Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Chemistry: Thermodynamics Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Fossil Fuels Engineering: Nanotechnology Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

'Game-changing' findings for sustainable hydrogen production      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Hydrogen fuel could be a more viable alternative to traditional fossil fuels, according to University of Surrey researchers who have found that a type of metal-free catalysts could contribute to the development of cost-effective and sustainable hydrogen production technologies.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Endangered Species Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Reducing pesticide pollution and the intensity of harvesting can increase crop yield and contribute to climate change mitigation      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have found that carbon sequestration and plant resilience as well as forage pasture yield can be increased through key adjustments in agricultural management. The results provide a roadmap for reducing pesticide loads in soils and the first steps towards increasing climate change mitigation while improving crop yield in grasslands.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Physics: Optics
Published

This loofah-inspired, sun-driven gel could purify all the water you'll need in a day      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Access to clean water is being strained as the human population increases and contamination impacts freshwater sources. Devices currently in development that clean up dirty water using sunlight can only produce up to a few gallons of water each day. But now, researchers in ACS Central Science report how loofah sponges inspired a sunlight-powered porous hydrogel that could potentially purify enough water to satisfy someone's daily needs -- even when it's cloudy.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

What makes people care about the environment?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study analyzes the factors that drive environmental concern among Europeans in an effort to understand how we can bolster popular support for combating climate change.

Biology: Botany Biology: Microbiology Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Licorice leaf extract is a promising plant protectant for conventional and organic agriculture      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A study reveals that licorice leaf extract is a potent bactericide and fungicide that can be used in conventional and organic agriculture.

Archaeology: General Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

New research suggests drought accelerated empire collapse      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The collapse of the Hittite Empire in the Late Bronze Age has been blamed on various factors, from war with other territories to internal strife. Now, scientists have used tree ring and isotope records to pinpoint a more likely culprit: three straight years of severe drought.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Unearthing the impact of moisture on soil carbon processes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers are offering a new perspective on those processes, revealing that moisture is a critical driver in the regulation and sequestration of soil carbon stocks.

Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Sea Life Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Surprises in sea turtle genes could help them adapt to a rapidly changing world      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Around 100 million years ago, a group of land-dwelling turtles took to the oceans, eventually evolving into the sea turtles that we know today. However, the genetic foundations that have enabled them to thrive in oceans throughout the world have remained largely unknown.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Devastating cost of future coastal flooding for many developing nations predicted in new study      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New global modelling predicts the devastating socioeconomic impacts of future extreme coastal flooding for developing nations caused by climate change, with Asia, West Africa and Egypt facing severe costs in the coming decades.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Offbeat: Earth and Climate
Published

Why icicles are rippled      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Winter is coming to an end; the last nights of below zero temperatures are here. In the morning, one still spots the occasional icicle on a gutter or car bumper. When you look at these icicles carefully, you may notice that they show a characteristic pattern of ripples -- always around one centimetre wide. What causes these ripples? Using an icicle machine of their own design, physicists and chemists investigated this question, and discovered that salt plays an important part in the formation process of the ripples.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Mathematics: Modeling
Published

Optimal layout for a hospital isolation room to contain COVID-19 includes ceiling vent      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers recently modeled the transmission of COVID-19 within an isolation room at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, U.K. Their goal was to explore the optimal room layout to reduce the risk of infection for health care staff.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Glacial flooding threatens millions globally      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Fifteen million people around the world are at risk from flooding caused by glacial lakes, with just four countries -- India, Pakistan, China and Peru -- accounting for more than half of those exposed.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Antarctica's ocean brightens clouds      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The teeming life in the Southern Ocean, which encircles Antarctica, contributes to brightening the clouds that form there, according to a new study. The clouds are bright because of their high density of water droplets, due in turn to a chain of atmospheric processes that eventually connects back to the Southern Ocean's extraordinary phytoplankton productivity.

Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Plastic debris in the Arctic comes from all around the world      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In the course of five years, citizens who went on sailing cruises to the Arctic surveyed and collected plastic debris that had washed up on the shores of Svalbard. This has now been analyzed. According to the findings, one third of the plastic debris which still bore imprints or labels allowing an analysis of their origin came from Europe, and much of that number from Germany.

Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
Published

Changing climate conditions likely facilitated early human migration to the Americas at key intervals, research suggests      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have pinpointed two intervals when ice and ocean conditions would have been favorable to support early human migration from Asia to North America late in the last ice age, a new paper shows.

Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

More frequent atmospheric rivers hinder seasonal recovery of Arctic sea ice      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The Arctic is rapidly losing sea ice, even during winter months when temperatures are below freezing and ice should be recovering from the summer melt. A new study found powerful storms called atmospheric rivers are increasingly reaching the Arctic in winter, slowing sea ice recovery and accounting for a third of all winter sea ice decline, according to a team led by Penn State scientists.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

A chat may help convert a peer to a pro-sustainability stance      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Changing the mind of someone who is dismissive of efforts to protect the planet could be accomplished by sharing a pro-sustainability point of view during a conversation, new research suggests.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Trees Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Pacific Northwest heat dome tree damage more about temperature than drought, scientists say      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Widespread tree scorch in the Pacific Northwest that became visible shortly after multiple days of record-setting, triple-digit temperatures in June 2021 was more attributable to heat than to drought conditions, researchers say.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Dirty laundry: How much microfiber do we emit with our washing?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The UK's laundry releases microfibers weighing the equivalent of up to 1,500 double-decker buses in microfibers every year, according to new research.

Anthropology: Cultures Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Prehistoric human migration in Southeast Asia driven by sea-level rise      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An interdisciplinary team of scientistshas found that rapid sea-level rise drove early settlers in Southeast Asia to migrate during the prehistoric period, increasing the genetic diversity of the region today.