NEWS

[nodstar]

Jun 10, 2009 9:16:37 GMT 4 @towhom said:

Noddie...

The PMs have been read and responses await... ;D

Peace And Joy
Always - with Many Blessings of Light

Sally Anne

Thanks Sally Anne .. ;D

Nod

[kiek]

I also would like to extend my gratitude to Dan and Marci! Thank you very much for all you did, for all that you are still doing and going to do!!
I very much appreciated the opportunity to be able to speak to Dan directly by telephone, it was a pleasure and I will never forget it!
I'm looking forward to see you in Zurich!

Please take care and be well!

Much Love,
Christa ;-))

[kiek]

Dear Noddie,
You have a PM!

[avid]

Thank you Dan, Marci and the Eagles Team - we'll miss you
It's like having 'family' saying "Goodnight", pulling the door closed (but you can still see the light where they are....)

[avid]

Gasoline Is Toxic Waste - Literally
more at: www.PermaCulture.com
6-10-9

We Don't Need Gasoline, Never Did

Facts: Scientific and historical about gasoline and alcohol

1. The original automobiles ran on alcohol because when they were invented gasoline was not available.

2. Rockefeller spent $4 million (that we know of) to promote Prohibition, a ban on alcohol manufacturing in the US that started in 1919 just as the car industry was taking off.

3. When Prohibition was lifted in 1933, gasoline stations were ubiquitous and most engines ran on gasoline only.

4. Alcohol can be manufactured locally and on a community level from renewable plant material for $1 per gallon.

5. The growing of plant material for alcohol would have no effect on the price of food.

6. The growing of plants for fuel would more than neutralize the carbon created by burning alcohol for fuel.

7. In Brazil, over 50% of new cars sold can already run on 100% alcohol.

8. Producing alcohol from plant material is incredibly energy efficient.

9. The oil companies aggressively promote garbage science to deceive the public into believing that alcohol fuels: a) will cause starvation, b) are uneconomical, and c) are net polluters.

10. Gasoline is a high toxic material.

11. It is entirely unneeded to fuel our cars.

12. Oil companies like Chevron have pressured PBS, commercial TV networks and other news media to keep this basic information from the public for decades - and the censorship continues to this day.

[ninathedog]

Congratulations to the Eagles on a job well done and completed!
I will miss you and the Eagles Disobey message board, but I'm most grateful for your presence in our collective lives as a whole and I wish you the best of luck and blessings in your endeavors and in your personal lives. Also, personally to Dan: thanks for your patient responses to my emails a few months back. Your time and ear were greatly appreciated.
Thank you all for BEING!
love and peace,
jen.

[towhom]

Howdy everyone!

Just a few thoughts, then I have to get cracking on the cleaning (yeah, I'm a neurotic cleaner...) ;D

Time has a way of crowding everyone. The best way to keep the crowding to a minimum is to "set priorities" and "make time" for them. Each one of us does that to some extent - both great and small. It's an inherent "safety valve". I'm not going to bother with adding an "ethical" or "moral" descriptive narrative in its (safety valve) usage at this point.

I view Dan and Marcia's presence as "not here but there". Their work FOR ALL OF HUMANITY has become a PRIORITY and they had to MAKE TIME for these.

I see no reason to be sad. Frankly, I am GRATEFUL they feel so strongly about ALL OF HUMANITY to continue to work FOR US.

I hope they have also carved out some time FOR THEMSELVES and THEIR LIVES TOGETHER. Not only Dan and Marcia - BUT ALL OF THE EAGLES TEAM.

Now we are still here. That's cool. You are all wonderful people with many things to share that help bring issues into focus and thoughts in sync...for everyone. I am grateful and will continue to look forward to all of your posts.

You are all in my thoughts and prayers.

Peace and Joy
Always with Love

Sally Anne
PS - I'll be back on later tonight!

[towhom]

June Geosphere media highlights
EurekAlert
Public Release: 10-Jun-2009
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/gsoa-jgm061009.php

Boulder, CO, USA - This month's GEOSPHERE papers cover the geologic and neotectonic evolution of Savu Island, Indonesia; a digital archive of active tectonic maps for the Tibet-Himalaya region; syntectonic zoning in biotite as a diagnostic indicator of deformation style during metamorphism; the potential for explosive eruptions of silicic volcanoes; the Hortavaer intrusive complex, Norway; evidence of an low-oxygen deep sea at the former Jones Hill copper mine northwest of Pecos, New Mexico; and the SLIP hypothesis.

