ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

Seashell-inspired shield protects materials in hostile environments

Posted: 03 May 2022 05:16 PM PDT

An ecological protective coating, stronger yet less expensive than potentially dangerous beryllium shielding, is baked of alternating layers of sugar and silica. The simple result, which mimics the structure of a seashell, should lower costs for pulsed power machines and space satellites.

New portal improves forecasts of devastating storms in West Africa

Posted: 03 May 2022 04:02 PM PDT

Storms in the Sahel region, which can reach over 100km in size, have become more extreme since the 1980s due to global warming, with more intense rainfall. An online portal will enable forecasters in West Africa to provide communities with earlier and more reliable warnings about large storms.

Diet type can increase potentially harmful gas in the gut

Posted: 03 May 2022 04:02 PM PDT

Scientists looked at colonic hydrogen sulfide -- a toxic gas in the body that smells like rotten eggs -- production in people in response to animal- and plant-based diet interventions.

Study of ancient predators sheds light on how humans did -- or didn't -- find food

Posted: 03 May 2022 04:02 PM PDT

A new analysis of the remains of ancient predators reveals new information about how prehistoric humans did -- or didn't -- find their food.

Study develops framework for forecasting contribution of snowpack to flood risk during winter storms

Posted: 03 May 2022 04:01 PM PDT

A new study provides a framework for a snowpack decision support tool that could help water managers prepare for potential flooding during rain-on-snow events, using hourly data from existing snow monitoring stations.

Physicists develop ideal testing conditions of solar cells for space applications

Posted: 03 May 2022 11:14 AM PDT

Researchers have described the optimal conditions for testing perovskite solar cells for space.

Fluorescent probe for bad cooking oil in the portable platform

Posted: 03 May 2022 11:13 AM PDT

A research team develops a fluorescent molecular sensor for detecting bad cooking oils. The novel technology enables anyone to easily measure the cooked time for all kinds of cooking oils.

B12 deficiency harms young children's development, and the food relief we provide isn't good enough

Posted: 03 May 2022 11:13 AM PDT

Vitamin B12 deficiency in infants leads to poor motor development and anemia, according to a new study . B12 deficiency is an enormous, yet overlooked problem, and the food relief currently suppied is not helping. According to the researchers, the problem calls for new solutions.

In poplars, two plant hormones boost each other in defense against pathogenic fungi

Posted: 03 May 2022 11:13 AM PDT

In contrast to previous assumptions, the defense hormones salicylic acid and jasmonic acid do not always suppress each other in regulating plant chemical defenses against pests and pathogens. In trees, the interplay of both hormones can actually increase plant resistance.

Dual membrane offers hope for long-term energy storage

Posted: 03 May 2022 11:13 AM PDT

A new approach to battery design could provide the key to low-cost, long-term energy storage, according to researchers.

How the black rat colonized Europe in the Roman and Medieval periods

Posted: 03 May 2022 11:13 AM PDT

New ancient DNA analysis has shed light on how the black rat, blamed for spreading Black Death, dispersed across Europe -- revealing that the rodent colonized the continent on two occasions in the Roman and Medieval periods. By analyzing DNA from ancient black rat remains found at archaeological sites spanning the 1st to the 17th centuries in Europe and North Africa, researchers have pieced together a new understanding of how rat populations dispersed following the ebbs and flows of human trade, urbanism, and empires.

Beetle iridescence a deceptive form of warning coloration

Posted: 03 May 2022 11:13 AM PDT

A new study published today in Animal Behaviour shows for the first time that brilliant iridescence and gloss found in some animals can have a protective function by working as a form of deceptive warning coloration, and that it is the key feature of iridescence, its changing colors, that is important for this effect.

What happens when traits jump between branches of the tree of life

Posted: 03 May 2022 11:13 AM PDT

We all must play the game of life with the cards we're dealt, so the common aphorism goes. In biology, this means organisms must compete through natural selection with the genes and anatomy they were born with. But the saying is a lie. Okay, it’s not exactly a lie, but modern research suggests that the game of life is far more complicated than we had anticipated. There are opportunities to swap cards and even steal other players’ hands.

Lost value of landfilled plastic in US

Posted: 03 May 2022 11:13 AM PDT

With mountains of plastic waste piling up in landfills and scientists estimating that there will be more plastics by weight than fish in the ocean by 2050, the growing environmental challenge presented to the world by plastics is well understood. What is less well understood by the scientific community is the lost energy opportunity. In short, plastic waste is also energy wasted.

Anti-idling campaign reduces idling time at elementary schools

Posted: 03 May 2022 11:13 AM PDT

An anti-idling campaign at elementary schools was effective in reducing idling time by 38%, and an air monitoring experiment found that air quality around schools can vary over short distances. These findings can help schools and school districts plan to protect students, staff and the community from unhealthy air pollution both indoors and outdoors.

