Environment

Jun 15, 2019 11:37 AM EDT

Flickering Sky Islands Generate Andean Biodiversity

A new video shows how climate change connected and disconnected Andean "sky islands" during the past million years. The innovative mathematical model used to make the video was based on fossil pollen records and shows how the entire páramo habitat shifted. The model can predict climate change effects in mountainous regions around the world, according to an international team of scientists including authors from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama (STRI).

Jun 14, 2019 08:07 AM EDT

Warming Waters in Western Tropical Pacific May Effect West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Warming waters in the western tropical Pacific Ocean have significantly increased thunderstorms and rainfall, which may affect the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and global sea-level rise, according to a Rutgers University-New Brunswick study.

Jun 14, 2019 08:01 AM EDT

Carbon-neutral Fuel Made from Sunlight and Air

Carbon-neutral fuels are crucial for making aviation and maritime transport sustainable. ETH researchers have developed a solar plant to produce synthetic liquid fuels that release as much CO2 during their combustion as previously extracted from the air for their production.

A Sifaka Lemur Munching on a Leaf (IMAGE)

Jun 14, 2019 07:57 AM EDT

The Surprising Reason Why Some Lemurs May be More Sensitive to Forest Loss

DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University scientists have given us another way to tell which endangered lemur species are most at risk from deforestation -- based on the trillions of bacteria that inhabit their guts.

Jun 13, 2019 10:42 AM EDT

Old Ice and Snow Yields Tracer of Preindustrial Ozone

HOUSTON -- (June 12, 2019) -- Using rare oxygen molecules trapped in air bubbles in old ice and snow, U.S. and French scientists have answered a long-standing question: How much have "bad" ozone levels increased since the start of the Industrial Revolution?

Jun 11, 2019 10:40 AM EDT

Light-powered Nano-organisms Consume CO2, Create Eco-friendly Plastics and Fuels

University of Colorado Boulder researchers have developed nano bio-hybrid organisms capable of using airborne carbon dioxide and nitrogen to produce a variety of plastics and fuels, a promising first step toward low-cost carbon sequestration and eco-friendly manufacturing for chemicals.

Jun 10, 2019 07:40 PM EDT

Mysterious Holes in Antarctic Sea Ice Explained by Years of Robotic Data

The winter ice on the surface of Antarctica's Weddell Sea occasionally forms an enormous hole. A hole that appeared in 2016 and 2017 drew intense curiosity from scientists and reporters. Though even bigger gaps had formed decades before, this was the first time oceanographers had a chance to truly monitor the unexpected gap in Antarctic winter sea ice.

Jun 10, 2019 07:32 PM EDT

Ancient DNA from Roman and Medieval Grape Seeds Reveal Ancestry of Wine Making

A grape variety still used in wine production in France today can be traced back 900 years to just one ancestral plant, scientists have discovered.

Jun 10, 2019 05:00 PM EDT

Switchgrass Hybrid Yields Insights Into Plant Evolution

Switchgrass is attractive as a potential bioenergy crop because it can grow for years without having to be replanted. Requiring less fertilizer than typical annual crops like corn, switchgrass can keep more nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon in the soil and out of our air and waterways. But, unlike corn, breeding of switchgrass for optimal traits is still in its early stages.

Jun 08, 2019 09:44 AM EDT

More Mysterious Jars of the Dead Unearthed in Laos

ANU and Uni of Melbourne Archaeologists have discovered 15 new sites in Laos containing more than one hundred 1000-year-old massive stone jars possibly used for the dead.

Older Forests Resist Climate Change (IMAGE)

Jun 08, 2019 09:36 AM EDT

Older Forests Resist Change -- Climate Change

Older forests in eastern North America are less vulnerable to climate change than younger forests - particularly for carbon storage, timber production, and biodiversity - new University of Vermont research finds.

Jun 08, 2019 09:15 AM EDT

Rapid Change in Coral Reefs Prompts Global Calls for a Rethink

Coral reef experts from around the world are calling for an urgent re-evaluation of our climate goals in the light of increasing evidence of the unprecedented speed of change to these fragile ecosystems. Coral reefs, which have functioned relatively unchanged for some 24 million years, are now going through profound changes in their make-up.

Jun 07, 2019 09:36 AM EDT

Details of First Historically Recorded Plague Pandemic Revealed by Ancient Genomes

An international team of researchers has analyzed human remains from 21 archaeological sites to learn more about the impact and evolution of the plague-causing bacterium Yersinia pestis during the first plague pandemic (541-750 AD). In a study published in PNAS, the researchers reconstructed 8 plague genomes from Britain, Germany, France, and Spain and uncovered a previously unknown level of diversity in Y. pestis strains. Additionally, they found the first direct genetic evidence of the Justinianic Plague in the British Isles.

Jun 07, 2019 09:20 AM EDT

Argentine Fossils Take Oak and Beech Family History Far Into Southern Hemisphere

One of the world's most important plant families has a history extending much farther south than any live or fossil specimen previously recorded, as shown by chinquapin fruit and leaf fossils unearthed in Patagonia, Argentina, according to researchers.

Jun 07, 2019 09:04 AM EDT

New Research Shakes Up the Sloth Family Tree

New research on the evolutionary relationships between tree sloths and their extinct giant relatives is challenging decades of widely accepted scientific research.