text stringlengths 2 259k |
|---|
- Severe weather modeling, where scientists draw on HPC simulations, real-time atmospheric data, and archived storm data to better understand and predict the behavior of storms. |
- Advancing understanding of the environment to be able to better predict short-term and long-term environmental changes, mitigate threats, and provide the most accurate data to inform policy decisions. |
All of this work is important, and will help advance our understanding of Earth’s climate. And it is all a testament to the amazing networking technologies and infrastructure that scientists now have at their disposal, which puts the most powerful supercomputing resources in the world at their fingertips – even when th... |
The bacterium Micavibrio aeruginosavorus (yellow), leeching |
on a Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium (purple). |
What’s the news: If bacteria had blood, the predatory microbe Micavibrio aeruginosavorus would essentially be a vampire: it subsists by hunting down other bugs, attaching to them, and sucking their life out. For the first time, researchers have sequenced the genome of this strange microorganism, which was first identif... |
Anatomy of a Vampire: |
- The bacterium has an interesting multi-stage life history. During its migratory phase it sprouts a single flagellum and goes hunting for prey. Once it find a delectable morsel of bacterium, it attacks and irreversibly attaches to the surface, and sucks out all of the good stuff: carbohydrates, amino acids, proteins, ... |
- Sated, the cell divides in two via binary fission, and the now-depleted host is left for dead. |
Hungry for Pathogens: |
- M. aeruginosavorus cannot be grown by itself; it must be cultured along with another bacteria to feed upon. A 2006 study found that it only grew upon three bacterial species, all of which can cause pneumonia-like disease in humans. A more recent study showed that it can prey upon a wider variety of microbes, most of ... |
- These studies also found that M. aeruginosavorus has a knack for disrupting biofilms, the dense collection of bacteria that cause harmful plaques on teeth and medical implants alike, and can be up to 1,000 more resistant to antibiotics than free-swimming bugs. |
- The bacteria can also swim through viscous fluids like mucous and kills Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the bacterium that can colonize lungs of cystic fibrosis patients and form a glue-like film. |
- These qualities have caught the eye of researchers who think it could be used as a living antibiotic to treat biofilms and various types of drug-resistant bacteria, which are a growing problem in medicine. Sequencing the organism’s genome is an important step in understanding its biochemistry and how it preys on othe... |
Clues From the Vampire Code: |
- The new study found that each phase of life involves the use (or expression) of different sets of genes. The migratory/hunting phase involves many segments that code for flagellum formation and genes involved in quorum sensing. The attachment phase involves a wide variety of secreted chemicals and enzymes that facili... |
- Micavibrio aeruginosavorus possesses no genes for amino acid transporters, a rather rare trait only seen in a few other bacterial species that depend heavily upon their host to help them shuttle these vital protein building-blocks. This absence helps explain the bacterium’s dependence on a narrow range of prey, from ... |
The Future Holds: |
- The range of microbes upon which Micavibrio aeruginosavorus can survive is expanding; after being kept in laboratory conditions for years it has apparently evolved a more diverse diet. If this expansion continues, that could be a real problem for its use as an antibiotic; it could begin to eat beneficial gut bacteria... |
- Researchers claim it is harmless to friendly gut microbes, but it hasn’t been tested on all the varieties of bacteria present in humans. |
- Several important steps must be taken before testing in people, like learning more about what traits makes another bacteria tasty to Micavibrio aeruginosavorus. Researchers speculate the bacterium may need to be genetically altered in order to go after specific pathogens, or to reduce the risk of it causing unforesee... |
Reference: Zhang Wang, Daniel E Kadouri, Martin Wu. Genomic insights into an obligate epibiotic bacterial predator: Micavibrio aeruginosavorus ARL-13. BMC Genomics, 2011; 12 (1): 453 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-12-453 |
Image credit: University of Virginia |
- November 15th, 2008 |
- Derek Robertson |
- Comments: 7 Comments »Tags: Consolarium, Endless Ocean, games based learning, Wii |
