ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Removing doubt over croc snout clout
• They hunt, they kill, they cheat: Single-celled algae shed light on social lives of microbes
• Climate change's effects on temperate rain forests surprisingly complex
• New insights on drought predictions in East Africa
• Ancient Earth's geochemistry: Some tectonic processes driving volcanic activity occurred 3.8 billion years ago
• Air pollution and unhappiness correlated, study of Europeans shows
• Wind in the willows boosts biofuel production: Trees grown diagonally produce five times more biofuel
• Improved stink bug trapping methods
• Melt ponds cause Artic sea ice to melt more rapidly
• Protein folding via charge zippers
• Heat waves, storms, flooding: Climate change to profoundly affect U.S. Midwest in coming decades
• Savanna study highlights African fuelwood crisis
• Molecular assembly line brings muscles into shape
• Nanowires fuel breakthrough for solar energy
• Thin film solar cells: New world record for solar cell efficiency
• Good bacteria in the intestine prevent diabetes, study suggests
• The cell that isn't: New technique captures division of membrane-less cells
• It’s a dog's life: Doggy database aims to define pet health
• Nano-gear in a nano-motor inside you: Molecular mechanism for generation of large force inside cells
• Genetic admixture in southern Africa
• How the flu virus tells time

Removing doubt over croc snout clout Posted: 18 Jan 2013 08:50 PM PST Researchers have shown how the shape of a crocodile's snout could determine its ability to feast on certain types of prey, from large mammals to small fish.

They hunt, they kill, they cheat: Single-celled algae shed light on social lives of microbes Posted: 18 Jan 2013 02:23 PM PST Cheating is rampant among microscopically small algae, biologists have discovered. Their study adds to the emerging view that microbes often have active social lives. Future research could potentially open up new approaches to control or counteract toxic algal blooms.

Climate change's effects on temperate rain forests surprisingly complex Posted: 18 Jan 2013 02:23 PM PST Longer, warmer growing seasons associated with a changing climate are altering growing conditions in temperate rain forests, but not all plant species will be negatively affected, according to new research.

New insights on drought predictions in East Africa Posted: 18 Jan 2013 11:53 AM PST New research helps explain the mechanisms at work behind historical patterns of aridity in Eastern Africa over many decades -- findings that may help improve future predictions of drought and food security in the region.

Ancient Earth's geochemistry: Some tectonic processes driving volcanic activity occurred 3.8 billion years ago Posted: 18 Jan 2013 10:01 AM PST Researchers still have much to learn about the volcanism that shaped our planet's early history. New evidence demonstrates that some of the tectonic processes driving volcanic activity, such as those taking place today, were occurring as early as 3.8 billion years ago.

Air pollution and unhappiness correlated, study of Europeans shows Posted: 18 Jan 2013 09:59 AM PST Researchers in Canada have found a correlation between air pollution and people's happiness. Their deep analysis suggests that air pollution may lead to unhappiness while the converse is also true, the unhappier the citizens of a country the more air pollution.

Wind in the willows boosts biofuel production: Trees grown diagonally produce five times more biofuel Posted: 18 Jan 2013 09:59 AM PST Willow trees cultivated for 'green energy' can yield up to five times more biofuel if they grow diagonally, compared with those that are allowed to grow naturally up towards the sky. This effect had been observed in the wild and in plantations, but scientists were previously unable to explain why some willows produced more biofuel than others.

Improved stink bug trapping methods Posted: 18 Jan 2013 08:26 AM PST Baited black traps in a pyramid shape attract significantly more brown marmorated stink bugs than other traps, according to scientists. Evaluating stink bug responses to different visual stimuli may help manufacturers design better traps for monitoring the bugs.

Melt ponds cause Artic sea ice to melt more rapidly Posted: 18 Jan 2013 08:17 AM PST The Arctic sea ice has not only declined over the past decade but has also become distinctly thinner and younger. Researchers are now observing mainly thin, first-year ice floes which are extensively covered with melt ponds in the summer months where once meter-thick, multi-year ice used to float.

