What has happened to the tsunami debris from Japan?

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~4/giLKrJMoOdY

The amount of debris in the ocean is growing exponentially, becoming more and more hazardous and harmful to marine life and therefore also to our ocean food source. Measuring and tracking the movements of such debris are still in their infancy. The driftage generated by the tragic 2011 tsunami in Japan gave scientists Nikolai Maximenko and Jan Hafner a unique chance to learn about the effects of the ocean and wind on floating materials as they move across the North Pacific Ocean.Shortly after the tsunami struck, Maximenko and Hafner used the IPRC Ocean Drift Model to predict where the debris from the tsunami would go. Their computer model is based on trajectories of real satellite-tracked drifting buoys and satellite-measured winds.The model has now been charting the possible paths of the tsunami driftage for nearly 3 years. The scientists have made a major improvement to the initial model: it now accommodates objects of different shapes and buoyancies that expose different amounts of surface to the wind and travel at different speeds and different trajectories. The model therefore now includes different levels of wind-forcing, simulating the movement of different types of floating debris.No formal marine debris observing systems exist to verify the model simulations. The model paths for tsunami debris, however, agree with reports of such debris washing up on the shores of Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and the Hawaiian Islands, as well as with observations by sailors crossing the North Pacific.The first physical evidence of tsunami driftage far from the coasts of Japan, for example, came in September 2011 from the Russian sail training ship Pallada. The captain had been forewarned that the ship might run into a tsunami debris field on its voyage from Honolulu to Vladivostok. Sailors, alerted and on the lookout, sighted much debris just northwest of Midway, and picked up a little fishing boat later confirmed lost in the tsunami.The model predicted both the timing and the type of material that has washed up along windward shores of Hawaii: the first tsunami driftage came in August — September 2012, about 1 years after the tragedy. These were very buoyant pieces, for example, oyster buoys, crates, small fishing boats like the one picked up by Pallada, and parts of small refrigerators.Then 2 years after the tsunami, materials sitting lower in the water and less buoyant than the previous driftage arrived: poles and beams with mortise and tenon features. …


Read More: What has happened to the tsunami debris from Japan?

#Cancer, #Ecology, #Iprc, #Japan, #King, #Pacific, #Science, #Tsunami, #University

Threat of hidden crop pest to poorer nations revealed

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sciencedaily/plants_animals/agriculture_and_food/~4/2qTW-RhLbmU

The abundance of crop pests in developing countries may be greatly underestimated, posing a significant threat to some of the world’s most important food producing nations, according to research led by the University of Exeter.Data on the known distributions of almost 2,000 crop-destroying organisms in 195 countries were analyzed in the first global assessment of the factors determining the distribution of crop pests.Dr Dan Bebber and Professor Sarah Gurr, of Biosciences at the University of Exeter, found that if all countries had levels of scientific and technical capacity similar to the developed world, the number of pests reported would rise greatly and the true extent of the threat would be better understood.Many developing countries are expected to harbor hundreds of unreported crop pests and diseases, based on current levels of agricultural productivity.Around one sixth of the world’s agricultural production is lost to destructive organisms annually, with further losses post-harvest.Crop pests are often introduced by human activities such as trade and travel, with the wealth of a country linked to the number of invasive species recorded there because — whilst growing rich through trade — they have also accidentally imported pests in agricultural produce.But this study also considered the link between the wealth of a country (by per capita GDP) and its ability to detect, identify and report the number of crop pests present.Developing countries are less likely to have the capacity to observe invasive species than affluent, technologically-advanced nations.The researchers used data collated from published literature over many decades by the inter-governmental, not-for-profit organization CABI and made available from its Plantwise knowledge bank.Using GDP and scientific output as indicators of pest detection capacity, the study found that the pest load of the developing world appears to be greatly underestimated, and that this lack of knowledge may be severely hampering crop protection in some of the world’s most important food producing nations.Dr Dan Bebber said: “Crop pests pose a significant and growing threat to food security, but their geographical distributions are poorly understood.”"Country wealth is likely to be a strong indicator of observational capacity, not just trade flow, as has been interpreted in previous studies of invasive species. If every country had US-levels of per capita GDP, then on average countries woul d be reporting more than 200 additional pests and diseases. This suggests that enhanced investment in pest observations will reveal the hidden threat of crop pests and pathogens, as well as bring into focus the opportunity to lose less of the crop by appropriate pest control. The first step to solving crop losses is to identify the pests responsible.”The largest numbers of crop pests were reported by the USA, followed by India, China, France and Japan. Island nations reported more pests than coastal and landlocked nations, and the number of pests increased slightly with rainfall.Professor Sarah Gurr added: “This follows hot on the heels of our recent paper showing that pests and pathogens are on the move in the face of climate change. When coupled to this study we can see that many nations are underestimating pest and pathogen loads. Taken collectively, these papers draw attention not only to the threat of crop disease, and thus global food security, but also to our need for more trained pathologists to inform policy.”Story Source:The above story is based on materials provided by University of Exeter. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.


