ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• No-till soybean fields give (even some rare) birds foothold in Illinois
• 3-D imaging provides window into living cells, no dye required
• War on lionfish shows first promise of success
• Differences in mammal responses to climate change demonstrated
• Number of cancer stem cells might not predict outcome in HPV-related oral cancers
• Humanity's most common male ancestor emerged earlier than thought: 209,000 years ago, study finds
• New monitoring technique reveals endangered animals
• Scientists find estrogen promotes blood-forming stem cell function
• New test targets salmonella
• Salamanders help predict health of forest ecosystems, inform forest management
• Wolf predation of cattle affects calf weight in Montana
• Polar bear diet changes as sea ice melts
• Best techniques for intracellular particle tracking
• Analysis of salamander jump reveals an unexpected twist
• Parental exposure to marijuana linked to drug addiction, compulsive behavior in unexposed progeny, rodent sudy finds
• Organic chemical origins in hydrothermal systems
• Famine, not calcium absorption, may have driven evolution of milk tolerance in Europeans
• Old bird, New World: Did the South American hoatzins originate in Europe?
• Climate change research is globally skewed
• Spider silk ties scientists up in knots
• Fever-reducing meds may help spread the flu
• How the genetic blueprints for limbs came from fish
• Predatory organisms at ocean depths
• Common blood cancer may be initiated by single mutation in bone cells
• Possible new druggable target in Ewing's Sarcoma
• Turkeys inspire smartphone-capable early warning system for toxins
• Source of Galapagos eruptions not where models place it
• Pathogenic plant virus jumps to honeybees, may explain bee population decline
• New discoveries show biological formation of oxygen in soils
• New infection control recommendations could make white coats obsolete
• Dispersal patterns key to invasive species' success

No-till soybean fields give (even some rare) birds foothold in Illinois Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:43 AM PST Researchers report in a new study that several bird species -- some of them relatively rare -- are making extensive use of soybean fields in Illinois. The team found significantly more birds and a greater diversity of bird species nesting, roosting and feeding in no-till soybean fields than in tilled fields.

3-D imaging provides window into living cells, no dye required Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:43 AM PST Living cells are ready for their close-ups, thanks to a new imaging technique that needs no dyes or other chemicals, yet renders high-resolution, three-dimensional, quantitative imagery of cells and their internal structures -- all with conventional microscopes and white light. Called white-light diffraction tomography, the imaging technique opens a window into the life of a cell without disturbing it and could allow cellular biologists unprecedented insight into cellular processes, drug effects and stem cell differentiation.

War on lionfish shows first promise of success Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:42 AM PST It may take a legion of scuba divers armed with nets and spears, but a new study confirms for the first time that controlling lionfish populations in the western Atlantic Ocean can pave the way for a recovery of native fish. Scientists say there's finally a way to fight back.

Differences in mammal responses to climate change demonstrated Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:42 AM PST Large mammals are responding more to human-caused climate change than small mammals, according to a new assessment.

Number of cancer stem cells might not predict outcome in HPV-related oral cancers Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:41 AM PST New research suggests that it may be the quality of cancer stem cells rather than their quantity that leads to better survival in certain patients with oral cancer.

Humanity's most common male ancestor emerged earlier than thought: 209,000 years ago, study finds Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:41 AM PST Our most common male ancestor emerged some 209,000 years ago -- earlier than many scientists previously thought, according to new research.

New monitoring technique reveals endangered animals Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:40 AM PST Now biologists can get much more accurate information about endangered bats, birds and insects. A new recording system has revealed many previously unknown and highly valuable details about bats.

Scientists find estrogen promotes blood-forming stem cell function Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:34 AM PST Scientists have known for years that stem cells in male and female sexual organs are regulated differently by their respective hormones. In a surprising discovery, researchers have found that stem cells in the blood-forming system — which is similar in both sexes — also are regulated differently by hormones, with estrogen proving to be an especially prolific promoter of stem cell self-renewal.

