In The News

Scientists Map Global Routes of Ship-Borne Invasive Species

Matt McGrath May 8, 2013
Studying the logs of more than 3 million ocean voyages, a team of German and British researchers have mapped likely transit patterns for marine invasive species, reports Matt McGrath for BBC News. “Marine species are taken in with ballast water on freighters and wreak havoc in new locations, driving natives to extinction,” he reports. “There has been a well-documented boom in global shipping over...

Bacteria “Can Produce Diesel Biofuel”

Rebecca Morelle April 29, 2013
A genetically modified form of E. coli bacteria can convert sugar into diesel-like oil, UK researchers report in a journal of the US National Academy of Sciences. The development is part of “a push to increase the use of biofuels around the world,” reports Rebecca Morelle of BBC News. Currently most biofuels are not “fully compatible with modern engines” and require blending with some petroleum....

The Second Cooing: Raising Passenger Pigeons From the Dead

Philip Bethge April 24, 2013
Groundbreaking research in genetics draws both fascination and alarm. A California researcher is collecting DNA of passenger pigeons, extinct since 1914, from museums of natural history. “The Tasmanian devil, the wooly rhinoceros, the mammoth, the dodo and the gastric-breeding frog are all on the list of candidates for revival,” reports Philip Bethge, who explains how the animal’s flocking...

US Rice Imports “Contain Harmful Levels of Lead”

Jason Palmer April 11, 2013
Agricultural crops can absorb heavy pollutants from soil and water. A report at the American Chemical Society Meeting suggests that rice imports from Asia, Europe and Israel, can exceed what’s called the “provisional total tolerable intake” level of lead, set by the US Food and Drug Administration by a factor of 120, particularly for Asian consumers who tend to eat more rice, reports Jason Palmer...

Warming Sign: 1600 Years of Ice in Andes Melted in 25 Years

Justin Gillis April 9, 2013
Researchers are documenting glacier ice in the Peruvian Andes. “Rapid melting there in the modern era is uncovering plants that were locked in a deep freeze when the glacier advanced many thousands of years ago,” reports Justin Gillis for the New York Times. “Dating of those plants, using a radioactive form of carbon in the plant tissues that decays at a known rate, has given scientists an...

CDC Begins Work on Vaccine for China Flu

Donald G. McNeil Jr, Andrew Jacobs April 8, 2013
US researchers are developing a vaccine to block H7N9 flu that’s killed six in China. China reports that “No cases of human-to-human transmission have been confirmed, even though China’s disease control agency has traced hundreds of people who had contact with the 14 known cases,” report Donald G. McNeil Jr, Andrew Jacobs for the New York Times. Global cooperation to tackle the flu is underway,...

Egypt Arrests as Undersea Internet Cable Cut Off Alexandria

April 5, 2013
The pleasures and business of immediate global communications could have been threatened in Egypt. Authorities there have arrested three divers accused of cutting an underwater internet cable, which reduced connection speeds for Egypt and some other countries. Other cables were reported damaged during the previous week, though there is no evidence that the incidents are linked, reports the BBC...