ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Life-producing phosphorus carried to Earth by meteorites
• Disincentives to energy efficiency can be fixed
• Tiny airplanes and subs could be next hurricane hunters
• Common control patterns govern swimming animals
• Behold the 9-day fresh strawberry: New approach to slowing rot doubles berry shelf life
• Roman seawater concrete holds the secret to cutting carbon emissions
• Anatomy determines how lizards attract partners and repel rivals
• White-tailed deer and the science of yellow snow
• An 'extinct' frog makes a comeback in Israel
• A new species of yellow slug moth from China
• Drug resistance may make malaria parasites vulnerable to other substances
• The fight against genome parasites
• The intensity of land use doubled in the 20th century
• Stopping the worm from turning
• Climate change may increase the risk of severe thunderstorms
• Enhancer RNAs alter gene expression: New class of molecules may be key emerging 'enhancer therapy'
• Dogs, humans affected by OCD have similar brain abnormalities
• Australian lake untouched by climate change

Life-producing phosphorus carried to Earth by meteorites Posted: 04 Jun 2013 12:35 PM PDT Scientists may not know for certain whether life exists in outer space, but research now shows that one key element that produced life on Earth was carried here on meteorites. In a new study, researchers reveal findings that explain how the reactive phosphorus that was an essential component for creating the earliest life forms came to Earth.

Disincentives to energy efficiency can be fixed Posted: 04 Jun 2013 12:35 PM PDT A new study finds that utilities aren't rewarded for adopting energy efficiency programs, and that reforms are needed to make energy efficiency as attractive as renewables.

Tiny airplanes and subs could be next hurricane hunters Posted: 04 Jun 2013 12:33 PM PDT Scientists envision a day when unmanned vehicles will swarm over, under and through hurricanes to help predict the strength and path of the storms.

Common control patterns govern swimming animals Posted: 04 Jun 2013 12:33 PM PDT What do swimmers like trout, eels and sandfish lizards have in common? According to a new study, the similar timing patterns that these animals use to contract their muscles and produce undulatory swimming motions can be explained using a simple model.

Behold the 9-day fresh strawberry: New approach to slowing rot doubles berry shelf life Posted: 04 Jun 2013 10:54 AM PDT Scientists have developed a way to double the shelf life of strawberries. Shining UV light onto the berries under conditions that mimic the inside of a home refrigerator delayed rotting to up to nine days.

Roman seawater concrete holds the secret to cutting carbon emissions Posted: 04 Jun 2013 10:54 AM PDT Scientists analyzed samples from a Roman breakwater submerged in the Bay of Naples for over two millennia, revealing the secrets of crystal chemistry that allow Roman seawater concrete to resist chemical attack and wave action for centuries. Materials and processes for manufacturing extraordinarily durable Roman maritime concrete released much less carbon than most modern concrete, presenting important opportunities for better quality and reduction of atmospheric carbon.

Anatomy determines how lizards attract partners and repel rivals Posted: 04 Jun 2013 08:40 AM PDT Catching the attention of females in a darkened rainforest amid a blur of windblown vegetation is no easy task. But male Anolis lizards on the island of Jamaica have evolved an ideal visual technique. A new study now solves the mystery of why their close relatives on the neighboring island of Puerto Rico do not adopt the same strategy.

White-tailed deer and the science of yellow snow Posted: 04 Jun 2013 08:39 AM PDT New research from wildlife ecologists indicates that white-tailed deer may be making the soil in their preferred winter homes unfit to grow the very trees that protect them there.

An 'extinct' frog makes a comeback in Israel Posted: 04 Jun 2013 08:34 AM PDT The first amphibian to have been officially declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature has been rediscovered in the north of Israel after some 60 years and turns out to be a unique "living fossil," without close relatives among other living frogs.

A new species of yellow slug moth from China Posted: 04 Jun 2013 08:34 AM PDT A new species of the slug moth genus Monema has been described from China. The name refers to the peculiar caterpillars resembling slugs in many of their characteristics. The recent study of the representatives of the Monema genus in China records four species in total and a subspecies present in the country.

Drug resistance may make malaria parasites vulnerable to other substances Posted: 04 Jun 2013 06:45 AM PDT Malaria parasites that develop resistance to the most effective class of anti-malarial drugs may become susceptible to other treatments as a result. The discovery could reveal potential new drug options, which would be essential in the event of resistance to the best anti-malarials.

The fight against genome parasites Posted: 04 Jun 2013 06:45 AM PDT In the gonads of animals, genome parasites such as transposons pose a serious threat to evolutionary fitness. With their ability to bounce around in the genome, they often cause dangerous mutations. To protect genomic integrity, animals evolved a sophisticated mechanism – the so called piRNA pathway – to silence the deleterious transposons. Not much is known about the molecular processes and the involved factors that constitute the piRNA pathway. Researchers have now identified about 50 genes, that play important roles in the piRNA pathway of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster.

The intensity of land use doubled in the 20th century Posted: 04 Jun 2013 06:45 AM PDT The growth of green plants – which can be measured in terms of "net primary production", or NPP for short – provides the energetic foundation for all life on Earth. The share of NPP appropriated by humans (HANPP) through agriculture and forestry, bioenergy production, and vegetation fires doubled over the course of the past century. Researchers have shown that while land is used more efficiently, simultaneously, the intensity of land use has increased continuously. Researchers warn that an increased expansion of bioenergy use would drastically raise HANPP to over 40%.

Stopping the worm from turning Posted: 04 Jun 2013 06:45 AM PDT Almost one in six people worldwide are infected by parasitic worms, while parasitic infections of livestock cause economic losses of billions of Euro per year. Resistance to the few drugs available to treat infections is increasing and there is an urgent need to identify additional strategies to control parasitic diseases. A new study describes a rational approach to identifying proteins that might be involved in the larval development of a particular worm that infects pigs.

Climate change may increase the risk of severe thunderstorms Posted: 04 Jun 2013 06:45 AM PDT Analysis has suggested that changes in the atmosphere will lead to more frequent conditions favorable for severe thunderstorms. According to recent studies there will be more damaging winds related to thunderstorms. The number of tornadoes and large hail is expected to remain at the same level as today.

Enhancer RNAs alter gene expression: New class of molecules may be key emerging 'enhancer therapy' Posted: 04 Jun 2013 06:38 AM PDT In a pair of distinct but complementary papers, researchers illuminate the functional importance of a relatively new class of RNA molecules. The work suggests modulation of "enhancer-directed RNAs" or "eRNAs" could provide a new way to alter gene expression in living cells, perhaps affecting the development or pathology of many diseases.

Dogs, humans affected by OCD have similar brain abnormalities Posted: 04 Jun 2013 06:38 AM PDT Another piece of the puzzle to better understand and treat obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) has fallen into place with the publication of new research that shows that the structural brain abnormalities of Doberman pinschers afflicted with canine compulsive disorder (CCD) are similar to those of humans with OCD. The research suggests that further study of anxiety disorders in dogs may help find new therapies for OCD and similar conditions in humans.

Australian lake untouched by climate change Posted: 04 Jun 2013 06:38 AM PDT Researchers have found that a lake on an island off the coast of Queensland, Australia, has been relatively untouched by changes in climate for the past 7000 years, and has so far also resisted the impact of humans.

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