Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Which animals can best withstand climate change?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study investigates how different mammals react to climate change. Animals that live for a long time and/or produce less offspring -- like bears and bison -- are more resilient than small animals with a short life -- like mice and lemmings.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

What happens to the waste after an oil spill clean up?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Images of damaged coastlines, oily sheens, containment booms and endangered wildlife are part of every offshore oil spill. And while a response team arrives and the clean up gets underway, researchers are now exploring how to effectively handle the waste created from that spill.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Oil spill cleanup workers more likely to have asthma symptoms      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers from the Gulf Long-term Follow-up Study (GuLF STUDY) found that workers involved in cleaning up the nation's largest oil spill were 60% more likely than those who did not work on the cleanup to be diagnosed with asthma or experience asthma symptoms one to three years after the spill.

Computer Science: Encryption
Published

Thinking like a cyber-attacker to protect user data      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have shown that a component of modern computer processors that enables different areas of the chip to communicate with each other is susceptible to a side-channel attack. An attacker can monitor how traffic from two different cores on a processor interferes with each other to extract secret information, like a cryptographic key.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Extreme heat and drought events require more systematic risk assessment      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Simultaneous extreme heat and drought events have consequences in a variety of areas -- for example the economy, health and food production. In addition, due to complex socio-economic connections, such extreme events can cause knock-on effects, researchers have shown. More systematic risk assessments are needed to make affected regions more resilient.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

How calcium ions get into the cellular power stations of plants      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Calcium is a very special nutrient. In the cells of most living beings calcium ions function as so-called second messengers to transmit important signals. The same applies equally to animal, plant and fungal cells.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

More wolves, beavers needed as part of improving western United States habitats      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists are proposing management changes on western federal lands that they say would result in more wolves and beavers and would re-establish ecological processes.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

New Antarctic study shows levels of 'forever chemicals' reaching the remote continent have been increasing      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New evidence from Antarctica shows that toxic 'fluorinated forever chemicals' have increased markedly in the remote environment in recent decades and scientists believe CFC-replacements could be among likely sources.

Computer Science: Encryption Mathematics: Puzzles
Published

A key role for quantum entanglement      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A method known as quantum key distribution has long held the promise of communication security unattainable in conventional cryptography. An international team of scientists has now demonstrated experimentally, for the first time, an approach to quantum key distribution that is based on high-quality quantum entanglement -- offering much broader security guarantees than previous schemes.

Computer Science: Encryption
Published

Quantum cryptography: Hacking is futile      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international team has successfully implemented an advanced form of quantum cryptography for the first time. Moreover, encryption is independent of the quantum device used and therefore even more secure against hacking attempts.

Computer Science: Encryption Mathematics: Puzzles
Published

'Pulling back the curtain' to reveal a molecular key to The Wizard of Oz      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Many people and companies worry about sensitive data getting hacked, so encrypting files with digital keys has become more commonplace. Now, researchers have developed a durable molecular encryption key from sequence-defined polymers that are built and deconstructed in a sequential way. They hid their molecular key in the ink of a letter, which was mailed and then used to decrypt a file with text from a classic story.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Designing roots to penetrate hard soils could help climate proof crops      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have discovered how to design cereal roots able to continue growing in hard soils by altering their ability to penetrate, enabling roots to access sources of water deeper in soil, and helping 'climate-proof' vital crops in response to changing UK rain fall patterns.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

How stressed-out plants produce their own aspirin      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Plants protect themselves from environmental hazards like insects, drought and heat by producing salicylic acid, also known as aspirin. A new understanding of this process may help plants survive increasing stress caused by climate change.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

The best offense is a great defense for some carnivorous plants      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Insect-eating plants have fascinated biologists for more than a century, but how plants evolved the ability to capture and consume live prey has largely remained a mystery. Now,scientists have investigated the molecular basis of plant carnivory and found evidence that it evolved from mechanisms plants use to defend themselves.

Energy: Fossil Fuels Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Researchers create method for breaking down plant materials for earth-friendly energy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

With energy costs rising, and the rapidly emerging effects of burning fossil fuels on the global climate, the need has never been greater for researchers to find paths to products and fuels that are truly renewable.

Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Ozone depletion over North Pole produces weather anomalies      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have established that the destruction of ozone over the Arctic in the spring causes abnormal weather throughout the northern hemisphere, with many places being warmer and drier than average -- or too wet.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Research reveals why tackling particle pollution leads to rise in photochemical smog      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have discovered why reducing particle pollution is leading to a rise in photochemical smog in some emerging economies such as India, Africa and China.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Discovery reveals large, year-round ozone hole over tropics      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientist reveal a large, all-season ozone hole in the lower stratosphere over the tropics comparable in depth to that of the well-known springtime Antarctic hole, but roughly seven times greater in area. The observed data agree well with the cosmic-ray-driven electron reaction (CRE) model and strongly indicate the identical physical mechanism working for both Antarctic and tropical ozone holes.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Space: Exploration
Published

Climate damage caused by growing space tourism needs urgent mitigation      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A formidable space tourism industry may have a greater climate effect than the aviation industry and undo repair to the protective ozone layer if left unregulated, according to a new study.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Humans responsible for over 90% of world's oil slicks      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists mapping oil pollution across the Earth's oceans have found that more than 90% of chronic oil slicks come from human sources, a much higher proportion than previously estimated.