The EDGE: ScienceDaily Environment Headlines -- for Thursday, January 5, 2012

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines

for Thursday, January 5, 2012

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How dengue infection hits harder the second time around (January 4, 2012) -- One of the most vexing challenges in the battle against dengue virus, a potentially fatal mosquito-borne virus, is that getting infected once can put people at greater risk for a more severe infection down the road. A new study details how the interaction between a person's immune response and a subsequent dengue infection could mean the difference between getting a mild fever and going into fatal circulatory failure. ... > full story

New technology removes air pollutants, may reduce energy use in animal agricultural facilities (January 4, 2012) -- Researchers have developed a new technology that can reduce air pollutant emissions from some chicken and swine barns, and also reduce their energy use by recovering and possibly generating heat. ... > full story

Magnetically levitated flies offer clues to future of life in space (January 4, 2012) -- Using powerful magnets to levitate fruit flies can provide vital clues to how biological organisms are affected by weightless conditions in space, researchers say. ... > full story

What if if Virginia lifts ban on uranium mining? Report identifies health and environmental issues (January 4, 2012) -- A number of health and environmental issues and related risks need to be addressed when considering whether to lift the almost 30-year moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia, a new report says. ... > full story

Leaping lizards and dinosaurs inspire robot design (January 4, 2012) -- A new study of how lizards use their tails when leaping through the trees shows that they swing the tail upward to avoid pitching forward after a stumble. Theropod dinosaurs -- the ancestors of birds -- may have done the same. A robot model confirms the value of an actively controlled tail, demonstrating that adding a tail can stabilize robots on uneven terrain and after unexpected falls -- critical to successful search and rescue operations. ... > full story

Experimental vaccine partially protects monkeys from HIV-like infection (January 4, 2012) -- New vaccine research in monkeys suggests that scientists are homing in on the critical ingredients of a protective HIV vaccine and identifies new HIV vaccine candidates to test in human clinical trials. ... > full story

Russian runoff freshening Canadian Arctic, NASA finds (January 4, 2012) -- A new study allays concerns that melting Arctic sea ice could be increasing the amount of freshwater in the Arctic enough to have an impact on the global "ocean conveyor belt" that redistributes heat around our planet. Researchers detected a previously unknown redistribution of freshwater during the past decade from the Eurasian half of the Arctic Ocean to the Canadian half. Yet despite the redistribution, they found no change in the net amount of freshwater in the Arctic that might signal a change in the conveyor belt. ... > full story

Hydrogen sulfide reduces glucose-induced injury in kidney cells (January 4, 2012) -- Hydrogen sulfide, a noxious gas that smells like rotten eggs, may have beneficial effects in the kidney. Researchers found that this gas diminishes high glucose-induced production of scarring proteins in kidney cells. Considerable work remains to be done before studies can move to animal models. ... > full story

Nanotechnology: Nanomechanical measurements of unprecedented resolution made on protein molecules (January 4, 2012) -- Physicists have made nanomechanical measurements of unprecedented resolution on protein molecules. The new measurements are approximately 100 times higher in resolution than previous mechanical measurements, a nanotechnology feat which reveals an isolated protein molecule, surprisingly, is neither a solid nor a liquid. ... > full story

New clues to human deafness found in mice (January 4, 2012) -- Researchers have identified a gene that is required for proper development of the mouse inner ear. In humans, this gene, known as FGF20, is located in a portion of the genome that has been associated with inherited deafness in otherwise healthy families. ... > full story

Hepatitis C virus hijacks liver microRNA (January 4, 2012) -- Scientists have now shown for the first time how a small RNA molecule that regulates gene expression in human liver cells has been hijacked by the hepatitis C virus to ensure its own survival -- helping medical scientists understand why a new antiviral drug appears to be effective against the virus. ... > full story

Millipede border control better than ours (January 4, 2012) -- An Australian zoologist has documented a remarkably sharp boundary between two species of millipede in northwest Tasmania. The boundary is more than 200 km long and apparently less than 100 m wide. ... > full story

