ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Vaccine for Ebola? Experts answer questions
• How Ebola blocks immune system
• New biodiversity metric defined by researchers
• Leading Ebola researcher says there's an effective treatment for Ebola
• Ready for mating at the right time: How pheromones signal mating cues in tilapia
• MERS: Low transmissibility, dangerous illness
• Prions can trigger 'stuck' wine fermentations, researchers find
• Deadly remedy: Warning issued about Chinese herbal medicine
• Researchers find animal model for understudied type of muscular dystrophy
• Cicada study discovers two genomes that function as one
• Zombie bacteria are nothing to be afraid of
• New solutions needed to recycle fracking water, experts say
• Study reveals drivers of Western consumers' readiness to eat insects
• Protected areas proven to protect biodiversity
• Nanoscale assembly line: Nanoscale production line for assembly of biological molecules created
• Endangered Siamese Crocodiles Released in Wild
• Big data approach identifies Europe's most dangerous human, domestic animal pathogens

Vaccine for Ebola? Experts answer questions Posted: 29 Aug 2014 02:53 PM PDT To learn more about this outbreak and the creation of new human vaccines, infectious disease experts who have led vaccine studies for such global pathogens as cholera, West Nile virus, dengue, typhoid fever and anthrax speak to reporters and answer questions.

How Ebola blocks immune system Posted: 29 Aug 2014 10:54 AM PDT Researchers have identified one way the Ebola virus dodges the body's antiviral defenses, providing important insight that could lead to new therapies.

New biodiversity metric defined by researchers Posted: 29 Aug 2014 10:54 AM PDT To understand how the repeated climatic shifts over the last 120,000 years may have influenced today's patterns of genetic diversity, a team of researchers developed a new biodiversity metric called 'phylogeographic endemism.'

Leading Ebola researcher says there's an effective treatment for Ebola Posted: 29 Aug 2014 10:54 AM PDT A leading US Ebola researcher has gone on record stating that a blend of three monoclonal antibodies can completely protect monkeys against a lethal dose of Ebola virus up to five days after infection, at a time when the disease is severe.

Ready for mating at the right time: How pheromones signal mating cues in tilapia Posted: 29 Aug 2014 08:59 AM PDT Fish rely on pheromones to trigger social responses and to coordinate reproductive behavior in males and females. Scientists have now identified such a signal molecule in the urine of male Mozambique tilapia: this pheromone boosts hormone production and accelerates oocyte maturation in reproductive females.

MERS: Low transmissibility, dangerous illness Posted: 29 Aug 2014 07:33 AM PDT The MERS coronavirus has caused disease outbreaks across the Arabian Peninsula and spread to Europe several times. The severe pneumonia virus has claimed the lives of several hundred people since its discovery in 2012. For a long time, scientists have been puzzled over how easily the pathogen spreads from human to human. An international team of researchers has now come to the conclusion that the rate of human transmission is low.

Prions can trigger 'stuck' wine fermentations, researchers find Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:00 PM PDT A biochemical communication system that crosses from bacteria to yeast, making use of prions, has been discovered. It is responsible for a chronic winemaking problem known as 'stuck fermentation' and may also have implications for better understanding metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, in humans.

Deadly remedy: Warning issued about Chinese herbal medicine Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:00 PM PDT A herbal preparation prescribed by a Chinese herbal medication practitioner in Melbourne for back pain resulted in life-threatening heart changes, prompting a team of intensive care and emergency physicians to call for appropriate patient education by practitioners who prescribe complementary medications.

Researchers find animal model for understudied type of muscular dystrophy Posted: 28 Aug 2014 10:58 AM PDT An animal research model has been developed for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) to be used for muscle regeneration research as well as studies of the effectiveness of potential therapies for FSHD.

Cicada study discovers two genomes that function as one Posted: 28 Aug 2014 10:55 AM PDT While studying cicadas, researchers discovered that Hodgkinia had subtly become more complex through a speciation event, in which the original lineage split to produce two separate but interdependent species of Hodgkinia. What was previously thought to be a tripartite, or a three-way symbiosis, is now proven to actually be a four-way symbiosis.

Zombie bacteria are nothing to be afraid of Posted: 28 Aug 2014 10:52 AM PDT The first experimental evidence has been obtained that there are at least two fail-safe points in the bacterial cell cycle. If the fail-safes are activated, the cell is forced to exit the cell cycle forever. It then enters a zombie-like state and is unable to reproduce even under the most favorable of conditions. Drugs that trigger the fail-safes are already under development.

New solutions needed to recycle fracking water, experts say Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:53 AM PDT Scientists have produced a detailed analysis of water produced by hydraulic fracturing of three gas reservoirs and suggested environmentally friendly remedies are needed to treat and reuse it.

Study reveals drivers of Western consumers' readiness to eat insects Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:52 AM PDT The most likely early adopters of insets as a meat substitute in Western societies are young men with weak attitudes toward meat, who are open to trying novel foods and interested in the environmental impact of their food choice. With a low level of food neophobia, the likelihood that this type of person is willing to eat insects as a meat substitute is estimated more than 75%, according to a new study.

Protected areas proven to protect biodiversity Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:09 AM PDT Protected areas conserve biodiversity, experts say, and more action is needed to ensure safeguards are in place to protect these areas. "Our work has now shown that protected areas have significant biodiversity benefits. In general, plant and animal populations are larger and more species are found inside rather than outside protected areas. In other words, protected areas are doing their job," they report.

Nanoscale assembly line: Nanoscale production line for assembly of biological molecules created Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:08 AM PDT Researchers have realized a long-held dream: inspired by an industrial assembly line, they have developed a nanoscale production line for the assembly of biological molecules.

Endangered Siamese Crocodiles Released in Wild Posted: 28 Aug 2014 08:01 AM PDT Biologists have just released 17 juvenile critically endangered Siamese crocodiles into a protected wetland in Lao PDR. The one-to-two-year-old crocodiles, which range between 50-100 cm (20-39 inches) in length, were raised in facilities to protect the endangered reptiles and their habitat.

Big data approach identifies Europe's most dangerous human, domestic animal pathogens Posted: 27 Aug 2014 09:26 AM PDT The pathogens posing the greatest risk to Europe based upon a proxy for impact have been identified by researchers using a 'big data' approach to scientific research. The top risk for both humans and animals was E.coli and in humans this was followed by two forms of HIV, Hepatitis C and Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria which causes food poisoning and is increasingly resistant to antibiotics.

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