ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Asthma rate and costs from traffic pollution higher: Much higher than past traditional risk assessments have indicated
• Coastal storms have long-reaching effects, study says
• Injecting sulfate particles into stratosphere won't fully offset climate change
• Chemists synthesize artificial cell membrane
• Attack or retreat? Circuit links hunger and pursuit in sea slug brain
• Dawn of social networks: Ancestors may have formed ties with both kin and non-kin based on shared attributes
• More than 7,500-year-old fish traps found in Russia
• Where there's a worm there's a whale: First distribution model of marine parasites provides revealing insights
• Turtles' mating habits protect against effects of climate change
• How diamond-bearing kimberlites reach the surface of Earth: Acidification provides the thrust

Asthma rate and costs from traffic pollution higher: Much higher than past traditional risk assessments have indicated Posted: 25 Jan 2012 05:27 PM PST A team of resource economist researchers has revised the cost burden sharply upward for childhood asthma and for the first time include the number of cases attributable to air pollution, in a new study.

Coastal storms have long-reaching effects, study says Posted: 25 Jan 2012 02:23 PM PST Coastal storms are known to cause serious damage along the shoreline, but they also cause significant disruption of the deep-sea ecosystem as well.

Injecting sulfate particles into stratosphere won't fully offset climate change Posted: 25 Jan 2012 11:22 AM PST New research demonstrates that one suggested method of geoengineering the atmosphere to deal with climate change, injecting sulfate particles into the stratosphere, probably would have limited success.

Chemists synthesize artificial cell membrane Posted: 25 Jan 2012 10:28 AM PST Chemists have taken an important step in making artificial life forms from scratch. Using a novel chemical reaction, they have created self-assembling cell membranes, the structural envelopes that contain and support the reactions required for life. Instead of complex enzymes embedded in membranes, they used a simple metal ion as the catalyst. By assembling an essential component of earthly life with no biological precursors, they hope to illuminate life's origins.

Attack or retreat? Circuit links hunger and pursuit in sea slug brain Posted: 25 Jan 2012 10:28 AM PST If you were a blind, cannibalistic sea slug, living among others just like you, nearly every encounter with another creature would require a simple cost/benefit calculation: Should I eat that -- or flee? In a new study, researchers report that these responses are linked to a simple circuit in the brain of the sea slug Pleurobranchaea.

Dawn of social networks: Ancestors may have formed ties with both kin and non-kin based on shared attributes Posted: 25 Jan 2012 10:26 AM PST Ancient humans may not have had the luxury of updating their Facebook status, but social networks were nevertheless an essential component of their lives, a new study suggests. The study's findings describe elements of social network structures that may have been present early in human history, suggesting how our ancestors may have formed ties with both kin and non-kin based on shared attributes, including the tendency to cooperate. According to the paper, social networks likely contributed to the evolution of cooperation.

More than 7,500-year-old fish traps found in Russia Posted: 25 Jan 2012 06:13 AM PST Archeologists have documented a series of more than 7,500-year-old fish seines (nets) and traps near Moscow. The equipment found, among the oldest in Europe, displays a great technical complexity. The survey will allow us to understand the role of fishing among the European settlements by early Holocene (10,000 years ago), especially in those areas where inhabitants did not practice agriculture until nearly the Iron Age.

Where there's a worm there's a whale: First distribution model of marine parasites provides revealing insights Posted: 25 Jan 2012 06:10 AM PST Each year around 20,000 people are infected by nematodes of the genus Anisakis and suffer from illnesses ranging from gastrointestinal diseases to serious allergic reactions as a result. For the first time, parasitologists have gathered data on the occurrence of the parasitic worm and have modeled the worldwide distribution of individual species in the ocean. The resulting maps not only enable statements to be made on the occurrence and migration behavior of certain hosts of the parasites, such as Baleen or toothed whales,  but also provide conclusions on the risk of human infection.

Turtles' mating habits protect against effects of climate change Posted: 24 Jan 2012 05:01 PM PST The mating habits of marine turtles may help to protect them against the effects of climate change. The study shows how the mating patterns of a population of endangered green turtles may be helping them deal with the fact that global warming is leading to a disproportionate number of females being born.

How diamond-bearing kimberlites reach the surface of Earth: Acidification provides the thrust Posted: 23 Jan 2012 06:45 AM PST Diamond-bearing kimberlites are volcanic rocks that originate deep in the Earth and are erupted onto the surface. Researchers have now shown that other rock types, incorporated into the magma as it rises through overlying formations, provide the necessary buoyancy for its long ascent.

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