ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Changing climate: How dust changed the face of Earth
• Cheap hydrogen gas? Probing hydrogen catalyst assembly
• New genes spring, spread from non-coding DNA
• Bats use water ripples to hunt frogs
• Los Angeles would experience stronger-than-expected ground motion in major earthquake, virtual earthquake generator shows
• Genome of longest-living cancer: 11,000-year-old living dog cancer reveals its origin, evolution
• Morphing bat skull model: Using engineering plus evolutionary analyses to answer natural selection questions
• World's first magma-enhanced geothermal system created in Iceland
• Researchers discover origin of unusual glands in the body
• Scientists map gene changes driving tumors in common pediatric soft-tissue cancer
• Natural History Museum, London, yields remarkable new beetle specimens from Brazil
• Fur and feathers keep animals warm by scattering light
• Arctic inland waters emit large amounts of carbon
• Large and in charge: Study shows size matters in prehistoric seas
• New microscopy technique improves imaging at the atomic scale
• Researchers decipher structure of part of ribosome found in mitochondria
• Insulin-producing beta cells from stem cells
• Ancient forests stabilized Earth’s CO2 and climate
• Tracing unique cells with mathematics
• Choose your love: Sexual selection enhances ability of offspring to cope with infection
• Does it pay to be a lover or a fighter? It depends on how you woo females
• Increase in hemlock forest offsetting effect of invasive hemlock woolly adelgid for now
• One quarter of the world's cartilaginous fish, namely sharks and rays, face imminent extinction
• A guppy's spots formed by layers of color cells: Multiple pigment cell types create black, blue, orange spots of the guppy
• The Moth versus the Crowd: Tracking an alien invader of conker trees using people power
• Humans can use smell to detect levels of dietary fat
• Image or reality? Leaf research needs photos, lab analysis
• White, green or black roofs? Report compares economic payoffs
• Toward fixing damaged hearts through tissue engineering
• Seashells inspire new way to preserve bones for archeologists, paleontologists
• Laser scientists create portable sensor for nitrous oxide, methane
• New gene for severe childhood epilepsy identified
• Flies with brothers make gentler lovers
• Many rare mutations contribute to schizophrenia risk, new study concludes
• Meet the rainforest 'diversity police'
• Ecologists: No magic bullet for coffee rust eradication
• North and Tropical Atlantic Ocean bringing climate change to Antarctica
• Deepwater Horizon: Identifying harmful elements of persisting oil
• Olive oil component investigated for breast cancer prevention
• Ecological impacts of human responses to climate anticipated
• Small towns team up to power down
• Epidemiologist uncovers new genes linked to abdominal fat
• Engineer converts yeast cells into 'sweet crude' biofuel
• Obese children more susceptible to asthma from air pollution

Changing climate: How dust changed the face of Earth Posted: 23 Jan 2014 11:20 AM PST In spring 2010, the research icebreaker Polarstern returned from the South Pacific with a scientific treasure -- ocean sediments from a previously almost unexplored part of the South Polar Sea. What looks like an inconspicuous sample of mud to a layman is, to geological history researchers, a valuable archive from which they can reconstruct the climatic history of the polar areas over many years of analysis. This, in turn, is of fundamental importance for understanding global climatic development.

Cheap hydrogen gas? Probing hydrogen catalyst assembly Posted: 23 Jan 2014 11:20 AM PST Biochemical reactions sometimes have to handle dangerous things in a safe way. New work shows how cyanide and carbon monoxide are safely bound to an iron atom to construct an enzyme that can generate hydrogen gas.

New genes spring, spread from non-coding DNA Posted: 23 Jan 2014 11:20 AM PST "Where do new genes come from?" is a long-standing question in genetics and evolutionary biology. A new study shows that new genes can spring from non-coding DNA more rapidly than expected.

Bats use water ripples to hunt frogs Posted: 23 Jan 2014 11:19 AM PST As the male tungara frog serenades females from a pond, he creates watery ripples that make him easier to target by rivals and predators such as bats. He will stop calling if he sees a bat overhead, but ripples continue moving for several seconds after the call ceases. In a new study, researchers found evidence that bats use echolocation to detect these ripples and home in on a frog.

