ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Mosquitoes smell you better at night
• New ocean forecast could help predict fish habitat six months in advance
• Red spruce reviving in New England, but why?
• New insights on wildfire smoke could improve climate change models
• How vegetation competes for rainfall in dry regions
• Membranes contain beautiful patterns, but their function is a mystery
• Alaska tundra shows surprising resilience after unprecedented fire
• Sea-level rise drives shoreline retreat in Hawaii
• Whales get a tan, too: Pigment in whale skin increases in response to sunshine
• Into the moving, crushing, shifting ice
• Computer program predicts functions of bacterial gene regulators
• Botany and health: Very small chemical changes to dietary flavonoids cause very large effects on human immune system
• New understanding of formation of cilia: Cilia provide mobility to cells, and defects are implicated in many disease
• The more the merrier: Promiscuity in mice is a matter of free choice
• A novel locus identified for glaucoma in dandie dinmont terrier dog breed
• Discovering a diamondback moth: Overlooked diversity in a global pest
• Biologists may have identified gene central to development, reproduction and aging
• Acoustic waves warn of tsunami
• More efficient production of biofuels from waste with the help of modified yeasts
• New PRA gene identified in dogs: Phalenes and Papillons

Mosquitoes smell you better at night Posted: 30 Aug 2013 01:13 PM PDT The major malaria vector in Africa, the Anopheles gambiae mosquito, is able to smell major human host odorants better at night.

New ocean forecast could help predict fish habitat six months in advance Posted: 30 Aug 2013 11:39 AM PDT The first seasonal forecast of conditions that matter for fisheries could help to better manage stocks.

Red spruce reviving in New England, but why? Posted: 30 Aug 2013 11:39 AM PDT In the 1970s, red spruce was the forest equivalent of a canary in the coal mine, signaling that acid rain was damaging forests and that some species, especially red spruce, were particularly sensitive to this human induced damage. Now, scientists are finding that red spruce are growing at levels almost two times the average for the last 100 years, a growth rate never before achieved by the trees examined.

New insights on wildfire smoke could improve climate change models Posted: 30 Aug 2013 10:12 AM PDT By viewing particles captured during the 2011 Las Conchas fire in New Mexico under a field emission scanning electron microscope, scientists found that there's more to tar balls and soot than meets the naked eye.

How vegetation competes for rainfall in dry regions Posted: 30 Aug 2013 10:11 AM PDT Vegetation in semi-arid environments (or regions with low rainfall) self-organizes into patterns or "bands." Banded vegetation is common where there is low rainfall. Scientists have used a mathematical model to determine the levels of precipitation within which such pattern formation occurs.

Membranes contain beautiful patterns, but their function is a mystery Posted: 30 Aug 2013 07:43 AM PDT Biological cells are surrounded by a membrane, and here some of the most important processes for sustaining life take place. There can also be something very beautiful happening in membranes, researchers have discovered: Membranes can contain beautiful, mysterious patterns.

Alaska tundra shows surprising resilience after unprecedented fire Posted: 30 Aug 2013 07:42 AM PDT Despite the size and severity of the massive 2007 Anaktuvuk River fire on Alaska's North Slope, much of the arctic vegetation has recovered and the tundra is likely to return to its pre-fire condition according to scientists.

Sea-level rise drives shoreline retreat in Hawaii Posted: 30 Aug 2013 06:24 AM PDT Researchers show that sea-level rise is a primary factor driving historical shoreline changes (that is, beach erosion or accretion) in Hawaii and that historical rates of shoreline change are about two orders of magnitude greater than sea-level rise.

Whales get a tan, too: Pigment in whale skin increases in response to sunshine Posted: 30 Aug 2013 06:24 AM PDT Scientists have revealed the pigment in whale skin increases in response to sunshine, just as we tan. Some species get darker with sun exposure, incurring DNA damage in their skin just like us and they also accumulate damage to the skin as they get older. This provides a better understanding of their protective mechanisms and may offer new avenues to explore for treating human skin cancers.

