A greater understanding of how plants and microbes work together to store vast amounts of atmospheric carbon in the soil will help in the design of better bioenergy crops for the fight against climate change. Deciphering the mechanics of this mutually beneficial relationship is, however, challenging as conditions in nature are extremely difficult for scientists to replicate in the laboratory. To address this challenge, researchers created fabricated ecosystems or EcoFABs.
For more than a decade, invasive Asian honeybees have defied evolutionary expectations and established a thriving population in North Queensland, much to the annoyance of the honey industry and biosecurity officials.
The January 1, 2024, Noto Peninsula, Japan, Mw7.5 earthquake has undoubtedly been one of the most important earthquakes in 2024, causing widespread attention of the seismological community worldwide. In a recent Editorial of Earthquake Research Advances, titled “Tracing the pace of an approaching ‘seismic dragon king’: additional evidence for the Noto earthquake swarm and the 2024 Mw7.5 Noto earthquake”, Liu, Yue, and her coauthors comment on the predictability of this earthquake.
A recent study introduce a novel paradigm combining ChatGPT with machine learning (ML) to significantly ease the application of ML in environmental science. This approach promises to bridge knowledge gaps and democratize the use of complex ML models for environmental sustainability.
Imagine: You find the dried-up remains of a once green and lush philodendron on your bookshelf and realize you can’t remember the last time you watered your houseplants.
A unique long-term study quantified the abundance of whitespotted eagle and giant manta rays in Southeast Florida. Researchers conducted 120 survey flights between 2014 and 2021 from Miami north to the Jupiter Inlet. One or both species were seen on nearly every flight and both populations appear to be stable in the region. The giant manta rays were more abundant in the south and the whitespotted eagle rays were found all along the coast. Neither species seems to be deterred by the greater human population density in Fort Lauderdale/ Miami.
Want to remove microplastics from water? Try brewing it for a cup of tea or coffee! Research reported in Environmental Science & Technology Letters shows that by boiling then filtering tap water, up to 90% of the nano- and microplastics present could be removed.
A team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst that specializes in accounting for the carbon dioxide release by streams, rivers and lakes recently demonstrated that the chemical process known as “carbonate buffering” can account for the majority of emissions in highly alkaline waters.
The critical role of gardeners in identifying 'future invaders' - ornamental plants that could become invasive species – has been revealed by researchers from the University of Reading and the Royal Horticultural Society.
New research in journals of the American Meteorological Society suggest altered ocean-sea ice dynamics, dampened temperature extremes, differing responses to solar radiation.
This study uses forest inventory data from over 25,000 plots to show that the prevalence of tree pests is jointly controlled by the diversity and phylogenetic composition of forests.
A new computer platform called TCL 3.0 represents a breakthrough in how scientists measure and monitor changes in tiger habitat and provides a framework for monitoring other wildlife species across the globe.
In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology discovered that sea cucumbers — sediment-eating organisms that function like autonomous vacuum cleaners of the ocean floor — play an enormous role in protecting coral from disease. The problem is, they've been overharvested for more than 100 years, and they're now rare.
Researchers have shown that inedible species of butterfly that mimic each others’ colour patterns have also evolved similar flight behaviours to warn predators and avoid being eaten.
Among the vast expanse of Antarctica lies the Thwaites Glacier, the world’s widest glacier measuring about 80 miles on the western edge of the continent.
Eight new Pacific bee species and new insights into Fijian bird behaviour on Viti Levu Island have been described in new scientific studies led by Flinders University.
Deforestation, a critical consequence of human activity, has garnered significant attention due to its impact on environmental sustainability, biodiversity and climate change.
UNC Wilmington environmental sciences assistant professor Joni “Osku“ Backstrom and Mark Wilde-Ramsing, underwater archaeologist and former director of the Underwater Archaeology Branch of the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology, have traversed the lower Cape Fear and Brunswick rivers searching for archaeological evidence of the rice fields once situated along the rivers’ banks.
An interdisciplinary team of experts from the University of Notre Dame, in collaboration with the University of Maryland and University of Utah, have found a way to use artificial intelligence to analyze a household’s passive design characteristics and predict its energy expenses with more than 74 percent accuracy. By combining their findings with demographic data including poverty levels, the researchers have created a comprehensive model for predicting energy burden across 1,402 census tracts and nearly 300,000 households in Chicago.
