Synthetic 'Sea Shells' Made from Chalk and Materials Used in Disposable Coffee Cups

Scientists have made synthetic 'sea shells' from a mixture of chalk and polystyrene cups -- and produced a tough new material that could make our homes and offices more durable.

A team of materials scientists and chemists have taken inspiration from sea shells found on the beach to create a composite material from dissimilar 'ingredients'.
Their technique could be used to make ceramics with high resistance to cracking -- which could in turn be used in crack-resistant building materials and bone replacements.
Writing in the journal Advanced Materials, scientists from The University of Manchester and The University of Leeds report that they have successfully reinforced calcium carbonate, or chalk, with polystyrene particles that are used to make drinks cups.
They have developed an effective method of combining calcite crystals with polystyrene particles -- and have found this makes the material more ductile compared to its original brittle form.
They report that the polystyrene also acts as a toughening agent, assisting the prevention of the growth of cracks.
Scientists also observed that when the reinforced material cracked, the polymer lengthened within the cracks -- a well-known mechanism for absorbing energy and enhancing toughness.
Researchers say their method allows the properties of the new material to be tweaked by selecting particles of different shapes, sizes and composition.
Dr Stephen Eichhorn from The School of Materials at The University of Manchester, said: "The mechanical properties of shells can rival those of man-made ceramics, which are engineered at high temperatures and pressures. Their construction helps to distribute stress over the structure and control the spread of cracks.
"Calcium carbonate is the main ingredient of chalk, which is very brittle and breaks easily when force is applied. But shells are strong and resistant to fracturing, and this is because the calcium carbonate is combined with proteins which bind the crystals together, like bricks in a wall, to make the material stronger and sometimes tougher.
"We have replicated nature's addition of proteins using polystyrene, to create a strong shell-like structure with similar properties to those seen in nature.
"Further research and testing is still needed but our research potentially offers a straightforward method of engineering new and tough chalk-based composite materials with a wide range of useful applications."
The research was funded by grants from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and was conducted in collaboration with Professor Fiona Meldrum in the School of Chemistry at the University of Leeds. Kim et al. Bio-Inspired Synthesis and Mechanical Properties of Calcite-Polymer Particle Composites. Advanced Materials, 2010 DOI: 10.1002/adma.200903743

New worm species found: The Green Bomber

Thousands of feet beneath the sea live worms that can cast off green glowing body parts, a move scientists think may be a defensive effort to confuse attackers.Researchers have dubbed the newly discovered critters "green bombers."The seven new species of worms were found by a team led by Karen Osborn of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. They report on the worms in Friday's edition of the journal Science."We found a whole new group of fairly large, extraordinary animals that we never knew anything about before," Osborn said in a statement. "These are not rare animals. Often when we see them they number in the hundreds. What's unique is that their habitat is really hard to sample."Ranging in size from three-fourths of an inch to nearly four inches, the worms live at depths of 5,900 feet to more than 12,000 feet and were discovered by remotely operated submarines in both the northeast and western Pacific Ocean."They have a very strange way of using bioluminescence," Osborn explained in a briefing.They have appendages, some round, others oval or long, which they release when they are disturbed, she said. Once release the appendage, it glows bright green."They drop one or two at a time and if you keep harassing them they will keep dropping them," she said, adding that the worms are able to regenerate the body parts.It's the first time this has been seen in swimming worms, she said, although some brittle stars and some squids will let an arm drop off if attacked."We're not sure who their predators are," added Osborn, but she noted that fish prey on other types of swimming worms.The closest relative to the newly found creatures are worms that burrow in the sea floor, Osborn said, "at some point they moved up into the water."The first of the new species has been given the scientific name Swima bombiviridis.The discovery emphasizes how little is known about life in the deep oceans, the researchers wrote.The research was funded by the Scripps Institution, University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellowship, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the National Geographic Society

Corrosion-inhibiting coatings containing 'good' bacteria

A new, environmentally friendly coating that protects metals against corrosion in seawater has been developed by a team of researchers from Sheffield Hallam University. At the Society for General Microbiology meeting in Harrogate today, (Monday 30 March), Jeanette Gittens and colleagues described how they had encapsulated spores from a bacterium into a sol-gel coating which then protected an aluminium alloy from microbial corrosion.Microbially-influenced corrosion (MIC) of metals at sea is a big safety and financial problem caused by the production of damaging substances such as hydrogen sulphide by sulphate-reducing micro-organisms within biofilms on the surfaces. Overall it is estimated that corrosion costs the UK around 3-4% of GDP. Existing anti-corrosion treatments are costly, ineffective and often include biocides and inhibitors that are toxic to aquatic life.The corrosion-preventing bacteria occur naturally in the environment. Incorporating its spores into the coating did not seem to affect their viability - living cells were still found in the coating after more than six weeks in seawater. The coating could also be heat cured at temperatures up to 90?C.Speaking at the meeting, Ms Gittens said, "Our results from laboratory studies and a field trial in the Thames estuary have shown that the bacteria-containing coating is substantially more effective in the prevention of corrosion than the sol-only coating. We are investigating what causes the corrosion protection - we think it might be due to the immobilized bacteria producing antimicrobial agents which inhibit the growth of corrosion-causing microorganisms". Additional trials are now planned or in progress in a variety of marine environments.Society for General Microbiology

