ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Power outage? Robots to the rescue
• How to make stronger, 'greener' cement: New formula could cut greenhouse-gas emissions
• Efficiently harvesting hydrogen fuel from Sun using Earth-abundant materials
• Agonizing rabies deaths can be stopped worldwide
• Earth's water is older than the sun: Likely originated as ices that formed in interstellar space
• Stone Age tools: Innovation was local, not imported, in Eurasia more than 300,000 years ago
• Stem cell transplant does not cure SHIV/AIDS after irradiation of infected rhesus macaques
• Researchers engineer 'Cas9' animal models to study disease, inform drug discovery
• Unlocking long-hidden mechanisms of plant cell division
• Structure of enzyme that makes plant cellulose uncovered
• Brazilian zoologists discovered the first obligate cave-dwelling flatworm in South America
• Water research tackles growing grassland threat: Trees
• New protein players found in key disease-related metabolic pathway
• Dinosaur family tree gives fresh insight into rapid rise of birds
• Sugars in the cornfield: Plants use defenses against pests, but they don't always work
• Celiac disease: A wriggly solution to a first-world problem
• Chemists recruit anthrax to deliver cancer drugs
• Tool to help communities stay environmentally, socially 'healthy'
• Cell division: New technique reveals a role for histones
• Natural selection causes early migration, shorter parental care for shorebirds
• Dengue fever, malaria in the Himalayas
• Global sea levels rose up to five meters per century at the end of the last five ice age
• First mouse model for ALS dementia
• When David beats Goliath: Smaller birds can dominate larger species, especially when related
• Study supports camels as primary source of MERS-CoV transmission
• Plant extract as possible Lupus treatment? Findings give new hope
• Despite what you've heard, kids with egg allergies should get the flu shot, experts say
• Insect genomes' analysis challenges universality of essential cell division proteins
• Recreational activity a major pollutant on Canadian coast of Pacific Ocean
• Magnetic field opens and closes nanovesicle
• Mechanics of tissue growth requires communication between cells

Power outage? Robots to the rescue Posted: 25 Sep 2014 03:25 PM PDT Big disasters almost always result in big power failures. Not only do they take down the TV and fridge, they also wreak havoc with key infrastructure like cell towers. That can delay search and rescue operations at a time when minutes count. Engineers have now developed a tabletop model of robotic first responders that can bring power to places that need it the most —- like communications towers.

How to make stronger, 'greener' cement: New formula could cut greenhouse-gas emissions Posted: 25 Sep 2014 11:12 AM PDT Concrete is the world's most-used construction material, and a leading contributor to global warming, producing as much as one-tenth of industry-generated greenhouse-gas emissions. Now a new study suggests a way in which those emissions could be reduced by more than half -- and the result would be a stronger, more durable material.

Efficiently harvesting hydrogen fuel from Sun using Earth-abundant materials Posted: 25 Sep 2014 11:12 AM PDT Scientists have a new efficient way of producing hydrogen fuel from sunlight and water. By combining a pair of solar cells made with a mineral called perovskite and low cost electrodes, scientists have obtained a 12.3 percent conversion efficiency from solar energy to hydrogen, a record using Earth-abundant materials as opposed to rare metals.

Agonizing rabies deaths can be stopped worldwide Posted: 25 Sep 2014 11:12 AM PDT Ridding the world of rabies in humans is cost-effective and achievable through mass dog vaccination programs, an international team of researchers says. A rabies vaccine has long existed. Even so, the disease kills an estimated 69,000 people worldwide -- that's 189 each day. Forty percent of them are children, mostly in Africa and Asia. The disease is spread primarily through the saliva of infected dogs. Once a person develops symptoms, the chance that he or she will die is nearly 100-percent.

Earth's water is older than the sun: Likely originated as ices that formed in interstellar space Posted: 25 Sep 2014 11:12 AM PDT Water was crucial to the rise of life on Earth and is also important to evaluating the possibility of life on other planets. Identifying the original source of Earth's water is key to understanding how life-fostering environments come into being and how likely they are to be found elsewhere. New work found that much of our solar system's water likely originated as ices that formed in interstellar space.

Stone Age tools: Innovation was local, not imported, in Eurasia more than 300,000 years ago Posted: 25 Sep 2014 11:12 AM PDT Analysis of stone artifacts from the excavation of a 300,000-year-old site in Armenia shows that new technologies evolved locally, rather than being imported from outside, as previously thought.

Stem cell transplant does not cure SHIV/AIDS after irradiation of infected rhesus macaques Posted: 25 Sep 2014 11:12 AM PDT A new primate model has been developed to test treatments that might cure HIV/AIDS and suggests answers to questions raised by the 'Berlin patient,' the only human thought to have been cured so far.

