ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Copper facilitates prion disease, scientists show
• Gecko feet hold clues to creating bandages that stick when wet
• Scientist discovers plate tectonics on Mars
• New way to track formaldehyde
• Soft autonomous robot inches along like an earthworm: Flexible design enables body-morphing capability
• Searching salt for answers about life on Earth, Mars
• Researchers combine remote sensing technologies for highly detailed look at coastal change
• You snooze, you lose: Less sleep leads to more offspring in male pectoral sandpipers
• 1.5 million years of climate history revealed after scientists solve mystery of the deep
• Global water sustainability flows through natural and human challenges
• Cheaper and cleaner catalyst for burning methane
• Neolithic man: The first lumberjack?
• Pine trees one of biggest contributors to air pollution: Pine gases chemically transformed by free radicals
• Solar power day and night: New storage systems control fluctuation of renewable energies
• Earliest use of Mexican turkeys by ancient Maya
• The difference between a mole and shrew is in their SOX
• New perspectives on the function of the Golgi apparatus
• And then there was light! Discovery of the world's first eyeless huntsman spider
• Drivers of marine biodiversity: Tiny, freeloading clams find the key to evolutionary success
• Snail believed extinct found by student in Cahaba River
• Horse racing: Doping detection stays a neck ahead
• How a leaf beetle walks underwater
• A charismatic new lacewing from Malaysia discovered online by chance

Copper facilitates prion disease, scientists show Posted: 09 Aug 2012 04:07 PM PDT Many of us are familiar with prion disease from its most startling and unusual incarnations —- the outbreaks of "mad cow" disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) that created a crisis in the global beef industry. Or the strange story of Kuru, a fatal illness affecting a tribe in Papua New Guinea known for its cannibalism. Both are forms of prion disease, caused by the abnormal folding of a protein and resulting in progressive neurodegeneration and death.

Gecko feet hold clues to creating bandages that stick when wet Posted: 09 Aug 2012 01:27 PM PDT A better understanding of geckos' gripping power in wet conditions may lead to improvements in bandages and sutures.

Scientist discovers plate tectonics on Mars Posted: 09 Aug 2012 12:58 PM PDT For years, many scientists had thought that plate tectonics existed nowhere in our solar system but on Earth. Now, a researcher has discovered that the geological phenomenon, which involves the movement of huge crustal plates beneath a planet's surface, also exists on Mars.

New way to track formaldehyde Posted: 09 Aug 2012 12:13 PM PDT NASA researchers are helping to fill a big gap in scientists' understanding of how much urban pollution -- and more precisely formaldehyde -- ultimately winds up in Earth's upper atmosphere where it can wreak havoc on Earth's protective ozone layer.

Soft autonomous robot inches along like an earthworm: Flexible design enables body-morphing capability Posted: 09 Aug 2012 12:13 PM PDT Researchers have engineered a soft autonomous robot that moves via peristalsis, crawling across surfaces by contracting segments of its body, much like an earthworm.

Searching salt for answers about life on Earth, Mars Posted: 09 Aug 2012 12:13 PM PDT Researchers have discovered that not only is there evidence of liquid water on Mars, but the planet is also rich with magnesium sulfate. One of the questions researchers are seeking to answer is whether microbial life on Earth can grow at high concentrations of magnesium sulfate.

Researchers combine remote sensing technologies for highly detailed look at coastal change Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:16 AM PDT Shifting sands and tides make it difficult to measure accurately the amount of beach that's available for recreation, development and conservation, but researchers have now combined several remote sensing technologies with historical data to create coastal maps with an unsurpassed level of accuracy.

You snooze, you lose: Less sleep leads to more offspring in male pectoral sandpipers Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:16 AM PDT During the breeding season, polygynous male pectoral sandpipers that sleep the least sire the most young. Biologists have now discovered this extraordinary relationship. During three weeks of intense competition under the constant daylight of the Arctic summer, males actively court females and compete with other males. The most sleepless males were found to be the most successful in producing young.

1.5 million years of climate history revealed after scientists solve mystery of the deep Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:16 AM PDT Scientists have announced a major breakthrough in understanding the Earth's climate machine by reconstructing highly accurate records of changes in ice volume and deep-ocean temperatures over the last 1.5 million years.

