ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• The bend in the Appalachian mountain chain is finally explained
• Microplastics worse for crabs and other marine life than previously thought: Enter through gills
• Essential Oils May Provide Good Source of Food Preservation
• New cellular garbage control pathway with relevance for human neurodegenerative diseases
• Novel mechanism for invasion of EV71 virus demonstrated
• A 10-year endeavor: NASA's Aura and climate change
• Ten-year endeavor: NASA's Aura tracks pollutants
• Four new species of tuco-tucos identified from Bolivia
• Big data used to guide conservation efforts
• Measuring the number of protein molecules inside cells
• Revealed: The mystery behind starling flocks
• Nature's strongest glue comes unstuck
• Catastrophic debris avalanches: A second volcanic hazard
• Politically driven legislation targeting dangerous dogs has had little impact
• Choosing cheese: Research identifies microbial communities in cheese
• Fish oil may benefit alcohol abusers
• Preventing foodborne illness naturally: with cinnamon
• Worm study provides hope for deadly disease of the brain

The bend in the Appalachian mountain chain is finally explained Posted: 18 Jul 2014 08:56 AM PDT The 1500 mile Appalachian mountain chain runs along a nearly straight line from Alabama to Newfoundland -- except for a curious bend in Pennsylvania and New York State. Researchers now know what caused that bend -- a dense, underground block of rigid, volcanic rock forced the chain to shift eastward as it was forming millions of years ago.

Microplastics worse for crabs and other marine life than previously thought: Enter through gills Posted: 18 Jul 2014 08:56 AM PDT The tiny plastic particles polluting our seas are not only orally ingested by marine creatures, but also enter their systems through their gills, according to a new study. When microplastics are drawn in through this method they take over six times longer to leave the body compared with standard digestion.

Essential Oils May Provide Good Source of Food Preservation Posted: 18 Jul 2014 08:45 AM PDT Essential oils may be able to be used as food preservatives in packaging to help extend the shelf-life of food products, a new study suggests. Essential oils are aromatic oily liquids extracted from different parts of plants (roots, peels, leaves, seeds, fruits, barks) and have been shown to be a good source of antioxidative and antimicrobial properties.

New cellular garbage control pathway with relevance for human neurodegenerative diseases Posted: 18 Jul 2014 08:04 AM PDT Several human neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's disease, are linked to an accumulation of abnormal and aggregated proteins in cells. Cellular 'garbage' can be removed from cells by sweeping them to a cellular recycling station known as the lysosome. Scientists have now discovered a new family of helper proteins that recognize labeled protein waste and guide them efficiently to the lysosome for destruction and recycling.

Novel mechanism for invasion of EV71 virus demonstrated Posted: 18 Jul 2014 08:04 AM PDT A novel mechanism for EV71 entry mediated by its receptor SCARB2 has been reported by scientists. These findings make a significant conceptual advance in the understanding of non-enveloped virus entry, to which EV71 belongs. Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is the major causative agent of hand, foot and mouth disease in the Asia-Pacific region. Unlike other enteroviruses, EV71 can cause severe aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, myocarditis and acute flaccid paralysis, thus leading to significant fatality rates.

A 10-year endeavor: NASA's Aura and climate change Posted: 18 Jul 2014 07:27 AM PDT Celebrating its 10th anniversary this week, NASA's Aura satellite and its four onboard instruments measure some of the climate agents in the atmosphere, including greenhouse gases, clouds and dust particles. These global datasets provide clues that help scientists understand how Earth's climate has varied and how it will continue to change.

Ten-year endeavor: NASA's Aura tracks pollutants Posted: 18 Jul 2014 07:25 AM PDT NASA's Aura satellite, celebrating its 10th anniversary on July 15, has provided vital data about the cause, concentrations and impact of major air pollutants. With instruments providing key measurements of various gases -- including two built and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory: the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) -- Aura gives a comprehensive view of one of the most important parts of Earth -- the atmosphere.

Four new species of tuco-tucos identified from Bolivia Posted: 18 Jul 2014 06:57 AM PDT Four new species of Ctenomys, a genus of gopher-like mammals found throughout much of South America, have been identified by researchers. The burrowing rodents are commonly called tuco-tucos. The burrowing rodents range from 7 to 12 inches long and weigh less than a pound. They demonstrate the broad range of biological diversity in the lowlands and central valleys of Bolivia, where all four new species were found, a researcher notes.