Researchers engineer 'Cas9' animal models to study disease, inform drug discovery Posted: 25 Sep 2014 10:28 AM PDT A new mouse model to simplify application of the CRISPR-Cas9 system for in vivo genome editing experiments. The researchers successfully used the new 'Cas9 mouse' model to edit multiple genes in a variety of cell types, and to model lung adenocarcinoma, one of the most lethal human cancers.

Unlocking long-hidden mechanisms of plant cell division Posted: 25 Sep 2014 10:28 AM PDT Along with copying and splitting DNA during division, cells must have a way to break safely into two viable daughter cells, a process called cytokinesis. But the molecular basis of how plant cells accomplish this without mistakes has been unclear for many years. Now a detailed new model that for the first time proposes how plant cells precisely position a 'dynamic and complex' structure called a phragmoplast at the cell center during every division and how it directs cytokinesis.

Structure of enzyme that makes plant cellulose uncovered Posted: 25 Sep 2014 10:26 AM PDT The structure of the enzyme that makes cellulose has been uncovered by researchers, a finding that could lead to easier ways of breaking down plant materials to make biofuels and other products and materials. The research also provides the most detailed glimpse to date of the complicated process by which cellulose -- the foundation of the plant cell wall and the most abundant organic compound on the planet -- is produced.

Brazilian zoologists discovered the first obligate cave-dwelling flatworm in South America Posted: 25 Sep 2014 10:25 AM PDT Typical cave-dwelling organisms, unpigmented and eyeless, were discovered in a karst area located in northeastern Brazil. The organisms were assigned to a new genus and species of freshwater flatworm and may constitute an oceanic relict. They represent the first obligate cave-dwelling flatworm in South America.

Water research tackles growing grassland threat: Trees Posted: 25 Sep 2014 10:07 AM PDT Biologists are studying streams to prevent tallgrass prairies from turning into shrublands and forests. By looking at 25 years of data on the Konza Prairie Biological Station, they are researching grassland streams and the expansion of nearby woody vegetation, such as trees and shrubs. They have found that burn intervals may predict the rate of woody vegetation expansion along streams.

New protein players found in key disease-related metabolic pathway Posted: 25 Sep 2014 10:05 AM PDT Cells rely on the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway—which senses the availability of nutrients—to coordinate their growth with existing environmental conditions. Now researchers have identified a family of proteins that negatively regulate the branch upstream of mTORC1 that senses amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

Dinosaur family tree gives fresh insight into rapid rise of birds Posted: 25 Sep 2014 10:05 AM PDT The study shows that the familiar anatomical features of birds – such as feathers, wings and wishbones – all first evolved piecemeal in their dinosaur ancestors over tens of millions of years. However, once a fully functioning bird body shape was complete, an evolutionary explosion began, causing a rapid increase in the rate at which birds evolved. This led eventually to the thousands of avian species that we know today.

Sugars in the cornfield: Plants use defenses against pests, but they don't always work Posted: 25 Sep 2014 07:21 AM PDT Grasses and crops such as maize attach sugars to chemical defenses called benzoxazinoids to protect themselves from being poisoned by their own protective agents. Then, when an insect starts feeding, a plant enzyme removes the sugar to deploy the active toxin. Scientists have now discovered why this defensive strategy fails to work against Spodoptera larvae. Armyworms deactivate the maize chemical defense by reattaching the sugar in the opposite configuration.

Celiac disease: A wriggly solution to a first-world problem Posted: 25 Sep 2014 07:09 AM PDT Groundbreaking results were achieved in a clinical trial using hookworms to reduce the symptoms of celiac disease. The results are good news for sufferers of other inflammatory conditions such as asthma and Crohn's disease. In the small trial run over a year, 12 participants were each experimentally infected with 20 Necator americanus (hookworm) larvae. They were then given gradually increasing doses of gluten, with their daily dose in the final stage being equivalent to a medium-sized bowl of spaghetti.

Chemists recruit anthrax to deliver cancer drugs Posted: 25 Sep 2014 07:09 AM PDT With some tinkering, a deadly protein becomes an efficient carrier for antibody drugs, researchers have discovered. "Anthrax toxin is a professional at delivering large enzymes into cells," says one researcher. "We wondered if we could render anthrax toxin nontoxic, and use it as a platform to deliver antibody drugs into cells."

Tool to help communities stay environmentally, socially 'healthy' Posted: 25 Sep 2014 07:04 AM PDT A new way to measure the 'health' of poor regional communities has been developed by geographers who aim to improve the wellbeing of people by guiding sustainable development practices to help avoid social and environmental collapse. The researchers have pioneered a methodology that examines the balance between factors such as; standards of living, natural resources, agriculture, industry and the economy. The results help identify critical limits, beyond which regions risk tipping into ecological and social downturn, or even collapse.

