Environment
press releases.

Environment15 Jul 2025

Jaguar population increases after wildfire and drought, indicating area’s role as climate refuge

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Following a large-scale wildfire, more jaguars migrated to a study site in the Brazilian wetlands that already had the largest population density of jaguars in the world, a new study found. “Finding even more jaguars and other mammals in the study area following the 2020 wildfire and extreme drought suggests that it may serve as a climate refuge, buffering the effects of extreme climate events,” said Charlotte Eriksson, a post-doctoral scholar at Oregon State University. The 36,700-acre site is a seasonally ...

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Environment15 Jul 2025

Efforts to eradicate invasive mussels likely to kill off many Idaho animal species

A new paper in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, published by Oxford University Press, finds that efforts to eradicate invasive molluscs in Idaho’s Snake River may kill off valuable freshwater species. Dreissenid mussels such as zebra and quagga mussels are invasive aquatic species that disrupt freshwater ecosystems and cause major economic and social damage. In the United States, observers first found Dreissenid mussels in the Great Lakes, likely introduced via international shipping vessels, in 1988. In subsequent decades Dreissenid mussels spread to lakes and rivers throughout the eastern and central United States, causing dramatic shifts in food chains, collapsed fisheries, ...

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Environment15 Jul 2025

Team discovers electrochemical method for highly selective single-carbon insertion in aromatic rings

A research team has discovered an electrochemical method that allows highly selective para-position single-carbon insertion into polysubstituted pyrroles. Their approach has important applications in synthetic organic chemistry, especially in the field of pharmaceuticals. Their work is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society on July 14. “We set out to address the longstanding challenge of achieving single-carbon insertion into aromatic rings with precise positional control,” said Mahito Atobe, Professor, Faculty of Engineering, YOKOHAMA National University. Transformations that modify ...

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Environment14 Jul 2025

Smarter tools for policymakers: Notre Dame researchers target urban carbon emissions, building by building

Carbon emissions continue to increase at record levels, fueling climate instability and worsening air quality conditions for billions in cities worldwide. Yet despite global commitments to carbon neutrality, urban policymakers still struggle to implement effective mitigation strategies at the city scale. Now, researchers at Notre Dame’s School of Architecture, the College of Engineering and the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society are working ...

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Environment14 Jul 2025

Soil erosion in mountain environments accelerated by agro-pastoral activities for 3,800 years

Over the last 3,800 years, agro-pastoral activities have accelerated alpine soil erosion at a pace 4-10 times faster than their natural formation. The history of this erosion has just been revealed for the first time by a research team led by a CNRS scientist1. The team has shown that high-altitude soil was degraded first, under the combined effect of pastoralism and forest clearing to facilitate the movement of herds. Medium- and low-altitude soil was then eroded with the development of agriculture and new techniques such as the use of ploughs, from the late Roman period to the contemporary period. ...

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Environment14 Jul 2025

New study reveals widespread and overlooked flooding across NC

A new study from UNC-Chapel Hill reveals that repetitive flooding in North Carolina is far more common and more widespread than previously recognized, with over 20,000 buildings flooding multiple times between 1996 and 2020. The study, which mapped 78 flood events across roughly three-quarters of the state, fills a major gap in understanding the full impacts of flooding on communities well beyond the state’s coastal floodplains. Until now, detailed flood maps have existed for only a handful of past events. The research team created high-resolution maps for more than 70 previously unmapped floods, linking them to the exact locations ...

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Environment14 Jul 2025

Air pollution cuts in East Asia likely accelerated global warming

The cleanup of air pollution in East Asia has accelerated global warming, a new study published today (Monday, 14 July) in the journal Communications Earth and Environment has found. Global warming, driven primarily by emissions of greenhouse gases, has been accelerating for the past 15 years, leading to record-breaking surface temperatures. Over the same period, countries in East Asia have made strong efforts to clean up air pollution, which is important for public health. The largest air pollution clean-up has been made ...

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Environment14 Jul 2025

High-purity green hydrogen with very low tar from biomass, with chemical looping gasification

A promising industrial process can turn crushed sugar cane waste into green hydrogen far more efficiently than previously thought, shows a SECLG process simulation from the University of Johannesburg. The study is published in Renewable Energy. The simulation indicates high energy efficiency and produces a small fraction of the unwanted tar, carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrogen (N) compared to conventional biomass gasification plants. The process may assist in decarbonizing energy-intensive industries such as steel and cement in the future. Sugar cane and ...

