Most recent 40 articles: Science Daily - Earth and Climate
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'Gap' in Carbon Removal: Countries' Plans to Remove CO2 Not Enough - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · Since 2010, the United Nations environmental organisation UNEP has taken an annual measurement of the emissions gap -- the difference between countries' climate protection pledges and what is necessary to limit global heating to 1.5 ºC, or at least below 2 ºC. The UNEP Emissions Gap Reports are clear: climate policy needs more ambition. This new study now explicitly applies this analytical concept to carbon dioxide removal (CDR) -- the removal of the most important greenhouse gas, CO2, from the atmosphere. The study, published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, was led by the Berlin-based Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change ... Read more ... |
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Climate Change Amplifies Severity of Combined Wind-Rain Extremes Over the UK and Ireland - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · Climate change will cause an increase in extreme winter storms combining strong winds and heavy rainfall over the UK and Ireland, new research has shown. The new study was led by experts at Newcastle University and the Met Office and investigated how future climate change may influence compound wind-rain extremes, which are events where extreme wind and rainfall occur simultaneously. These changes are mainly driven by increased rainfall, a thermodynamic response to rising temperatures. Additional contributing factors include a strengthened jet stream and its southward displacement that brings storms through warmer areas leading to further increases in ... Read more ... |
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Earth-Like Environment On Ancient Mars - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · "It is difficult for manganese oxide to form on the surface of Mars, so we didn't expect to find it in such high concentrations in a shoreline deposit," said Patrick Gasda, of Los Alamos National Laboratory's Space Science and Applications group and lead author on the study. "On Earth, these types of deposits happen all the time because of the high oxygen in our atmosphere produced by photosynthetic life, and from microbes that help catalyze those manganese oxidation reactions. "On Mars, we don't have evidence for life, and the mechanism to produce oxygen in Mars's ancient atmosphere is unclear, so how the manganese oxide was formed and concentrated here is really puzzling. ... Read more ... |
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EPA Underestimates Methane Emissions from Landfills, Urban Areas - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is underestimating methane emissions from landfills, urban areas and U.S. states, according to a new study led by researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). "Methane is the second largest contributor to climate change behind carbon dioxide so it's really important that we quantify methane emissions at the highest possible resolution to pinpoint what sources it is coming from," said Hannah Nesser, a former PhD student at SEAS and first author of the paper. Nesser is currently a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow in the Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Group at the Jet Propulsion ... Read more ... |
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For Microscopic Organisms, Ocean Currents Act as 'Expressway' to Deeper Depths - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · Some of the ocean's tiniest organisms get swept into underwater currents that act as a conduit that shuttles them from the sunny surface to deeper, darker depths where they play a huge role in affecting the ocean's chemistry and ecosystem, according to new research. "We found that because these organisms are so small, they can be swept up by ocean currents that then bring them deeper than where they grow," said Mara Freilich, an assistant professor in Brown University's Division of Applied Mathematics and Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences who launched the work as a Ph.D. student a joint program at MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. "It's ... Read more ... |
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Mystery Behind Huge Opening in Antarctic Sea Ice Solved - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · A study reveals a key process that had eluded scientists as to how the opening, called a polynya, was able to form and persist for several weeks. The team of researchers from the University of Southampton, the University of Gothenburg and the University of California San Diego studied the Maud Rise polynya -- named after the submerged mountain-like feature in the Weddell Sea, over which it grows. They found the polynya was brought on by complex interactions between the wind, ocean currents, and the unique geography of the ocean floor, transporting heat and salt towards the surface. In Antarctica, the surface of the ocean freezes over in the winter, with sea ice ... Read more ... |
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New Nevada Experiments Will Improve Monitoring of Nuclear Explosions - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · On an October morning in 2023, a chemical explosion detonated in a tunnel under the Nevada desert was the launch of the next set of experiments by the National Nuclear Security Administration, with the goal to improve detection of low-yield nuclear explosions around the world. Physics Experiment 1-A (PE1-A) is the first in a series of non-nuclear experiments that will compare computer simulations with high-resolution seismic, tracer gas, acoustic and electromagnetic data gleaned from underground explosions and atmospheric experiments, said Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researcher Stephen Myers at the Seismological Society of America (SSA)'s 2024 Annual ... Read more ... |
