ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News |
| COVID-19 virus is evolving to get better at becoming airborne, new study shows Posted: 16 Sep 2021 02:34 PM PDT A new study finds that SARS-CoV-2 is evolving toward more efficient aerosol generation, and loose-fitting masks provide significant but only modest source control. Until vaccination rates are very high, continued layered controls, including improved ventilation, increased filtration, UV air sanitation, and tight-fitting masks are critical to protect people in public-facing jobs and indoor spaces, researchers urge. |
| Posted: 16 Sep 2021 11:29 AM PDT Fish can drown. While it may not seem like it, fish do require oxygen to breathe; it's just that they get what they need from the oxygen dissolved in water rather than in the air. Too little oxygen spells trouble for our finned friends, which have to move or else suffer ill effects. |
| Researchers infuse bacteria with silver to improve power efficiency in fuel cells Posted: 16 Sep 2021 11:28 AM PDT A team of engineers and chemists has taken a major step forward in the development of microbial fuel cells -- a technology that utilizes natural bacteria to extract electrons from organic matter in wastewater to generate electrical currents. |
| Urban stormwater study finds little difference between managed, unmanaged flows Posted: 16 Sep 2021 11:28 AM PDT At a time when many municipalities are seeking to control urban stormwater by investing heavily in green infrastructure -- such as water-quality ponds, infiltration basins, porous pavement and riparian plantings -- a new study suggests that these expensive efforts may not have much of an impact. |
| Good for groundwater – bad for crops? Plastic particles release pollutants in upper soil layers Posted: 16 Sep 2021 11:28 AM PDT In agriculture, large quantities of nano- and microplastics end up in the soil through compost, sewage sludge and the use of mulching foils. The plastic particles always carry various pollutants with them. However, they do not transport them into the groundwater, as is often assumed. Environmental geoscientists have now determined that the plastic particles release the pollutants in the upper soil layers: they do not generally contaminate the groundwater, but have a negative effect on soil microbes and crops. |
| Reforestation could help save coral reefs from catastrophe Posted: 16 Sep 2021 08:45 AM PDT Increasing reforestation efforts in coastal regions could substantially reduce the amount of sediment run-off reaching coral reefs and improve their resilience, a new study has found. |
| Australian wildfires triggered massive algal blooms in Southern Ocean Posted: 15 Sep 2021 08:09 AM PDT Smoke and ash from the 2019-20 Australian wildfires triggered widespread algal blooms in the Southern Ocean thousands of miles downwind, a new study finds. The study is the first to conclusively link a large-scale response in marine life to fertilization by iron aerosols from wildfire emissions. It raises intriguing questions about the role wildfires may play in spurring the growth of marine phytoplankton and how that may affect oceanic carbon uptake and productivity. |
| Better weather forecasting through satellite isotope data assimilation Posted: 14 Sep 2021 03:48 PM PDT Real satellite water vapor isotope data were assimilated in a general circulation model to determine whether including these data could improve forecast accuracy at both the global and local scales. Overall, forecast accuracy was improved by several percentage points. The effect was especially notable for variables closely related to water vapor isotope fractionation, such as air temperature and specific humidity, and a local-scale pressure pattern over Japan in 2013 was modeled more clearly. |
| What lies beneath: Volcanic secrets revealed Posted: 14 Sep 2021 03:47 PM PDT Lava samples have revealed a new truth about the geological make-up of the Earth's crust and could have implications for volcanic eruption early warning systems, a new study has found. |
| False spring: Climate change may erode frogs’ ability to withstand salt pollution Posted: 14 Sep 2021 07:01 AM PDT Climate change may erode frogs' ability to withstand road salt pollution, according to researchers. Driven by climate change, spring in the northeastern United States is now earlier and more variable in temperature than it used to be, a shift that has rippled through ecosystems. Among the most severely affected are spring-breeding amphibians such as wood frogs, who may be lured out of the mud to mate too early. |
| New 3D-printed sensor can detect glyphosate in beverages Posted: 14 Sep 2021 07:00 AM PDT A newly developed, low-cost sensor can detect and accurately measure the amount of the widely used and controversial herbicide, glyphosate, in droplets of liquid in a laboratory test. Engineers developed the low-cost sensor, which uses nano-sized tubes, and tested it on orange juice and rice beverage samples they spiked with the herbicide for the study. The glyphosate sensor uses technology that is similar to that used in glucose tests that can quickly measure blood sugar levels from a pinprick of blood. |
| Isotope mapping sheds rare light into migratory routes, natal origins of monarch butterflies Posted: 13 Sep 2021 10:57 AM PDT A biology student traveled 20,000 kilometers collecting milkweed, creating isotope analysis of monarch butterflies' annual migration journey, hoping to identify factors behind this threatened insect's decline. |
| Balancing food security and nitrogen use Posted: 13 Sep 2021 10:56 AM PDT In a new study, researchers explored the possible effects that current nitrogen related mitigation options could have on reconciling regional food security and environmental targets for nitrogen. |
| First global study of wildfire pollution reveals increase in mortality rate Posted: 08 Sep 2021 03:07 PM PDT The first study into the global impact of wildfire-related pollution and deaths comprehensively links short term exposure to wildfire-related fine particulate matters. |
| Long-distance relationships for endangered corals Posted: 08 Sep 2021 03:07 PM PDT Flash-frozen coral sperm was used to fertilize coral eggs from hundreds of miles away, this 'assisted gene flow' technique could be used as a conservation tool by introducing genetic variation into endangered corals and potentially accelerating their adaptation to climate change. |
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