as they are offset by carbon fixation in photosynthesis. As a result, they do not contribute to increasing the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. mroe via sciencedauly. com Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati i
#Croplands Are Chipping Away at Carbon Stocks? This is all you will find if you live in NE Voice of experience Natures capacity to store carbon,
the element at the heart of global climate woes, is steadily eroding as the worlds farmers expand croplands at the expense of native ecosystem such as forests.
The tradeoff between agricultural production and maintaining natures carbon reservoirs native trees, plants and their carbon-rich detritus in the soil is becoming more pronounced as more and more of the worlds natural ecosystems succumb to the plow.
The problem, experts say, is most acute in the tropics, where expanding agriculture often comes at the expense of the tropical forests that act as massive carbon sinks because of their rich diversity and abundance of plant life.
The seriousness of the problem is documented in the most comprehensive and fine-grained analysis of the worlds existing carbon stocks and global crop yields.
The study is published online this in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) by a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Minnesota, Stanford university, Arizona State university and The Nature Conservancy.
and agricultural productivity in the tropics. oewe analyzed the tradeoffs between carbon storage and crop production at a level of detail that has never been possible before,
gases per unit of food produced. Compared to the worlds temperate regions, the tropics release nearly twice as much carbon to the atmosphere for each unit of land cleared,
explains Paul C. West, a UW-Madison graduate student and the lead author of the new study. oetropical forests store a tremendous amount of carbon,
and when a forest is cleared, not only do you lose more carbon, but crop yields are not nearly as high as they are in temperate areas. oethis creates a kind of double whammy for a lot of tropical agriculture:
we have to clear carbon-rich ecosystems to create tropical croplands, and unfortunately they often have lower yields than temperate systems,
says Jonathan Foley, director of the University of Minnesotas Institute on the Environment and a co-author on the study. oein terms of balancing the needs of food production
carbon stocks are diminished by as much as 75 tons. Such attrition, say West and his colleagues, makes a strong case for intensifying agriculture on already-converted land instead of putting new fields into production. oeone path is to expand agricultural land,
protein is available in the form of ping (Cambodian for tarantula). The custom of eating these lovelies started during a time of widespread food shortage back in the 1970s,
this dish is considered to be high in protein and an aphrodisiac.¢¢Tuna fish Eyes The fatty, jellylike tissue around the eyeballs of a tuna fish is considered to be a great delicacy in Japan that costs about US $1.
¢Rooster Testicles In Taiwan, rooster testicles are considered a good source of protein and they are
¢Deep Fried Insects Topping off the list of specialty foods is this protein-rich delicacy from Thailand,
A new study has revealed that naturally occurring chemicals found in the skin of the nut boost the immune systems response to such infections.
but they believe it could be due to compounds known as polyphenols. It is thought they increase the sensitivity of white blood cells known as helper T cells,
natural molecules produced by the sheeps immune systems to fend off infections such as influenza or those caused by parasitic worms.
Martin said. oethese conditions are great to get at the details of how hosts are dealing with parasites at the molecular and cellular level,
Researchers have discovered that the fruit is rich in compounds that widen blood vessels -and may cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
But watermelon is an edible source of L-citrulline-a compound vital in the production of nitric oxide,
a gas that widens blood vessels. Researchers in the U s. gave a group of volunteers a daily dose of 6g,
Both varieties are rich in vitamins A, B6 and C and high in fibre. Watermelon is also a good source of potassium,
Dr. Bromenshenks team at the University of Montana and Montana State university in Bozeman, working with the Armys Edgewood Chemical Biological Center northeast of Baltimore, said in their jointly written paper that the virus-fungus
using a new software system developed by the military for analyzing proteins, uncovered a new DNA-based virus,
The Army software system an advance itself in the growing field of protein research or proteomics is designed to test
The system searches out the unique proteins in a sample, then identifies a virus or other microscopic life form based on the proteins it is known to contain.
The power of that idea in military or bee defense is immense, researchers say, in that it allows them to use
or more specifically, to extracting bee proteins. oeim guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda,
the total number of ingredients is small and devoid of unpronounceable chemicals, the fiber content is at least 2 grams per 1-ounce serving
but that Vitamin d has other health benefits besides preventing skin cancer. Researchers from Ben-Gurion University (Israel), the University of Leipzig (Germany),
and Harvard university (U s.)investigated the controversial role of daily calcium intake and serum Vitamin d concentrations on weight loss.
