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Categories: Biology: Biotechnology, Geoscience: Environmental Issues

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America's forests have a tough time in store for them. Climate change is increasing temperatures and decreasing moisture levels across the country, not a winning combination for trees.

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Nitric oxide (NO) is a central molecule in the global cycling of nitrogen, and also toxic. Little is known about if and how microbes can use NO as a substrate for growth. Scientists have now managed to grow a microbial community dominated by two, so-far unknown species on NO for more than four years (and counting) and study their metabolism in great detail. Their research provides insight into the physiology of NO-respiring microorganisms, which have pivotal roles in the control of climate active gases, waste removal, and the evolution of nitrate and oxygen respiration.

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Plant roots have their own thermometer to measure the temperature of the soil around them and they adjust their growth accordingly. Through extensive experiments, a team was able to demonstrate that roots have their own temperature sensing and response system. In a new study, the scientists also provide a new explanation for how roots themselves detect and react to higher temperatures. The results could help develop new approaches for plant breeding.

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Researchers have discovered a compound that uses a chemical reaction to store ammonia, potentially offering a safer and easier way to store this important chemical. This discovery makes it possible not only to safely and conveniently store ammonia, but also the important hydrogen is carries, and it should help lead the way to a decarbonized society with a practical hydrogen economy.

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Scientists in Japan have used a global climate model to show that dust from land without snow cover in the Arctic is a major source of particles that form ice crystals in Arctic low-level clouds. This finding could help improve predictions of Arctic warming, which is suggested to be much faster than in other parts of the world.

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In the wake of Colorado's devastating Marshall Fire, a team of chemists and engineers undertook a first-of-its-kind study to explore homes that survived the blaze. Their results reveal the potential health hazards that wildfires can leave behind in buildings.

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As the Arctic warms, shrinking glaciers are exposing bubbling groundwater springs which could provide an underestimated source of the potent greenhouse gas methane, finds new research.

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Understanding when and where ships are entering areas of Arctic sea ice can help elucidate the potential impacts of vessel traffic in the region.

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Researchers have found that one method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is available, affordable, and capable of being implemented right now. Nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting substance, could be readily abated with existing technology applied to industrial sources.

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Sulphuric acid is the world's most used chemical. It is an important reagent used in many industries and it is used in the manufacture of everything from paper, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics to batteries, detergents and fertilizers. It is therefore a worldwide challenge that sulphuric acid often contains one of the most toxic substances -- mercury. Researchers have now developed a method that can reduce the levels of mercury in sulphuric acid by more than 90 per cent -- even from low levels.

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Researchers found that the effects of climate change on the intensity, frequency, and duration of extreme weather events, like wildfires, could lead to massive increases in all three.

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An El Niño event has officially begun. The climate phenomenon, which originates in the tropical Pacific and occurs in intervals of a few years will shape weather across the planet for the next year or more and give rise to various climatic extremes. El Niño-like conditions can also occur on longer time scales of decades or centuries. This has been shown to have occurred in the recent past.

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A new survey shows that the largely Indigenous population of Greenland is highly aware that the climate is changing, and far more likely than people in other Arctic nations to say they are personally affected. Yet, many do not blame human influences -- especially those living traditional subsistence lifestyles most directly hit by the impacts of rapidly wasting ice and radical changes in weather.

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A projected rise in droughts could muddy the waters for painted turtles and some fellow freshwater-dwelling reptiles, says 11 years of data collected by 50-plus undergraduates. Two recent studies based on the data suggest that drought can lower the survival odds, slow the growth and even skew the ratio of female-to-male painted turtles inhabiting the ponds of the Cornhusker State. Those outcomes emerged despite the water level of a sampled pond in southwestern Nebraska remaining relatively steady throughout the observed periods of drought.

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A new study finds that as rising global temperatures shift snow to rain, mountains across the Northern Hemisphere will be hotspots for extreme rainfall events that could trigger floods and landslides -- potentially impacting a quarter of the world's population.

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Orangutans can make two separate sounds simultaneously, much like songbirds or human beatboxers, according to a new study.

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A milliliter of blood contains about 15 individual drops. For a person with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), each drop of blood could contain anywhere from fewer than 20 copies of the virus to more than 500,000 copies. Called the viral load, this is what is measured to allow clinicians to understand how patients are responding to anti-viral medications and monitor potential progression. The time-consuming viral load testing needs to be repeated several times as a patient undergoes treatment. Now, a research team has developed a time and cost-efficient digital assay that can directly measure the presence of HIV in single drop of blood.

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Many of the world's largest aquatic food producers are highly vulnerable to human-induced environmental change, with some of the highest-risk countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa demonstrating the lowest capacity for adaptation, a landmark study has shown.

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A water purification system separates out salt and other unnecessary particles with an electrified version of dialysis. Successfully applied to wastewater with planned expansion into rivers and seas, the method saves money and saps 90% less energy than its counterparts.

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Scientists have set out principles for how computational science -- which powers discoveries from unveiling the mysteries of the universe to developing treatments to fight cancer to improving our understanding of the human genome, but can have a substantial carbon footprint -- can be made more environmentally sustainable.