ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Deadly frog fungus at work in the wild
• Wind pushes plastics deeper into oceans, driving trash estimates up
• Facial defects shown to self-repair
• Liquid solar cells can be painted onto surfaces
• Selenium impacts honey bee behavior and survival
• Warm ocean currents cause majority of ice loss from Antarctica
• Tiny 'spherules' reveal details about Earth's asteroid impacts
• Flies process attractive and deterrent odors in different brain areas
• First camera trap photos of rare leopard in China
• Antibiotic resistance flourishes in freshwater systems
• Top ten toxic chemicals suspected to cause autism and learning disabilities
• Can organic food feed the world? New yields data for debate over organic vs conventional agriculture
• How PCBs promote dendrite growth, may increase autism risk
• Evolution on an island: Fossils show secret for a longer life
• Environmental implications of artificially created organisms
• Plant perfumes woo beneficial bugs to their roots
• Did bone ease acid for early land crawlers?
• Geophysicists employ novel method to identify sources of global sea level rise
• 'Inhabitants of Madrid' ate elephants’ meat and bone marrow 80,000 years ago
• Scientists discover bilayer structure in efficient solar material
• Bats: An unexpected virus reservoir
• Northern Canada feels the heat: Climate change impact on permafrost zones

Deadly frog fungus at work in the wild Posted: 25 Apr 2012 04:30 PM PDT The fungal infection that has killed a record number of amphibians worldwide leads to deadly dehydration in frogs in the wild, according to a new study. High levels of an aquatic fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) disrupt fluid and electrolyte balance in wild frogs, the scientists say, severely depleting the frogs' sodium and potassium levels and causing cardiac arrest and death.

Wind pushes plastics deeper into oceans, driving trash estimates up Posted: 25 Apr 2012 04:28 PM PDT Decades of research into how much plastic litters the ocean, conducted by skimming only the surface, may in some cases vastly underestimate the true amount of plastic debris, according to an oceanographer.

Facial defects shown to self-repair Posted: 25 Apr 2012 12:54 PM PDT A "self-repair" mechanism has been found by which developing organisms recognize and correct facial defects. A tadpole model showed organisms aren't genetically hard-wired with cell movements that result in normal facial features. Cell groups instead measure shape and position and move and remodel to fix abnormalities.

Liquid solar cells can be painted onto surfaces Posted: 25 Apr 2012 11:04 AM PDT Scientists have developed a potential pathway to cheap, stable solar cells made from nanocrystals so small they can exist as a liquid ink and be painted or printed onto clear surfaces.

Selenium impacts honey bee behavior and survival Posted: 25 Apr 2012 11:04 AM PDT Entomologists have a "proof of concept" that selenium, a nonmetal chemical element, can disrupt the foraging behavior and survival of honey bees. In controlled greenhouse experiments they found that the bees did not respond to the presence of selenium in plants. The bees fed on food sources, such as flowers that contained selenium at even very high concentrations. Selenium is toxic at high concentrations. In soils, it occurs most often as selenate.

Warm ocean currents cause majority of ice loss from Antarctica Posted: 25 Apr 2012 11:03 AM PDT Warm ocean currents are the dominant cause of recent ice loss from Antarctica, new research shows. New techniques have been used to differentiate, for the first time, between the two known causes of melting ice shelves - warm ocean currents attacking the underside, and warm air melting from above. This finding brings scientists a step closer to providing reliable projections of future sea-level rise.

Tiny 'spherules' reveal details about Earth's asteroid impacts Posted: 25 Apr 2012 11:03 AM PDT Researchers are learning details about asteroid impacts going back to the Earth's early history by using a new method for extracting precise information from tiny "spherules" embedded in layers of rock.

Flies process attractive and deterrent odors in different brain areas Posted: 25 Apr 2012 11:02 AM PDT A new apparatus automatically applies odors to an airstream, while filming and analyzing the behavior of insects simultaneously. A first series of tests have revealed that male and female fruit flies respond differently to attractant substances. Male flies are no longer attracted to females that already mated with another male because a deterrent odor that surrounds these females.

First camera trap photos of rare leopard in China Posted: 25 Apr 2012 11:01 AM PDT The first-known camera trap photos of an Amur leopard in China have recently been taken in Hunchun Amur Tiger National Nature Reserve in Jilin Province.

