ScienceDaily Environment Headlines
for Thursday, August 19, 2010
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Deadly Samoa-Tonga earthquake concealed two other quakes, seismic sleuths discover (August 19, 2010) -- A magnitude-8.1 earthquake and tsunami that killed 192 people last year in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga was more complicated than initially thought: The 8.1 "great earthquake" concealed and triggered two major quakes of magnitude 7.8, seismologists report. ... > full story
How genes hide their function (August 19, 2010) -- Researchers in Japan have illuminated mechanisms underlying the genetic robustness of metabolic effects in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Their findings reveal a key balance between the roles played by duplicate genes and metabolic network connectivity in functional compensation. ... > full story
Forecasting the fate of fertilizer in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (August 19, 2010) -- Reducing the runoff from plant nutrients that can eventually wash into the Chesapeake Bay could someday be as easy as checking the weather forecast. ... > full story
Kihansi spray toads make historic return to Tanzania (August 19, 2010) -- In a bold effort to save one of the world's rarest amphibians from extinction, one hundred Kihansi spray toads have been flown home to Tanzania after being painstakingly reared at the Bronx Zoo and the Toledo Zoo. ... > full story
Choosing healthier protein-rich foods instead of red and processed meats may reduce heart disease (August 18, 2010) -- American women who ate more protein-rich foods instead of red meat had a significantly lower risk of developing heart disease, according to a new study. Eating more fresh red meat, processed red meat and high-fat dairy carried an increased risk of heart disease in the study. Women who had two servings per day of red meat compared to those who had half a serving per day had a 30 percent higher risk of developing coronary heart disease. ... > full story
How corals fight back (August 18, 2010) -- Researchers are a step closer to understanding the rapid decline of our coral reefs, thanks to a breakthrough study linking coral immunity with its susceptibility to bleaching and disease. ... > full story
Meningitis research breakthrough could save children’s lives (August 18, 2010) -- Scientists have developed a rapid diagnostic test for meningococcal bacteria that can produce results within an hour. The speed of this new test is a vital factor in the treatment of young children with meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia who become very ill over a short period. ... > full story
Screening crop plants for toxins (August 18, 2010) -- Scientists are working on a way to screen crop plants for toxic accumulation. Many plants, in response to predators or herbivores, release hydrogen cyanide to defend themselves. The new genetic screen for plants lacking this ability will be particularly useful for crops grown in tropical and sub-Saharan Africa. ... > full story
Can anthropology solve an economic crisis? (August 18, 2010) -- The field of anthropology is often associated with finding lost tribes, understanding ancient civilizations, and the study of indigenous peoples. However, researchers in Norway argue that anthropology has much more to offer than insights into small-scale societies, traditional cultures or arcane customs. They now argue that anthropology is an indispensable tool to complement others research fields, such as psychology and economics, in solving many diverse problems. ... > full story
Scientists closer to finding what causes the birth of a fat cell (August 18, 2010) -- Just what causes the birth of a human fat cell is a mystery, but scientists using mathematics to tackle the question have come up with a few predictions about the proteins that influence this process. The research is intended to increase understanding of how and why preadipocytes, or pre-fat cells, either lie dormant, copy themselves or turn into fat. ... > full story
Paving 'slabs' that clean the air (August 18, 2010) -- The concentrations of toxic nitrogen oxide that are present in German cities regularly exceed the maximum permitted levels. That's now about to change, as innovative paving slabs that will help protect the environment are being introduced. Coated in titanium dioxide nanoparticles, they reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide in the air. ... > full story
Future air travel: Quieter, cleaner and more environmentally friendly? (August 18, 2010) -- Less noise, less exhaust, less refuse - air travel of the future is expected to be quieter, cleaner and more environmentally friendly. To achieve this goal, new structural concepts and aerodynamic profiles have to be engineered, along with better drive concepts as well as adapted logistical designs, and then put to use. In the European project Clean Sky, researchers want to make their contribution to solving this Herculean task. ... > full story
Fossil reveals 48-million-year history of zombie ants (August 18, 2010) -- A 48-million-year-old fossilized leaf has revealed the oldest known evidence of a macabre part of nature -- parasites taking control of their hosts to turn them into zombies. ... > full story
Vitamin D may treat or prevent allergy to common mold (August 18, 2010) -- Vitamin D may be an effective therapeutic agent to treat or prevent allergy to a common mold that can complicate asthma and frequently affects patients with cystic fibrosis. ... > full story
New probe technology illuminates the activation of light-sensing cells (August 18, 2010) -- Ultimately, Charles Darwin's "endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful" can be boiled down to a scant 20 or so amino acids, the basic building blocks of life. From this parsimonious palette, nature paints the proteins that make up the wild diversity of life on earth, from the simplest bacteria to the most complicated structure in the known universe -- the human brain. Now, research reveals a new technique for tagging proteins with non-natural amino acids to scrutinize details about how they function. ... > full story
Dwindling green pastures, not hunting, may have killed off the mammoth (August 18, 2010) -- A massive reduction in grasslands and the spread of forests may have been the primary cause of the decline of mammals such as the woolly mammoth, woolly rhino and cave lion, according to scientists. ... > full story
