ScienceDaily Environment Headlines
for Tuesday, October 5, 2010
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First Census of Marine Life shows ocean life is richer, more connected, more altered than expected (October 5, 2010) -- After a decade of joint work and scientific adventure, marine explorers from more than 80 countries today deliver a historic first global Census of Marine Life. In one of the largest scientific collaborations ever conducted, more than 2,700 census scientists spent over 9,000 days at sea on more than 540 expeditions, plus countless days in labs and archives. Released today are maps, three landmark books, and a highlights summary that crown a decade of discovery. ... > full story
Microbes engineered for low-cost production of anti-cancer drug, Taxol (October 5, 2010) -- Researchers have now engineered E. coli bacteria to produce large quantities of a critical compound that is a precursor to the cancer drug Taxol, originally isolated from the bark of the Pacific yew tree. The tree's bacteria can produce 1,000 times more of the precursor, known as taxadiene, than any other engineered microbial strain. ... > full story
Alarming increase in flow of water into oceans due to global warming, accelerated cycle of evaporation, precipitation (October 5, 2010) -- Freshwater is flowing into Earth's oceans in greater amounts every year, a team of researchers has found, thanks to more frequent and extreme storms linked to global warming. All told, 18 percent more water fed into the world's oceans from rivers and melting polar ice sheets in 2006 than in 1994, with an average annual rise of 1.5 percent. ... > full story
Walnuts, walnut oil, improve reaction to stress (October 4, 2010) -- A diet rich in walnuts and walnut oil may prepare the body to deal better with stress, according to a researchers who looked at how these foods, which contain polyunsaturated fats, influence blood pressure at rest and under stress. ... > full story
Powerful supercomputer peers into the origin of life (October 4, 2010) -- Supercomputer simulations are helping scientists unravel how nucleic acids could have contributed to the origins of life. ... > full story
Protecting embryos against microbes (October 4, 2010) -- Scientists have succeeded in deciphering the mechanisms, for the first time, with which embryos of the freshwater polyp Hydra protect themselves against bacterial colonization. ... > full story
Bioenergy choices could dramatically change Midwest, US, bird diversity (October 4, 2010) -- Ambitious plans to expand acreage of bioenergy crops could have a major impact on birds in the Upper Midwest, according to a new study. ... > full story
Physicists control chemical reactions mechanically (October 4, 2010) -- Physicists have taken a significant step in controlling chemical reactions mechanically, an important advance in nanotechnology. ... > full story
Elasticity found to stretch stem cell growth to higher levels (October 4, 2010) -- New research has found the physical forces created by elasticity can increase the number of blood-forming stem cells grown outside of the body by two or three times than using current hormone-based methods alone. ... > full story
Surprising silk: Proteins become more concentrated when diluted (October 4, 2010) -- New neutron research has revealed that the proteins making up silkworm silk have unexpected properties: effectively the proteins become more concentrated as they are diluted. Scientists found that the silk precursor proteins' behavior is completely counterintuitive. The study is a big step forward in understanding the amazing properties of silks and how to synthesize them. ... > full story
Painless way to achieve huge energy savings: Stop wasting food (October 4, 2010) -- Scientists have identified a way that the United States could immediately save the energy equivalent of about 350 million barrels of oil a year -- without spending a penny or putting a ding in the quality of life: Just stop wasting food. Their study found that it takes the equivalent of about 1.4 billion barrels of oil to produce, package, prepare, preserve and distribute a year's worth of food in the United States. ... > full story
Wasps wage war on behalf of wiliwili trees (October 4, 2010) -- A black, 2-millimeter-long wasp from East Africa is helping wage war on one of its own kind -- the Erythrina gall wasp, an invasive species that's decimated Hawaii's endemic wiliwili and introduced coral bean trees. ... > full story
What makes us age? Ticking of cellular clock promotes seismic changes in chromatin landscape associated with aging (October 4, 2010) -- Like cats, human cells have a finite number of lives: once they divide a certain number of times (thankfully, more than nine) they change shape, slow their pace, and eventually stop dividing -- a phenomenon called "cellular senescence." Biologists know that a cellular clock composed of structures at the chromosome end known as telomeres records how many "lives" a cell has expended. Up to now, investigators have not yet defined how the clock's ticking signals the approach of cellular oblivion. ... > full story
Designer’s door could prove a real lifesaver in earthquake emergency (October 4, 2010) -- A door which could be used as a shelter after an earthquake has just been developed. ... > full story
Which fertilized eggs will become healthy human fetuses? Researchers predict with 93% accuracy (October 4, 2010) -- Two-thirds of all human embryos fail to develop successfully. Now, in a new study, researchers have shown that they can predict with 93 percent certainty which fertilized eggs will make it to a critical developmental milestone and which will stall and die. The findings are important to the understanding of the fundamentals of human development at the earliest stages, which have largely remained a mystery despite the attention given to human embryonic stem cell research. ... > full story
How salmonella bacteria spread in humans (October 4, 2010) -- New findings could explain how Salmonella bacteria, a common cause of food poisoning, efficiently spread in people. Researchers describe finding a reservoir of rapidly replicating Salmonella inside epithelial cells. These bacteria are primed to infect other cells and are pushed from the epithelial layer by a new mechanism that frees the Salmonella to infect other cells or be shed into the intestine. ... > full story