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Path to Easier Recycling of Solar Modules - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · The use of femtosecond lasers to form glass-to-glass welds for solar modules would make the panels easier to recycle, according to a proof-of-concept study conducted by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The welds would eliminate the need for plastic polymer sheets that are now laminated into solar modules but make recycling more difficult. At the end of their useful lifespan, the modules made with the laser welds can be shattered. The glass and metal wires running through the solar cells can be easily recycled and the silicon can be reused. "Most recyclers will confirm that the polymers are the main issue in terms ... Read more ... |
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Plants Utilize Drought Stress Hormone to Block Snacking Spider Mites - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · Recent findings that plants employ a drought-survival mechanism to also defend against nutrient-sucking pests could inform future crop breeding programmes aimed at achieving better broadscale pest control. Using an advanced fluorescent biosensor (ABACUS2) that can detect tiny changes in plant hormone concentrations at the cellular scale, scientists saw that abscisic acid (ABA), usually linked with drought response, started closing the plant's entry gates within 5 hours of being infested with spider mites. Microscopic leaf pores (stomata) are important for gas exchange but are also the major sites for water loss. When there is a water shortage, plants act to conserve ... Read more ... |
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Roadmap to Close the Carbon Cycle - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · A major approach to achieving net-zero carbon emissions relies on converting various parts of the economy, such as personal vehicles and heating, to run via electricity generated from renewable sources. But carbon cannot be removed from all parts of society. Plastics, ubiquitous in the modern world, cannot be decarbonized because they are made of carbon-based molecules. Led by chemist Wendy Shaw of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a multi-institutional effort has produced a new roadmap to reducing emissions in hard-to-electrify segments of the economy. The multifaceted approach includes developing non-carbon fuels, finding non-fossil sources of carbon, and keeping ... Read more ... |
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Robots Invited to Help Make Wind Turbine Blades - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · Although robots have been used by the wind energy industry to paint and polish blades, automation has not been widely adopted. Research at the laboratory demonstrates the ability of a robot to trim, grind, and sand blades. Those necessary steps occur after the two sides of the blade are made using a mold and then bonded together. "I would consider it a success," said Hunter Huth, a robotics engineer at NREL and lead author of a newly published paper detailing the work. "Not everything operated as well as we wanted it to, but we learned all the lessons we think we need to make it meet or exceed our expectations." The paper, "Toolpath Generation for Automated Wind Turbine ... Read more ... |
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Sister Cities Can Help Communities Better Navigate the Climate Crisis - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · Anthropologists at Rice University suggest in a new study that establishing networks of 'sister cities' dedicated to addressing the impact of natural disasters can mitigate the devastation wrought by climate change. Historically, these relationships have centered on social and political factors like trade relationships, diplomacy and more. But Howe and Boyer believe they can be powerful tools to aid in dealing with the physical effects of climate change, especially as cities deal with things like wildfires, extreme storms and more. As a result, they recommend forming a network called "Sister Cities for the Anthropocene" to help track and raise awareness of the spread of ... Read more ... |
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Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Is Shifting the Ecological Balance of Caribbean Reefs - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · The outbreak of a deadly disease called stony coral tissue loss disease is destroying susceptible species of coral in the Caribbean while helping other, "weedier" organisms thrive -- at least for now -- according to a new study published today in Science Advances. "Some fast-growing organisms, like algae, might thrive in the short term," said the study's lead author, Sara Swaminathan, an environmental engineering sciences Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida. "But the loss of the susceptible corals could have long-lasting repercussions." Stony coral tissue loss disease, or SCTLD, was first reported off the coast of Miami in 2014 and has since moved throughout the ... Read more ... |