Endless Ocean for the Nintendo Wii was one of those games that immediately caught my eye. A wonderful world in which the player can become immersed in a rich, vibrant and somewhat hypnotically therapeutic underwater world. I’ve written about how I thought it might be used to drive learning before but my initial ideas h... |
Last week I went with Margaret Cassidy from Stirling Council to Cowie PS to see a teacher that was using Endless Ocean with her class: |
Mrs Bullivant and her class of P.6 children treated me to an afternoon of sheer joy. I walked in to a class that had been turned into an underwater world that was awash with a tide of enthusiastic and industrious learnning. |
- Streamers of various shades of blue were hung from two lines that criss-crossed the class.From these lines also hung starfish, sharks and other underwater creatures that the children had made. |
- The Wii was hooked up to the whiteboard and the gameplay was integral to the learning. |
- The children were divided into ‘dive teams’ and their ‘dive leader’ had to manage certain aspects of how the children worked together. |
- Children were engaged with a teacher led leson that investigated buoyancy. |
- Children were searching the web to find out more about some of the creatures that they discovered in the game. |
- A spreadsheet activity detailing the range of creatures that they had discovered was in place. |
- A shipwreck (created by the janitor) was sitting in the class. This helped drive much of the creative writing work. |
- The children created treasure maps and were using these to look at grid references. |
- Mermaids were created in art and design and very lifelike they were too! |
- Reference books were in great demand when I was in the class and the initial stimulus of the game appeared to drive a real interest for what could be found in the complementary resource that was the book. |
- Children actively encouraged to measure exactly how long 7 metres is as a result of finding out that that was how long a Great White Shark was. |
This was just a wonderful visit and an example of what learning in class can be. Yes we need creative teachers to lead this but isn’t that what we are meant to be. The work that was in evidence in this class was delightful to witness and further cemented my ideas of the possibilities of sandbox games such as Endless Oc... |
Categories Stirling Council |
Correctly identifying what is causing a problem is the most important step in pest control. We do our best here to help you do that. Sometimes we can identify the cause accurately enough from your phone or e-mail description of what is happening and what you see. Sometimes we can do this from photographs you submit, ei... |
The information we give you is only as good as the information you give to us. I can't identify specimens that look like the one in the photograph above. Here are some hints that will help all of us: |
1. Make sure any photographs are CLEAR and take several, from very close up to farther away. Make sure you have sufficient light, or that you compensate with your camera to make sure we can clearly see what you are trying to show us. Learn how to use the close up mode on your digital camera. |
2. You have 20,000 of something flying around? Please give us at least - oh maybe - six of them. If it's something unusual, we need at least one full, intact set of key characteristics. If there are big individuals and little ones, try to submit a few of each size. Maybe they're different, maybe they're not, but we won... |
3. Label your material. Where and when was it found? What does it seem to be doing? |
4. You had 20,000 last week, but you can't find even one now? Maybe you don't have the problem anymore. Keep an eye on the situation and try not to worry. |
5. That doesn't go for termites. If you think you had a termite swarm, worry! Keep a close eye on it, try to find a least one, even if it's only a wing, and submit it for identification. |
6. You can kill most small pests by putting them in the freezer or by dropping them into alcohol. Any sort of alcohol will do. The alcohol not only kills them, it also preserves them. Never submit arthropod specimens in water (unless they are living aquatic animals). Moths and butterflies are easier to identify if they... |
7. Some insects and mites are most easily submitted on or in a piece of the plant they are living on. It's best if the sample is as fresh as possible. Don't bake it in a hot car. |
8. A few creatures can't be identified from the sample you submit. Ants are most easily identified from the workers (the ones without the wings). Some spiders can only be identified to species if you have adults of both sexes. Small larvae, nymphs and eggs can be extremely difficult to identify. That's just the way it ... |
