ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• New metabolic pathway to more efficiently convert sugars into biofuels
• Water vapor in stratosphere plays role in climate
• Study finds tungsten in aquifer groundwater controlled by pH, oxygen
• Cold, salty and promiscuous: Gene-shuffling microbes dominate Antarctica's Deep Lake
• Biochar quiets microbes, including some plant pathogens
• Traces of immense prehistoric ice sheets discovered
• Climate change: Fast out of the gate, slow to the finish the gate
• Fique fibers from Andes Mountains part of miracle solution for dye pollution, find scientists
• New technique helps biologists save the world's threatened seagrass meadows
• Niacin, the fountain of youth
• Climate models show potential 21st century temperature, precipitation changes
• Erratic proteins: New insights into a transport mechanism
• Eilat's corals stand better chance of resilience than other sites

New metabolic pathway to more efficiently convert sugars into biofuels Posted: 30 Sep 2013 01:24 PM PDT Chemical engineering researchers have created a new synthetic metabolic pathway for breaking down glucose that could lead to a 50 percent increase in the production of biofuels.

Water vapor in stratosphere plays role in climate Posted: 30 Sep 2013 01:15 PM PDT Water vapor changes in the stratosphere contribute to warmer temperatures and likely play an important role in the evolution of Earth's climate, according to new research.

Study finds tungsten in aquifer groundwater controlled by pH, oxygen Posted: 30 Sep 2013 12:27 PM PDT Geologists found that the likelihood that tungsten will seep into an aquifer's groundwater depends on the groundwater's pH level, the amount of oxygen in the aquifer and the number of oxidized particles in the water and sediment.

Cold, salty and promiscuous: Gene-shuffling microbes dominate Antarctica's Deep Lake Posted: 30 Sep 2013 12:27 PM PDT Antarctica's Deep Lake is a saltwater ecosystem that remains liquid in extreme cold. For the first time, researchers describe a complete ecological picture of the microbial community thriving in Deep Lake.

Biochar quiets microbes, including some plant pathogens Posted: 30 Sep 2013 09:18 AM PDT In the first study of its kind, scientists have used synthetic biology to study how a popular soil amendment called biochar can interfere with the chemical signals that some plant pathogens use to coordinate their attacks. The new study is the first to examine how biochar affects the chemical signaling that's routinely used by soil microorganisms that interact with plants.

Traces of immense prehistoric ice sheets discovered Posted: 30 Sep 2013 09:18 AM PDT Geologists and geophysicists have discovered traces of large ice sheets from the Pleistocene on a seamount off the north-eastern coast of Russia.

Climate change: Fast out of the gate, slow to the finish the gate Posted: 30 Sep 2013 09:18 AM PDT Research has focused on the amount of global warming resulting from increased greenhouse gas concentrations. But there has been relatively little study of the pace of the change following these increases. A new study concludes that about half of the warming occurs within the first 10 years after an instantaneous step increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration, but about one-quarter of the warming occurs more than a century after the step increase.

Fique fibers from Andes Mountains part of miracle solution for dye pollution, find scientists Posted: 30 Sep 2013 08:41 AM PDT A cheap and simple process using natural fibers embedded with nanoparticles can almost completely rid water of harmful textile dyes in minutes, report researchers who worked with native Colombian plant fibers.

New technique helps biologists save the world's threatened seagrass meadows Posted: 30 Sep 2013 08:39 AM PDT Danish and Australian biologists have developed a technique to determine if seagrass contains sulfur. If the seagrass contains sulfur, it is an indication that the seabed is stressed and that the water environment is threatened. The technique will help biologists all over the world in their effort to save the world's seagrass meadows.

Niacin, the fountain of youth Posted: 30 Sep 2013 07:18 AM PDT The vitamin niacin has a life-prolonging effect, as demonstrated in roundworms. This study also concludes that so-called reactive oxygen species are healthy, which disagrees with other research findings.

Climate models show potential 21st century temperature, precipitation changes Posted: 30 Sep 2013 06:54 AM PDT New data visualizations from the NASA Center for Climate Simulation and NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., show how climate models used in the new report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimate possible temperature and precipitation pattern changes throughout the 21st century.

Erratic proteins: New insights into a transport mechanism Posted: 30 Sep 2013 06:35 AM PDT The outer membrane of bacteria contains many proteins that form tiny pores. They are important for absorbing nutrients and transmitting signals into the cell. Research has now shown for the first time at atomic resolution, that these pore proteins are transported in an unstructured, constantly changing state to the outer bacterial membrane.

Eilat's corals stand better chance of resilience than other sites Posted: 29 Sep 2013 11:27 AM PDT Israel's southern Red Sea resort of Eilat, one of whose prime attractions is its colorful and multi-shaped underwater coral reefs, may have a clear advantage in the future over rival coral-viewing sites around the world, scientists have found.

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