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Categories: Environmental: General, Space: Structures and Features

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New research shows that plants such as oak and poplar trees will emit more of a compound called isoprene as global temperatures climb. Isoprene from plants represents the highest flux of hydrocarbons to the atmosphere after methane. Although isoprene isn’t inherently bad — it actually helps plants better tolerate insect pests and high temperatures — it can worsen air pollution by reacting with nitrogen oxides from automobiles and coal-fired power plants. The new publication can help us better understand, predict and potentially mitigate the effects of increased isoprene emission as the planet warms.

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Scientists have detected the highest energy gamma rays ever from a dead star called a pulsar. The energy of these gamma rays clocked in at 20 tera-electronvolts, or about ten trillion times the energy of visible light. This observation is hard to reconcile with the theory of the production of such pulsed gamma rays, as the international team reports.

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A pair of theoretical physicists are reporting that the same observations inspiring the hunt for a ninth planet might instead be evidence within the solar system of a modified law of gravity originally developed to understand the rotation of galaxies.

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Acoels have been found to host a wide diversity of symbiotic, photosynthetic microalgae.

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A research team has successfully morphed all-inorganic perovskites at room temperature without compromising their functional properties. Their findings demonstrate the potential of this class of semiconductors for manufacturing next-generation deformable electronics and energy systems in the future.

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A technology being studied to curb climate change – one that could be put in place in one or two decades if work on the technology began now – would affect food productivity in parts of planet Earth in dramatically different ways, benefiting some areas, and adversely affecting others, according to new projections.

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Winter is coming—eventually. And while the earth is warming, a new study suggests that the atmosphere is being pushed around in ways that cause long bouts of extreme winter cold or wet in some regions. The study’s authors say they have identified giant meanders in the global jet stream that bring polar air southward, locking in frigid or wet conditions concurrently over much of North America and Europe, often for weeks at a time. Such weather waves, they say, have doubled in frequency since the 1960s. In just the last few years, they have killed hundreds of people and paralyzed energy and transport systems.

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Researchers have developed a superhydrophobic surface with a stable plastron that can last for months under water. The team’s general strategy to create long-lasting underwater superhydrophobic surfaces, which repel blood and drastically reduce or prevent the adhesion of bacterial and marine organisms such as barnacles and mussels, opens a range of applications in biomedicine and industry.

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New research has overturned the traditional view that natural rock weathering acts as a carbon sink that removes CO2 from the atmosphere. Instead, this can also act as a large CO2 source, rivaling that of volcanoes.

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Rivers across England have seen a significant improvement in river invertebrate biodiversity since 1989, shows a new study.

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Australia's emerging pattern of severe mega bushfires and heavy rainfall may be driving platypuses from their homes, a new study has shown. Analysis of platypus DNA in rivers and creek water samples collected before and after the Black Summer 2019-2020 megafires suggest Australia's beloved semi-aquatic monotremes might be abandoning severely bushfire-affected areas for up to 18 months after a fire, especially if heavy rainfall has followed the fire.

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Hot weather reduces workers’ productivity – even if their workplace is air conditioned.

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In a breakthrough for environmentally friendly chemical production, researchers have developed an economical way to make succinic acid, an important industrial chemical, from sugarcane. The team has created a cost-effective, end-to-end pipeline for this valuable organic acid by engineering a tough, acid-tolerant yeast as the fermenting agent, avoiding costly steps in downstream processing. Succinic acid is a widely used additive for food and beverages and has diverse applications in agricultural and pharmaceutical products. This same pipeline can be used to produce other industrially important organic acids from crops rather than petroleum-based processes, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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The increasingly urgent climate crisis has led to a boom in commercial tree plantations in an attempt to offset excess carbon emissions. However, authors argue that these carbon-offset plantations might come with costs for biodiversity and other ecosystem functions. Instead, the authors say we should prioritize conserving and restoring intact ecosystems.

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Even as the world slowly begins to decarbonize industrial processes, achieving lower concentrations of atmospheric carbon requires technologies that remove existing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — rather than just prevent the creation of it.

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Climate change means the American West will have 17% fewer safe days to light prescribed fires for wildfire management, according to new research. Winter, however, will see a net 4% increase in the number of favorable days. Implementing controlled burns in the West will require changes to policy and the availability of firefighters.

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In the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) first images of the universe’s earliest galaxies, the young galaxies appear too bright, too massive and too mature to have formed so soon after the Big Bang. Using new simulations, a team of astrophysicists now has discovered that these galaxies likely are not so massive after all. Although a galaxy’s brightness is typically determined by its mass, the new findings suggest that less massive galaxies can glow just as brightly from irregular, brilliant bursts of star formation.

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Engineers and scientists look at how thoughtful design can reduce a sustainably-designed neighborhood’s energy vulnerability during power disruptions, as well as which design characteristics are needed if and when local populations need to move to shelters. Researchers  analyzed the design and energy characteristics of particular kinds of buildings and neighborhoods to assess their vulnerabilities and their access to alternative and renewable energy sources. The authors use several scenarios involving different lengths of power disruption to see which kind of response is most beneficial to the populations affected.

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A shift in the way we think about the benefits mangroves provide to coastal regions could yield significant economic and biodiversity gains and protect millions from flooding, research has revealed.

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Mining brings huge social and environmental change to communities: landscapes, livelihoods and the social fabric evolve alongside the industry. But what happens when the mines close? What problems face communities that lose their main employer and the very core of their identity and social networks?