ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• NASA maps how nutrients affect plant productivity
• NASA adds up Hurricane Sandy's rainfall from space
• Why seas are rising ahead of predictions: Estimates of rate of future sea-level rise may be too low
• Stem cells could heal equine tendon injuries
• Staying still or going hunting: Which works better for a hungry ocean microbe?
• Chloroplast breakthrough could help unlock key to controlling fruit ripening in crops, research suggests
• Air pollution, gone with the wind: Proposed new building guidelines to clean up the air we breath
• USDA patents method to reduce ammonia emissions
• Solving a biological mystery: Gene related to germ cell formation is far older than first thought
• Brain may 'see' more than the eyes, fruit fly study indicates
• Asteroid belts of just the right size are friendly to life
• New technique enables high-sensitivity view of cellular functions
• An elephant that speaks Korean
• Invading weeds are met by an offense of plant-eating insects
• Plants recognize pathogenic and beneficial microorganisms
• Long-term sea level rise in Washington, D.C. could have significant impact
• Cellular landscaping: Predicting how, and how fast, cells will change
• UK butterfly populations threatened by extreme drought and landscape fragmentation
• Nanosilver from clothing can pose major environmental problems
• Virtual reality puts human in rat world: 'Beaming' technology transforms human-animal interaction
• Western aspen trees commonly carry extra set of chromosomes
• Desert farming forms bacterial communities that promote drought resistance
• Pond skating insects reveal water-walking secrets
• Excess nitrogen fertiliser increasing warming in China
• Do Australia's giant fire-dependent trees belong in the rainforest?
• Inspiration from Mother Nature leads to improved wood
• Obese dogs at risk of health condition experienced by humans
• Scientists testing early warning system for West Nile virus
• Foggy perception slows us down

NASA maps how nutrients affect plant productivity Posted: 01 Nov 2012 02:51 PM PDT A new analysis has estimated how much the growth of plants worldwide is limited by the amount of nutrients available in their soil. The maps produced from the research will be particularly useful in evaluating how much carbon dioxide Earth's ecosystems may be able to soak up as greenhouse gas levels increase.

NASA adds up Hurricane Sandy's rainfall from space Posted: 01 Nov 2012 02:21 PM PDT NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, or TRMM, satellite acts as a rain gauge in space as it orbits the Earth's tropics. As TRMM flew over Hurricane Sandy since its birth on Oct. 21 it was gathering data that has now been mapped to show how much rain the storm dropped along the US eastern seaboard.

Why seas are rising ahead of predictions: Estimates of rate of future sea-level rise may be too low Posted: 01 Nov 2012 12:35 PM PDT Sea levels are rising faster than expected from global warming, and geologists now have a good idea why. The last official IPCC report in 2007 projected a global sea level rise between 0.2 and 0.5 meters by the year 2100. But current sea-level rise measurements meet or exceed the high end of that range and suggest a rise of one meter or more by the end of the century.

Stem cells could heal equine tendon injuries Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:11 AM PDT Tendon injuries affect athletic horses at all levels. Researchers are studying the use of stem cells in treating equine tendon injuries. Stem cells injections are already common veterinary medicine, and scientists are curious how to make stem cell treatments more effective.

Staying still or going hunting: Which works better for a hungry ocean microbe? Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:11 AM PDT For the kinds of animals that are most familiar to us -- ones that are big enough to see -- it's a no-brainer: Is it better to sit around and wait for food to come to you, or to move around and find it? Larger animals that opt to sit around aren't likely to last long. But for bacteria out in the ocean, the question is a far more complicated one.

Chloroplast breakthrough could help unlock key to controlling fruit ripening in crops, research suggests Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:10 AM PDT Biologists may have unearthed the potential to manipulate the functions of chloroplasts, the parts of plant cells responsible for photosynthesis. Researchers discovered that chloroplasts are affected by the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) -- a process which causes the breakdown of unwanted proteins in cells. As a result, the researchers believe they may be able to use specific proteins to regulate the functions of chloroplasts -- such as the conversion of chloroplasts into highly-pigmented chromoplasts during the ripening of fruit.

Air pollution, gone with the wind: Proposed new building guidelines to clean up the air we breath Posted: 01 Nov 2012 10:16 AM PDT As urban populations expand, downtown buildings are going nowhere but up. The huge energy needs of these skyscrapers mean that these towers are not only office buildings, they're polluters with smokestacks billowing out toxins from the rooftop. Our cities are dirtier than we think. New research just might clean them up.

USDA patents method to reduce ammonia emissions Posted: 01 Nov 2012 10:16 AM PDT Capturing and recycling ammonia from livestock waste is possible using a process developed by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers. This invention could help streamline on-farm nitrogen management by allowing farmers to reduce potentially harmful ammonia emissions and concentrate nitrogen in a liquid product to sell as fertilizer.

Solving a biological mystery: Gene related to germ cell formation is far older than first thought Posted: 01 Nov 2012 10:15 AM PDT Researchers have shown that insects like crickets possess a variation of a gene, called oskar, that has been shown to be critical to the production of germ cells in 'higher' insects, particularly fruit flies.

Brain may 'see' more than the eyes, fruit fly study indicates Posted: 01 Nov 2012 10:12 AM PDT Vision may be less important to "seeing" than is the brain's ability to process points of light into complex images, according to a new study of the fruit fly visual system. Researchers have found that the very simple eyes of fruit fly larvae, with only 24 total photoreceptors (the human eye contains more than 125 million), provide just enough light or visual input to allow the animal's relatively large brain to assemble that input into images.

