Entombed microbes flourish again in lab

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer

Mon Aug 6, 5:04 PM ET

Microorganisms locked in Antarctic ice for 100,000 years and more came to life and resumed growing when given warmth and nutrients in a laboratory.

Researchers led by Kay Bidle of Rutgers University tested five samples of ice ranging in age from 100,000 years to 8 million years.

"We didn't really know what to expect. We knew that microorganisms were really hardy," Bidle, an assistant professor of marine and coastal sciences, said in a telephone interview.

The findings are reported in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers tested samples of the oldest known ice on Earth and had success at growing bacteria from the younger samples.

Microorganisms from the older ice didn't do as well, growing only very slowly. Some of the oldest microorganisms were watched for as long as a year, he said, compared to the week or so it usually takes to culture bacteria.

Calling the ice cores "gene popsicles," the researchers found evidence of some the most common bacteria still around, including firmicutes, proteobacteria and actinobacteria.

These are microorganisms that have been around a long time, Bidle said, "not something Earth hasn't seen before."

Bidle's researchers found that the DNA in bacteria deteriorates sharply after about 1.1 million years.

He said that after 1.1 million years the size of the DNA gets cut in half. In the oldest ice it consisted of just 210 units strung together. Normally the DNA of the average bacterium has about 3 million units.

Studying these life forms helps in "understanding the geological and physiological limits of life on Earth under different conditions," he explained.

In addition, there is interest in looking for life on other planets and how long microorganisms might have remained viable under cold, icy conditions on places like Mars.

Finally, he added, most of life on Earth consists of microbes. "They live in every possible environment ... so learning about microbes and what they can withstand and what their limits are is important to understanding how the Earth works over long periods of time."

The research was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Korea Antarctic Research Program.

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On the Net:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: http://www.pnas.org

 

This was found at Yahoo! News.

 

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Coffee may slow memory declines in women: study

By Ishani Ganguli

Mon Aug 6, 4:56 PM ET

Drinking more than three cups of coffee a day helped protect older women against some age-related memory decline, French researchers said on Monday, giving women more reason to love the world's most popular stimulant.

Men did not enjoy the same benefit, they said.

"The more coffee one drank, the better the effects seemed to be on (women's) memory functioning in particular," said Karen Ritchie at the French National Institute of Medical Research, whose work appears in the journal Neurology.

The researchers followed more than 7,000 men and women in three French cities, checking their health and mental function and asking them about their current and past eating and drinking habits, their friends, and their daily activities.

They used this information to sort out the specific role caffeine played in these women's lives.

They found that women who drank more than three cups of coffee per day, or its caffeine equivalent in tea, retained more of their verbal and -- to a lesser extent -- visual memories over four years.

These women had a 33 percent lower odds of having verbal memory declines and 18 percent lower odds of having visual and spatial memory declines, compared to women who drank one cup or fewer per day.

The effect also depended on age, with women over 80 reaping more benefits from these beverages than those who were 10 to 15 years younger, Ritchie's team wrote. It was unclear whether current or former coffee consumption made the difference.

Some studies in mice have suggested that caffeine might block the buildup of proteins that lead to mental decline.

Ritchie is not sure why only women benefited in her study.

"Our best guess is that women don't metabolize coffee in the same way (as men)," she said in a telephone interview.

Ritchie plans to follow the women longer to see if caffeine delays the onset of dementia -- the mental confusion that signals Alzheimer's disease and other brain disorders.

She said people should weigh any brain gains derived from caffeine against other effects of the stimulant, including raised blood pressure.

The average American drinks one to two cups of coffee a day, according to the National Coffee Association.

 

This was found at Yahoo! News.

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Homeless Man Inherits $50,000

The Associated Press

Published: August 4, 2007

MIAMI - A homeless Miami man who hadn't spoken to his family in nearly two decades was found Friday, after his family made public their effort to track him down and present him with a $50,000 inheritance.

Randy Chapman, 51, was last seen by his family 19 years ago. Back then, he demanded $1,000 to take a test to see whether he could provide a bone marrow transplant for his brother who suffered from leukemia.

He didn't match, and Chapman hadn't talked to them since. Throughout the years he had many run-ins with the police, but when his aunt Pearl Hauenstein died in 2000, she left him the money.

His cousin Mae Lou Howard hired a private detective to find him.

'I can't believe it,' Chapman told The Miami Herald upon learning of his small fortune. 'I don't even know her. I'm so grateful.'

'He deserves a life. He hasn't had anything up to now,' Howard said.

On Friday, Chapman said he was determined to turn his life around. 'I'm not going to blow it,' he said.

 

This was found at TBO.com

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Pittsfield woman charged with misuse of 911 line

By CRAIG CROSBY
Staff Writer

PITTSFIELD -- A woman's complaints about a missing house key landed her in handcuffs over the weekend.

Sandra Hickey, 58, of Pittsfield, was arrested shortly after midnight Saturday and charged with misuse of the 911 emergency line, a Class E misdemeanor, said Sgt. Timothy Roussin of the Pittsfield Police. Hickey called the line more than a dozen times over five days to complain someone had taken her house key, Roussin said.

The 911 emergency line is intended only for situations when life, health or property are in jeopardy. Department policy in Pittsfield, and in much of the state, requires officers to personally check on an individual who has called 911 even when dispatchers are told there is no emergency.

"She was warned repeatedly," Roussin said.

According to a partial Somerset County dispatch center call log, Hickey called 911 six times in less than 30 minutes on July 24, as well as three times in 45 minutes on July 27.

"She was asked by the dispatcher if there was an emergency," Roussin said. "Her response was there was no emergency at this time."

Hickey, who allegedly was intoxicated at the time of the calls, would sometimes make an excuse for calling the emergency number, Roussin said. At one point she claimed to have information on a murder, police say. But her complaints always went back to the missing key, Roussin said.

The missing house key, it was later learned, had been returned without Hickey's knowledge, Roussin said.

Police arrested Hickey after responding to a call she made a little after midnight on Saturday, Roussin said. She was later released on bail.

Though misuse and misdials of 911 are common, it is the first time Roussin can recall the department arresting someone for making too many false calls.

"All we have to do is warn them once," Roussin said. "They don't realize, for someone who has one chance to get in, they are tying up the line."

This was found at MaineToday.com

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