ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News

Scientists offer an alternative way to understand and minimize health impacts from human-caused changes to the climate and environment.

People are more aware of the plight of endangered gorillas than of gorillas' gut worms, and are understandably more enamored with mouse lemurs than their mites. Half of the world's roughly 500 primate species are at risk of extinction due to human activities such as hunting, trapping and deforestation. But the demise of the world's threatened primates could also trigger even more extinctions for the parasites that lurk within them, finds a new study.

Footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico confirm human presence over at least two millennia, with the oldest tracks dating back 23,000 years.

The global decline of pollinators threatens the reproductive success of 90 per cent of all wild plants globally and the yield of 85 per cent of the world's most important crops. Pollinators -- mainly bees and other insects -- contribute to 35 per cent of the world's food production. The service provided by pollinators is particularly important for securing food produced by the more than two billion small farmers worldwide. An agroecologist points out that yields could be increased if pollinators were encouraged.

Engineers are developing new ways to convert greenhouse gases to fuel to address climate change and get astronauts home from Mars.

Engineers have come up with a revolutionary new method for tackling plastic pollution by harnessing the inner workings of proteins. The result? A whole new way of looking at plastic recycling.

A new study finds that that some large whale species (humpback, fin and minke whales) use the waters off New York and New Jersey as a supplemental feeding area feasting on two different types of prey species.

A new study shows that the intensification of global hydrological cycle drives more ocean heat uptake into the deep ocean and moderates the pace of global warming.

Engineers designed a relatively low-cost, energy-efficient approach to treating water contaminated with heavy metals such as lead.

Researchers have released a new online tool to help schools, hospitals and residents understand and reduce the impact of traffic-related air pollution.

Researchers are developing artificial intelligence that could assess climate change tipping points. The deep learning algorithm could act as an early warning system against runaway climate change.

A new study from the Kalahari Desert finds that teamwork allows birds to cope with brutally unpredictable environments.

Researchers have found a way to mimic the natural processes that create complex shapes and landscapes with the help of a vibrating plate and resulting energy fields.

The continents, a specific feature of our planet, still hold many secrets. Using chemical data on sedimentary rocks compiled from the scientific literature from the 1980s to the present day, researchers have uncovered a new geological history of the continents. The research shows that their growth was not a continuous process, and that they have always been rich in silica1. This new study calls into question certain models of the onset of plate tectonics and provides us with a better understanding of continental growth through time.