ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

---

• Mice show innate ability to vocalize: Deaf or not, courting male mice make same sounds
• Potential Chagas vaccine candidate shows unprecedented efficacy
• Researchers discover how model organism Tetrahymena plays roulette with seven sexes
• Why sticking around is sometimes the better choice for males
• 2011 Oklahoma temblor: Wastewater injection spurred biggest earthquake yet, study says
• Latest genomic studies of wheat sheds new light on crop adaptation and domestication
• Discovery may allow scientists to make fuel from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
• Hope for Galapagos wildlife threatened by marine invaders
• Unique mechanisms of antibiotic resistance identified
• Novel way plants pass traits to next generation: Inheritance behavior in corn breaks accepted rules of genetics
• Trees used to create recyclable, efficient solar cell
• Uncovering Africa's oldest known penguins
• Lemur lookalikes are two new species, DNA says
• Decreased water flow may be trade-off for more productive forest

Mice show innate ability to vocalize: Deaf or not, courting male mice make same sounds Posted: 26 Mar 2013 04:41 PM PDT While humans and birds must learn to vocalize, a neurophysiologist has found that deaf male mice will vocalize to females the same way as hearing mice. The finding points the way to a more finely focused, genetic tool for teasing out the mysteries of speech and its disorders.

Potential Chagas vaccine candidate shows unprecedented efficacy Posted: 26 Mar 2013 04:41 PM PDT Scientists are getting closer to a Chagas disease vaccine, something many believed impossible only 10 years ago. New research has resulted in a safe vaccine candidate that is simple to produce and shows a greater than 90 percent protection rate against chronic infection in mice.

Researchers discover how model organism Tetrahymena plays roulette with seven sexes Posted: 26 Mar 2013 04:41 PM PDT It's been more than fifty years since scientists discovered that the single-celled organism Tetrahymena thermophila has seven sexes. But in all that time, they've never known how each cell's sex, or "mating type," is determined; now they do.

Why sticking around is sometimes the better choice for males Posted: 26 Mar 2013 04:41 PM PDT Researchers have been able to provide one answer as to why males in many species still provide paternal care, even when their offspring may not belong to them. The study finds that, when the conditions are right, sticking around despite being "cuckolded" actually turns out to be the most successful evolutionary strategy.

2011 Oklahoma temblor: Wastewater injection spurred biggest earthquake yet, study says Posted: 26 Mar 2013 12:11 PM PDT A new study is the latest to tie a string of unusual earthquakes, in this case, in central Oklahoma, to injection of wastewater underground. Researchers now say that the magnitude 5.7 earthquake near Prague, Okla., on Nov. 6, 2011, may also be the largest ever linked to wastewater injection. Felt more than 800 miles away, the quake -- the biggest ever recorded in Oklahoma -- destroyed 14 homes, buckled a highway and left two people injured. Earthquakes continue to be recorded in the area.

Latest genomic studies of wheat sheds new light on crop adaptation and domestication Posted: 26 Mar 2013 08:23 AM PDT The latest genomic studies of wheat sheds new light on crop adaptation and domestication. The two projects sequenced and analyzed two ancestral wheat genomes of Triticum urartu and Aegilops tauschii, respectively, throwing light on the biology of the world's primary staple crop and providing valuable new resource for the genetic improvement of wheat.

Discovery may allow scientists to make fuel from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere Posted: 26 Mar 2013 08:23 AM PDT Excess carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere created by the widespread burning of fossil fuels is the major driving force of global climate change, and researchers the world over are looking for new ways to generate power that leaves a smaller carbon footprint. A new process is made possible by a unique microorganism called Pyrococcus furiosus, or "rushing fireball," which thrives by feeding on carbohydrates in the super-heated ocean waters near geothermal vents. By manipulating the organism's genetic material, scientists have created a kind of P. furiosus that is capable of feeding at much lower temperatures on carbon dioxide.

Hope for Galapagos wildlife threatened by marine invaders Posted: 26 Mar 2013 08:20 AM PDT Increasing tourism and the spread of marine invasive non-native species is threatening the unique plant and marine life around the Galapagos Islands.

Unique mechanisms of antibiotic resistance identified Posted: 26 Mar 2013 08:20 AM PDT Microbiologists have identified mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in a clinical isolate of E. coli resistant to carbapenems, a class of "last resort" antibiotics. The new study found the E. coli genetically mutated four times to resist the antibiotic, showing the lengths to which bacteria will go to survive.

Novel way plants pass traits to next generation: Inheritance behavior in corn breaks accepted rules of genetics Posted: 26 Mar 2013 08:20 AM PDT New research explains how certain traits can pass down from one generation to the next – at least in plants – without following the accepted rules of genetics.

Trees used to create recyclable, efficient solar cell Posted: 26 Mar 2013 08:19 AM PDT Researchers have developed efficient solar cells using natural substrates derived from plants such as trees. Just as importantly, by fabricating them on cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) substrates, the solar cells can be quickly recycled in water at the end of their lifecycle.

Uncovering Africa's oldest known penguins Posted: 26 Mar 2013 07:16 AM PDT Africa isn't the kind of place you might expect to find penguins. But one species lives in Africa today, and new fossils confirm that as many as four penguin species coexisted on the continent in the past. Exactly why African penguin diversity plummeted is still a mystery, but changing sea levels may be to blame. The fossils represent the oldest evidence of penguins in Africa, predating previously described fossils by 5 to 7 million years.

Lemur lookalikes are two new species, DNA says Posted: 26 Mar 2013 07:15 AM PDT Scientists have identified two new species of mouse lemur, the saucer-eyed, teacup-sized primates native to the African island of Madagascar.

Decreased water flow may be trade-off for more productive forest Posted: 25 Mar 2013 01:06 PM PDT As the need for carbon sequestration, biofuels, and other forest products increases, study suggests that there might be unintended consequences to enhancing ecosystems using fertilization.

You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Top Environment News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610