ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• New statistical models could lead to better predictions of ocean patterns
• Bees capable of learning feats with tasty prize in sight
• 'Breaking bad': Insect pests in the making
• Amazon inhales more carbon than it emits, NASA finds
• Reintroduction experiments give new hope for plant on brink of extinction
• Climatologists offer explanation for widening of Earth's tropical belt
• Sea anemone is genetically half animal, half plant
• Nineteen new speedy praying mantis species discovered that hide and play dead to avoid capture
• Study of complete RNA collection of fruit fly uncovers unprecedented complexity
• Geographers create 'easy button' to calculate river flows from space
• Archaeologists discover earliest complete example of a human with cancer, from 3,000 years ago
• Follow the ant trail for drug design: Ant behavior inspires software design
• Scent of the familiar: You may linger like perfume in your dog's brain
• Some truth to the 'potent pot myth'
• Researchers take on fighting disastrous consequences of extreme changes in climate before they occur
• The frozen truth about glaciers, climate change and our future
• Sepsis study comparing three treatment methods shows same survival rate
• Avoiding environmental hazards: Lessons from a tiny worm
• Why chromosome errors are high in women's eggs
• Biodiesel from alligator fat reduces waste
• Novel mechanism for fast regulation of gene expression
• Rats' brains may 'remember' odor experienced while under general anesthesia, study suggests

New statistical models could lead to better predictions of ocean patterns Posted: 18 Mar 2014 12:49 PM PDT The world's oceans cover more than 72 percent of the earth's surface, impact a major part of the carbon cycle, and contribute to variability in global climate and weather patterns. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri applied complex statistical models to increase the accuracy of ocean forecasting that influences the ways in which forecasters predict long-range events such as El NiDo and the lower levels of the ocean food chain.

Bees capable of learning feats with tasty prize in sight Posted: 18 Mar 2014 11:25 AM PDT Bumblebees are capable of some remarkable learning feats, especially when they might get a tasty reward, according to two studies. In the first study, the researchers found bees capable of learning to solve increasingly complex problems, an example of scaffold learning. In a second study, the researchers found bees learned by watching and communicating with other bees, a process called social learning.

'Breaking bad': Insect pests in the making Posted: 18 Mar 2014 11:08 AM PDT Of thousands of known species of Drosophila fruit flies, just one is a known crop pest, depositing eggs inside ripening fruit so its maggots can feed and grow. New research shows the similarities and crucial differences between this pest and its close relatives -- and that one related fly has potential to also become a pest.

Amazon inhales more carbon than it emits, NASA finds Posted: 18 Mar 2014 10:08 AM PDT A new NASA-led study seven years in the making has confirmed that natural forests in the Amazon remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than they emit, therefore reducing global warming. This finding resolves a long-standing debate about a key component of the overall carbon balance of the Amazon basin.

Reintroduction experiments give new hope for plant on brink of extinction Posted: 18 Mar 2014 08:39 AM PDT A critically endangered plant known as marsh sandwort is inching back from the brink of extinction thanks to the efforts of a plant ecologist. Although it used to occur all along the west coast, from San Diego to Washington state, this wetland plant with delicate white flowers had dwindled to one population in a boggy wetland in San Luis Obispo County.

Climatologists offer explanation for widening of Earth's tropical belt Posted: 18 Mar 2014 08:38 AM PDT Climatologists posit that the recent widening of the tropical belt is primarily caused by multi-decadal sea surface temperature variability in the Pacific Ocean. This variability includes the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (a long-lived El Niño-like pattern of Pacific climate variability) and anthropogenic pollutants, which act to modify the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Until now there was no clear explanation for what is driving the widening.

Sea anemone is genetically half animal, half plant Posted: 18 Mar 2014 08:38 AM PDT Evolutionary and developmental biologists have discovered that sea anemones display a genomic landscape with a complexity of regulatory elements similar to that of fruit flies or other animal model systems. This suggests that this principle of gene regulation is already 600 million years old and dates back to the common ancestor of human, fly and sea anemone.

Nineteen new speedy praying mantis species discovered that hide and play dead to avoid capture Posted: 18 Mar 2014 08:37 AM PDT A scientist has discovered 19 new species of praying mantis from Central and South America. The new species of bark mantises were discovered in tropical forests and also found among existing museum collections. As highly visual predators, the bark mantis species appear to be active hunters that pursue prey as opposed to ambush hunters that wait for prey to come close.

Study of complete RNA collection of fruit fly uncovers unprecedented complexity Posted: 18 Mar 2014 08:36 AM PDT New research has revealed the transcriptome of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster in unprecedented detail, identifying thousands of new genes, transcripts and proteins. The study shows that the Drosophila genome is far more complex than previously suspected and suggests that the same will be true of the genomes of other higher organisms.

Geographers create 'easy button' to calculate river flows from space Posted: 18 Mar 2014 08:22 AM PDT The frustrated attempts of a graduate student to quantify the amount of water draining from Greenland's melting ice sheet led him to discover a new way to measure river flows from outer space. The new approach relies exclusively on measurements of a river's width over time, which can be obtained from freely available satellite imagery.