New test targets salmonella Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:27 AM PST An array of tiny diving boards can perform the Olympian feat of identifying many strains of salmonella at once.

Salamanders help predict health of forest ecosystems, inform forest management Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:27 AM PST Researchers have determined that salamander population size reflects forest habitat quality and can predict how ecosystems recover from forest logging activity. They believe these findings can be translated to other species within forest ecosystems throughout the world.

Wolf predation of cattle affects calf weight in Montana Posted: 22 Jan 2014 07:41 AM PST A recent study found that wolf predation of cattle contributes to lower weight gain in calves on western Montana ranches. This leads to an economic loss at sale several times higher than the direct reimbursement ranchers receive for a cow killed by wolves.

Polar bear diet changes as sea ice melts Posted: 22 Jan 2014 07:40 AM PST At least some polar bears in the western Hudson Bay population are using flexible foraging strategies while on land, such as prey-switching and eating a mixed diet of plants and animals, as they survive in their rapidly changing environment, new research suggests.

Best techniques for intracellular particle tracking Posted: 22 Jan 2014 07:40 AM PST A new article describes a contest for the best technique of intracellular particle tracking. Intracellular particle tracking requires simultaneous tracking of the motions of hundreds and thousands of intracellular organelles, virions and even individual molecules. Techniques proposed by all the participants find their own ways for solving the problem.

Analysis of salamander jump reveals an unexpected twist Posted: 22 Jan 2014 07:25 AM PST A small, secretive creature with unlikely qualifications for defying gravity may hold the answer to an entirely new way of getting off the ground. Analysis of high-speed film reveals how salamanders —- or at least several species of the Plethodontidae family -— achieve vertical lift.

Parental exposure to marijuana linked to drug addiction, compulsive behavior in unexposed progeny, rodent sudy finds Posted: 22 Jan 2014 07:25 AM PST Teen marijuana use may have repercussions in unexposed progeny. This rodent study found that parental use of marijuana/THC was linked to molecular and neurobiological disturbances and increased motivation to get drugs.

Organic chemical origins in hydrothermal systems Posted: 22 Jan 2014 06:24 AM PST Researchers have revealed the mechanisms for the formation of methane, which may have been a crucial stage in the origin of life on Earth.

Famine, not calcium absorption, may have driven evolution of milk tolerance in Europeans Posted: 22 Jan 2014 06:18 AM PST Ancient DNA from early Iberian farmers shows that the wideheld evolutionary hypothesis of calcium absorption was not the only reason Europeans evolved milk tolerance. In the West, people take milk drinking for granted because most people of European decent are able to produce the enzyme lactase in adulthood and so digest the milk sugar lactose. However, this is not the norm in much of the world, and was not the norm for our Stone Age ancestors.

Old bird, New World: Did the South American hoatzins originate in Europe? Posted: 22 Jan 2014 06:17 AM PST The oldest fossil discoveries from France show that hoatzins once existed in Europe.

Climate change research is globally skewed Posted: 22 Jan 2014 06:17 AM PST The supply of climate change knowledge is biased towards richer countries - those that pollute the most and are least vulnerable to climate change – and skewed away from the poorer, fragile and more vulnerable regions of the world. That creates a global imbalance between the countries in need of knowledge and those that build it. This could have implications for the quality of the political decisions countries and regions make to prevent and adapt to climate change, warn experts.

Spider silk ties scientists up in knots Posted: 22 Jan 2014 06:17 AM PST Two years ago, researchers published a study which concluded that spider silk conducts heat as well as metals. Now scientists have repeated the experiment and the results throw this discovery into question.

Fever-reducing meds may help spread the flu Posted: 22 Jan 2014 06:13 AM PST Researchers assembled information from many sources, including experiments on human volunteers and on ferrets, then used a mathematical model to compute how the increase in the amount of virus given off by a single person taking fever-reducing drugs would increase the overall number of cases in a typical year. The bottom line is that fever suppression increases the number of annual cases by approximately 5%, corresponding to more than 1,000 additional deaths from influenza in a typical year across North America.