Indigenous peoples have shucked billions of oysters around the world sustainably

Posted: 03 May 2022 08:05 AM PDT

A new global study of Indigenous oyster fisheries shows that oyster fisheries were hugely productive and sustainably managed on a massive scale over hundreds and even thousands of years of intensive harvest. The study's broadest finding was that long before European colonizers arrived, the Indigenous groups in these locations harvested and ate immense quantities of oysters in a manner that did not appear to cause the bivalves' populations to suffer and crash.

Researchers discover new species of salamander from Gulf Coastal plains hotspot

Posted: 03 May 2022 07:28 AM PDT

There are approximately 750 species of salamander known to science, a third of which reside in North America. Now, a team of researchers has discovered a new species of swamp-dwelling dusky salamander from the Gulf Coastal Plain of southeastern Mississippi and southwestern Alabama.

Researchers discover overlooked Jurassic Park of lizards

Posted: 03 May 2022 06:17 AM PDT

New research moves back the moment of the radiation of squamates -- the group of reptiles that includes lizards, snakes and worm lizards -- to the Jurassic, a long time before current estimates.

Repairing tendons with silk proteins

Posted: 03 May 2022 06:15 AM PDT

Researchers have developed a silk composite for significantly improved tendon regeneration and repair.

Bacteria make a beeline to escape tight spaces

Posted: 03 May 2022 05:31 AM PDT

A newly published study has revealed that bacteria alter their swimming patterns when they get into tight spaces -- making a beeline to escape from confinement.

New technology offers fighting chance against grapevine killer

Posted: 03 May 2022 05:31 AM PDT

CRISPR gene-editing technology represents hope for controlling the grapevine-killing glassy-winged sharpshooter. Scientists have demonstrated that this technology can make permanent physical changes in the insect. They also showed these changes were passed down to three or more generations of insects.

Precipitation helped drive distribution of Alaska dinosaurs

Posted: 02 May 2022 02:09 PM PDT

Precipitation more than temperature influenced the distribution of herbivorous dinosaurs in what is now Alaska, according to new research. The finding discusses the distribution of hadrosaurids and ceratopsids -- the megaherbivores of the Late Cretaceous Period, 100.5 million to 66 million years ago.

Discovery about coral-algal symbiosis could help coral reefs recover after bleaching events

Posted: 02 May 2022 02:09 PM PDT

Although photosynthesis by algae is a key part of the symbiotic relationship it is not required to initiate symbiosis. The discovery adds to the little-understood relationship between cnidarians and algae at the molecular level and offers insight into how to jump start the symbiotic relationship between the two organisms after a bleaching event. It could also lead to strategies that might prevent warmer oceans from breaking the symbiotic relationship between the two organisms and saving what remains of the world's corals.

Process aims to strip ammonia from wastewater

Posted: 02 May 2022 02:09 PM PDT

Engineers have developed a high-performance nanowire catalyst that pulls ammonia and solid ammonia (fertilizer) from nitrate, a common contaminant in industrial wastewater and polluted groundwater.

Scientists map living corals before and after marine heat wave: Winners and losers discovered

Posted: 02 May 2022 02:08 PM PDT

Scientists reveal that different corals and environments influence the likelihood of their survival when ocean temperatures rise. The findings also demonstrate that advanced remote sensing technologies provide an opportunity to scale-up reef monitoring like never before.

Carbon, climate change and ocean anoxia in an ancient icehouse world

Posted: 02 May 2022 02:08 PM PDT

A new study describes a period of rapid global climate change in an ice-capped world much like the present -- but 304 million years ago. Within about 300,000 years, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels doubled, oceans became anoxic, and biodiversity dropped on land and at sea.

Park rangers use butterflies to take planet's pulse in a biodiversity hotspot

Posted: 02 May 2022 11:26 AM PDT

For the last decade, biologists have documented a worrying decline in insect abundance, which some fear may prelude an arthropod apocalypse. These studies, however, are primarily carried out in temperature regions while the tropics, which harbor the vast majority of insect species, largely remains a black box. In a new study, biologists turn to the aid of park rangers in Ecuador's Yasuní National Park -- considered one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet -- to assess changes to insect abundance.

Researchers home in on Thera volcano eruption date

Posted: 02 May 2022 11:26 AM PDT

Tree-ring, ice core and volcano experts teamed up to identify one of the most climatically impactful volcanic eruptions in 4,000 years -- Aniakchak II. In the process, they narrowed down potential dates for the Thera volcano eruption.

Geophysics: Better insights into Earth's interior

Posted: 02 May 2022 11:21 AM PDT

Geophysicists have developed a method that allows them to investigate the composition of the Earth with better results.

