News tagged with diatom
Using lasers to cool and manipulate molecules
(PhysOrg.com) -- "For years, we have been using laser cooling to trap and manipulate atoms," David DeMille tells PhysOrg.com. "This has been very useful for both basic science and many applications. Recent ...
Dec 07, 2009 |
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Decline of carbon-dioxide-gobbling plankton coincided with ancient global cooling
(PhysOrg.com) -- The evolutionary history of diatoms -- abundant oceanic plankton that remove billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the air each year -- needs to be rewritten, according to a new Cornell ...
Biology /
Jan 08, 2009 |
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Ancient diatoms lead to new technology for solar energy
Engineers at Oregon State University have discovered a way to use an ancient life form to create one of the newest technologies for solar energy, in systems that may be surprisingly simple to build compared to existing silicon-based ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Apr 08, 2009 |
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Physicists' findings about helium could lead to more accurate temperature measurements
In the May 7 edition of Physical Review Letters an international team led by University of Delaware researchers reports new findings about helium that may lead to more accurate standards for how temperature and pr ...
May 17, 2010 |
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'Milking' microscopic algae could yield massive amounts of oil
Scientists in Canada and India are proposing a surprising new solution to the global energy crisis —“milking” oil from the tiny, single-cell algae known as diatoms, renowned for their intricate, beautifully ...
Jun 19, 2009 |
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Arctic climate under greenhouse conditions in the Late Cretaceous
New evidence for ice-free summers with intermittent winter sea ice in the Arctic Ocean during the Late Cretaceous - a period of greenhouse conditions - gives a glimpse of how the Arctic is likely to respond ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 09, 2009 |
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Invisible invasive species
While Asian carp, gypsy moths and zebra mussels hog invasive-species headlines, many invisible invaders are altering ecosystems and flourishing outside of the limelight.
Dec 07, 2010 |
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CO2 bonds in sea ice: Small living creatures with major impact
Due to the presence of salts, the freezing point of sea water is below zero. During freezing, channels in which the salt accumulates, so-called "brine channels," are formed in the ice. They serve as a habitat ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 11, 2011 |
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Climate change causes harmful algal blooms in North Atlantic: study
Warming oceans and increases in windiness could be causing of an abundance of harmful algal blooms in the North Atlantic Ocean and North Sea, according to new research.
Feb 13, 2012 |
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Climate change threatens Lake Baikal's unique biota
Siberia's Lake Baikal, the world's largest and most biologically diverse lake, faces the prospect of severe ecological disruption as a result of climate change, according to an analysis by a joint US-Russian team in the May ...
May 01, 2009 |
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Yeast in a shell: Coating individual living yeast cells with silicon dioxide
(PhysOrg.com) -- Our breakfast egg is a peculiarity of nature: a single cell protected by a thin mineral layer. Apart from a number of tiny radiolaria and diatoms, individual cells normally do not have a hard shell. Korean ...
Nov 03, 2009 |
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Reviving 100-year-old resting spores of diatoms
Diatoms account for a large proportion of the phytoplankton found in the water, and live both in the open sea and in freshwater lakes. By reviving 100-year-old spores that had laid buried and inactive in bottom ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 01, 2011 |
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Scientists discover animal-like urea cycle in tiny diatoms in the ocean
Scientists have discovered that marine diatoms, tiny phytoplankton abundant in the sea, have an animal-like urea cycle, and that this cycle enables the diatoms to efficiently use carbon and nitrogen from their ...
May 11, 2011 |
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Mighty diatoms: Global climate feedback from microscopic algae
Tiny creatures at the bottom of the food chain called diatoms suck up nearly a quarter of the atmosphere's carbon dioxide, yet research by Michigan State University scientists suggests they could become less able to "sequester" ...
Mar 17, 2009 |
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Turkish delight for scientists who discover a new type of algae
(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 ...
Jun 21, 2010 |
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Diatom
Diatoms (Greek: διά (dia) = "through" + τέμνειν (temnein) = "to cut", i.e., "cut in half") are a major group of eukaryotic algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton. Most diatoms are unicellular, although they can exist as colonies in the shape of filaments or ribbons (e.g. Fragillaria), fans (Meridion), zigzags (Tabellaria), or stellate colonies (Asterionella). Diatoms are producers within the food chain. A characteristic feature of diatom cells is that they are encased within a unique cell wall made of silica (hydrated silicon dioxide) called a frustule. These frustules show a wide diversity in form, some quite beautiful and ornate, but usually consist of two asymmetrical sides with a split between them, hence the group name. Fossil evidence suggests that they originated during, or before, the early Jurassic Period. Diatom communities are a popular tool for monitoring environmental conditions, past and present, and are commonly used in studies of water quality. Scientists specializing in their study are sometimes called diatomists.
For more information about Diatom, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
