ScienceDaily: Top Environment News |
- How do songbirds sing? In 3-D!
- Engineered bacteria make fuel from sunlight
- Giant fossil predator provides insights into the rise of modern marine ecosystem structures
- Mountains are only minor contributors to erosion and climate regulation
- Who deforested Central Africa: Humans or climate?
- Stink bug: Combating a top-ranked invasive insect
- Captive hyenas outfox wild relatives
- 'Junk DNA' made visible before the final cut
- Major cuts to surging carbon dioxide emissions are needed now, not down the road, study finds
- Seismic fabric coming on the market
- First fossil bird with teeth specialized for tough diet
- Counting the cost of mercury pollution
- Pollen exposure during pregnancy affects child's risk of early asthma, study finds
- Archaeologists unearth more than 300 prehistoric clay figurines in Greece
- Protein production: Going viral
- Corn could help farmers fight devastating weed
| How do songbirds sing? In 3-D! Posted: 07 Jan 2013 04:07 PM PST Like humans, songbirds learn their vocalizations by imitation. Since their songs are used for finding a mate and retaining territories, birdsong is very important for reproductive success. High-field magnetic resonance imaging and micro-computed tomography have been used to construct stunning high resolution, 3-D, images, as well as a data set "morphome" of the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) vocal organ, the syrinx.  |
| Engineered bacteria make fuel from sunlight Posted: 07 Jan 2013 02:17 PM PST Chemists have engineered blue-green algae to grow chemical precursors for fuels and plastics -- the first step in replacing fossil fuels as raw materials for the chemical industry.  |
| Giant fossil predator provides insights into the rise of modern marine ecosystem structures Posted: 07 Jan 2013 12:14 PM PST An international team of scientists has described a fossil marine predator measuring 8.6 meters in length (about 28 feet) recovered from the Nevada desert in 2010 as representing the first top predator in marine food chains feeding on prey similar to its own size.  |
| Mountains are only minor contributors to erosion and climate regulation Posted: 07 Jan 2013 09:10 AM PST For years, geologists believed that mountains, due to their steep slopes and high rates of erosion, were large contributors to the trapping of carbon in ocean sediment. But a new study suggests that mountains do not play a significant role in this activity, turning a geological paradigm on its head.  |
| Who deforested Central Africa: Humans or climate? Posted: 07 Jan 2013 08:14 AM PST It is a much debated question: why did Central African forests become partially fragmented between 2,500 and 2,000 years ago, leaving room for more open forest landscapes and savannah? Recently, researchers attempted to explain that it was the farming Bantu peoples who were responsible for this, through the large-scale clearing that they undertook.  |
| Stink bug: Combating a top-ranked invasive insect Posted: 07 Jan 2013 08:05 AM PST The stink bug, an invasive species, is a major economic threat to orchard fruits, garden vegetables and row crops. Scientists are searching for ways to control the stink bug by deciphering its genetic toolkit, studying the pheromones it releases, and evaluating potential attractants for use in commercial traps.  |
| Captive hyenas outfox wild relatives Posted: 07 Jan 2013 08:05 AM PST When it comes to solving puzzles, animals in captivity are, well, different animals than their wild brethren.  |
| 'Junk DNA' made visible before the final cut Posted: 07 Jan 2013 07:00 AM PST New research is shining a light on an important regulatory role performed by the so-called dark matter, or "junk DNA," within each of our genes.  |
| Major cuts to surging carbon dioxide emissions are needed now, not down the road, study finds Posted: 07 Jan 2013 07:00 AM PST Halting climate change will require "a fundamental and disruptive overhaul of the global energy system" to eradicate harmful carbon dioxide emissions, not just stabilize them, according to new findings.  |
| Seismic fabric coming on the market Posted: 07 Jan 2013 06:57 AM PST In the case of earthquakes, only seconds may remain for a safe escape from buildings. Debris falling down and obstructing the escape routes may even aggravate the situation. A new product extends the time for saving lives by reinforcing walls and keeping off the debris.  |
| First fossil bird with teeth specialized for tough diet Posted: 07 Jan 2013 05:26 AM PST Beak shape variation in Darwin's finches is a classic example of evolutionary adaptation, with beaks that vary widely in proportions and shape, reflecting a diversity of ecologies. While living birds have a beak to manipulate their food, their fossil bird ancestors had teeth. Now a new fossil discovery shows some fossil birds evolved teeth adapted for specialized diets.  |
| Counting the cost of mercury pollution Posted: 07 Jan 2013 05:23 AM PST Cleaning up mercury pollution and reducing prenatal exposure to the neurotoxin methylmercury (MeHg) could save the European Union 10,000 million euros per year, finds a new study. New estimates suggest that between 1.5 and 2 million children in the EU are born each year with MeHg exposures above the safe limit of 0.58 micrograms per gram and 200,000 above the WHO recommended maximum of 2.5 micrograms per gram.  |
| Pollen exposure during pregnancy affects child's risk of early asthma, study finds Posted: 07 Jan 2013 05:22 AM PST A woman's exposure to high pollen levels in late pregnancy increases the risk of early asthma in the child, according to a group of researchers in Sweden.  |
| Archaeologists unearth more than 300 prehistoric clay figurines in Greece Posted: 07 Jan 2013 05:22 AM PST Archaeologists studying a Neolithic archaeological site in central Greece have helped unearth over 300 clay figurines, one of the highest density for such finds in south-eastern Europe.  |
| Protein production: Going viral Posted: 07 Jan 2013 05:22 AM PST Scientists have, for the first time, described in molecular detail the architecture of the central scaffold of TFIID: the human protein complex essential for transcription from DNA to mRNA. The study opens new perspectives in the study of transcription and of the structure and mechanism of other large multi-protein assemblies involved in gene regulation.  |
| Corn could help farmers fight devastating weed Posted: 07 Jan 2013 05:15 AM PST Researchers in China investigate corn's ability to act as a trap crop and control sunflower broomrape.  |
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