Transition from subduction to arc-continent collision: Geologic and neotectonic evolution of Savu Island, Indonesia
Ron Harris et al., Dept. of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602, USA. (Received NSF funding.)

The Savu region provides a rare glimpse of neotectonic associations of the transition from subduction to collision. Harris et al. document this transition, noting that the geology of the Savu region is separated into two very different domains divided by a developing suture zone between units of Australian and Asian affinity, and that complexities here result from lower plate structural and stratigraphic discontinuities that cause waves of crustal shortening and uplift followed by subsidence.

Active structures of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen and their relationships to earthquake distribution, contemporary strain field, and Cenozoic volcanism
Michael Taylor, Dept. of Geology, University of Kansas, 1735 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA; and An Yin. (Received NSF funding.)

A digital archive of active structures related to the Indo-Asian collision and its surrounding regions is now available for use by geoscientists. The digital active tectonic map allows a comparison to be made between the distribution, geometry, and kinematics of active structures and the distribution of earthquake focal mechanisms. The distribution of active structures is also compared with the GPS velocity field of Tibet and the Himalaya in order to assess the partitioning of the strain rate field across individual faults and folds. Evaluation of the Late Cenozoic volcanism in Tibet is also possible to determine whether syn-collisional volcanism was spatially related to active structures in the same area.

Growth, behavior, and textural sector zoning of biotite porphyroblasts during regional metamorphism and the implications for interpretation of inclusion trails: Insights from the Pequop Mountains and Wood Hills, Nevada, USA
Phyllis A. Camilleri, Geosciences, Austin Peay State University, Box 4418, Clarksville, Tennessee 37044, USA

Previous studies indicate that the growth of large biotite crystals (porphyroblasts) is a two-stage process in phyllite and schist during regional metamorphism. Stage 1 accommodates the bulk of the growth of a porphyroblast and proceeds by growth over matrix, which results in incorporation of inclusions. Stage 2 involves growth that is largely restricted to precipitation of biotite in fractures within and along the margins of the porphyroblast. On the basis of a detailed microstructural study of biotite porphyroblasts, Camilleri demonstrates that in a tectonic environment where rock deformation occurs by shortening perpendicular to foliation and extension parallel to foliation, early growth actually occurs through a combination of the processes in stage 1 and 2 and results in textural sector zoning of the inclusions. In two dimensions, textural sector zoning is characterized by an hourglass-shaped distribution of inclusions whereby the long axis of the hourglass is normal or at a high angle to foliation. Textural sector zoning has long been recognized in many other porphyroblast species such as chiastolite (andalusite), where it is defined by the characteristic cross-shaped distribution of inclusions. The zoning in other mineral species is thought to develop in porphyroblasts that grew before or between tectonic deformations (i.e., they are pretectonic or intertectonic, respectively). This paper shows that zoning in biotite is different because it is syntectonic. Furthermore, zoning in biotite is significant because it can be used as a diagnostic indicator of the style of deformation during metamorphism.

Determining relative magma and host rock xenolith rheology during magmatic fabric formation in plutons: Examples from the middle and upper crust
Aaron S. Yoshinobu et al., Dept. of Geosciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409-1053, USA. (Received NSF funding.)

This article utilizes foreign blocks of rock trapped in a magma chamber to evaluate the viscosity of magmas in subvolcanic settings. Such information may be useful in understanding the viscosity and thus potential for explosive eruptions of silicic volcanoes.

Growth and zoning of the Hortavaer intrusive complex, a layered alkaline pluton in the Norwegian Caledonides
Calvin G. Barnes et al., Dept. of Geosciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409, USA. (Received NSF funding.)

