http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Microscopic algae that live within reef-forming corals scoop up available nitrogen, store the excess in crystal form, and slowly feed it to the coral as needed, according to a study published in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Scientists have known for years that these symbiotic microorganisms serve up nitrogen to their coral hosts, but this new study sheds light on the dynamics of the process and reveals that the algae have the ability to store excess nitrogen, a capability that could help corals cope in their chronically low-nitrogen environment. http://phys.org/news287688302.html Space & Earth Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:02 EST news287688302 Taking an approach similar to that used for discovering new therapeutic drugs, chemists at the University of California, Davis, have found several compounds that can boost oil production by green microscopic algae, a potential source of biodiesel and other "green" fuels. The work appears online in the journal Chemical Biology. http://phys.org/news284656889.html Biology Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:23:11 EST news284656889 In the waters off Antarctica, algae grow and live in the sea ice that surrounds the southern continent-a floating habitat sure to change as the planet warms. As with most aquatic ecosystems, microscopic algae form the base of the Southern Ocean food web. Distinct algae populations reside in the sea ice surface layers, on the ice's underside, and within the floating ice itself. The algae that reside on the floating ice's underside are particularly important for the region's krill population, while those on the interior or surface layers are less accessible. How changing sea ice properties will affect the regional biology, then, depends on understanding how algae populations interact with the ice. http://phys.org/news275052085.html Space & Earth Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:21:39 EST news275052085 (Phys.org)—This month MBARI researchers are conducting a two-week-long, in-depth oceanographic experiment to track the nutrients that fertilize algal blooms off the coast of Central California. This research is part of MBARI's ongoing CANON (Controlled, Agile, and Novel Observing Network) initiative, a project utilizing the latest research technologies to observe the dynamic biological, chemical, and physical activities of the ocean. In the current CANON experiment, scientists will be examining how ammonium—a key nutrient for microscopic marine algae—affects what researchers call the ocean's "biological pump." http://phys.org/news267174449.html Space & Earth Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:07:40 EST news267174449 Diatoms, tiny marine life forms that have been around since the dinosaurs, could finally make biofuel production from algae truly cost-effective – because they can simultaneously produce other valuable products such as semiconductors, biomedical products and even health foods. http://phys.org/news267106526.html Biology Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:15:32 EST news267106526 After two decades of examining a microscopic algae-eater that lives in a lake in Norway, scientists on Thursday declared it to be one of the world's oldest living organisms and man's remotest relative. http://phys.org/news254670477.html Biology Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:48:25 EST news254670477 (PhysOrg.com) -- The tiny, plant-like Heterosigma akashiwo is too small to see with the naked eye, but the microscopic algae may pack a big environmental punch. University of Delaware researchers are studying whether the species can neutralize harmful smokestack emissions – and also serve as a source of eco-friendly biofuel. http://phys.org/news250934841.html Biology Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:07:29 EST news250934841 (PhysOrg.com) -- An international group of scientists has analyzed the DNA of primitive microscopic algae, and their findings suggest that all plants on Earth may have had a single ancestor. http://phys.org/news248680764.html Biology Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:30:04 EST news248680764 For years, when Washington state health officials tested shellfish for toxins produced by microscopic algae, they zeroed in on two types of poisons. http://phys.org/news233504930.html Biology Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:29:24 EST news233504930 For the first time researchers have examined on a global scale how calcified algae in their natural habitat react to increasing acidification due to higher marine uptake of carbon dioxide. In the current issue of the magazine Nature they explain that Coccolithophores, a certain group of algae, form thinner calcite skeletons when the pH value in the ocean drops. In marine ecosystems, changes in the degree of calcification are much more pronounced than presumed to date based on laboratory tests. http://phys.org/news231596239.html Space & Earth Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:17:55 EST news231596239 Just as corn and peanuts stunned the world decades ago with their then-newly discovered multi-beneficial