Self-eliminating genes tested on mosquitoes

Posted: 02 May 2022 10:13 AM PDT

Scientists have tested a technology to make temporary genetic modifications in mosquitoes. The modifications self-delete over time.

Studies find the seeds of a forest's renewal after wildfire, drought

Posted: 02 May 2022 09:54 AM PDT

By quantifying the seed production of more than 700 trees species worldwide and how each species' productivity can vary by location, two new studies can help boost the success of efforts to replant and restore forests after devastating wildfires, droughts or other disturbances. The studies, which synthesize data on species from the tropics to subarctic regions, are the first to quantify global patterns in tree seed production.

Dinosaur extinction changed plant evolution

Posted: 02 May 2022 09:53 AM PDT

The absence of large herbivores after the extinction of the dinosaurs changed the evolution of plants. The 25 million years of large herbivore absence slowed down the evolution of new plant species. Defensive features such as spines regressed and fruit sizes increased. The research has demonstrated this using palm trees as a model system.

Nanotechnology enables visualization of RNA structures at near-atomic resolution

Posted: 02 May 2022 09:05 AM PDT

Researchers have reported a fundamentally new approach to the structural investigation of RNA molecules. ROCK, as it is called, uses an RNA nanotechnological technique that allows it to assemble multiple identical RNA molecules into a highly organized structure, which significantly reduces the flexibility of individual RNA molecules and multiplies their molecular weight. The team showed that their method enables the structural analysis of the contained RNA subunits with a technique known as cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM).

Tiny sensor used to track the migratory patterns of monarch butterflies

Posted: 02 May 2022 09:05 AM PDT

Scientists have developed a tracking system that can be attached to monarch butterflies and transmit data about their location all throughout their three-month migratory journey south.

Hydroponic plants to detox PFAS-contaminated water

Posted: 02 May 2022 09:04 AM PDT

New research is helping to remediate the 'indestructible' PFASs as scientists show that Australian native plants can significantly remediate PFAS pollutants through floating wetlands to create healthier environments for all.

Sensor makes strides in detecting infection indicators

Posted: 02 May 2022 09:04 AM PDT

Bioengineers have designed a wearable sensor that can detect two key biomarkers of infection in human sweat, a significant step toward making it possible for users to receive early warnings of infections such as COVID-19 and influenza.

Study supports stronger conservation efforts Appalachians and the Gulf Coast, US

Posted: 02 May 2022 09:04 AM PDT

Study of Campanula americana supports strengthening conservation efforts in glacial refugia areas because of their high genetic diversity. Conservation of those areas in the southern Appalachians and the Gulf Coast has implications for other areas of the country.

As climate shifts, species will need to relocate, and people may have to help them

Posted: 02 May 2022 09:04 AM PDT

Climate change is already affecting plants and animals worldwide and is a growing threat to biodiversity, adding a new layer to the existing challenges of habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, and overexploitation. A new study surveyed the recommendations of scientists for managing biodiversity in the face of climate change, providing a summary of practical guidance and identifying areas in need of further research.

Sweet spots in the sea: Mountains of sugar under seagrass meadows

Posted: 02 May 2022 09:04 AM PDT

Seagrasses play an important role in our climate. They are one of the most efficient sinks of carbon dioxide on Earth. A team of scientists now reports that seagrasses release large amounts of sugar, largely in the form of sucrose, into their soils -- worldwide more than 1 million tons of sucrose, enough for 32 billion cans of coke. Such high concentrations of sugar are surprising. Normally, microorganisms quickly consume any free sugars in their environment. The scientists found that seagrasses excrete phenolic compounds, and these deter most microorganisms from degrading the sucrose. This ensures that the sucrose remains buried underneath the meadows and cannot be converted into CO2 and returned to the ocean and atmosphere.

Study finds children with vegetarian diet have similar growth and nutrition compared to children who eat meat

Posted: 02 May 2022 06:48 AM PDT

A study of nearly 9,000 children found those who eat a vegetarian diet had similar measures of growth and nutrition compared to children who eat meat. The study also found that children with a vegetarian diet had higher odds of underweight weight status, emphasizing the need for special care when planning the diets of vegetarian kids.

Sound -- a new tool to control enzymatic reactions

Posted: 02 May 2022 06:48 AM PDT

Unhackneyed compartmentalization generated by audible sound allows the enzyme reactions to be controlled spatiotemporally.

Lighting the tunnel of plant evolution: Scientists explore importance of two-pore channels in plants

Posted: 02 May 2022 06:47 AM PDT

Two-pore ion channels are present in many eukaryotes -- both animals and plants. While the possible involvement of these channels in environmental stress responses have been discussed in higher plants, their localizations and functional significance remain largely unknown. Now, researchers have found the missing pieces of evolutionary history of two-pore channels in a species of liverwort.