The Hortavaer intrusive complex in north-central Norway provides a remarkable example of the styles of growth of magma bodies in Earth's crust and of the ways in which magmas chemically and physically interact with host rocks rich in calcium carbonate (calcite). Magma emplacement involved injection of repeated pulses of hot, mantle-derived magmas into the middle crust, followed by differentiation to potassium-rich magmas. Ultimately, a layered intrusion was formed and subsequent deformation and erosion has exposed a paleo-vertical section through the complex. Magma interaction with calcite-rich rocks can be shown to cause the enrichment of potassium. This process also caused development of distinctive reaction zones (skarn rocks) and evidently released large amounts of carbon dioxide into overlying strata. Processes revealed in this study are similar to those proposed for active and dormant volcanic systems in Italy, such as Vesuvius and the Alban Hills.

Seafloor-hydrothermal Si-Fe-Mn exhalites in the Pecos greenstone belt, New Mexico, and the redox state of ca. 1720 Ma deep seawater
John F. Slack et al., U.S. Geological Survey, National Center, MS 954, Reston, Virginia 20192, USA

A study of the mineralogy and chemistry of Precambrian iron-rich and manganese-rich sedimentary rocks near the site of the former Jones Hill copper mine northwest of Pecos, New Mexico, reveals information on the oxidation state of deep seawater approximately 1.72 billion years ago. The results of this study indicate that the deep ocean at that time had very small amounts of dissolved oxygen, in contrast to a currently popular model in which Precambrian deep seawater of that age had no oxygen, like the deep waters of the modern Black Sea.

Climate forcing by iron fertilization from repeated ignimbrite eruptions: The icehouse-silicic large igneous province (SLIP) hypothesis
Steven M. Cather et al., New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico 87801, USA

The present-day glacial-interglacial climate on Earth was established about 34 million years ago during a prolonged episode of explosive silicic volcanism, the ignimbrite flare-up of southwestern North America. Our data suggest that fertilization of oceanic algae by great volumes of iron-bearing volcanic ash caused increased photosynthetic productivity, which decreased the CO₂ content of the atmosphere and cooled the planet. Most cool-climate episodes during the past 0.5 billion years were accompanied by major explosive volcanism in silicic large igneous provinces (SLIPs), suggesting a common link between these phenomena.

Review abstracts for these articles at:
geosphere.gsapubs.org/

[towhom]

Jun 10, 2009 15:59:53 GMT 4 @avid said:

Gasoline Is Toxic Waste - Literally
more at: www.PermaCulture.com
6-10-9

We Don't Need Gasoline, Never Did

Edited for length only.

Hiya avid!

My grandpa worked on the first automotive production line in Detroit (he "hopped on and rode the rails" to get there from Oklahoma).

He worked for all of the auto makers back then - switching jobs to keep up with the latest designs and engines.

He told me that there was young man who came up with an engine he'd designed, tested and had ready for production. It ran on water. Grandpa said the man was approached by all of the auto manufacturers for the engine - and he was considering the offers. It seems as though he, his prototype engine and all the specs "disappeared" during this "consideration" period.

I asked him if the auto makers were behind his "disappearance". His final comment was, "Cars are cars. They'll run on whatever they're designed to run on. Right now, it's gasoline. I don't think the oil companies were too happy about that young fella's plans."

That incident happened in the 1940's.

Grandpa told me the story in 1971. After that, he never spoke about it again.

Yep, gas is right up there on the "TOXIC CHEMICAL / BIOLOGICAL HAZARD" list.

It's also rising in price again...imagine that...

Peace and Joy
Always

Sally Anne

[towhom]

Cool plasma packs heat against biofilms
University of Southern California Dentistry-Engineering partnership results in promising new tool for fighting infections
EurekAlert
Public Release: 10-Jun-2009
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/uosc-cpp061009.php

Though it looks like a tiny purple blowtorch, a pencil-sized plume of plasma on the tip of a small probe remains at room temperature as it swiftly dismantles tough bacterial colonies deep inside a human tooth. But it's not another futuristic product of George Lucas' imagination. It's the exciting work of USC School of Dentistry and Viterbi School of Engineering researchers looking for new ways to safely fight tenacious biofilm infections in patients – and it could revolutionize many facets of medicine.

