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Environment
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Initiative increases awareness of the threats posed by light pollution to the global ocean
Environment

Initiative increases awareness of the threats posed by light pollution to the global ocean

Scientists, policy makers, and marine and environmental professionals across the world are being encouraged to sign up to a new initiative highlighting some of the global threats posed by light pollution. The Global Ocean Artificial Light at Night Network (GOALANN) has been launched today at the United Nations Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona. It has been established by ecologists, oceanographers and social scientists who have spent more than a decade studying the impact of light pollution on the ocean, and the many species living in or near it. The GOALANN network aims to expand on the impact of that work, unifying research groups ...

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Living near green space associated with fewer emotional problems in preschool-age kids, NIH study finds
Environment

Living near green space associated with fewer emotional problems in preschool-age kids, NIH study finds

Children who live in areas with natural spaces (e.g., forests, parks, backyards) from birth may experience fewer emotional issues between the ages of 2 and 5, according to a study funded by the NIH Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program. While research has suggested that time in nature is important for mental health, studies examining the effects on young children are limited. ECHO investigators addressed this research gap by analyzing information from parents about the behavior of their children from ages 2 to 11. They combined this data with the family’s ...

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New report ‘braids’ Indigenous and Western knowledge for forest adaptation strategies against climate change
Environment

New report ‘braids’ Indigenous and Western knowledge for forest adaptation strategies against climate change

Link to release: https://www.washington.edu/news/2024/04/10/forest-report/ Link to related coverage: https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/indigenous-knowledge-western-science-braided-recommendations-land-managers FROM: James Urton University of Washington 206-543-2580 jurton@uw.edu (Note: researcher contact information at end) For Immediate Release April 10, 2024 There are 154 national forests in the United States, covering nearly 300,000 square miles of forests, woodlands, shrublands, wetlands, meadows ...

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A BiCIKL ride to the Empowering Biodiversity Research conference for a report on a 3-year endeavor towards FAIR biodiversity data
Environment

A BiCIKL ride to the Empowering Biodiversity Research conference for a report on a 3-year endeavor towards FAIR biodiversity data

Leiden - also known as the ‘City of Keys’ and the 'City of Discoveries' - was aptly chosen to host the third Empowering Biodiversity Research (EBR III) conference. The two-day conference - this time focusing on the utilisation of biodiversity data as a vehicle for biodiversity research to reach to Policy - was held in a no less fitting locality: the Naturalis Biodiversity Center. On 25th and 26th March 2024, the delegates got the chance to learn more about the latest discoveries, trends and innovations from scientists, as well as various stakeholders, including representatives of policy-making bodies, research institutions and infrastructures. ...

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Deforestation harms biodiversity of the Amazon’s perfume-loving orchid bees
Environment

Deforestation harms biodiversity of the Amazon’s perfume-loving orchid bees

LAWRENCE — A survey of orchid bees in the Brazilian Amazon state of Rondônia, carried out in the 1990s, is shedding new light the impact of deforestation on the scent-collecting pollinators, which some view as bellwethers of biodiversity in the neotropics. The findings, from a researcher at the University of Kansas, are published today in the peer-reviewed journal Biological Conservation. “This study on orchid bees was an add-on to previous research on stingless bees. Orchid bees are so easy to collect, so we added them to ...

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Environment

Study shedding new light on Earth’s global carbon cycle could help assess liveability of other planets

Research has uncovered important new insights into the evolution of oxygen, carbon, and other vital elements over the entire history of Earth – and it could help assess which other planets can develop life, ranging from plants to animals and humans. The study, published today in Nature Geoscience and led by a researcher at the University of Bristol, reveals for the first time how the build up of carbon-rich rocks has accelerated oxygen production and its release into the atmosphere. Until now the exact nature of how the atmosphere became oxygen-rich has long eluded scientists and generated conflicting explanations. As carbon dioxide is steadily ...

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High-brightness green InP-based QLEDs enabled by in-situ passivating core surface with zinc myristate
Environment

High-brightness green InP-based QLEDs enabled by in-situ passivating core surface with zinc myristate

Compared with Cd-based QDs, InP-based QDs have lower photoluminescence quantum yields (PL QYs) and broader full-width at half-maximum (FWHM). In particular, bare InP core has extremely low PL QY (＜1%) due to the ease of oxidation of their highly reactive surface even in insert reaction chambers. It has been reported that the defects from oxidative species are probably the reasons for the non-radiative recombination and poor PL QY of these materials. Over the last decade, extensive studies have been conducted to improve the optoelectronic properties of InP-based QDs for display and lighting applications, ...

