DNA patterns of today’s Europeans mirror recent population movements.

Most of us know our families back a few generations but, beyond that, have little idea who our ancestors were or where they lived. Jumping further back, all of us alive today likely share most of our ancestors from 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. What happened between then and now? We’ve pieced together a broad picture of human kinship based on disciplines from archeology to linguistics to history. In Europe, for example, several relatively recent migrations have helped shape links and gaps amongst today’s populations.

Now, in this issue of PLOS Biology, Peter Ralph and Graham Coop use genomic data to give us a closer look at the recent roots of modern Europeans… (more)

PLOS Biology 2013

Monitoring systems from energy to transportation will make cities greener.

Cities are just another ecosystem to Hugh Aldridge, a former ecologist who wants to track their resource use and waste generation in real time. “The great dream of all ecologists is to measure everything going on in a complex system”, he says. “It offers potential not only to woodlands and streams but also to cities.” Integrating data from municipal systems will boost efficiency, making cities greener as well as able to accommodate more people sustainably as the world’s population grows.

Aldridge is about to realize his dream… (more)

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2013

Tumors have co-opted this protein, which normally keeps white blood cells from eating red blood cells.

Last year, a PNAS study showed that the surfaces of many tumor cells have a protein called CD47, which protects them from the immune system. But when tumors are treated with an antibody to CD47, they do get attacked by immune system cells. So the researchers transplanted seven kinds of human tumors into mice, and treated them with an antibody to CD47.

All of the tumors — bladder, brain, breast, colon, liver, ovary and prostate — shrank or disappeared, which kept them from spreading. Now, the research will progress to clinical trials, thanks to a $20 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. CD47 was originally found on leukemia and lymphoma cells, and the trial will target the stem cells that perpetuate acute myeloid leukemia. This cancer of the blood and bone marrow is fatal within months if untreated, and the five year survival rate is only 30-40% even with aggressive treatments including chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants.

Cancer Commons 2013

See more of my cancer news for Cancer Commons.

More algae could favor Asian clams over native species.

Boosting phytoplankton growth is a key part of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, as the supply of these tiny algae at the base of the Delta’s food web has plunged over the last few decades. According to conventional wisdom, the best way to increase phytoplankton is to create shallow, slow waters to give algae plenty of light, as well as the chance to build up over time. But recent research upends this approach for ecosystems that, like the Delta, have been invaded by exotic clams.

“For many, this is a new way of thinking,” says US Geological Survey engineer Lisa Lucas… (more)

Estuary News, 2013

Stomata (green) are opened and closed by oblong guard cells (colorless); 20X

Unlike animals, which breathe through airways lined with pathogen-trapping defenses, plants get air through tiny pores in their leaves that all but invite bacteria to sneak in. How, then, do plants keep them out? They slam their pores, or stomata, shut. Stomata are flanked by guard cells that swell when triggered by bacteria, thus closing the pores. New research shows that guard cells contain an enzyme that makes stomata close in response to pathogens, overturning a previous theory that this process is regulated by a plant hormone… (more)

PLOS Biology 2013

Wyoming’s wide-open spaces make it ideal for wind ranches.

A new report shows that Wyoming has wind power when California needs it, making this renewable energy more reliable and so more viable. “Wyoming has great wind”, says Loyd Drain, Executive Director of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority (Cheyenne), which facilitates consumption of the state’s electricity. “It rips in the winter.” In contrast, California wind is weakest during the winter…. (more)

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2013

Marijuana sucks streams dry in the summer, when young salmon need water the most.

Marijuana farms are the latest threat to salmon on California’s north coast, according to a recent analysis by state biologists. The farms are concentrated on ridgetops, near headwater springs that flow into streams inhabited by threatened coho salmon. “Late summer flows are already low, and weed growers divert so much that what’s left is a trickle at best”, explains Scott Bauer, who leads the California Department of Fish and Wildlife north coast coho salmon recovery and is based in Humboldt County… (more)

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2013

Green herons are returning to this restored Delta shoreline.

I’m in another world from the moment I step into the East Bay Regional Park District’s Big Break Regional Shoreline. Here on the edge of the Delta in eastern Contra Costa County, birds sing and soar overhead, cottonwood leaves rustle in the breeze, and on a clear day you can see across the Delta’s vast expanse of water and low-lying islands all the way to the Sierra Nevada… (more)

Bay Nature, 2013

Warning: burger smoke may be hazardous to your health.

Hamburgers are a double health threat, polluting the air as well as clogging arteries. “Hamburgers account for more than twice as many particles as diesel trucks”, says Bill Welch, an environmental engineer at the University of California, Riverside. He estimates that charbroiling a single patty emits as many particles as driving 140 miles in an 18-wheeler diesel truck… (more)

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2012

Who took my best habitat?

California’s plan for balancing renewable energy with wildlife conservation in the desert got poor marks from independent reviewers, who are “deeply concerned” about the plan and doubt its scientific defensibility as is. Called the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP), the plan will simplify the permitting process for utility-scale solar plants and will cover nearly 9 million hectares of Mojave and Colorado desert that are home to many at-risk species, including the burrowing owl, desert bighorn sheep and desert tortoise… (more)

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2012