Feature Channels: Environmental Science

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17 business innovations to be honored for contributions to the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.

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Now that we're in National Strawberry Month, UF/IFAS associate professor Vance Whitaker breeds strawberries, and UF/IFAS nutrition experts provide input on the outstanding nutrients of strawberries.

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Compacted soil can be a tough problem to solve. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) May 1 Soils Matter blog post explains why soils become compacted, and what you can do about it.

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Research appearing in PLOS ONE suggests the 2006 Soy Moratorium had a larger effect in reducing deforestation in the Amazon than has been previously understood.

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Technion researchers have detected three new groups of viruses that attack microorganisms from the archaeal marine group, Euryarchaeota. In all, 26 viruses previously unknown to science were found.

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Sac State and Keep California Beautiful will work to develop a model for colleges and universities across the U.S.

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University of Adelaide researchers have constructed a marine food web to show how climate change could affect our future fish supplies and marine biodiversity.

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Humboldt State University’s northern California campus is home to the tallest tree on any college campus anywhere in the world. This was confirmed by HSU Forestry Professor and renowned tall tree expert Steve Sillett and his graduate students who have painstakingly measured and mapped the major limbs of this impressive 240 foot Sitka spruce.

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Although studies suggest that inhaling certain scents may reduce stress in humans, aromatherapy is relatively unexplored in veterinary medicine. But new research presented today at the American Physiological Society (APS) annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2017 in Chicago raises the question of whether aromatherapy may be beneficial to horses as well.

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Corn raised for biofuel can result in eroded soils, as all materials are removed from the field. However, using a perennial grass groundcover could preserve soil in addition to reducing costs.

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Biologists at UC San Diego have provided the first evidence that a widely used pesticide can significantly impair the ability of otherwise healthy honey bees to fly. The study, which employed a bee “flight mill,” raises concerns about how pesticides affect honey bee pollination and long-term effects on the health of honey bee colonies.

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Students from California State University Dominguez Hills and their professor are featured in a two exhibitions, “LA Living Space: Photographs by Ellie Zenhari” and “We Will Be Heard: Work by CSUDH Students,” at Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro from April 23 to May 30 that explore the environmental impact of the Port of Los Angeles. An opening reception on April 30 at noon includes an informative exhibit tour, and a student dance performance.

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India will not be able to meet its Paris climate agreement commitments in the coming years if it carries through with plans to construct nearly 370 coal-fired power plants, according to University of California, Irvine and CoalSwarm researchers.

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Cold weather increases the risk of mortality in Texas residents, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health. The findings were recently published in the journal Environmental Pollution.

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“Housing the FDOC and CREC scientists at the same location has brought together the expertise needed to address any issue facing the Florida citrus industry, from the field to the grocery store shelf, and everywhere in between,” said Michael Rogers, director of the Citrus REC.

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Scientists believe that biochar, the partially burned remains of plants, has been used as fertilizer for at least 2,000 years in the Amazon Basin. Since initial studies published several years ago promoted biochar, farmers around the world have been using it as a soil additive to increase fertility and crop yields. But a new study casts doubt on biochar’s efficacy, finding that using it only improves crop growth in the tropics, with no yield benefit at all in the temperate zone.

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Climate change is predicted to cause a series of maladies for world oceans including heating up, acidification, and the loss of oxygen. A newly published study published online in the April 24 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences entitled, “Ocean warming since 1982 has expanded the niche of toxic algal blooms in the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans,” demonstrates that one ocean consequence of climate change that has already occurred is the spread and intensification of toxic algae.

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The University of Washington-based Carbon Leadership Forum has published the results of its first benchmark study of embodied carbon, or the carbon emissions that occur when extracting, manufacturing and installing building materials. "In the design phrase, our data enables architects and engineers to use carbon, and other environmental impacts, as a performance criteria in addition to common criteria such as cost and strength, when specifying and selecting concrete," said the UW's Kate Simonen -- architect, structural engineer and UW associate professor of architecture, who leads the carbon forum.

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Decreases in river flows and frequency of flooding with future climate warming will likely shift vegetation along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon to species with more drought-tolerant traits.

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During Darden's Net Impact Week, Professor Peter Debaere with CEO Ruffner Page (MBA ’86) and others lead a discussion on Flint: Two Years Later

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Researchers in South Korea have quantitatively deconstructed what they describe as the “ingenious mobility strategies” of seeds that self-burrow rotationally into soil. Seeds maneuvered to dig into soil using a coiled appendage, known as an awn, that responds to humidity. The team investigated this awn’s burrowing and discovered how the nubile sprouts seem to mimic a drill to bury themselves. Their findings, published in Physics of Fluids, could have dramatic implications for improving agricultural robotics.

