ScienceDaily Environment Headlines
for Saturday, August 21, 2010
Welcome to another edition of ScienceDaily's email newsletter. You can change your subscription options or unsubscribe at any time.
Smart fungus disarms plant, animal and human immunity (August 20, 2010) -- Fungal and bacterial pathogens are well capable of infecting plants, animals and humans despite their immune systems. Fungi penetrate leafs, stalks and roots, or skin, intestines and lungs, to infect their hosts. Researchers have now discovered how this is possible. They found that the fungus secretes a protein that makes stray building blocks of the fungal cell wall invisible for the immune system of the plant. In this way infection remains unnoticed. ... > full story
Mapping out pathways to better soybeans (August 20, 2010) -- Agricultural scientists are a step closer to unlocking genetic clues that may lead to packing more protein and oil into soybeans, a move that would boost their value and help US growers compete in international markets. ... > full story
Is the ice in the Arctic Ocean getting thinner? (August 20, 2010) -- The extent of the sea ice in the Arctic will reach its annual minimum in September. Forecasts indicate that it will not be as low as in 2007, the year of the smallest area covered by sea ice since satellites started recording such data. Nevertheless, sea ice physicists are concerned about the long-term equilibrium in the Arctic Ocean. ... > full story
Geologists revisit Earth's Great Oxygenation Event: More like the 'Great Redox Evolution' (August 20, 2010) -- Recent work with geochemical proxies for oxygen levels suggests that oxygen levels continued to fluctuate long after the Great Oxygenation Event 2.7 billion years ago, and that the oceans were many different flavors of anoxic right up until the Edicaran period, 600 million years ago. What happened in the intervening 2 billion years will be contested until scientists have more data, says a geochemist. ... > full story
How flies set their cruising altitude (August 20, 2010) -- Insects in flight must somehow calculate and control their height above the ground, and researchers have new insight into how fruit flies do it. The answer is simpler than expected. ... > full story
Italian youths who drink with meals are less often adult problem-drinkers (August 20, 2010) -- Italian youths whose parents allowed them to have alcohol with meals while they were growing up are less likely to develop harmful drinking patterns in the future, according to a new study. ... > full story
Widespread floating plastic debris found in the western North Atlantic Ocean (August 20, 2010) -- Despite growing awareness of the problem of plastic pollution in the world's oceans, little solid scientific information existed to illustrate the nature and scope of the issue. Now, a team of researchers has published a study of plastic marine debris based on data collected over 22 years by undergraduate students. ... > full story
Old drug holds promise against opportunistic lung bug (August 20, 2010) -- A drug to treat inflammation plays a surprising role reducing the level of infection caused by an opportunistic bug that is deadly for AIDS and cancer patients and others with weakened immune systems. The drug, sulfasalazine, spurs the body to get rid of the bug that causes Pneumocystis pneumonia by enhancing its ability to chew up the bug instead of leaving the debris to litter the lungs, where it would provoke more inflammation. ... > full story
Stomach bacteria need vitamin to establish infection, research finds (August 20, 2010) -- Scientists have determined that Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium that causes peptic ulcers and some forms of stomach cancer, requires the vitamin B6 to establish and maintain chronic infection, according to new research. This finding, along with the identification of the enzyme the microbe requires to utilize the vitamin, could lead to the development of an entirely new class of antibiotics. ... > full story
Green leafy vegetables reduce diabetes risk, study finds (August 20, 2010) -- Eating more green leafy vegetables can significantly reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, new research finds. ... > full story
Deep plumes of oil could cause dead zones in the Gulf (August 20, 2010) -- A new simulation of oil and methane leaked into the Gulf of Mexico suggests that deep hypoxic zones or "dead zones" could form near the source of the pollution. The research investigates five scenarios of oil and methane plumes at different depths and incorporates an estimated rate of flow from the Deepwater Horizon spill, which released oil and methane gas into the Gulf from April to mid July of this year. ... > full story
Brain gene expression changes when honey bees go the distance (August 20, 2010) -- Tricking honey bees into thinking they have traveled long distance to find food alters gene expression in their brains, researchers report. ... > full story
Copyright 1995-2010 © ScienceDaily LLC. All rights reserved. Terms of use.
|
 To update/change your profile click here  |
