"La naturaleza es grande en las grandes cosas, pero es grandísima en las más pequeñas" Saint-Pierre (1737-1814)

miércoles, 30 de julio de 2014

La sexta extinción

Hace poco se ha conocido de un estudio en la prestigiosa revista científica Science, que nos encontramos actualmente ante la sexta extinción masiva de animales, consecuencia como no podía ser de otra manera de la actividad humana.
Los que provenimos de una cultura científica universitaria basada en el análisis de los datos existentes, la observación racional de los hechos y el sostenimiento de una actitud crítica, ya conocíamos estas informaciones preocupantes.
No es ninguna sorpresa, por tanto, afirmar que la actividad humana desde el siglo XIX y su vertiginoso desarrollo ha provocado la destrucción de ecosistemas, la desertización y desertificación, la contaminación atmosférica y acuática, la pérdida de biodiversidad desde el punto de vista más ambiental. Pero también ese mismo desarrollo desigual e interesado de las regiones y sus gentes han llevado a la existencia de numerosos conflictos que han provocado la muerte de millones de seres humanos en este tiempo.
Es cierto, que con el nivel de consumismo que vivimos en la actualidad y sabiendo que somos unos cuantos de miles de millones de seres humanos, nuestro planeta se encuentra en peligro, tiene un límite de sostenibilidad (lo que en ecología llamamos capacidad de carga del ambiente).
No solo es la sexta extinción de los animales, incluidos nosotros que nos matamos a nosotros mismos, también de las plantas, hongos y del resto de organismos poco conocidos, pero increíblemente importantes para el desarrollo de la vida en la Tierra.
Todavía se está a tiempo de corregir el desaguisado que el Homo desastrosus, como me gusta a mi mencionar al Homo sapiens, ha provocado. Lo primero y más importante es crear conciencia global de la importancia que tiene el medio ambiente para nosotros, y si uno mismo adquiere esa conciencia de conservación, respeto y sostenibilidad a todo y a todos y todas, posteriormente el resto de medidas y políticas se orientarán más fácilmente hacia ese paradigma de convivencia en un entorno saludable.
De todas formas, la sexta extinción no provocará la desaparición de infinidad de seres vivos tan importantes y creadores de vida como serían las bacterias. La vida seguiría su curso.
Javier Alameda Lozano

viernes, 25 de julio de 2014

Noticias científicas diarias

- El CSIC renueva su compromiso con el Instituto de Biomedicina y Biotecnología de Cantabria.
El Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), la Universidad de Cantabria y el Gobierno de Cantabria, a través de la Sociedad para el Desarrollo Regional de Cantabria, han renovado esta mañana su compromiso con el Instituto de Biomedicina y Biotecnología de Cantabria, centro mixto de las tres instituciones. El objetivo de este convenio es actualizar la regulación de este instituto mixto.  
Más información:


- La Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer concede 1,2 millones de euros a una investigación del CSIC.
Un grupo de investigadores del Instituto de Biología y Biotecnología de Cantabria, centro mixto del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), el Gobierno de Cantabria y la Universidad de Cantabria, ha recibido una de las tres ayudas de 1,2 millones de euros que adjudica cada año la Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer a grupos consolidados de investigación oncológica. Con estas concesiones la Asociación trata de favorecer la rápida aplicación de los resultados obtenidos a la práctica clínica.
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- Jealous wags: Dogs show envy is 'primordial' emotion.
Jealousy is not just a human condition according to researchers, as it appears to be hard wired into the brains of dogs as well.

- Genetic clues to age of first period.
The timing of when a girl reaches puberty is controlled by hundreds of genes, say scientists.

- Nasa seeks help with Earth-Mars data links.
Nasa is asking for help to get data back from its science missions orbiting Mars or roaming its surface.

- Rosetta's comet seen in close-up.
Europe's Rosetta probe has acquired new images of the comet it is chasing through space.

- Concerns over carbon emissions from burning wood.
Burning wood to fuel power stations can create as many harmful carbon emissions as burning coal, according to a government report.

- Vanishing animals, a dino with feathers & scales, and climate synchrony -- the new Science is up!

