Is Global Heating Hiding out in the Oceans? Parts of Pacific Warming 15 Times Faster Than in Past 10,000 Years

Oct. 31, 2013 — A recent slowdown in global warming has led some skeptics to renew their claims that industrial carbon emissions are not causing a century-long rise in Earth's surface temperatures. But rather than letting humans off the hook, a new study in the leading journal Science adds support to the idea that the oceans are taking up some of the excess heat, at least for the moment. In a reconstruction of Pacific Ocean temperatures in the last 10,000 years, researchers have found that its middle depths have warmed 15 times faster in the last 60 years than they did during apparent natural warming cycles in the previous 10,000.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131031142738.htm

The Electric Microbe

Revista Time (The Best Inventions)

Bacteria have always gotten a bad rap. But we should be thankful for one especially talented microbe, Geobacter, which has tiny hairlike extensions called pili that it uses to generate electricity from mud and wastewater. Professor Derek Lovley and his team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have engineered a strain of Geobacter that's eight times as efficient as other strains at producing power. The next step: creating Geobacter-based fuel cells that can generate cheap, clean electricity.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027_1934003_1933965,00.html

NATURE REVIEWS - MICROBIOLOGY

In situ to in silico and back: elucidating  the physiology and ecology of Geobacter spp. using genome-scale modelling.

Radhakrishnan Mahadevan, Bernhard Ø. Palsson and Derek R. Lovley

There is a wide diversity of unexploredmetabolismencoded in the genomes of  microorganisms that have an important environmentalrole.Genome-scalemetabolic  modelling enablesthe individualreactionsthat are encoded in annotated genomesto be organized into a coherent whole, which can then be used to predictmetabolic fluxesthat will  optimize cell function under a range of conditions. In this Review, we summarize a series of studiesin which genome-scalemetabolicmodelling ofGeobacterspp. hasresulted in an in-depth understanding oftheir centralmetabolismand ecology.Asimilariterative modelling and experimental approach could accelerate elucidation ofthe physiology and ecology of othermicroorganismsinhabiting a diversity of environments, and could guide optimization ofthe practical applications ofthese species.
Acceso a review: http://www.geobacter.org/publication-files/Nature%20Reviews%20Microbiology%202011.pdf

Metal-like microbial nanowires

Physicstoday (August 22, 2011). Protein filaments made by some bacteria may bridge the gap between solid-state electronics and biological systems.

http://www.physicstoday.org/daily_edition/physics_update/metal-like_microbial_nanowires

Using Microbes to Generate Electricity

ScienceDaily (May 23, 2011) — Using bacteria to generate energy is a significant step closer following a breakthrough discovery by scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA).
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110523152337.htm

Fossilized Feathers

Not long ago, extinct dinosaurs were considered by most as scaly and dull. All the known fossils of primitive birds (stem avians) could easily fit on a desk and our only look at Mesozoic [250 to 65 million years ago (Ma)] feathers (except for a few isolated plumes) was Archaeopteryx, a theropod dinosaur considered by most to be the most primitive bird.


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Selection for positive illusions

Everybody knows that overconfidence can be foolhardy. But a study reveals that having an overly positive self-image might  confer an evolutionary advantage if the rewards outweigh the risks


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