ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Protein analysis investigates marine worm community
• Whale population size, dynamics determined based on ancient DNA
• Feeding without the frenzy: Students make fun feeders for orangutans and giraffes
• One-quarter of grouper species being fished to extinction
• It's a trap: New lab technique captures microRNA targets
• Secrets of the first practical artificial leaf
• Encyclopedia of Life reaches historic one million species pages milestone
• Antarctic octopus study shows West Antarctic Ice Sheet may have collapsed 200,000 years ago
• Female bugs overcome cost of traumatic sex
• New light on enigmatic burial rituals in Cambodian mountains
• Two trepanned skulls from the Middles Ages are found in Soria, Spain
• A 'cousin' of the giant panda lived in what is now Zaragoza, Spain
• Agricultural bacteria: Blowing in the wind
• Effect of groundwater use: Using water from wells leads to sea level rise, cancels out effect of dams
• Dolphin speaker to enhance study of dolphin vocalizations and acoustics

Protein analysis investigates marine worm community Posted: 09 May 2012 03:00 PM PDT Techniques used by researchers to analyze a simple marine worm and its resident bacteria could accelerate efforts to understand more complex microbial communities such as those found in humans.

Whale population size, dynamics determined based on ancient DNA Posted: 09 May 2012 03:00 PM PDT Researchers compare ancient, modern whale DNA to investigate discrepancies between genetic data and historical estimates.

Feeding without the frenzy: Students make fun feeders for orangutans and giraffes Posted: 09 May 2012 12:42 PM PDT Like their human cousins, orangutans enjoy food and don't mind working a little to get it. If the menu's right, giraffes are even less picky.

One-quarter of grouper species being fished to extinction Posted: 09 May 2012 12:42 PM PDT Groupers, a family of fishes often found in coral reefs and prized for their quality of flesh, are facing critical threats to their survival. Scientists report that 20 species are at risk of extinction if current overfishing trends continue, and an additional 22 species are near "threatened" status.

It's a trap: New lab technique captures microRNA targets Posted: 09 May 2012 10:59 AM PDT To better understand how microRNAs -- small pieces of genetic material -- influence human health and disease, scientists first need to know which microRNAs act upon which genes. To do this scientists developed miR-TRAP, a new easy-to-use method to directly identify microRNA targets in cells.

Secrets of the first practical artificial leaf Posted: 09 May 2012 09:39 AM PDT A detailed description of development of the first practical artificial leaf -- a milestone in the drive for sustainable energy that mimics the process, photosynthesis, that green plants use to convert water and sunlight into energy -- has just been published. The article notes that unlike earlier devices, which used costly ingredients, the new device is made from inexpensive materials and employs low-cost engineering and manufacturing processes.

Encyclopedia of Life reaches historic one million species pages milestone Posted: 09 May 2012 09:37 AM PDT The Encyclopedia of Life has surged past one million pages of content with the addition of hundreds of thousands of new images and specimen data. Launched in 2007 with the support of leading scientific organizations around the world, the Encyclopedia of Life provides global access to knowledge about life on Earth by building a web page for each of the 1.9 million recognized species.

Antarctic octopus study shows West Antarctic Ice Sheet may have collapsed 200,000 years ago Posted: 09 May 2012 08:14 AM PDT Scientists have found that genetic information on the Antarctic octopus supports studies indicating that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could have collapsed during its history, possibly as recently as 200,000 years ago.

Female bugs overcome cost of traumatic sex Posted: 09 May 2012 07:53 AM PDT The study of "sexual conflict" between males and females helps us to understand why sexual reproduction persists given that it can be costly, especially to females. One aspect of this conflict concerns how females respond to increased mating events that are of more benefit to males than to themselves.

New light on enigmatic burial rituals in Cambodian mountains Posted: 09 May 2012 06:28 AM PDT Researchers working in remote Cambodian mountains are shedding new light on the lost history of an unidentified people by studying their enigmatic burial rituals.

Two trepanned skulls from the Middles Ages are found in Soria, Spain Posted: 09 May 2012 06:25 AM PDT Two skulls with perforations have been exhumed in the area of Gormaz in Soria, Spain. They have been dated from the 13th and 14th centuries -- a period in which trepanation was not commonly practiced.  One woman lived for a length of time after a hole was made through her skull.

A 'cousin' of the giant panda lived in what is now Zaragoza, Spain Posted: 09 May 2012 06:25 AM PDT Scientists have found a new ursid fossil species in the area of Nombrevilla in Zaragoza, Spain. Agriarctos beatrix was a small plantigrade omnivore and was genetically related to giant pandas, according to researchers.

Agricultural bacteria: Blowing in the wind Posted: 09 May 2012 06:24 AM PDT The 1930s Dust Bowl proved what a disastrous effect wind can have on dry, unprotected topsoil. Now a new study has uncovered a less obvious, but equally troubling, impact of wind: Not only can it carry away soil particles, but also agriculturally important bacteria that build soil and recycle nutrients.

Effect of groundwater use: Using water from wells leads to sea level rise, cancels out effect of dams Posted: 08 May 2012 02:35 PM PDT As people pump groundwater for irrigation, drinking water, and industrial uses, the water doesn't just seep back into the ground -- it also evaporates into the atmosphere, or runs off into rivers and canals, eventually emptying into the world's oceans. This water adds up, and a new study calculates that by 2050, groundwater pumping will cause a global sea level rise of about 0.8 millimeters per year.

Dolphin speaker to enhance study of dolphin vocalizations and acoustics Posted: 08 May 2012 12:19 PM PDT To gain new insights into how dolphins communicate, researchers in Japan created a prototype of an extremely broadband "dolphin speaker" capable of projecting dolphins' communication sounds, whistles, burst-pulse sounds, as well as detection sounds such as echolocation clicks.

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