ScienceDaily Environment Headlines
for Wednesday, November 10, 2010
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DNA reveals origins of first European farmers (November 10, 2010) -- A team of international researchers has resolved the longstanding issue of the origins of the people who introduced farming to Europe some 8,000 years ago. A detailed genetic study of one of the first farming communities in Europe, from central Germany, reveals marked similarities with populations living in the Ancient Near East (modern-day Turkey, Iraq and other countries) rather than those from Europe. ... > full story
Probiotics shorten diarrhea episodes, review suggests (November 10, 2010) -- Probiotic bacteria given as therapies for diarrhea reduce the length of time sufferers are affected and lessen the chance of episodes continuing for more than four days. ... > full story
MicroRNA controls mammary gland development in mice: Novel mechanism for vertebrate organ development (November 10, 2010) -- Hormones, growth factors and several proteins ensure that development occurs in the right way, at the right time. The components that cause breast development in mammals, for example, were thought to be largely known. However, as scientists in Germany have now discovered, in the case of breast development, hormones and proteins do not account for the full story. The scientists have shown that tiny ribonucleic acid molecules play a key role in this process. The mammary glands of mice lacking the gene for the microRNAs 212 and 132 failed to grow at puberty. ... > full story
Oldest fossilized shrimp: Geologists study rare well-preserved creature showing muscles (November 10, 2010) -- Geologists report on the oldest fossil shrimp known to date. The creature in stone is as much as 360 million years old and was found in Oklahoma. ... > full story
Brains of Neanderthals and modern humans developed differently (November 9, 2010) -- Researchers have documented species differences in the pattern of brain development after birth that are likely to contribute to cognitive differences between modern humans and Neanderthals. ... > full story
Home exposure to tobacco carcinogens high in children of smokers (November 9, 2010) -- Ninety percent of children who lived in a house where an adult smoked had evidence of tobacco-related carcinogens in their urine, according to new research. ... > full story
Myth of a germ-free world: A closer look at antimicrobial products (November 9, 2010) -- Are antimicrobial chemicals like triclosan and triclocarban, as commonly used by consumers, really safe for human health and the environment? Are they even effective? According to new research, the scientific evidence suggests otherwise. ... > full story
Offshore wind farms: Low loss solutions for transferring current (November 9, 2010) -- Using wind energy where the wind blows strongest makes perfect sense as long as the energy can be readily transported to where it is needed. The first offshore plants are already being erected, and many more are planned. But the farther they are away from the coast, the more urgent becomes the problem of transferring the current with as low a loss as possible. Over long distances, this is possible only with direct current. ... > full story
Engineered plants make potential precursor to raw material for plastics (November 9, 2010) -- Scientists report engineering a plant that produces industrially relevant levels of compounds that could potentially be used to make plastics. ... > full story
Soy may stop prostate cancer spread: Experimental soy-based drug shows benefits in men with localized prostate cancer (November 9, 2010) -- Researchers have found that a new, nontoxic drug made from a chemical in soy could prevent the movement of cancer cells from the prostate to the rest of the body. ... > full story
More than 1,000 tigers reduced to skin and bones in last decade, report finds (November 9, 2010) -- Parts of at least 1,069 tigers have been seized in tiger range countries over the past decade, according to new analysis of tiger seizures. The report shows that from January 2000 to April 2010, parts of between 1,069 and 1,220 tigers were seized in 11 of the 13 tiger range countries -- or an average of 104 to 119 animals per year. ... > full story
Soy isoflavones may modify risk of breast cancer (November 9, 2010) -- Increased phytoestrogens commonly found in dietary soy may modify the risk of some types of breast cancer, according to new findings. ... > full story
Cellular communicators for cancer virus identified (November 9, 2010) -- A new finding describes how cells infected by the Epstein-Barr virus produce small vesicles or sacs called exosomes, changing their cellular "cargo" of proteins and RNA. This altered exosome enters cells and can change the growth of recipient cells from benign to cancer-producing. ... > full story
Fat sand rats are SAD like us: Research shines a light on a mood disorder (November 9, 2010) -- With her work on the Israeli desert inhabitant gerbil called the fat sand rat, a researcher has found new hope for the study of seasonal affective disorder and similar conditions. Her research indicates that her new test subjects are a more suitable model animal for the study of SAD than the rats and mice used previously. ... > full story
Dangerous chemicals in food wrappers likely migrating to humans (November 9, 2010) -- Scientists have found that chemicals used to line junk food wrappers and microwave popcorn bags are migrating into food and being ingested by people where they are contributing to chemical contamination observed in blood. ... > full story
TB-drugome provides new targets for anti-tuberculosis drug discovery (November 9, 2010) -- Researchers have linked hundreds of federally approved drugs to more than 1,000 proteins in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), opening new avenues to repurpose these drugs to treat TB. ... > full story
Overweight children have eating patterns different from those of normal weight children, Norwegian study finds (November 9, 2010) -- Overweight children reported more frequent intake of healthy foods such as fruit, vegetables, fish, brown bread and potatoes as well as low-energy cheese and yogurt compared with normal weight children, a Norwegian study has found. ... > full story
