ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

---

• Restored wetlands rarely equal condition of original wetlands
• Space weather arrives: Relatively minor impacts expected from solar storm
• Fungi-filled forests are critical for endangered orchids
• Marine mammals on the menu in many parts of world
• Wasp found in upstate New York shows up in Southern California
• Membrane fusion a mystery no more
• New material to remove radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel
• 'Speed gene' in modern racehorses originated from British mare 300 years ago, scientists claim
• Genetically modified food safe, animal study suggests
• Improving crops from the roots up
• Winged dinosaur Archaeopteryx dressed for flight
• Scientists discover new clue to chemical origins of life
• Neanderthals and their contemporaries engineered stone tools, anthropologists discover
• Ancient dinosaur nursery: Oldest nesting site yet found
• How Fic proteins regulate their potentially lethal enzyme activity
• Sunshade geoengineering more likely to improve global food security, research suggests
• Unprecedented, human-made trends in ocean's acidity

Restored wetlands rarely equal condition of original wetlands Posted: 24 Jan 2012 03:41 PM PST Half of all wetlands in the US, Europe and China were destroyed during the 20th century, but a thriving restoration effort aims to recreate marshes and other ecosystems lost. A new study cautions, however, that restored wetlands do not recover to the condition of a natural, undamaged wetland for hundreds of years, if ever. This calls into question mitigation banks that allow developers to destroy one wetland if they create another.

Space weather arrives: Relatively minor impacts expected from solar storm Posted: 24 Jan 2012 03:35 PM PST A significant blast of energy from the sun arrived at Earth on Jan. 24, 2012 at 10 a.m. EST, triggering a moderate geomagnetic storm here that's unlikely to cause major problems. But skywatchers take note: the storm could set off bright Northern and Southern lights Tuesday night, possibly visible from as far south as New York and Oregon.

Fungi-filled forests are critical for endangered orchids Posted: 24 Jan 2012 01:23 PM PST When it comes to conserving the world's orchids, not all forests are equal. Ecologists revealed that an orchid's fate hinges on two factors: A forest's age and its fungi.

Marine mammals on the menu in many parts of world Posted: 24 Jan 2012 12:19 PM PST The fate of the world's great whale species commands global attention as a result of heated debate between pro and anti-whaling advocates, but the fate of smaller marine mammals is less understood, specifically because the deliberate and accidental catching and killing of dolphins, porpoises, manatees, and other warm-blooded aquatic species are rarely studied or monitored.

Wasp found in upstate New York shows up in Southern California Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:03 AM PST In August 2010, an entomologist at the University of California, Riverside discovered a tiny fairyfly wasp in upstate New York that had never been seen in the United States until then. Nearly exactly a year later, he discovered the wasp in Irvine, Calif., strongly suggesting that the wasp is well established in the country. Called Gonatocerus ater, the 1-millimeter-long wasp was accidentally introduced in North America. It lays its eggs inside the eggs of leafhoppers.

Membrane fusion a mystery no more Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:03 AM PST The many factors that contribute to how cells communicate and function at the most basic level are still not fully understood, but researchers have uncovered a mechanism that helps explain how intracellular membranes fuse, and in the process, created a new physiological membrane fusion model.

New material to remove radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:03 AM PST Research by chemists could impact worldwide efforts to produce clean, safe nuclear energy and reduce radioactive waste. They have used metal-organic frameworks to capture and remove volatile radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel.

'Speed gene' in modern racehorses originated from British mare 300 years ago, scientists claim Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:01 AM PST Scientists have traced the origin of the 'speed gene' in Thoroughbred racehorses back to a single British mare that lived in the United Kingdom around 300 years ago.

Genetically modified food safe, animal study suggests Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:01 AM PST A three year feeding study has shown no adverse health effects in pigs fed genetically modified (GM) maize.  The maize, which is a Bt-maize bred for its insect resistant properties, was sourced from Spain.

Improving crops from the roots up Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:01 AM PST Scientists have taken us a step closer to breeding hardier crops that can better adapt to different environmental conditions and fight off attack from parasites.

Winged dinosaur Archaeopteryx dressed for flight Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:30 AM PST The iconic, winged dinosaur Archaeopteryx was dressed for flight, an international team of researchers has concluded. The group identified the color of the raven-sized creature's fossilized wing feather, determining it was black. The color and the structures that supplied the pigment suggest that Archaeopteryx's feathers were rigid and durable, which would have helped it to fly.

Scientists discover new clue to chemical origins of life Posted: 24 Jan 2012 06:29 AM PST Organic chemists have made a significant advance towards establishing the origin of the carbohydrates (sugars) that form the building blocks of life. The researchers have re-created a process which could have occurred in the prebiotic world.

Neanderthals and their contemporaries engineered stone tools, anthropologists discover Posted: 24 Jan 2012 06:27 AM PST New published research from anthropologists in the UK supports the long-held theory that early human ancestors across Africa, Western Asia and Europe engineered their stone tools.

Ancient dinosaur nursery: Oldest nesting site yet found Posted: 23 Jan 2012 12:25 PM PST An excavation at a site in South Africa has unearthed the 190-million-year-old dinosaur nesting site of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus -- revealing significant clues about the evolution of complex reproductive behavior in early dinosaurs.

How Fic proteins regulate their potentially lethal enzyme activity Posted: 23 Jan 2012 06:44 AM PST Researchers have been able to elucidate a regulatory mechanism conserved throughout evolution which forces the largely unexplored enzyme family of Fic proteins into an inactive resting state. The researchers could demonstrate that through the alteration of one single amino acid this inhibition of enzyme activity can be relieved. Their findings will enable to investigate the physiological role of the potentially lethal function of Fic proteins in bacteria and higher organisms in the future.

Sunshade geoengineering more likely to improve global food security, research suggests Posted: 22 Jan 2012 12:26 PM PST Carbon dioxide emissions have been increasing over the past decades, causing Earth to get hotter and hotter. There are concerns that a continuation of these trends could have catastrophic effects. This has led some to explore drastic ideas for combating global warming, including the idea of counteracting it by reflecting sunlight away from the Earth. However, it has been suggested that reflecting sunlight away from Earth might itself threaten the food supply. New research examines the potential effects that geoengineering the climate could have on global food production and concludes that sunshade geoengineering would be more likely to improve rather than threaten food security.

Unprecedented, human-made trends in ocean's acidity Posted: 22 Jan 2012 12:25 PM PST Recent carbon dioxide emissions have pushed the level of seawater acidity far above the range of the natural variability that existed for thousands of years, affecting the calcification rates of shell-forming organism.

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