ScienceDaily Environment Headlines
for Monday, August 18, 2008
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Maelstrom Quashes Jumping Genes (August 18, 2008) -- Scientists have known for decades that genes called transposons can jump around the genome in a cell. This jumping can be dangerous, especially when it arises in cells that produce eggs and sperm. Although nature developed a mechanism to quash this genetic scrambling, how it works has remained a mystery. Now scientists have identified a key protein that suppresses jumping genes in mouse sperm and found that the protein is vital to sperm formation. ... > full story
High-Altitude Small Mammals Of The Great Basin Are Not Completely Isolated (August 18, 2008) -- New modeling research demonstrates that the "sky islands" of the Great Basin are not islands: the different populations of small mammals that inhabit mountain tops have contact with each other. ... > full story
'Virtual Archaeologist' Reconnects Fragments Of An Ancient Civilization (August 17, 2008) -- Computer scientists working with archaeologists in Greece has developed a new technology that has the potential to change the way people do archaeology. ... > full story
Surprising Details Of Evolution Of Protein Translation Revealed (August 17, 2008) -- A new study of transfer RNA, a molecule that delivers amino acids to the protein-building machinery of the cell, challenges long-held ideas about the evolutionary history of protein synthesis. ... > full story
Old Growth Giants Limited By Water-pulling Ability (August 17, 2008) -- The Douglas-fir, state tree of Oregon, towering king of old-growth forests and one of the tallest tree species on Earth, finally stops growing taller because it just can't pull water any higher, a new study concludes. ... > full story
Dying Frogs Sign Of A Biodiversity Crisis (August 17, 2008) -- Devastating declines of amphibian species around the world are a sign of a biodiversity disaster larger than just frogs, salamanders and their ilk, according to researchers from the University of California, Berkeley. The researchers argue that substantial die-offs of amphibians and other plant and animal species add up to a new mass extinction facing the planet. ... > full story
New Mushroom Study Shows The Power Of Energy Density (August 17, 2008) -- Preliminary research suggests increasing intake of low-energy density foods, specifically mushrooms, in place of high-energy-density foods, like lean ground beef, is a strategy for preventing or treating obesity. This is good news for the more than one-third of US adults age 20 and older who are obese, according to the Center for Disease Control. ... > full story
Potatoes May Hold Key To Alzheimer's Treatment (August 16, 2008) -- A virus that commonly infects potatoes bears a striking resemblance to one of the key proteins implicated in Alzheimer's disease, and researchers have used that to develop antibodies that may slow or prevent the onset of AD. ... > full story
Resistant Prions: Can They Be Transmitted By Environment As Well As Direct Contact? (August 16, 2008) -- Prions, the pathogens that cause scrapie in sheep, can survive in the ground for several years, as researchers have discovered. Animals can become infected via contaminated pastures. It is not yet known whether the pathogens that cause BSE and CWD are equally resistant. ... > full story
New Bird Species Discovered In Gabon, Africa (August 16, 2008) -- Scientists have discovered a new species of bird in Gabon, Africa, that was, until now, unknown to the scientific community. The newly found olive-backed forest robin (Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus) was named by the scientists for its distinctive olive back and rump. Adult birds measure 4.5 inches in length and average 18 grams in weight. ... > full story
Synthetic Biology Is Bearing Fruit: Blockers Against Blockers (August 16, 2008) -- Synthetic Biology is bearing fruit: the tuberculosis pathogen can be fooled by a widely used food additive. The WHO records around nine million new cases of the disease each year, and about 50 million people are infected with a strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that is resistant to the antibiotics Isoniazid and Rifampicin. ... > full story
Studying Volcanoes With Balloons (August 16, 2008) -- People do all kinds of crazy things in Hawaii, but flying balloons over a volcano usually isn’t one of them. Unless you’re Adam Durant, that is. ... > full story
Burmese Pythons Will Find Little Suitable Habitat Outside South Florida, Study Suggests (August 15, 2008) -- Burmese Pythons may have chosen Florida as a vacation destination, but are unlikely to expand further, according to a new study. Although the United States Geological Survey earlier this year released "climate maps" indicating that the pythons could inhabit up to 32 states in the US, new research indicates that the snakes are unlikely to expand out of Florida. ... > full story
