The EDGE: ScienceDaily Environment Headlines -- for Friday, August 10, 2012

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines

for Friday, August 10, 2012

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Evidence further suggests extra-terrestrial origin of quasicrystals (August 9, 2012) -- Results from an expedition to far eastern Russia that set out to find the origin of naturally occurring quasicrystals have provided convincing evidence that they arrived on Earth from outer space. Scientists reveal that new, naturally occurring quasicrystal samples have been found in an environment that does not have the extreme terrestrial conditions needed to produce them, therefore strengthening the case that they were brought to Earth by a meteorite. ... > full story

Copper facilitates prion disease, scientists show (August 9, 2012) -- Many of us are familiar with prion disease from its most startling and unusual incarnations —- the outbreaks of “mad cow” disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) that created a crisis in the global beef industry. Or the strange story of Kuru, a fatal illness affecting a tribe in Papua New Guinea known for its cannibalism. Both are forms of prion disease, caused by the abnormal folding of a protein and resulting in progressive neurodegeneration and death. ... > full story

Gecko feet hold clues to creating bandages that stick when wet (August 9, 2012) -- A better understanding of geckos' gripping power in wet conditions may lead to improvements in bandages and sutures. ... > full story

Scientist discovers plate tectonics on Mars (August 9, 2012) -- For years, many scientists had thought that plate tectonics existed nowhere in our solar system but on Earth. Now, a researcher has discovered that the geological phenomenon, which involves the movement of huge crustal plates beneath a planet's surface, also exists on Mars. ... > full story

New way to track formaldehyde (August 9, 2012) -- NASA researchers are helping to fill a big gap in scientists' understanding of how much urban pollution -- and more precisely formaldehyde -- ultimately winds up in Earth's upper atmosphere where it can wreak havoc on Earth's protective ozone layer. ... > full story

Searching salt for answers about life on Earth, Mars (August 9, 2012) -- Researchers have discovered that not only is there evidence of liquid water on Mars, but the planet is also rich with magnesium sulfate. One of the questions researchers are seeking to answer is whether microbial life on Earth can grow at high concentrations of magnesium sulfate. ... > full story

Researchers combine remote sensing technologies for highly detailed look at coastal change (August 9, 2012) -- Shifting sands and tides make it difficult to measure accurately the amount of beach that's available for recreation, development and conservation, but researchers have now combined several remote sensing technologies with historical data to create coastal maps with an unsurpassed level of accuracy. ... > full story

You snooze, you lose: Less sleep leads to more offspring in male pectoral sandpipers (August 9, 2012) -- During the breeding season, polygynous male pectoral sandpipers that sleep the least sire the most young. Biologists have now discovered this extraordinary relationship. During three weeks of intense competition under the constant daylight of the Arctic summer, males actively court females and compete with other males. The most sleepless males were found to be the most successful in producing young. ... > full story

1.5 million years of climate history revealed after scientists solve mystery of the deep (August 9, 2012) -- Scientists have announced a major breakthrough in understanding the Earth's climate machine by reconstructing highly accurate records of changes in ice volume and deep-ocean temperatures over the last 1.5 million years. ... > full story

Global water sustainability flows through natural and human challenges (August 9, 2012) -- Water's fate in China mirrors problems across the world: fouled, pushed far from its natural origins, squandered and exploited. Scientists look back at lessons learned in China and management strategies that hold solutions for China -- and across the world. ... > full story

Cheaper and cleaner catalyst for burning methane (August 9, 2012) -- Researchers have created a material that catalyzes the burning of methane 30 times better than do currently available catalysts. ... > full story

Human antibodies that protect against large variety of flu viruses described (August 9, 2012) -- Scientists have described three human antibodies that provide broad protection against Influenza B virus strains. The same team had previously reported finding broadly neutralizing antibodies against Influenza A strains. ... > full story

