ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• New research supports theory of extraterrestrial impact
• New insights into cloud formation
• The Blue Planet's new water budget: Do we have enough?
• Demise of early large animals caused by both humans and climate change
• Genetic link between visual pathways of hydras and humans discovered
• Unraveling biological networks: Biological network motif discovery algorithms
• Will a genetic mutation cause trouble? Ask Spliceman
• Sawfishes sure can wield a saw: Saw senses electric fields to locate prey and also attack
• Elevated carbon dioxide concentrations can increase carbon storage in the soil
• Building a beetle antifreeze
• Warming of two degrees inevitable over Canada, experts say
• In forests, past disturbances obscure warming impacts
• How plants sniff out unhealthy neighbors to fight off infection
• Standing still in running water: Lotic dragon and damselfly species less able to adapt to climate change
• Escaping parasites and pathogens
• Dust linked to increased glacier melting, ocean productivity
• Why birds of a feather stick together
• Skin infection sheds light on immune cells living in our skin

New research supports theory of extraterrestrial impact Posted: 05 Mar 2012 01:08 PM PST Scientists have identified a nearly 13,000-year-old layer of thin, dark sediment buried in the floor of Lake Cuitzeo in central Mexico. The sediment layer contains an exotic assemblage of materials, including nanodiamonds, impact spherules, and more, which, according to the researchers, are the result of a cosmic body impacting Earth.

New insights into cloud formation Posted: 05 Mar 2012 01:07 PM PST Clouds have a profound effect on the climate, but we know surprisingly little about how they form. Researcher have studied how extremely small cloud particles can dispose of excess energy. This knowledge is necessary to understand processes in the atmosphere that affect global climate change.

The Blue Planet's new water budget: Do we have enough? Posted: 05 Mar 2012 01:06 PM PST Investigating the history of water on Earth is critical to understanding the planet's climate. One central question is whether Earth has always had the same amount of water on and surrounding it, the same so-called "water budget". Has Earth gained or lost water from comets and meteorites? Has water been lost into space? New research into the Earth's primordial oceans revisits Earth's historical water budget.

Demise of early large animals caused by both humans and climate change Posted: 05 Mar 2012 01:06 PM PST Past waves of extinctions which removed some of the world's largest animals were caused by both people and climate change, according to new research.

Genetic link between visual pathways of hydras and humans discovered Posted: 05 Mar 2012 12:06 PM PST What good is half an eye? Evolutionary biologists studying the origins of vision get that question a lot, and new research points to a possible answer. New findings indicate that, even in the absence of eyes altogether, some creatures display a light-sensitivity that uses the same visual pathway that allows humans to see.

Unraveling biological networks: Biological network motif discovery algorithms Posted: 05 Mar 2012 10:25 AM PST A new approach to disentangling the complexities of biological networks, such as the way in which proteins interact in our body's cells has been developed. The new algorithm could allow biologists and biomedical researchers to unravel new clues about how cells work and what goes awry with such networks in various diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

Will a genetic mutation cause trouble? Ask Spliceman Posted: 05 Mar 2012 10:24 AM PST New, free Web-based software analyzes DNA sequences to determine if mutations are likely to cause errors in splicing of messenger RNA. When gene splicing goes awry, a wide variety of diseases can result.

Sawfishes sure can wield a saw: Saw senses electric fields to locate prey and also attack Posted: 05 Mar 2012 10:24 AM PST Sawfishes wouldn't be sawfishes if they didn't come equipped with long toothy snouts -- their saws. Now, researchers have figured out what they use those saws for, and it turns out the answer is quite impressive. The saws themselves have tiny sensors that enable sawfishes to detect the electric fields of other nearby animals.

Elevated carbon dioxide concentrations can increase carbon storage in the soil Posted: 05 Mar 2012 10:22 AM PST Elevated carbon dioxide concentrations can increase carbon storage in the soil, according to results from a 12-year carbon dioxide-enrichment experiment.

Building a beetle antifreeze Posted: 05 Mar 2012 10:18 AM PST An Alaskan beetle beats the cold using an unusual, natural antifreeze with a novel mode of action that scientists are beginning to unravel.

Warming of two degrees inevitable over Canada, experts say Posted: 05 Mar 2012 07:31 AM PST Even if zero emissions of greenhouse gases were to be achieved, the world's temperature would continue to rise by about a quarter of a degree over a decade. That's a best-case scenario, according to a new article. Experts urge the public, governments and industries to wake up to a harsh new reality.

In forests, past disturbances obscure warming impacts Posted: 05 Mar 2012 07:30 AM PST Past disturbances, such as logging, can obscure the effects of climate change on forest ecosystems. So reports a new study. The article, exploring nitrogen dynamics, found that untangling climate impacts from other factors can be difficult, even when scientists have access to decades of data on a forest's environmental conditions.

How plants sniff out unhealthy neighbors to fight off infection Posted: 05 Mar 2012 05:12 AM PST A new study sheds light on how plants sniff out unhealthy neighbors to fight off infection. People and animals are not the only ones who can smell. Plants are also able to perceive odors, but they process them in a very different way . While insects or mammals smell odors within a second of exposure, plants require much longer exposure times to respond. Then using this information, they react effectively to the odors emitted by infected or infested neighboring plants in order to increase their resistance to pest insects or disease.

Standing still in running water: Lotic dragon and damselfly species less able to adapt to climate change Posted: 05 Mar 2012 05:12 AM PST A new study throws light on the capability of individual dragonfly species to track climate change. The authors show that dragonfly species which breed in pools and ponds are better able to cope with climate change than species whose habitats are streams and rivers. The results are based on a comparison of the projected and observed distributions of European dragonfly species in 2006 and 1988.

Escaping parasites and pathogens Posted: 04 Mar 2012 11:18 AM PST In nature, how do host species survive parasite attacks? This has not been well understood, until now. A new mathematical model shows that when a host and its parasite each have multiple traits governing their interaction, the host has a unique evolutionary advantage that helps it survive.

Dust linked to increased glacier melting, ocean productivity Posted: 01 Mar 2012 03:08 PM PST A new study has established a link between large dust storms on Iceland and glacial melting. The dust is both accelerating glacial melting and contributing important nutrients to the surrounding North Atlantic Ocean. The results provide new insights on the role of dust in climate change and high-latitude ocean ecosystems.

Why birds of a feather stick together Posted: 29 Feb 2012 12:55 PM PST Some male birds are better at attracting females if they gather with close male kin, than in the company of distant relatives. The findings provide an intriguing account of why individuals help each other, especially when cooperating can be costly.

Skin infection sheds light on immune cells living in our skin Posted: 29 Feb 2012 11:21 AM PST Very recently, researchers discovered an important population of immune cells called memory T cells living in parts of the body that are in contact with the environment (e.g., skin, lung, GI tract). How these "resident" memory T cells are generated was unknown, and their importance with regard to how our immune system remembers infection and how it prevents against re-infection is being studied intensively. A new study has used a vaccinia virus infection to answer important questions about how these newly discovered cells protect us.

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