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Public Release: 1-Dec-2012
 BioScienceLong-term research reveals how climate change is playing out in real ecosystems Around the world, the effects of global climate change are increasingly evident and difficult to ignore. However, evaluations of the local effects of climate change are often confounded by natural and human induced factors that overshadow the effects of changes in climate on ecosystems. Now, a group of scientists writing in the journal BioScience report a number of surprising results that may shed more light on the complex nature of climate change. 
National Science Foundation
Contact: Lori Quillen
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
ORNL develops lignin-based thermoplastic conversion process Turning lignin, a plant's structural "glue" and a byproduct of the paper and pulp industry, into something considerably more valuable is driving a research effort headed by Amit Naskar of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Contact: Ron Walli
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
LancetEmerging vector-borne diseases create new public health challenge Human activities are advancing the spread of vector-borne, zoonotic diseases such as West Nile virus, Lyme disease and dengue fever, report scientists publishing a series of papers today in the journal the Lancet.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Cheryl Dybas
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Proceedings of the National Acadamy of SciencesAncient microbes survive beneath the icy surface of Antarctic lake Researchers funded by the National Science Foundation describe in a new publication a viable community of bacteria that ekes out a living in a dark, salty and subfreezing environment beneath nearly 20 meters of ice in one of Antarctica's most isolated lakes.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Peter West
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Ecological IndicatorsMaking sustainability policies sustainable Sweeping environmental policies come with hidden challenges -- not only striving to achieve sustainability and benefit the environment -- but over time ensuring the program itself can endure. Scientists at Michigan State University and their colleagues in China are examining China's massive Grain to Green Program -- an effort to persuade farmers to return cropland to forest through financial incentives. Their results were reported in this week's journal Ecological Indicators.
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Contact: Sue Nichols
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Plant Physiology PreviewCarbon dioxide could reduce crop yields High-yielding dwarf plant varieties lose their advantage due to increasing carbon dioxide concentration. Contact: Jos H. M. Schippers
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Ecology LettersHow native plants and exotics coexist Exotic plants in many ecosystems may be better competitors, but in a study in Ecology Letters researchers at Winthrop University and Brown University found that exotics can be kept in check by herbivory.
Brown University Environmental Change Initiative
Contact: David Orenstein
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Journal of Dairy SciencePeople not hooked on fish could get omega-3 through fortified milk Food science researchers at Virginia Tech may have reeled milk into the fish oil delivery system, showing it is possible to incorporate omega-3 fatty acids into milk and dairy-based beverages in amounts sufficient to promote heart health, without destroying the milk's taste. The innovation may be a way to help people who do not eat fish get some of the heart-healthy benefits of fish oil. Contact: John Pastor
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
Computers and Electronics in AgricultureA digital portrait for grapes indicates their ripeness Researchers at the University of Seville (Spain) have developed a technique for estimating grape composition and variety using computer imaging. They have also put forward an index for identifying the ripeness of seeds without the need for chemical analysis. This new method can help to decide the best moment for picking. Contact: SINC
Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
EthologyThe colour of love: Zebrafish perform colorful courtship displays Billy Ocean may not have been thinking of fish when he wrote "The Color of Love", but Sophie Hutter, Attila Hettyey, Dustin Penn, and Sarah Zala from the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna were able to show that zebrafish males and females both wear their brightest colors while wooing a mate. Contact: Dr. Sarah Zala
Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
Journal of Biological ChemistryGarbage bug may help lower the cost of biofuel One reason that biofuels are expensive to make is that the organisms used to ferment the biomass cannot make effective use of hemicellulose, the next most abundant cell wall component after cellulose. They convert only the glucose in the cellulose, thus using less than half of the available plant material. University of Illinois researchers have been doing research at the Energy Biosciences Institute on an organism that they think could be used to solve this problem.
Energy Biosciences Institute
Contact: Susan Jongeneel
Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
Trends in ParasitologyBirds may spread, not halt, fever-bearing ticks Turkey raises and releases thousands of non-native guineafowl to eat ticks that carry the deadly Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus. Yet research suggests guineafowl eat few ticks, but carry the parasites on their feathers, possibly spreading the disease they were meant to stop, says a Turkish biologist working at the University of Utah.
University of Utah
Contact: Lee J. Siegel
Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
Sources of E. coli are not always what they seem US Department of Agriculture scientists have identified sources of Escherichia coli bacteria that could help restore the reputation of local livestock. Studies by scientist Mark Ibekwe suggest that in some parts of California, pathogens in local waterways are more often carried there via runoff from urban areas, not from animal production facilities.
