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Trees can sense their own weight says new study

Elina Raukko
University of Helsinki
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 17:00 UTC
Stem of Birch Tree
© MATTHIEU BOURDON, JUAN ALONSO-SERRA
Secondary growth inside a stem of birch showing cellulose in magenta and pectin rich tissues in green.
Trees are known for their great, but not unlimited, trunk height and diameter. They have evolved to develop a heavy above-ground biomass, but this integral feature poses a challenge to the trunk's stability. Despite its evident importance, the principle by which plant stems respond to their increasing weight remains unknown. To address this question, a theory of "vertical proprioception", a mechanism that balances the radial growth of the stem with the weight increase, has been developed.

To study the theory, researchers at the University of Helsinki, University of Cambridge and Natural Resources Institute Finland manipulated the aerial weight of downy birch (Betula pubescens). The authors observed that the tree was indeed able to adjust its stem radial growth in response to the added weight, and the strength of this response varied along the length of the stem. Furthermore, a degree of lateral stem movement was required for this response: static trees did not grow as thick as free-moving ones.

"Even though the idea of plants sensing their own weight and thickening their stem accordingly sounds intuitive, our study is the first one to address this question in trees", says Juan Alonso-Serra from the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences.
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Cloud Precipitation

Climate change: Worst emissions scenario 'exceedingly unlikely'

Matt McGrath
BBC
Wed, 29 Jan 2020 00:01 UTC
wind farm windmills
© Getty Images
The falling cost of renewable energy is making the most extreme emissions scenario much less likely.
The worst-case scenario for emissions of CO2 this century is no longer plausible, say researchers.

Referred to as "business as usual", the scenario assumes a 500% increase in the use of coal, which is now considered unlikely.

Climate models suggest that this level of carbon could see warming of up to 6°C by 2100, with severe impacts.

Researchers say that on current trends, a rise in temperatures of around 3°C is far more likely.

Comment: Again, what we're seeing in the above piece is that even what the AGW scientists are saying does not line up with what the activists are using to push their agenda. Instead of treating the 'worst-case-scenario' as just that, the eco-terrorists have taken it as the inevitable unless radical change is implemented immediately. It would be nice if Greta was speaking to these guys instead of the Hollywood stars and radical activists she's been hanging around (to hope for more would probably be too much to ask). At least that might take a bit of the fundie wind out of her sails.

See also:

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Arrow Up

Bubbling carbon dioxide vent discovered on the seafloor off the Philippines

Yasemin Saplakoglu
Livescience
Tue, 28 Jan 2020 07:35 UTC
A scientist collects gas samples at the newly discovered Soda Springs in the Philippines
© University of Texas Jackson School of Geosciences
A scientist collects gas samples at the newly discovered Soda Springs in the Philippines.
Diving hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean off the coast of the Philippines, scientists came across a bubbling hotspot of carbon dioxide. And this newly discovered vent might help us predict how coral reefs will deal with climate change, according to a new study.

Bayani Cardenas, a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin, accidentally discovered this carbon dioxide fountain while researching the effect of groundwater runoff into the ocean environment in the Philippines's Verde Island Passage.

This strait that runs between the Luzon and Mindoro islands, connecting the South China Sea with the Tayabas Bay, is busy on its surface, serving as a prominent shipping route. It's also busy below the surface, where it harbors one of the most diverse marine ecosystems in the world. And the reefs in this passage, unlike bleached reefs elsewhere, are thriving, according to a statement from The University of Texas.

The researchers named the new hotspot Soda Springs and said that it could have been releasing these bubbles for decades or even millennia.

Soda Springs is a result of an underwater volcano, which vents gas and acidic water through cracks in the ocean floor. The researchers found carbon dioxide concentrations as high as 95,000 parts per million (ppm) near the springs, which is over 200 times the concentration present in the atmosphere, according to the statement.

