The EDGE: ScienceDaily Environment Headlines -- for Saturday, June 9, 2012

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines

for Saturday, June 9, 2012

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Engineered robot interacts with live fish (June 8, 2012) -- A bioinspired robot has provided the first experimental evidence that live zebrafish can be influenced by engineered robots. ... > full story

Parasitic plants steal genes from their hosts (June 8, 2012) -- The Malaysian parasitic plant Rafflesia cantleyi, with its 50cm diameter flowers, has 'stolen' genes from its host Tetrastigma rafflesiae. Analysis of these genes shows that their functions range from respiration to metabolism, and that some of them have even replaced the parasites own gene activity. ... > full story

Does cooperation require both reciprocity and alike neighbors? (June 8, 2012) -- Scientists have developed a new theoretical model on the evolution of cooperation. Evolution by definition is cold and merciless: it selects for success and weeds out failure. It seems only natural to expect that such a process would simply favour genes that help themselves and not others. Yet cooperative behaviour can be observed in many areas, and humans helping each other are a common phenomenon. Thus, one of the major questions in science today is how cooperative behaviour could evolve. ... > full story

Oceanic circulation: Heat loss strengthens the gyre circulation (June 8, 2012) -- A new study explains decadal variations in the oceanic circulation south of Greenland and Iceland. ... > full story

Environmental benefit of biofuels is overestimated, new study reveals (June 8, 2012) -- Two scientists are challenging the currently accepted norms of biofuel production. Calculations of greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions from bioenergy production are neglecting crucial information that has led to the overestimation of the benefits of biofuels compared to fossil fuels, a new analysis shows. ... > full story

U.S. experienced second warmest May, warmest spring on record, NOAA reports (June 7, 2012) -- According to NOAA scientists, the average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during May was 64.3°F, 3.3°F above the long-term average, making it the second warmest May on record. The month's high temperatures also contributed to the warmest spring, warmest year-to-date, and warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since recordkeeping began in 1895. ... > full story

Australia has two distinct white shark populations (June 7, 2012) -- A new scientific study has identified two distinct populations of white shark at the east and west of Bass Strait in Australian waters, prompting researchers to suggest the huge fish may need regional conservation plans. ... > full story

Rain may not always be a welcome thing to waterbirds (June 7, 2012) -- Scientists have found that waterbird communities can be the "canary in the coal mine" when it comes to detecting the health of urban estuary ecosystems. Their research revealed that the types of waterbirds that inhabit urban estuaries are influenced not only by urban development, but also by a far more natural process -- rain. ... > full story

Food-trade network vulnerable to fast spread of contaminants (June 7, 2012) -- Physicists and food science experts have recently published a rigorous analysis of the international food-trade network that shows the network's vulnerability to the fast spread of contaminants as well as the correlation between known food poisoning outbreaks and the centrality of countries on the network. ... > full story

Floating dock from Japan carries potential invasive species (June 7, 2012) -- When debris from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan began making its way toward the West Coast of the United States, there were fears of possible radiation and chemical contamination as well as costly cleanup. But a floating dock that unexpectedly washed ashore in Newport this week and has been traced back to the Japanese disaster has brought with it a completely different threat -- invasive species. ... > full story

Immune system 'circuitry' that kills malaria in mosquitoes identified (June 7, 2012) -- For the first time, researchers have determined the function of a series proteins within the mosquito that transduce a signal that enables the mosquito to fight off infection from the parasite that causes malaria in humans. Together, these proteins are known as immune deficiency (Imd) pathway signal transducing factors, are analogous to an electrical circuit. As each factor is switched on or off it triggers or inhibits the next, finally leading to the launch of an immune response against the malaria parasite. ... > full story

Scientists discover huge phytoplankton bloom in ice-covered waters (June 7, 2012) -- Scientists have discovered a massive bloom of phytoplankton beneath ice-covered Arctic waters. Until now, sea ice was thought to block sunlight and limit the growth of microscopic marine plants living under the ice. ... > full story