Environment
press releases.

Environment23 Apr 2024

Human Frontier Science Program: life science research addressing sustainability of living systems

STRASBOURG, France, 23 April 2024 — Why do stressed bats shed more viruses? How do some key species engineer whole landscapes? How do humans and animals work in groups to solve problems, shape behavior? These eight research projects are among the Human Frontier Science Program’s (HFSP) 93 Research Grant and Fellowship Awards recently announced to begin in 2024. “HFSP has funded basic research in the life sciences for the benefit of humankind, and sustainability science spans some of the most complex research imaginable,” said HFSP Chief Scientific Officer Guntram Bauer. “These investigations examine highly interrelated living systems – many ...

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Environment23 Apr 2024

Wind turbine blades get a sustainable upgrade

The average wind turbine generates enough electricity in 46 minutes to power a home in the United States for an entire month, according to the United States Geological Survey. And with more than 70,800 turbines scattered throughout the country, wind power has now surpassed hydroelectric power as the largest producer of renewable energy. With a $2 million grant from the Department of Energy, researchers from Virginia Tech are pioneering processes to make this sustainable energy source even more sustainable. The grant is part ...

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Environment23 Apr 2024

Innovative GREENSKY model elevates UAV efficiency in next-gen wireless networks

Researchers from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, School of Computing and Engineering, and independent researchers have developed a groundbreaking model, dubbed GREENSKY, that significantly enhances the energy efficiency and operational time of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in cellular networks. In the ever-evolving landscape of wireless communication, UAVs play a pivotal role, especially in rural, remote, and disaster-struck areas where traditional network infrastructure is absent. ...

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Environment23 Apr 2024

Laser-treated cork absorbs oil for carbon-neutral ocean cleanup

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2024 – Oil spills are deadly disasters for ocean ecosystems. They can have lasting impacts on fish and marine mammals for decades and wreak havoc on coastal forests, coral reefs, and the surrounding land. Chemical dispersants are often used to break down oil, but they often increase toxicity in the process. In Applied Physics Letters, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Central South University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev used laser treatments to transform ordinary ...

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Environment23 Apr 2024

Radiologists propose actions to combat climate change

OAK BROOK, Ill. – A diverse writing group—lead by authors at the University of Toronto—have developed an approach for radiology departments and practices to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and become more resilient to the effects of climate change. They outlined their action plan in a Radiology in Focus article, published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). “Rising greenhouse gas emission levels lead to climate change, extreme weather events and worsening air pollution with downstream adverse health effects,” said lead author Kate Hanneman, M.D., M.P.H., vice chair of research ...

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Environment23 Apr 2024

Aerogel-based PCMs improve thermal management, reduce microwave emissions in electronic devices

Electronic devices are getting more and more complex as they are built to carry out an ever-increasing number of functions. This can be seen in the increased functionality in our personal devices such as our phones, tablets and watches, let alone in industrial devices. However, their growing complexity can lead to performance and safety issues. These issues include device overheating or emitting microwaves that can result in health issues and that can reduce a device’s performance and interfere with other devices. Chinese scientists from Beijing Normal University have been ...

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Environment23 Apr 2024

Molecular mechanism of chemical diversity of thermophilic fungus and its ecological and biological functions

Thermophilic fungi are chief components of mycoflora in a variety of natural and manmade composting systems, including rotting hay, stored grains, wood mulch, nesting material of birds and animals, municipal refuse, and self-heating accumulated organic matter. Thermophilic fungi are also a potential source of natural products, which complement the metabolite libraries of mesophilic fungi and bacteria. The research team led by Prof. Dr. Xuemei Niu (State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, Yunnan University) has been working on the discovery of secondary metabolites in thermophilic fungi and their biological ...

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Environment23 Apr 2024

Fossil frogs share their skincare secrets

Palaeontologists at University College Cork (UCC), Ireland, have solved a hundred-year-old mystery of how some fossil frogs preserve their fleshy parts – it’s all down to their skin. Palaeontologists Daniel Falk and Prof. Maria McNamara, together with scientists from Ireland, Germany and the UK, studied 45-million-year-old fossil frogs from the Geiseltal site in central Germany. Remarkably, the fossils show full body outlines of the soft tissues. The team discovered that the excellent condition of the fossil frogs is due to preservation of ancient skin remnants. The team studied the fossils with high-precision ...

