ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Earth expected to be habitable for another 1.75 billion years
• New role for protein family could provide path to how crop traits are modified
• Toxoplasma infection permanently shifts balance in cat and mouse game
• True colors: Female squid have two ways to switch color
• The secret life of underground microbes: Plant root microbiomes rule the world
• African dust storms in our air: Dust storms in Africa affect U.S. and the Caribbean's air quality
• Study suggests overfishing of sharks is harming coral reefs
• Scientists help tame tidal wave of genomic data
• Contaminants may cause birds to sing a different tune
• X-ray science taps bug biology to design better materials and reduce pollution
• Origins of genomic 'dark matter' discovered
• Undersea mountains provide crucial piece in climate prediction puzzle
• Today's worst watershed stresses may become the new normal
• Algorithm finds missing phytoplankton in Southern Ocean
• 'Shy' male birds flock together -- and have fewer friends
• Southern Ocean sampling reveals travels of marine microbes
• Four new species of 'legless lizards' discovered living on the edge
• Dinosaur wind tunnel test provides new insight into the evolution of bird flight
• Diversity of microbial growth strategies in a limited nutrient world

Earth expected to be habitable for another 1.75 billion years Posted: 18 Sep 2013 06:14 PM PDT Habitable conditions on Earth will be possible for at least another 1.75 billion years – according to astrobiologists. "If we ever needed to move to another planet, Mars is probably our best bet. It's very close and will remain in the habitable zone until the end of the Sun's lifetime -- six billion years from now," one of the researchers said.

New role for protein family could provide path to how crop traits are modified Posted: 18 Sep 2013 03:11 PM PDT Pioneering new research has shown for the first time that a protein which has been long known to be critical for the initiation of protein synthesis in all organisms can also play a role in the regulation of gene expression in some bacteria, and probably land plants as well.

Toxoplasma infection permanently shifts balance in cat and mouse game Posted: 18 Sep 2013 03:11 PM PDT Infection with the toxoplasma parasite makes mice fearless in the presence of cats -- to their regret. But how does the protozoan do that? Scientists looked at the effects of three common strains of toxoplasma and found that they remove the fear of cat urine for as long as four months, long after the mice have cleared the parasite from their brains. The parasite appears to make permanent changes in the brain's neurons.

True colors: Female squid have two ways to switch color Posted: 18 Sep 2013 03:11 PM PDT The female common market squid -- Doryteuthis opalescens -- may not be so common after all. Researchers have discovered that this glamorous cephalopod possesses a pair of stripes that can sparkle with rainbow iridescence. These flank a single stripe, which can go from complete transparency to bright white.

The secret life of underground microbes: Plant root microbiomes rule the world Posted: 18 Sep 2013 03:11 PM PDT We often ignore what we cannot see, and yet organisms below the soil's surface play a vital role in plant functions and ecosystem well-being. These microbes can influence a plant's genetic structure, its health, and its interactions with other plants.

African dust storms in our air: Dust storms in Africa affect U.S. and the Caribbean's air quality Posted: 18 Sep 2013 03:09 PM PDT Dust clouds from the African Sahara can travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean, every year and in large quantities. Scientists found that the average air concentrations of inhalable particles more than doubled during a major Saharan dust intrusion in Houston, Texas.

Study suggests overfishing of sharks is harming coral reefs Posted: 18 Sep 2013 03:04 PM PDT A team of scientists from Canada and Australia have discovered that the decline in shark populations is detrimental to coral reefs. Where shark numbers are reduced due to commercial fishing, there is also a decrease in the herbivorous fishes which play a key role in promoting reef health.

Scientists help tame tidal wave of genomic data Posted: 18 Sep 2013 02:55 PM PDT Sequencing the DNA of an organism, whether human, plant, or jellyfish, has become a straightforward task, but assembling the information gathered into something coherent remains a massive data challenge. Researchers have now created a faster and more effective way to assemble genomic information, while increasing performance.

