ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Ireland's Aran Islands: Old maps and dead clams help solve coastal boulder mystery
• Formaldehyde exposure may affect fertility in men
• Science fair winner publishes new study on butterfly foraging behavior
• Why bigger animals aren't always faster
• Student-devised process would prep Chinese shale gas for sale
• Night-warming effect found over large wind farms in Texas
• Prenatal exposure to insecticide chlorpyrifos linked to alterations in brain structure and cognition
• Darwinian selection continues to influence human evolution
• Courtship in the cricket world
• Unknown function of transcriptional regulator of development and cancer reveaked: Jarid2 may break the polycomb silence
• From decade to decade: What's the status of our groundwater quality?
• Not all altruism is alike, says new study
• Molecular spectroscopy tracks living mammalian cells in real time as they differentiate
• Electric charge disorder: A key to biological order?
• Gene that plays key role in inheritance (FANCM) identified
• Key protein's newly discovered form and function may provide novel cancer treatment target
• Yellowstone 'super-eruption' less super, more frequent than thought
• Antarctic albatross displays shift in breeding habits
• Twenty-four new species of lizards discovered on Caribbean islands are close to extinction
• Rats have best bite of rodent world
• Bacteria subverts immune response to aid infection
• New harvesting approach boosts energy output from bacteria

Ireland's Aran Islands: Old maps and dead clams help solve coastal boulder mystery Posted: 30 Apr 2012 01:43 PM PDT Perched atop the sheer coastal cliffs of Ireland's Aran Islands, ridges of giant boulders have puzzled geologists for years. What forces could have torn these rocks from the cliff edges high above sea level and deposited them far inland? While some researchers contend that only a tsunami could push these stones, new research finds that plain old ocean waves, with the help of some strong storms, did the job.

Formaldehyde exposure may affect fertility in men Posted: 30 Apr 2012 01:42 PM PDT Occupational exposure to formaldehyde in Chinese men may be linked to reduced fertility, reports a new article.

Science fair winner publishes new study on butterfly foraging behavior Posted: 30 Apr 2012 12:21 PM PDT A University of Florida lepidopterist has spent his life's work studying moths and butterflies. But it was his teenage daughter who led research on how color impacts butterflies' feeding patterns.

Why bigger animals aren't always faster Posted: 30 Apr 2012 12:21 PM PDT New research shows why bigger isn't always better when it comes to sprinting speed. "Typically, bigger animals tend to run faster than smaller animals, because they have longer legs," said the lead researcher. "But this only works up to a point. The fastest land animal is neither the biggest nor the smallest, but something in between. Think about the size of an elephant, a mouse and a cheetah."

Student-devised process would prep Chinese shale gas for sale Posted: 30 Apr 2012 12:21 PM PDT Chemical engineering students have designed an environmentally friendly process for turning shale gas extracted from China's Sichuan Basin into a range of profitable products.

Night-warming effect found over large wind farms in Texas Posted: 30 Apr 2012 12:20 PM PDT Large wind farms in certain areas in the United States appear to affect local land surface temperatures, according to a new article.

Prenatal exposure to insecticide chlorpyrifos linked to alterations in brain structure and cognition Posted: 30 Apr 2012 12:20 PM PDT Even low to moderate levels of exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos during pregnancy may lead to long-term, potentially irreversible changes in the brain structure of the child, according to a new brain imaging study. The changes in brain structure are consistent with cognitive deficits found in children exposed to this chemical.

Darwinian selection continues to influence human evolution Posted: 30 Apr 2012 12:20 PM PDT New evidence demonstrates that humans are continuing to evolve and that significant natural and sexual selection is still taking place in our species in the modern world. Despite advancements in medicine and technology, as well as an increased prevalence of monogamy, research reveals humans are continuing to evolve just like other species.

Courtship in the cricket world Posted: 30 Apr 2012 12:20 PM PDT Everyone wants to present themselves in the best light - especially when it comes to finding a partner. Some rely on supplying honest information about their attributes while others exaggerate for good effect. A new study has discovered how male crickets could use similar tactics to attract a mate.

Unknown function of transcriptional regulator of development and cancer reveaked: Jarid2 may break the polycomb silence Posted: 30 Apr 2012 12:17 PM PDT Scientists used fruit flies to reveal an unknown function of a transcriptional regulator of development and cancer.

