ScienceDaily Environment Headlines -- for Monday, March 12, 2012

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines

for Monday, March 12, 2012

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Don’t bite the hand that feeds: Using satellite technology to evaluate the effects of ecotourism on tiger sharks (March 9, 2012) -- Ecotourism activities that use food to attract and concentrate wildlife for viewing have become a controversial topic in ecological studies. This debate is best exemplified by the shark dive tourism industry, a highly lucrative and booming global market. Use of chum or food to attract big sharks to areas where divers can view the dwindling populations of these animals has generated significant criticism because of the potential for ecological and behavioral impacts to the species. However, the debate has been largely rhetorical due to a lack of sufficient data to make any conclusions either way. ... > full story

Meteorites reveal another way to make life's components (March 9, 2012) -- Creating some of life's building blocks in space may be a bit like making a sandwich -- you can make them cold or hot, according to new NASA research. This evidence that there is more than one way to make crucial components of life increases the likelihood that life emerged elsewhere in the Universe, according to the research team, and gives support to the theory that a "kit" of ready-made parts created in space and delivered to Earth by impacts from meteorites and comets assisted the origin of life. ... > full story

Environmentally friendly cleaning and washing (March 9, 2012) -- More and more everyday products are based on renewable resources, with household cleaners now containing active cleaning substances made from plant oils and sugar. These fat and dirt removers are especially environmentally friendly and effective when produced using biotechnology, with the aid of fungi and bacteria. ... > full story

Mid-Atlantic suburbs in U.S. can expect an early spring thanks to the heat of the big city (March 9, 2012) -- If you've been thinking our world is more green than frozen these days, you're right. A recent study has found that spring is in arriving earlier -- and autumn later -- in the suburbs of Baltimore and Washington, DC. The reason? The urban landscape traps heat in the summer and holds it throughout the winter, triggering leaves to turn green earlier in the spring and to stay green later into autumn. The result is an extended growing season. ... > full story

Orientation of ants: Every cue counts (March 9, 2012) -- Foraging desert ants always find their way back to the nest, even when it is only marked by a magnetic cue, vibration, or carbon dioxide. ... > full story

Mapping the Moho with GOCE (March 9, 2012) -- The first global high-resolution map of the boundary between Earth’s crust and mantle – the Moho – has been produced based on data from ESA’s GOCE gravity satellite. Understanding the Moho will offer new clues into the dynamics of Earth’s interior. Earth’s crust is the outermost solid shell of our planet. Even though it makes up less than 1% of the volume of the planet, the crust is exceptionally important not just because we live on it, but because is the place where all our geological resources like natural gas, oil and minerals come from. ... > full story

A test of the senses in the search for a 'shoal mate' (March 8, 2012) -- Young coral reef fish use sounds, smells and visual cues to find their nursery grounds, according to new research. By testing how young French grunts (a common fish in Curaçao and throughout the Caribbean) responded to local sounds, smells and visual cues, the researchers have unlocked, for the first time, the mystery of how centimeter-long juvenile fish can navigate from the high seas to find their shoal mates in amongst the roots of mangrove trees or blades of seagrass. ... > full story

Scientists discover effects of PD-1 blockade on ART therapy in SIV-infected monkeys (March 8, 2012) -- Scientists have discovered that blocking PD-1, an immune molecule that inhibits the immune response to viral infections, can have a significant effect on HIV-like illness in non-human primates. ... > full story

Deeper view of HIV reveals impact of early mutations (March 8, 2012) -- Mutations in HIV that develop during the first few weeks of infection may play a critical role in undermining a successful early immune response, a finding that reveals the importance of vaccines targeting regions of the virus that are less likely to mutate. ... > full story

Drug helps purge hidden HIV (March 8, 2012) -- Researchers have successfully flushed latent HIV infection from hiding, with a drug used to treat certain types of lymphoma. ... > full story

Counting reef sharks with cameras: 'Chum cam' underwater video survey shows that reef sharks thrive in marine reserves (March 8, 2012) -- Scientists have used video cameras to count Caribbean reef sharks (Carcharhinus perezi) inside and outside marine reserves on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef in the Caribbean Sea. Using survey data collected from 200 baited remote underwater video cameras, nicknamed "chum cams," the scientists compared the relative abundance of these reef sharks in two marine reserves with those in two areas where fishing is allowed, and demonstrated that the sharks were more abundant in the reserves. ... > full story

