♦ Earth Science Press Releases

Plants need water, light and air to thrive. But when they transport water from the soil up to their leaves, they defy gravity. Scientists describe this astonishing phenomenon as “negative water potential”, a form of negative tension that enables herbs, shrubs and trees to draw water from the soil. Nevertheless, plants do not constantly extract water from the soil. For decades, researchers have sought to understand what limits a plant’s water uptake. Now, a team of researchers led by Andrea Carminati, Professor of Soil Physics at ETH Zurich, and Tim ...

A study of 67 aquifer recovery cases worldwide reveals that multi-pronged strategies work best for reversing groundwater depletion, with alternative water sources involved in 81% of successes - but gains are fragile and can reverse if monitoring stops.

A study published in Science used fiber-optic sensors to monitor water movement through soil minute by minute, showing that plowed farmland loses its ability to channel rainfall to deep root zones. Undisturbed soil acts as a natural sponge; tilled soil does not.

Harvard geoscientists have found the oldest direct evidence that Earth's tectonic plates were moving 3.5 billion years ago. Their analysis of rocks from Australia's Pilbara Craton reveals rapid drift, rotation, and the earliest known geomagnetic reversal.

Harvard geoscientists analyzed over 900 rock samples from Western Australia's Pilbara Craton and found that tectonic plates were shifting latitude by tens of centimeters per year as early as 3.5 billion years ago, ruling out the theory that early Earth had a single, unbroken shell.

Using buried fiber-optic cables to detect vibrations from water flow, researchers found that cultivated soil traps rainwater near the surface where it evaporates, while undisturbed soil channels it deep underground through a natural pore network that tillage destroys.

ETH Zurich researchers used an enzyme from watermelon seeds to bind sawdust with the mineral struvite, creating a lightweight, fully recyclable building panel that delays ignition threefold and may match cement-board fire ratings at a fraction of the carbon cost.

A turkey-sized baby dinosaur from a Korean island is the peninsula's first new species in 15 years and its first with skull bones. Named after cartoon character Dooly, the thescelosaurid was revealed only after micro-CT scanning exposed bones hidden inside rock.

A University of South Carolina pilot study will investigate pica - the craving and consumption of non-food items like clay, ice, and soil during pregnancy - in South Carolina populations, where prior U.S. research found 38% of rural pregnant women had the condition yet 75% had no documentation in medical records.

Researchers in Taiwan built a life-sized oviraptor model with resin eggs and ran heat transfer experiments showing that these bird-like dinosaurs likely relied on solar co-incubation rather than body heat alone, achieving lower hatching efficiency than modern birds but using a strategy adapted to their open-nest, multi-ring egg arrangement.

The AMS has formally responded to NSF's request for feedback on restructuring NCAR, warning that dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research would undermine U.S. leadership in weather and climate science with severe consequences for public safety.

As Great Salt Lake has shrunk 70% since 1989, University of Utah scientists used electrical resistivity tomography to map the groundwater beneath 800 square miles of exposed playa, finding a surprisingly complex mosaic of fresh and saline water - and evidence of a rare convective instability.

After a 2019 bleaching event in Moorea, an encrusting algae species stabilized dead coral branches on the reef while mussels and fungi hollowed them from inside. The dead structures persisted through a 2024 storm, blocking the space juvenile corals need to recolonize. Published in PLOS One.

Polydopamine-coated titanium dioxide nanoparticles accumulated about 7,780 nanograms of calcium phosphate mineral mass versus 5,641 nanograms for zein-coated particles, a 37% difference traced to polydopamine's polar surface chemistry.

A new review synthesizing research on erosion and nitrogen cycling shows that soil displacement does far more than remove topsoil. It restructures microbial communities, alters nitrogen transformation pathways, and redistributes nutrients across landscapes.

A study comparing rice husk and palm silk biochars finds both reduce water leakage from phosphorus-rich vegetable soils by 20 to 40 percent, but through different mechanisms involving organic carbon and pH changes.

Growth marks in crocodile bones can dramatically overestimate age, a finding that has direct implications for how paleontologists estimate the lifespans and growth rates of dinosaurs and other extinct vertebrates.

A multi-technique analysis of food crusts from Neolithic and Mesolithic pottery shows that European hunter-gatherer-fishers combined a wide variety of plants with seafood in their cooking - a level of culinary complexity that standard lipid analysis had systematically missed.

A 21-year satellite study of 2.2 million storms found 68% more explosive storm events where soil moisture patterns aligned with atmospheric wind shear. The principle could improve thunderstorm forecasts hours earlier than current systems allow, especially in storm-prone regions with limited radar coverage.

Nitrous oxide, long studied for its climate impact, may also reshape the microbial communities at plant roots that control nutrient access and disease protection. MIT researchers estimate 30 percent of bacteria with sequenced genomes are vulnerable to N2O toxicity - and agricultural fertilization spikes its concentration for days at a time.

A preliminary study of 12,370 Parkinson's patients and 1.2 million controls found that drinking water drawn from carbonate aquifers was associated with a 24% higher Parkinson's risk versus other aquifer types, with groundwater age and contamination exposure as proposed mechanisms.

Spreading native Eucalyptus leaf litter on mine waste rock dramatically shifted microbial communities toward healthy woodland profiles within a single wet season, offering a low-cost restoration tool for degraded landscapes worldwide.

A synthesis of 28 field studies finds biochar combined with organic amendments such as compost or manure improved 9 of 16 measured soil properties more than biochar alone, including phosphorus availability by up to 76% and cation exchange capacity by over 50% on average, though most studies lasted only a few years.

Nanobiochar, a nanoscale carbon material derived from biomass, outperforms conventional biochar at removing heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides from water, and shows early promise for reversing soil degradation in dryland ecosystems covering 40% of Earth's land.

A greenhouse study found phosphorus-modified bamboo biochar nearly doubled cadmium uptake in fast-growing willow trees versus untreated soil, by stimulating root development and activating beneficial soil bacteria. Field testing remains needed.