[{"id":191,"title":"Developed microbial communities in biofilm mode: the key for reinstating degraded ecosystems","sha":"544268b97815e94eb18a26e925a7f697","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"In conventional scientific approaches, degraded ecosystems (e.g. conventional agroecosystems due to tillage and high doses of chemical inputs) are attempted to be revived mainly through nutrients, organic matter and water management. However, they do not provide a complete answer to the issue of sustainability of the ecosystems. It is now reported that sustainability of the ecosystems is an outcome of chemical signaling in the food web, in which microbes have got the central role to play (Seneviratne, 2015). Now, it is also known that developed microbial communities in biofilm mode and their exudates contribute more than their monoculture microbes in reinstating sustainability of the degraded ecosystems through increased biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.\r\n\r\nThe same concept can be applied to human body ecosystem. It is reported that the intake of antimicrobials like antibiotics is harmful to the human health. Sometimes, people use Probiotics after intake of antibiotics. They are mixtures of beneficial gut bacteria, but not in biofilm mode. Thus, in future medicines, developed microbial communities in biofilm mode and their exudates should be adopted for treating ailments. Then, they would help increase native biodiversity of gut bacteria, thus resulting in enhanced functioning of human body ecosystem for a healthy life.\r\n","created_at":"2015-07-15T14:05:09.570Z","updated_at":"2015-07-21T06:00:28.480Z","zenodo_id":37770,"doi":"http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20739","subject":null,"tags":["microbiology","illness","sustainability","antibiotics","drugs","crop productivity"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":187,"title":"Supercritical Exoplanetary Atmospheres as Potential Habitats for Extraterrestrial Aeroplankton","sha":"e464b97c0ead0438ccb94a7abe9dbc85","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"An increasingly familiar class of exoplanets amongst those being continually discovered is the \"Super-Earth\" ([Valencia+2007](http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/656/1/545/)), with a mass intermediate between Earth and Neptune. These have been found inside habitable zones ([Udry+2007](http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2007/27/aa7612-07/aa7612-07.html)) and likely have dense atmospheres ([Lopez+2014](http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/792/1/1), [Lammer+2012](http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/content/430/2/1247)). With sufficient atmospheric pressure and temperature, these atmospheres are likely to enter a supercritical fluid phase with properties intermediate between gas and liquid. Supercritical fluid phases are typically considered for gas giant interiors ([Trachenko+2014](http://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.89.032126)) or water oceans ([Elkins-Tanton+2008](http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/685/2/1237)), though any gas or liquid can form such a phase. For example, an Earth-like atmospheric composition will enter a supercritical phase at T \u003e 132.6 K and p \u003e 37.21 atm. This pressure is significantly lower than the ≳300 atm ([Koschinsky+2008](http://geology.geoscienceworld.org/content/36/8/615)) experienced by life on the abyssal plain of Earth's oceans ([Rona+1986](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v321/n6065/abs/321033a0.html)). It is therefore possible for Earth-like life to tolerate the pressure-temperature conditions of a supercritical atmosphere. \r\n\r\nIn Earth's atmosphere, microbes have been found airborne as \"aeroplankton\" ([Sharma+2007](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1529-8817.2007.00373.x/abstract)) and living microbes have been found at high altitudes ([Sattler+2002](http://proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org/proceeding.aspx?articleid=894204)), prompting planetary atmospheres to be considered as astrobiological targets ([Smith2013](http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2013.1074)). A denser atmosphere can support a greater number density of suspended particles, raising the possibility of aeroplankton ecologies in the dense supercritical atmospheres of Super-Earths.","created_at":"2015-07-07T08:44:34.680Z","updated_at":"2015-07-09T06:00:38.431Z","zenodo_id":35174,"doi":"http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19667","subject":null,"tags":["astrobiology","exoplanets","microbiology","fluid dynamics","astronomy"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null}]