ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Detecting detrimental change in coral reefs
• How seawater could corrode nuclear fuel
• Overgrazed grasslands tied to locust outbreaks
• Ecologists capture first deep-sea fish noises
• Making sense of sensory connections: Researchers identify mechanism behind associative memory by exploring insect brains
• Life beyond Earth? Underwater caves in Bahamas could give clues
• Viruses con bacteria into working for them
• Rotational motion of cells plays a critical role in their normal development, researchers find
• Scientists map one of life's molecular mysteries: Visualisation of the molecular gateway across and into cellular membranes
• Following genetic footprints out of Africa: First modern humans settled in Arabia
• Radical theory explains the origin, evolution, and nature of life, challenges conventional wisdom
• Tiny crooners: Male house mice sing songs to impress the girls
• Barley adapts to climate change

Detecting detrimental change in coral reefs Posted: 26 Jan 2012 07:45 PM PST Over dinner on R.V. Calypso while anchored on the lee side of Glover's Reef in Belize, Jacques Cousteau told Phil Dustan that he suspected humans were having a negative impact on coral reefs. Dustan -- a young ocean ecologist who had worked in the lush coral reefs of the Caribbean and Sinai Peninsula -- found this difficult to believe. It was December 1974. But Cousteau was right. During the following three-plus decades, Dustan, an ocean ecologist and biology professor at the University of Charleston in South Carolina, has witnessed widespread coral reef degradation and bleaching from up close.

How seawater could corrode nuclear fuel Posted: 26 Jan 2012 12:21 PM PST Japan used seawater to cool nuclear fuel at the stricken Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant after the tsunami in March 2011 -- and that was probably the best action to take at the time, say experts. But researchers have since discovered a new way in which seawater can corrode nuclear fuel, forming uranium compounds that could potentially travel long distances, either in solution or as very small particles.

Overgrazed grasslands tied to locust outbreaks Posted: 26 Jan 2012 12:21 PM PST Scientists have shown that insect nutrition and agricultural land management practices may partially explain modern day locust outbreaks.

Ecologists capture first deep-sea fish noises Posted: 26 Jan 2012 11:29 AM PST Fish biologists conducted one of the first studies of deep-sea fish sounds in more than 50 years, 2,237 feet under the Atlantic. With recording technology more affordable, fish sounds can be studied to test the idea that fish communicate with sound, especially those in the dark of the deep ocean.

Making sense of sensory connections: Researchers identify mechanism behind associative memory by exploring insect brains Posted: 26 Jan 2012 10:40 AM PST A key feature of human and animal brains is that they are adaptive; they are able to change their structure and function based on input from the environment and on the potential associations, or consequences, of that input. To learn more about such neural adaptability, researchers have explored the brains of insects and identified a mechanism by which the connections in their brain change to form new and specific memories of smells.

Life beyond Earth? Underwater caves in Bahamas could give clues Posted: 26 Jan 2012 10:15 AM PST Discoveries made in some underwater caves by researchers in the Bahamas could provide clues about how ocean life formed on Earth millions of years ago, and perhaps give hints of what types of marine life could be found on distant planets and moons.

Viruses con bacteria into working for them Posted: 26 Jan 2012 09:37 AM PST Researchers have discovered that certain photosynthetic ocean bacteria need to beware of viruses bearing gifts. These viruses are really con artists carrying genetic material taken from their previous bacterial hosts that tricks the new host into using its own machinery to activate the genes, a process never before documented in any virus-bacteria relationship. The con occurs when a grifter virus injects its DNA into a bacterium living in a phosphorus-starved region of the ocean.

Rotational motion of cells plays a critical role in their normal development, researchers find Posted: 26 Jan 2012 09:37 AM PST Researchers have discovered a rotational motion that plays a critical role in the ability of breast cells to form the spherical structures in the mammary gland known as acini. This rotation, called "CAMo," for coherent angular motion, is necessary for the cells to form spheres. Otherwise, cells undergo random motion, leading to loss of structure and malignancy.

Scientists map one of life's molecular mysteries: Visualisation of the molecular gateway across and into cellular membranes Posted: 26 Jan 2012 09:37 AM PST All living organisms are made up of cells, behind these intricate life forms lie complex cellular processes that allow our bodies to function. Researchers working on protein secretion -- a fundamental process in biology -- have revealed how protein channels in the membrane are activated by special signals contained in proteins destined for secretion. The results help explain the underlying mechanism responsible for the release of proteins such as hormones and antibodies into the blood stream.

Following genetic footprints out of Africa: First modern humans settled in Arabia Posted: 26 Jan 2012 09:37 AM PST A new study, using genetic analysis to look for clues about human migration over sixty thousand years ago, suggests that the first modern humans settled in Arabia on their way from the Horn of Africa to the rest of the world.

Radical theory explains the origin, evolution, and nature of life, challenges conventional wisdom Posted: 26 Jan 2012 08:51 AM PST Earth is alive, asserts a revolutionary scientific theory of life. The trans-disciplinary theory demonstrates that purportedly inanimate, non-living objects -- for example, planets, water, proteins, and DNA -- are animate, that is, alive.

Tiny crooners: Male house mice sing songs to impress the girls Posted: 26 Jan 2012 07:06 AM PST It comes as a surprise to many that male house mice produce melodious songs to attract mates.  Unfortunately for us, because the melodies are in the ultra-sonic range human ears cannot detect them.  Through spectrographic analyses of the vocalizations of wild house mice, researchers have found that the songs of male mice contain signals of individuality and kinship.

Barley adapts to climate change Posted: 25 Jan 2012 06:11 AM PST The upsurge in droughts is one of the main consequences of climate change, and affects crops in particular. However, a biologist has confirmed that in the case of barley at least, climate change itself is providing it with a self-defense mechanisms to tackle a lack of water.

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