ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Kerosene lamps identified as big source of black carbon
• Human disturbances keep elk on high alert
• More omnivore dilemmas: Seasonal diet changes can cause reproductive stress in primates
• Skeletons in cave reveal Mediterranean secrets
• Archaeologists discover shipwrecks, ancient harbor on coast of Israel
• Researcher tests powerful new tool to advance ecology, conservation
• Women 16-49 at risk of multiple pollutants, which could harm brain development of fetuses and babies
• Mathematics used to identify contamination in water distribution networks
• Major breakthrough in deciphering bread wheat's genetic code
• Tiny algae shed light on photosynthesis as a dynamic property
• New approach to support future climate projections
• 'Chill-coma' recovery: Cold cricket case could defrost mysteries of changing climate
• How climate change could affect entire forest ecosystems
• Fish ear bones point to climate impacts
• Sea levels rising faster than IPCC projections
• Imaging technologies used to solve puzzle of plant architecture: Breakthrough could help optimize capture of sugars for biofuels
• Many flame retardants in house dust at unsafe levels, study finds
• For some feathered dinosaurs, bigger not always better
• The hungry caterpillar: Beware your enemy's enemy's enemy
• Tracking pollution from outer space: Team uses NASA satellites to measure pollution hovering over world's megacities
• Drought affects Mediterranean truffle harvest
• Key event for sex determination identified: Deletion of just one gene results in complete sex reversal of male mice
• Stopping flies before they mature

Kerosene lamps identified as big source of black carbon Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:30 PM PST Kerosene lamps, the primary source of light for more than a billion people in developing nations, churns out black carbon at levels previously overlooked in greenhouse gas estimates, according to a new study. The new findings result in a twenty-fold increase to previous estimates of black carbon emissions from kerosene-fueled lighting. The good news is that affordable, cleaner alternatives exist.

Human disturbances keep elk on high alert Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:30 PM PST Researchers have discovered that elk are more frequently and more easily disturbed by human behavior such as ATV drivers than by their natural predators like bears and wolves.

More omnivore dilemmas: Seasonal diet changes can cause reproductive stress in primates Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:29 PM PST When seasonal changes affect food availability, omnivores like blue monkeys adapt by changing their diets, but such nutritional changes may impact female reproduction, according to new research.

Skeletons in cave reveal Mediterranean secrets Posted: 28 Nov 2012 03:29 PM PST Skeletal remains in an island cave in Favignana, Italy, reveal that modern humans first settled in Sicily around the time of the last ice age and despite living on Mediterranean islands, ate little seafood.

Archaeologists discover shipwrecks, ancient harbor on coast of Israel Posted: 28 Nov 2012 01:22 PM PST Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a fleet of early-19th century ships and ancient harbor structures from the Hellenistic period at the city of Akko, one of the major ancient ports of the eastern Mediterranean. The findings shed light on a period of history that is little known and point to how and where additional remains may be found.

Researcher tests powerful new tool to advance ecology, conservation Posted: 28 Nov 2012 01:20 PM PST A new study shows ecologists may have been missing crucial information from animal bones for more than 150 years.

Women 16-49 at risk of multiple pollutants, which could harm brain development of fetuses and babies Posted: 28 Nov 2012 11:39 AM PST In a new analysis of thousands of US women of childbearing age, researchers found that most exceeded the median blood level for two or more of three environmental pollutants that could harm brain development of fetuses and babies: lead, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls.

Mathematics used to identify contamination in water distribution networks Posted: 28 Nov 2012 11:35 AM PST New research considers the identification of contaminants in a water distribution network as an optimal control problem within a networked system.

Major breakthrough in deciphering bread wheat's genetic code Posted: 28 Nov 2012 11:21 AM PST Scientists have unlocked key components of the genetic code of one of the world's most important crops. The first analysis of the complex and exceptionally large bread wheat genome is a major breakthrough in breeding wheat varieties that are more productive and better able to cope with disease, drought and other stresses that cause crop losses.

Tiny algae shed light on photosynthesis as a dynamic property Posted: 28 Nov 2012 10:22 AM PST Many of the world's most important photosynthetic eukaryotes such as plants got their light-harnessing organelles (chloroplasts) indirectly from other organisms through endosymbiosis. In some instances, this resulted in algae with multiple, distinct genomes, some in residual organelles (nucleomorphs). To better understand why nucleomorphs persist after endosymbiosis, scientists sequenced and analyzed two tiny algae.

