ScienceDaily Environment Headlines
for Tuesday, August 24, 2010
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Eating berries may activate the brain's natural housekeeper for healthy aging (August 24, 2010) -- Scientists report the first evidence that eating blueberries, strawberries, and acai berries may help the aging brain stay healthy in a crucial but previously unrecognized way. Their study concludes that berries, and possibly walnuts, activate the brain's natural "housekeeper" mechanism, which cleans up and recycles toxic proteins linked to age-related memory loss and other mental decline. ... > full story
Dogs may not be' man’s best friend' during hay fever season (August 24, 2010) -- Ragweed allergy season can be even more miserable for those with dog, cat or dust mite allergies, according to new research. These year-round allergies appear to "pre-prime" the immune system so symptoms hit harder, according to a new study. ... > full story
Plants give up some deep secrets of drought resistance (August 24, 2010) -- In a study that promises to fill in the fine details of the plant world's blueprint for surviving drought, a team of researchers has identified in living plants the set of proteins that help them withstand water stress. ... > full story
Potential HIV drug keeps virus out of cells (August 24, 2010) -- Following up a pioneering 2007 proof-of-concept study, biochemists have developed a promising new anti-HIV drug candidate, PIE12-trimer, that prevents HIV from attacking human cells. ... > full story
Tropically speaking, NASA investigates precipitation shapes, sizes for severity (August 24, 2010) -- Rain drops are fat and snowflakes are fluffy, but why does it matter in terms of predicting severe storms? ... > full story
New analysis weighs lost trade, costs to control invasive species against economic damages (August 24, 2010) -- Bugs, plants, animals and viruses travel the globe, invading new territory and wreaking havoc as they upset the balance of nature, destroy agriculture and damage human health. Biological alien invaders are often introduced via international trade, forcing policymakers to regulate the movement of goods to stop them. Economists now examine which trade measures make good economic sense -- from restrictions to full protection. ... > full story
Polyphenol antioxidants inhibit iron absorption (August 23, 2010) -- Health benefits from polyphenol antioxidants -- substances found in many fruits and vegetables -- may come at a cost to some people. Nutritional scientists found that eating certain polyphenols decreased the amount of iron the body absorbs, which can increase the risk of developing an iron deficiency. ... > full story
Function of proteins can enhance the progression of viruses and cancer cells (August 23, 2010) -- In a discovery that has implications for developing treatments against cancer and potentially deadly viruses, researchers have discovered the function of proteins that can enhance the progression of certain viruses and cancer cells. ... > full story
Drugging the undruggable: Advances toward next generation of disease fighters (August 23, 2010) -- After decades of dreaming the drug developer's impossible dream, scientists finally are reporting progress in making drugs that target the "untouchables" among the body's key players in health and disease. They are the hundreds of thousands of proteins that many scientists considered to be "undruggable," meaning that previous efforts to develop a drug against them had failed. ... > full story
What the locals ate 10,000 years ago (August 23, 2010) -- Archaeologists have found a Utah site occupied by humans 11,000 years ago. The researchers documented a variety of dishes the people dined on back then. Grind stones for milling small seeds appeared 10,000 years ago. ... > full story
NASA images show anatomy of Pakistan flood disaster (August 23, 2010) -- In late July 2010, flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains began across several regions of Pakistan. Tens of thousands of villages have been flooded, more than 1,500 people have been killed, and millions have been left homeless. The floodwaters are not expected to recede fully before late August. NASA's CloudSat satellite captured the genesis of the flooding event as it flew over the region on July 28, 2010. ... > full story
Ancient microbes responsible for breathing life into ocean 'deserts' (August 23, 2010) -- Billions of years ago, Earth differed greatly from our modern environment -- the ancient atmosphere contained almost no oxygen. The life-supporting atmosphere we currently enjoy did not develop overnight. On the most basic level, biological activity in the ocean shaped the oxygen concentrations in the atmosphere. New research shows that "oxygen oases" in the surface ocean were sites of significant oxygen production long before the breathing gas began to accumulate in the atmosphere. ... > full story
