ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Solar activity playing a minimal role in global warming, research suggests
• New species of shark: Carolina hammerhead
• White-lipped peccary trails lead to archeological discovery in Brazil: 4,000- to 10,000-year-old cave drawings
• Plan to address hypoxia in Gulf of Mexico urged by experts
• Plant cell architecture: Growth toward a light source
• Preparing for hell and high water: Researchers advocate for climate adaptation science
• Unique sighting of lava solves mystery
• Most nations lack means to assess biodiversity, key ecosystem services and their value
• Crown of Venezuelan paramos: A new species from the daisy family, Coespeletia palustris
• Amazon deforestation could mean droughts for western U.S.
• One worm, two mouths
• Researchers regrow hair, cartilage, bone, soft tissues: Enhancing cell metabolism was an unexpected key to tissue repair
• Muscle built in diseased mice: Human muscle cells created in a dish
• Why stem cells need to stick with their friends
• Did inefficient cellular machinery evolve to fight viruses and jumping genes?
• Changes to fisheries legislation have removed habitat protection for most fish species in Canada
• Ants, like humans, can change their priorities
• New test can diagnose emerging strains of canine parvovirus
• 'Diabetic flies' can speed up disease-fighting research
• Burning biomass pellets instead of wood or plants could lower mercury emissions

Solar activity playing a minimal role in global warming, research suggests Posted: 07 Nov 2013 05:42 PM PST Changes in solar activity have contributed no more than 10 per cent to global warming in the twentieth century, a new study has found.

New species of shark: Carolina hammerhead Posted: 07 Nov 2013 02:09 PM PST A research team has recently described a new species of hammerhead shark. This discovery is the result of years of study of the rivers and coastal waters of South Carolina.

White-lipped peccary trails lead to archeological discovery in Brazil: 4,000- to 10,000-year-old cave drawings Posted: 07 Nov 2013 01:23 PM PST While tracking white-lipped peccaries and gathering environmental data in forests that link Brazil's Pantanal and Cerrado biomes, researchers discovered ancient cave drawings made by hunter-gatherer societies thousands of years ago.

Plan to address hypoxia in Gulf of Mexico urged by experts Posted: 07 Nov 2013 12:48 PM PST Despite a 12-year action plan calling for reducing the hypoxia zone in the Gulf of Mexico, little progress has been made, and there is no evidence that nutrient loading to the Gulf has decreased during this period. Researchers have identified some of the biophysical and social barriers to progress and propose a way forward.

Plant cell architecture: Growth toward a light source Posted: 07 Nov 2013 11:25 AM PST Inside every plant cell, a cytoskeleton provides an interior scaffolding to direct construction of the cell's walls, and thus the growth of the organism as a whole. Environmental and hormonal signals that modulate cell growth cause reorganization of this scaffolding. New research provides surprising evidence as to how this reorganization process works, with important evidence as to how the direction of a light source influences a plant's growth pattern.

Preparing for hell and high water: Researchers advocate for climate adaptation science Posted: 07 Nov 2013 11:25 AM PST As climate changes get more pronounced, people everywhere will have to adjust. In this week's issue of the journal Science, an international group of researchers urge the development of science needed to manage climate risks and capitalize on unexpected opportunities.

Unique sighting of lava solves mystery Posted: 07 Nov 2013 10:27 AM PST Scientists have made the first ever observations of how a rare type of lava continues moving almost a year after a volcanic eruption.

Most nations lack means to assess biodiversity, key ecosystem services and their value Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:33 AM PST Most of the world's nations -- unanimously committed to protecting biodiversity -- nevertheless cannot measure and assess their genetic and biological resources, nor the value of key ecosystem services nature provides to them, international experts from 72 countries warned today.

Crown of Venezuelan paramos: A new species from the daisy family, Coespeletia palustris Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:32 AM PST An exciting new species from the daisy family has just been discovered. Two expeditions in the paramos high up in the Venezuelan Andes were crowned by the discovery of the beautiful and extraordinary, Coespeletia palustris.

Amazon deforestation could mean droughts for western U.S. Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:31 AM PST Total deforestation of the Amazon could mean 20 percent less rain for the coastal Northwest and a 50 percent reduction in the Sierra Nevada snowpack, resulting in water and food shortages, and a greater risk of forest fires, new research shows.

One worm, two mouths Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:31 AM PST Depending on the environment in which the worm grows, the larva of the roundworm Pristionchus pacificus develops into either a wide-mouthed predator or a narrow-mouthed bacteria eater. A team of researchers has now discovered a developmental biological switch that determines the worm's mouth form.

Researchers regrow hair, cartilage, bone, soft tissues: Enhancing cell metabolism was an unexpected key to tissue repair Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:31 AM PST Young animals are known to repair their tissues effortlessly, but can this capacity be recaptured in adults? A new study suggests that it can. By reactivating a dormant gene called Lin28a, which is active in embryonic stem cells, researchers were able to regrow hair and repair cartilage, bone, skin and other soft tissues in a mouse model.

Muscle built in diseased mice: Human muscle cells created in a dish Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:31 AM PST Skeletal muscle has proved to be very difficult to grow in patients with muscular dystrophy and other disorders that degrade and weaken muscle. Researchers now report boosting muscle mass and reversing disease in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, using a "cocktail" of three compounds identified through a new rapid culture system. Adding the same compounds to stem cells derived from patients' skin cells, they then successfully grew human muscle cells in a dish.

Why stem cells need to stick with their friends Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:31 AM PST Scientists have identified a core set of functionally relevant factors that regulates embryonic stem cells' ability for self-renewal.

Did inefficient cellular machinery evolve to fight viruses and jumping genes? Posted: 07 Nov 2013 09:30 AM PST It might seem obvious that humans are elegant and sophisticated beings in comparison to lowly bacteria, but when it comes to genes, a scientist wants to turn conventional wisdom about human and bacterial evolution on its head.

Changes to fisheries legislation have removed habitat protection for most fish species in Canada Posted: 07 Nov 2013 07:37 AM PST Federal government changes to Canada's fisheries legislation "have eviscerated" the ability to protect habitat for most of the country's fish species, scientists say in a new study.

Ants, like humans, can change their priorities Posted: 07 Nov 2013 07:34 AM PST For the first time, researchers have discovered that at least in ants, animals can change their decision-making strategies based on experience. They can also use that experience to weigh different options.

New test can diagnose emerging strains of canine parvovirus Posted: 07 Nov 2013 07:34 AM PST Veterinary scientists have developed a diagnostic test that can detect emerging strains of canine parvovirus, a severe --- and potentially fatal -- virus that affects dogs.

'Diabetic flies' can speed up disease-fighting research Posted: 06 Nov 2013 05:22 PM PST In a finding that has the potential to significantly speed up diabetes research, scientists have discovered that fruit flies respond to insulin at the cellular level much like humans do, making these common, easily bred insects good subjects for laboratory experiments in new treatments for diabetes.

Burning biomass pellets instead of wood or plants could lower mercury emissions Posted: 06 Nov 2013 09:21 AM PST For millions of homes, plants, wood and other types of "biomass" serve as an essential source of fuel, especially in developing countries, but their mercury content has raised flags among environmentalists and researchers. Scientists are now reporting that among dozens of sources of biomass, processed pellets burned under realistic conditions in China emit relatively low levels of the potentially harmful substance.

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