- Declines in Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) populations are associated with rising temperatures, but their genetic diversity seems to be increasing, a study in this week’s Nature finds.
More information: http://bit.ly/1qBJDKf 

- This month’s editor’s pick from Laboratory Investigation - The tissue is the issue: improved methylome analysis from paraffin-embedded tissues by application of the HOPE technique.
More information: http://bit.ly/1jVlCdY

jueves, 24 de julio de 2014

Noticias científicas diarias

- Dozens placed in quarantine after China plague death.
Part of a city in north-west China has been sealed off and dozens of people placed in quarantine after a man died of bubonic plague, state media say.  

- Deep sea mining licences issued.
Vast new areas of the ocean floor have been opened up in an accelerating search for valuable minerals including manganese, copper and gold.

- Bats 'fly by polarised light'.
Bats use the pattern of polarised light in the evening sky to get their bearings, according to a new study.

- EU sets 'ambitious but realistic' energy savings target.
EU member states will have to boost their energy efficiency by 30% by 2030, according to the European Commission.

- Northwest Passage voyage of scientific discovery.
A crew of sailors is embarking on a pioneering citizen science expedition through the Northwest Passage between Canada and Greenland.

- Controlling lupus, drugs for cystic fibrosis, HIV drugs for hepatitis C, and much more in the 23 July 2014 issue of Science Translational Medicine.
More information: http://scim.ag/1ru3zwj

- Offshore wind farms are turning into seal hunting grounds.

- Murderous meerkats!
A study in Nature Communications examines why female meerkats attack their daughters and kill their grandchildren. 
More information: http://bit.ly/1rJLnOp

- Sponge-like material converts sunlight into steam.
Steam generation using solar energy is normally based on heating bulk liquid to high temperatures - but this new material enables a markedly more efficient method.

- For decades, Europe and the United States have led the way in particle physics, and the big discoveries have happened at labs such as SLAC, CERN and Fermilab. But in a few years, China might become the place to be.

- Sediments in thermokarst lakes, found in Arctic regions, are an important carbon sink (store) that may have offset the greenhouse gas emissions that occurred when the lakes formed.
More information: http://bit.ly/WCtp6v           


miércoles, 23 de julio de 2014

Noticias científicas diarias

- Scientists generate spermatic cells from endangered species to maintain their genetic diversity.
They have managed to rescue the genotype of young males that were bound to be genetically lost after road kills.
More information: http://www.mncn.csic.es/
 - Katerina Rusevska defiende con éxito su tesis doctoral sobre hongos gasteroides en Macedonia.
Katerina Rusevska realizó en el Real Jardín Botánico, CSIC los análisis moleculares de varios hongos para su tesis bajo la dirección de la investigadora científica María Paz Martín. El Fondo para el Medio Ambiente Mundial (FMAM) financia un proyecto para evaluar las amenazas naturales que inciden en la única población del hongo gasteroide Battarrea phalloides que queda en Macedonia.

- Kepler sees world with distant orbit.
Nasa's Kepler Space Telescope has spotted a distant world with the longest year of any planet in the mission's inventory.

- Three person IVF plans 'progress' in UK.
The creation of babies using sperm and eggs from three people has moved a step closer in the UK.

- The latest issue of Science Signaling includes new research on a stress-inducible protein that inhibits mTORC1 signaling, a channel that can form large or small pores depending on the stimulus that triggers channel formation, and a proteomic analysis of TGF-β signaling in keratinocytes. There's also a Perspective on how channels and pumps cooperate to control calcium homeostasis in neurons.
More information: http://bit.ly/1jZR2KP

- Feeding more while protecting the environment.
A new report suggests that focusing on a relatively short list of regions, crops and actions could provide new opportunities to improve global food security while simultaneously decreasing agriculture’s environmental footprint. For example, China, India and the US harbor most of the global cropland’s excess nutrients, they say, while India, Pakistan, China and the US use the most water to irrigate crops in precipitation-limited areas. By optimizing the tradeoff between fertilizers’ yield-boosting benefits and its negative impacts on the environment in key areas around the globe, policymakers have the potential to provide nutrition to approximately 3 billion more people, they say.
More information: http://bit.ly/1mQOFim 

- The wheezing, coughing, and gasping for breath that come with a sudden asthma attack aren’t just the fault of an overactive immune system. A particularly sensitive bundle of neurons stretching from the brain to the lungs might be to blame as well, researchers have found. Drugs that alter these neurons could provide a new way to treat some types of asthma.

