ScienceDaily Environment Headlines
for Monday, September 27, 2010
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Malaria's newest pathway into human cells identified (September 27, 2010) -- Development of an effective vaccine for malaria is a step closer following identification of a key pathway used by the malaria parasite to infect human cells. The discovery provides a new vaccine target through which infection with the deadly disease could be prevented. ... > full story
Genetic switch underlies noisy cell division: 'Bimodal' signal determines a cell's get-up and go (September 27, 2010) -- While scientists have spent the past 40 years describing the intricate series of events that occur when one mammalian cell divides into two, they still haven't agreed on how the process begins. Two seemingly contradictory theories may now be reconciled by a third theory. ... > full story
More predators doesn't equal more danger for urban bird nest, study finds (September 27, 2010) -- While birds living in urban areas face more predators than do those in rural areas, that doesn't mean urban birds face more danger from nest robbers. A six-year study conducted in 19 central Ohio forests from 2004 to 2009 found that, as expected, rural areas that had higher numbers of nest predators such as raccoons, domestic cats and crows, also showed lower rates of nest survival. ... > full story
How molecules escape from cell's nucleus: Key advance in using microscopy to reveal secrets of living cells (September 27, 2010) -- By constructing a microscope apparatus that achieves resolution never before possible in living cells, researchers have illuminated the molecular interactions that occur during one of the most important "trips" in all of biology: the journey of individual messenger ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules from the nucleus into the cytoplasm (the area between the nucleus and cell membrane) so that proteins can be made. ... > full story
Savvy consumers put a high price on food safety (September 27, 2010) -- New research demonstrates how food safety announcements cause consumers as well as food industry professionals to make purchasing decisions. ... > full story
Structure that allows bacteria to resist drugs identified (September 26, 2010) -- Researchers have discovered the crystal structures of pumps that allow bacteria to resist heavy metal toxins and antibiotics. ... > full story
The joy of sets: For ants and trees, multiple partners are a boon (September 26, 2010) -- In the complex world of ant-plant partnerships, serial monogamy can help trees maximize their evolutionary fitness, a new study shows. ... > full story
Protein found to control the early migration of neurons (September 26, 2010) -- Long before a baby can flash her first smile, sprout a first tooth or speak a first word, the neurons that will form her central nervous system must take their first, crucial steps. And these steps must be careful to take the right neurons to the right places and avert developmental disasters that could thwart those other baby firsts from ever coming to pass. Now new research promises a deeper understanding of how this essential form of cell migration occurs, finding a gene that works behind the scenes to control a closely related adhesion gene that helps keep young neurons on the right track. ... > full story
UK's shipping emissions six times higher than expected, says new report (September 26, 2010) -- Carbon dioxide emissions produced by UK shipping could be up to six times higher than currently calculated, according to new research. ... > full story
Key molecule for keeping other oral microorganisms in check uncovered (September 26, 2010) -- A research team has uncovered a key to arresting the growth of thrush -- a type of oral yeast infection that sickens patients with compromised immune systems, diabetes and newborns as well as healthy individuals, who may contract the disease following antibiotic treatment of an illness. ... > full story
Withering well can improve fertility (September 26, 2010) -- Contrary to a thousand face cream ads, the secret of fertility might not be eternal youth. Research from Spain has shown that the withering action of flowers may have evolved to protect their seeds. ... > full story
Training the trainers: how to minimize stress when horses are first ridden (September 26, 2010) -- Man has profited enormously from his ability to domesticate animals. Animals need training to perform particular tasks but until recently the effects of training on the animals concerned had hardly been considered. Researchers now presents a study of the stress caused to horses by being ridden for the first time. ... > full story
Making bees less busy: Social environment changes internal clocks (September 25, 2010) -- Honey bees removed from their usual roles in the hive quickly and drastically changed their biological rhythms, according to a new study. The changes were evident in both the bees' behavior and in their internal clocks. These findings indicate that social environment has a significant effect on the physiology and behavior of animals. ... > full story
Irish lizards threatened by agriculture (September 25, 2010) -- A new ecological network is urgently needed in Northern Ireland to ensure the continued survival of its precious lizard population, according to researchers. Lizards are found in coastal areas, heath and boglands around Northern Ireland, but a new study has found their natural habitats may have been replaced through agricultural intensification. ... > full story
Taking a new look at old digs: Trampling animals may alter Stone Age sites (September 25, 2010) -- Stone Age tools discovered embedded in the ground could mislead archaeologists about a Prehistoric site's age. A new study on animal trampling found that water buffalo and goats significantly disturbed stone tools scattered on watery ground, says archaeologists. The animals pushed the tools as much as 21 centimeters deeper than originally positioned -- potentially altering a site's interpretation thousands of years, and suggesting archaeologists should reanalyze some previous discoveries. ... > full story
How do you make the perfect sled dog? (September 25, 2010) -- Over the last few hundred years, Alaskan sled dogs have been bred to haul cargo over Arctic terrain and, more recently, for racing. Now, researchers have identified the contributions different breeds have made to the speed, endurance and work ethic of Alaskan sled dogs. ... > full story
