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Una posible causa de la alarmante mortandad de las abejas que estamos presenciando es el uso de los insecticidas sistémicos muy activos llamados neonicotinoides. Un efecto hasta ahora desconocido y perjudicial de los neonicotinoides ha sido identificado por investigadores del Centro Médico de la Universidad de Mainz y la Universidad Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Descubrieron que los neonicotinoides en concentraciones bajas reducen la concentración de acetilcolina en la jalea real, alimento larval secretada por las abejas nodrizas. Esta molécula es relevante para el desarrollo de las larvas de las abejas melíferas. En dosis más altas, los neonicotinoides también dañan los llamados microcanales de la glándula jalea real en el que se produce la acetilcolina. Los resultados de esta investigación han sido publicados recientemente en la eminente revista científica PLoS ONE.

Pipelines carrying crude oil to ports in British Columbia may spell bad news for salmon, according to a new University of Guelph-led study.

Exposure to an oil sands product - diluted bitumen - impairs the swimming ability and changes the heart structures of young salmon.

The research will be published in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, and is available online now.

It's a timely finding, says U of G post-doctoral researcher and lead author Sarah Alderman.

The National Energy Board (NEB) recently approved the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project; the federal government is expected to make a final decision by December.

Los investigadores del Centro RIKEN de Ciencia de Recursos Sostenibles (CSRS por sus siglas en inglés) en Japón, junto con sus colaboradores en la Universidad Sains Malaysia (USM) han tenido éxito en la decodificación de la secuencia del genoma del Hevea Brasiliensis, árbol nativo de caucho natural de Brasil. Publicado en informes científicos, el estudio informa de un borrador de la secuencia del genoma que cubre más del 93% de los genes expresados, e identifica regiones específicas para la biosíntesis del hule.

Crop yields in Africa will nosedive ten years from now unless we can develop varieties that can better deal with climate change. Unfortunately, we’re not breeding those hardier varieties fast enough.

That’s the sobering conclusion of a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change by researchers from the University of Leeds. As temperatures rise, crop yields fall. This is particularly true for staple crops like corn, bananas and beans raised in hot tropical areas.

 

Forget mousetraps -- today's scientists will get the cheese if they manage to build a better battery.

An international team led by Texas A&M University chemist Sarbajit Banerjee is one step closer, thanks to new research published today (June 28) in the journal Nature Communications that has the potential to create more efficient batteries by shedding light on the cause of one of their biggest problems -- a "traffic jam" of ions that slows down their charging and discharging process.

All batteries have three main components: two electrodes and an intervening electrolyte. Lithium ion batteries work under the so-called rocking-chair model. Imagine discharging and charging a battery as similar to the back-and-forth motion of a rocking chair. As the chair rocks one way, using its stored energy, lithium ions flow out of one electrode through the electrolyte and into the other electrode. Then as the chair rocks the other way, charging the battery after a day's use, the reverse happens, emptying the second electrode of lithium ions.