ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News

Pioneering new research has helped geologists solve a long-standing puzzle that could help pinpoint new, untapped concentrations of some the most valuable rare earth deposits.

In Salt Lake City schools, absences rise when the air quality worsens, and it's not just in times of high pollution or 'red' air quality days -- even days following lower levels of pollutants saw increased absences.

Researchers have developed a tree-ring chronology from the Amazon River basin that established a link between climate patterns in the Amazon and the Americas.

Meltwater lakes that form at glacier margins cause ice to recede much further and faster compared to glaciers that terminate on land, according to a new study. But the effects of these glacial lakes are not represented in current ice loss models, warn the study authors. Therefore, estimates of recession rates and ice mass loss from lake-terminating glaciers in the coming decades are likely to be under-estimated.

Scientists showed increased temperature and acidification of our oceans over the next century could have a range of effects on an economically important marine species.

Scientists have shown how droughts are threatening the health of wetlands globally. Scientists highlight the many physical and chemical changes occurring during droughts that lead to severe, and sometimes irreversible, drying of wetland soils.

Scientists have discovered two new species of 'stilt mice,' semi-aquatic African rodents with extra-long feet that they stand up on like a kangaroo. The mice wade in streams and dip their whiskers onto the water's surface to detect bugs to eat. The researchers also helped clarify these rodents' family tree, which includes a genus that's only ever been collected once, 93 years ago.

Deep-seabed mining is considered a way to address the increasing need of rare metals. However, the environmental impacts are considered to be substantial but remain largely unknown and clear regulatory standards are lacking. Researchers now describe that mining-related disturbances have a long-term impact on carbon flow and the microbial loop at the deep seafloor.

Researchers have uncovered details of how a certain type of bacteria breaks down cellulose -- a finding that could help reduce the cost and environmental impact of the use of biomass, including biofuel production. The bacteria's cellulose degradation system is in some way different from how a fungus is already widely used in industry, including to soften up denim to make stone-washed jeans.

Study found pollinator monitoring schemes, which often combine expert and volunteer observations, provide high-quality scientific data at a far lower cost than individual research projects.

Closed-canopy rainforests are a vital part of Earth's modern ecosystems, but tropical plants don't preserve well in the fossil record so it is difficult to tell how long these habitats have existed and where rainforests might have once grown. Instead, scientists look to the diets of extinct animals, which lock evidence of the vegetation they ate into their teeth. A new study finds that the paradigm used to identify closed-canopy rainforests needs to be reassessed.