European Space Agency study find Air Quality Forecasts for China

Beijing Olympic Stadium

With less than a month remaining before the Beijing Olympics, Chinese officials have introduced a series of measures to improve air quality for the Games. A new tool has been installed in the capital city to allow the Chinese to monitor the effectiveness of these efforts.

Poor air quality could pose problems for the Olympic athletes and hinder the performance of those competing outdoors in endurance sports, such as cycling and marathons.

Since the main source of air pollution in the Beijing urban area is vehicle emissions, restrictions on car traffic began on 20 July in order to take 50 percent of Beijing’s 3,5 million vehicles off the road.

From then until 20 September, private vehicles will only be allowed to drive on alternating days and cars with high emissions will be banned.

	Launch of Air Quality forecasting at EPB

On behalf of ESA, CERC (Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants) installed a High Resolution Air Quality Forecasting System at the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) that allows Chinese authorities to monitor the effect these cuts have on street level air quality.

"We are delighted to have installed the system in Beijing and believe the detailed air quality forecast it provides will prove a valuable tool in predicting and understanding Beijing’s Air quality," David Carruthers from CERC said.

"The system is highly flexible and can be adjusted rapidly, for example, to take account of the special emission reduction actions being implemented during July until after the Games."


Thanks to this new tool, operational street scale air quality forecasts for Beijing have been generated since 8 July – exactly one month before the Games’ opening ceremony.

Three-day forecasts are posted daily and are accessible on the Beijing Air Quality website www.beijingairquality.cn. The forecasts are high-resolution pollution contour maps that predict levels of nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particles and sulphur dioxide for each of Beijing’s eight districts. Users can choose to view maps of each pollutant separately or to view the total health index with all pollutants combined.

BeijingAir street-scale air quality forecast for 22 July

"The final forecasts utilise a combination of air quality measurements, surface data and modelling. Regional modelling using Chimere is provided by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) and detailed local modelling is done by CERC’s model, ADMS-Urban," Carruthers explained.

Li Kunsheng, EPB Vice Director said he welcomed the installation of the new system and looked forward to it becoming an important tool for forecasting air quality in Beijing taking account of the effects of air pollution management measures including those being implemented for the Olympic Games.

The three-day advanced forecasts are made available as part of the Dragon-2 Programme, a joint undertaking between ESA and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of China designed to encourage increased exploitation of ESA and Chinese Earth Observation (EO) satellite data within China.


Satellite data from the SCIAMACHY and OMI instruments will be included into the regional model in the near future to improve further emission monitoring.

SCIAMACHY (Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography) is one of 10 instruments aboard ESA's Envisat satellite.

OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) was built by a team of European industry and scientists led by the Netherlands and supplied as an additional instrument to the NASA EOS-AURA mission.

California Institute of Technology scientists offer new explanation for monsoon development

Geoscientists at the California Institute of Technology have come up with a new explanation for the formation of monsoons, proposing an overhaul of a theory about the cause of the seasonal pattern of heavy winds and rainfall that essentially had held firm for more than 300 years.

The traditional idea of monsoon formation was developed in 1686 by English astronomer and mathematician Edmond Halley, namesake of Halley's Comet. In Halley's model, monsoons are viewed as giant sea-breeze circulations, driven by the differences in heat capacities between land and ocean surfaces that, upon heating by sunlight, lead to temperature differences between warmer land and cooler ocean surfaces--for example, between the Indian subcontinent and the oceans surrounding it.

"These circulations form overturning cells, with air flowing across the equator toward the warmer land surface in the summer hemisphere, rising there, flowing back toward and across the equator aloft, and sinking in the winter hemisphere," explains Tapio Schneider, associate professor of environmental science and engineering at Caltech.

A different explanation is offered by Schneider and Simona Bordoni of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. The duo used a computer-generated, water-covered, hypothetical earth (an "aquaplanet") to simulate monsoon formation and found that differences in heat capacities between land and sea were not necessary. Bordoni was a Moore Postdoctoral Scholar at Caltech and will return to Caltech as an assistant professor in 2009.

Monsoons arise instead because of an interaction between the tropical circulation and large-scale turbulent eddies generated in the atmosphere in middle latitudes. These eddies, which can span more than 300 miles across, form the familiar systems that govern the weather in middle latitudes.

The eddies, Schneider says, are "basically large waves, which crash into the tropical circulation. They 'break,' much like water waves on the beach, and modify the circulation as a result of the breaking. There are feedbacks between the circulation, the wind pattern associated with it in the upper atmosphere, and the propagation characteristics of the waves, which make it possible for the circulation to change rapidly." This can quickly generate the characteristic high surface winds and heavy rainfall of the monsoon.

Bordoni adds: "These feedbacks provide one possible explanation for the rapidity of monsoon onset, which had been a long-standing conundrum in the traditional view of monsoons," because substantial differences between land and sea temperatures can only develop slowly through heating by sunlight.

Although the results won't immediately produce better forecasts of impending monsoons, Schneider says, "in the long run, a better understanding of monsoons may lead to better predictions with semi-empirical models, but much more work needs to be done."

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The paper, "Monsoons as eddy-mediated regime transitions of the tropical overturning circulation," appears in the advance online edition of Nature Geosciences. The work was supported by the Davidow Discovery Fund, a David and Lucile Packard Fellowship, a Moore Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the National Science Foundation. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Visit the Caltech Media Relations website at http://pr.caltech.edu/media.

University of Liverpool : Saharan dust storms sustain life in Atlantic Ocean

Research at the University of Liverpool has found how Saharan dust storms help sustain life over extensive regions of the North Atlantic Ocean

Research at the University of Liverpool has found how Saharan dust storms help sustain life over extensive regions of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Working aboard research vessels in the Atlantic, scientists mapped the distribution of nutrients including phosphorous and nitrogen and investigated how organisms such as phytoplankton are sustained in areas with low nutrient levels.

They found that plants are able to grow in these regions because they are able to take advantage of iron minerals in Saharan dust storms. This allows them to use organic or 'recycled' material from dead or decaying plants when nutrients such as phosphorous – an essential component of DNA – in the ocean are low.

Professor George Wolff, from the University's Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, explains: "We found that cyanobacteria – a type of ancient phytoplankton – are significant to the understanding of how ocean deserts can support plant growth. Cyanobacteria need nitrogen, phosphorous and iron in order to grow. They get nitrogen from the atmosphere, but phosphorous is a highly reactive chemical that is scarce in sea water and is not found in the Earth's atmosphere. Iron is present only in tiny amounts in sea water, even though it is one of the most abundant elements on earth.

"Our findings suggest that Saharan dust storms are largely responsible for the significant difference between the numbers of cyanobacteria in the North and South Atlantic. The dust fertilises the North Atlantic and allows phytoplankton to use organic phosphorous, but it doesn't reach the southern regions and so without enough iron, phytoplankton are unable to use the organic material and don't grow as successfully."

Professor Ric Williams, co-author of the research, added: "The Atlantic is often referred to as an 'ocean desert' because many nutrients, which are essential in plant life cycles, are either scarce or are only accessible in the darker depths of the ocean. Plants, however, need some sunlight in order to absorb these important nutrients and so can't always access them from the ocean depths. They therefore need to find the nutrients from elsewhere. Now that we are able to show how cyanobacteria make use of organic material we can understand more clearly how life is sustained in the ocean and why it isn't an 'ocean desert.'

"These findings are important because plant life cycles are essential in maintaining the balance of gases in our atmosphere. In looking at how plants survive in this area, we have shown how the Atlantic is able to draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the growth of photosynthesising plants."

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center : NASA responds to California wildfire emergency imaging request

A remotely piloted aircraft carrying a NASA sensor flew over much of California earlier this week, gathering information that will be used to help fight more than 300 wildfires burning within the state. Additional flights are planned for next week.

The flights by NASA's unmanned Ikhana aircraft are using a sophisticated Autonomous Modular Scanner developed at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. The flights are originating from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Ikhana's onboard sensor can detect temperature differences from less than one-half degree to approximately 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The scanner operates like a digital camera with specialized filters to detect light energy at visible, infrared and thermal wavelengths.

NASA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service have partnered to obtain imagery of the wildfires in response to requests from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services and the National Interagency Fire Center.

