ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Bacteria use chat to play the 'prisoner's dilemma' game in deciding their fate
• New evidence that comets deposited building blocks of life on primordial Earth
• Elusive Bururi long-fingered frog found after 62 years
• West Antarctic ice shelves tearing apart at the seams
• Chemical microgradients accelerate coral death at the Great Barrier Reef
• New dimension for solar energy: Innovative 3-D designs more than double the solar power generated per area
• The Black Queen Hypothesis: Basis of a new evolutionary theory
• Size matters: Large marine protected areas work for dolphins
• Signs of thawing permafrost revealed from space
• New twist on 1930s technology may become a 21st century weapon against global warming
• A number of environmental factors can affect the incidence of hip dysplasia in dogs
• E. coli bacteria becomes factory for sugar-modified proteins to make cheaper, faster pharmaceuticals
• Nuclear power plants can produce hydrogen to fuel the 'hydrogen economy'

Bacteria use chat to play the 'prisoner's dilemma' game in deciding their fate Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:57 PM PDT When faced with life-or-death situations, bacteria -- and maybe even human cells -- use an extremely sophisticated version of "game theory" to consider their options and decide upon the best course of action. Scientists said microbes "play" a version of the classic "Prisoner's Dilemma" game.

New evidence that comets deposited building blocks of life on primordial Earth Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:56 PM PDT New research provides further support for the idea that comets bombarding Earth billions of years ago carried and deposited the key ingredients for life to spring up on the planet.

Elusive Bururi long-fingered frog found after 62 years Posted: 27 Mar 2012 12:28 PM PDT Herpetologists have discovered a single specimen of the Bururi long-fingered frog during a research expedition to Burundi in December 2011. The frog was last seen by scientists in 1949 and was feared to be extinct after decades of turmoil in the tiny East African nation.

West Antarctic ice shelves tearing apart at the seams Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:43 AM PDT A new study examining nearly 40 years of satellite imagery has revealed that the floating ice shelves of a critical portion of West Antarctica are steadily losing their grip on adjacent bay walls, potentially amplifying an already accelerating loss of ice to the sea.

Chemical microgradients accelerate coral death at the Great Barrier Reef Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:41 AM PDT Researchers have examined corals from the Great Barrier Reef affected by the Black Band Disease and identified the critical parameters that allow this prevalent disease to cause wide mortality of corals around the world. Corals infected with Black Band show a characteristic appearance of healthy tissue displaced by a dark front, the so called Black Band, which leaves the white limestone skeleton of the coral animal exposed. The dark front is commonly one to two centimeters broad and consists of a complex microbial community among which there are phototrophic cyanobacteria, sulfur oxidizing bacteria and sulfate reducing microorganisms.

New dimension for solar energy: Innovative 3-D designs more than double the solar power generated per area Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:46 AM PDT Intensive research around the world has focused on improving the performance of solar photovoltaic cells and bringing down their cost. But very little attention has been paid to the best ways of arranging those cells, which are typically placed flat on a rooftop or other surface, or sometimes attached to motorized structures that keep the cells pointed toward the sun as it crosses the sky. Now, a team of researchers has come up with a very different approach: building cubes or towers that extend the solar cells upward in three-dimensional configurations.

The Black Queen Hypothesis: Basis of a new evolutionary theory Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:40 AM PDT Microorganisms can sometimes lose the ability to perform a function that appears to be necessary for their survival, and yet they still somehow manage to endure and multiply. How can this be? Researchers now explain their ideas about the matter.

Size matters: Large marine protected areas work for dolphins Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:35 AM PDT Ecologists in New Zealand have shown for the first time that Marine Protected Areas – long advocated as a way of protecting threatened marine mammals – actually work. Their study, based on 21 years' monitoring reveals that a marine sanctuary off the coast of Christchurch has significantly improved survival of Hector's dolphins – one of the rarest dolphins in the world.

Signs of thawing permafrost revealed from space Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:31 AM PDT Satellite are seeing changes in land surfaces in high detail at northern latitudes, indicating thawing permafrost. This releases greenhouse gases into parts of the Arctic, exacerbating the effects of climate change. Permafrost is ground that remains at or below 0°C for at least two consecutive years and usually appears in areas at high latitudes such as Alaska, Siberia and Northern Scandinavia, or at high altitudes like the Andes, Himalayas and the Alps.

New twist on 1930s technology may become a 21st century weapon against global warming Posted: 27 Mar 2012 06:11 AM PDT Far from being a pipe dream years away from reality, practical technology for capturing carbon dioxide — the main greenhouse gas — from smokestacks is aiming for deployment at coal-fired electric power generating stations and other sources, scientists now say. Scientists have a potential advance toward dealing with the 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide released into the air each year through human activity.

A number of environmental factors can affect the incidence of hip dysplasia in dogs Posted: 26 Mar 2012 08:28 AM PDT Hip dysplasia (HD) in dogs is affected to a larger degree than previously believed by the environment in which puppies grow up. It is particularly during the period from birth to three months that various environmental factors appear to influence the development of this disease. During the puppy stage, preventive measures can therefore be recommended with a view to giving dogs disposed to the condition a better quality of life.

E. coli bacteria becomes factory for sugar-modified proteins to make cheaper, faster pharmaceuticals Posted: 26 Mar 2012 08:25 AM PDT Escherichia coli – a bacteria considered the food safety bane of restaurateurs, grocers and consumers – is a friend. Biomolecular engineers have learned to use E. coli to produce sugar-modified proteins for making pharmaceuticals cheaper and faster.

Nuclear power plants can produce hydrogen to fuel the 'hydrogen economy' Posted: 26 Mar 2012 08:25 AM PDT The long-sought technology for enabling the fabled "hydrogen economy" — an era based on hydrogen fuel that replaces gasoline, diesel and other fossil fuels, easing concerns about foreign oil and air pollution — has been available for decades and could begin commercial production of hydrogen in this decade, a scientist has reported.

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