The Blog of Science

As biotechnology advances and the methods to detect and analyse DNA are more sensitive and accurate, scientists have found a new twist to the power of DNA. A recent paper in Biology Letters reports that it has been possible to detect the presence of the invasive frog American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) in ponds by measuring subtle amounts of its DNA in water samples.

The experiments showed that it is possible to discover whether a pond has been taken by these frogs, but also the method allows to have a rough idea of the level of invasion by providing three possible results, zero, low or high.

A huge step has just been made in the race to achieve a permanent lunar colony. Scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, have managed to set up a successful bacterial culture on a substrate made with lunar soil, plus the supplementation of air, water and light. They used a kind of bacteria that is very robust and capable of growing in highly inhospitable environments and were among the first organisms to have populated the Earth more than a billion years ago.

They thing future colonists on the Moon will be able to use the cyanobacteria to extract resources such as minerals and other substances from the soil that could be used for other applications like making fuel and fertiliser for crops.

One of the biggest challenges to the plans for lunar colonisation is that Lunar soil is inhospitable to plants because many of the nutrients it contains are in the form of tough minerals that the plants cannot assimilate. The investigators took samples of cyanobacteria from hot springs at the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and put them in containers with a soil designed to simulate the composition of the lunar sands. Amazingly, the bacteria were able to turn the otherwise unassimilable minerals from the soil and turn them into usable nutrients and grow.

The same nutrients could be extracted artificially, nut it requires large amount of energy and complicated processing. But nature does it better. Using only sunlight as the energy source, the Cyanobacteria do their extraction work mor efficiently (although more slowly) than heating the soil artificially.

This project is part of an ambitious plan to build permanent stations in the Moon with the capacity of supporting human settlements. Once the colony is supplied with cyanobacteria-growing chambers fed with water, light and lunar soil they will be able to use the bacterial biomass to make rich fertilizers to grow food plants in hydroponic greenhouses. They could even be used to make methane to be used as rocket fuel.

The applications could be endless, and the first move has already been done.

Source: http://www.newscientist.com

DNA testing to establish ancestry are becoming very popular and are being offered by several companies. As the knowledge about the genetic composition of human populations accumulates, the manufacturers are including more markers to their tests in order to make them more accurate and span more ancestral lineages.

Geneticists from the Department of Genetics, University of Leicester have discovered an unexpected outcome of these kinds of genetic tests. A study conducted studies of Y chromosomal haplotyping involving 2574 English males and  Greenlandic Inuit males revealed that some forms of chromosomal alterations that cause male infertility can be uncovered by some tests when they include the analysis of certain markers.

Some infertile men carry a ‘deletion’ (loss of a portion of DNA) in the AZF region of the short arm of their Y-chromosomes. When a genetic test is designed to investigate the very same region of the Y-chromosome, the results  will show the deletion, revealing the person that he is likely to be infertile.

The researchers say that such companies should avoid using those regions or warn their customers about the possibility of discovering the chromosomal condition and possibly a diagnosis of infertility.

Source: Journal of Medical Genetics

Because of its reputation as a “sexy” science, forensics is rapidly gaining adepts everywhere. This trend is accompanied by a strong growth in the number of undergraduate forensic degree programs both in USA and the UK. For those thinking on making a career in forensics this means only one thing: competition. With some well-sought advice and good planning it’s possible to build a bright future in the growing and appealing world of forensic science.
Three things can be extracted from the experts’ advice about considering a career in forensics: Education, Experience and Attitude. Being a subject that requires special skills, someone working in forensics needs training. As said above, each year more and more schools and academies are opening new courses in the field, covering every aspect of forensic work. Choosing a program or course will depend on the orientation that most suits one’s preferences, taste or skills. For example, training aimed to biological analyses such as DNA investigations is different from the training aimed to physical methods such as ballistics and even computer forensics. Another aspect about education is the level that one wants to reach. Some courses granting basic skills can be completed in short time and give reasonable chances of getting a job, but the salaries associated are lower and the possibility of progressing are more limited. In contrast, University degrees such as Masters or Ph.D. give better chances of landing into a senior position with upper salary and benefits, but take longer to complete and are highly demanding.
Experience is as important as a good education. A successful performance in complicated police cases requires an intuition that only experience can offer. Popular TV shows such as CSI lead people into thinking that young technicians can lead important cases, which is highly unrealistic. Prospective forensic experts must spend some time in supporting roles while learning ‘hands on’ how to think as a forensic scientist.
The word Science take us to the third concept, attitude.
One of the most important things you can do to convince an employer about your value is showing them that you are a scientist. Forensic work must be though primarily as Science and as such, devotion towards rigorous thinking and meticulous habits must prevail in the student’s attitude. Finally, an importan remark is a good forensic scientist must also master the non-scientific skills associated with the profession, such as interpreting evidence for the legal aspects.
Regardless what your reasons to end up in forensics are, the whole thing is about working hard, getting your hands dirty and the sight high. By making the good choices early on, a rewarding career will be at reach.
For more resources visit forensic-career.com

After a huge, three-year effort, a genealogy research company in Britain has made available online a vast database with the British phonebooks from 1880 through 1984. This project required about 2,000 books to be digitalised and transferred into the database that can be queried through the Ancestry website. The main purpose for this initiative is to provide a tool for people from Britain or with British ancestry to investigate their family trees.

With 280 million phone numbers and addresses, this phonebook is like a time machine where people can learn who lived in their houses a hundred years ago, the whereabouts of their long-passed relatives and wherever the curiosity takes them. The website also allows visitors to track back the addresses of famous artists, politicians and other personalities that lived in London or other places in Britain. This service is available for Ancestry.co.uk subscribers and is part of the resources that the company offers mainly for Britain and Commonwealth-based genealogy professionals and enthusiasts.