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ScienceDaily: Top Environment News |
| Meningitis: Researchers find possible treatment strategy without antibiotics Posted: 18 Oct 2021 02:22 PM PDT Meningitis is a very serious brain infection with limited treatment options. In a new study performed in rats, researchers present an alternative treatment based on immune cells that helps rinse away toxins that accumulate during the infection. |
| New active agent against parasites Posted: 18 Oct 2021 02:22 PM PDT Researchers have identified a chemical compound that may be suitable as an active agent against several different unicellular parasites. Among these are the pathogens that cause malaria and toxoplasmosis. The point of attack for this promising substance is the protein tubulin: It helps cells divide and therefore is essential for the multiplication of the parasites. |
| Putting honeybee hives on solar parks could boost the value of UK agriculture Posted: 18 Oct 2021 02:22 PM PDT The value of UK agriculture could be boosted by millions of pounds a year if thousands of honeybee hives were deployed on solar parks across the country, a new study reveals. However, scientists caution that the benefits of managing solar parks for wild pollinators over honeybees should be prioritized where appropriate and should be assessed on a site by site basis. |
| Posted: 18 Oct 2021 02:22 PM PDT A new study has uncovered neuronal circuitry in the brain of rodents that may play an important role in mediating pain-induced anhedonia -- a decrease in motivation to perform reward-driven behaviors. Researchers were able to change the activity of this circuit and restore levels of motivation in a pre-clinical model of pain tested in rodents. |
| Solar energy can be cheap and reliable across China by 2060 Posted: 18 Oct 2021 01:32 PM PDT How much will solar power really cost in China in the coming decades, including the challenges its inherent variability poses to the grid? Researchers have found that solar energy could provide 43.2% of China's electricity demands in 2060 at less than two-and-a-half U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. |
| How marsh grass protects shorelines Posted: 18 Oct 2021 12:42 PM PDT Marsh plants can play a major role in mitigating coastal damage as sea levels rise and storm surges increase. A new study provides greater detail about how these protective benefits work under real-world conditions shaped by waves and currents. |
| Powerful technique allows scientists to study how proteins change shape inside cells Posted: 18 Oct 2021 12:06 PM PDT The scientists' new 'binder-tag' technique allows researchers to pinpoint and track proteins that are in a desired shape or 'conformation,' and to do so in real time inside living cells. The scientists demonstrated the technique in, essentially, movies that track the active version of an important signaling protein -- a molecule, in this case, important for cell growth. |
| So-called junk DNA plays critical role in mammalian development Posted: 18 Oct 2021 11:05 AM PDT Despite the prevalent view that some 98% of our genome is junk DNA, new research shows that one piece of junk DNA -- the promoter of a virus-based transposon -- plays a critical role in cell proliferation and timing of embryo implantation in mice. The group found virus-based promoters linked to genes involved in development in other mammals, including humans, suggesting that transposons have been broadly repurposed for important regulatory roles. |
| Climate change and human pressure mean migration may be 'no longer worth it' Posted: 18 Oct 2021 10:04 AM PDT Researchers have found that the benefits of migration have been eroded by the effects of climate change and human pressure. |
| How herbivore activity around water affects plant communities Posted: 18 Oct 2021 10:03 AM PDT Plants need water to grow. So if there's water, shouldn't there be more plants? New research shows it's a lot more complicated than that. |
| How the brain navigates cities Posted: 18 Oct 2021 08:25 AM PDT A study suggests our brains are not optimized to calculate the shortest possible route when navigating on foot. Instead, pedestrians use vector-based navigation, choosing 'pointiest' paths that point most directly toward their destination, even if the routes are longer. |
| Fasting is required to see the full benefit of calorie restriction in mice Posted: 18 Oct 2021 08:25 AM PDT Over the last few decades, scientists have discovered that long-term calorie restriction provides a wealth of benefits in animals. Researchers have largely assumed that reduced food intake drove these benefits by reprogramming metabolism. But a new study finds that reduced calorie intake alone is not enough; fasting is essential for mice to derive full benefit. |
| Lakes are changing worldwide: Human activities to blame Posted: 18 Oct 2021 08:24 AM PDT Worldwide, lake temperatures are rising and seasonal ice cover is shorter and thiner. This effects lake ecosystems, drinking water supply and fishing. International research now shows that these global changes in lake temperature and ice cover are not due to natural climate variability. They can only be explained by massive greenhouse gas emissions since the Industrial Revolution. To demonstrate this, the team has developed multiple computer simulations with models of lakes on a global scale, on which they ran a series of climate models. The researchers found clear similarities between the observed changes in lakes and model simulations of lakes in a climate influenced by greenhouse gas emissions. Besides measuring the historical impact of climate change, the team also analyzed various future climate scenarios. |
| Mammalian motivation circuits: Maybe they’re born with it Posted: 18 Oct 2021 08:24 AM PDT Are animals born to seek rewards or avoid punishment? Researchers found that mice have pre-programmed neurons and circuits that process 'positive' and 'negative' stimuli. Their findings may be useful for studying neurological and psychiatric disorders in humans. |
| Scientists discover method to boost energy generation from microalgae Posted: 18 Oct 2021 07:59 AM PDT The variety of humble algae that cover the surface of ponds and seas could hold the key to boosting the efficiency of artificial photosynthesis, allowing scientists to produce more energy and lower waste in the process. A study showed how encasing algae protein in liquid droplets can dramatically enhance the algae's light-harvesting and energy-conversion properties by up to three times. This energy is produced as the algae undergoes photosynthesis, which is the process used by plants, algae and certain bacteria to harness energy from sunlight and turn it into chemical energy. When light hits the droplet, light waves travel around the curved edges of the droplet. Light is effectively trapped within the droplet for a longer period of time, giving more opportunity for photosynthesis to take place, hence generating more energy. |
| Artificial chromosomes study sheds light on gene therapies Posted: 18 Oct 2021 07:00 AM PDT A research team led by Dr Karen Wing Yee YUEN, Associate Professor from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), revealed the mechanism of artificial chromosome (AC) formation in the embryos of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, a 1-mm long, transparent nematode. |
| Delicious discoveries: Scientists just described a new onion species from the Himalaya Posted: 18 Oct 2021 05:23 AM PDT While the onion, garlic, scallion, shallot and chives have been on our plates for centuries, becoming staple foods around the world, their group, the genus Allium, seems to be a long way from running out of surprises. Recently, a group of researchers from India described a new onion species from the western Himalaya region, long known to the locals as 'jambu' and 'phran.' |
| Ecology of fishing jaguars: Rare social interactions Posted: 18 Oct 2021 05:23 AM PDT Scientists have gained new insights into the diet, population density and social interactions of a group of Brazilian jaguars. |
| Measles: Activation of two different innate immune responses spotted Posted: 14 Oct 2021 11:19 AM PDT Researchers have described a novel host strategy for combating viruses such as measles virus that affect the mitochondria, structures within the cell. The presence of the RNA genome of the measles virus activates one pathway of innate immunity, and the release of mitochondrial DNA into the cell through the action of the virus also triggers a separate pathway dependent on a molecule known as cGAS. |
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