"NASA's emergency imaging gives us immediate information that we can use to manage fires, identify threats and deploy firefighting assets," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said. "I thank NASA for providing us with this important firefighting tool that will help us maximize attacks on the more than 300 active fires currently burning in California."

The Ikhana aircraft is imaging almost 4,000 square miles from Santa Barbara north to the Oregon border. The flights provide critical information about the location, size and terrain around the fires to commanders in the field in as little as 10 minutes. The first mission on July 8 flew over 10 individual and complex fires along a route over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, west to the Cub Complex fire and south to the Gap Fire in Santa Barbara County.

Fire images are collected onboard Ikhana and transmitted through a communications satellite to NASA Ames. There, the imagery is superimposed over Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth maps to better visualize the location and scope of the fires. The imagery is then transmitted to the Multi-Agency Coordination Center in Redding, Calif., and the State Operations Center in Sacramento, which distribute fire data to incident commanders in the field.

"Because Forest Service assets are stretched thin, NASA was asked to provide additional resources as a supplement to existing infrared fire imaging operations," said Jim Brass, co-principal investigator for the Western States Fire Mission at Ames.

From a ground control center, NASA pilots are flying the aircraft in close coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, which is allowing flights within the national airspace while maintaining safe separation from other aircraft. The FAA is allowing NASA unprecedented flexibility to fly these missions in support of the California firefighting effort.

NASA was working with the Forest Service on a demonstration mission later this summer, but moved up the schedule in response to the widespread fires. The system was proven during a series of wildfire imaging demonstration missions in August and September 2007 and tested operationally during the Southern California fires of October 2007.

"The NASA/Forest Service team gathered six weeks earlier than planned because of the extreme fires in Northern California," said Vincent Ambrosia, NASA Ames' principal investigator for the fire mission. "The team will provide state and federal agencies with critical fire intelligence by using NASA aircraft and technology."

NASA's Applied Sciences and Airborne Science programs and the Earth Science Technology Office funded development of the fire sensor. In the hands of operational agencies, the benefits of this NASA research and development effort can support nationwide wildfire fighting efforts.

NASA satellites also are capturing imagery of the wildfires to fill in gaps in airborne imagery. For a collection of the latest NASA satellite and Ikhana images, visit:

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http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/fire_and_smoke.html

ICELANDIC VOLCANOES HELP RESEARCHERS UNDERSTAND POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF ERUPTIONS

ICELANDIC VOLCANOES HELP RESEARCHERS UNDERSTAND POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF ERUPTIONS

For the first time, researchers have taken a detailed look at what lies beneath all of Iceland’s volcanoes – and found a world far more complex than they ever imagined.

They mapped an elaborate maze of magma chambers - work that could one day help scientists better understand how earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in Iceland and elsewhere in the world.

Daniel Kelley

Knowing where magma chambers are located is a key first step to understanding the chemical composition of the molten rock that is flowing within them - and of the gases that are released when a volcano erupts, explained Daniel Kelley, doctoral student in earth sciences at Ohio State University.

Kelley and Michael Barton, professor of earth sciences at Ohio State, have determined that the volcanoes in Iceland are likely to have explosive eruptions that shoot debris far into the atmosphere. That’s because the magma moves very quickly to the surface from deep within the magma chambers. Fast-moving magma propels sulfur and ash out of a volcano and high into the atmosphere, where it can spread around the planet.

“One of the reasons we’re trying to understand these volcanoes is to determine exactly what the chances are of a large eruption there. We know that a large eruption in Iceland would not only have devastating local effects, but potential global effects as well - by affecting the climate,” Barton said.

Previous eruptions in Iceland and elsewhere have released gas into the atmosphere that had global affects. An eruption of a volcano in modern-day Indonesia in 1816 led to the “year without a summer.” The explosive eruption forced sulfur and ash high into atmosphere, blocking the sun for several months and leading to global crop failure, famine, and a death toll in the thousands. Similar effects were also recorded after an eruption in Iceland in 1783.

This new study was based on the analyses of basaltic glasses -- volcanic rocks created when magma from deep within the Earth is cooled very quickly at the surface and becomes glass-like. The researchers traced the origin of basaltic glass rocks gathered from the surface of Iceland to magma chambers under 28 different volcanoes, by analyzing the composition of the rocks and calculating the pressures at which the glasses were formed.

In addition to his own field work, Kelley compiled published reports of more than 500 basaltic glasses analyzed by other researchers from every volcanic center in Iceland. The study, which is the first of its kind to look at all of Iceland’s volcanoes, was published in Journal of Petrology.

Rather than using conventional methods, Kelley and Barton focused on a more unusual way to study Iceland.

“Most of the studies looking for magma chambers are done using seismic or satellite data to infer where a magma chamber might be. But by analyzing the glass, you have something that directly represents the liquid magma beneath the surface and gives you the exact location of the magma chamber,” Kelley said.

This new research strongly supports the idea that the middle and lower layers are actually hotter than ever imagined, up to 400 degrees Celsius (more than 750 degrees Fahrenheit) higher at the base of the crust. And with stacked chambers ranging from 1 to 35 kilometers (1 to 21 miles) below the surface, many volcanoes lie above large bases of molten rock.

At the base of the crust beneath every volcano, researchers also found complex groupings of magma chambers. Magma is constantly flowing through the chambers or injected into cracks in the crust, resulting in increased volcanic activity.

Over thousands of years, that increased volcanic activity has created a lot of basaltic glass, giving scientists clues at how magma chambers have changed over time and where eruptions have taken place in the past, Kelley said.

Knowing the sizes and locations of magma chambers past and present, scientists can better understand the events that happen shortly before and after a volcanic eruption. Previous research has suggested that earthquakes and volcanic eruptions follow one another, giving scientists a possible warning of an eruption.

“There’s a lot of magma moving inside reservoirs underneath volcanoes as they fill, the crust around them becomes deformed and that tends to generate the earthquakes. And so one of the ways you are able to predict an eruption is by looking at the seismic data,” Barton said.

Iceland is the perfect place for scientists such as Kelley and Barton to study the placement of magma chambers.

It's a land of contrasts: glaciers blanket portions of Iceland, while pools of magma flow beneath the surface. The entire island country sits atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a giant crack in the earth’s crust. The ridge separates the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates and exposes the inside of the Earth.

Almost all mid-ocean ridges lie deep under water, but Iceland is the only land-based location in the world where researchers can take this kind of first-hand look into Earth’s interior.

“A great deal of volcanic activity is centered around mid-ocean ridges, but they are almost all underwater, so we can usually only study them from ocean dredging and drilling. Iceland is the only place in the world where we can put our feet right on a mid-ocean ridge and study it,” Kelley said.

Over the next few months, Kelley plans to collect more glasses from Iceland personally. Focusing on the Askja volcano in the country's central highlands, Kelley hopes to determine how the volcanic system has evolved over time. This new focus will add another dimension to how scientists interpret the changes in volcanic systems, he said.

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Contact: Michael Barton, (614) 292-3132; Barton.2@osu.edu
Daniel Kelley (614) 292-2721; Kelley.196@osu.edu

Written by Jenna McGuire, (614) 247-8362; Mcguire.165@osu.edu

American Society of Plastic Surgeons : Gear up before revving up ATVs

Plastic surgeons want to prevent serious injuries in kids

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Fourteen-year old Cristian Avina knows all too well the devastating injuries all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) can cause. Four months ago, Cristian and his sister, Rociel, hopped on an ATV for a little innocent fun in the desert near their home. Cristian was riding tandem with his sister when a bird flew into them causing him to lose control. The ATV crashed, sending Cristian and Rociel flying—neither was wearing a helmet. Cristian suffered serious head injuries, including an amputated ear.

“This has been a nightmare,” said Martha Avina, Cristian and Rociel’s mother. “Rociel was not badly hurt and went for help. Upon her return, she saw that her brother had been pecked at and his severed ear had been partially eaten by vultures. Cristian’s ear could not be reattached—reconstructive plastic surgery to rebuild it started this summer.”