Cell division: New technique reveals a role for histones Posted: 25 Sep 2014 07:02 AM PDT Proteins known as histones give structure to DNA, which coils around them like string on spools. But as is so often the case in biology, it turns out there is more to these structures than meets the eye.

Natural selection causes early migration, shorter parental care for shorebirds Posted: 25 Sep 2014 05:25 AM PDT All bird migrations are fraught with danger – from the risk of not finding enough food, to facing stormy weather, and most importantly – trying not to be eaten along the way. Raptors such as peregrine falcons are the main predators of migratory birds, and huge flocks of congregating shorebirds can be easy pickings. In a new paper, researchers provide new evidence that shorebird species can adopt substantially different ways of dealing with this predation pressure.

Dengue fever, malaria in the Himalayas Posted: 25 Sep 2014 05:22 AM PDT Research by Nepalese and German scientists analyzes the current situation of malaria and Dengue fever in the Himalayan country of Nepal, and highlights how they profit from climate change and globalization.

Global sea levels rose up to five meters per century at the end of the last five ice age Posted: 25 Sep 2014 05:22 AM PDT Land-ice decay at the end of the last five ice-ages caused global sea-levels to rise at rates of up to 5.5 metres per century, according to a new study. Researchers developed a 500,000-year record of sea-level variability, to provide the first account of how quickly sea-level changed during the last five ice-age cycles. Scientists also found that more than 100 smaller events of sea-level rise took place in between the five major events.

First mouse model for ALS dementia Posted: 24 Sep 2014 06:20 PM PDT The first animal model for ALS dementia, a form of ALS that also damages the brain, has been developed by scientists. The advance will allow researchers to directly see the brains of living mice, under anesthesia, at the microscopic level. This will accelerate drug testing by allowing direct monitoring of test drugs in real time to determine if they work.

When David beats Goliath: Smaller birds can dominate larger species, especially when related Posted: 24 Sep 2014 06:20 PM PDT Body size has long been recognized to play a key role in shaping species interactions, with larger species usually winning conflicts with their smaller counterparts. But a biologist has now found that occasionally, small species of birds can dominate larger species during aggressive interactions, particularly when they interact with distantly related species.

Study supports camels as primary source of MERS-CoV transmission Posted: 24 Sep 2014 06:20 PM PDT Scientists have provided experimental evidence supporting dromedary camels as the primary reservoir, or carrier, of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. The study involved three healthy camels exposed through the eyes, nose and throat to MERS-CoV isolated from a patient. Each camel developed a mild upper respiratory tract infection consistent with what scientists have observed throughout the Middle East.

Plant extract as possible Lupus treatment? Findings give new hope Posted: 24 Sep 2014 01:05 PM PDT Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the immune system turns against itself, attacking a person's healthy tissue, cells and organs. New findings by a biomedical engineer and his team raise hope for a new class of drugs to treat lupus that may not include the long list of adverse risks and side effects often associated with current treatments for this disease.

Despite what you've heard, kids with egg allergies should get the flu shot, experts say Posted: 24 Sep 2014 10:46 AM PDT If you have a child with egg allergies, you may have been told they shouldn't get the shot because of a possible reaction to the trace amounts of egg in the vaccine. Not true, say experts. Recent research has shown that administration of the flu vaccine is safe for kids with egg allergies.

Insect genomes' analysis challenges universality of essential cell division proteins Posted: 24 Sep 2014 08:37 AM PDT One of the foundational proteins in cell division, previously shown to be essential in organisms as diverse as yeast, flies and humans, has been surprisingly lost on multiple occasions during insect evolution, researchers have found.

Recreational activity a major pollutant on Canadian coast of Pacific Ocean Posted: 24 Sep 2014 08:34 AM PDT From recreational boats and fishing vessels to commercial cruise ships and private marinas, a newly published study shows that oil discharges related to human maritime activity on the Canadian coast is posing a major threat to marine ecosystems in the Pacific Ocean.

Magnetic field opens and closes nanovesicle Posted: 24 Sep 2014 05:48 AM PDT Chemists and physicists have managed to open and close nanovesicles using a magnet. This process is repeatable and can be controlled remotely, allowing targeted drug transport in the body, for example.

Mechanics of tissue growth requires communication between cells Posted: 23 Sep 2014 11:27 AM PDT Engineers have combined mechanics with biology to make key discovery about communication between cells. When the body forms new tissues during the healing process, cells must be able to communicate with each other. For years, scientists believed this communication happened primarily through chemical signaling. Now researchers have found that another dimension -- mechanical communication -- is equally if not more crucial.

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