Why Animals Migrate: New Understandings

New UnderstandingsFor the first time, MIT engineers and colleagues have observed the initiation of a mass gathering and subsequent migration of hundreds of millions of animals — in this case, fish.The work, conducted using a novel imaging technique, "provides information essential to the conservation of marine ecosystems that vast oceanic fish shoals inhabit," the team writes in the March 27 issue of Science.It also confirms theories about the behavior of large groups of animals in general, from bird flocks to locust swarms. Until now those theories had only been predicted through theoretical investigations, computer simulations and laboratory experiments.For example, the team found that once a group of fish reaches a critical population density, it triggers a kind of chain reaction resulting in the synchronized movement of millions of individuals over a large area. The phenomenon is akin to a human "wave" moving around a sports stadium."As far as we know, this is the first time we've quantified this behavior in nature and over such a huge ecosystem," said Nicholas C. Makris '83, PhD '91, leader of the work and a professor of mechanical and ocean engineering. The resulting shoals of migrating fish can extend some 40 kilometers or approximately 25 miles across the ocean.Makris' principal collaborators on the work include Purnima Ratilal PhD '02, a professor at Northeastern University, J. Michael Jech of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and Olav Rune Godoe of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway. Other collaborators are from MIT, Northeastern and the Southeast Fisheries Science Center.Off Georges BankThe researchers focused on Atlantic herring off Georges Bank near Boston during the fall spawning season. They found that the formation and movement of large shoals of the fish constituted a kind of daily evening commute to the shallower waters of the bank where they spawn under cover of darkness. Come morning, the fish head back to deeper water and disband.The work was conducted using Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing (OAWRS). In 2006, Makris and colleagues published a paper in Science introducing OAWRS, which they invented, and initial observations made with it.OAWRS allows the team to take images of an area some 100 kilometers (approximately 62 miles) in diameter every 75 seconds. This is a vast improvement over conventional techniques such as fish-finding echo-sounders, which Makris compares to "watching one pixel on a movie screen" while the new technology allows you to "see the entire movie."Both OAWRS and conventional methods rely on acoustics to locate objects by bouncing sound waves off of them. With conventional techniques, survey vessels send high-frequency sound beams into the ocean. In contrast, the new system uses much lower frequency sound that can travel much greater distances and still return useful information with signals far less intense.Toward conservationMakris sees potential in using OAWRS to better monitor — and conserve — fish populations. Large oceanic fish shoals provide vital links in the ocean and human food chain, he explained, but their sheer size makes it difficult to collect information using conventional methods.Ron O'Dor, co-senior scientist of the Census of Marine Life (CoML), commented that "OAWRS allows us to gather information such as geographical distributions, abundance and behavior of fish shoals and to better understand what constitutes healthy fish populations ... which can be implemented by policymakers to better monitor and improve conservation of fish stocks."CoML is an international scientific collaboration engaged in a 10-year initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life in the oceans. It aims to release the first Census of Marine Life in 2010.Could OAWRS be exploited to find and take more fish, rather than conserve them? Makris believes that it would be virtually impossible. For example, he said, it cannot be used in stealth. "Thieves do not like to work in broad daylight or with the lights on, and OAWRS [essentially] turns the lights on in the ocean making it possible for everyone to see what is happening there and do something about it." He also emphasized that permission from each government would be needed to use it in any nation's territorial waters or in internationally regulated waters.The work was sponsored by the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, the Office of Naval Research, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and is a contribution to the Census of Marine Life.Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

New Fish Discovered In Antarctic Ocean

The new species of Antarctic fish, Gosztonyia antarctica, has been discovered at a depth of 650 metres in the Bellingshausen Sea in the Antarctic Ocean, an area which has not been studied since 1904 and where the fauna is "completely" unknown. Jesús Matallanas, the Spanish researcher responsible for the find, collected four specimens of the new species during Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) campaigns in the southern hemisphere summers of 2003 and 2006.

"The study of the biodiversity of the Bellingshausen Sea has been systematically ignored by international projects because it is quite inaccessible and its beds are not mapped", SINC was told by Jesús Matallanas, the study's main author and researcher from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).
The work, which appears in the journal Polar Biology, is based on the IEO's Bentart-03 and Bentart-06 campaigns, in which Matallanas participated as an expert in taxonomy of Antarctic fish.
It is a taxonomic study of these zoarcidae specimens (groups of dominant fish on the continental slope of northern seas which make up around 240 species) captured in the Bellingshausen Sea.
"One of the most significant results is that the ichthyofauna of the Bellingshausen Sea, contrary to what was previously believed, is more closely related to that of the Eastern Antarctic than the Western", highlighted the researcher.
Another important discovery is that in contrast to what occurs in other seas in the Antarctic Ocean, in the Bellingshausen Sea zoarcidae are the dominant group of fish below a depth of 550 metres", added the zoologist.
Family of fish with worldwide distribution
Before confirming the discovery of a new species, in this case Gosztonyia antarctica, which belongs to a group with a very wide distribution, the researcher carried out a worldwide review of all articles published to date.
The new species belongs to an also new genus, which is similar to various Patagonian genera, and its name Gosztonyia, is in recognition of Atila Esteban Gosztonyi, a great expert in the systematics of zoarcidae who has described various new genera endemic to the Magallanes region. The specific name, antarctica, refers to the place of capture of the species: the Antarctic region.
The specimens captured measure between 25.4 cm and 30 cm, are anguilliformes and "the skulls has a lot of its own exclusive anatomical characters", commented the scientist. All the specimens are preserved in 70% alcohol at the UAB.
Journal reference:
Matallanas et al. Description of Gosztonyia antarctica, a new genus and species of Zoarcidae (Teleostei: Perciformes) from the Antarctic Ocean. Polar Biology, 2009; 32 (1): 15 DOI: 10.1007/s00300-008-0496-y
Adapted from materials provided by Plataforma SINC, via AlphaGalileo.