They followed 322 participants who were on low fat, low carbohydrates, or Mediterranean diets for two years.
Vitamin d levels in milk, studied independently, showed that the skin cancer fighter also helped contribute to weight loss.
Beyond weight loss, research shows that Vitamin d may also protect against diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.
Dairy calcium intake, serum Vitamin d, and successful weight loss, is published online (previous to print) in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The imoves small city design offers a modern, high-tech vibe as well as a greener alternative to gas powered cars.
corn sugar will continue to plummet. LINK Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati d
#Bras Used To Help Support Massive Melons Vine breaking galia melons now supported with bra power Fruity farmer Rowie Meers has found the perfect way to support her giant melons using old bras.
#First-Ever Carbon Map Shows Global Warming in Perus Amazon Image shows an area of road building and development adjacent to primary forest in red tones,
You can see the effects of global warming in a new high-resolution map that shows carbon locked up in tropical forest vegetation
or REDD, initiative could create financial incentives to reduce carbon emissions from forest destruction and overuse,
high-resolution methods to keep track of the carbon. Scientists say the map, from the study of an area the size of Switzerland, is the breakthrough that could make REDD work.
in cooperation with the World Wildlife Fund and the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment. oewhat were showing here for the first time is an ability to not only map the carbon that is in the forest,
Every few days sanitize your cutting boards with a solution of one tablespoon bleach in one gallon of water.
and Nutrition Than Conventional According to a New Study Organic strawberries In the tug of war over whether organic farming is really better than conventional chemical-laden farming,
In coming to that conclusion, the scientists analyzed 31 chemical and biological soil properties soil DNA,
as well as the taste, nutrition and quality of three strawberry varieties on 13 organic farms and 13 chemical farms in California, where 90%of the US strawberry crop is grown.
The organic strawberries had significantly higher antioxidant activity and concentrations of ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds.
Organic soils also were superior in carbon sequestration, microbial biomass, enzyme activity, and micronutrients. Via Treehugger Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati r
which mop up harmful molecules, can help protect arteries and prevent the DNA damage that leads to cancer.
and more fibre and Vitamin e antioxidants. If berries are used to boost health, why not black rice and black rice bran?
because it has higher levels of healthy Vitamin e compounds and antioxidants. But according to Dr Xus team, varieties of rice that are black
The scientists presented their findings today at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.
consumers and the environment and not the bottom line of corporations such as Monsanto. This could be a major headache for sugar beet growers and food producers.
Sagers and her team found two varieties of transgenic canola in the wild one modified to be resistant to Monsantos Roundup herbicide (glyphosate),
and tested for the presence of proteins that could give it resistance to either of the herbicides.
Tom Nickson, head of environmental policy at Monsanto in St louis, Missouri, told Nature, oethose familiar with canola know that these plants are readily found on roadsides and in areas near farmers fields.
000 Factories to Meet Their Energy-efficiency Goals Coal has made China the worlds largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Chinas energy consumption rose so sharply last winter that it produced the biggest surge ever of greenhouse gases by a single country.
China passed the United states as the worlds largest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2006. That milestone came earlier because of Chinas heavy reliance on coal,
an especially dirty fossil fuel in terms of emission of gases contributing to global climate change. In addition to the energy-efficiency objective in the current five-year plan
a plan announced by President Hu Jintao late last year called for China to reduce its carbon emissions per unit of economic output by 40 to 45 percent by 2020,
Carbon emissions are a measurement of a countrys man-made emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
Even if China meets its energy-efficiency goal this year and its carbon goal by 2020, its total carbon emissions are still on track to rise steeply in the next decade, according to forecasts by the International Energy Agency.
That is because of factors including rapid growth in the Chinese economy growing car ownership and rising ownership of household appliances.
they could easily gobble up some extra protein in the form of insects that happen to get in their way.
they could easily gobble up some extra protein in the form of insects that happen to get in their way.
It turned out it wasnt carbon dioxide or other known chemical ingredients found on mammalian breath. Only when the controlled airstream was both warm and humid did it lead to impressive dropping rates of 87 percent in a room with otherwise low humidity Inbar said that the aphids oeelegant solution to the problem of incidental
and generates 20%of all the greenhouse gases driving global warming. As a result, the United nations and senior figures want to reduce the amount of meat we eat
Grasshoppers The advantages of this diet include insects high levels of protein, vitamin and mineral content.
shows that farming insects produces far less greenhouse gas than livestock. Breeding commonly eaten insects such as locusts,
The insects also produce 300 times less nitrous oxide, also a warming gas and much less ammonia, a pollutant produced by pig and poultry farming.
insects convert plant matter into protein extremely efficiently, Van Huis says. In addition, he argues, the health risks are lower.