- Ever wondered why cats rule the web?
From as young as three years old we are predisposed to appreciate "cuteness" in puppies, kittens and babies, reports Wired, in an article covering an #openaccess study from Frontiers in #Psychology: http://bit.ly/1rolnJp. By means of eye-tracking, the authors assessed children’s preferential attention to images varying only for the degree of ‘Kindchenschema’ and explored participants’ fixation patterns during a cuteness task.

- A cure for the itch?
Treatment with a monoclonal antibody called omalizumab may reduce the symptoms of chronic hives that do not improve with conventional therapies, according to the results of a phase III trial.
More information: http://bit.ly/1yVFHEr

- New from MTM: Assessment of toxicity and biodistribution of recombinant AAV8 vector–mediated immunomodulatory gene therapy in mice with Pompe disease.
More information: http://bit.ly/1piR2Ld
   




  

martes, 22 de julio de 2014

Noticias científicas diarias

- Determinan el impacto que tienen en la función neuronal las alteraciones en la estructura de la cromatina.
Un trabajo en el que han participado investigadores del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) ha determinado por primera vez el impacto de las alteraciones en la estructura tridimensional de la cromatina neuronal (el complejo de ADN y proteínas que protege la información genética y permite que se exprese de forma adecuada) en la función neuronal y el comportamiento animal. El estudio ha sido publicado en la revista Nature Communications.
Más información: 

- Seals 'feed' at offshore wind farms, study shows.
Some seals prefer to forage for food at offshore wind farms, a study suggests.

- What if you could edit the genes of animals in the wild--pests like mosquitoes that carry malaria or invasive plants? What happens when those genes are perpetuated in the population?

- Obesity researchers have been studying ways to turn the body’s energy-storing “bad fat” into energy-burning “good fat.” Now, scientists are reporting that the flip side of that approach could address a huge killer of cancer patients—the muscle wasting, emaciation, and frailty known as cachexia, which kills 30% to 80% of people in the advanced stages of cancer.
More information: 

- How data will transform science?
More information: 

- More than 26 million American adults have chronic kidney disease, it is the 9th leading cause of death in the United States. Chronic kidney disease and osteoporosis: evaluation and management.
More information: http://bit.ly/1manRVi 

- How do the fantastical arch shapes seen in in places like Utah's Arches National Park form? They have long been thought to be sculpted by wind and rain. But a team of researchers now report in Nature Geoscience that the shapes are inherent to the rock itself, and how gravity distributes stress during erosion.
To validate their models, the team exposed 10-centimeter blocks of sandstone from a Czech quarry to erosion by water. The weight distributed itself unevenly, which led to the formation of pillars (one in the first experiment, two in the second) that lasted longer than the surrounding material. The first sequence is a continuous recording of about 90 minutes, accelerated by 200x. The second is accelerated 100x in the first half, followed by two cuts, and the process lasted just over an hour.
More information:
 

- Providing basic medical services, including polio vaccinations, to children in Pakistan’s poorest and most conflict-ridden areas is the key to ending polio worldwide, argues Zulfiqar Bhutta in a Comment piece in Nature.
   

sábado, 19 de julio de 2014

Noticias científicas diarias

- Slicing the wheat genome.
Researchers now have a draft sequence of the bread wheat genome, achieving a major milestone on the road to creating the full reference sequence of one of the world’s most widely grown cereal crops. Their work gives scientists a tool for rapidly locating specific genes on individual wheat chromosomes, a resource that will help them improve wheat breeding to meet ever-higher food demands, accelerate the development of new wheat varieties, and increase the resistance of wheat to environmental stresses.  
More information: http://bit.ly/1mQMqLV

- Expanding health coverage under the Affordable Care Act may significantly improve outcomes for men with prostate cancer who are not yet eligible for Medicare. Access this article to find out more. 
More information: http://bit.ly/1oWMGIV

- This week's Nature Podcast on SoundCloud: Scientists are squeezing diamond to test how matter inside giant planets might behave, a protein leaked by tumours could explain cachexia - and the first boron buckyball could prove useful for storing hydrogen.

