Chi Chen, a Boston University graduate researcher, and Ranga Myneni, a BU professor of earth and environment, are the lead and senior authors of a new paper in Nature Sustainability that reveals how humans are influencing the Earth’s plant and tree cover. On the surface, it may look like a no-brainer that “greening” of the planet would be…
100-Year-Old Physics Model Replicates Modern Arctic Ice Melt
The Arctic is melting faster than we thought it would. In fact, Arctic ice extent is at a record low. When that happens–when a natural system behaves differently than scientists expect–it’s time to take another look at how we understand the system. University of Utah mathematician Ken Golden and atmospheric scientist Court Strong study the patterns…
Scientists Investigate Climate and Vegetation Drivers of Terrestrial Carbon Fluxes
A better understanding of terrestrial flux dynamics will come from elucidating the integrated effects of climate and vegetation constraints on gross primary productivity (GPP), ecosystem respiration (ER), and net ecosystem productivity (NEP), according to Dr. Shutao Chen, Associate professor at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology. Dr. Chen and his team–a group of researchers…
Scientists Rinse Soils Clean of Dangerous Heavy Metals
Discovery Could Lead to More Accurate Earthquake Warning Systems
Pasta-Shaped Bacteria Might Be Present on Mars
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers are one step closer to understanding how life could potentially survive on Mars. The researcher team found that bacterium called Sulfurihydrogenibium yellowstonense or Sulfuri for short, controls the formation of ancient rock on Earth that looks like pasta and thrives in harsh environments that are similar to what is…
Changes in Climate Coincides With Tree Lifespan, Carbon Storage
Climate Change May Make the Arctic Tundra a Drier Landscape
With climate change, the Arctic tundra is likely to become drier. Lakes may shrink in size and smaller lakes may even disappear according to a new Dartmouth study. In western Greenland, Kangerlussuaq experienced a 28 percent decrease in the number of smaller lakes (those less than 10,000 square meters) and a 20 percent decrease in…
GRACE Data Contributes to Understanding of Climate Change
The University of Texas at Austin team that led a twin satellite system launched in 2002 to take detailed measurements of the Earth, called the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), reports in the most recent issue of the journal Nature Climate Change on the contributions that their nearly two decades of data have made…
Climate Innovation 2050: The Quest to Decarbonize the U.S. Economy
OU Study Expands Understanding of Bacterial Communities For Wastewater Treatment System
A University of Oklahoma-led interdisciplinary global study expands the understanding of activated sludge microbiomes for next-generation wastewater treatment and reuse systems enhanced by microbiome engineering. Wastewater treatment and reuse are critical to global health and sustaining a world population predicted to reach 10 billion by 2050. “In May 2014, we established a Global Water Microbiome…
Rising Innovator: Striving for ‘Environmental Justice’ Researcher Turns to Citizen Scientists
For one scientist, engaging with the public is one of the more important—and rewarding—parts of her research. Mónica Ramírez-Andreotta, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science at the University of Arizona often works with ‘citizen scientists’—everyday members of the public—to conduct research near hazardous waste sites or in environmental…
Coral Helps Researchers Tell the Tale of 400 Years of El Niño Activity
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,…
New Technology Could Allow Scientists to Better Understand Pollution Impact on Each Individual
Study Demonstrates Seagrass’ Strong Potential For Curbing Erosion
Tapping Fresh Water Under the Ocean has Consequences
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…
Stanford Researcher Outlines Key Steps to Address Climate Change
New Evidence Suggests Volcanoes Caused Biggest Mass Extinction Ever
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…
Scientists Discover Deep microbes’ Key Contribution to Earth’s Carbon Cycle
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…
Study Shows Arctic Warming Contributes to Drought
Catalyst Advance Removes Pollutants at Low Temperatures
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.…
Coral Reefs Near Equator Less Affected by Ocean Warming
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…
Lake ‘Dead Zones’ Could Kill Fish and Poison Drinking Water
Discovery of Parasitic Arsenic Cycle May Offer Glimpse of Life in Future, Warmer Oceans
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.…