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Categories: Engineering: Nanotechnology, Environmental: General
Published Antarctic ice shelves experienced only minor changes in surface melt since 1980



A team of glaciologists set out to quantify how much ice melt occurred on Antarctica's ice shelves from 1980 to 2021. The results might seem to be good news for the region, but the researchers say there's no cause for celebration just yet.
Published Smart farming platform improves crop yields, minimizes pollution



A new farming system aims to solve one of the biggest problems in modern agriculture: the overuse of fertilizers to improve crop yields and the resulting chemical runoff that pollutes the world's air and water.
Published Wildfire smoke downwind affects health, wealth, mortality



Smoke particulates from wildfires could cause between 4,000 and 9,000 premature deaths and cost between $36 to $82 billion per year in the United States, according to new research.
Published Vastly more sustainable, cost-effective method to desalinate industrial wastewater



Engineers are developing a cutting-edge process that can reduce energy consumption and cost of water desalination.
Published Drug-resistant fungi are thriving in even the most remote regions of Earth



New research has found that a disease-causing fungus -- collected from one of the most remote regions in the world -- is resistant to a common antifungal medicine used to treat infections.
Published Caribbean seagrasses provide services worth $255B annually, including vast carbon storage, study shows



Caribbean seagrasses provide about $255 billion in services to society annually, including $88.3 billion in carbon storage, according to a new study. The study has put a dollar value on the many services -- from storm protection to fish habitat to carbon storage -- provided by seagrasses across the Caribbean, which holds up to half the world's seagrass meadows by surface area and contains about one-third of the carbon stored in seagrasses worldwide.
Published The art and science of living-like architecture



Collaborators have created 'living-like' bioactive interior architecture designed to one day protect us from hidden airborne threats. This publication establishes that the lab's biomaterial manufacturing process is compatible with the leading-edge cell-free engineering that gives the bioactive sites their life-like properties.
Published Engineers 'strike gold' with innovation that recovers heavy metals from biosolids



Engineers have developed a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to remove heavy metals, including copper and zinc, from biosolids. The team's work advances other methods for heavy-metal removal by recycling the acidic liquid waste that is produced during the recovery phase, instead of throwing it away.
Published How tidal range electricity generation could meet future demand and storage problems



Tidal range schemes are financially viable and could lower energy bills say researchers. Research combined a tidal range power generation model with its cost model to demonstrate the viability of tidal power. The research demonstrates the benefits of tidal energy, which does not suffer from unpredictable intermittency as power is generated both day and night, and in windy or calm weather. The creation of a tidal barrage could operate for 120 years or more to meet future demand and storage problems.
Published PFAS found in blood of dogs, horses living near Fayetteville, NC



Researchers detected elevated PFAS levels in the blood of pet dogs and horses from Gray's Creek, N.C. -- including dogs that only drank bottled water.
Published High-tech pavement markers support autonomous driving in tough conditions, remote areas



Engineers are placing low-powered sensors in the reflective raised pavement markers that are already used to help drivers identify lanes. Microchips inside the markers transmit information to passing cars about the road shape to help autonomous driving features function even when vehicle cameras or remote laser sensing, called LiDAR, are unreliable because of fog, snow, glare or other obstructions.
Published Environmental risks and opportunities of orphaned oil and gas wells



Researchers are leading an international team whose goal is to create a framework to help governments in the U.S. and around the world assess and prioritize remediation strategies for orphaned oil and gas wells. These inactive wells represent environmental risks since they have the potential to contaminate water supplies, degrade ecosystems, and emit methane and other air pollutants that are harmful to human health. But plugging the wells also offers various potential environmental opportunities such as underground storage of carbon dioxide and hydrogen, or the development of geothermal energy systems.
Published Supersized fruit eater database on climate change frontline



To conserve precious and fragile biodiversity hotspots, a crucial step is knowing how the fruit eaters are doing. To assist in that, scientists and students have supersized a database to keep track of such animals and birds.
Published New study reveals irrigation's mixed effects around the world



Trajectory of irrigation water use in many regions is unsustainable, but practice is vital in managing climate change and future agricultural development, researchers conclude.
Published Climate action plans mobilize limited urban change, researchers report



The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), released just prior to an international climate convention in 2015, explicitly stated that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions were the highest in history, with clear and widespread impacts on the climate system. Since then, hundreds of cities across the world have published their own climate action plans (CAPs), detailing how their urban areas will handle climate change. How do the plans stack up against one another and against the recommended guidelines established by the United Nations-Habitat Guiding Principles for City Climate Action Planning?
Published A Tongan volcano plume produced the most intense lightning rates ever detected



New research showed that the plume emitted by the Hunga Volcano eruption in 2022 created the highest lightning flash rates ever recorded on Earth, more than any storm ever documented.
Published Clean, sustainable fuels made 'from thin air' and plastic waste



Researchers have demonstrated how carbon dioxide can be captured from industrial processes -- or even directly from the air -- and transformed into clean, sustainable fuels using just the energy from the Sun.
Published Researchers want drivers to see clearly on the road



Every year, sun glare contributes to around 3,000 crashes in the United States. Researchers are helping to mitigate this problem by examining what drivers are likely to do when faced with sun glare.
Published To boost supply chains, scientists are looking at ways to recover valuable materials from water



Researchers are exploring the different ways of harvesting materials from water.
Published How fungus farming ants keep their gardens healthy



'Weed early and often' is the key to a productive garden. Interestingly, certain species of ants are also avid gardeners, a practice they've refined over 50 million years. They too weed their underground fungus gardens, but how they know what to weed out has been a mystery. Now, a multidisciplinary team of scientists report how ants distinguish the good fungus from the bad.