ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

Biologists and neuroscientists have published an update on the reputed environmental toxins that have been suspected of being involved in mammal neurodegeneration.

Researchers have revealed that a newly developed forecasting system can accurately predict flood locations 32 hours in advance. Extreme rainfall events are occurring increasingly frequently; such accurate and timely flood warnings will help to minimize their impact by providing time for measures to protect people and property.

Over the past 35 years, there have been large shifts in the distributions of many dragonfly species in Germany. Those of standing water habitats have declined, probably due to loss of habitat. Running-water species and warm-adapted species have benefited from improved water quality and warmer temperatures. The study highlights the importance of citizen science and natural history societies for long-term data collection.

Biologists have identified a family of algae as a living missing link in the microscopic domain.

Climate warming plays a larger role than plant genes in influencing the number and identity of fungal species on oak leaves, especially in autumn. This research by ecologists sheds light on how warming and tree genes affect the dynamics of fungal communities across the season.

Researchers reveal that intensification of major oyster disease was due to evolving parasite, not just drought as previously thought.

Researchers decipher the basic biology of neutrophil swarming and now show that the cells also evolved an intrinsic molecular program to self-limit their swarming activity. The study elucidates how swarming neutrophils become insensitive to their own secreted signals that brought the swarm together in the first place. This process is crucial for the efficient elimination of bacteria in tissues.

Researchers discovered that the enzyme RNA polymerase II recognizes and transcribes artificially added base pairs in genetic code, a new insight that could help advance the development of new vaccines and medicines.

Sour taste does not have the nearly universal appeal that sweet taste does. Slightly sour foods or drinks such as yogurt and lemon juice are yummy to many, but such highly sour foods as spoiled milk are yucky, even dangerous. Like humans, many other animals, including insects, prefer slightly acidic over very acidic foods.

Climate change will shape the future of coastal communities, with flood walls, elevated structures and possibly even floating cities used to combat sea level rise. New research has found that managed retreat -- moving buildings, homes or communities off of the coast or away from floodplains -- must be part of any solution.

Researchers studying prions -- misfolded proteins that cause lethal incurable diseases -- have identified the surface features of human prions responsible for their replication in the brain.

Weddell seals, the southernmost born mammal, are known as champion divers. But they don't begin life that way. Researchers examined the development of diving behavior in Weddell seal pups and found that they time their dives with their mother but likely do not learn to forage at that time. Instead, they focus their early efforts on learning to swim and navigate under the sea ice.