ScienceDaily Environment Headlines
for Monday, December 14, 2009
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Introns -- nonsense DNA -- may be more important to evolution of genomes than thought (December 14, 2009) -- The sequences of nonsense DNA that interrupt genes could be far more important to the evolution of genomes than previously thought, according to researchers. Their study of the model organism Daphnia pulex (water flea) is the first to demonstrate the colonization of a single lineage by "introns," as the interrupting sequences are known. ... > full story
Can Biodiversity Persist In The Face Of Climate Change? (December 14, 2009) -- Predictions made over the last decade about the impacts of climate change on biodiversity may be exaggerated, according to new research. ... > full story
Innovative Plan To Save Rainforest, Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions (December 14, 2009) -- An innovative proposal by the Ecuadorian government to protect an untouched, oil rich region of Amazon rainforest is a precedent-setting and potentially economically viable approach, says a team of environmental researchers. ... > full story
Syntax in our primate cousins (December 13, 2009) -- Monkeys of a certain forest-dwelling species called Campbell's monkeys emit six types of alert calls. The primates combine these calls into long vocal sequences which allow them to convey messages about social cohesion or various dangers, including predation. ... > full story
Glacial rebound: 10,000-year study of strata compaction and sea-level rise on English coast (December 13, 2009) -- Glacial rebound -- the rise or fall of land masses that were depressed by the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period -- explains differences in relative sea levels along the English coast, according to a new study. ... > full story
Bacteria provide new insights into human decision making (December 13, 2009) -- Scientists studying how bacteria under stress collectively weigh and initiate different survival strategies say they have gained new insights into how humans make strategic decisions that affect their health, wealth and the fate of others in society. ... > full story
Understanding ocean climate (December 13, 2009) -- High-resolution computer simulations are helping to describe the inflow of North Atlantic water to the Arctic Ocean and how this influences ocean climate. ... > full story
New research may lead to new ways to control honeybee parasite (December 13, 2009) -- Ground-breaking discoveries could help protect honeybees from deadly parasites that have devastated commercial colonies. ... > full story
Synthetic protein mimics structure, function of metalloprotein in nature (December 13, 2009) -- Scientists have designed a synthetic protein that is both a structural model and a functional model of a native protein, nitric-oxide reductase. ... > full story
Studying hair of ancient Peruvians answers questions about stress (December 12, 2009) -- A first-of-its-kind archaeological study has detected the stress hormone cortisol in the hair of ancient Peruvians, who lived between 550 and 1532 A.D. ... > full story
Lightning-produced radiation a potential health concern for air travelers (December 12, 2009) -- New information about lightning-emitted X-rays, gamma rays and high-energy electrons during thunderstorms is prompting scientists to raise concerns about the potential for airline passengers and crews to be exposed to harmful levels of radiation. ... > full story
Forest deal at Copenhagen must avoid creating 'carbon refugees,' scientists urge (December 12, 2009) -- Forest dwellers must be included in the design of the upcoming forest deal at Copenhagen in order to avoid a humanitarian crisis, according to a scientist. ... > full story
Nerve-cell transplants help brain-damaged rats fully recover lost ability to learn (December 11, 2009) -- Nerve cells transplanted into brain-damaged rats helped them to fully recover their ability to learn and remember, probably by promoting nurturing, protective growth factors, according to a new study. ... > full story
Earth's atmosphere came from outer space, scientists find (December 11, 2009) -- The gases which formed the Earth's atmosphere -- and probably its oceans -- did not come from inside the Earth but from outer space, according to a new study. ... > full story
Appetite, consumption controlled by clockwork genes at cross-purposes in flies (December 11, 2009) -- One of the pioneers in research on sleep-wake circadian genes has discovered that fruit flies' appetite and consumption are controlled by two rival sets of clocks, one in neurons and the other in the fly fat body, which is analogous to the liver. ... > full story
Real human bone grown in tissue culture (December 11, 2009) -- Researchers have created a process that grows real human bone in tissue culture, which can be used to investigate how bones form, grow and fracture. ... > full story
Bacteria engineered to turn carbon dioxide into liquid fuel (December 11, 2009) -- Global climate change has prompted efforts to drastically reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas produced by burning fossil fuels. In a new approach, researchers have genetically modified a cyanobacterium to consume carbon dioxide and produce a liquid fuel precursor to isobutanol, which holds great potential as a gasoline alternative. The reaction is powered directly by energy from sunlight, or photosynthesis. ... > full story
U.S. forests and soils store equivalent of 50 years of nation's CO<sub>2</sub> emissions, new estimates find (December 11, 2009) -- The first phase of a groundbreaking national assessment estimates that US forests and soils could remove additional quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as a means to mitigate climate change. ... > full story
