ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

Geology helps map kidney stone formation from tiny to troublesome

Posted: 25 May 2021 05:38 PM PDT

Advanced microscope technology and cutting-edge geological science are giving new perspectives to an old medical mystery: How do kidney stones form, why are some people more susceptible to them and can they be prevented?

Does cold wildfire smoke contribute to water repellent soils in burned areas?

Posted: 25 May 2021 01:08 PM PDT

After a wildfire, soils in burned areas often become water repellent, leading to increased erosion and flooding after rainfall events - a phenomenon that many scientists have attributed to smoke and heat-induced changes in soil chemistry. But this post-fire water repellency may also be caused by wildfire smoke in the absence of heat, according to a new article.

Holograms increase solar energy yield

Posted: 25 May 2021 01:08 PM PDT

Researchers recently developed an innovative technique to capture the unused solar energy that illuminates a solar panel. They created special holograms that can be easily inserted into the solar panel package. This method can increase the amount of solar energy converted by the solar panel over the course of a year by about five percent.

Silver attacks bacteria, gets 'consumed'

Posted: 25 May 2021 08:37 AM PDT

As antibiotic-resistant bacteria become more prevalent, silver has seen steep growth in its use in things like antibacterial coatings. Still, a better understanding can provide clues on how to best apply it. Researchers have now monitored the interaction of silver nanoparticles with a nearby E. coli culture and found the silver undergoes several dramatic changes. Most notably, the E. coli cells caused substantial transformations in the size and shape of the silver particles.

How to boost muscle regeneration and rebuild tissue

Posted: 25 May 2021 08:37 AM PDT

In work that could one day help athletes as well as aging adults regenerate tissue more effectively, scientists increased the regeneration of muscle cells in mice by activating the precursors of muscle cells.

Immune cells imperfect at distinguishing between friend and foe

Posted: 25 May 2021 08:37 AM PDT

When it comes to distinguishing a healthy cell from an infected one that needs to be destroyed, the immune system's killer T cells sometimes make mistakes.

The hunt for drugs to neutralize critical enzymes

Posted: 25 May 2021 08:36 AM PDT

Scientists explore racemases and propose strategies for finding drugs that target these important enzymes.

Technique to evaluate wind turbines may boost wind power production

Posted: 25 May 2021 08:36 AM PDT

With a global impetus toward utilizing more renewable energy sources, wind presents a promising, increasingly tapped resource. Despite the many technological advancements made in upgrading wind-powered systems, a systematic and reliable way to assess competing technologies has been a challenge. Researchers have used advanced data science methods and ideas from the social sciences to compare the performance of different wind turbine designs.

From harmless skin bacteria to dreaded pathogens

Posted: 25 May 2021 07:17 AM PDT

An international research team discovers additional component in staphylococcal cell wall that turns the bacterium potentially deadly.

Egyptian fossil surprise: Fishes thrived in tropics in ancient warm period, despite high ocean temps

Posted: 25 May 2021 07:17 AM PDT

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, was a short interval of highly elevated global temperatures 56 million years ago that is frequently described as the best ancient analog for present-day climate warming.

Synchrotron X-ray experiment reveals a small nudge with big consequences

Posted: 25 May 2021 07:16 AM PDT

QUT researchers have used experimental x-ray techniques at the Australian Synchrotron to gain fundamental insights into how gypsum dehydrates under pressure and the processes that create earthquakes.

'Slow slip' earthquakes' hidden mechanics revealed

Posted: 25 May 2021 07:16 AM PDT

Scientists have used seismic 'CT' scans and supercomputers to reveal the inner workings of a region off the coast of New Zealand known to produce slow motion tremors, also called slow slip earthquakes. The insights help scientists pinpoint why tectonic energy at subduction zones is sometimes released gently as slow slip, and other times as devastating, high-magnitude earthquakes.

Conservation success leads to new challenges for endangered mountain gorillas

Posted: 25 May 2021 07:16 AM PDT

The first species-wide survey of parasite infections across the entire range of the mountain gorilla indicates new challenges ahead for the endangered species as its population grows.

Road verges provide opportunity for wildflowers, bees and trees

Posted: 25 May 2021 07:16 AM PDT

Road verges cover 1.2% of land in Great Britain - an area the size of Dorset - and could be managed to help wildlife, new research shows.

Soft X-ray method promises nanocarrier breakthroughs for smart medicine

Posted: 25 May 2021 05:43 AM PDT

A new technique using chemically-sensitive 'soft' X-rays offers a simpler, non-disruptive way of gaining insight into nanocarriers. Currently researchers have to rely on attaching fluorescent dyes or heavy metals to label parts of organic nanocarrier structures for investigation, often changing them in the process. Researchers have demonstrated the capability of the new X-ray method on a smart drug delivery nanoparticle and a polysoap nanostructure intended to capture crude oil spilled in the ocean.

Pre-Columbus climate change may have caused Amazon population decline

Posted: 24 May 2021 08:02 AM PDT

Diseases carried to the Amazon by European settlers after 1492 are thought to have brought about the 'Great Dying', but new research suggests climate change may already have been affecting indigenous populations before this.

Experimental broadcast of whitewater river noise drives bats and birds away

Posted: 24 May 2021 06:19 AM PDT

The thunder of a mountain river or the crash of pounding surf have likely been changing how animals communicate and where they live for eons. A new experimental study finds that birds and bats often avoid habitat swamped with loud whitewater river noise.