Environment
press releases.

Environment15 Dec 2023

Positive tipping points must be triggered to solve climate crisis

Positive tipping points must be triggered if we are to avoid the severe consequences of damaging Earth system tipping points, researchers say. With global warming on course to breach 1.5oC, at least five Earth system tipping points are likely to be triggered – and more could follow. Once triggered, Earth system tipping points would have profound local and global impacts, including sea-level rise from major ice sheet melting, mass species extinction from dieback of the Amazon rainforest and disruption to weather patterns from a collapse of large-scale ocean circulation currents. The new commentary – published in One Earth by researchers from the Global Systems Institute at ...

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Environment15 Dec 2023

Role of cleaning fishes in conserving biodiversity distinguished with FLAD Science Award Atlantic 2023

José Ricardo Paula, researcher at the Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Portugal), will receive 300.000 euros in funding in three years to develop a project that aims to improve the understanding of the role of cleaning mutualisms in the conservation of Atlantic biodiversity, using emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence. In the global ocean, there are several fish species, known as cleaners, that specialize in providing ...

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Environment15 Dec 2023

Third Pole environment researchers study the risk of glacial lake Outbursts in the Third Pole

The Third Pole, which spans the Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding Himalayas, Hindu Kush, and Tianshan Mountain ranges, is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Warming temperatures and altered rainfall patterns have caused over 10,000 glaciers in the region to retreat over the past three decades, facilitating the formation of thousands of glacial lakes. Though they appear harmless, these water bodies have a tremendous destructive potential, particularly due to their ability to cause glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). When triggered ...

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Environment15 Dec 2023

Strategies to limit redox electrolyte-enhanced carbon-based supercapacitor self-discharge

The efficient storage of clean energy is a critical component to achieving carbon neutrality. Capacitors are devices that store energy by separating positive and negative electrical charge, and supercapacitors (SC) are capacitors that can store and release large amounts of energy. A specialized supercapacitor, called a redox electrolyte-enhanced SC (RE-SC), places liquid redox electrolytes, a source of ions that can be electrically charged, next to a carbon-based electrical conductor, or electrode, to achieve high energy storage density and power output. Despite this increase in performance, RE-SCs suffer from self-discharge of stored energy, limiting their practicality. ...

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Environment15 Dec 2023

Revolutionary seaweed and carbonated water based hydrogel for treating skin wounds

Acting as the main interface between the internal and the external world, the skin is the largest and most important organ of the human body. It is frequently exposed to many types of physical injuries or wounds, including cuts, scrapes, scratches, infections, and ulcers. Unfortunately, as one ages, the skin becomes more frail and less capable of healing itself without help. With many countries experiencing a rapid rise in the aging population, the demand for treating such skin wounds has created a greater need for accessible and effective wound ...

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Environment14 Dec 2023

Climate-smart ocean planning in Antarctica awarded with 1.5M€ ERC starting grant

Catarina Frazão Santos, researcher at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Portugal) (Ciências ULisboa), has been awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) with a Starting Grant of approximately 1.5 million euros to study the benefits and challenges of developing sustainable, equitable and climate-smart marine spatial planning processes in Antarctica and beyond. “We need to raise awareness and foster a ‘paradigm shift’ on how to plan for sustainability and equity in a changing ocean,” says Catarina ...

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Environment14 Dec 2023

Solar-powered clothes provide personal heating and cooling

Combining a flexible solar cell with an electrocaloric device, researchers have created solar-powered clothing that allows the body to adapt dynamically to changes in ambient temperature, according to a new study. The new device could help guarantee the safety and comfort of the human body amid fluctuating environmental temperatures and even extend survivability in extreme environments, like those in outer space or other planets. Clothing is the most common way humans regulate their body temperature relative to the environment. However, it is normally focused on keeping an individual either warm or cool. The ability of clothing to ...

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Environment14 Dec 2023

Move over Blitzen: geese outpace reindeer impacts on Arctic ecosystems

In the frigid seas halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, two types of animals browse the palatable vegetation of a high-tundra archipelago, munching on thick moss, cropped grasses and low-lying shrubs. New research from a group led by Matteo Petit Bon from the Quinney College of Natural Resources is working to untangle the ecosystem impacts that two major players — geese and reindeer — have on a changing and vulnerable Arctic system. Reindeer have been year-round residents on the islands of Svalbard for thousands of years, but at one point were almost completely gone. Svalbard ...