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How does China’s Agricultural Green Development promote the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals?
Environment

How does China’s Agricultural Green Development promote the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals?

Against the backdrop of global challenges such as climate change, diminishing natural resources, and the need to feed a growing population, the imperative for fostering worldwide agricultural sustainability has reached unprecedented levels. China’s Agricultural Green Development (AGD) serves as an important model for global sustainable agricultural development. What advantages does this model offer in terms of concept and implementation path compared to other international sustainable agriculture initiatives? What ...

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A microbial plastic factory for high-quality green plastic
Environment

A microbial plastic factory for high-quality green plastic

Engineered bacteria can produce a plastic modifier that makes renewably sourced plastic more processable, more fracture resistant and highly biodegradable even in sea water. The Kobe University development provides a platform for the industrial-scale, tunable production of a material that holds great potential for turning the plastic industry green. Plastic is a hallmark of our civilization. It is a family of highly formable (hence the name), versatile and durable materials, most of which are also persistent in nature and therefore a significant source of pollution. Moreover, many plastics are produced from crude oil, a non-renewable resource. Engineers and researchers ...

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Environment

UC Irvine scientist helps link climate change to Madagascar’s megadrought

Irvine, Calif., April 9, 2024 — A University of California, Irvine-led team reveals a clear link between human-driven climate change and the years-long drought currently gripping southern Madagascar. Their study appears in the Nature journal Climate and Atmospheric Science. “Using remotely sensed observations and climate models, we could see evidence that climate change is affecting the hydrological cycle in southern Madagascar, and it’s likely going to have big implications for the people that live there and how they grow their food,” ...

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A smarter city skyline for flood safety
Environment

A smarter city skyline for flood safety

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2024 — A city’s skyline — the distinctive shapes and arrangements of its buildings — impacts the safety of its population during floods. When the streets flood, pedestrians can be swept under the current and injured or killed. With climate change and rising urbanization, the likelihood and severity of urban flooding are increasing. Not all city blocks are created equal. In Physics of Fluids, an AIP Publishing journal, researchers from Beijing Normal University, Beijing Hydrological Center, and the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research investigated how city design contributes to pedestrian ...

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Floridians’ and Texans’ perceptions of hurricane risk
Environment

Floridians’ and Texans’ perceptions of hurricane risk

Rapid climate change is prompting adaptation to threats such as tropical cyclones, wildfires, and droughts—but relatively trivial adaptation actions may lull people into inaccurate perceptions of their personal risk. Researchers from the University of California, Irvine; Stanford University; and the University of California, Los Angeles surveyed 2,774 Texas and Florida residents about tropical cyclones—also known in North America as hurricanes—five times between 2017 and 2022. The survey ...

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Environment

Remote work cuts car travel and emissions, but hurts public transit ridership

Remote work could cut hundreds of millions of tons of carbon emissions from car travel – but at the cost of billions lost in public transit revenues, according to a new study. Using the latest data on remote work and transportation behavior since the pandemic upended work arrangements, researchers at the University of Florida, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Peking University revealed how cities could meet their sustainability goals by promoting remote work. The researchers found that a 10% increase in remote workers could lead ...

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New study shows renewable energy could work as power source at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
Environment

New study shows renewable energy could work as power source at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

A recent analysis shows that renewable energy could be a viable alternative to diesel fuel for science at the South Pole. The analysis deeply explores the feasibility of replacing part of the energy production at the South Pole with renewable sources. For almost as long as humans have spent time in Antarctica, the continent has been a home for science. One of the research outposts located there is the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The science done there includes studies of climate change and cosmology. Currently, ...

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Environment

How climate change will impact food production and financial institutions

Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy have developed a new method to predict the financial impacts climate change will have on agriculture, which can help support food security and financial stability for countries increasingly prone to climate catastrophes. The study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, uses climate and agricultural data from Brazil. It finds that climate change has a cascading effect on farming, leading to increased loan defaults for ...

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Climate change threatens Antarctic meteorites
Environment

Climate change threatens Antarctic meteorites

Using artificial intelligence, satellite observations, and climate model projections, a team of researchers from Switzerland and Belgium calculate that for every tenth of a degree of increase in global air temperature, an average of nearly 9,000 meteorites disappear from the surface of the ice sheet. This loss has major implications, as meteorites are unique samples of extraterrestrial bodies that provide insights into the origin of life on Earth and the formation of the Moon. Disappearing at an alarming rate By 2050, about a quarter of the estimated of 300,000 - 800,000 meteorites in Antarctica will be lost ...

