ScienceDaily Environment Headlines
for Saturday, December 4, 2010
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Do our bodies' bacteria play matchmaker? (December 3, 2010) -- Could the bacteria that we carry in our bodies decide who we marry? According to a new study, the answer lies in the gut of a small fruit fly. Scientists recently demonstrated that the symbiotic bacteria inside a fruit fly greatly influence its choice of mates. ... > full story
Africa can feed itself in a generation, experts say (December 3, 2010) -- Experts prepare a blueprint for sub-Saharan Africa's transition from food importer to exporter, starting with expansion of mobile communications, transportation, energy, technical education and regional markets. ... > full story
Many coastal wetlands likely to disappear this century, scientists say (December 3, 2010) -- Many coastal wetlands worldwide -- including several on the US Atlantic coast -- may be more sensitive than previously thought to climate change and sea-level rise projections for the 21st century, according to U.S. Geological Survey scientists. ... > full story
Dark matter could transfer energy in the Sun (December 3, 2010) -- Researchers have studied the effects of the presence of dark matter in the Sun. According to their calculations, low mass dark matter particles could be transferring energy from the core to the external parts of the Sun, which would affect the quantity of neutrinos that reach Earth. ... > full story
Anesthetic gases heats climate as much as one million cars, new research shows (December 3, 2010) -- One kilo of anesthetic gas affects the climate as much as 1,620 kilos of carbon dioxide, according to a recent study carried out by a team of chemists and anesthesiologists. The amount of gas needed for a single surgical procedure is not high, but each year surgery related anesthetics affects the climate as much as would one million cars, states a new report. ... > full story
Farmers slowed down by hunter-gatherers: Our ancestors' fight for space (December 3, 2010) -- Agricultural -- or Neolithic -- economics replaced the Mesolithic social model of hunter-gathering in the Near East about 10,000 years ago. One of the most important socioeconomic changes in human history, this socioeconomic shift, known as the Neolithic transition, spread gradually across Europe until it slowed down when more northern latitudes were reached. Newly published research details a physical model that can potentially explain how the spreading of Neolithic farmers was slowed down by the population density of hunter-gatherers. ... > full story
The future of metabolic engineering: Designer molecules, cells and microorganisms (December 3, 2010) -- Metabolic engineers envision a future in which microorganisms are tailor-made to produce specific chemical products, such as biofuels and pharmaceuticals, from inexpensive and renewable starting materials. ... > full story
Polluted air increases obesity risk in young animals (December 3, 2010) -- Exposure to polluted air early in life led to an accumulation of abdominal fat and insulin resistance in mice even if they ate a normal diet, according to new research. Animals exposed to the fine-particulate air pollution had larger and more fat cells in their abdominal area and higher blood sugar levels than did animals eating the same diet but breathing clean air. ... > full story
'No fish left behind' approach leaves Earth with nowhere left to fish, study finds (December 3, 2010) -- Earth has run out of room to expand fisheries, according to a new study that charts the systematic expansion of industrialized fisheries. ... > full story
Scientists home in on chemicals needed to reprogram cells; Groundbreaking discovery moves field closer to therapeutic applications (December 3, 2010) -- Scientists have made a significant leap forward in the drive to find a way to safely reprogram mature human cells and turn them into stem cells, which can then change into other cell types, such as nerve, heart, and liver cells. The ability to transform fully mature adult cells such as skin cells into stem cells has potentially profound implications for treating many diseases. ... > full story
Researchers find mathematical patterns to forecast earthquakes (December 3, 2010) -- Researchers in Spain have found patterns of behavior that occur before an earthquake on the Iberian peninsula. The team used clustering techniques to forecast medium-large seismic movements when certain circumstances coincide. ... > full story
Scientists ratchet up understanding of cellular protein factory (December 3, 2010) -- Theoretical biologists are untangling a mystery related to ribosomes -- those enigmatic jumbles of molecules that are the protein factories of living cells. The research could aid in development of new antibiotics used to fight multidrug resistant superbugs such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections) found in many US hospitals. ... > full story
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