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Environment14 Dec 2023

Seals stay warm and hydrated in the arctic with larger, more convoluted nasal passages

Arctic seals have evolved many adaptations to cope with their frosty environment—one that you might not immediately think of is the bones in their nasal cavity. Arctic seals have more convoluted nasal passages than seal species that live in milder environments, and researchers report December 14 in the Biophysical Journal that these structures help the seals more efficiently retain heat and moisture as they breathe in and out. “Thanks to this elaborate structure in their nasal cavities, Arctic seals lose less heat through nasal heat exchange than subtropical seals when both are exposed to the same ...

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Environment14 Dec 2023

People, not the climate, caused the decline of the giant mammals

About 100,000 years ago, the first modern humans migrated out of Africa in large numbers. They were eminent at adapting to new habitats, and they settled in virtually every kind of landscape - from deserts to jungles to the icy taiga in the far north. Part of the success was human's ability to hunt large animals. With clever hunting techniques and specially built weapons, they perfected the art of killing even the most dangerous mammals. But unfortunately, the great success of our ancestors came at the expense of the other large mammals. It is well-known that numerous large species went extinct ...

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Environment14 Dec 2023

A new catalyst opens efficient conversion from nitrate pollution to valuable ammonia

Pollution spewing from a booming global economy poses a number of different threats to human health. Researchers from Zhongyuan University of Technology proposed a new possible avenue to efficiently convert nitrate, a widespread water pollutant, back to valuable ammonia. In their recently published study, the team outlined a novel path to efficiently convert nitrate to ammonia using metal-added polyoxometalate as the catalyst under mild operating conditions. The study was published December 8 in Polyoxometalates. In the past few decades, a number of methods have been deployed ...

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Environment13 Dec 2023

The methane and nitrous oxide we exhale might contribute - in a very small way - to greenhouse gas emissions, with breath analysis indicating this may comprise up to 0.1% of UK emissions of the gases

The methane and nitrous oxide we exhale might contribute - in a very small way - to greenhouse gas emissions, with breath analysis indicating this may comprise up to 0.1% of UK emissions of the gases ### Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295157 Article Title: Measurements of methane and nitrous oxide in human breath and the development of UK scale emissions Author Countries: UK Funding: The analysis was funded by the UK NERC grant E/S003614/2 ‘Detection and Attribution of Regional greenhouse gas Emissions in the UK (DAREUK)’. ...

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Environment13 Dec 2023

New research shows that US renters are hit the hardest when a hurricane strikes

WASHINGTON, DC, December 13, 2023 –With a severe shortage of affordable housing in the United States, renters living along the East and Gulf coasts are uniquely vulnerable to hurricane disasters. Two new studies based on data from 2009 to 2018 show that renters living along the East and Gulf coasts of the United States face rent increases, higher eviction rates, and a lack of affordable housing in the aftermath of a hurricane. The research will be presented in December at the annual meeting of the 2023 Society for Risk Analysis Annual Conference ...

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Environment13 Dec 2023

Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology examines effects of climate change on allergic conditions

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (December 13, 2023) – As we head into the new year, some issues may be coming into sharper focus for those involved in allergy-immunology issues. The current issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, focuses its attention on a key problem affecting those with allergic conditions and the world today: climate change. “We recognize that climate change affects the global population, and that many people feel they as individuals don’t have much control,” says allergist Donald Leung, MD, PhD, Senior Executive Editor of Annals. “But ...

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Environment13 Dec 2023

Inequity in U.S. wildfire emergency response

WASHINGTON, DC, 2023 – Recent U.S. wildfire events -- including the 2023 Maui wildfire in Hawaii, the 2022 Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire in New Mexico, and the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire in Colorado -- are tragic examples of how disadvantaged communities can suffer most during and after a wildfire. While all three fires had a devastating impact on an entire community, they disproportionately affected low-income populations who were left without adequate insurance or the financial means to rebuild their homes. To study inequities in U.S. wildfire management, ...

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Environment13 Dec 2023

Helping more people get to safety in a wildfire

WASHINGTON, DC, Dec. 13, 2023 – Wildfires pose an increasing threat to communities at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) – where dry, flammable vegetation borders back yards, often in remote locations. Despite the well-known danger, many communities at highest risk do not have a strong wildfire evacuation plan in place. (One of these was the town of Lahaina on Maui, where wind-driven wildfires killed nearly 100 people in August 2023.) Researchers from UCLA’s John Garrick Institute for the Risk Sciences have built a new web-based software platform that allows emergency planners to design custom-made evacuation plans for their communities ...

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Environment13 Dec 2023

Resource-efficient and climate-friendly with sodium-ion batteries

The transition to a society without fossil fuels means that the need for batteries is increasing at a rapid pace. At the same time, the increase will mean a shortage of the metals lithium and cobalt, which are key components in the most common battery types. One option is a sodium-ion battery, where table salt and biomass from the forest industry make up the main raw materials. Now, researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, show that these sodium-ion batteries have an equivalent climate impact as their lithium-ion counterparts – without the risk of running out of raw materials. "The materials ...