Antarctic Climate: Short-term Spikes, Long-term Warming Linked To Tropical Pacific (August 15, 2008) -- Dramatic year-to-year temperature swings and a century-long warming trend across West Antarctica are linked to conditions in the tropical Pacific, according to an analysis of ice cores. The findings show the connection of the world's coldest continent to global warming, as well as to events such as El Niño. ... > full story
Big-brained Animals Evolve Faster (August 15, 2008) -- Ecologists and evolutionary biologists analyzed body size measures of 7,209 species of birds and found that avian families that have experienced the greatest diversification in body size tend to be those with brains larger than expected for their body size. ... > full story
Stone Age Graveyard Reveals Lifestyles Of A 'Green Sahara' (August 15, 2008) -- The largest Stone Age graveyard found in the Sahara, which provides an unparalleled record of life when the region was green, has been discovered in Niger by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and University of Chicago Professor Paul Sereno, whose team first happened on the site during a dinosaur-hunting expedition. ... > full story
Climate Change Caused Widespread Tree Death In California Mountain Range, Study Confirms (August 15, 2008) -- Warmer temperatures and longer dry spells have killed thousands of trees and shrubs in a Southern California mountain range, pushing the plants' habitat an average of 213 feet up the mountain over the past 30 years, a UC Irvine study has determined. ... > full story
Study Shows Continued Spread Of 'Dead Zones'; Lack Of Oxygen Now A Key Stressor On Marine Ecosystems (August 15, 2008) -- A new study shows that the number of "dead zones" -- areas of seafloor with too little oxygen for most marine life -- has increased by a third between 1995 and 2007. Dead zones are now "the key stressor on marine ecosystems" and "rank with over-fishing, habitat loss, and harmful algal blooms as global environmental problems." ... > full story
Hybrid 'Muttsucker' Has Genes Of Three Species (August 15, 2008) -- In the murky waters of an inconspicuous stream in a remote area of Wyoming, researchers detail the potential impact that an introduced fish, the white sucker, could have on the evolutionary biology of fishes. ... > full story
'Flu Vaccination' Protects Bacteria Against Virus (August 15, 2008) -- Bacteria – like people animals and plants – can become infected by a virus. Researchers have now unravelled a mechanism with which bacteria can defend themselves for a longer period against threatening viruses. Over the long term, this research offers possibilities to protect bacteria used in industrial processes against viral infections by giving them a 'flu vaccination'. ... > full story
Distinguishing Between Two Birds Of A Feather (August 15, 2008) -- The bird enthusiast who chronicled the adventures of a flock of red-headed conures in his book "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" knows most of the parrots by name, yet most of us would be hard pressed to tell one bird from another. While it has been known for a long time that we can become acutely attuned to our day-to-day environment, the underlying neural mechanism has been less clear. ... > full story
Structural Biology Spin-out Tackles Major Diseases (August 15, 2008) -- A spin off company from basic structural biology has led to new technology that provides a way of creating therapeutic proteins to tackle major diseases such as cancer, diabetes and infertility. ... > full story
Managing the Conch Fishery (August 15, 2008) -- Massachusetts fisherman once considered the New England whelk or “conch” as nothing more than bycatch. Although demand existed for the large-shelled snail, traditionally used for cooking in East Asian cultures, it could more easily be trawled in the waters around South America, the Caribbean and Asia, making conch unprofitable in the Northeast. This turned around in the 1980s, however, when overfishing of whelk quickly transformed the small New England conch fishery into a multi-million dollar industry. ... > full story
Drinking Water In Gaza Strip Contaminated With High Levels Of Nitrate (August 14, 2008) -- Scientists have recommended to the authorities in the Gaza Strip that they take immediate measures to combat excessive nitrate levels in the drinking water. 90 per cent of their water samples were found to contain nitrate concentrations that were between two and eight times higher than the limit recommended by the World Health Organization. ... > full story
Oil And Gas Projects In Western Amazon Threaten Biodiversity And Indigenous Peoples (August 14, 2008) -- According to a new study, over 180 oil and gas "blocks" -- areas zoned for exploration and development -- now cover the megadiverse western Amazon, which includes Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and western Brazil. These oil and gas blocks stretch over 688,000 km2 (170 million acres), a vast area, nearly the size of Texas. ... > full story
