The EDGE: ScienceDaily Environment Headlines -- for Wednesday, July 13, 2011

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines

for Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Welcome to another edition of ScienceDaily's email newsletter. You can change your subscription options or unsubscribe at any time.

Biologists identify new strategy used by bacteria during infection (July 13, 2011) -- Biologists identified a new way in which bacteria hijack healthy cells during infection, which could provide a target for new antibiotics. ... > full story

Landscape change leads to increased insecticide use in U.S. Midwest, study finds (July 13, 2011) -- The continued growth of cropland and loss of natural habitat have increasingly simplified agricultural landscapes in the U.S. Midwest. A new study concluded that this simplification is associated with increased crop pest abundance and insecticide use, consequences that could be tempered by perennial bioenergy crops. ... > full story

A novel enzymatic catalyst for biodiesel production (July 13, 2011) -- Continuous production of biodiesel can now be envisaged thanks to a novel new catalyst. Biofuel production provides an alternative to fossil fuels. Biodiesels, for instance, are processed products based on oils from oleaginous plants such as oilseed rape, palm, sunflower and soybeans. They result from a chemical reaction, catalyzed in either an acidic or preferably a basic medium, between a vegetable oil (90%) and an alcohol (10%). ... > full story

No substantial link between swine flu vaccine and Guillain-Barre syndrome, experts confirm (July 13, 2011) -- Adjuvanted vaccines used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic did not increase the risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome substantially, if at all, finds a large Europe-wide study. ... > full story

Innovative system for producing carpets (July 13, 2011) -- In Europe 700 million square meters of carpets are produced each year, and in the United States the volume is ten times higher. Researchers have now developed an enzyme-based biological technology that paves the way for manufacturing carpets that are much lighter, sustainable, biodegradable, and 100% recyclable. A wool carpet manufactured using this innovative system is a completely natural and biodegradable product. At the end of its useful life the entire product can be shredded and turned into organic material, which can then be used, for example, as fertilizer for growing plants. ... > full story

Pesticide pathways into the atmosphere (July 12, 2011) -- Scientists have found that herbicide volatilization consistently resulted in herbicide losses that exceed losses from field runoff. ... > full story

Border fences pose threats to wildlife on US-Mexico border, study shows (July 12, 2011) -- Current and proposed border fences between the United States and Mexico pose significant threats to wildlife populations, with those animals living in border regions along the Texas Gulf and California coasts showing some of the greatest vulnerability, a new study shows. ... > full story

Greener disaster alerts: Low-energy wireless sensor networks warn of hurricanes, earthquakes (July 12, 2011) -- New software allows wireless sensor networks to run at much lower energy, according to researchers. The technology could improve efficiency for hurricane and other natural disaster warning systems. ... > full story

One in 10 species could face extinction: Decline in species shows climate change warnings not exaggerated, research finds (July 12, 2011) -- One in 10 species could face extinction by the year 2100 if current climate change impacts continue, according to new research examining studies on the effects of recent climate change on plant and animal species and comparing this with predictions of future declines. ... > full story

Eating nuts daily could help control Type 2 diabetes and prevent complications, study suggests (July 12, 2011) -- Eating nuts every day could help control Type 2 diabetes and prevent its complications, according to new research. ... > full story

Long distance: Research shows ancient rock under Haiti came from 1,000+ miles away (July 12, 2011) -- Earthquakes and volcanoes are known for their ability to transform Earth's surface, but new research in the Caribbean has found they can also move ancient Earth rock foundations more than 1,000 miles. ... > full story

Switch from corn to grass would raise ethanol output, cut emissions (July 12, 2011) -- Growing perennial grasses on the least productive farmland now used for corn ethanol production in the US would result in higher overall corn yields, more ethanol output per acre and better groundwater quality, researchers report in a new study. The switch would also slash emissions of two potent greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. ... > full story

