ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Role for sugar uptake in breast cancer revealed
• Growers the big winners in Malawi's tobacco industry
• Scientists solve a decades-old mystery in Earth's upper atmosphere
• Neanderthal genome shows early human interbreeding, inbreeding
• Mountain erosion accelerates under a cooling climate
• Sugar beet genome sequenced and analyzed
• Seven distinct African crocodile species, not just three, biologists show
• Oil- and metal-munching microbes dominate deep sandstone formations
• New actors in the Arctic ecosystem
• Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes minutes in the lab
• Spiders are partial to a side order of pollen with their flies
• Dogs recognize familiar faces from images
• Will stem cell therapy help cure spinal cord injury?
• Saving Fiji's coral reefs linked to forest conservation upstream
• Research shows coral reefs worth saving
• Universal RNA extraction protocol for land plants
• Lion numbers could improve with new sustainable hunting quotas

Role for sugar uptake in breast cancer revealed Posted: 18 Dec 2013 02:12 PM PST Researchers have shown that aerobic glycolysis -- glucose metabolism in the presence of oxygen -- is not the consequence of the cancerous activity of malignant cells, as has been widely believed, but is itself a cancerous event.

Growers the big winners in Malawi's tobacco industry Posted: 18 Dec 2013 10:37 AM PST Tobacco growers are the big winners, while the environment and people who have lost land to tobacco estates are the major losers in Malawi's expanding tobacco industry. The author of this study believes that concerted and coordinated efforts are needed to solve the related dilemmas faced by this African country.

Scientists solve a decades-old mystery in Earth's upper atmosphere Posted: 18 Dec 2013 10:37 AM PST New research resolves decades of scientific controversy over the origin of ultra-relativistic electrons in the Earth's near space environment, and is likely to influence our understanding of planetary magnetospheres throughout the universe.

Neanderthal genome shows early human interbreeding, inbreeding Posted: 18 Dec 2013 10:36 AM PST Population geneticists have produced the first high-quality genome of a Neanderthal, allowing comparison with the genomes of modern humans and Denisovans. The analysis shows a long history of interbreeding among these early humans and a fourth, previously unknown group. The Neanderthal, from Denisova cave, also shows evidence of inbreeding. About 87 genes in modern humans were found to be significantly different from related genes in Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Mountain erosion accelerates under a cooling climate Posted: 18 Dec 2013 10:36 AM PST The Earth's continental topography reflects the balance between tectonics, climate, and their interaction through erosion. However, understanding the impact of individual factors on Earth's topography remains elusive. Scientists have now investigated the effect of global cooling and glaciation on topogrpahy over the last two to three million years. Their data show that mountain erosion rates have increased since circa 6 million years and most rapidly in the last 2 million years. Moreover, alpine glaciers play a significant role in the increase of erosion rates under a cool climate.

Sugar beet genome sequenced and analyzed Posted: 18 Dec 2013 10:36 AM PST Scientists have sequenced and analyzed the sugar beet genome.

Seven distinct African crocodile species, not just three, biologists show Posted: 18 Dec 2013 10:01 AM PST African crocodiles, long thought of as just three known species, are among the most iconic creatures in Africa. But recent research now finds that there are at least seven distinct African crocodile species.

Oil- and metal-munching microbes dominate deep sandstone formations Posted: 18 Dec 2013 08:30 AM PST Halomonas are a hardy breed of bacteria. They can withstand heat, high salinity, low oxygen, utter darkness and pressures that would kill most other organisms. These traits enable these microbes to eke out a living in deep sandstone formations that also happen to be useful for hydrocarbon extraction and carbon sequestration, researchers report in a new study.

New actors in the Arctic ecosystem Posted: 18 Dec 2013 08:30 AM PST Biologists have for the first time shown that amphipods from the warmer Atlantic are now reproducing in Arctic waters to the west of Spitsbergen.

Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes minutes in the lab Posted: 18 Dec 2013 07:01 AM PST Engineers have created a chemical system that continually produces useful crude oil minutes after they pour in raw algae material -- a green paste with the consistency of pea soup. The technology eliminates the need to dry the algae and recycles ingredients such as phosphorus, cutting costs. The work has been licensed to a biofuels company which is working with an industrial partner to build a pilot plant.

Spiders are partial to a side order of pollen with their flies Posted: 18 Dec 2013 07:01 AM PST Spiders may not be the pure predators we generally believe, after a study found that some make up a quarter of their diet by eating pollen. Biologists have now demonstrated that orb web spiders -- like the common garden variety -- choose to eat pollen even when insects are available.

Dogs recognize familiar faces from images Posted: 18 Dec 2013 06:58 AM PST So far the specialized skill for recognizing facial features holistically has been assumed to be a quality that only humans and possibly primates possess. Although it's well known, that faces and eye contact play an important role in the communication between dogs and humans, this was the first study, where facial recognition of dogs was investigated with eye movement tracking.

Will stem cell therapy help cure spinal cord injury? Posted: 17 Dec 2013 06:05 PM PST A systematic survey of the scientific literature shows that stem cell therapy can have a statistically significant impact on animal models of spinal cord injury, and points the way for future studies.

Saving Fiji's coral reefs linked to forest conservation upstream Posted: 17 Dec 2013 12:53 PM PST The health of coral reefs offshore depend on the protection of forests near the sea, according to a new study that outlines the importance of terrestrial protected areas to coastal biodiversity.

Research shows coral reefs worth saving Posted: 17 Dec 2013 12:52 PM PST Scientists study a reef off Little Cayman Island for 14 years and find damaged reefs can recover, if left alone.

Universal RNA extraction protocol for land plants Posted: 16 Dec 2013 12:50 PM PST Studies of gene expression in plants and other organisms rely on the extraction of high-quality RNA. Although numerous protocols for RNA extraction have been developed, most of these are plant-specific, with many tailored for particular crop plants or model organisms. Researchers have developed a new protocol for RNA extraction that can be used across land plants, which comprise over 300,000 species.

Lion numbers could improve with new sustainable hunting quotas Posted: 16 Dec 2013 12:48 PM PST Researchers have devised a simple and reliable way to set sustainable quotas for hunting lions, to help lion populations to grow, in a new study. Trophy hunting occurs in nine of the 28 African countries that have wild populations of lions. Hunting is legal in these countries but quotas are set to restrict the numbers of lions that can be killed.

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