Showing posts with label soil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soil. Show all posts

Caenorhabditis elegans Worm Travels by Slug Intestine

Everything is interrelated in this world. Nothing stands alone. Life itself is a community process. One animal lives with and off another. Indeed, many creatures cannot survive without the presence of particular others. Caenorhabditis elegans worms living "alongside" slugs is a case in point.
Caenorhabditis elegans worms
Slugs eat decomposing plants. Worms get a ride to new destinations by going through a slugs' intestines and being dropped out in poo in other locations. Consequently, worms can better exploit food resources. Surviving another animals digestive system is something unexpected.

C. elegans is the leading lab guinea pig. More is known about it than mice. However, its journey to regions anew has just been discovered. Moreover, they live on the surface of the ground not in the soil as previously supposed. Their food supply of bacteria and fungi are quickly exhausted so they have to move to new pastures.
 
Biology by Ty Buchanan 
            Australian Blog   Adventure Australia
ALL BLOG ARTICLES· ──► (BLOG HOME PAGE)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Caenorhabditis elegans slugs worms bacteria fungi

Lead Remains High in the Blood of Children

Despite changes in the supply of motor fuel, i.e., the move toward unleaded petrol, high levels of lead in the blood of children is still an issue. In the northern hemisphere there are seasonal fluctuations in levels of lead.

Though the general amount of lead present in the environment has fallen, it remains significantly high in the blood of children. Much of the lead released decades ago is still there. The polluted fine particles are swept up into the air in the warmer months of July, August and September. This is the time when children are outside playing their sports.

Money would be better spent on "fixing" the suspended lead rather than reducing content in products we use. Finding a way to "lock-in" the lead particles would end the damage to future generations of people. Once lead reaches a high level in the blood it is extremely difficult to reduce. Damage to the brain and nervous system is permanent.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Health
Australian Blog                        

There Is Soil on Mars

NASA scientists are now saying that "soil" on Mars could support vegetable life. Without an atmosphere, though, it seems no life is possible. Scientists are specific enough to say that asparagus and turnips will grow in Mars' soil but strawberries will not. Are they joking? Or are they for real?

The Phoenix Mars Lander found soil that is very much like that in many Earth backyards. Scientists are shocked that they have found soil. It is alkaline - thus, the claim that it is not good for strawberries. Apparently, the soil is rich in trace minerals.

My, how scientists can be wrong. It was thought that Mars "soil" would be salty - with no atmosphere and the sun would bleach it. But they were wrong. At least we know that there is soil and water in the form of ice just beneath the surface. There is evidence that in the past water flowed on the surface because erosion is evident. Rivers, lakes and oceans existed there once. Water reservoirs such as these indicate that the planet did once have an atmosphere.

If life did survive for a time on Mars future exploration will surely find it.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Science