ScienceDaily — Researchers have collected venom from octopuses in Antarctica for the first time, significantly advancing our understanding of the properties of venom as a potential resource for drug development.
The study, conducted by an international team of researchers from the University of Melbourne, the Norwegian University of Technology and Science and the University of Hamburg, provides the first insight into the properties of Antarctic octopus venom. It has also revealed the existence of four new species of octopus.
Venom has long been recognised as a potentially valuable resource for drug development. However, scientists have only recently discovered the largely untapped resource cephalopods such as octopuses, cuttlefish and squid, possess in their unique venom properties -- especially the species that live in sub-zero temperatures.
Team Leader, Dr Bryan Fry from the Bio21 Institute says it was a mystery how venomous animals have adapted their venom to have an effect even in sub-zero temperatures, where most venoms would normally lose their function.
"This is the first study that has collected Antarctic octopus venom and confirmed that these creatures have adapted it to work in sub zero temperatures -- the next step is to work out what biochemical tricks they have used," he says.
Dr Fry says the venom analysis revealed that Antarctic octopus venom harbours a range of toxins, two of which had not previously been described.
"We have discovered new small proteins in the venom with very intriguing activities -- these are potentially useful in drug design, but more will be revealed as the study continues," he says.
The study follows from Dr Fry's revelation last year that all octopuses are venomous. The team of scientists then embarked on a huge task to collect and study completely novel venoms to gain a greater understanding of how they work.
"An understanding of the structure and mode of action of venom found in all octopuses may help design drugs for conditions like pain management, allergies and cancer."
Through funding from the Australian Antarctic Division, the team collected 203 octopuses from Antarctic waters. They then genetically profiled each specimen to identify the species and collected venom to analyse in the lab.
"Not only do Antarctic octopuses have the most unique venoms out there, but there is a lot more species than we originally thought."
Marine Phytoplankton Declining: Striking Global Changes at the Base of the Marine Food Web Linked to Rising Ocean Temperatures
ScienceDaily — A new article published in the 29 July issue of the journal Nature reveals for the first time that microscopic marine algae known as "phytoplankton" have been declining globally over the 20th century. Phytoplankton forms the basis of the marine food chain and sustains diverse assemblages of species ranging from tiny zooplankton to large marine mammals, seabirds, and fish. Says lead author Daniel Boyce, "Phytoplankton is the fuel on which marine ecosystems run. A decline of phytoplankton affects everything up the food chain, including humans."
Using an unprecedented collection of historical and recent oceanographic data, a team from Canada's Dalhousie University documented phytoplankton declines of about 1% of the global average per year. This trend is particularly well documented in the Northern Hemisphere and after 1950, and would translate into a decline of approximately 40% since 1950. The scientists found that long-term phytoplankton declines were negatively correlated with rising sea surface temperatures and changing oceanographic conditions.
The goal of the three-year analysis was to resolve one of the most pressing issues in oceanography, namely to answer the seemingly simple question of whether the ocean is becoming more (or less) „green' with algae. Previous analyses had been limited to more recent satellite data (consistently available since 1997) and have yielded variable results. To extend the record into the past, the authors analysed a unique compilation of historical measurements of ocean transparency going back to the very beginning of quantitative oceanography in the late 1800s, and combined these with additional samples of phytoplankton pigment (chlorophyll) from ocean-going research vessels. The end result was a database of just under half a million observations which enabled the scientists to estimate phytoplankton trends over the entire globe going back to the year 1899.
The scientists report that most phytoplankton declines occurred in polar and tropical regions and in the open oceans where most phytoplankton production occurs. Rising sea surface temperatures were negatively correlated with phytoplankton growth over most of the globe, especially close to the equator. Phytoplankton need both sunlight and nutrients to grow; warm oceans are strongly stratified, which limits the amount of nutrients that are delivered from deeper waters to the surface ocean. Rising temperatures may contribute to making the tropical oceans even more stratified, leading to increasing nutrient limitation and phytoplankton declines. The scientists also found that large-scale climate fluctuations, such as the El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), affect phytoplankton on a year-to-year basis, by changing short-term oceanographic conditions.
The findings contribute to a growing body of scientific evidence indicating that global warming is altering the fundamentals of marine ecosystems. Says co-author Marlon Lewis, "Climate-driven phytoplankton declines are another important dimension of global change in the oceans, which are already stressed by the effects of fishing and pollution. Better observational tools and scientific understanding are needed to enable accurate forecasts of the future health of the ocean." Explains co-author Boris Worm, "Phytoplankton are a critical part of our planetary life support system. They produce half of the oxygen we breathe, draw down surface CO2, and ultimately support all of our fisheries. An ocean with less phytoplankton will function differently, and this has to be accounted for in our management efforts."
Samaraweera eased to a 12th test hundred before Sri Lanka were bowled out for 425 in their first innings on the second day of the third and final test against India on Wednesday.
