ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• As smart electric grid evolves, engineers show how to include solar technologies
• Bats evolved more than one way to drink nectar
• Studies shed light on why species stay or go in response to climate change
• Two new owl species discovered in the Philippines
• Urine based 'potion' can act as CO2 absorbent
• Iconic Darwin finch genome sequenced
• Spider version of Bigfoot emerges from caves in the Pacific Northwest
• New player in immune response? The strange case of UCP2

As smart electric grid evolves, engineers show how to include solar technologies Posted: 17 Aug 2012 05:39 PM PDT Scientists have developed an economically feasible way to store solar energy in existing residential power networks.

Bats evolved more than one way to drink nectar Posted: 17 Aug 2012 12:15 PM PDT A team of evolutionary biologists compared the anatomy and genes of bats to help solve a persistent question in evolution: Why do analyses of different features of an organism result in conflicting patterns of evolutionary relationships?

Studies shed light on why species stay or go in response to climate change Posted: 17 Aug 2012 10:56 AM PDT Two new studies provide a clearer picture of why some species move -- and where they go -- in response to climate change. One found a dramatic decline in populations of a mountain ground squirrel, except where humans lived. Another paper finds that precipitation is an underappreciated driving force for species' response to climate change.

Two new owl species discovered in the Philippines Posted: 17 Aug 2012 10:55 AM PDT Two new species of owls have been discovered in the Philippines. The first owl, the Camiguin Hawk-owl, is found only on the small island of Camiguin Sur, close to northern Mindanao. The second new discovery was the Cebu Hawk-owl. This bird was thought to be extinct, as the forests of Cebu have almost all been lost due to deforestation.

Urine based 'potion' can act as CO2 absorbent Posted: 17 Aug 2012 10:54 AM PDT Absorbing the large quantities of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases present in cities would require millions of tons of some naturally occurring substance. Urine could be the reactive agent. As a resource available across all human societies, it is produced in large quantities and is close to the pollution hubs of large cities.

Iconic Darwin finch genome sequenced Posted: 17 Aug 2012 06:30 AM PDT Scientists have sequenced the genome of one of the iconic Galapagos finches first described by Charles Darwin. he genome of the medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis) is among the first of a planned 100 genomes of vertebrate species to be sequenced and released by an international collaboration.

Spider version of Bigfoot emerges from caves in the Pacific Northwest Posted: 17 Aug 2012 06:26 AM PDT The forests of the coastal regions from California to British Columbia are renowned for their unique and ancient animals and plants, such as coast redwoods, tailed frogs, mountain beavers and the legendary Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch). Whereas Bigfoot is probably just fiction, a huge, newly discovered spider is very real.

New player in immune response? The strange case of UCP2 Posted: 17 Aug 2012 05:40 AM PDT Uncoupling proteins present a paradox.  They are found within mitochondria and serve to prevent the cell's powerhouses from exploiting the charge differential across their membranes to generate ATP, which the body uses as an energy source.  When uncoupling proteins are active, mitochondria produce heat instead of ATP.  This may be useful under certain circumstances, such as when an animal is hibernating, but it seems unlikely that helping bears through the winter is the only function of uncoupling proteins, especially as non-hibernating animals also have them.

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