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Sugar-Based Catalyst Upcycles Carbon Dioxide - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · A new catalyst made from an inexpensive, abundant metal and common table sugar has the power to destroy carbon dioxide (CO2) gas. In a new Northwestern University study, the catalyst successfully converted CO2 into carbon monoxide (CO), an important building block to produce a variety of useful chemicals. When the reaction occurs in the presence of hydrogen, for example, CO2 and hydrogen transform into synthesis gas (or syngas), a highly valuable precursor to producing fuels that can potentially replace gasoline. With recent advances in carbon capture technologies, post-combustion carbon capture is becoming a plausible option to help tackle the global climate change ... Read more ... |
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Wildfires in Wet African Forests Have Doubled in Recent Decades - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (May 24) |
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May 24 · A new study presents the first large-scale analysis of fire patterns in west and central Africa's wet, tropical forests. The number of active fires there typically doubled over 18 years, particularly in the Congo Basin. The increases are primarily due to increasingly hot, dry conditions and humans' impact on the forests, including deforestation. The increase in forest fires is likely to continue given current climate projections, according to the study. With fires increasing in other historically wet forests, such as the U.S. Pacific Northwest and the Amazon, wet forest fires can no longer be ignored, the researchers say. Scientists have known for decades that wet ... Read more ... |
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'Diverse' Agriculture Benefits People and the Environment at the Same Time - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Rotating crops, conserving soil nutrients and deploying other strategies to "diversify" agriculture all at the same time can yield major benefits for the environment and people alike -- including increased crop yields and improved food security for entire communities. That's the take-home message of a landmark new study, including researchers from more than 15 nations and data from 2,655 farms on five continents. The team published its findings April 4 in the journal Science. "This is evidence that this can actually work -- we can imagine agricultural systems that are more diverse and serve people and nature at the same time," said Zia Mehrabi, a co-author of the new ... Read more ... |
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'Sunny Day Flooding' Increases Fecal Contamination of Coastal Waters - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A new study finds that "sunny day flooding," which occurs during high tides, increases the levels of fecal bacteria in coastal waters. While the elevated bacteria levels in the coastal waters tend to dissipate quickly, the findings suggest policymakers and public health officials should be aware of potential risks associated with tidal flooding. "Historically we see the highest levels of fecal bacteria contamination in coastal waterways after it rains, because the rain washes contaminants into the waterways," says Natalie Nelson, corresponding author of a paper on the study and an associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering at North Carolina State ... Read more ... |
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'Tug of War' Tactic Enhances Chemical Separations for Critical Materials - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Lanthanide elements are important for clean energy and other applications. To use them, industry must separate mixed lanthanide sources into individual elements using costly, time-consuming, and waste-generating procedures. An efficient new method can be tailored to select specific lanthanides. The technique combines two substances that do not mix and that prefer different types of lanthanides. The process would allow for smaller equipment, less use of chemicals, and less waste production. The metals called lanthanides have valuable properties for clean energy technologies such as electric vehicles and wind turbines and for many other applications. These elements include ... Read more ... |
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38 Trillion Dollars in Damages Each Year: World Economy Already Committed to Income Reduction of 19 % Due to Climate Change - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Even if CO2 emissions were to be drastically cut down starting today, the world economy is already committed to an income reduction of 19 % until 2050 due to climate change, a new study published in Nature finds. These damages are six times larger than the mitigation costs needed to limit global warming to two degrees. Based on empirical data from more than 1,600 regions worldwide over the past 40 years, scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) assessed future impacts of changing climatic conditions on economic growth and their persistence. "Strong income reductions are projected for the majority of regions, including North America and Europe, with ... Read more ... |
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A Chemical Mystery Solved -- The Reaction Explaining Large Carbon Sinks - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A mystery that has puzzled the scientific community for over 50 years has finally been solved. A team from Linköping University, Sweden, and Helmholtz Munich have discovered that a certain type of chemical reaction can explain why organic matter found in rivers and lakes is so resistant to degradation. Their study has been published in the journal Nature. "This has been the holy grail within my field of research for over 50 years," says Norbert Hertkorn, scientist in analytical chemistry previously at Helmholtz Munich and currently at Linköping University. Let us take it from the beginning. When, for example, a leaf detaches from a tree and falls to the ground, ... Read more ... |