How Flesh-eating Bacteria Attack The Body's Immune System (August 14, 2008) -- "Flesh-eating" or "Strep" bacteria are able to survive and spread in the body by degrading a key immune defense molecule. The finding could aid in development of new treatments for serious infections in human patients. ... > full story
Researchers Solve Structure Of An Enzyme Vital For DNA Repair (August 14, 2008) -- When dividing cells copy their DNA, mistakes can -- and do -- occur. To compensate, cells have a built-in system to correct these errors. That correction process isn't thoroughly understood, but researchers are piecing it together bit by bit. ... > full story
Exploring Sichuan Fault (August 14, 2008) -- Scientists are to explore the fault lines that caused the May 12th earthquake in China that killed 69,000 people. ... > full story
Solar Collector Could Change Asphalt Roads Into Renewable Energy Source (August 14, 2008) -- Scientists have found a way to use asphalt's heat-soaking property for an alternative energy source by developing a solar collector that could turn roads and parking lots into ubiquitous -- and inexpensive sources of electricity and hot water. ... > full story
White Blood Cell Uses DNA 'Catapult' To Fight Infection (August 14, 2008) -- Scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding how a type of white blood cell called the eosinophil may help the body to fight bacterial infections in the digestive tract, according to new research in Nature Medicine. ... > full story
Successful Series Of Measurements In Arctic Sea Ice (August 14, 2008) -- The results of the last year's research have shown that changes in the ice cover have caused a decrease of some groups of animals living at the bottom of the deep sea. The ice edge is a biologically very active zone, in which algae increasingly grow, die , sink to the ground and serve as nutrients. If the ice edge shifts, it leads to changes in the availability of nutrients in the AWI-Hausgarten. What this year's thick ice cover brings about and whether the small and bigger animals of the deep sea are affected will be shown by the upcoming analyses in Bremerhaven as well as expeditions during the next years. ... > full story
Robot With A Biological Brain: New Research Provides Insights Into How The Brain Works (August 14, 2008) -- Researchers in the UK have developed a robot which is controlled by a biological brain formed from cultured neurons -- the first step to examine how memories manifest themselves in the brain, and how a brain stores specific pieces of data. The key aim is that eventually this will lead to a better understanding of development and of diseases and disorders which affect the brain such as Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, stoke and brain injury. ... > full story
Air Pollution Damages More Than Lungs: Heart And Blood Vessels Suffer Too (August 14, 2008) -- Air pollution has both short- and long-term toxic effects that injure the heart and blood vessels, increase rates of hospitalization for cardiac illness and can even cause death. ... > full story
Microbes, By Latitudes And Altitudes, Shed New Light On Life's Diversity (August 14, 2008) -- Microbial biologists may not have Jimmy Buffett's music from 1977 in mind, but they are changing attitudes about evolutionary diversity on Earth, from oceanic latitudes to mountainous altitudes. They are showing that temperature primarily drives the richness of bacterial diversity in oceans, and that life, plant and microbial, by altitude in the Rocky Mountains may be close, but not exactly, to what biologists have theorized for years. ... > full story
Is It Too Late To Save The Great Migrations? (August 14, 2008) -- Long gone are the days when hundreds of thousands of bison grazed the Great Plains, millions of passenger pigeons darkened the skies while migrating to and from their breeding grounds, and some 12.5 trillion Rocky Mountain locusts crowded an area exceeding the size of California. The subject of great migrations -- lost and still to be saved -- is explored in two new articles in PLoS Biology. ... > full story
Turning Waste Material Into Ethanol (August 14, 2008) -- Researchers have developed a method for converting crop residue, wood pulp, animal waste and garbage into ethanol. The process first turns the waste material into synthesis gas, or syngas, and nanoscale catalysts then convert the syngas into ethanol. ... > full story
Extensively Drug-resistant Tuberculosis Found In California (August 14, 2008) -- In the first statewide study of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) in the United States, California officials have identified 18 cases of the dangerous and difficult-to-treat disease between 1993 and 2006, and 77 cases that were one step away from XDR TB. ... > full story