Into the moving, crushing, shifting ice Posted: 30 Aug 2013 06:23 AM PDT Two days on an ice floe may not seem like paradise, but for a team of scientists on the multinational 2013 Oden Arctic Technology Research Cruise, it was the achievement of an important research goal.

Computer program predicts functions of bacterial gene regulators Posted: 30 Aug 2013 06:23 AM PDT Scientists have developed a computer program to predict the functions of bacterial gene regulators. This online software which is called CopraRNA could save researchers a lot of wet lab work as it precisely predicts which bacterial genes are controlled by certain regulators.

Botany and health: Very small chemical changes to dietary flavonoids cause very large effects on human immune system Posted: 30 Aug 2013 06:18 AM PDT Very small chemical changes to dietary flavonoids cause very large effects when the plant natural products are tested for their impact on the human immune system. Plants are capable of making tens of thousands of different small molecules - an average leaf for example, produces around 20,000. Many of these are found in a typical diet and some are already known to have medicinal properties with effects on health, diseases and general well-being. Now plant biologists and immunologists have examined a very closely related family of these small molecules (flavonoids) to establish how tiny changes to their chemical structures affect their bio-activity.

New understanding of formation of cilia: Cilia provide mobility to cells, and defects are implicated in many disease Posted: 30 Aug 2013 06:17 AM PDT Tiny hair-like structures (cilia) are found on the surface of most cells. Cilia are responsible for the locomotion of cells (e.g. sperm cells), they process external signals and coordinate the correct arrangement of the inner organs during the development of an organism. For proper assembly and function of cilia, they need to be supplied with the appropriate building blocks. Scientists have now identified the mechanism of how Tubulin, the main building block of cilia, is transported within the cilium.

The more the merrier: Promiscuity in mice is a matter of free choice Posted: 30 Aug 2013 06:17 AM PDT We know from earlier studies that mice can derive genetic benefits when females mate with multiple males, but until recently, the conditions under which females will voluntarily mate with multiple males were not clear. New results provide evidence for the infanticide avoidance explanation. Males that have a chance of reproducing with a female are unlikely to kill her young.

A novel locus identified for glaucoma in dandie dinmont terrier dog breed Posted: 30 Aug 2013 06:17 AM PDT Scientists have identified a novel locus for glaucoma in Dandie Dinmont Terrier. The locus on canine chromosome 8 includes a 9.5 Mb region that is associated with glaucoma. The canine locus shares synteny to human chromosome 14, which has been previously associated with different types of human glaucomas. However, the actual glaucoma causing mutation in Dandies remains unknown.

Discovering a diamondback moth: Overlooked diversity in a global pest Posted: 29 Aug 2013 08:04 AM PDT A new species of diamondback moth has been discovered in Australia. It was previously overlooked because of its similarity with typical diamondback moths.

Biologists may have identified gene central to development, reproduction and aging Posted: 29 Aug 2013 08:00 AM PDT Biologists have been looking at a threadworm gene which also occurs in humans. This gene could be central to a genetic system which is responsible for development, reproduction and the aging process.

Acoustic waves warn of tsunami Posted: 29 Aug 2013 06:30 AM PDT An early warning system against tsunamis has been developed and tailored for the need of the Mediterranean, but preparedness on the ground is paramount to ensuring peoples' safety.

More efficient production of biofuels from waste with the help of modified yeasts Posted: 29 Aug 2013 06:30 AM PDT A significant portion of the petroleum consumed by the transport sector must be replaced in the long term by renewable energy. Therefore, it is of the utmost economic and ecological importance to optimise the production of biofuels from renewable raw materials. Researchers have now developed yeast strains that produce bio-ethanol from waste with an unprecedented efficiency.

New PRA gene identified in dogs: Phalenes and Papillons Posted: 29 Aug 2013 06:30 AM PDT Researchers have identified a genetic mutation causing progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) in the Phalene and Papillon dog breeds. PRA is one of the most common causes of blindness in dogs and in human. This study highlights the shared genetic etiology of many canine and human genetic disorders, and provides new tools to investigate PRA mechanisms while the beloved dogs benefit from genetic testing.

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