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POPSBBC opens world's biggest online zoo more: Starting with 370 animals, including four octopuses and a solitary starfish, the databank of clips and still pictures will be reinforced on a daily basis. BBC staff are combing through hundreds of wildlife programmes, from spectaculars such as Planet Earth to regional TV news items, to create an unprecedented collection. Early stars in terms of hits online include Darwin's frog, a tiny resident of forests in Chile, which gives birth through the mouth of the male. The process is repeated in slow motion – another feature of the archive's ability to spy on Earth's wild creatures to an unprecedented extent.
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POPStiny frozen microbe could be link to extra-terrestrial life a new bacteria that has ben named Herminilimonas glacei, found in the heart of Greenland- trapped under more than 3 km beneath the ice may hold significant clues regarding what life forms may exist on other planets- according to a team of scientists from Penn. State University
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POPSPatents of genes Under consideration (may 2009) is a suit challenging the right of companies to patent genes. Some ethicists do not take issue with Myriad's patents but with how the company uses them. Part of the ALCU's argument is that Myriad charges $3,000 for its diagnostic cancer test, a price that prevents some women from seeking this preventive measure.
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POPSMicrobe-powered ‘fart’ machine stores energy A device that can both improve fuel cell technology and entertain 12-year-old boys. That's what I call the modern biathlon. All in all a very ingenious and creative way to use micro organisms for our benefit.
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POPSThe Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of France
I know this is an old story, but like the plastic and trash we keep throwing away, it just won’t go away. Measurements show there is six times more plastic than plankton in this area. Plastic does not biodegrade; no microbe has yet evolved that can feed on it. Prolonged exposure to sunlight causes polymer chains to break down into smaller and smaller pieces, a process accelerated by physical friction, such as being blown across a beach or rolled by waves. Worldwide, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, plastic is killing a million seabirds a year, and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles. Bottle caps, pocket combs, cigarette lighters, tampon applicators, cottonbud shafts, toothbrushes, toys, syringes and plastic shopping bags are routinely found in the stomachs of dead seabirds and turtles. Every single molecule of plastic that has ever been manufactured is still somewhere in the environment, and some 100 million tons of it are floating in the oceans.
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POPSYour Spit Is Special :-) Mouth microbe makeup varied greatly from person to person, but not in any geographically structured way. Two people from Louisiana were likely to be as different as a Bolivian and a South African
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POPSBacteria on the Move, Eating Their Fill Directed bacterial movement that is controlled in this way is known as chemotaxis, and has been observed in individual microbes as well as in colonies that organize into biofilms or other structures. Because M. xanthus uses chemotaxis-like pathways to move over its prey, the researchers call this behavior predataxis. (A video is at nytimes.com/science.) The swarming changed over time. When a lot of E. coli was available, the bacteria moved back and forth tightly; Dr. Kirby likened it to a vacuum cleaner moving repeatedly over a dirty spot. As the prey was consumed, the pattern lengthened and dissipated. Presumably the bacteria needed to release a lot of digestive enzymes at first, but less and less as time went on, he said. Further study of this kind of coordinated behavior may help in understanding certain diseases that involve motile bacteria, Dr. Kirby said, and in developing methods to clean up environmental contaminants using microbes.
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