A beautiful new species Stenoloba solaris from Chinascientist describe a new striking species of moth from China with an engaging wing pattern.
The new species Stenoloba solaris has inspired its name by the orange circular patch on its wings that resembles the rising sun. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.
or did it win the competition for food? Or does the decline in herring gulls and the increase of lesser black-backed gulls maybe have nothing to do with each other?
From Camphuysen's research it appears that both gull species have benefited from an expanded food offering caused by people.
Herring gulls have learned to tap food in landfills while lesser black-backed gulls in particular were attracted by the fish waste that was put overboard at sea.
and the fishing fleets are shrinking both gull species are finding it more difficult to find food.
when there is barely enough food to be found for the hungry chicks. The fleet is expected to shrink even more in the coming years.
The problem of food shortage will continue to increase as a result but then not only at the weekend.
A strong inland increase of gulls looking for alternative food sources is one of the likely effects.
Camphuysen has equipped also gulls with a GPS data logger so as to be able to see where they look for food.
Who knows did she eat chips there or a kebab roll? She then flew to the north Sea
Rather than finding all of the glowing dust in a doughnut-shaped torus around the black hole as expected the astronomers find that much of it is located above and below the torus.
The central regions of these brilliant powerhouses are ringed by doughnuts of cosmic dust 1 dragged from the surrounding space similar to how water forms a small whirlpool around the plughole of a sink.
It was thought that most of the strong infrared radiation coming from AGN originated in these doughnuts.
#Current global food production trajectory wont meet 2050 needscrop yields worldwide are not increasing quickly enough to support estimated global needs in 2050 according to a study published June 19 in the open access
and provide food security. In the current study researchers assessed agricultural statistics from across the world
and food production trajectories are at substantial odds Ray says for example in Guatemala where the corn-dependent population is growing at the same time corn productivity is declining.
They note that additional strategies such as reducing food waste and changing to plant-based diets can also help reduce the large estimates for increased global demand for food.
Clearly the world faces a looming agricultural crisis with yield increases insufficient to keep up with projected demands says Ione director Jon Foley a co-author on the study.
#Dietary fructose causes liver damage in animal modelthe role of dietary fructose in the development of obesity and fatty liver diseases remains controversial with previous studies indicating that the problems resulted from fructose and a diet
However a new study conducted in an animal model at Wake Forest Baptist Medical center showed that fructose rapidly caused liver damage even without weight gain.
The researchers found that over the six-week study period liver damage more than doubled in the animals fed a high-fructose diet as compared to those in the control group.
The study is published in the June 19 online edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
In a previous trial which is referenced in the current journal article Kavanagh's team studied monkeys who were allowed to eat as much as they wanted of low-fat food with added fructose for seven years as compared to a control group fed a low-fructose low-fat diet for the same time period.
what the liver damage. Was it because the animals got fat from eating too much or was it something else?
To answer that question this study was designed to prevent weight gain. Ten middle-aged normal weight monkeys who had eaten never fructose were divided into two groups based on comparable body shapes and waist circumference.
Over six weeks one group was fed a calorie-controlled diet consisting of 24 percent fructose
while the control group was fed a calorie-controlled diet with only a negligible amount of fructose approximately 0. 5 percent.
Both diets had the same amount of fat carbohydrate and protein but the sources were said different Kavanagh.
The high-fructose group's diet was made from flour butter pork fat eggs and fructose (the main ingredient in corn syrup) similar to
while the control group's diet was made from healthy complex carbohydrates and soy protein. Every week the research team weighed both groups
and measured their waist circumference then adjusted the amount of food provided to prevent weight gain.
At the end of the study the researchers measured biomarkers of liver damage through blood samples and examined what type of bacteria was in the intestine through fecal samples and intestinal biopsies.
What surprised us the most was how quickly the liver was affected and how extensive the damage was especially without weight gain as a factor Kavanagh said.
but that they were migrating to the liver more rapidly and causing damage there. It appears that something about the high fructose levels was causing the intestines to be less protective than normal
Fructose and dextrose are simple sugars found naturally in plants. We studied fructose because it is the most commonly added sugar in the American diet
but based on our study findings we can't say conclusively that fructose caused the liver damage Kavanagh said.
