ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Cheating slime mold gets the upper hand
• Australia's stampeding dinosaurs take a dip: Largely tracks of swimming rather than running animals
• Pythons, lionfish and now willow invade Florida's waterways
• Chemists devise inexpensive, benchtop method for marking and selecting cells
• Jurassic ecosystems were similar to modern: Animals flourish among lush plants
• Global warming beneficial to ratsnakes
• 2012 was warmest and second most extreme year on record for the contiguous U.S.
• New biochip technology uses tiny whirlpools to corral microbes
• Genetic matchmaking saves endangered frogs
• Graphene oxide soaks up radioactive waste: U.S., Russian researchers collaborate on solution to toxic groundwater woes
• Females tagged in wasp mating game
• Heat-resistant corals provide clues to climate change survival
• DNA prefers to dive head first into nanopores
• Computer, electrical engineers working to help biologists cope with big data
• Molds are able to reproduce sexually: Researchers grow penicillin-producing fungi with new properties
• Flame retardant pollutants found at far-flung locations, including Indonesia, Nepal and Tasmania

Cheating slime mold gets the upper hand Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:15 PM PST A  'cheater' mutation (chtB) in Dictyostelium discoideum, a free living slime mould able to co-operate as social organism when food is scarce, allows the cheater strain to exploit its social partner, finds a new study. The mutation ensures that when mixed with 'normal' Dictyostelium  more than the fair share of cheaters become spores, dispersing to a new environment, and avoiding dying as stalk cells.

Australia's stampeding dinosaurs take a dip: Largely tracks of swimming rather than running animals Posted: 08 Jan 2013 04:02 PM PST Queensland paleontologists have discovered that the world's only recorded dinosaur stampede is largely made up of the tracks of swimming rather than running animals.

Pythons, lionfish and now willow invade Florida's waterways Posted: 08 Jan 2013 12:12 PM PST Foreign invaders such as pythons and lionfish are not the only threats to Florida's natural habitat. The native Carolina Willow is also starting to strangle portions of the St. Johns River.

Chemists devise inexpensive, benchtop method for marking and selecting cells Posted: 08 Jan 2013 12:11 PM PST Chemists have found an easier way to perform one of the most fundamental tasks in molecular biology. Their new method allows scientists to add a marker to certain cells, so that these cells may be easily located and/or selected out from a larger cell population.

Jurassic ecosystems were similar to modern: Animals flourish among lush plants Posted: 08 Jan 2013 10:20 AM PST In modern ecosystems, animals flourish amid lush vegetation. That was true 150 million years ago too, says a new study by paleontologists. They applied ecological principles to geochemical data from fossil soils and found scientists can infer animal diversity from it: "This illustrates that climate and biota have been ecologically connected for millions of years, indicating human change to global climate will have profound impacts on plants and animals."

Global warming beneficial to ratsnakes Posted: 08 Jan 2013 10:20 AM PST Speculation about how animals will respond to climate change due to global warming led researchers to conduct a study of ratsnakes at three different latitudes -- Ontario, Illinois, and Texas. His findings suggest that ratsnakes will be able to adapt to the higher temperatures by becoming more active at night.

2012 was warmest and second most extreme year on record for the contiguous U.S. Posted: 08 Jan 2013 10:11 AM PST According to NOAA scientists, 2012 marked the warmest year on record for the contiguous United States with the year consisting of a record warm spring, second warmest summer, fourth warmest winter and a warmer-than-average autumn. The average temperature for 2012 was 55.3°F, 3.2°F above the 20th century average, and 1.0°F above 1998, the previous warmest year.

New biochip technology uses tiny whirlpools to corral microbes Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:29 AM PST Researchers have demonstrated a new technology that combines a laser and electric fields to create tiny centrifuge-like whirlpools to separate particles and microbes by size, a potential lab-on-a-chip system for medicine and research.

Genetic matchmaking saves endangered frogs Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:29 AM PST What if Noah got it wrong? What if he paired a male and a female animal thinking they were the same species, and then discovered they were not the same and could not produce offspring? As researchers from the Smithsonian's Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project race to save frogs from a devastating disease by breeding them in captivity, a genetic test averts mating mix-ups.

Graphene oxide soaks up radioactive waste: U.S., Russian researchers collaborate on solution to toxic groundwater woes Posted: 08 Jan 2013 08:24 AM PST Graphene oxide has a remarkable ability to quickly remove radioactive material from contaminated water, researchers in the United States and Russia have found. The discovery could be a boon in the cleanup of contaminated sites like the Fukushima nuclear plants damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. It could also cut the cost of hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") for oil and gas recovery and help reboot American mining of rare earth metals.

Females tagged in wasp mating game Posted: 08 Jan 2013 08:24 AM PST The flick of an antenna may be how a male wasp lays claim to his harem, according to new research. A team of biologists found that when a male targeted a female, he would approach from her from the left side, and once in range, uses the tip of his antenna to tap her antenna.

Heat-resistant corals provide clues to climate change survival Posted: 08 Jan 2013 06:18 AM PST In a future shaped by climate change, only the strong -- or heat-resistant -- will survive. A new study opens a window into a genetic process that allows some corals to withstand unusually high temperatures and may hold a key to species survival for organisms around the world.

DNA prefers to dive head first into nanopores Posted: 08 Jan 2013 06:18 AM PST A new study from Brown University researchers finds that DNA strands have a natural tendency to be pulled through nanopores headfirst. The research answers some fundamental questions about how DNA interacts with nanopores, which soon may enable lightning fast DNA analysis.

Computer, electrical engineers working to help biologists cope with big data Posted: 08 Jan 2013 06:17 AM PST Computer and electrical engineers are developing computing tools to help biologists analyze all the data produced by today's research instruments.

Molds are able to reproduce sexually: Researchers grow penicillin-producing fungi with new properties Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:41 AM PST For over 100 years, it was assumed that the penicillin-producing mold fungus, Penicillium chrysogenum, only reproduced asexually through spores. Biologists have now shown for the first time that the fungus also has a sexual cycle, i.e. two "genders."

Flame retardant pollutants found at far-flung locations, including Indonesia, Nepal and Tasmania Posted: 08 Jan 2013 05:38 AM PST Chemicals used as flame retardants are present as environmental pollutants at locations around the globe, including remote sites in Indonesia, Nepal and Tasmania, according to a new study.

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