Turtles Alter Nesting Dates Due To Temperature Change

Turtles Alter Nesting Dates Due To Temperature ChangeTurtles nesting along the Mississippi River and other areas are altering their nesting dates in response to rising temperatures, says a researcher from Iowa State University.Fred Janzen, a professor in ecology, evolution and organismal biology, has studied turtle nesting habits and also accumulated research going back decades in order to track the habits of the turtles to find out when they make nests and lay eggs."The results have been astonishing," says Janzen. "In some cases such as regional populations of red-eared sliders, they are now nesting three weeks earlier than they did in the early 1990s. That is the fastest response to climate change of any species that I know of."The turtles that changed their nesting habits were not only young turtles that are nesting for the first time, said Janzen, but were also older turtles that were changing their habits. This trait, called plasticity, helps animals alter their behavior in the short term until inherited behavior takes over."What we found was that in the late 1980s, painted turtles started nesting in early June, now it is on the order of 10 days or more earlier," said Janzen. "These behaviors are showing how the plasticity of the species is helping them survive, but we are wondering what the limit is to their ability to adapt."Janzen's research took a broad look at the entire species and not just turtle populations that are on the fringe of where the animals can live. Janzen feels this aspect of the collaborative study gives the results added credibility.Most studies look at populations on the outer limits of a species' environment, and Janzen and his colleagues set out to study the entire species of the turtle populations."I think it's human nature to study populations on the margins and not from the center," he said. "And I'm not saying those studies are wrong. In fact I am very confident they are right. But I wanted us to study the entire species. So we said 'What if we looked at the entire range of a species and not just one population at the extremes.'"Janzen and his collaborators studied mud turtles, sliders, snapping turtles and painted turtles that live in South Carolina, Nebraska, and along the Mississippi River between Iowa and Illinois.An aspect of the study that surprised Janzen was the gender of the offspring.The gender of turtle offspring, as with many reptiles, is typically determined by the temperature of the ground where they lay their eggs.Janzen predicted that with warming temperature, the phenomenon of temperature-dependent sex determination would cause a disproportionate number of females since warmer conditions produce that gender.Just the opposite seems to be happening. Male babies are outnumbering the females."Warmth produces females, so we thought we'd have more females," said Janzen. "But what we think is happening is, since the air feels warmer, the turtles are nesting earlier. But the ground is still cold, so the cold ground is causing us to get more males."Janzen thinks that the overabundance of males will stress the species. Combined with the adult females being forced to change nesting habits, the stresses could mean the species is under real pressure to adapt swiftly, a pace not popularly considered to characterize turtles, he said.Source: Iowa State University

Six-legged 'hexapus' claimed as world first in Britain

British marine experts have found what they claim is a world first -- a six-legged octopus, or "hexapus," whom they have christened Henry. The unique sea creature, which has two limbs fewer than a normal octopus, is believed to be the result of a birth defect rather than an accident, say his keepers at the Blackpool Sea Life Centre in northwest England."We've scoured the Internet and talked to lots of other aquariums and no-one has ever heard of another case of a six-legged octopus," said supervisor Carey Duckhouse.Henry was discovered in a lobster pot off the north Wales coast two weeks ago, and was one of eight creatures that Sea Life staff picked up from a local marine zoo there -- where staff hadn't noticed his missing legs.It was only when he attached himself to the inside of a glass tank that Sea Life staff noticed he was two limbs short of a full set. Octopuses are renowned for having three hearts and blue blood, but not usually six legs."He's a lovely little thing," said a spokeswoman, adding that he will go on display to the public later this month.

New Seismic Vessel Will Look Deep Under Oceans

The academic community's most advanced seismic-research vessel was dedicated here today, opening potential new windows on natural hazards, earth's evolution, and other vital questions। The R/V Marcus G. Langseth, owned by the U.S. National Science Foundation, will generate CAT-scan-like 3D images of magma chambers, faults and other structures miles below the world's seabeds. To be used by dozens of cooperating institutions, it will be operated for NSF by Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

