One of the world's great wildlife spectacles, the colossal gathering of flamingos in east Africa, is directly threatened by industrial development, conservationists have warned.
Lake Natron in Tanzania, home to half a million bright-pink lesser flamingos, faces the prospect of a huge soda ash plant being built on its hitherto-unspoilt shores, which is likely to destroy the birds' breeding habitat for good.
The development is being pushed by Lake Natron Resources Limited, part of the Indian company Tata Chemicals. The company wishes to pump salty water from the lake for the production and export of sodium carbonate or washing soda, to build a coal-fired power station and to house more than 1,000 construction staff on site.
Conservationists fiercely attacked the plans yesterday. "Putting Lake Natron at risk is bonkers. It is a pristine site, like no other in the world," said Chris Magin, international officer for Africa for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
"The chances of lesser flamingos continuing to breed at Lake Natron in the face of such mayhem are next to zero. This development will leave lesser flamingos in east Africa facing extinction and should be stopped in its tracks and sunk in water so deep it can never be revived."
Lake Natron hosts more than 500,000 lesser flamingos in summer - 75 per cent of the world's breeding population - and has been the birds' only nesting site in east Africa for 45 years. It is listed by the international Ramsar Wetland Convention and designated an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. Although it stands between four and five feet high, the lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor, is the smallest of the six flamingo species. It has long pink legs and a long neck, and its large body is rose-pink, the colour coming from pigments in its food, the bacteria Spirulina, which it eats by holding its bill upside down in the water. Spirulina, which grows only in salty lakes, sometimes gives Lake Natron itself a pink or red colour.
Lake Natron, which is in the Great Rift Valley in northern Tanzania, and is known as a soda lake because of its high concentration of sodium carbonate, is one of only five breeding sites for lesser flamingos in the world, but if it is damaged, there is no evidence that the birds will breed successfully elsewhere.
Flamingos live until they are about 40 years old but only breed every five or six years. Non-breeding birds do not return to breeding sites until they are ready to breed again.
Dr Magin said: "This could be the beginning of the end for the lesser flamingo. Millions of people have enjoyed the spectacle of flocks of flamingos in Tanzania and Kenya and all of that is now in jeopardy."
The analysis shows the Greenland ice could last longer than we thought, reports Roger Highfield
Today, Greenland is mostly covered with ice, with rugged mountainous terrain that is barren.
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| Artist's impression of southern central Greenland based on findings from the Dye 3 basal ice |
But this was not the case millennia ago, when it was a verdant paradise, according to a remarkable study of ancient DNA that also suggests Greenland's ice will tolerate more global warming than thought.
Investigations of an ice core from deep in the ice in southern Greenland has revealed a trove of ancient genetic traces of plants and animals -probably the oldest DNA ever analysed - which provide the first evidence of a surprisingly lush forest that existed in the region within the past million years.
The findings from an international study published in the journal Science also suggest that the southern Greenland ice sheet may be much more stable against rising temperatures caused by climate change than previously believed.
For the study, researchers analysed ice cores from a number of locations in Greenland, including one called Dye 3 in the south. From the base of one 2000 metre deep core, they were able to extract what they believe is the oldest authenticated DNA obtained to date.
By analysing DNA the researchers identified a surprising variety of plant and insect life, including beetles, flies, spiders, butterflies and moths.
The researchers believe that the samples most likely date back to between 450,000 and 800,000 years ago, when it was covered in conifer forest and had a relatively mild climate, overturning all previous assumptions about Greenland.
"We have shown for the first time that southern Greenland, which is currently hidden under more than 2000m of ice, was once very different to the Greenland we see today," says Prof Eske Willerslev, from the University of Copenhagen, who led the study and is the world's leading expert in extracting DNA from organisms buried in permafrost.
"Back then, it was inhabited by a diverse array of conifer trees and insects," he says. "We have found grain, pine, yew and alder. These correspond to the landscapes we find in Eastern Canada today.
The trees provide a backdrop from which we can also ascertain the climate since each species has its own temperature requirements. The yew trees reveal that the temperature during the winter could not have been lower than -17°C, and the presence of other trees shows that summer temperatures were at least 10 degrees".