New approach to support future climate projections Posted: 28 Nov 2012 10:21 AM PST Scientists have developed a new approach for evaluating past climate sensitivity data to help improve comparison with estimates of long-term climate projections developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The sensitivity of global temperature to changes in the Earth's radiation balance (climate sensitivity) is a key factor for understanding past natural climate changes as well as potential future climate change.

'Chill-coma' recovery: Cold cricket case could defrost mysteries of changing climate Posted: 28 Nov 2012 09:25 AM PST Biologists have discovered that insects recover from chill-coma by getting water and salt back where it belongs. These findings not only identify the very mechanisms that drive insect movement at low temperatures but will lead to a better understanding of agriculture management, biodiversity and climate change.

How climate change could affect entire forest ecosystems Posted: 28 Nov 2012 09:20 AM PST The fog comes in, and a drop of water forms on a pine needle, rolls down the needle, and falls to the forest floor. The process is repeated over and over, on each pine needle of every tree in a forest of Bishop pines on Santa Cruz Island, off the coast of Santa Barbara. That fog drip helps the entire forest ecosystem stay alive.

Fish ear bones point to climate impacts Posted: 28 Nov 2012 06:39 AM PST Scientists believe that fish ear bones and their distinctive growth rings can offer clues to the likely impacts of climate change in aquatic environments.

Sea levels rising faster than IPCC projections Posted: 28 Nov 2012 06:39 AM PST Sea levels are rising 60 per cent faster than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's central projections, new research suggests. While temperature rises appear to be consistent with the projections made in the IPCC's fourth assessment report (AR4), satellite measurements show that sea levels are actually rising at a rate of 3.2 mm a year compared to the best estimate of 2 mm a year in the report.

Imaging technologies used to solve puzzle of plant architecture: Breakthrough could help optimize capture of sugars for biofuels Posted: 28 Nov 2012 06:38 AM PST Scientists have combined different microscopic imaging methods to gain a greater understanding of the relationships between biomass cell wall structure and enzyme digestibility, a breakthrough that could lead to optimizing sugar yields and lowering the costs of making biofuels.

Many flame retardants in house dust at unsafe levels, study finds Posted: 28 Nov 2012 06:38 AM PST In a new study of the largest number of flame retardants ever tested in homes, researchers found that most houses had levels of at least one flame retardant that exceeded a federal health guideline.

For some feathered dinosaurs, bigger not always better Posted: 28 Nov 2012 06:32 AM PST Researchers have started looking at why dinosaurs that abandoned meat in favor of vegetarian diets got so big, and their results may call conventional wisdom about plant-eaters and body size into question.

The hungry caterpillar: Beware your enemy's enemy's enemy Posted: 27 Nov 2012 04:03 PM PST When herbivores such as caterpillars feed, plants may "call for help" by emitting volatiles, which can help defend the plants. The volatiles recruit parasitoids that infect and kill the herbivores, to the benefit of the plant. However, such plant odors can also be detected by other organisms. A new study shows how secondary parasitoids can use these signals to identify infected caterpillars, and duly infect the primary parasitoid, to the detriment of the original plant.

Tracking pollution from outer space: Team uses NASA satellites to measure pollution hovering over world's megacities Posted: 27 Nov 2012 10:02 AM PST A researcher in Israel is turning to three of NASA's high-tech satellites for a comprehensive view of pollutants in the atmosphere. Using eight years' worth of data collected by the satellites, he tracked pollution trends for 189 megacities -- metropolitan hotspots where the population exceeds 2 million.

Drought affects Mediterranean truffle harvest Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:41 AM PST An international research team has for the first time linked a continuous decline of the Périgord truffle with long-term Mediterranean summer drying.

Key event for sex determination identified: Deletion of just one gene results in complete sex reversal of male mice Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:39 AM PST Scientists have identified a protein essential for initiating the development of male sex organs. Loss of the gene Gadd45g results in complete sex reversal of male mice, making them appear female. The researchers' finding uncovers a novel signaling cascade, which acts early in development to determine the gonads in males. This discovery sheds light on the genetic network that controls how embryos develop as males or females.

Stopping flies before they mature Posted: 26 Nov 2012 10:13 AM PST An insect growth regulator is one of the latest technologies U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists are adding to their arsenal to help fight house flies that spread bacteria to food.

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