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Wind-driven expansion of marsh ponds on the Mississippi River Delta is a significant factor in the loss of crucial land in the Delta region, according to research by scientists at Indiana University and North Carolina State University. The study found that 17 percent of land loss in the area resulted from pond expansion.

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Using CT scans, researchers visualize the internal dynamics of sexual intercourse in marine mammals. The research sheds light on evolutionary forces and has practical applications for conservation efforts.

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The Paris Climate Agreement soil carbon sequestration goals are unrealistic, according to scientists from The Netherlands, The United Kingdom and the United States in an opinion piece in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

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“I created this character with the goal of bringing awareness to energy efficiency and other environmental themes.” – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo alumnus Brett Edwards (aka “Mr. Eco”)

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Better medical responses to the accidental or intentional release of inhaled toxic chemicals are being developed, but the field faces considerable challenges, according to a new report by an international panel of experts. The report, “Chemical Inhalation Disasters: Biology of Lung Injury, Development of Novel Therapeutics, and Medical Preparedness,” has been published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

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Honeybees – employed to pollinate crops during the blooming season – encounter danger due to lingering and wandering pesticides, according to a new Cornell University study that analyzed the bee’s own food.

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"Untrouble the Waters" features Great Lakes mayors, environmental advocates and community leaders who will address critical issues impacting the Great Lakes region.

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The Panamanian golden frog is critically endangered and may be functionally extinct in the wild. Scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute are working to save the Panamanian golden frog and other amphibians. With the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and partners, they’re breeding and maintaining a healthy and viable population of some of the world’s most endangered frogs.

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The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill did $17.2 billion in damage to the natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico, a team of scientists recently found after a six-year study of the impact of the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

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Increasing water temperatures are responsible for the accumulation of a chemical called nitrite in marine environments throughout the world, a symptom of broader changes in normal ocean biochemical pathways that could ultimately disrupt ocean food webs.

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Researchers at the University of California, Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering have used waste glass bottles and a low-cost chemical process to create nanosilicon anodes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries. The batteries will extend the range of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and provide more power with fewer charges to personal electronics like cell phones and laptops.

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Wendell Porter, a senior lecturer in the UF/IFAS department of agricultural and biological engineering, offers hints to save energy: Change the temperature on your thermostat by 1 degree. Change the temperature on your hot water tank from 130 to 120. Turn off your home entertainment system overnight and while you’re at work. “Then get addicted to the habits,” Porter said. “It’s all about the money to me.”

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A photo of a cup plant teaming with insects led a better understanding of the biology of Acanthocaudus wasps which inject their eggs into aphids that eat the plant. The adult wasps burst out of the aphids like an alien movie.

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Humans began measurably and negatively impacting water quality in the Chesapeake Bay in the first half of the 19th century, according to a study of eastern oysters by researchers at The University of Alabama.

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The National Odyssey Kickoff Event is set to take place during Earth Day Texas on April 20.

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University of Iowa volcanologist Ingrid Ukstins spent two weeks collecting samples from Yasur, a continuously erupting volcano on Tanna, an island in the remote South Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu, to study its chemical composition and determine how the gasses it produces may be affecting people who live nearby.

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Edison Agrosciences has licensed technology from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center to enhance its ability to identify high-value gene candidates to improve natural rubber content in crops.

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Global warming and climate change are in the headlines today. For allergy sufferers, the impact of warmer temperatures on their daily lives may soon become very apparent. If you think that your spring allergies have worsened, you may be right, and global warming may have contributed to this. With this year’s winter being warmer than usual (temperatures this year were the second highest in history for the month of February), the pollen season is most likely going to be early. In the Garden State, the tree pollen count will surely be one of the highest in the nation.

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A new project proposes a restructured index to build on phosphorus management efforts in farm fields in New York state and beyond. The new index structure improves upon previous approaches. It focuses on the existing risk of phosphorus runoff from a field based on the location and how it is currently managed.

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A group of scientists offers photographic proof of climate change using images of glaciers in a new paper appearing in GSA Today. Along with Gregory Baker of the University of Kansas, co-authors include an Emmy Award-winning documentarian and a prominent environmental author.

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Researchers are exploring new ways of predicting thunderstorm asthma outbreaks that may one day provide early warnings for health professionals, emergency management officials and residents in affected areas.

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Marine experts and conservationists have produced a status report and roadmap for protecting sharks and rays in the southwest Indian Ocean, one of the last remaining strongholds for these ancient creatures in the world’s oceans.