Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Wildfires
Published

Wildfires and animal biodiversity      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Wildfires. Many see them as purely destructive forces, disasters that blaze through a landscape, charring everything in their paths. But a new study reminds us that wildfires are also generative forces, spurring biodiversity in their wakes.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: Encryption Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

New cyber software can verify how much knowledge AI really knows      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

With a growing interest in generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems worldwide, researchers have created software that is able to verify how much information an AI farmed from an organization's digital database.

Chemistry: Thermodynamics Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Bushfire safe rooms may save lives      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have built and tested a bushfire safe room that exceeds current Australian standards and could keep people alive or protect valuables when evacuation is no longer an option.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

New model provides improved air-quality predictions in fire-prone areas      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Globally, wildfires are becoming more frequent and destructive, generating a significant amount of smoke that can be transported thousands of miles, driving the need for more accurate air pollution forecasts. Researchers have now developed a deep learning model that provides improved predictions of air quality in wildfire-prone areas and can differentiate between wildfires and non-wildfires.

Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

A mechanistic and probabilistic method for predicting wildfires      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In the event of dry weather and high winds, power system-ignited incidents are more likely to develop into wildfires. The risk is greater if vegetation is nearby. A new study provides the methodology for predicting at what point during a high wind storm, powerline ignition is likely.

Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography
Published

Smoke particles from wildfires can erode the ozone layer      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study finds that smoke particles in the stratosphere can trigger chemical reactions that erode the ozone layer -- and that smoke particles from Australian wildfires widened the ozone hole by 10 percent in 2020.

Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

To help dry forests, fire needs to be just the right intensity, and happen more than once      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Research into the ability of a wildfire to improve the health of a forest uncovered a Goldilocks effect -- unless a blaze falls in a narrow severity range, neither too hot nor too cold, it isn't very good at helping forest landscapes return to their historical, more fire-tolerant conditions.

Computer Science: Encryption Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

New breakthrough enables perfectly secure digital communications      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have achieved a breakthrough to enable 'perfectly secure' hidden communications for the first time. The method uses new advances in information theory methods to conceal one piece of content inside another in a way that cannot be detected. This may have strong implications for information security, besides further applications in data compression and storage.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Wildfires
Published

Wildfires in 2021 emitted a record-breaking amount of carbon dioxide      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Carbon dioxide emissions from wildfires, which have been gradually increasing since 2000, spiked drastically to a record high in 2021, according to an international team of researchers.

Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Experts demand fire safety policy change over health impact of widely used flame retardants      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Leading environmental health experts have called for a comprehensive review of the UK's fire safety regulations, with a focus on the environmental and health risks of current chemical flame retardants.

Ecology: General Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Research Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

A fifth of California's Sierra Nevada conifer forests are stranded in habitats that have grown too warm for them      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers created maps showing where warmer weather has left trees in conditions that don't suit them, making them more prone to being replaced by other species. The findings could help inform long-term wildfire and ecosystem management in these 'zombie forests.'

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

New technique maps large-scale impacts of fire-induced permafrost thaw in Alaska      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have developed a machine learning-based ensemble approach to quantify fire-induced thaw settlement across the entire Tanana Flats in Alaska, which encompasses more than 3 million acres. They linked airborne repeat lidar data to time-series Landsat products (satellite images) to delineate thaw settlement patterns across six large fires that have occurred since 2000. The six fires resulted in a loss of nearly 99,000 acres of evergreen forest from 2000 to 2014 among nearly 155,000 acres of fire-influenced forests with varying degrees of burn severity. This novel approach helped to explain about 65 percent of the variance in lidar-detected elevation change.

Computer Science: Encryption Computer Science: General Engineering: Nanotechnology Mathematics: Puzzles Offbeat: Computers and Math Physics: Optics
Published

Chromo-encryption method encodes secrets with color      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In a new approach to security that unites technology and art, E researchers have combined silver nanostructures with polarized light to yield a range of brilliant colors, which can be used to encode messages.

Environmental: Wildfires
Published

Western wildfires destroying more homes per square mile burned      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Between 2010 and 2020, human ignitions started 76% of the Western wildfires that destroyed structures, and those fires tended to be in flammable areas where buildings are increasingly common. Three times as many homes and other structures burned in these ten years than in the previous decade.

Biology: Botany Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Invasive Species Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Understanding plants can boost wildland-fire modeling in uncertain future      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new conceptual framework for incorporating the way plants use carbon and water, or plant dynamics, into fine-scale computer models of wildland fire provides a critical first step toward improved global fire forecasting.

Computer Science: Encryption Computer Science: General Computer Science: Quantum Computers Offbeat: Computers and Math Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Quantum physicists make major nanoscopic advance      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In a new breakthrough, researchers have solved a problem that has caused quantum researchers headaches for years. The researchers can now control two quantum light sources rather than one. Trivial as it may seem to those uninitiated in quantum, this colossal breakthrough allows researchers to create a phenomenon known as quantum mechanical entanglement. This in turn, opens new doors for companies and others to exploit the technology commercially.

Environmental: Wildfires
Published

How to apply lessons from Colorado's costliest wildfire to drinking water systems      (via sciencedaily.com) 

While communities and governments nationwide have been facing the impact of wildfires on drinking water systems, no national synthesis of scientific and policy needs has been conducted. Now, a study has outlined the scientific and policy needs specific to drinking water systems' resilience to wildfires.

Ecology: General Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Wildfires
Published

Unprecedented levels of high-severity fire burn in Sierra Nevada      (via sciencedaily.com) 

High-severity wildfire in California's Sierra Nevada forests has nearly quintupled compared to before Euro-American settlement, rising from less than 10% per year then to up to 43% today, a new study finds.

Environmental: Wildfires
Published

In the wake of a wildfire, embers of change in cognition and brain function linger      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Five years after the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history, researchers document persistent differences in cognitive function among survivors.