ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Southern hemisphere becoming drier: Decline in April-May rainfall over south-east Australia
• Like humans, monkeys can make irrational decisions when making choices
• Key environmental factors influencing manta ray behavior identified
• Early humans began eating meat earlier than thought: Oldest known evidence of anemia caused by a nutritional deficiency
• Mathematics of leaf decay: A mathematical model reveals commonality within the diversity of leaf decay
• A complete solution for oil-spill cleanup
• Tomb of Maya queen K'abel discovered in Guatemala
• Graphene nanopores can be controlled: Less costly ways of sequencing DNA
• Onset of flu season raises concerns about human-to-pet transmission
• That's no primate: It's a fish! New look at fossil of 'lemur without a nose'
• Ecologists start new Antarctic season comparing animals' handling of adversity
• Deforestation in snowy regions causes more floods
• New ways to protect avocados from beetles
• Which came first, shells or no shells? Ancient mollusk tells a contrary story
• Methane emissions can be traced back to Roman times
• It's not too late for coral reefs, experts say
• Arctic sea ice shatters previous low records; Antarctic sea ice edges to record high
• Sea urchin's spiny strength revealed
• New fanged dwarf dinosaur from Africa ate plants
• The brief but violent life of monogenetic volcanoes
• Almost 50% of fruits and vegetables in the EU is not consumed

Southern hemisphere becoming drier: Decline in April-May rainfall over south-east Australia Posted: 03 Oct 2012 04:51 PM PDT A decline in April-May rainfall over south-east Australia is associated with a southward expansion of the subtropical dry-zone.

Like humans, monkeys can make irrational decisions when making choices Posted: 03 Oct 2012 04:51 PM PDT When making decisions about the value of an assortment of different objects, people approximate an average overall value, which though frequently useful can lead to apparently irrational decision-making. A new study shows for the first time that non-human primates also make similar "irrational" choices based on approximation.

Key environmental factors influencing manta ray behavior identified Posted: 03 Oct 2012 04:51 PM PDT Manta rays are more likely to gather together under either a new or a full moon, according to new research published Oct. 3 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Fabrice Jaine and colleagues at the University of Queensland.

Early humans began eating meat earlier than thought: Oldest known evidence of anemia caused by a nutritional deficiency Posted: 03 Oct 2012 04:51 PM PDT A fragment of a child's skull discovered at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, shows the oldest known evidence of anemia caused by a nutritional deficiency, reports a new article. The discovery suggests that early human ancestors began eating meat much earlier in history than previously believed.

Mathematics of leaf decay: A mathematical model reveals commonality within the diversity of leaf decay Posted: 03 Oct 2012 01:37 PM PDT Researchers have analyzed data from a variety of forests and ecosystems across North America, and discovered general trends in decay rates among all leaves. The scientists devised a mathematical procedure to transform observations of decay into distributions of rates. They found that the shape of the resulting curve is independent of climate, location and leaf composition. However, the details of that shape -- the range of rates that it spans, and the mean rate -- vary with climatic conditions and plant composition. In general, the scientists found that plant composition determines the range of rates, and that as temperatures increase, all plant matter decays faster.

A complete solution for oil-spill cleanup Posted: 03 Oct 2012 12:09 PM PDT Scientists are describing what may be a "complete solution" to cleaning up oil spills -- a super-absorbent material that sops up 40 times its own weight in oil and then can be shipped to an oil refinery and processed to recover the oil.

Tomb of Maya queen K'abel discovered in Guatemala Posted: 03 Oct 2012 11:14 AM PDT Archaeologists in Guatemala have discovered the tomb of Lady K'abel, a seventh-century Maya Holy Snake Lord considered one of the great queens of Classic Maya civilization. The tomb was discovered during excavations of the royal Maya city of El Perú-Waka' in northwestern Petén, Guatemala.

Graphene nanopores can be controlled: Less costly ways of sequencing DNA Posted: 03 Oct 2012 11:14 AM PDT Engineers have used advanced techniques to make the material graphene small enough to read DNA. Shrinking the size of a graphene pore to less than one nanometer opens the possibility of graphene as a low-cost tool to sequence DNA.