Midge-hunting Scientists Tackle Spread Of Devastating Bluetongue Virus (August 14, 2008) -- Scientists are stepping up the battle against the devastating and economically damaging bluetongue virus. By combining ingenious ways to trap and monitor midges with cutting edge computer modeling and weather predictions researchers are gaining an understanding of how the insects spread the disease so that they can improve surveillance methods and advise farmers how and when to protect their animals. ... > full story
How DNA Repairs Can Reshape Genome, Spawn New Species (August 14, 2008) -- Researchers have shown how broken sections of chromosomes can recombine to change genomes and spawn new species. The scientists used X-rays to break yeast chromosomes, and then studied how the damage was repaired. ... > full story
Pandemic Potential Of H9N2 Avian Influenza Viruses (August 14, 2008) -- Since their introduction into land-based birds in 1988, H9N2 avian influenza A viruses have caused multiple human infections and become endemic in domestic poultry in Eurasia. This particular influenza subtype has been evolving and acquiring characteristics that raise concerns that it may become more transmissible among humans. Mechanisms that allow infection and subsequent human-to-human transmission of avian influenza viruses are not well understood. ... > full story
Southern Ocean Seals Dive Deep For Climate Data (August 14, 2008) -- Elephant seals are helping scientists overcome a critical blind-spot in their ability to detect change in Southern Ocean circulation and sea ice production and its influence on global climate. ... > full story
Trapping White Blood Cells Proves Novel Strategy Against Chronic Viral Infections (August 14, 2008) -- A drug that sequesters white blood cells in lymph nodes can allow mice to fight off a chronic infection by a virus that causes meningitis. The novel strategy of restricting white blood cells' circulation has implications for treating chronic viral infections in humans. ... > full story
Graduate Student Discovers, Names Bacterium Linked To Psyllid Yellows (August 14, 2008) -- Allison Hansen, a doctoral student in entomology at the University of California, Riverside, has discovered and named a new bacterial pathogen that could be responsible for "psyllid yellows," a disease that infects and kills tomato and potato plants. The disease is spread from plant to plant by the psyllid, a sap-sucking insect. ... > full story
Genomics Of Plant-based Biofuels (August 14, 2008) -- Genomics is accelerating improvements for converting plant biomass into biofuel -- as an alternative to fossil fuel for the nation's transportation needs. Now researchers lay out a path forward for how emerging genomic technologies will contribute to a substantially different biofuels future as compared to the present corn-based ethanol industry -- and in part mitigate the food-versus-fuel debate. ... > full story
Smells Like Bees' Spirit: Response To Pheromone Changes According To Situation (August 13, 2008) -- When bumblebees return to the nest from a successful foraging mission, they produce a pheromone which encourages their nest mates to also go out and find food. Scientists had originally thought that these pheromones elicited a standard response from all bees. But new research from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences has shown that bees' response to the pheromone changes according to their situation. ... > full story
Green Roofs Differ In Building Cooling, Water Handling Capabilities (August 13, 2008) -- The first study to compare the performance of different types of green roofs suggests that buyers shouldn't assume these roofs are created equal. ... > full story
Using Live Fish, New Tool A Sentinel For Environmental Contamination (August 13, 2008) -- Researchers have harnessed the sensitivity of days-old fish embryos to create a tool capable of detecting a range of harmful chemicals. By measuring rates of oxygen use in developing fish, which are sensitive to contaminants and stressful conditions, the technology could reveal the presence of minute levels of toxic substances before they cause more obvious and substantial harm. It could be used as an early warning system against environmental contamination or even biological weapons. ... > full story
Molecular Bridge Serves As A Tether For A Cell’s Nucleus (August 13, 2008) -- A cell's nucleus -- home of it its most precious contents -- is a delicate envelope that, without support, is barely able to withstand the forces that keep it in place. Now, researchers have discovered a network of molecules in the nuclear membrane that provide the nucleus with rigidity and also facilitate a previously undiscovered form of communication between the cell's nucleus and its cytoplasm. ... > full story
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