ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Lichen can survive in space: Space station research sheds light on origin of life; potential for better sunscreens
• Bringing down the cost of microbial fuel cells
• Novel animal reservoir for group of tick-borne diseases discovered -- and it lives in your backyard
• Foundational concept of ecology tested: Purple loosestrife altered life in nearby ponds
• Is your leaf left-handed?
• Rio+20 Summit: Earth observation for us and our planet
• Stonehenge was monument marking unification of Britain
• First paternity study of southern right whales finds local fathers most successful
• The blue blood of the emperor scorpion X-rayed
• Birds can recognize people's faces and know their voices
• Greater Los Angeles to heat up an average 4 to 5 degrees by mid-century
• Migratory bats use both fat reserves and food to fuel their strenuous long-distance flights to the south

Lichen can survive in space: Space station research sheds light on origin of life; potential for better sunscreens Posted: 23 Jun 2012 11:56 AM PDT You can freeze it, thaw it, vacuum dry it and expose it to radiation, but still life survives. Research on the International Space Station is giving credibility to theories that life came from outer space -- as well as helping to create better sunscreens.

Bringing down the cost of microbial fuel cells Posted: 23 Jun 2012 06:44 AM PDT A new catalyst material could dramatically reduce the cost of producing microbial fuel cells.

Novel animal reservoir for group of tick-borne diseases discovered -- and it lives in your backyard Posted: 23 Jun 2012 06:44 AM PDT A new assay that uses mitochondrial DNA that mutates faster than nuclear DNA has allowed scientists to identify one of the major animal reservoirs for the ehlichioses, STARI and other tick-borne diseases in the southeastern United States. The animal turned out to be the eastern gray squirrel.

Foundational concept of ecology tested: Purple loosestrife altered life in nearby ponds Posted: 23 Jun 2012 06:43 AM PDT How strong are the links in food webs? An experiment demonstrates that they're strong enough for a disturbance to propagate across four trophic levels and two ecosystems. The experiment demonstrates that invasive species such as purple loosestrife could have broad effects on surrounding plant and animal communities, many of them cryptic.

Is your leaf left-handed? Posted: 23 Jun 2012 06:43 AM PDT The spiral pattern of leaf formation from the point of growth affects the developing leaf's exposure to the plant hormone auxin; This exposure leads to measurable left-right asymmetry in leaf development, in species previously assumed to have symmetric leaves.

Rio+20 Summit: Earth observation for us and our planet Posted: 23 Jun 2012 06:43 AM PDT The Rio+20 summit on promoting jobs, clean energy and a more sustainable use of our planet's resources closed today after three days of talks. During the summit, the role of Earth observation in sustainable development was highlighted.

Stonehenge was monument marking unification of Britain Posted: 22 Jun 2012 01:37 PM PDT After 10 years of archaeological investigations, researchers have concluded that Stonehenge was built as a monument to unify the peoples of Britain, after a long period of conflict and regional difference between eastern and western Britain.

First paternity study of southern right whales finds local fathers most successful Posted: 22 Jun 2012 01:37 PM PDT The first paternity study of southern right whales has found a surprisingly high level of local breeding success for males, scientists say, which is good news for the overall genetic diversity of the species, but could create risk for local populations through in-breeding.

The blue blood of the emperor scorpion X-rayed Posted: 22 Jun 2012 01:30 PM PDT Biologists have successfully crystallized the hemocyanin of the emperor scorpion to shed new light on the structure and active site of the giant oxygen transport protein.

Birds can recognize people's faces and know their voices Posted: 22 Jun 2012 01:30 PM PDT New research suggests that some birds may know who their human friends are, as they are able to recognize people's faces and differentiate between human voices.

Greater Los Angeles to heat up an average 4 to 5 degrees by mid-century Posted: 21 Jun 2012 04:59 PM PDT A new study shows climate change will cause temperatures in the Los Angeles region to rise an average of 4-5 degrees by midcentury, tripling the number of extremely hot days in downtown L.A., and quadrupling them in the valleys and high elevations.

Migratory bats use both fat reserves and food to fuel their strenuous long-distance flights to the south Posted: 21 Jun 2012 08:26 AM PDT During autumn, migratory bats use a combination of fat reserves and food to fuel their strenuous long-distance flights to the south.

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