Los Angeles would experience stronger-than-expected ground motion in major earthquake, virtual earthquake generator shows Posted: 23 Jan 2014 11:19 AM PST Scientists have developed a new "virtual earthquake" technique and used it to confirm a prediction that Los Angeles would experience stronger-than-expected ground motion if a major quake occurred along the southern San Andreas Fault.

Genome of longest-living cancer: 11,000-year-old living dog cancer reveals its origin, evolution Posted: 23 Jan 2014 11:17 AM PST A cancer normally lives and dies with a person, however this is not the case with a sexually transmitted cancer in dogs. In a new study, researchers have described the genome and evolution of this cancer that has continued living within the dog population for the past 11,000 years.

Morphing bat skull model: Using engineering plus evolutionary analyses to answer natural selection questions Posted: 23 Jan 2014 10:32 AM PST Scientists have built an engineering model of a bat skull that can morph into the shape of any species, and used it to create skulls with all possible combinations of snout length and width. Then they ran engineering analyses on all the models to assess their structural strength and mechanical advantage, a measure of how efficiently and how hard bats can bite.

World's first magma-enhanced geothermal system created in Iceland Posted: 23 Jan 2014 10:32 AM PST In 2009, a borehole drilled at Krafla, northeast Iceland, as part of the Icelandic Deep Drilling Project, unexpectedly penetrated into magma (molten rock) at only 2,100 meters depth, with a temperature of 900-1,000 C.

Researchers discover origin of unusual glands in the body Posted: 23 Jan 2014 09:59 AM PST The thymus gland is a critical component of the human immune system that is responsible for the development of T-lymphocytes, or T-cells, which help organize and lead the body's fighting forces against harmful organisms like bacteria and viruses.

Scientists map gene changes driving tumors in common pediatric soft-tissue cancer Posted: 23 Jan 2014 09:59 AM PST Scientists have mapped the genetic changes that drive tumors in rhabdomyosarcoma, a pediatric soft-tissue cancer, and found that the disease is characterized by two distinct genotypes. The genetic alterations identified in this malignancy could be useful in developing targeted diagnostic tools and treatments for children with the disease.

Natural History Museum, London, yields remarkable new beetle specimens from Brazil Posted: 23 Jan 2014 09:58 AM PST Sitting for almost 20 years in the Natural History Museum, London, minute rove beetle specimens of a new genus were discovered. The genus, caught in the 90s in the Brazilian Amazon, shows remarkable sexual dimorphism, with winged, large-eyed males and wingless, tiny-eyed females.

Fur and feathers keep animals warm by scattering light Posted: 23 Jan 2014 09:58 AM PST In work that has major implications for improving the performance of building insulation, scientists have calculated that hairs that reflect infrared light may contribute significant insulating power to the exceptionally warm winter coats of polar bears and other animals.

Arctic inland waters emit large amounts of carbon Posted: 23 Jan 2014 09:58 AM PST Streams and lakes of Northern Sweden are hotspots for emissions of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, according to new research.

Large and in charge: Study shows size matters in prehistoric seas Posted: 23 Jan 2014 09:55 AM PST Scientists have started to explain why some prehistoric organisms evolved into larger animals. They suggest that height offered a distinct advantage to the earliest forms of multicellular life.

New microscopy technique improves imaging at the atomic scale Posted: 23 Jan 2014 07:27 AM PST When capturing images at the atomic scale, even tiny movements of the sample can result in skewed or distorted images -- and those movements are virtually impossible to prevent. Now microscopy researchers have developed a new technique that accounts for that movement and eliminates the distortion from the finished product.

Researchers decipher structure of part of ribosome found in mitochondria Posted: 23 Jan 2014 07:27 AM PST Researchers have deciphered the structure of part of the ribosome found in mitochondria, the power plants of the cell. The scientists were able to benefit from advancements in the field of electron microscopy and capture images of the mitochondrial ribosome at a level of resolution never achieved before.

Insulin-producing beta cells from stem cells Posted: 23 Jan 2014 07:27 AM PST The Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway and microRNA 335 are instrumental in helping form differentiated progenitor cells from stem cells. These are organized in germ layers and are thus the origin of different tissue types, including the pancreas and its insulin-producing beta cells. With these findings, scientists have discovered key molecular functions of stem cell differentiation which could be used for beta cell replacement therapy in diabetes.