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A Natural Touch for Coastal Defense - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Common "hard" coastal defenses, like concrete sea walls, might struggle to keep up with increasing climate risks. A new study shows that combining them with nature-based solutions could, in some contexts, create defenses which are better able to adapt. Researchers reviewed 304 academic articleson the performance of coastal defenses around the world, including: natural environments; soft measures (which support or enrich nature); hard measures (such as concrete sea walls); and hybrids of the aforementioned. Soft and hybrid measures turned out to be more cost-effective than hard measures, and hybrid measures provided the highest hazard reduction overall in low-risk areas. Although ... Read more ... |
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A New Estimate of U.S. Soil Organic Carbon to Improve Earth System Models - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Soil contains about twice as much carbon as the atmosphere and plants combined. It is a major carbon sink, capable of absorbing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it releases. Management of soil carbon is key in efforts to mitigate climate change, in addition to being vital to soil health and agricultural productivity. Measuring soil carbon, however, is a painstaking, expensive process. Samples must be dug from the ground and sent to a lab for analysis, making upscaling measurements on a large spatial scale challenging. Now environmental scientists have combined field-level data with machine-learning techniques to estimate soil organic carbon at the U.S. ... Read more ... |
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A Simple Way to Harvest More 'Blue Energy' from Waves - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · As any surfer will tell you, waves pack a powerful punch. Now, we are one step closer to capturing the energy behind the ocean's constant ebb and flow with an improved "blue energy" harvesting device. Researchers report in ACS Energy Letters that simply repositioning the electrode -- from the center of a see-sawing liquid-filled tube to the end where the water crashes with the most force -- dramatically increased the amount of wave energy that could be harvested. The tube-shaped wave-energy harvesting device improved upon by the researchers is called a liquid-solid triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). The TENG converts mechanical energy into electricity as water sloshes back ... Read more ... |
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A Smarter City Skyline for Flood Safety - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A city's skyline -- the distinctive shapes and arrangements of its buildings -- impacts the safety of its population during floods. When the streets flood, pedestrians can be swept under the current and injured or killed. With climate change and rising urbanization, the likelihood and severity of urban flooding are increasing. Not all city blocks are created equal. In Physics of Fluids, an AIP Publishing journal, researchers from Beijing Normal University, Beijing Hydrological Center, and the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research investigated how city design contributes to pedestrian safety during flooding. "Climate change leads to an increasing ... Read more ... |
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A Virus Could Help Save Billions of Gallons of Wastewater Produced by Fracking - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · An estimated 168 billion gallons of wastewater -- or produced water -- is generated annually by the Permian Basin fracking industry, according to a 2022 report by the Texas Produced Water Consortium. The major waste stream has proved both difficult and costly to treat because of the chemical complexity of the water. In a new study published in the journal Water, researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have identified a novel means of treating the wastewater generated by oil and gas production: bacteriophages. Ramón Antonio Sánchez, a doctoral candidate within UTEP's chemistry program, is the first author on the publication, detailing how ... Read more ... |
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AI Weather Forecasts Captured Ciaran's Destructive Path - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Artificial intelligence (AI) can quickly and accurately predict the path and intensity of major storms, a new study has demonstrated. Professor Andrew Charlton-Perez, who led the study, said: "AI is transforming weather forecasting before our eyes. Two years ago, modern machine learning techniques were rarely being applied to make weather forecasts. Now we have multiple models that can produce 10-day global forecasts in minutes. "There is a great deal we can learn about AI weather forecasts by stress-testing them on extreme events like Storm Ciarán. We can identify their strengths and weaknesses and guide the development of even better AI forecasting technology to ... Read more ... |
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AI Writing, Illustration Emits Hundreds of Times Less Carbon Than Humans, Study Finds - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · With the evolution of artificial intelligence comes discussion of the technology's environmental impact. A new study has found that for the tasks of writing and illustrating, AI emits hundreds of times less carbon than humans performing the same tasks. That does not mean, however, that AI can or should replace human writers and illustrators, the study's authors argue. Andrew Torrance, Paul E. Wilson Distinguished Professor of Law at KU, is co-author of a study that compared established systems such as ChatGPT, Bloom AI, DALL-E2 and others completing writing and illustrating to that of humans. Like cryptocurrency, AI has been subject to debate about the amount of energy ... Read more ... |
