ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Mapping the future of climate change in Africa
• Research into oaks helps us understand climate change
• Extinction risk factors for New Zealand birds today differ from those of the past
• New bat virus could hold key to Hendra virus
• Mountains, seaway triggered North American dinosaur surge
• Influenza virus replication: Catching the cap-snatcher
• Target for potent first-strike influenza drugs identified
• Deep-sea squid can 'jettison arms' as defensive tactic
• How elephants produce their deep 'voices': Same physical mechanism produces vocalizations in elephants and humans
• Cuckoo tricks to beat the neighborhood watch
• Aerial photos reveal dynamic Greenland ice sheet: Ice sheet has recently retreated then restabilized
• Research could lead to improved oil recovery, better environmental cleanup
• Climate warming refuted as reason for plant shifts in high-profile 2008 study
• Healthy seafood comes from sustainable fish
• Major recent earthquakes across the globe probably not linked
• Upgrading synthetic biology's toolkit: New method could enable reprogramming of mammalian cells
• How protein component that enables cell replication gets ferried to chromosome tips
• Ethylene of no effect: Why peppers do not mature after picking
• Infants exposed to specific molds have higher asthma risk
• Skin cancer identified for the first time in wild fish populations, beneath ozone layer hole
• Controlling gene expression with hydrogen peroxide 'switches'
• Rewarding work for butterflies

Mapping the future of climate change in Africa Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:40 PM PDT The African continent is especially vulnerable to the impact of climate change because it relies on rain-fed agriculture and many of its countries have a low adaptive capacity. The Climate Change and African Political Stability Program (CCAPS) has created a web tool that uses historical data to map the different levels of vulnerability to climate change at the sub-national level. The web tool will soon incorporate vulnerability measurements based on future climate projections, derived from simulations run on the Ranger supercomputer.

Research into oaks helps us understand climate change Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:40 PM PDT Biologists are tracking the evolution of the live oaks of eastern North America, seeking to understand how the trees adapted to climate change during glacial periods.

Extinction risk factors for New Zealand birds today differ from those of the past Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:39 PM PDT What makes some species more prone to extinction? A new study of nearly 300 species of New Zealand birds -- from pre-human times to the present -- reveals that the keys to survival today differ from those of the past. The results are important for the growing number of studies that try to predict which species could be lost in the future based on what kinds of species are considered most threatened today, the researchers say.

New bat virus could hold key to Hendra virus Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:39 PM PDT Australian scientists have discovered a new virus in bats that could help shed light on how Hendra and Nipah viruses cause disease and death in animals and humans.

Mountains, seaway triggered North American dinosaur surge Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:39 PM PDT The rise of the Rocky Mountains and the appearance of a major seaway that divided North America may have boosted the evolution of new dinosaur species, according to a new study.

Influenza virus replication: Catching the cap-snatcher Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:38 PM PDT Researchers have determined the detailed three-dimensional structure of part of the flu virus' RNA polymerase, an enzyme that is crucial for influenza virus replication. The research was done on the 2009 pandemic influenza strain but it will help scientists to design innovative drugs against all the different influenza strains.

Target for potent first-strike influenza drugs identified Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:37 PM PDT Compounds blocking an enzyme universal to all influenza viruses may allow development of new antiviral drugs that also avoid the problem of drug resistance.

Deep-sea squid can 'jettison arms' as defensive tactic Posted: 02 Aug 2012 12:04 PM PDT A researcher has observed a never-before-seen defensive strategy used by a small species of deep-sea squid in which the animal counter-attacks a predator and then leaves the tips of its arms attached to the predator as a distraction.

How elephants produce their deep 'voices': Same physical mechanism produces vocalizations in elephants and humans Posted: 02 Aug 2012 11:15 AM PDT Elephants rely on the same mechanism that produces speech in humans (and the vocalizations of many other mammals) to hit the extremely low notes they use to communicate.

Cuckoo tricks to beat the neighborhood watch Posted: 02 Aug 2012 11:15 AM PDT To minimize the chance of being recognized and thus attacked by the birds they are trying to parasitize, female cuckoos have evolved different guises.

