Free Republic

Biologists Invoke the Past in Modern Bacteria By swapping ancient genes into modern E. coli, scientists hope to tease out the rules of evolution. Yaman OzakinBetul Kacar, a research fellow at Harvard University, has revived an ancient protein in E. coli. By: Emily SingerJune 18, 2015 One of the greatest challenges in evolutionary biology is trying to piece together the history of life based on fragmentary evidence and limited knowledge of the forces at play — the rich tapestry of climate, geology and living things that forms the backdrop for evolution. How, for example, did the light-sensitive molecules that enable...

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — Water use and other actions by the marijuana industry in the Emerald Triangle of Northern California and Southern Oregon are threatening salmon already in danger of extinction, federal biologists said Tuesday. Concerns about the impact of pot farming were raised by the NOAA Fisheries Service in its final recovery plan for coho salmon in the region. The full plan was to be posted on the agency's website. A copy obtained in advance calls for determining then decreasing the amount of water that pot growers illegally withdraw from creeks where young fish struggle to survive. Pot...

Scores of scientists work for the Interior Department on issues involving birds and bees, foxes and foxgloves, and all manner of other species and their habitats. But in the eyes of the general public they tend to be virtually anonymous, at best names in italics at the end of a Federal Register notice. Nonetheless, a spotlight has been trained recently on a few department employees: some National Park Service scientists at Point Reyes National Seashore on California’s northern coast, and an Arctic wildlife biologist working for the Anchorage office of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. And this week, two...

NILE, Wash. – A gigantic landslide that buried a highway, uprooted homes and rerouted a river in Washington state's Cascade Range left hundreds of smaller victims: fish. The landslide that inundated the Naches River last month created a barrier of millions of cubic yards of silt, mud and rock that slowed — and likely confused — spawning salmon and hungry trout. Then workers opened a freshly dug river channel that stranded small fish in ponds and marshes. Fisheries biologists from 10 government agencies and private groups are working shifts to try to save the fish. The effort marks a step...

Darwinists Topple Darwin’s Tree of Life Darwin’s “Tree of Life” is a myth. It’s based on circular reasoning. It is a pattern imposed on the data, not a fact emerging from the evidence. We should give up the search for a single tree of life (TOL) as a record of the history of life on earth, because it is a “quixotic pursuit” unlikely to succeed – and the evidence is against it. Who said this? Not creationists, but a new member of the National Academy of Sciences in his inaugural paper for the academy’s Proceedings.1 W. Ford Doolittle and Eric...

For example, Dr Eugenie Scott of the staunchly anticreationist National Center for Science Education (NCSE) revealed their agenda when she said: “ … I would describe myself as a humanist or a nontheist. I have found that the most effective allies for evolution are people of the faith community. One clergyman with a backward collar is worth two biologists at a school board meeting any day! … What we [such clergy and atheists] have in common is that we want to see evolution taught in the public schools … .”4

A fanged creature found in Utah after some ice melted on a pond has stumped biologists trying to determine what it is. Officials said the pond may have been poisoned or the water may have run out of oxygen due to the thick ice. While checking the pond, the creature was spotted. "When we first saw that fish, we thought what in the ….. is that thing?" Utah Divison of Wildlife Resources Ben Boyce said. The fish was found with carp and goldfish that had been stocked in the pond. Biologists said they are not sure what the creature is...

An eastern Idaho man was mauled by a grizzly bear just outside his rural home, suffering deep bite and claw wounds across his back, investigators said. Authorities did not immediately release the name of the 33-year-old victim of the Tuesday night bear attack, saying he requested anonymity. They said he was in stable condition and good spirits in an Idaho Falls hospital. "He just stepped outside of his house to look for his dog ... then the bear knocked him down," said Idaho Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Steve Schmidt... "The bear caused significant injuries to his head, back, shoulder...

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. - "SNAKE!" Hearing this shout, Skip Snow slammed on the brakes. When the off-roader plowed to a halt, he and his partner, Lori Oberhofer, leaped out and took off running toward two snakes, actually — a pair of 10-foot Burmese pythons lying on a levee, sunning themselves. After slipping, sliding and tumbling down a rocky embankment, Snow, a wildlife biologist, grabbed one of the creatures by the tail. The python, Oberhofer says, did not care much for that. "It made a sound like Darth Vader breathing," she says, "and then its head swung around and I...