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Environment13 Dec 2023

Pacific Northwest snowpack endangered by increasing spring heatwaves

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Even in the precipitation-heavy Pacific Northwest, more frequent heatwaves are threatening a key source of water supply. A Washington State University study that intended to look at snow melting under a single, extreme event, the 2021 “heat dome,” instead revealed an alarming, longer-term rising trend of successive heatwaves melting snowpack earlier in the year. The findings have implications for many areas worldwide that are dependent on snow-capped mountains to provide summer water since heatwaves have been on the rise globally. “Short-term ...

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Environment13 Dec 2023

Natural gas is actually migrating under permafrost, and could see methane emissions skyrocket if it escapes

Beneath Svalbard’s permafrost, millions of cubic meters of methane are trapped — and scientists have now learned that it can migrate beneath the cold seal of the permafrost and escape. A large-scale escape could create a cycle of warming that would send methane emissions skyrocketing: warming thaws the permafrost, causing more gas to escape, allowing more permafrost to thaw and more gas to be released. Because Svalbard’s geological and glacial history is very similar to the rest of the Arctic region, these migrating deposits of methane are likely ...

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Environment13 Dec 2023

Free electric vehicle charging at work? It’s possible with optimum solar

The global surge in electric vehicle sales has prompted an Australian university to explore how it could offer free or nominal EV charging facilities to staff and students by optimising its solar PV system and minimising workplace electricity costs. Engineering researchers based at the University of South Australia (UniSA) Mawson Lakes campus say that using renewable energy to power EV day charging is the key, lowering electricity grid demand in the evening and helping to support Australia’s net zero emission targets by 2050. The campus currently has rooftop solar panels on 18 buildings, supplemented by ground-mounted solar panels. The 2019 installation ...

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Environment12 Dec 2023

EMBO launches new award for sustainability in the lab

EMBO launches a new award for laboratory sustainability: The EMBO Lab Sustainability Award will recognize new and significant contributions to the development of sustainable wet and dry labs with a focus on their environmental impact. The award will be presented to an individual representing the initiative or project. Applications can be submitted between 15 January and 15 March 2024. The award winner will have the opportunity to present their initiative or project at scientific events and publish a commentary in EMBO Reports. In addition, the winning project will be supported with a grant of 10,000 euros. The award is one of ...

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Environment12 Dec 2023

New study sheds light on how much methane is produced from Arctic lakes and wetlands

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — When it comes to greenhouse gases, methane is one the biggest contributors. Not only is it massively abundant — it’s about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. That makes tracking methane emissions critically important, and nowhere more so than in the Arctic, which is now the fastest warming part of the globe. A new study conducted at Brown University helps shed light on the actual atmospheric methane emissions from Arctic ...

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Environment12 Dec 2023

Drought and the rapid rise of skateboarding

When a severe drought hit California in 1977, the state ordered citizens to drastically reduce domestic water usage. Water restrictions put in place occurred after a heady mix of prosperity and radical urban planning had resulted in the construction of more than 150,000 private swimming pools in California in the 1960s. The result was a ubiquitous new landscape feature: empty concrete pools. Ulf Büntgen and colleagues document how this novel geographic resource inspired surfers to develop professional vertical skateboarding in Los Angeles and environs. Other causal factors included the development of polyurethane ...

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Environment12 Dec 2023

How a drought led to the rise of skateboarding in 1970s California

Why did professional skateboarding arise in southern California in the 1970s? Was it a coincidence, or was it a perfect storm of multiple factors? It’s fairly well-known that a drought in southern California in the mid-1970s led to a ban on filling backyard swimming pools, and these empty pools became playgrounds for freestyle skateboarders in the greater Los Angeles area. But a new cross-disciplinary study from the University of Cambridge shows that beyond the drought, it was the entanglement of environmental, economic and technological factors that led to the explosive rise of professional skateboarding culture in the 1970s. The authors say that professional ...

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Environment12 Dec 2023

Underwater architects: The ‘burrowing effect’ of foraminifera on marine environments

Dr. Dewi Langlet, a scientist at the Evolution, Cell Biology and Symbiosis Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), studies foraminifera, single-cell organisms with shells made of calcium carbonate. He and his collaborators have shown for the first time that the burrowing of single-celled organisms in marine ecosystems affects oxygen distribution and bacterial diversity in sea sediments. Their findings have been published in the journal Biogeosciences. Foraminifera are mostly marine organisms ...

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