ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Everest trek shows how some people get type II diabetes
• Penicillin redux: Rearming proven warriors for the 21st century
• 'Problem wells' source of greenhouse gas at unexpected stage of natural gas production
• Faithful allies since the Cretaceous: Symbiosis between beewolves and protective bacteria originated millions of years ago
• Fire and drought may push Amazonian forests beyond tipping point
• Plugging an ozone hole: Extreme Antarctic ozone holes have not been replicated in Arctic
• Ferns borrowed genes to flourish in low light
• Air pollution over Asia influences global weather and makes Pacific storms more intense
• Dog ownership benefits families of children with autism
• Making dams safer for fish around the world
• Four new species of 'killer sponges' from the deep sea
• House windows that double as solar panels? Shiny quantum dots brighten future of solar cells
• Three new species of yellow-shouldered bats discovered in museum collections
• Neuroscientists: Brain activity may mark beginning of memories
• Let the sun shine in: Redirecting sunlight to dark urban alleyways
• Puget Sound's rich waters supplied by deep, turbulent canyon
• SpaceX’s Dragon headed to space station to create astronaut farmers
• Nutrient-rich forests absorb more carbon
• Result of slow degradation on environmental pollutants
• Endemic in pork industry: Will new tests prevent it?
• Wolves at the door: Study finds recent wolf-dog hybridization in Caucasus region
• Single cell genomics technique developed to reverse-engineer developing lung
• Genetically modified tobacco plants as an alternative for producing bioethanol
• Neanderthals and Cro-magnons did not coexist on the Iberian Peninsula, suggests re-analysis of dating
• Does germ plasm accelerate evolution?
• Beneficial organisms react differently to parasite drug
• Little-known Arctic comb jelly found in the Baltic Sea and Arctic
• Look who's evolving now: Using robots to study evolution
• Efficient analysis of small quantity of cells improves chances to understand disease
• Protein crystal experiment set to fly to International Space Station
• Gene linked to pediatric kidney cancer suggests new strategies for kidney regeneration
• How a Silly Putty ingredient could advance stem cell therapies

Everest trek shows how some people get type II diabetes Posted: 14 Apr 2014 02:21 PM PDT Scientists have gained new insights into the molecular process of how some people get type II diabetes, which could lead to new ways of preventing people from getting the condition. The research, which took place on Mount Everest, assessed the mechanisms by which low oxygen levels in the body -- known as hypoxia -- are associated with the development of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when cells fail to respond to insulin in the body. Insulin enables the body to regulate sugar levels. Too much sugar can be toxic and leads to type II diabetes.

Penicillin redux: Rearming proven warriors for the 21st century Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:44 PM PDT Drug-resistant bacteria like MRSA are hard to treat because so many antibiotics are ineffective against them. A team of researchers has shown a new way to reclaim the power of penicillin and similar drugs against so-called "superbugs." "In the United States every year, around 100,000 patients die of bacteria-induced infections," a researcher said. "And the problem is increasing because bacteria are building resistance. It's a really, really big problem, not only for individual patients, but also for society."

'Problem wells' source of greenhouse gas at unexpected stage of natural gas production Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:44 PM PDT High levels of the greenhouse gas methane were found above shale gas wells at a production point not thought to be an important emissions source. The findings could have implications for the evaluation of the environmental impacts from natural gas production. The study, which is one of only a few to use a so-called "top down" approach that measures methane gas levels in the air above wells, identified seven individual well pads with high emission levels during the drilling stage.

Faithful allies since the Cretaceous: Symbiosis between beewolves and protective bacteria originated millions of years ago Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:44 PM PDT Scientists have discovered that certain wasps tightly control mother-to-offspring transmission of their bacterial symbionts. This stabilizes the symbiotic alliance and contributed to its persistence over the past 68-110 million years.

Fire and drought may push Amazonian forests beyond tipping point Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:44 PM PDT Future simulations of climate in the Amazon suggest a longer dry season leading to more drought and fires. Scientists have published a new study on the impacts of fire and drought on Amazon tree mortality. Their article found that prolonged droughts caused more intense and widespread wildfires, which consumed more forests in Amazonia than previously understood.

Plugging an ozone hole: Extreme Antarctic ozone holes have not been replicated in Arctic Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:44 PM PDT Since the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole, scientists, policymakers, and the public have wondered whether we might someday see a similarly extreme depletion of ozone over the Arctic. But a new study finds some cause for optimism: Ozone levels in the Arctic haven't yet sunk to the extreme lows seen in Antarctica, in part because international efforts to limit ozone-depleting chemicals have been successful.

Ferns borrowed genes to flourish in low light Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:44 PM PDT During the age of the dinosaurs, the arrival of flowering plants as competitors could have spelled doom for primitive ferns. Instead, ferns diversified and flourished under the new canopy -- using a mysterious gene that helped them adapt to low-light environments. Scientists have now pinpointed the curious origins of this gene and determined that it was transferred to ferns from a group of unassuming, mossy plants called hornworts.