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Environment

Using pulp and paper waste to scrub carbon from emissions

Researchers at McGill University have come up with an innovative approach to improve the energy efficiency of carbon conversion, using waste material from pulp and paper production. The technique they’ve pioneered using the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan not only reduces the energy required to convert carbon into useful products, but also reduces overall waste in the environment. “We are one of the first groups to combine biomass recycling or utilization with CO2 capture,” said Ali ...

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Environment

Boreal forest and tundra regions worst hit over next 500 years of climate change, study shows

The boreal forest, covering much of Canada and Alaska, and the treeless shrublands to the north of the forest region, may be among the worst impacted by climate change over the next 500 years, according to a new study. The study, led by researchers at the White Rose universities of York and Leeds, as well as Oxford and Montreal, and ETH, Switzerland, ran a widely-used climate model with different atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide to assess the impact climate change could have on the ...

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Ocean waves propel PFAS back to land
Environment

Ocean waves propel PFAS back to land

A new study by researchers at the Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, published in Science Advances, reveals that PFAS re-emit into the air from crashing ocean waves at levels comparable to or greater than other sources, establishing a cyclical transport process for these "forever chemicals" between land and sea. “The common belief is that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, drain from the land into the oceans where they stay to be diluted into the deep oceans ...

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UTSA joins consortium to create sustainable aviation hub in San Antonio
Environment

UTSA joins consortium to create sustainable aviation hub in San Antonio

(SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS) — UTSA has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), the City of San Antonio, and CPS Energy to develop and promote energy technologies that could potentially decarbonize the aviation sector. The ambitious project will pursue a range of research and development objectives, including sustainable aviation technologies, battery technologies and battery storage solutions, enhanced electric vehicle charging technologies and power-related technologies. The MOU will position San Antonio as an innovation center for these new energy solutions, accelerating their development ...

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Ocean floor a 'reservoir' of plastic pollution, world-first study finds
Environment

Ocean floor a 'reservoir' of plastic pollution, world-first study finds

New research from CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, and the University of Toronto in Canada, estimates up to 11 million tonnes of plastic pollution is sitting on the ocean floor. Every minute, a garbage truck’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. With plastic use expected to double by 2040, understanding how and where it travels is crucial to protecting marine ecosystems and wildlife. Dr Denise Hardesty, Senior Research Scientist with CSIRO, said this is the first estimate of how much plastic waste ends up on the ocean floor, where it accumulates before being ...

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Environment

"Drop industrial agriculture": Major study reports that people and environment both benefit from diversified farming, while bottom lines also thrive

Mixing livestock and crops, integrating flower strips and trees, water and soil conservation and much more: Massive new global study led by the University of Copenhagen and University of Hohenheim, has examined the effects of diversified agriculture. The conclusion is abundantly clear – positive effects increase with every measure, while negative effects are hard to find. Laura Vang Rasmussen of the University of Copenhagen can finally wipe the sweat from her brow. For the last four years, she has served as the link between 58 researchers on five continents and as lead author of a major agricultural study which gathered ...

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Environment

Electric vehicles are lowering Bay Area's carbon footprint

An extensive CO2 monitoring network set up around the San Francisco Bay Area by an atmospheric chemist from the University of California, Berkeley, has recorded the first evidence that the adoption of electric vehicles is measurably lowering the area's carbon emissions. The network of sensors, most of them in the East Bay, is the brainchild of Ronald Cohen, UC Berkeley professor of chemistry, who envisions inexpensive, publicly funded pollution and carbon dioxide monitors widely distributed around urban areas to pinpoint emission sources and the ...

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With the planet facing a 'polycrisis', biodiversity researchers uncover major knowledge gaps
Environment

With the planet facing a 'polycrisis', biodiversity researchers uncover major knowledge gaps

A scientific review has found almost no research studying the interconnections across three major threats to planetary health, despite UN assessments suggesting one million species are at risk of extinction, a global pandemic that resulted in over six million excess deaths, and a record-breaking year of global temperatures. “When we began to look into it, we had suspicions the number of studies would be low, but not that low,” says Dr. Jonathan Davies, a researcher with University of ...

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Adult fish struggle to bounce back in marine protected areas
Environment

Adult fish struggle to bounce back in marine protected areas

Age matters when determining how to protect life in the ocean; every population needs a strong cohort of adults to produce the next generation. But many marine protected areas (MPAs) are falling short of their most basic purpose: to rebuild struggling fish populations. In a new study published April 4 in Global Change Biology, scientists looked at the age breakdown of reef fish in marine protected areas for the first time. They discovered in almost all of them, adult fish populations have either flatlined or declined. “Adult fish are really important,” said ...

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