The EDGE: ScienceDaily Environment Headlines -- for Sunday, August 12, 2012

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines

for Sunday, August 12, 2012

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NASA conducts airborne study of Colorado landslide (August 11, 2012) -- NASA's C-20A (Gulfstream III) Earth science aircraft, carrying a specially designed synthetic aperture radar, recently completed the latest in a series of data collection flights over Colorado's centuries-old Slumgullion landslide. The goal of the research flights, funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate, is to aid scientists' understanding of the mechanisms controlling landslide motion. ... > full story

Of mice and melodies: Research on language gene seeks to uncover the origins of the singing mouse (August 10, 2012) -- Singing mice are unique rodents that use song to communicate. An important underlying gene that is thought to influence the singing behavior is a transcription factor called FOXP2, sometimes called the 'language gene' because it has been linked to speech disorders in humans. This information could help researchers find areas of the human FOXP2 gene that are associated with autism. ... > full story

Influence of heating techniques on red palm oil carotene levels (August 10, 2012) -- Researchers have studied carotene and antibacterial effects of microwave heated and conventional heated red palm oil (RPO). They discovered that conventional heating reduced its carotene levels but microwave heating retained a higher carotene content. ... > full story

Study of fruit fly chromosomes improves understanding of evolution and fertility (August 10, 2012) -- New research explores the evolution of sperm structure and function, through an analysis of Drosophila genes and gene products. The research has important implications for the study of human infertility as well. ... > full story

USDA: Ongoing drought causes significant crop yield declines (August 10, 2012) -- Corn production will drop 13 percent to a six-year low, the U.S. Agriculture Department said Aug. 10, confirming what many farmers already knew -- they are having a very bad year. ... > full story

NOAA raises hurricane season prediction despite expected El Niño (August 10, 2012) -- This year's Atlantic hurricane season got off to a busy start, with 6 named storms to date, and may have a busy second half, according to the updated hurricane season outlook issued Aug. 9, 2012 by NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service. The updated outlook still indicates a 50 percent chance of a near-normal season, but increases the chance of an above-normal season to 35 percent and decreases the chance of a below-normal season to only 15 percent from the initial outlook issued in May. ... > full story

50-year decline found in some Los Angeles vehicle-related pollutants (August 10, 2012) -- In California's Los Angeles Basin, levels of some vehicle-related air pollutants have decreased by about 98 percent since the 1960s, even as area residents now burn three times as much gasoline and diesel fuel. Between 2002 and 2010 alone, the concentration of air pollutants called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) dropped by half, according to a new study by NOAA scientists and colleagues. ... > full story

Why do organisms build tissues they seemingly never use? (August 10, 2012) -- Why, after millions of years of evolution, do organisms build structures that seemingly serve no purpose? A new study investigates the evolutionary reasons why organisms go through developmental stages that appear unnecessary. ... > full story

Earthquake risk in Europe detailed (August 10, 2012) -- For the first time, scientists have succeeded in setting up a harmonized catalog of earthquakes for Europe and the Mediterranean for the last thousand years. This catalog consists of about 45000 earthquakes. ... > full story

Mission discovers record depth for Lophelia coral on Gulf of Mexico energy platforms (August 10, 2012) -- A team of federal and university scientists on a 10-day expedition in the Gulf of Mexico has discovered Lophelia coral growing deeper than previously seen anywhere in the Gulf. Newly available information on Lophelia's growth rate and conditions will inform future environmental review and decision-making for the protection of deep-water coral habitats. ... > full story

Summer storm spins over Arctic (August 10, 2012) -- An unusually strong storm formed off the coast of Alaska on August 5 and tracked into the center of the Arctic Ocean, where it slowly dissipated over the next several days. Arctic storms such as this one can have a large impact on the sea ice, causing it to melt rapidly through many mechanisms, such as tearing off large swaths of ice and pushing them to warmer sites, churning the ice and making it slushier, or lifting warmer waters from the depths of the Arctic Ocean. ... > full story

NASA Global Hawk pilots face challenges flying hurricane missions (August 10, 2012) -- NASA's Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel, or HS3, mission will be a complex one for the pilots flying NASA's Global Hawk aircraft from the ground. The mission, set to begin this month, will be the first deployment for the unmanned aircraft away from their regular base of operations at the Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. In addition the pilots will be operating the aircraft from two locations on opposite coasts. ... > full story