Eating wild: Foraging safely in a modern world (March 8, 2012) -- In an expanding “foodie” culture, people go to great lengths to get the best ingredients, seek out the most aesthetic desserts, and buy natural and organic. Less noted, though, is the movement of "foragers": people who “eat wild” on a regular basis, supplemented by naturally growing, edible plants for which they search in their local communities, whether urban or rural. ... > full story

Multiple species of seacows once coexisted (March 8, 2012) -- Sirenians, or seacows, are a group of marine mammals that include manatees and dugongs; Today, only one species of seacow is found in each world region. Scientists have discovered that this was not always the case. According to the fossil record of these marine mammals, which dates back 50 million years ago, it was more common to find three, or possibly more, different species of seacows living together at one time. ... > full story

Insect DNA offers tiny clues about animals' changing habitats (March 8, 2012) -- The long-term impact of climate change on natural communities of wild animals could be better understood thanks to a new study. ... > full story

Clock gene helps plants prepare for spring flowering, study shows (March 8, 2012) -- Scientists have made fresh discoveries about the processes that govern plants' internal body clocks and help them adjust to changing seasons, triggering the arrival of flowers in spring. ... > full story

Insects have 'personalities' too, research on novelty-seeking honey bees indicates (March 8, 2012) -- Thrill-seeking is not limited to humans and other vertebrates, new research suggests. Some honey bees, too, are more likely than others to seek adventure. The brains of these novelty-seeking bees exhibit distinct patterns of gene activity in molecular pathways known to be associated with thrill-seeking in humans, researchers report. ... > full story

Iridescent, feathered dinosaur offers fresh evidence that feathers evolved to attract mates (March 8, 2012) -- Researchers have revealed that the small, feathered dinosaur Microraptor had a glossy iridescent sheen like a modern crow and that its tail was narrow and adorned with a pair of streamer feathers, suggesting feathers originally evolved for display, rather than flight. The new fossil is the earliest record of iridescent color in feathers. ... > full story

Polymer scientists and physicists, inspired by curly leaves, develop new technique for shaping thin gel sheets (March 8, 2012) -- Inspired by nature's ability to shape a petal, and building on simple techniques used in photolithography and printing, researchers have developed a new tool for manufacturing three-dimensional shapes easily and cheaply, to aid advances in biomedicine, robotics and tunable micro-optics. Researchers have just described their new method of halftone gel lithography for photo-patterning polymer gel sheets. ... > full story

Powerful tool to measure metabolites in living cells (March 8, 2012) -- By engineering cells to express a modified RNA called "Spinach," researchers have imaged small-molecule metabolites in living cells and observed how their levels change over time. Metabolites are the products of individual cell metabolism. The ability to measure their rate of production could be used to recognize a cell gone metabolically awry, as in cancer, or identify the drug that can restore the cell's metabolites to normal. ... > full story

Biologists locate brain's processing point for acoustic signals essential to human communication (March 8, 2012) -- In both animals and humans, vocal signals used for communication contain a wide array of different sounds that are determined by the vibrational frequencies of vocal cords. Knowing how the brain sorts out these different frequencies -- which are called frequency-modulated sweeps—is believed to be essential to understanding many hearing-related behaviors, like speech. Now, a pair of biologists has identified how and where the brain processes this type of sound signal. ... > full story

Protein folding: Understanding the dance of the chaperones (March 8, 2012) -- Proteins are the molecular building blocks and machinery of cells and involved in practically all biological processes. To fulfill their tasks, they need to be folded into a complicated three-dimensional structure. Scientists have now analyzed one of the key players of this folding process: the molecular chaperone DnaK. ... > full story

Oldest organism with skeleton discovered in Australia (March 8, 2012) -- Paleontologists have discovered the oldest animal with a skeleton. Called Coronacollina acula, the organism is between 560 million and 550 million years old. The finding provides insight into the evolution of life on the planet, why animals go extinct, and how organisms respond to environmental changes. The discovery also can help scientists recognize life elsewhere in the universe. Coronacollina acula has a number of hard parts -- structural supports -- essentially holding it up. ... > full story

BP oil spill hurt marshes, but recovery possible, experts say (March 8, 2012) -- A new study shows that arthropods living in coastal salt marshes affected by BP oil spill were damaged but they were able to recover if their host plants remained healthy. ... > full story

