Environmental stress triggers substantial alterations in animal physiology and, in some cases, brain structure. Using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a new study reports that unfavorable conditions lead to dramatic dendrite remodeling in neurons that mediate an adaptive dispersal behavior.

For many years CFCs were used in a vast range of applications, but the adverse environmental impact of their release into the atmosphere [1,2] has led to an international effort to replace them with acceptable alternatives. The Montreal Protocol [3] led to the phase out of CFCs in industrialized countries because of their elevated ozone depletion and global warming potentials (ODP and GWP). Dev...

Healthy, productive farmland separates humans from famine, making wise agricultural practices crucial to everyone. Plant scientists at universities and companies throughout the world endeavour to improve the quality, quantity, safety and sustainability of agricultural production, and their efforts have proven highly successful. Despite the remarkable success of a number of genetically engineere...

There is an explosion in the number of labs analyzing cannabinoids in marijuana (Cannabis sativa L., Cannabaceae) but existing methods are inefficient, require expert analysts, and use large volumes of potentially environmentally damaging solvents. The objective of this work was to develop and validate an accurate method for analyzing cannabinoids in cannabis raw materials and finished products...

C8 Phased Out of Food Wrappers In July 2012 the U.S. FDA released a statement that manufacturers had voluntarily ceased selling agents containing the compound C8 for food-contact use the prior summer. At that time, manufacturers had predicted stocks of the agents and packaging containing them would be depleted within a year. C8, or perfluorooctanoic acid, was used to keep oil and grease from se...

In the past two centuries the New Zealand environment has changed dramatically under the impact of European colonisation and the establishment of intensive agricultural systems. This massive environmental shift has led to major changes in the abundance of our native fauna. Many previously abundant species have been reduced to low numbers or even extinction, but a few endemic species have manage...

Departing from prior work that demonstrates the stickiness and stability of alliance networks resulting from embeddedness, we extend matching theory to study firms‟ withdrawal from alliances. Viewing alliance withdrawal as a result of firms‟ pursuit of more promising alternative partners – outside options – rather than failures in collaboration, we predict that a firm is more likely to withdraw...

Research The incidence of asthma has escalated over the past 20 years. Increasingly, initial asthma episodes are observed early in life (Holt 1998; Weiss 1998). In 2004, nearly 30% of the 30 million diagnosed asthmatics in the United States were < 18 years of age. The highest asthma prevalence rate (148/1,000) exists in 5-to 17-year-olds (American Lung Association 2006). Despite the often early...

The government green purchase is widely considered to be an effective means of promoting sustainable consumption. However, how to identify the greener product is the biggest obstacle of government green purchase and it has not been well solved. A quantitative evaluation method is provided to measure the green degree of different products of the same use function with an indicator system establi...