Novel diabetes hope comes from Chinese herbs (August 18, 2010) -- Emodin, a natural product that can be extracted from various Chinese herbs including Rheum palmatum and Polygonum cuspidatum, shows promise as an agent that could reduce the impact of type 2 diabetes. New findings show that giving emodin to mice with diet-induced obesity lowered blood glucose and serum insulin, improved insulin resistance and lead to more healthy levels of lipid in the blood. It also decreased body weight and reduced central fat mass. ... > full story
Cause of immune system avoidance of certain pathogens discovered (August 18, 2010) -- Researchers have discovered that a special set of sugars found on some disease-causing pathogens helps those pathogens fight the body's natural defenses as well as vaccines. This discovery may be a first step in understanding a disease family that includes tuberculosis for which there are currently no good vaccines or cures. ... > full story
Human activity eclipses Brazos River's native carbon cycle (August 18, 2010) -- Geochemists have found that damming and other human activity has completely obscured the natural carbon dioxide cycling process in Texas' longest river, the Brazos. The study is the first to document such an overwhelming influence of human activity on carbon dioxide in a major river. ... > full story
Can cloned plants live forever? (August 18, 2010) -- Despite the many cosmetic products, surgical treatments, food supplements, and drugs designed specifically to reverse the biological effects of aging in humans, long-lived aspen clones aren't so lucky. Researchers have shown that as long-lived male aspen clones age, their sexual performance declines. ... > full story
Studying yeast to better understand male infertility (August 18, 2010) -- Men and yeast have something in common: they use the same molecular process to ensure the integrity of their gene pool during reproduction, according to researchers in France. The scientists are studying yeast in order to shed light on the numerous cases of male infertility related to the malfunction of this process during spermatogenesis ... > full story
Powering Australia with waves (August 18, 2010) -- Researchers have provide new estimates of the wave-energy potential of Australia's near-shore regions. They also calculate how much of Australia's energy needs could be obtained from wave energy alone. ... > full story
Secrets of a vanished English landscape: Geologists examine 5,000-year-old 'fossilized' landscape (August 18, 2010) -- A team of scientists in the UK has published new research on a fossilized landscape, providing insights into how an ancient environment functioned. ... > full story
How to reduce UK transport carbon emissions by 76 per cent by 2050 (August 18, 2010) -- Researchers in the UK have achieved a significant breakthrough in climate change policy by showing how to make drastic cuts in carbon dioxide emissions from transport. The study goes beyond the science and paints a picture of what a low carbon transport future would look like. What emerges is vision of a less stressful, quieter, healthier, more resilient and confident society. ... > full story
Moderate chocolate consumption linked to lower risks of heart failure, study finds (August 17, 2010) -- Middle-aged and elderly Swedish women who regularly ate a small amount of chocolate had lower risks of heart failure risks, according to a new study. ... > full story
Saving the brain's white matter with mutated mice (August 17, 2010) -- Scientists are developing laboratory mice which carry the Vanishing White Matter (VWM) mutation. This important new development allows for new research on VWM diseases such as multiple sclerosis, leading to a deeper understanding of the condition. ... > full story
Single cell injections (August 17, 2010) -- Bubbles created with pairs of laser pulses lead to needle-sharp jets that can inject material into a single cell. ... > full story
New insights could mean better fish feeds (August 17, 2010) -- A better understanding of what happens in a fish's body when it eats could lead to the production of better fish feeds. Researchers in Sweden are hoping to contribute to more energy-efficient aquaculture. In the long term, this could increase the supply of farmed fish and so provide more food for the Earth's burgeoning population. ... > full story
Warmest year-to-date global temperature on record (August 17, 2010) -- The combined global land and ocean surface temperature made this July the second warmest on record, behind 1998, and the warmest averaged January-July on record. The global average land surface temperature for July and January-July was warmest on record. The global ocean surface temperature for July was the fifth warmest, and for January-July 2010 was the second warmest on record, behind 1998. ... > full story
Possible discovery of earliest animal life pushes back fossil record (August 17, 2010) -- In findings that push back the clock on the scientific world's thinking about when animal life appeared on Earth, scientists may have discovered the oldest fossils of animal bodies, suggesting that primitive sponge-like creatures were living in ocean reefs about 650 million years ago. The shelly fossils, found beneath a 635 million-year-old glacial deposit in South Australia, represent the earliest evidence of animal body forms in the current fossil record by at least 70 million years. ... > full story
Major hurdle cleared for organic solar cells (August 17, 2010) -- The basis for solar energy is absorbing light and then effectively disassociating electrical charges. Researchers report that conjugated polymers are excellent materials for such a system, thanks to their light absorption and conduction properties. ... > full story
'Mitochondrial Eve': Mother of all humans lived 200,000 years ago (August 17, 2010) -- The most robust statistical examination to date of our species' genetic links to "mitochondrial Eve" -- the maternal ancestor of all living humans -- confirms that she lived about 200,000 years ago. The study was based on a side-by-side comparison of 10 human genetic models that each aim to determine when Eve lived using a very different set of assumptions about the way humans migrated, expanded and spread across Earth. ... > full story
