Science & Technology for Wednesday March 9, 2011

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Study highlights no-till benefits WASHINGTON (UPI) -- A study of wheat farmers using no-till production found erosion decreased while water quality protection increased, the U.S. Agriculture Department said. The study compared runoff, soil erosion and crop yields in a conventional, heavily tilled winter wheat-fallow system and a no-till, four-year cropping rotation system, the department's Agricultural Research Service said Tuesday in the release. The scientists measured runoff and sediment at the mouth of each drainage channel in the study area in the Pacific Northwest after nearly every rainfall from 2001 to 2004. Scientists said they found 13 rainfalls generated erosion from conventionally tilled fields, but only three rainfalls resulted in erosion from no-till fields. They also noted 70 percent more runoff and 52 times more eroded material escaped from the conventionally tilled fields than from the no-till fields. No-till production left soil surface intact and protected pore space beneath the soil surface, allowing more water to soak into the subsoil, the research indicated. Scientists said they also found no significant yield difference between the two production methods, and that direct seeding in no-till production saved fuel and time. Copyright 2011 by United Press International
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Tool helps diggers determine where to dig TEL AVIV, Israel (UPI) -- Israel has archaeological sites waiting to be unearthed and a Tel Aviv University researcher says he has just the tool to scratch the surface. Historians say these sites, buried under highways or underneath cities, could reveal historic monuments from the biblical past and offer a map of migration through the Fertile Crescent. A new tool from Professor Lev Eppelbaum of the university's Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences may provide directions about where to dig, the university said Tuesday in a release. Eppelbaum's tool collects data from a number of sources-- such as radio transmitters used to communicate with nuclear submarines and detailed magnetic field observations -- and applies an algorithmic approach to the measurements to decipher what lies below the Earth's surface up to several dozen yards deep. His tool can help people "see" meaningful objects, artifacts or civilizations, and lay them out in a four-dimensional chart. The tool interprets what it "sees" by recognizing image targets, he said. The interpretation can be used to develop a model for archaeologists hoping to explore a particular region. "Inspired by Israel, where we have so many archaeological records underfoot, my tool can also help Americans locate old native burial grounds, and determine minerals and elements several yards below the surface," he said. Existing methods for scanning sites of potential archaeological and geological importance can produce significant background noise or inconclusive readings, he said. This tool offers a financially and technologically efficient way to localize and classify ancient buried objects, as well as estimate the potential of further archaeological investigations, he said. Copyright 2011 by United Press International
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Roundworm protein may be sepsis treatment LIVERPOOL, England (UPI) -- A protein found in a roundworm may treat systemic inflammation caused by sepsis, a research group led a University of Liverpool scientist said. The team's findings indicate inflammation triggered by bacterial endotoxins in patients with sepsis is held at bay by a protein called ES-62 secreted by a type of roundworm called Acanthocheilonema viteae, the University of Liverpool said Monday in a release. Sepsis is an inflammatory condition caused by the body overreacting to infection that can lead to inflammation and clotting. It affects about 20 million people worldwide annually. Roundworms can infect the human digestive tract, lymphatic vessels, skin and muscle, and can live in the human body for years -- decades, even -- without adverse effects or triggering the immune system. "The protein secreted by the roundworm stimulates a process called autophagy, a process of 'self-eating' that is essential to clear damage to cellular proteins or organelles and promote cell survival and function during stress situations," Professor Alirio Melendez of the university's Medical Research Council Centre for Drug Safety Science. "Autophagy reduces inflammation but at the same time permits the clearance of microbial infection," Melendez said. The findings suggest that ES-62 could be used to induce autophagy and reduce the overwhelming inflammation that is responsible for the massive tissue damage seen in sepsis." The research is published in the latest edition of Nature Immunology. Copyright 2011 by United Press International
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Southern Africa may be home of modern man STANFORD, Calif. (UPI) -- Modern humans may have originated in southern Africa, where hunter-gatherer populations had the greatest genetic diversity, British researchers said Tuesday. Extensive studies indicate the region was the best location for the origins of modern man, challenging the school of thought that modern humans migrated from eastern Africa, researchers told the BBC. Genetic diversity is an indicator of longevity, the scientists said. "Africa is inferred to be the continent of origin for all modern human populations," the international team said in its paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "But the details of human prehistory and evolution in Africa remain largely obscure owing to the complex histories of hundreds of distinct populations." Co-author Brenna Henn, from Stanford University in California said the study reached two main conclusions. "One is that there is an enormous amount of diversity in African hunter-gatherer populations, even more diversity than there is in agriculturalist populations," she told BBC News. "The other main conclusion was that we looked at patterns of genetic diversity among 27 (modern) African populations, and we saw a decline of diversity that really starts in southern Africa and progresses as you move to northern Africa." Henn said the study included more extensive data on "hunter-gatherer groups than we have ever had before, but I am cautious about localizing origins from it." She said populations in southern Africa have the highest genetic diversity of any population, suggesting "this might be the best location for (the origins) of modern humans." Copyright 2011 by United Press International
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