Protein folding via charge zippers Posted: 18 Jan 2013 08:15 AM PST Membrane proteins are the "molecular machines" in biological cell envelopes. They control diverse processes, such as the transport of molecules across the lipid membrane, signal transduction, and photosynthesis. Their shape, i.e. folding of the molecules, plays a decisive role in the formation of, e.g., pores in the cell membrane. Scientists are now reporting a novel charge zipper principle used by proteins to form functional units.

Heat waves, storms, flooding: Climate change to profoundly affect U.S. Midwest in coming decades Posted: 18 Jan 2013 07:41 AM PST In the coming decades, climate change will lead to more frequent and more intense Midwest heat waves while degrading air and water quality and threatening public health. Intense rainstorms and floods will become more common, and existing risks to the Great Lakes will be exacerbated, according to a new report.

Savanna study highlights African fuelwood crisis Posted: 18 Jan 2013 04:22 AM PST The dwindling reserves of fuelwood in Africa have been illuminated in a new study, which shows a bleak outlook for supplies across savannas in South Africa.

Molecular assembly line brings muscles into shape Posted: 18 Jan 2013 03:48 AM PST Scientists have discovered the molecular basis underlying the patterned folding and assembly of muscle proteins.

Nanowires fuel breakthrough for solar energy Posted: 18 Jan 2013 03:47 AM PST Nanowires could pave the way for more efficient and cheaper solar cells. Research on solar cell nanowires is on the rise globally. Until now the unattained dream figure was ten per cent efficiency -- but now researchers are able to report an efficiency of 13.8 per cent.

Thin film solar cells: New world record for solar cell efficiency Posted: 18 Jan 2013 03:47 AM PST In a remarkable feat, scientists have developed thin film solar cells on flexible polymer foils with a new record efficiency of 20.4% for converting sunlight into electricity. The cells are based on CIGS semiconducting material (copper indium gallium (di)selenide) known for its potential to provide cost-effective solar electricity. The technology is currently awaiting scale-up for industrial applications.

Good bacteria in the intestine prevent diabetes, study suggests Posted: 18 Jan 2013 03:47 AM PST All humans have enormous numbers of bacteria and other micro-organisms in the lower intestine. New research suggests that the influence of the intestinal bacteria extends deep inside the body to influence the likelihood of getting diabetes. Scientists have been able to show that intestinal bacteria, especially in male mice, can produce biochemicals and hormones that stop diabetes developing.

The cell that isn't: New technique captures division of membrane-less cells Posted: 18 Jan 2013 03:47 AM PST A new technique allows scientists to study cell division without a cell membrane. There are several advantages: it can be physically constrained and manipulated; one can access nuclei which is normally buried deep in an opaque embryo; the method ican be combined with a wide-range of fruit fly genetics techniques. The method has revealed that, surprisingly, confined space not enough to restrict spindle size.

It’s a dog's life: Doggy database aims to define pet health Posted: 17 Jan 2013 08:00 PM PST Using data collected about Labrador Retrievers, new research is beginning to quantify the health, illnesses, and veterinary care of dogs. To date the long term (longitudinal) study of canine diseases has been patchy, relying on information from referral centers and details about pet illnesses which are not reported to a vet have never been studied before.

Nano-gear in a nano-motor inside you: Molecular mechanism for generation of large force inside cells Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:32 AM PST Diverse cellular processes require many tiny force-generating motor proteins to work in a team. Paradoxically, nature often chooses the weak and inefficient dynein motor to generate large persistent forces inside cells. Scientists now show that a reason for this choice may be dynein's special ability to speed up or slow down depending on the load it senses.

Genetic admixture in southern Africa Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:30 AM PST Researchers have investigated the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA of 500 individuals from southern Africa speaking different Khoisan and Bantu languages. Their results demonstrate that Khoisan foragers were genetically more diverse than previously known. Divergent mtDNA lineages from indigenous Khoisan groups were incorporated into the genepool of the immigrating Bantu-speaking agriculturalists through admixture, and have thus survived until the present day, although the Khoisan-speaking source populations themselves have become extinct.

How the flu virus tells time Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:29 AM PST According to researchers, the flu knows how much time it has to multiply, infect other cells, and spread to another human being. If it leaves a cell too soon, the virus is too weak. If it leaves too late, the immune system has time to kill the virus.

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