ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

---

• Spinach extract decreases cravings, aids weight loss
• Bar code devised for bacteria that causes tuberculosis
• Modern population boom traced to pre-industrial roots
• Magnetic substorms may sometimes be driven by different process than generally thought
• Aging gracefully: Diving seabirds shed light on declines with age
• Clean air halves health costs in Chinese city
• Scientists create renewable fossil fuel alternative using bacteria
• Whose to blame for ocean trash? Giant garbage patches help redefine ocean boundaries
• Nano-forests to reveal secrets of cells
• Cannabis withdrawal symptoms common among adolescents treated for substance use disorder
• Exceptionally well preserved insect fossils from the Rhône Valley found
• Asian camel crickets now common in US homes
• Migrating birds sprint in spring, but take things easy in autumn
• From silk tunics to relics
• Rainfall monitoring: Mobile phones are taking over
• Seismic hazards reassessed in the Andes
• Cultivating biodiversity: Sorghum example
• Scientists obtain new data on the weather 10,000 years ago from sediments at the bottom of a lake in Sierra Nevada
• Growing mushrooms in diapers
• War between bacteria, phages benefits humans
• Nature's tiny engineers: Corals control their environment, stirring up water eddies to bring nutrients
• Likely near-simultaneous earthquakes complicate seismic hazard planning for Italy
• Mom's hormones could make female magpie chicks more adventurous
• Scientists call for investigation of mysterious cloud-like collections in cells
• How neurons in bats' brains ensure a safe flight
• Greenhouse whitefly: Will the unwanted greenhouseguest make it in the wild?
• Why plants in the office make us more productive
• Plant life forms in the fossil record: When did the first canopy flowers appear?
• Discovery reveals how bacteria distinguish harmful vs. helpful viruses
• Aging africa: Cosmogenic view of erosion, relief generation, and the age of faulting in southernmost africa
• How Alzheimer's peptides shut down cellular powerhouses
• Mouse model provides window into working brain
• 'Devil is in the details': Documenting carbon sequestration in Borneo

Spinach extract decreases cravings, aids weight loss Posted: 02 Sep 2014 08:49 AM PDT A spinach extract containing green leaf membranes called thylakoids decreases hedonic hunger with up to 95 percent -- and increases weight loss with 43 percent, research concludes.

Bar code devised for bacteria that causes tuberculosis Posted: 02 Sep 2014 08:49 AM PDT Doctors and researchers will be able to easily identify different types of tuberculosis (TB) thanks to a new genetic barcode devised by scientists. To help identify the different origins and map how tuberculosis moves around the world, spreading from person to person through the air, the research team studied over 90,000 genetic mutations.

Modern population boom traced to pre-industrial roots Posted: 02 Sep 2014 08:47 AM PDT The foundation of the human population explosion, commonly attributed to a sudden surge in industrialization and public health during the 18th and 19th centuries, was actually laid as far back as 2,000 years ago, suggests an extended model of detailed demographic and archeological data.

Magnetic substorms may sometimes be driven by different process than generally thought Posted: 02 Sep 2014 08:47 AM PDT Magnetic substorms, the disruptions in geomagnetic activity that cause brightening of aurora, may sometimes be driven by a different process than generally thought, a new study shows.

Aging gracefully: Diving seabirds shed light on declines with age Posted: 02 Sep 2014 08:47 AM PDT Scientists who studied long-lived diving birds, which represent valuable models to examine aging in the wild, found that blood oxygen stores, resting metabolism and thyroid hormone levels all declined with age, although diving performance did not. Apparently, physiological changes do occur with age in long-lived species, but they may have no detectable effect on behavioral performance.

Clean air halves health costs in Chinese city Posted: 02 Sep 2014 08:46 AM PDT Air pollution regulations over the last decade in Taiyuan, China, have substantially improved the health of people living there, accounting for a greater than 50 percent reduction in costs associated with loss of life and disability between 2001 and 2010, according to researchers in the United States and China.

Scientists create renewable fossil fuel alternative using bacteria Posted: 02 Sep 2014 08:44 AM PDT Researchers have engineered the harmless gut bacteria E.coli to generate renewable propane. The development is a step towards commercial production of a source of fuel that could one day provide an alternative to fossil fuels. Propane is an appealing source of cleaner fuel because it has an existing global market.

Whose to blame for ocean trash? Giant garbage patches help redefine ocean boundaries Posted: 02 Sep 2014 08:40 AM PDT Researchers have created a new model that could help determine what area of the world is to blame for each ocean garbage patch of floating debris – a difficult task for a system as complex and massive as the ocean.

