Some chemicals used to speed up the breakdown of plants for production of biofuels like ethanol are poison to the yeasts that turn the plant sugars into fuel. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and several Department of Energy laboratories have identified two changes to a single gene that can make the yeast tolerate the pretreatment chemicals.
University of Wisconsin–Madison professor Monica Turner and her research team and colleagues explore how the patterns of fire and recovery are changing, particularly as the climate warms and drought becomes more common.
New research has discovered a previously unknown mechanism for controlling cellular decisions, one which combines an on-and-off switch in a single protein, either promoting or preventing the transition to flowering in plants.
Nobody knows exactly what happens at the eye of the storm. But biologists have published a first-of-its-kind look at the physical characteristics of lizards that seem to make the difference between life and death in a hurricane, as reported on July 25 in the journal Nature. Hint: long, strong back legs do not help like you think they might.
What inspired the iconic red-and-yellow sky in The Scream, the painting by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch that sold for a record $119.9 million in 2012? Some say it was a volcanic sunset after the 1883 Krakatau eruption. Others think the wavy sky shows a scream from nature. But scientists at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, University of Oxford and University of London suggest that nacreous, or “mother of pearl,” clouds which can be seen in the southern Norway inspired the dramatic scene in the painting. Their study is published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. “What’s screaming is the sky and the person in the painting is putting his or her hands over their ears so they can’t hear the scream,” said Alan Robock, study co-author and distinguished professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers–New Brunswick. “If you read what Munch wrote, the sky was screaming blood and fire.” There are four known versions of The Scream: an 1893 tempera o
The latest research on the environment in the Environmental Science News Source
A team of scientists is the first to confirm the movement patterns and seasonal migrations of baby white sharks in the north Atlantic Ocean. They put the New York Bight shark nursery theory to test by deploying satellite and acoustic tags on 10 baby white sharks (less than 1 year old) off Long Island’s coast. Results provide novel insights into the distribution of this vulnerable early stage of life that complements recent work on larger white sharks.
New study reveals that a male fruit fly’s decision to court or ignore a female stems from the convergence of motivation, perception and chance that affects the balance of excitatory versus inhibitory signals in the brain to influence decision making. Findings may yield insights about addiction disorders, depression.
Pale and black swallow-wort are rapidly invading fields and forests across the Northeast, including New York, but a moth from the Ukraine holds promise to keep the weed in check.
Areas of the Arctic seas are becoming ice-free in late summer and early fall. A new study considers impacts on all the marine mammals that use this region and finds narwhals will be the most vulnerable.
A disease-inducing fungus in amphibians worldwide could become deadlier as different genetic variations emerge, according to research led by The University of Alabama.
Using a family of photosynthetic bacteria that commonly live in lakes and seas, researchers at the Technion have developed a technology to generate electricity and hydrogen energy. The researchers believe their technology can serve as a promising source of clean, environment-friendly energy that will not emit pollutants during production or use (hydrogen fuel).
Rapid expansion of human activity across the globe is causing wildlife to become more nocturnal, according to a new joint study conducted by researchers at Boise State University and the University of California, Berkley, and published in the journal, Science.
A new study appearing online June 11 in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment considers which food type is more environmentally costly to produce: livestock, farmed seafood or wild-caught fish.
Some hurricanes are moving more slowly, spending increased time over land and leading to catastrophic local rainfall and flooding, according to a new study published Wednesday (June 6) in the journal Nature.
Spring came later this year, but high inter-annual variability is not unusual, according to geospatial scientists who been tracking the growing season since 2000 using environmental satellite data.
West Virginia University’s Core Arboretum will bring local and regional nature experts to campus this summer in its annual Nature Connection Series.
A new Columbia Engineering study shows that photosynthesis in tall Amazonian forests--forests above 30m--is 3x less sensitive to precipitation variability than in shorter forests of less than 20m. Taller Amazonian forests were also found to be older, have more biomass and deeper rooting systems that enable them to access deeper soil moisture, making them more resilient to drought. The findings suggest that forest height + age are an important regulator of photosynthesis in response to droughts.
Researchers discovered that honey bees alter their diet by the season. A spike in calcium consumption in the fall, and high intake of potassium, help prepare the bees for colder months when they likely need those minerals to generate warmth. Limitations in nutrient availability can have implications for the health of both managed and wild colonies.
A dramatic recovery of red spruce trees in the central Appalachian Mountains led West Virginia University researchers to pursue the driving factors behind improved forest health.
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