400,000-year-old dental tartar provides earliest evidence of manmade pollution
Tel Aviv, Israel (SPX) Jun 22, 2015 -
Most dentists recommend a proper teeth cleaning every six months to prevent, among other things, the implacable buildup of calculus or tartar - hardened dental plaque. Routine calculus buildup can only be removed through the use of ultrasonic tools or dental hand instruments. But what of 400,000-year-old dental tartar?
Tel Aviv University researchers, in collaboration with scholars from Sp ...
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NOAA, partners predict an average 'dead zone' for Gulf of Mexico
Washington DC (SPX) Jun 22, 2015 -
Scientists are expecting that this year's Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone, also called the "dead zone," will be approximately 5,483 square miles or about the size of Connecticut-the same as it has averaged over the last several years.
The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico affects nationally important commercial and recreational fisheries and threatens the region's economy. Hypoxic zones hold ver ...
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Baboons decide where to go together
Washington DC (SPX) Jun 22, 2015 -
Researchers have found evidence of shared decision-making among a troop of wild baboons, providing insight into how animals that live in socially complex, hierarchical societies reach consensus on decisions that affect the entire group. Until now, researchers had wondered if animals with clear hierarchies, such as primates or wolves, use democracy to reach a consensus - or if their decisions are ...
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Snake fungal disease parallels white-nose syndrome in bats
Champaign IL (SPX) Jun 22, 2015 -
A deadly fungal infection afflicting snakes is eerily similar to the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in bats, researchers report. Although Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola (the snake fungus) and Pseudogymnoascus destructans (the bat fungus) inhabit different ecological niches and thrive at different temperature and humidity ranges, the fungi share basic traits that allow them to persist across a ...
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Fossil of large 'walking' bat discovered in New Zealand reveals ancient lineage
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jun 22, 2015 -
Fossilised remains of a new bat species, which lived 16 million years ago, walked on four limbs and was three times larger than today's average bat, have been discovered in New Zealand.
The fossils were found near Central Otago on South Island, in sediment left over from a vast prehistoric body of water known as Lake Manuherikia, which was part of warmer subtropical rainforest during the e ...
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Staying cool: Saharan silver ants
New York NY (SPX) Jun 22, 2015 -
Nanfang Yu, assistant professor of applied physics at Columbia Engineering, and colleagues from the University of Zurich and the University of Washington, have discovered two key strategies that enable Saharan silver ants to stay cool in one of the hottest terrestrial environments on Earth.
Yu's team is the first to demonstrate that the ants use a coat of uniquely shaped hairs to control e ...
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Europe launches next phase of hi-tech Earth satellites
Kourou (AFP) June 23, 2015 -
The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched the second phase of a 4.3-billion-euro ($4.91-billion) programme to deploy new-generation satellites to monitor environmental damage and aid disaster relief operations, officials said early Monday.
Sentinel-2A was hoisted by a lightweight Vega rocket from ESA's base in Kourou, French Guiana, overnight Monday-Tuesday, launch operator Arianespace sa ...
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Surprisingly few 'busy bees' make global crops grow
Burlington VT (SPX) Jun 22, 2015 -
A major international study finds that surprisingly few bee species are responsible for pollinating the world's crops. The paper, published in Nature Communications, suggests that only two percent of wild bee species pollinate 80 percent of bee-pollinated crops worldwide. The study is one of the largest on bee pollination to date.
While agricultural development and pesticides have been sho ...
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