Genomic study of malaria parasite in Peru reveals evidence of antibiotic resistance (October 4, 2010) -- Malaria remains a serious global health problem, killing more than one million people per year. Treatment of the mosquito-borne illness relies on antibiotics, and the emergence of drug-resistant malaria is of growing concern. In a new report, scientists analyzed the genomic features of a Peruvian parasite population, identifying the genetic basis for resistance to a common antibiotic, gaining new insights that could improve diagnosis and treatment strategies. ... > full story
Ocean conditions likely to reduce Colorado River flows during this winter's drought (October 4, 2010) -- The combination of La Nina with two less commonly known ocean conditions tends to result in drought in the upper reaches of the Colorado River, finds a new study. The three conditions are expected to converge this winter. ... > full story
Fungal spores travel farther by surfing their own wind (October 4, 2010) -- Many fungi, including the destructive Sclerotinia, spew thousands of spores at once to give the spores an extra boost into their host plants. Researchers now show how this works. The near-simultaneous ejection of spores reduces drag to nearly zero and creates a wind that carries some of the spores 20 times farther than a single spore could travel solo. ... > full story
Dual nature of dew: Researcher measures the effect of dew on desert plants (October 4, 2010) -- Dew is often celebrated as a bringer of life. Now, a researcher in Israel has examined the effects of dew in the Eastern Mediterranean region and says that dew serves as an important water source for plant life. ... > full story
Noise and chemicals: Workers are losing their hearing, Spanish study finds (October 4, 2010) -- A study carried out by Spanish researchers has shown that the presence of chemical contaminants can interact with noise and modify, for good or for bad, the way in which work-related "deafness" -- which is increasingly common among young people -- manifests itself. Noise-related hearing loss is the most common occupational disease in Europe. ... > full story
Census of Marine Life celebrates 'decade of discovery' (October 4, 2010) -- The Census of Marine Life, a 10-year initiative to describe the distribution and diversity of ocean life, draws to a close with a celebration, symposium and press conference in London. At the press conference, scientists revealed the results of the census, including the discovery of new species, new patterns of biodiversity and more. Scientists in Alaska have played a major role in what the census calls its "decade of discovery." ... > full story
World Ocean Microbe Census findings revealed (October 4, 2010) -- After a decade of joint work and scientific adventure, marine explorers from more than 80 countries, have just delivered the first global Census of Marine Life revealing what, where, and how much lives and hides in the world's oceans. Scientists discovered that there may be up to one billion kinds of marine microbes -- more than 100 times more diverse than plants and animals -- and as many as 38,000 kinds of microbes in a typical liter of sea water. ... > full story
Researchers call for a price cap on cigarette profits (October 4, 2010) -- An independent regulatory agency is needed to cap the excessive profits made by cigarette manufacturers, urge researchers. ... > full story
Individual mutations are very slow to promote tumor growth, mathematical modeling shows (October 3, 2010) -- Individual cancer-causing mutations have a minute effect on tumor growth, increasing the rate of cell division by just 0.4 percent on average, according to new mathematical modeling. The research reinforces that cancer is the culmination of many accumulated mutations, and highlights the fundamental heterogeneity and randomness of many cancers. ... > full story
Acidification of oceans may contribute to global declines of shellfish (October 3, 2010) -- The acidification of the Earth's oceans due to rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) may be contributing to a global decline of clams, scallops and other shellfish by interfering with the development of shellfish larvae, according to scientists. ... > full story
Insecticides from genetically modified corn are present in adjacent streams, new study reveals (October 3, 2010) -- A new study by ecologists reveals that streams throughout the Midwest are receiving transgenic materials from corn crop byproducts, even six months after harvest. ... > full story
Tracking down pathogenic yeasts (October 3, 2010) -- If the human immunological system is weakened, yeast fungi that are normally harmless can be transformed into a lethal danger. This is why researchers in Germany are using next-generation sequencing to track down one of the most frequent pathogens for fungal infections among humans. ... > full story
Climate change target 'not safe', researchers say (October 3, 2010) -- An analysis of geological records that preserve details of the last known period of global warming has revealed "startling" results which suggest current targets for limiting climate change are unsafe. ... > full story
Adult stem cells that do not age (October 3, 2010) -- Biomedical researchers have engineered adult stem cells that scientists can grow continuously in culture, a discovery that could speed development of cost-effective treatments for diseases including heart disease, diabetes, immune disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. ... > full story
Digging deep for ways to curb ammonia emissions (October 3, 2010) -- Dairy farmers can greatly reduce ammonia emissions from their production facilities by injecting liquid manure into crop fields below the soil surface, according to new research. ... > full story
NASA's EPOXI mission sets up for comet flyby (October 3, 2010) -- On Sept. 29, 2010, navigators and mission controllers for NASA's EPOXI mission watched their computer screens as 23.6 million kilometers (14.7 million miles) away, their spacecraft successfully performed its 20th trajectory correction maneuver. The maneuver refined the spacecraft's orbit, setting the stage for its flyby of comet Hartley 2 on Nov. 4. ... > full story