Global water sustainability flows through natural and human challenges Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:16 AM PDT Water's fate in China mirrors problems across the world: fouled, pushed far from its natural origins, squandered and exploited. Scientists look back at lessons learned in China and management strategies that hold solutions for China -- and across the world.

Cheaper and cleaner catalyst for burning methane Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:16 AM PDT Researchers have created a material that catalyzes the burning of methane 30 times better than do currently available catalysts.

Neolithic man: The first lumberjack? Posted: 09 Aug 2012 10:38 AM PDT Scientists have unearthed evidence that sophisticated carpentry tools first appeared at the same time as increased agriculture and the establishment of permanent settlements during the Neolithic Age.

Pine trees one of biggest contributors to air pollution: Pine gases chemically transformed by free radicals Posted: 09 Aug 2012 10:38 AM PDT Pine trees are one of the biggest contributors to air pollution. They give off gases that react with airborne chemicals creating tiny, invisible particles that muddy the air. Scientists have shown that particles formed by pine trees are much more dynamic than previously thought. The findings can help make climate and air quality prediction models more accurate, and inform regulatory agencies as they consider strategies for improving air quality.

Solar power day and night: New storage systems control fluctuation of renewable energies Posted: 09 Aug 2012 09:46 AM PDT Energy storage systems are one of the key technologies for the energy turnaround. With their help, the fluctuating supply of electricity based on photovoltaics and wind power can be stored until the time of consumption. A number of pilot plants of solar cells, small wind power plants, lithium-ion batteries, and power electronics are now under construction to demonstrate how load peaks in the grid can be balanced and what regenerative power supply by an isolated network may look like in the future.

Earliest use of Mexican turkeys by ancient Maya Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:07 AM PDT A new study shows the turkey, one of the most widely consumed birds worldwide, was domesticated more than 1,000 years earlier than previously believed.

The difference between a mole and shrew is in their SOX Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:06 AM PDT The family of small insectivores, Talpidae, includes the moles, shrew moles, and aquatic desmans. New research has found that the enlargement of moles' digging front paws, compared to their feet, is controlled by altered timing of expression of the gene SOX9.

New perspectives on the function of the Golgi apparatus Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:04 AM PDT New perspectives have been reached on the function of the Golgi apparatus. Scientists explain a basic difference between plant and animal cells.

And then there was light! Discovery of the world's first eyeless huntsman spider Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:04 AM PDT A scientist has discovered the first eyeless huntsman spider in the world. With a leg span of only six centimetres and a body size of around twelve millimetres, the spider Sinopoda scurion is certainly not one of the largest representatives of the huntsman spiders, which include more than 1100 species. However, it is the first of its kind in the world without any eyes.

Drivers of marine biodiversity: Tiny, freeloading clams find the key to evolutionary success Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:03 AM PDT What mechanisms control the generation and maintenance of biological diversity on the planet? It's a central question in evolutionary biology. For land-dwelling organisms such as insects and the flowers they pollinate, it's clear that interactions between species are one of the main drivers of the evolutionary change that leads to biological diversity.

Snail believed extinct found by student in Cahaba River Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:03 AM PDT A freshwater snail declared extinct in 2000 was recently rediscovered in the Cahaba River by a graduate student.

Horse racing: Doping detection stays a neck ahead Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:25 AM PDT Whilst the eyes of the world may currently be focused on the Olympics, human sport is not the only area where drug testing is routinely carried out. Horse racing is a massive world-wide industry, and regular testing is essential to maintain its integrity. As with human sport, the authorities constantly need to develop methodologies to detect new compounds that drug cheats are using or may start to use. One such compound is peginesatide.

How a leaf beetle walks underwater Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:25 AM PDT Insects are experts when it comes to adhesion on dry surfaces. However, in nature, plants may be covered by water for quite a long period of time, especially after rain. Scientists have now discovered the remarkable ability of the terrestrial leaf beetle to walk underwater. Picking up the beetle's locomotion mechanism, they designed an artificial material, which sticks to surfaces underwater.

A charismatic new lacewing from Malaysia discovered online by chance Posted: 08 Aug 2012 07:45 AM PDT Green lacewings are delicate green insects with large, lace-like wings that live in a wide variety of habitats, especially tropical forests. Adults mostly feed on flowers, but the larvae are ferocious predators of other insects, frequently carrying the dead carcasses of their prey on their backs after killing them using their enormous, sucking tube-like jaws.

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