Science News Digest 17th October 2011
In the science news this week, we take a look at new thinking around soil fertility in Africa, extreme exploration in Antarctica, new reassurance for space walkers and finally.... genetic selection for football teams.
African trees to boost food security.
An assessment of soil quality in Africa by the World Agroforestry Centre (WAC) has found that the nitrogen fixing roots of certain trees can help boost crop yields for African farmers, according to the BBC this week.
The results published in the International Journal of Agricultural also highlight the potential for ‘fertiliser tree systems’ (FTS) to boost food security and assist with "climate proofing" the region's arable land.
The WAC claim that poor soil fertility is one of the main obstacles to improving food production in Africa.
Many local farmers are reluctant to, or cannot afford to buy chemical fertilizers, so other methods of introducing nutrients are crucial.
The atmosphere of Earth consists of about 80% nitrogen, but plants cannot use it in its naturally occurring state.
However, certain plants, such as legumes, have bacteria growing in their root hairs that convert it into a form that plants can use.
Frank Place, head of the centre's Impact Assessment team said that the centre's researchers had been looking to develop a more active management approach such as FTS.
“In FTS across Africa as a whole, yields are doubling or more in two-thirds of cases”
Despite the positive results, there have been some drawbacks in this method, for example increased competition for light between the crops and the trees and a sustainable supply of high quality seeds for everyone in the area.
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The search for extremophiles gets chilly!
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey are going where no one has gone before in their mission to discover some of the hardiest forms of life on Earth.
Their search is taking them to Lake Ellsworth, which has been isolated from the rest of the planet for hundreds of thousands of years under three kilometres of Antarctic ice.
Using a hot-water "drill" to cut through the ice cap to Lake Ellsworth, they hope to sample the contents of the lake, which has remained liquid due to the extreme pressure of the ice on top of it, to find clues about the evolution of life.
Martin Siegert of the University of Edinburgh, one of the principal investigators on the expedition said; "We really don't know what to expect…..Whether we will find lots of life, whether we'll find low levels of life on the edge of existence, or whether we'll find nothing."
Dubbed ‘extremophiles’ because of the harsh conditions they live in, scientists have found many new species of these bacteria and other single-celled organisms that have evolved to live in conditions in which other life forms would struggle to survive. The hope is that Lake Ellsworth will be a haven for these kinds of organisms.
David Pearce, science co-ordinator at the BAS also added "if we find nothing, this will be even more significant, because it will define limits at which life can no longer exist on the planet".
Furthermore, the findings at Ellsworth could influence for our thoughts on extra-terrestrial life existing in the liquid oceans under the icy crusts on distant satellites like Europa.
According to the Guardian, the team will have 24 hours to take all they need before the bitter cold causes the water in the borehole to freeze solid and seal the lake once more.
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Star Sailors get a new life line.
It’s been the dramatic exit of many an actor in sci-fi films, but in real life the prospect of an astronaut floating away from their spacecraft is being addressed by engineers at Ohio State University.
They are in the process of developing a ‘tractor beam’ the uses a laser to vaporise small thrusters on a spacesuit to guide the drifting astronaut to safety.
Working with Clifford Schlecht at the Institute for Materials, Energetics and Complexity in Greenville, South Carolina, the team are investigating fitting a suit with two types of propellant, each responding to a different laser wavelength.
By shining a laser beam on the thruster, the propellant is vaporised creating a thrust that pushes the astronaut into a new course. By having propellants that fire in different directions, the spacewalker can be guided in.
While there are existing safety measures for astronauts, those that are controlled by the spacecraft include spring-loaded or gas-driven tethers that can be fired towards an astronaut, but they can't reach more than 100 metres. Others that require the Astronaut to control the safety kit remotely would not work if they were incapacitated for some reason.
According to New Scientist, the team’s calculations suggest their technique will work.
By pulsing a carbon-dioxide laser on a 1-kilogram thruster for 200 seconds, they reckon they can move an astronaut back towards safety at 1 metre per second.
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And finally...
Team selection with a new twist.
Football managers have started using genetic profiling to determine the likelihood of their players suffering injuries.
Using mouth swabs from the players, scientists have been able to identify 100 genes that are key in athletic performance and injuries.
It is hoped that this could be used to help the managers reduce the chance of their players becoming injured, through more targeted training schedules and squad selection.
However, there is also the concern that this information may be used to ‘freeze out’ the most injury prone players.
These tests were instigated following a breakthrough by British researchers, who managed to shed new light on genetic variations which influence the chance of rupturing tendons.
Marios Kambouris, the Yale University geneticist who conducted the tests, told the Sunday Times: "I have no idea which players they were but there were good genes in there, things which would positively affect their performance, such as their ability to have better aerobic respiration, which would give them more stamina on the pitch."
According to the Daily Telegraph, ‘DNA from the swabs was applied to a testing device called a biochip, which contained all the mutant genes the researchers were hoping to identify.
Genes from the players carrying the same variations joined themselves to those already on the chip, and by scanning them with a laser beam the scientists were able to read their genetic code and calculate how injury-prone they were.’
