ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News

When did the Earth reach oxygen levels sufficient to support animal life? Researchers have discovered that a rise in oxygen levels occurred in step with the evolution and expansion of complex, eukaryotic ecosystems. Their findings represent the strongest evidence to date that extremely low oxygen levels exerted an important limitation on evolution for billions of years.

Despite the many potential applications of seawater batteries (SWBs), the limited performance of available materials has hindered their commercialization. To tackle this issue, scientists have developed a novel co-doped carbon material for the anode of SWBs. Their straightforward synthesis route and the high performance of the developed anode material will pave the way for the widespread adoption of SWBs, which are safer and less expensive than lithium-ion batteries.

When it comes to coping with climate change, there may be two types of people: those who take action to try to improve the environment and those who don't bother because they don't believe their actions will make a difference. Knowing who's who could help policymakers communicate more effectively about environmental issues, new research suggests.

A new study involving more than 100 scientists from across the globe and the largest forest database yet assembled estimates that there are about 73,000 tree species on Earth, including about 9,200 species yet to be discovered.

Beef producers in the upper Midwest know grazing land is in short supply. With more acres being developed or converted to cropland, producers who want to expand their cow-calf operations are looking for alternatives to traditional pasture management. New research shows cow-calf pairs can be managed in drylots throughout the summer grazing period with few negative consequences.

Researchers have mapped out all the glaciers that end in the ocean in the Northern Hemisphere and provide a measure of their rate of change over the last 20 years. Their findings will help us better understand -- and perhaps predict -- the impact of climate change north of the equator.

While cellular networks are the foundation of smart cities, they consume a lot of energy, enhancing global warming. Putting base stations (BSs) with low traffic to sleep saves energy but also reduces traffic prediction accuracy. In a new study, researchers address this trade-off using machine learning technique to switch off BSs based on their contribution to prediction accuracy. The new scheme reduces power consumption and demonstrates a prediction accuracy superior to benchmark schemes.

A new article argues that cities need to use local policies and incentives to encourage the wider adoption of electric vehicles. The authors outline a number of steps cities can take to support the uptake of electric vehicles, such as leading by example and using fiscal mechanisms. The team also discuss factors that influence the electric revolution, including situational factors, contextual factors, and barriers and enablers.

Climate change could result in the financial toll of flooding rising by more than a quarter in the United States by 2050 -- and disadvantaged communities will bear the biggest brunt, according to new research.

There should be greater investment in using a wider group of experts to make decisions about how the landscape is managed if the UK is to reach climate targets such as net zero, a new report warns.

We should start talking about biodiversity loss denial, just like we discussed climate change denial in the recent past, researchers say.

Research has shown that the level of growth needed to produce the amount of trees required by UK targets is unlikely to be achieved through natural means alone.

Scientists have identified a mechanism through which important metals, crucial to the manufacturing of renewable energy technologies, are passed from the Earth's mantle to the crust.

Thawing permafrost in the Arctic could be emitting greenhouse gases from previously unaccounted-for carbon stocks, fuelling global warming. In the Siberian Arctic, the research team determined the origin of carbon dioxide released from permafrost that is thousands of years old.