Whether on vacation or out for recreation, many adults and children are hopping on ATVs for some warm weather fun. But ATVs are not toys. They can go more than 60 miles per hour, weigh more than 700 pounds and tip over easily. In fact, more than 135,000 Americans are injured in ATV-related accidents each year, 30 percent of them children, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports.

The American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons (ASMS) and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) are urging ATV riders, especially parents and children, to be more cautious and follow safety tips to help reduce the incidence of ATV-related injuries.

"Unfortunately, cases like Cristian's are not uncommon," said ASMS President Andrew Wexler, MD. "It will take multiple reconstructive surgeries—attaching an implant, providing soft tissue coverage and skin grafting—to rebuild Cristian's ear. Each year, plastic surgeons treat thousands of patients with severe head trauma, eye injuries, disfiguring lacerations and facial fractures from ATV accidents. These debilitating injuries may be avoided by following a few safety tips."

Plastic surgeons strongly recommend following the CPSC safety tips for ATV riders:

• Get properly trained

• Always wear protective gear—especially a helmet
  • Many ATV injuries are head injuries.
  • Additional protective gear includes closed toed shoes, goggles, gloves, long pants, and long-sleeved shirts to protect against cuts.

• Children under 16 should never ride adult-sized ATVs
  • Children should only use ATVs that are appropriate for their age. Most injuries occur when a child is driving or riding an adult-sized ATV.

• Never ride tandem
  • Most ATVs are designed for one person; a passenger can make it difficult for drivers to control the machine.

• Don't ride on paved roads
  • ATVs can be very difficult to control on pavement; collisions with cars and other vehicles can be deadly.

• Never ride at night

• Don't ride under the influence

"When it comes to protective gear, it's especially important to wear a helmet, since many ATV-related injuries involve trauma to the head and face," said ASPS President Richard D'Amico, MD. "Studies show helmets can reduce non-fatal head injuries by 64 percent and deaths by 42 percent."

"ATVs can be treacherous and difficult to steer. They are not like riding a bicycle," said Dr. Wexler. "The injuries we see from these machines can be devastating."

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The American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons is the oldest organization representing maxillofacial plastic surgeons. The members of the ASMS are surgeons of high moral and ethical standing and professional attainment, who are experts in craniofacial restoration. The mission of the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons is to advance the science and practice of surgery of the facial region and the craniofacial skeleton. The Society accomplishes its mission through excellence in education and research, and through advocacy on behalf of patients and practitioners.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons is the largest organization of board-certified plastic surgeons in the world. Representing more than 6,700 physician members, the Society is recognized as a leading authority and information source on cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery. ASPS comprises more than 90 percent of all board-certified plastic surgeons in the United States. Founded in 1931, the Society represents physicians certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery or The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. For more information, please visit www.plasticsurgery.org.

Editor's Note: Christian Avina and other patients injured in ATV-related accidents, and their plastic surgeons, are available for media interviews.

University of Rhode Island : researcher: China can't fully fix air quality problem for Olympics

The outlook for air quality in Beijing during the Olympics is borderline, and there's little that the Chinese government can do to improve it. That's the conclusion drawn by a University of Rhode Island atmospheric chemist who analyzed pollution data collected regularly for the last five years by Chinese scientists.

"There is both a local component and a regional component to the pollutants that cause unhealthy air in Beijing, and the severity of their effects are driven by weather fronts and winds," said Kenneth Rahn, a retired URI professor who travels to China several times a year to help scientists at Tsinghua University interpret their data. "Since it's controlled by the weather, it will be a matter of luck whether the bad air periods correspond with days of outdoor Olympic events."

Locally generated pollutants in Beijing consist primarily of organic matter from transportation, factories and cooking, while regional sources of pollution include ammonium sulfates and ammonium nitrates from coal-burning power plants, industry and transportation sources, which are easily transported long distances in the atmosphere, according to Rahn.

"The air pollution pattern in Beijing is unusual, with high and low concentrations that can differ by a factor of 50 to 100," Rahn said. "When the winds shift to the north and bring in clear air from Mongolia, the air can be relatively clean, though that's not the norm during the summer. But when winds are from the south, where there is a large population and lots of industrial activity, the air can be particularly hazardous."

When air quality in Beijing is at its worst, Rahn says, most of the pollutants come from distant sources, making it virtually impossible for local efforts to lead to the kind of improvements that the government would like.

"It's one thing to take steps to try to clean up a big city, but unless they also clean up the surrounding provinces, it's going to have a minor effect," said Rahn. "They've tried to relocate some of the polluting industries over time, and Beijing has gotten a little cleaner each year because of it, but the background pollutants still blow in just the same."

The government's plan to reduce pollution during the Olympics focuses on cutting automobile use in half while also temporarily shutting down factories and other large polluters. Rahn said that it is an expensive plan, since the government must reimburse the factories for their economic losses, and the plan will remain in place through the conclusion of the Paralympic Games in late September.

A test run of the transportation component of the pollution reduction plan conducted last summer resulted in undetectable air quality improvements.

"I sympathize with them. They're doing all the right things, but unfortunately the right things may not be good enough," Rahn said. "There will surely be some good days and some bad days. But the meteorological uncertainties mean that you can't predict how bad it will be more than two or three days ahead, and that may not be enough time for them to reschedule the marathon or the long-distance bike races.

"My advice to them at this point is to keep up the good work and then pray to the Mongolian Weather Gods to send cold fronts. That's their best hope for clean air."

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency releases science assessment on health effects of nitrogen oxides

EPA has released the final "Integrated Science Assessment for Oxides of Nitrogen—Health Criteria." This is EPA's latest evaluation of the scientific literature on the potential adverse human health effects resulting from exposures to oxides of nitrogen, particularly nitrogen dioxide or NO2. There are significant new health data, particularly epidemiological studies, since the last scientific review document released in 1993.

Oxides of nitrogen is one of the six criteria pollutants for which EPA is required to issue air quality criteria under the Clean Air Act (CAA). EPA set a national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), an indicator for gaseous nitrogen oxides, at an annual average of 0.053 parts per million (ppm).

The CAA also requires EPA to periodically update the scientific basis for these standards by preparing an Integrated Science Assessment. The assessment released today will be critical in the review of the NAAQS for NO2. The document went through independent, external peer review by the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, and opportunities were also provided for public review and comment.

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Final Integrated Science Assessment for Oxides of Nitrogen—Health Criteria: http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=194645 or under "Recent Additions" http://www.epa.gov/ncea

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health : Closing coal-burning power plant in China and improved cognitive development in children

Study shows benefits of closing plants on early childhood neurodevelopment

July 14, 2008 – Closing coal-fired power plants can have a direct, positive impact on children's cognitive development and health according to a study released by the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. The study allowed researchers to track and compare the development of two groups of children born in Tongliang, a city in China's Chongqing Municipality – one in utero while a coal-fired power plant was operating in the city and one in utero after the Chinese government had closed the plant. Among the first group of children, prenatal exposure to coal-burning emissions was associated with significantly lower average developmental scores and reduced motor development at age two. In the second unexposed group, these adverse effects were no longer observed; and the frequency of delayed motor developmental was significantly reduced. The study findings are published in the July 14th Environmental Health Perspectives.

"This study provides direct evidence that governmental action to eliminate polluting coal-burning sources benefits children's neurodevelopment," said Frederica Perera, DrPH, professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health, director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, and lead author of the study. "These findings have major implications for environmental health and energy policy as they demonstrate that reduction in dependence on coal for energy can have a measurable positive impact on children's development and health – in China and elsewhere."

To conduct the study, researchers from CCCEH partnered with physicians and scientists from the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, the School of Public Health at Fudan University in Shanghai, and the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The researchers followed two successive cohorts of Chinese newborns through age two. Children in both cohorts were born in Tongliang, a city with a coal-fired power plant that operated seasonally until it was shutdown by the government in May 2004. The first cohort involved 107 women whose children were born in 2002, prior to the plant closing. The second involved 110 women whose children were born in 2005, when the coal plant was no longer in operation.

"This is a unique environmental intervention study using molecular techniques to demonstrate the relationship between a cleaner environment and healthier children," added Deliang Tang, MD, DrPh, associate professor of clinical Environmental Health Sciences at the Mailman School, director of the Tongliang Project, and co-author of the study.