Agricultural Research Service
Contact: Ann Perry
Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
FASEB JournalInsects beware: The sea anemone is coming Insects are becoming resistant to insecticides, presenting a growing need to develop novel ways of pest control. New research in The FASEB Journal shows that the sea anemone's venom harbors toxins that could pose a new generation of environmentally friendly insecticides, which avoid insect resistance. These toxins disable ion channels that mediate pain and inflammation, and could also spur drug development aimed at pain, cardiac disorders, epilepsy and seizure disorders, and immunological diseases. Contact: Cody Mooneyhan
Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
ZooKeysAn ocean away: 2 new encrusting anemones found in unexpected locations A group of marine biologists from Japan has discovered two new species of encrusting anemone, thousands of kilometres away from the single other known species of the group. The first species from Madagascar was found in 1972 and never reported again, while the new species are from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and southern Japan. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys. Contact: James D. Reimer
Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
PLOS Computational Biology University of Tennessee engineering professor looks to whirligig beetle for bio-inspired robots While many may have found the movements of whirligig beetles curious, scientists have puzzled over the apparatus behind their energy efficiency -- until now, thanks to a study performed by a team led by Mingjun Zhang, associate professor of mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Office of Naval Research
Contact: Whitney Heins
Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
ScienceIntegrating science and policy to address the impacts of air pollution An article in this week's Science magazine by Dr Stefan Reis of the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UK) and colleagues from six countries examines how science and policy address air pollution effects on human health and ecosystems, and climate change in Europe.
Natural Environment Research Council
Contact: Barnaby Smith
Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
PLOS PathogensStudy provides first direct evidence linking TB infection in cattle and local badger populations Transmission of tuberculosis between cattle and badgers has been tracked at a local scale for the first time, using a combination of bacterial whole genome DNA sequencing and mathematical modelling. The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, highlights the potential for the use of next generation sequencing as a tool for disentangling the impact of badgers on TB outbreaks in cows at the farm level.
Wellcome Trust
Contact: Jen Middleton
Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
NatureBread wheat's large and complex genome is revealed An international team of scientists, including CSHL Professor W. Richard McCombie's group and others from the USA, UK, and Germany, has completed the first comprehensive analysis of the bread wheat genome. The study, published this month in Nature, opens up a valuable data resource to learn more about this important crop and improve wheat agriculture through gene discovery.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Edward Brydon Ph.D.
Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
NatureMajor breakthrough in deciphering bread wheat's genetic code Achievement expected to increase wheat yields sustainably in the face of climate change, help feed a growing population and speed up development of wheat varieties with enhanced nutritional value. UK, German and US scientists decipher complex genetic code to create new tools for breeders and researchers across the world.
BBSRC
Contact: Rob Dawson
Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Global Change BiologyNew study shows how climate change could affect entire forest ecosystems The fog comes in, and a drop of water forms on a pine needle, rolls down the needle, and falls to the forest floor. The process is repeated over and over, on each pine needle of every tree in a forest of Bishop pines on Santa Cruz Island, off the coast of Santa Barbara. That fog drip helps the entire forest ecosystem stay alive. Contact: Gail Gallessich
Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Journal of Agricultural and Food ChemistryScientists sniff out the substances behind the aroma in the 'king of fruits' The latest effort to decipher the unique aroma signature of the durian -- revered as the "king of fruits" in southeast Asia but reviled elsewhere as the world's foulest smelling food -- has uncovered several new substances that contribute to the fragrance. The research appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Contact: Michael Bernstein
Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
ScienceUSDA study shows trends in public and private agricultural R&D Analysis published by the US Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (ERS) in the most recent issue of the journal Science examine the relationship between public and private investments in research and development (R&D) and their importance in agricultural input industries. The Science article is drawn from a recent ERS study that provides new details on the rapid growth and changing composition of private investments in global agricultural R&D and traces the implications for agriculture. Contact: Mary Conley
Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
NatureAlgae held captive and genes stolen in crime of evolution Microscopic animals held algae captive and stole their genes for energy production, thereby evolving into a new and more powerful species many millions of years ago reveals a new study published today in the journal Nature. Contact: Nerissa Hannink
Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
NatureTiny algae shed light on photosynthesis as a dynamic property Many of the world's most important photosynthetic eukaryotes such as plants got their light-harnessing organelles (chloroplasts) indirectly from other organisms through endosymbiosis. In some instances, this resulted in algae with multiple, distinct genomes, some in residual organelles (nucleomorphs). To better understand why nucleomorphs persist after endosymbiosis, an international team including researchers at the DOE Joint Genome Institute collaborated to sequence and analyze two tiny algae. Their report appeared online Nov. 29, 2012 in Nature. Contact: David Gilbert
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