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Talking Points

Nüsslein, international team find Amazon deforestation brings loss of microbial communities

An international team of microbiologists led by Klaus Nüsslein, associate professor of Microbiology, has found that a troubling net loss in diversity among the microbial organisms responsible for a functioning ecosystem is accompanying deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
 
Nüsslein, an expert in tropical rain forest microbial soil communities, says, “We found that after rainforest conversion to agricultural pastures, bacterial communities were significantly different from those of forest soils.

Kusner teams with physicists to advance future liquid crystal applications

Contributing geometric and topological analyses of micro-materials, mathematician Robert Kusner aided experimental physicists at the University of Colorado (CU) by successfully explaining the observed “beautiful and complex patterns revealed” in three-dimensional liquid crystal experiments. The work is expected to lead to creation of new materials that can be actively controlled.
 
Kusner is a geometer, an expert in the analysis of variational problems in low-dimensional geometry and topology, which concerns properties preserved under continuous deformation such as stretching and bending.

To outsmart malarial drug resistance, researchers develop new whole-plant strategy

Malaria brings misery and death to millions in the developing world each year, and fighting it keeps medical researchers up at night because the mosquito-borne parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which causes the deadliest form of the disease, has developed resistance to every drug thrown at it. Resistance has cut short the useful life of nearly every therapy tried so far, experts say.
 
But now molecular parasitologist Stephen Rich has led a research team who report a promising new low-cost combined therapy with a much higher chance of outwitting P. falciparum than current modes.

SPHHS toy drive brightens holidays for children at Springfield's Square One

The School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS) collected more than 200 toys to benefit the children at Square One, the Springfield-based early childhood education program whose building was damaged in a gas explosion last month.

Together, students, faculty, and staff in each of the school's four departments, along with many others throughout the campus community, donated toys for children ages 15 months to 5 years.

SPHHS organizers thanked everyone who participated in the toy drive and helped make a difference in a child's life this holiday season.

Photo: School of Public Health and

Climate model is first to study effects of Arctic hurricanes

Though it seems like an oxymoron, Arctic hurricanes happen, complete with a central “eye,” extreme low barometric pressure and towering 30-foot waves that can sink small ships and coat metal platforms with thick ice, threatening oil and gas exploration. Now climate scientists in the Geosciences Department and in England report the first conclusive evidence that Arctic hurricanes, also known as polar lows, play a significant role in driving ocean water circulation and climate.
 
Results point to potentially cooler conditions in Europe and North America in the 21st century than other models

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