Energy: Fossil Fuels Energy: Technology Geoscience: Environmental Issues Physics: Optics
Published

Decarbonizing light-duty transportation in the United States: Study reveals strategies to achieve goal      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers found that meeting greenhouse gas emissions goals for light-duty vehicles, which are passenger vehicles such as cars and trucks, is possible, but not just by increasing electric vehicle sales.  

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate
Published

How salt from the Caribbean affects our climate      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Past cold periods such as the Little Ice Age were associated with reduced strength of North Atlantic currents and increased surface salinity in the Caribbean. This was accompanied by disturbances in the distribution of salt to the north leading to longer, stronger cooling phases in the northern hemisphere.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
Published

Scientists map loss of groundwater storage around the world      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Global water resources are stretched by climate change and human population growth, and farms and cities are increasingly turning to groundwater to fill their needs. Unfortunately, the pumping of groundwater can cause the ground surface above to sink, as the aquifers below are drained and the architecture of the ground collapses. A new study maps this loss of groundwater storage capacity around the world.  

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Batteries
Published

Photo battery achieves competitive voltage      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a monolithically integrated photo battery using organic materials. The photo battery achieves an unprecedented high discharge potential of 3.6 volts. The system is capable of powering miniature devices.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

Charged 'molecular beasts' the basis for new compounds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Mass spectrometers are high-tech machines that play an important role in our society. They are highly sensitive analytical instruments that are indispensable in areas such as medical diagnostics, food quality control and the detection of hazardous chemical substances. A research group is working to modify mass spectrometers so that they can be used for a completely different purpose: the chemical synthesis of new molecules.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Animals Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Trees Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
Published

Large herbivores such as elephants, bison and moose contribute to tree diversity      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Using global satellite data, a research team has mapped the tree cover of the world's protected areas. The study shows that regions with abundant large herbivores in many settings have a more variable tree cover, which is expected to benefit biodiversity overall.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Thermodynamics Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Stronger, stretchier, self-healing plastic      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An innovative plastic, stronger and stretchier than the current standard type and which can be healed with heat, remembers its shape and partially biodegradable, has been developed. They created it by adding the molecule polyrotaxane to an epoxy resin vitrimer, a type of plastic. Named VPR, the material can hold its form and has strong internal chemical bonds at low temperatures.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Mathematics: Modeling
Published

AI trained to identify least green homes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

First of its kind AI-model can help policy-makers efficiently identify and prioritize houses for retrofitting and other decarbonizing measures.

Chemistry: Thermodynamics Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Underground car parks heat up groundwater      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The heat given off by car engines warms up underground car parks in such a way that the heat passes through the ground into the groundwater. In Berlin alone, enough energy is transferred to the groundwater to supply 14,660 households with heat. According to the researchers, this warming could have long-term effects on groundwater quality. In their study, they also propose a solution. Using geothermal energy and heat pumps, the heat could be extracted from the ground and utilized.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Technology Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Self-powered microbial fuel cell biosensor for monitoring organic freshwater pollution      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Biodegradable waste from plant and animal sources released into freshwater ecosystems is a significant environmental concern. Nonetheless, current methods for assessing water quality seem more or less impractical due to their complexity and high costs. In a promising development, a team of researchers has successfully constructed a self-sustaining and buoyant biosensor using inexpensive carbon-based materials for monitoring water quality at the inlets of freshwater lakes and rivers.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate
Published

How a climate model can illustrate and explain ice-age climate variability      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

During the last ice age, the last glacial maximum about 20,000 years ago, the climate in the North Atlantic underwent much greater multi-centennial variability than it does in the present warm period. This is supported by evidence found in ice and seafloor cores. Researchers have now shown, based on a climate model, that internal mechanisms such as temperature and salinity distribution in the ocean are driving this multi-centennial variability.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Damaging thunderstorm winds increasing in central U.S.      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Destructive winds that flow out of thunderstorms in the central United States are becoming far more widespread with warming temperatures, according to new research. A new study shows that the central U.S. experienced a fivefold increase in the geographic area affected by damaging thunderstorm straight line winds in the past 40 years. 

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
Published

Study links changes in global water cycle to higher temperatures      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study takes an important step toward reconstructing a global history of water over the past 2,000 years. Using geologic and biologic evidence preserved in natural archives -- including 759 different paleoclimate records from globally distributed corals, trees, ice, cave formations and sediments -- the researchers showed that the global water cycle has changed during periods of higher and lower temperatures in the recent past.

Ecology: Animals Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Buzz around new centralized pollination portal for better global bee data      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A powerful new way to fill major gaps in public bee data -- including from Africa, Asia and other under-reported zones -- has been addressed with a centralized tool for consolidating bee pollinator occurrences around the globe.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

Chemists make breakthrough in drug discovery chemistry      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Chemists offer two new methods to develop a way to easily replace a carbon atom with a nitrogen atom in a molecule.  The findings could make it easier to develop new drugs.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

Breakthrough discovery sheds light on heart and muscle health      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The human heart, often described as the body's engine, is a remarkable organ that tirelessly beats to keep us alive. At the core of this vital organ, intricate processes occur when it contracts, where thick and thin protein-filaments interact within the sarcomere, the fundamental building block of both skeletal and heart muscle cells. Any alterations in thick filament proteins can have severe consequences for our health, leading to conditions such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and various other heart and muscle diseases.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
Published

The ringed seals in Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland are special      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Local hunters in the Icefjord near Ilulissat have long known about a special ringed seal -- the Kangia seal -- which is significantly larger and has a markedly different fur color and pattern than typical Arctic ringed seals. Now scientific studies have shown that the Kangia ringed seal has been isolated from other ringed seals for a long period of time -- more than 100,000 years.