Prenatal exposure to plant emissions was measured by a biomarker of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure in umbilical cord blood. The investigators controlled for exposures to other pollutants, such as tobacco smoke and lead, which might have contributed to neurodevelopment problems.

Children in the first cohort had varying exposure prenatally to PAHs emitted by the coal-fired power plant. This exposure was recorded by monitoring the levels of PAHs in air during the mothers' pregnancies and in measuring a marker of PAH exposure in cord blood-- specifically the levels of PAHs bound to DNA, known as "PAH-DNA adducts". Among these children, the researchers found significant associations between the marker of exposure in cord blood and delayed motor and average development at age two. The second group of children, who were conceived after the closure of the plant, had significantly lower levels of the marker in cord blood and their incidence of delayed motor development was one-third that of the first cohort.

Coal-fired power plants provide the majority of the energy for China's industry, as well as the electricity needs of the U.S. The Chinese government has ordered the closure of older, more polluting coal-fired power plants such as the one in Tongliang.

The study is one of four parallel international cohort studies being conducted by the CCCEH that examine the health effects of exposure of pregnant women and babies to indoor and outdoor air pollutants in urban areas. Additional studies are being conducted in New York City and Krakow, Poland.

The Center's prior research findings have shown that exposure to air pollutants are associated with an increase in risk for developmental delays among children living in New York City. Today's findings contribute to a further understanding of how air pollution impacts child health.

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Other investigators on the study include Tin-yu Li, Zhi-jun Zhou, Tao Yuan, Yu-hui Chen, Lirong Qu, Virginia A. Rauh, and Yiguan Zhang.

The study is available at http://www.ehponline.org/members/2008/11480/11480.pdf

About the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health

The Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health – part of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University – is a leading research organization dedicated to understanding and preventing environmentally related disease in children. Founded in 1998, the Center conducts research in New York City, including a World Trade Center Study, as well as Krakow, Poland, and Chongqing, China. Its mission is to improve the cognitive development and respiratory health of children and to reduce their cancer risk by identifying environmental toxicants and conditions related to poverty that increase their risk of disease. In NYC, the Center collaborates with residents and partner organizations in Washington Heights, Harlem and the South Bronx to share research findings with the local communities. (www.ccceh.org)

About the Mailman School of Public Health

The only accredited school of public health in New York City, and among the first in the nation, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health provides instruction and research opportunities to more than 1000 graduate students in pursuit of masters and doctoral degrees. Its students and more than 300 multi-disciplinary faculty engage in research and service in the city, nation, and around the world, concentrating on biostatistics, environmental health sciences, epidemiology, health policy and management, population and family health, and sociomedical sciences. www.mailman.columbia.edu

Oregon State University New report: Greatest value of forests is sustainable water supply

The forests of the future may need to be managed as much for a sustainable supply of clean water as any other goal, researchers say in a new federal report – but even so, forest resources will offer no "quick fix" to the insatiable, often conflicting demands for this precious resource.

This new view of forests is evolving, scientists say, as both urban and agricultural demands for water continue to increase, and the role of clean water from forests becomes better understood as an "ecosystem service" of great value. Many factors – changing climate, wildfires, insect outbreaks, timber harvest, roads, and even urban sprawl – are influencing water supplies from forests.

Preserving and managing forests may help sustain water supplies and water quality from the nation's headwaters in the future, they conclude, but forest management is unlikely to increase water supplies.

"Historically, forest managers have not focused much of their attention on water, and water managers have not focused on forests," said Julia Jones, a professor of geosciences at Oregon State University, and vice chair of a committee of the National Research Council, which today released a report on the hydrologic effects of a changing forest landscape. "But today's water problems demand that these groups work together closely.

"Because forests can release slightly more water for a decade or so following timber harvest, there have been suggestions that forests could be managed to increase water supplies in some areas," Jones said. "But we've learned that such increases don't last very long, and often don't provide water when you need it most."

The science of how forest management affects water quantity and quality, Jones said, has produced a solid foundation of principles. But forests in the United States are changing rapidly, and additional research may reveal ways to provide a sustainable flow of fresh, clean water.

Changes in water supplies from forests due to climate change, the researchers said, are a particular concern, and water supplies may already be affected by increased fire frequency and insect or disease epidemics. Many such factors require more study, they said.

Among the findings of the report:

• Forests cover about one-third of the nation's land area, and although they have roles in timber production, habitat, recreation and wilderness, their most important output may be water.
• Forests provide natural filtration and storage systems that process nearly two-thirds of the water supply in the U.S.
• Demand for water continues to rise due to population growth, while forest acreage is declining and remaining forest lands are threatened by climate change, disease epidemics, fire and global climate change.
• Forest vegetation and soils, if healthy and intact, can benefit human water supplies by controlling water yield, peak flows, low flows, sediment levels, water chemistry and quality.
• Increases in water yield after forest harvesting are transitory; they decrease over time as forests re-grow, and in the meantime water quality may be reduced.
• Impervious surfaces such as roads and road drainage systems increase overland flow, deliver water directly to stream channels, and can increase surface erosion.
• Forest chemicals, including those used to fight fire, can adversely affect aquatic ecosystems, especially if they are applied directly to water bodies or wet soil.
• One of the biggest threats to forests, and the water that derives from them, is the permanent conversion of forested land to residential, industrial and commercial uses.

The report also outlined a number of research needs for the future, especially to improve specific predictions about the implications of forest harvests, disturbances by fire, insects and disease, climate change, land development, and shifts in forest species composition.

Modern forest practices have helped to protect streams and riparian zones, but more needs to be learned about the implications of such practices as thinning or partial cuts – development of "best management" practices could help balance timber harvest with sustainable water flow and quality.

And global warming, which affects timing and amount of snowmelt runoff, wildfires, and insect and disease outbreaks, is a huge variable.

The study also cited the value of watershed councils and citizen groups in getting more people involved in water, stream and land management issues at a local level, increasing the opportunities for all views to be considered, and conflicts avoided.

Support for this project, which involved numerous representatives from academia and private industry in the U.S. and Canada, was provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture. The National Research Council is operated by the National Academy of Sciences. This is one of the first major studies on forests and water since a U.S. Forest Service project in 1976, the authors noted.

"Times have changed," the authors wrote in the report. "Thirty years ago, no one would have imagined that clearcutting on public lands in the Pacific Northwest would come to a screeching halt; or that farmers would give up water for endangered fish and birds; or that climate change would produce quantifiable changes in forest structure, species and water supplies."

Those changes demanded a new assessment of current conditions, an understanding of rising tensions, and an evaluation of future needs, the researchers said.

###

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac

-- July 9, 2008

Scientists are reporting a new method that uses sugar molecules instead of antibodies to detect influenza.

ARTICLE #1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Detecting flu viruses in remote areas of the world
Journal of the American Chemical Society

Researchers in Ohio and New Mexico are reporting an advance in the quest for a fast, sensitive test to detect flu viruses — one that requires no refrigeration and can be used in remote areas of the world where new flu viruses often emerge. Their new method, the first to use sugar molecules rather than antibodies, is in the July 2 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a weekly publication.

In the new study, Jurgen Schmidt, Suri Iyer, and colleagues point out that conventional tests for flu viruses — including bird flu — rely on antibodies, proteins produced by the immune system, to recognize viruses. But antibody-based tests can be expensive and require refrigeration to remain stable.

Their solution involved development of artificial forms of sialic acid, a sugar molecule found on the surface of cells that flu viruses attach to when they attack humans. In laboratory tests, the researchers showed that their highly-selective artificial sugars could be used to quickly capture and recognize two common strains of influenza viruses, H1N1, which infects birds, and H3N2, which infects pigs and humans. They used the molecules to differentiate between 2 strains (Sydney and Beijing) commonly found in human infections without isolating the viral RNA or surface glycoproteins. The sugars remain stable for several months, can be produced in large quantities, and exhibit extended shelf life. — MTS

ARTICLE #1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Detection of Intact Influenza Viruses using Biotinylated Biantennary /S-/Sialosides"

DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja800842v

CONTACT:
Jurgen Schmidt, Ph.D.
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
Email: jschmidt@lanl.gov

Suri S. Iyer, Ph.D.
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0172
Phone: 513-556-9273
Fax: 513-556-9239
Email: suri.iyer@uc.edu

---

Researchers are reporting the protein composition of the fang-like jaws of Nereis virens, a common marine worm. The finding could be used in construction and aerospace.

