ScienceDaily Environment Headlines
for Friday, December 17, 2010
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Snail fever: Scientists pinpoint key defense against parasite infection (December 17, 2010) -- Scientists have made a significant discovery about how the body defends itself against snail fever, a parasitic worm infection common in developing countries. ... > full story
How pollinators sculpt flowers (December 17, 2010) -- For the past 10 years, researchers in Spain have used complex geometric analysis to study how insect pollinators influence the evolution of flower shape. ... > full story
Thoreau's study of birds at Waldon Pond aids biologists in climate change research (December 17, 2010) -- Biology researchers completed an analysis of the changing arrival dates of migratory birds to Concord, Massachusetts that includes observations by Henry David Thoreau from the 1850's. This research builds on earlier work showing plants in Concord respond rapidly to temperature and are now flowering 10 days earlier than in the time of Thoreau. ... > full story
Faster method of engineering zinc-finger nucleases developed (December 17, 2010) -- Researchers have developed a faster way to engineer synthetic enzymes that target specific DNA sequences for inactivation, repair or alteration. The method is a highly effective but less labor-intensive way to generate powerful tools called zinc-finger nucleases. ... > full story
Organ size is determined by p53 protein (December 16, 2010) -- In studies conducted on the fruit fly, researchers have revealed that organs have the molecular mechanisms to control their proportions. In this process the protein p53 plays a crucial role. ... > full story
How foot-and-mouth disease virus begins infection in cattle (December 16, 2010) -- Scientists have identified the primary site where the virus that causes foot-and-mouth disease begins infection in cattle. ... > full story
Age doesn't matter: New genes are as essential as ancient ones (December 16, 2010) -- New genes that have evolved in species as little as one million years ago -- a virtual blink in evolutionary history -- can be just as essential for life as ancient genes, startling new research has discovered. The study challenges evolutionary biology assumptions about the importance of new genes in development. ... > full story
Staph bacteria: Blood-sucking superbug prefers taste of humans (December 16, 2010) -- Scientists have discovered that "staph" bacteria prefer to bind to human hemoglobin -- the oxygen-carrying protein that contains iron -- over hemoglobin from other animals. The findings help explain why staph preferentially infects people and suggest that genetic variations in hemoglobin may make some individuals more susceptible to staph infections. ... > full story
Unique orangutan reintroduction project under imminent threat (December 16, 2010) -- One of Sumatra's most biodiverse rainforests is under imminent threat from the pulp and paper industry, jeopardizing the only successful project that releases rescued Sumatran orangutans back to the wild. ... > full story
Restoration activities speed seagrass recovery in the Florida Keys (December 16, 2010) -- Results of a five-year monitoring effort to repair seagrass damaged in a boat grounding incident suggest that restoration techniques such as replanting seagrass can speed recovery time. ... > full story
Loss of Arctic ice may promote hybrid marine mammals (December 16, 2010) -- Scientists have expected for some time that the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free in summer by the end of this century. Researchers now say the seasonal loss of this ice sheet, a continent-sized natural barrier between species such as bears, whales and seals, could mean extinction of some rare marine mammals and the loss of many adaptive gene combinations. ... > full story
Garlic could protect against hip osteoarthritis (December 16, 2010) -- Researchers have discovered that women who consume a diet high in allium vegetables, such as garlic, onions and leeks, have lower levels of hip osteoarthritis. ... > full story
Geologist develops improved seismic model for monitoring nuclear explosions in Middle East (December 16, 2010) -- Geologists have taken an important step toward helping the United States government monitor nuclear explosions by improving a 3-dimensional model to make it more accurate at detecting the location, source and depth of seismic activity. ... > full story
New discoveries make it harder for HIV to hide from drugs (December 16, 2010) -- Microbiologists and biochemists reveal new findings that shed light on how HIV eludes treatment by mutating. His discoveries provide clues into HIV's mechanisms for resisting two main families of drugs. ... > full story