Air pollution over Asia influences global weather and makes Pacific storms more intense Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:44 PM PDT In the first study of its kind, scientists have compared air pollution rates from 1850 to 2000 and found that anthropogenic (human-made) particles from Asia impact the Pacific storm track that can influence weather over much of the world.

Dog ownership benefits families of children with autism Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:08 PM PDT Dog ownership decisions in families of children with autism have been studied in a new project. Researchers have found, regardless of whether they owned dogs, the parents of these children reported the benefits of dog ownership included companionship, stress relief and opportunities for their children to learn responsibility.

Making dams safer for fish around the world Posted: 14 Apr 2014 11:08 AM PDT The pressure changes that many fish experience when they travel through the turbulent waters near a dam can seriously injure or kill the fish. Scientists from around the world, including areas like Southeast Asia and Brazil where huge dams are planned or under construction, are working together to protect fish from the phenomenon, known as barotrauma.

Four new species of 'killer sponges' from the deep sea Posted: 14 Apr 2014 10:40 AM PDT Killer sponges sound like creatures from a B-grade horror movie. In fact, they thrive in the lightless depths of the deep sea. Scientists first discovered that some sponges are carnivorous about 20 years ago. Since then only seven carnivorous species have been found in all of the northeastern Pacific. A new article describes four new species of carnivorous sponges living on the deep seafloor, from the Pacific Northwest to Baja California.

House windows that double as solar panels? Shiny quantum dots brighten future of solar cells Posted: 14 Apr 2014 09:38 AM PDT A house window that doubles as a solar panel could be on the horizon, thanks to recent quantum-dot work. Scientists have demonstrated that superior light-emitting properties of quantum dots can be applied in solar energy by helping more efficiently harvest sunlight.

Three new species of yellow-shouldered bats discovered in museum collections Posted: 14 Apr 2014 09:37 AM PDT Scientists have reconstructed the phylogeny and biological history for the Yellow-shouldered bats in the New World tropics, the region of the Earth surrounding the equator. In-depth analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences uncovered three species new to science, each having previously been confused with another species.

Neuroscientists: Brain activity may mark beginning of memories Posted: 14 Apr 2014 09:35 AM PDT By tracking brain activity when an animal stops to look around its environment, neuroscientists can mark the birth of a memory. The hippocampus is the brain's warehouse for long- and short-term processing of episodic memories, such as memories of a specific experience like a trip to Maine or a recent dinner. What no one knew was what happens in the hippocampus the moment an experience imprints itself as a memory. New research is lending clues to what they call "spatial mapping functions" in the brain.

Let the sun shine in: Redirecting sunlight to dark urban alleyways Posted: 14 Apr 2014 08:24 AM PDT In response to ever-crowded urban conditions in developing countries, researchers in Egypt have developed an inexpensive way of re-directing natural sunlight into dimly lit streets and alleys, where lack of sun is linked to health problems. The new optical device can increase brightness in alleyways by up to 400 percent.

Puget Sound's rich waters supplied by deep, turbulent canyon Posted: 14 Apr 2014 08:24 AM PDT Oceanographers have made the first detailed measurements of fast-flowing water and intense mixing in a submarine canyon just off the Washington coast.

SpaceX’s Dragon headed to space station to create astronaut farmers Posted: 14 Apr 2014 07:33 AM PDT "Enter the Dragon" takes on a whole new meaning this month as SpaceX's Dragon capsule heads to the International Space Station for its third commercial resupply mission on April 14. During the SpaceX-3 mission, the Dragon capsule not only will deliver cargo to the orbiting laboratory, but it also will return science samples and hardware to Earth.

Nutrient-rich forests absorb more carbon Posted: 14 Apr 2014 07:11 AM PDT The ability of forests to sequester carbon from the atmosphere depends on nutrients available in the forest soils, shows new research from an international team of researchers. "This paper produces the first evidence that to really understand the carbon cycle, you have to look into issues of nutrient cycling within the soil," said one of the researchers.

Result of slow degradation on environmental pollutants Posted: 14 Apr 2014 07:11 AM PDT Why do environmental pollutants accumulate in the cold polar regions? This may not only be due to the fact that many substances are less volatile at low temperatures, as has been long suspected, but also to their extremely slow natural degradation. Although persistent environmental pollutants have been and continue to be released worldwide, the Arctic and Antarctic regions are significantly more contaminated than elsewhere. The marine animals living there have some of the highest levels of persistent organic pollutant (POP) contamination of any creatures.

Endemic in pork industry: Will new tests prevent it? Posted: 14 Apr 2014 07:07 AM PDT Tests to identify pig viruses have been developed in hopes of preventing the further spread of diseases that have already killed almost 6 million pigs. "Enteric disease in pigs has turned into a huge, huge problem and we're developing all kinds of new tests to address the old problems but also to address the new diseases that are just destroying everything," said a veterinarian.