The 235-foot Langseth is designed to pulse sound through seabottoms and read the return signals with vast arrays of hydrophones towed in "streamers" stretching as long as 5 miles. Previous vessels operated by Lamont have used similar technology, but the scale of the setup, combined with newly sophisticated computing and other improvements, is expected to offer unprecedented resolution and depth in looking at sub-ocean phenomena.
The ship also carries multibeam sonar to map the topography of deep seafloors with greater accuracy than before It will deploy seismometers and other instruments on ocean floors that can monitor earthquakes, detect waves and tides, or warn of tsunamis. Sensitive microphones will be used to detect the calls of marine mammals at long distances; onboard research space will also be dedicated to the study of marine mammals.
The ship "will revolutionize researchers' ability to study the sources of deep earthquakes, to image the plumbing that feeds the global undersea volcanic system, and produce an understanding that could lead us to ideas about new energy resources," said G. Michael Purdy, Lamont's director. "We know now that the earth is not at all still, but dynamic. We're hoping to better understand what drives movements, and shed light on ongoing changes that could affect our global society."
NSF paid more than $20 million to buy and refit the vessel, previously used in commercial oil exploration. It spent months at dry dock in Nova Scotia before sailing to Galveston earlier this year. Following Monday's dedication, it will undergo about two months of shakedown cruises in the Gulf of Mexico. Its first scientific mission, probably in early 2008, will be a study of geologic subduction zones off the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica, to be led by researchers at the University of Wyoming. Subsequent cruises will take scientists over submerged mountain ranges in the eastern Pacific; offshore of Alaska's great St. Elias volcano; and to the earthquake and volcanism-wracked Juan de Fuca Ridge, off Oregon.
The vessel is named for the pioneering Lamont geophysicist Marcus Gerhardt Langseth. In a career from the 1950s to the 1990s, Langseth drew up the first global map of heat flow under the oceans; helped show that the planet's seafloors are continually replenished by volcanism; and was a leader in sending the first unclassified scientific missions by U.S. Navy submarines underneath the northern ice, opening the way to mapping and understanding the Arctic Ocean. The Langseth replaces the Lamont-operated Maurice Ewing, U.S. scientists' previous main seismic vessel Named for one of Lamont's founders, the Ewing was retired in 2005. Along with three other previous Lamont vessels over the past 50 years it was key in establishing our modern understanding of plate tectonics other basic knowledge of the earth.
Biologists are concerned that widespread human-made sounds in the oceans, including sonars, engine noises and seismic pulses like those used in scientific research and oil exploration could potentially affect sea creatures. Thus the ship will take extensive precautions to minimize contact with marine mammals, some of which may be especially sensitive. Cruises are scheduled to avoid migrations or other activities of many species. In addition to listening for animals' vocalizations, the ship will post observers to search visually from deck and, if needed, in aircraft or onshore.
Adapted from materials provided by The Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Exploring Energy Conservation Through Shark Research

The stars of the “Jaws” films–sharks–have recently become the subject of a University of Alabama engineering research project। Conducted by Dr. Amy Lang, assistant professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics, the project explores energy conservation and boundary layer control in regard to a shark’s surface.

The project findings will allow researchers to explore natural solutions for the reduction of skin friction over solid surfaces, which could result in new innovations and applications concerning energy conservation. This research will not only provide a greater understanding of the evolutionary development of sharks, but it will also investigate methods of flow control and drag reduction that can be easily applied to mobile vehicles.
Research has shown the issue of reducing drag over solid surfaces can save thousands of dollars. For example, it is estimated that even a 1 percent reduction in drag can save an airline company up to $200,000 and at least 25,000 gallons of fuel per year per aircraft. The resulting reduction in emissions into the air is equally impressive.
Funded through a National Science Foundation Small Grant, the project is investigating the boundary layer flow over a surface that mimics the skin of a fast-swimming shark. The boundary layer is the area closest to the surface where viscous conditions cause drag–in this instance a shark’s skin.
Lang hopes to explain why fast sharks that swim upwards of 60 mph have smaller denticles, or scales, than slower shark species. Evidence suggests that sharks with smaller denticles have the ability to stick out their scales when they swim, allowing them to swim faster and creating a unique surface pattern on the skin that results in various mechanisms of boundary layer control.
“We hope to explain how a shark’s skin controls the boundary layer to decrease drag and swim faster,” said Lang. “If we can successfully show there is a significant effect, future applications to reduce drag of aircraft and underwater vehicles could be possible.”
Lang’s research is being conducted using a water tunnel facility in Hardaway Hall. The water tunnel lab can increase the shark skin geometry by 100 times with a corresponding decrease in flow over the model. This makes the flow over the skin observable, and it allows for the visualization and measurement of flow using modern experimental techniques.
In addition to the National Science Foundation Small Grant, Lang recently received a Lindbergh Grant for this research project. Lindbergh Grants are made in amounts up to $10,580, a symbolic amount representing the cost of building Charles Lindbergh’s plane, the Spirit of St. Louis.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Alabama.