How the genetic blueprints for limbs came from fish Posted: 21 Jan 2014 03:34 PM PST Our first four-legged land ancestor came out of the sea some 350 million years ago. Watching a lungfish, our closest living fish relative, crawl on its four pointed fins gives us an idea of what the first evolutionary steps on land probably looked like. However, the transitional path between fin structural elements in fish and limbs in tetrapods remains elusive. Both fish and land animals possess clusters of Hoxa and Hoxd genes, which are necessary for both fin and limb formation during embryonic development. Scientists compared the structure and behavior of these gene clusters in embryos from mice and zebrafish. The researchers discovered similar 3-dimensional DNA organization of the fish and mouse clusters, which indicates that the main mechanism used to pattern tetrapod limbs was already present in fish.

Predatory organisms at ocean depths Posted: 21 Jan 2014 10:08 AM PST In deep, old and nutrient-poor ocean floor sediments there are up to 225 times more viruses than microbes. In such extreme habitats, viruses make up the largest fraction of living biomass and take over the role as predators in this bizarre ecosystem.

Common blood cancer may be initiated by single mutation in bone cells Posted: 21 Jan 2014 10:06 AM PST AML is a blood cancer, but for many patients the cancer may originate from an unusual source: a mutation in their bone cells. In a study published, researchers explain that a mutation in the bone cells called osteoblasts, which build new bone, causes AML in mice. The mutation was found in nearly 40 percent of patients with AML or myelodysplastic syndrome, a precursor condition, who were examined as part of the study.

Possible new druggable target in Ewing's Sarcoma Posted: 21 Jan 2014 10:00 AM PST A new study shows that downstream from the oncogenic fusion of genes EWS with FLI1 is a signaling chain that includes microRNA-22 and the gene KDM3A. By targeting these links, researchers hope to break this cancer-causing chain.

Turkeys inspire smartphone-capable early warning system for toxins Posted: 21 Jan 2014 08:34 AM PST Bioengineers looked to turkeys for inspiration when developing a new type of biosensor that changes color when exposed to chemical vapors. They mimicked the way turkey skin changes color to create easy-to-read sensors that can detect toxins or airborne pathogens.

Source of Galapagos eruptions not where models place it Posted: 21 Jan 2014 07:42 AM PST Images gathered by scientists using seismic waves penetrating to a depth of 300 kilometers have found an anomaly that likely is the volcanic mantle plume of the Galapagos Islands. It's not where geologists and computer modeling had assumed.

Pathogenic plant virus jumps to honeybees, may explain bee population decline Posted: 21 Jan 2014 06:30 AM PST A viral pathogen that typically infects plants has been found in honeybees and could help explain their decline. Researchers working in the U.S. and Beijing, China report their findings in a recently published article.

New discoveries show biological formation of oxygen in soils Posted: 21 Jan 2014 06:29 AM PST In the 1930s, the ability of green plants to form oxygen through oxidation of water -- photosynthesis -- was discovered. Since then, no other large-scale biological formation of oxygen has been found, until now. New research results show that down in the dark depths of the soil, a previously unknown biochemical process is under way, in which oxygen is formed and carbon dioxide is reduced to organic material.

New infection control recommendations could make white coats obsolete Posted: 21 Jan 2014 06:27 AM PST In a move to reduce health care associated infections, certain attire for health care professionals, including the traditional white coat, could become a thing of the past.

Dispersal patterns key to invasive species' success Posted: 20 Jan 2014 02:36 PM PST Using synthetic biology, engineers have tested the limits of the Allee effect, where a certain number of individuals are needed for a group to survive. While intuition suggests that the more places a species spreads, the more it will thrive, scattering a population too thin by forming too many new colonies could result in the ruin of them all. The results have implications for both ecologists dealing with invasive species and medical practitioners fighting infections.

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