ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Dogs yawn more often in response to owners' yawns than strangers
• Eavesdropping plants prepare to be attacked
• Simple math sheds new light on a long-studied biological process
• Strangers invade the homes of giant bacteria
• The temperature tastes just right: Scientists discover previously unknown thermal sensor in insects linked to taste, smell
• New proto-mammal fossil sheds light on evolution of earliest mammals
• Motional layers found in the brain: Neurobiologists discover elementary motion detectors in the fruit fly
• Regulating electron 'spin' may be key to making organic solar cells competitive
• Climate change threatens U.S. estuaries
• New high-tech laser method allows DNA to be inserted 'gently' into living cells
• Of stars and stripes: NASA satellites used to predict zebra migrations
• Monarch butterflies migration path tracked by generations for first time
• Arctic Ocean more vulnerable to human-induced changes than Antarctic Ocean
• Inca children were drugged with coca and alcohol before sacrifice

Dogs yawn more often in response to owners' yawns than strangers Posted: 07 Aug 2013 05:48 PM PDT Dogs yawn contagiously when they see a person yawning, and respond more frequently to their owner's yawns than to a stranger's, according to new research.

Eavesdropping plants prepare to be attacked Posted: 07 Aug 2013 05:46 PM PDT In a world full of hungry predators, prey animals must be constantly vigilant to avoid getting eaten. But plants face a particular challenge when it comes to defending themselves.

Simple math sheds new light on a long-studied biological process Posted: 07 Aug 2013 12:51 PM PDT One of the most basic and intensively studied processes in biology —- one which has been detailed in biology textbooks for decades —- has gained a new level of understanding, thanks to the application of simple math to a problem that scientists never before thought could benefit from mathematics.

Strangers invade the homes of giant bacteria Posted: 07 Aug 2013 10:41 AM PDT Life is not a walk in the park for the world's largest bacteria, that live as soft, noodle-like, white strings on the bottom of the ocean depths. Without being able to fend for themselves, they get invaded by parasitic microorganisms that steal the nutrition, that they have painstakingly retrieved. This newly discovered bizarre deep ocean relationship may ultimately impact ocean productivity, report researchers.

The temperature tastes just right: Scientists discover previously unknown thermal sensor in insects linked to taste, smell Posted: 07 Aug 2013 10:41 AM PDT Animals have evolved very sensitive temperature sensors to detect the relatively narrow margin in which they can survive. Until recently, scientists knew little about how these sensors operated. Now, scientists have discovered a previously unknown molecular temperature sensor in fruit flies responsible for sensing tastes and smells. These types of sensors are present in disease-spreading insects like mosquitoes and may help scientists better understand how insects target humans and spread disease.

New proto-mammal fossil sheds light on evolution of earliest mammals Posted: 07 Aug 2013 10:40 AM PDT A newly discovered fossil reveals the evolutionary adaptations of a 165-million-year-old proto-mammal, providing evidence that traits such as hair and fur originated well before the rise of the first true mammals. Biologists have now described the biological features of this ancient mammalian relative, named Megaconus mammaliaformis.

Motional layers found in the brain: Neurobiologists discover elementary motion detectors in the fruit fly Posted: 07 Aug 2013 10:35 AM PDT Recognizing movement and its direction is one of the first and most important processing steps in any visual system. By this way, nearby predators or prey can be detected and even one's own movements are controlled. More than fifty years ago, a mathematical model predicted how elementary motion detectors must be structured in the brain. However, which nerve cells perform this job and how they are actually connected remained a mystery.

Regulating electron 'spin' may be key to making organic solar cells competitive Posted: 07 Aug 2013 10:34 AM PDT Organic solar cells that use carbon-based molecules to convert light to electricity have not been able to match the efficiency silicon-based cells. Now, researchers have discovered a synthetic, high-performance polymer that could make inexpensive, highly efficient organic solar panels a reality.

Climate change threatens U.S. estuaries Posted: 07 Aug 2013 10:00 AM PDT The USA's 28 National Estuarine Research Reserves are experiencing the negative effects of human and climate-related stressors. A national study points to three East Coast reserves as the most sensitive to climate change.

New high-tech laser method allows DNA to be inserted 'gently' into living cells Posted: 07 Aug 2013 09:59 AM PDT Many methods exist for inserting DNA into a cell, but they tend to be clumsy and destructive, imprecise or damaging to other cells in the process. Now scientists have developed the most precise method ever used to "transfect" DNA into cells. Using a laser and optical tweezers, the team's approach is a breakthrough in precision and control at the single-cell level.

Of stars and stripes: NASA satellites used to predict zebra migrations Posted: 07 Aug 2013 09:29 AM PDT One of the world's longest migrations of zebras occurs in the African nation of Botswana, but predicting when and where zebras will move has not been possible until now. Using NASA rain and vegetation data, researchers can track when and where arid lands begin to green, and for the first time anticipate if zebras will make the trek or, if the animals find poor conditions en route, understand why they will turn back.

Monarch butterflies migration path tracked by generations for first time Posted: 07 Aug 2013 06:46 AM PDT For the first time, researchers have mapped that migration pattern of monarch butterflies across the continent over an entire breeding season. That information might help conserve a creature increasingly threatened by loss of habitat and food sources.

Arctic Ocean more vulnerable to human-induced changes than Antarctic Ocean Posted: 06 Aug 2013 12:55 PM PDT Scientists have found evidence suggesting that the Arctic Ocean is more vulnerable to human-induced changes than the Antarctic Ocean.

Inca children were drugged with coca and alcohol before sacrifice Posted: 06 Aug 2013 06:18 AM PDT Scientists have examined the bodies of three 500-year-old Inca children. This has given new, detailed knowledge about the old Ince ritual "capacocha" which also involved sacrificing humans. Now we know more precisely what happened in an Inca sacrifice -- for example, to what extent coca and alcohol were used as part of the Inca ritual in the months and weeks preceding a sacrifice.

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