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Anthropologist Documents How Women and Shepherds Historically Reduced Wildfire Risk in Central Italy - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Fire management lessons from the past could help to improve resilience as the Mediterranean faces increased fire risk from climate change. University of California, Santa Cruz Anthropology Professor Andrew Mathews shows how traditional land management practices once greatly reduced fuel for wildfires, and how these practices were forgotten, in part due to historical politics of classism and sexism. In the last several decades, large forest fires have increasingly threatened communities across the Mediterranean. Climate change is expected to make these fires larger, hotter, and more dangerous in the future. But fire management lessons from the past could help to improve the ... Read more ... |
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Ants in Colorado Are on the Move Due to Climate Change - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Over the past 60 years, climate change has forced certain ant species, unable to tolerate higher temperatures, out of their original habitats in Gregory Canyon near Boulder, Colorado, according to a new research published April 9 in the journal Ecology. The resulting biodiversity change could potentially alter local ecosystems, according to first author Anna Paraskevopoulos, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder. Like all insects, ants are ectothermic, meaning their body temperature, metabolism and other bodily functions depend on the environment's temperature. As a result, ants are sensitive to ... Read more ... |
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Are Universities Connected to Local Sustainability? A New Study Suggests Yes...and No. - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A new study finds that universities scoring strongly on measures of sustainability are associated with innovation and economic growth in their surrounding communities. However, the study did not find similar connections between university sustainability performance and environmental sustainability in their home communities. "Society is facing a slew of global challenges, and we wanted to assess the extent to which higher education is contributing to the sort of transformative change needed to address these challenges," says Christopher Galik, co-author of the study and a professor of public administration at North Carolina State University. "For this study, we started at the ... Read more ... |
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Artificial Intelligence Helps Scientists Engineer Plants to Fight Climate Change - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) declared that removing carbon from the atmosphere is now essential to fighting climate change and limiting global temperature rise. To support these efforts, Salk scientists are harnessing plants' natural ability to draw carbon dioxide out of the air by optimizing their root systems to store more carbon for a longer period of time. To design these climate-saving plants, scientists in Salk's Harnessing Plants Initiative are using a sophisticated new research tool called SLEAP -- an easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) software that tracks multiple features of root growth. Created by Salk Fellow Talmo Pereira, SLEAP was ... Read more ... |
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Asian Monsoon Lofts Ozone-Depleting Substances to Stratosphere - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Powerful monsoon winds, strengthened by a warming climate, are lofting unexpectedly large quantities of ozone-depleting substances high into the atmosphere over East Asia, new research shows. The study, led by the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) and NASA, found that the East Asian Monsoon delivers more than twice the concentration of very short-lived ozone-depleting substances into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere than previously reported. "It was a real surprise to fly through a plume with all those very short-lived ozone-depleting substances," said NSF NCAR scientist Laura Pan, the lead author of the ... Read more ... |
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Asteroid Ryugu and Interplanetary Space - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Samples reveal evidence of changes experienced by the surface of asteroid Ryugu, some probably due to micrometeoroid bombardment. Analyzing samples retrieved from the asteroid Ryugu by the Japanese Space Agency's Hayabusa2 spacecraft has revealed new insights into the magnetic and physical bombardment environment of interplanetary space. The results of the study, carried out by Professor Yuki Kimura at Hokkaido University and co-workers at 13 other institutions in Japan, are published in the journal Nature Communications. The investigations used electron waves penetrating the samples to reveal details of their structure and magnetic and electric properties, a technique ... Read more ... |