What we can say is added that high sugars caused bacteria to exit the intestines go into the blood stream
and damage the liver. The liver damage began even in the absence of weight gain.
This could have clinical implications because most doctors and scientists have thought that it was the fat in
and around tissues in the body that caused the health problems. The Wake Forest Baptist team plans to begin a new study using the same controls but testing for both fructose and dextrose over a longer time frame.
#New canary seed is ideal for gluten-free diets in celiac diseasea new variety of canary seeds bred specifically for human consumption qualifies as a gluten-free cereal that would be ideal for people with celiac disease (CD) scientists
have confirmed in a study published in ACS'Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Joyce Irene Boye and colleagues point out that at least 3 million people in the United states alone have CD.
They develop gastrointestinal and other symptoms from eating wheat barley rye and other grains that contain gluten-related proteins.
Boye's team sought to expand dietary options for CD --which now include non-gluten-containing cereals like corn rice teff quinoa millet buckwheat and sorghum.
They describe research on a new variety of hairless or glabrous canary seed which lacks the tiny hairs of the seed traditionally produced as food for caged birds.
Those hairs made canary seed inedible for humans. It verified that canary seed is gluten-free. Boye also noted that canary seeds have more protein than other common cereals are rich in other nutrients
and are suitable for making flour that can be used in bread cookies cakes and other products.
The authors acknowledge funding from the Canaryseed Development Commission of Saskatchewan. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by American Chemical Society.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#The discerning fruit fly: Linking brain-cell activity and behavior in smell recognitionbehind the common expression you can't compare apples to oranges lies a fundamental question of neuroscience:
How does the brain recognize that apples and oranges are different? A group of neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has published new research that provides some answers.
This means for instance that if you've learned that oranges are good the smell of a tangerine will also get you thinking about food says Robert Campbell a postdoctoral researcher in the Turner lab
The deposition of hygroscopic salts is capable of decreasing the drought tolerance of trees co-author Shyam Pariyar says.
Using an electron microscope the scientists observed the salts becoming deliquescent and moving into the stomata of the needles.
The deliquescent salts form very thin liquid connections between the surface and interior of the needle and water is removed from the needles by these wick-like structures.
Simultaneously the deliquescent salts make wax appear degraded. This newly described mechanism was considered not in earlier explanations of Central European forest decline states Dr. Burkhardt.
and spiders--herbivores and predators in the study's food chain--and how it affects the movement of carbon through a grassland ecosystem.
Carbon the basic building block of all organic tissue moves through the food chain at varying speeds depending on
The researchers manipulated the food chains of grassland ecosystem to see how the levels of carbon would change over time.
some that contained only native grasses and herbs others that had plants and an herbivore grasshopper and some others that had plants and herbivores along with a carnivore spider species--all three tiers of the food chain.
In addition a form of traceable carbon dioxide was injected into sample cages covered with Plexiglas which allowed the team to track the carbon levels by periodically taking leaf root and dead animal samples.
The grasshoppers also shifted towards eating more herbs instead of grass under fearful scenarios. At the same time the grasses stored more carbon in their roots in a response to being disturbed at low levels
In cases where only herbivores were present the plants stored less carbon overall likely due to the more intense eating habits of the herbivores that put pressure on plants to reduce their storage
and dragonflies and are important members of the food chain right up to fish and birds. Biological diversity in such aquatic environments can only be sustained by them
and postnatal diet may interact to modulate inflammatory mechanisms in fat deposits. Both obese groups had hyperinsulinemia
While these fungus gardens are a source of food and shelter for the ants for researchers they are potential models for better biofuel production.
Aylward is the lead author of a study identifying new fungal enzymes that could help break down cellulosic--or non-food--biomass for processing to fuel.
In a symbiotic relationship L. gongylophorous provides food for the leaf-cutter ant Atta cephalotes by developing fruiting bodies rich in fats amino acids and other nutrients.
To fuel production of these fruiting bodies the fungus needs sugar which comes in the form of long cellulose molecules packed inside the leaf clippings the ants deliver.
To get at the sugars the fungus produces enzymes that break the cellulose apart into glucose subunits.
Accessing and deconstructing cellulose is also the goal of GLBRC researchers who want to ferment the stored sugars to ethanol and other advanced biofuels.
