ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Bats: A good immune system ensures success in reproduction
• The Rhine is five million years older than first thought: Age of the river corrected based on fossils
• NASA survey counts potentially hazardous asteroids
• Biologists produce potential malarial vaccine from algae
• Listening to chickens could improve poultry production
• Sumatra faces yet another risk: Major volcanic eruptions
• Colorful butterflies increase their odds of survival by sharing traits
• Humanmade pollutants may be driving Earth's tropical belt expansion: May impact large-scale atmospheric circulation
• Ancient tree-ring records from southwest U.S. suggest today's megafires are truly unusual
• Common fungicide wreaks havoc on freshwater ecosystems
• Microscope looks into cells of living fish
• Make or break for cellular tissues
• Chocolate and diamonds: Why volcanoes could be 'a girl's best friend'
• Plant growth without light control
• Big-mouthed babies drove the evolution of giant island snakes
• Ancient plant-fungal partnerships reveal how the world became green
• Maps of miscanthus genome offer insight into grass evolution

Bats: A good immune system ensures success in reproduction Posted: 16 May 2012 04:54 PM PDT Anyone who is healthy has more enthusiasm for reproduction. The same is true even for bats. Male bats with a good immune system are more successful in being selected by females during mate choice and reproduction than their ailing counterparts.

The Rhine is five million years older than first thought: Age of the river corrected based on fossils Posted: 16 May 2012 04:54 PM PDT Scientists have examined the age of the Rhine based on fossils. They have discovered that the river is five million years older than previously believed.

NASA survey counts potentially hazardous asteroids Posted: 16 May 2012 03:06 PM PDT Observations from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have led to the best assessment yet of our solar system's population of potentially hazardous asteroids. The results reveal new information about their total numbers, origins and the possible dangers they may pose.

Biologists produce potential malarial vaccine from algae Posted: 16 May 2012 02:44 PM PDT Biologists have succeeded in engineering algae to produce potential candidates for a vaccine that would prevent transmission of the parasite that causes malaria.

Listening to chickens could improve poultry production Posted: 16 May 2012 12:22 PM PDT Listening to squawks and other chicken "vocalizations" using digital signal processing techniques may help farmers better manage growing conditions, contributing to both healthier birds and more productive poultry operations.

Sumatra faces yet another risk: Major volcanic eruptions Posted: 16 May 2012 11:01 AM PDT The early April earthquake of magnitude 8.6 that shook Sumatra was a grim reminder of the devastating earthquakes and tsunami that killed tens of thousands of people in 2004 and 2005. Now a new study shows that the residents of that region are at risk from yet another potentially deadly natural phenomenon -- major volcanic eruptions.

Colorful butterflies increase their odds of survival by sharing traits Posted: 16 May 2012 11:00 AM PDT Bright black-and-red butterflies that flit across the sunlit edges of Amazonian rain forests are natural hedonists, and it does them good, according to new genetic data.

Humanmade pollutants may be driving Earth's tropical belt expansion: May impact large-scale atmospheric circulation Posted: 16 May 2012 11:00 AM PDT Black carbon aerosols and tropospheric ozone, both humanmade pollutants emitted predominantly in the Northern Hemisphere's low- to mid-latitudes, are most likely pushing the boundary of the tropics further poleward in that hemisphere, new research shows. While stratospheric ozone depletion has already been shown to be the primary driver of the expansion of the tropics in the Southern Hemisphere, the researchers are the first to report that black carbon and tropospheric ozone are the most likely primary drivers of the tropical expansion observed in the Northern Hemisphere.

Ancient tree-ring records from southwest U.S. suggest today's megafires are truly unusual Posted: 16 May 2012 09:03 AM PDT Today's mega forest fires of the southwestern U.S. are truly unusual and exceptional in the long-term record, suggests an unprecedented study that examined 1,500 years of ancient tree ring and fire data from two distinct climate periods. Researchers constructed and analyzed a statistical model and found that today's dry, hot climate combined with the past century of human fire suppression is causing megafires.

Common fungicide wreaks havoc on freshwater ecosystems Posted: 16 May 2012 09:01 AM PDT A new study on chlorothalonil, one of the world's most common fungicides, shows it was lethal to a wide variety of freshwater organisms.

Microscope looks into cells of living fish Posted: 16 May 2012 08:59 AM PDT Microscopes provide valuable insights in the structure and dynamics of cells, in particular when the latter remain in their natural environment. However, this is very difficult especially for higher organisms. Researchers have now developed a new method to visualize cell structures of an eighth of a micrometer in size in living fish larvae.

Make or break for cellular tissues Posted: 16 May 2012 06:32 AM PDT Models developed to study liquids are used to investigate the mechanics of cellular tissues, which could further our understanding of embryonic development and cancer. Scientists have demonstrated that the behavior of a thin layer of cells in contact with an unfavorable substrate is akin to that of thin fluid or elastic films. Understanding the mechanism by which a thin layer of cells splits into disjointed patches, thus breaking the layer's structural integrity, bears great significance because the human tissue, or epithelium, covering organs can only fulfill its role if there are no holes or gaps between the cells.

Chocolate and diamonds: Why volcanoes could be 'a girl's best friend' Posted: 16 May 2012 06:32 AM PDT Scientists have discovered a previously unrecognized volcanic process, similar to one that is used in chocolate manufacturing, which gives important new insights into the dynamics of volcanic eruptions. The scientists investigated how a process called 'fluidized spray granulation' can occur during kimberlite eruptions to produce well-rounded particles containing fragments from the Earth's mantle, most notably diamonds.

Plant growth without light control Posted: 16 May 2012 06:31 AM PDT Plants are dependent on the sun. Sunlight does not only supply them with energy, but also controls their development steps. So-called photoreceptors activate the processes of germination, leaf development, bud formation, and blossoming in the cells. The light-absorbing component of a photoreceptor may be replaced by a chemically similar synthetic substance. For the first time, the effects on complete plants have now been described.

Big-mouthed babies drove the evolution of giant island snakes Posted: 15 May 2012 12:10 PM PDT The need to have big-mouthed babies drove the evolution of giant tiger snakes on Australian islands, new research shows. The findings offer a new dimension to the study of island gigantism and dwarfism.

Ancient plant-fungal partnerships reveal how the world became green Posted: 15 May 2012 10:17 AM PDT Prehistoric plants grown in state-of-the-art growth chambers recreating environmental conditions from more than 400 million years ago have shown scientists how soil dwelling fungi played a crucial role in the evolution of plants.

Maps of miscanthus genome offer insight into grass evolution Posted: 15 May 2012 07:47 AM PDT Miscanthus grasses are used in gardens, burned for heat and energy, and converted into liquid fuels. They also belong to a prominent grass family that includes corn, sorghum and sugarcane. Two new, independently produced chromosome maps of Miscanthus sinensis (an ornamental that likely is a parent of Miscanthus giganteus, a biofuels crop) are a first step toward sequencing the M. sinensis genome. The studies reveal how a new plant species with distinctive traits can arise as a result of chromosome duplications and fusions.

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