ARTICLE #2 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Marine worm's jaws say "cutting-edge new aerospace materials"
Biomacromolecules

Researchers in California and New Hampshire report the first detailed characterization of the protein composition of the hard, fang-like jaws of a common marine worm. Their work could lead to the design of a new class of super-strong, lightweight materials for use as construction and repair materials for spacecraft, airplanes, and other applications. Their study is scheduled for the July 14 issue of ACS' Biomacromolecules, a monthly journal.

In the new study, Chris C. Broomell and colleagues note that Nereis virens, also known as the sandworm or ragworm, is a burrowing marine worm found in shallow waters in the North Atlantic region. Researchers remain intrigued by the remarkable hardness of its jaws and long pincers, which rivals that of human teeth and exceed the hardness of many synthetic plastics. But little is known about the exact chemical composition of these structures.

Broomell and colleagues collected the jaws of 1,000 worms and analyzed their protein content using high-tech instrumentation. They found that the primary chemical in the jaws and pincers of the worm is a unique protein, named Nereis virens jaw protein-1 (Nvjp-1), which is rich in the amino acid histidine. The researchers also characterized the chemical conditions needed for its formation, such as the presence of zinc, which could allow researchers to create synthetic versions of this super-hard, lightweight material. — MTS

ARTICLE #2 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Cutting Edge Structural Protein from the Jaws of Nereis virens"

DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/bm800200a

CONTACT:
Chris C. Broomell, Ph.D.
University of California at Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California 93106
Phone: 406-599-6678
Email: broomell@lifesci.ucsb.edu

---

ARTICLE #3 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New "scrubber" speeds removal of powerful anthrax clean-up agent
Organic Process Research & Development

Researchers in New Jersey report discovery of a fast, efficient method for removing a powerful pesticide used to sterilize buildings and equipment following anthrax attacks. Their chemical "scrubber" removes 99 percent of the pesticide following fumigation and could pave the way for its broader use in anthrax clean-up efforts, the scientists say. Their study is scheduled for the July 18 issue of ACS' Organic Process Research & Development, a bi-monthly journal.

In the new study, Roman Bielski and Peter J. Joyce note that the commonly used pesticide, methyl bromide, is superior to chlorine dioxide for destroying anthrax-causing bacteria and their spores. However, it is highly toxic to humans and may harm the environment by destroying the ozone layer. Researchers thus have sought an efficient method for removing this promising anthrax decontamination agent.

Bielski and Joyce documented the effectiveness of their removal method in experiments with an empty office trailer filled with air containing methyl bromide. They treated air exhausted from the trailer with a solution of sodium sulfide combined with a powerful catalyst. This chemical "scrubber" removed more than 99 percent of the methyl bromide from the air. — MTS

ARTICLE #3 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"The Use of Methyltricaprylylammonium Chloride as a Phase Transfer Catalyst for the Destruction of methyl Bromide in Air Streams"

DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/op800016j

CONTACT:
Roman Bielski, Ph.D., and Peter J. Joyce, Ph.D.
Value Recovery, Inc.
Bridgeport, New Jersey 08014
Phone: 856-467-6316
Fax: 856-467-6317
Email: bielski@ptcvalue.com

---

Scientists are reporting that venom of snakes, such as the Bothrops asper from Costa Rica, could differ based on geographical regions, an important finding in the production of antivenom.

ARTICLE #4 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Snake venom tells tales about geography
Journal of Proteome Research

Just as people give away their origins by that southern drawl or New England twang, poisonous snakes produce venom that differs distinctly from one geographic area to another, the first study of the "snake venomics" of one of the most common pit vipers in Latin America has found. The study is scheduled for the August 1 issue of ACS' monthly Journal of Proteome Research.

In the new study, Juan J. Calvete and colleagues point out that researchers have known for decades that venom collected from snakes of the same species from different geographic locations can differ in terms of their biological effects and symptoms on snakebite victims. However, scientists know little about the chemical differences behind these geographically different venoms.

To find out, the scientists collected venom samples from adult and newborn specimens of the lancehead pitviper from two geographically isolated populations from the Caribbean and Pacific regions of Costa Rica. After a detailed laboratory analysis of the proteins found in the venom — so-called "snake venomics" — the researchers found major differences in the venoms collected from the two regions. They also found distinct differences in proteins collected from newborns and adult snakes. The study "highlights the necessity of using pooled venoms as a statistically representative venom for antivenom production" for human snakebite victims, the report states. — MTS

ARTICLE #4 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Snake Venomics of the Lancehead Pitviper Bothrops asper: Geographic, Individual, and Ontogenetic Variations"

DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/pr800332p

CONTACT:
Juan J. Calvete, Ph.D.
Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia
Valencia, Spain
Phone: 34 96 339 1778
Fax: 34 96 369 0800
Email: jcalvete@ibv.csic.es

---

ARTICLE #5 EMBARGOED FOR 9 A.M., EASTERN TIME, July 14, 2008

'Electronic chemicals' pave the way for brighter, more energy-efficient future
Chemical & Engineering News

From solar power to computer chips to advanced lighting, new materials developed by chemists are helping consumers reap the benefits of advanced electronics, according to an article scheduled for the July 15 issue of Chemical & Engineering News. Some of these electronics will soon appear on store shelves and offices near you.

In the C&EN cover story, writers Michael McCoy, Alexander Tullo, and Jean-Francois Tremblay point out that so-called 'electronic chemicals' play key roles in today's advanced electronics but go largely unnoticed by consumers. These unsung materials, part of a multibillion dollar electronic materials market, provide improved solar panels that crank out more fossil fuel-free electricity and new computer chips that are smaller and more energy efficient than ever. These materials also fuel the development of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) that promise energy savings and could render today's incandescent light bulbs and fluorescent bulbs obsolete, according to the article.

But making advanced electronics comes with a steep price. Chemical companies now invest billions of dollars to build new manufacturing plants to produce raw materials for advanced electronics. Manufacturers are also spending heavily on research and development, as new electronic advances demand innovative new chemicals, the article states.

ARTICLE #5 EMBARGOED FOR 9 A.M., EASTERN TIME, July 14, 2008
"Electronic chemicals"

This story will be available on July 14 at
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/86/8628cover.html

FOR ADVANCE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Michael Bernstein
ACS News Service
Phone: 202-872-6042
Fax: 202-872-4370
Email: m_bernstein@acs.org

---

Journalists' Resources

ACS's 236th National Meeting, August 17-21, Philadelphia
One of 2008's largest and most important scientific conferences — the 236th National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society-- will be held Aug. 17-21, 2008, in Philadelphia, Pa. At least 12,000 scientists and others are expected for the event, which will include more than 8,000 reports on new discoveries in chemistry. The multi-disciplinary theme is Chemistry for Health: Catalyzing Transitional Research. Stay tuned for information on registration, housing, press releases, and onsite press briefings that will be available via the Internet.

New ACS Annual Report
The 2007 ACS annual report, Our Science, Our Lives, Our Stories, can be a valuable resource for journalists trying to keep pace with chemistry and the multiple fields of science that involve chemistry. The report features ACS members describing in their own words why they became chemists, what they find rewarding about their work and how the transforming power of chemistry helps address mounting global problems and improves people's lives. Some are humorous, some are poignant. All of them are compelling. The newly published report is at: http://www.acsannualreport.org/acsannualreport/2007.

Pfizer's work on penicillin becomes National Historic Chemical Landmark
Pfizer's deep-tank fermentation — a revolutionary process that enabled mass production of penicillin for use in World War II — was designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society (ACS) in a special ceremony in Brooklyn, N.Y., on June 12. The process ushered in the era of antibiotics and represented a turning point in modern medicine. After World War II, Pfizer applied its deep-tank fermentation to manufacture the antibiotics streptomycin and Terramycin,® which proved effective against a wide range of deadly bacteria. For more information, the press release can be found at: http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=222&content_id=WPCP_010032&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1

ChemMatters Matters for Journalists
This quarterly ACS magazine for high school chemistry students, teachers, and others explains the chemistry that underpins everyday life in a lively, understandable fashion. ChemMatters is available at www.acs.org/chemmatters. You can also receive the most recent issues by contacting the editor, Pat Pages, at: 202-872-6164 or chemmatters@acs.org.