Climate change: Regional differences in water reservoir glaciers (November 9, 2010) -- Glaciers of large mountain regions contribute, to some extent considerably, to the water supply of certain populated areas. However, a recent study has shown that there are important regional differences. ... > full story
Scottish horticulturalist Patrick Matthew proposed more accurate theory of gradual evolution before Charles Darwin did, geologist argues (November 9, 2010) -- Charles Darwin may not have put forth the earliest or most accurate theory of gradual evolution. In a new article, a geologist argues that a more accurate theory of gradual evolution, positing that long periods of evolutionary stability are disrupted by catastrophic mass extinctions of life, was put forth by Scottish horticulturalist Patrick Matthew prior to Darwin's published work on the topic. ... > full story
Were our tetrapod ancestors deaf? (November 8, 2010) -- Researchers have shown that the closest living relatives of the tetrapods -- the lungfish -- are insensitive to sound pressure but sensitive to vibrations. ... > full story
Fish oil component given up to 5 hours after stroke limits brain damage, study finds (November 8, 2010) -- A new study shows that a component of fish oil is a powerful therapeutic agent that can protect brain tissue in a model of stroke, even when treatment is delayed by five hours. These findings not only target a new stroke treatment approach, but also provide vital information about the length of the therapeutic window. ... > full story
Nanoparticles' journey from lungs into body chronicled: Insights into pulmonary drug delivery, air pollution control (November 8, 2010) -- Using a novel, real-time imaging system, scientists have tracked a group of near-infrared fluorescent nanoparticles from the airspaces of the lungs, into the body and out again, providing a description of the characteristics and behavior of these minute particles which could be used in developing therapeutic agents to treat pulmonary disease, as well as offering a greater understanding of the health effects of air pollution. ... > full story
World's oldest ground-edge implement discovered in northern Australia (November 8, 2010) -- The oldest ground-edge stone tool in the world has been discovered in northern Australia, dating to 35,000 years ago. ... > full story
King crab distributions limited by temperature in the Southern Ocean (November 8, 2010) -- Invasions of voracious predatory crabs due to global warming could threaten the unique continental-shelf ecosystems of Antarctica, according to newly published findings. ... > full story
Low blood levels of vitamin D linked to chubbier kids, faster weight gain (November 8, 2010) -- Kids who are deficient in vitamin D accumulated fat around the waist and gained weight more rapidly than kids who got enough vitamin D, a new study suggests. ... > full story
Beetles offer effective weed control, but native vegetation hard to re-establish (November 8, 2010) -- With the help of the weed-eating flea beetle, researchers significantly reduced infestations of a non-native plant, leafy spurge, on Montana rangeland. The good news is that this biological method of weed control worked effectively over the course of a 9-year study. The bad news is that rather than native plants returning to flourish in the absence of leafy spurge, other non-native species became dominant in its place. ... > full story
New insect birth control strategy zaps cotton pests (November 8, 2010) -- Combining genetically engineered cotton plants that kill caterpillars with the controlled release of sterile moths from airplanes has produced a new and highly successful approach to dramatically reducing pesticide use and pest damage, scientists show. The first large-scale effort of its kind has virtually rid Arizona of one the world's most damaging cotton pests, the pink bollworm. ... > full story
Scientists turn skin cells directly into blood cells, bypassing middle pluripotent step (November 8, 2010) -- Scientists have discovered how to make human blood from adult human skin. The discovery could mean that in the foreseeable future people needing blood for surgery, cancer treatment or treatment of other blood conditions like anemia will be able to have blood created from a patch of their own skin to provide transfusions. ... > full story
Basic understanding of cell division reshaped (November 8, 2010) -- By tracking the flow of information in a cell preparing to split, scientists have identified a protein mechanism that coordinates and regulates the dynamics of shape change necessary for division of a single cell into two daughter cells. ... > full story
Fire fuels flowers success (November 8, 2010) -- The high incidence of fire during the Cretaceous Period, 120 to 65 million years ago, was responsible for the spread of the earliest flowering plants, new research suggests. ... > full story
Spontaneous GMOs in nature: Researchers show how a genetically modified plant can come about (November 8, 2010) -- Genetically modified plants can come about by natural means. A research group in Sweden has now described the details of such an event among higher plants. It is likely that the gene transfer was mediated by a parasite or a pathogen. ... > full story
How physical environment influences stem cell development (November 8, 2010) -- Recent research reveals how physical qualities -- and not only chemical ones – may have an influence in determining how adult stem cells from the bone marrow develop into differentiated ones. The finding represents an important step in understanding the mechanisms that direct and regulate the specialization of stem cells from their undefined state. ... > full story
Free as a bird? Human development affects bird flight patterns and populations (November 8, 2010) -- It may seem like birds have the freedom to fly wherever they like, but researchers have shown that what's on the ground has a great effect on where a bird flies. This information could be used by foresters and urban planners to improve bird habitats that would help maintain strong bird populations. ... > full story
