In 2006 bees began disappearing. Entomologists have never been exactly able to pinpoint the cause of syndrome, which they now call colony collapse disorder. It occurs when the worker bees abandon the hive and the whole system falls apart. No one knows why the bees leave. Some have suggested they get disoriented and can’t find their way back home. After studying fungus, chemicals, environmental toxins, a new possibility is on the rise.

Honeybee Hive, Abuzz with Activity

Call them zom-bees.

John Hafernik, an insect biologist at San Francisco State University made an accidental but significant discovery, which could explain colony collapse disorder.

He found that a parasitic fly had deposited eggs into the honey bee’s abdomen and the maggots were incubating there, feeding on the bee’s internal organs. It sounds like something out of a horror movie but Dr. Hafernik says that the flies were turning the worker bees into zombies. And that could explain why they were abandoning their hives.

It all started on a cold morning a few years ago when he noticed a bunch of dead and dying bees on the sidewalk near his office. Among the dozens of dead bees he noticed some still living bees appeared disoriented, walking off kilter and in circles. He knew the bees came from a nearby hive but thought they would have had the sense to stay inside when it was so cold. As a curious scientist he scooped a bunch of bees into a test tube and took them upstairs to his lab where he filed them on his desk top.

After about a week in his lab, Hafernik looked at the vial again and saw little brown pupae. He immediately knew they were fledgling flies. He set his students to work studying this serendipitous scientific moment.

Forage Fly Lays Eggs Inside Unsuspecting Honey Bee, Photo by Chris Quock

Hafernik says, “There was nothing left inside the bee.”

Hafernik and his research team has figured out the scary cycle. Apparently, a fertile fly uses the bee’s appendage called an ovipositer to lay fly eggs inside the bee, where they hatch into lots and lots of maggots.

Graduate student Christopher Quock says the team found 25 maggots in one of the bees.

Hafernik says, “They eat them; eat them from the inside out.”

He says the maggots start their meal in the abdomen then the baby flies eat their way into the wing muscle and eventually the brain. They pop out between the head and thorax.

Hafernik says, “It’s kind of a bee’s worst nightmare.”

Figuring out what happened to the bees a few years ago is not just a bee problem. Bees are primary pollinators and are a critical piece of the U.S. agricultural process. Without honeybees many crops can’t produce food for us to eat.

While Hafernik won’t confirm that flies taking over bees and eating them from the inside out is the cause of colony collapse disorder he does see it as yet another viable reason for it. And, the symptoms do fit the situation.

Dennis vanEngelsdorp of the University of Maryland, College Park says casting a wary eye on the fly is “certainly worth a lot more attention.”

Maggot Emerges from Honey Bee's Head, Photo courtesy of John Hafernik

But according to their research which appears in PLoS ONE they discovered that just 5-15 percent of the bees in a SFSU campus hive near the bug building had been turned into zom-bees. That’s not enough to cause complete colony collapse disorder. But it does raise a whole host of new questions.

Namely, where did the parasitizing of honey bees begin? DNA analysis of commercial hive samples suggests that the type of fly found inside the honey bees comes from South Dakota and the Central Valley of California.

Bee pathologist Elke Genersch of the Institute for Bee Research in Hohen Neuendorf, Germany says, “Extensive surveys are now needed on the distribution of the flies in the global honey bee population.”

Since honey bees are trucked between those two locations to assist in pollination for the U.S. agricultural industry, it is conceivable that isolated cases of zom-bees hopped on the road and spread quickly, aided by modern transport.

Colony collapse disorder is blamed on the loss of seven percent of all honey bee hives in North America each year. And this was a disorder that has only been around for six years.

Eric Mussen at the University of California, Davis says that based on the infection rate at the SFSU campus hive, the parasite “does not appear to be a dominate factor.” But Genersch is concerned that the fly population could explode if the parasitizing flies get into entire hives and turn all the drones into zom-bees.

Dennis vanEngelsdorp talks honey bee disappearance at the 2008 Taste3 conference.

It’s almost Christmas and the value of the gifts of the Three Wise Men is on the rise. For those not remembering the Nativity story the Three Wise Men brought three items, gold, frankincense and myrrh to the birth of baby Jesus. Quite valuable way back when, the three items are still quite rare today.

Boswellia Tree Hangs in the Balance

Dutch forest ecologist Frank Bongers is trying to preserve the fast-disappearing tree that produces frankincense, a tree highly adapted to survive the harsh conditions in Ethiopia. But he says that fires, human encroachment and species are overpowering the dry-land ecosystems.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources includes 10 Boswellia tree species on its Red List of Threatened Species. Eight are listed as vulnerable to extinction.

And Dr. Bongers thinks that the frankincense tree could be 90 percent wiped out in the next 50 years.

He says, “This is a rather alarming message for the incense industry and conservation organizations.”

While frankincense isn’t a major commodity, about 2,500 tons of the Christmas ingredient are purchased in the U.S., Europe, North Africa and China every year.

Bongers is studying the tree’s genetics to better understand its diversity as a means to save it from extinction. One suggestion he has is to stop tapping the tree for its sap after five years.

In another frankincense tree study five years ago, scientists discovered that taking resin from Boswellia trees for frankincense caused them to produce one-third the number of seeds as trees that had never been tapped.

He says, “There’s not a shortage of frankincense, but there’s no regeneration of the forests. There are no young trees anymore.” He also suggests growing saplings in nurseries and planting them where they are safe from fire and animal grazing.

While it would be sad to lose an entire tree species to extinction, Christmas will still have gold and myrrh.

Nature has been doing things for billions of years without issue. Over time plants and animals have refined the way they live to reflect the optimal situation given the conditions they have to endure. This is the nature of evolution. The fittest survive but what fit means to nature may be different than our definition. Why is it that when humans came along we thought we could do it better? We forgot that nature has been doing this longer and better than we have.

In her TED Talk on biomimicry, Janine Benyus tells a story of her young neighbor in Montana who is very connected with nature. She says he sees life from his back looking up as he watches the sky, the grass and on one particular day, a wasp nest. Most people knock down the nests before they get very big but Benyus let nature take its course and let the wasps build a big one.

