http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. The Dead Sea may soon shrink to a lifeless pond as Middle East political strife blocks vital measures needed to halt the decay of the world's lowest and saltiest body of water, experts say. http://www.physorg.com/news178296235.html Space & Earth Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:47:50 EST news178296235 Among the many changes in the ocean is the expansion of oxygen-deficient or oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), also known as dead zones, which affect the processes by which carbon is captured and sequestered on the seafloor and alter the microbial activities that impact the rate and magnitude of ocean carbon sequestration. Despite the importance of these effects, very little is known about the metabolism of OMZ microbes and how they respond to environmental changes. http://www.physorg.com/news175439852.html Space & Earth Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:18:14 EST news175439852 Scientists in Pennsylvania report that boosting production of crops used to make biofuels could make a difficult task to shrink a vast, oxygen-depleted "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico more difficult. The zone, which reached the size of Massachusetts in 2008, forms in summer and threatens marine life and jobs in the region. Their study is scheduled for the Oct. 1 issue of ACS' semi-monthly journal Environmental Science & Technology. http://www.physorg.com/news172319226.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:50:13 EST news172319226 NOAA-supported scientists, led by Nancy Rabalais, Ph.D., from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON), found the size of this year's Gulf of Mexico dead zone to be smaller than forecasted, measuring 3,000 square miles. However the dead zone, which is usually limited to water just above the sea floor, was severe where it did occur, extending closer to the water surface then in most years. http://www.physorg.com/news167720984.html Space & Earth Sat, 25 Jul 2009 06:10:13 EST news167720984 University of Michigan aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia and his colleagues say this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" could be one of the largest on record, continuing a decades-long trend that threatens the health of a half-billion-dollar fishery. http://www.physorg.com/news164546116.html Space & Earth Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:18:29 EST news164546116 A common misconception about arterial plaque is that it inevitably leads to a heart attack or a stroke. New research at Columbia University Medical Center, however, sheds light on why so few plaques in any given individual actually cause a problem. Furthermore, the research has identified a key protein that may promote the conversion from benign to dangerous plaques. http://www.physorg.com/news160751426.html Biology Tue, 05 May 2009 14:11:45 EST news160751426 (PhysOrg.com) -- New calculations made by marine chemists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) suggest that low-oxygen "dead zones" in the ocean could expand significantly over the next century. These predictions are based on the fact that, as more and more carbon dioxide dissolves from the atmosphere into the ocean, marine animals will need more oxygen to survive. http://www.physorg.com/news159200016.html Space & Earth Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:15:09 EST news159200016 (AP) -- A clean water expert at Auburn University hopes a new project that enlists middle and high school students will help reduce farm runoff that is a growing pollution threat to the Gulf of Mexico. http://www.physorg.com/news158562652.html Space & Earth Fri, 10 Apr 2009 06:11:24 EST news158562652 Larval (maggot) therapy has similar health benefits and costs compared with a standard treatment for leg ulcers, find two studies published on bmj.com today. http://www.physorg.com/news156710065.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:34:38 EST news156710065 The water levels in the Dead Sea - the deepest point on Earth - are dropping at an alarming rate with serious environmental consequences, according to Shahrazad Abu Ghazleh and colleagues from the University of Technology in Darmstadt, Germany. The projected Dead Sea-Red Sea or Mediterranean-Dead Sea Channels therefore need a significant carrying capacity to re-fill the Dead Sea to its former level, in order to sustainably generate electricity and produce freshwater by desalinization. The study, published online this week in Springer's journal, Naturwissenschaften, also shows that the drop in water levels is not the result of climate change; rather it is due to ever-increasing human water consumption in the area. http://www.physorg.com/news155386199.html Space & Earth Wed, 04 Mar 2009 10:50:23 EST news155386199 (PhysOrg.com) -- New scientific findings by geologist Robert Gastaldo of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and colleagues call into question popular theories about the largest mass extinction in Earth's history. http://www.physorg.com/news155238422.html Space & Earth Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:47:36 EST news155238422 The specter of an ocean floor littered with dead shellfish, rock fish, sea stars and other marine life off the Oregon coast spurred Mark Snyder, a climate change expert, to investigate whether California's coast faced a similar calamity. http://www.physorg.com/news152808201.html Space & Earth Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:44:29 EST news152808201 Unchecked global warming would leave ocean dwellers gasping for breath. Dead zones are low-oxygen areas in the ocean where higher life forms such as fish, crabs and clams are not able to live. In shallow coastal regions, these zones can be caused by runoff of excess fertilizers from farming. A team of Danish researchers have now shown that unchecked global warming would lead to a dramatic expansion of low-oxygen areas zones in the global ocean by a factor of 10 or more. http://www.physorg.com/news152112555.html Space & Earth Sun, 25 Jan 2009 13:30:00 EST news152112555 (PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have turned to an unexpected place to study the evolution of planets -- dead stars. Observations made with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal six dead "white dwarf" stars littered with the remains of shredded asteroids. This might sound pretty bleak, but it turns out the chewed-up asteroids are teaching astronomers about the building materials of planets around other stars. http://www.physorg.com/news150394045.html Space & Earth Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:07:25 EST news150394045 Just days after the first retinal cell gets infected with the common cytomegalovirus, contiguous cells start committing suicide and researchers believe their death may provide clues to better treatment of this potentially blinding infection. http://www.physorg.com/news150374176.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:36:16 EST news150374176 Coastal dead zones, an increasing concern to ecologists, the fishing industry and the public, may not be as devoid of life after all. A Brown scientist has found that dead zones do indeed support marine life, and that at least one commercially valuable clam actually benefits from oxygen-depleted waters. http://www.physorg.com/news143209351.html Biology Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:22:31 EST news143209351 Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have pioneered a simple way to remove dead cells from cell cultures used to make protein-based drugs, which are increasingly prescribed to treat a range of illnesses. http://www.physorg.com/news138969041.html Medicine & Health Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:30:41 EST news138969041 A global study led by Professor Robert Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, shows that the number of "dead zones" -areas of seafloor with too little oxygen for most marine life -has increased by a third between 1995 and 2007. http://www.physorg.com/news137940602.html Space & Earth Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:50:02 EST news137940602 Record-setting "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay appear likely this summer, according to new forecasts from a University of Michigan researcher. http://www.physorg.com/news135264139.html Space & Earth Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:22:19 EST news135264139 (PhysOrg.com) -- It's summertime and people are flocking to the coasts around the country. But when summer storms arrive, it's not only beach-goers who are affected; the rains can also have an impact on living creatures far below the ocean surface. http://www.physorg.com/news134996583.html Space & Earth Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:03:03 EST news134996583