Two of the study's authors are Chunqi Jiang, a research assistant professor in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics, and Parish Sedghizadeh, assistant professor of clinical dentistry and Director of the USC Center for Biofilms. "Nanosecond Pulsed Plasma Dental Probe" appears in the June 2009 issue of Plasma Processes and Polymers.

Sedghizadeh explained that biofilms are complex colonies of bacteria suspended in a slimy matrix that grants them added protection from conventional antibiotics. Biofilms are responsible for many hard-to-fight infections in the mouth and elsewhere. But in the study, biofilms cultivated in the root canal of extracted human teeth were easily destroyed with the plasma dental probe, as evidenced by scanning electron microscope images of near-pristine tooth surfaces after plasma treatment.

Plasma, the fourth state of matter, consists of electrons, ions, and neutral species and is the most common form found in space, stars, and lightning, Jiang said. But while many natural plasmas are hot, or thermal, the probe developed for the study is a non-thermal, room temperature plasma that's safe to touch. The researchers placed temperature sensors on the extracted teeth before treatment and found that the temperature of the tooth increased just five degrees after 10 minutes of exposure to the plasma, Jiang said.

The cooler nature of the experimental plasma comes from its pulsed power supply. Instead of employing a steady stream of energy to the probe, the pulsed power supply sends 100-nanosecond pulses of several kilovolts to the probe once every millisecond, with an average power less than 2 Watts, Jiang said.

"Atomic oxygen [a single atom of oxygen, instead of the more common O₂ molecule] appears to be the antibacterial agent," according to plasma emission spectroscopy obtained during the experiments, she said.

Sedghizadeh said the oxygen free radicals might be disrupting the cellular membranes of the biofilms in order to cause their demise and that the plasma plume's adjustable, fluid reach allowed the disinfection to occur even in the hardest-to-reach areas of the root canal.

Given that preliminary research indicates that non-thermal plasma is safe for surrounding tissues, Sedghizadeh said he was optimistic about its future dental and medical uses. Much like the spread of laser technology from research and surgical applications to routine clinical and consumer uses, plasma could change everything; especially since nonthermal plasmas don't harbor the risks of tissue burns and eye damage that lasers do, he said.

"Plasma is the future," Sedghizadeh said. "It's been used before for other sterilization purposes but not for clinical medical applications, and we hope to be the first to apply it in a clinical setting."

"We believe we're the first team to apply plasma for biofilm disinfection in root canals," Jiang added. "This collaboration is very unique. We're attacking frontier problems, and we're happy to be broadening our fields."

Well there's plasma pulsing...and there's H₂O₂ swishing (as in an oral rinse daily)...

I'll take the swishing, dudes. I would even take the H₂O₂ application during a root canal procedure.

The only "pulse" I want inside of me is my own...

[towhom]

I just love "stuff" like this...



What Causes Irritability In Menopause?
ScienceDaily
June 10, 2009
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090609073026.htm

Irritability is frequently the main presenting complaint of perimenopausal and postmenopausal women; yet, studies specifically researching on irritability in this population are lacking.

As it remains controversial whether mood symptoms related to menopause are independently associated with hormonal changes or whether they are secondary to vasomotor or other bothersome symptoms of menopause, such as insomnia. This study aims to assess irritability in either perimenopausal or postmenopausal women, to look for possible associations with vasomotor symptoms, insomnia and chronic disease, and to explore possible hormonal links with sex steroids, gonadotrophins, prolactin and thyroid hormones. A total of 163 peri- and postmenopausal women, non-hormonal therapy or tibolone users, attending a menopause clinic were included in this cross-sectional study.

The subjects completed the Irritability, Depression, Anxiety Scale, which is an 18-item self-report scale that assesses irritability as a temporary psychological state. Irritability is divided into ‘outwardly directed’ if it is expressed toward others and ‘inwardly directed’ if it is directed toward oneself. Climacteric symptoms were evaluated by Greene’s scale, which provides subscores for vasomotor symptoms. Insomnia was measured by the Athens Insomnia Scale. Chronic disease refers to the existence of hypertension, cardiac disease, diabetes mellitus or thyroid disease.