Shot of young stem cells makes rapidly aging mice live much longer and healthier, researchers report (January 4, 2012) -- Mice bred to age too quickly seemed to have sipped from the fountain of youth after scientists injected them with stem cell-like progenitor cells derived from the muscle of young, healthy animals. Instead of becoming infirm and dying early as untreated mice did, animals that got the stem/progenitor cells improved their health and lived two to three times longer than expected. ... > full story

A radar for ADAR: Altered gene tracks RNA editing in neurons (January 4, 2012) -- RNA editing is a key step in gene expression. Scientists now report that they have engineered a gene capable of visually displaying the activity of the key enzyme ADAR in living fruit flies. ... > full story

'Lost world' discovered around Antarctic vents (January 4, 2012) -- Communities of species previously unknown to science have been discovered on the seafloor near Antarctica, clustered in the hot, dark environment surrounding hydrothermal vents. The discoveries include new species of yeti crab, starfish, barnacles, sea anemones, and potentially an octopus. ... > full story

When overeating, calories -- not protein -- contribute to increase in body fat, study finds (January 4, 2012) -- In a study conducted among 25 healthy individuals living in a controlled setting who were randomized to overconsumption of different levels of protein diets, those consuming the low-protein diet had less weight gain compared to those consuming normal and high protein diets, and calories alone, and not protein appeared to contribute to an increase in body fat, according to a new study. ... > full story

Frogs use calls to find mates with matching chromosomes; Tree frogs that look similar hear chromosome difference in calls (January 4, 2012) -- When it comes to love songs, female tree frogs are pretty picky. According to a new study, certain female tree frogs may be remarkably attuned to the songs of mates who share the same number of chromosomes as they do. The discovery offers insight into how new frog species may have evolved. ... > full story

Great apes make sophisticated decisions: Research suggests that great apes are capable of calculating the odds before taking risks (January 3, 2012) -- Chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas and bonobos make more sophisticated decisions than was previously thought. Great apes weigh their chances of success, based on what they know and the likelihood to succeed when guessing, according to a new study. The findings may provide insight into human decision-making as well. ... > full story

Novel compound to halt virus replication identified (January 3, 2012) -- Researchers have identified a novel compound to halt virus replication. The findings could lead to the development of highly targeted compounds to block the replication of poxviruses, such as the emerging infectious disease monkeypox. ... > full story

Sunlight and bunker oil a fatal combination for Pacific herring (January 3, 2012) -- The 2007 Cosco Busan disaster, which spilled 54,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay, had an unexpectedly lethal impact on embryonic fish, devastating a commercially and ecologically important species for nearly two years, reports a new study. ... > full story

I know something you don't know! Wild chimpanzees inform ignorant group members of danger (January 2, 2012) -- Many animals produce alarm calls to predators, and do this more often when kin or mates are present than other audience members. So far, however, there has been no evidence that they take the other group members' knowledge state into account. Researchers set up a study with wild chimpanzees in Uganda and found that chimpanzees were more likely to alarm call to a snake in the presence of unaware than in the presence of aware group members, suggesting that they recognize knowledge and ignorance in others. ... > full story

Molecular mechanism links temperature with sex determination in some fish species (January 2, 2012) -- Researchers have found the epigenetic mechanism that links temperature and gonadal sex in fish. High temperature increases DNA methylation of the gonadal aromatase promoter in females. ... > full story

Heritage site under attack by flowers (January 1, 2012) -- The Belgrade fortress is not only threatened by the effects of coal burning, as was assumed until now, but also by flower beds. The deterioration of the fortress walls could be partially caused by the large quantities of potassium present in fertilizers used by gardeners and could be responsible for the formation of black crusts on the ramparts. ... > full story

Helping wild horses and livestock survive extreme weather in Gobi desert (January 1, 2012) -- Winters in the Gobi desert are usually long and very cold but the winter of 2009/2010 was particularly severe, a condition Mongolians refer to as "dzud". Millions of livestock died in Mongolia and the re-introduced wild Przewalski's horse population crashed dramatically. Researchers have used spatially explicit loss statistics, ranger survey data and GPS telemetry to provide insights into the effect of a catastrophic climate event on wild horses, wild asses and livestock that share the same habitat but show different patterns of spatial use. ... > full story

