High-Mountain Wildflower Season Reduced, Affecting Pollinators 3 Mercury: Messenger Orbital Data Confirm Theories, Reveal Surprises 5 Scientists Develop a Fatty 'Kryptonite' to Defeat Multidrug-Resistant 'Super Bugs' 8 Comet Hartley 2 in Hyperactive Class of Its Own 10 Metallic Glass: A Crystal at Heart 13 Gamma-Ray Flash Came from Star Being Eaten by Massive Black Hole 15 First Self-Powered Device With Wireless Data Transmission 17 Scientists Prove Existence of 'Magnetic Ropes' That Cause Solar Storms 18 Life Expectancy in Most US Counties Falls Behind World's Healthiest Nations 20 New Fossils Suggest Rapid Recovery of Life After Global Freeze 22 Recalculating the Distance to Interstellar Space 24 High-Protein Diets May Reduce Both Tumor Growth Rates and Cancer Risk 26 The smell of a meat-eater 28 Gale Crater on target to become next Mars landing site 30 City living marks the brain 32 Vaccine trial's ethics criticized 34 Indian generics giants set sights on Japan 36 Worth a dam? 38 Open access comes of age 40 Wing hairs help to keep bats in the air 42 Researchers tweet technical talk 44 Nanoparticles hit tumours with one-two punch 45 Voyager at the edge 47 Misconceptions about forest-dwellers overturned 49 'Statins' for cancer could prevent many breast cancers 51 Largest cosmic structures 'too big' for theories 52 Universe's highest electric current found 54 Largest cosmic structures 'too big' for theories 55 Neutrinos caught 'shape shifting' in new way 57 Sluggish sun may 'sit out' next solar cycle 59 Building a human on a chip, organ by organ 61 Red wine's heart health chemical unlocked at last 63 Muscles play a part in the rubber hand illusion 64 Botclouds: a cyberattacker's dream 65 Cracking the code of machine translation 67 Triple-engine trick fuels return to supersonic travel 69 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila Rocky Mountains Losing Their Snow 70 Does Your Last Name Affect Your Buying Habits? 72 Should We Blame Scientists for Not Predicting Earthquakes? 74 What is Killing the Bats? 76 Artificial Pancreas Being Developed to Ease Diabetes Burden 81 Some Captive Chimpanzees Show Signs of Compromised Mental Health 83 Origins of Cultivation, Ancient Trade Routes, and Colonization of the Americas 85 The Source of the Sun‘s Dark Spots 88 A Quick Guide to Owning the Universe 89 Human Cells Fitted With Synthetic Signaling Cascade 91 Sun and Planets Constructed Differently Than Thought, NASA Mission Suggests 93 Brain-Like Computing a Step Closer to Reality 95 Social Amoebae Rely On Genetic 'Lock and Key' to Identify Kin 97 When Matter Melts: Scientists Map Phase Changes in Quark-Gluon Plasma 99 Flames of Betelgeuse Vast Nebula Around Famous Supergiant Star 101 Sleep Switch Found in Fruit Flies 103 Modern Fish Communities Live Fast and Die Young 105 'Quantum Magic' Without Any 'Spooky Action at a Distance' 107 Ancient Species of Mayfly Had Short, Tragic Life 109 Body Temperatures of Dinosaurs Measured for First Time 111 New Studies Illuminate Brain's Complex Neurotransmission Machinery 114 Toward a New Breed of Computers That Can Process Data Using Less Power 117 Birds' Eye View Is Far More Colorful Than Our Own 119 Species May Adapt Quickly to Rapid Environmental Change, Yeast Study Shows 121 Current Carbon Dioxide Emission Higher Than Ancient Episode of Global Warming 123 Using Magnets to Help Prevent Heart Attacks 125 Bacteria On Old-Growth Trees May Help Forests Grow 126 Ten Famous Intellectual Property Disputes 128 The Battle of Bull Run: The End of Illusions 131 Juneteenth: Our Other Independence Day 137 Drones are Ready for Takeoff 139 The Giant Squid: Dragon of the Deep 145 The Top Ten Deadliest Animals of Our Evolutionary Past 148 Sewage Epidemiology Not Just a Pipe Dream 152 Ranking the Online Colleges 154 Plan to Restructure British Higher Ed 157 Dealing With the Depressed 160 Corporations, Meet Transparency 163 Quantum 'Graininess' of Space at Smaller Scales? 167 Scientists Use 'Optogenetics' to Control Reward-Seeking Behavior 170 NASA's Spitzer Finds Distant Galaxies Grazed On Gas 172 Plastic Found in Nine Percent of 'Garbage Patch' Fishes 174 Takeoffs and Landings Cause More Precipitation Near Airports, Researchers Find 176 How Social Pressure Can Affect What We Remember 179 X-Rays Reveal Patterns in the Plumage of the First Birds 181 New Fossils Demonstrate That Powerful Eyes Evolved in a Twinkling 184 'Zombie' Stars Key to Measuring Dark Energy 186 Human Ancestor Older Than Previously Thought 189 Researchers Can Predict Future Actions from Human Brain Activity 192 Nanoparticles Disguised as Red Blood Cells to Deliver Cancer-Fighting Drugs 194 2010 One of Two Warmest Years On Record 196 Rockin' Tortoises: A 150-Year-Old New Species 198 Who's Happy? How Long We Look at Happy Faces Is in Our Genes 200 2 Infoteca’s E-Journal No. 164 August 2011 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila Where Have All the Flowers Gone? High-Mountain Wildflower Season Reduced, Affecting Pollinators Like Bees, Hummingbirds A female broadtailed