ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Plant water demands shift with water availability
• In the land of the free, interdependence undermines Americans' motivation to act
• First Global Assessment of Land and Water ‘Grabbing’
• Public acceptance of climate change affected by word usage
• Tiny fossils hold answers to big questions on climate change: Research explores 12,000 year fossil record
• Odd biochemistry yields lethal bacterial protein
• NASA ozone study may benefit air standards, climate
• Mother bear knows best place to call home
• Antibacterial agent used in common soaps found in increasing amounts in freshwater lakes
• Immune system molecule with hidden talents
• Sex of early birds suggests dinosaur reproductive style: New way to identify gender of ancient avian species
• Cell biology: A diffusion trap
• Paradise found for Latin America's largest land mammal
• Monkeys stressed from longer foraging times
• Analysis of fracking wastewater yields some surprises
• Harmful effects of bisphenol A demonstrated experimentally
• Unprecedented glacier melting in the Andes blamed on climate change
• Synchrotron infrared unveils a mysterious microbial community
• Curious interaction in regeneration of oak forests: Voles know which acorns have insect larvae
• Tiny molecules preserve stem cells: Research shows what makes constant plant growth possible
• Wood on the seafloor: An oasis for deep-sea life

Plant water demands shift with water availability Posted: 22 Jan 2013 11:32 AM PST Plants can adapt to extreme shifts in water availability, such as drought and flooding, but their ability to withstand these extreme patterns will be tested by future climate change, according to a new study.

In the land of the free, interdependence undermines Americans' motivation to act Posted: 22 Jan 2013 11:32 AM PST Public campaigns that call upon people to think and act interdependently may undermine motivation for many Americans, according to new research.

First Global Assessment of Land and Water ‘Grabbing’ Posted: 22 Jan 2013 11:28 AM PST A new study provides the first global quantitative assessment of land and water "grabbing" for food production by wealthier nations in generally poorer countries.

Public acceptance of climate change affected by word usage Posted: 22 Jan 2013 09:24 AM PST Public acceptance of climate change's reality may have been influenced by the rate at which words moved from scientific journals into the mainstream, according to an anthropologist.

Tiny fossils hold answers to big questions on climate change: Research explores 12,000 year fossil record Posted: 22 Jan 2013 09:24 AM PST A new study reveals a unique 12,000 year record of marine algae fossils that may hold clues about past climate change.

Odd biochemistry yields lethal bacterial protein Posted: 22 Jan 2013 09:23 AM PST While working out the structure of a cell-killing protein produced by some strains of the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis, researchers stumbled on a bit of unusual biochemistry. They found that a single enzyme helps form distinctly different, three-dimensional ring structures in the protein, one of which had never been observed before.

NASA ozone study may benefit air standards, climate Posted: 22 Jan 2013 08:18 AM PST A new NASA-led study finds that when it comes to combating global warming caused by emissions of ozone-forming chemicals, location matters.

Mother bear knows best place to call home Posted: 22 Jan 2013 08:17 AM PST Mama bear appears to know best when it comes to selecting a place to call home, according to a new study. The research, which may ultimately help protect Alberta's dwindling population of grizzly bears, is among the first of its kind to test the nature-versus-nurture debate on how large, free-ranging wildlife select habitat.

Antibacterial agent used in common soaps found in increasing amounts in freshwater lakes Posted: 22 Jan 2013 08:16 AM PST A new study determined that the common antibacterial agent, called triclosan, used in soaps and many other products is found in increasing amounts in several Minnesota freshwater lakes. The findings are directly linked to increased triclosan use over the past few decades.

Immune system molecule with hidden talents Posted: 22 Jan 2013 08:16 AM PST Researchers have discovered that dendritic cells are dependent upon the support from a class of immune system molecules, which have never before been associated with dendritic cells: Antibodies, best known for their role in vaccinations and diagnostics.

Sex of early birds suggests dinosaur reproductive style: New way to identify gender of ancient avian species Posted: 22 Jan 2013 08:16 AM PST Paleontologists have discovered a way to determine the sex of a prehistoric bird species. Confuciusornis sanctus, a 125-million-year-old Mesozoic bird, had remarkable differences in plumage -- some had long, almost body length ornamental tail feathers, others had none -- features that have been interpreted as the earliest example of avian courtship. However, the idea that male Confuciusornis birds had ornamental plumage, and females did not, has not been proven until now.

Cell biology: A diffusion trap Posted: 22 Jan 2013 08:16 AM PST Sticky spots on cell membranes hold onto the master regulator of cell polarity, helping to ensure that the regulatory protein accumulates in high enough concentrations to trigger cell polarity.

Paradise found for Latin America's largest land mammal Posted: 22 Jan 2013 08:15 AM PST Scientists have documented a thriving population of lowland tapirs – the strange forest and grassland-dwelling herbivore with the trunk-like snout – living along the Peru-Bolivia border.

Monkeys stressed from longer foraging times Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:21 AM PST Disturbed habitats are resulting in increasingly poor diets for monkeys, and the additional time required to find food is causing concerning levels of stress in endangered primates.

Analysis of fracking wastewater yields some surprises Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:21 AM PST Hydraulically fractured natural gas wells are producing less wastewater per unit of gas recovered than conventional wells would. But the scale of fracking operations in the Marcellus shale region is so vast that the wastewater it produces threatens to overwhelm the region's wastewater disposal capacity, according to new analysis.

Harmful effects of bisphenol A demonstrated experimentally Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:19 AM PST Weak concentrations of bisphenol A are sufficient to produce a negative reaction on the human testicle. This has just been shown experimentally.

Unprecedented glacier melting in the Andes blamed on climate change Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:19 AM PST Glaciers in the tropical Andes have been retreating at increasing rate since the 1970s, scientists write in the most comprehensive review to date of Andean glacier observations. The researchers blame the melting on rising temperatures as the region has warmed about 0.7°C over the past 50 years (1950-1994). This unprecedented retreat could affect water supply to Andean populations in the near future.

Synchrotron infrared unveils a mysterious microbial community Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:19 AM PST A cold sulfur spring in Germany is the only place where archaea are known to dominate bacteria in a microbial community. How this unique community thrives and the lessons it may hold for understanding global carbon and sulfur cycles are beginning to emerge from research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, using the Advanced Light Source's Berkeley Synchrotron Infrared Structural Biology facility.

Curious interaction in regeneration of oak forests: Voles know which acorns have insect larvae Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:16 AM PST Researchers have observed as voles are able to distinguish the acorns containing insect larvae from those that do not. This fact determines the dispersion and germination of acorns, and therefore the regeneration of forests of oaks.

Tiny molecules preserve stem cells: Research shows what makes constant plant growth possible Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:14 AM PST Stem cells, found at the tips of the shoots and roots of plants, can transform themselves into other types of cells and develop new organs, such as leaves, fruits, and twigs, throughout the entire lifespan of a plant. However, in order for the plant to continue growing and developing organs, several cells at the tips of the shoots and roots have to remain stem cells. New research confirms that plants need a micro-RNA at the tip of their shoots to prevent all of the stem cells from transforming themselves into other cell types.

Wood on the seafloor: An oasis for deep-sea life Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:14 AM PST Sunken woods promote the dispersal of rare deep-sea animals, forming hotspots of biodiversity at the deep seafloor.

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