Top Environment News

March 30, 2016

Dental Calculus Helps Reconstruct Mitogenomes

How Diet Shaped Human Evolution

Clues to Gods Worshipped by Etruscans

Lasers from Space Unravel Geological Mystery

Latest Headlines

updated 2:50am EDT

Predators Drive Social Complexity

Mar. 29, 2016 — Variation in social organization and behavior of highly social animals like cichlids is primarily explained by predation risk and related ecological factors. This stresses ... read more

Researchers Use New Technology to Sequence Mosquito Sex Chromosome

Mar. 28, 2016 — New information about the Y chromosome will facilitate efforts to reduce female mosquitoes or create sterile males -- strategies of interest to research teams across ... read more

Researcher Studies Worms to Reveal the Fountain of Youth

Mar. 29, 2016 — The cellular mechanisms driving the aging process in worms has been identified by researchers, uncovering insights that could increase our own ... read more

To Keep or Not to Keep a Hookworm

Mar. 29, 2016 — Researchers have identified an immune protein in mice that is quickly triggered in the body following infection and serves to protect the body's tissues. Called 'RELMalpha,' ... read more

One Crop Breeding Cycle from Starvation

Mar. 29, 2016 — Global population growth, urbanization, and a changing climate mean staple food crops will need to achieve much higher yields in the near future. New research proposes ... read more

Atmospheric Nitrogen Leads to Loss of Plant Diversity in Sites Across US

Mar. 28, 2016 — Rising levels of atmospheric nitrogen pollution threaten plant diversity at nearly one-quarter of sites across a widespread portion of the US, according a ... read more

Beach Replenishment May Have 'Far Reaching' Impacts on Ecosystems

Mar. 29, 2016 — Biologists who examined the biological impact of replenishing eroded beaches with offshore sand found that such beach replenishment efforts could have long-term negative ... read more

Better Global Ocean Management

Mar. 29, 2016 — Rights-based approaches could double fish biomass and make 77 percent of world's fisheries biologically healthy within a decade, report ... read more

Longer-Term Weather, Environmental Forecasts Will Provide Enormous Benefit

Mar. 29, 2016 — Weather and environmental forecasts made several weeks to months in advance can someday be as widely used and essential as current predictions of tomorrow's weather are, but first more research and ... read more

Ancient Quarry Proves Human Impact on Landscape

Mar. 29, 2016 — Archaeologists have uncovered in central Israel the earliest known Neolithic quarry in the southern Levant, dating back 11,000 years. Findings from the site indicate large-scale quarrying activities ... read more

Raw: Surfer's Shark Scare Closes Sydney Beach

Mexican Volcano Spews Column of Gas, Ash

Poland Wants To Log A Big Chunk Of Europe's Last Primeval Forest

Arctic Sea Ice Dips to Record Low: NASA

Study of Enzymatic Chemical Reactions May Indicate How the First Cells Formed Colonies

Mar. 29, 2016 — A novel investigation of how enzymatic reactions can direct the motion and organization of microcapsules may point toward a new theory of how protocells -- the earliest biological cells -- could have ... read more

Synthesizing Real-Life Tweets

Mar. 29, 2016 — Scientists in Brazil are using a genetic algorithm to create a realistic soundscape of birdsong that can be triggered by updates from the micro-blogging service, Twitter, which celebrates its tenth ... read more

Psychotherapy for Depressed Rats Shows Genes Aren't Destiny

Mar. 29, 2016 — Genes are not destiny in determining whether a person will suffer from depression, reports a new study. Nurture can override nature. When rats genetically bred for depression received the equivalent ... read more

Breeding Humans: Utopias from the Early Modern Period

Mar. 29, 2016 — The idea to improve humans and to optimise procreation emerged long before genetic engineering. As far back as the 18th century, concepts did exist that appear unthinkable from the modern ... read more

Knowledge of Bacteria's Origin, Spread Can Prevent Disease

Mar. 29, 2016 — Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 is an aggressive type of bacteria, which is particularly problematic because it has developed resistance to a number of antimicrobials and has been able to quickly spread ... read more

