ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News |
| Environmental DNA reveals secret reef inhabitants Posted: 21 Apr 2022 11:11 AM PDT An international research team samples seawater from around the world to reveal which tropical reef fish occur where. To identify species and families, they successfully used the residual DNA shed by the animals present in the water. But not all fish can be traced in this way. |
| Earliest geochemical evidence of plate tectonics found in 3.8-billion-year-old crystal Posted: 21 Apr 2022 10:10 AM PDT Plate tectonics may be unique to Earth and may be an essential characteristic of habitable planets. Estimates for its onset range from over 4 billion years ago to just 800 million years ago. A new study reports evidence of a transition in multiple locations around the world, 3.8-3.6 billion years ago, from stable 'protocrust' to pressures and processes that look a lot like modern subduction, suggesting a time when plates first got moving. |
| Humans disrupting 66 million-year-old feature of ecosystems Posted: 21 Apr 2022 10:10 AM PDT Human-related extinctions of the largest herbivores and carnivores are disrupting what appears to be a fundamental feature of past and present ecosystems, says a new study. |
| Glowing spider fossils prompt breakthrough study of how they were preserved at Aix-en-Provence Posted: 21 Apr 2022 10:10 AM PDT A new study asks: What are the unique chemical and geological processes at Aix-en-Provence that preserve spiders from the Oligocene Period so exquisitely? |
| Melting land-based ice raises sea levels globally but can produce lowered levels locally Posted: 21 Apr 2022 10:09 AM PDT When a large ice sheet begins to melt, global-mean sea level rises, but local sea level near the ice sheet may in fact drop. A researcher illustrates this effect through a series of calculations, beginning with a simple, analytically tractable model and progressing through more sophisticated mathematical estimations of ice distributions and gravitation of displaced seawater mass. The paper includes numerical results for sea level change resulting from a 1,000-gigatonne loss of ice, with parameter values appropriate to the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. |
| Key to improved green tech efficiency found in simple acid treatment Posted: 21 Apr 2022 10:09 AM PDT The development of new, more efficient electrochemical cells could provide a good option for carbon-free hydrogen and chemical production along with large-scale electricity generation and storage. But first, scientists must overcome several challenges, including how to make the cells more efficient and cost-effective. |
| In western floodplains, species adapt to bullfrog, sunfish invaders Posted: 21 Apr 2022 07:55 AM PDT A new study of a southwestern Washington floodplain finds that most native species adapt well to the invaders by shifting their food sources and feeding strategies. |
| Life history: Scholars call for greater collaboration between zoos, museums Posted: 21 Apr 2022 07:01 AM PDT The animal collections housed at zoos and natural history museums -- living specimens in the first case, preserved in the other -- constitute an exhaustive trove of information about Earth's biodiversity. A new paper lays out a pathway to increasing collaboration between these groups that would enhance our understanding of the animal kingdom. |
| Sapphire fiber could enable cleaner energy and air-travel Posted: 21 Apr 2022 07:01 AM PDT Oxford University researchers have developed a sensor made of sapphire fibre that can tolerate extreme temperatures, with the potential to enable significant improvements in efficiency and emission reduction in aerospace and power generation. |
| Expect to see more squid and less sockeye salmon on 'climate changed' menus Posted: 21 Apr 2022 06:41 AM PDT Vancouver seafood lovers may see more Humboldt squid but less sockeye salmon on restaurant menus in the near future due to climate change. That's according to a new study which examined 362 Vancouver restaurant menus from four time periods, spanning 1880 to 2021. |
| 'Whup' and 'grumble' calls reveal secrets of humpback whales Posted: 21 Apr 2022 06:41 AM PDT Sounds made by humpback whales -- including a previously unknown call -- have given researchers a glimpse of their lives in the high seas. |
| Brains and brawn helped crows and ravens take over the world Posted: 21 Apr 2022 06:41 AM PDT Crows and ravens have great flying ability, which allows them to gain access to new places more easily. While these skills were key to their success, new research also shows that big bodies and big brains played an important role in helping crows and ravens survive in the new climates they occupied. |
| Spatial distribution of pores helps determine where carbon is stored in the soil Posted: 21 Apr 2022 06:41 AM PDT Soils store more carbon than all the vegetation on the Earth's surface. However, there are still many unanswered questions about precisely which processes favor accumulation in the soil. Soil scientists have now developed a new method to show where and under what conditions carbon is stored f in the soil. It turns out, it is primarily the network of soil pores that controls the spatial distribution of carbon. |
| Posted: 21 Apr 2022 06:40 AM PDT Experts have developed a ground-breaking software, which combines DNA sequencing and machine learning to help them find where, and to what extent, antibiotic resistant bacteria is being transmitted between humans, animals and the environment. |
