ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Earliest record of copulating insects discovered
• Presence of human settlements has negative impact on tiger connectivity
• Drilling for hydrocarbons can impact aquatic life
• Stress makes snails forgetful
• Infected butterflies lead geneticists up the garden path
• Floods didn't provide nitrogen 'fix' for earliest crops in frigid north
• Russian fireball yields scientific treasure trove: Researchers obtain crucial data from meteoroid impact
• Rare new microbe found in two spacecraft clean rooms
• Bringing sun's light and energy to interior rooms: Innovative solar technology may lead to interior lighting revolution
• Monkeys use minds to move two virtual arms
• Volcanic rock probe helps unlock mysteries of how Earth formed
• Climate change scientists must turn their attention to clean skies, experts urge
• RNA controls splicing during gene expression, further evidence of 'RNA world' origin in modern life
• X-rays reveal inner structure of Earth's ancient magma ocean
• Newly discovered predatory dinosaur 'king of gore' reveals the origins of T. rex
• Clean Air Act has led to improved water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed
• Nature's great diversity: Remarkable 277 new wasp species from Costa Rica
• Negative effects of road noises on migratory birds
• Volume of nuclear waste could be reduced by 90 percent, says new research
• Creatures of influence
• Nanoscale 'tsunami' helps locusts tune in
• Male lizards prefer more-feminine lizards to 'bearded ladies'
• Scientists solve major piece in the origin of biological complexity

Earliest record of copulating insects discovered Posted: 06 Nov 2013 05:24 PM PST Scientists have found the oldest fossil depicting copulating insects in northeastern China.

Presence of human settlements has negative impact on tiger connectivity Posted: 06 Nov 2013 05:22 PM PST Human settlements and roads place greater barriers on tiger dispersal than distance.

Drilling for hydrocarbons can impact aquatic life Posted: 06 Nov 2013 05:22 PM PST The degradation of drilling sumps associated with hydrocarbon extraction can negatively affect aquatic ecosystems.

Stress makes snails forgetful Posted: 06 Nov 2013 05:22 PM PST New research on pond snails has revealed that high levels of stress can block memory processes. Researchers trained snails and found that when they were exposed to multiple stressful events they were unable remember what they had learned.

Infected butterflies lead geneticists up the garden path Posted: 06 Nov 2013 05:19 PM PST For animal species that cannot be distinguished using their external characteristics, genetic techniques such as DNA barcoding can help to identify cryptic species. An international team of researchers has now demonstrated how a bacterial infection can mimic cryptic speciation in butterflies. To avoid false results in the future, scientists recommend more in-depth genetic studies.

Floods didn't provide nitrogen 'fix' for earliest crops in frigid north Posted: 06 Nov 2013 05:18 PM PST Floods didn't make floodplains fertile during the dawn of human agriculture in the Earth's far north because the waters were virtually devoid of nitrogen. Instead, the hardy Norsemen and early inhabitants of Russia and Canada can thank cyanobacteria in the floodplains themselves for the abundant grasses that fed game and cattle, a process that continues today.

Russian fireball yields scientific treasure trove: Researchers obtain crucial data from meteoroid impact Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:41 PM PST A team of NASA and international scientists for the first time have gathered a detailed understanding of the effects on Earth from a small asteroid impact. The unprecedented data obtained as the result of the airburst of a meteoroid over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on Feb. 15, 2013, has revolutionized scientists' understanding of this natural phenomenon.

Rare new microbe found in two spacecraft clean rooms Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:26 PM PST A rare, recently discovered microbe that survives on very little to eat has been found in two places on Earth: spacecraft clean rooms in Florida and South America. Microbiologists often do thorough surveys of bacteria and other microbes in spacecraft clean rooms. Fewer microbes live there than in almost any other environment on Earth, but the surveys are important for knowing what might hitch a ride into space. If extraterrestrial life is ever found, it would be readily checked against the census of a few hundred types of microbes detected in spacecraft clean rooms.

Bringing sun's light and energy to interior rooms: Innovative solar technology may lead to interior lighting revolution Posted: 06 Nov 2013 12:24 PM PST Researchers have seen the light -- a bright, powerful light -- and it just might change the future of how building interiors are brightened. In fact, that light comes directly from the sun. And with the help of tiny, electrofluidic cells and a series of open-air "ducts," sunlight can naturally illuminate windowless work spaces deep inside office buildings and excess energy can be harnessed, stored and directed to other applications.