Her young and curious friend asked her, “How did you build that?” referring to the wasp nest. Even at such a young age Benyus says the neighbor boy assumed that she had built this feat of nature. She was saddened by the realization that the boy — like many of us — sees something elegant, artful and highly efficient and jumps to the conclusion that it is man-made.

She says, “Nature’s been doing just fine for 3.8 billion years.”

We just need to remember that and use nature as a point of inspiration to solve our biggest societal problems. And we must learn to crack the natural code.

So far great mathematical minds have discovered a few of nature’s mysteries by observing the repetition of patterns. Spanish artist Cristóbal Vila created this video featuring 3D animation to show a glimpse of what man has learned about the geometry of the natural world. In nature, numbers create beauty, reinforce structure, maximize efficiency and minimize resources. They combine form with function and infuse wonder and a little bit of awe.

Some even see the hand of God in the exquisite creations that nature concocts.

We can and will learn a lot of nature’s secrets if we just stop to take the time to look and listen. Perhaps whenever undertaking a big civic project city planners should begin by asking the question “How would nature do this?”

The Ask Nature project grew out of that notion. Guided by Benyus and her Biomimicry Institute, Ask Nature takes information gathered from E.O. Wilson’s Encyclopedia of Life and filters out one question that every scientist answers, “What can we learn from this organism?”

The answer? A lot. More than we can even fathom. Just look around and behold the natural solutions to the man-made problems we face.

Benyus says, “What we are doing in a TED-esque way is to organize all biological information by design and engineering function.”

We see the magic of nature through a series of numbers called the Fibonacci sequence.

Fibonacci Numbers

Leonardo Bigollo is a 12th Century mathematician who is also known as Fibonacci. He introduced the concept to western math even though something similar dates back to ancient India.

Fibonacci created the following scenario to demonstrate his idea. Though biologically unrealistic, he used rabbits to explain the system.

He envisions the growth of an idealized rabbit population, assuming that: a newly born pair of rabbits, one male, one female, are put in a field; rabbits are able to mate at the age of one month so that at the end of its second month a female can produce another pair of rabbits; rabbits never die and a mating pair always produces one new pair (one male, one female) every month from the second month on. The puzzle that Fibonacci posed was: how many pairs will there be in one year?

At the end of the first month, they mate, but there is still only 1 pair.
At the end of the second month the female produces a new pair, so now there are 2 pairs of rabbits in the field.
At the end of the third month, the original female produces a second pair, making 3 pairs in all in the field.
At the end of the fourth month, the original female has produced yet another new pair, the female born two months ago produces her first pair also, making 5 pairs.

At the end of the nth month, the number of pairs of rabbits is equal to the number of new pairs (which is the number of pairs in month n − 2) plus the number of pairs alive last month (n − 1). This is the nth Fibonacci number.

Fibonacci Sequence, courtesy of Wikipedia

Fibonacci Blocks, where the squares are successive Fibonacci numbers in length

Fibonacci Spiral, created by drawing circular arcs connecting the opposite corners of squares in the Fibonacci tiling using squares of sizes 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and 34.

In modern math Fibonacci numbers can be found in Pascal’s triangle, in the sequence of binary strings in computer science, and in a Pythagorean triple.

And the number, similar to the Golden Ratio, can be found widely in nature. It can be seen in the branching of trees or blood vessels in the lungs, in the arrangement of leaves on a stem, the fruitlets of a pineapple, the flowering of artichoke, an uncurling fern. Fibonacci sequences can be found in pine cones, the spirals of shells, the curve of waves and the head of a sunflower.

Fibonacci Plants, the rose, the pinecone and the sunflower

We just have to remember.

Jeffrey Smith has written the book on genetically modified foods (GMOs). Now he’s on a crusade to rid the U.S. of unhealthy food hybrids that not even animals choose to eat.

He tells the story of a farmer who was growing corn for his cows. The farmer grew non-GMO corn next to corn that had been modified by Monsanto, a large agriculture company. First, he grew the corn independently and then when it was ready for the big cow taste test he separated the corn and gave the cows a choice of which feed they wanted.

He says that without fail the cows chose the regular old non-GMO variety, AKA corn. He says the cows would approach the modified corn and sniff it before walking out of their way to reach the non-GMO corn trough.

Smith believes that if only humans had the sense of cows, we wouldn’t have any genetically modified ingredients in the food supply. He says, “It turns out there’s only nine food crops that are genetically engineered but they’re pretty widespread because soy and corn in particular are practically omnipresent in processed foods.”

Other countries have banned GMOs. Zambia, Venezuela India and all of Europe are GMO-free. But in the U.S. up to 70 percent of processed foods contain one or more genetically modified food ingredients.

What is a GMO?

A genetically modified organism is an organism that has been genetically altered using engineering techniques. In foods, the most common technique is called recombinant DNA technology, where molecules from different plant species are combined into a single hybrid with a new set of genes.

Some GMOs are transgenic, meaning that they have intact DNA segments or functional genes from another organism inserted into them.

Food expert Elisa Zied is the author of Nutrition at Your Fingertips. She says, “If a food is genetically modified it means that its genes are altered. DNA from one species is inserted into DNA of another species to create a unique genetic combination that doesn’t occur in nature.”

There are only a handful of crops that have been genetically modified. They include corn, canola, cotton, and soy. However, those are the plants whose derivatives are found in just about all processed foods.

In addition, recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) is commonly injected or fed to cows which then genetically alters the milk they produce. That hormone is often blamed in part for human obesity. After all, the hormone stimulates milk production in cows. Imagine what it does in people.

Food Fight

The big fight over GMO foods was fueled by a single Supreme Court ruling in 1980, which allowed companies to patent lifeforms for commercialization.

California company Calgene began selling the the first genetically modified food in 1994. It was the flavrSavr tomato, which was more resistant to rotting than its unaltered version. No special labeling was required and the FDA took a wait and see approach to new gene-modified foods.

Then came insect-resistant cotton and soybeans that could tolerate a potent chemical herbicide, both in 1996. Then thousands of patent applications poured forth starting a GMO frenzy.