'Head-first' diversity shown to drive vertebrate evolution (December 31, 2011) -- A new analysis of two adaptive radiations in the fossil record found that these diversifications proceeded "head first." Head features diversified before body shapes and types. This suggests that feeding-related evolutionary pressures are the initial drivers of diversification. ... > full story

Debris scatters in the Pacific Ocean, possibly heading to US (December 31, 2011) -- Debris from the tsunami that devastated Japan in March could reach the United States as early as this winter, according to new predictions. However, they warn there is still a large amount of uncertainty over exactly what is still floating, where it's located, where it will go, and when it will arrive. Responders now have a challenging, if not impossible situation on their hands: How do you deal with debris that could now impact US shores, but is difficult to find? ... > full story

New super-resolution microscope (December 31, 2011) -- Optical microscopes are still second to none when it comes to analyzing biological samples. However, their low resolution, improved only in recent years in STED microscopes, continues to be a problem. ... > full story

Weather deserves medal for clean air during 2008 Olympics (December 30, 2011) -- New research suggests that China's impressive feat of cutting Beijing's pollution up to 50 percent for the 2008 Summer Olympics had some help from Mother Nature. Rain just at the beginning and wind during the Olympics likely contributed about half of the effort needed to clean up the skies, scientists found. The results also suggest emission controls need to be more widely implemented than in 2008 if pollution levels are to be reduced permanently. ... > full story

New theory emerges for where some fish became four-limbed creatures (December 29, 2011) -- A small fish crawling on stumpy limbs from a shrinking desert pond is an icon of can-do spirit, emblematic of a leading theory for the evolutionary transition between fish and amphibians. This theorized image of such a drastic adaptation to changing environmental conditions, however, may, itself, be evolving into a new picture. ... > full story

Community Conservation in Zanzibar: Not just mangroves and monkeys (December 29, 2011) -- The sustainable development goals of community conservation in Zanzibar raise more complex issues than just protecting monkeys and mangroves. Contingent socio-economic and cultural factors must be taken into account when planning and implementing conservation initiatives if they are to endure, let alone succeed. ... > full story

Badwater Basin: Death Valley microbe may spark novel biotech and nanotech uses (December 28, 2011) -- Nevada, the "Silver State," is well-known for mining precious metals. But some scientists do a different type of mining. They sluice through every water body they can find, looking for new forms of microbial magnetism. ... > full story

Over 65 million years, North American mammal evolution has tracked with climate change (December 27, 2011) -- Climate changes profoundly influenced the rise and fall of six distinct, successive waves of mammal species diversity in North America over the last 65 million years, shows a novel statistical analysis by evolutionary biologists. Warming and cooling periods, in two cases confounded by species migrations, marked the transition from one dominant grouping to the next. ... > full story

Keeping our beaches safe from fecal contamination (December 27, 2011) -- Fecal contamination of public beaches caused by sewage overflow is both dangerous for swimmers and costly for state and local economies. Current methods to detect Escherichia coli, a bacterium highly indicative of the presence of fecal matter in water, typically require 24-48 hours to produce a result. A new, accurate, and economical sensor-based device capable of measuring E. coli levels in water samples in less than 1-8 hours could serve as a valuable early warning tool. ... > full story

Link between earthquakes and tropical cyclones: New study may help scientists identify regions at high risk for earthquakes (December 26, 2011) -- A groundbreaking study shows that earthquakes, including the recent 2010 temblors in Haiti and Taiwan, may be triggered by tropical cyclones. ... > full story

How bacteria build homes inside healthy cells (December 25, 2011) -- Bacteria are able to build camouflaged homes for themselves inside healthy cells. A team that revealed how a pair of proteins from the bacteria Legionella pneumophila, which causes Legionnaires disease, alters a host protein in order to divert raw materials within the cell for use in building and disguising a large structure that houses the bacteria as it replicates. ... > full story

