Science Abstracts

tadpole shrimp possibly oldest still existing species

2010-07-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

Fossils of tadpole shrimps pre-date the dinosaurs
Search Amazon.com for tadpole shrimp
Search Amazon.com for dinosaurs

New oligocene primate fossil found in saudi arabia

2010-07-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

The 29-30 million year old fossil was discovered at a place called Ujayta in al hijaz province in western saudi arabia.
The catarrhine fossil called saadanius hijazensis has preserved facial,palatial and dental morphology.
Molars and incisors found.
Search Amazon.com for oligocene

Search Amazon.com for saudi arabia guide
Search Amazon.com for hijaz

science may have solve how tutankhamen died

2010-07-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

A team from germany believes that tut died as a result of sickle-cell disease,whereas an egyptian team believe he died of malaria.
The egyptian team found necrosis in the bones of tut's left foot and detected plasmodium falciporum genes.
The german team however believe that tut died from a malaria infection that caused a `sickle-cell crisis' which caused his crucial organs to be starved of oxygen.
Search Amazon.com for tutankhamun
Search Amazon.com for sickle cell disease
Search Amazon.com for malaria

2 billion plus years old lifeform found in Gabon

2010-07-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

Reported cellecular structure, only centimetres long, have been discovered in black shales northwest of franceville in southeast gabon.
Search Amazon.com for gabon guide
Search Amazon.com for franceville gabon

Male australopithecus afarensis found in ethiopia

2010-06-29T04:10:00.000-07:00

Called kadanuumuu which means `big man ' in Afar,it was discovered at a place called woranso-mille in the afar depression.
About 3.6 million years old,it is related to `lucy'.
It has long legs,torso,a pelvis like a modern human,proving it walked upright.
Also discovered were a lower arm bone,shoulder blade,collarbone,ribs and neck bones.
Search Amazon.com for australopithecus afarensis

Search Amazon.com for afar dictionary

Search Amazon.com for afar depression
Search Amazon.com for afar region
Search Amazon.com for ethiopia fossils

First lifeform created in laboratory

2010-05-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

The synthetic lifeform is a modified form of the mycoplasma mycoides genome,was created by J. craig venter and other researchers at the J.Craig venter institue in maryland and california.
The research cost about $40 million.

new species discovered in Indonesian papua province

2010-05-18T04:35:00.000-07:00

A national geographic expeition to the Foja mountains,which cover more than 300,000 square hectares have discovered new species including a spike-nosed tree frog,a gargoyle-like gecko, a tiny forest wallaby,golden-front bowerbird,a tiny inchwood moth,wattled smoky honeyeater,golen-mantled tree kangaroo, butterflies,bats,pigeons,shrubs,tree mice and rats.

There were also long-beaked echidnas.
Search Amazon.com for papua province
Search Amazon.com for foja mountains

Small drug trial promising in fight against cancer.

2010-05-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

A trial involving 5 people with glioblastoma multiforme given DCA(dichloroacetate) looks promising.
One person died,but in the other 4,the tumours stopped growing,and in one of the 4,tumour disappeared altogether.
The 4 were still alive 18 months later,3 times the average time of survival from this type of cancer.

Drugs which drive up AMPK activity also appear to increase cancer survival rates.

fast moving ocean current foound in Southern ocean

2010-05-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

Discovered near the eastern flank of the underwater kerguelen plateau,about 3,000 kilometres south west of australia.

The current flows at more than 8 million cubic metres per second,40 times as much as the amazon river transports.

Believed to be part of the global ocean`conveyor belt'.

Giant mat of bacteria found off chilean coast

2010-04-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

Off the coast of the atacama desert lies a giant mat of hairlike bacteria,the size of greece.

Resembling fossilized bacterial mats,that go back 2.5 million years,the bacteria lives in water almost oxygen-free,extracting energy from hydrogen sulphide and feeds on nutrients in the water.

It is estimated that the mat contains hundreds of millions of tonnes of bacteria.

some bacteria are 7 centimetres long.

Trials of `porcine sushi' for type1 diabetes to start soon.

2010-04-09T06:06:00.000-07:00

The `pig sushi' implants known as diabecell,comprises of high doses of living pig islet cells encoated in alginate,a compound found in seaweed.

This will be tested on 4 people in new zealand soon.

Hominids were on flores almost a million years ago

2010-04-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

Argon dating of a site called wolo sege suggests hominids were on flores almost a million years ago.

Location of flood that triggered younger dryas found

2010-04-06T10:41:00.000-07:00

Research suggests the flood originated from lake agassiz going via present day site of fort mcmurray to the mckenzie river delta.

OSL dating of erosion surface and gravel deposits on richards island in the mackenzie delta suggests that there was a large flood, approxiatetly(sp?)11-13,000 years ago.

Fossil child hominid skeleton found in south africa

2010-04-04T06:12:00.000-07:00

A almost complete skeleton of a child has been discovered in sterkfontein cave,also known as the cradle of humankind,because of the number of hominid fossils discovered there.

