ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

A team of scientists, engineers, and ship's crew on the research vessel Neil Armstrong operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) recently collected a 38-foot-long cylindrical sediment sample from the deepest part of the Puerto Rico Trench, nearly 5 miles below the surface.

Every ship channel has to be dredged. With high costs involved, a dredging project's managers have to be on the money in their timing and logistics choices. A new algorithm presents decision-makers with accurate context, comparisons and boots-on-the ground observations.

A record-setting rainstorm over Kaua'i, Hawai'i in April 2018 resulted in severe flash flooding and estimated damage of nearly $180 million. The deluge damaged or destroyed 532 homes, and landslides left people along Kaua'i's north coast without access to their homes. Atmospheric scientists have now revealed that severe supercell thunderstorms were to blame.

Nylon cooking bags and plastic-lined cardboard cups are conveniences many people rely on, but a new study suggests that they are an underappreciated source of nanoparticles. They report that the plastic in these products release trillions of nanometer-sized particles into each liter of water that they come in contact with. That sounds like a lot, but the team notes that these levels are under the regulatory limits for consumption.

While wind power is expected to be a 'saving grace' during extreme winter storms, researchers wanted to look at whether storms could also disrupt power supplies and drive up prices.

Researchers have shown that smaller species of scorpions, with smaller pincers, have more potent venoms compared to larger species with robust claws. The scientists tested the theory from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which warned of the dangers of small scorpions, and that 'when it comes to scorpions, the bigger the better'. While this may have simply been a throwaway movie line from the adventurous archaeologist Indiana Jones, the research shows there is truth to it. The team of scientists at NUI Galway's Ryan Institute put the quip to the test by analysing 36 species of scorpions to show that larger scorpions have less potent venoms and really are better in terms of avoiding a nasty sting.

A research team has used electron spin resonance spectroscopy to investigate a polymer solar cell while in operation. Molecular level comparison of the PTzBT/PC61BM system with and without added ITIC allowed them to establish the mechanism for the improvements in stability and power conversion efficiency observed when ITIC is added. It is hoped that this insight will contribute to the commercial realization of cost-effective flexible polymer solar cells.

New solar cell devices that are cheaper and easier to make could soon make their way to market thanks to new materials.

To get to the places where they are needed, immune cells not only squeeze through tiny pores. They even overcome wall-like barriers of tightly packed cells. Scientists have now discovered that cell division is key to their success. Together with other recent studies, their findings give the full picture of a process just as important for healing as for the spread of cancer.

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.

A unique confluence of archeology, molecular genetics and serendipity guided researchers to a deeper understanding of how modern corn was domesticated from teosinte, a perennial grass native to Mexico and Central America, more than 5,000 years ago.

Non-biting midges are the tiny flies that swarm together as thick masses around lakes and streams, annoying passers-by in warm weather. But early in a midge's life, it lives in the water. Now, researchers have observed that non-biting midge larvae accumulate contemporary pesticides from polluted water and retain the substances into adulthood. As a result, animals that eat the adult flies could consume small amounts of pesticides daily.