Saturday, August 30, 2008

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines -- for Saturday, August 30, 2008

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines

for Saturday, August 30, 2008

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Scientists Discover Why Flies Are So Hard To Swat (August 29, 2008) -- Over the past two decades, Michael Dickinson has been interviewed by reporters hundreds of times about his research on the biomechanics of insect flight. One question from the press has always dogged him: Why are flies so hard to swat? "Now I can finally answer," says Dickinson, the Esther M. and Abe M. Zarem Professor of Bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology. ... > full story

Katrina And Rita Provide Glimpse Of What Could Happen To Offshore Drilling If Gustav Hits Gulf (August 29, 2008) -- Shortly after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the US, engineers studied damage done to offshore drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. If tropical storm Gustav strengthens into a Category 3 hurricane, as forecasters are predicting, the damage could be extensive. ... > full story

Unexpected Large Monkey Population Discovered In Cambodia: Tens Of Thousands Of Threatened Primates (August 29, 2008) -- Biologists have discovered surprisingly large populations of two globally threatened primates in a protected area in Cambodia. The report counted 42,000 black-shanked douc langurs along with 2,500 yellow-cheeked crested gibbons in Cambodia's Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area, an estimate that represents the largest known populations for both species in the world. ... > full story

'Pristine' Amazonian Region Hosted Large, Urban Civilization (August 29, 2008) -- They aren't the lost cities early explorers sought fruitlessly to discover. But ancient settlements in the Amazon, now almost entirely obscured by tropical forest, were once large and complex enough to be considered "urban" as the term is commonly applied to both medieval European and ancient Greek communities. ... > full story

Black Raspberries Slow Cancer By Altering Hundreds Of Genes (August 29, 2008) -- New research strongly suggests that a mix of preventative agents, such as those found in concentrated black raspberries, may more effectively inhibit cancer development than single agents aimed at shutting down a particular gene. Researchers examined the effect of freeze-dried black raspberries on genes altered by a chemical carcinogen in an animal model of esophageal cancer. ... > full story

Saving Lives Through Smarter Hurricane Evacuations (August 29, 2008) -- Hundreds of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars could potentially be saved if emergency managers could make better and more timely critical decisions when faced with an approaching hurricane. Now, an MIT graduate student has developed a computer model that could help do just that. ... > full story

Eyes Evolved For 'X-Ray Vision': Forward-facing Eyes Allow Animals To 'See Through' Clutter In The World (August 29, 2008) -- The advantage of using two eyes to see the world around us has long been associated solely with our capacity to see in 3-D. Now, a new study has uncovered a truly eye-opening advantage to binocular vision: our ability to see through things. ... > full story

Natural Chemical From Sea Sponges Induces Death In Cancer Cells Via Unusual Pathway (August 29, 2008) -- A chemical called candidaspongiolide (CAN) inhibits protein synthesis but also kills cancer cells by triggering caspase 12-dependent programmed cell death, according to an article in the Aug. 26 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. ... > full story

Explosives Go 'Green' ... And Get More Precise (August 29, 2008) -- Certain explosives may soon get a little greener and a little more precise. Researchers have added unique green solvents (ionic liquids) to an explosive called TATB (1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene) and improved the crystal quality and chemical purity of the material. ... > full story

Researchers Provide Solution To World’s Worst Mass Poisoning Case (August 29, 2008) -- A solution to the world's worst case of ongoing mass poisoning, linked to rising cancer rates in Southern Asia, has been developed by researchers from Queen's University Belfast. They have created new low-cost technology to provide arsenic-free water to millions of people in South Asia currently exposed to high levels of the poison in groundwater. ... > full story

Fishing For Profits On World Caviar Market (August 29, 2008) -- As sturgeon populations decline in the Caspian Sea, scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have a found way for Israel to cash in on the world's growing demand for caviar. ... > full story

Arctic Ice On Verge Of Another All-time Low (August 28, 2008) -- Following last summer's record minimum ice cover in the Arctic, current observations from ESA's Envisat satellite suggest that the extent of polar sea-ice may again shrink to a level very close to that of last year. ... > full story


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