Asteroid belts of just the right size are friendly to life Posted: 01 Nov 2012 10:12 AM PDT Solar systems with life-bearing planets may be rare if they are dependent on the presence of asteroid belts of just the right mass, according to a new study. Researchers suggest that the size and location of an asteroid belt, shaped by the evolution of the Sun's protoplanetary disk and by the gravitational influence of a nearby giant Jupiter-like planet, may determine whether complex life will evolve on an Earth-like planet.

New technique enables high-sensitivity view of cellular functions Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:15 AM PDT Researchers have developed a tool to detect low levels of sugars produced by living organisms.

An elephant that speaks Korean Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:15 AM PDT An Asian elephant named Koshik can imitate human speech, speaking words in Korean that can be readily understood by those who know the language. The elephant accomplishes this in a most unusual way: he vocalizes with his trunk in his mouth.

Invading weeds are met by an offense of plant-eating insects Posted: 01 Nov 2012 09:11 AM PDT What is the best course of action when an invading noxious weed threatens to attack crop yields and assault grazing land? Invite a friend to dinner. In this case, the friend is a plant-eating insect—the stem-mining weevil.

Plants recognize pathogenic and beneficial microorganisms Posted: 01 Nov 2012 08:05 AM PDT Researchers have discovered revealed new fundamental features of biomolecular interactions that enable plants to identify and respond appropriately to microorganisms.

Long-term sea level rise in Washington, D.C. could have significant impact Posted: 01 Nov 2012 07:49 AM PDT The U.S. capital is likely to face flooding and infrastructure damage in both the short- and long-term brought about by sea level rise (SLR), current trends and predicted increases suggest. The rise is linked to thermal expansion of the oceans and melting of global ice sheets as a result of global warming, researchers say in a new study focused on real-estate property and government infrastructure impacts in Washington, D.C.

Cellular landscaping: Predicting how, and how fast, cells will change Posted: 01 Nov 2012 07:02 AM PDT A research team has developed a model for making quantifiable predictions of how a group of cells will react and change in response to a given environment or stimulus -- and how quickly. The model, in principle, makes it possible to assign reliable numbers to the complex evolution of a population of cells, a critical capability for efficient biomanufacturing as well as for the safety of stem cell-based therapies, among other applications.

UK butterfly populations threatened by extreme drought and landscape fragmentation Posted: 01 Nov 2012 04:30 AM PDT A new study has found that the sensitivity and recovery of UK butterfly populations to extreme drought is affected by the overall area and degree of fragmentation of key habitat types in the landscape.

Nanosilver from clothing can pose major environmental problems Posted: 01 Nov 2012 04:30 AM PDT Silver nanoparticles can have a severe environmental impact if their utilisation in clothing continues to increase. If everyone buys one silver nanoparticle-treated sock a year, the silver concentration in waste water treatment plant sludge can double. If the sludge is subsequently used as fertilizer, the silver can cause long-term damage to agricultural land.

Virtual reality puts human in rat world: 'Beaming' technology transforms human-animal interaction Posted: 31 Oct 2012 06:42 PM PDT Using cutting-edge virtual reality technology, researchers have "beamed" a person into a rat facility allowing the rat and human to interact with each other on the same scale.

Western aspen trees commonly carry extra set of chromosomes Posted: 31 Oct 2012 06:41 PM PDT A large proportion of aspen in the western US sport an extra set of chromosomes in their cells, a phenomenon termed triploidy, according to new research. In some areas of southern Utah and Colorado, over 60 percent of aspen trees are triploid.

Desert farming forms bacterial communities that promote drought resistance Posted: 31 Oct 2012 06:41 PM PDT When there is little water available for plants to grow, their roots form alliances with soil microbes that can promote plant growth even under water-limiting conditions, according to new research.

Pond skating insects reveal water-walking secrets Posted: 31 Oct 2012 06:41 PM PDT An explanation of how pond skaters effortlessly skip across water leaving nothing but a small ripple in their wake has been made.

Excess nitrogen fertiliser increasing warming in China Posted: 31 Oct 2012 06:40 PM PDT Halving the amount of nitrogen fertilizer used in certain areas of China would substantially decrease greenhouse gas emissions without affecting crop productivity and the area's natural carbon sink, according to a new study.

Do Australia's giant fire-dependent trees belong in the rainforest? Posted: 31 Oct 2012 06:40 PM PDT Australia's giant eucalyptus trees are the tallest flowering plants on earth, yet their unique relationship with fire makes them a huge puzzle for ecologists. Now the first global assessment of these giants seeks to end a century of debate over the species' classification, a debate which may determine their future.

Inspiration from Mother Nature leads to improved wood Posted: 31 Oct 2012 09:50 AM PDT Using the legendary properties of heartwood from the black locust tree as their inspiration, scientists have discovered a way to improve the performance of softwoods widely used in construction. The method involves addition of similar kinds of flavonoid compounds that boost the health of humans.

Obese dogs at risk of health condition experienced by humans Posted: 31 Oct 2012 08:14 AM PDT Veterinary scientists have found that, like humans, obese dogs can experience metabolic syndrome, a condition that describes multiple health issues that occur in the body at the same time.

Scientists testing early warning system for West Nile virus Posted: 31 Oct 2012 08:07 AM PDT Using satellite imaging data from 2000 to the present, a scientist is testing an early warning system for West Nile virus risk in South Dakota. He predicted a high risk of West Nile virus for 2012, even though the state experienced a drought. And he was right.

Foggy perception slows us down Posted: 31 Oct 2012 05:15 AM PDT Fog is an atmospheric phenomenon that afflicts millions of drivers every day, impairing visibility and increasing the risk of an accident. The ways people respond to conditions of reduced visibility is a central topic in vision research. It has been shown that people tend to underestimate speeds when visibility is reduced equally at all distances, as for example, when driving with a uniformly fogged windshield. But what happens when the visibility decreases as you look further into the distance, as happens when driving in true fog?

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