ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Why wolves are forever wild, but dogs can be tamed
• Luminescent mice used to track cancer and aging in real-time
• Global approach to monitoring biodiversity loss?
• Molecular twist helps regulate the cellular message to make histone proteins
• Global plant diversity still hinges on local battles against invasives, study suggests
• Climate events drive High-Arctic vertebrate community into synchrony: Extreme weather potent force for Arctic overwintering populations
• Scientists shed light on the 'dark matter' of DNA
• New key to organism complexity identified
• Dietary shifts driving up phosphorus use
• Trading wetlands no longer a 'deal with the devil'
• Quail really know their camouflage
• Neurobiological consequence of predating or grazing in two worm species
• How cells know when it's time to eat themselves
• New research throws doubt on earlier 'killer walrus' claims
• Photovoltaics beat biofuels at converting sun's energy to miles driven
• Great Oxidation Event: More oxygen through multicellularity

Why wolves are forever wild, but dogs can be tamed Posted: 17 Jan 2013 12:20 PM PST An evolutionary biologist suggests the different behaviors are related to the animals' earliest sensory experiences and the critical period of socialization.

Luminescent mice used to track cancer and aging in real-time Posted: 17 Jan 2013 12:19 PM PST Researchers have developed a new method to visualize aging and tumor growth in mice using a gene closely linked to these processes.

Global approach to monitoring biodiversity loss? Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST In contrast to climate change, there is no coordinated global system in place for measuring and reporting on biodiversity change or loss. An international team of biologists is now addressing this gap.

Molecular twist helps regulate the cellular message to make histone proteins Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST Scientists have shown for the first time how two key proteins in messenger RNA communicate via a molecular twist to help maintain the balance of histones to DNA.

Global plant diversity still hinges on local battles against invasives, study suggests Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST Scientists have long suspected that studies of the impact of invasive species on biodiversity sometimes come to different conclusions because the impact depends on the size of the study site. Their field work confirms that the impact of invasive species is different at small scales than at large ones.

Climate events drive High-Arctic vertebrate community into synchrony: Extreme weather potent force for Arctic overwintering populations Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:24 AM PST Climate change is known to affect the population dynamics of single species, such as reindeer or caribou, but the effect of climate at the community level has been much more difficult to document. Now, a group of Norwegian scientists has found that extreme climate events cause synchronized population fluctuations among all vertebrate species in a relatively simple high arctic community.

Scientists shed light on the 'dark matter' of DNA Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:24 AM PST In each cell, thousands of regulatory regions control which genes are active at any time. Scientists have now developed a method that reliably detects these regions and measures their activity.

New key to organism complexity identified Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST Researchers have discovered that the transcription factor protein TFIID coexists in two distinct structural states, a key to genetic expression and TFIID's ability to initiate the process by which DNA is copied into RNA.

Dietary shifts driving up phosphorus use Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST Dietary changes since the early 1960s have fueled a sharp increase in the amount of mined phosphorus used to produce the food consumed by the average person over the course of a year, according to a new study. Between 1961 and 2007, rising meat consumption and total calorie intake underpinned a 38 percent increase in the world's per capita "phosphorus footprint."

Trading wetlands no longer a 'deal with the devil' Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST If Faust had been in the business of trading wetlands rather than selling his soul, the devil might be portrayed by the current guidelines for wetland restoration. Research recommends a new framework that could make Faustian bargains over wetland restoration sites result in more environmentally positive outcomes.

Quail really know their camouflage Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:31 AM PST When it comes to camouflage, ground-nesting Japanese quail are experts. That's based on new evidence that mother quail "know" the patterning of their own eggs and choose laying spots to hide them best.

Neurobiological consequence of predating or grazing in two worm species Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:30 AM PST Researchers have for the first time been able to identify neuronal correlates of behavior by comparing maps of synaptic connectivity, or "connectomes," between two species with different behavior. They compared the pharyngeal nervous systems of two nematodes, the bacterial feeding Caenorhabditis elegans and the predator/omnivore Pristionchus pacificus and found large differences in how the neurons are "wired" together.

How cells know when it's time to eat themselves Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:29 AM PST Researchers have identified a molecular mechanism regulating autophagy, a fundamental stress response used by cells to help ensure their survival in adverse conditions.

New research throws doubt on earlier 'killer walrus' claims Posted: 17 Jan 2013 07:59 AM PST Palaeontologists who examined a new fossil found in southern California have thrown doubt on earlier claims that a "killer walrus" once existed.

Photovoltaics beat biofuels at converting sun's energy to miles driven Posted: 17 Jan 2013 07:59 AM PST In 2005, President George W. Bush and American corn farmers saw corn ethanol as a promising fossil fuel substitute that would reduce both American dependence on foreign oil and greenhouse gas emissions. Accordingly, the 2005 energy bill mandated that 4 billion gallons of renewable fuel be added to the gasoline supply in 2006. That rose to 4.7 billion gallons in 2007 and 7.5 billion in 2012. Now a new study shows solar power is not only better in terms of energy efficiency, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions -- but it is cost competitive, too.

Great Oxidation Event: More oxygen through multicellularity Posted: 17 Jan 2013 05:48 AM PST The appearance of free oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere led to the Great Oxidation Event. This was triggered by cyanobacteria producing the oxygen which developed into multicellular forms as early as 2.3 billion years ago. As evolutionary biologists have shown, this multicellularity was linked to the rise in oxygen and thus played a significant role for life on Earth as it is today.

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