Hormone in fruit flies sheds light on diabetes cure, weight-loss drug for humans (August 9, 2012) -- Neurobiologists have examined how fruit flies (Drosophila) react when given a decreased diet. Since fruit flies and humans share 30% of the same genes and their brains are wired similarly, the findings could be key to developing new treatments for diabetes and aiding in all sorts of metabolic research, including weight-loss drugs. ... > full story

Neolithic man: The first lumberjack? (August 9, 2012) -- Scientists have unearthed evidence that sophisticated carpentry tools first appeared at the same time as increased agriculture and the establishment of permanent settlements during the Neolithic Age. ... > full story

Pine trees one of biggest contributors to air pollution: Pine gases chemically transformed by free radicals (August 9, 2012) -- Pine trees are one of the biggest contributors to air pollution. They give off gases that react with airborne chemicals creating tiny, invisible particles that muddy the air. Scientists have shown that particles formed by pine trees are much more dynamic than previously thought. The findings can help make climate and air quality prediction models more accurate, and inform regulatory agencies as they consider strategies for improving air quality. ... > full story

Solar power day and night: New storage systems control fluctuation of renewable energies (August 9, 2012) -- Energy storage systems are one of the key technologies for the energy turnaround. With their help, the fluctuating supply of electricity based on photovoltaics and wind power can be stored until the time of consumption. A number of pilot plants of solar cells, small wind power plants, lithium-ion batteries, and power electronics are now under construction to demonstrate how load peaks in the grid can be balanced and what regenerative power supply by an isolated network may look like in the future. ... > full story

Earliest use of Mexican turkeys by ancient Maya (August 9, 2012) -- A new study shows the turkey, one of the most widely consumed birds worldwide, was domesticated more than 1,000 years earlier than previously believed. ... > full story

The difference between a mole and shrew is in their SOX (August 9, 2012) -- The family of small insectivores, Talpidae, includes the moles, shrew moles, and aquatic desmans. New research has found that the enlargement of moles' digging front paws, compared to their feet, is controlled by altered timing of expression of the gene SOX9. ... > full story

New perspectives on the function of the Golgi apparatus (August 9, 2012) -- New perspectives have been reached on the function of the Golgi apparatus. Scientists explain a basic difference between plant and animal cells. ... > full story

And then there was light! Discovery of the world's first eyeless huntsman spider (August 9, 2012) -- A scientist has discovered the first eyeless huntsman spider in the world. With a leg span of only six centimetres and a body size of around twelve millimetres, the spider Sinopoda scurion is certainly not one of the largest representatives of the huntsman spiders, which include more than 1100 species. However, it is the first of its kind in the world without any eyes. ... > full story

Drivers of marine biodiversity: Tiny, freeloading clams find the key to evolutionary success (August 9, 2012) -- What mechanisms control the generation and maintenance of biological diversity on the planet? It’s a central question in evolutionary biology. For land-dwelling organisms such as insects and the flowers they pollinate, it’s clear that interactions between species are one of the main drivers of the evolutionary change that leads to biological diversity. ... > full story

Snail believed extinct found by student in Cahaba River (August 9, 2012) -- A freshwater snail declared extinct in 2000 was recently rediscovered in the Cahaba River by a graduate student. ... > full story

Oh, my stars and hexagons! DNA code shapes gold nanoparticles (August 8, 2012) -- DNA holds the genetic code for all sorts of biological molecules and traits. But researchers have found that DNA's code can similarly shape metallic structures. The team found that DNA segments can direct the shape of gold nanoparticles -- tiny gold crystals that have many applications in medicine, electronics and catalysis. Each of the four DNA bases codes for a different gold particle shape: rough round particles, stars, flat round discs, and hexagons. ... > full story

Hyenas that think outside the box solve problems faster (August 8, 2012) -- Innovative problem solving requires trying many different solutions. That's true for humans, and now Michigan State University researchers show that it's true for hyenas, too. ... > full story