Big data used to guide conservation efforts Posted: 18 Jul 2014 06:57 AM PDT Genetic studies have given us detailed information about the evolutionary relationships embodied in the Tree of Life, while newly digitized museum collections contain a wealth of information about species distribution. To date, however, these big data collections have not been applied to conservation efforts. Now researchers have created a model taking both distribution and relationships into account to identify lineages that need preservation, in particular rare endemics.

Measuring the number of protein molecules inside cells Posted: 18 Jul 2014 06:56 AM PDT The identification of the genes and proteins involved in a biological process, as well as the way they interact, are essential for the understanding of that process. However, often little is known about the dimensions of molecular biological structures. Knowing how many molecules make up a structure and are required for its function are essential for our understanding of biological mechanisms, yet poses a difficult challenge. Now, in a breakthrough study, researchers were able to measure the amount of protein molecules in living human cells required to form the centromere.

Revealed: The mystery behind starling flocks Posted: 18 Jul 2014 06:56 AM PDT The mystery behind the movements of flocking starlings could be explained by the areas of light and dark created as they fly, new research suggests. The research found that flocking starlings aim to maintain an optimum density at which they can gather data on their surroundings. This occurs when they can see light through the flock at many angles, a state known as marginal opacity. The subsequent pattern of light and dark, formed as the birds attempt to achieve the necessary density, is what provides vital information to individual birds within the flock.

Nature's strongest glue comes unstuck Posted: 18 Jul 2014 06:54 AM PDT Over a 150 years since it was first described by Darwin, scientists are finally uncovering the secrets behind the super strength of barnacle glue. Still far better than anything we have been able to develop synthetically, barnacle glue -- or cement -- sticks to any surface, under any conditions. But exactly how this superglue of superglues works has remained a mystery -- until now.

Catastrophic debris avalanches: A second volcanic hazard Posted: 18 Jul 2014 06:54 AM PDT Volcanic hazards aren't limited to eruptions. Debris avalanche landslides can also cause a great deal of damage and loss of life. Stratovolcanoes, with their steep, conical shapes made up of lava and unconsolidated mixed materials, can reach a critical point of instability when they overgrow their flanks. This leads to partial collapse, and the product of this slope failure is a large-scale, rapid mass movement known as a catastrophic landslide or debris avalanche.

Politically driven legislation targeting dangerous dogs has had little impact Posted: 17 Jul 2014 06:22 PM PDT UK legislation that targets 'dangerous dogs' has not been shown to reduce dog bites and policies should be based on evidence and risk assessment, suggests a new article. Risk assessment for human violence has proved to be accurate and reliable and the author says this "might be a practical preventative measure to reduce injury from dog bite" along with medical and veterinary professionals "familiarizing themselves with evidence based resources."

Choosing cheese: Research identifies microbial communities in cheese Posted: 17 Jul 2014 03:05 PM PDT After studying 137 varieties of cheese collected in 10 different countries, researchers have been able to identify three general types of microbial communities that live on cheese, opening the door to using each as a 'model' community for the study of whether and how various microbes and fungi compete or cooperate as they form communities, what molecules may be involved in the process and what mechanisms may be involved.

Fish oil may benefit alcohol abusers Posted: 17 Jul 2014 03:02 PM PDT Omega-3 fish oil might help protect against alcohol-related neurodamage and the risk of eventual dementia, according to a study. Many human studies have shown that long-term alcohol abuse causes brain damage and increases the risk of dementia. The new study found that in brain cells exposed to high levels of alcohol, a fish oil compound protected against inflammation and neuronal cell death.

Preventing foodborne illness naturally: with cinnamon Posted: 17 Jul 2014 06:51 AM PDT Cinnamomum cassia oil was shown to be effective as a natural antibacterial agent against several strains of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, known to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as 'non-O157 STEC'. The study results add to a body of knowledge that will help improve food safety and reduce or eliminate cases of food poisoning and related deaths.

Worm study provides hope for deadly disease of the brain Posted: 16 Jul 2014 09:34 AM PDT An untreatable and deadly neurodegenerative disease has been modelled and treated in worms by researchers, suggesting a cure could be found for humans. For the first time scientists have replicated the disease in nematode worms and successfully treated it with a drug called resveratrol. "As we face an increasingly aging population, having treatments for these conditions becomes ever more critical. Studying how these diseases work in a simple organism which is easy and cheap to breed, can speed up the process of developing effective drugs," a researcher said.

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