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Categories: Energy: Nuclear, Paleontology: Climate
Published Pinpointing coal plants to convert to nuclear energy, considering both practicality and community support
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An assessment ranks the feasibility of converting 245 operational coal power plants in the U.S. into advanced nuclear reactors, providing valuable insights for policymakers and utilities to meet decarbonization goals, according to a new study.
Published The dawn of the Antarctic ice sheets
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In recent years global warming has left its mark on the Antarctic ice sheets. The 'eternal' ice in Antarctica is melting faster than previously assumed, particularly in West Antarctica more than East Antarctica. The root for this could lie in its formation, as an international research team has now discovered: sediment samples from drill cores combined with complex climate and ice-sheet modelling show that permanent glaciation of Antarctica began around 34 million years ago -- but did not encompass the entire continent as previously assumed, but rather was confined to the eastern region of the continent (East Antarctica).
Published Mighty floods of the Nile River during warmer and wetter climates
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Global warming as well as recent droughts and floods threaten large populations along the Nile Valley. Sediment cores off the Nile mouth reveal insights into the effects and causes of heavy rainfall episodes about 9,000 years ago. That will help to prepare for weather extremes in a changing climate.
Published What was behind the 2021-2022 energy crisis within Europe?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A team of researchers had already been working with electricity price data for years before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, exploring statistics and developing forecasting methods. Now they zero in on how prices in different countries relate and how countries were affected by the energy crisis and address the interdependencies of different markets. Their approach combines statistical physics and network science, identifying communities and the fundamental spatiotemporal patterns within the electricity price/time data from all countries. The researchers hope their work will strengthen the European perspective in the political debate about electricity markets and prices, because problems like this are best tackled via international cooperation.
Published Nuclear spectroscopy breakthrough could rewrite the fundamental constants of nature
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Raising the energy state of an atom's nucleus using a laser, or exciting it, would enable development of the most accurate atomic clocks ever to exist. This has been hard to do because electrons, which surround the nucleus, react easily with light, increasing the amount of light needed to reach the nucleus. By causing the electrons to bond with fluorine in a transparent crystal, UCLA physicists have finally succeeded in exciting the neutrons in a thorium atom's nucleus using a moderate amount of laser light. This accomplishment means that measurements of time, gravity and other fields that are currently performed using atomic electrons can be made with orders of magnitude higher accuracy.
Published The evidence is mounting: humans were responsible for the extinction of large mammals
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Human hunting, not climate change, played a decisive role in the extinction of large mammals over the last 50,000 years. This conclusion comes from researchers who reviewed over 300 scientific articles from many different fields of research.
Published Investigating newly discovered hydrothermal vents at depths of 3,000 meters off Svalbard
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Hydrothermal vents can be found around the world at the junctions of drifting tectonic plates. But there are many hydrothermal fields still to be discovered. During a 2022 expedition of the MARIA S. MERIAN, the first field of hydrothermal vents on the 500-kilometer-long Knipovich Ridge off the coast of Svalbard was discovered.
Published Ocean's loss of oxygen caused massive Jurassic extinction: Could it happen again?
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have found a chemical clue in Italian limestone that explains a mass extinction of marine life in the Early Jurassic period, 183 million years ago. Volcanic activity pumped out CO2, warming oceans and lowering their oxygen levels. The findings may foretell the impact climate change and oxygen depletion might have on today's oceans.
Published Shocked quartz reveals evidence of historical cosmic airburst
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers continue to expand the case for the Younger Dryas Impact hypothesis. The idea proposes that a fragmented comet smashed into the Earth's atmosphere 12,800 years ago, causing a widespread climatic shift that, among other things, led to the abrupt reversal of the Earth's warming trend and into an anomalous near-glacial period called the Younger Dryas.
Published Carbon dioxide's heavy stamp on temperature: Doubling CO2 may mean 7 to 14 degree increase
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A doubling of the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere could cause an increase in the average temperature on earth from 7 to even a maximum of 14 degrees. That is shown in the analysis of sediments from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
Published Pair plasmas found in deep space can now be generated in the lab
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have experimentally generated high-density relativistic electron-positron pair-plasma beams by producing two to three orders of magnitude more pairs than previously reported.
Published The rotation of Earth's inner core has slowed, new study confirms
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The new study provides unambiguous evidence that the inner core began to decrease its speed around 2010, moving slower than the Earth's surface.
Published Ancient ocean slowdown warns of future climate chaos
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source When it comes to the ocean's response to global warming, we're not in entirely uncharted waters. A new study shows that episodes of extreme heat in Earth's past caused the exchange of waters from the surface to the deep ocean to decline.
Published Metal alloys that can take the heat
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Complex metal alloys enter a new era of predictive design for aerospace and other high-temperature applications.
Published New plasma escape mechanism could protect fusion vessels from excessive heat
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The exhaust heat generated by a fusing plasma in a commercial-scale reactor may not be as damaging to the vessel's innards as once thought, according to new research about escaping plasma particles.
Published The solar system may have passed through dense interstellar clouds 2 million years ago, altering Earth's climate
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astrophysicists calculate the likelihood that Earth was exposed to cold, harsh interstellar clouds, a phenomenon not previously considered in geologic climate models.
Published US public opinion on social media is warming to nuclear energy, but concerns remain
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The U.S. public displays more positive than negative sentiment toward nuclear energy but concerns remain about waste, cost and safety, according to an analysis of 300,000 posts on social media.
Published AI approach elevates plasma performance and stability across fusion devices
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Fusion researchers have successfully deployed machine learning methods to suppress harmful plasma edge instabilities without sacrificing plasma performance.
Published Human activity contributed to woolly rhinoceros' extinction
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have discovered sustained hunting by humans prevented the woolly rhinoceros from accessing favourable habitats as Earth warmed following the Last Ice Age.
Published Arctic melting heavily influenced by little-studied meteorological phenomena
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A team of scientists has combined paleoclimatic data from the last 2,000 years with powerful computer modeling and in-the-field research on lake sediments and tree rings to show that an understudied phenomenon, known as atmospheric blocking, has long influenced temperature swings in the Arctic. As temperatures warm due to climate change, atmospheric blocking will help drive ever-wilder weather events. The study focused on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago, Svalbard, at the edge of the Arctic Ocean.