ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Bonobos will share with strangers before acquaintances
• Treating stable flies in pastures
• Laws of geo-engineering to mitigate global warming?
• How some medieval cultures adapted to rise of Islam
• Toward reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the Internet and telecommunications
• Use for old Christmas trees? Douglas fir needles may sterilize nano devices for medical applications
• Terrace farming unearthed at ancient desert city of Petra
• Egg-laying mammal: Scientists discover that for Australia the long-beaked echidna may not be a thing of the past
• Political action the biggest swing factor in meeting climate targets
• A new fish species from Lake Victoria named in honor of the author of Darwin's Dreampond
• New insights into how plants grow in response to light, water and gravity
• Natural relationship between carbon dioxide concentrations and sea level documented
• Tool to evaluate genome sequencing method developed
• Dance of water molecules turns fire-colored beetles into antifreeze artists

Bonobos will share with strangers before acquaintances Posted: 02 Jan 2013 02:33 PM PST Bonobos, those notoriously frisky, ardently social great apes of the Congo, value social networking so much, they share food with a stranger before an acquaintance.

Treating stable flies in pastures Posted: 02 Jan 2013 11:05 AM PST Scientists are developing strategies to help livestock producers control stable flies, the most damaging arthropod pests of cattle in the United States.

Laws of geo-engineering to mitigate global warming? Posted: 02 Jan 2013 11:05 AM PST A law professor believes the legal ramifications of geo-engineering need to be thought through now and a global governance structure put in place soon to oversee these efforts to fight climate change.

How some medieval cultures adapted to rise of Islam Posted: 02 Jan 2013 11:04 AM PST New history research examines how border areas and frontiers of the past adapted to major political, cultural and social shifts, specifically in terms of the rise of Islam in Asia and the Middle East.

Toward reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the Internet and telecommunications Posted: 02 Jan 2013 11:04 AM PST Amid growing concern over the surprisingly large amount of greenhouse gas produced by the Internet and other telecommunications activities, researchers are reporting new models of emissions and energy consumption that could help reduce their carbon footprint.

Use for old Christmas trees? Douglas fir needles may sterilize nano devices for medical applications Posted: 02 Jan 2013 11:04 AM PST As twelfth night approaches and the Christmas decorations start to look old, as the last crumbs of cake are swept away and the remnants of the turkey have finally been consumed, there is the perennial question as to what to do with the tree. New suggests that the needles of the plant Pseudotsuga menziesii, commonly known as the Douglas fir could be used indirectly to sterilize nano devices destined for medical applications.

Terrace farming unearthed at ancient desert city of Petra Posted: 02 Jan 2013 11:04 AM PST New archaeological research dates the heyday of terrace farming at the ancient desert city of Petra to the first century. This development led to an explosion of agricultural activity, increasing the city's strategic significance as a military prize for the Roman Empire.

Egg-laying mammal: Scientists discover that for Australia the long-beaked echidna may not be a thing of the past Posted: 02 Jan 2013 11:04 AM PST The western long-beaked echidna, one of the world's five egg-laying species of mammal, became extinct in Australia thousands of years ago... or did it? Scientists have found evidence suggesting that not only did these animals survive in Australia far longer than previously thought, but that they may very well still exist in parts of the country today.

Political action the biggest swing factor in meeting climate targets Posted: 02 Jan 2013 11:03 AM PST The most important factor affecting the likelihood of limiting climate change to internationally agreed targets is when people start to do something about it, according new research.

A new fish species from Lake Victoria named in honor of the author of Darwin's Dreampond Posted: 02 Jan 2013 08:16 AM PST A newly described cichlid species from Lake Victoria is named in honor of Tijs Goldschmidt, author of the book Darwin's Dreampond. The species was discovered by him and colleagues in 1985. It is described together with a closely related species that had disappeared for many years, but is now occasionally caught again. Success of recovery may depend on the possibility to adapt to the new conditions in the lake.

New insights into how plants grow in response to light, water and gravity Posted: 02 Jan 2013 07:54 AM PST Elementary school students often learn that plants grow toward the light. This seems straightforward, but in reality, the genes and pathways that allow plants to grow and move in response to their environment are not fully understood. Leading plant scientists now explore one of the most fundamental processes in plant biology -- plant movement in response to light, water, and gravity.

Natural relationship between carbon dioxide concentrations and sea level documented Posted: 02 Jan 2013 07:49 AM PST By comparing reconstructions of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and sea level over the past 40 million years, researchers have found that greenhouse gas concentrations similar to the present (almost 400 parts per million) were systematically associated with sea levels at least nine meters above current levels.

Tool to evaluate genome sequencing method developed Posted: 02 Jan 2013 07:45 AM PST Advances in bio-technologies and computer software have helped make genome sequencing much more common than in the past. But still in question are both the accuracy of different sequencing methods and the best ways to evaluate these efforts. Now, computer scientists have devised a tool to better measure the validity of genome sequencing.

Dance of water molecules turns fire-colored beetles into antifreeze artists Posted: 02 Jan 2013 05:35 AM PST Certain plants and animals protect themselves against temperatures below freezing with antifreeze proteins. How the larva of the beetle Dendroides canadensis manages to withstand temperatures down to minus 30 degrees Celsius is reported by an international team of researchers. Researcher have shown that interactions between the antifreeze proteins and water molecules contribute significantly to protection against the cold.

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