ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

---

• Extreme climate change linked to early animal evolution
• Hurricane Irene polluted Catskills watershed
• Researchers discover what vampire squids eat: It's not what you think
• Tracking koala disease: New findings from old DNA
• Biologist discovers mammal with salamander-like regenerative abilities
• Large 2012 earthquake triggered temblors worldwide for nearly a week
• Salt marsh carbon may play role in slowing climate warming
• Magnitude-8.7 quake was part of crustal plate breakup
• Taking the battle against the toxic trio beyond 'Leaves of three, leave it be'
• How is a Kindle like a cuttlefish? Parallels between e-Paper technology and biological organisms that change color
• Ancient Buddhist statue made of meteorite, new study reveals
• Coral hotspots found in deepwater canyons off northeast US coast
• Brain parts can evolve independently, shows analysis of brains of 10,000 mice
• Backpack-toting birds help researchers reveal migratory divide, conservation hotspots
• 3-D images of 300-million-year-old insects revealed
• Slave rebellion is widespread in ants
• Oldest ivory workshop in the world discovered in Saxony-Anhalt

Extreme climate change linked to early animal evolution Posted: 26 Sep 2012 01:17 PM PDT An international team of scientists has uncovered new evidence linking extreme climate change, oxygen rise, and early animal evolution.

Hurricane Irene polluted Catskills watershed Posted: 26 Sep 2012 11:17 AM PDT The water quality of lakes and coastal systems will be altered if hurricanes intensify in a warming world, according to a new study.

Researchers discover what vampire squids eat: It's not what you think Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:32 AM PDT Over the last 100 years, perhaps a dozen scientific papers have been published on the mysterious vampire squid, but no one has been able to figure out exactly what it eats. A new article shows for the first time that the vampire squid uses two thread-like filaments to capture bits of organic debris that sink down from the ocean surface into the deep sea.

Tracking koala disease: New findings from old DNA Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:32 AM PDT DNA extracted from the skins of koalas displayed in European and North American museums shows that a retrovirus has been a problem for the animals for much longer than was thought, according to researchers.

Biologist discovers mammal with salamander-like regenerative abilities Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:31 AM PDT A small African mammal with an unusual ability to regrow damaged tissues could inspire new research in regenerative medicine, a new study finds.

Large 2012 earthquake triggered temblors worldwide for nearly a week Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:31 AM PDT This year's largest earthquake, a magnitude 8.6 temblor on April 11 centered in the East Indian Ocean off Sumatra, did little damage, but it triggered quakes around the world for at least a week, according to a new analysis by seismologists.

Salt marsh carbon may play role in slowing climate warming Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:26 AM PDT A warming climate and rising seas will enable salt marshes to more rapidly capture and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, possibly playing a role in slowing the rate of climate change, according to a new study.

Magnitude-8.7 quake was part of crustal plate breakup Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:26 AM PDT Seismologists have known for years that the Indo-Australian plate of Earth's crust is slowly breaking apart, but they saw it in action last April when at least four faults broke in a magnitude-8.7 earthquake that may be the largest of its type ever recorded.

Taking the battle against the toxic trio beyond 'Leaves of three, leave it be' Posted: 26 Sep 2012 09:38 AM PDT With more than half of all adults allergic to poison ivy, oak and sumac, scientists are reporting an advance toward an inexpensive spray that could reveal the presence of the rash-causing toxic oil on the skin, clothing, garden tools, and even the family pet. Using the spray would enable people to wash off the oil, or avoid further contact, in time to sidestep days of misery.

How is a Kindle like a cuttlefish? Parallels between e-Paper technology and biological organisms that change color Posted: 26 Sep 2012 08:01 AM PDT New research examines parallels between e-Paper technology (the technology behind sunlight-readable devices like the Kindle) and biological organisms that change color.

Ancient Buddhist statue made of meteorite, new study reveals Posted: 26 Sep 2012 07:42 AM PDT An ancient Buddhist statue which was first recovered by a Nazi expedition in 1938 has been analyzed by a team of scientists. The probably 1,000-year-old statue, called the "Iron Man", weighs 10 kilograms, portrays the Buddhist god Vaisravana and is believed to originate from the pre-Buddhist Bon culture of the 11th Century. Geochemical analyses by the German-Austrian research team revealed that the priceless statue was carved from an ataxite, a very rare class of iron meteorites.

Coral hotspots found in deepwater canyons off northeast US coast Posted: 26 Sep 2012 06:45 AM PDT For the first time in decades, researchers have conducted an extensive exploration for deep-sea corals and sponges in submarine canyons off the northeastern coast of the US. The survey revealed coral "hotspots," and found that a new coral habitat suitability model could help predict where corals are likely to occur.

Brain parts can evolve independently, shows analysis of brains of 10,000 mice Posted: 26 Sep 2012 06:45 AM PDT Scientists have found compelling evidence that parts of the brain can evolve independently from each other. The brains of approximately 10,000 mice were analyzed. Seven individual parts of each brain were measured by volume and weight. The entire genome, except the Y chromosome, was scanned for each animal and the gene set for each brain part identified. The findings promise to significantly advance our understanding of the brain.

Backpack-toting birds help researchers reveal migratory divide, conservation hotspots Posted: 26 Sep 2012 06:45 AM PDT By outfitting two British Columbia subspecies of Swainson's thrushes with penny-sized, state-of-the-art geolocators, researchers have been able to map their wildly divergent migration routes and pinpoint conservation hotspots.

3-D images of 300-million-year-old insects revealed Posted: 26 Sep 2012 06:45 AM PDT Stunning 3-D images of 300-million-year-old insects have been revealed for the first time by researchers. The scientists have used a high resolution form of CT scanning to reconstruct two 305-million-year-old juvenile insects. Without the pioneering approach to imaging, these tiny insects -- which are three-dimensional holes in a rock -- would have been impossible to study.

Slave rebellion is widespread in ants Posted: 26 Sep 2012 06:29 AM PDT Enslaved worker ants kill the offspring of their parasites and thereby improve the chances of survival for their neighboring relatives. According to new research, this behavior now appears to be a widespread characteristic that is not limited to isolated occurrences.

Oldest ivory workshop in the world discovered in Saxony-Anhalt Posted: 26 Sep 2012 06:26 AM PDT Excavations at the mammoth hunting site of Breitenbach near Zeitz have uncovered a 35,000-year-old ivory workshop.

You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Top Environment News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610