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Environment23 Apr 2024

Extracting high-purity gold from electrical and electronic waste

Korea relies on imports for most of its metal resources, and in recent years, due to resource depletion and rising raw material prices, 'circular resources' that recycle waste metal resources have emerged. In response, SK hynix has established a mid- to long-term plan to increase the percentage of copper, gold, etc. recovered and reused from waste generated in the semiconductor manufacturing process to more than 30% by 2030, and Samsung Electronics is running a collection program for used mobile phones in cooperation with E-circulation Governance, a non-profit corporation. The global circular economy market is expected ...

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Environment23 Apr 2024

Tropical fish are invading Australian ocean water

A University of Adelaide study of shallow-water fish communities on rocky reefs in south-eastern Australia has found climate change is helping tropical fish species invade temperate Australian waters. “The fish are travelling into these Australian ecosystems as larvae caught in the Eastern Australian Current, which is strengthening due to the warming climate,” said the University of Adelaide’s Professor Ivan Nagelkerken, Chief Investigator of the study. “These larvae would not normally survive in the cooler Australian ...

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Environment23 Apr 2024

No bull: How creating less-gassy cows could help fight climate change

A Curtin University study has revealed breeding less-flatulent cows and restoring agricultural land could significantly reduce rising methane emission levels, which play a considerable role in climate change. The food system, including grazing animals such as cows, generates major sources of methane mainly due to cattle digestion, manure decomposition and land use for grazing. To look for solutions, researchers from the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute analysed 27 academic publications and identified dozens of potential strategies to reduce methane emissions from Australia’s beef and dairy sectors. Study ...

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Environment22 Apr 2024

COS Mason researchers translating research into practice to create climate-ready communities across Virginia

COS Mason Researchers Translating Research Into Practice To Create Climate-Ready Communities Across Virginia Four Mason researchers received funding for: “ART: Translating Research into Practice to Create Climate-Ready Communities Across Virginia.” Leah Nichols, Executive Director, Institute for a Sustainable Earth, Research and Innovation Initiatives; James Kinter, Professor, Climate Dynamics, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences (AOES); Director, Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA); Luis Ortiz, Assistant Professor, AOES; and Celso Ferreira, Associate Professor, Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, are ...

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Environment22 Apr 2024

SwRI-led eclipse projects shed new light on solar corona

SAN ANTONIO — April 22, 2024 —Teams led by Southwest Research Institute successfully executed two groundbreaking experiments — by land and air — collecting unique solar data from the total eclipse that cast a shadow from Texas to Maine on April 8, 2024. The Citizen Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse (CATE) 2024 experiment engaged more than 200 community participants in a broad, approachable and inclusive attempt to make a continuous 60-minute high-resolution movie of this exciting event. A nearly simultaneous investigation used unique equipment installed in NASA’s WB-57F research aircraft to chase the ...

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Environment22 Apr 2024

Family learning environments in Scandinavia: dimensions, types and socioeconomic profiles

Do children have regular bedtimes and do parents enforce strict screen time policies? And do parents take their children to museums so that they can learn from an early age? Or is everyday life more about having fun together, without clear rules and any ambition to ‘develop’ children in any particular way? Family life can be lived in many different ways, and what children bring with them from the home environment has a substantial impact on their opportunities and development later in life. A new study from the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen, and VIVE - The Danish Center for Social Science Research ...

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Environment22 Apr 2024

Same species, different sizes: rare evolution in action spotted in island bats

A University of Melbourne researcher has spotted a rare evolutionary phenomenon happening rapidly in real time in bats living in the Solomon Islands. Dr Tyrone Lavery reports in a paper published in Evolution that two groups of leaf-nosed bats with vastly different body sizes that were thought to be separate species are an example of a rare type of parallel evolution. Parallel evolution is when different populations living in similar environments evolve similar features independently. The smaller bat, Hipposideros diadema, is found across its six main islands and many smaller islands. It is ...

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Environment22 Apr 2024

Feedback loop that is melting ice shelves in West Antarctica revealed

Feedback loop that is melting ice shelves in West Antarctica revealed New research has uncovered a feedback loop that may be accelerating the melting of the floating portions of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, pushing up global sea levels. The study, published in Science Advances, sheds new light on the mechanisms driving the melting of ice shelves beneath the surface of the ocean, which have been unclear until now. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been losing mass in recent decades, contributing to global sea level rise. If it were to melt entirely, global sea levels would rise by around five meters. It’s known that Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW), ...