The ancient forests covered southern Greenland during a period of increased global temperatures, known as an interglacial period. When temperatures fell again, the area became covered in ice. This ice persisted during the last interglacial period (116,000-130,000 years ago) when the temperature was 5°C warmer than today, contrary to the view currently held by many scientists.
Prof Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, also at the University of Copenhagen, has data showing that in fact, even during this interglacial period, the ice thickness at Dye 3 would only have been reduced to 1000 metres in the face of temperatures that will not be reached for many decades as a result of today's global warming.
This work suggests that the whole ice sheet will resist melting to cause tremendous sea-level rises which have been the subject of so much discussion. "If our data is correct, then this means that the southern Greenland ice cap is more stable than previously thought," says Prof Willerslev.
"This may have implications for how the Greenland ice sheet respond to global warming."
However, he added that warming would still raise sea levels. During the last interglacial, sea levels rose by 5-6m even though Greenland was still covered in ice, and the water responsible for this rise must have come from others sources other than Greenland, such as Antarctic ice.
"I would anticipate that as the Earth warms from man-made climate change, these sources would still contribute to a rise in sea levels."
Today's study shows conclusively that ancient DNA from the base of ice cores can be used to reconstruct the environments hidden underneath ice-covered areas and can yield insights into the climate and the ecology of ancient environments.
Ten per cent of the Earth's surface has been covered with ice for thousands of years. No one knows what lies beneath. Using the same methods elsewhere "could open up a world of new discoveries," says Dr Enrico Cappellini of the University of York, coauthor.
If claims made by scientists come out true then days are not far away when they will come out with a portent weapon to cure patients with HIV infection, as a new study shows them way to remove the virus from infected cells, bringing a glimmer of hope for the more than 40 million people infected worldwide.
Actually, researchers have engineered an enzyme that attacks the DNA of the HIV virus, cutting it out of the infected cells.
Throwing more light on the hope, which this study has sprouted Alan Engelman of Harvard University’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, writes:
A customized enzyme that effectively excises integrated HIV-1 from infected cells in vitro might one day help to eradicate (the) virus from AIDS patients.
Well, it would be too premature to become very enthusiastic about this new finding as the enzyme is still far from being ready to use and hasn’t even been tested in animals yet. However, one thing could certainly be said that this new way would revolutionize the way HIV-infected patients are treated.
In a ground breaking research organized by United States National Human Genome Research Institute the scientists are on the verge of start rethinking everything about the genes and their behavior. The research conducted with 35 groups from 80 organizations around the World concluded with the speculation that the human genome might not be a tidy collection of independent genes at all, with each sequence of DNA linked with a single function, such as heart disease or as a predilection to diabetes etc. Instead genes appear to operate in a complex network and interact and overlap with one another and with other components in a not completely understood way.
The human genome project was one of the most exciting and challenging part of modern science. But according to the institute, after this research, scientists from all over the World may need to start rethinking everything afresh. These findings will certainly challenge scientists’ long held views about the genes and how they behave.
The network effect of genes is not a new one in the world of biology. Biologists have been noticing this interesting fact from quite a log time in other organisms. They were linked with some other creatures; so our human world carefully avoided them.
The genes operate individually, this is the most fundamental belief in the field of genetics. This presumption has been established since 1976 with the establishment of the first biotech company. Now this experiment may have an effect of nullifying the previous factor and it is a possibility that everything may need to be started afresh.
The fundamental principle of molecular biology says that each gene in living organisms, from human to bacteria, carries the information needed to construct one single protein. Proteins are the driver of the cells, and finally the organism. In 1960s, scientists discovered that a gene producing one type of protein in one organism will produce a similar protein in some other organism. This similarity has made insulin acquired from pigs as a life saving treatment for diabetes.
In the year 2005 a study showed that more than 4000 human genes have been patented in US alone, and this is a very less fractional amount of the entire amount of patents issued to genes found in other organisms. In light of the recent research, the defensibility of those patents is under fire.
Scholars all over the world have come out with their comments about this matter. According to some, the biotech industry has adopted a pre-matured commercial agenda in the very beginning of a particular field. It is possible that what we have known long might be incomplete or erroneous.
With the recent research and its result, the biotech industry may have to start experimenting with the more vivid reaction of their products.
