Phys.org July 22, 2019 An international team of researchers (USA – Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Wisconsin, DOE Joint Genome Institute, industry, France) has discovered the complex relationship plants have with mycorrhizal fungi. When they are united, the fungi form a sheath around plant roots with remarkable benefits. The fungal structure extends far from the plant host, increasing nutrient uptake and even communicating with other plants to “warn” of spreading pathogens and pests. In return, plants feed carbon to the fungus, which encourages its growth. The discovery could lead to the development of bioenergy and food crops that can […]
Tag Archives: National security
China to set up system to safeguard technology security
Phys.org June 8, 2019 According to the Chinese state media the National Development and Reform Commission has been tasked with establishing a list system to more effectively forestall and defuse national security risks. Detailed measures will be unveiled in the near future…read more.
Climate change is already affecting global food production — unequally
Science Daily May 31, 2019 The world’s top 10 crops supply a combined 83 percent of all calories produced on cropland. An international team of researchers (USA – University of Minnesota, Denmark) constructed linear regression relationships using weather and reported crop data to assess the potential impact of observed climate change on the yields of the top ten global crops–barley, cassava, maize, oil palm, rapeseed, rice, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane and wheat at ~20,000 political units. They found that the impact of global climate change on yields of different crops from climate trends ranged from -13.4% (oil palm) to 3.5% (soybean). The […]
The extraordinary powers of bacteria visualized in real time
Science Daily May 23, 2019 The global spread of antibiotic resistance is a major public health issue. The spread of antibiotic resistance is for the most part due to the capacity of bacteria to exchange genetic material through a process known as bacterial conjugation. The ability of the bacterium to expel the antibiotic before it can exert its destructive effect using “efflux pumps” found on its membrane. Experimenting with E. Coli researchers in France have revealed that in just 1 to 2 hours, the single-stranded DNA fragment of the efflux pump was transformed into double-stranded DNA and then translated into […]
UN chief concerned nuclear ‘coffin’ leaking in Pacific
AFP (French press agency) May 16, 2019 Marchalls island nation was ground zero for 67 American nuclear weapons tests from 1946-58 at Bikini and Enewetak atolls, when it was under US administration. The tests included the 1954 “Bravo” hydrogen bomb. The “coffin” is a concrete dome, built in the late 1970s on Runit island. Radioactive soil and ash from the explosions were tipped into a crater and capped with a concrete dome 45 centimetres (18 inches) thick, it was only envisaged as a temporary fix and the bottom of the crater was never lined. Cracks have developed in the concrete […]
Measles and the canonical path to elimination
Science Magazine May 10, 2019 All World Health Organization regions have set measles elimination goals. A team of researchers in the US (Johns Hopkins University, Pennsylvania State University, NIH) found that as countries progress toward these goals, they undergo predictable changes in the size and frequency of measles outbreaks. A country’s position on this “canonical path” is driven by both measles control activities and demographic factors, which combine to change the effective size of the measles-susceptible population, thereby driving the country through theoretically established dynamic regimes. The position on the path to elimination provides critical information for guiding vaccination efforts. […]
Climate extremes: Impact on global crop yield variations
Science Daily May 3, 2019 An international team of researchers (Australia, Spain. Germany USA – University of M Minnesota, Switzerland) analyzed the impacts of climate extremes on yield anomalies of maize, soybeans, rice and spring wheat at the global scale using yield data and applying a machine-learning algorithm. They found that growing season climate factors explain 20%–49% of the variance of yield anomalies, with 18%–43% of the explained variance attributable to climate extremes. Temperature-related extremes show a stronger association with yield anomalies than precipitation-related factors. The hotspot regions that are critical for global production include North America for maize, spring […]
The Transpolar Drift is faltering: Sea ice is now melting before it can leave the nursery
Science Daily April 2, 2019 The dramatic loss of ice in the Arctic is influencing sea-ice transport across the Arctic Ocean. Researchers in Germany report that today only 20 percent of the sea ice that forms in the shallow Russian marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean actually reaches the Central Arctic, where it joins the Transpolar Drift; the remaining 80 percent of the young ice melts before it has a chance to leave its ‘nursery’. Before 2000, that number was only 50 percent. This trend has been confirmed by the outcomes of sea-ice thickness measurements taken in the Fram Strait. […]
Climate panel disbanded by Trump, now regrouped, releases its report
Science Daily April 4, 2019 With support from the Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York State and the American Meteorological Society, the Independent Advisory Committee on Applied Climate Assessment released a report that calls for the creation of the Science to Climate Action Network (SCAN) which is independent of the federal government and comprises experts from civil society and state, local, and tribal settings. By providing hubs for businesses, communities and academics to work together on practical challenges, the network is designed to produce guidance for using science to update infrastructure and building codes, reduce wildfire risk, manage flooding, […]
A billion people will be newly exposed to diseases like dengue fever as world temperatures rise
Science Daily March 28, 2019 An international team of researchers (USA – University of Florida, South Africa) applied an empirically parameterized model of viral transmission by the vectors Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus, as a function of temperature, to predict cumulative monthly global transmission risk in current climates and compare them with projected risk in 2050 and 2080 based on general circulation models. According to the researchers climate-driven risk of transmission from both mosquitoes will increase substantially, even in the short term, for most of Europe. In contrast, significant reductions in climate suitability are expected for Ae. albopictus, most noticeably […]