According to the Grocery Manufacturers of America in the U.S. by 2009, genetically modified varieties dominated 89 percent of the planted area of soybeans, 83 percent of cotton, and 61 percent of corn.

Dr. Mae-Wan Ho is a geneticist and biophysicist who runs the Institute for Science in Society. She says, “Genetic engineering is inherently dangerous, because it greatly expands the scope for horizontal gene transfer and recombination, precisely the processes that create new viruses and bacteria that cause disease epidemics, and trigger cancer in cells.”

But well-meaning scientists invented genetically modified food crops as a means to common crop problems. GMO plants are resistant to disease and they can tolerate herbicides. They can also become more nutritious when vitamins are added.

However, most anti-GMO activists say the danger far outweighs the benefits and that a worldwide ban on GMO foods must be levied before it’s too late.

The U.K. Greenpeace website calls GMOs an utter disaster. It says, “The science of taking genes from one species and inserting them into another was supposed to be a giant leap forward, but instead they pose a serious threat to biodiversity and our own health.”

The debate rages on and for now GMO is making its way into our grocery stores and our stomachs.

Jeffrey Smith, anti-GMO activist and author of Seeds of Deception says, “I would say 70 to 80 percent of the food sold in the supermarket has some derivative of genetically modified food crops. In addition you have alfalfa, which is used as hay for animals, a little bit of zucchini, crooked neck squash and Hawaiian papaya. There’s also a genetically engineered drug for cows that increases milk supply, but also creates a hormone in the milk that many doctors and scientists think is quite unhealthy.”

No Laws Against GMO in the U.S.

Some consumer advocates estimate as many as 30,000 different products on grocery store shelves are contain genetically modified ingredients. That’s largely because many processed foods contain soy. And, half of North America’s soy crop is now genetically engineered.

Now, 93 percent of soy, canola oil and cottonseed, 86 percent of corn and 95 percent of sugar beets are genetically modified and they are base ingredients in most of the foods we eat and find in grocery stores.

Smith says just nine food crops have been approved for genetic modification but many others have been affected in the process.

Honey - Honey can be produced from GM crops. Some Canadian honey comes from bees collecting nectar from GM canola plants. This has shut down exports of Canadian honey to Europe.

Cotton - Resistant to certain pesticides – considered a food because the oil can be consumed. The introduction of genetically engineered cotton plants has had an unexpected effect on Chinese agriculture. The so-called Bt cotton plants that produce a chemical that kills the cotton bollworm have not only reduced the incidence of the pest in cotton fields, but also in neighboring fields of corn, soybeans, and other crops.

Rice - Genetically modified to contain high amounts of Vitamin A. And rice containing human genes is being grown in the U.S. but destined to treat infant diarrhea in the developing world.

Soybean - Genetically modified to be resistant to herbicides – Soy foods including, soy beverages, tofu, soy oil, soy flour, lecithin. Other products may include breads, pastries, snack foods, baked products, fried products, edible oil products and special purpose foods.

Tomatoes - Made for a longer shelf life and to prevent a substance that causes tomatoes to rot and degrade.

Corn - Resistant to certain pesticides – Corn oil, flour, sugar or syrup. May include snack foods, baked goods, fried foods, edible oil products, confectionery, special purpose foods, and soft drinks.

Sweet corn – genetically modified to produce its own insecticide. Officials from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have said that thousands of tonnes of genetically engineered sweetcorn have made their way into the human food supply chain, even though the GMO crop was approved only for use in animal feed. Monsanto says that about half of the U.S. sweetcorn acreage has been planted with genetically modified seeds.

Canola - Canola oil. May include edible oil products, fried foods, and baked products, snack foods.

Potatoes - (Atlantic, Russett Burbank, Russet Norkatah, and Shepody) – May include snack foods, processed potato products and other processed foods containing potatoes.

Flax - More and more food products contain flax oil and seed because of their excellent nutritional properties. No genetically modified flax is currently grown. An herbicide-resistant GM flax was introduced in 2001, but was soon taken off the market because European importers refused to buy it.

Papaya - The first virus resistant papayas were commercially grown in Hawaii in 1999. Transgenic papayas now cover about one thousand hectares, or three quarters of the total Hawaiian papaya crop. Monsanto, donated technology to Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, for developing a papaya resistant to the ringspot virus in India.

Squash - (yellow crookneck) – Some zucchini and yellow crookneck squash are also GM but they are not popular with farmers.

Cotton seed oil – Cottonseed oil and linters. Products may include blended vegetable oils, fried foods, baked foods, snack foods, edible oil products, and smallgoods casings.

Meat - Meat and dairy products usually come from animals that have eaten GM feed.

Sugarbeets - May include any processed foods containing sugar.

Dairy Products – About 22 percent of cows in the U.S. are injected with recombinant (genetically modified) bovine growth hormone (rbGH).

Vitamins - Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is often made from corn, vitamin E is usually made from soy. Vitamins A, B2, B6, and B12 may be derived from GMOs as well as vitamin D and vitamin K may have “carriers” derived from GM corn sources, such as starch, glucose, and maltodextrin.

How can the public make informed decisions about genetically modified (GM) foods when there is so little information about its safety? The short answer is labeling. But efforts thus far to pressure the FDA have fallen short.

According to the FDA and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), there are over 50 new plant varieties that have completed all of the federal requirements for commercialization and are waiting to go into production.

Just Say “No” to GMO Rap, by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

For leaf peepers Fall is the time for the best leaves. They turn from bright green to yellow, then orange and if the conditions are right red and purple too. But what makes fall colors so spectacular?

Science can explain.

First just about everybody knows that chlorophyll gives leaves their green color. But chlorophyll is more than just a molecule that gives plants a green pigment. Chlorophyll absorbs sunlight and uses its energy to create carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water. Trees drink in water through their roots and they breathe in carbon dioxide from the air.

That process we all know is called photosynthesis. It’s what all land-based and many sea-based plants rely on for food. That’s why we call leaves nature’s food factories.