The study sample consisted of 163 women, with a mean age of 55.1 years (SD = 5.7). Of the total sample, 124 women were postmenopausal and 26 perimenopausal. Fifty-four women suffered from chronic disease. The mean score for inward irritability was 5.1 (SD = 2.4) and 5.9 (SD = 2.7) for outward irritability. The mean scores for inward and outward irritability, insomnia and vasomotor symptoms were not different between peri- and postmenopausal women (analysis of covariance, p > 0.05). A significant positive correlation was found between outward irritability and FSH (r = 0.25,p = 0.005) and LH levels (r = 0.26, p = 0.006). There was no significant association between inward irritability and hormonal levels. No significant relationships were detected between vasomotor symptoms, insomnia and menopausal status and the 2 subscales of irritability.

Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that women with chronic disease had a significantly higher score on both the inward and the outward irritability scales, with effect sizes equal to 44.6 and 40.0%, respectively. Furthermore, in the multivariable model outward irritability was associated both with increased levels of FSH and LH, with effect sizes for a 20-unit increase equal to 22.2 and 37.0%, respectively. Outward and inward irritability of peri- and postmenopausal women was found to be related to chronic disease, a factor that is not specific to menopause but may be partially influenced by the older age of menopausal women. Outwardly directed irritability was found to be related to FSH and LH levels.

There are no data supporting a possible direct association between FSH and LH and the expression of outward irritability. However, as FSH and LH are markers of ovarian aging and menopause, the results of this study may give an indication of a link between outward irritability and menopause.

Journal reference:
Spyropoulou et al. Irritability in Menopause: An Investigation of Its Relation to Menopausal, Hormonal and Physical Factors. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 2009; 78 (2): 128 DOI: 10.1159/000203120

Adapted from materials provided by Journal of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, via AlphaGalileo.

Ho-hummmm...

Whatever...

Thank you SO MUCH for investigating that...

That's a real "News Flash", not a "Hot Flash"...

[towhom]

Cloned Crops Closer To Being Realized
ScienceDaily
June 10, 2009
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608204055.htm

No human is a clone of their parents but the same cannot be said for other living things. While your DNA is a combination of half your mother and half your father, other species do things differently. The advantage of clonal reproduction is that it produces an individual exactly like an existing one—which would be very useful for farmers who could replicate the best of their animals or crops without the lottery of sexual reproduction. Clonal reproduction of crop species took a step closer to being realised with new research published in PLoS Biology.
[Note: Uh huh...no human clones...right...]

The type of cell division that creates eggs and sperm is called meiosis, and it differs from 'normal' cell division (mitosis) because instead of producing two genetically identical daughter cells, it produces four cells each containing only half of the parental amount of DNA. Meiosis occurs in all species that reproduce sexually, from microorganisms such as yeast to plants, animals and human beings. This new paper blurs the line between the two different types of cell division by showing a plant where three specific mutations are experimentally combined. These divisions are normally meiotic – which make pollen and egg cells – and are replaced by mitotic divisions.

The work, by a team of researchers in France and Austria, is potentially very important commercially, because it makes the creation of stable new mutant crops—such as plants of a different colour, or with a different yield, etc.—much simpler. It is now much closer to being possible to reproduce a plant that produces perfect potatoes, maize or rice, without the lottery of reassortment that each meiotic division and ensuing fertilization introduces.

The first steps of both meiosis and mitosis are the replication of the dividing cell's DNA. Once replication has occurred, the chromosomes condense into tightly bound structures, and in mitosis these form an X shape in which each half of the X is a chromatid, comprising one complete copy of the chromosome. The double-chromatid chromosomes line up along the centre of the cell. In mitosis, the two chromatids are pulled apart—the X is divided along one axis of symmetry—and these then pass into two genetically identical daughter cells. In meiosis, there are two lining up and dividing phases. The first lining up is of homologous chromosomes—all chromosomes in an adult cell have a partner, members of the partnership coming from the mother and father of the cell—and these homologous chromosomes are each made up of two chromatids. The first division divides homologous pairs of chromosomes while the second meiotic division is just like the mitotic di vision: the chromosomes line up at the middle of the new cell and the chromatids divide at the centre of the X.

