Betsy Smeed » Science

Some trees ‘farm’ bacteria

Betsy — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 03:46:42 +0000

From science centric, oak and beech seem to encourage root microbes to facilitate mineral weathering. Root microbes break down minerals to create usable nutrients, like iron, to the trees.

Chili pepper ingredient helps fight obesity

Betsy — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:48:15 +0000

From the Times of India, Capsaicin changes beneficial proteins to help fight fat. It’s action is still to be elucidated, though.

Wallabies and bats harbor ‘fossil’ genes from the most deadly family of human viruses

Betsy — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 18:59:07 +0000

From Physorg.com, marsupials, bats, rodents and tenrecs harbor the genes for Filoviruses, such as Ebola and Marburg virus. This shows the power of examining genomes to discover not only shared ancestry but common infection and incorporation of virus into genomes.

Abstract

Can bacteria make you smarter?

Betsy — Sat, 29 May 2010 13:01:57 +0000

From Physorg.com, Mycobacterium vaccae(a soil bacteria) was fed to mice and the mice were tested in maze runs to see if it increased learning ability. The increase in learning was only temporary, however.

They had a throw-away line about kids going outside to help with mood and learning. The implication being that outdoor activity is good for kids. But let’s get back to reality. Ingesting the bacteria lead to noticeable improvements. I think a second study should be undertaken to study farmer/gardeners/landscapers to see if there is any improvement. Especially to see a relationship between just being outdoors and actual contact with the soil.

Also something implicit with this study. That when humans started farming, we must have felt the benefits from M. vaccae. This is when we see a “great leap forward” with regard to engineering monuments, writing and the like.

Sushi may ‘transfer genes’ to gut

Betsy — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:07:03 +0000

From BBC News: The marine bacteria found on sushi transferred its genetic material to the microfauna of humans who consume sushi.

Prussian Blue Salt Linked to Origin of Life

Betsy — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:34:07 +0000

From Science Daily, iron (III) hexacyanoferrate (II) or Prussian blue salt when added to ammonia makes hydrogen cyanide. Which is an important building block when it comes to creating life. Leading to stuff like urea, lactic acid and dimethylhydantoin. Interesting bit about it concentrating carbon and creating hematite.

Post 100!

The Methane of Mars

Betsy — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:08:33 +0000

From Physorg.com, findings from the red planet shows that the amount of methane (CH4) in the Martian atmosphere is not caused by meteorites. So now the thinking is that it is caused by the reaction of rock with water and CO2 or it is biological.
Given the amount of CO2 in Mars’ atmosphere, I’m leaning toward the geologic origin. But one can dream of Martian Microbes.

Bacterial ‘ropes’ tie down shifting Southwest

Betsy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:38:43 +0000

From Physorg, several species of cyanobacteria create rope-like structures that “allows them to colonize physically unstable sedimentary environments, and to act as successful pioneers in the biostabilization process.”(From the abstract) These ropes wrap around grains of sand to prevent the sand grains from shifting.

Abstract

Origin of Life

Betsy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:44:34 +0000

From New Scientist, a list of how life could have started. I haven’t seen a detailed list like this on abiogeneses. Most of the research looks at replication or metabolism. This ties both together for the first time.

Also a longer article

The salt of life

Betsy — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:48:29 +0000

From Science Daily, German scientists have discovered that using salts (NaCl, CaCl2, MgCl2 and KCl) amino acids will form pyrroles. Pyrroles are important for photosynthesis.