Whatever be the solution, the World needs to choose the right alternative among many of them available. According to Prof. Heinemann, a professor of molecular biology in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and director of its Center for Integrated Research in Biosafety, many companies have already carried a kind of gene profile research. But they are not required to submit them to regulatory bodies, so they do not submit. For this action research on this particular field is still in a stagnant position.
He further said:
Something that is front and center in the biosafety community in New Zealand now is whether companies should be required to submit their gene-profiling data for hazard identification. With no such reporting requirements, companies and regulators alike will continue to blind themselves to network effects.
Source: NYTimes
Scientists have developed a new technique by which they are able to create cloned sperms. In future this technique could enable men with very low sperm counts to become fathers.
This technique has been tested in mice where a single healthy mouse sperm was injected into a mouse egg from which all the genetic material was removed. The sperm then was able to make more sperms on its own. Scientists have stated that further refinement of the technique will make it fit for humans as well.
Some experts have however raised safety concerns as some mice made from cloned sperms were abnormal. However, still four of these offspring had grown into normal adults.
Researchers now will need to figure out why some mice were born abnormal. They however believe that the technique had enough potential to be used in humans.
Fertility is a common problem and one in every seven couples attempting a first pregnancy face this problem and out of these couples male fertility is the reason in 40% cases.
In such a case researchers will use one of the sperm and inject it into the egg from where the genetic material will be removed, once there the sperm will develop more sperms in an effort to guarantee that the implanted embryo is healthy.
Before using the technique in humans, researchers will have to check the next generation of mice born from clone-made rodents as there might be some genetic disorders which might affect the future generations of these mice.
In major breakthrough, researchers from the University of Dana-Farber Institute, at Harvard University in Massachusetts, have found a protein called; p53 that they believe could help protect against skin cancer along with tanning your skin.
Actually, protein p53 is activated when the sun’s ultraviolet rays damage DNA. As a result, alpha-MSH (a hormone that makes the pigment melanin) is produced, which assists in the tanning of skin.
I see this finding as a significant one because it raises hope of better treatment for patients with melanoma skin cancer, the fastest-increasing form of cancer in the world. Moreover, it provides researchers with a strong base upon which they may find way to tan skin without the use of the Sun or artificially made products.
A study carried out by Michael Daly and his team at the ‘Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences’ in Bethesda, Maryland, has put new lights on the effect of radiation on DNA.
According to Daly, it has long been thought that radiation was dangerous because it shatters DNA into fragment but, instead it is protein damage that is the killer. Daly says:
The ability of cells to survive radiation is highly dependent on the amount of protein damage caused during irradiation.
The bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans, which is nicknamed ‘Conan the Bacterium’ because of its high radiation resisting ability, was used in the study done by Daly and his team.
Daly and his team exposed Deinococcus and other resistant bacteria to radiation and found that the resilience of a cell’s repair proteins is linked to the number of manganese ions in the cell. Manganese prevents oxidative damage to repair proteins and allows them to swing into action after radiation has damaged DNA.
The study shows that it doesn’t matter even if your DNA is shattered, as long as the repair proteins are intact the DNA can be stitched back.
According to Daly, it may be possible to increase radiation resistance by delivering Deinococcus repair proteins into animal cells. This could be useful in space travel, where radiation sickness is the main setback.
A study on DNA “bar coding” put forth by the Canadian researchers is being anticipated to the unearthing of myriad number of new species. The study researchers foresee a kind of handheld device that would allow anyone to identify any species of plants or animals along with their biological characteristics within no time.
Paul Hebert, study co-author and director of the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario at the University of Guelph said:
Any person equipped with a bar-coder can walk through the forest and identify the life around them. Bar-coding is revealing legions of unrecognized species, and it’s going to change the species count for the planet.
Bar coding endeavors to segregate a tiny piece of DNA and have it characterized as a discrete numerical sequence that is about 650 digits long. The study also discovered sets of DNA “twins”. The handheld device that is likely to be the size of a global positioning system is expected to meet realism in around 10 years.
