ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

Oldest weapons ever discovered in North America pre-date Clovis

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 11:55 AM PDT

Researchers have discovered what are believed to be the oldest weapons ever found in North America: ancient spear points that are 15,500 years old. The findings raise new questions about the settlement of early peoples on the continent.

Climate change: US desert areas to become even drier

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 11:26 AM PDT

Geologists study rainfall patterns in the distant past to better understand how deserts in the southwest United States will be impacted by future climate change.

New CRISPR tool opens up more of the genome for editing

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 11:26 AM PDT

Researchers have discovered a Cas9 enzyme that can target almost half of the locations on the genome, significantly widening its potential use.

Liverwort could prove to be more medically effective than cannabis, research suggests

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 11:26 AM PDT

Researchers have for the first time investigated a substance found in liverwort that resembles THC. The psychoactive substance, which is consumed as a 'legal high,' also exerts analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects, which might be superior to that of THC.

Persistence of glass sponge in face of climatic variability

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 11:26 AM PDT

The glass sponge has persisted on the Scotian Shelf for decades, despite strong historical variability in water conditions and extremely limited protection by conservation efforts, according to a new study.

Male humpback whales change their songs when human noise is present

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 11:26 AM PDT

Male humpback whales reduce or cease their songs in reaction to human-generated shipping noise, according to a new study.

Gene network lets plant roots handle nitrogen

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 10:14 AM PDT

With robotics, computers and advanced genetics, researchers are unraveling how plant roots take up and metabolize nitrogen, the key to plant growth and crop yield.

Three distinct stages in infant microbiome development identified

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 10:13 AM PDT

Researchers explored the sequence of microbial colonization in the infant gut through age 4 and found distinct stages of development in the microbiome that were associated with early life exposures.

Crater from asteroid that killed the dinosaurs reveals how broken rocks can flow like liquid

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 10:12 AM PDT

The same process that allows rock to flow like liquid during impact events allows 'peak rings' to form in large craters.

Importance of infant diet in establishing a healthy gut

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 10:12 AM PDT

A child has until the age of two-and-a-half to establish healthy gut bacteria -- with little change after this point, new research has revealed.

Cacao analysis dates the dawn of domesticated chocolate trees to 3,600 years ago

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 09:24 AM PDT

Researchers analyzing the genomes of cultivated cacao trees have traced their origin to a 'single domestication event' some 3,600 years ago. The discovery opens a new front in a long-running argument over when and where humans started growing the source of chocolate.

Brain-eating amoebae halted by silver nanoparticles

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 08:22 AM PDT

Halloween is just around the corner, and some people will celebrate by watching scary movies about brain-eating zombies. But even more frightening are real-life parasites that feed on the human brain, and they can be harder to kill than their horror-movie counterparts. Now, researchers have developed silver nanoparticles coated with anti-seizure drugs that can kill brain-eating amoebae while sparing human cells.

New Caledonian crows can create compound tools

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 08:22 AM PDT

The birds are able to combine individual parts to form a long-distance reaching aid.

Wood sponge soaks up oil from water

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 08:21 AM PDT

Oil spills and industrial discharge can contaminate water with greasy substances. Although it's true that oil and water don't mix, separating and recovering each component can still be challenging. Now, researchers have created sponges made from wood that selectively absorb oil, and then can be squeezed out and used again.

Breeding beans that resist weevils

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 06:54 AM PDT

A small beetle can cause big losses to bean crops. But a new study has narrowed down the genetic locations of several weevil resistance genes in the common bean.

Peptide successfully exploits Achilles' heel of Zika virus

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 06:53 AM PDT

Scientists have engineered an antiviral peptide that exploits the Zika virus at its Achilles' heel -- the viral membrane -- hence stopping the virus from causing severe infections. This new method of attacking the viral membrane focuses on directly stopping Zika virus particles rather than preventing the replication of new virus particles, and can potentially work against a wide range of membrane-enveloped viruses.

Investigating glaciers in depth

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 06:53 AM PDT

Global sea level is rising constantly. One factor contributing to this rise is the melting of the glaciers. However, although the surface area of the glaciers has been well mapped, there is often no information regarding their thickness, making it impossible to calculate their volume. As a result, we cannot accurately calculate the effects on sea levels. Researchers have developed an approach which can be used to draw up regional ice thickness maps for glaciers.

The good book: Bible helps researchers perfect translation algorithms

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 05:33 AM PDT

Thirty-four versions of the Bible and two machine learning tools are used to develop a system that can automatically convert written works into different styles for different audiences.

Birds startled by moving sticks

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 05:33 AM PDT

Do animals -- like humans -- divide the world into things that move and things that don't? Are they surprised if an apparently inanimate object jumps to life? Yes -- according to scientists.

Chimpanzees sniff out strangers and family members

Posted: 24 Oct 2018 05:33 AM PDT

Primates, including humans, are usually thought of as visual animals with reduced reliance on the sense of smell. In behavioral experiments, biologists have now found that chimpanzees use olfaction as a prime mode of investigation, and that they recognize group members and kin using olfactory cues.

Scientists capture images of antibodies working together against malaria

Posted: 23 Oct 2018 12:00 PM PDT

Scientists investigating how the human immune system defends against malaria have uncovered a rare phenomenon: antibodies working together to bind to a vulnerable spot on the parasite.

Climate change, rising sea levels a threat to farmers in Bangladesh

Posted: 23 Oct 2018 10:05 AM PDT

Rising sea levels driven by climate change make for salty soil, and that is likely to force about 200,000 coastal farmers in Bangladesh inland as glaciers melt into the world's oceans, according to estimates from a new study.

Differences between male and female fat tissue, and health

Posted: 23 Oct 2018 10:05 AM PDT

In a new study, researchers found that the abdominal fat on female mice had more blood vessels than the fat on male mice, and that this protected the health of the female mice as they gained fat from eating a high-fat diet.

Predicting how native plants return to abandoned farm fields

Posted: 23 Oct 2018 10:05 AM PDT

Tracking how seeds move -- or disperse -- can be difficult because of a seed's small size. However, a new study finds a solution for tracking seed movement by using electrical engineering and mathematical models.

Honey, I shrunk the cell culture

Posted: 23 Oct 2018 10:04 AM PDT

A new 'shrink ray' can change the size and shape of a block of gel-like material while human or bacterial cells grow on it. This tool holds promise for biomedical researchers, including those seeking to shed light on how to grow replacement tissues and organs for implants.

'Himalayan gold' on the brink

Posted: 23 Oct 2018 10:04 AM PDT

Researchers show how warmer winters and booming demand for one of the world's most expensive medicinal species may hurt ecosystems and communities in the Himalayas.

Roadkill in the world's largest wetland, Pantanal region, Brazil

Posted: 23 Oct 2018 08:06 AM PDT

Researchers have systematically monitored wild animals killed on the Brazilian federal highway BR-262, which passes through the Pantanal region -- the world's largest wetland.

Structure of spherical viruses aren't as perfect as we thought

Posted: 22 Oct 2018 12:09 PM PDT

Flaviviruses, such as Dengue and Zika, were assumed to be symmetrical icosahedrons (shapes with 20 identical faces) based on data from microscopes. But these icosahedral viruses might not be perfectly symmetrical after all.