| Study challenges theories of earlier human arrival in Americas Posted: 20 Apr 2022 02:04 PM PDT The new analysis suggests that misinterpretation of archaeological evidence at certain sites in North and South America might be responsible for theories that humans arrived long before 13,000-14,200 years ago. |
| Climate change may actually accelerate ocean currents Posted: 20 Apr 2022 12:13 PM PDT Scientists have used computer model simulations to find that climate change is altering the mechanics of surface ocean circulations, making them become faster and thinner. |
| New global forecasts of marine heatwaves foretell ecological and economic impacts Posted: 20 Apr 2022 10:36 AM PDT Researchers have developed global forecasts that can provide up to a year's notice of marine heatwaves, sudden and pronounced increases in ocean temperatures that can dramatically affect ocean ecosystems. |
| New research reveals the complexity of improving rangeland management in Africa Posted: 20 Apr 2022 10:36 AM PDT Herding communities across northern Namibia are afflicted by poverty and overgrazed rangelands, but international funding to improve the situation hasn't always translated into direct benefits for people or the land. New research explores the reasons why there is a disconnect. The reasons for the failures, up to now, have remained something of a puzzle. |
| Clearing up biases in artificial intelligence Posted: 20 Apr 2022 10:36 AM PDT Scientists have noticed grave disparities in artificial intelligence, noting that the methods are not objective, especially when it comes to geodiversity. AI tools, whether forecasting hail, wind or tornadoes, are assumed to be inherently objective, says one of the researchers. They aren't, she says. |
| Posted: 20 Apr 2022 10:36 AM PDT New findings have found Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are likely to achieve higher environmental performance through circular economy (CE) adoption. |
| Everyday plastic products release trillions of microscopic particles into water Posted: 20 Apr 2022 10:35 AM PDT Plastics surround us, whether it's the grocery bags we use at the supermarket or household items such as shampoo and detergent bottles. Plastics don't exist only as large objects, but also as microscopic particles that are released from these larger products. These microscopic plastics can end up in the environment, and they can be ingested into our bodies. |
| Air pollution linked to higher risk of COVID-19 in young adults Posted: 20 Apr 2022 08:29 AM PDT Residential exposure to ambient air pollutants is linked to an elevated risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, an observational study of young adults in Stockholm, Sweden shows. |
| Marine microbes swim towards their favorite food Posted: 20 Apr 2022 08:29 AM PDT Although invisible to us, every teaspoon of seawater contains more than a million marine bacteria. These tiny microbes play pivotal roles in governing the chemical cycles that control our climate and shape the health of the global ocean, but are they passive drifters or purposeful hunters? |
| Protected areas don't always boost biodiversity Posted: 20 Apr 2022 08:29 AM PDT Protected areas such as national parks have a 'mixed impact' on wildlife, according to the largest ever global study of their effects. |
| Warming climate and agriculture halve insect populations in some areas Posted: 20 Apr 2022 08:29 AM PDT Climate change and intensive agricultural land use have already been responsible for a 49% reduction in the number of insects in the most impacted parts of the world, finds a new study. |
| No rest for new elephant mothers Posted: 20 Apr 2022 07:19 AM PDT Elephant herds do not slow down for mothers who've just given birth, according to new research. |
| Geoengineering could return risk of malaria for one billion people Posted: 20 Apr 2022 06:21 AM PDT Geoengineering the climate would have massive repercussions for the health of billions of people at risk of malaria who live in tropical countries, according to a new finding. This is the first assessment of how geoengineering the climate could impact the burden of infectious diseases. |
| Disasters could disrupt care for opioid use disorder in most vulnerable communities Posted: 19 Apr 2022 11:07 AM PDT The COVID-19 pandemic has spiked the overdose death rate from opioid use. For people who rely on medications (buprenorphine, methadone, and extended-release naltrexone) to treat opioid use disorders, the pandemic and such natural disasters as tornados, hurricanes, and wildfires can disrupt access to medications. And new research finds that the location of medication treatment services makes treatment interruption likely where those disruptions exist. |
| Microplastics in the food chain Posted: 18 Apr 2022 06:40 AM PDT Plastic rubbish is everywhere and now broken-down microplastics have been found in variable concentrations in blue mussels and water within the intertidal zone at some of southern Australia's most popular and more remote beaches. Researchers warn that this means microplastics are now finding their way into human food supplies -- including wild-caught and ocean-farmed fish and seafood sourced from the once pristine Southern Ocean and gulf waters of South Australia. |
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