Onset of flu season raises concerns about human-to-pet transmission Posted: 03 Oct 2012 11:10 AM PDT As flu season approaches, people who get sick may not realize they can pass the flu not only to other humans, but possibly to other animals, including pets such as cats, dogs and ferrets. This concept, called "reverse zoonosis," is still poorly understood but has raised concern among some scientists and veterinarians.

That's no primate: It's a fish! New look at fossil of 'lemur without a nose' Posted: 03 Oct 2012 10:42 AM PDT A seven million-year-old South American fossil from a species known as Arrhinolemur scalabrinii -- which translates literally to "Scalabrini's lemur without a nose" -- has long been a curiosity because there is only one specimen in existence and it is unlike most other primates. There is a reason for that, scientists have discovered. The lemur without a nose is actually a fish.

Ecologists start new Antarctic season comparing animals' handling of adversity Posted: 03 Oct 2012 10:24 AM PDT Ecologists who are about to return to Antarctica have found that Weddell seals were better than Emperor penguins at handling adverse conditions from icebergs.

Deforestation in snowy regions causes more floods Posted: 03 Oct 2012 10:23 AM PDT New research suggests that cutting down swaths of forest in snowy regions at least doubles -- and potentially quadruples -- the number of large floods that occur along the rivers and streams passing through those forests.

New ways to protect avocados from beetles Posted: 03 Oct 2012 10:23 AM PDT Scientists are coming up with new strategies to combat a beetle threatening avocado trees in the U.S.

Which came first, shells or no shells? Ancient mollusk tells a contrary story Posted: 03 Oct 2012 10:23 AM PDT A fossil unearthed in Great Britain may end a long-running debate about the mollusks, one of life's most diverse invertebrate groups: Which evolved first, shelled forms like clams and snails, or their shell-less, worm-like relatives?

Methane emissions can be traced back to Roman times Posted: 03 Oct 2012 10:23 AM PDT Emissions of the greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere can be traced back thousands of years in the Greenland ice sheet. Using special analytical methods, researchers have determined how much methane originates from natural sources and how much is due to human activity. The results go back to Roman times and up to the present, where more than half of the emissions are now human-made.

It's not too late for coral reefs, experts say Posted: 03 Oct 2012 10:20 AM PDT Coral reefs – ecosystems of incredible environmental and economic value – are showing evidence of significant degradation, but do not have to be doomed. We can make a difference, researchers say.

Arctic sea ice shatters previous low records; Antarctic sea ice edges to record high Posted: 03 Oct 2012 07:37 AM PDT This September, sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean fell to the lowest extent in the satellite record, which began in 1979. Satellite data showed that the sea ice cover reached its lowest extent on September 16. Sea ice extent averaged for the month of September was also the lowest in the satellite record. As the Arctic was experiencing a record low minimum extent, the Antarctic sea ice was reaching record high levels, culminating in a Southern Hemisphere winter maximum extent of 19.44 million square kilometers (7.51 million square miles) on September 26.

Sea urchin's spiny strength revealed Posted: 03 Oct 2012 06:46 AM PDT For the first time, a team of Australian engineers has modelled the microscopic mechanics of a sea urchin's spine, gaining insight into how these unusual creatures withstand impacts in their aquatic environment.

New fanged dwarf dinosaur from Africa ate plants Posted: 03 Oct 2012 06:41 AM PDT With tiny one-inch long jaws, a new species of plant-eater has come to light in rocks in South Africa dating to the early dinosaur era, some 200 million years ago.

The brief but violent life of monogenetic volcanoes Posted: 03 Oct 2012 06:41 AM PDT A new study is providing insight into the explosive mechanisms of volcanoes that erupt just once, and then die.

Almost 50% of fruits and vegetables in the EU is not consumed Posted: 03 Oct 2012 05:27 AM PDT Almost 50% of fruits and vegetables in the EU is not consumed. The main losses are connected to the production of fresh produce. 20% of the fresh produce is lost due to among others: accidental damage during threshing or fruit picking, damage by insects, mechanical damage and/or spillage during harvest operation and crops sorted out post-harvest following quality requirements by supermarkets and other companies. The lack of tuning between supply and demand is another reason for losses.

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