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Public Release: 16-May-2012
Study underscores canned foods' importance to help address IOM Weight of the Nation recommendations The IOM issued its obesity-prevention report at the Weight of the Nation conference hosted by the CDC. This report included a call to action for increased access to healthy foods (like fruits and vegetables) at retail outlets nationwide. Findings from a new Michigan State University study released today, underscored the critical role that canned fruits and vegetables play in helping Americans increase these intakes, regardless of geography or income level. 
Can Manufacturers Institute
Contact: Laura Muma
Public Release: 16-May-2012
 Nature CommunicationsFreshwater crayfish found to have substance covering teeth astonishingly similar to human enamel A team of Israeli and German scientists from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have found an enamel-like layer in the mandibles of freshwater crayfish, according to an article in Nature Communications. Contact: Andrew Lavin
Public Release: 16-May-2012
The HoloceneAncient tree-ring records from Southwest US suggest today's megafires are truly unusual Today's mega forest fires of the southwestern U.S. are truly unusual and exceptional in the long-term record, suggests an unprecedented study that examined 1,500 years of ancient tree ring and fire data from two distinct climate periods. Researchers constructed and analyzed a statistical model and found that today's dry, hot climate combined with the past century of human fire suppression is causing megafires, said study co-author and fire anthropologist Christopher Roos, Southern Methodist University, Dallas.
International Arid Lands Consortium
Contact: Margaret Allen
Public Release: 16-May-2012
UW plant breeders develop an even heart-healthier oat University of Wisconsin-Madison plant breeders have developed a new oat variety that's significantly higher in the compound that makes this grain so cardio-friendly. Contact: John Mochon
Public Release: 16-May-2012
Agricultural expert outlines path for developing nations to double food production, meet 2050 demand At a meeting today in New York with Malaysia's Prime Minister and other senior leaders, a renowned international agricultural scientist from the Netherlands says meeting the daunting challenge of doubling its current food is possible but results will be gradual and efforts must begin now. Contact: Terry Collins
Public Release: 16-May-2012
Ecology LettersUSF study: Common fungicide wreaks havoc on freshwater ecosystems A new University of South Florida study on chlorothalonil, one of the world's most common fungicides, shows it was lethal to a wide variety of freshwater organisms.
National Science Foundation, US Department of Agriculture, US Environmental Protection Agency
Contact: Vickie Chachere
Public Release: 16-May-2012
DendrochronologiaThe millennium-old olive trees of the Iberian Peninsula are younger than expected Northeast Spain is home to olive trees so old that they are known as "millennium-old." A group of scientists have now studied their age. The oldest is to be found in the Catalan region of Montsia and is 627 years old making it one of the oldest olive trees recorded in Europe. Contact: SINC
Public Release: 16-May-2012
The Plant CellPlant growth without light control Plants are dependent on the sun. Sunlight does not only supply them with energy, but also controls their development steps. So-called photoreceptors activate the processes of germination, leaf development, bud formation, and blossoming in the cells. The light-absorbing component of a photoreceptor may be replaced by a chemically similar synthetic substance. For the first time, the effects on complete plants are now described in the The Plant Cell journal. Contact: Monika Landgraf
Public Release: 15-May-2012
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesUMD finding may hold key to Gaia hypothesis Is Earth really a sort of giant living organism as the Gaia hypothesis predicts?
NASA, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Contact: Lee Tune
Public Release: 15-May-2012
Journal of Archaeological ScienceSulphur and iron compounds common in old shipwrecks Sulphur and iron compounds have now been found in shipwrecks both in the Baltic and off the west coast of Sweden. The group behind the results, presented in the Journal of Archaeological Science, includes scientists from the University of Gothenburg and Stockholm University. Contact: Yvonne Fors
Public Release: 15-May-2012
PLoS ONEElephant seal tracking reveals hidden lives of deep-diving animals Researchers at UC Santa Cruz who pioneered the use of satellite tags to monitor the migrations of elephant seals have compiled one of the largest datasets available for any marine mammal species, revealing their movements and diving behavior at sea in unprecedented detail.
Office of Naval Research, International Association of Oil and Gas Producers
Contact: Tim Stephens
Public Release: 15-May-2012
BMC GenomicsMaps of Miscanthus genome offer insight into grass evolution Miscanthus grasses are used in gardens, burned for heat and energy, and converted into liquid fuels. They also belong to a prominent grass family that includes corn, sorghum and sugarcane. Two new, independently produced chromosome maps of Miscanthus sinensis (an ornamental that likely is a parent of Miscanthus giganteus, a biofuels crop) are a first step toward sequencing the M. sinensis genome. The studies reveal how a new plant species with distinctive traits can arise as a result of chromosome duplications and fusions.