Like all things in nature plants and trees are built for efficiency. As the hours of sunlight decrease during the second half of the year deciduous trees begin to conserve energy so they don’t freeze during the winter. They accomplish this by shedding their leaves. But each tree doesn’t consciously decide to drop the excess baggage. That’s also part of the process which leads to fall foliage being so brilliant.

Before dropping their leaves, trees slow down production in their food factories by producing less chlorophyll. That allows other colors to become visible. First, the yellow pigment which was there all along begins to emerge. That is created by molecules called carotenoids. The two common leaf carotenoids are carotene and xanthophyll.

They are the pigments that gives carrots and sweet potatoes their color. Carotenoids are masked by chlorophyll until fall approaches. When the chlorophyll production slows down carotenoids become visible. They are responsible for yellow and orange leaves.

Ever present but hidden by other colors is another pigment called anthocyanin. Anthocyanin is part of a third pigment family called flavonoids. Lycopene is a flavonoid that gives tomatoes their red color. But anthocyanin acts as the natural sunscreen for plants, blocking harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. As chlorophyll production shuts down for the year, anthocyanin production ramps up. These give tree leaves their deep red, magenta and purple colors. That increase in anthocyanin is in response to surging sugar concentrations, building up in the leaves.

That glucose glut tends to concentrate where leaf meets stem, making the extra weight a target point for wind or rain to knock the leaves from the trees. After all, that’s the trees’ goal. Get rid of the leaves so they can survive the sunless winter without dying of starvation or freezing to death.

While trees go through this incredibly complicated process to get ready for winter, we marvel at their transformation from vibrant green blowing in the mid-summer sun to yellows, oranges, reds and purples buffeted by fall storms. Perhaps we watch in awe as the slow and steady march of time goes on before our very eyes.

Key Leaf Chemistry

The color of leaf we get is highly dependent on the types and amounts of pigments that are present. Internal plant chemical interactions, especially from variable soil acidity or pH level can have a dramatic impact on leaf color.

With the steadily decreasing length of day and cooler temperatures as fall approaches trees biologically trigger the formation of a corky layer of cells called the abcission layer across the base of the leaf where it attaches to the tree. This formation gradually decreases the supply of water and minerals to the leaf, reduces the manufacture of chlorophyll and traps sugars in the leaf.

In some trees, like maples, glucose is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. Sunlight during the day and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves turn this glucose into a red color. With enough sunny days, those anthocyanins turn leaves bright reds and purples.

The muted brown color of oak leaves is made from wastes left in those leaves.

Why is so hard to predict when the leaves will be the best and brightest? In short, it depends on the weather.

Warm wet springs, summers that don’t scorch and bright sunny fall days with cool nights all lend to the brilliance of fall color. The degree of visual splendor and leaf vibrancy requires a lot of variables lining up just right. And when they do, the beauty is unparalleled.

Phenology of Fall Foliage

Phenology is the study of the timing of nature. This ranges from the dates that tulips bloom in the spring to the fall migration of Canadian geese. And it definitely includes watching the leaves turn color in the fall.

But scientists have been struggling to find a direct link between later leaf drops and climate change in the U.S. Europe and Asia have been conducting studies that seem to point to later fall foliage. But it’s been a difficult case to prove in the U.S. Part of that reason could be the wildly fluctuating weather from year to year.

A wet spring, followed by the deluge of Hurricane Irene, a mind-summer drought and normal-ish fall have trees in New England all confused. Some tree leaves are bypassing fall colors, turning brown and dropping early. Some plant biologists believe that’s due to a fungus that relished the wetness and took hold.

Those factors make identifying long term trends difficult at best.

Several organizations are enlisting the help of the public to collect data in hopes of finding the signal for such change in the noise or fluctuating weather.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

“There are signs everywhere that things are changing — how is the question. Some species are being affected while others are not,” said Esperanza Stancioff of the University of Maine cooperative extension and Maine Sea Grant, who has trained 195 citizen scientists to enter data online in her “Signs of the Season” phenology project.

To assist both backyard observers and researchers alike, the National Phenology Network has spent the last four years coming up with standards to be used by observers in reporting foliage color changes. Final tweaks on the uniform reporting standards should be completed in a few weeks, Weltzin said.

Another part of the effort to study climate change through the lens of fall foliage is being conducted from space by the U.S. Geological Survey utilizing satellites from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Right now, the effort is focused on Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, where scientists are attempting to understand the factors that go into the metrics to ensure proper analysis of the photos taken from above, said John W. Jones, a research geographer with the USGS outside of Washington, D.C.

In early August a mysterious orange goo began appearing in towns along Alaskan shores. At first the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration thought the bright gunk might be microscopic eggs.

People in the tiny town of Kivalina found the mystery muck floating near shore, in a river and even in people’s rain barrels. For weeks people were afraid to drink the water.

After sending samples to Anchorage for initial analysis, NOAA sent the samples to a lab in South Carolina where scientists determined that these were not eggs. They discovered the goo to be of plant origin, specifically microscopic spores.

After weeks of wondering plant biologists figured out that the orange goo is a fungus called rust.

Rust is a plant disease that causes stems and leaves to turn brown and poses no risk to people. There hasn’t been much study of rust fungi in the Arctic. And scientists say this is a species of the fungus they have never seen before.

Why this fungus formed and stretched across 150 miles of Alaska coastline still remains another mystery.

A meta-study in the journal Science says – changing global temperatures are pushing species towards the poles and higher altitudes.

A meta study is a study that rounds up all the other related studies (in this case 54) and analyzes them for trends or patterns that emerge. After looking at the scientific literature on species migration for the last 40 years, it appears that animals and plants are responding to a changing climate by moving further north and to higher elevations.

While it may sound strange that trees are picking up and moving in essence that’s what’s happening. Of course, they can’t uproot themselves and walk up a mountain or further north to a more suitable climate. But researchers have found that 2,000 species of plants and animals are finding new homes thanks to climate change.

And the rate at which the they are moving to a more suitable climate is staggering, much faster than the commonly accepted rates found in the scientific literature.

Chris Thomas, Biology professor at the University of York in England and the meta study project leader says, “These changes are equivalent to animals and plants shifting away from the equator at around 20 centimeters [8 inches] per hour, for every hour of the day, for every day of the year.”

