Wednesday 25 August 2021
Ranking products of captured carbon dioxide by climate benefit
Pulling heat-trapping carbon dioxide out of the air and turning it into useful products, a concept called carbon capture and utilization, has the potential to offer both environmental and economic benefits.
Drought and climate change shift tree disease in Sierra Nevada
Even pathogens have their limits. When it gets too hot or too dry, some pathogens—like many living things—search for cooler, wetter and more hospitable climes. Ecologists have questioned if a warming, drying climate is connected to the spread of plant disease, but detecting a climate change fingerprint has been elusive.
Installation demonstrates how terawatt lasers can control and safely divert lightning
Almost 270 years since Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod, lightning protection is still based on this same concept. Although we can't deny the benefits of lightning rods, major drawbacks do remain. Installing permanent lightning rods isn't often feasible, and lightning rods also only protect against the direct effects of lightning. By attracting lightning strikes to conduct their current to the ground, lightning rods may even cause additional and more severe indirect effects, such as electromagnetic interference and voltage surges in devices and appliances.
Spotted lanternfly collective flights in late summer not dangerous to public
When leaving a Sunday morning church service in the village of Huffs Church, Berks County, in September 2017, parishioners were greeted—or more fittingly, startled—by a multitude of spotted lanternflies flying around their place of worship.
Pacific Island bats are utterly fascinating, yet under threat and overlooked
A whopping 191 different bat species live in the Pacific Islands across Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia—but these are, collectively, the most imperiled in the world. In fact, five of the nine bat species that have gone extinct in the last 160 years have come from this region.
Weather, ocean currents key to fish spawning in Micronesia
Larval fish are spawned in a given location and may be recruited into their next life stage—larger, older fish—in the same place or a distant location. The recruitment of rabbitfish in Guam and groupers in Palau has historically been unpredictable. A published study, co-authored by a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) research professor, found that patterns of ocean currents and weather determine the success or failure of recruitment from one spawning event to another in these Micronesian islands.
Measuring the sound velocity of Majorite under mantle transition zone conditions
Researchers at Ehime University have reported the sound velocity of MgSiO3 Majorite garnet up to the pressure of 18 gigapascals and temperature up to 2,000 Kelvins. Their results lead to understanding of the mineral composition of the Earth's mantle transition zone (MTZ), which has not been fully elucidated yet. This study suggests that a mechanical mixture of slab and mantle rocks, rather than equilibrated rocks, is more likely to explain seismological observations throughout the MTZ.
Impact of COVID school closures on literacy and numeracy in 2020 was relatively small in Australia
The early NAPLAN results for 2021 released today suggest the average impact of COVID school closures on literacy and numeracy in 2020 has been relatively small.
How embryo-like stem cell models could be used in drug safety tests
In a proof-of-concept study, scientists have demonstrated how 3D models made from embryonic stem cells, could be used as part of the testing process to assess if drugs and treatments are safe for developing embryos.
Carnivore interactions are a game of risk and reward
Coyotes can eat by scavenging cougars' prey but it's a risky proposition as coyotes often end up killed by cougars too, a new study of predator interactions by Oregon State University shows.
Peabody fossils illuminate dinosaur evolution in eastern North America
Tyrannosaurus rex, the fearsome predator that once roamed what is now western North America, appears to have had an East Coast cousin.
Protecting gardens and crops from insects using the 'smell of fear'
For home gardeners and farmers, herbivorous insects present a major threat to their hard work and crop yields. The predator insects that feed on these bugs emit odors that pests can sense, which changes the pests' behavior and even their physiology to avoid being eaten. With bugs becoming more resistant to traditional pesticides, researchers now report they have developed a way to bottle the "smell of fear" produced by predators to repel and disrupt destructive insects naturally without the need for harsh substances.
'Nanojars' capture dissolved carbon dioxide, toxic ions from water
Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere can dissolve in oceans, lakes and ponds, forming bicarbonate ions and other compounds that change water chemistry, with possible harmful effects on aquatic organisms. In addition, bicarbonate can reenter the atmosphere as carbon dioxide later, contributing to climate change. Now, researchers have developed tiny "nanojars," much smaller than the width of a human hair, that split bicarbonate into carbonate and capture it, as well as certain toxic anions, so the ions can be removed and potentially recycled.
Detecting an unprecedented range of potentially harmful airborne compounds
Many of the products we encounter daily—from deodorant to pesticides to paint—release molecules that drift through the air. Breathing in enough of the wrong ones can cause serious and potentially long-term health problems. However, it can be hard to estimate exposure because current devices are limited in what they can detect. Today, researchers report development of a new personal air-sampling system that can detect an unprecedented range of these compounds from a special badge or pen attached to someone's shirt or placed in a pocket.
Evolutionary 'time travel' reveals enzyme's origins, possible future designs
"The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion," Albert Einstein wrote. Perhaps this is nowhere more evident than in protein evolution, where past and present versions of the same enzyme exist in different species today, with implications for future enzyme design. Now, researchers have used evolutionary "time travel" to learn how an enzyme evolved over time, from one of Earth's most ancient organisms to modern-day humans.
Slow Covid vaccination to cost global economy $2.3 tn: study
The slow rollout of coronavirus vaccines will cost the global economy $2.3 trillion in lost output, a report released Wednesday found.
'Catastrophic' pollution plagues Libya beaches
With untreated sewage in the water and rubbish piled on the sand, pollution on Tripoli's Mediterranean coast is denying residents of the war-torn Libyan capital a much-needed escape.
Pristine Lake Tahoe shrouded in smoke from threatening fire
Ash rained down on Lake Tahoe on Tuesday and thick yellow smoke blotted out views of the mountains rimming its pristine blue waters as a massive wildfire threatened the alpine vacation spot on the California-Nevada state line.
Genetic mapping boosts hopes for restoring prized lake trout
Scientists have traced the genetic makeup of lake trout, a feat that should boost efforts to rebuild populations of the prized fish in the Great Lakes and other North American waters where they've been hammered by invasive species, overfishing and pollution, officials said Tuesday.
Scientists launch effort to collect water data in US West
The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday announced a new kind of climate observatory near the headwaters of the Colorado River that will help scientists better predict rain and snowfall in the U.S. West and determine how much of it will flow through the region.
Researcher discovers 'neck-like' vertebral motion in fish
A University of Liverpool researcher has discovered that fish can bend their spines and heads upwards, despite having different anatomy from humans and other land-dwelling vertebrates.
Scientists detect earthquake swarm at Hawaii volcano
Geologists on Tuesday said they had detected a swarm of earthquakes at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, though it is not erupting.
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