- The discovery of a new member of the anomalocaridids — a group of predators that dominated marine ecosystems more than 500 million years ago — with a well-preserved nervous system offers insights into the neuroanatomy of these creatures. 
More information: http://bit.ly/1lb5dNF        

viernes, 18 de julio de 2014

Noticias científicas diarias

- 'Biological pacemaker' tested in lab.
Grow-your-own pacemakers are a step closer to reality, after pioneering experiments in pigs.

- Rosetta heads for space 'rubber duck'.
Europe's mission to land on a comet was always going to be difficult, but the pictures released this week of the giant ice ball illustrate just how daunting the task will be.

- MIT scientists develop sensor-operated robotic fingers.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have come up with a robotic extension to the human hand they said could help with everyday tasks.

- Slicing the wheat genome, optimizing food security, & controlling quantum systems--the new Science is up!

- Preeclampsia is the leading cause of death in pregnant women, but no one knows what causes it or how to prevent it. Now, a team of researchers offers an entirely new take on the disorder: Preeclampsia, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, is marked by misfolded and clumped proteins.
More information:


- Do the genes that increase the risk of developing schizophrenia also increase the propensity to use cannabis? It may be so! Access this paper from Molecular Psychiatry to find out more. 
More information: http://bit.ly/1oOe9fC 

jueves, 17 de julio de 2014

Noticias científicas diarias

- El MNCN expone en Cercedilla “Nombrando especies, las Top10 y el proyecto BHLE”.
La exposición forma parte de las actividades de la VII Semana de la Montaña que organiza el Ayuntamiento de Cercedilla.
Más información: http://www.mncn.csic.es/

- Diamond crushed to Saturn's extremes.
Diamond, nature's hardest material, has been crushed to record extremes of pressure using the "world's biggest laser", US scientists report.

- Stand-off in brain project debate.
After leaders of the billion-euro Human Brain Project hit back at critics, six top neuroscientists have expressed "dismay" at their public response.

- Cell and tissue engineering for liver disease, safer radiation for the lung, reprogramming heart cells into pacemakers, and much more in the 16 July 2014 issue of Science Translational Medicine.
More information: http://scim.ag/WbmgcM

- Record levels of intense ultraviolet radiation have been measured in South America, reports a study from Frontiers in Environmental Science.
The extraordinary UV fluxes, observed in the Bolivian Andes only 1,500 miles from the equator, are far above those normally considered to be harmful to both terrestrial and aquatic life.
More information: 

miércoles, 16 de julio de 2014

Noticias científicas diarias

- Los machos de papamoscas cerrojillo se adaptan a las necesidades de las hembras.
El canal de comunicación entre machos y hembras podría ser una adaptación para garantizar el éxito de la incubación. Investigadores del Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN), del CSIC, han demostrado experimentalmente que, durante el periodo de incubación, los machos de Papamoscas cerrojillo, Ficedula hypoleuca, aumentan el aporte de alimento a las hembras cuando éstas así lo solicitan.
Más información: http://www.mncn.csic.es/

- El Real Jardín Botánico, CSIC participa en la exposición "El último viaje de la fragata Mercedes".
Ha cedido al Museo Arqueológico Nacional varias piezas procedentes de la Expedición Botánica al Virreinato del Perú (1777-1788) que se encuentran en el Herbario del RJB, CSIC. La muestra, que se ha distribuido también en el Museo Naval, se puede visitar hasta el próximo 30 de noviembre.

- Los centros distinguidos con el Severo Ochoa reciben su galardón.
Los directores de tres centros del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) han recibido este martes el galardón de excelencia científica Severo Ochoa que promueve el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad a través de la Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación. La mención pretende promover la investigación de excelencia que se realiza en España en los campos de la ciencia y les asigna un millón de euros anuales durante cuatro años.
Más información: 

- Do friends have similar genomes?
A study from a controversial pair of US researchers claims that we are more genetically similar to our friends than we are to strangers.