Energy Biosciences Institute
Contact: Diana Yates
Public Release: 15-May-2012
PLoS ONETiny plants could cut costs, shrink environmental footprint Tall, waving corn fields that line Midwestern roads may one day be replaced by dwarfed versions that require less water, fertilizer and other inputs, thanks to a fungicide commonly used on golf courses.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Brian Wallheimer
Public Release: 15-May-2012
New PhytologistWhen the soil holds not enough phosphorus Paula Duque and her research team at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia have identified a new inorganic phosphate (Pi) transporter in the root cells of the tiny mustard plant Arabidopsis thaliana that acts, crucially, when Pi is scarce. Their findings, published online in the journal New Phytologist, provide insight into how phosphate transport systems may be manipulated in plants to counteract stressful conditions and thus, potentially, lead to improved crop yields.
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Contact: Ana Godinho
Public Release: 14-May-2012
GeodermaSecret soil cracks linger, despite surface sealing Researchers at the University of NSW in Sydney have developed an innovative technique for examining the flow of water through cracks in soil by measuring electrical resistivity. They discovered that even when cracks appear visibly closed on the surface they often remain open underground. They can now detect the exact time when underground cracks close, which will have big implications for agricultural management of water. Contact: Myles Gough
Public Release: 14-May-2012
Environmental Biology of FishesGrowing risks from hatchery fish A newly published collection of more than 20 studies by leading university scientists and government fishery researchers in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Russia and Japan provides mounting evidence that salmon raised in man-made hatcheries can harm wild salmon through competition for food and habitat. Contact: Pete Rand
Public Release: 14-May-2012
Great recession reflux amounts to more hunger among seniors A new study that looked at the hunger trends over a 10-year period found that 14.85 percent of seniors in the United States, more than one in seven, face the threat of hunger. This translates into 8.3 million seniors. Contact: Debra Levey Larson
Public Release: 14-May-2012
New species of fish in Sweden Reticulated dragonet have been found in Väderöarna -- "Weather Islands" -- off the west coast of Sweden. It is not often that a new species of fish is discovered in Sweden. Contact: Martin Larsvik
Public Release: 14-May-2012
Nature BiotechnologyResearchers look to relatives for clues in quest to develop sources of bioenergy "Now that we have the genome sequence, we can kick start the development of genetic tools for Setaria," Dr. Tom Brutnell. Contact: Melanie Bernds
Public Release: 14-May-2012
Electrochimica ActaDip chip technology tests toxicity on the go A Tel Aviv University researcher has developed a portable "dip chip" that detects water toxicity quickly and accurately. Once perfected, the chip might be plugged into ordinary smartphones or PDA devices to provide a toxicity alert. Contact: George Hunka
Public Release: 14-May-2012
Nature BiotechnologyRelative reference: Foxtail millet offers clues for assembling the switchgrass genome The US Department of Energy is interested in the perennial grass switchgrass as a prospective biofuels feedstock, but the plant genome is complex. The DOE Joint Genome Institute has sequenced plant genomes of related candidate bioenergy crops such as sorghum and the model grass Brachypodium but they last shared a common ancestor with switchgrass more than 20 million years ago. The genome of a much closer switchgrass relative -- foxtail millet -- is described in Nature Biotechnology.
US Department of Energy
Contact: David Gilbert
Public Release: 14-May-2012
NatureIowa State, Salk researchers make plant protein discovery that could boost bioeconomy Research groups from Iowa State University and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found three proteins involved in the accumulation of fatty acids in plants. The discovery could help plant scientists boost seed oil production in crops. And that could boost the production of biorenewable fuels and chemicals. The discovery has been published by nature.com.
National Science Foundation, NIH/National Cancer Institute, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Fulbright Fellowship, Iowa State's Plant Sciences Institute, NSF Engineering Research Center for Biorenewable Chemicals
Contact: Eve Syrkin Wurtele
Public Release: 14-May-2012
Nature GeneticsGenes underlying the key domestication process in sorghum and other cereals A study by a team of university and government scientists led by a Kansas State University researcher, indicates that genes responsible for seed shattering -- the process by which grasses disseminate their seeds -- were under parallel selection during sorghum, rice and maize domestication.
US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Contact: Jianming Yu
Public Release: 14-May-2012
NatureCellular secrets of plant fatty acid production understood A curious twist in a family of plant proteins called chalcone-isomerase recently was discovered by Salk Institute for Biological Studies scientist Joseph Noel and colleagues at Iowa State University led by Eve Wurtele.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Bobbie Mixon
Public Release: 13-May-2012
NatureDiscovery of plant proteins may boost agricultural yields and biofuel production Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Iowa State University discovered a family of plant proteins that play a role in the production of seed oils, substances important for animal and human nutrition, biorenewable chemicals and biofuels. Contact: Andy Hoang
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