News tagged with environmental stresses

Carbon-consuming life-forms in Antarctica

Lake Bonney in Antarctica is perennially covered in ice. It is exposed to severe environmental stresses, including minimal nutrients, low temperatures, extreme shade, and, during the winter, 24-hour darkness. ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

World nourishment at risk of being diminished: Wild cereals threatened by global warming

A 28-year comparative study of wild emmer wheat and wild barley populations has revealed that these progenitors of cultivated wheat and barley, which are the best hope for crop improvement, have undergone changes over this ...

Biology / Ecology

created Feb 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Rare fungus kills endangered rattlesnakes in southern Illinois

A small population of rattlesnakes that already is in decline in southern Illinois faces a new and unexpected threat in the form of a fungus rarely seen in the wild, researchers report. The finding matches ...

Biology / Ecology

created Feb 21, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A new transporter gene that regulates plant transpiration

When plants feel stress from a lack of water, they close their epidermal pores, or stomata, to prevent water loss via transpiration. Each stoma is flanked by a pair of guard cells, which change shape to close or open stomata ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Sep 09, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A new role for cytokinin plant hormones

When plants, including crops, are exposed to environmental stresses such as drought or high salinity, abscisic acid (ABA), a stress-responsive hormone is synthesized to induce a protective response. At the same time, the ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Sep 09, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A tool to measure stress hormone in birds -- feathers

When faced with environmental threats like bad weather, predators or oil spills, wild birds secrete a hormone called corticosterone. Traditionally, researchers have analyzed blood samples to detect corticosterone levels in ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Aug 16, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists identify protein that improves DNA repair under stress

Cells in the human body are constantly being exposed to stress from environmental chemicals or errors in routine cellular processes. While stress can cause damage, it can also provide the stimulus for undoing the damage. ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jun 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 10 | with audio podcast

Conservationists develop coral 'stress test' to identify reefs of hope in climate change era

Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society have developed a "stress test" for coral reefs as a means of identifying and prioritizing areas that are most likely to survive bleaching events and other ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Mar 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Workers most invested in their jobs have highest stress levels, study shows

A workplace's key employees may be at the greatest risk of experiencing high levels of work stress, according to a new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

Medicine & Health / Health

created Jan 25, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Fly stem cells on diet: Scientists discovered how stem cells respond to nutrient availability

A study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies revealed that stem cells can sense a decrease in available nutrients and respond by retaining only a small pool of active stem cells for ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 04, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Does the impact of psychological trauma cross generations?

In groups with high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such as the survivors of the Nazi Death Camps, the adjustment problems of their children, the so-called "Second Generation", have received attention by researchers. ...

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Sep 08, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Growing drought-tolerant crops inching forward

A collaborative team of scientists led by researchers at The Medical College of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee, has used the tools of structural biology to understand how a synthetic chemical mimics abscisic acid (ABA), a key stress ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Aug 25, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Aging gene found to govern lifespan, immunity and resilience

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) at the University of Birmingham have discovered that a gene called DAF-16 is strongly involved in determining ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 01, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (12) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Study connects workplace turmoil, stress and obesity

A new study that provides a snapshot of a typical American workplace observed that chronic job stress and lack of physical activity are strongly associated with being overweight or obese.

Medicine & Health / Health

created Mar 24, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Dramatic changes in agriculture needed as world warms and grows, researchers say

The looming threats of global climate change and population growth call for sweeping changes in how the world produces its food and fiber, warns a group of prestigious scientists, including an expert in plant genetics at ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Feb 11, 2010 | popularity 2.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0