ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Scientists show how antibiotics enable pathogenic gut infections
• Increased greenhouse gases and aerosols have similar effects on rainfall
• Spread of crop pests threatens global food security as Earth warms
• Drug-Resistant TB's Surprising Family Tree
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Our African follower for over 70,000 years

Scientists show how antibiotics enable pathogenic gut infections Posted: 01 Sep 2013 12:41 PM PDT A new study could help pinpoint ways to counter the effects of the antibiotics-driven depletion of friendly, gut-dwelling bacteria. In the first 24 hours after administration of oral antibiotics, a spike in carbohydrate availability takes place in the gut, the study says. This transient nutrient surplus, combined with the reduction of friendly gut-dwelling bacteria due to antibiotics, permits at least two potentially deadly pathogens to get a toehold in that otherwise more forbidding environment.

Increased greenhouse gases and aerosols have similar effects on rainfall Posted: 01 Sep 2013 12:40 PM PDT Although greenhouse gases and aerosols have very distinct properties, their effects on spatial patterns of rainfall change are surprisingly similar, according to new research.

Spread of crop pests threatens global food security as Earth warms Posted: 01 Sep 2013 12:40 PM PDT A new study has revealed that global warming is resulting in the spread of crop pests towards the North and South Poles at a rate of nearly 3 km a year. The study shows a strong relationship between increased global temperatures over the past 50 years and expansion in the range of crop pests.

Drug-Resistant TB's Surprising Family Tree Posted: 01 Sep 2013 12:40 PM PDT A new method of analyzing whole genome sequences of TB, applied to a massive set of strains of the bacteria collected from clinics around the world, has revealed 39 new genes associated with elevated drug resistance.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Our African follower for over 70,000 years Posted: 01 Sep 2013 12:40 PM PDT One of the deadliest infectious diseases of humankind emerged in Africa 70,000 years ago, a new genetic analysis of 259 Tuberculosis bacterial strains has shown. According to the study, TB bacteria migrated out of Africa hand-in-hand with the first anatomically modern humans. Today's deadly features of TB may be a result of the common migratory path and changes in human live-styles. These evolutionary findings may impact the future developments of new drugs and vaccines.

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