Because cigarettes have been regulated by the U s. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 2009 many of the more restrictive policies are in effect nationally so Grucza's team believes future smoking rates among adults may decline at least partly as a result of those policies.
and girls often have an easier time getting alcohol or tobacco than underage men Grucza said.
In the new experiments the Rice lab mixed graphene nanoribbons and tin oxide particles about 10 nanometers wide in a slurry with a cellulose gum binder and a bit of water spread it on a current collector
The EBI is working on how to get the sugars out of plants and how to turn those to alcohols.
It is a very tough thing to do. It's typically been tough to break down the biomass in woody plants to make it useful for alcohol production.
Our plan is to be able to take anything we grow and convert it into a drop in fuel.
Mice that were fed cocoa with a high-fat diet experienced less obesity-related inflammation than mice fed the same high-fat diet without the supplement said Joshua Lambert associate professor of food science.
and diabetes in the mice that were fed the cocoa supplement were much lower than the mice that were fed the high-fat diet without the cocoa powder
and almost identical to the ones found that were fed a low-fat diet in the control group.
The cocoa powder supplement also reduced the levels of liver triglycerides in mice by a little more than 32 percent according to Lambert who worked with Yeyi Gu graduate student in food science and Shan Yu a graduate student in physiology.
but significant drop in the rate of body weight gain according to the researchers who reported their findings in the online version of the European Journal of Nutrition.
Lambert said that another theory is that excess fat in the diet interferes with the body's ability to keep a bacterial component called endotoxin from entering the bloodstream through gaps between cells in the digestive system--gut barrier function
Cocoa although commonly consumed in chocolate actually has low-calorie content low-fat content and high-fiber content.
Most obesity researchers tend to steer clear of chocolate because it is high in fat high in sugar
and low in sugar. We looked at cocoa because it contains a lot of polyphenolic compounds so it is analogous to things like green tea and wine
which researchers have been studying for some of their health benefits. Lambert said he expects future research will be conducted to better identify why the cocoa powder is effective in treating inflammation as well as determine
For example Ecker invited the expertise of Carnegie mellon University computer scientist Ziv Bar-Joseph transcriptional expert Timothy Hughes from the University of Toronto as well as computational biologist Trey Ideker
and mustard ethylene functions as a key hormone in all plants he adds. The researchers looked at
To answer that question researchers from the USDA Agricultural research service compared nutrient and sediment loss from no-till conventional tillage and reduced-input rotation watersheds in a study published online today in Soil science Society of America Journal.
In the current study researchers provided most of the nutrients to crops in the reduced-input watersheds by planting red clover and spreading manure instead of fertilizers.
Whitebark pine seeds are an essential food source for many animals in mountain habitats. The Clark's nutcracker a mountain bird can store up to 100000 seeds in underground caches each year.
and humans as hungry bears look for food in campgrounds says Crone. Now concerns about viability of whitebark pine populations are one of the main reasons grizzly bears in Yellowstone national park are listed still as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
An international team of scientists has developed crop models to better forecast food production to feed a growing population--projected to reach 9 billion by mid-century--in the face of climate change.
Quantifying uncertainties is an important step to build confidence in future yield forecasts produced by crop models said Basso with MSU's geological sciences department and Kellogg Biological Station.
and create policies to improve food security and feed more people he added. Basso part of MSU's Global Water Initiative and his team of researchers developed the System Approach for Land-use Sustainability model.
and hopefully with less poverty and enough food for the planet Basso said. Story Source:
The authors including Fridolin Krausmann Karl-Heinz Erb Simone Gingrich Helmut Haberl Veronika Gaube Christian Lauk
The production of food and other products has increased at a much faster rate than HANPP.
Furthermore efficiency of conversion processes from biomass to products such as food or fibre has grown. However as the authors of the study point out there are major drawbacks:
The utilization of vast land areas for the production of bioenergy can have a strong negative impact on food safety forest resources and biodiversity.