Nano-forests to reveal secrets of cells Posted: 02 Sep 2014 06:42 AM PDT Vertical nanowires could be used for detailed studies of what happens on the surface of cells. The findings are important for pharmaceuticals research, among other applications. A group of researchers have now managed to make artificial cell membranes form across a large number of vertical nanowires, known as a 'nano-forest'.

Cannabis withdrawal symptoms common among adolescents treated for substance use disorder Posted: 02 Sep 2014 06:41 AM PDT Although cannabis -- commonly known as marijuana -- is broadly believed to be nonaddictive, a study has found that 40 percent of cannabis-using adolescents receiving outpatient treatment for substance use disorder reported experiencing symptoms of withdrawal, which are considered a hallmark of drug dependence.

Exceptionally well preserved insect fossils from the Rhône Valley found Posted: 02 Sep 2014 06:34 AM PDT In Bavaria, the Tithonian Konservat-Lagerstätte of lithographic limestone is well known as a result of numerous discoveries of emblematic fossils from that area (for example, Archaeopteryx). Now, for the first time, researchers have found fossil insects in the French equivalent of these outcrops -- discoveries which include a new species representing the oldest known water treader.

Asian camel crickets now common in US homes Posted: 02 Sep 2014 06:34 AM PDT With their long, spiky legs and their propensity for eating anything, including each other, camel crickets are the stuff of nightmares. And now research finds that non-native camel cricket species have spread into homes across the eastern United States.

Migrating birds sprint in spring, but take things easy in autumn Posted: 02 Sep 2014 06:32 AM PDT Passerine birds, also known as perching birds, that migrate by night tend to fly faster in spring than they do in autumn to reach their destinations. This seasonal difference in flight speed is especially noticeable among birds that only make short migratory flights, research shows. As short-distance migratory birds, they have the luxury to wait until winds are just right.

From silk tunics to relics Posted: 02 Sep 2014 06:32 AM PDT Archaeologists working with restorers, are preserving and studying 4th-century tunics ascribed to St. Ambrose. In the course of examining these valuable silk garments, they have made surprising scholarly discoveries regarding the development of early relic worship.

Rainfall monitoring: Mobile phones are taking over Posted: 02 Sep 2014 06:32 AM PDT Agriculture, water resource management, drought and flood warnings, etc.: rainfall monitoring is vital in many areas. But the observation networks remain insufficient. This is not the case for antennas for mobile telephones, which cover 90% of the world's inhabited areas. Besides transmitting radio signals, they record signal disturbances, which are partly due to precipitation, in order to monitor the quality of networks.

Seismic hazards reassessed in the Andes Posted: 02 Sep 2014 06:29 AM PDT Although being able to predict the date on which the next big earthquake will occur is still some way off becoming a reality, it is now possible to identify the areas where they will occur. Researchers have just measured the current deformation in the northern part of the Andes for the first time using GPS, where the tectonics of the Pacific and South American plates govern the high seismic activity in the region. The scientists then identified the areas where the fault, located at the interface of these two plates, is capable of generating large earthquakes or not.

Cultivating biodiversity: Sorghum example Posted: 02 Sep 2014 06:29 AM PDT It is difficult to distinguish the human impact on the effects of natural factors on the evolution of crop plants. A Franco-Kenyan research team has managed to do just that for sorghum, one of the main cereals in Africa. The scientists demonstrated how three societies living on the slopes of Mount Kenya have shaped the geographic distribution and structure of the genetic diversity of local varieties.

Scientists obtain new data on the weather 10,000 years ago from sediments at the bottom of a lake in Sierra Nevada Posted: 02 Sep 2014 06:29 AM PDT During the early phase of the Holocene (10.000 – 6.000 years ago) the climate in the Iberian Peninsula was rather more humid than it currently is, according to new research.

Growing mushrooms in diapers Posted: 02 Sep 2014 06:29 AM PDT Mexico is the third largest consumer of disposable diapers globally, which led to a Mexican scientist to design a technology capable of degrading the product materials by the mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus.

War between bacteria, phages benefits humans Posted: 02 Sep 2014 06:22 AM PDT In our battle with cholera bacteria, we may have an unknown ally in bacteria-killing viruses known as phages. Researchers report that phages can force cholera bacteria, even during active infection in humans, to give up their virulence in order to survive.

Nature's tiny engineers: Corals control their environment, stirring up water eddies to bring nutrients Posted: 01 Sep 2014 06:14 PM PDT Conventional wisdom has long held that corals -- whose calcium-carbonate skeletons form the foundation of coral reefs -- are passive organisms that rely entirely on ocean currents to deliver dissolved substances, such as nutrients and oxygen. But now scientists have found that they are far from passive, engineering their environment to sweep water into turbulent patterns that greatly enhance their ability to exchange nutrients and dissolved gases with their environment.