Thus the differences between mitosis and meiosis are that meiosis has two rounds of division; co-segregation of sister chromatids at the first division; and recombination that occurs during the first division—a swapping over process that adds more genetic diversity to offspring. The new work, led by Raphael Mercier, identifies a gene that controls one of these three features—entry into the second meiotic division—in the sexual plant Arabidopsis thaliana. By combining a mutation in this gene with two other previously described mutations—one that eliminates recombination and another that modifies chromosome segregation—the authors have created a strain of plant (called MiMe for 'mitosis instead of meiosis') in which meiosis is totally replaced by mitosis.

MiMe plants produce pollen and eggs that are genetically identical to their parent. If MiMe eggs are self-fertilized by MiMe sperm, the offspring plant has twice as much DNA as the parent generation, and has all the genes from this single parent.

Thus the authors have made a form of asexual reproduction possible in a normally sexual species. Turning meiosis into mitosis is not enough to reach clonal reproduction, but it's a giant leap towards it. This has potential revolutionary applications in crop improvement and propagation.

This work was supported by an INRA postdoctoral fellowship to Id'E. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Journal reference:
d'Erfurth et al. Turning Meiosis into Mitosis. PLoS Biology, 2009; 7 (6): e1000124 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000124

Adapted from materials provided by Public Library of Science, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

This is the PLoS Biology article:

Turning Meiosis into Mitosis
PLoS Biology
Received: February 11, 2009; Accepted: April 28, 2009; Published: June 9, 2009
www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1000124

Abstract
Apomixis, or asexual clonal reproduction through seeds, is of immense interest due to its potential application in agriculture. One key element of apomixis is apomeiosis, a deregulation of meiosis that results in a mitotic-like division. We isolated and characterised a novel gene that is directly involved in controlling entry into the second meiotic division. By combining a mutation in this gene with two others that affect key meiotic processes, we created a genotype called MiMe in which meiosis is totally replaced by mitosis. The obtained plants produce functional diploid gametes that are genetically identical to their mother. The creation of the MiMe genotype and apomeiosis phenotype is an important step towards understanding and engineering apomixis.

Author Summary
In the life cycle of sexual organisms, a specialized cell division—meiosis—reduces the number of chromosomes from two sets (2n, diploid) to one set (n, haploid), while fertilization restores the original chromosome number. In contrast, mitosis produces two identical daughter cells. Basically, three features distinguish meiosis from mitosis. Meiosis has: (i) a succession of two rounds of division following a single replication, (ii) recombination, and (iii) co-segregation of sister chromatids at the first division. In this study, we identified a gene that controls one of these three features— entry into the second meiotic division—in the sexual plant Arabidopsis thaliana. By combining a mutation in this gene with two other mutations—one that eliminates recombination and another that modifies chromatid segregation—we created a genotype (called MiMe for mitosis instead of meiosis) in which meiosis is totally replaced by mitosis. As a consequence, MiMe plants produced diploid male and female gametes that are genetically identical to their parent, and ploidy doubles at each generation. The replacement of meiosis by mitosis is a key component of apomixis, or clonal reproduction through seeds, which has potential revolutionary application in crop improvement.

Complete article available for download at the link displayed above.

I don't like what you are doing here...I think I'll check further into the $$$...

[towhom]

I was just thinking the other day that we sure could use another biochemical weapon (said with EXTREME SARCASM):

Newly Discovered Chemical Weapon In Poison Frogs' Arsenal
ScienceDaily
June 9, 2009
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608101334.htm

Scientists have discovered new toxins that some Amazonian poison frogs use as a chemical defense against predators. (Credit: The American Chemical Society)

New research documents a surprising chemical weapon used by some Amazonian poison frogs. The study identified for the first time a family of poisons never before known to exist in these brightly colored creatures or elsewhere in nature: the N-methyldecahydroquinolines. The authors then speculated on its origin in the frogs' diet, most likely ants.

H. Martin Garraffo and colleagues note there are more than 500 alkaloids, potentially toxic substances, known to exist in the skin of poison frogs of the family Dendrobatidae. Frogs use them as a chemical defense to discourage predators from biting and eating them. Western Colombian natives have used skin extracts from another group of frogs, unrelated to those in the new study, to coat blow-darts for hunting.