Toxin From Coral-reef Bacteria Could Become Next-generation Cancer Drug

University of Michigan (U-M) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego researchers have acquired a new molecular tool that could help them transform a toxin from coral-reef bacteria into a next-generation cancer drug।

U-M Life Sciences Institute researchers David Sherman and Janet Smith led a cross-disciplinary team that uncovered new functions for an ancient, well-known family of proteins found in many organisms, from microbes to humans.
The discovery of new roles for the GNAT family of proteins adds weapons to the arsenal of "synthetic biologists" who rearrange the building blocks of natural substances in an effort to make better pharmaceuticals, said Sherman, director of LSI's Center for Chemical Genomics and the Hans W. Valteich professor of medicinal chemistry at the U-M College of Pharmacy.
"Nature usually gives us sub-optimal drug candidates," Sherman said. "But we can chop them apart and reassemble them at will to engineer compounds that may have better properties as drugs."
The Sherman team, along with William Gerwick of Scripps' Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UC San Diego, analyze chemical compounds pulled from marine organisms living in coral reef sediments, blue-green algae, sponges and soft corals. They look for substances, such as bacterial toxins, that can kill or disable cancer cells in the laboratory. Currently, more than a dozen such compounds from marine sources are in pre-clinical or clinical trials as cancer therapeutics.
One such substance is curacin A, a leading anti-cancer drug candidate first derived from a Caribbean coral reef cyanobacterium, L. majuscula, in 1994 by Gerwick's group. In the lab, curacin A is effective against colon, kidney and breast cancer cell lines.
Sherman and his colleagues have been trying to understand how the biochemical machines inside L. majuscula assemble the curacin A molecule. In 2004, the group published a blueprint showing all the proteins that are responsible for making the curacin A molecular chain.
Since then, they've focused on determining the functions of the roughly 60 biological catalysts used in the assembly line-like curacin A synthesis process. The team's latest finding is that the first links in the curacin-A chain include a member of the GNAT family of proteins, a group of enzymes that has long been known to play roles in gene regulation, hormone synthesis and antibiotic resistance.
The big surprise was finding that a GNAT enzyme helps initiate the chain-building process that forms curacin A. "It's a totally new function for these GNAT enzymes," Sherman said.
"Decoding these biosynthetic pathways is like trying to understand a series of hieroglyphics," he said. "And this GNAT discovery is like finding the Rosetta stone. It helps us decipher previously unknown or misunderstood symbols."
While Sherman's group carried out the enzymology for the study, Smith's team captured X-ray crystallography images of the GNAT enzyme's structure. Smith is director of LSI's Center for Structural Biology. Gerwick's team made the original discovery of curacin A and provided the cyanobacterial DNA for this study.
L. majuscula is a cyanobacterium, which are among the oldest organisms on Earth. Roughly 3 billion years ago, cyanobacteria began producing atmospheric oxygen that, much later, allowed more complex life forms to emerge. In the L. majuscula bacterium, the curacin A toxin likely performs a defense function, possibly protecting the microbe from predators.
This research is detailed in the November 9 issue of the journal Science.
Adapted from materials provided by Scripps Institute Of Oceanography।

Giant fossil sea Scorpion bigger than man

The discovery of a giant fossilised claw from an ancient sea scorpion indicates that when alive it would have been about two and a half meters long, much taller than the average man।

This find, from rocks 390 million years old, suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were much larger in the past than previously thought.
Dr Simon Braddy from the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol, co-author of an article about the find, said, 'This is an amazing discovery. We have known for some time that the fossil record yields monster millipedes, super-sized scorpions, colossal cockroaches, and jumbo dragonflies, but we never realised, until now, just how big some of these ancient creepy-crawlies were.'
The claw was discovered by one of Dr Braddy's co-authors*, Markus Poschmann, in a quarry near Prüm in Germany.
Poschmann described finding the fossil: "I was loosening pieces of rock with a hammer and chisel when I suddenly realised there was a dark patch of organic matter on a freshly removed slab। After some cleaning I could identify this as a small part of a large claw. Although I did not know if it was more complete or not, I decided to try and get it out. The pieces had to be cleaned separately, dried, and then glued back together. It was then put into a white plaster jacket to stabilise it."

The claw is from a sea scorpion (eurypterid) Jaekelopterus rhenaniae that lived between 460 and 255 million years ago. It is 46 centimetres long, indicating that the sea scorpion to which it belonged was around 2.5 metres (8 feet) long -- almost half a metre longer than previous estimates for these arthropods and the largest one ever to have evolved.
Eurypterids are believed to be the extinct aquatic ancestors of scorpions and possibly all arachnids.
Some geologists believe that giant arthropods evolved due to higher levels of oxygen in the atmosphere in the past. Others, that they evolved in an 'arms race' alongside their likely prey, the early armoured fish.
'There is no simple single explanation', explains Braddy. 'It is more likely that some ancient arthropods were big because there was little competition from the vertebrates, as we see today. If the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere suddenly increased, it doesn't mean all the bugs would get bigger.'
*The research is published online in the Royal Society's journal Biology Letters.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Bristol.

