New bacteria found living on Titanic wreck
OTTAWA, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A new bacteria has been found in the wreck of the Titanic, growing in "rusticles," icicle-like structures on the ship's rusting iron, Canadian researchers say.
The previously unknown bacteria, Halomonas titanicae, was found in samples of rusticles taken from the Titanic by the Mir 2 robotic submersible in 1991, the BBC reported Monday.
Researchers from Dalhousie University and the Ontario Science Center in Canada and the University of Seville in Spain isolated the bacteria from those samples.
DNA sequencing showed them to be a new species of the Halomonas genus found in salt water environments.
The bacteria may shed light on the mechanism by which rusticles form and the "recycling" that such microbes carry out on submerged metal structures, the researchers said.
Such findings could have relevance to the protection of offshore oil and gas pipelines and the safe disposal at sea of ships and oil rigs, they said.
The find has been published in the journal International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.
Computer error blamed in Russian launch
MOSCOW, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A programming error has been blamed in the unsuccessful launch of three Russian satellites that failed to achieve orbit, Russian space industry sources say.
A Proton-M carrier rocket launched Sunday was to put the satellites in orbit to complete Russia's Glonass satellite navigation system, RIA Novosti reported.
Following the launch from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, however, the rocket veered off course, resulting in the loss of a booster section with the satellites.
The spacecraft reportedly fell into the Pacific Ocean to the northwest of Hawaii.
"According to preliminary information, there were no technical problems with the Proton itself during lift-off," a source told RIA Novosti.
"A range of specialists consider that program errors in Proton's on-board computer led to the engines failing to function as normal, giving the rocket an extra boost and taking it into the wrong orbit," the source said.
Glonass, designed for both military and civilian use, is the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered an investigation into the loss of the satellites, RIA Novosti said.
Race is on to rescue stranded turtles
BOSTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Volunteers in Massachusetts say they are rescuing an unprecedented number of endangered sea turtles stranded on Cape Cod beaches this winter.
Scientists and volunteers are finding juvenile sea turtles, mostly endangered Kemp's ridleys, in what is predicted to be the worst year on record for turtle strandings, The Boston Globe reported Monday.
More than 170 turtles have already been found on the cape, most of them transported to the New England Aquarium's Animal Care Center in Quincy.
"We are expecting more, because we are mostly seeing little ones," which are affected by the cold earlier in the season, said Connie Merigo, director of the aquarium's rescue and rehabilitation program.
This summer had the most sea turtles seen off Cape Cod in 40 years, officials said, suggesting many more may be stranded as water temperatures drop.
Kemp's ridley turtles become immobilized when water temperatures fall below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. They are unable to paddle, or even to feed, and ocean currents and winds drive them ashore.
Most turtles are found between Halloween and New Year's, after which water temperatures are usually too cold to allow even the largest to survive, the Globe reported.
Climate change may mean new crop strategy
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Farmers in the U.S. Midwest could get permanent Southern-style weather if future climate change projections are accurate, researchers say.
Scientists at Purdue University say warmer average temperatures and precipitation extremes in the Corn Belt could force farmers to shift to more climate-appropriate crops or management strategies, a university release said Monday.
Indiana's climate by the year 2100 could be like that of Virginia in the winter and Oklahoma in the summer, Purdue agricultural economist Otto Doering says.
Winter temperatures in Virginia average in the mid- to upper 40s, and Oklahoma summer days regularly top 90 degrees.
As the climate changes, farmers will be confronted with major meteorological challenges, Doering says.
"Rainfall variability with a smaller number of storms over the growing season and more intense storms are things we'll have to watch out for," Doering says.
"Then there's temperature. One area of concern is warmer winters," he says. "That might mean pests wouldn't be wiped out as much like on those days in January where it's below zero and the cold permeates the ground."
A possible benefit from warmer annual temperatures is the prospect of more farmers growing soybeans and winter wheat in the same crop year.
"Double cropping," as it is called, is practiced in Indiana mostly in southern counties because temperatures warm earlier in the spring and remain warm later into the fall.
"I think we'll see more of the soybean-wheat double crop moving northward in Indiana, to the point where in 30 or 40 years we may see this kind of opportunity very viable for central Indiana," Doering said.