Test vaccine successfully protects monkeys from Nipah virus (August 8, 2012) -- Researchers have successfully tested in monkeys a vaccine against Nipah virus, a human pathogen that emerged in 1998 during a large outbreak of infection and disease among pigs and pig farmers in Southeast Asia. This latest advance builds upon earlier work by the scientists, who found that the same vaccine can protect cats from Nipah virus and ferrets and horses from the closely related Hendra virus. ... > full story

Chronic exposure to staph bacteria may be risk factor for lupus (August 8, 2012) -- Chronic exposure to even small amounts of staph bacteria could be a risk factor for the chronic inflammatory disease lupus, new research shows. ... > full story

Shark teeth help scientists uncover predator's history (August 8, 2012) -- Biologists are studying living great whites and other sharks – as well as fossilized shark teeth – to gain insight into shark behavior and ancestry using the latest in computed tomography scans to analyze shark tooth anatomy, development and evolution. ... > full story

Researchers collect and reuse enzymes while maintaining bioactivity (August 8, 2012) -- Researchers are collecting and harvesting enzymes while maintaining the enzyme's bioactivity. The new model system may impact cancer research. ... > full story

Early human ancestors had more variable diet (August 8, 2012) -- New research sheds more light on the diet and home ranges of early hominins belonging to three different genera, notably Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Homo -- that were discovered at sites such as Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and Kromdraai in the Cradle of Humankind, about 50 kilometers from Johannesburg. Australopithecus existed before the other two genera evolved about 2 million years ago. ... > full story

New atmospheric compound tied to climate change, human health (August 8, 2012) -- Scientists have discovered a surprising new chemical compound in Earth's atmosphere that reacts with sulfur dioxide to form sulfuric acid, which is known to have significant impacts on climate and health. The new compound, a type of carbonyl oxide, is formed from the reaction of ozone with alkenes, which are a family of hydrocarbons with both natural and human-made sources. ... > full story

Hibernation altered by climate change takes a toll on Rocky Mountain animal species (August 8, 2012) -- Climate change is causing a late wake-up call from hibernation for a species of Rocky Mountain ground squirrel and the effect is deadly. Biologists have examined data on a population of Columbian ground squirrels and found a trend of late spring snow falls has delayed the animals' emergence from hibernation by 10 days over the last 20 years. ... > full story

New Kenyan fossils shed light on early human evolution (August 8, 2012) -- Exciting new fossils discovered east of Lake Turkana confirm that there were two additional species of our genus -- Homo -- living alongside our direct human ancestral species, Homo erectus, almost two million years ago. ... > full story

Horse racing: Doping detection stays a neck ahead (August 8, 2012) -- Whilst the eyes of the world may currently be focused on the Olympics, human sport is not the only area where drug testing is routinely carried out. Horse racing is a massive world-wide industry, and regular testing is essential to maintain its integrity. As with human sport, the authorities constantly need to develop methodologies to detect new compounds that drug cheats are using or may start to use. One such compound is peginesatide. ... > full story

How a leaf beetle walks underwater (August 8, 2012) -- Insects are experts when it comes to adhesion on dry surfaces. However, in nature, plants may be covered by water for quite a long period of time, especially after rain. Scientists have now discovered the remarkable ability of the terrestrial leaf beetle to walk underwater. Picking up the beetle’s locomotion mechanism, they designed an artificial material, which sticks to surfaces underwater. ... > full story

Physics and math shed new light on biology by mapping the landscape of evolution (August 8, 2012) -- Researchers capture evolutionary dynamics in a new theoretical framework that could help explain some of the mysteries of how and why species change over time. ... > full story

Diversity keeps grasslands resilient to drought, climate change (August 8, 2012) -- Grasslands should come out as the winner with increased periods and intensity of drought predicted in the future. ... > full story

Protein that boosts longevity may protect against diabetes: Sirtuins help fight off disorders linked to obesity (August 8, 2012) -- According to a new study, a protein that slows aging in mice and other animals also protects against the ravages of a high-fat diet, including diabetes. ... > full story

