BiotechMashup

by Chunwang Dang, Yong Wang, Debao Zhang, Qin Yao, Keping Chen

Though much effort and many resources have been expended to protect the endangered giant panda, research by an international team of scientists shows that much suitable panda habitat is outside the nature reserves and areas where the panda is reported to live.

by Ke Jin, Chenyi Xue, Xiaoli Wu, Jinyi Qian, Yong Zhu, Zhen Yang, Takahiro Yonezawa, M. James C. Crabbe, Ying Cao, Masami Hasegawa, Yang Zhong, Yufang Zheng

(Michigan State University) Though much effort and many resources have been expended to protect the endangered giant panda, research by an international team of scientists shows that much suitable panda habitat is outside the nature reserves and areas where the panda is reported to live.

Biologists have shed new light on some of the giant panda's unusual biological traits, including its famously restricted diet.

(Cardiff University) A Chinese-led team including international researchers with a scientist from Cardiff University, has shed new light on some of the giant panda's unusual biological traits, including its famously restricted diet.

The impact of China's devastating 2008 earthquake was substantially lessened by environmental conservation programs for some of the country's most fragile habitats. Analysis of satellite imagery and field data by scientists show the quake -- and the resulting landslides -- affected 10 percent of the forests covering the mountains that are home to endangered species, including the beloved giant panda. But it could have been worse.

Panda feces contains bacteria with potent effects in breaking down plant material in the way needed to tap biomass as a major new source of "biofuels" produced not from corn and other food sources, but from grass, wood chips and crop wastes, scientists report.

(American Chemical Society) Panda poop contains bacteria with potent effects in breaking down plant material in the way needed to tap biomass as a major new source of "biofuels" produced not from corn and other food sources, but from grass, wood chips and crop wastes, scientists reported today at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).