Environment : Nature World News

Cluster of Retrogressive thaw Slumps (IMAGE)

May 24, 2019 08:27 AM EDT

Widespread Permafrost Degradation Seen in High Arctic Terrain

Rapid changes in terrain are taking place in Canada's high Arctic polar deserts due to increases in summer air temperatures.

Unexpected Observation of Ice at Low Temperature, High Pressure Questions Ice, Water theory (IMAGE)

May 23, 2019 09:20 AM EDT

Unexpected Observation of Ice at Low Temperature, High Pressure Questions Water Theory

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., May 22, 2019--Through an experiment designed to create a super-cold state of water, scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory used neutron scattering to discover a pathway to the unexpected formation of dense, crystalline phases of ice thought to exist beyond Earth's limits.

May 23, 2019 08:58 AM EDT

Strange Martian Mineral Deposit Likely Sourced from Volcanic Explosions

PROVIDENCE, RI [Brown University] -- Ashfall from ancient volcanic explosions is the likely source of a strange mineral deposit near the landing site for NASA's next Mars rover, a new study finds. The research, published in the journal Geology, could help scientists assemble a timeline of volcanic activity and environmental conditions on early Mars.

May 22, 2019 07:15 AM EDT

Stellar Waltz with Dramatic Ending

Astronomers at the University of Bonn and their colleagues from Moscow have identified an unusual celestial object. It is most likely the product of the fusion of two stars that died a long time ago. After billions of years circling around each other, these so-called white dwarfs merged and rose from the dead. In the near future, their lives could finally end - with a huge bang. The researchers are now presenting their findings in the journal Nature.

May 24, 2019 11:48 AM EDT

Have Environmental Regulations Become Too Difficult To Follow?

A brief analysis of the existing state of American environmental policy shows that companies and activists alike have been confounded by regulations recently because they’re grown to dizzying to follow.

May 21, 2019 11:30 AM EDT

Lake Sediment Records Reveal Recent Floods in NW England (UK) Unprecedented

A new study of UK lake sediment records stretching back over several centuries has found that the floods that hit Northern England in 2009 and 2015 ('Storm Desmond'), were the largest in 600 years, pointing to the impact of climate changes on the frequency and magnitude of these extreme events.

Plant Virus for Targeted Pesticide Delivery (IMAGE)

May 21, 2019 09:42 AM EDT

How Plant Viruses Can be Used to Ward Off Pests and Keep Plants Healthy

Imagine a technology that could target pesticides to treat specific spots deep within the soil, making them more effective at controlling infestations while limiting their toxicity to the environment.

All Representatives of Boreocingula (IMAGE)

May 20, 2019 01:39 PM EDT

Pseudohermaphrodite Snails can Help to Access How Polluted the Arctic Seas Are

Ivan Nekhaev, a postdoc at St Petersburg University, studied snails of the genus Boreocingula - tiny gastropods as small as half a centimeter - and first discovered that Arctic micro mollusks can show signs of pseudohermaphroditism. Boreocingula martini adult females grow underdeveloped male genital organs.

May 20, 2019 12:48 PM EDT

Size is Everything

(Jena, Germany) Natural ecosystems are as vulnerable as they are diverse. Environmental changes such as climate change, pollution or the spread of alien species can easily throw an ecosystem off balance. Researchers are therefore investigating how susceptible ecosystems are to disruption. But in their search for answers, they face the problem that the complex network of relationships includes innumerable interactions, which are virtually impossible to record comprehensively and convert into measurable data.

May 20, 2019 11:59 AM EDT

High-Quality Jadeite Tool Discovered in Underwater Ancient Salt Works in Belize

Anthropologists discovered a tool made out of high-quality translucent jadeite with an intact rosewood handle at a site where the ancient Maya processed salt in Belize. The discovery of these high-quality materials--jadeite and rosewood--used as utilitarian tools, demonstrates that salt workers played an important role in the Classic Maya marketplace economy more than 1,000 years ago.

May 20, 2019 10:22 AM EDT

Can a Hands-on Model Help Forest Stakeholders Fight Tree Disease?

When a new, more aggressive strain of the pathogen that causes sudden oak death turned up in Oregon, scientists and stakeholders banded together to try to protect susceptible trees and the region's valuable timber industry.

May 18, 2019 10:22 AM EDT

Machine Learning Speeds Modeling of Experiments Aimed at Capturing Fusion Energy on Earth

Machine learning (ML), a form of artificial intelligence that recognizes faces, understands language and navigates self-driving cars, can help bring to Earth the clean fusion energy that lights the sun and stars. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) are using ML to create a model for rapid control of plasma -- the state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei, or ions -- that fuels fusion reactions.

May 16, 2019 10:22 AM EDT

Organic Animal Farms Benefit Birds Nesting in Agricultural Environments

The abundance of bird species living in agricultural environments has decreased both in Finland and elsewhere in Europe. Attempts to rectify the situation have been made with the help of agri-environment-climate subsidies. They are granted to agricultural producers by the EU for implementing measures that are presumed to be beneficial to the environment. There is a range of such subsidies, but their potential effects on biodiversity at national scales have been seldom comprehensively investigated.

May 16, 2019 10:20 AM EDT

A New Iron-Based Superconductor Stabilized by Inter-Block Charger Transfer

Iron-based superconductors (IBSCs) have attracted sustained research attention over the past decade, partly because new IBSCs were discovered one after another in the earlier years. At the time being, however, exploration of IBSCs becomes more and more challenging.

May 16, 2019 10:04 AM EDT

Transfer of EU Powers Leads to Silent Erosion of UK Pesticide Regulation

New analysis by the UK Trade Policy Observatory is warning that what should have been the technical formality of transferring EU powers into national law when the UK leaves the European Union, could instead open the gates for the widespread use of outlawed carcinogenic pesticides that have been shown to alter human reproductive, neurological, and immune systems.