ScienceDaily: Top Environment News |
- The wasp that never cries wolf
- Massachusetts butterflies move north as climate warms
- 'DNA wires' could help physicians diagnose disease
- Improving water quality can help save coral reefs
- Artificial intelligence allows automated worm sorting
| The wasp that never cries wolf Posted: 19 Aug 2012 06:12 PM PDT European paper wasps (Polistes dominula) advertise the size of their poison glands to potential predators. The brighter the color, the larger the poison gland. Aposematism is used by many different animals to warn potential predators that they are poisonous. Usually this takes the form of distinctive coloration or patterns which predators quickly learn to avoid. |
| Massachusetts butterflies move north as climate warms Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:37 PM PDT A new study shows that, over the past 19 years, a warming climate has been reshaping Massachusetts butterfly communities. Subtropical and warm-climate species -- many of which were rare or absent in Massachusetts as recently as the late 1980s -- show sharp increases in abundance. At the same time, more than three quarters of northerly species -- species with a range centered north of Boston -- are now declining in Massachusetts, many of them rapidly. |
| 'DNA wires' could help physicians diagnose disease Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:37 PM PDT Scientists have found that Mother Nature uses DNA as a wire to detect the constantly occurring genetic damage and mistakes that can result in diseases like cancer. DNA wires are potentially useful in identifying people at risk for certain diseases. |
| Improving water quality can help save coral reefs Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:36 PM PDT Researcher have found that an imbalance of nutrients in reef waters can increase the bleaching susceptibility of reef corals. Corals are made up of many polyps that jointly form a layer of living tissue covering the calcareous skeletons. They depend on single-celled algae called zooxanthellae, which live within the coral polyps. The coral animal and the associated zooxanthellae depend on each other for survival in a symbiotic relationship, where the coral supplies the algae with nutrients and a place to live. In turn, the algae offer the coral some products of their photosynthesis, providing them with an important energy source. High water temperatures can block photosynthetic reactions in the algal cells causing a build-up of toxic oxygen compounds, which threaten the coral and can result in a loss of the zooxanthellae. |
| Artificial intelligence allows automated worm sorting Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:34 PM PDT Scientists have demonstrated an automated system that uses artificial intelligence and cutting-edge image processing to rapidly examine large numbers of individual nematodes -- a species widely used in biological research. |
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