Monkeys use minds to move two virtual arms Posted: 06 Nov 2013 11:12 AM PST Monkeys have learned to control the movement of both arms on an avatar using just their brain activity.

Volcanic rock probe helps unlock mysteries of how Earth formed Posted: 06 Nov 2013 10:19 AM PST New insights gleaned from volcanic rock are helping scientists better understand how our planet evolved billions of years ago.

Climate change scientists must turn their attention to clean skies, experts urge Posted: 06 Nov 2013 10:19 AM PST Natural aerosols, such as emissions from volcanoes or plants, may contribute more uncertainty than previously thought to estimates of how the climate might respond to greenhouse gas emissions.

RNA controls splicing during gene expression, further evidence of 'RNA world' origin in modern life Posted: 06 Nov 2013 10:19 AM PST RNA is the key functional component of spliceosomes, molecular machines that control how genes are expressed, report scientists. The discovery establishes that RNA, not protein, is responsible for catalyzing this fundamental biological process and enriches the hypothesis that life on Earth began in a world based solely on RNA.

X-rays reveal inner structure of Earth's ancient magma ocean Posted: 06 Nov 2013 10:19 AM PST Using the world's most brilliant X-ray source, scientists have for the first time peered into molten magma at conditions of the deep Earth mantle. The analysis revealed that molten basalt changes its structure when exposed to pressure of up to 60 gigapascals.

Newly discovered predatory dinosaur 'king of gore' reveals the origins of T. rex Posted: 06 Nov 2013 10:18 AM PST A dinosaur belonging to the same evolutionary branch as the famous Tyrannosaurus rex has just been discovered. Lythronax argestes possesses several unique features, a short narrow snout with a wide back of the skull with forward-oriented eyes. Lythronax translates as "king of gore."

Clean Air Act has led to improved water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed Posted: 06 Nov 2013 09:21 AM PST A new study shows that the reduction of pollution emissions from power plants in the mid-Atlantic is making an impact on the quality of the water that ends up in the Chesapeake Bay.

Nature's great diversity: Remarkable 277 new wasp species from Costa Rica Posted: 06 Nov 2013 08:40 AM PST Costa Rica reveals astonishing biodiversity of braconid wasps, with 277 new species of the tribe Heterospilini described, from a total of 286 attributed to the group. The study is the second part of an extensive two-part study of the braconid subfamily Doryctinae from Costa Rica, to reveal the great species diversity within such a small territory.

Negative effects of road noises on migratory birds Posted: 06 Nov 2013 08:38 AM PST A new study shows that the negative effects of roads on wildlife are largely because of traffic noise.

Volume of nuclear waste could be reduced by 90 percent, says new research Posted: 06 Nov 2013 07:16 AM PST Engineers have developed a way to significantly reduce the volume of some higher activity nuclear wastes, which will reduce the cost of interim storage and final disposal.

Creatures of influence Posted: 06 Nov 2013 04:39 AM PST An international research team has developed mathematical tools that can estimate which species are most influential in a food web.

Nanoscale 'tsunami' helps locusts tune in Posted: 06 Nov 2013 04:39 AM PST The remarkable mechanism by which the tiny ears of locusts can hear and distinguish between different tones has been discovered by researchers. Understanding how the nanoscale features of the insect eardrum mechanically process sound could open up practical possibilities for the fabrication of embedded signal processing in extremely small microphones.

Male lizards prefer more-feminine lizards to 'bearded ladies' Posted: 06 Nov 2013 04:39 AM PST Mating-behavior studies of lizards in three southern US states have revealed which females male lizards find to be the sexiest. The research provides insight into the evolution of male-female differences.

Scientists solve major piece in the origin of biological complexity Posted: 06 Nov 2013 04:38 AM PST Scientists have puzzled for centuries over how and why multicellular organisms evolved the almost universal trait of using single cells, such as eggs and sperm, to reproduce. Now researchers have set a big piece of that puzzle into place by applying experimental evolution to transform a single-celled algae into a multicellular one that reproduces by dispersing single cells.

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