Comment: Mysterious 'pocket' of underwater gas could contain millions of tons of natural gas or CO2

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Moon

Indian scientists develop 'space bricks' for future construction projects on the moon


RT
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 08:03 UTC
space brick' developed by ISRO and IISc
© Courtesy: Aloke Kumar
The 'space brick' developed by ISRO and IISc
In what could be an important leap for lunar exploration, Indian scientists claim to have produced special bricks made from a material simulating the Moon's surface, based on samples brought back by NASA missions.

The Indian Institute of Science (IIS) teamed up with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to produce what they call "space bricks."

The invention, they say, as quoted by local media, will facilitate future construction projects on the Earth's satellite, including those that require the use of resources found on-site.

Comment:

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Blue Planet

Wise oysters, galloping sea stars, and more: The biological marvels just keep coming


Evolution News
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 21:57 UTC
pearl oyster
© Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
Japanese pearl oyster, Pinctada fucata
Strong theories in science require fewer auxiliary hypotheses when new discoveries come to light. Design advocates can gain confidence when discoveries continue to illustrate the core principles of intelligent design, like irreducible complexity, meaningful information, and hierarchical design, while undermining the blind, gradualistic principles of Darwinian evolution. Here are some recent illustrations.

"Pearls of Wisdom"

That's the headline on news from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, where the only thing said about evolution is that "From a genetic and evolutionary perspective, scientists have known little about the source of these pearls" in the Japanese pearl oyster, Pinctada fucata. By implication, don't look for pearls of wisdom from evolutionary theory. The research published in Evolutionary Applications only concerns genetic variations within the species and the geographic distributions of isolated populations. If it helps conserve these oysters with their magnificent mother-of-pearl nacre — the envy of materials scientists — well, it's wise to keep jewelry makers in business. Design scores as evolution fumbles.
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Microscope 2

Human mutation rates steady across diverse groups - except the Amish

Abby Olena
The Scientist
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 20:35 UTC
Amish
© ISTOCK.COM, DELMASLEHMAN
ABOVE: An Amish horse and buggy in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
The rate of new mutations in the human genome appear to be consistent across diverse populations, except one — the Old Order Amish of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This group has a lower rate of developing new mutations, according to a study published January 21 in PNAS.

The lower mutation rate does not appear to have a genetic component, pointing to a possible role for environmental factors in modifying how fast human genomes accrue new mutations.

"It really looks like environmental differences might actually [have] the most significant effect on the number of mutations that you pass on to your offspring, rather than . . . there being some sort of gene" causing mutations, says Aylwyn Scally, a geneticist at the University of Cambridge who was not involved in the work. In a larger study than this one, researchers might be better able to detect a genetic contribution if there is one, he says. "But still it's surprising that it hasn't jumped out, and instead there's this curious effect that's bolstered by their finding about the Amish. Maybe different environments are actually the biggest factor."

Comment: See also:

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Info

'Biorobotic hybrid heart' beats like the real thing

Paul Biegler
Cosmos Magazine
Thu, 30 Jan 2020 18:15 UTC
Biorobotic Heart
© ELLEN ROCHE, ET. AL
A synthetic matrix of soft robotic actuators can be wrapped around a heart ventricle and inflated to squeeze and twist the heart in the same way a real heart pumps blood.
If you're unlucky enough to need a heart valve replacement, a pacemaker or an internal defibrillator, there's a new invention that could soon smooth the way.

Researchers led by Ellen Roche at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, US, have made a "soft" robotic heart by encasing the innards of a pig heart in a pneumatic silicone shell, moulded to be a perfect replica of the original.

The result is a melding of pig and polymer the team calls a "biorobotic hybrid heart". It can pump at different rates and strengths, mimicking a range of human conditions all the way from healthy exercise to heart failure.

With development, the device could mean patients waiting for heart procedures get their ticker modelled in the lab beforehand, allowing surgeons to tailor-make interventions such as valve replacements.

Down the track, even people on the list for a heart transplant could benefit.

"[W]ith further tissue engineering, we could potentially see the biorobotic hybrid heart be used as an artificial heart," says co-lead author Christopher Nguyen, from Harvard Medical School in the US.