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Environment22 Apr 2024

Giant galactic explosion exposes galaxy pollution in action

A team of international researchers studied galaxy NGC 4383, in the nearby Virgo cluster, revealing a gas outflow so large that it would take 20,000 years for light to travel from one side to the other. The discovery was published today in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Lead author Dr Adam Watts, from The University of Western Australia node at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), said the outflow was the result of powerful stellar explosions in the central regions of the galaxy that could eject enormous amounts of hydrogen and heavier elements. The ...

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Environment19 Apr 2024

Lemur’s lament: When one vulnerable species stalks another

What can be done when one threatened animal kills another? Scientists studying critically endangered lemurs in Madagascar confronted this difficult reality when they witnessed attacks on lemurs by another vulnerable species, a carnivore called a fosa. This dynamic can be particularly complex when the predation occurs in an isolated or poor-quality habitat, according to research from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar. In the new paper published in Ecology and Evolution, researchers describe how they were observing small groups of critically endangered diademed ...

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Environment19 Apr 2024

URI-led team finds direct evidence of ‘itinerant breeding’ in East Coast shorebird species

KINGSTON, R.I. – April 17, 2024 – Migration and reproduction are two of the most demanding events in a bird’s annual cycle, so much so that the vast majority of migratory birds separate the two tasks into different times of the year. But a study by University of Rhode Island researchers has found direct evidence of a species – the American woodcock, a migratory shorebird from eastern and central North America – that overlaps periods of migration and reproduction, a rare breeding strategy known as “itinerant breeding.” Their work, backed by collaborators across the East Coast, was published today in the biological sciences journal Proceedings ...

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Environment19 Apr 2024

Toxic chemicals from microplastics can be absorbed through skin

Toxic chemicals used to flame-proof plastic materials can be absorbed into the body through skin, via contact with microplastics, new research shows. The study offers the first experimental evidence that chemicals present as additives in microplastics can leach into human sweat, and then be absorbed through the skin, into the bloodstream. Many chemicals used as flame retardants and plasticisers have already been banned, due to evidence of adverse health effects including damage to the liver or nervous system, cancer, and risks to reproductive health. However, these chemicals ...

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Environment19 Apr 2024

Climate change will increase value of residential rooftop solar panels across US, study shows

Graphic Climate change will increase the future value of residential rooftop solar panels across the United States by up to 19% by the end of the century, according to a new University of Michigan-led study. The study defines the value of solar, or VOS, as household-level financial benefits from electricity bill savings plus revenues from selling excess electricity to the grid—minus the initial installation costs. For many U.S. households, increased earnings from residential rooftop ...

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Environment19 Apr 2024

Warming of Antarctic deep-sea waters contribute to sea level rise in North Atlantic, study finds

Analysis of mooring observations and hydrographic data suggest the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation deep water limb in the North Atlantic has weakened. Two decades of continual observations provide a greater understanding of the Earth’s climate regulating system. A new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience led by scientists at University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atlantic ...

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Environment19 Apr 2024

Mapping plant functional diversity from space: HKU ecologists revolutionize ecosystem monitoring with novel field-satellite integration

An international team of researchers, led by Professor Jin WU from the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), has made a promising advancement in mapping plant functional traits from space using time-series satellite data. The study, published in Remote Sensing of Environment, showcases the innovative combination of the Sentinel-2 satellite mission and its dynamic time-series capabilities. This innovative approach not only unlocks a deeper understanding of essential foliar traits, providing crucial insights ...

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Environment19 Apr 2024

A flexible and efficient DC power converter for sustainable-energy microgrids

A new DC-DC power converter is superior to previous designs and paves the way for more efficient, reliable and sustainable energy storage and conversion solutions. The Kobe University development can efficiently interface with a wide range of energy sources while enhancing system stability and simplicity at an unprecedented efficiency. Electric power comes in two kinds, AC (alternating current) and DC (direct current). Famously, the question over which kind should be used for national power grids, the “Current War” of the late 19th century, got settled in favor of AC and most power plants today produce ...

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Environment18 Apr 2024

Metacognitive abilities like reading the emotions and attitudes of others may be more influenced by environment than genetics

Twin studies have proven invaluable for teasing out the effects of both genetics and the environment on human biology. In a study published April 2 in Cell Reports, researchers studied pairs of twins to look at how the interplay of genetics and environment affect cognitive processing—the way that people think. They found that some cognitive abilities appear to be regulated more by environmental factors than by genetics. “Past research has suggested that general intelligence—often referred to as intelligence quotient or IQ—has a heritability ranging from 50% to 80%,” says senior and corresponding author Xiaohong Wan of Beijing Normal University in China. ...

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