ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Photovoltaics from any semiconductor: Opens door to more widespread solar energy devices
• Do ovaries continue to produce eggs during adulthood?
• Protective role of skin microbiota described
• Climate change linked to ozone loss: May result in more skin cancer
• Biological mechanism for growing massive animal weapons, ornaments discovered
• Connectomics: Mapping the neural network governing male roundworm mating
• Researchers unveil molecular details of how bacteria propagate antibiotic resistance
• Ion selectivity in neuronal signaling channels evolved twice in animals
• Students discover methane seep ecosystem
• Hoard of Crusader gold found in ruins
• Genomic study of Africa's hunter-gatherers elucidates human variation and ancient interbreeding
• Controlling monkey brains and behavior with light
• Deadly E. coli strain decoded
• Methane measurements at low level flight: Detection of the greenhouse gas methane in the Arctic
• Teamwork against carcinogenic benzene: Three teams of microbial harmful substance eliminators cooperate to destroy benzene
• Actinobacteria as the base of the evolutionary tree
• Molecular mechanism behind deep-sea bacteria's pressure tolerance
• The fin whale, under more threat in the Mediterranean than thought
• First photo evidence of snub-nosed monkey species in China
• How extreme weather contributes to greenhouse gas emissions

Photovoltaics from any semiconductor: Opens door to more widespread solar energy devices Posted: 26 Jul 2012 03:03 PM PDT Researchers have developed a technology that enables low-cost, high efficiency solar cells to be made from virtually any semiconductor material. This opens the door to the use of plentiful, relatively inexpensive semiconductors previously considered unsuitable for photovoltaics.

Do ovaries continue to produce eggs during adulthood? Posted: 26 Jul 2012 03:02 PM PDT A compelling new genetic study tracing the origins of immature egg cells, or 'oocytes', from the embryonic period throughout adulthood adds new information to a growing controversy. The notion of a "biological clock" in women arises from the fact that oocytes progressively decline in number as females get older, along with a decades-old dogmatic view that oocytes cannot be renewed in mammals after birth.

Protective role of skin microbiota described Posted: 26 Jul 2012 12:39 PM PDT Scientists have found that bacteria that normally live in the skin may help protect the body from infection. As the largest organ of the body, the skin represents a major site of interaction with microbes in the environment.

Climate change linked to ozone loss: May result in more skin cancer Posted: 26 Jul 2012 11:22 AM PDT Scientists are warning that a newly-discovered connection between climate change and depletion of the ozone layer over the US could allow more damaging ultraviolet (UV) radiation to reach Earth's surface, leading to increased incidence of skin cancer.

Biological mechanism for growing massive animal weapons, ornaments discovered Posted: 26 Jul 2012 11:22 AM PDT In the animal kingdom, huge weapons such as elk antlers or ornaments like peacock feathers are sexy. Their extreme size attracts potential mates and warns away lesser rivals. Now scientists have discovered a developmental mechanism they think may be responsible for the excessive growth of threatening horns or come-hither tail feathers.

Connectomics: Mapping the neural network governing male roundworm mating Posted: 26 Jul 2012 11:20 AM PDT Scientists have determined the complete wiring diagram for the part of the nervous system controlling mating in the male roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, an animal model intensively studied by scientists worldwide.

Researchers unveil molecular details of how bacteria propagate antibiotic resistance Posted: 26 Jul 2012 10:52 AM PDT A research team may have found a new way to prevent "superbugs" from genetically propagating drug resistance.

Ion selectivity in neuronal signaling channels evolved twice in animals Posted: 26 Jul 2012 10:52 AM PDT Excitation of neurons depends on the selected influx of certain ions through specific channels. Obviously, these channels were crucial for the evolution of nervous systems in animals. Scientists have revealed that voltage-gated sodium channels, which are responsible for neuronal signaling in the nerves of animals, evolved twice in higher and lower animals.

Students discover methane seep ecosystem Posted: 26 Jul 2012 10:51 AM PDT During a recent oceanographic expedition off San Diego, graduate student researchers discovered convincing evidence of a deep-sea site where methane is likely seeping out of the seafloor, the first such finding off San Diego County.

Hoard of Crusader gold found in ruins Posted: 26 Jul 2012 09:21 AM PDT Archaeologists have uncovered a hoard of real-life buried treasure -- a trove of gold coins at the 13th century Crusader castle of Arsur between the ancient ports of Jaffa and Caesarea.

Genomic study of Africa's hunter-gatherers elucidates human variation and ancient interbreeding Posted: 26 Jul 2012 09:21 AM PDT Geneticists have analyzed the fully sequenced genomes of 15 Africans belonging to three different hunter-gatherer groups and decipher some of what these genetic codes have to say about human diversity and evolution.

Controlling monkey brains and behavior with light Posted: 26 Jul 2012 09:21 AM PDT Researchers have for the first time shown that they can control the behavior of monkeys by using pulses of blue light to activate particular brain cells. The findings represent a key advance for optogenetics, a state-of-the-art method for making causal connections between brain activity and behavior. The researchers say that similar light-based mind control could likely also be made to work in humans for therapeutic ends.

Deadly E. coli strain decoded Posted: 26 Jul 2012 09:11 AM PDT The secret to the deadly 2011 E. coli outbreak in Germany has now been decoded. The deadliest E. coli outbreak ever was traced to a particularly virulent strain that researchers had never seen in an outbreak before.

Methane measurements at low level flight: Detection of the greenhouse gas methane in the Arctic Posted: 26 Jul 2012 08:30 AM PDT First time measurements of large-scale methane emissions have been taken from the extensive Arctic permafrost landscapes.

Teamwork against carcinogenic benzene: Three teams of microbial harmful substance eliminators cooperate to destroy benzene Posted: 26 Jul 2012 08:30 AM PDT With modern analytical procedures scientists have succeeded for the first time in tracking the path of the harmful substance Benzene through such a bacterial community with proteins. Accordingly, three teams of microbial harmful substance eliminators cooperate, each with its own tasks.

Actinobacteria as the base of the evolutionary tree Posted: 26 Jul 2012 08:27 AM PDT Using comparisons of protein structure, researchers identified Actinobacteria as the base of the evolutionary tree.

Molecular mechanism behind deep-sea bacteria's pressure tolerance Posted: 26 Jul 2012 08:27 AM PDT A Japanese research team has identified a structural change that confers pressure-resistant properties on a particular protein found in bacteria.

The fin whale, under more threat in the Mediterranean than thought Posted: 26 Jul 2012 07:17 AM PDT Until now it was thought that fin whales in the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea made up part of the distribution of this species of whale in the Mediterranean. However, scientists have just discovered that their population has been overestimated by including specimens from the Atlantic that visit at certain times the western Mediterranean, where the noise generated by human activity affects their survival.

First photo evidence of snub-nosed monkey species in China Posted: 26 Jul 2012 07:17 AM PDT Researchers confirm that the snub-nosed monkey is not restricted to Myanmar. Chinese researchers have published the first evidence that a population of the recently discovered snub-nosed monkey, Rhinopithecus Strykeri, live in China. Until now researchers have been unable to photograph the monkey, whose upturned nostrils are said to make it sneeze in the rain.

How extreme weather contributes to greenhouse gas emissions Posted: 26 Jul 2012 06:45 AM PDT While experts debate whether extreme weather conditions such as this summer's record rainfall in the UK can be explained by climate change, geographers are investigating whether the opposite is true – does extreme weather impact on climate change?

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