That’s a rate three times faster than scientists thought plants and animals were migrating because of climate change. That amounts to a shift of 10.1 miles to the north per decade. And species are moving higher up hills and mountains as well at a rate twice what scientists thought. On average species are moving at a rate of 36.1 feet higher per decade.

While it may not sound like a lot of movement Dr. Thomas says that there is no other explanation why plants and animals would be permanently shifting their habitats to higher latitudes and higher elevation. He also says the speed at which the change is occurring is very dramatic.

I-Ching Chen, another lead researcher on the meta study says this project shows that global warming is pushing plant and animal species toward the poles and to higher elevations. Dr. Chen says, “We have for the first time shown that the amount by which the distributions of species have changed is correlated with the amount the climate has changed in that region.”

This analysis of the literature spells trouble for animals in Arctic regions where the climate is warming twice as fast as anywhere else. There is nowhere for these species to go. The same holds true for plants that are already perched on mountain tops. They can’t climb any higher.

Dr. Thomas and other scientists fear that many of the species that are unable to adapt by shifting their homes will simply die out.

The meta study focused on the scientific literature in Europe and North America, leaving a gaping hole in what’s happening in equatorial regions, where temperatures are warming much more slowly than higher latitudes. In the tropics moisture not temperature may be having the same overall effect on species. That’s the subject for another meta study.

And while the overall trend pointed toward a warming world forcing the migration of plants and animals toward the poles and to highter elevations, a significant minority of species moved to lower latitudes and lower elevations. Dr. Thomas attributes this to other pressures that have an effect on species distribution. Habitat loss, land use, and other pressures besides climate change do have an impact on species movement.

He told the New York Times, “Land use change, habitat loss — there’s a long list of pressures which must all be balanced. Climate change is a huge pressure, but it’s just one pressure facing species around the world.”

The growing garbage problem may have a new solution–fungus that eats plastic. For years mounting mounds of plastic have been choking landfills and polluting the ocean. Now an annual undergraduate trip to the rain forest may have found a solution to the plastic problem.

Unleashing creativity in science sometimes has amazing results. That’s what a group of Yale students discovered after they took a trip to the Amazon rainforest in search of fungus that could hold medical or scientific promise. Upon their return they tested the fungus to see if they could detect any biological activity.

One undergrad started the project in 2010 and then graduated. Another 2011 participant in the Yale Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory course picked up where she left off and that led to the isolation and discovery of an enzyme in a fungus that helps degrade polyurethane and turns it back into carbon.

Dr. Scott Strobel says, “The average third grader asks all kinds of great questions; they probe, poke and manipulate. Then somewhere around fourth grade we drive the interest in science right out of these kids. People conclude they can’t do science, but in reality they have been doing science all their lives.”

He teamed up with Howard Hughes Medical Institute to create the class and create opportunities for students to apply what they learn in the classroom to the real world. HHMI gave a $1 million grant to fund the program for four years.

Yale biochemist Kaury Kucera is a post doctorate researcher who co-leads the annual rainforest trek. She told the New Haven Register, “We take 15 undergraduates into the Ecuadorean rain forest and collect plant samples.”

Each year, students collect organisms called endophytes found in rainforest plants and then take them back to New Haven to test them for biological activity. The whole program is student-generated so they decide what they want to study. Once back in the lab, students analyze the endophytes that show biological activity to see whether they might have any medical or other practical use.

In 2008 Pria Anand was part of the trip to Ecuador where she gathered plants and later extracted part of a fungus to test its affect on plastic. Her goal was to help reduce the piles that are swelling in landfills, also known as bioremediation. She graduated in 2010 before getting the results she wanted.

Jeffrey Huang in the same class was studying which endophytes were most effective at breaking down chemical bonds.

This year, Jonathan Russell tested one of Huang’s best endophytes on Anand’s bioremdiation task. From there Russell focused on locating the enzyme in the fungus that is most effective on breaking down plastic.

All three undergrads are listed as lead authors on the forthcoming paper Biodegradation of Polyester Polyurethane by Endophytic Fungi in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

This is not the first time a particular agent has broken down polyurethane. But this enzyme can operate in an oxygen-free zone, such as those found underground in landfills.

Since the discovery students in another class are looking at different endophytes to see which if any will be most effective at dissolving polystyrene or styrofoam, one substance that is designed to stick around indefinitely.

Two different Yale students in the 2009 Rainforest Expedition class have had other fungal breakthroughs which could lead to a new “myco-diesel” biofuel and another which could protect agricultural farms from pathogens.

Breaking Down the Degradation of Common Items in Landfills

Decomposition Timeline, from Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, WA, photo by: Hadley Maris

*Undergraduates at Yale are working to find enzymes in rainforest fungus to reduce the decomposition timeline

When the final mission of the U.S. space shuttle program blasted off flawlessly on Friday, over one million onlookers gathered in Florida for the launch. Tens of millions more watched on television. But what they couldn’t see amid the liftoff fire and smoke was all the science that was en route to the International Space Station.

Space Shuttle Atlantis has a lot of experiments, including one from a Hawaiian biotech company called Tissue Genesis Incorporated. The company has been working with NASA for ten years to study the effects of microgravity on stem cells regenerated from fat tissue.

The research can be applied to fight vascular disease, improve heart bypass surgery and orthopedics.

Houston’s Odyssey Space Research put two Apple iPhones on the last shuttle mission, not so they can phone home from space but to conduct experiments using mobile applications.

Astronauts will use an app called SpaceLab. The experiment app was built to test iPhone cameras and gyroscopes as well as test the effects of radiation on the devices.

Others hope that iPhones will be able to replace some of the expensive and faulty navigation equipment that generally accompanies most space missions.

Besides biotech and high tech companies sending experiments into space the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program has sent a few projects as well.

A mini lab, about the size of a brick contains both professional and student science experiments. The Materials Dispersion Apparatus (MDA) houses about 90 different experiments, including 11 student experiments.