ACS Press Releases
General science press releases on a variety of chemistry-related topics.
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=222&content_id=CTP_006740&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1

General Chemistry Glossary
http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/glossary.shtml

For Wired Readers

Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions
Don't miss this special series of ACS podcasts on some of the 21st Century's most daunting challenges, and how cutting-edge research in chemistry matters in the quest for solutions. This sweeping panorama of challenges includes topics such as providing a hungry, thirsty world with ample supplies of safe food and clean water; developing alternatives to petroleum to fuel the global economy; preserving the environment and assuring a sustainable future for our children; and improving human health. An ongoing saga of chemistry for life — chemistry that truly matters— Global Challenges debuts June 25 with new episodes through December. Subscribe at iTunes [itpc://feeds.feedburner.com/GlobalChallenges] or listen and access other resources at the ACS web site www.acs.org/GlobalChallenges.

Bytesize Science, a new podcast for young listeners
Bytesize Science is a science podcast for kids of all ages that aims to entertain as much as it educates. Subscribe to Bytesize Science using iTunes [http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/browserRedirect?url=itms%253A%252F%252Fax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewPodcast%253Fid%253D266670954]
No iTunes? No problem. Listen to the latest episodes of Bytesize Science [http://feeds.feedburner.com/BytesizeScience] in your web browser.

Science Elements: ACS Science News Podcast
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_SUPERARTICLE&node_id=1355&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1 The ACS Office of Communications is podcasting PressPac contents in order to make cutting-edge scientific discoveries from ACS journals available to a broad public audience at no charge.

###

PressPac information is intended for your personal use in news gathering and reporting and should not be distributed to others. Anyone using advance PressPac information for stocks or securities dealing may be guilty of insider trading under the federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

The American Chemical Society — the world's largest scientific society — is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

MIT expert: Don't count on long-term success in climate poli

Says policy-making requires ambitious short-term goals

Long-term climate change policy in the United States and abroad is likely to change very slowly, warns an MIT professor who says the lack of future flexibility argues for stronger short-term goals to reduce carbon emissions.

In a study in the current issue of Decision Analysis, a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, Assistant Professor Mort Webster of MIT's Engineering Systems Division tackles the complex problem of global climate change policy with a new approach.

Specifically, Webster's analysis incorporates the theory of "path dependency." In its most basic form, the theory holds that how something evolves in the future depends heavily on the path it was on in the past.

Webster says that because policy-making for climate change involves sequences of decisions over very long time periods, it is possible to reduce uncertainty and revise decisions along the way. But political systems can exhibit path dependency, a force that makes large policy shifts in the future difficult and rare, so most future decisions may only offer relatively small, incremental changes.

"Although staging climate change policy decisions over time would seem to make sense, the tendency of U.S. and international policy to change extremely slowly requires front-loading the painful decisions," Webster says, arguing that greater near-term emissions reductions are needed as a hedge against long-term catastrophe.

Webster challenges the Bush administration, which has cited uncertainty about future climate change among the reasons that it calls for the postponement of stricter mandated emissions reductions until the next decade.

The White House approach raises central questions for near-term climate policy, both in the United States and abroad, he writes: whether or not regulations of greenhouse gas emissions can be delayed, and whether some level of mitigating effort is required at once. Countering those who say the dust should settle before committing to big decisions, he points out that when a decision will be irreversible - as is likely the case in climate policy - delaying the decision is probably not the best option, according to research in decision analysis.

Decision-making in public policy, he writes, is complicated by the reluctance of leaders to reverse course after they have made important policy choices.

"A large-scale international policy issue such as climate change is especially vulnerable to path dependencies. If significant global emissions reductions are required in the long-run, this will be an extremely difficult problem to coordinate across nations," he writes.

Climate policy optimization models typically assume that some fraction of baseline emissions can be reduced in each period, ranging from none to nearly 100 percent, he notes. But, he notes, the range of reductions considered in any period is independent of any choices made in previous periods.

"The question posed in this study is: Does accounting for path dependency in political systems change the first-period (today) optimal choice from a sequential decision model of climate policy?" he writes. " If it does, then this would argue for a more aggressive hedging strategy with greater emissions reductions for near-term climate policy. This action would allow for greater flexibility if significant reductions are required later in the century."

Note: This text was adapted from a news release originally issued by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences.

Wasps and Bumble Bees Heat Up, Fly Faster With Protein-Rich Food

Good pollen makes bees hot, biologists at UC San Diego have found. Wasps warm up too when they find protein-rich meat, a separate experiment has shown.

Megan Eckles lures yellowjacket wasps with protein-rich bait.

In both cases warmer flight muscles likely speed the insects’ trips home, allowing them to quickly exploit a valuable resource before competitors arrive, the researchers report in separate studies, published this month in two scientific journals.

Because foragers of neither species eat the protein they collect, feeding it instead to their larvae, their warming must be a behavioral rather than a metabolic response to nutritious food, both research teams conclude.

Such similar responses found in two distantly related species – a bumble bee and a yellowjacket wasp whose ancestral lines diverged millions of years ago – suggest that the behavior is an ancestral trait. Bumble bees, but not yellowjackets, recruit fellow foragers to help gather good food; and they are still extra warm when they return to the hive.

“This is information that other bees could potentially use,” said associate professor of biology James Nieh who leads the research group that published both papers. Their elevated body heat could be a signal to other bees that has acquired a meaning beyond its original physiological function.

warm wasps

Yellowjackets warm their wing muscles for fast flights home.

Western yellowjackets (Vespula pensylvanica) invaded Hawaii on a shipment of Christmas trees in the late 1970s. “Wasps forage on any kind of meat they can find: animal carcasses, other insects,” said UCSD doctoral student Megan Eckles. Their appetite for protein and efficient foraging are harming Hawaiian spider and insect populations.

Eckles and biology graduate student Erin Wilson traveled to Hawaii to see if behavioral heating increased the wasps’ predatory prowess. “The warmer a wasp’s body is, the faster it can fly,” Eckles said, and the more efficiently it can harvest its prey.

Eckles found four colonies of these wasps in Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island of Hawaii and set plates of canned chicken 20 meters away from the centers of their nests. She measured the temperatures of 134 foragers using a small pointer-like thermometer that aimed an infrared beam at their thoraxes while they were busy collecting the bait.

Wasps that found the most nutritious bait were hottest. “If they encounter a very high-protein source, such as pure chicken meat, their thoracic temperatures are dramatically higher than when they encounter a poor food source,” Eckles said. “You can see their wings quivering after they take a chunk of meat. While they cut it into a nice little aerodynamic ball, they’re vibrating their flight muscles to generate heat.”

When offered a plate of pulverized chicken, the wasps raised the temperature of their thoraxes a mean of 1.7 degrees Celsius (3.1 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to foragers who were kept from the bait by a mesh dome. Chicken mixed with an equal volume of nutritionless cellulose got a cooler response, an elevation of just 1.1 degrees Celsius (2.0 degrees Fahrenheit), and the wasps tarried longer possibly looking for a better source of food. Eckles, Wilson and Nieh, along with associate professor of biology David Holway report their findings in a forthcoming issue of Naturwissenschaften, available now online.

balmy bees

Hot foragers returning to a bumble bee hive could signal the availability of nutritious food. Credit: James Nieh/UCSD

In a separate experiment Nieh and students Katherine Mapalad and Daniel Leu established colonies of bumble bees (Bombus impatiens) in a cool room at UCSD where they offered the insects pure pollen or pollen that had been cut to 75, 50 or 25 percent by weight with indigestible cellulose.

Using a thermal imager, the researchers measured the temperatures of 94 foraging bees just after they collected pollen and again later, right after the bees returned to the nest.

The more protein, the hotter the bees, the team reports in the July 15 issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology. For each additional 25 percent measure of pollen, the bees raised their temperature by 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.7 degrees Fahrenheit) relative to the temperature of the room. They stayed nearly as warm on their return to the nest.