Rapid diagnostic test for common type of pneumonia developed (December 16, 2010) -- Researchers have developed a technique that can diagnose a common type of pneumonia within minutes, potentially replacing existing tests that can take several days for results. The researchers detected Mycoplasma pneumoniae, which causes atypical or "walking pneumonia," in true clinical samples with over 97 percent accuracy using a recently-developed nanotechnology-based platform. ... > full story
Earthworms absorb discarded copper nanomaterials present in soil (December 16, 2010) -- The manufacturing of nanomaterials has been steadily on the rise in the medical, industrial, and scientific fields. New research has determined that earthworms could absorb copper nanoparticles present in soil. ... > full story
Ancient forest emerges mummified from the Arctic: Clues to future warming impact (December 16, 2010) -- The northernmost mummified forest ever found in Canada is revealing how plants struggled to endure a long-ago global cooling. Researchers believe the trees -- buried by a landslide and exquisitely preserved 2 to 8 million years ago -- will help them predict how today's Arctic will respond to global warming. ... > full story
Seaweed as biofuel? Metabolic engineering makes it a viable option (December 16, 2010) -- Is red seaweed a viable future biofuel? Now that a metabolic engineer has developed a strain of yeast that can make short work of fermenting galactose, the answer is an unequivocal yes. Researchers have recently identified three genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the microbe most often used to ferment the sugars, whose overexpression increased galactose fermentation by 250 percent when compared to a control strain. ... > full story
Feast, famine and the genetics of obesity: You can't have it both ways (December 16, 2010) -- In addition to fast food, desk jobs, and inertia, there is one more thing to blame for unwanted pounds -- our genome, which has apparently not caught up with the fact that we no longer live in the Stone Age. ... > full story
How hard are we pushing the land? Plant consumption rising significantly as population grows and economies develop (December 16, 2010) -- Humans are consuming an increasing amount of Earth's total annual land plant production, new NASA research has found. As the human population continues to grow and more societies develop modern economies, this rate of consumption is increasing both as a whole and on a per capita basis globally. ... > full story
Protecting the Amazon rainforest: Extensive inventory forms basis for legislation governing when trees in the Brazilian rainforests can be logged (December 16, 2010) -- The forestry industry in a highly sensitive part of the Amazon rainforest has just become more sustainable thanks to the work of a team of researchers. They produced an inventory of extensive forest areas, regularly flooded by the Amazon and Solimões rivers, and calculated the rates of growth and reproduction of individual species of trees. The Brazilian state of Amazonas has taken these findings as the basis for its new logging legislation for the floodplain forests. ... > full story
Similarities in the embryonic development of various animal species are also found at molecular level (December 15, 2010) -- The astonishing similarity in the appearance of embryos from different animal species was observed as far back as the 19th century by scientists such as Karl von Baer, Charles Darwin and Ernst Haeckel. Such observations prompted the hypothesis that the individual development of an organism reflects its evolutionary history or phylogeny. Two groups of scientists have now succeeded in demonstrating, for the first time, that parallels exist between individual development and phylogeny on the level of gene expression. ... > full story
'Green genes' in yeast may boost biofuel production by increasing stress tolerance (December 15, 2010) -- An effort to increase biofuel production has led scientists to discover genes in yeast that improve their tolerance to ethanol, allowing the production of more ethanol from the same amount of nutrients. A new study shows how genetically altered yeast cells survive higher ethanol concentrations, addressing a bottleneck in the production of ethanol from cellulosic material (nonfood plant sources) in quantities that could compete economically with fossil fuels. ... > full story
Polar bears still on thin ice, but cutting greenhouse gases now can avert extinction, experts say (December 15, 2010) -- New research indicates that that if humans reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly in the next decade or two, enough Arctic ice is likely to remain intact during late summer and early autumn for polar bears to survive. ... > full story
Plasma therapy: An alternative to antibiotics? (December 15, 2010) -- Cold plasma jets could be a safe, effective alternative to antibiotics to treat multi-drug resistant infections, according to a new study. ... > full story