Ranging from yeast to tomatoes and from goldfish eggs to mouth bacteria student experiments will study the effects of microgravity by comparing samples on the ground to those that flew into space. Students will look for differences in cell structure, behavior or growth of their samples.

And though it is the last shuttle mission to the ISS, one experiment will perform a white-glove test of the space station to see if it is remaining biological clean after years of use. a state of the art lab on a chip will be able to detect biological and chemicals on any surface.

Another novel experiment comes from Arizona State University, where Cheryl Nickerson is working on developing next generation vaccines.

The microbiologist has been studying infection in microgravity and has already discovered that the salmonella bacteria becomes more virulent in zero-gravity.

She says, “Our earlier work showed the potential for spaceflight to provide novel insight into the mechanisms of microbial virulence that may lead to innovations in infectious disease control here on Earth.”

Now Nickerson and her colleague Roy Curtiss III, the director of the Biodesign Institute are hoping to find cures to hepatitis B, tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid fever, AIDS and pneumonia by enlisting the help of salmonella.

When the final flight of Atlantis returns she and Curtiss will examine their Recombinant Attenuated Salmonella Vaccine (RASV) payload to determine if microgravity makes the experimental vaccine that already proves powerful against pneumonia even stronger after going to outer space.

This video from May 2010 tells the tale of a gray whale lost, half a world away from home. Biologists immediately thought it was a hoax but after studying the 43-foot whale more closely they discovered that it must have gotten off it’s north-south Pacific Ocean migration track thanks to an ice-free Arctic a couple of summers ago.

Now, new research stemming from this historic sighting off the coast of Israel in the eastern Mediterranean has scientists suggesting that climate change is opening up the fabled Northwest Passage — not just to boaters and geo-political interest — but to animals and plants.

According to seabed core samples, plankton previously not spotted in the Atlantic for 800,000 first re-appeared in the Labrador Sea in 1999 and then in the Gulf of St. Lawrence two years later. Now it has taken root and spread as far south as New York.

Scientists see this one example of a wayward whale and the proliferation of ocean greenery as a clear sign that something is changing in the Arctic.

In a new report which is part of the larger CLAMER project about oceans and climate change, researchers say the lone gray whale’s presence in the Mediterranean “coincides with a shrinking of Arctic Sea ice due to climate change and suggests that climate change may allow gray whales to re-colonize the North Atlantic.”

During the 1800s the Atlantic population of gray whales was hunted to extinction. Only two populations of the endangered species exist, a small pod in the western Pacific and a larger group in the eastern Pacific, from which the whale in Israel was believed to be a member.

The Northwest Passage is a route through the freezing northern Canadian archipelago and has been sought after for explorers for over 500 years. Until recently it was considered the “fabled Northwest Passage” because it was locked in ice year-round. But in 1998 and again in 2007 the passage was ice-free for a brief time during the summer from end to end. That’s when marine biologists expect the whale went through.

Phillip Reid, a senior plankton research fellow at the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science in Plymouth, England told the Associated Press, “The implications are enormous. It’s a threshold that has been crossed.”

Since the North Pacific and the North Atlantic have been virtually shut off to one another, each has developed its own biosystem. Reid says the last time there was a major incursion from the Pacific to the Atlantic was about 2 million years ago. That had a huge impact on the Atlantic, driving some species to extinction as the new arrivals dominated and won in the competition for food.

Reid’s study on plankton and the gray whale are part of almost 300 papers written over the last 13 years that are being synthesized and published as a book and documentary this year by the CLAMER project.

Right now the migration of one gray whale and two species of plankton is not much of a concern to Reid. But he says, “It’s the potential for further ones to come through if the Arctic opens. That’s the key message.”

Plankton is at the bottom of the food chain and is a major source of nutrients for many fish species. Scientists have studied the relationship between plankton and fish stocks for many years and they note that changes in plankton often coincide with big swings in fish stocks.

In the North Sea, studies have blamed changes in plankton for threats to fish-eating birds and the collapse of some fish stocks.

Katja Philippart from the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research says changes in the ocean’s chemistry and temperature have grave impacts on fisheries, especially as species move northward searching for cooler waters.

Philippart heads the European Union-funded CLAMER project. She says, “We try to put the information on the table for people who have to make decisions.” She told the AP, “We don’t say whether it’s bad or good. We say there is a high potential for change.”

Even though since the mid-1990s intrepid adventurer sailors have tried to penetrate the treacherous trail through the Northwest Passage just a handful of people have successfully navigated their way from end to end when the sea ice retreats enough to allow safe passage. It stands to reason that if people are able to do this with some effort, then animals and plants are too.

After swimming off the coast of Israel for a few weeks, the gray whale who appeared malnourished and “not in good shape” according to researchers, was spotted near Spain 23 days later. But that’s the last report. No one has seen the whale 2010.

Attention smart phone toting leap peepers. If you’ve ever wondered what type of tree was nearby but didn’t have a guide book, finding the answer is now as easy as taking a snapshot with your smart phone.

LeafSnap is a new smart phone application developed by Columbia University and University of Maryland computer scientists under the direction of Smithsonian botanist John Kress.

Originally developed to help the Smithsonian build its 163-year-old collection of plant species, the app serves two masters. Smart phone users with curiosity about plants have the opportunity to take a picture of a tree’s leaf and discover what type of tree it is. Call it facial recognition for trees. When that picture is synched to the application the phone’s GPS marks the location of the sample and adds it to the collection. You find out what type of tree you are seeing and science gets another piece of data.

The software studies the leaf shape and pattern to discern the major tree families. From there the user is given a variety of choices to try to match the tree exactly. The app looks at the leaf’s lobes, angle and other characteristics to help narrow the possibilities.

This app will help scientists monitor changes in tree populations over time as well as identify new, never collected tree species.

In the future this app could be morphed to help create a butterfly or insect library.

This is a great way to contribute to science and your own learning. Next time you are strolling through a park, neighborhood woods or out in the mountains, look up from your texting and take a picture of an interesting tree. You will be lending your experience to science and helping to complete a very large project.