Swiss scientists measure glacial melting with light (December 11, 2009) -- The glaciers in Switzerland have been melting for years. Researchers now want to know more precisely how much ice is being lost -- and they are using the aid of light. ... > full story
Fast method for preparing flu vaccine: Use bioreactors instead of chicken eggs (December 11, 2009) -- A shortage of flu vaccines may soon become a problem of the past. Researchers have developed an alternative process for producing large quantities of safe and effective vaccines at twice to four times the usual speed. The process is based on using cells in bioreactors instead of fertilized chicken eggs, which have a limited availability. ... > full story
Sea level is rising along US Atlantic coast, say environmental scientists (December 11, 2009) -- An international team of environmental scientists has shown that sea-level rise along the Atlantic Coast of the United States was 2 millimeters faster in the 20th century than at any time in the past 4,000 years. ... > full story
Fruit fly neuron can reprogram itself after injury (December 11, 2009) -- Studies with fruit flies have shown that the specialized nerve cells called neurons can rebuild themselves after injury. The results are potentially relevant to research efforts to improve the treatment of patients with traumatic nerve damage or neurodegenerative disease. ... > full story
Breakthrough in monitoring tropical deforestation announced in Copenhagen (December 11, 2009) -- New technology is revolutionizing forest monitoring by marrying free satellite imagery and powerful analytical methods in an easy-to-use, desktop software package called CLASlite. Thus far, 70 government, non-government and academic organizations in five countries have adopted the technology, with more on the horizon. ... > full story
White marlin: Abundance of a look-alike species clouds population status of a million dollar fish (December 11, 2009) -- The prized white marlin is among the most overexploited open-ocean fish. It's the subject of intense international recovery efforts. A new study now shows that a look-alike species, the roundscale spearfish, makes up a relatively high proportion of the fish identified as "white marlin". As such, current biological information on white marlin is likely contaminated by a second species, and past white marlin population size assessments are now uncertain. ... > full story
Battle of the sexes: Ovaries must suppress their inner male (December 11, 2009) -- Scientists have discovered that if a specific gene located on a non-sex chromosome is turned off, cells in the ovaries of adult female mice turn into cells typically found in testes. Their study challenges the long-held assumption that the development of female traits is a default pathway and grants a valuable insight into how sex determination evolved. ... > full story
DNA sheds new light on horse evolution (December 10, 2009) -- Ancient DNA retrieved from extinct horse species from around the world has challenged one of the textbook examples of evolution -- the fossil record of the horse family Equidae over the past 55 million years. ... > full story
Measuring impact of climate change from space: Gravity measurements shed light on key questions (December 10, 2009) -- What is the impact of climate change on the ice-covered regions of Earth? How does deglaciation affect global sea level changes? These questions are being addressed by scientists from Germany and Australia, who are investigating space-borne gravity measurements provided by the GRACE satellite mission. As a result, they found out that the Greenland glaciers shrunk continuously in the last few years; above all, they estimated the changes not to be linear in time but accelerating. On average, recent Greenland ice-mass decline caused an annual sea-level rise of about 0.5 millimeters. ... > full story
Supportive materials to help regenerate heart tissue (December 10, 2009) -- Bioengineers are developing new regenerative therapies for heart disease. The work could influence the way in which regenerative therapies for cardiovascular and other diseases are treated in the future. ... > full story
Formula to detect an author’s literary ‘fingerprint’ (December 10, 2009) -- Using literature written by Thomas Hardy, DH Lawrence and Herman Melville, physicists in Sweden have developed a formula to detect different authors’ literary ‘fingerprints’. ... > full story
Early carnivorous dinosaur crossed continents, alters evolutionary tree (December 10, 2009) -- Discovery of a new species of 213-million-year-old meat-eating dinosaur in New Mexico suggests the first dinosaurs wandered between parts of the Pangea supercontinent that later became North and South America, according to a team of researchers. ... > full story
Newly discovered mechanism allows cells to change state (December 10, 2009) -- By looking at yeast cells, a biologist has figured out one way in which cells can transform themselves: a cellular "machine" removes a regulatory "lid." ... > full story
Hops compound may prevent prostate cancer (December 10, 2009) -- The natural compound xanthohumol blocks the effects of the male hormone testosterone, therefore aiding in the prevention of prostate cancer. ... > full story
Digital avalanche rescue dog: Geolocation system can locate victims to within centimeters (December 10, 2009) -- A novel geolocation system makes use of signals from Galileo, the future European satellite navigation system, to locate avalanche victims carrying an avalanche transceiver or a cell phone, to the precision of a few centimeters. ... > full story
Nature's solution to age-old chemical paradox: Chemical basis for extra 'quality control' in protein production (December 10, 2009) -- Even small errors made by cells during protein production can have profound disease effects, and nature has developed ways to uncover these mistakes and correct them. Though in the case of one essential protein building block -- the amino acid alanine -- nature has been extra careful, developing not one, but two checkpoints in her effort to make sure that this component is used correctly. ... > full story