Epstein-Barr: Scientists decode secrets of a very common virus that can cause cancer (December 15, 2010) -- About 90 percent of people are infected at some time in their lives with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), usually with no ill effects. But individuals with compromised immune systems, such as people with organ transplants or HIV infection, have a greater risk of cancer occurring because of this virus. Scientists have discovered a pathway that infected cells use to root out EBV infections, a finding that has implications for understanding the human response to cancer-causing viruses in general. ... > full story
Compound derived from curry spice is neuroprotective against stroke and traumatic brain injury (December 15, 2010) -- A synthetic derivative of the curry spice turmeric dramatically improves the behavioral and molecular deficits seen in animal models of ischemic stroke and traumatic brain injury. Two new studies suggest that the novel compound may have clinical promise for these conditions, which currently lack good therapies. ... > full story
New method for making tiny catalysts holds promise for air quality (December 15, 2010) -- Researchers have demonstrated a simpler method of adding iron to tiny carbon spheres to create catalytic materials that have the potential to remove contaminants from gas or liquid. In one continuous process, it produces tiny, micrometer-sized spheres of porous, spongy carbon embedded with iron nanoparticles -- all in the span of a few seconds. ... > full story
Fabric softener sheets repel gnats: Scientists prove Bounce sheets fend off insect pests (December 15, 2010) -- Gardeners often claim that putting Bounce fabric softener sheets in their pockets is an effective way to repel pests like mosquitoes and gnats. In a new study, researchers discussed a series experiments they conducted to ascertain whether Bounce dryer sheets (Outdoor Fresh Scent, Procter and Gamble) repel fungus gnat adults under laboratory conditions. The research team also analyzed the volatile compounds in the dryer sheets using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. ... > full story
Increased BPA exposure linked to reduced egg quality in women (December 15, 2010) -- A small-scale study has identified the first evidence in humans that exposure to bisphenol A may compromise the quality of a woman's eggs retrieved for in vitro fertilization. ... > full story
Earthshaking possibilities may limit underground storage of carbon dioxide (December 15, 2010) -- Combating global warming by pumping carbon dioxide into the ground for long-term storage -- known as carbon sequestration -- could trigger small earthquakes that might breach the storage system, allowing the gas back into the atmosphere, according to a geophysicist. That hazard, combined with a need for thousands of injection sites around the globe, may keep sequestration from being feasible on a large scale. ... > full story
Champion hydrogen-producing microbe (December 15, 2010) -- The cyanobacteria are famous for releasing the oxygen that made the Earth a hospitable planet but some strains also have a hidden talent for producing hydrogen gas, a potential biofuel. With the help of a few metabolic tricks, a lab has coaxed one such strain to produce champion levels of the gas. ... > full story
Asthma? Allergens could be growing in your lungs (December 15, 2010) -- Scientists investigating the allergic reactions that asthmatics suffer towards a common mold have discovered that many people with asthma actually had the mold growing in their own lungs. ... > full story
Human networking theory gives picture of infectious disease spread (December 15, 2010) -- New research using human-networking theory may give a clearer picture of just how, exactly, infectious diseases such as the common cold, influenza, whooping cough and SARS can spread through a closed group of people, and even through populations at large. ... > full story
Satellites pinpoint drivers of urban heat islands in northeastern U.S. (December 15, 2010) -- The size, background ecology, and development patterns of major northeastern cities combine to make them unusually warm, according to NASA scientists. Summer land surface temperatures of cities in the Northeast were an average of 13°F to 16°F (7°C to 9°C) warmer than surrounding rural areas over a three year period, the new research shows. The complex phenomenon that drives up temperatures of cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. is called the urban heat island effect. ... > full story
US EPA removes saccharin from hazardous substances listing (December 15, 2010) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has removed saccharin, a common artificial sweetener, and its salts from the agency's list of hazardous substances. Saccharin is no longer considered a potential hazard to human health. ... > full story