Likely near-simultaneous earthquakes complicate seismic hazard planning for Italy Posted: 01 Sep 2014 06:14 PM PDT Before the shaking from one earthquake ends, shaking from another might begin, amplifying the effect of ground motion. Such sequences of closely timed, nearly overlapping, consecutive earthquakes account for devastating seismic events in Italy's history and should be taken into account when building new structures, according to new research.

Mom's hormones could make female magpie chicks more adventurous Posted: 01 Sep 2014 09:35 AM PDT Female magpies have been shown to be more adventurous than their male siblings, according to new research. "The fact that observable differences between the first hatched and last hatched magpie's behaviors exist indicates that mothers may be able to produce variable traits, possibly through adjustable transmission of maternal hormones or creating the conditions for sibling rivalry. Mothers could potentially produce a variety of personalities perhaps as an adaptive strategy in unpredictable environmental conditions," researchers say.

Scientists call for investigation of mysterious cloud-like collections in cells Posted: 01 Sep 2014 07:23 AM PDT About 50 years ago, electron microscopy revealed the presence of tiny blob-like structures that form inside cells, move around and disappear. But scientists still don't know what they do -- even though these shifting cloud-like collections of proteins are believed to be crucial to the cell, and therefore could offer a new approach to disease treatment. Now, researchers are issuing a call to investigators to focus their attention on the role of these formations.

How neurons in bats' brains ensure a safe flight Posted: 01 Sep 2014 07:23 AM PDT Bats emit ultrasound pulses and measure the echoes reflected from their surroundings. They have an extremely flexible internal navigation system that enables them to do this. A study shows that when a bat flies close to an object, the number of active neurons in the part of a bat's brain responsible for processing acoustic information about spatial positioning increases. This information helps bats to react quickly and avoid obstacles.

Greenhouse whitefly: Will the unwanted greenhouseguest make it in the wild? Posted: 01 Sep 2014 07:22 AM PDT Greenhouses have improved the possibilities of invasion of greenhouse whitefly into the wild in the boreal region, new study finds. Genetic analysis sheds new light on the survival of whiteflies in Finland and helps to plan efficient pest management.

Why plants in the office make us more productive Posted: 01 Sep 2014 06:07 AM PDT 'Green' offices with plants make staff happier and more productive than 'lean' designs stripped of greenery, new research shows. The team examined the impact of 'lean' and 'green' offices on staff's perceptions of air quality, concentration, and workplace satisfaction, and monitored productivity levels over subsequent months in two large commercial offices in the UK and The Netherlands.

Plant life forms in the fossil record: When did the first canopy flowers appear? Posted: 01 Sep 2014 06:01 AM PDT Most plant fossils are isolated organs, making it difficult to reconstruct the type of plant life or its ecosystem structure. Botanists have now used leaf vein density, a trait visible on leaf compression fossils, to document the occurrence of stratified forests with a canopy dominated by flowering plants.

Discovery reveals how bacteria distinguish harmful vs. helpful viruses Posted: 31 Aug 2014 12:03 PM PDT Viruses can kill bacterial cells or, under the right circumstances, lend them helpful genes that the bacterium could harness to, say, better attack its own hosts. Experiments have now revealed that one type of bacterial immune system can distinguish viral foe from friend, and it does so by watching for one particular cue.

Aging africa: Cosmogenic view of erosion, relief generation, and the age of faulting in southernmost africa Posted: 29 Aug 2014 10:54 AM PDT A cosmogenic view of erosion, relief generation, and the age of faulting in southernmost Africa has been presented by researchers. By measuring beryllium-10 (10Be) in river sediment samples, they show that south-central South Africa is eroding at the slow rate of about five meters per million years, consistent with rates in other non-tectonically active regions.

How Alzheimer's peptides shut down cellular powerhouses Posted: 29 Aug 2014 05:38 AM PDT New mechanisms of the brain disease have been discovered by biochemists who have identified a failing in the work of nerve cells. They report how Alzheimer's disease damages mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell, and suspect this to be the cause of premature death of nerve cells that occurs in the course of the disease.

Mouse model provides window into working brain Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:47 PM PDT A protein marker that mice carry and reacts to different calcium levels allows many different cell types to be studied in a new way. This mouse model is a genetically engineered line of mice that is expected to open the door to new research on epilepsy, Alzheimer's and other diseases.

'Devil is in the details': Documenting carbon sequestration in Borneo Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:47 PM PDT It's that time of year again -— the dry season in southeastern Asia when smoke and particulates from Indonesian peat swamp fires on the island of Borneo drift across to neighboring countries. Indonesia is trying to reduce carbon emissions, but documenting carbon sequestration to reward nations for their efforts through programs such as REDD and REDD Plus can be challenging.

You are subscribed to email updates from Top Environment News -- ScienceDaily To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610