Dow Jones Index for Climate Change (December 10, 2009) -- The IGBP Climate Change Index exposes the rapid and profound changes the planet is undergoing as a result of human activity. ... > full story
Tropical forests affected by habitat fragmentation store less biomass and carbon dioxide (December 10, 2009) -- Deforestation in tropical rain forests could have an even greater impact on climate change than has previously been thought. The combined biomass of a large number of small forest fragments left over after habitat fragmentation can be up to 40 percent less than in a continuous natural forest of the same overall size. This is the conclusion reached by German and Brazilian researchers who used a simulation model. ... > full story
Danish Eco City proves waste management can reverse greenhouse trend (December 10, 2009) -- Cities can progress from consuming energy and emitting greenhouse gases to actually producing energy while saving on GHG emissions, due to substitution of fossil fuels elsewhere. These findings are based on research in the city of Aalborg in Northern Denmark. ... > full story
Pitch of blue whale songs is declining around the world, scientists discover (December 9, 2009) -- The sound level of songs blue whales sing across the vast expanses of the ocean to attract potential mates has been steadily creeping downward for the past few decades, and scientists believe the trend may be good news for the population of the endangered marine mammal. ... > full story
Worms unlock secrets to new epilepsy treatments (December 9, 2009) -- Scientists have used worms to reel in information they hope will lead to a greater understanding of cellular mechanisms that may be exploited to treat epilepsy. In a new study, the researchers explain how the transparent roundworm, C. elegans, helped them identify key "molecular switches" that control the transport of a molecule (gamma-aminobutyric acid or "GABA") that if manipulated within our cells, might prevent the onset of seizures. ... > full story
Energy efficiency technologies offer major savings, report finds (December 9, 2009) -- Energy efficiency technologies that exist today or that are likely to be developed in the near future could save considerable money as well as energy, says a new report from the National Research Council. Fully adopting these technologies could lower projected US energy use 17 percent to 20 percent by 2020, and 25-31 percent by 2030. ... > full story
Why King Kong failed to impress: Humans, apes use odor-detecting receptors differently (December 9, 2009) -- Humans have the same receptors for detecting odors related to sex as do other primates. But each species uses them in different ways, stemming from the way the genes for these receptors have evolved over time, according to researchers. ... > full story
H1N1 influenza adopted novel strategy to move from birds to humans (December 9, 2009) -- The 2009 H1N1 virus, which ignited a worldwide "swine flu" panic earlier this year, used a novel strategy to cross from birds into people, scientists have found. The finding could help those surveilling the world for new flu variants and those developing antiviral drugs. ... > full story
Everyday germs in childhood may prevent diseases in adulthood (December 9, 2009) -- A new study suggests that American parents should ease up on the antibacterial soap. Exposure to infectious microbes early in life may actually protect children from cardiovascular diseases that can lead to death as an adult. The study is the first to look at how microbial exposures early in life affect inflammatory processes related to diseases associated with aging in adulthood. Ultra-clean environments may be depriving developing immune networks of important environmental input. ... > full story
Women with breast cancer who consume soy food have lower risk of cancer recurrence (December 9, 2009) -- Although there is a concern regarding the safety of soy food consumption among breast cancer survivors, researchers have found that women in China who had breast cancer and a higher intake of soy food had an associated lower risk of death and breast cancer recurrence, according to a new study. ... > full story
Scientists reveal key structure from Ebola virus (December 9, 2009) -- Scientists have determined the structure of a critical protein from the Ebola virus, which, though rare, is one of the deadliest viruses on the planet killing between 50 and 90 percent of those infected. ... > full story
Superior offspring without genetic modification? (December 9, 2009) -- We don't always turn out like our parents. Sometimes we become even better. How this happens is the subject of a new research project by scientists in Sweden. ... > full story
Precision breeding creates super potato (December 9, 2009) -- The skin is light brown, the meat luscious and yellow: from the outside alone, this new potato looks like any other. But on the inside, it is different. Its cells produce pure amylopectin, a starch used in the paper, textile and food industries. The new potatoes -- recently harvested and processed for the first time -- were developed with the aid of a new, especially rapid breeding process. ... > full story
Facebook (and systems biologists) take note: Network analysis reveals true connections (December 9, 2009) -- Two researchers have developed a universal method that can accurately analyze a range of complex networks -- including social networks, protein-protein interactions and air transportation networks. Their technique exploits the fact that all networks have groups in them and those groups are connected in many different ways. The researchers demonstrated the great potential of the method using five different networks, including predicting friendships in a social network and protein-protein interactions within a cell. ... > full story
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