Frogs get nearly all of the alkaloids from their diet, removing alkaloids from ants, mites, small beetles, millipedes and possibly other small arthropods, concentrating them with incredible efficiency, and storing them in their skin. However, Garraffo's group was not certain about the origin of the newly discovered N-methyldecahydroquinolines, which could also be produced in the frogs' own bodies. Feeding experiments with alkaloids fed to captive frogs are planned, which might settle this point.

The scientists analyzed alkaloids from the skin of 13 of the more than 25 species of the genus Ameerega of poison frogs. They identified the new toxins in the frogs as being of the N-methyldecahydroquinoline class, which were present among several other alkaloids.

Journal reference:
Daly et al. N-Methyldecahydroquinolines: An Unexpected Class of Alkaloids from Amazonian Poison Frogs (Dendrobatidae)[/b]. Journal of Natural Products, 2009; 090511093706043 DOI: 10.1021/np900094v

Adapted from materials provided by American Chemical Society.[/i][/size]

[towhom]

Lunar, Solar Eclipses Hold Secrets to Other Worlds
Universe Today
Written by Anne Minard
June 10th, 2009
www.universetoday.com/2009/06/10/lunar-solar-eclipses-hold-secrets-to-other-worlds/

Total Lunar Eclipse, 2004. Credit: Fred Espenak

Want to know about the atmospheres of planets around other stars, and the stars themselves?

Start at home.

A pair of papers in this week’s issue of Nature is advocating continued studies of both lunar eclipses, when the Moon transits Earth’s shadow, and solar eclipses — when the Moon comes directly between Earth and the sun.

NASA eclipse diagram

Enric Palle, of the Spanish Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, and his co-authors point out in one of the papers that of the 342 planets known to be orbiting other stars, 58 ‘transit’ the stellar disk, meaning that they can be detected through a periodic decrease in the flux of starlight.

“The light from the star passes through the atmosphere of the planet, and in a few cases the basic atmospheric composition of the planet can be estimated,” they write. To calibrate our abilities to study those other atmospheres, it’s best to practice on Earth, they propose.

The team utilized the optical and near-infrared transmission spectrum of the Earth, obtained during a lunar eclipse. The technique is different from another common practice: observing the earthshine, or the light reflected from the dark side of the Moon.

“Some biologically relevant atmospheric features that are weak in the reflection spectrum (such as ozone, molecular oxygen, water, carbon dioxide and methane) are much stronger in the transmission spectrum, and indeed stronger than predicted by modelling,” Palle and his co-authors write. “We also find the ‘fingerprints’ of the Earth’s ionosphere and of the major atmospheric constituent, molecular nitrogen (N2), which are missing in the reflection spectrum.”

“Thus, the transmission spectrum can provide much more information about the atmospheric composition of a rocky planet than the reflection spectrum can.”

Solar eclipse. Credit: NASA

In the second paper, author Jay Pasachoff, who splits his time between Caltech and Williams College, in Massachusetts, reviewed a wealth of knowledge gleaned from solar eclipses.

“Observations of the Sun during total eclipses have led to major discoveries, such as the existence of helium (from its spectrum), the high temperature of the corona (though the reason for the high temperature remains controversial), and the role of magnetic fields in injecting energy into—and trapping ionized gases within—stellar atmospheres,” he writes.

Pasachoff notes that there’s no real end in sight for the usefulness of solar eclipses: “The Moon is receding from the Sun sufficiently slowly that our descendants on Earth will be able to see total eclipses for over 600 million years.”

But he predicts an eventual transition from ground-based to space solar telescopes, especially for getting at tantalizing solar mysteries like the nature of coronal heating.

“At present the paired science and beauty of solar eclipses remain uniquely available to scientists and others in the path of totality.”

Source: Nature

[fr33ksh0w2012]

Hi Guys Got My computer Back the other day and my gateway BLEW UP SO I MISSED MY BIRTHDAY BEING VIEWED AND EVERYTHING AND ERM.. CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHY EAGLES FORUM IS CUT OFF/ DROPPED!! AS I WAS GOING TO TALK TO EVERYONE THERE AND SAY BYE TO THEM CAN YOU PASS THIS MESSAGE ON! STUPID COMPUTERS!!!!