ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• It's the pits: Ancient peach stones offer clues to fruit's origins
• Like weeds of the sea, 'brown tide' algae exploit nutrient-rich coastlines
• Dietary recommendations may be tied to increased greenhouse gas emissions
• Copper Age settlement discovered in Central Spain
• An 'anchor' keeps proteins together, study in fungi shows
• Soy supplementation adversely effects expression of breast cancer-related genes
• Tweets during 2013 Colorado floods gave engineers valuable data on infrastructure damage
• Airlock-like transport protein structure discovered
• Sequencing of five African fishes reveals diverse molecular mechanisms underlying evolution
• Blowfly maggots provide physical evidence for forensic cases
• Pesticide risk assessments seen as biased, experts advise
• Genomic origin of telomere protectors discovered

It's the pits: Ancient peach stones offer clues to fruit's origins Posted: 06 Sep 2014 06:31 AM PDT Anyone who enjoys biting into a sweet, fleshy peach can now give thanks to the people who first began domesticating this fruit: Chinese farmers who lived 7,500 years ago. Archeologists have a good understanding of domestication -- conscious breeding for traits preferred by people -- of annual plants such as grains (rice, wheat, etc.), but the role of trees in early farming and how trees were domesticated has not been well documented to date.

Like weeds of the sea, 'brown tide' algae exploit nutrient-rich coastlines Posted: 05 Sep 2014 12:30 PM PDT A new study highlights up close the survival skills that have made Aureococcus anophagefferens the bane of fishermen, boaters and real-estate agents. Building on previous mapping of Aureococcus' genome, the study confirms that the genes previously hypothesized to help Aureococcus survive in murky nutrient-rich waters, switch on in conditions typical of estuaries degraded by human activity.

Dietary recommendations may be tied to increased greenhouse gas emissions Posted: 05 Sep 2014 09:27 AM PDT If Americans altered their menus to conform to federal dietary recommendations, emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases tied to agricultural production could increase significantly, according to a new study.

Copper Age settlement discovered in Central Spain Posted: 05 Sep 2014 08:39 AM PDT Archaeologists show the Meseta's resources used intensively as early as 4000 years ago.

An 'anchor' keeps proteins together, study in fungi shows Posted: 05 Sep 2014 06:08 AM PDT Biologists have discovered a new scaffold protein in hyphae fungi. PRO40 is particularly important for the production of fruiting bodies.

Soy supplementation adversely effects expression of breast cancer-related genes Posted: 04 Sep 2014 03:37 PM PDT Soy supplementation alters expression of genes associated with breast cancer, raising concerns that soy could have adverse effects in breast cancer, according to a new study.

Tweets during 2013 Colorado floods gave engineers valuable data on infrastructure damage Posted: 03 Sep 2014 10:33 AM PDT Tweets sent during last year's massive flooding on Colorado's Front Range were able to detail the scope of damage to the area's infrastructure, according to a study. The findings can help geotechnical and structural engineers more effectively direct their reconnaissance efforts after future natural disasters -- including earthquakes, tsunamis and tornadoes -- as well as provide them data that might otherwise be lost due to rapid cleanup efforts.

Airlock-like transport protein structure discovered Posted: 03 Sep 2014 10:33 AM PDT New work has for the first time elucidated the atomic structures of the bacterial prototype of the sugar transporters in plants and humans. The discovery could yield practical applications in medicine and agriculture.

Sequencing of five African fishes reveals diverse molecular mechanisms underlying evolution Posted: 03 Sep 2014 10:33 AM PDT In an effort to understand the molecular basis of adaptation in vertebrates, researchers sequenced the genomes and transcriptomes of five species of African cichlid fishes. A research team uncovered a variety of features in the cichlid genomes that enabled the fishes to thrive in new habitats and ecological niches within the Great Lakes of East Africa.

Blowfly maggots provide physical evidence for forensic cases Posted: 03 Sep 2014 10:31 AM PDT Evidence collected from blowfly maggots could help in the investigation in murder cases, scientists say. Estimation of the post mortem interval (PMI) is one of the most crucial matters in autopsies and entomological specimens have been widely used to determine PMI after 72 hours of death. This is done using the oldest blowfly larvae found and from the succession pattern of insects that colonize the dead remains.

Pesticide risk assessments seen as biased, experts advise Posted: 03 Sep 2014 09:18 AM PDT The Environmental Protection Agency's pesticide toxicity assessments often rely heavily on industry-funded studies and may omit research that could lead to different findings. The assessment process should be reformed in order to eliminate conflicts of interest and include a wider breadth of available information, experts say.

Genomic origin of telomere protectors discovered Posted: 03 Sep 2014 07:56 AM PDT Telomeric repeat-containing RNA do not originate in all telomeres that protect the 20 murine chromosomes, researchers report, but do exclusively in chromosome 18 and, to a lesser extent, in chromosome 9. This peculiarity sets the stage for future genetic manipulation in mice with the aim of researching the in vivo role of these molecules in telomere biology and in illness.

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