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Astronomers Share Climate-Friendly Meeting Solutions - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Carbon emissions associated with air travel to professional conferences make up a sizable fraction of the emissions produced by researchers in academia. Andrea Gokus, a McDonnell Center postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, is advocating for a reduction of these emissions. In a paper published in PNAS Nexus, Gokus and collaborators estimated the CO2-equivalent emissions for conference travel to all 362 open meetings in the field of astronomy in 2019. The total is an estimated 42,500 tons, or about 1 ton per participant per meeting. But it doesn't have to be that way. "Networking and discussing new ... Read more ... |
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Atmospheric and Economic Drivers of Global Air Pollution - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Carbon monoxide emissions from industrial production have serious consequences for human health and are a strong indicator of overall air pollution levels. Many countries aim to reduce their emissions, but they cannot control air flows originating in other regions. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looks at global flows of air pollution and how they relate to economic activity in the global supply chain. "Our study is unique in combining atmospheric transport of air pollution with supply chain analysis as it tells us where the pollution is coming from and who is ultimately responsible for it," said lead author Sandy Dall'erba, professor in the ... Read more ... |
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Australia on Track for Unprecedented, Decades-Long Megadroughts - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Australia could soon see megadroughts that last for more than 20 years, according to new modelling from The Australian National University (ANU) and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes. According to the scientists, the findings paint a worrying picture of future droughts in Australia that are far worse than anything in recent experience. Megadroughts are exceptionally severe, long-lasting and widespread. They can last multiple decades or even centuries. An example of this is the megadrought in the United States' southwestern region that started in the year 2000 and has continued for more than two decades. Co-lead author Dr Georgy Falster, from the ANU ... Read more ... |
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Big Data Reveals True Climate Impact of Worldwide Air Travel - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · For the first time ever, researchers have harnessed the power of big data to calculate the per-country greenhouse gas emissions from aviation for 197 countries covered by an international treaty on climate change. When countries signed the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change treaty, high-income countries were required to report their aviation-related emissions. But 151 middle and lower income countries, including China and India, were not required to report these emissions, although they could do so voluntarily. This matters because the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change relies on country reports of emissions during negotiations ... Read more ... |
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Biofilm-Resistant Glass for Marine Environments - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · A group of researchers led by University of Massachusetts Amherst engineers have created ultraviolet (UV) rays-emitting glass that can reduce 98% of biofilm from growing on surfaces in underwater environments, as reported in the journal Biofilm. Biofilm is a slimy layer of various types of microorganisms that grows on wet surfaces. "If you look down your sink and touch the inner side of it -- that slimy substance is biofilm," describes Mariana Lanzarini-Lopes, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at UMass Amherst, and a corresponding author on the paper. Biofilm is a significant issue for underwater applications. The United States Navy estimates ... Read more ... |
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Boreal Forest and Tundra Regions Worst Hit Over Next 500 Years of Climate Change, Study Shows - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · The boreal forest, covering much of Canada and Alaska, and the treeless shrublands to the north of the forest region, may be among the worst impacted by climate change over the next 500 years, according to a new study. The study, led by researchers at the White Rose universities of York and Leeds, as well as Oxford and Montreal, and ETH, Switzerland, ran a widely-used climate model with different atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide to assess the impact climate change could have on the distribution of ecosystems across the planet up to the year 2500. Most climate prediction models run to the year 2100, but researchers are keen to explore longer-term projections ... Read more ... |
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Building Blocks for Greener Energy: Reconfigurable Elastic Metasurface - Science Daily - Earth and Climate  (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Energy harvesting, an eco-friendly technology, extends beyond solar and wind power in generating electricity from unused or discarded energy in daily life, including vibrations generated by passing car engines or trains. Recent intriguing research has been announced, aiming to enhance the efficiency of energy harvesting using a new type of metasurface that can be reconfigured, resembling the assembly of LEGO bricks. Professor Junsuk Rho from the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering and PhD/MS student Geon Lee from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) have joined ... Read more ... |
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