Mr Oppenheimer, a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the findings drew attention to oethe need to grapple with greenhouse gases.
Twelve year old Emma Teitgen thought the chemistry book her teacher recommended would make perfect bedside reading.
The 118 chemical elements, from hydrogen to ununoctium, came alive in vivid images that could be rotated with a swipe of the finger.
Multimedia could be a catalyst for spawning more reading. Vook does not disclose information about its finances or its payments to authors.
because the protein was easy to study. The study began when Freeman and his colleagues used the UK Science Research Councils supercomputer called HECTOR (High End Computing Terascale Resource),
What they found was called a protein ovocledidin-17 (OC-17), that exists only in a chickens ovaries
The protein acts as an ongoing builder that pieces microscopic parts of the shell together by converting calcium carbonate into calcite crystals.
The shell would not exist without this protein, which only exists in chickens, so the end result is that the chicken came first.
The protein was discovered before this research project, but HECTOR made it easier for the researchers to observe the process oein microscopic detail,
thus understand the proteins significance in the eggshell-making procedure. So what does this mean for those who always thought the egg came first?
47 packs of biscuits Fat: 13. 9g per 100g=812g fat per year Sugars: 42. 5g per 100g=2, 482g sugar per year Calories:
454 per 100g 26,514 calories per year Buns, cakes and pastries: The average child eats 8, 030g a year Equal to:
54 packs of Cadbury Mini Rolls Fat: 22. 7g per 100g=1, 823g per year Sugars:
256 cream cheese triangles Fat: 19. 5g per 100g=854g per year Sugars: 5. 3g per 100g=232g per year Calories:
6 tubs Fat: 4g per 100ml=264g per year Sugars: 9. 9g per 100ml=654g per year Calories:
3 blocks of butter Fat: 80. 9g per 100g=591g per year Sugars: 0. 6g per 100g=4. 4g per year Calories:
14 packs of bacon Fat: 19. 8g per 100g=650g per year Sugars: 0g Calories: 245 per 100g 8, 048 per year 8, 048 calories per year Coated chicken:
13 bags breaded dinosaurs Fat: 17. 8g per 100g=650g per year Sugars: 1. 7g per 100g=62g per year Calories:
17 hamburgers Fat: 8g per 100g=146g per year Sugars: 6g per 100g=110g per year Calories:
Fat: 3. 6g per 100ml=2, 916g per year Sugars: 4. 7g per 100ml=3, 807g per year Calories:
Fat: 1. 6g per 100ml=1, 296g per year Sugars: 5g per 100ml=4, 050g per year Calories:
Fat: 0. 1g per 100ml=8. 1g per year Sugars: 5g per 100ml=4, 050g per year Calories:
600 cocktail sausages Fat: 19. 5g per 100g=1, 139g per year Sugars: 1. 2g per 100g=70g per year Calories:
14 steak and kidney pies Fat: 10g per 100g=292g per year Sugars: 0. 2g per 100g=6g per year Calories:
130 fish fingers Fat: 8. 2g per 100g=299g per year Sugars: 1. 1g per 100g=40g per year Calories:
8 bags of oven chips Fat: 5. 4g per 100g=808g per year Sugars: 0. 8g per 100g=120g per year Calories:
3. 5 bags of sugar Fat: 0g Calories: 400 per 100g 7, 300 calories per year Sugar confectionery The average child eats 4, 015g a year Equal to:
21 bags of jelly sweets Fat: 0. 2g per 100g=8g per year Sugars: 63. 4g per 100g=2, 546g per year Calories:
52 chocolate bars Fat: 17.4 per 100g=572g per year Sugars: 59g per 100g=1, 938g per year Calories:
32 litres Fat: 0g Sugars: 10. 4g per 100ml=3, 328g per year Calories: 46 per 100ml 14,720 calories per year Soft drinks (not diet) The average child drinks 54, 385g a year Equal to:
55 litres Fat: 0g Sugars: 10. 6g per 100ml=5, 830g per year Calories: 41 per 100ml 22,550 calories per year Breakfast cereals (not wholegrain or high fibre) The average child eats 3, 650g a year Equal to:
7 boxes Fat: 2. 5g per 100g=91. 25g per year Sugars: 35g per 100g=1, 278g per year Calories:
13 boxes Fat: 2g per 100g=131g per year Sugars: 22g per 100g=1, 445g per year Calories:
which contain Vitamin c, can be problematic because too much Vitamin c can harm your stomach. The beverage makers say on their Web sites that the levels they recommend are safe.
