“Most of the oxygen that you breathe comes from the ocean. The oceans are the primary climate adaptation system. They absorb carbon. Hey, listen, if you want to know what the Earth would be like without an ocean you’ve got plenty of examples in our solar system -- all those hot, dusty, dry, cold inhospitable places are basically that way because they do not have a liquid ocean to provide all these benefits, including food. One out of four people on the planet get their daily source of protein from the ocean.”
The Ocean Health Index uses two hundred separate measurements. Once a year, scientists will use it to announce whether the oceans successfully passed the test.
People have looked to nature for medicines since ancient times. And modern scientists have searched the world’s rainforests for new medicines. But the ocean may be an even better source. At least twenty-six drugs that come from sea organisms are currently being used or developed. And a new generation of chemists hopes to increase that number.
Chemist Mande Holford has an unusual partner in her hunt for new medicines: a fierce, little snail that eats fish. But she admits that her studies of the creature are not all scientific.
“I fell in love with snails because their shells are gorgeous.”
Yet the tongue-like proboscides of the snails are deadly. They inject their victims with venom made of poisonous chains of amino acids called peptides.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25