Culture Drives Evolution
Posted: October 29, 2009 Filed under: BIODIVERSITY Leave a comment »
Culture, not just genes, can drive evolutionary outcomes, according to a study that compares individualist and group-oriented societies across the globe.The study looks at the interplay across 29 countries of two sets of data, one genetic and the other cultural.It was found that most people in countries widely described as collectivist have a specific mutation within a gene regulating the transport of serotonin, a neurochemical known to profoundly affect mood.
In China and other east Asian nations, up to 80 percent of the population carry this so-called “short” allele, or variant, of a stretch of DNA known as 5-HTTLPR.Earlier research has shown the S allele to be strongly linked with a range of negative emotions, including anxiety and depression.It is also associated with the impulse to stay out of harm’s way.By contrast, in countries of European origin that prize self-expression and the pursuit of individual over group goals, the long or “L” allele dominates, with only 40 percent of people carrying the “S” variant.Ancient cultures in Asia, Africa and Latin America highly exposed to deadly pathogens, they conjecture, may have tended toward collectivist norms in order to better combat disease.That social transformation, in turn, could have favored the gradual dominance of the risk-avoidance S allele.
The study, published in Britain’s Proceedings of the Royal Society , offers a novel explanation as to how this divergence might have come about.
Setting aside discredited ideas linking genetics and race, the researchers suggest that culture and genes may have interacted over time to shape the process of natural selection, helping individuals — and the societies in which they lived — to survive and thrive.
Digital ‘Ants’ Take on Computer Worms
Posted: October 29, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized 3 Comments »
Digital ants could soon be crawling through your computer’s hard drive, but don’t worry, they are there to help.Scientists from Wake Forest University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have created an army of digital ants and their superior officers, digital sergeants and sentinels, to search out viruses, worms and other malware.The new antivirus software could provide better protection while freeing up valuable hardware….
Google map cedes Indian Himalayan state to China
Posted: October 26, 2009 Filed under: India, map making 3 Comments »
Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, is shown on Google Maps as north of a dotted line marking the border between India and China, ie in disputed territory Photo: GOOGLE
Google, the internet search engine published a map which cedes parts of the Indian Himalayan states to China. Google’s satellite map of the border area between India and China show several Indian towns in Arunachal Pradesh listed under their Chinese names as part of the People’s Republic of China. The maps also show the state’s southern border with Assam and its northern boundary with China as broken lines, indicating disputed territory. It also appears to question India’s borders with Burma and Bhutan. The publication of the map has provoked an angry response in India, where tensions are high following a series of public statements in which Chinese officials have denounced New Delhi for refusing to discuss a border dispute. China claims vast swathes of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir as well as Arunachal Pradesh, which it says were illegally ceded to India during the British Raj. It rejects the “MacMahon Line” border drawn up by British and Tibetan officials at the 1913 Shimla Conference.
Source s: http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Biofuel Displacing Food Crops May Have Bigger Carbon Impact Than Thought
Posted: October 25, 2009 Filed under: Ecosystem, Environment 4 Comments »
A report examining the impact of a global biofuels program on greenhouse gas emissions during the 21st century has found that carbon loss from the displacement of food crops and pastures for biofuels crops may be twice as much as the CO2 emissions from land dedicated to biofuels production. The study, led by Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) senior scientist Jerry Melillo, also predicts that increased fertilizer use for biofuels production will cause nitrous oxide emissions (N2O) to become more important than carbon losses, in terms of warming potential, by the end of the century.
Protected Alaska Habitat for Polar Bears
Posted: October 25, 2009 Filed under: BIODIVERSITY, Ecosystem, Environment Leave a comment »
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes that 200,000 square miles (518,000 sq km) of coastline and shallow Arctic Ocean waters be designated as critical habitat for threatened polar bear. The area, which would be the largest ever designated for an Endangered Species Act-listed population, overlaps the territory with the largest existing oil fields in the United States where companies operate and plan to explore more.Environmentalists said they were pleased with the plan, which is subject to a 60-day public review before it becomes final….
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Phytochemicals In Plant-based Foods Could Reduce your Fat
Posted: October 23, 2009 Filed under: BIODIVERSITY, Food 2 Comments »
Eating more plant-based foods, which are rich in substances called phytochemicals, seems to prevent oxidative stress in the body, a process associated with obesity and the onset of disease, according to findings published online in Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics.o get enough of these protective phytochemicals, eat plant-based foods such as leafy greens, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes at the start of a meal.
NASA Advised to Skip Moon Mission
Posted: October 23, 2009 Filed under: Moon, Solar System, Space 1 Comment »
NASA needs to make a major detour on its grand plans to return astronauts to the moon, a special independent panel is telling the White House.NASA has picked the wrong destination with the wrong rocket, the panel’s chairman said .
Humans ARE Still Evolving
Posted: October 21, 2009 Filed under: BIODIVERSITY Leave a comment »
Data collected as part of a 60-year study suggests that humans are likely to evolve at roughly the same rates as other living things. (Credit: iStockphoto)
Although advances in medical care have improved standards of living over time, humans aren’t entirely sheltered from the forces of natural selection, a new study shows.It was thought that because medicine has been so good at reducing mortality rates, that means that natural selection is no longer operating in humans,” said Stephen Stearns of Yale University.
A recent analysis by Stearns and colleagues turns this idea on its head. As part of a working group sponsored by the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, NC, the team of researchers decided to find out if natural selection — a major driving force of evolution — is still at work in humans today. The result? Human evolution hasn’t ground to a halt. In fact, we’re likely to evolve at roughly the same rates as other living things.The changes may be slow and gradual, but the predicted rates of change are no different from those observed elsewhere in nature, the researchers say….
India to launch two satellites to study climate change
Posted: October 21, 2009 Filed under: climate change, Countries, India, Satellites 7 Comments »India will soon join a select space club by launching two dedicated satellites in polar orbit to study climate change through atmospheric research and detection of greenhouse gases.The satellites will be launched in 2010 and 2011. The first will be a 50 kg micro-satellite to conduct atmospheric research. The second will be a remote sensing satellite to monitor emission of greenhouses gases like methane and carbon dioxide.
The dedicated satellites will make India one of the few countries in the world to have such advanced facility to study the impact of climate change due to emission of greenhouse gases.
US scientists to map Ganga stretch in Bihar, India
Posted: October 19, 2009 Filed under: GPS, India, map making, water 2 Comments »
Scientists from the United States would work with the researchers of Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University (TNBU) to analyse the quality of water of river Ganga and prepare a map of riverbed through Global Positioning System (GPS). The Inland Waterways Authority of India will support the effort with a well equipped vessel to aid the research, between October 21 and 31.The School of Natural Resources and Environment of Michigan University would provide a specially developed computer programme and Doppler machines to study a 250-km stretch between Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur and Patna. The scientists from United States have shown interest in Ganga. The team from the US will be led by Dr Mike Wiley and includes the noted specialist on Zooplankton, Dr Umair, who will also train TNBU scientists to carry on deeper investigations. The scientists hope that some newer forms of life could be uncovered in the process of the research.
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