31 March 2010
25 March 2010
23 March 2010
20 March 2010
Study backs efforts to save delta fish
Farmers need to start planting crops requiring less water and/or begin fallowing more land. Plant less of the water thirsty crops (We will pay more). We also need to address the population problem.
18 March 2010
17 March 2010
16 March 2010
"The Voyage of the Beagle"
The Voyage of the Beagle: Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches by Charles Darwin<br/><br/>
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Librivox.org podcast. This is a wonderful natural history diary of Charles Darwin's nearly five year tour around the world. He was an incredibly intelligent and insightful man. I read a very short Darwin biography that stated he was "the discoverer of natural selection..." No, he postulated the theory and presented evidence to back up his theory. He was not the only one to see the relationships between time and the differences in earth forms, and the differences in families and species of plants and animals. This book brings together so many of the things I enjoy, from anthropology to botany, entomology, geomorphology, oceanology to ornithology and beyond. A great book, or better yet, podcast for young people wondering what is out there in the natural world. If this title does not spark interest...
15 March 2010
13 March 2010
What is the famous eatery in your neck of the woods? One of ours is Foster's Bighorn.
Great place if you are into trophy hunting. 250+ specimens on the walls. Very popular with the motorcycle clubs touring the Delta and along the Sacramento River on weekends.
Our Orange Popsicle Iris is just beginning to show color. Looking forward to seeing this rebloomer.
Pleasants Valley Iris Farm is a great place to visit and owned and operated by very nice people.
12 March 2010
11 March 2010
Thalidomide's Partner in Crime - ScienceNOW
Thalidomide ranks as one of the worst pharmaceutical disasters in modern history. Prescribed as an antinausea drug for pregnant women in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it caused severe birth defects in as many as 10,000 children before it was yanked from the market. Half a century later, scientists are still not sure exactly how the drug does so much damage, which includes shortened arms and legs, ear deformities, and malformations in the digestive system. Now, for the first time, researchers have found a specific protein that binds to thalidomide and may help explain its devastating effects on fetal development. The find could help scientists develop less-toxic versions of the drug, which has helped combat the cancer multiple myeloma and complications of leprosy.
Because of its use in those hard-to-treat diseases, thalidomide is still causing birth defects today—especially in Africa and South America where leprosy still rages. (In the United States, people given thalidomide for myeloma are instructed to use multiple forms of birth control and take frequent pregnancy tests.) Scientists are therefore eager to understand exactly how thalidomide does its damage so that they can preserve the benefits of the drug without its hazards.
Molecular and developmental biologists from Japan report in tomorrow's issue of Science that they have found a new clue. Hiroshi Handa of the Tokyo Institute of Technology and his colleagues developed tiny magnetic beads—just 200 nanometers in diameter—that can be attached to drugs and other compounds. When the bead-linked drugs are mixed with cell extracts, scientists can pick out proteins or other molecules that the drug binds to. They applied the technology to thalidomide, and their fishing expedition paid off.
Handa's team found that beads tagged with thalidomide bound to a little-known protein called cereblon, which is expressed widely in both embryonic and adult tissues. Further experiments showed that blocking production of cereblon in zebrafish can cause defects in fin development similar to those caused by thalidomide. In both zebrafish and chick embryos, adding a version of cereblon that doesn't bind to thalidomide seemed to blunt the drug's effects.
Although cereblon's role in the cell is still unknown, Handa and his colleagues think that it might be a link between the drug and better-known developmental genes that direct limb development. But given that the protein is found in so many tissues, it's puzzling that thalidomide has such specific effects on limbs, ears, eyes, gut, and kidneys. In part because of this, although the cereblon clue is interesting, it is far from the whole story, says Neil Vargesson, a developmental biologist at the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom. He and his colleagues have studied the activity of thalidomide in developing limbs and have shown that developing blood vessels are a primary target of the drug. The new experiments don't explain thalidomide's effects on blood vessels, he says.
Toxicologist Craig Harris of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, who has studied thalidomide's effects on gene expression, says that the new data are consistent with some theories of the drug's action, however. The cereblon clue will lead to new experiments that look at the protein's role in the cell, he says, key clues that may help scientists find replacement drugs. That, in turn, could finally relegate thalidomide to the history books.
Remember it all too well. Too many sad stories and photos.
10 March 2010
09 March 2010
Free Time On Your Hands?
The best free cultural & educational media on the web
Getting Smart During Your Daily Commute (or Spare Time) | Open Culture
3 Legged Bear Walking Upright
Adaptation is what it is all about. Just wondering if the amputation was the result of a bear trap.
08 March 2010
Growing low-oxygen zones in oceans worry scientists
Growing low-oxygen zones in oceans worry scientists
Untitled
07 March 2010
06 March 2010
Do you use jojoba oil? Hope you buy it in glass bottles and not plastic.
Always buy jojoba in glass because jojoba reacts to plastic, absorbing it into the oil resulting in very low grade jojoba oil. La Ronna Jojoba sells only organically grown jojoba oil.
05 March 2010
04 March 2010
03 March 2010
02 March 2010
01 March 2010
Clubhouse Lake Birds
Nothing really exciting today. The four mergansers, a snowy egret, a young cormorant and an unidentified tern. Spring is coming so expecting more species to show up soon.