Lie of the land beneath glaciers influences impact on sea levels (July 12, 2011) -- Fresh research into glaciers could help scientists better predict the impact of changing climates on global sea levels. ... > full story

Energy-storage capacity of ancient microorganism could lead to power source for synthetic cells (July 12, 2011) -- Researchers are studying one of the oldest known life forms, Archaea, to learn how they thrive in harsh environments. A new study shows that M. hungatei, a type of Archaea, contain granules that are incredibly efficient energy storage structures. ... > full story

Hypoallergenic dogs don't have lower household allergen levels than other dogs, study finds (July 12, 2011) -- Contrary to popular belief, so-called hypoallergenic dogs do not have lower household allergen levels than other dogs. That's the conclusion of a study by researchers who sought to evaluate whether hypoallergenic dogs have a lower dog allergen in the home than other dogs. Hypoallergenic dogs are believed to produce less dander and saliva and shed less fur. ... > full story

Tarantula's double beating heart revealed by MRI (July 12, 2011) -- A specialized magnetic resonance imaging scanner has been used on tarantulas for the first time, giving unprecedented videos of the spider's heart beating. The images showed possible "double beating," a type of contraction which has never been considered before. The non-invasive nature of MRI provides added insight. ... > full story

Malaria parasites use camouflage to trick immune defences of pregnant women (July 12, 2011) -- Researchers have discovered why malaria parasites are able to hide from the immune defenses of expectant mothers. ... > full story

'Resilience' of U.S. metros measured by online index developed by researchers (July 12, 2011) -- Which U.S. metro region is most likely to come out of the next recession, natural disaster or other regional "shock" relatively unscathed? Rochester, Minn. A little more battered might be College Station-Bryan, Texas. These two regions are ranked first and last, respectively, by a new online tool measuring more than 360 U.S. metros for their "regional resilience," or capacity to weather acute and chronic stresses. ... > full story

Forest trees remember their roots (July 12, 2011) -- When it comes to how they respond to the environment, trees may not be that different from humans. Recent studies showed that even genetically identical human twins can have a different chance of getting a disease. This is because each twin has distinct personal experiences through their lifetime. According to new research, it turns out that the same is likely true for forest trees as well. ... > full story

Climate change could turn oxygen-free seas from blessing to curse for zooplankton (July 12, 2011) -- Zooplankton can use specialized adaptations that allow them to hide from predators in areas of the ocean where oxygen levels are so low that almost nothing can survive, but they may run into trouble as these areas expand due to climate change. ... > full story

Plants in cities are an underestimated carbon store (July 12, 2011) -- Vegetation in towns and cities can make a significant contribution to carbon storage and, ecologists say, could lock away even more carbon if local authorities and gardeners planted and maintained more trees. ... > full story

Most of world's 'missing species' live in known hotspots, study finds (July 12, 2011) -- Most of the world's "missing" or undiscovered species live in regions already identified by scientists as conservation priorities, according to a new study. ... > full story

E. coli can survive in streambed sediments for months (July 12, 2011) -- Scientists have confirmed that the presence of Escherichia coli pathogens in surface waters could result from the pathogen's ability to survive for months in underwater sediments. ... > full story

Telomeres: Two genes linked to why they stretch in cancer cells (July 12, 2011) -- Scientists have provided more clues to one of the least understood phenomena in some cancers: why the "ends caps" of cellular DNA, called telomeres, lengthen instead of shorten. ... > full story

Researchers urge awareness of dietary iodine intake in postpartum Korean-American women who consume brown seaweed soup (July 12, 2011) -- Researchers have brought attention to the potential health impacts for Korean and Korean-American women and their infants from consuming brown seaweed soup. ... > full story

Owl study expands understanding of human stereovision (July 11, 2011) -- Using owls as a model, a new research study reveals the advantage of stereopsis, commonly referred to as stereovision, is its ability to discriminate between objects and background, not in perceiving absolute depth. The findings show that owls see in stereo much like humans do. ... > full story

