EPIGENETICS: PROVOCATIVE DISCUSSION ON 'ENVIRONMENT AFFECTING INHERITANCE"

Epigenetics, may confirm: "T.H. Dobzhansky: Nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution" and, as said M. Begon, "Nothing in evolution and biology itself makes sense, except in the light of ecology". Watch the video from BBC Documentary: http://youtu.be/urQxDu7r_2M

OZONE DEPLETION: A DIFFICULT PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED

[Reproduced from BBC NEWS - Online]

The evidence quickly pointed to CFC gases, which were invented in the 1920s, and were widely used in refrigeration and as aerosol propellants in products like hairsprays and deodorants.

Now, researchers from the University of East Anglia have discovered evidence of four new gases that can destroy ozone and are getting into the atmosphere from as yet unidentified sources.

Three of the gases are CFCs and one is a hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC), which can also damage ozone. "Our research has shown four gases that were not around in the atmosphere at all until the 1960s which suggests they are man-made," said lead researcher Dr Johannes Laube.

The researchers also looked at modern air samples, collected at remote Cape Grim in Tasmania.

They estimate that about 74,000 tonnes of these gases have been released into the atmosphere. Two of the gases are accumulating at significant rates.

"The identification of these four new gases is very worrying as they will contribute to the destruction of the ozone layer," said Dr Laube.

"Of the four species identified, CFC-113a seems the most worrying as there is a very small but growing emission source somewhere, maybe from agricultural insecticides. We should find it and take it out of production."

FANATICS FOR BARBECUE!? GET READY FOR DEMENTIA!!!

Eating barbecued and fried food could increase risk of dementia, say scientists

http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/health/dementia-research-eating-barbecued-fried-3180552#ixzz2vHDlZrnn
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Protein-rich foods cooked at very high temperatures raise the level of harmful Ages - compounds called advanced glycation end products - in blood

Getty

Risk: Family cooking barbecue in garden

Eating barbecued, grilled or fried meat could increase the risk of being struck down by dementia, scientists have discovered.

Research by US experts suggests that compounds called advanced glycation end products, or Ages, suppress an anti-ageing enzyme known as Sirt1.

Protein-rich foods that are cooked at very high temperatures raise the level of these harmful Ages in blood.

The scientists found mice that were fed Ages accumulated a brain protein which is a key indicator of dementia in humans.

Researchers said their follow-up study of 93 people aged over 60 showed that those with high amounts of Ages in their blood suffered progressive mental decline.

Professor Helen Vlassara, who led the probe, said: “Because Ages can be modified in humans, recognition that this under-appreciated risk factor plays a role in AD [age-related dementia] may open unique therapeutic avenues.”

The scientist, of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, added “larger clinical trials are warranted”.

British experts said the findings were interesting but should be treated with caution.

Prof Derek Hill, of University College London, said: “There is a great deal of public interest in the way that diet can cause, or prevent, serious diseases in older life.

"Some of the proposed ‘bad guys’ in the diet are Ages, which are present in especially high quantities in meat that is cooked by frying or grilling.

“The results are compelling. But this study should be seen as encouraging further work, rather than as providing definitive answers.”

Scientists began linking Ages to Alzheimer’s disease in the 1990s but this research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, is the most comprehensive study of the compounds.

Dr Simon Ridley, of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said it was “important to note that the people in this study did not have dementia”.

He added: “This subject has not yet been well studied in people, and we don’t yet know whether the amount of Ages in our diet might affect our risk of dementia.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/health/dementia-research-eating-barbecued-fried-3180552#ixzz2vHDRmxug
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NATURE PROVIDES SOLUTION...

[Reproduced from BBC NEWS - online]

IN THE AMAZON: BIODIVERSITY RICHNESS DOES NOT MEAN LONG EXISTENCE

Amazon trees 'live fast, die young'

[Reproduced from BBC NEWS - online]

By Mark Kinver

A "live fast, die young" life history strategy could have been a key factor behind today's high tree diversity in the Amazon, scientists have suggested.

The researchers hope the findings will shed light on why some groups of trees in the biodiversity hotspot contain hundreds of species.

An estimated 16,000 tree species - about 30% of the recorded total worldwide - are found in the Amazon.

The results have been published in the journal Ecology Letters.

Studies have estimated that the Amazon Basin is home to 390 billion trees.

'Big question'

"One of the big questions about understanding the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest is why have we got a range of groups of trees that contain so many species," explained co-author Tim Baker from the University of Leeds.

"There are genera - or groups - that are very species rich; some of them have 100, 200 or 300 species in them but we have not had a good reason for why these species-rich genera exist."

The international team of scientists said the diversity was a result of "an interaction between extrinsic factors - historical events that have caused extinctions or provided opportunities for speciation - and the intrinsic characteristics of different lineages that have influenced how they responded to these events".

Dr Baker told BBC News that the breakthrough came when the team found a characteristic that was shared by all of the groups.

"They all seem to share a life history strategy where they live fast and die young. They have short generation times so they are able to pump through the generations very fast," he said.

