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Gizmorama - August 4, 2014
Good Morning, Talk about a strong constitution, the desert woodrat of the Mojave desert survives by eating leaves of the creosote bush, totally unaffected by the toxic resin that coats the plant's foliage. That's amazing! I'm so jealous. I can barely stand my husband's cooking.
Learn about this and more interesting stories from the cientific community in today's issue.
Until Next Time,
ErinP.S. Did you miss an issue? You can read every issue from the Gophercentral library of newsletters on our exhaustive archives page. Thousands of issues, all of your favorite publications in chronological order. You can read AND comment. Just click
GopherArchives****----- Space surveillance satellites being sent into orbit -----*WASHINGTON (UPI) - Three U.S. Air Force satellites were being launched into space on Wednesday to provide a "space neighborhood watch" capability.
Two of the spacecraft will be operational satellites of the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP, and will provide the U.S. Strategic Command with space situational awareness data allowing for more accurate tracking and identification of orbiting objects.
The third will be an experimental satellite in near-geosynchronous orbit. It is part of a program called Automated Navigation and Guidance Experiment for Local Space.
ANGELS will conduct safe research activities around the upper stage of its Delta IV launch vehicle.
"ANGELS will test new space situational awareness techniques and technologies while performing safe, automated spacecraft operations to support and enhance future U.S. missions," the Air Force said.
"...These operational and experimental systems will enhance the nation's ability to monitor and assess events regarding our military and commercial systems," said Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James. "In essence, they will create a space neighborhood watch capability."
The two GSSAP spacecraft and the ANGELS experimental satellite were being launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on the same United Launch Alliance Delta IV booster.
*-- Woodrats subsist on toxic plants thanks to gut microbes --*SALT LAKE CITY (UPI) - The desert woodrat of the Mojave desert in the Western United States subsists almost exclusively on poisonous plants -- plants that would, in equivalent amounts, make most other animals extremely ill. But the woodrats is perfectly content to fill its stomach with the leaves of the creosote bush, totally unaffected by the toxic resin that coats the plant's foliage.
Scientists have previously isolated liver enzymes as a key for other herbivores that digest toxic plants, but researchers suspected microbes in the gut also helped mammals break down poisons. A new study by researchers at the University of Utah proves as much.
In lab tests, woodrats were not able process creosote leaves after antibiotics mitigated the beneficial gut microbes. Likewise, woodrats raised in captivity and unadapted to the consumption of creosote were able to eat the poisonous leaves after being gifted specific transplanted microbes.
The study -- published in the journal Ecology Letters -- suggests mammals previously incapable of eating poisonous leaves can acquire tolerance.
"Mammals acquire microbes during birth, through contact with their mother's vaginal and fecal microbes," explained lead author Kevin Kohl. "Other possible places to get microbes include leaf surfaces, the soil or feces that woodrats collect from other animals."
The study has significant implications for agriculture. As natural food sources become more scarce in the arid lands of the West, domestic animals like sheep and cattle could potentially benefit from gut microbes that help them digest toxic plants.
"Juniper is expanding its range, and ecologists and land managers are concerned," Kohl said. "Farmers are interested in getting their sheep and goats to eat juniper."
Additionally, the experiments point to another potential consequence of filling cattle full of antibiotics, drugs that could deplete the mammals' ability to digest toxic grasses and leaves.
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