ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News |
| How the transition to agriculture affects populations in the present day Posted: 09 Mar 2022 08:11 AM PST The transition of human societies from hunter-gatherers to farmers and pastoralists is a more nuanced process than generally thought, according to a new study of peoples living in the highlands of southwest Ethiopia. |
| X-ray view of subducting tectonic plates Posted: 09 Mar 2022 08:10 AM PST Earth's thin crust softens considerably when it dives down into the Earth attached to a tectonic plate. That is demonstrated by X-ray studies carried out on a mineral which occurs in large quantities in basaltic crust. This softening can even cause the crust to peel away from the underlying plate. The delaminated crust has different physical properties from the rest of the mantle, which may explain anomalies in the speed with which seismic waves propagate through the mantle. |
| Large mammals can help climate change mitigation and adaptation Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:45 AM PST A new study investigates whether protecting and restoring large animal wildlife can help to support climate change goals. |
| Global warming combined with other changes in the environment presents 'double whammy' for birds Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:45 AM PST A new study rolls back the curtain on half a century of evidence detailing the impact of climate change on more than 60 different bird species. It found that half of all changes to key physical and behavioral bird characteristics since the 1960s can be linked to climate change. |
| Following rain, desert microbes exhale potent greenhouse gas Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:44 AM PST New research shows how, after it rains, microbes in desert soil convert one form of pollution into another -- laughing gas. |
| Nature-based solutions in mountains can reduce climate change impact on drought Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:37 AM PST New research has shown how catchment restoration -- through the management of alien tree infestation in the mountains of the southwestern Cape -- could have lessened the impact of climate change on low river flows during the Cape Town 'Day Zero' drought. |
| Human actions accelerate climate-driven floods and droughts Posted: 09 Mar 2022 06:07 AM PST A study of more than 2,000 streams around North America found that those altered by human activity are at greater risk of flooding. |
| Historically 'redlined' urban areas have higher levels of air pollution Posted: 09 Mar 2022 06:06 AM PST In the wake of the Great Depression, the federally sponsored Home Owners' Loan Corporation drew maps of neighborhoods in U.S. cities that characterized their desirability for mortgage lending. Many neighborhoods with Black and immigrant communities received the worst grade, restricting access to federally backed loans and favorable mortgage terms. Now, researchers have found that these 'redlined' areas have higher levels of air pollution 80 years later. |
| Fundamental growth limitations in Antarctic fish Posted: 08 Mar 2022 05:22 PM PST Antarctic fish have adapted over millennia to survive in the freezing temperatures of the Southern Ocean. However, in doing so, they have lost their ability to grow at rates seen in their warmer water cousins, even when they are now held at the same water temperature, a new study suggests. |
| Earthquake fracture energy relates to how a quake stops Posted: 08 Mar 2022 12:56 PM PST By examining earthquake models from a fresh perspective, engineers now show that the earthquake fracture energy -- once thought to relate to how faults in the Earth's crust weaken -- is related to how quakes stop. |
| Well-preserved fossils could be consequence of past global climate change Posted: 08 Mar 2022 10:06 AM PST Climate change can affect life on Earth. According to new research, it can also affect the dead. A study of exceptionally preserved fossils has found that rising global temperatures and a rapidly changing climate 183 million years ago may have created fossilization conditions in the world's oceans that helped preserve the soft and delicate bodies of deceased marine animals. |
| Hurricanes and other tropical cyclones linked to rise in U.S. deaths from several major causes Posted: 08 Mar 2022 08:57 AM PST Over recent decades, hurricanes and other tropical cyclones in the U.S. were associated with up to 33.4 percent higher death rates from several major causes in subsequent months. The study exemplifies how far-reaching and varied the hidden costs to life could be from climate-related disasters and climate change. Until now, there had been a critical knowledge gap about cause-specific tropical cyclone mortality risks from a large-scale study covering the entire U.S. across multiple decades. |