Aerial photos reveal dynamic Greenland ice sheet: Ice sheet has recently retreated then restabilized Posted: 02 Aug 2012 11:15 AM PDT Despite the current and rapid melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, it remains uncertain just when we will have reached a point when scientists will be able to predict its disappearance. Scientists report that this is not the first time in recent history that the ice sheet has been in retreat and then stabilized again.

Research could lead to improved oil recovery, better environmental cleanup Posted: 02 Aug 2012 11:14 AM PDT Researchers have taken a new look at an old, but seldom-used technique developed by the petroleum industry to recover oil, and learned more about why it works, how it could be improved, and how it might be able to make a comeback not only in oil recovery but also environmental cleanup.

Climate warming refuted as reason for plant shifts in high-profile 2008 study Posted: 02 Aug 2012 11:14 AM PDT The simple model of how plants handle climate change doesn't always explain what's going on.

Healthy seafood comes from sustainable fish Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:26 AM PDT When ordering seafood, the options are many and so are some of the things you might consider in what you order. Is your fish healthy? Is it safe? Is it endangered? While there are many services offered to help you decide, a group of researchers have found a simple rule of thumb applies. "If the fish is sustainable, then it is likely to be healthy to eat too," said one of the authors.

Major recent earthquakes across the globe probably not linked Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:26 AM PDT The past decade has been plagued with what seems to be a cluster of large earthquakes, with massive quakes striking Sumatra, Chile, Haiti and Japan since 2004. Some researchers have suggested that this cluster has occurred because the earthquakes may be 'communicating' across large distances, possibly triggering each other. But a new analysis concludes that the cluster could just as well be the result of random chance.

Upgrading synthetic biology's toolkit: New method could enable reprogramming of mammalian cells Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:25 AM PDT A new method for creating genetic components dramatically expands synthetic biologists' toolkit beyond off-the-shelf bacterial components, greatly expanding the size and complexity of genetic circuits they can build. Applications include stem cell therapeutics and in-cell devices to diagnose early-state cancer and other diseases.

How protein component that enables cell replication gets ferried to chromosome tips Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:25 AM PDT Stem cells are special. Nestled in muscle and skin, organ and bone, they bide their time over years or decades until called to replace damaged or lost tissue. One secret to their longevity is an enzyme called telomerase, which stills the relentless ticking of the molecular clock that limits the life span of other cells.

Ethylene of no effect: Why peppers do not mature after picking Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:24 AM PDT The plant hormone ethylene lets green tomatoes ripen even after the harvest, whereas the closely related chili peppers show no such effect. Researchers wanted to understand the reason for that and compared gene expression levels and metabolic pathways of both plant species. Understanding the ripening process is important to minimize the amount of food that festers on the way from the producer to the consumer.

Infants exposed to specific molds have higher asthma risk Posted: 02 Aug 2012 08:15 AM PDT In the United States, one in ten children suffers from asthma but the potential environmental factors contributing to the disease are not well known. Researchers now report new evidence that exposure to three types of mold during infancy may have a direct link to asthma development during childhood.

Skin cancer identified for the first time in wild fish populations, beneath ozone layer hole Posted: 01 Aug 2012 03:51 PM PDT Scientists identify melanoma in the coral trout, a species found on the Great Barrier Reef and directly beneath the world's largest hole in the ozone layer.

Controlling gene expression with hydrogen peroxide 'switches' Posted: 01 Aug 2012 08:35 AM PDT Hydrogen peroxide doesn't just come in bottles from the drugstore – the human body makes it as well. Now researchers have found a way to use naturally occurring hydrogen peroxide inside cells to switch on gene expression.

Rewarding work for butterflies Posted: 01 Aug 2012 06:37 AM PDT Butterflies learn faster when a flower is rewarding than when it is not, and females have the edge over males when it comes to speed of learning with rewards. This research is thought to be the first to investigate and compare the speed at which insects learn from both rewarding and non-rewarding experiences.

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