Rheumatoid arthritis signaling protein reverses Alzheimer's disease in mouse model (August 23, 2010) -- A new study looks at what effect innate immunity gone bad in rheumatoid arthritis may play in protecting against Alzheimer's disease. Researchers found a signaling protein for RA reversed Alzheimer's in a mouse model. ... > full story
Self-cleaning technology from Mars can keep terrestrial solar panels dust free (August 23, 2010) -- Find dusting those tables and dressers a chore or a bore? Dread washing the windows? Imagine keeping dust and grime off objects spread out over an area of 25 to 50 football fields. That's the problem facing companies that deploy large-scale solar power installations, and scientists have now developed a possible solution -- self-dusting solar panels -- based on technology developed for space missions to Mars. ... > full story
Ancient Chinese medicine may help chemotherapy patients (August 23, 2010) -- A centuries-old traditional Chinese medicine may reduce the intestinal side effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients by stimulating gut cell division and reducing inflammation, a new study in mice suggests. ... > full story
Study of cell division sheds light on special mechanism in egg cells (August 23, 2010) -- In a study of egg cells using time-lapse microscopy, researchers have discovered an unusual property of meiosis -- cell division that produces reproductive cells in sexually reproducing organisms. ... > full story
Barbastelle bat uses a sneaky hunting strategy to catch its prey (August 23, 2010) -- Like a stealth fighter plane, the barbastelle bat uses a sneaky hunting strategy to catch its prey. Biologists combined three cutting-edge techniques to uncover the secret of this rare bat's success. ... > full story
Better way to grow stem cells developed (August 23, 2010) -- Chemical engineers, materials scientists and biologists have devised a synthetic surface that includes no foreign animal material and allows stem cells to stay alive and continue reproducing themselves for at least three months. It's also the first synthetic material that allows single cells to form colonies of identical cells, which is necessary to identify cells with desired traits and has been difficult to achieve with existing materials. ... > full story
Delaying fat digestion to curb appetite (August 23, 2010) -- Scientists have discovered an unexpected synergy that helps break down fat. The discovery provides a focus to find ways to slow down fat digestion, and ultimately to create food structures that induce satiety. ... > full story
Researchers advance understanding of enzyme that regulates DNA (August 23, 2010) -- Thanks to a single-molecule imaging technique, researchers have revealed the mechanisms of PcrA helicase, an important DNA-regulating enzyme. To prevent unwanted recombination of a damaged or degraded section of DNA, the enzyme binds at the point of the break, where the double- and single-stranded regions meet. Then, it uses its motor function to "reel in" the tail, like a fisherman pulling in a rope, knocking off recombination proteins along the way. ... > full story
Bottled tea beverages may contain fewer polyphenols than brewed tea (August 23, 2010) -- The first measurements of healthful antioxidant levels in commercial bottled tea beverages has concluded that health-conscious consumers may not be getting what they pay for: healthful doses of those antioxidants, or "poylphenols," that may ward off a range of diseases. ... > full story
Novel 'antisense' therapies protect primates from lethal Ebola and Marburg viruses (August 23, 2010) -- New studies show that treatments targeting specific viral genes protected monkeys infected with deadly Ebola or Marburg viruses. Furthermore, the animals were protected even when therapeutics were administered one hour after exposure -- suggesting the approach holds promise for treating accidental infections in laboratory or hospital settings. ... > full story
Electrifying findings: New ways of boosting healthful antioxidant levels in potatoes (August 23, 2010) -- Scientists in Japan are busy zapping potatoes and, as a result, the fifth most popular food consumed around the world may one day become an even more healthful vegetable. ... > full story