Update:
Preliminary tests prove negative for E. coli in bean sprouts from an organic farm in the Uelzen district of the German state of Lower Saxony. 23 out of 40 sprout samples from the farm came back negative for the bacteria. 17 samples are undergoing further testing which won’t be available for 7-10 days.

Hamburg, Germany is the epicenter for what is now the deadliest E. Coli outbreak in modern history. 21 people have died and 2,200 people have fallen ill, including over 600 with a rare disease that causes kidney failure and other dangerous symptoms.

While German health officials haven’t ruled out tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce entirely, they are confident that the bacterial outbreak originated in 17 different kinds of bean sprouts on an organic farm. So they took the popular salad item off the menu across the country until further notice.

Bean sprouts are the perfect incubator for E. coli and they have been linked to previous outbreaks, including one in Japan in 1996. According to the Lower Saxony Agriculture Ministry Gert Lindemann, the farm grows 18 types of sprouts and cultivates them in liquor barrels at a temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Then the sprouts are watered with steam.

“Those are also optimal conditions for the germ of all germs.” — Gert Lindemann, Lower Saxony Agriculture Minister

U.S. health officials periodically warn people against eating bean and alfalfa sprouts since both are known to carry E. coli.

This strain is new and scientists say it combines the genes of two other strains of E. coli to create a deadly bacteria.

Chinese farmers are scratching their heads after fields of watermelons turned into exploding land mines. The official cause remains unknown but some believe that the farmers sprayed a rapid growth chemical on the fruit too late in the season and after an extremely wet period. The combination of factors could lead to exploding fruit, as the cells expand so rapidly the fruit bursts out of its rind.

State-run Chinese TV reports that acres of watermelons have been destroyed by the mysterious fruit explosions.

In China the chemical forcholorfenuron is commonly used to give fruits a burst of growth. The chemical is only approved for use on kiwis and grapes in the United States. But using the chemical incorrectly can cause problems — like exploding watermelons.

In 2004 the Environmental Protection Agency added forcholorfenuron to a list of newly created pesticides. The agency classified the growth accelerator as a phenyl urea compound but found that it is unlikely carcinogenic in humans. Due to the small amounts required to accelerate fruit growth, the agency decided to approve the chemical.

Though it did include a warning.

“The Agency‘s major concern is forchlorfenuron‘s persistence and its possible chronic effects to terrestrial organisms. It is highly persistent in the environment with laboratory half-lives ranging from 226-578 days in terrestrial environments and stable in aquatic environments. While forchlorfenuron rapidly photodegrades in sensitized water, the Agency does not believe that this route of dissipation is significant in the environment. Suspended sediment and shading prevent photodegradation.”

This plant growth regulator should be used two to three weeks after bloom. If applied properly (in low amounts) Forchlorfenuron results in an increase in fruit size, but does not affect the number of fruit or the keeping quality of the fruit.

Farmer error is likely behind the Chinese exploding watermelons. Although some Chinese officials say that the seeds, which were imported from Japan, might be the culprit. In ten fields, farmers who claimed not to use forchlorfenuron also experienced combustible fruit.

Scientists say the growing number of people on the Earth could lead to a food crisis by 2050 and reshape the planet. Now@9 viewers and Actor/Comedian Hal Sparks discuss the idea.

The conversation was sparked by this weekend’s American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Washington D.C. where top scientists gathered to discuss breakthroughs, discoveries and science policy.

Food shortages, rapid population growth and a more affluent developing world all spell resource shortages in the future. That will dramatically change the face of the planet. And scientists are starting to discuss how we can prepare now.

A fast-growing seaweed-like algae is smothering Hawaiian reefs, especially in Kaneohe Bay, near Honolulu. In an effort to slow the spread of the invasive plant, scientists have been raising baby sea urchins in a hatchery, getting them ready to battle the algae.

Raising urchins in captivity is very difficult because the larvae are microscopic and must remain suspended in the water column until they are big enough to settle on side or bottom of a container.

After three or four months the little urchins are ready to be planted on the reef, where they will happily gorge themselves on the algae. During the following six months they will double or triple in size as the much their way across the reef, cleaning off the algae and helping to restore balance to the delicate ecosystem.

For years Hawaiian pest controllers have used a special super-sucker to mop the algae off the reef but in 2009 they discovered that sea urchins can keep the invasive seaweed at bay. The first batch of 1,000 baby collector urchins was released recently. The goal is to ramp up urchin production so scientists can release another 20,000 baby urchins in April.

British and American botanists announced last week that they have created a list of all known land plant species, containing 1.25 million scientific names. This two-year project has created the largest and most comprehensive plant list ever made.

The goal is to have all plants cataloged and identified so scientists and others will have the ability to plan the sustainable use of plants, which are essential resources for food, medicines, and ecosystem services. The primary reason for the plant list is to ensure easy botanic retrieval of information about plants.

A Russian scientist is working to recreate Ice Age conditions by rewilding — reintroducing native beasts to Siberia. He hopes the move will help slow global warming. He wants to start with native musk oxen and then add other species like reindeer, foxes and even Siberian tigers. By returning this vast frozen wasteland to fertile farm country where animals roam free in tall grasses, melting permafrost may be halted. At least that’s Sergey Zimov’s theory.

He believes that the reintroduction of animals like musk oxen, Yakutian horses, reindeer and others who break and eat bushes will help fertilize the soil and allow grass to grow for the first time in 10,000 years. Then most trees will disappear, returning the land to large meadows filled with vegetation.

Animals would tamp down the snow preventing it from insulating the ground in the winter. This would slow the melting of permafrost, a key contributor to global warming.

Though Zimoff is an expert in quantum physics, his research on permafrost, greenhouse gas emissions and mammoth archaeology has made the series of cabins which he calls his lab in Siberia a destination for top scientists from all over the world.

Meet some of the animals and plants who don’t belong in Colorado but have found a home there–to the detriment of the native species.

The Red-eared Slider Turtle is wiping out the Western Painted Turtle while the American Bullfrog is competing for food and water resources with the Northern Leopard Frog–the state reptile of Colorado.

Tarmarisk is a noxious weed that is choking out native plants and while Musk Thistle is a beautiful purple flower it indicates an imbalanced plant ecosystem.

