Bacterial Toxin Surprises Scientists
...oxic proteins in black widow spider venom and some sea anemone toxins share the same strategy--they punch huge holes in the cell membranes of their victims. Pharmaceutical companies harness this strategy in the potent antifungal medications amphotericin and nystatin. Yet u...Duke Geologists Explore Alternative Way To Measure Ice Age Sea Bottom Temperatures
... with an unambiguous way to reconstruct how bottom sea water temperatures have changed during and between...xygen 16 being taken up by shells formed in warmer sea water. But according to the Science article, some researchers think that ocean temperature changes r......demonstrate that the communities living arounddeep sea vents were chemoautotrophic. By comparing the distinct ratios of two carbon (12C and 13C)two nitrogen (14N and 15N) isotopes, the researchers were able totrace energy flow through the food web from the microbe producersthrough the intermediate grazer...Humble Pocket Gophers Shed Light On The Genetic Fortitude Of Cheetahs
...netically impoverished species, such as California sea otters and elephant seals, may have little variability among their immune systems and thus may be more vulnerable to outbreaks of disease. "Genetic variation is the stuff of evolution," says Sanjayan. "It allows a population to adapt effectively to c...Ocean Sediments Contain Record of Past Vegetation Fires in Africa
...eat distance to land and the regional slope of the sea floor, the charcoal in this core must have been brought there by winds." The charcoal is a mixture of particles from both rainforest and savanna trees, as well as grasslands. Research on modern-day air mass routes for the eastern tropical Atlantic ...Six-Year Drilling Project to Uncover One Million Years of Earth History
... channeled to depths of more than 1,000 feet below sea level by changes in rock porosity, and cold, deep seawater can circulate long distances through porous rocks present at depths of 3,000 feet beneath the surface of the island....Changing Continental Runoff Patterns Could Change Ocean Circulation
...oceans' surface. Natural evaporation in the Tethys sea tended to increase the salinity of the surface water. Circulation in the oceans can be caused by colder water sinking below warmer water or saltier, denser water sinking below less salty water. If runoff stops, new salty areas could form to produ...Antarctic Science Season Gears Up With Searches for Meteorites, Neutrinos, and New Life Forms
...mics of Sea Life The growth and retreat of sea ice around Antarctica is one of the world's great ... vehicle to sample and observe animals beneath the sea ice. The Rougher It Is, The Better They Like It Biologists now agree that archea, or arch...Impact of Meteorites, Drop in Sea Level Caused Mass Extinctions 65 Million Years Ago
...t evidence that other factors, including a drop in sea level prior to the assault by the massive asteroid...ord which Ward has collected -- some 40 species of sea creatures from the Cretaceous period that include clams and squid-like creatures with shells called ...Sea Turtles Have Favorite Oceanic Routes
...earch Unit. "The existence of ocean corridors for sea turtles is important to the development of effecti...s not easy: the pliable, yet oily carapace -- the sea turtle's shell -- made attaching the tethered transmitter difficult. Attached transmitters lasted b...Stronger Evidence That Global Climate Change Can Reduce The Variety Of Life
...ss food resources settling through thewater to the sea floor, ultimately limiting the species that can survive inthe bottom community. During glacial periods, some abyssal species migrateto shallower refuges around the ocean margins, returning to the abyssduring the next warm interglacial. Climate change...Scientists Urge Further Study Of Alarming Coral Reef Decline
...ded intheir paper. Corals, like jellyfish and sea anemones, belong to thephylum Cnidaria. They are tiny animals that use their tentaclesto catch food particles floating in the water. Certain types ofcorals produce calcium carbonate skeletons -- the coral reefs.Once attached to the chalky white skele...Cell-Membrane Proteins Appear To Play Key Role In Squid's Swiftness
... octopus (cephalopods)with a variety of snail-like sea slugs (gastropods), it was found that cephalopodshave more rapid-acting electrical firing systems than their more sluggishmolluskan kin. The adaptation enables the squid's high-speed, jet-propelledswimming behavior and may partly explain the intellig...Fossils Show British Columbia Was Once 2,000 Miles South
Small sea creatures that have lain in pristine condition for eons have given aUniversity of Washington researcher the clearest evidence yet that about 80million years ago a southern landmass began migrating to the north. And whattoday is rainy British Columbia...Limits Of Life On Earth: Are They The Key To Life On Other Planets?
...ronments such as the earth's hydrothermal systems, sea ice and ice sheets, anoxic habitats, hypersaline lakes, high altitude or polar deserts, and human-engineered environments such as those created for industrial processes. Projects involve finding techniques for isolating and culturing microbes found ...UC Geologist "Flip-Flops" On Understanding Of Crinoid Life Style
...ntists were skeptical. Modern day relativessuch as sea stars all live on the ocean bottom in tightly pack...be easier to collectfood if Uintacrinus sat on the sea floor and waved its armsupward into the currents. After two years of comparing Uintacrinus slabs fro...Purdue Researchers Track Oil Spill's Effects On Sea Otters
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Studies on the health of sea otters in Alaska are helping scientists understand...ill in Prince William Sound has had on the Alaskan sea otter population. He's part of a team investigating why the otter population in the spill area has n...Penn State Erie's Sea Grant To Focus On Ecology, Economic Development
... economic development to round outthe staff of the sea grant and to head the studies. EDITORS: Dr. Light may be reached at (814) 898-6160. For other Penn State news, please visit our Home Page on the Web at:http://www.psu.edu/ur/ Also browse this release at EurekAlert!, a comprehensivenews server ...Remote Cloud Observatory Tracks El Niño Changes
... data collected by the observing stationalong with sea surface and air/sea atmospheric temperature readings collectedfrom ocean buoys set out by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agencywill help meteorologists and climatologists recognize the onset of El Niño. The observing stati...Widespread Genus Of Monkeys Gives Up Genealogical Secrets To Columbia Researchers
...acaques furtherindicates that periodic lowering of sea levels allowed the spread and subsequentisolation ... range of conditions, finding ecological niches at sea level and at 12,000feet, from semi-desert to cold mountain forest to low-lying tropical habitats. ...