Ancient forests stabilized Earth’s CO2 and climate Posted: 23 Jan 2014 07:24 AM PST Researchers have identified a biological mechanism that could explain how the Earth's atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate were stabilized over the past 24 million years. When CO2 levels became too low for plants to grow properly, forests appear to have kept the climate in check by slowing down the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Tracing unique cells with mathematics Posted: 23 Jan 2014 04:56 AM PST Stem cells can turn into heart cells, skin cells can mutate to cancer cells; even cells of the same tissue type exhibit small heterogeneities. Scientists use single-cell analyses to investigate these heterogeneities. But the method is still laborious and considerable inaccuracies conceal smaller effects. Scientists have now found a way to simplify and improve the analysis by mathematical methods.

Choose your love: Sexual selection enhances ability of offspring to cope with infection Posted: 23 Jan 2014 04:55 AM PST To test whether female mate choice enhances the health of offspring, either through immune resistance, tolerance to infection, or both, researchers tested female house mice's preferences for particular males and then experimentally assigned each female to mate with either their preferred or their non-preferred male. They found that females that mated with their preferred male produced more offspring and were better able to cope with infection.

Does it pay to be a lover or a fighter? It depends on how you woo females Posted: 23 Jan 2014 04:55 AM PST As mating season approaches, male animals are faced with a question that can make or break their chances at reproducing: does it pay to be a lover or a fighter? Or both? Researchers found that where animals fall on the lover/fighter scale depends on how much they are able to ensure continued mating rights with females.In species where fighting for the right to mate means greater control of females, such as in the elephant seal, males invest more in weapons and less in testes size.

Increase in hemlock forest offsetting effect of invasive hemlock woolly adelgid for now Posted: 22 Jan 2014 05:23 PM PST In many regions, particularly in the southern Appalachians, the loss of hemlock to hemlock woolly adelgid has been devastating. However, when Forest Service scientists used regional Forest Inventory & Analysis data to get a big picture view of the status of hemlock in the eastern US, the results surprised them.

One quarter of the world's cartilaginous fish, namely sharks and rays, face imminent extinction Posted: 22 Jan 2014 05:23 PM PST One quarter of the world's cartilaginous fish, namely sharks and rays, face extinction within the next few decades, according to the first study to systematically and globally assess their fate.

A guppy's spots formed by layers of color cells: Multiple pigment cell types create black, blue, orange spots of the guppy Posted: 22 Jan 2014 05:22 PM PST At least three pigment cell types from multiple layers of skin contribute to the color patterns of male guppies.

The Moth versus the Crowd: Tracking an alien invader of conker trees using people power Posted: 22 Jan 2014 05:20 PM PST An army of citizen scientists has helped the professionals understand how a tiny 'alien' moth is attacking the UK's conker (horse-chestnut) trees, and showed that naturally-occurring pest controlling wasps are not able to restrict the moth's impact.

Humans can use smell to detect levels of dietary fat Posted: 22 Jan 2014 05:20 PM PST New research reveals humans can use the sense of smell to detect dietary fat in food. As food smell almost always is detected before taste, the findings identify one of the first sensory qualities that signals whether a food contains fat. Innovative methods using odor to make low-fat foods more palatable could someday aid public health efforts to reduce dietary fat intake.

Image or reality? Leaf research needs photos, lab analysis Posted: 22 Jan 2014 12:39 PM PST Every picture tells a story, but the story digital photos tell about how forests respond to climate change could be incomplete, according to new research. A new study shows that the peak in forest greenness as captured by digital pictures does not necessarily correspond to direct measures of peak chlorophyll content in leaves, which is an indicator of photosynthesis. The research has significant implications for how scientists use digital photos to study forest canopies.

White, green or black roofs? Report compares economic payoffs Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:44 AM PST Looking strictly at the economic costs and benefits of three different roof types -- black, white and "green" (or vegetated) -- researchers have found in a new study that white roofs are the most cost-effective over a 50-year time span. While the high installation cost of green roofs sets them back in economic terms, their environmental and amenity benefits may at least partially mitigate their financial burden.

Toward fixing damaged hearts through tissue engineering Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:41 AM PST In the US, someone suffers a heart attack every 34 seconds -- their heart is starved of oxygen and suffers irreparable damage. Engineering new heart tissue in the laboratory that could eventually be implanted into patients could help, and scientists are reporting a promising approach tested with rat cells.