India had replied with 28 without loss at tea with Murali Vijay unbeaten on six and Virender Sehwag on 21.
Samaraweera started the day on 65 and was unbeaten on 137 when the final wicket fell.
Samaraweera reached his century in the final over before the lunch break, moving from 99 to 104 courtesy of an overthrow as he pushed the ball for a single to square leg but the return to the bowler's end ricocheted off the stumps and sped to the boundary.
Sri Lanka lost their last four wickets for 44 runs after lunch with Ishant Sharma ending the innings with the wickets of Ajantha Mendis and Chanaka Welagedara.
Sehwag accounted for Suraj Randiv for eight having him top edge a sweep and Amrit Mishra took his solitary wicket of the innings when he caught and bowled Lasith Malinga for four.
Shinzo Nakanishi also said the company, 54.2 percent owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp(7269.T), does not expect royalty payments to its parent to rise from about 5 percent of sales now.
In the June quarter the company's profit had dropped 20 percent on an unexpected rise in royalty fees, and triggered a slide in its shares.
Maruti reached full capacity of 1 million vehicles a year in March and has been struggling to cope with long queues of buyers.
It is building a second unit in the northern state of Haryana to add another production capability of another 250,000 vehicles a year, scheduled for completion by April 2012.
Nakanishi said he would like to step up production as quickly as possible but did not give a definite deadline.
He was speaking to reporters at the launch of an upgraded version of its best-selling Alto hatchback fitted with a 1 litre K-series engine.
Maruti, which sells one of every two new cars in India, has been losing market share to newer entrants such as Ford, Volkswagen and General Motors all of which have launched their own compact cars.
In the June quarter its market share dropped to 56 percent from 61 percent in the year-ago period.
Apart form its own production constraints, Nakanishi said supply bottlenecks from vendors were also affecting output.
In recent months component supply constraints had led to backlogs of up to 20 percent of its normal sales on almost all its models, marketing head Mayank Pareek said.
Maruti has also asked vendors to step up their investments in capacity expansion, he said.
"We are trying our best to fulfill demand," Pareek said.
Sales during April to July, the first four months of 2010/11 fiscal year, rose 26 percent from a year earlier to 384,181 vehicles.
However, exports to Europe have fallen 20-30 percent from a year earlier due to removal of incentives by countries such as Germany, Britain and France, Nakanishi said.
"To maintain the same export volumes as last year we have to find markets other than Europe," he said. The company has said earlier it was looking at newer markets such as Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
At 0914 GMT, Maruti shares valued at $7.6 billion were trading little changed at 1,212.15 rupees in a flat Mumbai market. The stock has fallen 22 percent so far this year, while the main index is up 3.7 percent.Maruti Suzuki(MRTI.BO), India's top car maker, is looking to speed up expansion plans to meet booming demand in the fast-growing south Asian country, its managing director said on Wednesday.
Shinzo Nakanishi also said the company, 54.2 percent owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp(7269.T), does not expect royalty payments to its parent to rise from about 5 percent of sales now.
In the June quarter the company's profit had dropped 20 percent on an unexpected rise in royalty fees, and triggered a slide in its shares.
Maruti reached full capacity of 1 million vehicles a year in March and has been struggling to cope with long queues of buyers.
It is building a second unit in the northern state of Haryana to add another production capability of another 250,000 vehicles a year, scheduled for completion by April 2012.
Nakanishi said he would like to step up production as quickly as possible but did not give a definite deadline.
He was speaking to reporters at the launch of an upgraded version of its best-selling Alto hatchback fitted with a 1 litre K-series engine.
Maruti, which sells one of every two new cars in India, has been losing market share to newer entrants such as Ford, Volkswagen and General Motors all of which have launched their own compact cars.
In the June quarter its market share dropped to 56 percent from 61 percent in the year-ago period.
Apart form its own production constraints, Nakanishi said supply bottlenecks from vendors were also affecting output.
In recent months component supply constraints had led to backlogs of up to 20 percent of its normal sales on almost all its models, marketing head Mayank Pareek said.
Maruti has also asked vendors to step up their investments in capacity expansion, he said.
"We are trying our best to fulfill demand," Pareek said.
Sales during April to July, the first four months of 2010/11 fiscal year, rose 26 percent from a year earlier to 384,181 vehicles.
However, exports to Europe have fallen 20-30 percent from a year earlier due to removal of incentives by countries such as Germany, Britain and France, Nakanishi said.
"To maintain the same export volumes as last year we have to find markets other than Europe," he said. The company has said earlier it was looking at newer markets such as Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
At 0914 GMT, Maruti shares valued at $7.6 billion were trading little changed at 1,212.15 rupees in a flat Mumbai market. The stock has fallen 22 percent so far this year, while the main index is up 3.7 percent.
