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2012 CODiE Award for Best Online Science or Technology Service, Bibliogo is unlike any other literature acquisition and management tool for Life Science and Engineering professionals and the companies they work for.

"Plastic is produced in large amounts and used for various purposes. After use, huge amounts end up in the enviroment, often in the oceans. There, fragmentation leads to small particles, called microplastics. By filtrating and benthos-feeding organisms it can be inadvertently taken up as food. We demonstrate that the unicellular ciliate Paramecium, the freshwater flea Daphnia and the blue mussel Mytilus took up microplastic particles. Even more, in Mytilus, the plastic particles were transported into the digestive gland and accumulated in the respective cells. Subsequently, pathological alterations in the gland were noted. Microplastics are of concern because animals might starve with a full belly after uptaking large amounts of microplastics. As well, particles with sharp edges can injure the mucous layer of the gastrointestinal tract. Furthermore, persistent organic pollutants adhere at plastic and thus, may cause adverse impacts on the animal. We show options for solutions and indicate selected organisations working on the development of solution"

"How many mammal species live in the forest? It sounds like a simple question, but the actual distributions of shy, small or rare mammals are often murky, confounding conservationists seeking to protect them. Yet a paper published online on Tuesday in the journal Molecular Ecology explores a new way to track biodiversity: by capturing flies that feed on carcasses. The flies' stomachs offer DNA diaries of their recent meals, giving scientists clues to which animals live and die in the forest. "The animals are there, but you just don't see them," said Fabian Leendertz, a wildlife epidemiologist at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin and an author of the paper. "Those flies will find them and will tell us what is there"

"The unfortunate reality is that a person is likelier build a billion dollar company by writing code than by treating cancer. " (THX James Taylor ‏@JTBiotech ) @Spatzlhirn an @JTBiotech "As with many walks in life, the most glamorous legacies tend to get the most attention and the least are neglected"

UrtheCast (pronounced "EarthCast") is a company created around a unique vision: to provide the world's first ever, live HD video feed of Earth from space. Working in an exclusive relationship with world-famous Russian Aerospace giant RSC Energia, UrtheCast is building, launching, installing, and operating two cameras on the Russian module of the International Space Station. Starting in mid-2012, video data of the Earth collected by our cameras will be down-linked to ground stations around the planet and then displayed in near real time on the UrtheCast web platform or distributed directly to our exclusive partners and customers.

""We probably have underestimated the role our microbial flora play in modulating disease risk," says Daniel Rader, a heart disease specialist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Rader, who was not involved in the study, says that gut bacteria may not be as big a factor in causing heart disease as diabetes or smoking, but could be important in tipping some people toward sickness. Researchers led by Stanley Hazen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, didn't start out to study gut bacteria. In fact, says Hazen, he had "no clue - zero," that intestinal microbes were involved in heart disease. "I'd never even considered it or thought of the concept." Hazen and his colleagues compared blood plasma from healthy people to plasma from people who had had heart attacks, strokes or died to see if substances in the blood could predict who is in danger from heart disease. The researchers found 18 small molecules associated with fat buildup in the arteries. One of the best predictors turned out to be a byproduct made when gut bacteria break down a fat called choline (also known as lecithin). The more of this byproduct, called trimethylamine N-oxide or TMAO, a person or mouse has in the blood, the higher the risk of getting heart disease, the researchers found. Gut bacteria are actually middlemen in TMAO production. The microbes convert lecithin to a gas that smells like rotten fish. Then an enzyme in the liver changes the foul-smelling gas to TMAO."

"We are a superficial species. And this brings me to a fascinating new paper by an all star team of psychologists, including Kurt Gray, Joshua Knobe, Mark Sheskin, Paul Bloom and Lisa Feldman Barrett.. we automatically assume that the capacity to think and the capacity to feel are in opposition. It's a zero sum game. What does all this have to do with nakedness? The psychologists demonstrated it's quite easy to shift our perceptions of other people from having a mind full of agency to having a mind interested in experience: all they have to do is take off their clothes."

NASA.gov brings you images, videos and interactive features from the unique perspective of America's space agency. Get the latest updates on NASA missions, subscribe to blogs, RSS feeds and podcasts, watch NASA TV live, or simply read about our mission to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.

Making a public commitment to your goals reduces motivation.

The Exploratorium isn't just a museum, it's an ongoing exploration of science, art, and human perception-a vast collection of online interactives, web features, activities, programs and events that feed your curiosity.