hummingbird collects nectar from the flowers of tall larkspur. (Credit: David Inouye) ScienceDaily (June 17, 2011) — It's summer wildflower season in the Rocky Mountains, a time when high- peaks meadows are dotted with riotous color. But for how long? Once, wildflower season in montane meadow ecosystems extended throughout the summer months. But now scientists have found a fall-off in wildflowers at mid-season. They published their results, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), in the current issue of the Journal of Ecology. "Shifts in flowering in mountain meadows could in turn affect the resources available to pollinators like bees," says David Inouye of the University of Maryland, currently on leave in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology. Inouye and colleagues George Aldridge and William Barr of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Jessica Forrest of the University of California at Davis, and Abraham Miller-Rushing of the USA National Phenology Network in Tucson, Ariz., found that such changes could become more common as climate change progresses. "Some pollinators with short periods of activity may require only a single flower species," write the ecologists in their paper, "but pollinators active all season must have flowers available in sufficient numbers through the season." For example, bumblebees, important pollinators in many regions, need a pollen and nectar supply throughout the growing season to allow the queen bee to produce a colony. As mid-summer temperatures have warmed in places like the Elk Mountains of Colorado, the researchers have found that the mid-season decline in flowering totals is ecosystem-wide. "These meadows are heavily affected by snowmelt and temperature," says Inouye. "Wildflowers use information from these natural cues to 'know' when it's time to unfurl their petals." The early-season climate is becoming warmer and drier in the high altitudes of the southern Rocky Mountains. These changing conditions are altering moisture availability and hence flowering timing in sub-alpine meadows, says Inouye. The result is a mid-season decline in number of wildflowers in bloom. Such changes in seasonal flower availability across large areas, or in individual habitats, could have serious consequences for entire pollinator populations, says Inouye, which include not only bees, but hummingbirds and others that feed on pollen and nectar. Over the long term, he and colleagues believe, the changes could affect animal-pollinated plants. If bees and hummingbirds need flowers, flowers need hummingbirds and bees. And they all need a high-meadow ecosystem that changes at its own pace, say the scientists, not one moving in fast-forward in tandem with warmer temperatures. Otherwise those sultry days and nights, especially in high summer, may leave Colorado mountain meadows empty, along with their wildflowers, and the pollinators that depend on them, vanished in the shimmering heat. 3 Infoteca’s E-Journal No. 164 August 2011 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila Story Source: The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by National Science Foundation. Journal Reference: 1. George Aldridge, David W. Inouye, Jessica R. K. Forrest, William A. Barr, Abraham J. Miller- Rushing. Emergence of a mid-season period of low floral resources in a montane meadow ecosystem associated with climate change. Journal of Ecology, 2011; 99 (4): 905 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365- 2745.2011.01826.x http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110616193751.htm 4 Infoteca’s E-Journal No. 164 August 2011 Sistema de Infotecas Centrales Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila Mercury: Messenger Orbital Data Confirm Theories, Reveal Surprises On March 18, 2011, the MESSENGER spacecraft entered orbit around Mercury to become that planet's first orbiter. (Credit: Image courtesy of Carnegie Institution) ScienceDaily (June 17, 2011) — On March 18, 2011, the MESSENGER spacecraft entered orbit around Mercury to become that planet's first orbiter. The spacecraft's instruments are making a complete reconnaissance of the planet's geochemistry, geophysics, geologic history, atmosphere, magnetosphere, and plasma environment. MESSENGER is providing a wealth of new information and some surprises. For instance, Mercury's surface composition differs from that expected for the innermost of the terrestrial planets, and Mercury's magnetic field has a north-south asymmetry that affects interaction of the planet's surface with charged particles from the solar wind. Tens of thousands of images reveal major features on the planet in high resolution for the first time. Measurements of the chemical composition of the planet's surface are providing important clues to the origin of the planet and its geological history. Maps of the planet's topography and magnetic field are offering new evidence on Mercury's interior dynamical processes.
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