The EDGE: ScienceDaily Environment Headlines -- for Saturday, January 28, 2012

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines

for Saturday, January 28, 2012

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

How cholera bacterium gains a foothold in the gut (January 27, 2012) -- Biologists have made an important advance in our understanding of the way cholera attacks the body. The discovery could help scientists target treatments for the globally significant intestinal disease which kills more than 100,000 people every year. ... > full story

Mars-bound instrument detects solar burst's effects: RAD measures radiation from solar storm (January 27, 2012) -- The largest solar particle event since 2005 hit Earth, Mars and the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft traveling in-between, allowing the onboard Radiation Assessment Detector to measure the radiation a human astronaut could be exposed to en route to the Red Planet. ... > full story

Grape seed extract kills head and neck cancer cells, leaves healthy cells unharmed (January 27, 2012) -- In both cell lines and mouse models, grape seed extract kills head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cells, while leaving healthy cells unharmed, new research shows. ... > full story

New ideas sharpen focus for greener aircraft (January 27, 2012) -- Leaner, greener flying machines for the year 2025 are on the drawing boards of three industry teams under contract to the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate's Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project. ... > full story

Engineered bacteria effectively target tumors, enabling tumor imaging potential in mice (January 27, 2012) -- Tumor-targeted bioluminescent bacteria have been shown for the first time to provide accurate 3-D images of tumors in mice, further advancing the potential for targeted cancer drug delivery. ... > full story

Can the economy bear what oil prices have in store? (January 27, 2012) -- The economic pain of a flattening oil supply will trump the environment as a reason to curb the use of fossil fuels, say scientists. ... > full story

Research on vitamins could lead to the design of novel drugs to combat malaria (January 27, 2012) -- New research could lead to the design of more effective drugs to combat malaria. The research will enable scientists to learn more about the nature of the enzymes required for vitamin biosynthesis by the malaria causing pathogen Plasmodium. Vitamins are essential nutrients required in small amounts, the lack of which leads to deficiencies. Many pathogenic microorganisms produce vitamins, and these biosynthetic pathways may provide suitable targets for development of new drugs. ... > full story

How viruses evolve, and in some cases, become deadly (January 27, 2012) -- Researchers have demonstrated how a new virus evolves, shedding light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations. ... > full story

Detecting detrimental change in coral reefs (January 27, 2012) -- Over dinner on R.V. Calypso while anchored on the lee side of Glover's Reef in Belize, Jacques Cousteau told Phil Dustan that he suspected humans were having a negative impact on coral reefs. Dustan -- a young ocean ecologist who had worked in the lush coral reefs of the Caribbean and Sinai Peninsula -- found this difficult to believe. It was December 1974. But Cousteau was right. During the following three-plus decades, Dustan, an ocean ecologist and biology professor at the University of Charleston in South Carolina, has witnessed widespread coral reef degradation and bleaching from up close. ... > full story

Life beyond Earth? Underwater caves in Bahamas could give clues (January 27, 2012) -- Discoveries made in some underwater caves by researchers in the Bahamas could provide clues about how ocean life formed on Earth millions of years ago, and perhaps give hints of what types of marine life could be found on distant planets and moons. ... > full story

How seawater could corrode nuclear fuel (January 27, 2012) -- Japan used seawater to cool nuclear fuel at the stricken Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant after the tsunami in March 2011 -- and that was probably the best action to take at the time, say experts. But researchers have since discovered a new way in which seawater can corrode nuclear fuel, forming uranium compounds that could potentially travel long distances, either in solution or as very small particles. ... > full story

Overgrazed grasslands tied to locust outbreaks (January 27, 2012) -- Scientists have shown that insect nutrition and agricultural land management practices may partially explain modern day locust outbreaks. ... > full story