| Tiny mite triggers domino effect in the high Andes Posted: 08 Mar 2022 07:28 AM PST What happens when a disease disrupts a protected ecosystem so forcefully that cascading consequences are felt by nearly all wildlife and plants within it? A study examines how the mange outbreak among vicuñas restructured tightly linked food-chain interactions that were previously driven by pumas. |
| Leaks an untapped opportunity for water savings Posted: 08 Mar 2022 07:28 AM PST The first large-scale assessment of utility-level water loss in the United States found that leak reduction by utilities can be the most cost-effective tool in an urban water manager's toolkit, provided utility-specific approaches are used. California is among the first in the world to require water utilities to regulate their water losses. |
| New research demonstrates high value 'injurious weeds' can bring to pollinators Posted: 08 Mar 2022 07:28 AM PST New research compares the biodiversity value of plants classed as 'injurious weeds' against those stipulated by DEFRA for pollinator targeted agri-environmental options. The findings show that the abundance and diversity of pollinators visiting weed species are far higher than DEFRA recommended plants. |
| Traces of life in the Earth's deep mantle Posted: 08 Mar 2022 07:28 AM PST The rapid development of fauna 540 million years ago has permanently changed the Earth - deep into its lower mantle. A team has now found traces of this development in rocks from this zone. |
| Global warming projected to increase health burden from hyponatremia Posted: 08 Mar 2022 07:27 AM PST Global warming is likely to increase the number of people requiring hospitalization due to critically low sodium levels in the blood, a condition known as hyponatremia. A new study projects that a temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius would increase the burden on hospitals from hyponatremia by almost 14 percent. |
| Stunning new-to-science fairy wrasse is first-ever fish described by a Maldivian scientist Posted: 08 Mar 2022 07:27 AM PST The Rose-Veiled Fairy Wrasse, a stunning new addition to the tree of life, is the first-ever Maldivian fish to be described by a local scientist. |
| Natural gas flares likely source of respiratory illness spike Posted: 08 Mar 2022 07:27 AM PST Flaring of natural gas from oil wells appeared to cause an increase of around 11,000 hospital visits for respiratory reasons in North Dakota, US, up to 60 miles away from oil drilling sites. |
| Locally sourced: Pelicans prefer native fish to sportfish at Utah's strawberry reservoir Posted: 07 Mar 2022 04:06 PM PST American white pelicans who pause their migration at Strawberry Reservoir in Utah are filling their bellies with native species like Utah sucker for the most part, leaving cutthroat trout to the human anglers, according to new research. |
| Human-induced disease outbreak in animals causes cascading ecological effects Posted: 07 Mar 2022 04:06 PM PST A study that investigated the impacts of a mange outbreak that killed vicunas in a protected area in the Argentine Andes found that it had unique effects on the ecology of the region. |
| Researchers create tool to help protect native fish from hybridizing with non-natives Posted: 07 Mar 2022 01:20 PM PST Researchers have created a tool to assess the risk of hybridization among native and non-native fish, a development that could aid natural resource managers trying to protect threatened or endangered freshwater fish species. |
| Lead exposure in last century shrank IQ scores of half of Americans, study finds Posted: 07 Mar 2022 01:20 PM PST Researchers calculate that exposure to car exhaust from leaded gas during childhood stole a collective 824 million IQ points from over 170 million Americans alive today, more than half of the population of the United States. |
| World Trade Center responders at higher risk for blood cancer-associated mutations, study finds Posted: 07 Mar 2022 10:20 AM PST Scientists determined that 9/11 first responders to the World Trade Center have increased levels of mutations that escalate their risk for blood cancers or cardiovascular disease, according to a new study. |
| New maps show airplane contrails over the U.S. dropped steeply in 2020 Posted: 07 Mar 2022 10:19 AM PST Researchers have generated new maps of jet contrails over the United States before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, which show a steep reduction in the area covered by contrails in 2020. |
| New study questions explanation for last winter's brutal U.S. cold snap Posted: 07 Mar 2022 10:19 AM PST A new study challenges a commonly accepted explanation that a 'sudden stratospheric warming' caused the unusually cold weather over the U.S. early last year, a view which was widely reported in the media and discussed among scientists at the time. |
