Johan Marius Nicolaas "Johannes" Heesters (born 5 December 1903) is a Dutch actor, singer and entertainer with a 90-year career, almost exclusively in the German-speaking world. In Germany and Austria, Heesters is mainly known for his acting career. As of 2011, aged 107, Heesters is the oldest performer worldwide who is still active, both on the stage and on television.
YouTube - Johannes Heesters - 107. Geburtstag.
The effects of climate change and population growth on agricultural land area vary from region to region, according to a new study by University of Illinois researchers.
Regions with relative high latitudes – China, Russia and the U.S. – could see a significant increase in arable land in coming years, but Africa, Europe and India and South America could lose land area.
Civil and environmental engineering professor Ximing Cai and graduate student Xiao Zhang published their findings in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
While most other studies of climate change and agriculture have focused on projected crop yields, the Illinois researchers assessed global and regional land availability. Using international land and climate datasets and remote-sensing land-use maps, they systematically studied worldwide changes in soil temperature and humidity with a resolution of one square kilometer.
"This study presents the main patterns and trends of the distribution of potential arable land and the possible impacts of climate change from a biophysical perspective," Cai said. "The possible gains and losses of arable land in various regions worldwide may generate tremendous impacts in the upcoming decades upon regional and global agricultural commodity production, demand and trade, as well as on the planning and development of agricultural and engineering infrastructures."
Cai and Zhang's model allowed them to address the many sources of uncertainty in trying to predict climate change, such as levels of greenhouse gas emissions, climate model uncertainty and ambiguity in land-use classification. They applied the model to several projected scenarios to uncover both regional and global trends in land availability.
When considering effects of climate change, residential sprawl as population grows and natural conservation, the global total of potential arable land in all scenarios decreased by the end of the 21st century, by a margin of 0.8 to 4.4 percent. However, much larger changes were predicted regionally. For example, arable land area could increase by 37 to 67 percent in Russia, while Africa could lose up to 18 percent of its farmland.
via Study predicts large regional changes in farmland area.
Jocelyn Duffy - There are billions of neurons in the brain and at any given time tens of thousands of these neurons might be trying to send signals to one another. Much like a person trying to be heard by his friend across a crowded room, neurons must figure
out the best way to get their message heard above the din.
Researchers from the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, a joint program between Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, have found two ways that neurons accomplish this, establishing a fundamental mechanism by which neurons communicate. The findings have been published in an online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). ...
Over the short time scale of a few milliseconds, the brain engaged its inhibitory circuitry to make the neurons fire in synchrony. This simultaneous, correlated firing creates a loud, but simple, signal. The effect was much like a crowd at a sporting event chanting, "Let's go team!" Over short time intervals, individual neurons produced the same short message, increasing the effectiveness with which activity was transmitted to other brain areas. The researchers say that in both human and neuronal communication alike, this collective communication works well for simple messages, but not for longer or more complex messages that contain more intricate information.
The neurons studied used longer timescales (around one second) to convey these more complex concepts. Over longer time intervals, the inhibitory circuitry generated a form of competition between neurons, so that the more strongly activated neurons silenced the activity of weakly activated neurons, enhancing the differences in their firing rates and making their activity less correlated. Each neuron was able to communicate a different piece of information about the stimulus without being drowned out by the chatter of competing neurons. It would be like being in a group where each person spoke in turn. The room would be much quieter than a sports arena and the immediate audience would be able to listen and learn much more complex information.
Researchers believe that the findings can be applied beyond the olfactory system to other neural systems, and perhaps even be used in other biological systems.
"Across biology, from genetics to ecology, systems must simultaneously complete multiple functions. The solution we found in neuroscience can be applied to other systems to try to understand how they manage competing demands," Urban said.
via 'Can you hear me now?' Researchers detail how neurons decide how to transmit information.
Michael Bernstein - A new scientific study positions walnuts in the No. 1 slot among a family of foods that lay claim to being among Mother Nature's most nearly perfect packaged foods: Tree and ground nuts. In a report here today at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, scientists presented an analysis showing that walnuts have a combination of more healthful antioxidants and higher quality antioxidants than any other nut.
"Walnuts rank above peanuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios and other nuts," said Joe Vinson, Ph.D., who did the analysis. "A handful of walnuts contains almost twice as much antioxidants as an equivalent amount of any other commonly consumed nut. But unfortunately, people don't eat a lot of them. This study suggests that consumers should eat more walnuts as part of a healthy diet."
Vinson noted that nuts in general have an unusual combination of nutritional benefits — in addition those antioxidants — wrapped into a convenient and inexpensive package. Nuts, for instance, contain plenty of high-quality protein that can substitute for meat; vitamins and minerals; dietary fiber; and are dairy- and gluten-free. Years of research by scientists around the world link regular consumption of small amounts of nuts or peanut butter with decreased risk of heart disease, certain kinds of cancer, gallstones, Type 2 diabetes, and other health problems.
Despite all the previous research, scientists until now had not compared both the amount and quality of antioxidants found in different nuts, Vinson said. He filled that knowledge gap by analyzing antioxidants in nine different types of nuts: walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamias, and pecans. Walnuts had the highest levels of antioxidants.
Vinson also found that the quality, or potency, of antioxidants present in walnuts was highest among the nuts. Antioxidants in walnuts were 2-15 times as potent as vitamin E, renowned for its powerful antioxidant effects that protect the body against damaging natural chemicals involved in causing disease.
"There's another advantage in choosing walnuts as a source of antioxidants," said Vinson, who is with the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. "The heat from roasting nuts generally reduces the quality of the antioxidants. People usually eat walnuts raw or unroasted, and get the full effectiveness of those antioxidants." ...
via Walnuts are top nut for heart-healthy antioxidants.
Researchers at the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) of the University of Amsterdam have discovered a universal property of musical scales. Until now it was assumed that the only thing scales throughout the world have in common is the octave.
The many hundreds of scales, however, seem to possess a deeper commonality: if their tones are compared in a two- or three-dimensional way by means of a coordinate system, they form convex or star-convex structures. Convex structures are patterns without indentations or holes, such as a circle, square or oval.
Almost all music in the world is based on an underlying scale from which compositions are built. In Western music, the major scale (do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do) is the best known scale. However, there are many other scales in use, such as the minor and the chromatic scale. Besides these 'traditional' scales there are also artificial scales created by modern composers. At a superficial level, scales consist of an ascending or descending sequence of tones where the initial and final tones are separated by an octave, which means the frequency of the final tone is twice that of the initial tone (the fundamental).
By placing scales in a coordinate system (an 'Euler lattice') they can be studied as multidimensional objects. Dr. Aline Honingh and Prof. Rens Bod from the ILLC did this for nearly 1,000 scales from all over the world, from Japan to Indonesia and from China to Greece. To their surprise, they discovered that all traditional scales produced star-convex patterns. This was also the case with almost 97% of non-traditional, scales conceived by contemporary composers, even though contemporary composers often state they have designed unconventional scales. This percentage is very high, because the probability that a random series of notes will produce a star-convex pattern is very small.
via Universal property of music discovered.
...it's actually a concept that's been kicking around for some 200 years that, for no particular reason, simply hasn't been developed.
Last week, team leader Ludovico Cademartiri showed the 241st National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society how electricity could bend, twist, turn and flicker flame.
And yes, it can even snuff it out.
Dr Cademartiri proved it for the society by shooting a beam of electricity from a "wand" at 30cm-high flames.
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Almost instantly, it was snuffed out, time and time again.
The wand was channelling about the same amount of power as a high-end car stereo system, which Dr Cademartiri said was about 10 times more than he thought was necessary.
That means a similar device could be carried in a backpack - in other words, future firefighters could all be carrying portable, fire-quelling magic wands.
"Our research has shown that by applying large electric fields we can suppress flames very rapidly," he said.
"We're very excited about the results of this relatively unexplored area of research."
Which is not surprising. Rather than douse your entire home or office with thousands of litres of water or foam, your local hero simply waves his wand, parting the flames for you and your family to escape before performing an extinguishing sweep, yes?
It's about now that we'd say the future vision doesn't quite live up to the present reality, but Dr Cademartiri says there's no reason why not.
He says carbon particles, or soot, generated in the flame are the keys to its response to electric fields.
Soot particles can easily become charged. The charged particles respond to the electric field, affecting the stability of flames, he said. ... The idea holds particular promise for enclosed spaces, such as airplanes and submarines. ...
via DARPA gets behind bid to put flame-quelling electric wands in the hands of firefighters | Herald Sun.
Several hundred dead starfish have been found washed up on a north Wales beach.
It comes following the discovery at Talybont, between Harlech and Barmouth in Gwynedd.
Council maritime officer Barry Davies said it is common for starfish to be washed ashore during spring tides but it was not clear why they had migrated so far up the shoreline.
Barmouth harbour committee chairman said an inquiry is needed.
Councillor Trefor Roberts said: "What I would like is a full scientist report on what caused the deaths of these starfish."
Mr Davies said he did not think anything suspicious has led to the deaths of the starfish.
Seagulls
He said that the common starfish - found around the UK coast - feed on mussels and other crustaceans and while there is no clear reason why the starfish migrated so far along the coast he felt one reason could be a shortage of food.
"We are confident that the cause is not related to pollution or to a vessel having dredged the starfish and discarded the starfish overboard," he said.
Although a distressing sight to see, he said the starfish were not a hazard and would probably be consumed by seagulls. ...
via BBC News - Hundreds of dead starfish wash up on Talybont beach.
A Tanzanian pastor has asked people to stop going to his remote home for a "miracle cure" after thousands flocked there, causing chaos in the surrounding area.
Rev Ambilikile "Babu" Mwasapile, 76, says he does not want any new arrivals until after Friday 1 April, to let the crowds die down.
Local media report that about 52 people have died while waiting to see him.
A BBC reporter says the queues to see him stretch for 26km (16 miles).
Belief in magic and the powers of traditional healers are widespread in Tanzania.
Some witchdoctors say that the body parts of people with albinism are effective when making magic charms, leading to the killing of dozens of albinos in recent years.
In 2009, the government outlawed all witchdoctors and traditional healers.
But on Monday, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said he would not take any action to stop Mr Mwasapile's activities.
Mr Mwasapile's concoction is made from herbs and water, which he sells for 500 Tanzanian shillings (five cents; 3p).
When she visited Mr Mwasapile's home near the northern Loliondo town recently, the BBC's Caroline Karobia found 6,000 people waiting to see the retired Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT) pastor. ...
via BBC News - Tanzanian 'miracle' pastor Mwasapile calls for a break.
Traditional wisdom states that our younger years are the best of our lives, with the milestone of 40 meaning we are "over the hill" and already on the wane.
But in fact satisfaction and optimism steadily increase after middle age, easily eclipsing the earlier years and peaking as late as the eighties, according to research.
An easing of the responsibilities of middle age combined with maturity and the ability to focus on the things we enjoy combine to make old age far more enjoyable than one might expect.
This is greatly increased by having good health, a stable income and good relationships with family and friends, according to scientists.
Lewis Wolpert, emeritus professor of biology at University College London, who explained the findings in a new book called You're Looking Very Well, said most people were "averagely happy" in their teens and twenties, declining until early middle age as they try to support a family and a career.
via Happiness peaks in our eighties - Telegraph.
A variation in the gene FOXO3A is known to have a positive effect on the life expectancy of humans, and is found much more often in people living to 100 and beyond - moreover, this appears to be true worldwide. ... Men and women who are 100 or older tend to have something else in common, an extroverted personality, says Thomas T. Perls, M.D., M.P.H., the director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University. Centenarians will often have many friends, strong ties to relatives and a healthy dose of self-esteem. - wikipedia
Itching can be "caught" just by watching someone else having a good scratch, scientists have confirmed.
It is a phenomenon that can leave entire rooms full of people scratching at the merest mention of fleas or lice. Now scientists have proven for the first time that itching really can be contagious.
In a condition known as itch transmission, the researchers have shown that the sensation of an itch can be caught visually in the same way as yawning.
They found that simply watching a video of someone else scratching was enough to induce and intensify itching in volunteers.
Even when they were given a few drops of a liquid designed to induce itching on a patch of their skin, the volunteers tended to scratch more on random parts of their body. ...
via Itching really can be contagious scientists prove - Telegraph.
Parts of the Bible were written by people who lied about their identity, an author has claimed.
Bart D Ehrman claims many books of the New Testament were forged by people pretending to be the apostles Peter, Paul or James.
Writing in the Huffington Post, Professor Ehrman, best selling author of 'Misquoting Jesus' and 'Jesus, Interrupted', said religious scholars were well aware of the 'lies' of the Bible.
While some were happy to acknowledge them others refer to them as 'pseudepigrapha' - meaning a falsely attributed work -, he wrote.
In his new book , Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are, Professor Ehrman claims The Second Epistle of Peter - or 2 Peter - was forged.
'...scholars everywhere - except for our friends among the fundamentalists - will tell you that there is no way on God's green earth that Peter wrote the book.
'Someone else wrote it claiming to be Peter,' he writes.
He then suggests scholars who say it was acceptable in the ancient world for someone to write a book in the name of someone else, are wrong.
'If you look at what ancient people actually said about the practice, you'll see that they invariably called it lying and condemned it as a deceitful practice, even in Christian circles,' Professor Ehrman writes.
Many scholars think six of the 13 letters allegedly written by Paul were actually authored by somebody else claiming to be Paul, Professor Ehrman claims.
'In the ancient world, books like that were labelled as pseudoi - lies,' he writes.
Professor Ehrman also claims the author of the book of 1 Timothy claimed to be Paul but in actual fact was someone living after Paul had died.
The author then used the apostle's name to address a problem he saw in church, according to Professor Ehrman.
'Women were speaking out, exercising authority and teaching men. That had to stop,' he writes.
'The author told women to be silent and submissive, and reminded his readers about what happened the first time a woman was allowed to exercise authority over a man, in that little incident in the garden of Eden.
'No, the author argued, if women wanted to be saved, they were to have babies (1 Tim. 2:11-15).'
Paul is known as one of history's great misogynists, largely based on this passage from the Bible.
But Professor Ehrman argues this label is not necessarily justified because he wasn't the one to write it.
'And why does it matter? Because the passage is still used by church leaders today to oppress and silence women,' writes Professor Ehrman. ...
via Bart D Ehrman: Parts of Bible's New Testament written by 'pretend apostles' | Mail Online.
A schoolboy skier was recovering in hospital today after being attacked by a bear in one of Europe’s biggest resorts.
The youngster, who has not yet been named, fell into a cave in Funäsdalen, Sweden, while out on the slopes with his friends yesterday.
He landed next to a hibernating bear who immediately woke up and began biting the boy.
‘It was a savage attack,’ said a local police spokesman.
‘The startled bear bit the boy on both legs, and ran his claws down his back.
‘The boy was able to free himself, however, and ran away from the animal. He was rushed to hospital in Ostersund where he was treated for very serious injuries.’
The police spokesman said the bear was later located but was not shot because he was not considered a further threat to civilians.
via Schoolboy in hospital after falling into cave and being attacked by hibernating bear | Mail Online.
- The main chemical in the curry spice turmeric could be the basis for cheap explosives detectors, say researchers.
The curcumin molecule is already well-known in medicine for its anti-cancer and anti-oxidant properties.
Now, research presented at the American Physical Society meeting suggests it could replace more complex solutions to spot explosives like TNT.
As it gathers molecules of explosive material in air, changes in its light-emitting properties can be measured.
This "fluorescence spectroscopy" is already employed in a wide array of sensing and analysis techniques.
Illuminating some chemicals causes them to re-emit light of a different colour, sometimes for extended periods - an effect exploited in, for example, glow-in-the-dark materials.
The intensity of this re-emitted light can change if different molecules bind to the fluorescent ones, and that is how sensing techniques exploit the effect. ...
via BBC News - Curry powder molecule 'is cheap sensor for explosives'.
Scientists were this week amazed after the discovery of space's dimmest and coldest star - with a temperature the same as a cup of tea.
The two brown dwarf stars stunned astronomers when they were spotted through a set of three high-powered telescopes.
Both of them are about the same size as Jupiter but the smaller, more distant, star has a surface temperature of around 100 degrees.
The incredibly cool temperature - the same as a freshly boiled cup of tea - makes it the coldest one in the night sky.
A warmer and brighter companion had originally obscured the brown dwarf which has been named CFBDSIR J1458+1013B.
But with new, more powerful telescopes, astronomers were able to see the star, which is almost five times dimmer and 130 degrees cooler than the previous record.
The brown dwarf may represent a new class of cosmic objects straddling the division between stars and planets.
via 'Brown dwarf' has chance to shine after new telescope sees beyond brighter companion | Mail Online.
Michael Bernstein - Your next new car hopefully won't be a lemon. But it could be a pineapple or a banana. That's because scientists in Brazil have developed a more effective way to use fibers from these and other plants in a new generation of automotive plastics that are stronger, lighter, and more eco-friendly than plastics now in use. They described the work, which could lead to stronger, lighter, and more sustainable materials for cars and other products, here today at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Study leader Alcides Leão, Ph.D., said the fibers used to reinforce the new plastics may come from delicate fruits like bananas and pineapples, but they are super strong. Some of these so-called nano-cellulose fibers are almost as stiff as Kevlar, the renowned super-strong material used in armor and bulletproof vests. Unlike Kevlar and other traditional plastics, which are made from petroleum or natural gas, nano-cellulose fibers are completely renewable.
"The properties of these plastics are incredible," Leão said, "They are light, but very strong — 30 per cent lighter and 3-to-4 times stronger. We believe that a lot of car parts, including dashboards, bumpers, side panels, will be made of nano-sized fruit fibers in the future. For one thing, they will help reduce the weight of cars and that will improve fuel economy."
Besides weight reduction, nano-cellulose reinforced plastics have mechanical advantages over conventional automotive plastics, Leão added. These include greater resistance to damage from heat, spilled gasoline, water, and oxygen. With automobile manufacturers already testing nano-cellulose-reinforced plastics, with promising results, he predicted they would be used within two years. ...
via 'Green' cars could be made from pineapples and bananas.
Michael Bernstein - Scientists today claimed one of the milestones in the drive for sustainable energy — development of the first practical artificial leaf. Speaking here at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, they described an advanced solar cell the size of a poker card that mimics the process, called photosynthesis, that green plants use to convert sunlight and water into energy.
"A practical artificial leaf has been one of the Holy Grails of science for decades," said Daniel Nocera, Ph.D., who led the research team. "We believe we have done it. The artificial leaf shows particular promise as an inexpensive source of electricity for homes of the poor in developing countries. Our goal is to make each home its own power station," he said. "One can envision villages in India and Africa not long from now purchasing an affordable basic power system based on this technology."
The device bears no resemblance to Mother Nature's counterparts on oaks, maples and other green plants, which scientists have used as the model for their efforts to develop this new genre of solar cells. About the shape of a poker card but thinner, the device is fashioned from silicon, electronics and catalysts, substances that accelerate chemical reactions that otherwise would not occur, or would run slowly. Placed in a single gallon of water in a bright sunlight, the device could produce enough electricity to supply a house in a developing country with electricity for a day, Nocera said. It does so by splitting water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen.
The hydrogen and oxygen gases would be stored in a fuel cell, which uses those two materials to produce electricity, located either on top of the house or beside it.
Nocera, who is with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, points out that the "artificial leaf" is not a new concept. The first artificial leaf was developed more than a decade ago by John Turner of the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. Although highly efficient at carrying out photosynthesis, Turner's device was impractical for wider use, as it was composed of rare, expensive metals and was highly unstable — with a lifespan of barely one day.
Nocera's new leaf overcomes these problems. It is made of inexpensive materials that are widely available, works under simple conditions and is highly stable. In laboratory studies, he showed that an artificial leaf prototype could operate continuously for at least 45 hours without a drop in activity.
The key to this breakthrough is Nocera's recent discovery of several powerful new, inexpensive catalysts, made of nickel and cobalt, that are capable of efficiently splitting water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen, under simple conditions. Right now, Nocera's leaf is about 10 times more efficient at carrying out photosynthesis than a natural leaf. However, he is optimistic that he can boost the efficiency of the artificial leaf much higher in the future.
"Nature is powered by photosynthesis, and I think that the future world will be powered by photosynthesis as well in the form of this artificial leaf," said Nocera, a chemist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.
via Debut of the first practical 'artificial leaf'.
Using an elaborate apparatus to study the inner-ear cells of the oyster toadfish (in clear plastic container, lower right), University of Utah bioengineering professor Richard Rabbitt found that infrared light similar to those in laser pointers -- but at a longer and invisible wavelength -- can make inner-ear "hair cells" send signals to adjacent nerve cells and then to the brain.
Lee Siegel - University of Utah scientists used invisible infrared light to make rat heart cells contract and toadfish inner-ear cells send signals to the brain. The discovery someday might improve cochlear implants for deafness and lead to devices to restore vision, maintain balance and treat movement disorders like Parkinson's.
"We're going to talk to the brain with optical infrared pulses instead of electrical pulses," which now are used in cochlear implants to provide deaf people with limited hearing, says Richard Rabbitt, a professor of bioengineering and senior author of the heart-cell and inner-ear-cell studies published this month in The Journal of Physiology.
The studies – funded by the National Institutes of Health – also raise the possibility of developing cardiac pacemakers that use optical signals rather than electrical signals to stimulate heart cells. But Rabbitt says that because electronic pacemakers work well, "I don't see a market for an optical pacemaker at the present time."
The scientific significance of the studies is the discovery that optical signals – short pulses of an invisible wavelength of infrared laser light delivered via a thin, glass optical fiber – can activate heart cells and inner-ear cells related to balance and hearing.
In addition, the research showed infrared activates the heart cells, called cardiomyocytes, by triggering the movement of calcium ions in and out of mitochondria, the organelles or components within cells that convert sugar into usable energy. The same process appears to occur when infrared light stimulates inner-ear cells.
Infrared light can be felt as heat, raising the possibility the heart and ear cells were activated by heat rather than the infrared radiation itself. But Rabbitt and colleagues did "elegant experiments" to show the cells indeed were activated by the infrared radiation, says a commentary in the journal by Ian Curthoys of the University of Sydney, Australia.
Curthoys writes that the research provides "stunningly bright insight" into events within inner-ear cells and "has great potential for future clinical application." ...
via Will we hear the light?.
Geoff Hilton- Making a video about a scientific experiment rather than writing up a presentation poster leads to better learning and clearer understanding of the concepts underpinning the experiment according to science educators in Australia. Writing in the International Journal of Innovation and Learning, the researchers explain how preparation and rehearsals for video production also helped with learning.
Geoff Hilton of the School of Education, at the University of Queensland in Brisbane asked two groups of year 7 students (one class with 21 students, one with 22) of mixed ability and mixed gender to complete a science investigation. One group was asked to record their findings in a written format to produce a science poster as the final part of the work. The second group was asked to produce a video instead. Hilton found that the completion of these two types of task once the science experiment was completed, elicited from the students a number of different behaviors that influenced their learning,
While many educators the world over are exploring the cutting edge of technology, much work remains to be done to explore how such rapidly developing digital technologies might improve education and so learning. Digital video might enhance learning, particularly by allowing students to capture the active, experimental, and visual nature of science. But, this notion beggars the question as to whether video would improve learning when compared with more conventional approaches. ...
via Video skilled the students so far.
Darwin's notion that only the fittest survive has been called into question by new research published today (27 March 2011) in Nature.
A collaboration between the Universities of Exeter and Bath in the UK, with a group from San Diego State University in the US, challenges our current understanding of evolution by showing that biodiversity may evolve where previously thought impossible.
The work represents a new approach to studying evolution that may eventually lead to a better understanding of the diversity of bacteria that cause human diseases.
Conventional wisdom has it that for any given niche there should be a best species, the fittest, that will eventually dominate to exclude all others.
This is the principle of survival of the fittest. Ecologists often call this idea the `competitive exclusion principle' and it predicts that complex environments are needed to support complex, diverse populations.
Professor Robert Beardmore, from the University of Exeter, said: "Microbiologists have tested this principle by constructing very simple environments in the lab to see what happens after hundreds of generations of bacterial evolution, about 3,000 years in human terms. It had been believed that the genome of only the fittest bacteria would be left, but that wasn't their finding. The experiments generated lots of unexpected genetic diversity."
This test tube biodiversity proved controversial when first observed and had been explained away with claims that insufficient time had been allowed to pass for a clear winner to emerge.
The new research shows the experiments were not anomalies.
Professor Laurence Hurst, of the University of Bath, said: "Key to the new understanding is the realisation that the amount of energy organisms squeeze out of their food depends on how much food they have. Give them abundant food and they use it inefficiently. When we combine this with the notion that organisms with different food-utilising strategies are also affected in different ways by genetic mutations, then we discover a new principle, one in which both the fit and the unfit coexist indefinitely." ...
via Research shows not only the fittest survive.
