ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Twitter principles of social networking increase family success in nesting birds
• Fossil study helps pinpoint extinction risks for ocean animals: When it comes to ocean extinctions, range size matters most
• Grandmas made humans live longer: Chimp lifespan evolves into human longevity, computer simulation shows
• Opposite behaviors? Arctic sea ice shrinks, Antarctic grows
• Local wildlife is important in human diets in central Africa, experts say
• Analysis of dinosaur bone cells confirms ancient protein preservation
• Genetic patterns of deep-sea coral provide insights into evolution of marine life
• Oxygen's ups and downs in early atmosphere and ocean
• Connection between Hawaii's dueling volcanoes explained
• Biology-friendly robot programming language: Training your robot the PaR-PaR way
• New technique to grow black truffles
• Whale racket: Sounding out how loud the oceans were from whale vocalizing prior to industrial whaling
• Nineteen species of fern named for Lady Gaga; Researcher says the inspiration was literally written in the DNA sequences
• Biologists record increasing amounts of plastic litter in the Arctic deep sea
• The fabric for weaving memory: To establish long-term memory, neurons have to synthesize new proteins
• Puppies don't pick up on yawns: Dogs, like humans, show a gradual development of susceptibility to contagious yawning
• Assembly of nano-machines mimics human muscle
• Combination of Gulf oil and dispersant spell potential trouble for gut microbes
• Circuit diagram of the mouse brain: Scientists aim to analyse a whole mouse brain under the electron microscope

Twitter principles of social networking increase family success in nesting birds Posted: 23 Oct 2012 05:47 PM PDT New research reveals for the first time the importance of social networking in producing a successful family. The study found that, regardless of how big and healthy individual chicks are, what really matters to their chances of surviving and breeding is how siblings in the nest interact with each other, with cooperative families faring best.

Fossil study helps pinpoint extinction risks for ocean animals: When it comes to ocean extinctions, range size matters most Posted: 23 Oct 2012 05:47 PM PDT What makes some ocean animals more prone to extinction? An analysis of roughly 500 million years of fossil data for marine invertebrates reveals that ocean animals with small ranges have been consistently hard hit, whereas population size has little effect. This means that reductions in range size -- such as when a species' habitat is destroyed or degraded -- could mean a big increase in long-term extinction risk, even when remaining populations are large, the authors say.

Grandmas made humans live longer: Chimp lifespan evolves into human longevity, computer simulation shows Posted: 23 Oct 2012 05:41 PM PDT Computer simulations provide new mathematical support for the "grandmother hypothesis" -- a famous theory that humans evolved longer adult lifespans than apes because grandmothers helped feed their grandchildren.

Opposite behaviors? Arctic sea ice shrinks, Antarctic grows Posted: 23 Oct 2012 02:22 PM PDT The steady and dramatic decline in the sea ice cover of the Arctic Ocean over the last three decades has become a focus of media and public attention. At the opposite end of Earth, however, something more complex is happening.

Local wildlife is important in human diets in central Africa, experts say Posted: 23 Oct 2012 01:12 PM PDT Animals like antelope, frogs and rodents may be tricky to catch, but they provide protein in places where traditional livestock are scarce. According to the authors of a new paper, meat from wild animals is increasingly important in central Africa.

Analysis of dinosaur bone cells confirms ancient protein preservation Posted: 23 Oct 2012 12:13 PM PDT A team of researchers has found more evidence for the preservation of ancient dinosaur proteins, including reactivity to antibodies that target specific proteins normally found in bone cells of vertebrates. These results further rule out sample contamination, and help solidify the case for preservation of cells -- and possibly DNA -- in ancient remains.

Genetic patterns of deep-sea coral provide insights into evolution of marine life Posted: 23 Oct 2012 10:48 AM PDT The ability of deep-sea corals to harbor a broad array of marine life, including commercially important fish species, make these habitat-forming organisms of immediate interest to conservationists, managers, and scientists. Understanding and protecting corals requires knowledge of the historical processes that have shaped their biodiversity and biogeography.

Oxygen's ups and downs in early atmosphere and ocean Posted: 23 Oct 2012 10:48 AM PDT Geochemists challenge the simple notion of an up-only trend for early oxygen on Earth, and provides the first compelling direct evidence for a major drop in oxygen after the gas's first rise. This drop, they say, may have ushered in more than a billion years that were marked by a return to low-oxygen concentrations at Earth's surface, including the likelihood of an oxygen-free deep ocean.