To manufacture their robo-heart, the team carefully dissected out the lining of a pig's heart.

This bit has a precise anatomy that is hard to imitate synthetically. There are the valves that stop blood flowing backwards, the slender fibrils that guide the valve leaflets to open and close, and the gullies or "trabeculae" that corrugate the lining of each chamber.

The researchers then took the outer, muscular layer of the heart, "unwrapped" it and laid it out flat to be scanned with a high-resolution version of MRI called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).
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Info

Antarctica: Mysterious spewing particles defy physics

Rafi Letzter
Live Science
Fri, 24 Jan 2020 00:00 UTC
Launch ANITA
© NASA
Researchers launch the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, which picked up signals of impossible-seeming particles as it dangled from its balloon.
Our best model of particle physics is bursting at the seams as it struggles to contain all the weirdness in the universe. Now, it seems more likely than ever that it might pop, thanks to a series of strange events in Antarctica.

The death of this reigning physics paradigm, the Standard Model, has been predicted for decades. There are hints of its problems in the physics we already have. Strange results from laboratory experiments suggest flickers of ghostly new species of neutrinos beyond the three described in the Standard Model. And the universe seems full of dark matter that no particle in the Standard Model can explain.

But recent tantalizing evidence might one day tie those vague strands of data together: Three times since 2016, ultra-high-energy particles have blasted up through the ice of Antarctica, setting off detectors in the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, a machine dangling from a NASA balloon far above the frozen surface.

As Live Science reported in 2018, those events — along with several additional particles detected later at the buried Antarctic neutrino observatory IceCube — don't match the expected behavior of any Standard Model particles. The particles look like ultra high-energy neutrinos. But ultra high-energy neutrinos shouldn't be able to pass through the Earth. That suggests that some other kind of particle — one that's never been seen before — is flinging itself into the cold southern sky.
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Microscope 1

More gene surprises: Cell codes contain information that goes far beyond DNA


Evolution News
Wed, 29 Jan 2020 17:49 UTC
cell interior structure
© Illustra Media
Interior of a cell
Information is the stuff of life. Not limited to DNA, information is found in most biomolecules in living cells. Here are some recent developments.

Sugar Code

Certain forms of sugars (polysaccharides called chitosans) trigger the immune system of plants. Biologists at the University of Münster are "deciphering the sugar code." They describe the variables in chitosans that constitute a signaling system.
Chitosans consist of chains of different lengths of a simple sugar called glucosamine. Some of these sugar molecules carry an acetic acid molecule, others do not. Chitosans therefore differ in three factors: the chain length and the number and distribution of acetic acid residues along the sugar chain. For about twenty years, chemists have been able to produce chitosans of different chain lengths and with different amounts of acetic acid residues, and biologists have then investigated their biological activities. [Emphasis added.]

Comment:

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Comet 2

NASA: 5 asteroids making close approach to Earth on January 30

Inigo Monzon
International Business Times
Wed, 29 Jan 2020 12:16 UTC
This artist's animation illustrates a massive asteroid belt in orbit around a star the same age and size as our Sun.
© NASA/JPL-Caltech
This artist's animation illustrates a massive asteroid belt in orbit around a star the same age and size as our Sun.
According to NASA, Earth will be visited by a total of five asteroids tomorrow. The biggest asteroid in the group is significantly larger than the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy.

As indicated in the data collected by NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the first asteroid that will approach Earth is called 2018 AL12. This asteroid has an estimated diameter of 213 feet, making it the largest asteroid that will fly past Earth tomorrow.

CNEOS stated that 2018 AL12 will approach Earth on Jan. 30 at 3:13 a.m. EST at a speed of over 39,000 miles per hour. During its flyby, the asteroid will be about 0.04660 astronomical units or 4.3 million miles from the planet's center.

The second asteroid that will visit Earth's vicinity tomorrow is known as 2020 BL11. This asteroid is currently moving towards Earth at a speed of 7,000 miles per hour. CNEOS estimated that it is about 52 feet wide.
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