Fluorescence In Key Marine Creature Discovered

Fluorescent proteins found in nature have been employed in a variety of scientific research purposes, from markers for tracing molecules in biomedicine to probes for testing environmental quality. Until now, such proteins have been identified mostly in jellyfish and corals, leading to the belief that the capacity for fluorescence in animals is exclusive to such primitive creatures. Researchers say green fluorescent proteins, which could play role as 'sunscreen' or stress reducer, may be widespread in animal kingdom.Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have discovered fluorescent-light emitting features in an evolutionarily important marine organism and say such a capacity may be much more prevalent across the animal kingdom than previously believed.In the October issue of Biological Bulletin, Dimitri Deheyn and his colleagues in La Jolla, Calif. and Japan describe finding green fluorescent proteins (GFPs) in amphioxus, a fish-like animal closely studied by scientists due to its evolutionarily important position at the base of a large phylum of animals called chordates. The researchers say amphioxus' GFPs are very similar to those of corals, an interesting fact since the two animal groups are separated by hundreds of millions of years of evolution.The finding emphasizes the idea that evolutionary preservation of fluorescence must play an important ecological function, Deheyn said. Many animals haven't been tested for fluorescence and its prevalence in the animal kingdom remains unknown.Deheyn made the discovery while analyzing a dozen specimens of the small, slender marine animals collected in Tampa, Fla., by Nick Holland, a professor of marine biology at Scripps and a paper coauthor."When I put the specimens under the blue light (used for evoking fluorescence), every single amphioxus had a bright green area in the anterior that was fluorescent," said Deheyn.Follow-on analyses in the Tampa specimens, along with similar species samples from France and Japan, revealed details of how the fluorescence spreads along the animal's body as well as how the animal fluoresces at different stages of development.Amphioxus -- also called a lancelet -- is found primarily in coastal areas and lives mostly burrowed in ocean sand except for its head. Previous studies have shown it to be sensitive to changes in light exposure.Deheyn says the exact role of amphioxus' fluorescence is not known. One hypothesis is that the proteins might be used as a form of "sunscreen," protecting the animal by absorbing harmful ultraviolet light and shielding it away as fluorescent light. GFPs also may play a role as protective antioxidants, decreasing stress levels undergone by cells when exposed to temperature fluctuations or other environmental changes.Fluorescence has been used extensively in biotechnology, biomedicine, bioengineering and lately in nanotechnology. GFPs have been used as markers to examine gene expression as well as probes for tracking how molecules transfer energy. "(GFP) is an easy protein to work with and to use as a label," said Deheyn, a scientist in the Marine Biology Research Division at Scripps. "It's easy to locate and stimulate so it has been used widely around the world. There is a great deal of interest in finding new fluorescent compounds and proteins that can show different characteristics of light production."Deheyn's latest investigations focus on finding GFPs in animals in marine as well as terrestrial environments.In addition to Deheyn and Holland, Biological Bulletin paper's coauthors include James McCarthy, Magali Porrachia and Greg Rouse of Scripps Oceanography, Kaoru Kubokawa of the University of Tokyo and Akio Murakami of Kobe University.The study was funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research's Biomimetics, Biomaterials and Biointerfacial Sciences program and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.Source: University of California - San Diego.

New Light Trap Captures Larval Stage Of New Species; DNA Barcode Technology Used

When David Jones, a fisheries oceanographer at the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) located at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School, set out to design a better light trap to collect young reef fishes, he never imagined his invention would contribute to the discovery of a new species। But, after finding a goby that didn't quite fit any known description, his catch turned out to be the answer to another scientist's twenty-five-year-old research conundrum. The larval stage captured in Jones's new trap was matched to the adult form of a previously unknown species of reef fish by new DNA barcoding technology -- which confirmed both were members of a new species.

Jones and his team deployed his new light traps in the deep tropical waters surrounding Banco Chinchorro, a remote coral reef atoll off Mexico's Costa Maya which was recently designated as a Marine Biosphere Reserve. The traps capture fish larvae in a manner similar to a fisherman's minnow trap, but attract them with a programmable lighting system enclosed in a submersible housing. The lights entice marine organisms to enter the trap "like a moth to a flame". Jones's innovative trap intercepts fish returning to the reef at the end of their journey as larvae through the treacherous waters of the open ocean. This allows researchers access to species normally inaccessible by traditional sampling methods, such as those that occupy deep recesses within the reef as adults.
"Working with scientists from El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) in Mexico, we retrieved the nightly catches of the light traps each morning। The traps performed well, collecting live specimens from a diverse range of reef fish species. Each evening we meticulously sorted and identified our catch, using a microscope to count fin rays, scales, and bones and examine pigmentation patterns that distinguish species. I came across one specimen of goby that wasn't quite right," said Jones.

That individual differed slightly from the known species of Atlantic gobies by having fewer fin rays and lacking a frenum, the small fold of tissue in the pelvic fins of most gobies that forms a sucking disc for grasping the substrate.
The fish was sent to Dr. Benjamin Victor of the Ocean Science Foundation in California, who used a new biochemical technique known as barcoding to match DNA from the larva to an adult fish Victor himself stumbled upon a quarter of a century earlier in Panama. Testing confirmed that the fish was in fact a new species, genetically different from its closest know relatives by about 25%. The specimen in Jones's trap turned out to be a Coryphopterus kuna, a new species of goby named after the indigenous people of Panama.
This discovery marks the first vertebrate to have its genetic barcode included in its original species description, which was published by Victor in the July 2007 issue of Zootaxa. The process involves identifying and isolating a section of an organism's mitochondrial DNA to allow researchers a simple and definitive method of recognizing and categorizing existing species by assigning each a unique, searchable DNA barcode.
"DNA barcoding allowed me to match the larva to the adult...[and] prove to the other fish biologists that this was a new species," said Victor.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science.

