The EDGE: ScienceDaily Environment Headlines -- for Saturday, June 23, 2012

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines

for Saturday, June 23, 2012

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How stress can boost immune system (June 21, 2012) -- Scientist have tracked the trajectories of key immune cells in response to short-term stress and traced, in great detail, how hormones triggered by such stress enhance immune readiness. The study, conducted in rats, adds weight to evidence that immune responsiveness is heightened, rather than suppressed as many believe, by the so-called "fight-or-flight" response. ... > full story

Avian flu viruses which are transmissible between humans could evolve in nature (June 21, 2012) -- It might be possible for human-to-human airborne transmissible avian H5N1 influenza viruses to evolve in nature, new research has found. ... > full story

Top predators key to extinctions as planet warms (June 21, 2012) -- Global warming may cause more extinctions than predicted if scientists fail to account for interactions among species in their models, researchers argue in a new article. ... > full story

Immune system molecule weaves cobweb-like nanonets to snag Salmonella, other intestinal microbes (June 21, 2012) -- Scientists have found that human alpha-defensin 6 (HD6) -- a key component of the body's innate defense system -- binds to microbial surfaces and forms "nanonets" that surround, entangle and disable microbes, preventing bacteria from attaching to or invading intestinal cells. ... > full story

Arctic climate more vulnerable than thought, maybe linked to Antarctic ice-sheet behavior (June 21, 2012) -- First analyses of the longest sediment core ever collected on land in the Arctic provide dramatic, "astonishing" documentation that intense warm intervals, warmer than scientists thought possible, occurred there over the past 2.8 million years. Further, these extreme inter-glacial warm periods correspond closely with times when parts of Antarctica were ice-free and also warm, suggesting strong inter-hemispheric climate connectivity. The Polar Regions are much more vulnerable to change than once believed, they add. ... > full story

Elephant seals help uncover slower-than-expected Antarctic melting (June 21, 2012) -- A team of scientists have drilled holes through an Antarctic ice shelf, the Fimbul Ice Shelf, to gather the first direct measurements regarding melting of the shelf's underside. A group of elephant seals, outfitted with sensors that measure salinity, temperature, and depth sensors added fundamental information to the scientists' data set, which led the researchers to conclude that parts of eastern Antarctica are melting at significantly lower rates than current models predict. ... > full story

Waves of responders deploy omics to track Deepwater Horizon cleanup microbes (June 21, 2012) -- In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago, a team of researchers found that marine microbial communities also played a role in the dispersal process. ... > full story

Focusing on water for Central Everglades essential to reversing whole ecosystem's continuing decline (June 21, 2012) -- Twelve years into a multibillion-dollar state and federal effort to save the Florida Everglades, little progress has been made in restoring the core of the ecosystem, says a new congressionally mandated report. ... > full story

Genomics and African queens: Diversity within Ethiopian genomes reveals imprints of historical events (June 21, 2012) -- Researchers have started to unveil the genetic heritage of Ethiopian populations, who are among the most diverse in the world, and lie at the gateway from Africa. They found that the genomes of some Ethiopian populations bear striking similarities to those of populations in Israel and Syria, a potential genetic legacy of the Queen of Sheba and her companions. ... > full story

Our microbes, ourselves: Billions of bacteria within, essential for immune function, are ours alone (June 21, 2012) -- Gut bacteria's key role in immunity is tuned to the host species, suggesting that the superabundant microbes lining our digestive tract are ultimately our evolutionary partners. This study, the first to demonstrate that microbes are specific to their host species, also sheds light on what's called the hygiene hypothesis. ... > full story

Spiders enlisted in fight against woodworms: Could they also help control malaria? (June 21, 2012) -- Property owners who need to banish destructive woodworm could have an eight-legged alternative to chemical sprays that are potentially dangerous and only partially effective. They could enlist the aid of very special spiders that will seek and devour the destructive grubs. And a further, exciting possibility is that malaria could be curtailed by the creatures. ... > full story

Giant Ibex lived in the Southern Pyrenees after the Ice Age (June 21, 2012) -- The sub-species of the Iberian mountain goat Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica became extinct in the year 2000 before its biological and phytogenetic characteristics could be explored in depth. A new study has shed light on their size, origin and post-Ice environmental conditions after discovering three skull fossils from between 4,000 and 7,000 years ago in the southwest of the Pyrenees. ... > full story