Rice hulls a sustainable drainage option for greenhouse growers (November 8, 2010) -- Greenhouse plant growers can substitute rice hulls for perlite in their media without the need for an increase in growth regulators, according to a new study. ... > full story
Earth's first great predator wasn't: Carnivorous 'shrimp' not so fierce, 3-D model shows (November 8, 2010) -- The meters-long, carnivorous "shrimp" from hell that once ruled the seas of Earth a half billion years ago may have been a real softy, it turns out. A new 3-D modeling of the mouth parts of the Anomalocaris, along with evidence that these parts were not hard like teeth, but flexible, shows that the famed predator could not have been munching on the hard shells of trilobites and other such creatures of the early seas. ... > full story
Mathematical model may result in better environment measures for the Baltic (November 8, 2010) -- Eutrophication of the Baltic Sea has clear negative effects, such as dead bottoms and massive blooms of cyanobacteria. But high plankton production can also have positive effects on acidification. Researchers in Sweden have shown that it is possible to work out the aggregate effects of various environmental measures. ... > full story
New player in innate immunity? Class of biomolecules triggered in response to respiratory virus infection (November 7, 2010) -- For the first time, scientists have discovered that long, non-protein coding RNAs produced in a mammal's cells during a respiratory virus attack may influence the outcome of infection. Researchers used new techniques to read a cell's library of RNA transcripts, which reflects gene activity and changing conditions inside and outside the cell. Scientists can now catalog and compare the appearance and activity of long, non-protein coding RNAs during an infection. Distinctive activity rates are linked to fatal infection. ... > full story
Unexpectedly small effects of mutations in bacteria bring new perspectives (November 7, 2010) -- Most mutations in the genes of the Salmonella bacterium have a surprisingly small negative impact on bacterial fitness. And this is the case regardless whether they lead to changes in the bacterial proteins or not. ... > full story
Water purification: Is colloidal silver necessary for bacteria removal? (November 7, 2010) -- Scientists traveled to Guatemala twice in the past year to conduct research on ceramic pot filters that are used locally to remove bacteria from water. They found that silver may not be necessary to effectively remove bacteria from source water. ... > full story
Heavy metals may influence moose health (November 7, 2010) -- Moose in southern Norway are in significantly worse health than those further north and in eastern Norway. An analysis of roughly 600 moose livers, combined with information such as carcass weights and ages, shows that Norway’s southernmost herds are afflicted with kidney problems and osteoporosis -- which may be due to heavy metals. ... > full story
'Prima donna' protein doesn't work well in pairs (November 6, 2010) -- Bioengineers have found that the workhorse proteins that move cargo inside living cells behave like prima donnas. These molecular-scale machines called kinesin are two-legged mechanical motor proteins. Using an especially sensitive set of tools, scientists measured the pulling power of kinesin both singly and in pairs. It seems that kinesins don't work well together -- in part because they are so effective on their own. ... > full story
DNA fingerprinting traces global path of plague (November 6, 2010) -- Scientists have traced major plague pandemics such as the Black Death back to their roots using DNA fingerprinting analysis. ... > full story
Luminous cells from jellyfish could diagnose cancers deep within human body (November 6, 2010) -- Scientists have developed a process that uses the luminous cells from jellyfish to diagnose cancer tumors deep within the human body. The researchers have used an altered form of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) so that it shows up as red or blue, rather than its original green. Color is important in disease diagnosis, as most colors in the spectrum are rapidly absorbed, and tumors deep within the body become invisible. ... > full story
To prevent inbreeding, flowering plants have evolved multiple genes, research reveals (November 6, 2010) -- Researchers have discovered a large suite of genes in the petunia plant that acts to prevent it from breeding with itself or with its close relatives, and to promote breeding with unrelated individuals. In much the same way that human inbreeding sometimes results in genetic disease and inferior health, some inbred plants also experience decreased fitness, and therefore, have developed mechanisms to ensure that their offspring benefit from hybrid vigor -- the mix that results when genetically distinct members of the same species breed. ... > full story
Potential new virus in switchgrass discovered (November 6, 2010) -- Researchers have confirmed the first report of a potential new virus belonging to the genus Marafivirus in switchgrass, a biomass crop being evaluated for commercial cellulosic ethanol production. ... > full story
New statistical model moves human evolution back three million years (November 5, 2010) -- Evolutionary divergence of humans and chimpanzees likely occurred some 8 million years ago rather than the 5 million year estimate widely accepted by scientists, a new statistical model suggests. ... > full story
New fish feeds made from fish byproducts (November 5, 2010) -- Fish byproducts may be a new source of fish feed. The scientists are taking fish parts that would normally be discarded-head, tail, bone, skin and internal organs-and fashioning them into feeds for shrimp and fish. ... > full story
Hard work improves the taste of food, study shows (November 5, 2010) -- It's commonly accepted that we appreciate something more if we have to work hard to get it, and a new study bears that out, at least when it comes to food. The study seems to suggest that hard work can even enhance our appreciation for fare we might not favor, such as the low-fat, low calorie variety. ... > full story
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