University of California, Santa Barbara
A team of researchers lreport that, from desert to rainforest, during drought conditions, the maximum rain use efficiency (RUEmax), or effective productivity of plant growth per unit of precipitation converges to a common value. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the International Biological Program (IBP) began to study how water affects productivity in different ecosystems. It was not until this current group of scientists pooled long-term data in a workshop at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at University of California, Santa Barbara that the scope and similarity of productivity in all ecosystems was seen.
Cinnamon may be more than a spice -- it may have a medical application in preventing and combating diabetes. Cinnamon may help by playing the role of an insulin substitute in type II diabetes, according to cellular and molecular studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Cinnamon itself has insulin-like activity and also can potentiate the activity of insulin," said Don Graves of UCSB. "The latter could be quite important in treating those with type II diabetes. Cinnamon has a bio-active component that we believe has the potential to prevent or overcome diabetes."
"Nature was nano before nano was cool," stated Henry Fountain in a recent New York Times article on the proliferation of nanotechnology research projects. No one is more aware of this fact of nature than Dan Morse of the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research groups have been studying the ways that nature builds ocean organisms at the nanoscale for over ten years. They have studied the abalone shell for its high-performance, super-resistant, composite mineral structure. Now they are now looking to learn new biotechnological routes to make high performance electronic and optical materials.
Two Santa Barbara researchers have discovered that calcium channel blockers may prove to be an inexpensive alternative for controlling schistosome infection, a serious global health problem that afflicts more than 200 million people annually in developing nations. An estimated 200,000 people, many of them older children, die every year from schistosomiasis. Many more suffer chronic damage to vital organs, including the liver and bladder. A San Francisco company will use the drugs to treat schistosomiasis in Africa and elsewhere.
An article in the August 15 issue of the journal Science warns against the human exploitation of coral reef ecosystems around the world, noting that these "ecosystems will not survive for more than a few decades, unless they are promptly and massively protected from human exploitation."
This warning comes out of a study of 14 coral reef ecosystems around the world conducted by a team of scientists organized by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). The Center is affiliated with the University of California, Santa Barbara and funded by the National Science Foundation.
Imagine that your doctor, using a small hand-held sensor, could detect from a drop of your blood if you carry the gene for cystic fibrosis, or whether or not you have HIV. Or on the battlefield, a soldier could wear a small sensor that detects the smallest amount of anthrax in the air. In the food industry the same type of sensor could check for the DNA signature of salmonella.
Dust from the Sahara Desert in Africa may modify clouds and rainfall both in Africa and across the tropical North Atlantic as far away as Barbados, according to a study that uses data from NASA satellites, ground measurements, and computer models. Natalie Mahowald, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and University of California, Santa Barbara, and Lisa Kiehl, a graduate student at UCSB, published their findings in a recent issue of Geophysical Research Letters.
One of the hottest nutritional supplements, currently manufactured by fermentation only in Japan, may eventually be synthesized in the United States thanks to research at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Bruce H. Lipshutz, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCSB, has developed a way to prepare coenzyme Q 10 (CoQ10 ) that he calls "short and sweet." His method is patented and he is already talking to U.S. companies regarding potential commercialization. The process is economically competitive, using transition metal catalysts along the way, such as inexpensive nickel and cobalt complexes.
Scientists at the Center for the Study of Macular Degeneration at the Neuroscience Research Institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara have found a link between the brain plaques that form in Alzheimer?s disease and the deposits in the retina that are associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is a disease that leads to loss of central vision and affects 5 to 10 percent of the population over age 60.
It might be 500,000 years or five years, but the Central Valley of Costa Rica will definitely experience major volcanic activity again, according to Phillip B. Gans, professor of geology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He presented a study of volcanic rocks of Costa Rica in his recent talk at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.
Although it is expected that populations of many organisms will move away from the equator and toward the poles to stay cool during global warming, researchers have found that the intertidal zone does not exactly fit this pattern. A study published in this week's Science Magazine indicates that there may be "hot spots" at northern shoreline sites within the next three to five years. This is partly due to the timing of the tides.
