ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• For development in Brazil, two crops are better than one
• Health impact assessments prove critical public health tool: Best way to gauge impact of gas drilling on communities
• Scientists cage dead zebras in Africa to understand the spread of anthrax
• Fish was on the menu for early flying dinosaur
• Biological activity alters the ability of sea spray to seed clouds
• Geochemical method finds links between terrestrial climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide
• Hepatitis C-like viruses identified in bats and rodents
• Rivers act as 'horizontal cooling towers' for power plants, study finds
• Genetic circuit allows both individual freedom, collective good
• Can the friend of my friend be my enemy? Choice affects stability of the social network, animal study shows
• Grains of sand from ancient supernova found in meteorites: Supernova may have been the one that triggered the formation of the solar system
• Study shows reproductive effects of pesticide exposure span generations
• Long-lost giant fish from Amazon rediscovered
• Earth's current warmth not seen in the last 1,400 years or more, says study
• Ant family tree constructed: Confirms date of evolutionary origin, underscores importance of Neotropics
• Cocktail of multiple pressures combine to threaten the world's pollinating insects
• Prehistoric metalwork discovered at Iron Age site, along with gaming pieces

For development in Brazil, two crops are better than one Posted: 22 Apr 2013 02:57 PM PDT Brazil is in the midst of an explosion of agricultural production, but who is profiting from that production -- wealthy land owners and investors or average Brazilians is the subject of debate. New research suggests that at least one type of agricultural intensification -- double cropping -- is associated with increases in development measures for rural Brazilians.

Health impact assessments prove critical public health tool: Best way to gauge impact of gas drilling on communities Posted: 22 Apr 2013 02:57 PM PDT As natural gas drilling expands, policymakers, communities and public health experts are turning to health impact assessments to predict the effects of gas drilling on communities, according to a new study.

Scientists cage dead zebras in Africa to understand the spread of anthrax Posted: 22 Apr 2013 12:49 PM PDT Scavengers might not play as key a role in spreading anthrax through wildlife populations as previously assumed, according to findings from a small study conducted in Etosha National Park in northern Namibia.

Fish was on the menu for early flying dinosaur Posted: 22 Apr 2013 12:49 PM PDT New research reveals that Microraptor, a small flying dinosaur, was a complete hunter -- able to swoop down and pick up fish.

Biological activity alters the ability of sea spray to seed clouds Posted: 22 Apr 2013 12:49 PM PDT Ocean biology alters the chemical composition of sea spray in ways that influence their ability to form clouds over the ocean. That's the conclusion of a team of scientists using a new approach to study tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols that can influence climate by absorbing or reflecting sunlight and seeding clouds.

Geochemical method finds links between terrestrial climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide Posted: 22 Apr 2013 12:49 PM PDT Scientists used a new chemical technique to measure the change in terrestrial temperature associated with a major shift in global atmospheric CO2 concentrations nearly 34 million years ago. Their results provide further evidence that the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide and Earth's surface temperature are inextricably linked.

Hepatitis C-like viruses identified in bats and rodents Posted: 22 Apr 2013 12:49 PM PDT Investigators report the discovery of hepaciviruses and pegiviruses -- close relatives of HCV -- in rodents and bats. The viruses are similar to those that infect humans and may therefore provide insights into the origins of HCV, as well as the mechanisms behind animal-to-human transmission. It may also enable development of new animal models.

Rivers act as 'horizontal cooling towers' for power plants, study finds Posted: 22 Apr 2013 09:30 AM PDT Running two computer models in tandem, scientists have detailed for the first time how thermoelectric power plants interact with climate, hydrology, and aquatic ecosystems throughout the northeastern US and show how rivers serve as "horizontal cooling towers" that provide an important ecosystem service to the regional electricity sector -- but at a cost to the environment.

Genetic circuit allows both individual freedom, collective good Posted: 22 Apr 2013 09:30 AM PDT An investigation of the ways bacteria engage in collective decision-making has led researchers to suggest new principles for collective decisions that allow both random behavior by individuals and nonrandom outcomes for the population as a whole. The research suggests that the principles governing bacterial decisions could be relevant for the study of cancer tumorigenesis and collective decision-making by humans.

Can the friend of my friend be my enemy? Choice affects stability of the social network, animal study shows Posted: 22 Apr 2013 09:29 AM PDT Just as humans can follow complex social situations in deciding who to befriend or to abandon, it turns out that animals use the same level of sophistication in judging social configurations, according to a new study that advances our understanding of the structure of animal social networks.

Grains of sand from ancient supernova found in meteorites: Supernova may have been the one that triggered the formation of the solar system Posted: 22 Apr 2013 08:12 AM PDT Scientists have discovered two tiny grains of silica (SiO2; the most common constituent of sand) in meteorites that fell to earth in Antarctica. Because of their isotopic composition these two grains are thought to be pure samples from a massive star that exploded before the birth of the solar system, perhaps the supernova whose explosion is thought to have triggered the collapse of a giant molecular cloud, giving birth to the Sun.

Study shows reproductive effects of pesticide exposure span generations Posted: 22 Apr 2013 08:12 AM PDT Researchers studying aquatic organisms called Daphnia have found that exposure to a chemical pesticide has impacts that span multiple generations -- causing the so-called "water fleas" to produce more male offspring, and causing reproductive problems in female offspring.

Long-lost giant fish from Amazon rediscovered Posted: 22 Apr 2013 08:11 AM PDT Scientists have put aside nearly a century and a half of conventional wisdom with the rediscovery of a species of giant Amazonian fish whose existence was first established in a rare 1829 monograph only to be lost to science some 40 years later.

Earth's current warmth not seen in the last 1,400 years or more, says study Posted: 22 Apr 2013 07:13 AM PDT Fueled by industrial greenhouse gas emissions, Earth's climate warmed more between 1971 and 2000 than during any other three-decade interval in the last 1,400 years, according to new regional temperature reconstructions covering all seven continents.

Ant family tree constructed: Confirms date of evolutionary origin, underscores importance of Neotropics Posted: 22 Apr 2013 07:12 AM PDT Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the higher species numbers in the tropics, but these hypotheses have never been tested for the ants, which are one of the most ecologically and numerically dominant groups of animals on the planet. New research is helping answer these questions.

Cocktail of multiple pressures combine to threaten the world's pollinating insects Posted: 22 Apr 2013 07:11 AM PDT A new review of insect pollinators of crops and wild plants has concluded they are under threat globally from a cocktail of multiple pressures, and their decline or loss could have profound environmental, human health and economic consequences.

Prehistoric metalwork discovered at Iron Age site, along with gaming pieces Posted: 22 Apr 2013 07:09 AM PDT Archaeologists from the University of Leicester in the UK have uncovered one of the biggest groups of Iron Age metal artefacts to be found in the region -- in addition to finding dice and gaming pieces.

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