ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News

Environmental scientists have published a series of significant recommendations to protect, conserve and study the world's coral reefs -- the 'canaries in the coal mine' of climate change.

A new study describes a breakthrough in the quest to improve photosynthesis in certain crops, a step toward adapting plants to rapid climate changes and increasing yields to feed a projected 9 billion people by 2050.

Researchers have discovered a novel way to combine curcumin -- the substance in turmeric -- and gold nanoparticles to create an electrode that requires 100 times less energy to efficiently convert ethanol into electricity.

In disaster mitigation planning for future large earthquakes, seismic ground motion predictions are a crucial part of early warning systems. The way the ground moves depends on how the soil layers amplify the seismic waves (described in a mathematical site 'amplification factor'). However, geophysical explorations to understand soil conditions are costly, limiting characterization of site amplification factors to date. Using data on microtremors in Japan, a neural network model can estimate site-specific responses to earthquakes based on subsurface soil conditions.

A new study shows it's not how much extra water you give your plants, but when you give it that counts. Researchers observed that in summer, plants grow more when given extra water, in addition to any natural rainfall. However, the same is not true in winter.