Biologists have discovered giant invasive oysters that could threaten efforts to restore native oyster species in San Francisco Bay. Government staffers and volunteers removed 256 of the exotic mollusks last week after searching the mudflats between the Dumbarton Bridge and the San Leandro Marina, biologists said Thursday. Scientists have not identified the species, which grow up to 9 inches long and in a variety of shapes. They don't know how the exotic oysters got here or how they could affect the bay if their population expands. Biologists are concerned the monster oysters could take over the best habitat and form...

Despite bombs, boats and rubber bullets, dozens of sea lions are continuing to kill salmon near the Bonneville Dam. This month, biologists are trying one last time to scare off the problem sea lions, but if that doesn't work, they may try to kill them. Sea lions could kill as much as 10 percent of this spring's salmon run and biologists say if they cannot get the problem solved soon, the situation could get ugly. The problem is that the salmon are disappearing. An estimated 8,000 salmon will be lost this spring at Bonneville Dam. "The difficult part about it...

CASCADE LOCKS, Ore. - In his way, C404 is kind of cute, with those sea-lion whiskers, soft brown eyes and furry little head. But to many he is a sea lion either from hell _ or from Harvard. C404 has driven the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Bonneville Dam to near distraction as he and his ilk sit at the base and munch salmon gathered to continue upriver to spawn. Numerous sea lions head for the dam each spring, but C404 is in a class by himself. He has figured out how to get into fish ladders that help...

For the first time, biologists have documented gorillas in the wild using simple tools, such as poking a stick in a swampy pool of water to check its depth. Until now, scientists had seen gorillas use tools only in captivity. Among the great apes, tool use in the wild was thought to be a survival skill reserved for smaller chimpanzees and orangutans. The research in the Republic of Congo's rainforests was led by Thomas Breuer of the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo, which released details of his study. Breuer is in Africa and was not immediately available for...

Efforts to defend the US against bioterrorists - by throwing money at research - are backfiring, says a 750-strong group of top scientists The US has poured billions of dollars into biodefence research since its anthrax attacks in 2001. More than half of the US scientists studying bacterial diseases have this week written to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) - their main funding agency - charging that the largess has created "a crisis for microbiological research". "We are staging a no-confidence vote," says Richard Ebright of Rutgers University in New Jersey, who organised the protest. In an open...

Death of worker at treatment plant ruled a homicide The Associated Press PATERSON, N.J. - A woman whose body was found in a tank at a water treatment plant drowned and her death has been ruled a homicide, the Passaic County prosecutor said Monday. Geetha Angara had been doing water quality tests Wednesday when she disappeared. A search found her body about 100 feet from where she was working, but her two-way radio and clipboard were found directly below the work area, which had a protective grate to prevent falls, Prosecutor James F. Avigliano said. "That was where we think...

Papers have been flapping with new headlines about the latest in a long line of alleged dinosaur ancestors of birds. This one is claimed to be a sensational dinosaur with feathers on its hind legs, thus four ‘wings’.1 This was named Microraptor gui—the name is derived from words meaning ‘little plunderer of Gu’ after the paleontologist Gu Zhiwei. Like so many of the alleged feathered dinosaurs, it comes from Liaoning province of northeastern China. It was about 3 feet (1 meter) long from its head to the tip of its long tail, but its body was only about the size...

Biologists blame bread for teenage acne eruptions New research suggests refined breads and cereals are more likely to cause acne than chocolate or fatty foods. The study by biologists at Colorado State University holds highly refined starches responsible because they are easily digested. It says eating them triggers the body to produce insulin and insulin-like growth factor (IFG-1) in higher quantities. This can lead to a surplus of male hormones, which encourages the skin to produce sebum, the "greasy goop" that acne-promoting bacteria love. IGF-1 also encourages skin cells called keratinocytes to proliferate, which are another acne hallmark. According to...

<p>Biologists accidentally started McGrath-area fire NOISEMAKERS: State workers were trying to scare off cow moose, collar calf.</p> <p>The 100,000-acre, $3 million Vinasale fire that burned within six miles of McGrath earlier this month was started by state biologists using exploding firecracker shotgun shells to scare off an irate cow moose, Department of Fish and Game officials said Monday.</p>