Researchers have made significant strides in the field of environmental pollution mitigation by enhancing the effectiveness of vanadium-based catalysts through nitrogen-doped biomass carbon for the degradation of furan at lower temperatures. This innovative approach not only offers a more efficient means of breaking down harmful pollutants but also represents a significant step towards more sustainable and cost-effective environmental protection measures.
Copper smelting, a critical process in metal production, often leads to the generation of slag containing valuable metals. Traditionally, this slag has been discarded, causing environmental issues and resource loss. A recent study introduce a method for recovering copper, lead, and zinc from copper smelting slag, addressing both environmental concerns and resource recovery.
Utilization of crude glycerol generated as a by-product from biodiesel production process, for the production of high value-added products, represents an opportunity to overcome the negative impact of low glycerol prices in the biodiesel industry. In the present investigation, alternative ways of valorization of crude glycerol have been provided, by using this renewable material as substrate by natural yeasts of the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) species Yarrowia lipolytica.
As California and the west coast stare down yet another major winter storm, the threat of devastating flooding and mudslides is even more urgent. Drew Ellis, a climate science and meteorology expert at Virginia Tech, explains what causes these conditions.
Undersea anchors of ice that help prevent Antarctica’s land ice from slipping into the ocean are shrinking at more than twice the rate compared with 50 years ago, research shows.
Worsening human-induced climate change may have effects beyond the widely reported rising sea levels, higher temperatures, and impacts on food supply and migration – and may also extend to influencing mental distress among high schoolers in the United States.
It has been long assumed that Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats was formed as its ancient namesake lake dried up 13,000 years ago. But new research from the University of Utah has gutted that narrative, determining these crusts did not form until several thousand years after Lake Bonneville disappeared, which could have important implications for managing this feature that has been shrinking for decades to the dismay of the racing community and others who revere the saline pan 100 miles west of Salt Lake City. Relying on radiocarbon analysis of pollen found in salt cores, the study concludes the salt began accumulating between 5,400 and 3,500 years ago, demonstrating how this geological feature is not a permanent fixture on the landscape.
A study of more than 60,000 specimens of snakes and lizards worldwide reveals that snakes stand out alone in the evolution of reptiles. The team of scientists discovered that snakes evolved incredibly fast, as their ancestors shed limbs and adapted on multiple levels to live and spread out into thousands of species of snakes over 66 million years, up to today.
RUDN University ecologists and a professor from the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) have shown that the combustion of landfill gas in flares continues to pose a danger to the health of the environment and humans. Moreover, it is likely that the situation only gets worse after flaring
Researchers evaluated the prevalence, concentration and tissue distribution of essential and non-essential trace elements, including heavy metal toxicants in tissue (blubber, kidney, liver, skeletal muscle, skin) and fecal samples. Findings reveal how toxicant levels relate to their sex, breed, age and other demographic factors.
Historically "redlined" areas – neighborhoods with primarily Black or immigrant communities – are exposed to more air pollution than other urban neighborhoods. According to research published in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, the cause could relate to nearby highways or industrial parks.
Tuna can build up high levels of methylmercury from feeding on contaminated prey. Despite efforts to reduce mercury emissions, researchers report in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters that levels in tuna appear to be unchanged.
In a world where human activities have left an indelible mark on ecosystems, the preservation of species and natural landscapes has become an urgent global concern.
Until recently, Orthacanthus gracilis could have been considered the “John Smith” of prehistoric shark names, given how common it was. Three different species of sharks from the late Paleozoic Era – about 310 million years ago – were mistakenly given that same name, causing lots of grief to paleontologists who studied and wrote about the sharks through the years and had trouble keeping them apart.
An innovative and more efficient way to produce fumaric acid that not only reduces carbon dioxide emissions, but also reuses waste resources to make biodegradable plastics.
A team at the University of Seville has studied trends in the flowering date of around fifty plant species over the last 35 years in Doñana National Park.
In a new study, researchers have developed a method for capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, powered by clean and relatively inexpensive geothermal energy.
Prof. Dr. Santi Pailoplee, Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, in collaboration with the Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, discovered a large number of rocks and rock formations on Khao Phanom Rung-Plai Bat, Chaloem Phra Kiat District, Buriram Province, which geologically signify human activity in the past, not natural formation.
Our planet’s lithosphere is broken into several tectonic plates. Their configuration is ever-shifting, as supercontinents are assembled and broken up, and oceans form, grow, and then start to close in what is known as the Wilson cycle.
Africa's forested areas – an estimated 14 % of the global forest area – are continuing to decline at an increasing rate – mostly because of human activities to convert forest land for economic purposes.