Boys appear to be more vulnerable than girls to the insecticide chlorpyrifos: Lower IQs seen in boys exposed in the womb to comparable amounts of the chemical (August 8, 2012) -- A new study is the first to find a difference between how boys and girls respond to prenatal exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos. Researchers have found that, at age seven, boys had greater difficulty with working memory, a key component of IQ, than girls with similar exposures. ... > full story

Leveraging bacteria in drinking water to benefit consumers (August 8, 2012) -- Contrary to popular belief, purified drinking water from home faucets contains millions to hundreds of millions of widely differing bacteria per gallon, and scientists have discovered a plausible way to manipulate those populations of mostly beneficial microbes to potentially benefit consumers. ... > full story

July 2012 marked hottest month on record for contiguous U.S.; Drought expands to cover nearly 63 percent of the Lower 48 (August 8, 2012) -- According to NOAA scientists, the average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during July was 77.6°F, 3.3°F above the 20th century average, marking the hottest July and the hottest month on record for the nation. The previous warmest July for the nation was July 1936 when the average U.S. temperature was 77.4°F. The warm July temperatures contributed to a record-warm first seven months of the year and the warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since recordkeeping began in 1895. ... > full story

Unusual weather events identified during 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Australia (August 8, 2012) -- Research has revealed that the extremely hot, dry and windy conditions on Black Saturday in the Australian state of Victoria combined with structures in the atmosphere called 'horizontal convective rolls' -- similar to streamers of wind flowing through the air -- which likely affected fire behavior. ... > full story

A charismatic new lacewing from Malaysia discovered online by chance (August 8, 2012) -- Green lacewings are delicate green insects with large, lace-like wings that live in a wide variety of habitats, especially tropical forests. Adults mostly feed on flowers, but the larvae are ferocious predators of other insects, frequently carrying the dead carcasses of their prey on their backs after killing them using their enormous, sucking tube-like jaws. ... > full story

Molecular economics: New computer models calculate systems-wide costs of gene expression (August 8, 2012) -- Bioengineers have developed a method of modeling, simultaneously, an organism's metabolism and its underlying gene expression. In the emerging field of systems biology, scientists model cellular behavior in order to understand how processes such as metabolism and gene expression relate to one another and bring about certain characteristics in the larger organism. ... > full story

New global warming culprit: Methane emissions jump dramatically during dam drawdowns (August 8, 2012) -- Researchers have documented an underappreciated suite of players in global warming: dams, the water reservoirs behind them, and surges of greenhouse gases as water levels go up and down. In separate studies, researchers saw methane levels jump 20- and 36-fold during drawdowns. ... > full story

New non-toxic disinfectant could tackle hospital infections (August 7, 2012) -- A new disinfectant, Akwaton, that works at extremely low concentrations could be used in healthcare settings to help control persistent hospital-acquired infections such as Clostridium difficile. Researchers tested the new compound, Akwaton, against bacterial spores that attach to surfaces and are difficult to destroy. Previous work has shown Akwaton is also effective at low concentrations against strains of Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. ... > full story

Planting the seeds of defense: Stress triggers widespread epigenetic changes that aid in disease resistance (August 7, 2012) -- It was long thought that methylation, a crucial part of normal organism development, was a static modification of DNA that could not be altered by environmental conditions. New findings, however, suggest that the DNA of organisms exposed to stress undergo changes in DNA methylation patterns that alter how genes are regulated. ... > full story

Can nature parks save biodiversity? (August 7, 2012) -- As human activities put increasing pressures on natural systems and wildlife to survive, 200 scientists around the world carved up pieces of the puzzle to present a clearer picture of reality and find ways to mitigate the destructive forces at work. ... > full story

Shedding new light on how jaws evolve (August 7, 2012) -- If you're looking for information on the evolution and function of jaws, a new integrative research program has some answers. Scientists are investigating major adaptive and morphological transformations in the mammalian musculoskeletal system during development and across higher-level groups. ... > full story