How a bacterial pathogen breaks down barriers to enter and infect cells (March 8, 2012) -- Scientists have found for the first time that a bacterial pathogen can literally mow down protective molecules, known as mucins, on mucus membranes to enter and infect a part of the body. ... > full story

Archaeologists unearth slave burial ground on the island of St. Helena (March 8, 2012) -- Archaeologists have unearthed a unique slave burial ground on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. The excavation, which took place in advance of construction of a new airport on the island, has revealed dramatic insights into the victims of the Atlantic slave trade during the notorious Middle Passage. ... > full story

Scientists detect seismic signals from tornado (March 8, 2012) -- A geophysical experiment detected unusual seismic signals associated with tornadoes that recently struck regions across the Midwest -- information that may have value for meteorologists studying the atmospheric activity that precedes tornado disasters. ... > full story

Large solar flares generate geomagnetic storm (March 8, 2012) -- A pair of unusually large solar flares early March 7, 2012 generated a Coronal Mass Ejection that was expected to reach Earth around mid-day March 8. It will likely cause at least a strong geomagnetic storm that could affect satellites in space and trigger auroral displays. The effects at ground level are expected to be limited, but there is a good chance for some excellent auroral displays in the north. ... > full story

Wallflower or daredevil: Personality of male primates changes throughout life (March 8, 2012) -- One individual is wild and audacious, the other one shy and cautious. It is widely unknown why there are major differences in personality even within a species. Scientists have now studied how male mouse lemurs are shy when young and grow more audacious as they age. Females remain about the same throughout their lifecycle. ... > full story

Petunia points the way to better harvests: Understanding plants' relationships with helpful soil fungi (March 8, 2012) -- Most plants live in symbiosis with soil fungi and are supplied with water and nutrients as a result. Based on the petunia, plant biologists have now discovered that a special transport protein is required to establish this symbiotic relationship. The targeted control of this protein could lead to greater harvests. ... > full story

The Darwin-Wallace mystery solved: Darwin vindicated from accusations of deceit (March 8, 2012) -- A new study traced historical shipping records and vindicated Darwin from accusations of deceit. For the past four decades, Charles Darwin had been accused of keeping the essay of fellow naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace for a fortnight, thereby enabling him to revise elements of his theory of evolution, before jointly announcing the theory of evolution by natural selection in July 1858. ... > full story

Identifying ancient droughts in China (March 8, 2012) -- Drought events are largely unknown in Earth's history, because reconstruction of ancient hydrological conditions remains difficult due to lack of proxy. New research uses a microbial lipid proxy of highly alkaline conditions to identify enhanced aridity in Miocene sediments on the Tibetan Plateau. This enhanced aridity is associated with significant uplift of the Tibetan Plateau nine million years ago. ... > full story

HIV/AIDS vaccine shows long-term protection against multiple exposures in non-human primates (March 7, 2012) -- Scientists have developed a vaccine that has protected nonhuman primates against multiple exposures to simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) given in three clusters over more than three years. SIV is the nonhuman primate version of HIV. ... > full story

Reducing the urban heat island effect: Bright is the new black as New York roofs go cool (March 7, 2012) -- On the hottest day of the New York City summer in 2011, a white roof covering was measured at 42 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the traditional black roof it was being compared to, according to a new study that details the first scientific results from the city's unprecedented effort to brighten rooftops and reduce its "urban heat island" effect. ... > full story

NASA sees second biggest flare of the solar cycle (March 7, 2012) -- The leading edge of the first of two major coronal mass ejections will reach Earth at about 1:25 AM EST on the morning of March 8 (plus or minus 7 hours). Such a CME could result in a severe geomagnetic storm, causing aurora at low latitudes, with possible disruption to high frequency radio communication, global positioning systems (GPS), and power grids. ... > full story

Chimpanzees have police officers, too (March 7, 2012) -- Chimpanzees are interested in social cohesion and have various strategies to guarantee the stability of their group. Anthropologists now reveal that chimpanzees mediate conflicts between other group members, not for their own direct benefit, but rather to preserve the peace within the group. Their impartial intervention in a conflict -- so-called "policing" -- can be regarded as an early evolutionary form of moral behavior. ... > full story

