ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Animals first flex their muscles: Earliest fossil evidence for animals with muscles
• What can 14th century Venice teach us about Ebola, other emerging threats?
• Composition of Earth's mantle revisited
• Challenges ahead in improving child health by increasing access to sanitation in India
• Existing power plants will spew 300 billion more tons of carbon dioxide during use
• Ninety-four years ago, women won the right to vote; Newly discovered letters will help show how
• Study finds less domestic violence among married couples who smoke pot
• Are consumers more likely to purchase unintentionally green products?
• Trash burning worldwide significantly worsens air pollution
• An inconvenient truth: Does responsible consumption benefit corporations more than society?
• Nuclear legacy of Hiroshima is a global issue, but the challenge is: How much of it is a trauma for everybody?
• Earth can sustain more terrestrial plant growth than previously thought, analysis shows
• Fibre-based satiety ingredient shown to make you eat less
• Education, dog-friendly neighborhoods could tackle obesity
• Cancer leaves common fingerprint on DNA
• RNA sequence could help doctors to tailor unique prostate cancer treatment programs
• Flu outbreak provides rare study material
• Common European MRSA originated in Africa, study concludes
• Cannibalism may contribute to successful invasion by harlequin ladybirds of new habitats
• Lignin: New process helps overcome obstacles to produce renewable fuels and chemicals
• Cancer-fighting drugs might also stop malaria early
• Key to universal flu vaccine: Embrace the unfamiliar

Animals first flex their muscles: Earliest fossil evidence for animals with muscles Posted: 26 Aug 2014 05:54 PM PDT A new fossil discovery identifies the earliest evidence for animals with muscles. An unusual new fossil discovery of one of the earliest animals on earth may also provide the oldest evidence of muscle tissue -- the bundles of cells that make movement in animals possible. The fossil, dating from 560 million years ago, was discovered in Newfoundland, Canada.

What can 14th century Venice teach us about Ebola, other emerging threats? Posted: 26 Aug 2014 12:28 PM PDT The way in which the Italian city of Venice dealt with the outbreak of the plague in the 14th century holds lessons on how to even mitigate the consequences of today's emerging threats, like climate change, terrorism, and highly infectious or drug-resistant diseases, says one researcher.

Composition of Earth's mantle revisited Posted: 26 Aug 2014 12:28 PM PDT The makeup of Earth's lower mantle, which makes up the largest part of the Earth by volume, is significantly different than previously thought, research suggests. This should shed light on unexplained seismic phenomena.

Challenges ahead in improving child health by increasing access to sanitation in India Posted: 26 Aug 2014 12:28 PM PDT A study on large-scale rural sanitation programs in India highlights challenges in achieving sufficient access to latrines and reduction in open defecation to yield significant health benefits for young children.

Existing power plants will spew 300 billion more tons of carbon dioxide during use Posted: 26 Aug 2014 11:24 AM PDT Existing power plants around the world will pump out more than 300 billion tons of carbon dioxide over their expected lifetimes, significantly adding to atmospheric levels of the climate-warming gas, according to scientists.

Ninety-four years ago, women won the right to vote; Newly discovered letters will help show how Posted: 26 Aug 2014 11:12 AM PDT On Aug. 26, 1920, with the formal adoption of the 19th Amendment, women won the right to vote. Now, a newly discovered collection of Susan B. Anthony letters will help show how.

Study finds less domestic violence among married couples who smoke pot Posted: 26 Aug 2014 11:11 AM PDT New research findings from a study of 634 couples found that the more often they smoked marijuana, the less likely they were to engage in domestic violence. "These findings suggest that marijuana use is predictive of lower levels of aggression towards one's partner in the following year," authors say.

Are consumers more likely to purchase unintentionally green products? Posted: 26 Aug 2014 09:11 AM PDT A Fortune 500 company is redesigning a popular product using materials that are friendlier to the environment. How will consumers respond to the newly redesigned, 'greener' product? According to a new study, consumers are more likely to purchase a product if they think helping the environment is not the intended purpose of a product improvement.

Trash burning worldwide significantly worsens air pollution Posted: 26 Aug 2014 09:10 AM PDT Unregulated trash burning around the globe is pumping far more pollution into the atmosphere than shown by official records. A new study estimates that more than 40 percent of the world's garbage is burned in such fires, with emissions that can substantially affect human health and climate.

An inconvenient truth: Does responsible consumption benefit corporations more than society? Posted: 26 Aug 2014 08:29 AM PDT Are environmental and social problems such as global warming and poverty the result of inadequate governmental regulations or does the burden fall on our failure as consumers to make better consumption choices? According to a new study, responsible consumption shifts the burden for solving global problems from governments to consumers and ultimately benefits corporations more than society.

