ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Ethanol blends carry hidden risk
• Newly discovered gene interaction could lead to novel cancer therapies
• Chimpanzees are rational, not conformists, researchers find
• Snail fever expected to decline in Africa due to climate change
• Disease, not climate change, fueling frog declines in the Andes
• Evidence of mass extinction associated with climate change 375 million years ago discovered in Central Asia
• Can we turn unwanted carbon dioxide into electricity?
• Rare gene variants double risk for Alzheimer's disease
• Scientists resolve decades-old mystery of ‘chlamydial anomaly’
• East Antarctica is sliding sideways: Ice loss on West Antarctica affecting mantle flow below

Ethanol blends carry hidden risk Posted: 13 Dec 2013 01:11 PM PST Blending more ethanol into fuel to cut air pollution carries a hidden risk that toxic or explosive gases may leach into buildings, according to researchers.

Newly discovered gene interaction could lead to novel cancer therapies Posted: 13 Dec 2013 06:49 AM PST Scientists have revealed how two genes interact to kill a wide range of cancer cells. The genes known as mda-7/IL-24 and SARI could potentially be harnessed to treat both primary and metastatic forms of brain, breast, colon, lung, ovary, prostate, skin and other cancers.

Chimpanzees are rational, not conformists, researchers find Posted: 13 Dec 2013 06:49 AM PST Chimpanzees are sensitive to social influences but they maintain their own strategy to solve a problem rather than conform to what the majority of group members are doing. However, chimpanzees do change their strategy when they can obtain greater rewards, researchers found.

Snail fever expected to decline in Africa due to climate change Posted: 13 Dec 2013 06:48 AM PST The dangerous parasite Schistosoma mansoni that causes snail fever in humans could become significantly less common in the future, a new international study predicts. The results are surprising because they contradict the general assumption that climate change leads to greater geographical spread of diseases. The explanation is that the parasite's host snails stand to lose suitable habitat due to climate change.

Disease, not climate change, fueling frog declines in the Andes Posted: 13 Dec 2013 06:48 AM PST Climate change is widely believed to be behind the rapid decline of frog populations in the Andes mountains, but a new study finds that the real culprit is a deadly fungus that has wiped out amphibian species worldwide. Researchers found that highland frogs, while tolerant of increasing temperatures, live in the optimal temperature range for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, also known as Bd.

Evidence of mass extinction associated with climate change 375 million years ago discovered in Central Asia Posted: 13 Dec 2013 06:28 AM PST Scientists have found evidence for catastrophic oceanographic events associated with climate change and a mass extinction 375 million years ago that devastated tropical marine ecosystems.

Can we turn unwanted carbon dioxide into electricity? Posted: 12 Dec 2013 03:59 PM PST Researchers are developing a new kind of geothermal power plant that will lock away unwanted carbon dioxide underground -- and use it as a tool to boost electric power generation by at least 10 times compared to existing geothermal energy approaches.

Rare gene variants double risk for Alzheimer's disease Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:39 AM PST A team of researchers has identified variations in a gene that double a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease later in life. The newly identified variations occur rarely in the population, making them hard for researchers to identify. But they're important because individuals who carry them are at substantially increased risk.

Scientists resolve decades-old mystery of ‘chlamydial anomaly’ Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:39 AM PST A 50-year-old mystery surrounding the existence of a cell wall in the bacterial pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis, or chlamydia, has been solved. Chlamydia is the leading cause of sexually transmitted infections worldwide, infecting nearly 1.5 million Americans each year. It can cause sterility and other complications, and is the leading cause of preventable blindness. Other types of chlamydia cause a variety of diseases in humans and animals, including two strains of the bacterium that are threatening survival of the koala population in Australia.

East Antarctica is sliding sideways: Ice loss on West Antarctica affecting mantle flow below Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:24 AM PST It's official: East Antarctica is pushing West Antarctica around. Now that West Antarctica is losing weight -- that is, billions of tons of ice per year -- its softer mantle rock is being nudged westward by the harder mantle beneath East Antarctica. This movement is important for understanding current ice loss on the continent, and predicting future ice loss.

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