Multiple Sclerosis: Plant Peptide Could Prevent Onset of the Disease

Mar. 29, 2016 — A crucial development has been made in the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). A research team has demonstrated in an animal model that, following treatment with a specially synthesized plant ... read more

Perfecting a Viral Pack Mule

Mar. 29, 2016 — Viruses aren’t always bad. In fact, scientists can harness the capabilities of some viruses for good—modifying the viruses to carry drug molecules, for ... read more

Stressed Out: Scientist Details Cells' Response to Lesions

Mar. 28, 2016 — A researcher details several coping strategies cells use when they face replication stress: the cellular version of choosing yoga, meditation or a trip to the movies after a stressful ... read more

2016 Arctic Sea Ice Wintertime Extent Hits Another Record Low

Mar. 28, 2016 — Arctic sea ice appears to have reached a record low wintertime maximum extent for the second year in a row, according to ... read more

Gene Blocking Lettuce Germination Also Regulates Flowering Time

Mar. 28, 2016 — This study of lettuce and Arabidopsis shows for the first time that a gene known to direct the depth of seed dormancy and the timing of germination also influences flowering. The findings also ... read more

New Species of Frog Found in the Peruvian Andes

Mar. 28, 2016 — Researchers describe a new species, "Psychrophrynella chirihampatu," from the Peruvian Andes, in a new article. Like other recently described species in the genus, this new Psychrophrynella ... read more

Desert Mangroves Are Major Source of Carbon Storage, Study Shows

Mar. 28, 2016 — Short, stunted mangroves living along the coastal desert of Baja California store up to five times more carbon below ground than their lush, tropical counterparts, researchers have found. The new ... read more

Charged Salts Can Extract Specific Central Lanthanide Elements, Scientists Show

Mar. 28, 2016 — Researchers wanted to find out if it was possible to make a molecule that could selectively bind to metal cations in the middle of the lanthanide series. The team provided a proof-of-principle in a ... read more

Citrus Scion/rootstock Combinations Show Tolerance to Huanglongbing

Mar. 28, 2016 — Scientists studied tolerance to huanglongbing under field conditions in trees of commercial citrus scion/rootstock combinations. All trees showed symptoms of HLB and tested positive for the ... read more

Survey Gives Clearer View of Risky Leaks from Gas Mains

Mar. 28, 2016 — Precise measurements of leaks from natural gas pipelines across metropolitan Boston have demonstrated that almost a sixth of the leaks qualified as potentially explosive, and that a handful of leaks ... read more

An Ancient Killer: Ancestral Malarial Organisms Traced to Age of Dinosaurs

Mar. 28, 2016 — A new analysis of the prehistoric origin of malaria suggests that it evolved in insects at least 100 million years ago, and the first vertebrate hosts of this disease were probably reptiles, which at ... read more

Biological Mechanism Passes on Long-Term Epigenetic 'Memories'

Mar. 28, 2016 — According to epigenetics -- the study of inheritable changes in gene expression not directly coded in our DNA -- our life experiences may be passed on to our children and our children's ... read more

Heirloom Dry Beans Suitable for Small-Scale Organic Production

Mar. 28, 2016 — Heirloom dry bean cultivars were evaluated for yield and yield stability at four small-scale organic vegetable productions in Minnesota. The mean yield of heirloom cultivars was about 44 percent ... read more

Ocean Temps Predict US Heat Waves 50 Days out

Mar. 28, 2016 — The formation of a distinct pattern of sea surface temperatures in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean can predict an increased chance of summertime heat waves in the eastern half of the United ... read more

A World Map of Neanderthal and Denisovan Ancestry in Modern Humans

Mar. 28, 2016 — Most non-Africans possess at least a little bit Neanderthal DNA. But a new map of archaic ancestry suggests that many bloodlines around the world, particularly of South Asian descent, may actually be ... read more

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