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Categories: Geoscience: Geochemistry, Offbeat: Plants and Animals

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Is nitrate responsible for algae, flowers, and even your neighbors? A team of geoscientists have unearthed evidence that may indicate yes.

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Urine scent marks are the original social media, allowing animals to advertise their location, status and identity. Now research is shining a new light -- via thermal imaging of mice -- on how this behavior changes depending on shifting social conditions.

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Researchers have 'hacked' the earliest stages of photosynthesis, the natural machine that powers the vast majority of life on Earth, and discovered new ways to extract energy from the process, a finding that could lead to new ways of generating clean fuel and renewable energy.

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Researchers behind the UK's first pilot public health surveillance system based on analysis of wastewater say that routine monitoring at sewage treatment works could provide a powerful early warning system for the next flu or norovirus epidemic, alerting hospitals to prepare and providing public health agencies with vital health information.

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Beetles are champions at surviving in extremely dry environments. In part, this property is due to their ability to suck water from the air with their rear ends. A new study explains just how. Beyond helping to explain how beetles thrive in environments where few other animals can survive, the knowledge could eventually be used for more targeted and delicate control of global pests such as the grain weevil and red flour beetle.

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Scientists have come up with a system of measuring animal welfare that enables reliable comparison across different types of pig farming.

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Researchers have improved the Faradaic efficiency of the nitrogen reduction reaction into ammonia by straightforward optimization of chemical process parameters. They found that trace water was the probable source of the high selectivity by facilitating incorporation of lithium oxide into the solid electrolyte interphase. These findings will also aid optimization of other analogous reactions, and thus help the chemicals industry optimize the sustainability of one of the most carbon-intensive reactions globally.

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Cooking devices that incorporate three-dimensional (3D) printers, lasers, or other software-driven processes may soon replace conventional cooking appliances such as ovens, stovetops, and microwaves. But will people want to use a 3D printer -- even one as beautifully designed as a high-end coffee maker -- on their kitchen counters to calibrate the exact micro- and macro-nutrients they need to stay healthy? Will 3D food printing improve the ways we nourish ourselves? What sorts of hurdles will need to be overcome to commercialize such a technology? Researchers explore the benefits and drawbacks of 3D-printed food technology, cooking 3D-printed food with lasers as part of the system, how 3D-printed food compares to the 'normal' food we eat, and the future landscape of our kitchens.

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Plants use photosynthesis to harvest energy from sunlight. Now researchers have applied this principle as the basis for developing new sustainable processes which in the future may produce syngas (synthetic gas) for the large-scale chemical industry and be able to charge batteries.

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Researchers from the fields of healthcare, ocean science, and social science have collaborated to quantify plastic's considerable risks to all life on Earth. The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health report presents a comprehensive analysis showing plastics as a hazard at every stage of their life cycle.

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A team has experimentally confirmed that nitrate, a compound common in fertilizers and animal waste, can help transport naturally occurring uranium from the underground to groundwater. The new research backs a previous study showing that aquifers contaminated with high levels of nitrate -- including the High Plains Aquifer residing beneath Nebraska -- also contain uranium concentrations far exceeding a threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Uranium concentrations above that EPA threshold have been shown to cause kidney damage in humans, especially when regularly consumed via drinking water.

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Increases in mortality among Douglas-fir in the Klamath Mountains are the result of multiple factors that have the iconic tree in a 'decline spiral' in parts of the region.

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Fewer parasites in U.S. waters might be seen by many as a good thing, but a biologist says the trend signals potential danger for fish and other wildlife.

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Researchers found they could separate blended cotton and polyester fabric using enzymes -- nature's tools for speeding chemical reactions. Ultimately, they hope their findings will lead to a more efficient way to recycle the fabric's component materials, thereby reducing textile waste.

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A new study explores a record of birds' diets preserved in their feathers and radio tracking of their movements to find that birds eat far fewer invertebrates in coffee plantations than in forests, suggesting that the disturbance of their ecosystem significantly impacts the birds' dietary options.

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Researchers show that rivers in the Andean mountains contribute 35% and 72% of riverine emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and methane (CH4 ) in the Amazon basin, the world's largest river.

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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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Leading edge technology has uncovered secrets about a world-renowned fossil hoard that could offer vital clues about early life on Earth. Researchers who analyzed the 400 million-year-old cache, found in rural north-east Scotland, say their findings reveal better preservation of the fossils at a molecular level than was previously anticipated.

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A research team has developed a crocodile-skin-inspired omnidirectionally stretchable pressure sensor.

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Researchers have reported a novel method of harvesting water from naturally occurring sources such as fog and dew.