ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Tropical forest carbon absorption may hinge on an odd couple
• Achilles' heel of ice shelves is beneath the water, scientists reveal
• Scientists discover cosmic factory for making building blocks of life
• Concepts for Houston, Texas flood barrier
• Fish skin immune responses resemble those of the gut

Tropical forest carbon absorption may hinge on an odd couple Posted: 15 Sep 2013 10:43 AM PDT A new study found that a unique housing arrangement between trees in the legume family and the carbo-loading rhizobia bacteria may determine how well tropical forests can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The findings suggest that the role of tropical forests in offsetting the atmospheric buildup of carbon from fossil fuels depends on tree diversity.

Achilles' heel of ice shelves is beneath the water, scientists reveal Posted: 15 Sep 2013 10:43 AM PDT New research has revealed that more ice leaves Antarctica by melting from the underside of submerged ice shelves than was previously thought, accounting for as much as 90 percent of ice loss in some areas.

Scientists discover cosmic factory for making building blocks of life Posted: 15 Sep 2013 10:43 AM PDT Scientists have discovered a "cosmic factory" for producing the building blocks of life, amino acids. The team discovered that when icy comets collide into a planet, amino acids can be produced. These essential building blocks are also produced if a rocky meteorite crashes into a planet with an icy surface.

Concepts for Houston, Texas flood barrier Posted: 15 Sep 2013 10:12 AM PDT This month it will be exactly five years ago that Hurricane Ike caused enormous damage in and around Houston and Galveston in the US state of Texas. With more than $38 billion in damage and over 100 deaths, Ike ranks third in the list of the costliest hurricanes in US history. But it could have been a lot worse. With more than two million inhabitants, Houston is not only the fourth largest city in the United States, it is also the centre of the oil and gas industry. The Port of Houston fulfils a crucial economic role and generates around $178 million in revenues each year. Given the vulnerability of the area, it is a question of when rather than whether the city will again be hit by a major hurricane.

Fish skin immune responses resemble those of the gut Posted: 13 Sep 2013 04:50 PM PDT A new study has found that, not only does fish skin resemble the gut morphologically, but key components of skin immune responses are also akin to those of the gut.

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