ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Table coral, Acropora cytherea, discovered off O'ahu in Hawaii
• Scientists visualize how cancer chromosome abnormalities form in living cells
• Atomic insights into plant growth: How plant steroid hormone makes plants grow
• Human activity muddies causes of Texas floods
• Ozone hole might slightly warm planet, computer model suggests
• Increase in woodpecker populations linked to feasting on emerald ash borer
• Scientists watch live brain cell circuits spark and fire
• 'Digging up' 4-billion-year-old fossil protein structures to reveal how they evolved
• Do fish feel pain? Not as humans do, study suggests
• Three-decade decline in reflectivity of Arctic sea ice
• Key protein that modulates organismal aging identified
• Maya pyramid decorated with rare polychrome-painted stucco frieze
• Localized wind power blowing more near homes, farms and factories

Table coral, Acropora cytherea, discovered off O'ahu in Hawaii Posted: 08 Aug 2013 02:03 PM PDT Scientists report the discovery of the first known colony of table coral off of the south shore of O'ahu in Hawai'i.

Scientists visualize how cancer chromosome abnormalities form in living cells Posted: 08 Aug 2013 02:00 PM PDT For the first time, scientists have directly observed events that lead to the formation of a chromosome abnormality that is often found in cancer cells. The abnormality, called a translocation, occurs when part of a chromosome breaks off and becomes attached to another chromosome.

Atomic insights into plant growth: How plant steroid hormone makes plants grow Posted: 08 Aug 2013 11:16 AM PDT If one wants to better understand how plants grow, one must analyse the chemistry of life in its molecular detail. Scientists are doing just that. New work reveals that a plant membrane receptor requires a helper protein to sense a growth-promoting steroid hormone and to transduce this signal across the cell membrane.

Human activity muddies causes of Texas floods Posted: 08 Aug 2013 11:16 AM PDT Periodic flooding in Texas —- one the most flood-prone states in the U.S. —- cannot be firmly linked to climate change due to numerous dams and other humanmade structures introduced over the years, according to a new article.

Ozone hole might slightly warm planet, computer model suggests Posted: 08 Aug 2013 09:45 AM PDT A lot of people mix up the ozone hole and global warming, believing the hole is a major cause of the world's increasing average temperature. Scientists, on the other hand, have long attributed a small cooling effect to the ozone shortage in the hole. Now a new computer-modeling study suggests that the ozone hole might actually have a slight warming influence, but because of its effect on winds, not temperatures. The new research suggests that shifting wind patterns caused by the ozone hole push clouds farther toward the South Pole, reducing the amount of radiation the clouds reflect and possibly causing a bit of warming rather than cooling.

Increase in woodpecker populations linked to feasting on emerald ash borer Posted: 08 Aug 2013 09:42 AM PDT Entomologists have documented how an emerald ash borer invasion fueled a population boom for four species of birds in the Detroit area.

Scientists watch live brain cell circuits spark and fire Posted: 08 Aug 2013 09:40 AM PDT Scientists used fruit flies to show for the first time that a new class of genetically engineered proteins can be used to watch nerve cell electrical activity in live brains. These proteins may be a promising new tool for mapping brain cell activity in multiple animals and for studying how neurological disorders disrupt normal nerve cell signaling.

'Digging up' 4-billion-year-old fossil protein structures to reveal how they evolved Posted: 08 Aug 2013 09:38 AM PDT Very little is known about how and when over the course of evolution 3-D protein structures arose. In a new study, researchers resurrected four-billion-year-old Precambrian proteins in the laboratory and gained novel insights into protein evolution by analyzing their X-ray crystal structures. This method has revealed a remarkable degree of structural similarity among proteins since life first evolved on this planet, and represents a powerful and novel approach to explore the evolution of protein structures.

Do fish feel pain? Not as humans do, study suggests Posted: 08 Aug 2013 09:37 AM PDT Fish do not feel pain the way humans do, according to a team of neurobiologists, behavioral ecologists and fishery scientists. The researchers conclude that fish do not have the neuro-physiological capacity for a conscious awareness of pain.

Three-decade decline in reflectivity of Arctic sea ice Posted: 08 Aug 2013 06:19 AM PDT The reflectivity of Arctic sea ice, or albedo, regulates the solar radiation balance. A diminishing albedo affects the melt rate of Arctic sea ice.

Key protein that modulates organismal aging identified Posted: 08 Aug 2013 06:16 AM PDT Scientists have identified a key factor that regulates the autophagy process, a kind of cleansing mechanism for cells in which waste material and cellular debris is gobbled up to protect cells from damage, and in turn, modulates aging.

Maya pyramid decorated with rare polychrome-painted stucco frieze Posted: 07 Aug 2013 08:36 PM PDT A Maya pyramid beautifully decorated with a rare polychrome-painted stucco frieze was unearthed in July 2013 at the site of Holmul, a Classic Maya city in northeastern Peten region of Guatemala. The find came as an archaeological team excavated in a tunnel left open by looters. The stucco relief stands along the exterior of a multi-roomed rectangular building, measuring 8m in length and 2m in height. Much of the building still remains encased under the rubble of a later 20m-high structure. The carving is painted in red, with details in blue, green and yellow.

Localized wind power blowing more near homes, farms and factories Posted: 06 Aug 2013 10:26 AM PDT A new report details how more Americans are installing wind turbines near their homes, businesses and farms to generate their own energy as part of a growing field of wind power called distributed wind.

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