Computer assisted design (CAD) for RNA: Researchers develop CAD-type tools for engineering RNA control systems (December 24, 2011) -- Researchers have developed computer assisted design-type tools for engineering RNA components to control genetic expression in microbes. This holds enormous potential for microbial-based production of advanced biofuels, biodegradable plastics, therapeutic drugs and a host of other goods now derived from petrochemicals. ... > full story

High intestinal microbial diversity safeguards against allergies, study suggests (December 24, 2011) -- High diversity and a variety of bacteria in the gut protect children against allergies as opposed to some individual bacterial genera. These are the findings of a comprehensive study of intestinal microflora (gut flora) in allergic and healthy children. ... > full story

New method for watching proteins fold (December 23, 2011) -- A protein's function depends on both the chains of molecules it is made of and the way those chains are folded. And while figuring out the former is relatively easy, the latter represents a huge challenge with serious implications because many diseases are the result of misfolded proteins. Now, a team of chemists has devised a way to watch proteins fold in "real-time," which could lead to a better understanding of protein folding and misfolding in general. ... > full story

Chinese fossils shed light on evolutionary origin of animals from single-cell ancestors (December 23, 2011) -- Evidence of the single-celled ancestors of animals, dating from the interval in the Earth's history just before multicellular animals appeared, has been discovered in 570 million-year-old rocks from South China. ... > full story

Possible cure for leukemia found in fish oil (December 23, 2011) -- A compound produced from fish oil that appears to target leukemia stem cells could lead to a cure for the disease, according to researchers. ... > full story

Go to work on a Christmas card: UK's wrapping paper and festive cards could provide energy to send a bus to the moon more than 20 times (December 23, 2011) -- If all the UK's discarded wrapping paper and Christmas cards were collected and fermented, they could make enough biofuel to run a double-decker bus to the moon and back more than 20 times, according to the researchers behind a new scientific study. ... > full story

Built-in 'self-destruct timer' causes ultimate death of messenger RNA in cells (December 22, 2011) -- Researchers have discovered the first known mechanism by which cells control the survival of messenger RNA (mRNA) -- arguably biology's most important molecule. The findings pertain to mRNAs that help regulate cell division and could therefore have implications for reversing cancer's out-of-control cell division. ... > full story

Long intervening non-coding RNAs play pivotal roles in brain development (December 22, 2011) -- Scientists have identified conserved, long intervening non-coding RNAs that play key roles during brain development in zebrafish, and went on to show that the human versions of these RNAs can substitute for the zebrafish lincRNAs. Until now, lincRNAs have been studied primarily in cell lines rather than at the organismal level, which has precluded research into how lincRNAs affect growth and development. ... > full story

Reclaiming land after a forest fire (December 22, 2011) -- Researchers treated burnt soil with an organic polymer used in agriculture. Applying granules of the non-toxic polymer cut soil erosion by half in both laboratory and field experiments. ... > full story

Starlings help explain irrational preferences (December 22, 2011) -- Research into decision-making by European starlings may help explain why many animals, including humans, sometimes exhibit irrational preferences. ... > full story

First ever direct measurement of Earth's rotation (December 22, 2011) -- Scientists have just plotted changes in Earth's axis through laboratory measurements. To do this, they constructed the world's most stable ring laser. Previously, scientists were only able to track shifts in the axis indirectly by monitoring fixed objects in space. Capturing these shifts is crucial for navigation systems. ... > full story

High genetic diversity in an ancient Hawaiian clone (December 22, 2011) -- The entire Hawaiian population of the peat moss Sphagnum palustre appears to be a clone that has been in existence for some 50,000 years, researchers have discovered. ... > full story

Jaguar photo shows conservation success in Bolivia (December 22, 2011) -- A dramatic photo of a female jaguar and her two cubs near the Isoso Station of the Santa Cruz-Puerto Suarez Gas Pipeline in Kaa Iya National Park in Bolivia has just been released. The adult jaguar, nicknamed Kaaiyana, has been seen with her cubs in the area for over a month; though conservationists have confirmed she has been a resident in the vicinity for at least six years. ... > full story