ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• NASA's TRMM satellite confirms 2010 landslides
• Embracing data 'noise' brings Greenland's complex ice melt into focus
• Does human transformation of land threaten future sustainability?
• Increasing drought stress challenges vulnerable hydraulic system of plants, professor finds
• Cutting real Christmas trees less environmentally harmful than using an artificial one for six years, biologists say
• Installed price of solar photovoltaic systems in US continues to decline at rapid pace
• Safer spinach? Scientist's technique dramatically reduces E. coli numbers
• Seeing the world through the eyes of an orangutan
• What keeps a cell's energy source going?
• Man's best friend: Common canine virus may lead to new vaccines for deadly human diseases
• 'Middle ground' of sea-level change: 'Intra-seasonal' variability impacts forecasting and ecosystems
• A rather thin and long new snake crawls out of one of Earth's biodiversity hotspots
• Thawing of permafrost expected to cause significant additional global warming, not yet accounted for in climate predictions
• Orsini's viper: Alternates between reproducing and growing, year-by-year
• Three new arthropod species have been found in the Maestrazgo Caves in Teruel
• Paralysis by analysis should not delay decisions on climate change, experts urge
• Galapagos tortoises are a migrating species
• First evidence of ocean acidification affecting live marine creatures in the Southern Ocean

NASA's TRMM satellite confirms 2010 landslides Posted: 27 Nov 2012 04:12 PM PST A NASA study using TRMM satellite data revealed that the year 2010 was a particularly bad year for landslides around the world.

Embracing data 'noise' brings Greenland's complex ice melt into focus Posted: 27 Nov 2012 04:12 PM PST Researchers have developed an enhanced approach to capturing changes on the Earth's surface via satellite could provide a more accurate account of how geographic areas are changing as a result of natural and human factors. In a first application, the technique revealed sharper-than-ever details about Greenland's massive ice sheet, including that the rate at which it is melting might be accelerating more slowly than predicted.

Does human transformation of land threaten future sustainability? Posted: 27 Nov 2012 12:42 PM PST Social and physical scientists have long been concerned about the effects of humans on Earth's surface -- in part through deforestation, encroachment of urban areas onto traditionally agricultural lands, and erosion of soils -- and the implications these changes have on Earth's ability to provide for an ever-growing population. A new article presents examples of land transformation by humans and documents some of the effects of these changes.

Increasing drought stress challenges vulnerable hydraulic system of plants, professor finds Posted: 27 Nov 2012 12:42 PM PST The hydraulic system of trees is so finely-tuned that predicted increases in drought due to climate change may lead to catastrophic failure in many species. A recent paper finds that those systems in plants around the globe are operating at the top of their safety threshold, making forest ecosystems vulnerable to increasing environmental stress.

Cutting real Christmas trees less environmentally harmful than using an artificial one for six years, biologists say Posted: 27 Nov 2012 12:30 PM PST Given recent extreme weather events – the summer's brutal heat and subsequent drought, followed by Superstorm Sandy's disastrous path – newly green-conscious consumers may be wondering how to lessen their carbon footprint this holiday season. Plant biologists says that buying a real Christmas tree may not solve the world's climate ills, but it is environmentally better than getting an artificial one.

Installed price of solar photovoltaic systems in US continues to decline at rapid pace Posted: 27 Nov 2012 10:02 AM PST The installed price of solar photovoltaic power systems in the United States fell substantially in 2011 and through the first half of 2012, according to new research.

Safer spinach? Scientist's technique dramatically reduces E. coli numbers Posted: 27 Nov 2012 10:02 AM PST Scientists have found a way to boost current industry capabilities when it comes to reducing the number of E. coli 0157:H7 cells that may live undetected on spinach leaves. By combining continuous ultrasound treatment with chlorine washing, they can reduce the total number of foodborne pathogenic bacteria by over 99.99 percent.

Seeing the world through the eyes of an orangutan Posted: 27 Nov 2012 10:01 AM PST A captive bred Sumatran orangutan and a neuroscientist in Malaysia are hoping to explain some of the mysteries of the visual brain and improve the lives of captive bred animals.

What keeps a cell's energy source going? Posted: 27 Nov 2012 10:00 AM PST Most healthy cells rely on a complicated process to produce the fuel ATP. Knowing how ATP is produced by the cell's energy storehouse – the mitochondria -- is important for understanding a cell's normal state, as well as what happens when things go wrong, for example in cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and many rare disorders of the mitochondria.

Man's best friend: Common canine virus may lead to new vaccines for deadly human diseases Posted: 27 Nov 2012 08:13 AM PST Researchers have discovered that a virus commonly found in dogs may serve as the foundation for the next great breakthrough in human vaccine development.

'Middle ground' of sea-level change: 'Intra-seasonal' variability impacts forecasting and ecosystems Posted: 27 Nov 2012 08:13 AM PST The effects of storm surge and sea-level rise have become topics of everyday conversation in the days and weeks following Hurricane Sandy's catastrophic landfall along the mid-Atlantic coast. Researchers are throwing light on another, less-familiar component of sea-level variability -- the "intra-seasonal" changes that occupy the middle ground between rapid, storm-related surges in sea level and the long-term increase in sea level due to global climate change.

A rather thin and long new snake crawls out of one of Earth's biodiversity hotspots Posted: 27 Nov 2012 07:15 AM PST A team of Ecuadorian and American scientists have discovered a new species, belonging to a neotropical group of remarkably long arboreal (tree-dwelling) snakes: the blunt-headed vine snakes, from the Choco biodiversity hotspot in northwestern Ecuador. DNA data suggest that the closest relative of the new species lives on the other side of the Andes.

Thawing of permafrost expected to cause significant additional global warming, not yet accounted for in climate predictions Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:42 AM PST Permafrost covering almost a quarter of the northern hemisphere contains 1,700 gigatonnes of carbon, twice that currently in the atmosphere, and could significantly amplify global warming should thawing accelerate as expected, according to a new report. Warming permafrost can also radically change ecosystems and cause costly infrastructural damage due to increasingly unstable ground, the report says.

Orsini's viper: Alternates between reproducing and growing, year-by-year Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:41 AM PST Orsini's viper, a rare and protected species at risk of extinction in France, has an original reproductive strategy. In alternate years, it switches between reproductive and non-reproductive behavior. This strategy has recently been uncovered.

Three new arthropod species have been found in the Maestrazgo Caves in Teruel Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:41 AM PST Scientists have discovered three new collembolan species in the Maestrazgo caves in Teruel, Spain. These minute animals belong to one of the most ancient animal species on the planet. The Maestrazgo caves in Teruel are located in a region of the Iberian Range where fauna has not been the subject of much study. It is a very isolated region since its average altitude is between 1,550 m and 2,000 m asl and its climate can be described as "almost extreme" experiencing temperatures of between -40°C and -25°C.

Paralysis by analysis should not delay decisions on climate change, experts urge Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:41 AM PST Uncertainty about how much the climate is changing is not a reason to delay preparing for the harmful impacts of climate change says an expert.

Galapagos tortoises are a migrating species Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:41 AM PST The Galapagos giant tortoise, one of the most fascinating species of the Galapagos archipelago, treks slowly and untiringly across the volcanic slopes. They usually start their annual migration at the beginning of the dry season.

First evidence of ocean acidification affecting live marine creatures in the Southern Ocean Posted: 26 Nov 2012 08:09 AM PST The shells of marine snails -- known as pteropods -- living in the seas around Antarctica are being dissolved by ocean acidification, according to a new study. These tiny animals are a valuable food source for fish and birds and play an important role in the oceanic carbon cycle.

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