Satellite data provide a new way to monitor groundwater in agricultural regions (December 15, 2010) -- Much of the agriculture in the American West depends on underground water systems that need to be carefully monitored to avoid overuse. Traditional data about aquifers are sparse and expensive to obtain. Until now, crops growing above the aquifer prevented satellite-based radar from "seeing" under the surface. But researchers have found a way around the plant problem. ... > full story
Power and corruption may be good for society (December 15, 2010) -- An evolutionary biology professor found that power and corruption may play a role in maintaining overall societal cooperation. ... > full story
Tubeworms colony discovered off Cyprus (December 15, 2010) -- When a field of tubeworms was unexpectedly discovered on the side of a large underwater mountain 50 miles off the coast of Cyprus this summer, the finding was notable both for the discovery itself and for the process of the discovery. ... > full story
Sweet and biodegradable: Sugar and cornstarch make environmentally safer plastics (December 14, 2010) -- A new lactide-based variety of catalysts, which initiate or sustain reactions in chemical processes, is improving the production of "green" plastics, making them stronger and more heat-resistant. This research has applications in a variety of manufacturing fields, from car parts to plastic cups -- and is a significant step in the "greening" of the plastics and chemical industries. ... > full story
Geologist's discoveries resolve debate about oxygen in Earth's mantle (December 14, 2010) -- While there continues to be considerable debate among geologists about the availability of oxygen in the Earth's mantle, recent discoveries are bringing resolution to the question. Analysis of erupted rock from Agrigan volcano in the western Pacific near Guam found it to be highly oxidized as a result of its exposure to oxygen when it formed in the Earth's mantle. ... > full story
Biological computers: Genetically modified cells communicate like electronic circuits (December 14, 2010) -- Genetically modified cells can be made to communicate with each other as if they were electronic circuits. Using yeast cells, a group of researchers has taken a groundbreaking step towards being able to build complex systems in the future where the body's own cells help to keep us healthy. ... > full story
Transcription factor clears protein clumps in Huntington's mice models (December 14, 2010) -- Over expressing a transcription factor that promotes increase in number of mitochondria greatly improves neurological function of transgenic mice models for Huntington's disease. ... > full story
What 'pine' cones reveal about the evolution of flowers (December 14, 2010) -- From southern Africa's pineapple lily to Western Australia's swamp bottlebrush, flowering plants are everywhere. Also called angiosperms, they make up 90 percent of all land-based, plant life. New research provides new insights into their genetic origin, an evolutionary innovation that quickly gave rise to many diverse flowering plants more than 130 million years ago. Moreover, a flower with genetic programming similar to a water lily may have started it all. ... > full story
Hot stuff: Magma at shallow depth under Hawaii (December 14, 2010) -- Researchers have found a new way to gauge the depth of the magma chamber that forms the Hawaiian Island volcanic chain, and determined that the magma lies much closer to the surface than previously thought. The finding could help scientists predict when Hawaiian volcanoes are going to erupt. It also suggests that Hawaii holds great potential for thermal energy. ... > full story
Potential chink in armor of African sleeping sickness parasite: It's social (December 14, 2010) -- Long considered a freewheeling loner, the Trypanosoma brucei parasite responsible for African sleeping sickness has revealed a totally unexpected social side, opening a potential chink in the behavioral armor of this and other supposedly solitary human parasites. ... > full story
Continued death of forests predicted in southwestern US due to climate change (December 14, 2010) -- If current climate projections hold true, the forests of the Southwestern United States face a bleak future, with more severe ---- and more frequent ---- forest fires, higher tree death rates, more insect infestation, and weaker trees. ... > full story
Parasite and bacterium illustrate convergent evolution: Both hijack cells' 'post office' (December 14, 2010) -- Protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii and pathogenic bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis exemplify convergent evolution, development of similar biological trait in unrelated lineages, according to new research. ... > full story
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