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Categories: Biology: Microbiology, Geoscience: Environmental Issues

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India's plans to scale up fracking operations without robust regulations could spell disaster for the country's finely balanced water security, according to research.

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An analysis of 12 years of data collected from over 500 hospitals in 25 different states shows that weather, geographic location, and urban or rural location all appear to influence hospitalizations for waterborne infectious diseases.

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A new technique will make it much easier for researchers to discover the traits or activities encoded by genes of unknown function in microbes, a key step toward understanding the roles and impact of individual species within the planet's diverse microbiomes.

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Parent size and the conditions in which actively spawning adults lived are the most influential factors affecting growth of Lake Erie walleye, a new study has found.

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Changes in the Atlantic Ocean's mixed layer are the primary force behind the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV).

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More than a quarter of Australians over the age of 50 take cholesterol-lowering drugs to prevent heart disease and strokes, but our bodies also need cholesterol to survive. Now, scientists say its role as a basic building block of life holds the key to treating deadly diseases caused by parasites, including malaria.

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Handbasins are hotspots for dangerous microbes that can cause illnesses including pneumonia, Legionnaires' disease and wound infections, a new study warns. The environmental health study found handbasin biofilms contained a diverse range of pathogens including microbes typically found in water, and other pathogens not found in water.

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Being born in autumn or winter is associated with asthma and allergic rhinitis in Finland, a new registry-based study shows.

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In 2017, the Minamata Convention on Mercury went into effect, designed to help curb mercury emissions and limit exposure across the globe. However, a new study of mercury levels in soil suggests that the treaty's provisions might not be enough. The study estimates that soil stores substantially more mercury than previously thought, and it predicts that increases in plant growth due to climate change may add even more.

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Research suggests that, in some cases, boosting urban soil health with compost and treated manure may reduce the amount of pathogenic and anti-biotic resistant bacteria.

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Caesarean section recipients are usually given prophylactic antibiotics just before the procedure to prevent later infections at the surgical site. But there have been concerns about whether these antibiotics may have a negative impact on newborns and their microbiomes if the drugs travel through the umbilical cord and reach the baby before the cord is cut. Now, a study has confirmed that although these antibiotics can cause subtle changes to the infant microbiome, they are much less significant than the impact of how the babies are fed.

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Scientists have sequenced the largest genome of all animals, the lungfish genome. Their data help to explain how the fish-ancestors of today's land vertebrates were able to conquer land.

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An international research team has discovered that comammox bacteria, first identified by them in 2015, can grow using guanidine, a nitrogen-rich organic compound, as their sole energy and nitrogen source. This unique ability opens new avenues for targeted cultivation of these enigmatic microbes and could also provide a key to reducing agricultural nitrous oxide emissions.

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Unprecedented wildfires in Canada and parts of Amazonia last year were at least three times more likely due to climate change and contributed to high levels of CO2 emissions from burning globally, according to the a new systematic review. The State of Wildfires report takes stock of extreme wildfires of the 2023-2024 fire season (March 2023-February 2024), explains their causes, and assesses whether events could have been predicted. It also evaluates how the risk of similar events will change in future under different climate change scenarios.

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Linked to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in people, nanoplastics continue to build up, largely unnoticed, in the world's bodies of water. The challenge remains to develop a cost-effective solution to get rid of nanoplastics while leaving clean water behind. That's where Mizzou comes in. Recently, researchers created a new liquid-based solution that eliminates more than 98% of these microscopic plastic particles from water.

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A recent study details how trees in New York City and Boston are more negatively impacted by heat waves and drought than trees of the same species in nearby rural forests. The finding highlights the challenges urban trees face in the context of climate change and underscores the importance of tailored urban forestry management as a tool for protecting tree species and reducing urban heat islands.

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Planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions associated with the global food supply chains induced by diets could fall by 17% if people change their food choices towards more plant-based diets.

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Researchers show that the adaptation of antlions to their ecological niche has also changed their venom. They compared the venom system of antlion and closely related green lacewing larvae. Antlions produce a much more complex venom from three different venom glands than lacewing larvae do. All the venom proteins identified come from the insects themselves, not from symbiotic bacteria. Some of the toxins are new and appear to be unique to antlions. Waiting for their victims in pitfall traps in the sand, antlions can use their venom to immobilize larger prey. The venom therefore plays an important ecological role in adapting to their barren habitat.

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A study has shown that different plant species tackle the same evolutionary hurdle in different ways, and the findings may give insight into aggressive forms of cancer.

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Food, feed, fiber, and bioenergy: The demand for agricultural raw materials is rising. How can additional cultivation areas be reconciled with nature conservation? Researchers have developed a land-use model that provides answers.