Many other invasive plant species are moving into Colorado, hitching rides on people’s clothing, in firewood and building materials. Most of the invasive animals that now call the area home like Zebra Mussels are closely watched but could get out of control if monitoring budgets keep shrinking and pet owners continue to release non-native pets into the wild.

The race is on to humanize scientists. Mad, messy-haired white men in white coats in a dark, cold laboratory are out. Long distance running, singer-photographer, daredevils are in. These are the new faces of science.

mechanical engineer and an all-purpose daredevil, Nate Ball is also an accomplished jazz pianist, a NCAA champion pole-vaulter, and a grandmaster beatboxer. And he hosts a reality TV show on the side

The PBS NOVA series The Secret Lives of Scientists & Engineers is an online series that tries to show that there is more to scientists than their science.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is a familiar face and host of PBS’ NOVA. But this expert on the cosmos also enjoys a little whimsy. Dr. Tyson is an avid tie collector. His cosmological clothing choices put a new spin on this astrophysicist.

2004 Miss Massachusetts Erika Ebbel is a biochemist who went on to compete in the Miss America beauty pageant. The MIT graduate is now pursuing her PhD at Boston University School of Medicine. But she is an accomplished pianist and an expert at waving.

Well known climate scientist Gavin Schmidt is juggling an amazing amount of data in his quest to build a 3-D model of Earth to better understand how the climate is changing. So it’s no wonder he juggles balls, pins and beanbags in his offtime.

More scientists are getting out of the lab and showing what else makes them tick.

Teen astronomer Caroline Moore is an avid singer. Roboticist Colin Angle is an extreme athlete while ethnobotanist Ina Vandebroek is a salsa dancer.

Movies and TV are embracing the scientist-as-person phenomenon. Shows like the Big Bang Theory and even a band of smarties, including a chemist and a biologist on the reality TV series Big Brother.

Do you know a scientist who has a really cool job or one that does something surprising when not trying to understand how the world works? If so send your nominees to tips@realscience.us.

Researchers at University of Alaska Fairbanks are afraid the permafrost in the Siberian continental shelf is beginning to fail. If it does the trapped methane below will release into the ocean and eventually into the atmosphere. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas — about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Dr. Natalia Shakhova says the concentrations of atmospheric methane measured in the Arctic are the highest in 400,000 years. More research is underway to determine how much methane is capped below the permafrost under the Arctic Ocean so scientists can better understand the near and long term consequences to the sudden release of trapped methane.

University of Alaska Fairbanks Professor Katey Walter Anthony takes us onto a frozen lake in Fairbanks, AK to demonstrate why methane gas has “exploded” onto the climate change scene. DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME.

Agricultural scientists in India say they have developed a variety of rice that requires no cooking and can be eaten simply after being soaked in water.

Members of the Surui tribe in Brazil test Open Data Kit, photo courtesy of Carl Hartung, UW

Cell phones are coming to the aid of international health workers, environmental monitors and even citizen scientists. Now loaded with a data collection tool, Open Data Kit is the brainchild of some doctoral students at University of Washington.

But early deployment into the Amazon Rainforest and Tanzania will give the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December better information when it comes to global deforestation.

Measuring of the size of rainforests is helping to deter illegal logging practices that so often escape the watchful eye of satellites. Now on the ground monitoring is turning members of the Surui tribe into citizen scientists and helping them break into the emerging carbon market in Brazil.

Just over a year old, the Apple iTunes App Store is churning out–or rather independent developers are–applications to calculate tips, find restaurants and even play countless games. But there is little for the science-interested smart phone users.

Oh sure, among the tens of thousands of applications currently available there are a handful of sci apps but relatively few. The subject doesn’t even merit its own category.

But several lists have been generated, touting the few useful science applications currently available.

And, we’ve tried to separate the intelligent from the app crap.

Listen here.

A few Select SciApps:
Atoms in a Box
Molecules
EleMints
Starmap
Formul8
Genetic Decoder
Get All the Science
The Extraordinaires

The Extraordinaires–on-demand volunteering for citizen scientists

Story written and produced by Michelle Ma

Scientists at the University of California are developing a way for the public to contribute data to research projects using a ubiquitous sensing device – the smart phone. This is a great way to collect data in weeks that would otherwise take years.

It’s called participatory sensing and could be a new wave of citizens helping science.

In a move to take science from the lab and place it in the public square, the World Science Festival is about to start its second year of inciting curiosity.

REALscience talked with organizer and physicist Brian Greene to hear what we can expect at this year’s festival.

Photo: Physicist and Co-Founder Brian Greene
Credit: Suzie Horgan for World Science Festival

Listen here.

Buy Tickets (if you are in the New York City area.)

REALscience correspondent Richard Romano will have a full report from the festival next week.

Festival highlights:
Opening Gala to celebrate E.O. Wilson’s 80th Birthday.

Pioneers in Science, a discussion with Harold Varmus and Sylvia Earle led by New York City high school students.

Transparent Brain, a neurological exploration of how close we are to reading the mind of others.

Watching Wilson and Watson, actress Anna Deavere Smith’s trip down the rabbit hole and into the minds of these two mega scientists.

Notes & Neurons, a musical adventure with Bobby McFerrin (of Don’t Worry, Be Happy fame.)

World Science Festival Street Fair, an all-day outdoor science fair with the Math Midway, Discovery Labs, CSI, and much, much more.

When the Olympics begin in August this summer it won’t just be the fittest athletes vying for supremacy. A quieter but more pervasive battle will be raging across China.

Beijing will host the world’s athletes this August but non-native species of plants, insects and pests will try to edge out the home team. Invasive species from the U.S. and elsewhere are taking root in China thanks to massive economic growth and the Olympics.

Naturopathic cures to major diseases could be struggling for survival under the Amazon canopy or pushing away predators in the Caribbean. Research teams are scouring the globe for plants and animals that will protect us from cancer and other illnesses.

Broccoli is generally viewed as a good veggie to eat to prevent cancer. Brussel sprouts, cauliflower and green cabbage contain similar properties. But scientists recently discovered that boiling them destroys much of the health benefit.