| Increasing frequency of El Niño events expected by 2040 Posted: 07 Mar 2022 08:31 AM PST Global weather fluctuations called El Niño events are likely to become more frequent by 2040, a new study shows. |
| For tadpoles, what’s in their gut may be key to enduring climate change Posted: 07 Mar 2022 08:31 AM PST A new study shows that climate change could deliver a one-two punch to amphibians by creating hotter environments home to less-diverse microbe. |
| Carbon dioxide could be stored below ocean floor, research shows Posted: 07 Mar 2022 08:31 AM PST Scientists are searching for new technologies that could help the world reach carbon neutrality. One potential solution is to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions in the form of hydrates under ocean floor sediments, kept in place by the natural pressure created by the weight of the seawater above. Now researchers have demonstrated experimental evidence of the stability of carbon dioxide hydrates in oceanic sediments -- an essential step in making this carbon storage technology a viable reality. |
| Climate mitigation measures could impact food security, study finds Posted: 07 Mar 2022 08:31 AM PST Many countries have set carbon neutrality as a policy goal, but according to a new study, there are various risks associated with the reduction of greenhouse gases, especially in the agriculture, forestry, and land use sectors, that need to be considered when formulating mitigation strategies. |
| Common houseplants can improve air quality indoors Posted: 07 Mar 2022 08:31 AM PST Ordinary potted house plants can potentially make a significant contribution to reducing air pollution in homes and offices, according to new research. |
| Using raw materials more sustainably Posted: 07 Mar 2022 08:31 AM PST Insights into the oxidation of hydrocarbons at vanadium pentoxide pave the way for a new catalyst design. |
| Tiny 'skyscrapers' help bacteria convert sunlight into electricity Posted: 07 Mar 2022 08:30 AM PST Researchers have made tiny 'skyscrapers' for communities of bacteria, helping them to generate electricity from just sunlight and water. |
| Safer, more powerful batteries for electric cars, power grid Posted: 07 Mar 2022 08:30 AM PST A new study tackled a long-held assumption that adding some liquid electrolyte to improve performance would make solid-state batteries unsafe. Instead, the research team found that in many cases solid-state batteries with a little liquid electrolyte were safer than their lithium-ion counterparts. They also found, if the battery were to short-circuit, releasing all its stored energy, the theoretically super-safe, all-solid-state battery could put out a dangerous amount of heat. |
| Amazon rainforest is losing resilience: New evidence from satellite data analysis Posted: 07 Mar 2022 08:30 AM PST The Amazon rainforest is likely losing resilience, data analysis from high-resolution satellite images suggests. This is due to stress from a combination of logging and burning -- the influence of human-caused climate change is not clearly determinable so far, but will likely matter greatly in the future. For about three quarters of the forest, the ability to recover from perturbation has been decreasing since the early 2000s, which the scientists see as a warning sign. The new evidence is derived from advanced statistical analysis of satellite data of changes in vegetation biomass and productivity. |
| Electric Truck Hydropower, a flexible solution to hydropower in mountainous regions Posted: 07 Mar 2022 06:17 AM PST Researchers have developed an innovative hydropower technology based on electric trucks that could provide a flexible and clean solution for electricity generation in mountainous regions. |
| Higher risk of temperature-related death if global warming exceeds 2°C Posted: 07 Mar 2022 05:23 AM PST The death rate linked to extreme temperatures will increase significantly under global warming of 2°C, finds a new report. Temperature-related mortality -- where a death is directly linked to climate temperature -- in England and Wales during the hottest days of the year will increase by 42% under a warming scenario of 2°C from pre-industrial levels. This means an increase from present-day levels of around 117 deaths per day, averaged over the 10 hottest days of the year, to around 166 deaths per day. The findings underline the importance of keeping global warming levels to below 2°C. |
| A decade of deep-reef exploration in the Greater Caribbean Posted: 04 Mar 2022 10:42 AM PST The use of submersibles exponentially increased the recorded diversity of islands' deep-reef fish faunas. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Earth & Climate News -- ScienceDaily. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |