ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Molecular path from internal clock to cells controlling rest and activity revealed
• Scared of a younger rival? Not for some male songbirds
• Ancient seagrass holds secrets of the oldest living organism on Earth
• 2011 shark attacks remain steady, deaths highest since 1993
• Entire genome of extinct human decoded from fossil
• Americans' knowledge of polar regions up, but not their concern
• Low-cost instrument developed by high school students could aid severe weather research
• Neanderthal demise due to many influences, including cultural changes
• New stinky flower: Our amorphophallus is smaller, but it stinks like its big cousin
• Redder ladybirds more deadly, say scientists
• Invasive alien predator causes rapid declines of European ladybugs
• Tree rings may underestimate climate response to volcanic eruptions
• Steroids control gas exchange in plants
• Land-cover changes do not impact glacier loss

Molecular path from internal clock to cells controlling rest and activity revealed Posted: 07 Feb 2012 05:28 PM PST The molecular pathway that carries time-of-day signals from the body's internal clock to ultimately guide daily behavior is like a black box, says a researcher. Now, new research is taking a peek inside, describing a molecular pathway and its inner parts that connect the well-known clock neurons to cells governing rhythms of rest and activity in fruit flies.

Scared of a younger rival? Not for some male songbirds Posted: 07 Feb 2012 05:23 PM PST When mature male white-crowned sparrows duel to win a mate or a nesting territory, a young bird just doesn't get much respect.

Ancient seagrass holds secrets of the oldest living organism on Earth Posted: 07 Feb 2012 12:25 PM PST It's big, it's old and it lives under the sea -- and now an international research collaboration has confirmed that an ancient seagrass holds the secrets of the oldest living organism on Earth. Ancient giant Posidonia oceanica reproduces asexually, generating clones of itself. A single organism -- which has been found to span up to 15 kilometers in width and reach more than 6,000 metric tonnes in mass -- may well be more than 100,000 years old.

2011 shark attacks remain steady, deaths highest since 1993 Posted: 07 Feb 2012 11:21 AM PST Shark attacks in the US declined in 2011, but worldwide fatalities reached a two-decade high, according to the a new report.

Entire genome of extinct human decoded from fossil Posted: 07 Feb 2012 10:36 AM PST Scientists have completed the genome sequence of a Denisovan, a representative of an Asian group of extinct humans related to Neanderthals.

Americans' knowledge of polar regions up, but not their concern Posted: 07 Feb 2012 09:19 AM PST Americans' knowledge of facts about the polar regions of the globe has increased since 2006, but this increase in knowledge has not translated into more concern about changing polar environments, according to new research.

Low-cost instrument developed by high school students could aid severe weather research Posted: 07 Feb 2012 09:18 AM PST A group of high school students designed, built and tested a low-cost device that monitors the buildup of electrical charge in clouds. A network of such field mill devices could be used to learn more about the lightning that is part of severe weather.

Neanderthal demise due to many influences, including cultural changes Posted: 07 Feb 2012 07:01 AM PST Although many anthropologists believe that modern humans ancestors "wiped out" Neanderthals, it's more likely that Neanderthals were integrated into the human gene pool thousands of years ago during the Upper Pleistocene era as cultural and climatic forces brought the two groups together.

New stinky flower: Our amorphophallus is smaller, but it stinks like its big cousin Posted: 07 Feb 2012 06:55 AM PST The famed "corpse flower" plant – known for its giant size, rotten-meat odor and phallic shape – has a new, smaller relative: A botanist has discovered a new species of Amorphophallus that is one-fourth as tall but just as stinky.

Redder ladybirds more deadly, say scientists Posted: 06 Feb 2012 06:42 PM PST A ladybird's color indicates how well-fed and how toxic it is, according to scientists. This research directly shows that differences between animals' warning signals reveal how poisonous individuals are to predators. The study shows that redder ladybirds are more poisonous than their paler peers and reveals that this variation is directly linked to diet in early life, with better-fed ladybirds being more visible and more deadly.

Invasive alien predator causes rapid declines of European ladybugs Posted: 06 Feb 2012 06:42 PM PST A new study provides compelling evidence that the arrival of the invasive non-native harlequin ladybird (ladybug) to mainland Europe and subsequent spread has led to a rapid decline in historically-widespread species of ladybird in Britain, Belgium and Switzerland. The analysis is further evidence that harlequin ladybirds are displacing some native ladybirds, most probably through predation and competition.

Tree rings may underestimate climate response to volcanic eruptions Posted: 05 Feb 2012 01:38 PM PST Some climate cooling caused by past volcanic eruptions may not be evident in tree-ring reconstructions of temperature change because large enough temperature drops lead to greatly shortened or even absent growing seasons, according to climate researchers, who compared tree-ring temperature reconstructions with model simulations of past temperature changes.

Steroids control gas exchange in plants Posted: 05 Feb 2012 01:37 PM PST Plants leaves are sealed with a gas-tight wax layer to prevent water loss. Plants breathe through microscopic pores called stomata on the surfaces of leaves. As the key conduits for carbon dioxide uptake and water evaporation, stomata are critical for both our climate and plant productivity. Thus, not surprisingly, the total number and distribution of stomata are strictly regulated by plants to optimize photosynthesis while minimizing water loss. But the mechanisms for such regulation have remained elusive until now.

Land-cover changes do not impact glacier loss Posted: 05 Feb 2012 01:37 PM PST A new study shows that land-cover changes, in particular deforestation, in the vicinity of glaciers do not have an impact on glacier loss. However, the study also shows that deforestation decreases precipitation in mid elevation zones, which affects the quality of life of the population living in the surrounding areas.

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