ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News

Researchers have applied machine-learning techniques to achieve fast, accurate estimates of local geomagnetic fields using data taken at multiple observation points, potentially allowing detection of changes caused by earthquakes and tsunamis. A deep neural network (DNN) model was developed and trained using existing data; the result is a fast, efficient method for estimating magnetic fields for unprecedentedly early detection of natural disasters. This is vital for developing effective warning systems that might help reduce casualties and widespread damage.

A Washington State University researcher has completed the most thorough analysis yet of The Great Drought -- the most devastating known drought of the past 800 years -- and how it led to the Global Famine, an unprecedented disaster that took 50 million lives. She warns that the Earth's current warming climate could make a similar drought even worse.

Perovskites form a group of crystals that have many promising properties for applications in nano-technology. However, one useful property that so far was unobserved in perovskites is so-called carrier multiplication -- an effect that makes materials much more efficient in converting light into electricity. New research has now shown that certain perovskites in fact do have this desirable property.

Researchers have developed new photocatalyst synthesis method using Magnesium hydride (MgH2) and Titanium dioxide (TiO2). The result is expected to contribute to hydrogen mass production through the development of photocatalyst that reacts to solar light.

A 2016 study showed that exposure to urban pollution involving magnetite particles played a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. It began from the hypothesis that magnetite particles would generate chemical reactions that could cause oxidative stress for neurons. Researchers have now called this connection into question, showing that it is very unlikely that magnetite is involved in neuron degeneration.

A new study has utilized a novel method to estimate long-term ozone exposure and previously reported epidemiological results to quantify the health burden from long-term ozone exposure in three major regions of the world. The research estimates that 266,000 premature mortalities across Europe, the USA and China in 2015 were attributable to long-term exposure to ozone (O3).

A new, long-term study of how environmental conditions affect the abundance and distribution of jellyfish in the nation's largest estuary helps explain the widely reported scarcity of sea nettles within Chesapeake Bay during the past few months and raises concerns about how a long-term continuation of this trend might harm Bay fisheries as climate continues to warm.