Antibiotic resistance flourishes in freshwater systems Posted: 25 Apr 2012 11:01 AM PDT Researchers have now discovered that floc – "goo-like" substances that occur suspended in water and that host large communities of bacteria – also contain high levels of antibiotic resistance.

Top ten toxic chemicals suspected to cause autism and learning disabilities Posted: 25 Apr 2012 11:01 AM PDT Scientists have prepared a list of ten chemicals considered likely to contribute to autism, learning disabilities and related conditions.

Can organic food feed the world? New yields data for debate over organic vs conventional agriculture Posted: 25 Apr 2012 11:01 AM PDT Can organic agriculture feed the world? Although organic techniques may not be able to do the job alone, they do have an important role to play in feeding a growing global population while minimizing environmental damage, according to researchers. Crop yields from organic farming are generally lower than from conventional agriculture, especially for cereal crops.

How PCBs promote dendrite growth, may increase autism risk Posted: 25 Apr 2012 08:54 AM PDT PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, launch a cellular chain of events that leads to an overabundance of dendrites -- the filament-like projections that conduct electrochemical signals between neurons -- and disrupts normal patterns of neuronal connections in the brain, new research shows.

Evolution on an island: Fossils show secret for a longer life Posted: 25 Apr 2012 06:43 AM PDT Scientists have discovered one of the first fossil-based evidences supporting the evolutionary theory of aging, which predicts that species evolving in low mortality and resource-limited ecosystems tend to be more long-lived.

Environmental implications of artificially created organisms Posted: 25 Apr 2012 06:43 AM PDT New research seeks to inform a United Nations debate on whether to call a temporary halt to the release into the environment of artificially created organisms.

Plant perfumes woo beneficial bugs to their roots Posted: 24 Apr 2012 05:54 PM PDT Scientists have discovered that maize crops emit chemical signals which attract growth-promoting microbes to live amongst their roots. This is the first chemical signal that has been shown to attract beneficial bacteria to the maize root environment.

Did bone ease acid for early land crawlers? Posted: 24 Apr 2012 05:53 PM PDT Scientists have proposed that the bony structures in the skin of many early four-legged creatures might have been there to relieve acid buildup in bodily fluids. Analysis of their anatomy suggests that as they ventured out of water, the animals would have had trouble getting rid of enough CO2 to prevent acid buildup.

Geophysicists employ novel method to identify sources of global sea level rise Posted: 24 Apr 2012 11:22 AM PDT As the Earth's climate warms, a melting ice sheet produces a distinct pattern of sea level change known as its sea level fingerprint. Now, geophysicists have found a way to identify the sea level fingerprint left by a particular ice sheet, and possibly enable a more precise estimate of its impact on global sea levels.

'Inhabitants of Madrid' ate elephants’ meat and bone marrow 80,000 years ago Posted: 24 Apr 2012 09:17 AM PDT Humans that populated the banks of the river Manzanares during the Middle Palaeolithic fed themselves on pachyderm meat and bone marrow. This is what a new study shows and has found percussion and cut marks on elephant remains in the site of Preresa.

Scientists discover bilayer structure in efficient solar material Posted: 24 Apr 2012 09:07 AM PDT Detailed studies of one of the best-performing organic photovoltaic materials reveal an unusual bilayer lamellar structure that may help explain the material's superior performance at converting sunlight to electricity and guide the synthesis of new materials with even better properties.

Bats: An unexpected virus reservoir Posted: 24 Apr 2012 09:05 AM PDT Researchers have discovered the probable cause of not just one, but several infectious agents at the same time. Paramyxoviruses originate from ubiquitous bats, from where the pathogens have spread to humans and other mammals. In total, this unique study tested 9,278 animals for viruses, among them 86 species of bats and 33 rodent species, leading to the discovery of an enormous number of new virus species. This could make eradicating many dangerous diseases significantly more difficult than had been thought. For bats provide a reservoir from which viruses could come back after vaccination campaigns.

Northern Canada feels the heat: Climate change impact on permafrost zones Posted: 24 Apr 2012 07:00 AM PDT As climate change in the near future is likely to bring raised temperatures at northern latitudes, the characteristics of permafrost could greatly change. Changes to permafrost could have serious impact on existing and future northern infrastructures such as pipelines and could significantly affect northern communities. This study provides one of the first summaries of climate and permafrost temperature relations across northern Canada and provides valuable information needed to prepare for future.

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