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Sunday, June 3, 2012

ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

ScienceDaily: Top Environment News


Where have all the hummingbirds gone?

Posted: 01 Jun 2012 08:17 PM PDT

The glacier lily as it's called, is a tall, willowy plant that graces mountain meadows throughout western North America. It flowers early in spring, when the first bumblebees and hummingbirds appear.

Northern Lights process like untangling twisted strands of spaghetti?

Posted: 01 Jun 2012 08:15 PM PDT

Scientists have reached a milestone in describing how the northern lights work by way of a process called "magnetic reconnection." The process is best imagined as untangling twisted strands of spaghetti.

A 'B12 shot' for marine algae?

Posted: 31 May 2012 01:57 PM PDT

Studying algal cultures and seawater samples from the Southern Ocean off Antarctica, marine biologists have revealed a key cog in the biochemical machinery that allows marine algae at the base of the oceanic food chain to thrive. They have discovered a previously unknown protein in algae that grabs an essential but scarce nutrient out of seawater, vitamin B12.

Structural clockwork of circadian rhythms

Posted: 31 May 2012 11:58 AM PDT

Scientists have determined the three-dimensional structure of two proteins that help keep the body's clocks in sync. The proteins, CLOCK and BMAL1, bind to each other to regulate the activity of thousands of genes whose expression fluctuates throughout the course of a day.

After-sex switch: Mapping the changing behaviors in the female fruit fly's mind

Posted: 31 May 2012 10:56 AM PDT

If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, then it shouldn't be surprising that their neural circuits differ. Researchers have used dramatic changes in the behavior of the female fruit fly after sex to help map these often very different circuits.

Highway through Amazon worsens effects of climate change, provides mixed economic gains

Posted: 31 May 2012 08:26 AM PDT

Paving a highway across South America is providing lessons on the impact of road construction elsewhere.

Blanch your weeds, study suggests

Posted: 31 May 2012 07:23 AM PDT

You don't need to spray weedkiller to remove the weeds between your paving stones. Six treatments throughout the summer with either boiling water, steam or careful flaming will dispatch even the hardiest of unwanted plants.

Grazing snails rule the waves

Posted: 31 May 2012 07:22 AM PDT

Coral reefs and seashores largely look the way they do because large fish and urchins eat most of the seaweed that might otherwise cover them, but a major new study has found that the greatest impact of all comes from an unexpected quarter -- small marine snails.

Rewriting DNA to understand what it says

Posted: 31 May 2012 07:22 AM PDT

Our ability to "read" DNA has made tremendous progress in the past few decades, but the ability to understand and alter the genetic code, that is, to "rewrite" the DNA-encoded instructions, has lagged behind. A new study advances our understanding of the genetic code: It proposes a way of effectively introducing numerous carefully planned DNA segments into genomes of living cells and of testing the effects of these changes. New technology speeds up DNA "rewriting" and measures the effects of the changes in living cells.

Effects of trees killed by bark beetles on wildfire

Posted: 30 May 2012 12:23 PM PDT

A recent report analyzing a range of published studies on the impact of bark beetles on trees in the US and Canada provides a more complete picture of the effect of this destructive insect on wildfires.

San Andreas Fault in Santa Cruz Mountains: Large earthquakes more frequent than previously thought

Posted: 30 May 2012 10:37 AM PDT

New research studies indicate that the Santa Cruz region produces large earthquakes more frequently than previously thought.

Time is ticking for some crop's wild relatives

Posted: 30 May 2012 10:35 AM PDT

New edge of extinction research is creating a revival of conservation and interest in what these old wild relatives of current crops mean to the future.

Anthropologists find American heads are getting larger

Posted: 30 May 2012 08:58 AM PDT

Forensic anthropologists examined 1,500 skulls dating back to the mid-1800s through the mid-1980s. They noticed US skulls have become larger, taller and narrower as seen from the front and faces have become significantly narrower and higher.

Is California preparing for climate change?

Posted: 29 May 2012 10:37 AM PDT

A majority of California's coastal planners and resource managers now view the threats from climate change as sufficiently likely that practical steps on the ground need to be taken to protect against growing threats, according to results from a new survey.

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