The EDGE: ScienceDaily Environment Headlines -- for Sunday, September 2, 2012

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines

for Sunday, September 2, 2012

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Small male fish use high aggression strategy (September 1, 2012) -- In the deserts of central Australia lives a tough little fish known as the desert goby, and a new study is shedding light on the aggressive mating behaviour of smaller nest-holding males. ... > full story

Chilling methods could change meat tenderness (August 31, 2012) -- Contrary to previous studies, new research shows that a method called blast chilling can affect pork tenderness. This discovery could change pork production and consumer choices at the grocery store. ... > full story

Exposure to common toxic substances could increase asthma symptoms (August 31, 2012) -- Children who are exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were commonly used in a range of industrial products, could be at risk of an increase in asthma symptoms, according to new research. ... > full story

Earthquake hazards map study finds deadly flaws (August 31, 2012) -- Three of the largest and deadliest earthquakes in recent history occurred where earthquake hazard maps didn't predict massive quakes. Scientists have recently studied the reasons for the maps' failure to forecast these quakes. They also explored ways to improve the maps. Developing better hazard maps and alerting people to their limitations could potentially save lives and money in areas such as the New Madrid, Missouri fault zone. ... > full story

Danish scientists solve old blood mystery: New intriguing knowledge on blood hemoglobin (August 31, 2012) -- Scientists in Denmark have solved an old puzzle, which since the 1960s from many sides has been regarded as impossible to complete. The challenge was to solve the structure of the protecting protein complex that forms when hemoglobin is released from red cells and becomes toxic. This toxic release of hemoglobin occurs in many diseases affecting red cell stability, e.g. malaria. ... > full story

New 'Rust-Tracker' to monitor deadly wheat fungus in 27 nations (August 31, 2012) -- The world's top wheat experts have reported a breakthrough in their ability to track Ug99 and related strains of a deadly and rapidly mutating wheat pathogen called stem rust that threatens wheat fields from East Africa to South Asia. The creators of the "Rust-Tracker" say they now can monitor an unprecedented 42 million hectares of wheat in 27 developing countries. ... > full story

No more sneezing: Allergen-free house plants (August 31, 2012) -- New research shows how targeting two bacterial genes into an ornamental plant Pelargonium, can produce long-lived and pollen-free plants. Pelargoniums (‘Geraniums’ and ‘Storkbills’) have been cultivated in Europe since the17th century and are now one of the most popular garden and house plants around the world. ... > full story

Domestic coal use linked to substantial lifetime risk of lung cancer in Xuanwei, China (August 30, 2012) -- The use of "smoky coal" for household cooking and heating is associated with a substantial increase in the lifetime risk of developing lung cancer, finds a study from China. ... > full story

Shading Earth: Delivering solar geoengineering materials to combat global warming may be feasible and affordable (August 30, 2012) -- A cost analysis of the technologies needed to transport materials into the stratosphere to reduce the amount of sunlight hitting Earth and therefore reduce the effects of global climate change has shown that they are both feasible and affordable. The study has shown that the basic technology currently exists and could be assembled and implemented in a number of different forms for less than USD billion a year. ... > full story

Mystery of operon evolution probed (August 30, 2012) -- New research suggests a possible explanation for the organization of operons, jointly controlled clusters of genes that evolved in bacterial chromosomes. Operons, which are found in the chromosomes of bacteria but not in more advanced organisms, have puzzled biologists since their discovery in the 1960s. The new study suggests operons evolved as a means of reducing "noise" in biochemical signal processing. ... > full story

Biophysicists unravel secrets of genetic switch (August 30, 2012) -- Biophysicists have experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, how the nonspecific binding of a protein known as the lambda repressor, or C1 protein, bends DNA and helps it close a loop that switches off virulence. Findings are the first direct and quantitative determination of non-specific binding and compaction of DNA, relevant for the understanding of DNA physiology, and the dynamic characteristics of an on-off switch for the expression of genes. ... > full story

Surviving drought: Discovery may help protect crops from stressors (August 30, 2012) -- New findings of a key genetic mechanism in plant hormone signaling may help save crops from stress and help address human hunger. ... > full story