Imported ancient Etruscan amphoras and a limestone press platform discovered at the ancient port site of Lattara in southern France have provided the earliest known biomolecular archaeological evidence of grape wine and winemaking
Dr. Patrick Mcgovern Director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and author of Ancient Wine:
and following the trail of the Eurasian grapevine (Vitis vinifera) in the wild and its domestication by humans this confirmation of the earliest evidence of viniculture in France is a key step in understanding the ongoing development of what he calls the wine culture of the world
France's rise to world prominence in the wine culture has been documented well especially since the 12th century when the Cistercian monks determined by trial-and-error that Chardonnay
and Pinot noir were the best cultivars to grow in Burgundy Dr. Mcgovern noted. What we haven't had is clear chemical evidence combined with botanical and archaeological data showing how wine was introduced into France
and initiated a native industry. Now we know that the ancient Etruscans lured the Gauls into the Mediterranean wine culture by importing wine into southern France.
This built up a demand that could only be met by establishing a native industry likely done by transplanting the domesticated vine from Italy and enlisting the requisite winemaking expertise from the Etruscans.
Combined Archaeological Chemical and Archaeobotanical Evidence Corroborate Discoveryat the site of Lattara merchant quarters inside a walled settlement circa 525-475 BCE held numerous Etruscan
and showed signs of residue on their interior bases where precipitates of liquids such as wine collect.
and one of the most sensitive techniques now available used here for the first time to analyze ancient wine
and wine in the middle East and Mediterranean) as well as compounds deriving from pine tree resin. Herbal additives to the wine were identified also including rosemary basil and/or thyme
which are native to central Italy where the wine was made likely. Alcoholic beverages in which resinous and herbal compounds are more easily put into solution were the principle medications of antiquity.
Nearby an ancient pressing platform made of limestone and dated circa 425 BCE was discovered. Its function had previously been uncertain.
Tartaric acid/tartrate was detected in the limestone demonstrating that the installation was indeed a winepress. Masses of several thousand domesticated grape seeds pedicels and even skin excavated from an earlier context near the press further attest to its use for crushing transplanted domesticated grapes and local wine production.
Olives were extremely rare in the archaeobotanical corpus at Lattara until Roman times. This is the first clear evidence of winemaking on French soil.
and expansion of a worldwide wine culture--one that has known its earliest roots in the ancient Near east circa 7000-6000 BCE with chemical evidence for the earliest wine at the site of Hajji Firiz in what is now northern
and drinking wine were all early indicators of a nascent wine culture. Viniculture--viticulture and winemaking--gradually expanded throughout the Near east.
Dr. Mcgovern observes a common pattern for the spreading of the new wine culture: First entice the rulers who could afford to import
and ostentatiously consume wine. Next foreign specialists are commissioned to transplant vines and establish local industries he noted.
Over time wine spreads to the larger population and is integrated into social and religious life.
Wine was imported first into Egypt from the Levant by the earliest rulers there forerunners of the pharaohs in Dynasty 0 (circa 3150 BCE.
As the earliest merchant seafarers the Canaanites were also able to take the wine culture out across the Mediterranean sea.
Biomolecular archaeological evidence attests to a locally produced resinated wine on the island of Crete by 2200 BCE.
As the larger Greek world was drawn into the wine culture Mcgovern noted the stage was set for commercial maritime enterprises in the western Mediterranean.
The wine culture continued to take root in foreign soil --and the story continues today. Where wine went so other cultural elements eventually followed--including technologies of all kinds
and social and religious customs--even where another fermented beverage made from different natural products had held long sway.
In the case of Celtic Europe grape wine displaced a hybrid drink of honey wheat/barley and native wild fruits (e g. lingonberry and apple) and herbs (such as bog myrtle yarrow and heather.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Pennsylvania. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
New studies spearheaded by the University of Utah show that human ancestors expanded their menu 3. 5 million years ago adding tropical grasses and sedges to an apelike diet and setting the stage for our modern diet
of grains grasses and meat and dairy from grazing animals. In four new studies of carbon isotopes in fossilized tooth enamel from scores of human ancestors and baboons in Africa from 4 million to 10000 years ago a team of two dozen researchers found a surprise
For a long time primates stuck by the old restaurants--leaves and fruits--and by 3. 5 million years ago they started exploring new diet possibilities--tropical grasses
Tropical grasses provided a new set of restaurants. We see an increasing reliance on this new resource by human ancestors that most primates still don't use today.
when human ancestors began getting much of their grass by eating grass-eating insects or meat from grazing animals.