17-year old Shourya Saluja develops cyber safety curriculum
Bangalore: Shourya Saluja, a Class 12 student of Indus International School-Bangalore, is busy on the process of developing a curriculum for Classes IX to XII, which will create awareness about cyber safety. The 17 year old Shourya has got the support from technology major Infosys to design the curriculam, which will be taught first in his school and later perhaps adopted by CBSE, reports Sruthy Susan Ullas of Times of India.
The three components of the curriculum will focus on different safety issues of social networking sites. "Children disclose too much information in their profiles, they upload photos and accept random people as friends just to increase the number in their friends' list. They don't know what dangers this can lead to," said Shourya. Kids will also be taught how to protect themselves from dangers like phishing messages, things to look after in a Local Area Network (LAN), internal security.
Cyber ethics will be another subject and kids will be tutored on how to be a good cyber citizen. Infosys will leverage its "subject matter expertise" to develop content as part of its corporate social responsibility initiative.
Shourya plans to rate the success of his programme after six months and then seek the Central Board of Secondary Education's approval to include it in the curriculum. He says he got the idea when his 10-year-old sister asked him to create a Facebook profile with all her information. "I realized that many children are ignorant about consequences of this," he said.
He approached the Punjab College of Engineering which has a cyber security research centre. "When I suggested teaching cyber safety in high school, they gave me the thumbs up. I did a three-week internship there, conducted surveys, did research and presented papers on the gap between the present curriculum and proved the need for this course." In June second week, Shourya presented a paper to Infosys and convinced it to help him in the course content.
British students could soon sit and study alongside Indians in lecture halls at universities in India as part of plans to make UK students more employable by giving them international experience of living in other countries. There is much hand-wringing among Britain's education leaders employers who seek to
expand abroad but find that students here do not know the language and other life skills to live and function outside UK.
There are several student exchange programmes allowing British students to spend a period of time to study abroad, particularly in European universities, but there is less enthusiasm among the students.
After returning from the recent visit to India, Universities minister David Willetts wants to develop joint undergraduate and postgraduate courses between UK and Indian universities that will allow British students to spend course time in India.
Currently, more than 40,000 Indian students are studying in Britain, but only 500 travelled to India every year, Willets told the Daily Telegraph.
"The number of students going to India at the moment is embarrassingly low. It is a scandal that only 500 British students currently go to one of the world's fastest growing economies. I want to get it up to the thousands quite soon."Under his plans, British students would be able to complete mainstream qualifications in India after starting them in Britain.The subjects in Indian universities of particular interest to Britons are Maths, Science and IT, subjects that have suffered considerably in Britain in recent decades due to lack of students and faculty members.
Willetts' move comes after business leaders claimed that young Britons were increasingly missing out in the workplace because of a poor grasp of foreign languages combined with a lack of experience of living abroad.
A report from the Confederation of British Industry earlier this year found that almost three-quarters of companies were dissatisfied with students' language skills while more than half warned of "shortfalls in their international cultural awareness" – potentially jeopardising trade with countries such as China, India, Russia and Brazil.
"Businesses say there aren't enough students with experience of languages, different cultures and the wider world," Willetts said.
Indians dress smartest for work, Europeans most casual - poll
Wearing shorts to work in Hungary might not merit a second glance but in India you are likely to be deemed a slacker who won't make senior management, according to a global Reuters/Ipsos poll on business attire.
A survey of about 12,500 people in 24 countries found that Europeans are the most casual when it comes to work clothes with only 27 percent wearing a business suit or smart clothes to work.
Hungary came bottom of the table with only 12 percent of workers saying they wore a suit or smart dress to work.
Among Hungarian workers, 46 percent said it was appropriate to wear shorts to work while 56 percent approved of thong sandals or flip-flops at work.
Indians were found to be the smartest when it came to work attire with 58 percent donning a suit or other smart clothing for work. Only 21 percent said it was fine to wear shorts.
Overall only 21 percent of workers said it was appropriate to wear thong sandals to work and just 24 percent approved of wearing shorts to work.
"It's clear that around the world dressing to your place in the hierarchy is more often the case than dressing to the elements," said John Wright, a senior vice president at market research company Ipsos.
For while four out of 10 workers wore casual clothes to work, the same amount -- four out of 10 -- said casual wear workers would never make it into senior management in their workplace.
The poll found that 66 percent of workers said senior managers that ran an organization should always be more dressed up than their employees.
Indians particularly did not see casual dressers rising up the ranks, with 64 percent saying they would not make senior management and 58 percent describing casual dressers as slackers.
India was followed by Saudi Arabia where 51 percent ruled out casual dressers making senior management with France coming third at 45 percent.
Swedes were the most relaxed when it came to bosses wearing casual clothes. Only 27 percent said casual dressing would be a bar to entering senior management.
Following are some results from the poll:
Do you wear business/smart dress to work? Are shorts OK?
India 58 percent 38 percent
South Korea 47 percent 27 percent
China 46 percent 21 percent