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the "Red Planet" because of its reddish appearance as seen from Earth.A terrestrial planet, Mars has a thin atmosphere and surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth. It is the site of Olympus Mons, the highest known mountain in the solar system, and of Valles Marineris, the largest canyon. In addition to its geographical features, Mars' rotational period and seasonal cycles are likewise similar to those of the Earth.
This video shows the rotation speed of the red planet Mars relative to Earth, the seasonal cycles on Mars and its surface structure.
07:01 myagolo
First the DNA Wrapping is animated.
The wrapping allows 6 feet of the long DNA molecule to be densely packed into the tiny nucleus of every cell. The process starts when DNA is wrapped around special protein molecules called histones. The combined loop of DNA and protein is called a nuclei zone. Next the nuclei zones are packed into a thread. The end result is fiber known as chromatin. This fiber is looped and coiled yet again leading to the familiar shapes known as chromosomes which can be seen in the nucleus of dividing cells. Chromosomes are not always present - they form around the time cells divide when the two copies of the cell's DNA need to be separated.
Using computer animation based on molecular research we are now able to see how DNA is actually copied in living cells.
An assembly line of amazing biochemical machines are pulling apart the DNA double helix and cranking out a copy of each strand.
This presentation was made by Drew Barry at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.
A revolutionary home test reveals an unborn baby’s sex at six weeks! Is the phenomenon, an advancement of medical science or a kind of bane on the human existence?
About two years ago, the Early Baby Gender Mentor DNA test was launched. It purportedly tested for fetal DNA in maternal blood to see if there was any DNA from the Y chromosome - yes means boy, no means girl. Now another similar test is being sold called the Pink or Blue test.
The consequences would be- Babies were being aborted simply for being the ‘wrong’ sex!
The cost of the entire kit is around $376. Its opponents fear that it might create a massive leap in abortions if would-be parents are not having the gender they want.
Previously the gender of a baby could be known at the 20-week scan, four weeks before the legal limit for an abortion. However, the new home test would explode the conventional test which confirms the gender of the unborn.
The Pink or Blue Early Test Kit, launched on the internet this week by DNA Worldwide, is claimed to be 98 per cent reliable.
Would be moms are suppose to give a sample of their blood by pricking their fingers, the sample is then is taken on a filter paper and send it to lab for testing.
Lab technicians determine the sex by looking for the Y chromosome found in males in three tests. Each works because an unborn baby’s DNA is present in the mother for six weeks.
David Nicholson, director of DNA Worldwide said, Parents are excited by the pregnancy and want to know the sex of their baby. A lot even build an extra room or redecorate one for the baby — and they don’t want to wait until their 20-week scan to find the sex.
Researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered the first inherited gene mutation that increases the risk for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), a cancer of the lymphocytes, is the most common type of leukaemia. It is a blood and bone-marrow disease and mainly affects people over 60. And it occurs more often in men than women.
The study revealed that the inherited mutation greatly reduces the gene’s protective activity. Furthermore, a second kind of change occurs later that turns the gene off altogether, leading to leukaemia. This latter alteration is a chemical change called DNA methylation and it is not inherited. Healthy cells use this process to silence unneeded genes. But abnormal DNA methylation can turn off genes that control cell growth, and that lead to tumour growth.
John C. Byrd, professor of internal medicine and a CLL specialist, said
“Our findings identify for the first time a gene that appears to be associated with hereditary CLL,”
“They also show the importance of the gene in the pathogenesis of CLL, and direct us to target this gene with therapies that might re-activate it.”
Researchers examined a family in which the father, four sons, a grandson, and a distant female relative developed this form of leukaemia. The mutation was identified in a gene called DAPK1. DAPK1 or death-associated protein kinase 1 is a tumour suppressor which helps trigger the death of cells before they become cancerous.
Albert de la Chapelle, professor of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics and a researcher with the Ohio State human cancer genetics program, said
“This inherited change is remarkably subtle. It does not shut down the gene, but just lowers its expression somewhat. Recently, many cancer geneticists have come to believe that such subtle changes are common causes of cancer, and this is one of the first, strong examples of that principle,”
The findings could help identify people at risk for chronic leukaemia, but they also may provide new insights into the process of natural cell death. They may even lead to new strategies for treating the disease. The findings also provide evidence that some genes might contribute to cancer even when they are not silenced entirely.
