ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Hibernating lemurs hint at the secrets of sleep
• Pacific flights create most amount of ozone
• Wheat research indicates rise in mean temperature would cut yields
• West Antarctica ice sheet existed 20 million years earlier than previously thought
• Personality interactions between animals may dictate outcomes in the wild
• Genetic similarities between bats and dolphins discovered
• Knowing exposure risks important to saving structures from wildfires
• Wiring microbes to conduct and produce electricity faster
• Gravity variations over Earth much bigger than previously thought
• Simian foamy viruses readily occur between humans and macaques in urban Bangladesh
• Air pollution worsened by climate change set to be more potent killer in the 21st century
• Discovery helps to unlock brain's speech-learning mechanism
• The African fish that lives fast and dies young
• Unexpected magic by cosmic rays in cloud formation

Hibernating lemurs hint at the secrets of sleep Posted: 04 Sep 2013 05:41 PM PDT By studying hibernation, scientists are providing a window into why humans sleep. Observations of a little-known primate called the fat-tailed dwarf lemur in captivity and the wild has revealed that it goes for days without the deepest part of sleep during its winter hibernation season. The findings support the idea that sleep plays a role in regulating body temperature and metabolism.

Pacific flights create most amount of ozone Posted: 04 Sep 2013 05:37 PM PDT The amount of ozone created from aircraft pollution is highest from flights leaving and entering Australia and New Zealand, a new study has shown. The findings could have wide-reaching implications for aviation policy as ozone is a potent greenhouse gas with comparable short-term effects to those of carbon dioxide.

Wheat research indicates rise in mean temperature would cut yields Posted: 04 Sep 2013 01:12 PM PDT Wheat producers know that growing a healthy, high-yielding wheat crop takes skill and hard work. Quality drought-tolerant varieties that are resistant to pests and disease are important. And cooperation from Mother Nature in terms of temperature and precipitation doesn't hurt, either. To quantify the impact of genetic improvement in wheat, disease and climate change over a 26-year period, researchers examined wheat variety yield data from Kansas performance tests, along with location-specific weather and disease data.

West Antarctica ice sheet existed 20 million years earlier than previously thought Posted: 04 Sep 2013 11:10 AM PDT The results of new research mark the beginning of a new paradigm for our understanding of the history of Earth's great global ice sheets. The research shows that, contrary to the popularly held scientific view, an ice sheet on West Antarctica existed 20 million years earlier than previously thought.

Personality interactions between animals may dictate outcomes in the wild Posted: 04 Sep 2013 10:25 AM PDT Examining the varying personality types of multiple animal species at once -- in addition to common single-species studies -- could help biologists better predict ecological outcomes, according to a recent study.

Genetic similarities between bats and dolphins discovered Posted: 04 Sep 2013 10:25 AM PDT The evolution of similar traits in different species, a process known as convergent evolution, is widespread not only at the physical level, but also at the genetic level, according to new research.

Knowing exposure risks important to saving structures from wildfires Posted: 04 Sep 2013 07:54 AM PDT A study of one of California's most devastating wildland fires -- the 2007 Witch Creek/Guejito fire -- strongly suggests that measures for reducing structural damage and property loss from wildland urban interface fires are most effective when they are based on accurate assessments of exposure risks both for individual structures and the community as a whole.

Wiring microbes to conduct and produce electricity faster Posted: 04 Sep 2013 07:53 AM PDT Scientists have found evidence that altering the chemistry of an electrode surface (surface engineering) can help microbial communities to connect to the electrode to produce more electricity (electron-exchange) more rapidly compared to unmodified electrodes. Electron exchange is at the heart of all redox reactions occurring in the natural world, as well as in bioengineered systems: so called 'biolectrochemical systems'. Practical applications of these systems include current generation, wastewater treatment, and biochemical and biofuel production.

Gravity variations over Earth much bigger than previously thought Posted: 04 Sep 2013 07:53 AM PDT Scientists have created the highest-resolution maps of Earth's gravity field to date -- showing gravitational variations up to 40 percent larger than previously assumed. New gravity maps revealed the variations of free-fall gravity over Earth were much bigger than previously thought.

Simian foamy viruses readily occur between humans and macaques in urban Bangladesh Posted: 04 Sep 2013 07:53 AM PDT Scientists have been examining transmission of a virus from monkeys to humans in Bangladesh, one of the world's most densely populated countries. The scientists have found that some people in urban Bangladesh are concurrently infected with multiple strains of simian foamy virus, including strains from more than one source (recombinant) -- and call for more surveillance to prevent another outbreak like HIV.

Air pollution worsened by climate change set to be more potent killer in the 21st century Posted: 04 Sep 2013 07:51 AM PDT This century, climate change is expected to induce changes in air pollution, exposure to which could increase annual premature deaths by more than 100,000 adults worldwide. Scientists urge, in the face of future climate change, stronger emission controls to avoid worsening air pollution and the associated exacerbation of health problems, especially in more populated regions of the world.

Discovery helps to unlock brain's speech-learning mechanism Posted: 04 Sep 2013 06:41 AM PDT By studying songbirds, scientists are uncovering the mechanism that allows juveniles to learn speech through imitation.

The African fish that lives fast and dies young Posted: 04 Sep 2013 06:38 AM PDT African annual fish take the adage 'live fast, die young' to a whole new level with the discovery that their short lifespan is accompanied by the most rapid sexual maturation of any vertebrate species. Extreme environments can give rise to extreme adaptations. The tiny annual fish of Africa live in temporary puddles created by seasonal rainfall, and so must grow and reproduce quickly in order to lay their hardy eggs before the waters dry up. African annual fish can grow up to 23% of their body length in a day.

Unexpected magic by cosmic rays in cloud formation Posted: 04 Sep 2013 06:35 AM PDT Physicists suggested that cosmic rays, energetic particles from space, are important in the formation of clouds. Since then, experiments have demonstrated that cosmic rays actually help small clusters of molecules to form. But the cosmic-ray/cloud hypothesis seemed to run into a problem when numerical simulations of the prevailing chemical theory pointed to a failure of growth.

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