Contaminants may cause birds to sing a different tune Posted: 18 Sep 2013 02:55 PM PDT In some environments songbirds exhibit inconsistency in their songs which may be caused by non-lethal levels of contaminants that persist in the sediments of the Hudson River region. Biologists studied songbirds that nest along the Hudson River valley, a region with legacy levels of PCBs as a result of decades of electronics manufacturing upriver. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are synthetic chemical pollutants with demonstrated detrimental toxic and developmental effects on humans and wildlife.

X-ray science taps bug biology to design better materials and reduce pollution Posted: 18 Sep 2013 11:33 AM PDT Bug spray, citronella candles, mosquito netting -- most people will do anything they can to stay away from insects during the warmer months. But those creepy crawlers we try so hard to avoid may offer substantial solutions to some of life's problems.

Origins of genomic 'dark matter' discovered Posted: 18 Sep 2013 10:24 AM PDT A major milestone has been achieved in understanding genomic "dark matter" -- called non-coding RNA. This "dark matter" is difficult to detect and no one knows exactly what it is doing or why it is there in our genome, but scientists suspect it may be the source of inherited diseases. This research achievement may help to pinpoint exactly where complex-disease traits reside in the human genome.

Undersea mountains provide crucial piece in climate prediction puzzle Posted: 18 Sep 2013 10:24 AM PDT A mystery in the ocean near Antarctica has been solved by researchers who have long puzzled over how deep and mid-depth ocean waters are mixed. They found that sea water mixes dramatically as it rushes over undersea mountains in Drake Passage -- the channel between the southern tip of South America and the Antarctic continent. Mixing of water layers in the oceans is crucial in regulating the Earth's climate and ocean currents.

Today's worst watershed stresses may become the new normal Posted: 18 Sep 2013 10:08 AM PDT Nearly one in 10 US watersheds is "stressed," with demand for water exceeding natural supply, according to a new analysis of surface water in the United States.

Algorithm finds missing phytoplankton in Southern Ocean Posted: 18 Sep 2013 07:20 AM PDT NASA satellites may have missed more than 50 percent of the phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean. But now, new research has led to the development of an algorithm that produces substantially more accurate estimates of Southern Ocean phytoplankton populations.

'Shy' male birds flock together -- and have fewer friends Posted: 18 Sep 2013 07:20 AM PDT Male birds that exhibit "shy" social behavior are much more likely to join flocks of birds with a similar personality than their "bold" male counterparts, a new study has found. But shy birds also have fewer social partners than bold birds.

Southern Ocean sampling reveals travels of marine microbes Posted: 18 Sep 2013 07:18 AM PDT By collecting water samples up to six kilometers below the surface of the Southern Ocean, researchers have shown for the first time the impact of ocean currents on the distribution and abundance of marine micro-organisms. Twenty-five samples were collected across a 3,000 kilometer stretch of ocean and genetic sequencing of the microbial DNA in each sample was carried out. The research shows that microbial communities that are connected by ocean currents are more similar to each other.

Four new species of 'legless lizards' discovered living on the edge Posted: 18 Sep 2013 07:18 AM PDT Legless lizards evolved on five continents to burrow in loose soil and sand, but are rarely seen because they live underground. Hence the surprise when biologists found four new species in California, living in marginal areas like downtown Bakersfield, San Joaquin Valley oil fields and west of the runways at the airport. The discovery, which brings the number of species in the state to five, illustrates the undiscovered biodiversity around us.

Dinosaur wind tunnel test provides new insight into the evolution of bird flight Posted: 18 Sep 2013 06:05 AM PDT A study into the aerodynamic performance of feathered dinosaurs has provided new insight into the evolution of bird flight. In recent years, new fossil discoveries have changed our view of the early evolution of birds and, more critically, their powers of flight. We now know about a number of small-bodied dinosaurs that had feathers on their wings as well as on their legs and tails: completely unique in the fossil record.

Diversity of microbial growth strategies in a limited nutrient world Posted: 17 Sep 2013 03:12 PM PDT The budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a prime organism for studying fundamental cellular processes, with the functions of many proteins important in the cell cycle and signaling networks found in human biology having first been discovered in yeast.

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