New Species Of Snapper Discovered In Brazil

A popular game fish mistaken by scientists for a dog snapper is actually a new species discovered among the reefs of the Abrolhos region of the South Atlantic Ocean।

The international science journal Zootaxa recently published the discovery of Lutjanus alexandrei, a new snapper species that belongs to the Lutjanidae family, by researchers Rodrigo Moura of Conservation International (CI) and Kenyon Lindeman of Environmental Defense. The study published in Zootaxa provides a revised key for identifying all Lutjanus species in the western Atlantic, along with evidence that the new species completes its life cycle in different but interdependent marine habitats, such as coral reefs and mangroves.
“This discovery that a large, popular fish is a species new to science shows how little we know about the oceans that surround us,” Moura said. “It looks like other snapper species found in the Caribbean and eastern United States, as well as the dog snapper caught by fishermen here in Brazil, but it is a distinct species with different markings and color.”
Twelve species of the family Lutjanidae, including the new discovery, are now identified in the western Atlantic Ocean. They include Lutjanus griseus and Lutjanus apodus, two species restricted to the Caribbean and eastern coast of the United States but previously believed to occur in Brazilian waters until the discovery of Lutjanus alexandrei.
The new species also has been mistaken for Lutjanus jocu, known as the dog snapper, a popular commercial fish in Brazil। According to Moura and Lindeman, the discovery shows the need for more comprehensive studies of Brazil’s reef fish populations, particularly in the northeastern region that includes the Abrolhos area, which contains the nation’s largest concentration of coral reefs.

The new species is named for 18th-century naturalist Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira, whose extensive work in the Brazilian interior remains largely unknown. Moura and Lindeman spent five years observing Lutjanus alexandrei to analyze its characteristics and determine the distinct features.
It occurs from the state of Maranhão to the southern coast of the state of Bahia, and its habitats include coral reefs, rocky shores, coastal lagoons with brackish water, mangroves, and other shallow habitats. Juveniles requiring more food and protection live in mangroves, then migrate to reef habitat and deeper areas as adults.
“Several species spend some of their lives in these different yet connected habitats,” Lindeman said. “That’s why it’s so important to develop integrated conservation strategies that include mangroves, deep reefs, and other interdependent ecosystems.”

Adapted from materials provided by Conservation International.

Deep Sea Discoveries Off Canada's East Coast

Researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Memorial University of Newfoundland took part in an exciting survey of unexplored depths of the Atlantic Ocean during a three-week mission in July 2007। Deep water corals were a primary focus of the research.

Researchers onboard the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Hudson surveyed deep water animal life off the coasts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland using an underwater robot known as ROPOS (Remotely Operated Platform for Ocean Science). With ROPOS, they collected samples and images at depths of 2,500 metres; and transmitted live underwater video footage to researchers at various land locations.
The mission revealed that life in these waters is much more diverse than previously realized. Researchers captured over 3,000 high quality photographs that displayed this diversity, including an octopus with large fins near its eyes, known as "Dumbo," a potentially new species of scallop, and a single-celled organism previously unknown in this region.
Research based on the mission’s findings will continue for the next year at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and its partner universities. The role of the newly discovered species in the marine food chain will be one of the prime areas of study; findings could also have implications for conservation efforts and medicine.
More images are available at http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/media/infocus/2007/20070926/albumphoto_e.htm

Adapted from materials provided by Fisheries And Oceans Canada.

Early seafood, makeup found in S. Africa

In one of the earliest hints of "modern" living, humans 164,000 years ago put on primitive makeup and hit the seashore for steaming mussels, new archaeological finds show।

Call it a beach party for early man. But it's a beach party thrown by people who weren't supposed to be advanced enough for this type of behavior. What was found in a cave in South Africa may change how scientists believe Homo sapiens marched into modernity.
Instead of undergoing a revolution into modern living about 40,000 to 70,000 years ago, as commonly thought, man may have become modern in stuttering fits and starts, or through a long slow march that began even earlier. At least that's the case being made in a study appearing in the journal Nature on Thursday.
Researchers found three hallmarks of modern life at Pinnacle Point overlooking the Indian Ocean near South Africa's Mossel Bay: harvested and cooked seafood, reddish pigment from ground rocks, and early tiny blade technology. Scientific optical dating techniques show that these hallmarks were from 164,000 years ago, plus or minus 12,000 years.
"Together as a package this looks like the archaeological record of a much later time period," said study author Curtis Marean, professor of anthropology at the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University.
This means humans were eating seafood about 40,000 years earlier than previously thought। And this is the earliest record of humans eating something other than what they caught or gathered on the land, Marean said. Most of what Marean found were the remnants of brown mussels, but he also found black mussels, small saltwater clams, sea snails and even a barnacle that indicates whale blubber or skin was brought into the cave.

