WETLANET SEED REVIEW


The selective laziness of reasoning


http://www.seedresearchlibrary.com/environment- climate-research-projects/167/wetlanet-protects- the-world’s-wetlands


Research published in Cognitive Science suggests that people use more stringent criteria when they evaluate others’ arguments than when they produce arguments themselves. To demonstrate this “selective laziness,” the researchers used what is called a choice blindness manipulation. In two experiments, participants had to produce a series of arguments in response to reasoning problems, and they were


R


esearchers in Bulgaria are making great strides in understanding and spreading knowledge of wetlands areas and how to manage and conserve them. The


WETLANET project, based at the country’s Academy of Sciences in Sofia, is fast becoming one of the world’s leading wetlands research facilities as it contributes to the restoration and protection of these critical ecosystems The aim of WETLANET has been to enhance the


research potential at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences by strengthening a local network of laboratories for studying the functions, restoration and management of wetland ecosystems. Wetlands are extremely important to the global


environment. As well as supporting a large range of plants and animals, they prevent soil erosion and, by slowing down the flow of surface water, they reduce flooding on surrounding land while removing and storing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. In addition, they play a significant role in delivering fresh water and promoting tourism. These ecosystems, however, have not been managed


well. During the past century, it is estimated that half of the world’s wetlands have been lost because of pollution, drainage, conversion to farmland and the building of dams. Global warming is a big threat to wetlands systems. “Climate change


creates a great challenge for the


conservation of natural areas,” says Professor Boyko Georgiev. “We expect serious changes in the ecosystem of


mostly the invasion and mass development of species typical for subtropical and tropical waters. Some of them may have catastrophic effects for the marine ecosystems by affecting native species of key importance.”


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the Black Sea due to the increased temperatures,


then asked to evaluate other people’s arguments about the same problems. Unknown to the participants, in one of the trials, they were presented with their own argument as if it was someone else’s. Among those participants who accepted the manipulation and thus thought they were evaluating someone else’s argument, more than half rejected the arguments that were in fact their own. Moreover, participants were more likely to reject their own arguments for invalid than for valid answers. This demonstrates that people are better able to tell valid from invalid arguments when the arguments are someone else’s rather than their own.


Developing the tools to find new generation antibiotics


S


cientists at the University of York have taken an important step in the search to find new antibiotics that are effective against


resistant bacteria. Research led by Professor Maggie


Smith in the Department of Biology at York will


provide new tools for


creating stable genetically engineered strains that could lead to improvements to existing antibiotics and the development of new ones. The study, published in Applied and


Environmental Microbiology, used novel genetic engineering tools to manipulate the genes required for antibiotic biosynthesis.


The new


tools will enable scientists to create new antibiotics. In a proof of principle experiment,


the researchers effectively mixed and matched the genes from different


antibiotic biosynthesis pathways to make new antibiotics. They took genes from the biosynthesis pathways for the antibiotics erythromycin and angolomycin to create new molecules that appeared to have antibiotic activity. The technique could ‘unlock’ the


antibiotic potential of a significantly larger number of biosynthetic pathways than traditional methods of producing antibiotics. Professor Smith said: “We are running out of antibiotics and we need to find ways to improve the ones that we have to make them effective against resistant bacteria or we have to either find new ones. It is important to provide the tools to facilitate more innovative experiments for the growing number of researchers who are interested in manipulating antibiotic pathways.


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