Limiting ocean acidification under global change (August 23, 2010) -- Emissions of carbon dioxide are causing ocean acidification as well as global warming. Scientists have previously used computer simulations to quantify how curbing of carbon dioxide emissions would mitigate climate impacts. New computer simulations have now examined the likely effects of mitigation scenarios on ocean acidification trends. They show that both the peak year of emissions and post-peak reduction rates influence how much ocean acidity increases by 2100. ... > full story
Road signs and traffic signals on DNA: Physical model describes the distribution of nucleosome (August 23, 2010) -- The DNA in the cell nuclei of higher organisms is tightly coiled around protein complexes called nucleosomes, which repress gene expression. Researchers in Germany have now developed a model that explains how nucleosomes are distributed around sites that must remain accessible to transcribing polymerases. ... > full story
Avian influenza virus may persist on feathers fallen from domestic ducks (August 22, 2010) -- Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) may persist on feathers fallen from the bodies of infected domestic ducks and contribute to environmental contamination. ... > full story
New compound may be effective against Chagas' disease (August 22, 2010) -- A new compound may offer an effective drug candidate against the deadly tropical infection, Chagas' disease say researchers from Brazil. ... > full story
Bar-tailed godwit sets record for long-distance flight (August 22, 2010) -- How is it possible to fly 11,000 kilometers without a single break? The record holder for long distance flight outdoes all human-made aircraft. The bar-tailed godwit has very low energy consumption, but this is not enough to explain its success. ... > full story
A tale of two atolls (August 22, 2010) -- To gain new insights on the impact of fishing on coral reefs, marine biologists are taking advantage of an ongoing "natural experiment" at two isolated Pacific atolls -- one inhabited by people, the other off-limits to fishing. ... > full story
Virus may act as 'evolution-proof' biopesticide against malaria (August 21, 2010) -- A naturally occurring virus in mosquitoes may serve as a "late-life-acting" insecticide by killing older adult mosquitoes that are responsible for the bulk of malaria transmission. ... > full story
Big quakes more frequent than thought on San Andreas fault, research shows (August 21, 2010) -- Earthquakes have rocked the powerful San Andreas fault that splits California far more often than previously thought, according to researchers who have charted temblors there stretching back 700 years. ... > full story
Newly identified RNA sequence is key in microRNA processing (August 21, 2010) -- Researchers have uncovered a mechanism that regulates the processing of microRNAs (miRNAs), molecules that regulate cell growth, development, and stress response. The discovery helps researchers understand the links between miRNA expression and chronic disease. ... > full story
Lowering Daisy's emissions: Battle against agricultural climate offenders (August 21, 2010) -- Agriculture accounts for approximately nine per cent of Norway's total emissions of greenhouse gases. Now, researchers are acquiring actual gas measurements and new knowledge about what causes the emissions -- with the aim of mitigating Norwegian agriculture's impact on the climate and environment. In particular, it is emissions of the greenhouse gases methane (CH4, from cattle) and nitrous oxide (N2O, from the soil and fertilisers) that make agriculture such a major climate culprit. This summer Daisy has gone to pasture adorned with some advanced monitoring equipment to help out. ... > full story
Drought drives decade-long decline in plant growth (August 21, 2010) -- Global plant productivity that once was on the rise with warming temperatures and a lengthened growing season is now on the decline because of regional drought, according to a new study of NASA satellite data. ... > full story
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
Scientists pry new information from disease-causing, shellfish-borne bacterium (August 20, 2010) -- Researchers have uncovered a key weapon in the molecular arsenal the infectious bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V. para) uses to kill cells and cause food poisoning in its human host. ... > full story
How the storehouses of plant cells are formed (August 20, 2010) -- Researchers have shown for the first time that a specific protein plays an indispensable role in the formation of vacuoles, by far the largest organelles in plant cells. Enveloped by a membrane, vacuoles store substances vital for the plant cell and in many cases important to humans as well. Until now, scientists have only vaguely understood how these vacuoles are formed or how the substances stored inside them get there. ... > full story
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