Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Study of 1.2+M births reveals associations between excess heat exposure and preterm births      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In the face of increasing temperatures globally, a new study of 1.2 million births over two decades has shown a strong association between the risk of pre-term birth and exposure to extreme hot temperatures in the third trimester of pregnancy. The data suggested that this association with extreme temperature might be reduced by the level of greenery in a pregnant person's residential surrounds. The findings suggest health services should consider preparing for an increase in preterm births as our climate warms.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

People in urban areas with more green space have better mental health      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study suggests that city dwellers who have more exposure to urban green spaces require fewer mental health services.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Cloud clustering causes more extreme rain      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Understanding cloud patterns in our changing climate is essential to making accurate predictions about their impact on society and nature. Scientists published a new study that uses a high-resolution global climate model to understand how the clustering of clouds and storms impacts rainfall extremes in the tropics. They show that with rising temperatures, the severity of extreme precipitation events increases.

Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Nature Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Global warming increases the diversity of active soil bacteria      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Warmer soils harbor a greater diversity of active microbes, according to a new study. The study represents a significant shift in our understanding of how microbial activity in the soil influences the global carbon cycle and possible feedback mechanisms on the climate. Until now, scientists have assumed that higher soil temperatures accelerate the growth of microbes, thus increasing the release of carbon into the atmosphere. However, this increased release of carbon is actually caused by the activation of previously dormant bacteria.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: Cell Biology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Common plant could help reduce food insecurity      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An often-overlooked water plant that can double its biomass in two days, capture nitrogen from the air -- making it a valuable green fertilizer -- and be fed to poultry and livestock could serve as life-saving food for humans in the event of a catastrophe or disaster, a new study suggests.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Barriers against Antarctic ice melt disappearing at the double      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Undersea anchors of ice that help prevent Antarctica's land ice from slipping into the ocean are shrinking at more than twice the rate compared with 50 years ago, research shows. More than a third of these frozen moorings, known as pinning points, have decreased in size since the turn of the century, experts say. Further deterioration of pinning points, which hold in place the floating ice sheets that fortify Antarctica's land ice, would accelerate the continent's contribution to rising sea levels, scientists warn.

Chemistry: General Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geology
Published

UBC Okanagan researchers look to the past to improve construction sustainability      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers are revisiting old building practices -- the use of by-products and cast-offs -- as a way to improve building materials and sustainability of the trade. A technique known as rammed earth construction uses materials that are alternatives to cement and are often more readily available in the environment. One such alternative is wood fly ash, a by-product of pulp mills and coal-fired power plants.

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

Wetlands, parks and even botanical gardens among the best ways to cool cities during heatwaves      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Botanical gardens are not just beautiful -- they can cool the city air by 5 C during heatwaves, according to the most comprehensive review of its kind. Parks and wetlands have a similar effect.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Streams connected to groundwater show improved detoxification and microbial diversity      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Streams with ample connections to shallow groundwater flow-paths have greater microbial diversity and are more effective at preventing toxic forms of metals -- often products of upstream mining -- from entering and being transported downstream.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Climate change linked to rise in mental distress among teens, according to Drexel study      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Worsening human-induced climate change may have effects beyond the widely reported rising sea levels, higher temperatures, and impacts on food supply and migration -- and may also extend to influencing mental distress among high schoolers in the United States.

Biology: Biochemistry Ecology: Nature Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Carbon emissions from the destruction of mangrove forests predicted to increase by 50,000% by the end of the century      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The annual rate of carbon emissions due to the degradation of carbon stocks in mangrove forests is predicted to rise by nearly 50,000% by the end of the century, according to a new study. Mangroves in regions such as southern India, southeastern China, Singapore and eastern Australia are particularly affected.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Air pollution hides increases in rainfall      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In a new study, researchers broke down how human-induced greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions influence rainfall in the United States. Greenhouse gas emissions increase rainfall, while aerosols have a long-term drying effect as well as short-term impacts that vary with the seasons. As aerosols decrease, their long-term drying effect will likely diminish, causing rainfall averages and extremes to rapidly increase.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

New study is first step in predicting carbon emissions in agriculture      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to provide accurate, high-resolution predictions of carbon cycles in agroecosystems, which could help mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Volcanoes Paleontology: Climate
Published

Biggest Holocene volcano eruption found by seabed survey      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A detailed survey of the volcanic underwater deposits around the Kikai caldera in Japan clarified the deposition mechanisms as well as the event's magnitude. As a result, the research team found that the event 7,300 years ago was the largest volcanic eruption in the Holocene by far.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
Published

Climate change could push bowhead whales to cross paths with shipping traffic      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The population of bowhead whales that migrates between the Bering and Beaufort Seas each year is a conservation success story, with today's population nearing -- if not exceeding -- pre-commercial whaling numbers. But climate change is shifting the whales' feeding grounds and migration patterns, potentially pushing them to spend more time in the paths of oncoming ships, according to a new study.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Air pollution linked to more signs of Alzheimer's in brain      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

People with higher exposure to traffic-related air pollution were more likely to have high amounts of amyloid plaques in their brains associated with Alzheimer's disease after death, according to a new study. Researchers looked at fine particulate matter, PM2.5, which consists of pollutant particles of less than 2.5 microns in diameter suspended in air.

Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Paleontology: Climate
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Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats has long been in flux      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

It has been long assumed that Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats was formed as its ancient namesake lake dried up 13,000 years ago. But new research has gutted that narrative, determining these crusts did not form until several thousand years after Lake Bonneville disappeared, which could have important implications for managing this feature that has been shrinking for decades to the dismay of the racing community and others who revere the saline pan 100 miles west of Salt Lake City. Relying on radiocarbon analysis of pollen found in salt cores, the study concludes the salt began accumulating between 5,400 and 3,500 years ago, demonstrating how this geological feature is not a permanent fixture on the landscape.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography
Published

Does Russia stand to benefit from climate change?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

There exists a narrative about climate change that says there are winners and losers -- with Russia being one of the countries that stand to benefit from its effects. In a new study, researchers found that Russia is suffering from a variety of climate change impacts and is ill-prepared to mitigate or adapt to those climate impacts. And, as the rest of the world transitions to renewable energy sources, Russia's fossil-fuel-dependent government is not willing or ready to make alternative plans for the country, changes that could potentially benefit the whole of their society.

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

New cloud model could help with climate research      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When clouds meet clear skies, cloud droplets evaporate as they mix with dry air. A new study has succeeded in capturing what happens in a model. Ultimately, this could lead to more accurate climate modeling in the future.