Seashells inspire new way to preserve bones for archeologists, paleontologists Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:41 AM PST Recreating the story of humanity's past by studying ancient bones can hit a snag when they deteriorate, but scientists are now reporting an advance inspired by seashells that can better preserve valuable remains.

Laser scientists create portable sensor for nitrous oxide, methane Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:41 AM PST Scientists have created a highly sensitive portable sensor to test the air for the most damaging greenhouse gases.

New gene for severe childhood epilepsy identified Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:40 AM PST Using a novel combination of technologies, the EuroEPINOMICS RES consortium found mutations in CHD2 responsible for a subset of epilepsy patients with symptoms similar to Dravet syndrome -- a severe form of childhood epilepsy that is in many patients resistant to currently available anti-epileptic drugs. The discovery of CHD2's role in epilepsy offers new diagnostic tools for families and clinicians.

Flies with brothers make gentler lovers Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:38 AM PST Flies living with their brothers cause less harm to females during courting than those living with unrelated flies, say scientists. The study found that unrelated male flies compete more fiercely for females' attention than related flies, resulting in shorter lifespans for males and reduced fecundity for females.

Many rare mutations contribute to schizophrenia risk, new study concludes Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:38 AM PST Researchers have taken a closer look at the human genome to learn more about the genetic underpinnings of schizophrenia. Scientists analyzed the exomes, or protein-coding regions, of people with schizophrenia and their healthy counterparts, pinpointing the sites of mutations and identifying patterns that reveal clues about the biology underlying the disorder.

Meet the rainforest 'diversity police' Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:38 AM PST A new study has revealed that fungi, often seen as pests, play a crucial role policing biodiversity in rainforests. The research found that fungi regulate diversity in rainforests by making dominant species victims of their own success. Fungi spread quickly between closely-packed plants of the same species, preventing them from dominating and enabling a wider range of species to flourish.

Ecologists: No magic bullet for coffee rust eradication Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:34 AM PST Spraying fungicide to kill coffee rust disease, which has ravaged Latin American plantations since late 2012, is an approach that is "doomed to failure," according to ecologists.

North and Tropical Atlantic Ocean bringing climate change to Antarctica Posted: 22 Jan 2014 10:34 AM PST The gradual warming of the North and Tropical Atlantic Ocean is contributing to climate change in Antarctica, scientists has concluded. The findings, which rely on more than three decades of atmospheric data, show new ways in which distant regional conditions are contributing to Antarctic climate change.

Deepwater Horizon: Identifying harmful elements of persisting oil Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:26 AM PST Scientists are unraveling the composition of persisting oil residues collected from Gulf of Mexico beaches following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, insisting on further assessment of the toxic impact of these chemical remnants on the marine ecosystem.

Olive oil component investigated for breast cancer prevention Posted: 22 Jan 2014 08:24 AM PST A major component of olive oil, hydroxytyrosol, is the subject of a study of women who are at increased risk of developing breast cancer.

Ecological impacts of human responses to climate anticipated Posted: 22 Jan 2014 07:40 AM PST When humans transform land, large ecological impacts follow, but few studies have examined their effects. Now, a model evaluates how the human response to climate change may alter the agricultural utility of land. The model provides a readily transferable method for conservation planners trying to anticipate how agriculture will be affected by such land adaptations.

Small towns team up to power down Posted: 22 Jan 2014 07:25 AM PST Building on success in Chestertown, Md., the Center for Environment & Society at Washington College is partnering with four more towns on the Eastern Shore to help them significantly reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Epidemiologist uncovers new genes linked to abdominal fat Posted: 22 Jan 2014 07:25 AM PST A research team has identified five new genes associated with increased waist-to-hip ratio, potentially moving science a step closer to developing a medication to treat obesity or obesity-related diseases.

Engineer converts yeast cells into 'sweet crude' biofuel Posted: 22 Jan 2014 06:19 AM PST A chemical engineer has developed a new source of renewable energy -- a yeast cell-based platform for producing biodiesel, which he has dubbed "sweet crude." The key to this platform is regular table sugar. It has the potential for industry scalability without the environmental costs of other biofuels.

Obese children more susceptible to asthma from air pollution Posted: 22 Jan 2014 06:19 AM PST Obese children exposed to high levels of air pollutants were nearly three times as likely to have asthma, compared with non-obese children and lower levels of pollution exposure, report researchers.

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