Read More: Threat of hidden crop pest to poorer nations revealed

#Agriculture, #Cancer, #Distribution, #Exeter, #France, #Health, #Japan, #Science

Primitive artificial cell turned into complex biological materials

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~4/r_MMKxEKg94

Imagine starting from scratch with simple artificial microscopic building blocks and ending up with something much more complex: living systems, novel computers or every-day materials. For decades scientists have pursued the dream of creating artificial building blocks that can self-assemble in large numbers and reassemble to take on new tasks or to remedy defects. Now researchers have taken a step forward to make this dream into a reality.”The potential of such new human-made systems is almost limitless, and many expect these novel materials to become the foundation of future technologies,” says Dr. Maik Hadorn from Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at ETH Zrich, who conducted the research as a postdoctoral research fellow at University of Southern Denmark (SDU).Over the last three years he and the colleagues Eva Boenzli, Kristian T. Srensen and Martin M. Hanczyc from the Center for Fundamental Living Technology (FLinT) at SDU have worked on the challenges of making primitive building blocks assemble and turn into something functional.”We used short DNA strands as smart glue to link preliminary stages of artificial cells (called artificial vesicles) to engineer novel tissue-like structures,” says Dr. Maik Hadorn.As part of the EU-sponsored project MATCHIT (MATrix for CHemical Information Technology) Dr. Maik Hadorn and coworkers have earlier showed that short DNA strands can guide the self-assembly process of artificial vesicles; that two types of artificial vesicles can be linked in a way predefined by the person conducting the experiment, and that assembled structures can be reassembled, when triggered externally.In their most recent scientific article, published in Langmuir in December 2013, the researchers from SDU, in collaboration with colleagues from Italy and Japan, not only increased the complexity of the self-assembled structures that are now composed of several types of artificial vesicles — they also loaded one vesicle type with a basic cellular machinery derived from bacterial cells. This enabled these vesicles to translate an encapsulated genetic blueprint into a functional protein.Put together the researchers have managed to engineer controlled assemblies that are visible to the naked eye and that resemble natural tissues in their architecture as well as in their functionalities.Methods of constructing simple artificial structures have been known for decades, but only the use of DNA strands that act as a smart glue has allowed the researchers to overcome shortcomings of precedent methods and to engineer higher-order structures of predefined and programmable architecture.”As the artificial vesicles resemble natural cells both in size and composition, they are an ideal starting point for a multitude of applications. One application can be a temporal support for wound healing: A wound may be covered with assemblies of vesicles that are tailored in a patient specific manner. …


Read More: Primitive artificial cell turned into complex biological materials

#Agriculture, #Cancer, #Chemistry, #Hadorn, #Health, #Japan, #Person, #Sdu, #Story, #Technology