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Environment14 Jul 2025

‘Hope isn’t enough – we need action when it comes to climate change’, an earth scientist’s guide for the future

Climate change is coming… but what on Earth can we do about it? Scientist Dr. Kimberley Miner has written a guide to riding out the oncoming almighty storm. Miner is an Earth scientist whose research includes studying the changing Poles of Earth, the Arctic’s melting permafrost, forever chemicals and plastic pollution. Her new book Considering Climate Change provides practical guidance for young people concerned about the future. She poses questions like how to deal with eco-anxiety and climate-grief, how to prepare financially, ...

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Environment11 Jul 2025

Global ocean analysis could replace costly in-situ sound speed profiles in seafloor positioning, study finds

A new study reveals that global ocean analysis products can effectively replace expensive in-situ sound speed measurements for precise seafloor positioning. The research demonstrates that using sound speed profiles (SSPs) from the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) global ocean analysis achieves centimeter-level accuracy in seafloor positioning, comparable to traditional methods. This innovation could significantly reduce costs and logistical challenges in marine geodetic surveys, particularly for unmanned vehicles ...

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Environment11 Jul 2025

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage: A comprehensive review of CCUS-EOR

A recent study published in Engineering offers a comprehensive review of the synergistic impact of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) coupled with Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technologies. The research, led by Zhenhua Rui from the China University of Petroleum (Beijing), delves into the key factors influencing the efficiency of CO2-EOR and geological storage, proposing a novel coupled two-stage CCUS-EOR process to optimize the dual objectives of enhanced oil production and carbon reduction. The study highlights that CCUS-EOR represents a critical technological pathway for global carbon emission reduction, contributing to 77% of the world’s total carbon ...

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Environment11 Jul 2025

Newly discovered remains of ancient river landscapes control ice flow in East Antarctica

Strictly embargoed until 10am BST (5am US Eastern Time) on Friday 11 July 2025 (Nature Geoscience embargo) -With pictures- The remains of landscapes thought to have formed when ancient rivers flowed across East Antarctica have been discovered – and could help predictions of future loss from the ice sheet. Researchers led by Durham University, UK, examined radar measurements of ice thickness and found extensive, previously unmapped, flat surfaces buried beneath a 3,500 km stretch of the East Antarctic coastline. These surfaces were once connected and it is believed were formed by large rivers after East Antarctica and Australia broke apart approximately ...

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Environment10 Jul 2025

Green spaces boost children’s cognitive skills and strengthen family well-being

URBANA, Ill. – Access to nature promotes physical and mental health, and it is vital for children’s social and emotional development. Outdoor activities also influence family dynamics, helping to reduce stress and encourage connections. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examines how green spaces and outdoor structures near the family residence interact with other factors in the household environment to influence executive functioning in early childhood. “We looked at what people have outside their ...

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Environment10 Jul 2025

Climate change action could dramatically limit rising UK heatwave deaths

A new study suggests that, under realistic scenarios of high emissions and socioeconomic development, annual heat-related deaths in the U.K. could rise to about 50 times current rates by the 2070s, but that climate change mitigation and adaptation could significantly limit this rise. Rebecca Cole of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, U.K., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Climate. Heatwaves are expected to become more frequent and more intense in coming decades in the U.K. ...

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Environment10 Jul 2025

Annual heat-related deaths projected to increase significantly due to climate and population change

UCL Press Release Under embargo until Thursday 10 July 2025, 19:00 UK time, 14:00 US Eastern time Annual heat-related deaths projected to increase significantly due to climate and population change The annual number of heat-related deaths in England and Wales is set to rise up to fiftyfold over the next 50 years because of climate change, finds new research by UCL and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Their paper, published in PLoS Climate, analysed the impacts of 15 ...

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Environment10 Jul 2025

Rivers choose their path based on erosion — a discovery that could transform flood planning and restoration

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Rivers are Earth’s arteries. Water, sediment and nutrients self-organize into diverse, dynamic channels as they journey from the mountains to the sea. Some rivers carve out a single pathway, while others divide into multiple interwoven threads. These channel patterns shape flood risks, erosion hazards and ecosystem services for more than 3 billion people who live along river corridors worldwide. Understanding why some waterways form single channels, while others divide into many threads, has perplexed researchers for over a century. ...

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Environment10 Jul 2025

US vacation renters waste $2 billion worth of food annually

COLUMBUS, Ohio – If you find yourself routinely throwing away groceries and leftovers the night before you check out of an Airbnb, you’re not alone: A new study values the food wasted by U.S. vacation renters at about $2 billion each year. Based on survey results, researchers estimated that groceries, takeout and restaurant leftovers averaging $12 in value per night of short-term lodging remains uneaten. Though the analysis didn’t pinpoint how much remaining food landed in the trash, that was the most common outcome reported, along with taking food home or leaving it behind. On average, ...

