ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Sunbathing helps these bugs stay healthy
• Only two percent of Canadians deny climate change
• Microwave ovens may help produce lower cost solar energy technology
• Mars surface data: ChemCam laser first analyses yield beautiful results
• Good news from the bad drought: Gulf 'Dead Zone' smallest in years
• Bigger creatures live longer, travel farther for a reason
• New insights to the function of molecular chaperones
• Pollination: with small rewards come bad results
• The end of an era? Branding horses does not enable them to be identified
• Optimizing forest management under uncertain growth and economic conditions
• New model gives hands-on help for learning the secrets of molecules
• Virus detector harnesses ring of light in 'whispering gallery mode'
• Wind concentrates pollutants with unexpected order in an urban environment

Sunbathing helps these bugs stay healthy Posted: 24 Aug 2012 12:02 PM PDT Sunbathing may be healthy -- at least for one group of North American insects, the Western boxelder bug -- that apparently uses the activity to fight off germs. The bugs are known to group together in sunlit patches and release monoterpenes, strong-smelling chemical compounds that help protect the bugs by killing germs on their bodies.

Only two percent of Canadians deny climate change Posted: 24 Aug 2012 10:03 AM PDT A new survey shows that only two percent of Canadians deny climate change.

Microwave ovens may help produce lower cost solar energy technology Posted: 24 Aug 2012 10:03 AM PDT The same type of microwave oven technology that most people use to heat up leftover food has found an important application in the solar energy industry, providing a new way to make thin-film photovoltaic products with less energy, expense and environmental concerns.

Mars surface data: ChemCam laser first analyses yield beautiful results Posted: 24 Aug 2012 06:35 AM PDT Scientists squeezed in a little extra target practice after zapping the first fist-sized rock that was placed in the laser's crosshairs last weekend. Much to the delight of the scientific team, the laser instrument has fired nearly 500 shots so far that have produced strong, clear data about the composition of the Martian surface.

Good news from the bad drought: Gulf 'Dead Zone' smallest in years Posted: 24 Aug 2012 06:35 AM PDT The worst drought to hit the United States in at least 50 years does have one benefit: It has created the smallest "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico in years, say researchers.

Bigger creatures live longer, travel farther for a reason Posted: 24 Aug 2012 05:25 AM PDT A biological mystery about the longer lifespans of bigger creatures may be explained by the application of a physical law called the Constructal Law. It proposes that anything that flows -- a river, bloodstream or highway network -- will evolve toward the same basic configuration out of a need to be more efficient. A professor argues that this same basic law applies to all bodies in motion, be they animals or tanker trucks.

New insights to the function of molecular chaperones Posted: 24 Aug 2012 05:25 AM PDT Molecular biologists have gained new insights into the function of so-called molecular chaperones in protein synthesis. Scientists were able to demonstrate how a molecular chaperone in bacterial cells can influence the formation of the three-dimensional structure of new proteins.

Pollination: with small rewards come bad results Posted: 24 Aug 2012 05:24 AM PDT The hawkmoth, a natural petunia pollinator, spends less time on Petunia lines that offer less nectar as a reward.

The end of an era? Branding horses does not enable them to be identified Posted: 24 Aug 2012 05:24 AM PDT Despite increasing evidence that branding foals causes the animals stress, many horse breeders still claim that this practice represents the best method for identifying the animals. Although the debate has raged for some time, nobody has thought to pose the crucial question: How reliably can brand marks be read later?  New results may well spell the end of the line for the traditional practice of branding horses.

Optimizing forest management under uncertain growth and economic conditions Posted: 24 Aug 2012 05:24 AM PDT Forest management instructions often include recommendations for rotation lengths, thinning years and thinning intensities. However, under uncertain growth and economic conditions, these may not be optimal. Forest management should produce rules that allow forest landowners to adapt their management to changing situations. Researchers have shown how this can be done when both tree growth and timber price are stochastic.

New model gives hands-on help for learning the secrets of molecules Posted: 24 Aug 2012 05:19 AM PDT Squishy models are anything but child's play as they help researchers understand the building-block nature of proteins.

Virus detector harnesses ring of light in 'whispering gallery mode' Posted: 24 Aug 2012 05:19 AM PDT By affixing nanoscale gold spheres onto a microscopic bead of glass, researchers have created a super-sensor that can detect even single samples of the smallest known viruses. The sensor uses a peculiar behavior of light known as "whispering gallery mode," named after the famous circular gallery in St. Paul's Cathedral in London, where a whisper near the wall can be heard around the gallery.

Wind concentrates pollutants with unexpected order in an urban environment Posted: 24 Aug 2012 05:19 AM PDT When blown by chaotic winds in an urban environment, pollutants tend to accumulate in specific neighborhoods.

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