Archaeologists discover earliest complete example of a human with cancer, from 3,000 years ago Posted: 18 Mar 2014 08:22 AM PDT Archaeologists have found the oldest complete example in the world of a human with metastatic cancer in a 3,000 year-old skeleton. The skeleton of the young adult male was found in a tomb in modern Sudan in 2013 and dates back to 1200BC. Analysis has revealed evidence of metastatic carcinoma, cancer which has spread to other parts of the body from where it started, from a malignant soft-tissue tumour spread across large areas of the body, making it the oldest convincing complete example of metastatic cancer in the archaeological record.

Follow the ant trail for drug design: Ant behavior inspires software design Posted: 18 Mar 2014 08:20 AM PDT New drugs often fail because they cause undesirable side effects. Researchers have now developed simulation software that predicts the properties of active agents and virtually builds new ones. The software's search process is modeled after the behavior of ants. In order to allow the software to search for new composite agents, the research team uses an ant algorithm. Like an ant colony on the search for food, the algorithm screens through the molecular building blocks for components with the desired properties. Depending on the strength of the desirable and undesirable effects of the virtual products, the building blocks receive a 'grade'. In the ant world, this would equate to marking the trail to food with pheromones.

Scent of the familiar: You may linger like perfume in your dog's brain Posted: 18 Mar 2014 08:20 AM PDT An area of the canine brain associated with reward responds more strongly to the scents of familiar humans than it does to the scents of other humans, or even to those of familiar dogs. This is among the first brain-imaging studies of dogs responding to biological odors. When humans smell the perfume or cologne of someone they love, they may have an immediate, emotional reaction that's not necessarily cognitive.

Some truth to the 'potent pot myth' Posted: 18 Mar 2014 06:39 AM PDT People who smoke high-potency cannabis end up getting higher doses of the active ingredient, new research from the Netherlands shows. Although they reduce the amount they puff and inhale to compensate for the higher strength, they still take in more of the active ingredient than smokers of lower potency cannabis.

Researchers take on fighting disastrous consequences of extreme changes in climate before they occur Posted: 18 Mar 2014 06:37 AM PDT How can communities dodge future disasters from Mother Nature before she has dealt the blow? Researchers are taking a unique approach to the issue and gaining input and support from community stakeholders.

The frozen truth about glaciers, climate change and our future Posted: 18 Mar 2014 06:37 AM PDT Researchers use years of Tibet and Himalayas analysis to better predict glacial response to global climate change.

Sepsis study comparing three treatment methods shows same survival rate Posted: 18 Mar 2014 06:37 AM PDT A five-year, randomized clinical trial at 31 academic hospitals showed that survival of patients with septic shock was the same regardless of whether they received treatment based on specific protocols or the usual high-level of care. Sepsis affects more than 800,000 Americans annually, is the ninth leading cause of disease-related deaths and is the most expensive condition treated in US hospitals, costing more than $20 billion per year.

Avoiding environmental hazards: Lessons from a tiny worm Posted: 18 Mar 2014 06:32 AM PDT In order to survive, animals must be able to sense what is happening in the environment. Some animals have excellent sight, others a great sense of smell or taste. The senses are used to find food, mates, to avoid toxins and predators. The small worm C. elegans has a set of sensory neurons that detect various conditions in its environment, almost like a sense of smell. It is an ideal organism for studying how animals interact with their environment because its sensing systems and reactions are simple and can be understood at a genetic level.

Why chromosome errors are high in women's eggs Posted: 18 Mar 2014 06:32 AM PDT It is estimated that up to 60 per cent of eggs are affected by errors in how their chromosomes divide, making it the leading cause of infertility. Chromosome errors also lead to conditions such as Down Syndrome and early pregnancy loss. By using state-of-the-art imaging techniques, the researchers examined the most important process present in all cells to prevent chromosome errors – the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint (SAC) – and looked at how it behaves in oocytes (developing female sex cells).

Biodiesel from alligator fat reduces waste Posted: 18 Mar 2014 06:30 AM PDT Animal fat from chicken, pork, beef and even alligators could give an economical, ecofriendly boost to the biofuel industry, according to researchers who reported a new method for biofuel production. The report follows up on their earlier study on the potential use of gator fat as a source of biodiesel fuel.

Novel mechanism for fast regulation of gene expression Posted: 18 Mar 2014 06:30 AM PDT Some mRNAs have a side job unrelated to making the protein they encode, researchers have discovered. They act as regulatory molecules as well, preventing other genes from making protein by marking their mRNA molecules for destruction. "Our findings show that mRNAS, which are typically thought to act solely as the template for protein translation, can also serve as regulatory RNAs, independent of their protein-coding capacity," the lead researcher said. "They're not just messengers but also actors in their own right."

Rats' brains may 'remember' odor experienced while under general anesthesia, study suggests Posted: 18 Mar 2014 06:30 AM PDT Rats' brains may remember odors they were exposed to while deeply anesthetized, suggests research. In the study, rats were exposed to a specific odor while under general anesthesia. Examination of the brain tissue after they had recovered from anesthesia revealed evidence of cellular imprinting, even though the rats behaved as if they had never encountered the odor before.

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