9. Entomologists specialize. Sometimes we have to send things off. If they only have to go to the university, turn-around time can be quick. If they have to go further, it may be a long time before you hear back. This doesn't happen that often, though. |
The tragic loss of one of America’s greatest heros, a title he tried to avoid, has saddened the scientific community, the country and the world. His work is not done, however, as Neil Armstrong is continuing to help demonstrate NASA‘s accomplishments. His death has helped to rekindle the effort to declare the lunar lan... |
For the guidelines for preservation established earlier this year, please see: |
Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. |
Lobster, California spiny |
The California Spiny Lobster fishery is a small but locally important and largely sustainable fishery in southern California. |
Abundance of Spiny Lobsters off California varies with broad-scale changes in environmental conditions caused by El Nino and La Nina. |
State managers closely regulate commercial fishing for Spiny Lobster, but do not monitor recreational catches. Bycatch is low. Spiny Lobster traps generally allow undersize lobsters and other animals to escape. |
This fish may have high levels of mercury that could pose a health risk to adults and children. More mercury info here. |
Efforts to incorporate Bowmanstown as a borough occurred as early as 1892. The village contained about 300 inhabitants in 1896 but the nearby New Jersey Zinc Company soon added to its growth. Bowmanstown was incorporated as a Borough on November 29, 1913 for the purpose of providing general local government services to... |
The Bowmanstown Borough Authority was incorporated August 24, 1997 and was created for the purpose of owning and operating the Bowmanstown Public Water System. On February 11, 2002 the Authority began construction of its water system improvement project which included a new chlorine building, looping numerous water mai... |
died Aug. 28, 1818, St. Charles, Mo., U.S. |
black pioneer trader and founder of the settlement that later became the city of Chicago. |
Du Sable, whose French father had moved to Haiti and married a black woman there, is believed to have been a freeborn. At some time in the 1770s he went to the Great Lakes area of North America, settling on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Chicago River, with his Potawatomi wife, Kittihawa (Catherine). Hi... |
In 1800 he sold out and moved to Missouri, where he continued as a farmer and trader until his death. But his 20-year residence on the shores of Lake Michigan had established his title as Father of Chicago. |
Angola is a giant jigsaw puzzle of different climates, landscapes, cultures and colors. From mountains to vast open plains, wide white beaches to thick tropical rainforest, Angola has it all, as if each of its eighteen provinces were a different country. Lubango has a mild temperate climate, Luanda is hot and dry, whil... |
With an Atlantic coastline stretching for over 1.650 kms, Angola has mighty rivers flowing into wide estuaries depositing sediments from the high plateaus to form numerous small islands, bays and sandbanks. |
In Angola, you can encounter a diversity of wild animals: lions, hyenas, elephants and antelopes. Apes, hippopotamuses and crocodiles are also indigenous to this country. In the Namib Desert, which is situated in the south-west, you can find the tumboa, a unique plant with two wide leaves that are several metres long a... |
Although the climate is such that the beaches can be visited all year round, it is in fact during the hot season that they are most frequented. The bars all filled and the local music and dancing provide an animated and exotic atmosphere that mixes well with the mystery of the African nights. |
According to Buddhist tradition, the disciple Devadatta was the Buddha's cousin and also brother to the Buddha's wife, Yasodhara. Devadatta is said to have caused a split in the sangha by persuading 500 monks to leave the Buddha and follow him instead. |
This story of Devadatta is preserved in the Pali Tipitika. In this story, Devadatta entered the order of Buddhist monks at the same time as Ananda and other noble youths of the Shakya clan, the clan of the historical Buddha. |
Devadatta applied himself to practice. But he became frustrated when he failed to progress toward becoming an arhat. So, instead, he applied his practice toward developing supernatural power instead of the realization of enlightenment. |
It was said he also became driven by jealousy of his kinsman, the Buddha. Devadatta believed he should be the World-Honored One and the leader of the order of monks. |
One day he approached the Buddha and pointed out that the Buddha was growing older. He proposed that he be put in charge of the order to relieve the Buddha of the burden. The Buddha rebuked Devadatta harshly and said he was not worthy. Thus Devadatta became the Buddha's enemy. |