- Flying dino had long, feathery tail.
Please welcome the latest member of the growing club of flying dinosaurs, Changyuraptor yangi, pictured here in an artist’s reconstruction. This latest specimen, found in 125-million-year-old sediments in northeastern China, was about 1.2 meters long and is related to a noted group of flying dinosaurs called Microraptor, which has provided important insights into the evolution of powered flight. Like Microraptor, the new specimen had feathers on all four limbs; but its feathery tail, which takes up about 30% of its total length, is the longest known among flying dinosaurs. Changyuraptor, described online today in Nature Communications, weighed 4 kilograms, making it among the heaviest flying dinosaurs known. As for its long tail, the dino probably used it to slow itself down when descending, thus avoiding crash landings.
More information: 

- Scientists call for limit on creating dangerous pathogens.
A group of prominent scientists and others are calling for a limit to experiments that modify influenza and other dangerous viruses to make them spread more easily in mammals.

- Updated: U.S. biosafety panel to come out of hibernation with new members.
On the heels of several mishaps involving deadly pathogens, U.S. officials are reconvening an expert advisory panel that hasn’t met in nearly 2 years. But the government has also dismissed 11 of the original members of the 23-person panel, called the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB).

- Darwin's ship library goes online.
As Charles Darwin cruised the world on the HMS Beagle, he had access to an unusually well-stocked 400-volume library. That collection, which contained the observations of numerous other naturalists and explorers, has now been recreated online.  
More information: 

- Why the Amazon flows backward.
Millions of years ago, rivers flowing westward across what is now northern Brazil reversed their course to flow toward the Atlantic, and the mighty Amazon was born. A previous study suggested that the about-face was triggered by gradual changes in the flow of hot, viscous rock deep beneath the South American continent. But new computer models hint that the U-turn resulted from more familiar geological processes taking place at Earth’s surface—in particular, the persistent erosion, movement, and deposition of sediment wearing away from the growing Andes.

- Backpacking on Mars.
At the height of the summer travel season, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has released its most detailed geological map of Mars.

- Nature Research Briefings: Graphene. It’s free to download.
Nature Research Briefings: Graphene is a collection of recently published Research Highlights, News and Views selected from across the Nature Publishing Group journals. Each edition highlights some of the latest and most exciting developments in this key area of interest. 
More information: http://bit.ly/1n3nwUv

- NEW! Mucosal Immunology presents a Focus on mononuclear phagocyte diversity in mucosal tissues.
The articles and reviews in this web focus are likely to be of central importance not only to our understanding of how mucosal immune responses are initiated and regulated, but also to the development of novel therapies and mucosal vaccines.
More information: http://bit.ly/1oAxnm5

- Astronomers will get a rare close-up look at a pristine comet in October, when Comet Siding Spring squeaks past Mars and a flotilla of spacecraft orbiting the red planet. NASA scientists are finalizing their plans to observe the event.
More information: 

- Advances in thin display technology that may pave the way for a new class of smart devices are detailed in Nature. 
More information: http://bit.ly/1jL3ROR

martes, 15 de julio de 2014

- Amphibians can learn to avoid infectious fungi, can acquire resistance after repeated exposures, and can be immunised with dead fungi, a study in Nature reports. 
More information: http://bit.ly/1jqActG

- Nature Conferences - Immune Homeostasis and Inflammatory Disease: A Herrenhausen Symposium.

- The latest Nature Podcast on SoundCloud: The STAP cell paper retractions, immunising frogs against a deadly fungus, how kangaroos use their tails as a fifth leg - and how scientists change the optical properties of a material by applying electricity.

- Publishing is one of the most ballyhooed metrics of scientific careers. Now, a new study finds that very few scientists—fewer than 1%—manage to publish a paper every year. But this 1% of scientists dominates the research journals, having their names on 41% of all papers (and on 87% of the most highly cited.)

- Insight: Hepatitis C can be cured globally, but at what cost? 
The high costs of drugs for treating Hepatitis C, which kills up to 500,000 people every year -- more than tuberculosis or malaria -- can be significantly decreased with the mass production of generic versions, according to the authors of a Perspective in this week’s issue. New drugs capable of curing 90 percent of patients cost between $60,000 to $85,000 per person for a 12 weeks of treatment. With generics, these costs can be brought down to somewhere between $75 and $170 for the same time span. But current U.S. patents prohibit companies from producing generic versions of the drugs for the next 12 to 15 years.
More information: http://bit.ly/1mnikzy