“That is information other bees could potentially use,” said Nieh. “Bees are very sensitive to hot spots in the colony.”

Bumble bees, but not wasps, will recruit other foragers to help exploit a valuable find; bees in the nest may judge the temperature of returning foragers, which they jostle, perhaps to determine whether they should seek the same source of pollen.

“It may be that a thermal signal has evolved. For that they would first need the basic phenomenon of heating up,” said Nieh, who studies the evolution of communication in bees. “Over evolutionary time, it could become a signal that bees recognize.”

The National Science Foundation funded this work.

Media Contact: Susan Brown, 858-246-0161

Researcher Contacts:
James Nieh, 858-822-5010
Megan Eckles, 858-822-5011

University of California - Santa Barbara : researcher leads worldwide study on marine fossil diversity

It took a decade of painstaking study, the cooperation of hundreds of researchers, and a database of more than 200,000 fossil records, but John Alroy thinks he's disproved much of the conventional wisdom about the diversity of marine fossils and extinction rates.

Alroy, a researcher with the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at UC Santa Barbara, is the principal author of a report published in the July 3 edition of Science, "Phanerozoic Trends in the Global Diversity of Marine Invertebrates." A team that included 34 other researchers, who began their work in 1998, coauthored the report.

Alroy's report shows a new curve in the diversity of ancient marine invertebrate species such as clams, sand dollars and lobsters, while also revealing that most of the early propagation of invertebrates took place before the Late Cretaceous period. In addition, the research contends that the increase of those invertebrates in the period since is relatively small when compared to the 100 million years that elapsed.

"There's been 36 years of people arguing about this," Alroy said. "And I feel we finally resolved this debate, which is certainly one of the most high profile debates in the study of diversity of the fossil record.

"This is a big community project," he added. "The only reason we're able to do any of this is we have a very, very, very detailed database (the Paleobiology Database) that is built by a community of people over the Web. We record exactly what hole in the ground each fossil comes from."

By counting fossil records from all over the world, Alroy and his fellow researchers were able to conclude that much of what experts have been saying for the last 40 years might not be accurate. Instead of counting just the first and last instances of fossils, as others had done before, Alroy and his team set out to count them all, examining 284,816 fossil occurrences.

"We only count it where we've actually got it," Alroy said. "Say you're doing biomedical research and you want to know about the prevalence of a disease, say some kind of cancer."

The difference between the old and the new research, he said, would be like "the difference between checking medical records willy-nilly, and computing percentages with a standardized sample."

While the research of other scientists showed eventual recoveries in the diversity of fossils after periods of extinction - especially the extinction 250 million years ago between the Permian and Triassic periods (also known as the "mother of all mass extinctions") - Alroy said this report shows that the number of species comes back up quickly - at least on a geological time scale - and then stays relatively flat.

The data are also interesting, Alroy said, because they document that there have been only three truly major mass extinctions in the fossil record.

"For many years, our community has been saying that there have been five major mass extinctions, and it's gotten into the public consciousness that there's been a 'Big Five,' " Alroy said. "This (the last major spike in fossil diversity records) is supposed to be the sixth major extinction. This is really conventional wisdom, but it's not supported by the new data at all."

Instead, the new results suggest it's only the fourth one over the last half-billion years.

Conservation International : 1/3 of reef-building corals face extinction

Climate change and human-induced destruction cited as causes

Arlington, VA (July 10, 2008) – A third of reef-building corals around the world are threatened with extinction, according to the first-ever comprehensive global assessment to determine their conservation status. The study findings were published today by Science Express.

Leading coral experts joined forces with the Global Marine Species Assessment (GMSA) – a joint initiative of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Conservation International (CI) – to apply the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria to this important group of marine species.

"The results of this study are very disconcerting," stated Kent Carpenter, lead author of the Science article, GMSA Director, IUCN Species Programme. "When corals die off, so do the other plants and animals that depend on coral reefs for food and shelter, and this can lead to the collapse of entire ecosystems."

Built over millions of years, coral reefs are home to more than 25 percent of marine species, making them the most biologically diverse of marine ecosystems. Corals produce reefs in shallow tropical and sub-tropical seas and have been shown to be highly sensitive to changes in their environment.

Researchers identified the main threats to corals as climate change and localized stresses resulting from destructive fishing, declining water quality from pollution, and the degradation of coastal habitats. Climate change causes rising water temperatures and more intense solar radiation, which lead to coral bleaching and disease often resulting in mass coral mortality.

Shallow water corals have a symbiotic relationship with algae called zooxanthellae, which live in their soft tissues and provide the coral with essential nutrients and energy from photosynthesis and are the reason why corals have such beautiful colors. Coral bleaching is the result of a stress response, such as increased water temperatures, whereby the algae are expelled from the tissues, hence the term "bleaching." Corals that have been bleached are weaker and more prone to attack from disease. Scientists believe that increased coral disease also is linked to higher sea temperatures and an increase in run-off pollution and sediments from the land.

Researchers predict that ocean acidification will be another serious threat facing coral reefs. As oceans absorb increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, water acidity increases and pH decreases, severely impacting corals' ability to build their skeletons that form the foundation of reefs.

The 39 scientists who co-authored this study agree that if rising sea surface temperatures continue to cause increased frequency of bleaching and disease events, many corals may not have enough time to replenish themselves and this could lead to extinctions.

"These results show that as a group, reef-building corals are more at risk of extinction than all terrestrial groups, apart from amphibians, and are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change," said Roger McManus, CI's vice president for marine programs. "The loss of the corals will have profound implications for millions of people who depend on coral reefs for their livelihoods."

Coral reefs harbor fish and other marine resources important for coastal communities. They also help protect coastal towns and other near-shore habitats from severe erosion and flooding caused by tropical storms.

Staghorn (Acroporid) corals face the highest risk of extinction, with 52 percent of species listed in a threatened category. The Caribbean region has the highest number of highly threatened corals (Endangered and Critically Endangered), including the iconic elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) which is listed as Critically Endangered. The high biodiversity "Coral Triangle" in the western Pacific's Indo-Malay-Philippine Archipelago has the highest proportions of Vulnerable and Near-Threatened species in the Indo-Pacific, largely resulting from the high concentration of people living in many parts of the region.

Corals from the genera Favia and Porites were found to be the least threatened due to their relatively higher resistance to bleaching and disease. In addition, 141 species lacked sufficient information to be fully assessed and were therefore listed as Data Deficient. However, researchers believe that many of these species would have been listed as threatened if more information were available.

The results emphasize the widespread plight of coral reefs and the urgent need to enact conservation measures. "We either reduce our CO₂ emission now or many corals will be lost forever," says Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director General. "Improving water quality, global education and the adequate funding of local conservation practices also are essential to protect the foundation of beautiful and valuable coral reef ecosystems."

Coral experts participated in three workshops to analyze data on 845 reef-building coral species, including population range and size, life history traits, susceptibility to threats, and estimates of regional coral cover loss.

The reef-building corals assessment is one group of a number of strategic global assessments of marine species the GMSA has been conducting since 2006 at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Other assessments are being conducted on seagrasses and mangroves that are also important habitat-forming species, all marine fishes, and other important keystone invertebrates. By 2012, the GMSA plans to complete its comprehensive first stage assessment of the threat of extinction for over 20,000 marine plants and animals, providing an essential baseline for conservation plans around the world, and tracking the extinction risk of marine species.

The results of the coral species assessment will be placed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in October 2008. Currently, the assessments can be found at http://www.sci.odu.edu/gmsa/about/corals.shtml.