When viruses infect bacteria: Looking in vivo at virus-bacterium associations (July 11, 2011) -- Viruses are the most abundant parasites on Earth. Well known viruses, such as the flu virus, attack human hosts, while viruses such as the tobacco mosaic virus infect plant hosts. More common, but less understood, are cases of viruses infecting bacteria known as bacteriophages, or phages. In part, this is due to the difficulty of culturing bacteria and viruses that have been cut off from their usual biological surroundings in a process called in vitro. Researchers have now used a clever technique to look at virus-bacterium interactions in vivo, that is, within an organism's normal state. ... > full story

California groundwater management trickles up from local sources (July 11, 2011) -- In a typical year, California gets about 30 percent of its water from groundwater wells. Yet when it comes to managing this precious resource, the state of California relies on a mixed bag of more than 2,000 local water agencies with varying degrees of authority. But some water districts have moved forward with innovative ideas on conservation -- even without state leadership. ... > full story

Genetic switch for limbs and digits found in primitive fish: Before animals first walked on land, fish carried gene program for limbs (July 11, 2011) -- Genetic instructions for developing limbs and digits were present in primitive fish millions of years before their descendants first crawled on to land, researchers report. The successful swap suggests that the recipe for limb development is conserved in species separated by 400 million years of evolution. ... > full story

Biofilters reduce carbon footprint of old landfill sites (July 11, 2011) -- Researchers in the US are testing biofilter systems as a viable alternative to releasing methane from passive landfill vents into the atmosphere. The technology could reduce the overall impact of old landfills on global warming. ... > full story

Underwater Antarctic volcanoes discovered in the Southern Ocean (July 11, 2011) -- Scientists have discovered previously unknown volcanoes in the ocean waters around the remote South Sandwich Islands. Using ship-borne sea-floor mapping technology during research cruises onboard the RRS James Clark Ross, the scientists found 12 volcanoes beneath the sea surface -- some up to 3 km high. They found 5 km diameter craters left by collapsing volcanoes and seven active volcanoes visible above the sea as a chain of islands. ... > full story

Natural pain relief from poisonous shrub? (July 11, 2011) -- An extract of the poisonous shrub Jatropha curcas acts as a strong painkiller and may have a mode of action different from conventional analgesics, such as morphine and other pharmaceuticals. ... > full story

Scientists discover first gonorrhea strain resistant to all available antibiotics (July 11, 2011) -- An international research team has discovered a strain of gonorrhea resistant to all currently available antibiotics. This new strain is likely to transform a common and once easily treatable infection into a global threat to public health. ... > full story

Climate change reducing ocean's carbon dioxide uptake, new analysis shows (July 11, 2011) -- How deep is the ocean's capacity to buffer against climate change? As one of the planet's largest single carbon absorbers, the ocean takes up roughly one-third of all human carbon emissions, reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide and its associated global changes. But whether the ocean can continue mopping up human-produced carbon at the same rate is still up in the air. In a new analysis, researchers identify a likely source of many of those inconsistencies and provide some of the first observational evidence that climate change is negatively impacting the ocean carbon sink. ... > full story

Ant colonies: Behavioral variability wins (July 11, 2011) -- They attack other colonies, plunder and rob, kill other colonies' inhabitants or keep them as slaves: Ants are usually regarded as prototypes of social beings that are prepared to sacrifice their lives for their community, but they can also display extremely aggressive behavior towards other nests. Evolutionary biologists in Germany have found that ant colonies are more productive and raise more offspring when the workers in the colony display considerable variation in their levels of aggression. This variation in aggression is possibly part of their division of labor, which is regarded as the basis of the success of social insect societies. ... > full story

A flash of insight: Chemist uses lasers to see proteins at work (July 11, 2011) -- Scientists think they have an important brain transport protein -- glutamate transporter -- figured out. And they are using a novel approach to spy on them by taking aim with lasers. ... > full story