Taking the pulse of coral reefs (September 25, 2010) -- Healthy reefs with more corals and fish generate predictably greater levels of noise, according to researchers working in Panama. This has important implications for understanding the behavior of young fish, and provides an exciting new approach for monitoring environmental health by listening to reefs. ... > full story
Sensor important to understanding root, seedling development (September 25, 2010) -- A biosensor utilizing black platinum and carbon nanotubes will help give scientists a better understanding of how the plant hormone auxin regulates root growth and seedling establishment. ... > full story
Aboard Ballard's expedition exploring Mediterranean seafloor (September 25, 2010) -- Underwater landslides, deep-sea corals, ancient archaeological sites -- these are just a few of the cool phenomena that graduate students may get to see firsthand in the Mediterranean Sea aboard an expedition led by famed explorer Robert Ballard. ... > full story
Genetically engineered salmon safe to eat, but a threat to wild stocks, expert says (September 25, 2010) -- An expert comments on potential FDA approval of the first genetically engineered animal for use as food. ... > full story
Ancient Egypt's pyramids: Norwegian researcher unlocks construction secrets (September 24, 2010) -- Scientists from around the world have tried to understand how the Egyptians erected their giant pyramids. Now, an architect and researcher from Norway says he has the answer to this ancient, unsolved puzzle. ... > full story
New map offers a global view of health-sapping air pollution (September 24, 2010) -- In many developing countries, the absence of surface-based air pollution sensors makes it difficult, and in some cases impossible, to get even a rough estimate of the abundance of a subcategory of airborne particles that epidemiologists suspect contributes to millions of premature deaths each year. ... > full story
A biological solution to animal pandemics (September 24, 2010) -- Using all-natural materials -- flax, hemp, jute and natural resin -- researchers in Poland have developed a new absorbent matting ideal for providing a disinfectant barrier for use in animal housing and other food production sites, both at times of outbreak of contagious disease and for routine hygiene. The matting is cheaper than the synthetic alternatives, both initially and because it is fully biodegradable so does not need special disposal. ... > full story
Mimicking nature, water-based 'artificial leaf' produces electricity (September 24, 2010) -- Scientists have shown that water-gel-based solar devices -- "artificial leaves" -- can act like solar cells to produce electricity. The findings prove the concept for making solar cells that more closely mimic nature. They also have the potential to be less expensive and more environmentally friendly than the current standard-bearer: silicon-based solar cells. ... > full story
Botulinum toxin may offer temporary drooling relief in children with neurological disorders (September 24, 2010) -- Botulinum toxin treatment appears to offer a temporary, short-term solution to relieve drooling in children diagnosed with certain neurological disorders, according to a new study. ... > full story
Stress can control our genes, researchers find (September 24, 2010) -- Researchers in Denmark have shown that stress-factors can control our genes. Exposing human cells to a stress-activating compound turned on genes that are normally silenced. Protective complexes that prevents our genes from being read and translated into protein, where lost when the cells experienced stress. The consequence is that genes that should be turned off are now active and this may disturb cellular development, identity and growth. ... > full story
Biometric ID technologies 'inherently fallible,' new report finds (September 24, 2010) -- Biometric systems -- designed to automatically recognize individuals based on biological and behavioral traits such as fingerprints, palm prints, or voice or face recognition -- are "inherently fallible," says a new report, and no single trait has been identified that is stable and distinctive across all groups. ... > full story
Arctic soil study turns up surprising results (September 24, 2010) -- Across the globe, the diversity of plant and animal species generally increases from the North and South Poles towards the Equator but surprisingly that rule isn't true for soil bacteria, according to a new study. ... > full story
How heating our homes could help reduce climate change (September 24, 2010) -- A radical new heating system where homes would be heated by district centers rather than in individual households could dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions. ... > full story
Microbiologists find source of fungus’s damaging growth (September 24, 2010) -- Candida albicans, a fungus that kills more than 10,000 people with weakened immune systems each year, grows more dangerous as it forms and extends long strands of cells called hyphal filaments. In a new study, microbiologists describe a key factor involved in this damaging growth. ... > full story
Computer simulations of real earthquakes made available to worldwide network (September 24, 2010) -- A research team has developed the capability to produce realistic movies of earthquakes based on complex computer simulations that can be made available worldwide within hours of a disastrous upheaval. ... > full story
City living helped humans evolve immunity to tuberculosis and leprosy, new research suggests (September 24, 2010) -- New research has found that a genetic variant which reduces the chance of contracting diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy is more prevalent in populations with long histories of urban living. ... > full story
Drug against AIDS could be effective against herpesvirus (September 24, 2010) -- Scientists have shown that raltegravir, the drug approved in 2007 for the treatment of AIDS that is sold by Merck under the name Isentress, cancels the function of an essential protein for the replication of one kind of herpes virus. This study is the first step towards the development of a drug against the entire herpesvirus family. ... > full story
