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Categories: Geoscience: Environmental Issues, Geoscience: Landslides

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New research has looked at the long-term environmental impact of different methods to control Japanese knotweed. Different ways of trying to control the invasive species have developed over the years but now, as sustainability becomes increasingly important, understanding the effect of these management methods is vital.This new study examines at the entire life cycle and long-term impacts of different management approaches.

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A new discovery, reported in a global study that encompassed more than a decade of research, could lead to the breeding of corn crops that can withstand drought and low-nitrogen soil conditions and ultimately ease global food insecurity.

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Without plants, we'd have no air to breathe or food to eat, yet plant science lingers in the shadowy wings while other fields take center stage. With the goal of shining the spotlight on plants, a new study presents the field's top 100 most pressing questions for research to address the greatest challenges facing humanity.

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Most cities don't map their own pedestrian networks. Now, researchers have built the first open-source tool to let planners do just that. Researchers have built TILE2NET, an open-source tool that uses aerial imagery and image-recognition to create complete maps of sidewalks and crosswalks. The tool can help planners, policymakers, and urbanists who want to expand pedestrian infrastructure.

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An increasing number of U.S. interstates are set to try out an invention that could save millions of taxpayer dollars and significantly reduce traffic delays. The invention, a sensor that allows concrete to 'talk,' decreases construction time and how often concrete pavement needs repairs while also improving the road’s sustainability and cutting its carbon footprint. Embedded directly into a concrete pour, the sensor sends engineers more precise and consistent data about the concrete’s strength and need for repair than is possible with currently used tools and methods.

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A new study is providing an unprecedented examination of oxygen loss on coral reefs around the globe under ocean warming. The study captures the current state of hypoxia -- or low oxygen levels -- at 32 different sites, and reveals that hypoxia is already pervasive on many reefs.

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Intense fishing and over-exploitation have led to evolutionary changes in fish stocks like cod, reducing both their productivity and value on the market. These changes can be reversed by more sustainable and far-sighted fisheries management. A new study shows that reversal of evolutionary change would only slightly reduce the profit of fishing, but would help regain and conserve natural genetic diversity.

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Flatburn is an open-source, mobile pollution detector intended to let people measure air quality cheaply.

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There is currently a large dependence on coal for power generation. As coal-fired plants cause environmental and health hazards, technologies such as swirl flow and air staging have been proposed to mitigate the pollutants in their emissions. However, it is unclear how effective these technologies are in reducing the environmental costs of these plants. Now, researchers have provided insights on this front in a new study, delineating their efficacies with experiments and simulations.

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The western chimpanzees of Guinea are threatened by mining activities. Using a novel genetic approach, researchers have collected information on population size and community structure of the endangered species. These data provide an important baseline to assess the impact of mining.

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In the U.S., we may often think of landslides as primarily a West Coast problem, mostly plaguing the mountainous terrain of California, Oregon, and Washington. New research highlights the major impacts of landslides on the U.S. East Coast and what is being done to save lives and deal with the damages.

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A recent review study provides an overview of the planet's freshwater supplies and strategies for sustainably managing them.

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A pioneering global study has found deforestation and forests lost or damaged due to human and environmental change, such as fire and logging, are fast outstripping current rates of forest regrowth.

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Electrification is seen as having an important role to play in the fossil-free aviation of tomorrow. But electric aviation is battling a trade-off dilemma: the more energy-efficient an electric aircraft is, the noisier it gets. Now, researchers have developed a propeller design optimization method that paves the way for quiet, efficient electric aviation.

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A new study has found evidence of cheesemaking, using milk from multiple animals in Late Neolithic Poland.

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In 2002, an area of ice about the size of Rhode Island dramatically broke away from Antarctica as the Larsen B ice shelf collapsed. A new study of the conditions that led to the collapse may reveal warning signs to watch for future Antarctic ice shelf retreat, according to a new scientists.

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A research team demonstrates that increased levels of ozone resulting from anthropogenic air pollution can degrade insect sex pheromones, which are crucial mating signals, and thus prevent successful reproduction. The oxidizing effect of ozone causes the carbon-carbon double bonds found in the molecules of many insect pheromones to break down. Therefore, the specific chemical mating signal is rendered dysfunctional. The researchers show this effect in the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster and nine other species of the genus Drosophila. Most remarkably, the disrupted sexual communication also led to male flies exhibiting unusual mating behavior towards ozonated males of their own species.

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Researchers have engineered a material with the potential to dramatically cut the amount of heat power plants release into the atmosphere.

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Globally, wildfires are becoming more frequent and destructive, generating a significant amount of smoke that can be transported thousands of miles, driving the need for more accurate air pollution forecasts. Researchers have now developed a deep learning model that provides improved predictions of air quality in wildfire-prone areas and can differentiate between wildfires and non-wildfires.

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Practical carbon capture technologies are still in the early stages of development, with the most promising involving a class of compounds called amines that can chemically bind with carbon dioxide. Researchers now deploy an algorithm to study amine reactions through quantum computing. An existing quantum computer cab run the algorithm to find useful amine compounds for carbon capture more quickly, analyzing larger molecules and more complex reactions than a traditional computer can.