Later, the Buddha was questioned how his harsh response to Devadatta was justified as Right Speech. I'll come back to this a bit later. |
Devadatta had gained the favor of Prince Ajatasattu of Magadha. Ajatasattu's father, King Bimbisara, was a devoted patron of the Buddha. Devadatta persuaded the prince to murder his father and assume the throne of Magadha. |
At the same time, Devadatta vowed to have the Buddha murdered so he could take over the sangha. So that the deed could not be traced back to Devadatta, the plan was to send a second group of "hit men" to assassinate the first one, and then a third group to take out the second one, and so on for some time. But when the ... |
Then Devadatta tried to do the job himself, by dropping a rock on the Buddha. The rock bounced off the mountain side and broke into pieces. The next attempt involved a large bull elephant in a drug-induced fury, but the elephant was gentled in the Buddha's presence. |
Finally Devadatta attempted to split the sangha by claiming superior moral rectitude. He proposed a list of austerities and asked that they become mandatory for all monks and nuns. These were: |
- Monks must live all their lives in the forest. |
- Monks must live only on alms obtained by begging, and should not accept invitations to dine with others. |
- Monks must wear robes made only from rags collected from rubbish heaps and cremation grounds. They must not accept donations of cloth at any time. (See Kathina.) |
- Monks must sleep at the foot of trees and not under a roof. |
- Monks must refrain from eating fish or meat throughout their lives. |
The Buddha responded as Devadatta had predicted he would. He said that monks could follow the first four austerities if they wished, but he refused to make them mandatory. And he rejected the fifth austerity entirely. (See Buddhism and Vegetarianism.) |
Devadatta persuaded 500 monks that his Super Austerity Plan was a surer path to enlightenment than the Buddha's, and they followed Devadatta to become his disciples. In response, the Buddha sent two of his disciples, Sariputra and Mahamaudgayalyana, to teach the dharma to the wayward monks. Upon hearing the dharma expl... |
Devadatta was now a sorry and broken man, and he soon fell mortally ill. On his deathbed he repented of his misdeeds and wished to see the Buddha one more time, but Devadatta died before his liter-bearers could reach him. |
Life of Devadatta, Alternate Version |
The lives of the Buddha and his disciples were preserved in several oral recitation traditions before they were written down. The Pali tradition, which is the foundation of Theravada Buddhism, is the best known. Another oral tradition was preserved by the Mahasanghika sect, which was formed about 320 BCE. Mahasanghika ... |
Mahasanghika remembered Devadatta as a devout and saintly monk. No trace of the "evil Devadatta" story can be found in their version of the canon. This has led some scholars to speculate that the story of the renegade Devadatta is a later invention. |
The Abhaya Sutta, on Right Speech |
If we assume the Pali version of Devadatta's story is the more accurate one, however, we can find an interesting footnote in the Abhava Sutta of the Pali Tipitika (Majjhima Nikaya 58). In brief, the Buddha was questioned about the harsh words he said to Devadatta that caused him to turn against the Buddha. |
The Buddha justified his criticisms of Devadatta by comparing him to a small child who had taken a pebble into his mouth and was about to swallow it. Adults would naturally do whatever it took to get the pebble out of the child. Even if extracting the pebble drew blood, it must be done. The moral appears to be that it ... |
Public Papers - 1991 |
White House Fact Sheet on The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) |
Today, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. This treaty marks the first agreement between the two countries in which the number of deployed strategic nuclear weapons will actually be reduced. Reductions will take place over a period of 7 years, and will result in parity bet... |
START provisions are designed to strengthen strategic stability at lower levels and to encourage the restructuring of strategic forces in ways that make them more stable and less threatening. The treaty includes a wide variety of very demanding verification measures designed to ensure compliance and build confidence. |
The treaty sets equal ceilings on the number of strategic nuclear forces that can be deployed by either side. In addition, the treaty establishes an equal ceiling on ballistic missile throw-weight (a measure of overall capability for ballistic missiles). Each side is limited to no more than: |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.