###

NOTE: A press briefing will be held at 1pm EST Thursday July 10 in Room 123 at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Photos, video and other media materials available at: ftp.conservation.org/guest/CORALS
(Please copy and paste the link into your Internet browser)
User ID: mediaguest Password: paris0405 (all lowercase)

Contacts:
Kent Carpenter, GMSA Director, IUCN Species Programme, kcarpent@odu.edu, +1 757 683 3481 Cell: +1-757 641-0666
Susan Bruce, International Media Relations Director, Conservation International, sbruce@conservation.org, +1 703 341 2471 Cell: +1-571-721-8344
Lynette Lew, Marketing and Communications, IUCN Species Programme, lynette.lew@iucn.org, +41 22 999 0153
Carolin Wahnbaeck, Media Relations Officer, IUCN, carolin.wahnbaeck@iucn.org, +41 22 999 0313

Conservation International (CI) applies innovations in science, economics, policy and community participation to protect the Earth's richest regions of plant and animal diversity and demonstrate that human societies can live harmoniously with nature. Founded in 1987, CI works in more than 40 countries on four continents to help people find economic alternatives without harming their natural environments. For more information about CI, visit www.conservation.org.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges by supporting scientific research; managing field projects all over the world; and bringing governments, NGOs, the UN, international conventions and companies together to develop policy, laws and best practice.

IUCN is the world's oldest and largest global environmental network. IUCN is a democratic union with more than 1,000 government and NGO member organizations, and some 10,000 volunteer scientists in more than 150 countries. IUCN's work is supported by 1,100 professional staff in 62 countries and hundreds of partners in public, NGO and private sectors around the world. www.iucn.org.

The IUCN Species Programme supports the activities of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and individual Specialist Groups, as well as implementing global species conservation initiatives. It is an integral part of the IUCN Secretariat and is managed from IUCN's international headquarters in Gland, Switzerland. The Species Programme includes a number of technical units covering Species Trade and Use, Red List, Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment, (all located in Cambridge, UK), and the Global Biodiversity Assessment Initiative (located in Washington DC, USA). www.iucn.org/species

The Global Marine Species Assessment (GMSA) began in late 2005 and is based in the Department of Biological Sciences at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. This project will be the first global review of the conservation status of every marine vertebrate species, and of selected invertebrates and plants. The project involves a range of partners in compiling and analyzing all existing data on approximately 20,000 marine species, and will determine the risk of extinction according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. http://www.sci.odu.edu/gmsa/

Rutgers University : Duckweed genome sequencing has global implications

Pond scum can undo pollution, fight global warming and alleviate world hunger

Professors Randall Kerstetter, Joachim Messing and Todd Michael collecting duckweed samples from the Delaware and Raritan Canal in New Jersey.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Three plant biologists at Rutgers' Waksman Institute of Microbiology are obsessed with duckweed, a tiny aquatic plant with an unassuming name. Now they have convinced the federal government to focus its attention on duckweed's tremendous potential for cleaning up pollution, combating global warming and feeding the world.

This enterprise builds upon Rutgers' burgeoning energy and environmental research and the important contributions Waksman Institute scientists have already made to plant genomics, including the sequencing of rice, sorghum and corn.

At the behest of the Rutgers scientists and their colleagues from five other institutions, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will channel resources at its national laboratories into sequencing the genome of the lowly duckweed. The DOE's Joint Genome Institute announced on July 2 that its Community Sequencing Program will support the genomic sequencing of duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) as one of its priority projects for 2009 directed toward new biomass and bioenergy programs.

According to the researchers, duckweed plants can extract nitrogen and phosphate pollutants from agricultural and municipal wastewater. They can reduce algae growth, coliform bacterial counts and mosquito larvae on ponds, while concentrating heavy metals, capturing or degrading toxic chemicals, and encourage the growth of other aquatic animals such as frogs and fowl. These plants produce biomass faster than any other flowering plant, serve as high-protein feed for domestic animals and show clear potential as an alternative for biofuel production.

Todd Michael, a member of the Waksman Institute and an assistant professor of plant biology and pathology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, led the multi-institutional initiative to have the DOE's Joint Genome Institute perform high-throughput sequencing of this smallest, fastest growing and simplest of flowering plants.

"The Spirodela genome sequence could unlock the remarkable potential of a rapidly growing aquatic plant for absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide, ecosystem carbon cycling and biofuel production," said Michael, who is also a member of the faculty of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

His collaborators in this undertaking include professors Randall Kerstetter and Joachim Messing of the Waksman Institute, and scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Institut für Integrative Biologie (Switzerland), the University of Jena (Germany), Kyoto University (Japan) and Oregon State University.

The DOE's Joint Genome Institute is operated by the University of California and includes five national laboratories – Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Pacific Northwest – and the Stanford Human Genome Center.

With the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and recent increases in food prices worldwide, the drive to develop sustainable feedstocks and processing protocols for biofuel production has intensified. The search for new biomass species has revealed the potential of duckweed species in this regard as well as for bioremediation and environmental carbon capture.

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Georgia Institute of Technology Research helps understand factors that influence efficiency of organic-based devices

Jean-Luc Brédas, a professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has shown that the chemical, electronic and geometric structures of the two layers in organic-based...

Organic-based devices, such as organic light-emitting diodes, require a transparent conductive layer with a high work function, meaning it promotes injection of electron holes into an organic layer to produce more light.

Research presented on July 8 at the International Conference on Science and Technology of Synthetic Metals in Brazil provides insight into factors that influence the injection efficiency. A balanced injection of positive and negative charge carriers into the organic layer is important to achieve high quantum efficiency, but the interface between the metallic coating and organic layer where the injection occurs is poorly understood.

Placing an organic layer on top of the conductive layer modifies each layer's individual work function, or the minimum energy needed to extract the first electron from the metal.

"Measuring the work functions independently for each layer does not provide an indication of how their energy levels match when they touch each other," explained Jean-Luc Brédas, a computational materials chemist, professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar.

The energy levels for each layer should align when attached; otherwise, a barrier will form and a higher voltage will be required to send current in.

Research conducted by Jean-Luc Brédas, a professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, aims to understand factors that influence the efficiency of organic-based devices....

With funding from the Office of Naval Research, Brédas first developed a theoretical model of the interface between conventional metals and a single layer of organic molecules forming a self-assembled monolayer on the metal. His goal was to determine how the metal work function could be modified by depositing the self-assembled monolayer.

Brédas and postdoctoral research fellow Georg Heimel, who is now at the Humboldt University in Berlin, looked for changes in the work function of gold when they modified the chemical nature of the head group of the organic molecules in the self-assembled monolayer and the nature of the docking group, which directly connected the organic layer and metal.

The study, published in the April 2007 issue of Nano Letters, showed that changing the head group of the organic molecules located far from the surface and changing the docking group provided two nearly independent ways to modify the metal work function.

While studying two metal substrates – gold and silver – the researchers found that even though the chemical interface between the metal and thiol-based self-assembled monolayer were different, the organic-covered metals had virtually identical work functions.

Postdoctoral research fellow Pavel Paramonov, who is now an assistant research professor at the University of Akron, expanded the original work to model the interface between a self-assembled monolayer and indium tin oxide, the conducting material commonly used as the transparent electrode in liquid crystal displays and organic light-emitting diodes.

"Researchers frequently cover the hydrophilic indium tin oxide surface with a self-assembled monolayer containing a hydrophobic subgroup pointing away from the surface, providing much better adherence and compatibility with the active organic layer that comes on top," said Brédas.

The cover layer also prevents the indium from diffusing into the active organic layer and degrading the device, but adding this layer also provides a way to fine-tune the work function.

With funding from the Solvay Group, Paramonov modeled the indium tin oxide surface, which was a complex task because indium tin oxide is not stoichiometric – every vendor's indium tin oxide is somewhat different. Then he modeled the binding of a self-assembled monolayer of phosphonic acid to the indium tin oxide surface. Paramonov's first goal was to determine how the oxygen and phosphorus atoms of the self-assembled monolayer bind to the indium tin oxide surface.

In collaboration with Seth Marder, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Neal Armstrong, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Arizona, they were able to characterize the main binding modes of the phosphonic acid molecules on indium tin oxide. This work has led to further research characterizing the impact of the self-assembled monolayer on the indium tin oxide work function, according to Brédas.

"More theoretical work needs to be done to study conducting oxides used as transparent electrodes in organic solar cells and organic transistors," added Brédas. "On the experimental side, the quality of the self-assembled monolayer coverage also needs to be improved."

Researchers usually design devices with potentially well-aligned energy levels when the layers are measured individually, but they should be examining the layers when they are attached, according to Brédas. This is because the reorganization of the chemical, electronic and geometric structures of the two layers at the interface has a major impact on the overall device characteristics.