary cilia -tiny hair-like structures protruding from a cell. Stem cells are capable of becoming any cell type within the body through the process of differentiation. The discovery has the potential for application in the development o ... more |  |
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The economically valuable sweet-gum trees: Taxonomy and 9 new combinations London, UK (SPX) Dec 19, 2013 - The sweet-gum family Altingiaceae is a small group of wind-pollinated trees that produce hard, woody fruits that contain numerous seeds. This widespread tree family has been puzzling botanists for a while, due to its complicated taxonomic structure, and the morphological similarities between the different genera which makes their separation and description a challenge. Best known for their ... more |  |
Low-cost countries are not the best conservation investment Canterbury UK (SPX) Dec 19, 2013 - Wildlife conservation projects in countries where management costs are low are less likely to succeed and could also have a negative impact on people, according to new research by the University of Kent and the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC). Published in PLOS ONE and titled "Cheap and Nasty? The Potential Perils of Using Management Costs to Identify Global Conservation Priorit ... more |  |
Four degree rise will end vegetation 'carbon sink' Cambridge CA (SPX) Dec 19, 2013 - Latest climate and biosphere modelling suggests that the length of time carbon remains in vegetation during the global carbon cycle - known as 'residence time' - is the key "uncertainty" in predicting how Earth's terrestrial plant life - and consequently almost all life - will respond to higher CO2 levels and global warming, say researchers. Carbon will spend increasingly less time in vege ... more |  |
 Assessing the impact of climate change on a global scale Nottingham UK (SPX) Dec 19, 2013 - Thirty research teams in 12 different countries have systematically compared state-of-the-art computer simulations of climate change impact to assess how climate change might influence global drought, water scarcity and river flooding in the future. What they found was: + The frequency of drought may increase by more than 20 per cent in some regions. + Without a reduction in global g ... more |  |
 Drought and climate change: An uncertain future? London, UK (SPX) Dec 19, 2013 - Drought frequency may increase by more than 20% in some regions of the globe by the end of the 21st century, but it is difficult to be more precise as we don't know yet how changes in climate will impact on the world's rivers. The results come from a study, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which examined computer simulations from an ensemble of sta ... more |  |
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Recognizing the elephant in the room: Future climate impacts across sectors Potsdam, Germany (SPX) Dec 19, 2013 - A pioneering collaboration within the international scientific community has provided comprehensive projections of climate change effects, ranging from water scarcity to risks to crop yields. This interdisciplinary effort, employing extensive model inter-comparisons, allows research gaps to be identified, whilst producing the most robust possible findings. The results provide crucial insig ... more |  |
 Climate change will endanger caribou habitat Calgary, Canada (SPX) Dec 19, 2013 - Reindeer, from Northern Europe or Asia, are often thought of as a domesticated animal, one that may pull Santa's sled. Caribou, similar in appearance but living in the wilderness of North America, are thought of as conducting an untamed and adventurous life. However, new research published in the journal Nature Climate Change suggests that there are more similarities about these two animal ... more |  |
 Sea Shepherd departs on high-seas Japan whale campaign Sydney (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - Sea Shepherd campaigners left for their tenth annual campaign to prevent Japan's slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean on Wednesday, with three vessels departing Australia for Antarctic waters. The Bob Barker, which was once a Norwegian whaling ship, steamed out of Hobart on the mission which aims to harass the Japanese fleet as they harpoon the giant animals and prevent them from taking ... more |  |
 Russia approves amnesty covering Pussy Riot, Greenpeace Moscow (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - Russian lawmakers on Wednesday approved a Kremlin-backed amnesty bill that is set to free the two jailed members of the punk band Pussy Riot while also ending the prosecution of 30 Greenpeace crew members. Russia's Duma lower house of parliament voted 446 in favour to none against for the amnesty, which commemorates 20 years since Russia ratified its current constitution. The bill, bran ... more |  |
 Stunned Kerry says US won't abandon typhoon-hit Philippines Tacloban, Philippines (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - A stunned Secretary of State John Kerry toured a typhoon-devastated Philippine city on Wednesday, pledging more US aid as its Asian ally appealed for international help to fund an $8.17 billion rebuilding plan. "This is a devastation unlike anything that I have ever seen at this scale," Kerry said while visiting a temporary US aid supply depot for survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan in the cen ... more |  |
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Philippines launches $8.17 bn Haiyan rebuilding plan Manila (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - The Philippines launched an $8.17 billion plan on Wednesday to rebuild the lives of millions made homeless by Super Typhoon Haiyan and strengthen the disaster-prone nation's defences against future tempests. A day after the nation ended its 40-day mourning period for thousands of typhoon dead, President Benigno Aquino appealed for more foreign aid and private-sector pledges to revive hundred ... more |  |
 China confirms human death from new bird flu type Shanghai (AFP) Dec 18, 2013 - A 73-year-old Chinese woman has died of a type of bird flu new in humans, health officials say, but experts believe the risk of it spreading between people is low. The woman died of the H10N8 strain in the southeastern city of Nanchang on December 6, the Jiangxi provincial health department said in a statement on its website. Biologists say the strain has never been detected in humans be ... more |  |
'Superbugs' found breeding in sewage plants Houston TX (SPX) Dec 17, 2013 - Tests at two wastewater treatment plants in northern China revealed antibiotic-resistant bacteria were not only escaping purification but also breeding and spreading their dangerous cargo. Joint research by scientists from Rice, Nankai and Tianjin universities found "superbugs" carrying New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM-1), a multidrug-resistant gene first identified in India in 2010, in was ... more |  |
Saving the Great Plains water supply East Lansing MI (SPX) Dec 17, 2013 - Significant portions of the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest bodies of water in the United States, are at risk of drying up if it continues to be drained at its current rate. In the current issue of Earth's Future, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, Michigan State University scientists are proposing alternatives that will halt and hopefully reverse the unsustainable use of water dr ... more |  |
 Cat domestication traced to Chinese farmers 5,300 years ago St. Louis MO (SPX) Dec 17, 2013 - Five-thousand years before it was immortalized in a British nursery rhyme, the cat that caught the rat that ate the malt was doing just fine living alongside farmers in the ancient Chinese village of Quanhucun, a forthcoming study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has confirmed. "At least three different lines of scientific inquiry allow us to tell a story about cat do ... more |  |
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