Marean figured the early people, probably women, had to trudge two to three miles to where the mussels, clams and snails were harvested and to bring them back to the cave. Then they put them over hot rocks to cook. When the food was done, the shells popped open in a process similar to modern-day mussel-steaming, but without the pot.
Marean and colleagues tried out that ancient cooking technique in a kind of archaeological test kitchen.
"We've prepped them the same way," Marean said in telephone interview from South Africa. "They're a little less moist (than modern steamed mussels). They definitely lose some moisture."
Marean also found 57 pieces of ground-up rock that would have been reddish- or pinkish-brown. That would be used for self-decoration and sending social signals to other people, much the way makeup is used now, he said.
There have been reports of earlier but sporadic pigment use in Africa. The same goes with rocks that were fashioned into small pointy tools.
But having all three together shows a grouping of people that is almost modern, Marean said. Seafood harvesting, unlike other hunter-gatherer activities, encourages people to stay put, and that leads to more social interactions, he said.
Yet 110,000 years later, no such modern activity, except for seafood dining, could be found in that part of South Africa, said Alison Brooks, a George Washington University anthropology professor who was not associated with Marean's study. That shows that the dip into modern life was not built upon, said Brooks, who called Marean's work "a fantastic find."
Similar "blips of rather precocious kinds of behaviors seem to be emerging at certain sites," said Kathy Schick, an Indiana University anthropologist and co-director of the Stone Age Institute. Schick and Brooks said Marean's work shows that anthropologists have to revise their previous belief in a steady "human revolution" about 40,000 to 70,000 years ago.

New species discovered in Atlantic study

A scientist from the University of Aberdeen is leading a team of international researchers whose work will continue our understanding of life in the deepest oceans, and contribute to the global Census of Marine Life.Exploring life in the North Atlantic Ocean at various depths of 800 to 3,500 metres, a team of 31 scientists are returning from a five-week scientific expedition which has surfaced a wealth of new information and insights, stunning images and marine life specimens, with one species thought to be new to science.The international team will be arriving in Scotland tomorrow (Saturday, August 18) following the expedition along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) between Iceland and the Azores on board the £40 million royal research ship, the Royal Research Ship, James Cook.Professor Monty Priede, Director of the University's highly-acclaimed Oceanlab, along with colleague Dr Nicola King, and students Jessica Craig, Claudia Alt and James Hawkins, are part of the science team on board the ship.Professor Priede said: "It is like surveying a new continent half way between America and Europe. We can recognise the creatures, but familiar ones are absent and unusual ones are common. We are finding species that are rare or unknown elsewhere in the world."One of the world's most advanced research vessels, the RRS James Cook, will be docking at Fairlie Pier by Largs tomorrow (Saturday, August 18), bringing samples of rare animals and a vast archive of pictures and videos, which will help us to understand more about life in the oceans.The RRS James Cook is the latest addition to the Natural Environment Research Council's fleet of oceanographic research ships.The team of scientists mapped over 1,500 square miles, exploring the deep sea creatures living in the depths of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. They used the latest technology to learn more about what is living in this remote and relatively unexplored deep-sea environment using remotely operated vehicles equipped with digital cameras.With a suite of eight deep sea cameras they were able to capture images of life on the peaks and valleys of very rugged terrain. Colourful sponges and corals encrust rocky cliffs, whereas areas of soft sediment are populated by starfish, brittle-stars, sea cucumbers and burrowing worms. Fishes, crabs and shrimps forage over the ridge exploiting whatever they can find. Trawls, traps and corers have brought back thousands of specimens for study back in the laboratory. Professor Priede said: "We are trying to imagine what the north Atlantic would be like without the ridge that literally cuts it in half, as we think it has a major effect on ocean currents, productivity and biodiversity of the North Atlantic Ocean."The RRS James Cook ship is an absolutely fantastic facility and is allowing marine researchers to explore new environments, find new animals and study global changes in the world's oceans."The aim of the voyage is to contribute to the wider MAR-ECO project studying biodiversity along mid-ocean ridges (www.mar-eco.no) and to the global Census research programme. Census of Marine Life is a 10-year global scientific initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution and abundance of life in the oceans. The team already think they may have discovered a new species of Ostracod (or seed shrimp) that was found swarming in large numbers on the western side of the ridge. Specimens are on their way to experts in Southampton where world-renowned expert, Professor Martin Angel, will ultimately determine whether this is a new species, describe it and allocate a name.Dr Steven Wilson, Director of Science & Innovation for the Natural Environment Research Council, said: "The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is still relatively unexplored so this voyage will have played a vital role in expanding our knowledge of the biodiversity of the region."Water currents and tides over the ridge were studied intensively and daily measurements were made of productivity in surface waters. The team left behind automatic equipment on the sea floor at six observing stations that will continue measurements and photography over the next two years. Further voyages are planned in 2008 and 2009 that will include retrieval of the gear.Oceanlab was responsible for assisting with the expedition management and deployed three deep ocean lander vehicles recording luminescent displays from animals living in the darkness on one of the peaks of the mid ocean ridge.Census of Marine Life

FEATURE-Belize barrier reef suffers, global warming blamed

CAYE CAULKER, Belize, Oct 30 (Reuters) - A rainbow-hued parrot fish nibbles
on a veined purple sea fan in the tranquil waters of Belize's barrier reef,
the largest in the western hemisphere.

But the fish stays well away from a large patch of dying coral, a white
skeleton amid the bright colors of spectacular ocean life along the coast.

Much of the 200 miles (320 km) of Belize's coral reef has been "bleached" in
the last decade and some scientists warn it is likely to die, a victim of
global warming.

Reefs around the world are in peril with people damaging the delicate
ecosystems and endangering some 1 million species of animals and plants that
call the coral home.

Scientists estimate over 27 percent of the world's coral has been
permanently lost and at current rates of destruction, another 30 percent
will disappear over the next three decades.

Full story at http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27300634.htm