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Categories: Geoscience: Geochemistry, Physics: Optics
Published Key nutrients help plants beat the heat
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have discovered some of the molecular mechanisms controlling how plants -- including important crops like soybean and rice -- will respond to rising global temperatures, finding higher temperatures make root systems grow faster, but sustaining this increased growth speed depends on high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil. The discoveries point to the necessity of nitrogen and phosphorus-rich soil to promote crop growth and create nutritious crops, in addition to aiding a mission to create more resilient crops in the face of climate change.
Published Mapping the seafloor sediment superhighway
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new scientific model is giving researchers an unprecedented, global look at the activities of clams, worms, and other invertebrate animals that burrow at the bottom of the ocean.
Published Traffic speeds decrease when bike lane is present
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers conducting a study at a high-traffic intersection in a Jersey Shore town have found that the installation of a bike lane along the road approaching the convergence reduced driving speeds.
Published Shape and depth of ocean floor profoundly influence how carbon is stored there
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The movement of carbon between the atmosphere, oceans and continents -- or carbon cycle -- regulates Earth's climate, with the ocean playing a major role in carbon sequestration. A new study finds that the shape and depth of the ocean floor explain up to 50% of the changes in depth at which carbon has been sequestered there over the past 80 million years. While these changes have been previously attributed to other causes, the new finding could inform ongoing efforts to combat climate change through marine carbon sequestration.
Published Altered carbon points toward sustainable manufacturing
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers develop a vastly more productive way to convert carbon dioxide into useful materials and compounds.
Published Thawing permafrost: Not a climate tipping element, but nevertheless far-reaching impacts
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Permafrost soils store large quantities of organic carbon and are often portrayed as a critical tipping element in the Earth system, which, once global warming has reached a certain level, suddenly and globally collapses. Yet this image of a ticking timebomb, one that remains relatively quiet until, at a certain level of warming, it goes off, is a controversial one among the research community. Based on the scientific data currently available, the image is deceptive, as an international team has shown in a recently released study. According to their findings, there is no single global tipping point; rather, there are numerous local and regional ones, which 'tip' at different times, producing cumulative effects and causing the permafrost to thaw in step with climate change.
Published Fungus breaks down ocean plastic
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A fungus living in the sea can break down the plastic polyethylene, provided it has first been exposed to UV radiation from sunlight. Researchers expect that many more plastic degrading fungi are living in deeper parts of the ocean.
Published Development of revolutionary color-tunable photonic devices
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Team develops a flexible and stretchable device capable of omnidirectional color wavelength control.
Published Fresh findings: Earliest evidence of life-bringing freshwater on Earth
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research has found evidence that fresh water on Earth, which is essential for life, appeared about four billion years ago -- five hundred million years earlier than previously thought.
Published Mussels downstream of wastewater treatment plant contain radium, study reports
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Burrowed into streambeds and rarely moving for their decades-long lifespans, freshwater mussels are biomonitors, meaning they indicate how clean their environment is, according to researchers. As the bivalves feed on organic matter and filter the water around them, their inner tissues and hard shells begin to reflect whatever is in their environment -- including radioactive particles.
Published Fjords are effective carbon traps regardless of oxygen levels
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The fjords on Sweden's west coast act as effective carbon traps regardless of whether the bottom water is oxygen-rich or not.
Published New coral disease forecasting system
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Research has led to a new tool for forecasting coral disease that could help conservationists step in at the right times with key interventions. Ecological forecasts are critical tools for conserving and managing marine ecosystems, but few forecasting systems can account for the wide range of ecological complexities in near-real-time.
Published Scientists develop most sensitive way to observe single molecules
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A technical achievement marks a significant advance in the burgeoning field of observing individual molecules without the aid of fluorescent labels. While these labels are useful in many applications, they alter molecules in ways that can obscure how they naturally interact with one another. The new label-free method makes the molecules so easy to detect, it is almost as if they had labels.
Published People are altering decomposition rates in waterways
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Humans may be accelerating the rate at which organic matter decomposes in rivers and streams on a global scale, according to a new study. That could pose a threat to biodiversity in waterways around the world and increase the amount of carbon in Earth's atmosphere, potentially exacerbating climate change. The study is the first to combine a global experiment and predictive modeling to illustrate how human impacts to waterways may contribute to the global climate crisis.
Published New method makes hydrogen from solar power and agricultural waste
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Engineers have helped design a new method to make hydrogen gas from water using only solar power and agricultural waste such as manure or husks. The method reduces the energy needed to extract hydrogen from water by 600%, creating new opportunities for sustainable, climate-friendly chemical production.
Published Innovative bird-eye-inspired camera developed for enhanced object detection
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The eyes of raptors such as eagles can accurately perceive prey from kilometers away. Is it possible to model the camera technology after the bird's eyes? Researchers developed a new type of camera, which was inspired by the structures and functions of bird's eyes.
Published The thinnest lens on Earth, enabled by excitons
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Lenses are used to bend and focus light. Normal lenses rely on their curved shape to achieve this effect, but physicists have made a flat lens of only three atoms thick which relies on quantum effects. This type of lens could be used in future augmented reality glasses.
Published New anti-counterfeit technique packs two light-reactive images into one material
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Growing concern about data theft and counterfeiting has inspired increasingly sophisticated security technologies, like hologram seals, that can help verify the authenticity of currency, passports and other important documents. However, as security technologies evolve, so do the techniques criminals use to get past them. To stay one step ahead of these bad actors, researchers report that they have developed a new photopatterning technique that creates two light-reactive images on one material.
Published Antibiotic pollution disrupts the gut microbiome and blocks memory in aquatic snails
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Antibiotics prevent snails from forming new memories by disrupting their gut microbiome -- the community of beneficial bacteria found in their guts.
Published Researchers expose new symbiosis origin theories, identify experimental systems for plant life
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Research work on symbiosis -- a mutually beneficial relationship between living organisms -- is pushing back against the newer theory of a 'single-origin' of root nodule symbiosis (RNS) -- that all symbiosis between plant root nodules and nitrogen-fixing bacteria stems from one point--instead suggesting a 'multiple-origin' theory of sybiosis which opens a better understanding for genetically engineering crops.