Direct evidence of human ancestors scavenging meat doesn't appear until 2. 5 million years ago and definitive evidence of hunting dates to only about 500000 years ago.
With the new findings we know much better what they were eating but mystery does remain says Cerling a distinguished professor of geology and geophysics and biology.
Why Our Ancestor's Diets Matterthe earliest human ancestor to consume substantial amounts of grassy foods from dry more open savannas may signal a major and ecological and adaptive divergence from the last common ancestor we shared with African great apes
He notes that changes in diet have been linked to both larger brain size and the advent of upright walking in human ancestors roughly 4 million years ago.
If diet has anything to do with the evolution of larger brain size and intelligence then we are considering a diet that is very different than we were thinking about 15 years ago
when it was believed human ancestors ate mostly leaves and fruits Cerling says. How the Studies Were performed:
Cerling also wrote a study about baboon diets. Sponheimer wrote a fourth study summarizing the other three.
The method of determining ancient creatures'diets from carbon isotope data is less than 20 years old
Animals eating C4 and CAM plants have enriched amounts of carbon-13. C3 plants include trees bushes and shrubs and their leaves and fruits;
cool-season grasses and grains such as timothy alfalfa wheat oats barley and rice; soybeans; non-grassy herbs and forbs.
C4 plants are warm-season or tropical grasses and sedges and their seeds leaves or storage organs like roots and tubers.
Well-known sedges include water chestnut papyrus and sawgrass. C4 plants are common in African savannas and deserts.
C4 grasses include Bermuda grass and sorghum. C4 grains include corn and millet. CAM plants include tropical succulent plants such as cactus salt bush and agave.
which largely comes from corn sorghum and meat animals fed on C4 grasses and grains Cerling says.
The highest human C3 diets today are found in Northern europe where only C3 cool-season grasses grow so meat animals there graze them not C4 tropical grasses.
The highest C4 diets likely are in Central america because of the heavily corn-based diet. If early humans ate grass-eating insects
or large grazing animals like zebras wildebeest and buffalo it also would appear they ate C4 grasses.
Small mammals such as hyrax rabbits and rodents would have added C3 and C4 signals to the teeth of human ancestors.
A Dietary History of Human Ancestors and Relativeshumans: The Only Surviving Primates with a C4 Grass Dietcerling's second new study shows that
and 2. 5 million years ago contradicting previous claims that they ate forest foods. Later Theropithecus oswaldi ate a 75 percent grass diet by 2 million years ago and a 100 percent grass diet by 1 million years ago.
Both species went extinct perhaps due to competition from hooved grazing animals. Modern Theropithecus gelada baboons live in Ethiopia's highlands where they eat only C3 cool-season grasses.
Cerling notes that primate tropical grass-eaters--Theropithecus baboons and Paranthropus human relatives--went extinct
and very flat forests laying eggs in sandy streambeds. Scientists only found this species in forest areas
#Female moths use olfactory signals to choose the best egg-laying sitesfunctional calcium imaging in the antennal lobes of a female Manduca sexta moth:
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Jena Germany discovered that the ability of Manduca sexta moths to recognize changes in the profile of volatile compounds released by plants being attacked by Manduca caterpillars allows them to lay their eggs on plants that are less likely
Attracting the enemies of the herbivoresthe hawkmoth Manduca sexta lays its eggs on various plants including tobacco and Sacred Datura plants (Datura wrightii.
Once the eggs have hatched into caterpillars they start eating the leaves of their host plant
In an effort to defend itself the host plant releases green-leaf volatiles to attract various species of Geocoris predatory bugs that eat insect eggs and tiny larvae.
This alerts the moths to the fact that Geocoris bugs are likely to predate eggs
and caterpillars on the plant and as a consequence the moths lay their eggs on unattacked plants.
Hereby they minimize the risk of newly laid eggs being eaten by the predators. Another positive effect is that the competition for resources with larvae that already feed on a plant is reduced.
An artificial application of (Z)- 3-or (E)- 2-hexenol (E)- 2-hexanal or 1-hexanol to potato plants lead to a disoriented behavior observed in egg-laying potato beetles.
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