Connection between Hawaii's dueling volcanoes explained Posted: 23 Oct 2012 10:48 AM PDT A new study finds that a deep connection about 50 miles underground can explain the enigmatic behavior of two of Earth's most notable volcanoes, Hawaii's Mauna Loa and Kilauea.

Biology-friendly robot programming language: Training your robot the PaR-PaR way Posted: 23 Oct 2012 09:45 AM PDT PaR-PaR, a simple high-level, biology-friendly, robot-programming language uses an object-oriented approach to make it easier to integrate robotic equipment into biological laboratories. Effective robots can increase research productivity, lower costs and provide more reliable and reproducible experimental data.

New technique to grow black truffles Posted: 23 Oct 2012 09:41 AM PDT Researchers have found beneficial effects of the Pseudomonas fluorescens bacterium for the colonization of the black truffles on the pine roots. These results can be promising to enhance the cultivation of truffles.

Whale racket: Sounding out how loud the oceans were from whale vocalizing prior to industrial whaling Posted: 23 Oct 2012 09:39 AM PDT Concern is growing that human-generated noise in the ocean disrupts marine animals that rely on sound for communication and navigation. In the modern ocean, the background noise can be ten times louder than it was just 50 years ago. But new modeling based on recently published data suggests that 200 years ago -- prior to the industrial whaling era -- the ocean was even louder than today due to the various sounds whales make.

Nineteen species of fern named for Lady Gaga; Researcher says the inspiration was literally written in the DNA sequences Posted: 23 Oct 2012 08:25 AM PDT Pop music megastar Lady Gaga is being honored with the name of a new genus of ferns found in Central and South America, Mexico, Arizona and Texas. A genus is a group of closely related species; in this case, 19 species of ferns will carry the name Gaga.

Biologists record increasing amounts of plastic litter in the Arctic deep sea Posted: 23 Oct 2012 07:10 AM PDT The sea bed in the Arctic deep sea is increasingly strewn with litter and plastic waste, according to researchers.

The fabric for weaving memory: To establish long-term memory, neurons have to synthesize new proteins Posted: 23 Oct 2012 07:09 AM PDT The details of memory formation are still largely unknown. It has, however, been established that the two kinds of memory -- long term and short term -- use different mechanisms. When short-term memory is formed, certain proteins in the nerve cells (neurons) of the brain are transiently modified. To establish long-term memory, the cells have to synthesize new protein molecules. This has been shown in experiments with animals. When drugs were used to block protein synthesis, the treated animals were not able to form long-term memory.

Puppies don't pick up on yawns: Dogs, like humans, show a gradual development of susceptibility to contagious yawning Posted: 23 Oct 2012 07:09 AM PDT Do you get tired when others yawn? Does your dog get tired when you yawn? New research from Sweden establishes that dogs catch yawns from humans. But not if the dogs are too young. The study found that, like humans, dogs show a developmental trend in susceptibility to contagious yawning. While dogs above seven months of age catch human yawns, younger dogs are immune to yawn contagion.

Assembly of nano-machines mimics human muscle Posted: 23 Oct 2012 07:09 AM PDT For the first time, an assembly of thousands of nano-machines capable of producing a coordinated contraction movement extending up to around ten micrometers, like the movements of muscular fibers, has been synthesized by researchers in France.

Combination of Gulf oil and dispersant spell potential trouble for gut microbes Posted: 23 Oct 2012 06:10 AM PDT In a new study, researchers examined whether crude oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the dispersant used on it, or a combination of the two might affect the microbes of the human digestive tract. The researchers found that although high concentrations of oil combined with dispersant are detrimental to these helpful microbial communities, the low to undetectable concentrations typically found in Gulf shellfish had no discernible effect.

Circuit diagram of the mouse brain: Scientists aim to analyse a whole mouse brain under the electron microscope Posted: 23 Oct 2012 06:05 AM PDT What happens in the brain when we see, hear, think and remember? To be able to answer questions like this, neuroscientists need information about how the millions of neurons in the brain are connected to each other. Scientists have taken a crucial step towards obtaining a complete circuit diagram of the brain of the mouse, a key model organism for the neurosciences. Researchers have developed a method for preparing the whole mouse brain for a special microscopy process. With this, the resolution at which the brain tissue can be examined is so high that the fine extensions of almost every single neuron are visible.

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