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Categories: Environmental: Water, Geoscience: Geochemistry

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A team of scientists dedicated to pinpointing the primordial origins of metabolism -- a set of core chemical reactions that first powered life on Earth -- has identified part of a protein that could provide scientists clues to detecting planets on the verge of producing life.

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Researchers have observed a highly unusual behavior in the endangered freshwater mussel, Unio crassus. The jets disturb the river surface and attract fish. Mussel larvae in the jets can then attach to the gills of the fish and complete their metamorphosis into adults.

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Decades of poor environmental and water management turned the Nile River Delta from a unique ecological habitat in the Sahara to one of the largest polluted areas on the planet, with tens of millions of people and migrating birds at risk of exposure to water-borne contaminants.

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New evidence shows that exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) ozone limit is associated with substantial increases in hospital admissions for heart attack, heart failure and stroke. Even ozone levels below the WHO maximum were linked with worsened health.

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An international team of experts convened remotely as part of the Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative's Climate Working Group to consider the deep-sea impacts of ocean-based climate intervention (OBCI). A research team has analyzed the proposed approaches to assess their potential impacts on deep-sea ecosystems and biodiversity. Their findings raise substantial concern on the potential impacts of these technologies on deep-sea ecosystems and call for the need for an integrated research effort to carefully assess the cost and benefits of each intervention.

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Strong electric fields can be used to create pores in biomembranes. The method is known as electroporation. Inducing such defects in membranes in a targeted manner is an important technique in medicine and biotechnology, but also in the treatment of foodstuffs.

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It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. In this case, the 'job' is the breakdown of lignin, the structural biopolymer that gives stems, bark and branches their signature woodiness. One of the most abundant terrestrial polymers on Earth, lignin surrounds valuable plant fibers and other molecules that could be converted into biofuels and other commodity chemicals -- if we could only get past that rigid plant cell wall.

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Researchers find that 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide may need to be pulled from Earth's atmosphere and oceans annually to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. A diverse suite of carbon dioxide removal methods will be key.

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Atmospheric rivers, which are long, narrow bands of water vapor, are becoming more intense and frequent with climate change. A new study demonstrates that a recently developed scale for atmospheric river intensity (akin to the hurricane scale) can be used to rank atmospheric rivers and identify hotspots of the most intense atmospheric rivers not only along the U.S. West Coast but also worldwide.

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Disconnected from the energy of the sun, the permanently ice-covered Arctic deep sea receives miniscule amounts of organic matter that sustains life. Bacteria which can harvest the energy released from submarine hydrothermal sources could thus have an advantage. Scientists found bacteria uniquely adapted to this geo-energy floating in deep-sea waters. They describe the role of these bacteria for biogeochemical cycling in the ocean.

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Tibet is known as the 'Water Tower of Asia,' providing water to about 2 billion people and supporting critical ecosystems in High Mountain Asia and the Tibetan Plateau, where many of the largest Asian river systems originate. This region is also one of the areas most vulnerable to the compounding effects of climate change and human activities. Researchers are identifying policy changes that need to happen now to prepare for the future impacts projected by climate models.

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Doublet Pool's regular thumping is more than just an interesting tourist attraction. A new study shows that the interval between episodes of thumping reflects the amount of energy heating the pool at the bottom, as well as in indication of how much heat is being lost through the surface. Doublet Pool, the authors found, is Yellowstone's thumping thermometer.

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A global dataset of ocean plastic pollution between 1979 and 2019 reveals a rapid and unprecedented increase in ocean plastics since 2005, according to a new study.

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Ships are the main modes of transport for global trade as they are efficient and effective. Improving the aerodynamic performance of ship could reduce fuel consumption and improve speed, further improving the economics of shipping. Recently, researchers from have demonstrated that flat plate bow covers on ships can reduce overall wind drag in ships by nearly 40%, which could lead to enormous fuel savings.

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The nitrate ingested over the course of a person's adult lifetime through the consumption of tap water and bottled water could be a risk factor for prostate cancer, particularly in the case of aggressive tumors and in younger men.

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A new study finds that smoke particles in the stratosphere can trigger chemical reactions that erode the ozone layer -- and that smoke particles from Australian wildfires widened the ozone hole by 10 percent in 2020.

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Short-distance migration, which accounts for the vast majority of migratory movements in the world, is crucial for climate change adaptation, according to new research. Contrary to common assumptions, most migratory movements are people moving short distances, largely due to economic, social and environmental factors, such as climate change.

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Machine learning can be valuable in supporting sustainable development of biomass if it is applied across the entire lifecyle of biomass and biomass-derived products, according to a new study.

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The Phlegraean volcanic fields just west of Naples, Italy, are among the top eight emitters of volcanic carbon dioxide in the world. Since 2005, the Solfatara crater -- one of many circular depressions in the landscape left by a long history of eruptions --has been emitting increased volumes of gas. Today it emits 4,000-5,000 tons of carbon dioxide each day, equivalent to the emissions from burning ~500,000 gallons of gasoline. Researchers estimate that as much as 20%--40% of the current carbon dioxide emissions are from the dissolution of calcite in the rocks, while 60%--80% is from underground magma.

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Milutin Milankovitch hypothesized that the timing of glacial transitions has been controlled by the orbital parameters of the Earth, which suggests that there may be some predictability in the climate, a notoriously complex system. Now researchers propose a new paradigm to simplify the verification of the Milankovitch hypothesis. The new 'deterministic excitation paradigm' combines the physics concepts of relaxation oscillation and excitability to link Earth's orbital parameters and the glacial cycles in a more generic way.