Nuclear legacy of Hiroshima is a global issue, but the challenge is: How much of it is a trauma for everybody? Posted: 26 Aug 2014 08:29 AM PDT Speaking in Hiroshima of the bombing of the city, Yoko Ono stood up for peace declaring that 'No More Hiroshima' is a global issue. In light of the continued legacy of the event, a new study  looks at how the Hiroshima story penetrated into the realm of Japanese public memory and investigates whether the trauma became a truly national one. Crucially, the research questions if the transformation from a circumscribed experience to a society-encompassing one was a natural experience or a constructed phenomenon instead.

Earth can sustain more terrestrial plant growth than previously thought, analysis shows Posted: 26 Aug 2014 07:08 AM PDT A new analysis suggests the planet can produce much more land-plant biomass -- the total material in leaves, stems, roots, fruits, grains and other terrestrial plant parts -- than previously thought. The study recalculates the theoretical limit of terrestrial plant productivity, and finds that it is much higher than many current estimates allow.

Fibre-based satiety ingredient shown to make you eat less Posted: 26 Aug 2014 07:08 AM PDT The effectiveness of a fibre-based dietary ingredient that makes people feel less hungry and consume less food has been demonstrated by a team of scientists. "What is notable is this product, given with breakfast, produced effects on appetite, which were apparent across the day. This is important when consumers are seeking help controlling they hunger across the day," one researcher remarked.

Education, dog-friendly neighborhoods could tackle obesity Posted: 26 Aug 2014 07:08 AM PDT Investing in dog owner education and facilities as a strategy to target physical inactivity and problems such as obesity in both people and their pets. It is estimated that 40% of dog owners don't take their dogs for a walk. In the UK, almost a quarter of households own a dog, but less than half of adults meet the recommended level of 150 minutes a week of physical activity.

Cancer leaves common fingerprint on DNA Posted: 26 Aug 2014 06:10 AM PDT Regardless of their stage or type, cancers appear to share a telltale signature of widespread changes to the so-called epigenome, according to a team of researchers. In a study, the investigators say they have found widespread and distinctive changes in a broad variety of cancers to chemical marks known as methyl groups attached to DNA, which help govern whether genes are turned 'on' or 'off.'

RNA sequence could help doctors to tailor unique prostate cancer treatment programs Posted: 26 Aug 2014 06:10 AM PDT Sequencing RNA, not just DNA, could help doctors predict how prostate cancer tumors will respond to treatment, according to research. Because a tumor's RNA shows the real time changes a treatment is causing, the authors think this could be a useful tool to aid diagnosis and predict which treatment will most benefit individual cancer patients.

Flu outbreak provides rare study material Posted: 26 Aug 2014 06:10 AM PDT Five years ago this month, one of the first U.S. outbreaks of the H1N1 virus swept through the Washington State University campus, striking some 2,000 people. A university math and biology professor has used a trove of data gathered at the time to gain insight into how only a few infected people could launch the virus's rapid spread across the university community.

Common European MRSA originated in Africa, study concludes Posted: 26 Aug 2014 06:10 AM PDT The predominant strain of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infecting people in Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa derived from a single sub-Saharan ancestor, a team of international researchers have reported.

Cannibalism may contribute to successful invasion by harlequin ladybirds of new habitats Posted: 26 Aug 2014 05:59 AM PDT The cannibalistic behavior of native and invasive populations of the Harmonia axyridis ladybird have been the focus of recent study. The researchers' findings suggest that this behavior may procure them a real survival advantage during the colonization of new habitats.

Lignin: New process helps overcome obstacles to produce renewable fuels and chemicals Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:58 PM PDT There's an old saying in the biofuels industry: 'You can make anything from lignin except money.' But now, a new study may pave the way to challenging that adage. The study demonstrates a concept that provides opportunities for the successful conversion of lignin into a variety of renewable fuels, chemicals, and materials for a sustainable energy economy.

Cancer-fighting drugs might also stop malaria early Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:58 PM PDT Scientists searching for new drugs for malaria have identified a number of compounds -- some of which are in clinical trials to treat cancer -- that could lead to new ways to fight the disease. Researchers identified 31 enzyme-blocking molecules, called protein kinase inhibitors, that curb malaria before symptoms start. By focusing on treatments that act early, the researchers hope to give drug-resistant strains less time to spread.

Key to universal flu vaccine: Embrace the unfamiliar Posted: 25 Aug 2014 12:25 PM PDT Human volunteers immunized against the avian flu virus H5N1 readily developed antibodies against the stem region of the viral hemagglutinin protein. In contrast, those immunized with standard seasonal trivalent vaccines did not, instead developing most of their antibodies against the more variable head region.

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