ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News

When one of the largest modern earthquakes struck Japan on March 11, 2011, the nuclear reactors at Fukushima-Daiichi automatically shut down, as designed. The emergency systems, which would have helped maintain the necessary cooling of the core, were destroyed by the subsequent tsunami. Because the reactor could no longer cool itself, the core overheated, resulting in a severe nuclear meltdown, the likes of which haven't been seen since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

A group of researchers carried out eDNA sequencing on jelly fish in the Florida Keys using a newly developed Fieldable eDNA sequencing kit to identify species that may be endangered, invasive or dangerous.

Women who were highly exposed to ultra-fine particles in air pollution during their pregnancy were more likely to have children who developed asthma, according to a new study. This is the first time asthma has been linked with prenatal exposure to this type of air pollution, which is named for its tiny size and which is not regulated or routinely monitored in the United States.

New research provides an updated understanding of how to add functional groups onto simple hydrocarbons like methane. This new and highly detailed mechanism is a crucial step towards designing the next generation of catalysts and finding scalable approaches for turning greenhouse gases into value-added chemicals.

Engineers have found a way to replicate a natural process that moves water between cells, with a goal of improving how we filter out salt and other elements and molecules to create clean water while consuming less energy.

Solar geoengineering is not a fix-all for climate change but it could be one of several tools to manage climate risks. A growing body of research has explored the ability of solar geoengineering to reduce physical climate changes. But much less is known about how solar geoengineering could affect the ecosystem and, particularly, agriculture. Now, research finds that solar geoengineering may be surprisingly effective in alleviating some of the worst impacts of global warming on crops.

Scientists have identified the areas that are most at risk for conflicts between humans and elephants and lions in Africa.

Geological knowledge is essential for predicting what areas in a tropical mountain range are more prone to have landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and the catastrophic consequences that these events might have in the surrounding populations.

Scientists examine pollinators from both an economic and ecological perspective, providing much needed insight into the complexities of valuing pollination. This recent collaboration highlights the importance of characterizing the economic value of pollination services, including that of managed and wild pollinators, both for the sustainability of honey bee markets and the protection of overall ecosystem health.