ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Current global food production trajectory won't meet 2050 needs
• New details about H7N9 influenza infections that suddenly appeared in China
• Scientists date prehistoric bacterial invasion still present in today's plant and animal cells
• Less is more: Novel cellulose structure requires fewer enzymes to process biomass to fuel
• Biological fitness trumps other traits in mating game
• Powerful new technique to reveal protein function
• Simple and inexpensive process to make a material for CO2 adsorption
• Chemical that makes naked mole rats cancer-proof discovered
• Structure from disorder: Scientists find new source of versatility so 'floppy' proteins can get things done
• Was prehistoric rock art strategically placed to reveal a cosmological puzzle?
• The rhythm of the Arctic summer: Diverse activity patterns of birds during the Arctic breeding season
• Outlook is grim for mammals and birds as human population grows
• Origins of 'The Hoff' crab revealed
• Older males make better fathers says new research on beetles
• City slicker or country bumpkin: City-life changes blackbird personalities
• Siberian caves warn of permafrost meltdown
• Contribution of particulate matter from air pollution to forest decline
• New research backs genetic 'switches' in human evolution
• Possible record-setting deadzone for Gulf of Mexico predicted
• Long distance calls by sugar molecules
• New language discovery in remote Indigenous community in Australia reveals linguistic insights

Current global food production trajectory won't meet 2050 needs Posted: 19 Jun 2013 04:51 PM PDT Crop yields worldwide are not increasing quickly enough to support estimated global needs in 2050, according to a new study.

New details about H7N9 influenza infections that suddenly appeared in China Posted: 19 Jun 2013 01:48 PM PDT Researchers have revealed new information about the latest strain of type A influenza, known as H7N9.

Scientists date prehistoric bacterial invasion still present in today's plant and animal cells Posted: 19 Jun 2013 01:48 PM PDT How long ago did bacteria invade the one-celled ancestors of plants and animals to become energy-producing mitochondria and photosynthesizing chloroplasts? Researchers developed a statistical way to analyze the variation in genes common to mitochondria, chloroplasts and the eukaryotic nucleus to more precisely date these events. They found that the cyanobacterial invasion of plants took place millions of years more recently than thought.

Less is more: Novel cellulose structure requires fewer enzymes to process biomass to fuel Posted: 19 Jun 2013 01:47 PM PDT Improved methods for breaking down cellulose nanofibers are central to cost-effective biofuel production and the subject of new research. Scientists are investigating the unique properties of crystalline cellulose nanofibers to develop novel chemical pretreatments and designer enzymes for biofuel production from cellulosic -- or non-food -- plant-derived biomass.

Biological fitness trumps other traits in mating game Posted: 19 Jun 2013 01:47 PM PDT When a new species emerges following adaptive changes to its local environment, the process of choosing a mate can help protect the new species' genetic identity and increase the likelihood of its survival. But of the many observable traits in a potential mate, which particular traits does a female tend to prefer?

Powerful new technique to reveal protein function Posted: 19 Jun 2013 01:43 PM PDT A new technique allows scientists to study the function of individual proteins in individual cell types in a living organism, providing deeper insights into protein function by isolating its function. Until now there was no tool for this.

Simple and inexpensive process to make a material for CO2 adsorption Posted: 19 Jun 2013 01:15 PM PDT Researchers have developed a novel, simple method to synthesize hierarchically nanoporous frameworks of nanocrystalline metal oxides such as magnesia and ceria by the thermal conversion of well-designed metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).

Chemical that makes naked mole rats cancer-proof discovered Posted: 19 Jun 2013 10:24 AM PDT Scientists have discovered the chemical that makes naked mole rats cancer-proof. Naked mole rats are small, hairless, subterranean rodents that have never been known to get cancer, despite having a 30-year lifespan. Scientists discovered that these rodents are protected from cancer because their tissues are very rich with high molecular weight hyaluronan (HMW-HA).

Structure from disorder: Scientists find new source of versatility so 'floppy' proteins can get things done Posted: 19 Jun 2013 10:24 AM PDT Many proteins work like Swiss Army knives, fitting multiple functions into their elaborately folded structures. A bit mysteriously, some proteins manage to multitask even with structures that are unfolded and floppy -- "intrinsically disordered." Scientists have now discovered an important trick that a well-known intrinsically disordered protein uses to expand and control its functionality.