African trees to boost food security.
An assessment of soil quality in Africa by the World Agroforestry Centre (WAC) has found that the nitrogen fixing roots of certain trees can help boost crop yields for African farmers, according to the BBC this week.
The results published in the International Journal of Agricultural also highlight the potential for ‘fertiliser tree systems’ (FTS) to boost food security and assist with "climate proofing" the region's arable land.
The WAC claim that poor soil fertility is one of the main obstacles to improving food production in Africa.
Many local farmers are reluctant to, or cannot afford to buy chemical fertilizers, so other methods of introducing nutrients are crucial.
The atmosphere of Earth consists of about 80% nitrogen, but plants cannot use it in its naturally occurring state.
However, certain plants, such as legumes, have bacteria growing in their root hairs that convert it into a form that plants can use.
Frank Place, head of the centre's Impact Assessment team said that the centre's researchers had been looking to develop a more active management approach such as FTS.
“In FTS across Africa as a whole, yields are doubling or more in two-thirds of cases”
Despite the positive results, there have been some drawbacks in this method, for example increased competition for light between the crops and the trees and a sustainable supply of high quality seeds for everyone in the area.
-------------------------------------
The search for extremophiles gets chilly!
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey are going where no one has gone before in their mission to discover some of the hardiest forms of life on Earth.
Their search is taking them to Lake Ellsworth, which has been isolated from the rest of the planet for hundreds of thousands of years under three kilometres of Antarctic ice.
Using a hot-water "drill" to cut through the ice cap to Lake Ellsworth, they hope to sample the contents of the lake, which has remained liquid due to the extreme pressure of the ice on top of it, to find clues about the evolution of life.
Martin Siegert of the University of Edinburgh, one of the principal investigators on the expedition said; "We really don't know what to expect…..Whether we will find lots of life, whether we'll find low levels of life on the edge of existence, or whether we'll find nothing."
Dubbed ‘extremophiles’ because of the harsh conditions they live in, scientists have found many new species of these bacteria and other single-celled organisms that have evolved to live in conditions in which other life forms would struggle to survive. The hope is that Lake Ellsworth will be a haven for these kinds of organisms.
David Pearce, science co-ordinator at the BAS also added "if we find nothing, this will be even more significant, because it will define limits at which life can no longer exist on the planet".
Furthermore, the findings at Ellsworth could influence for our thoughts on extra-terrestrial life existing in the liquid oceans under the icy crusts on distant satellites like Europa.
According to the Guardian, the team will have 24 hours to take all they need before the bitter cold causes the water in the borehole to freeze solid and seal the lake once more.
-------------------------------------
Star Sailors get a new life line.
It’s been the dramatic exit of many an actor in sci-fi films, but in real life the prospect of an astronaut floating away from their spacecraft is being addressed by engineers at Ohio State University.
They are in the process of developing a ‘tractor beam’ the uses a laser to vaporise small thrusters on a spacesuit to guide the drifting astronaut to safety.
Working with Clifford Schlecht at the Institute for Materials, Energetics and Complexity in Greenville, South Carolina, the team are investigating fitting a suit with two types of propellant, each responding to a different laser wavelength.
By shining a laser beam on the thruster, the propellant is vaporised creating a thrust that pushes the astronaut into a new course. By having propellants that fire in different directions, the spacewalker can be guided in.
While there are existing safety measures for astronauts, those that are controlled by the spacecraft include spring-loaded or gas-driven tethers that can be fired towards an astronaut, but they can't reach more than 100 metres. Others that require the Astronaut to control the safety kit remotely would not work if they were incapacitated for some reason.
According to New Scientist, the team’s calculations suggest their technique will work.
By pulsing a carbon-dioxide laser on a 1-kilogram thruster for 200 seconds, they reckon they can move an astronaut back towards safety at 1 metre per second.
-------------------------------------
And finally...
Team selection with a new twist.
Football managers have started using genetic profiling to determine the likelihood of their players suffering injuries.
Using mouth swabs from the players, scientists have been able to identify 100 genes that are key in athletic performance and injuries.
It is hoped that this could be used to help the managers reduce the chance of their players becoming injured, through more targeted training schedules and squad selection.
However, there is also the concern that this information may be used to ‘freeze out’ the most injury prone players.
These tests were instigated following a breakthrough by British researchers, who managed to shed new light on genetic variations which influence the chance of rupturing tendons.
Marios Kambouris, the Yale University geneticist who conducted the tests, told the Sunday Times: "I have no idea which players they were but there were good genes in there, things which would positively affect their performance, such as their ability to have better aerobic respiration, which would give them more stamina on the pitch."
According to the Daily Telegraph, ‘DNA from the swabs was applied to a testing device called a biochip, which contained all the mutant genes the researchers were hoping to identify.
Genes from the players carrying the same variations joined themselves to those already on the chip, and by scanning them with a laser beam the scientists were able to read their genetic code and calculate how injury-prone they were.’
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