ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Increasing predator-friendly land can help farmers reduce costs
• Scientists find differences in naked mole rat's protein disposers
• First satellite tag study for manta rays reveals habits and hidden journeys of ocean giants
• Population pressure impacts world wetlands
• Successful stem cell differentiation requires DNA compaction, study finds
• Barley takes a leaf out of reindeer's book in the land of the midnight sun
• Living longer: Variability in infection-fighting genes can be a boon for male survival
• Newly discovered bacterium forms intracellular minerals
• Absence of elephants and rhinoceroses reduces biodiversity in tropical forests
• An incisive design solution: The spider's venomous fang
• Water usage far exceed sustainability level in the desert southwest, US
• Greater insight into earthquake cycles
• Scientists identify protein that stimulates brown fat to burn calories
• Potential instability in West Antarctic Ice Sheet from newly discovered basin size of New Jersey
• Out of the cell: Energy supply for protein secretion discovered
• Kiwifruit canker pathogen likely came from China

Increasing predator-friendly land can help farmers reduce costs Posted: 11 May 2012 02:50 PM PDT Having natural habitat in farming areas that supports ladybugs could help increase their abundance in crops where they control pests and help farmers reduce their costs, says a new study.

Scientists find differences in naked mole rat's protein disposers Posted: 11 May 2012 02:50 PM PDT The naked mole rat's unusually long and healthy life span may be explained by cellular machinery that disposes of damaged proteins. Scientists found that this machinery differs in composition from that of other rodents.

First satellite tag study for manta rays reveals habits and hidden journeys of ocean giants Posted: 11 May 2012 09:22 AM PDT Using the latest satellite tracking technology, conservationists have completed a ground-breaking study on a mysterious ocean giant: The manta ray.

Population pressure impacts world wetlands Posted: 11 May 2012 09:21 AM PDT The area of the globe covered by wetlands (swamps, marshes, lakes, etc.) has dropped by 6% in fifteen years. This decline is particularly severe in tropical and subtropical regions, and in areas that have experienced the largest increases in population in recent decades.

Successful stem cell differentiation requires DNA compaction, study finds Posted: 11 May 2012 07:42 AM PDT New research findings show that embryonic stem cells unable to fully compact the DNA inside them cannot complete their primary task: Differentiation into specific cell types that give rise to the various types of tissues and structures in the body.

Barley takes a leaf out of reindeer's book in the land of the midnight sun Posted: 11 May 2012 07:41 AM PDT Barley grown in Scandinavian countries has adapted like reindeer have to cope with extremes of day length at high latitudes. A genetic mutation in Scandinavian barley varieties disrupts the circadian clock. Just as reindeer have dropped the clock in adapting to extremely long days, so has Scandinavian barley to grow successfully in the short growing season. This new knowledge may be useful in efforts to adapt crops for regions where the growing season is short.

Living longer: Variability in infection-fighting genes can be a boon for male survival Posted: 11 May 2012 07:41 AM PDT Scientists have found that male Alpine chamois heterozygous at a particular immune gene locus (i.e. who possess two different forms of that gene) survive significantly longer than homozygous individuals (i.e. those with two identical copies of the gene) but they found no such effect for female chamois.

Newly discovered bacterium forms intracellular minerals Posted: 11 May 2012 07:13 AM PDT A new species of photosynthetic bacterium has come to light: it is able to control the formation of minerals (calcium, magnesium, barium and strontium carbonates) within its own organism. This is a new type of biomineralization, whose mechanism is still unknown. This finding has important implications for the interpretation of the ancient fossil record.

Absence of elephants and rhinoceroses reduces biodiversity in tropical forests Posted: 11 May 2012 07:13 AM PDT The progressive disappearance of seed-dispersing animals like elephants and rhinoceroses puts the structural integrity and biodiversity of the tropical forest of South-East Asia at risk. Experts have confirmed that not even herbivores like tapirs can replace them. Megaherbivores act as the 'gardeners' of humid tropical forests: They are vital to forest regeneration and maintain its structure and biodiversity, researchers say.

An incisive design solution: The spider's venomous fang Posted: 11 May 2012 07:12 AM PDT Among the factors that make spiders successful predators is the ingeniously composed and structured material of their fangs.

Water usage far exceed sustainability level in the desert southwest, US Posted: 10 May 2012 07:44 PM PDT The American West has a 'drinking problem'. On farms and in cities, we are guzzling water at an alarming rate. Scientists say that to live sustainably, we should use no more than 40 percent of the water from the Colorado River Basin. As it is now, we use 76 percent.

Greater insight into earthquake cycles Posted: 10 May 2012 11:20 AM PDT For those who study earthquakes, one major challenge has been trying to understand all the physics of a fault -- both during an earthquake and at times of "rest" -- in order to know more about how a particular region may behave in the future. Now, researchers have developed the first computer model of an earthquake-producing fault segment that reproduces the available observations of both the fault's seismic and aseismic behavior.

Scientists identify protein that stimulates brown fat to burn calories Posted: 10 May 2012 09:28 AM PDT Scientists have identified a protein which regulates the activation of brown fat in both the brain and the body's tissues.

Potential instability in West Antarctic Ice Sheet from newly discovered basin size of New Jersey Posted: 10 May 2012 07:05 AM PDT Scientists have uncovered a previously unknown sub-glacial basin nearly the size of New Jersey beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet near the Weddell Sea. The location, shape and texture of the mile-deep basin suggest that this region of the ice sheet is at a much greater risk of collapse than previously thought.

Out of the cell: Energy supply for protein secretion discovered Posted: 10 May 2012 06:59 AM PDT In order to interact with the environment, bacteria secrete a whole arsenal of proteins. Researchers have now found how one of the transportation systems used for this purpose -- the type VI secretion system -- works for the single-celled organism.

Kiwifruit canker pathogen likely came from China Posted: 09 May 2012 03:00 PM PDT Researchers have tracked down the source of a "kiwifruit canker" that has wreaked havoc on the worldwide kiwifruit industry. Using the latest DNA sequencing technology, the team determined that the Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae pathogen likely came from China.

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