uses and applications, Texas AgriLife Research scientists in Corpus Christi think microalgae holds even more promise. http://phys.org/news229183506.html Biology Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:05:18 EST news229183506 The first comprehensive study of the biological effects of Antarctic icebergs shows that they fertilize the Southern Ocean, enhancing the growth of algae that take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and then, through marine food chains, transfer carbon into the deep sea. This process is detailed in 19 new research papers published electronically in a special issue of the journal Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography. http://phys.org/news224336808.html Space & Earth Wed, 11 May 2011 12:47:15 EST news224336808 In a forest of tubes eight metres high in eastern Spain scientists hope they have found the fuel of tomorrow: bio-oil produced with algae mixed with carbon dioxide from a factory. http://phys.org/news220762953.html Technology Thu, 31 Mar 2011 04:30:01 EST news220762953 The most widely adopted measure for assessing the state of the world's oceans and fisheries led to inaccurate conclusions in nearly half the ecosystems where it was applied according to new analysis by an international team led by a University of Washington fisheries scientist. http://phys.org/news209222989.html Biology Wed, 17 Nov 2010 13:40:04 EST news209222989 Over the past decade, the undersea robots known as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have become increasingly important in oceanographic research. Today's AUVs fall into two groups: 1) propeller-driven vehicles that can travel fast and carry lots of instruments, but are limited to expeditions of only a few days; and 2) "gliders," which can stay at sea for weeks or even months at a time, but cannot travel very quickly. MBARI engineers recently demonstrated a new super-efficient AUV that combines the best of these two approaches. This new long-range AUV (LRAUV) can travel rapidly for hundreds of kilometers, "hover" in the water for weeks at a time, and carry a wide variety of instruments. http://phys.org/news207919455.html Space & Earth Tue, 02 Nov 2010 12:24:36 EST news207919455 It just got easier to pinpoint biological hot spots in the world's oceans where some inhabitants are smaller than, well, a pinpoint. http://phys.org/news205574929.html Biology Wed, 06 Oct 2010 09:12:36 EST news205574929 Much organically bound carbon is deposited on inland lake bottoms. A portion remains in the sediment, sometimes for thousands of years, while the rest is largely broken down to carbon dioxide and methane, which are released into the atmosphere. Swedish researchers have shown that carbon retention by sediment is highly temperature-sensitive and that a warmer climate would result in increased carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere. The study is published in the current issue of the journal Nature. http://phys.org/news198937303.html Space & Earth Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:22:04 EST news198937303 For almost three decades, oceanographers have been puzzled by the ability of microscopic algae to grow in mid-ocean areas where there is very little nitrate, an essential algal nutrient. In this week's issue of Nature, MBARI chemical oceanographer Ken Johnson, along with coauthors Stephen Riser at the University of Washington and David Karl at the University of Hawaii, show that mid-ocean algae obtain nitrate from deep water, as much as 250 meters below the surface. This finding will help scientists predict how open-ocean ecosystems could respond to global warming. http://phys.org/news196516632.html Space & Earth Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:00:04 EST news196516632 (PhysOrg.com) -- It is less than one hundredth of a millimeter in diameter and has a delicately sculptured silica shell - meet Clipeoparvus anatolicus, a microscopic alga of a diatom genus previously unknown to scientists. http://phys.org/news196364467.html Biology Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:10:39 EST news196364467 (PhysOrg.com) -- Marine bacteria could be the key to cleaning oil spills in the sea, without further damaging the environment by using chemicals, according to microbiologists at Bangor University. http://phys.org/news194200529.html Space & Earth Thu, 27 May 2010 17:36:27 EST news194200529 Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have gained a key insight into a disease that is devastating the UK's fish farming industry. The researchers have discovered that fish can harbour and spread proliferative kidney disease (PKD), a cause of major stock losses on fish farms, as well as being affected by the infection. http://phys.org/news159776635.html Biology Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:24:24 EST news159776635 (PhysOrg.com) -- The potential for an outbreak of the phenomenon called "red tide" is expected to be moderately large this spring and summer, according to researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and North Carolina State University (NCSU). http://phys.org/news159606523.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:09:18 EST news159606523