How to still kill a resistant parasite (October 2, 2010) -- Scientists in Belgium, in collaboration with colleagues from several developing countries, were able to restore a sleeping sickness parasite’s susceptibility to drugs. The parasite causes sleeping sickness in cattle. Because it has become resistant against all currently available drugs, it causes enormous economic losses. Until now, that is. ... > full story
Severe food allergies turned off in mice (October 2, 2010) -- Scientists have discovered a way to turn off the immune system's allergic reaction to certain food proteins in mice, a discovery that could have implications for the millions of people who suffer severe reactions to foods, such as peanuts and milk. ... > full story
Mosquito gene examined for new disease response (October 2, 2010) -- Researchers have searched for new genes that are turned on during infection in a type of mosquito that is not only a pest, but transmits disease-causing pathogens. ... > full story
Searching for dense water cascades in the Arctic Ocean (October 2, 2010) -- The Arctic is one of the most sensitive regions of the plant to the effects of global climate change. Researchers are now studying the phenomenon of dense water cascading and its relationship with climate change in an area to the west of the Svalbard Islands in the Arctic Circle. ... > full story
Could genetically altered trees, plants help counter global warming? (October 2, 2010) -- New research examines the prospects for enhancing biological carbon sequestration through a variety of policy and technical approaches, including the deployment of genetically engineered trees and other plants. ... > full story
New TB pathogen discovered (October 2, 2010) -- In studies of banded mongoose in Botswana, researchers have discovered a novel tuberculosis species in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Unlike other species of tuberculosis, which typically present as a chronic disease, M. mungi usually kills infected banded mongoose within two to three months after symptoms develop, with outbreaks occurring in a largely seasonal pattern. ... > full story
World's rivers in 'crisis state', report finds (October 1, 2010) -- The world's rivers, the single largest renewable water resource for humans and a crucible of aquatic biodiversity, are in a crisis of ominous proportions, according to a new global analysis. ... > full story
How warm was this summer? (October 1, 2010) -- An unparalleled heat wave in eastern Europe, coupled with intense droughts and fires around Moscow, put Earth's temperatures in the headlines this summer. Likewise, a string of exceptionally warm days in July in the eastern United States strained power grids, forced nursing home evacuations, and slowed transit systems. Both high-profile events reinvigorated questions about humanity's role in climate change. ... > full story
Garlic oil shows protective effect against heart disease in diabetes (October 1, 2010) -- Garlic has "significant" potential for preventing cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease that is a leading cause of death in people with diabetes, scientists have concluded in a new study. Their report also explains why people with diabetes are at high risk for diabetic cardiomyopathy. ... > full story
Simple approach could clean up oil remaining from Exxon Valdez spill (October 1, 2010) -- Traces of crude oil that linger on the shores of Alaska's Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdez oil spill remain highly biodegradable, despite almost 20 years of weathering and decomposition, scientists are reporting in a new study. Their findings suggest a simple approach for further cleaning up remaining traces of the Exxon Valdez spill -- the largest in US waters until the 2010 Deepwater Horizon episode. ... > full story
Dinosaurs significantly taller than previously thought, research suggests (October 1, 2010) -- It might seem obvious that a dinosaur's leg bone connects to the hip bone, but what came between the bones has been less obvious. Now, researchers have found that dinosaurs had thick layers of cartilage in their joints, which means they may have been considerably taller than previously thought. ... > full story
First genetic evidence for loss of teeth in the common ancestor of baleen whales (October 1, 2010) -- Biologists provide the first genetic evidence for the loss of mineralized teeth in the common ancestor of baleen whales. This genomic record, they argue, is fully compatible with the available fossil record showing that the origin of baleen and the loss of teeth both occurred in the common ancestor of modern baleen whales. ... > full story
Varieties of tea leaves identified using neural networks (October 1, 2010) -- Chemists have managed to distinguish between different kinds of tea leaves on the basis of their mineral content and by using artificial neural networks. This technique makes it possible to differentiate between the five main varieties of tea -- white, green black, Oolong and red tea. ... > full story
Key nutrient found to prevent cataracts in salmon (October 1, 2010) -- New research shows how the nutrient histidine, when added to the diet of farmed salmon, stops cataracts from forming. ... > full story
No evidence for Clovis comet catastrophe, archaeologists say (October 1, 2010) -- New research challenges the controversial theory that an ancient comet impact devastated the Clovis people, one of the earliest known cultures to inhabit North America. ... > full story
Dog ownership is associated with reduced eczema in children with dog allergies (October 1, 2010) -- Children with eczema have a greater risk of developing asthma and food allergies. The number of children with eczema is rising, but the reasons are unclear. A new study examines the relationship between pet ownership and eczema. Researchers found that dog ownership among children with dog allergies may reduce the risk of developing eczema by age 4 years; cat ownership, however, may increase the risk among children with cat allergies. ... > full story
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