Successful sludge-to-power research developed (September 24, 2010) -- An experiment to transform wastewater sludge to electrical power, dwarfed by the million-gallon tanks, pipes and pumps at the Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility, has successfully demonstrated a continuous feed low-cost system to dry sludge for conversion to fuel, which could ultimately supply the plant's electrical power on-site. ... > full story
Fuel treatments reduce wildfire severity, tree mortality in Washington forests (September 24, 2010) -- Scientists have found that fuel treatments -- even of only a few acres -- can reduce fire severity and protect older trees desirable for their timber, wildlife, and carbon-storage value. ... > full story
Groundwater depletion rate accelerating worldwide (September 23, 2010) -- In recent decades, the rate at which humans worldwide are pumping dry the vast underground stores of water that billions depend on has more than doubled, say scientists who have conducted an unusual, global assessment of groundwater use. ... > full story
Scientists uncover process enabling toxoplasmosis parasite to survive homelessness (September 23, 2010) -- The parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis requires a stress response system that helps it survive the move to infect new cells, scientists have reported -- a discovery that could lead to new treatments to control the disease. ... > full story
Extreme conditions deep in Earth's interior recreated (September 23, 2010) -- Scientists have recreated the tremendous pressures and high temperatures deep in the Earth to resolve a long-standing puzzle: why some seismic waves travel faster than others through the boundary between the solid mantle and fluid outer core. At the pressure near the core-mantle boundary -- more than a million times atmospheric pressure -- perovskite's crystals are deformed in just the right way to explain velocity differences of polarized seismic waves. ... > full story
Manganese in drinking water: Study suggests adverse effects on children's intellectual abilities (September 23, 2010) -- A team of researchers recently completed a study showing that children exposed to high concentrations of manganese in drinking water performed worse on tests of intellectual functioning than children with lower exposures. ... > full story
New technique uncovers hidden insecticide resistance in mosquitoes (September 23, 2010) -- A new technique is improving the detection and monitoring of insecticide resistance in field populations of an important malaria-carrying mosquito. ... > full story
Stress resilience returns with feeling for rhythm (September 23, 2010) -- If your body releases cortisol with fixed regularity then you can cope with stress better, according to new Dutch research into the rhythm of corticosterone production in rats. This rat hormone is comparable to the human stress hormone cortisol. Rats deal considerably less well with stress if the pattern of corticosterone release changes. An irregular release pattern is a characteristic of chronic stress and stress-related diseases. It might therefore be possible to treat these by restoring the rhythm. ... > full story
Gulf oil spill's vastness confirmed: Largest marine oil accident ever (September 23, 2010) -- In the first independent paper on the volume of the Gulf oil spill, scientists have affirmed heightened estimates of what is now seen as the largest marine oil accident ever. Using a new technique to analyze underwater video of the well riser, they say it leaked 56,000-68,000 barrels daily -- maybe more -- until it was capped. Their estimate of total oil escaped into the ocean is 4.4 million barrels -- close to the most recent consensus of government advisers. ... > full story
Secret of oysters' ability to stick together cracked open (September 23, 2010) -- A research team has uncovered the chemical components of the adhesive produced by oysters, providing information that could be useful for fisheries, boating and medicine. A better understanding of oysters' ability to stick together to form complex reefs would help those trying to boost the dwindling oyster population, aid in the creation of materials to keep boat hulls clean without harming the environment, and bring researchers one step closer to creating wet-setting adhesives. ... > full story
Ingredient in soap points toward new drugs for infection that affects two billion (September 23, 2010) -- The antibacterial ingredient in some soaps, toothpastes, odor-fighting socks, and even computer keyboards is pointing scientists toward a long-sought new treatment for a parasitic disease that affects almost two billion people. ... > full story
Clues to common food poisoning: Salmonella creates environment in human intestines to foster its own growth (September 23, 2010) -- The bacteria Salmonella enterica -- a common cause of food poisoning -- exploits immune response in the human gut to enhance its own reproductive and transmission success, according to new research. The strategy gives Salmonella a growth advantage over the beneficial bacteria that are normally present in the intestinal tract and promotes the severe diarrhea that spreads the bacteria to other people. ... > full story
Smartphone app for genes on Earth is tool for scientists and entertaining for all (September 23, 2010) -- The scientists who put an innovative tree of life online last year now have made that same resource available -- free -- for smartphones. The new "TimeTree" application lets anyone with an Apple iPhone harness a vast Internet storehouse of data about the diversity of life, from bacteria to humans. The new iPhone app can be fun for people who want to learn how long ago their cat and dog began evolving down different evolutionary paths, and it also is a useful scientific tool. ... > full story
Ocean cooling contributed to mid-20th century global warming hiatus (September 23, 2010) -- The hiatus of global warming in the Northern Hemisphere during the mid-20th century may have been due to an abrupt cooling event centered over the North Atlantic around 1970, rather than the cooling effects of tropospheric pollution. ... > full story
New species of sea slug discovered (September 23, 2010) -- Sometimes, treasures can be found in your own backyard -- especially if you know what to look for. A researcher was working in the tide pools at Carpinteria Reef in California when he found a new species of nudibranch -- a group of sea slugs noted for their bright colors and delicate forms. Recognizing it as new, he carefully documented the living specimen before preserving it. ... > full story
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