"That is consistent with a characteristic that would promote speciation - a lot of species over a geological timescale.

"This strategy links together different lineages of Amazonian trees that all have very high numbers of species within them."

Data deficit

The search for intrinsic, ecological traits to explain the species richness in groups of tropical trees had been elusive because there had been a lack of data.

Dr Baker explained: "The novelty of this study is that we have only just got the data together to be able to address this question about species richness in tropical ecosystems."

"The first stage was getting data on the number of species each genera held, and how old each genera was - when did they first evolve?

"From those two pieces of information, you are able to calculate how fast they have diversified.

"The second part was collecting data on all sorts of characteristics of these genera that might be related to how fast they diversified.

"The key trait turned out to be this characteristic of short generation times."

In order to identify this trait as the shared characteristic, the team compiled a vast dataset from leaves collected over the past 20 years from plots across the Amazon Basin.

The data provided the researchers with details about tree growth and mortality rates.

"It gave us an idea about how long these different tree species survive," observed Dr Baker.

"There are a whole range of mechanisms that have led to the diversity that we see in the rainforest today and this study highlights one of these mechanisms - why we have got these very species-rich groups of trees."

SHOOTING SHOWS! SPORT??...ENTERTAINMENT??...BEASTLY SCENESFROM "civilized" WORLD!!!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VR86T_jG9o8

Watch some of the videos in the link above, and judge for yourselves if people caught in brutal and coward attitudes against wild animals can be named as  "civilized people".

"BUTTERFLY EFFECT"??? PINE SCENTED VAPOURS AFFECTING CLIMATE?!

Pine smell 'limits' climate change

[Reproduced fro BBC News (on line)]

REMINDER. In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependency on initial conditions in which a small change at one place in a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.  [Extracted from WIKIPEDIA]

New research suggests a strong link between the powerful smell of pine trees and climate change.

Scientists say they've found a mechanism by which these scented vapours turn into aerosols above boreal forests.

These particles promote cooling by reflecting sunlight back into space and helping clouds to form.

The research, published in the journal Nature, fills in a major gap in our understanding, researchers say.

One of the biggest holes in scientific knowledge about climate change relates to the scale of the impact of atmospheric aerosols on temperatures.

Perfumed air

These particles form clouds that block sunlight as well as reflecting rays back into space.

They can be formed in a number of ways, including volcanic activity and by humans, through the burning of coal and oil.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), they "continue to contribute the largest uncertainty to estimates and interpretations of the Earth's changing energy budget."

One of the most significant but least understood sources of aerosols are the sweet-smelling vapours found in pine forests in North America, northern Europe and Russia.

These aerosols have confounded climate models as scientists haven't been able to accurately predict how many of the particles form.

Now an international team of researchers say they have solved the chemical mystery by which the rich odours become reflective, cooling particles.

They've long understood that the smell of pine, made up of volatile organic compounds, reacts with oxygen in the forest canopy to form these aerosols.

The scientists now found that, in fact, there is an extra step in the process, what they term a "missing link".

They've discovered ultra-low volatility organic vapours in the air that irreversibly condense onto any surface or particle that they meet.

"These vapours are so crazy in structure from what we had known before," said one of the authors, Dr Joel Thornton, from the University of Washington

"It turns out that this level of craziness is what gives them the special properties to stick to those smallest particles and help grow them up in size to become aerosols."

The scientists say that having a clear understanding of the way in which forest smells become aerosols will improve the accuracy with which they can predict the ability of these particles to limit rising temperatures.

"It's certainly crucial for explaining the response of the boreal forest to a changing climate," said Dr Thornton.

"It's thought that the vapours being emitted from the vegetation in the pine forests are contributing roughly half of the aerosols over the forest," he said.

"We've found the reasons how the vapours get converted into particles, so we are basically explaining around 50% of the aerosol particles."

Cooling effect

The authors believe that this is playing a significant role in reducing the impact of rising temperatures. They argue that this effect is likely to strengthen in the future.

"In a warmer world, photosynthesis will become faster with rising CO2, which will lead to more vegetation and more emissions of these vapours," said lead author, Dr Mikael Ehn, now based at the University of Helsinki.

"This should produce more cloud droplets and this should then have a cooling impact, it should be a damping effect."

The researchers sampled the air in the forests of Finland and carried out experiments at an air chamber at the Julich Research Centre in Germany.

They believe that the discovery was down to a combination of technique and technology.

"One very important thing is that before now, people haven't had the instrumentation to detect these ultra-low volatile compounds," said Dr Ehn.

"When you pull them through a metal tube into your instrument they come into contact with the tube walls and they are lost, you won't detect them."

"We have an instrument that is as wall-less as can be, we have a very high flow of air and a very short inlet line so that it is almost sampled right from atmosphere."

The scientists stress that the new understanding is not a panacea for climate change as forests will stop emitting vapours if they become too stressed from heat or lack of water.

However, Dr Ehn believes the vapours could have a significant impact in the medium term.

"If you go into a pine forest and notice that pine forest smell, that could be the smell that actually limits climate change from reaching such levels that it could become really a problem in the world."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc.

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