Sundews just want to be loved (August 17, 2010) -- Why do some insect-eating plants like sundews keep their flowers so far away from their traps? New research suggests that it isn't a clever trick to keep pollinators safe, it's about getting pollinated. ... > full story
Many Americans are still clueless on how to save energy (August 17, 2010) -- Many Americans believe they can save energy with small behavior changes that actually achieve very little, and severely underestimate the major effects of switching to efficient, currently available technologies, says a new survey of Americans in 34 states. The study quizzed people on what they perceived as the most effective way to save energy. ... > full story
Bacteria can have a 'sense of smell' (August 17, 2010) -- Bacteria are well-known to be the cause of some of the most repugnant smells on earth, but now scientists have revealed this lowest of life forms actually has a sense of smell of its own. A team of marine microbiologists has discovered that bacteria have a molecular "nose". ... > full story
SPF on your plate: Researcher connects the Mediterranean diet with skin cancer prevention (August 17, 2010) -- New research shows that a diet rich in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, like the diet eaten in Mediterranean regions where melanoma rates are extremely low, can help protect us from skin cancer. A researcher in Israel has a simple prescription: "go Greek" with foods such as olive oil, fish, yogurt and colorful fruits and vegetables to fight the oxidizing effect of the sun. ... > full story
Measuring salt shine to improve climate understanding (August 17, 2010) -- From Aug. 14-25, 2010, scientists from around the world will gather in Southern Turkey to measure the spectral reflectance of a few square kilometers of salt. These measurements will have a major impact on the future of satellite based Earth observation, and will ultimately improve our understanding of the Earth's climate. ... > full story
Studies pinpoint key targets for MRSA vaccine (August 17, 2010) -- Two studies point to a new way to a vaccinate against drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- also known as MRSA -- the leading US cause of skin, soft tissue, bloodstream and lung infections, as well as deaths from infectious disease. One counteracts the bacteria's tools for evading the immune system; the other disrupts the germ's tissue-damaging mechanism. Each approach reduced the microbe's virulence in mice. The combination may protect people from MRSA and provide lasting immunity. ... > full story
Health impact of Gulf Coast oil spill hazardous but improving (August 17, 2010) -- The oil spill along the United States Gulf Coast poses health risks to volunteers, fishermen, clean-up workers and members of coastal communities, according to a new commentary by researchers who spent time in the region and are among the first to look into health problems caused by the oil spill. ... > full story
Scientists map epigenetic changes during blood cell differentiation; Potential application for stem cell therapies (August 17, 2010) -- Having charted the occurrence of a common chemical change that takes place while stem cells decide their fates and progress from precursor to progeny, scientists have produced the first-ever epigenetic landscape map for tissue differentiation. ... > full story
Massive coral mortality following bleaching in Indonesia (August 17, 2010) -- Initial field observations indicate that a dramatic rise in the surface temperature in Indonesian waters has resulted in a large-scale bleaching event that has devastated coral populations. ... > full story
Arsenic in field runoff linked to poultry litter (August 17, 2010) -- Fields amended with poultry litter can accumulate significant levels of arsenic, according to new studies. These findings provide key information about the agricultural pollutants that can build up in agricultural soils over time -- and possibly migrate into nearby streams and rivers. ... > full story
MRSA policies differ among hospitals, study shows (August 17, 2010) -- Acute care hospitals in the United States varied in their policies and practices of screening and treating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections, but most were consistent with national guideline recommendations, according to researchers. ... > full story
Resolving the paradox of the Antarctic sea ice (August 16, 2010) -- While Arctic sea ice has been diminishing in recent decades, the Antarctic sea ice extent has been increasing slightly. Researchers provide an explanation for the seeming paradox of increasing Antarctic sea ice in a warming climate. ... > full story
Scared snails opt for single parenthood rather than wait for a mate (August 16, 2010) -- Solitary snails in search of a mate put off parenthood as long as possible in the hopes that a partner will appear. But when Physa acuta snails smell predators, they don't wait as long for a mate. Scared snails settle for single parenthood much sooner than their calm counterparts, says a new study. ... > full story
Embryonic heart paced with laser (August 16, 2010) -- Scientists have found that pulsed infrared light can pace contractions in an avian embryonic heart, with no apparent damage to the tissue. ... > full story
Solution to beading-saliva mystery has practical purposes (August 16, 2010) -- Researchers have discovered precisely why strands of some fluids containing long molecules called polymers form beads when stretched, findings that could be used to improve industrial processes and for administering drugs in "personalized medicine." ... > full story
Trojan Horse attack on native lupine: Tiny mice advance under of invasive beachgrass to feast on seeds of endangered plant (August 16, 2010) -- At Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, Calif., a fierce battle is taking place between an invasive plant and a native plant, but one with a new twist. European beachgrass provides cover that allows a timid deer mouse to get close enough to the lupine to snip off stalks of lupine fruits without being nabbed by overflying birds. The two plants aren't in direct competition, but the beachgrass in this indirect way threatens the lupine's ability to survive. ... > full story
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