Olympia hypothesis: Tsunamis buried the cult site on the Peloponnese (July 11, 2011) -- Olympia, site of the famous Temple of Zeus and original venue of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, was presumably destroyed by repeated tsunamis that traveled considerable distances inland, and not by earthquake and river floods as has been assumed to date. Evidence in support of this new theory on the virtual disappearance of the ancient cult site on the Peloponnesian peninsula comes from a researcher in Germany. ... > full story

Salamanders spell out evolution in action (July 11, 2011) -- Lungless salamanders (Ensatina eschscholtzii) live in a horseshoe-shape region in California (a 'ring') which circles around the central valley. New research showed that reproductive isolation of E. eschscholtzii was driven by genetic divergence rather than adaption to different ecological habitats. ... > full story

Chromosomes' big picture: Similarities found in genomes across multiple species; Platypus still out of place (July 11, 2011) -- By mapping various genomes onto an X-Y axis, a team of researchers has found that Charles Darwin and a fruit fly -- among other organisms -- have a lot in common genetically. The researchers found that the chromosome sizes within each eukaryotic species are actually similar rather than drastically different as previously believed. They also found that the chromosomes of these different organisms share a similar distribution pattern. ... > full story

Fewer rain storms across southern Australia with global warming (July 11, 2011) -- Decreasing autumn and winter rainfall over southern Australia has been attributed to a 50-year decrease in the average intensity of storms in the region -- a trend which is forecast to continue for another 50 years. ... > full story

Extremely rapid water: Scientists decipher a protein-bound water chain (July 11, 2011) -- Researchers have succeeded in providing evidence that a protein is capable of creating a water molecule chain for a few milliseconds for the directed proton transfer. The combination of vibrational spectroscopy and biomolecular simulations enabled the elucidation of the proton pump mechanism of a cell-membrane protein in atomic detail. The researchers demonstrated that protein-bound water molecules play a decisive role in the function. ... > full story

Potato genome sequence published (July 11, 2011) -- A high quality draft sequence of the potato genome has now been published by the Potato Genome Sequencing Consortium, an international team of scientists. ... > full story

Simple little spud helps scientists crack potato's mighty genome (July 11, 2011) -- A rare inbred potato created at Virginia Tech was the first to have its genome sequenced. It will be used as a draft against which the genome sequences of more complicated tubers will be compared. ... > full story

Perfecting the meat of the potato (July 11, 2011) -- By honing in on the mysterious potato genome and its tuber -- its edible portion -- researchers are unveiling the secrets of the world's most-important nongrain food crop. ... > full story

Jewel beetles, obtained from local people, turn out to be four species unknown to science (July 10, 2011) -- Biologists have discovered four new species of jewel beetles (Buprestidae) from South-eastern Asia. This family of beetles is named for their particularly beautiful body and fascinating, shiny colors. ... > full story

Geothermal industry to get boost from new research (July 10, 2011) -- An ambitious project to understand and characterize geothermal potential at nearly 500 sites throughout the Great Basin in the western U.S. is yielding a bounty of information for the geothermal industry to use in developing resources in Nevada, according to a report to the US Department of Energy. ... > full story

Vertebrate jaw design locked early: Study on initial diversification of jaws sheds light on early vertebrate feeding ecology (July 10, 2011) -- With the evolution of jaws some 420 million years ago, jawed animals diversified rapidly into a range of niches that remained stable for the following 80 million years, despite extinctions, habitat loss and competition, say researchers. ... > full story

Ruminant headgear: Antlers, horns, ossicones and pronghorns may offer medical clues (July 10, 2011) -- Emerging from the heads of most cud-chewing mammals, headgear inspire an almost mystical and certainly majestic aura. But, scientists say, we know shockingly little about them. In a new paper, scientists out what is known -- and not known -- about antlers, horns, pronghorns and ossicones. ... > full story