Space Season: ScienceDaily Environment Headlines -- for Sunday, April 24, 2011

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines

for Sunday, April 24, 2011

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Brown recluse spider: Range could expand in N. America with changing climate (April 23, 2011) -- One of the most feared spiders in North America -- the brown recluse -- is the subject a new study that aims to predict its distribution and how that distribution may be affected by climate changes. Researchers believe that the range may expand northward, potentially invading previously unaffected regions. Newly influenced areas may include parts of Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, South Dakota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. ... > full story

Starting a new metabolic path: New technique will help metabolic engineering (April 23, 2011) -- Researchers have demonstrated a new technique that speeds up and improves the identification and quantification of proteins within a cell or micoorganism. Called "targeted proteomics," the new technique is expected to be an important new tool for the fields of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. ... > full story

How molecules get to the right place at the right time (April 23, 2011) -- Active transport processes in cells ensure that proteins with specialized local functions reach their intracellular destinations. Impaired transport causes cellular dysfunction or even cell death. Scientists have now revealed how such a transport complex recognizes its cargo and assembles. ... > full story

New approach to defeating flu shows promise (April 23, 2011) -- New research on mice has shown that pulmonary administration of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) significantly reduces flu symptoms and prevents death after a lethal dose influenza virus. While GM-SCF therapy for humans as a flu prophylaxis or treatment may be years away, the study results were striking: All of the mice treated with GM-SCF survived after being infected with the influenza virus, whereas untreated mice all died from the same infection. ... > full story

C. difficile colonization accompanied by changes in gut microbiota: Study hints at probiotics as treatment (April 23, 2011) -- Asymptomatic colonization by Clostridium difficile, absent the use of antibiotics, is common in infants and when it happens changes occur in the composition of the gut microbiota, according to new research. ... > full story

Democrats and Republicans increasingly divided over global warming, study finds (April 23, 2011) -- Despite the growing scientific consensus that global warming is real, Americans have become increasingly polarized on the environmental problem, according to a first-of-its-kind study. ... > full story

Parasite strategy offers insight to help tackle sleeping sickness (April 22, 2011) -- Fresh insight into the survival strategy of the parasite that causes sleeping sickness could help inform new treatments for the disease. ... > full story

Lawn of native grasses beats traditional lawn for lushness, weed resistance (April 22, 2011) -- A lawn of regionally native grasses would take less resources to maintain while providing as lush a carpet as a common turfgrass used in the South, according to a new study. ... > full story

Jurassic spider from China is largest fossil specimen discovered (April 22, 2011) -- With a leg span of more than five inches, a recently named Jurassic period spider from China is the largest fossil specimen discovered, and one that has modern relatives in tropical climates today. ... > full story

Clouds, clouds, burning bright (April 22, 2011) -- High up in the sky near the poles some 50 miles above the ground, silvery blue clouds sometimes appear, shining brightly in the night. These are noctilucent or "night shining" clouds. Since 2007, a NASA mission called Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) has shown that the cloud formation is changing year to year, a process they believe is intimately tied to the weather and climate of the whole globe. ... > full story

Photovoltaic systems boost the sales price of California homes (April 22, 2011) -- New research finds strong evidence that homes with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems sell for a premium over homes without solar systems. The research is the first to empirically explore the existence and magnitude of residential PV sales price impacts across a large number of homes and over a wide geographic area. ... > full story

Learning to tolerate our microbial self: Bacteria co-opt human immune cells for mutual benefit (April 22, 2011) -- The human gut is filled with 100 trillion symbiotic bacteria which we blissfully live with, although they have many features similar to infectious bacteria we react against. What decides whether we ignore -- or fight? In the case of a common "friendly" gut bacterium, Bacteroides fragilis, researchers have discovered the surprising answer: The decision is not made by us, but by the bacteria, which co-opt cells of the immune system for our benefit ... and theirs. ... > full story