From decade to decade: What's the status of our groundwater quality? Posted: 30 Apr 2012 11:00 AM PDT There was no change in concentrations of chloride, dissolved solids, or nitrate in groundwater for more than 50 percent of well networks sampled in a new analysis by the USGS that compared samples from 1988-2000 to samples from 2001-2010. For those networks that did have a change, seven times more networks saw increases as opposed to decreases.

Not all altruism is alike, says new study Posted: 30 Apr 2012 11:00 AM PDT Not all acts of altruism are alike, says a new study. From bees and wasps that die defending their nests, to elephants that cooperate to care for young, a new mathematical model pinpoints the environmental conditions that favor one form of altruism over another. The model predicts that creatures will help each other in different ways depending on whether key resources such as food and habitat are scarce or abundant, researchers say.

Molecular spectroscopy tracks living mammalian cells in real time as they differentiate Posted: 30 Apr 2012 08:49 AM PDT Cells regulate their functions by adding or subtracting phosphates from proteins. If scientists could study the process in detail, in individual cells over time, understanding and treating diseases would be greatly aided. Formerly this was impossible without damaging the cells or interfering with the process itself, but scientists have now achieved the goal by using bright infrared beams and a technique called Fourier transform spectromicroscopy.

Electric charge disorder: A key to biological order? Posted: 30 Apr 2012 07:53 AM PDT Researchers have shown how small random patches of disordered, frozen electric charges can make a difference when they are scattered on surfaces that are overall neutral. These charges induce a twisting force that is strong enough to be felt as far as nanometers or even micrometers away. These results could help scientists to understand phenomena that occur on surfaces such as those of large biological molecules.

Gene that plays key role in inheritance (FANCM) identified Posted: 30 Apr 2012 07:53 AM PDT Scientists have identified relevant new functions of a gene that plays a crucial role in Fanconi anemia, a life-threatening disease. The FANCM gene is known to be important for the stability of the genome. Now, the researchers found that FANCM also plays a key role in the recombination of genetic information during inheritance.

Key protein's newly discovered form and function may provide novel cancer treatment target Posted: 30 Apr 2012 07:50 AM PDT Scientists' discovery that a protein vital for cell survival and immune balance has another form with a different function could yield additional cancer treatment strategy. Investigators suggests that safeguarding cell survival and maintaining a balanced immune system is just the start of the myeloid cell leukemia sequence 1 (MCL1) protein's work. Nearly 20 years after MCL1 was discovered, scientists have identified a second form of the protein that works in a different location in cells and performs a different function.

Yellowstone 'super-eruption' less super, more frequent than thought Posted: 30 Apr 2012 07:10 AM PDT The Yellowstone "super-volcano" is a little less super -- but more active -- than previously thought. Researchers say the biggest Yellowstone eruption, which created the two-million-year-old Huckleberry Ridge deposit, was actually two different eruptions at least 6,000 years apart. Their results paint a new picture of a more active volcano than previously thought and can help recalibrate the likelihood of another big eruption in the future.

Antarctic albatross displays shift in breeding habits Posted: 30 Apr 2012 07:10 AM PDT A new study of the wandering albatross -- one of the largest birds on Earth -- has shown that some of the birds are breeding earlier in the season compared with 30 years ago.

Twenty-four new species of lizards discovered on Caribbean islands are close to extinction Posted: 30 Apr 2012 07:10 AM PDT Twenty-four new species of lizards known as skinks have been discovered on Caribbean islands, half of which already may be extinct or close to extinction. The loss of many skink species can be attributed primarily to predation by the mongoose -- a predatory mammal that was introduced by farmers. Other types of human activity, especially the removal of forests, also are to blame, according to the researchers.

Rats have best bite of rodent world Posted: 27 Apr 2012 09:02 PM PDT Scientists have found that mice and rats have evolved to gnaw with their front teeth and chew with their back teeth more successfully than rodents that 'specialize' in one or other of these biting mechanisms.

Bacteria subverts immune response to aid infection Posted: 26 Apr 2012 10:52 AM PDT Listeria, one of the most deadly causes of bacterial food poisoning, subverts a normally protective immune response to spread its infection more effectively, according to new research.

New harvesting approach boosts energy output from bacteria Posted: 25 Apr 2012 11:36 AM PDT A novel energy system increases the amount of energy harvested from microbial fuel cells by more than 70 times.

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