Was prehistoric rock art strategically placed to reveal a cosmological puzzle? Posted: 19 Jun 2013 09:21 AM PDT Recently, the discoveries of prehistoric rock art have become more common. With these discoveries, according to one researcher, comes a single giant one -- all these drawing and engravings map the prehistoric peoples' cosmological world.

The rhythm of the Arctic summer: Diverse activity patterns of birds during the Arctic breeding season Posted: 19 Jun 2013 09:21 AM PDT Our internal circadian clock regulates daily life processes and is synchronized by external cues, the so-called Zeitgebers. The main cue is the light-dark cycle, whose strength is largely reduced in extreme habitats such as in the Arctic during the polar summer. Using a radiotelemetry system biologists have now found, in four bird species in Alaska, different daily activity patterns ranging from strictly rhythmic to completely arrhythmic.

Outlook is grim for mammals and birds as human population grows Posted: 19 Jun 2013 07:26 AM PDT The ongoing global growth in the human population will inevitably crowd out mammals and birds and has the potential to threaten hundreds of species with extinction within 40 years, new research shows.

Origins of 'The Hoff' crab revealed Posted: 19 Jun 2013 07:16 AM PDT The history of a new type of crab, nicknamed 'The Hoff' because of its hairy chest, which lives around hydrothermal vents deep beneath the Southern Ocean and Indian Ocean, has been revealed for the first time.

Older males make better fathers says new research on beetles Posted: 19 Jun 2013 07:16 AM PDT Researchers have found that older male burying beetles make better fathers than their younger counterparts. The study found that mature males, who had little chance of reproducing again, invested more effort in both mating and in parental care than younger males.

City slicker or country bumpkin: City-life changes blackbird personalities Posted: 19 Jun 2013 07:15 AM PDT The origins of a young animal might have a significant impact on its behavior later on in life. Researchers have been able to demonstrate in hand-reared blackbirds that urban-born individuals are less curious and more cautious about new objects than their country counterparts. This study sheds light on an interesting debate on whether personality differences between rural and urban birds are behavioral adjustments to urban environments, or if there is an underlying evolutionary basis to the existence of different personalities in urban habitats.

Siberian caves warn of permafrost meltdown Posted: 19 Jun 2013 07:15 AM PDT Climate records captured in Siberian caves suggest 1.5 degrees of warming is enough to trigger thawing of permafrost, according to a new article.

Contribution of particulate matter from air pollution to forest decline Posted: 19 Jun 2013 07:14 AM PDT Air pollution is related to forest decline and also appears to attack the protecting wax on tree leaves and needles. Scientists have now discovered a responsible mechanism: particulate matter salt compounds that become deliquescent because of humidity and form a wick-like structure that removes water from leaves and promotes dehydration.

New research backs genetic 'switches' in human evolution Posted: 19 Jun 2013 06:13 AM PDT A new study offers further proof that the divergence of humans from chimpanzees some 4 million to 6 million years ago was profoundly influenced by mutations to DNA sequences that play roles in turning genes on and off.

Possible record-setting deadzone for Gulf of Mexico predicted Posted: 18 Jun 2013 01:15 PM PDT Scientists are forecasting that this year's Gulf of Mexico hypoxic "dead" zone will be between 7,286 and 8,561 square miles which could place it among the ten largest recorded. A second forecast, for the Chesapeake Bay, calls for a smaller than average dead zone in the nation's largest estuary.

Long distance calls by sugar molecules Posted: 18 Jun 2013 01:15 PM PDT All our cells wear a coat of sugar molecules, so-called glycans. Researchers have now discovered that glycans rearrange water molecules over long distances. This may have an effect on how cells sense each other.

New language discovery in remote Indigenous community in Australia reveals linguistic insights Posted: 18 Jun 2013 07:17 AM PDT A new language has been discovered in a remote Indigenous community in northern Australia that is generated from a unique combination of elements from other languages.

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