Doctors say there is no way to know, and that consumers should confer with their physicians before drinking a bottle which typically costs several dollars.
oeto the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that characterizes molecular mechanisms for improved mixed-pentose utilization obtained by evolutionary engineering of a recombinant S. cerevisiae strain.
Because the soil contains such components as oxidized Iron, etc kind of metallic minerals. after a long period of oxidation,
resulting in between 65 to 140 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than petrol and diesel,
The soil in developing countries is assumed furthermore often to be carbon-rich and thus a significant emitter of carbon dioxide,
several national economists insist that it may take 50 years for biofuels to repay their carbon footprint strictly due to the indirect soil impact.
and diesel and had a net carbon benefit. However, even the weakest-performing alternative still attained twice the EU standard that biofuels reduce greenhouse gases by at least 35 percent compared with fossil fuels.
Each type of biofuel has different restrictions in production volumes, he added. In order to avoid adverse effects,
tropospheric ozone and particle emissions were included also in the study, as well as emissions from the use of biofuels in light and heavy vehicles.
#Scientists Incorporate Spiders Silk-Spinning Genes Into Goats Goats that produce spider silk protein in their milk could enable researchers to collect large quantities of the silk.
allowing the researchers to harvest the silk protein from the goats milk for a variety of applications.
and other researchers decided to put the spiders dragline silk gene into goats in such a way that the goats would only make the protein in their milk.
three have tested positive for having the silk protein gene. When these transgenic goats have kids
and purify the spider silk protein into oemuch, much higher quantities, Lewis said. Other than their ability to produce the spider silk protein,
the goats do not seem to have any other differences in health, appearance, or behavior compared to goats without the gene,
it also has a high (20-25%)protein content, making it an ideal crop to produce silk protein.
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#Are Cell Phones to Blame for the Disappearance of Honey Bees? Researchers claim they have found the cause of the decline in bees which could be the first step in reversing the decline.
Their article appears in the American Chemical Society journal Accounts of Chemical Research. Bingjian Zhang, Ph d,
. and colleagues note that construction workers in ancient China developed sticky rice mortar about 1,
It soaks out all the grease. 14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great oerazor nick fixers. 15.
#Insurance Coverage Has Become an Economic Catalyst for Rural India A farmer in rural India shows off the insurance tag on his cow Big Rose.
insurance has been an economic catalyst that has allowed farmers such as Debarasu to invest more boldly in new livestock or equipment,
Roundup originally made by Monsanto but now also sold by others under the generic name glyphosate has been little short of a miracle chemical for farmers.
It kills a broad spectrum of weeds, is easy and safe to work with, and breaks down quickly, reducing its environmental impact.
after Monsanto created its brand of Roundup Ready crops that were modified genetically to tolerate the chemical,
That reduced erosion, the runoff of chemicals into waterways and the use of fuel for tractors.
Instead of using harsh chemicals to keep bugs away, try some natural, free solutions Weve previously mentioned how to repel mosquitoes with plants,
#Monsanto Takes Fight To Control Your Food To Supreme court The battle over the non-regulated status of genetically modified crops has reached the US Supreme court. Monsanto has appealed,
Background and implications of the case, after the jump In 2004 Monsanto and their partner Forage Genetics petitioned the USDA for the go-ahead to commercially release Roundup Ready alfalfa.
The court allowed Monsanto to join the suit as a defendant which is how the case arrived at the Supreme court. msnbc reported on the tone of the Supreme court hearing.
when the court delivers its ruling that Monsanto will be back in the genetically modified alfalfa business.
More on Monsanto at Treehugger. comstudy Finds Monsantos GMO Corn Causes Organ Damage in Rodentsthe Fight Over the Future of Food:
Monsanto, GMOS, and How to Feed the Worldmonsanto oeseedless Corn Sold To South african Farmersgermany Bans Planting of Monsanto GM Cornout, Monsanto!
