ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Information overload in the era of 'big data'
• Scientists examine effects of manufactured nanoparticles on soybean crops
• Lao skull earliest example of modern human fossil in Southeast Asia
• Cleaner fuel for cruise ships and other big vessels from ingredients in detergents, medicines
• Electrifying success in raising antioxidant levels in sweet potatoes
• Sex and the female brain: Protein in semen acts on female brain to prompt ovulation
• Teaching a microbe to make fuel
• Cloud brightening to control global warming? Geoengineers propose an experiment
• Why do the Caribbean Islands arc? Movement of Earth modeled to 3,000 km depth
• Anthrax targets
• Women could play key role in correcting crisis in clean drinking water and sanitation crisis
• Fueling the future with renewable gasoline and diesel
• Genetically engineered algae for biofuel pose potential risks
• Extreme weather linked to global warming, Nobel prize-winning scientist says
• New oil spill dispersant made from ingredients in peanut butter, chocolate, ice cream
• New biorefinery finds treasure in Starbucks' spent coffee grounds and stale bakery goods
• Tail chasing in dogs resembles obsessive compulsive disorders in humans

Information overload in the era of 'big data' Posted: 20 Aug 2012 01:10 PM PDT The ability of botanists and other scientists to generate data quickly and cheaply is surpassing their ability to access and analyze it. Scientists facing too much information rely on computers to search large data sets for patterns that are beyond the capability of humans to recognize. New tools called ontologies provide the rules computers need to transform information into knowledge, by attaching meaning to data, thereby making those data more retrievable and understandable.

Scientists examine effects of manufactured nanoparticles on soybean crops Posted: 20 Aug 2012 01:10 PM PDT Sunscreens, lotions, and cosmetics contain tiny metal nanoparticles that wash down the drain at the end of the day, or are discharged after manufacturing. Those nanoparticles eventually end up in agricultural soil, which is a cause for concern, according to a group of environmental scientists that recently carried out the first major study of soybeans grown in soil contaminated by two manufactured nanomaterials.

Lao skull earliest example of modern human fossil in Southeast Asia Posted: 20 Aug 2012 12:22 PM PDT An ancient skull recovered from a cave in the Annamite mountains in northern Laos is the oldest modern human fossil found in Southeast Asia, researchers report. The discovery pushes back the clock on modern human migration through the region by as much as 20,000 years, and indicates that ancient wanderers out of Africa left the coast and inhabited diverse habitats much earlier than previously appreciated.

Cleaner fuel for cruise ships and other big vessels from ingredients in detergents, medicines Posted: 20 Aug 2012 12:21 PM PDT Scientists have developed a new fuel mixture to ease the major air pollution and cost problems facing cruise ships, oil tankers and container ships. These vessels tend to burn the cheapest and most highly polluting form of diesel fuel.

Electrifying success in raising antioxidant levels in sweet potatoes Posted: 20 Aug 2012 12:21 PM PDT Already ranked by some as number one in nutrition among vegetables, the traditional sweet potato can be nutritionally supercharged with a simple, inexpensive electric current treatment that increases its content of healthful polyphenols or antioxidants by 60 percent, scientists have said. This is believed to be the first electrical enhancement of sweet potatoes, a dietary staple since prehistoric times.

Sex and the female brain: Protein in semen acts on female brain to prompt ovulation Posted: 20 Aug 2012 12:21 PM PDT Scientists have discovered that a protein in semen acts on the female brain to prompt ovulation, and is the same molecule that regulates the growth, maintenance, and survival of nerve cells.

Teaching a microbe to make fuel Posted: 20 Aug 2012 11:39 AM PDT A genetically modified organism could turn carbon dioxide or waste products into a gasoline-compatible transportation fuel.

Cloud brightening to control global warming? Geoengineers propose an experiment Posted: 20 Aug 2012 10:23 AM PDT A scientist has proposed an experiment to test cloud brightening, a geoengineering concept that alters clouds in an effort to counter global warming. His proposed experiment is part of a larger paper detailing the latest thinking on cloud brightening.

Why do the Caribbean Islands arc? Movement of Earth modeled to 3,000 km depth Posted: 20 Aug 2012 10:23 AM PDT The Caribbean islands have been pushed east over the last 50 million years, driven by the movement of the Earth's viscous mantle against the more rooted South American continent, reveals new research.

Anthrax targets Posted: 20 Aug 2012 10:23 AM PDT A trawl of the genome of the deadly bacterium Bacillus anthracis has revealed a clutch of targets for new drugs to combat an epidemic of anthrax or a biological weapons attack. The targets are all proteins that are found in the bacteria but not in humans and are involved in diverse bacterial processes such as metabolism, cell wall synthesis and bacterial persistence. The discovery of a range of targets might bode well for creating a drug cocktail that could preclude the emergence of drug resistance.

Women could play key role in correcting crisis in clean drinking water and sanitation crisis Posted: 20 Aug 2012 09:10 AM PDT People in ancient Rome 2,000 years ago had better access to clean water and sanitation that keeps disease-causing human excrement out of contact with people than many residents of the 21st century, according to experts.

Fueling the future with renewable gasoline and diesel Posted: 20 Aug 2012 09:10 AM PDT A new process for converting municipal waste, algae, corn stalks and similar material to gasoline, diesel and jet fuel is showing the same promise in larger plants as it did in laboratory-scale devices, the developers have reported.

Genetically engineered algae for biofuel pose potential risks Posted: 20 Aug 2012 09:10 AM PDT Algae are high on the genetic engineering agenda as a potential source for biofuel, and they should be subjected to independent studies of any environmental risks that could be linked to cultivating algae for this purpose, two prominent researchers say.

Extreme weather linked to global warming, Nobel prize-winning scientist says Posted: 20 Aug 2012 08:40 AM PDT New scientific analysis strengthens the view that record-breaking summer heat, crop-withering drought and other extreme weather events in recent years do, indeed, result from human activity and global warming, Nobel Laureate Mario J. Molina has said.

New oil spill dispersant made from ingredients in peanut butter, chocolate, ice cream Posted: 20 Aug 2012 08:40 AM PDT With concerns about the possible health and environmental effects of oil dispersants in the Deepwater Horizon disaster still fresh in mind, scientists have developed a new dispersant made from edible ingredients that both breaks up oil slicks and keeps oil from sticking to the feathers of birds.

New biorefinery finds treasure in Starbucks' spent coffee grounds and stale bakery goods Posted: 20 Aug 2012 06:37 AM PDT With 1.3 billion tons of food trashed, dumped in landfills and otherwise wasted around the world every year, scientists have described development and successful laboratory testing of a new "biorefinery" intended to change food waste into a key ingredient for making plastics, laundry detergents and scores of other everyday products.

Tail chasing in dogs resembles obsessive compulsive disorders in humans Posted: 20 Aug 2012 06:36 AM PDT New research revealed several similarities between compulsive behavior in dogs and humans: early onset, recurrent compulsive behaviors, increased risk for developing different types of compulsions, compulsive freezing, the beneficial effect of nutritional supplements, the effects of early life experiences and sex hormones and genetic risk.

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