The EDGE: ScienceDaily Environment Headlines -- for Saturday, June 16, 2012

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines

for Saturday, June 16, 2012

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No Earth impact in 2040: NASA releases workshop data and findings on asteroid 2011 AG5 (June 15, 2012) -- Researchers anticipate that asteroid 2011 AG5, discovered in January 2011, will fly safely past and not impact Earth in 2040. Observations to date indicate there is a slight chance that AG5 could impact Earth in 2040. Experts are now confident that in the next four years, analysis of space and ground-based observations will show the likelihood of 2011 AG5 missing Earth to be greater than 99 percent. ... > full story

Bugs have key role in farming approach to storing CO2 emissions (June 15, 2012) -- Tiny microbes are at the heart of a novel agricultural technique to manage harmful greenhouse gas emissions. ... > full story

Nanotechnology used to harness power of fireflies (June 15, 2012) -- Scientists have found a new way to harness the natural light produced by fireflies using nanoscience. Their breakthrough produces a system that is 20 to 30 times more efficient than those produced during previous experiments. ... > full story

Studying soil to predict the future of Earth's atmosphere (June 15, 2012) -- Soil plays an important role in controlling the planet's atmospheric future according to new research. Researchers found that the interaction between plants and soils controls how ecosystems respond to rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. ... > full story

BPA exposure effects may last for generations (June 15, 2012) -- Exposure to low doses of Bisphenol A (BPA) during gestation had immediate and long-lasting, trans-generational effects on the brain and social behaviors in mice, according to a recent study. ... > full story

New solar active region spitting out flares (June 14, 2012) -- An active region on the sun, numbered AR 1504, rotated into view over the left side of the sun on June 10, 2012. The region fired off two M-class flares and two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) on June 13 and June 14, 2012. ... > full story

Study suggests expanded concept of 'urban watershed' (June 14, 2012) -- Within two decades, 60 percent of the world's population will live in cities, and coping with the resulting urban drinking water and sanitation issues will be one of the greatest challenges of this century. A new study presents a new conceptual framework that addresses characteristics of watersheds that are affected by urban land uses. ... > full story

Catching some rays: Organic solar cells make a leap forward (June 14, 2012) -- Organic solar cells are becoming more efficient thanks to a new set of discoveries that alter their behaviors at the electronic level. ... > full story

Breast milk kills HIV and blocks its oral transmission in humanized mouse (June 14, 2012) -- Although breastfeeding is attributed to a significant number of HIV infections in infants, most breastfed babies are not infected with HIV, despite prolonged and repeated exposure. HIV researchers have been left with a conundrum: does breast milk transmit the virus or protect against it? New research explores this paradox in a humanized mouse model, demonstrating that breast milk has a strong virus killing effect and protects against oral transmission of HIV. ... > full story

Amazon was not all manufactured landscape, scientist says (June 14, 2012) -- Population estimates for the Amazon basin just before Europeans arrived range from 2 to 10 million people. A new reconstruction of Amazonian prehistory suggests that large areas of western Amazonia were sparsely inhabited. This clashes with the belief that most of Amazonia, including forests far removed from major rivers, was heavily occupied and modified. ... > full story

Uranium-series dating reveals Iberian paintings are Europe's oldest cave art (June 14, 2012) -- Paleolithic paintings in El Castillo cave in Northern Spain date back at least 40,800 years -- making them Europe's oldest known cave art, according to new research. Scientists found that the practice of cave art in Europe began up to 10,000 years earlier than previously thought, indicating the paintings were created either by the first anatomically modern humans in Europe or, perhaps, by Neanderthals. ... > full story

Grasshoppers frightened by spiders affect whole ecosystem (June 14, 2012) -- Grasshoppers ‘stressed’ by spiders affect the productivity of our soil. A grasshopper who is in fear of an attacker, such as a spider, will enter a situation of stress and will consume a greater quantity of carbohydrate-rich plants -- similar to humans under stress who might eat more sweets. ... > full story