No GMOS in National Wildlife Refuge, Says Federal Judgemonsanto and Michael Pollan Talk about Creating a World That Can Feed Itself
A new study, released in the journal Food Chemistry reveal that corn smut, also called oethe devils corn,
Efforts to curb forest loss around the world as a means of cutting carbon emissions just got a boost:
and is literally in the shadow of Monsanto Auditorium, named after the $11. 8 billion-a-year agricultural giant Monsanto Co..Based in Creve Coeur, Missouri,
the company has accumulated vast wealth and power creating chemicals and genetically altered seeds for farmers worldwide.
But recent findings by Kremer and other agricultural scientists are raising fresh concerns about Monsantos products
and the Washington agencies that oversee them. The same seeds and chemicals spread across millions of acres of U s. farmland could be creating unforeseen problems in the plants and soil, this body of research shows.
Kremer, who works for the U s. Department of agricultures Agricultural research service (ARS), is among a group of scientists who are turning up potential problems with glyphosate,
the key ingredient in Monsantos Roundup and the most widely used weed-killer in the world. oethis could be something quite big.
Metabolism is used a term to describe the various chemical reactions that take place in every cell of the body.
, National Association of Federal Credit unions, STAMATS, Bell canada, American Chemical Society, Times of India, Leaders in Dubai, and many more.
¢Vitamin b2 makes it bright yellow.¢¢Certain blue dyes make it blue-green.¢¢L-dopa makes it dark brown.¢
can be used for desalination. This way, up to 85%of the collected solar energy can be used. In conclusion the Sahara Forest Project works on many levels.
and sequestering substantial quantities of atmospheric carbon in new plant growth and reactivated soils. Surely this is a perfect example of the potential power of human and technological collaboration.
Researchers suggest that certain compounds in bee venom reduce inflammation and pain and a combination of all its ingredients helps the body to release natural healing compounds.
The alternative treatment remains unproven by evidence-based medicine but it has been used to treat other wasting diseases and arthritis. via Arbroath Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati o
and sequester carbon. But first, they have to deal with that pesky little thing called evidence Biochar really is a promising product
and a mixture of hot gases and some liquids. Condense the vapors and collect the liquids and you get liquid fuel
while simultaneously trapping carbon in the soil. The science on the second goal is a little more clear-cut than the first.
Biochar definitely does imprison carbon, and does it better than normal charcoal, said John Bonitz,
The charcoal left behind by a campfire, for instance, is made chemically up of carbon joined to lots and lots of oxygen molecules,
and has lost most of its carbon to burning. Like sorority girls in a slasher film
breaking the chemical bonds and leaving the carbon that does remain to drift back into the atmosphere.
Subtract the oxygen, however, and the carbon molecules get toughorming ring structures that dont easily shatter
and are more resistant to microbial attack, Spokas said. Lab research, done by him and others, suggests that these bonds have the potential to hold fast for anywhere between hundreds to hundreds of thousands of years.
That means less carbon in the atmosphere. Its also good news for anyone whod like to see carbon neutral
or even carbon negative, biofuel production. Of course, thats in a test tube. oetheres a whole suite of caveats that come along with those estimates
because we cant mimic the natural environment in the laboratory, Spokas said. In fact, most of what we know about biochar comes from the lab. Spokas team is one of the first in the United states to start running tests in the (literal) field,
Another tool, isotope ratio analysis, can determine subtle differences between food whether a fish was farmed or wild, for example,
and offers links to companies that offset the carbon cost of your trip. Maravu Plantation Fiji is known best for its beaches,
some 25 to 75 million years earlier than either the fossil record or previous molecular studies suggest. oeif you just looked at the fossil record,
or late Jurassic, said Michael Donoghue of Yale university. oemost molecular divergence times have shown that they might be older than that,
This disconnect between molecular and fossil estimates is not unheard of, the authors explained. oewe see the same kind of discrepancy in other groups too,
is that the molecular methods may be amiss. oeif the angiosperms originated 215 million years ago,
the researchers used a method that allows for variable rates of evolution across the plant family tree. oerates of molecular evolution in plants seem to be correlated with changes in life history,
he explained. oeolder methods assume that rates of molecular evolution dont change too radically from one branch of the evolutionary tree to another.
the problem hasnt entirely disappeared. oeas we develop better molecular methods, people would like it
if the molecular dates reconciled with the fossil record. Then everybody would be said happy Donoghue. oebut
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