Genetic survey of endangered Antarctic blue whales shows surprising diversity (March 7, 2012) -- More than 99 percent of Antarctic blue whales were killed by commercial whalers during the 20th century, but the first circumpolar genetic study of these critically endangered whales has found a surprisingly high level of diversity among the surviving population of some 2,200 individuals. That may bode well for their future recovery. ... > full story

Teaching fat cells to burn calories: New target against obesity involves brown fat (March 7, 2012) -- In the war against obesity, one’s own fat cells may seem an unlikely ally, but new research suggests ordinary fat cells can be reengineered to burn calories. ... > full story

Commonly used herbicides seen as threat to endangered butterflies (March 7, 2012) -- A toxicologist has found that three commonly used herbicides can dramatically reduce butterfly populations. The research was aimed at possible effects on the Lange's metalmark, an endangered species in northern California, but it has implications for other at-risk and endangered butterflies wherever herbicides are used. ... > full story

Eating berries benefits the brain (March 7, 2012) -- Strong scientific evidence exists that eating blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and other berry fruits has beneficial effects on the brain and may help prevent age-related memory loss and other changes, scientists report. ... > full story

That caffeine in your drink -- is it really 'natural?' (March 7, 2012) -- That caffeine in your tea, energy drink or other beverage -- is it really natural? Scientists are reporting successful use for the first time of a simpler and faster method for answering that question. ... > full story

New species of deep-sea catshark described from the Galapagos (March 7, 2012) -- Scientists conducting deep-sea research in the Galapagos have described a new species of catshark, Bythaelurus giddingsi. The new shark is approximately a foot long and has a chocolate-brown coloration with pale, irregularly distributed spots on its body. The spotted patterns appear to be unique to each individual. ... > full story

What have we got in common with a gorilla? Insight into human evolution from gorilla genome sequence (March 7, 2012) -- Scientists have sequenced the genome of the last great ape to have its genome decoded, the gorilla. This study provides a unique perspective on our own origins and is an important resource for research into human evolution and biology, as well as for gorilla biology and conservation. ... > full story

Deafening affects vocal nerve cells within hours (March 7, 2012) -- Portions of a songbird's brain that control how it sings have been shown to decay within 24 hours of the animal losing its hearing. ... > full story

Nanotrees harvest the sun's energy to turn water into hydrogen fuel (March 7, 2012) -- Electrical engineers are building a forest of tiny nanowire trees in order to cleanly capture solar energy without using fossil fuels and harvest it for hydrogen fuel generation. The team said nanowires, which are made from abundant natural materials like silicon and zinc oxide, also offer a cheap way to deliver hydrogen fuel on a mass scale. ... > full story

Scientists ID 2,000 genes in zebra finch brain linked to singing: May teach us about human speech disorders (March 7, 2012) -- The song of a small bird is providing valuable insights into human speech and speech disorders. Scientists have now discovered that some 2,000 genes in a brain region of a male bird called the zebra finch are significantly linked to singing. More than 1,500 of these genes in a critical part of the bird's song circuitry are reported for the first time. ... > full story

Inside the cell nucleus: A foot in the door to genetic information (March 7, 2012) -- In the cell nucleus, DNA wraps around what are called histone proteins, forming regularly spaced spherical bodies called nucleosomes. Thus, large portions of the genetic material are inaccessible to the gene reading machinery. Scientists have now simulated at high time resolution how short DNA segments repeatedly detach spontaneously from the nucleosome. The group has been the first to demonstrate that the spool-shaped histone proteins have an active role in opening access to the genetic information. ... > full story

Sperm can do 'calculus' to calculate calcium dynamics and react accordingly (March 7, 2012) -- Sperm have only one aim: to find the egg. The egg supports the sperm in their quest by emitting attractants. Calcium ions determine the beating pattern of the sperm tail which enables the sperm to move. Scientists have discovered that sperm only react to changes in calcium concentration but not to the calcium concentration itself. Probably sperm make this calculation so that they remain capable of maneuvering even in the presence of high calcium concentrations. ... > full story

Archaea: Crystal structure of archael chromatin clarified (March 7, 2012) -- Researchers have clarified for the first time how chromatin in archaea, one of the three evolutionary branches of organisms in nature, binds to DNA. The results offer valuable clues into the evolution of chromatin structure in multi-cellular organisms and promise insights into how abnormalities in such structure can contribute to cancers and gene disorders. ... > full story