Environment

Researchers are working to develop a 400-year long seasonal record of El Niño events using new machine learning techniques and coral cores. A team from the University of New South Wales has are utlizing cores drilled from coral to detect different types of El Niño events, demonstrating how the nature of these events has changed,…

The last place most people would expect to find fresh groundwater is tens to hundreds of kilometers offshore in the ocean. Yet not only is that exactly where freshwater can be found, in the ground of the continental shelf beneath the ocean, but simulations have shown that it could be a common occurrence across a…

Researchers say mercury buried in ancient rock provides the strongest evidence yet that volcanoes caused the biggest mass extinction in the history of the Earth. The extinction 252 million years ago was so dramatic and widespread that scientists call it “the Great Dying.” The catastrophe killed off more than 95 percent of life on Earth…

Hydrocarbons play key roles in atmospheric and biogeochemistry, the energy economy, and climate change. Most hydrocarbons form in anaerobic environments through high temperature or microbial decomposition of organic matter. Microorganisms can also “eat” hydrocarbons underground, preventing them from reaching the atmosphere. Using a new technique developed at the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), an international team…

Researchers at Washington State University, University of New Mexico, Eindhoven University of Technology, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed a catalyst that can both withstand high temperatures and convert pollutants at near room temperature – an important advance for reducing pollution in modern cars. They report on their work in the journal, Nature Communications.…

Ocean warming is threatening coral reefs globally, with persistent thermal stress events degrading coral reefs worldwide, but a new study has found that corals at or near the equator are affected less than corals elsewhere. The findings from Florida Institute of Technology Ph.D. student Shannon Sully and professor Rob van Woesik, along with colleagues at…

A newly discovered parasitic cycle, in which ocean bacteria keep phytoplankton on an energy-sapping treadmill of nutrient detoxification, may offer a preview of what further ocean warming will bring. The research, conducted by Oregon State University scientists in the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda, also may explain how the bacteria, SAR11, came to be so prolific.…

Access to clean water remains one of the biggest challenges facing humankind. A breakthrough by engineers at The University of Texas at Austin may offer a new solution through solar-powered technology that absorbs moisture from the air and returns it as clean, usable water. The breakthrough, described in a recent issue of the journal Advanced…

A recently-launched satellite mission has captured precision data on the elevation of the Antarctic ice sheet proving a valuable addition to monitoring efforts in the region, according to work published this week in The Cryosphere. From its orbit 815 km above the Earth, the Sentinel-3 satellite was able to detect the height of the ice…

Hiding within the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, scientists from Washington State University (WSU) have found electricity-breathing microbes that could help tackle two emerging global problems—environmental pollution and sustainable energy. If harnessed correctly, this bacteria can “eat” pollution by converting toxic pollutants into less harmful substances, while simultaneously generating electricity. “As these bacteria pass…

Geophysicists at Caltech have created a new method for determining earthquake hazards by measuring how fast energy is building up on faults in a specific region, and then comparing that to how much is being released through fault creep and earthquakes. They applied the new method to the faults underneath central Los Angeles, and found…

Researchers have used liquid metals to turn carbon dioxide back into solid coal, in a world-first breakthrough that could transform our approach to carbon capture and storage. The research team led by RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have developed a new technique that can efficiently convert CO2 from a gas into solid particles of carbon.…

The Arctic Ocean could become ice-free in the summer in the next 20 years due to a natural, long-term warming phase in the tropical Pacific that adds to human-caused warming, according to a new study. Computer models predict climate change will cause the Arctic to be nearly free of sea ice during the summer by…

Over the past 20 years, concentrations of pharmaceuticals have increased in freshwater sources all over the world, as research by environmental experts at Radboud University has revealed. Levels of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin have reached the point of potentially causing damaging ecological effects. The research is the first to examine the risks of two particular medicines…

Viruses don’t always kill their microbial hosts. In many cases, they develop a mutually beneficial relationship: the virus establishes itself inside the microbe and, in return, grants its host with immunity against attack by similar viruses. Understanding this relationship is beneficial not only for medical research and practical applications but also in marine biology, says…