The fossil is about 2 million years old and may be intermediate between australopithicus and homo habilis.

Not sure if connected, but it is reported that a fossilized adult female has been found in malapa cave

Radioactivity from bikini atomic bomb tests could detect wine fraud

2010-03-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

Scientists have detected harmless amounts of radioactive carbon in wine made from grapes grown since the tests in the 1960s.

They were able to pinpoint vintage to within a year by measuring the amount of radioactive carbon in the vintage.

It is believed the method could detect fraudalent attempts to pass cheap wine as big name wine.

Drinking during pregnancy can alter fetus's DNA

2010-01-22T04:51:00.000-08:00

A study of mice suggest that drinking too much during pregnancy can alter a fetus's DNA.

A researcher wondered whether epigenetic changes in DNA(alterations in gene activity) could be to blame.

A research team bred mice with genes for either brown or yellow coat of furs that are known to be affected by epigenetics.

The offspring of mice that drank alcohol were more often brown than normally expected from their genetic sequences,suggesting that alcohol alters fetal gene activity.

The offspring of these mice also weighted less and had smaller skulls.

chemical in sofas,carpets,pots and pans possibly linked to thyroid disease

2010-01-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

Perfluorooctanoic acid(pfoa)is a man-made chemical that is heat and water resistant and repells grease and stains.

It is found in cookware,furnishings and wrappers.

The chemical is believed to get into the human body throught contaminated food or dust.

Once in the body,it builds up in the organs and other tissue.

According to a study of nearly 4,000 otherwise in good health US adults,those with high levels of PFOA were twice as likely to have thyroid problems.

Studies in animals suggest PFOA can cause thyroid problems as well as liver disease and cancer

Fish oil may slow ageing process

2010-01-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

Research suggests that omega-3 faty acids in fish oils have an effect on ageing by slowing down the rate at which protective caps(called telomeres) on the end of chromosones shorten.
Each time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter until the dna is damaged and the cell might die.

Tests on US heart disease patients shows a correlation between omega-3 intake and the rate of telomere shortening.

China could become first country to grow genetically modified rice

2010-01-15T11:18:00.000-08:00

Field trials of two gm varieties of rice called huahui 1 and bt shanyou 63 are to start.
Both contain `bt' proteins from the bacillus thuringiensis bacterium to protect them against the most serious rice pest in china,rice stem borer.
Approval may come in 2011.

Drugs used for high blood pressure or heart disease may reduce risk of alzheimers'

2010-01-13T11:12:00.000-08:00

Research suggests that angiotensin receptor blockers(ARBs) are linked to a 50% decrease in either getting alzheimers' or alzheimers' progressing,especially in men.

It has been suggesed that arbs protect brain cells from injury caused by damaged blood vessels.

The research studied over 800,000 people.

Fossilized footprints of first land creatures found in poland.

2010-01-08T12:14:00.000-08:00

Found in he zachelmie quarry,the holy cross mountains in southern poland,the fossilized footprints of tetrapod show four digits and are 397 myr ago.

The fossil tracks predate tetrapod fossils by 18 myr and were made in whatt was then a shallow marine lagoon.

Coral reefs creates rich diversity of sea life

2010-01-08T11:44:00.000-08:00

A study suggests that coral reefs are involved in creating new species of sea creatures.

Researchers studied a database of fossil organism from the cambrian period and found that coral reefs were responible fot 50% more new genera than shallow-water areas.

Human seed eatng started about 105,000 years ago

2010-01-05T13:35:00.000-08:00

Evidence of seed eating by early humans has been discovered in a cave in northern Mozambique.

Middle stone age tools discovered in Ngalue cave in Niassa province had traces of starch residue on them in 80% of those tools.

Most of the grains discovered were sorghum.

Entombed microbes in salt crystal believed to be 30,000 years old

2009-12-18T08:54:00.000-08:00

Researchers from the university of hawaii studied salt crystal taken from a sediment core taken from death valley in california.
The salt crystals contained small quanties of liquid and the researchers grew live colonies from the samples.
The liquid was dated at between 22-34 thousand years ago.

The structure of these salt crystal indicates they were formed in a hypersaline lake,
As they has not been a permanent lake in Death valley for at least 10,000 years,this means recrystallisation properbly hasn't taken place,suggesting that the microbes are as old as they appear.

the same crystals also containe dead cells from a salt-lake algae called Dunaliella algae,which have high levels of glycerol.
It has been calculated that a single dunaliella cell contains enough glycerol to meet a microbe needs for 12 million years.

Sweetener may cause health problems

2009-12-13T11:22:00.000-08:00

A study has proved that fructose,a corn-derived sweetener,used in thousands of food and drink products can damage human metabolism and cause obesity.

Fructose can cause dangerous growth of fat cells around the liver,heart and digestive organs.
Fructose arrives intact in the liver causing abnormal reactions,including disrupting the mechanisms that tell the body to store or burn fat.

The study involved 16 volunteers on a strictly controlled diet,with high levels of fructose,whereas another group of volunteers were on same diet,but with glucose instead,the later volunteers did not get same problems.