ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News |
| When tyrannosaurs dominated, medium-sized predators disappeared Posted: 17 Jun 2021 07:12 AM PDT A new study shows that medium-sized predators all but disappeared late in dinosaur history wherever Tyrannosaurus rex and its close relatives rose to dominance. In those areas -- lands that eventually became central Asia and Western North America -- juvenile tyrannosaurs stepped in to fill the missing ecological niche previously held by other carnivores. |
| AI system-on-chip runs on solar power Posted: 17 Jun 2021 05:27 AM PDT Engineers have developed an integrated circuit that can carry out complicated artificial-intelligence operations like face, voice and gesture recognition and cardiac monitoring. Powered by either a tiny battery or a solar panel, it processes data at the edge and can be configured for use in just about any type of application. |
| Public concern on human health impact of plastic pollution Posted: 16 Jun 2021 07:06 PM PDT The new study found that both Europeans and Australians were highly concerned about the human health impact of marine plastic pollution, ranking it top of 16 marine-related threats in terms of cause for concern, including chemical or oil spills, marine biodiversity loss and climate change related effects such as sea-level rise and ocean acidification. |
| Seabird eggs contaminated with cocktail of plastic additives Posted: 16 Jun 2021 04:15 PM PDT Chemical additives used in plastic production have been found in herring gull eggs, new research shows. |
| Underwater robot offers new insight into mid-ocean 'twilight zone' Posted: 16 Jun 2021 04:15 PM PDT An innovative underwater robot known as Mesobot is providing researchers with deeper insight into the vast mid-ocean region known as the 'twilight zone.' Capable of tracking and recording high-resolution images of slow-moving and fragile zooplankton, gelatinous animals, and particles, Mesobot greatly expands scientists' ability to observe creatures in their mesopelagic habitat with minimal disturbance. |
| Exploring the shallow underground world with a burrowing soft robot Posted: 16 Jun 2021 12:42 PM PDT We've seen robots take to the air, dive beneath the waves and perform all sorts of maneuvers on land. Now, researchers are exploring a new frontier: the ground beneath our feet. Taking their cues from plants and animals that have evolved to navigate subterranean spaces, they've developed a fast, controllable soft robot that can burrow through sand. |
| Several persistent chemicals found in fetal organs Posted: 16 Jun 2021 11:32 AM PDT Researchers found industrial chemicals in the organs of fetuses conceived decades after many countries had banned the substances. The researchers urge decision makers to consider the combined impact of the mix of chemicals that accumulate in people and nature. |
| Icebergs drifting from Canada to southern Florida Posted: 16 Jun 2021 11:32 AM PDT Climate modelers have found evidence that massive icebergs from roughly 31,000 years ago drifted more than 5,000km (> 3,000 miles) along the eastern United States coast from Northeast Canada all the way to southern Florida. |
| Machine learning can now reduce worry about nanoparticles in food Posted: 16 Jun 2021 11:31 AM PDT While crop yield has achieved a substantial boost from nanotechnology in recent years, the alarms over the health risks posed by nanoparticles within fresh produce and grains have also increased. In particular, nanoparticles entering the soil through irrigation, fertilizers and other sources have raised concerns about whether plants absorb these minute particles enough to cause toxicity. |
| Damage control: Plants juggle genome maintenance and growth by being organized Posted: 16 Jun 2021 11:30 AM PDT Researchers have found that plants balance growth and genome maintenance by organizing their responses to damage. Plants can't replace dead cells as animals do, and must deal with DNA damage without halting growth. Combined control of the plant hormones cytokinin and auxin allows plants to organize different DNA damage responses while minimizing cell death. This study will have broad applications to research on plants and other organisms. |
| Developing countries pay steep economic and health costs because of high car air pollution Posted: 16 Jun 2021 08:38 AM PDT Some of the world's most vulnerable cities suffer disproportionate economic losses because of the health consequences of in-car air pollution, finds a new study. |
