ScienceDaily Environment Headlines
for Sunday, December 19, 2010
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Rise in oxygen drove evolution of animal life 550 million years ago (December 18, 2010) -- Researchers have uncovered a clue that may help to explain why the earliest evidence of complex multicellular animal life appears around 550 million years ago, when atmospheric oxygen levels on the planet rose sharply from 3 percent to their modern day level of 21 percent. ... > full story
Wind turbines help crops by channelling beneficial breezes over nearby plants (December 18, 2010) -- Researchers have found that wind turbines benefit nearby crops, keeping them cooler and drier and boosting the uptake of carbon dioxide. ... > full story
Using digitized books as 'cultural genome,' researchers unveil quantitative approach to humanities (December 18, 2010) -- Researchers have created a powerful new approach to scholarship, using approximately 4 percent of all books ever published as a digital "fossil record" of human culture. By tracking the frequency with which words appear in books over time, scholars can now precisely quantify a wide variety of cultural and historical trends. ... > full story
Prions mutate and adapt to host environment (December 18, 2010) -- Scientists have shown that prions, bits of infectious protein that can cause fatal neurodegenerative disease such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or "mad cow disease," have the ability to adapt to survive in a new host environment. ... > full story
As earthquakes take their toll, engineers look at enhancing building designs (December 18, 2010) -- A next generation of design criteria for buildings located in geographic regions where earthquakes are known to occur, either rarely or frequently, is under development. ... > full story
Researchers develop mouse model to help find how a gene mutation leads to autism (December 18, 2010) -- Researchers have found that when one copy of the SHANK3 gene in mice is missing, nerve cells do not effectively communicate and do not show cellular properties associated with normal learning. This discovery may explain how mutations affecting SHANK3 may lead to autism spectrum disorders. ... > full story
Circadian rhythm: Clock-controlled genes discovered in C. elegans (December 18, 2010) -- It's just a worm, a tiny soil-dwelling nematode worm -- but the implications are big for biomedicine and circadian biology as shown in a recent study. Researchers have now discovered clock-controlled genes in C. elegans. ... > full story
Small islands in the Pacific: Duel between freshwater and sea water (December 17, 2010) -- It is said that the first refugees of climate change will come from the Pacific. In the midst of this ocean’s tropical regions are scattered 50,000 small islands, 8,000 of them inhabited. They are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of global warming. These effects include rising sea-water levels, drought and diminishing stocks of freshwater. ... > full story
More than 100 new species described by California Academy of Sciences in 2010 (December 17, 2010) -- In an effort to address the critical need for data about the diversity of life on Earth, scientists from the California Academy of Sciences have spent the past year exploring some of the planet's most diverse habitats, searching for new species and creating comprehensive biodiversity maps. In 2010, they have added 113 new relatives to our family tree: 83 arthropods, 20 fishes, four corals, two sea slugs, two plants, one reptile, and one fossil mammal. ... > full story
Beetroot juice could help people live more active lives (December 17, 2010) -- New research into the health benefits of beetroot juice suggests it's not only athletes who can benefit from its performance enhancing properties -- its physiological effects could help the elderly or people with heart or lung-conditions enjoy more active lives. ... > full story
An answer to green energy could be in the air (December 17, 2010) -- In Mark Moore's world, long nanotubes reach into the clouds, serving at once to tether a turbine-vehicle flying at 2,000 feet, or 10,000 feet, or 30,000 feet (610, 3,050 and 9,150 meters); and also to conduct the power that vehicle can harvest from the wind back to Earth. Aloft might be a funnel-shaped blimp with a turbine at its back; or a balloon with vanes that rotate; a truss-braced wing; a parachute; a kite. Any and all of them are ideas being considered by nascent renewable energy industry that is flexing its imagination. ... > full story
Proximity to freeway associated with autism (December 17, 2010) -- Living near a freeway may be associated with increased risk of autism, according to a new study. The study examined the locations where the children's families' lived during the first, second and third trimesters of their mothers' pregnancies, and at the time of the baby's birth and looked at the proximity of these homes to a major road or freeway. ... > full story
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