ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Illuminating neuron activity in 3-D: New technique lets scientists monitor small worm's entire nervous system
• Windshield washer fluid a source of Legionnaires: Found in most school buses
• Bacteria in mouth may diagnose pancreatic cancer
• Study debunks common myth that urine is sterile: Bacterial differences found in urine of healthy women and women with overactive bladder
• Scientists create synthetic duplicates of spiders' super-sticky, silk 'attachment discs'
• Transgenic mice produce both omega-3, omega-6 fatty acids on carbohydrate diet
• Growing camelina, safflower in the pacific northwest
• 'Bystander' chronic infections thwart development of immune cell memory
• Dads can parent too: Neural pathway to parenthood seen in mice

Illuminating neuron activity in 3-D: New technique lets scientists monitor small worm's entire nervous system Posted: 18 May 2014 01:44 PM PDT Researchers have created an imaging system that reveals neural activity throughout the brains of living animals. This technique, the first that can generate 3-D movies of entire brains at the millisecond timescale, could help scientists discover how neuronal networks process sensory information and generate behavior.

Windshield washer fluid a source of Legionnaires: Found in most school buses Posted: 18 May 2014 01:44 PM PDT A form of bacteria responsible for respiratory illness, including the deadly pneumonia known as Legionnaire's disease, may be able to grow in windshield washer fluid and was isolated from nearly 75 percent of school buses tested in one district in Arizona, according to new research.

Bacteria in mouth may diagnose pancreatic cancer Posted: 18 May 2014 01:44 PM PDT Patients with pancreatic cancer have a different and distinct profile of specific bacteria in their saliva compared to healthy controls and even patients with other cancers or pancreatic diseases, according to new research. These findings could form the basis for a test to diagnose the disease in its early stages.

Study debunks common myth that urine is sterile: Bacterial differences found in urine of healthy women and women with overactive bladder Posted: 18 May 2014 01:43 PM PDT Bacteria live in the bladders of healthy women, discrediting the common belief that normal urine is sterile. This study also revealed that bladder bacteria in healthy women differ from the bladder bacteria in women affected by overactive bladder, which causes a sudden need to urinate.

Scientists create synthetic duplicates of spiders' super-sticky, silk 'attachment discs' Posted: 16 May 2014 05:33 PM PDT Researchers are again spinning inspiration from spider silk -- this time to create more efficient and stronger commercial and biomedical adhesives that could, for example, potentially attach tendons to bones or bind fractures. The scientists created synthetic duplicates of the super-sticky, silk "attachment discs" that spiders use to attach their webs to surfaces.

Transgenic mice produce both omega-3, omega-6 fatty acids on carbohydrate diet Posted: 16 May 2014 05:32 PM PDT A transgenic mouse has been developed that synthesizes both the omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids within its tissues on a diet of carbohydrates or saturated fats. Significant evidence suggest that the ratio of dietary omega-6 to omega-3 has important implications for human health, further increasing interest in the development of foods rich in omega-3s.

Growing camelina, safflower in the pacific northwest Posted: 16 May 2014 05:29 PM PDT A recent study provides information important to farmers growing oilseed crops. In the study, camelina and safflower were grown in three-year rotations with winter wheat and summer fallow. The study shows that using this rotation may require that no tillage should be done to the soil during the fallow year. Oilseed crops produce relatively little residue—organic material such as roots that hold the soil together. Even light tillage can disintegrate the soil.

'Bystander' chronic infections thwart development of immune cell memory Posted: 15 May 2014 10:20 AM PDT Studies of vaccine programs in the developing world have revealed that individuals with chronic infections such as malaria and hepatitis tend to be less likely to develop the fullest possible immunity benefits from vaccines for unrelated illnesses. Researchers have found that chronic bystander viral or parasitic infections impaired the development of memory T cells in mouse models of long-term infection and in immune cells of people chronic hepatitis C infection.

Dads can parent too: Neural pathway to parenthood seen in mice Posted: 15 May 2014 08:33 AM PDT Galanin neurons in the brain's medial preoptic area that appear to regulate parental behavior, a mouse study finds. If similar neurons are at work in humans, it could offer clues to the treatment of conditions like post-partum depression. "If you look across different animal species, there are some species in which the father contributes to caring for the young -- sometimes the work is divided equally, sometimes the father does most of the work -- and there are species in which the father does nothing," a researcher said. "The essential question is where is that variability coming from? We may be tempted to say that the mom has the neurons required to engage in parental behavior, and dads don't -- this paper shows that's wrong."

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