To avoid doing more harm than good, land trusts must consider market forces when acquiring property
...o more harm than good." Land trusts have invested billions of dollars on private land conservation in recent years, according the authors, particularly The Nature Conservancy, the world's largest land trust, which has spent about $6 billion in the last 50 years to protect more than 16 million acres of privat...Researchers unravel DNA tangles and enzyme seamstresses
...c the DNA mess inside the nucleus with a series of billions of linked and unlinked loops. Their calculations indicated that whether DNA molecules are interlinked is shown by the way they touch each other. Interlinked DNA loops tend to touch in an easily recognizable hook-like way, fitting together perfectly; ...Climate change and the rise of atmospheric oxygen
...rth gave birth to its oxygen-containing atmosphere billions of years ago. By analyzing clues contained in rocks, scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory have found that the initial rise of oxygen (O2) was transitory and that its final emergence may have been linked to volcanoes and cat......ose (sugar) has been remarkably well conserved for billions of years." For higher life forms to evolve, however, additional processes were needed, such as the ability to synthesize, or break down, steroids and alkaloids and those require oxygen. But until about two billion years ago, Earth's atmosphere was m...Biologists estimate the value of services provided by insects
...imate implies that an annual investment of tens of billions of dollars would be justified to maintain service-providing insects, and urge that conservation funding pay specific attention to insects and the role they play in ecosystems....Towards the mechanism of cell respiration
...s a biological "nanomachine" that has evolved over billions of years, and has an efficiency better than 90%. Wikstrm and his colleagues study both the chemical reaction and the proton pump of cytochrome oxidase by biophysical techniques with a time resolution less than one microsecond. In this way it has been...Controversial findings help explain evolution of life
...me. "When the bases of DNA were first being formed billions of years ago, the atmosphere was actually quite hostile," Kong said. "It was a period prior to any protective ozone layer on Earth and the ultraviolet radiation was very strong. So if primordial DNA bases were forced into this vulnerable dark state, ...Lunar rocks suggest meteorite shower
...ncan said. "It resets the time for us to determine billions of years later." Duncan and his colleagues say the intense bombardment ended about 3.85 billion years ago, and there has been a slowly declining pattern of meteorite activity since. Many of the prominent craters found on the moon date back to that e...Developing nations may save the tropical forest
...selling or renting rainforests to help protect the billions of tons of carbon they store, thereby slowing the rapid buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere." The accelerating rise of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is considered a key cause of global warming. According to ...Stem cell study for patients with heart attack damage seeks to regenerate heart muscle
...appropriate environment. One donation can produce billions of MSCs. The cells can be stored for years in a frozen state, ready to be used when they are needed." Adult stem cells are designed by nature to perform tissue repair in a mature adult. It is believed that these cells can be used in patients unrelate...DOE JGI to host Microbial Genomics Workshop for educators
...ors often ask the question: what becomes of those billions of letters of genetic information churning out of the DNA sequencers every month? On April 24-25, in the spirit of both Earth Day and National DNA Day, DOE JGI will host a Microbial Genomics Workshop geared toward revealing the rest of the story--...Neurons find their place in the developing nervous system with the help of a sticky molecule
LA JOLLA The brain, that exquisite network of billions of communicating cells, starts to take form with the genesis of nerve cells. Most newborn nerve cells, also called neurons, must travel from their birthplace to the position they will occupy in the adult brain. Researchers at the Salk Institute for B...DOE JGI finishes 100th microbial genome
...ming myriad biological functions, learned over the billions of years they have inhabited the planet. Those lessons, and how they can be captured to render clean renewable sources of energy and to repair damaged environments, are among the many secrets encoded in their DNA sequence. On May 23, at the general...RNA found in the cellular centrosome of surf clams
..., divide in synch every 30-50 minutes -- providing billions of biochemically identical cells to study. Using a purification technique Palazzo developed at the MBL, the scientists were able to isolate relatively large quantities of clam centrosomes for their research. Palazzo collaborated with Mark Alliegro a...MBL scientists find evidence of RNA in organelle essential to cell division
...vide synchronously every 30-50 minutes - providing billions of biochemically identical cells to study. Using a technique Dr. Palazzo developed at the MBL, the scientists were able to isolate relatively large quantities of clam centrosomes. Skills developed in Dr. Alliegro's laboratory were then used to extr...High-flying satellites give land managers the low-down on cheatgrass
...asive plants such as cheatgrass cost land managers billions of dollars each year and have encroached upon more than 100 million acres in the United States. Known by several names, including downy brome and June grass, cheatgrass is bright green in the late fall and early spring. It turns a rusty red to purple...Dragon Symposium highlights success of projects
...e of natural disaster. In China, flooding has cost billions of Euros, caused many fatalities and displaced millions of people. The flooding that occurred in 2005 of the Xijiang, Hanjiang and Weihe Rivers killed 1 247 people, left 331 missing and caused 14 billion Euros worth of damage. One of the biggest p...International rice industry prepares to gather in India
...owcase the extreme importance of rice to literally billions of people--not just as a food, but also in providing income and employment. Put simply, rice is fundamental to the lives of the world's poor." ...Study supports 'urgent' need for worldwide ban on lead-based paint
...o, it's the fiscally responsible choice to prevent billions of dollars in future health costs and property clean-up costs." ......otal length of fibres could be reduced, by testing billions of different position arrangements. Indeed, wiring lengths could be reduced by up to 50% owing to the fact that neural systems have surprisingly many long-distance connections. Co-researcher Dr Claus Hilgetag, an associate professor with Internati...