ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Bird brains follow the beat
• Erosional origin of linear dunes on Earth and Saturn's moon Titan
• Neither birth nor death stops a flock, new theory shows
• Cunning super-parasitic wasps sniff out protected aphids and overwhelm their defenses
• CFC substitutes: Good for the ozone layer, bad for climate?
• Female sex hormones can weaken the ability of fish to protect themselves against environmental toxins
• Car tracks beyond the asphalt
• Mobile DNA elements can disrupt gene expression and cause biological variation, study shows
• 'Storm of the century' may become 'storm of the decade'
• For fish, fear smells like sugar
• Blue light culprit in red tide blooms
• Microbes may be engineered to help trap excess carbon dioxide underground
• Oil sands pollution comparable to a large power plant

Bird brains follow the beat Posted: 24 Feb 2012 12:27 PM PST By training birds to 'get rhythm', scientists uncover evidence that our capacity to move in time with music may be connected with our ability to learn speech.

Erosional origin of linear dunes on Earth and Saturn's moon Titan Posted: 24 Feb 2012 11:06 AM PST Linear dunes, widespread on Earth and Saturn's moon, Titan, are generally considered to have been formed by deposits of windblown sand. It has been speculated for some time that some linear dunes may have formed by "wind-rift" erosion, but this model has commonly been rejected due to lack of sufficient evidence. Now, new research indicates that erosional origin models should not be ruled out.

Neither birth nor death stops a flock, new theory shows Posted: 24 Feb 2012 08:11 AM PST Neither births nor deaths stop the flocking of organisms. They just keep moving, says a theoretical physicist. The notion, he says, has implications in biology and eventually could point to new cancer therapies.

Cunning super-parasitic wasps sniff out protected aphids and overwhelm their defenses Posted: 24 Feb 2012 08:07 AM PST In the war between parasite and host, the parasitic wasp and the pea aphid are locked in a battle for survival. New research shows that this cunning parasite sniffs out differences between protected and unprotected aphids, and alters its egg-laying strategy, in order to overwhelm aphid defenses and ensure survival of wasp offspring. The wasp lays an egg inside the pea aphid, where  the egg hatches and converts the aphid's insides into a wasp nursery. The wasp larva uses the still-living aphid as a food source, eventually pupating inside the aphid and emerging as a fully-formed mature wasp. However the pea aphid is not defenseless. It is protected by a bacterial symbiont.

CFC substitutes: Good for the ozone layer, bad for climate? Posted: 24 Feb 2012 08:07 AM PST The Montreal Protocol led to a global phase-out of most substances that deplete the ozone layer, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). A happy side-effect of the gradual ban of these products is that the Earth's climate has also benefited because CFCs are also potent greenhouse gases. However, now a "rebound effect" threatens to accelerate the rate of global warming.

Female sex hormones can weaken the ability of fish to protect themselves against environmental toxins Posted: 24 Feb 2012 08:06 AM PST It is well known that female sex hormones (estrogens) that end up in rivers and lakes, primarily via spillage from sewers and livestock farming, pose a threat to the environment. Some environmental toxins can also have the same impact as estrogens. One example of such substances are degradation products (metabolites) from the pollutant PCB.

Car tracks beyond the asphalt Posted: 24 Feb 2012 08:06 AM PST The contamination caused by road traffic not only affects the air, it also seeps under the asphalt and harms the adjacent soil and plants. A chemist has delved into the subject and studied the extent of the impact of the metals emitted by cars. Likewise, he has analyzed their consequences in the short, medium and long term.

Mobile DNA elements can disrupt gene expression and cause biological variation, study shows Posted: 23 Feb 2012 03:26 PM PST The many short pieces of mobile DNA that exist in the genome can contribute to important biological differences between strains of mice, according to a new study. The mobile DNA, sometimes called jumping genes, can disrupt gene expression even from a distance, with the disruption influenced by the gender of the parent that supplied it. The findings reveal a mechanism of natural variation in animals and humans that may apply to cancer and other diseases.

'Storm of the century' may become 'storm of the decade' Posted: 23 Feb 2012 10:32 AM PST Researchers report that projected increases in sea level and storm intensity brought on by climate change would make devastating storm surges -- the deadly and destructive mass of water pushed inland by large storms -- more frequent in low-lying coastal areas. Regions such as the New York City metropolitan area that currently experience a disastrous flood every century could instead become submerged every one or two decades.

For fish, fear smells like sugar Posted: 23 Feb 2012 10:30 AM PST When one fish gets injured, the rest of the school takes off in fear, tipped off by a mysterious substance known as "Schreckstoff" (meaning "scary stuff" in German). Now, researchers have figured out what that scary stuff is really made of.

Blue light culprit in red tide blooms Posted: 23 Feb 2012 07:34 AM PST Researchers have uncovered the specific mechanism that triggers phytoplankton to release their powerful toxins into the environment.

Microbes may be engineered to help trap excess carbon dioxide underground Posted: 23 Feb 2012 07:33 AM PST In H.G. Wells' classic science-fiction novel, The War of the Worlds, bacteria save Earth from destruction when the Martian invaders succumb to infections to which humans have become immune through centuries of evolution. If a team led by researchers has its way, bacteria -- with a little assist from science -- will help prevent global destruction for real by trapping underground a greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, that threatens Earth's climate.

Oil sands pollution comparable to a large power plant Posted: 22 Feb 2012 12:46 PM PST In the first look at the overall effect of air pollution from the excavation of oil sands, also called tar sands, in Alberta, Canada, scientists used satellites to measure nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide emitted from the industry.

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