Wolves at the door: Study finds recent wolf-dog hybridization in Caucasus region Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:21 AM PDT Hybridization of wolves with shepherd dogs in the Caucasus region might be more common, and more recent, than previously thought, according to new research. Scientists found recent hybrid ancestry in about ten percent of the dogs and wolves sampled. About two to three percent of the sampled wolves and dogs were identified as first-generation hybrids.

Single cell genomics technique developed to reverse-engineer developing lung Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:21 AM PDT In a feat of reverse tissue engineering, researchers took lung cells from the embryos of mice at different points in their development cycles, and recorded what genes were active in each cell at each time. They studied lung cells, but the technique is applicable to any type of cell. "This lays out a playbook for how to do reverse tissue engineering," said the leader of the research team.

Genetically modified tobacco plants as an alternative for producing bioethanol Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:20 AM PDT Tobacco, a high-density crop which is mown several times throughout its cycle, can produce as much as 160 tonnes of fresh matter per hectare and become a source of biomass suitable for producing bioethanol. As one researcher explained, "tobacco plants as a source of biomass for producing bioethanol could be an alternative to traditional tobacco growing which is in decline in the USA and in Europe because it cannot compete with emerging countries like China".

Neanderthals and Cro-magnons did not coexist on the Iberian Peninsula, suggests re-analysis of dating Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:20 AM PDT The meeting between a Neanderthal and one of the first humans, which we used to picture in our minds, did not happen on the Iberian Peninsula. That is the conclusion reached by an scientists after redoing the dating of the remains in three caves located on the route through the Pyrenees of the first beings of our species: L'Arbreda, Labeko Koba and La Viña.

Does germ plasm accelerate evolution? Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:19 AM PDT Scientists have challenged a long held belief about the way certain species of vertebrates evolved. They found that genes evolve more rapidly in species containing germ plasm. The results came about as they put to the test a novel theory that early developmental events dramatically alter the vertebrate body plan and the way evolution proceeds.

Beneficial organisms react differently to parasite drug Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:19 AM PDT The substance ivermectin has been used for more than thirty years all over the world to combat parasites like roundworms, lice and mites in humans, livestock and pets. The active ingredient belongs to the chemical group of avermectins, which generally disrupt cell transport and thus attack pests. When ivermectin is excreted in the feces of treated animals, at overly high doses it also harms dung-degrading beneficial insects like dung beetles and dung flies. This impairs the functioning of the ecosystem. In extreme cases the dung is not decomposed and the pasture is destroyed.

Little-known Arctic comb jelly found in the Baltic Sea and Arctic Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:19 AM PDT One of the world's oldest animal species, the comb jellies -- which have inhabited the seas for millions of years -- have kept their secrets up to the present day. Researchers have now studied the life of the Arctic comb jelly, which is found in the Baltic Sea and the Arctic.

Look who's evolving now: Using robots to study evolution Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:19 AM PDT Scientists have demonstrated the usefulness of robots in studying evolution.  They successfully used a colony of rodent-like robots to watch different mating strategies evolve.  The work not only generated interesting and unexpected results, but it has also helped validate the use of robots in the study of evolution.

Efficient analysis of small quantity of cells improves chances to understand disease Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:17 AM PDT Techniques have been developed that allow researchers to obtain reliable results over the course of disease development inside cells. Based on mouse studies, the researchers believe that "the single live animal data will grant unique insights into the molecular events involved in biological processes and provide an important basis for diagnosis, prognosis, drug design and discovery, and treatment strategy."

Protein crystal experiment set to fly to International Space Station Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:17 AM PDT A biology professor's experiment that is set to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) could shed new light on the roles enzymes play in biological processes. The experiment, Protein Crystals for Neutron Crystallography (PC4NC), studies an enzyme inorganic pyrophosphatase (IPPase).

Gene linked to pediatric kidney cancer suggests new strategies for kidney regeneration Posted: 13 Apr 2014 02:17 PM PDT Nearly one-third of cases of Wilms tumor, a pediatric cancer of the kidney, are linked to a gene called Lin28, according to research. Mice engineered to express Lin28 in their kidneys developed Wilms tumor, which regressed when Lin28 was withdrawn, indicating that strategies aimed at blocking or deactivating the gene hold therapeutic promise. Studies also suggest that controlled expression of Lin28 can promote kidney development and therefore may hold clues to regeneration of damaged adult kidneys.

How a Silly Putty ingredient could advance stem cell therapies Posted: 13 Apr 2014 10:59 AM PDT The sponginess of the environment where human embryonic stem cells are growing affects the type of specialized cells they eventually become, a study shows. The researchers coaxed human embryonic stem cells to turn into working spinal cord cells more efficiently by growing the cells on a soft, utrafine carpet made of a key ingredient in Silly Putty.

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