| Most rivers run dry -- now and then Posted: 16 Jun 2021 08:38 AM PDT A new study found that between 51-60% of the 64 million kilometres of rivers and streams on Earth that they investigated stop flowing periodically, or run dry for part of the year. It is the first-ever empirically grounded effort to quantify the global distribution of non-perennial rivers and streams. The research, which was published today in Nature, calls for a paradigm shift in river science and management. |
| Poison frog tadpoles can survive (almost) anywhere Posted: 16 Jun 2021 08:38 AM PDT A group of researchers were part of an expedition to French Guiana to study tropical frogs in the Amazon. Various amphibian species of this region use ephemeral pools of water as their nurseries, and display unique preferences for specific physical and chemical characteristics. Researchers were surprised to find tadpoles of the dyeing poison frog surviving in an incredible range of both chemical (pH 3-8) and vertical (0-20 m in height) deposition sites. |
| Measuring the elimination of plastic particles from the body in mice Posted: 16 Jun 2021 08:38 AM PDT The accumulation of micro- and nanoplastics in the environment continues at an alarming rate. A radiolabeling technique made it possible to monitor the movement and accumulation of plastics in the mouse body, as well as their elimination from it. |
| Bacteria used to clean diesel-polluted soil in Greenland Posted: 16 Jun 2021 08:37 AM PDT Diesel-polluted soil from now defunct military outposts in Greenland can be remediated using naturally occurring soil bacteria according to an extensive five-year experiment in Mestersvig, East Greenland. |
| Investigating carbonate mineral chemical variations to improve oil recovery Posted: 16 Jun 2021 06:41 AM PDT A researcher has firsthand experience with the frustrations of oil production. He spent nine years as a hydraulic fracturing engineer with operating and service companies. A few years ago, he started delving into a recurring recovery problem in carbonate reservoirs: why don't they produce oil as predicted? |
| Balanced rocks set design ground motion values for New Zealand dam Posted: 16 Jun 2021 06:41 AM PDT Researchers have used precariously-balanced rocks to set the formal design earthquake motions for a major existing engineered structure -- the Clyde Dam, the largest concrete dam in New Zealand. |
| At underwater site, research team finds 9,000-year-old stone artifacts Posted: 16 Jun 2021 06:41 AM PDT Underwater archaeologists have been studying 9,000-year-old stone tool artifacts discovered in Lake Huron that originated from an obsidian quarry more than 2,000 miles away in central Oregon. The obsidian flakes from the underwater archaeological site represent the oldest and farthest east confirmed specimens of western obsidian ever found in the continental United States. |
| Ozone pollution has increased in Antarctica Posted: 16 Jun 2021 06:40 AM PDT Ozone is a pollutant at ground level, but very high in the atmosphere's 'ozone layer,' it absorbs damaging ultraviolet radiation. Past studies have examined ozone levels in the Southern Hemisphere, but little is known about levels of the molecule in Antarctica over long periods. Now, researchers have analyzed more than 25 years of Antarctic data, finding that concentrations near the ground arose from both natural and human-related sources. |
| Urbanization drives antibiotic resistance on microplastics in Chinese river Posted: 16 Jun 2021 06:40 AM PDT Microplastic pollution of waterways has become a huge concern, with the tiny pieces of plastic entering food webs and potentially having harmful effects on animals and people. In addition, microplastics can act as breeding grounds for antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Now, researchers have analyzed antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) on five types of microplastics at different locations along the Beilun River in China, finding much higher abundances in urban than rural regions. |
| Posted: 15 Jun 2021 11:56 AM PDT What will the Earth be like for our children and grandchildren, as temperatures continue to rise? We can be fairly certain of some things: Some regions will become inhospitable, as heat drives their inhabitants away or causes massive declines and changes in their ecosystems. Many other physical, chemical and biological processes will also be affected by rising temperatures that threaten critical ecosystem services such as food production, biodiversity and energy security. |
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