ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• African cichlid's noisy courtship ritual
• New drug-screening method yields long-sought anti-HIV compounds: Drug candidates act on target unlikely to mutate
• Anxious mice make lousy dads
• Bacterium signals plant to open up and let friends in: Bug's chemical feint makes plant respond the opposite of how it should
• Good news on using recycled sewage treatment plant water for irrigating crops
• Northeast Passage soon free from ice again?
• Bonobo genome completed: The final great ape to be sequenced
• Where humans split from sharks: Common ancestor comes into focus
• Green fuel from carbon dioxide
• Inner ear may hold key to ancient primate behavior
• Big uncertainties in the global water budget
• Global climate change: Underestimated impact of sea-level rise on habitat loss?
• New species of crab has been found hiding in the seabed of Galicia (Spain)
• If your dog is aggressive, maybe it is in pain
• Divide the Antarctic to protect native species, propose experts
• Ancient story of Dartmoor tors has an ice-cold twist
• Unusual microbes could hitch a ride with travelers, findings suggest
• GPS technology improves weather forecasting

African cichlid's noisy courtship ritual Posted: 13 Jun 2012 12:33 PM PDT Researchers have found that male African cichlids vocalize during courtship, and that females' sensitivity to these sounds increases when they are ready to mate.

New drug-screening method yields long-sought anti-HIV compounds: Drug candidates act on target unlikely to mutate Posted: 13 Jun 2012 12:33 PM PDT Scientists have used a powerful new chemical-screening method to find compounds that inhibit the activity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.

Anxious mice make lousy dads Posted: 13 Jun 2012 11:53 AM PDT Normally, male California mice are surprisingly doting fathers, but new research suggests that high anxiety can turn these good dads bad.

Bacterium signals plant to open up and let friends in: Bug's chemical feint makes plant respond the opposite of how it should Posted: 13 Jun 2012 10:33 AM PDT Researchers have identified the set of tools an infectious microbe uses to persuade a plant to open the windows and let the bug and all of its friends inside.

Good news on using recycled sewage treatment plant water for irrigating crops Posted: 13 Jun 2012 10:32 AM PDT A new study eases concerns that irrigating crops with water released from sewage treatment plants -- an increasingly common practice in arid areas of the world -- fosters emergence of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria that cause thousands of serious infections each year.

Northeast Passage soon free from ice again? Posted: 13 Jun 2012 10:31 AM PDT The Northeast Passage, the sea route along the North coast of Russia, is expected to be free of ice early again this summer. The forecast was made by sea ice physicists based on a series of measurement flights over the Laptev Sea, a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean.

Bonobo genome completed: The final great ape to be sequenced Posted: 13 Jun 2012 10:31 AM PDT Scientists have completed the genome of the bonobo -- the final great ape to be sequenced. Bonobos, which together with chimpanzees are the closest living relatives of humans, are known for their peaceful, playful and sexual behavior that contrasts with the more aggressive behavior of chimpanzees.

Where humans split from sharks: Common ancestor comes into focus Posted: 13 Jun 2012 10:30 AM PDT The common ancestor of all jawed vertebrates on Earth resembled a shark, according to a new analysis of the braincase of a 290-million-year-old fossil fish that has long puzzled paleontologists. Research on Acanthodes bronni, a Paleozoic fish, sheds light on the evolution of the earliest jawed vertebrates and offers a glimpse of the last common ancestor before the split between the earliest sharks and the first bony fishes -- the lineage that would eventually include human beings.

Green fuel from carbon dioxide Posted: 13 Jun 2012 10:29 AM PDT Scientists agree that carbon dioxide has an effect on global warming as a greenhouse gas, but we still pump tons and tons of it into the atmosphere every day. Scientists have now developed a new system for producing methanol that uses CO2 and hydrogen. Methanol can, for example, be used as an environmentally friendly alternative for gasoline. The goal of the scientists is to harness the power of CO2 on a large scale and integrate it into the utilization cycle as a sustainable form of energy production.

Inner ear may hold key to ancient primate behavior Posted: 13 Jun 2012 07:24 AM PDT CT scans of fossilized primate skulls or skull fragments from both the Old and New Worlds may shed light on how these extinct animals moved, especially for those species without any known remains.

Big uncertainties in the global water budget Posted: 13 Jun 2012 07:22 AM PDT No life without water. Catastrophes like droughts or strong rains reflect our dependence on the water cycle and climate system. Hence, it is important to understand details of the water cycle among the atmosphere, oceans, and land. A new study outlines significant differences of global models and measurement data sets. As the network of measurement stations worldwide is shrinking dramatically, uncertainties are increased.

Global climate change: Underestimated impact of sea-level rise on habitat loss? Posted: 13 Jun 2012 07:22 AM PDT Global climate change is expected to cause sea-level rise of approximately 1-2 meters within this century. Researchers have found that in more populated regions secondary effects can lead to an equal or even higher loss of habitat than primary displacement effects.

New species of crab has been found hiding in the seabed of Galicia (Spain) Posted: 13 Jun 2012 07:21 AM PDT Despite Europe's marine fauna being the best documented on Earth, there are still some new species to be discovered. This is the case of Uroptychus cartesi, a crab between 5 cm and 7 cm in size found at more than 1400 deep in the underwater mountains facing the Galician coast (Spain). Its closest relative can be found in the Caribbean Sea.

If your dog is aggressive, maybe it is in pain Posted: 13 Jun 2012 07:21 AM PDT Dogs can sometimes suffer sudden episodes of aggression without their owners understanding why. But, in many cases, the cause of these attacks can be pain that has never been diagnosed or treated. For the first time the study describes the characteristics of this irritability, which can make dogs violent and increase aggression in already conflictive individuals. There are many factors that explain aggression in dogs: the conditions of the mother during gestation, the handling of the puppy in the neonatal phase, the age at weaning, the experiences of the animal during the socializing phase, diet, exercise, genetics and learning techniques based on active punishment during adulthood. However, aggressive behavior also arises from the presence of pathologies and pain in the dog.

Divide the Antarctic to protect native species, propose experts Posted: 13 Jun 2012 07:21 AM PDT Scientists have published the first continent-wide assessment of the Antarctic's biogeography, and propose that the landmass should be divided into 15 distinct conservation regions to protect the continent from invasive alien species.

Ancient story of Dartmoor tors has an ice-cold twist Posted: 13 Jun 2012 06:11 AM PDT Ice extended further across the UK than previously thought and played a part in sculpting the rocky landscape of Dartmoor in South West England during the last Ice Age, according to new research which challenges previously held theories.

Unusual microbes could hitch a ride with travelers, findings suggest Posted: 13 Jun 2012 04:31 AM PDT A rare and unusual new species of yeast has been identified at three separate locations across the world. The findings suggest a link between the distribution of specialized microbes and human migrations. The novel strain of yeast has been named Saccharomycopsis fodiens and was isolated from flower-associated beetles in three geographically distant locations in Eastern Australia, Costa Rica and the Galapagos islands.

GPS technology improves weather forecasting Posted: 13 Jun 2012 04:31 AM PDT The satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) technology that guides modern in-car navigation systems is now being used to improve weather forecasts.

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