June 20, 2011

Good Morning,

Decrepit trees may be unsightly, but a new study suggests
that we keep them around for the sake of the 1,000+ mammal species that call them home. Check out the first article or all the details on this study.

Until Next Time,
Erin

Questions? Comments? Email me at: mailto:gizmo@gophercentral.com
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Study: Old trees' decay creates nests

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Old trees must be protected to save the homes of more than 1,000 bird and mammal species living in them, a University of British Columbia study concluded. The study found that, outside of North America, most animals nest in tree holes formed by damage and decay, a process that may take centuries, the Vancouver university said in a release. The team examined the holes birds and mammals were using for nesting globally to learn how the holes were created and which species were using them, said team lead by Kathy Martin, a forestry professor. Tree holes are created quickly by woodpeckers or more slowly as trees age and begin to decay. Martin said the research team found that on most continents -- Asia, Australia, Europe and South America -- more than 75 percent of the holes used by birds and mammals were created by damage and decay. In North America, the team found woodpeckers were responsible for up to 99 percent of the cavities used by birds and mammals. "When wildlife depends on decay-formed cavities, they are relying on large living trees," said Martin, also a senior research scientist with Environment Canada. "Most trees have to be more than 100 years old before decay cavities begin to form and often several centuries old before large cavities or many cavities develop in one tree." The study was published in the June edition of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.


Black hole growth, galaxy formation linked

HONOLULU - A fundamental link exists between early black hole growth and galaxy formation in the very early universe, an observational study by U.S. scientists indicates. Ezequiel Treister of University of Hawaii and colleagues used archival X-ray observations to measure black hole growth in galaxies at high redshift, that is, distant galaxies from about 1 billion years after the Big Bang, Nature reported. The study was published Wednesday on Nature's Web site. The initial conditions of black hole seeding are erased quickly during the growth process, making direct observations of early formation of black holes difficult to obtain, scientists note. Also, much of the black hole growth is hidden by clouds of gas and dust that absorb most radiation. The new study not only pinpointed these mega-black holes, but also determined they were closely tied to the evolution of their parent galaxies, the researchers said. While scientists can't see a black hole itself, they can detect the material being pulled into it, Space.com reported. As the particles speed up, they emit massive amounts of energy. "It's actually natural to expect all of these [early] galaxies to have growing supermassive black holes," Treister told SPACE.com. "And yet people hadn't found them before." Supermassive black holes are huge objects that can have masses of up to millions or billions of times the mass of our sun. Smaller, stellar black holes form from the collapse of a single massive star, and can have masses of between 10 or 20 times the mass of the sun. Treister said he and his team searched for the first black holes indirectly. After using the Hubble Space Telescope to identify likely candidates, they studied their X-ray emission by using Chandra X-Ray Observatory.


Britain's crime database going online

LONDON - Officials at Britain's National Police Improvement Agency say records of up to 15 million people will be included in a new police database tracking criminals. The Police National Database will let police track criminals and their associates, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday. All 43 police agencies in England and Wales will have access to the database when it goes online next week. Some members of Parliament and civil liberties groups expressed concern about the size of the database and the fact it contains personal information about people who are victims of crimes, not just criminals. When the database goes online, more than 12,000 police officers and staff members will be able to access it. David Davis, a former Conservative shadow home secretary, is among those concerned about the size of the database. "Ten to 15 million people seems like an awful lot but the more concerning thing is that this is extremely dangerous information and we need to be certain that any access to this database is carefully monitored," Davis said. "Historically police databases have sometimes been made available to people outside of law enforcement agencies. This cannot be afforded for the PND to work properly."


GizmoVideo: Hubble Ultra Deep Space in 3D

Be prepared to enter the universe of Wonder as this video
clip takes us on a journey that attempts to get at the
enormity of our universe. Amazing...beautiful...and few
words can capture the awe of this video.

Click Here to Watch


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