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Categories: Computer Science: Encryption, Geoscience: Environmental Issues

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The western edge of Chicago -- including the North and South Lawndale, East Garfield Park, Archer Heights and Brighton Park neighborhoods -- experiences up to 32% higher concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air pollution compared to the rest of the city.

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Trees depend on fungi for their well-being. As climate change and global warming cause higher temperatures and amplified drought, little is known about how these important fungi will respond. To investigate this issue, a research team conducted a climate change experiment where they exposed boreal and temperate tree species to warming and drought treatments to better understand how fungi and their tree hosts respond to environmental changes. Their findings revealed that the combined effects of warming and water stress will likely result in major disturbances of ectomycorrhizal networks and may harm forest resilience and function.

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As renewable energy sources like wind and solar ramp up, they can be used to sustainably generate hydrogen fuel. But implementing such a strategy on a large scale requires land and water dedicated to this purpose.

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A groundbreaking study has provided new insights into the extensive impact of metal mining contamination on rivers and floodplains across the world, with an estimated 23 million people believed to be affected by potentially dangerous concentrations of toxic waste. The study used a new georeferenced global database of 185,000 metal mines compiled by the team alongside a combination of process-based modelling and empirical testing to predict the dispersal of mine waste in river systems to offer a comprehensive understanding of the environmental and health challenges associated with metal mining activities, examining both historical and active mining operations. With the rapid growth of metal mining crucial to the world making the transition to green energy, the study provides governments, mining companies, environmental regulators, and communities impacted by mining operations with a tool to understand the impacts of environmental impact of mining. Ultimately it is hoped that this will make it easier to mitigate the environmental effects of historical and present mining and help to minimise the impacts of future mining development on communities, while also protecting food and water security.

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Almost 80% of plastic in the waste stream ends up in landfills or accumulates in the environment. Scientists have now developed a technology that converts a conventionally unrecyclable mixture of plastic waste into useful chemicals, presenting a new strategy in the toolkit to combat global plastic waste.

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Multiyear La Niña events have become more common over the last 100 years, according to a new study. Five out of six La Nina events since 1998 have lasted more than one year, including an unprecedented triple-year event.

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Sewage pollution, whether treated or untreated, was found to be the primary driver of increased nutrients, algae, and sewage fungus in rivers. Sewage discharge also radically altered plant, animal, and microbe communities, increasing the abundance of harmful species. Run-off from agriculture was also found to lower water quality and be particularly harmful for sensitive insect groups.

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In the 'weather kitchen,' the interplay between the Azores High and Icelandic Low has a substantial effect on how much warm water the Atlantic transports to the Arctic along the Norwegian coast. But this rhythm can be thrown off for years at a time. Experts finally have an explanation for why: Due to unusual atmospheric pressure conditions over the North Atlantic, low-pressure areas are diverted from their usual track, which disrupts the coupling between the Azores High, the Icelandic Low and the winds off the Norwegian coast. This finding is an important step toward refining climate models and more accurately predicting the fate of Arctic sea ice in the face of progressing climate change.

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New research examines the 'revolution' in the study of deforestation brought about by satellites, and analyzing which kinds of policies might limit climate-altering deforestation.

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Scientists and industry leaders worldwide are looking for answers on how to make aviation sustainable by 2050 and choosing a viable sustainable fuel is a major sticking point. Aerospace engineers took a full inventory of the options to make a data-driven assessment about how they stack up in comparison. He reviewed over 300 research projects from across different sectors, not just aerospace, to synthesize the ideas and draw conclusions to help direct the dialogue about sustainable aviation toward a permanent solution.

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Building on work in human-computer interaction that aims to incorporate sustainability and reuse into the field, researchers introduce 'garbatrage,' a framework for prototype builders centered around repurposing underused devices.

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A new study suggests patches of fertile soil in the Amazon, known as dark earth, were intentionally produced by ancient Amazonians as a way to improve the soil and sustain large and complex societies.

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The world's first study of the increase in pollution from landscape fires across the globe over the past two decades reveals that over 2 billion people are exposed to at least one day of potentially health-impacting environmental hazard annually -- a figure that has increased by 6.8 per cent in the last ten years.

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The bright lights of big cities could be causing an evolutionary adaptation for smaller eyes in some birds, a new study indicates. Researchers found that two common songbirds, the Northern Cardinal and Carolina Wren, that live year-round in the urban core of San Antonio, Texas, had eyes about 5% smaller than members of the same species from the less bright outskirts. Researchers found no eye-size difference for two species of migratory birds, the Painted Bunting and White-eyed Vireo, no matter which part of the city they lived in for most of the year. The findings have implications for conservation efforts amid the rapid decline of bird populations across the U.S.

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The consequences of a warming climate frequently dominated the news this summer, from devastating wildfires and floods to deadly heat waves across the globe. Reducing harm from climate change is a challenging endeavor, and it requires comprehensive public education. Thus, the question arises: How can climate change science be made most accessible to the general population, as well as decision-makers and educators?

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A research team has achieved a significant breakthrough in the development of a hybrid silicon photocatalyst.

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Scientists have discovered a new technique which will shed light on the phenomena of winter monsoons -- the heavy autumn and winter rainfalls which can cause floods and landslides across southeast Asia.

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Using engineered microbes as microscopic factories has given the world steady sources of life-saving drugs, revolutionized the food industry, and allowed us to make sustainable versions of valuable chemicals previously made from petroleum. But behind each biomanufactured product on the market today is the investment of years of work and many millions of dollars in research and development funding. Scientists want to help the burgeoning industry reach new heights by accelerating and streamlining the process of engineering microbes to produce important compounds with commercial-ready efficiency.

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Researchers have developed a new laser-based sampling system for studying the composition of ice cores taken from glaciers. The new system has a 3-mm depth-resolution and is expected to help reconstruct continuous annual temperature changes that occurred thousands to hundreds of thousands of years ago, which will help scientists understand climate change in the past and present.

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Storing renewable energy as hydrogen could soon become much easier thanks to a new catalyst based on single atoms of platinum.