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Environment10 Jul 2025

New tool maps hidden roles and risks in ecosystems

[Vienna, July 10, 2025] – Do you think you know which species are most vulnerable in an ecosystem? A novel analytical method developed by Italian physicists at the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) suggests there's more to discover. In their recent study, they found out how species like lizards and rabbits in South Florida's cypress wetlands are among their ecosystem's most at-risk species, pointing to vulnerabilities that aren't always obvious. The study, published in Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, introduces an innovative tool to map and measure species' ecological roles and vulnerabilities. ...

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Environment10 Jul 2025

'Talking fish' not heard by conservation policies, SFU study warns

More than a thousand fish species use sounds to exchange information, attract mates, and avoid predators through hums, grunts, clicks, and bubbles. Yet, the vital role of fish sounds—and the impact of noise pollution on the fishes that produce them—are left out of critical conservation policy, says study led by marine ecologists at Simon Fraser University. The ocean is filled with the bustling sounds of daily marine life, including the sounds made by soniferous fish species. These sounds aren’t merely passive sounds—soniferous fishes produce sound themselves, like a whale ‘singing’ through vocalizations, says Kieran ...

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Environment9 Jul 2025

Seaside more likely to make us nostalgic than green places, study finds

People in the UK and US are more likely to feel nostalgic towards places by the sea, lakes or rivers than they are towards fields, forests and mountains, according to new research. The study suggests that coastlines may have the optimal visual properties to make us feel positive emotions, and argues that ‘place nostalgia’ offers significant psychological benefits. Seaside and oceanside spots account for over a quarter of nostalgic places identified by UK residents (26%) and one-fifth (20%) of US residents in the University of Cambridge-led study. Rivers and lakes raise the figure to around a third (35% UK; 30% US). ...

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Environment9 Jul 2025

Underestimated sources of marine pollution

Plastic waste pollutes oceans across all regions of the world. Marine animals may become entangled in larger plastic debris such as nets and bags or mistake smaller pieces for food. Ingested plastic can block or injure the gastrointestinal tract. The smallest plastic particles in the micro and nano range are mostly excreted, but a small proportion can pass through the intestinal wall and enter the bloodstream. So how much nanoplastic is actually present in the oceans? Most scientific attention has so far been focussed ...

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Environment9 Jul 2025

New study points to Skagerrak as nursery area for the enigmatic Greenland shark

New study points to Skagerrak as nursery area for the enigmatic Greenland shark The Greenland shark – the world's longest-living vertebrate – is most often associated with cold Arctic waters. However, a new international study led by researchers from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and the University of Copenhagen shows that Skagerrak probably serves as a nursery area for young Greenland sharks. The study also points out that Greenland sharks are not born in Greenland or anywhere else in the ...

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Environment8 Jul 2025

UK hopes to bolster space weather forecasts with Europe's first solar storm monitor

Royal Astronomical Society press release RAS PR 25/27 (NAM 7) 8 July 2025 Embargoed until Wednesday 9 July 2025 at 00:01 BST A new UK-led satellite mission concept aims to strengthen the country's position in space weather observation and forecasting by deploying a suite of homegrown scientific instruments on a low-cost spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. The proposal is being presented today (Wednesday) at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting 2025 in Durham. UK-ODESSI ...

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Environment8 Jul 2025

How lakes connect to groundwater critical for resilience to climate change, research finds

Understanding whether lakes are fed predominantly by groundwater or rainwater is critical to managing our water resources in the face of droughts and shortages, new research has found. The study drew on data from 350 lakes across 18 European countries, collected between 2022 and 2024, to provide a comprehensive picture of how the continent’s lakes are coping with climate change. The research is presented today [Wednesday 9 July, 2025] at the Goldschmidt Conference in Prague. The researchers, from the Czech Academy of Sciences, analysed the proportions of stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes (18O and 2H) in the lakes’ ...

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Environment8 Jul 2025

Meet the “plastivore” caterpillars that grow fat from eating plastic

Plastics play a fundamental role in modern life, but their resistance to biodegradation makes them very difficult to dispose of. New research reveals how “plastivore” caterpillars can metabolically degrade plastics in a matter of days, not decades, and store them internally as body fat – but at what cost? In 2017, a groundbreaking study demonstrated that the caterpillars of the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella), known as waxworms, can degrade polyethylene plastic. Polyethylene is the world’s most commonly manufactured plastic, with ...

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