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Categories: Engineering: Robotics Research, Environmental: General
Published Up to 30 percent more time: Climate change makes it harder for women to collect water, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source By 2050, climate change could increase the amount of time women in households without running water spend collecting water by up to 30 percent on global average, according to a new study. In regions of South America and Southeast Asia, the time spent collecting water could double due to higher temperatures. Scientists estimate the large welfare losses that could result from climate impacts and highlights how women are particularly vulnerable to changing future climate conditions.
Published Restoring the Great Salt Lake would have environmental justice as well as ecological benefits
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Inland seas around the world are drying up due to increasing human water use and accelerating climate change, and their desiccation is releasing harmful dust that pollutes the surrounding areas during acute dust storms. Using the Great Salt Lake in Utah as a case study, researchers show that dust exposure was highest among Pacific Islanders and Hispanic people and lower in white people compared to all other racial/ethnic groups, and higher for individuals without a high school diploma. Restoring the lake would benefit everyone in the vicinity by reducing dust exposure, and it would also decrease the disparities in exposure between different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
Published Changing climate will make home feel like somewhere else
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The impacts of climate change are being felt all over the world, but how will it impact how your hometown feels? An interactive web application allows users to search 40,581 places and 5,323 metro areas around the globe to match the expected future climate in each city with the current climate of another location, providing a relatable picture of what is likely in store.
Published Climate models underestimate carbon cycling through plants
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The carbon stored globally by plants is shorter-lived and more vulnerable to climate change than previously thought, according to a new study.
Published At least one in four US residential yards exceed new EPA lead soil level guideline
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Roughly one in four U.S. households have soil exceeding the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's lead screening levels of 200 parts per million (ppm), halved from the previous level of 400 ppm, a new study found. For households with exposure from multiple sources, the EPA lowered the guidance to 100 ppm; nearly 40% of households exceed that level, the study also found.
Published Non-native plants and animals expanding ranges 100 times faster than native species
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international team of scientists has recently found that non-native species are expanding their ranges many orders of magnitude faster than native ones, in large part due to inadvertent human help. Even seemingly sedentary non-native plants are moving at three times the speed of their native counterparts in a race where, because of the rapid pace of climate change and its effect on habitat, speed matters. To survive, plants and animals need to be shifting their ranges by 3.25 kilometers per year just to keep up with the increasing temperatures and associated climactic shifts -- a speed that native species cannot manage without human help.
Published When in drought: Researchers map which parts of the Amazon are most vulnerable to climate change
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Some areas of the Amazon rainforest are more resilient to drought than others, new research shows. But if not managed carefully, we could 'threaten the integrity of the whole system,' researchers say.
Published Tight-knit communities can prevent environmental progress
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research indicates that strong community bonds could hinder rather than help environmental initiatives.
Published Natural hazards threaten over three thousand species
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Natural hazards can speed up the extinction process of land animals that have limited distribution and/or small populations. But there is hope to turn the negative development around, says researchers behind new study.
Published Restored rat-free islands could support hundreds of thousands more breeding seabirds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Archipelago case-study shows that removing invasive rats and restoring native vegetation could help bring back hundreds of thousands of breeding pairs of seabirds lost to tropical islands. Calculating that there are enough fish to sustain restored seabird populations should be an important consideration for restoration projects, scientists say. Restored seabird populations also provide huge boost to the health of surrounding coral reef ecosystems through restored nutrient cycles.
Published Large wildfires create weather that favors more fire
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study shows soot from large wildfires in California traps sunlight, making days warmer and drier than they ought to be.
Published Advanced artificial intelligence: A revolution for sustainable agriculture
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The rise of advanced artificial intelligence (edge AI) could well mark the beginning of a new era for sustainable agriculture. A recent study proposes a roadmap for integrating this technology into farming practices. The aim? To improve the efficiency, quality and safety of agricultural production, while addressing a range of environmental, social and economic challenges.
Published Climate change: rising temperatures may impact groundwater quality
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source As the world's largest unfrozen freshwater resource, groundwater is crucial for life on Earth. Researchers have investigated how global warming is affecting groundwater temperatures and what that means for humanity and the environment. Their study indicates that by 2100, more than 75 million people are likely to be living in regions where the groundwater temperature exceeds the highest threshold set for drinking water by any country.
Published Novel method for measuring nano/microplastic concentrations in soil using spectroscopy
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Current techniques for measuring nano/microplastic (N/MP) concentrations in soil require the soil organic matter content to be separated and have limited resolution for analyzing N/MPs sized <1 m. Therefore, researchers have developed a novel yet simple method to measure N/MP concentration in different soil types using spectroscopy at two wavelengths. This method does not require the soil to be separated in order to detect the N/MPs and can accurately quantify N/MPs regardless of their size.
Published Satellites to monitor marine debris from space
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Detecting marine debris from space is now a reality, according to a new study. Until now, the amount of litter -- mostly plastic -- on the sea surface was rarely high enough to generate a detectable signal from space. However, using supercomputers and advanced search algorithms, the research team has demonstrated that satellites are an effective tool for estimating the amount of litter in the sea.
Published Wear it, then recycle: Designers make dissolvable textiles from gelatin
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers hope their DIY machine will help designers around the world experiment with making their own, sustainable fashion and other textiles from a range of natural ingredients -- maybe even the chitin in crab shells or agar-agar from algae.
Published Breakthrough approach enables bidirectional BCI functionality
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Brain-computer interfaces or BCIs hold immense potential for individuals with a wide range of neurological conditions, but the road to implementation is long and nuanced for both the invasive and noninvasive versions of the technology. Scientists have now successfully integrated a novel focused ultrasound stimulation to realize bidirectional BCI that both encodes and decodes brain waves using machine learning in a study with 25 human subjects. This work opens up a new avenue to significantly enhance not only the signal quality, but also, overall nonivasive BCI performance by stimulating targeted neural circuits.
Published Polarization and risk perception could play important roles in climate-policy outcomes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Times of crises often call for strong and rapid action, but in polarized societies, strong top-down policies can backfire. Scientists present a conceptual model of how these dynamics could play out in efforts to decarbonize our energy supply.
Published When bacteria are buckling
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Filamentous cyanobacteria buckle at a certain length when they encounter an obstacle. The results provide an important basis for the use of cyanobacteria in modern biotechnology.
Published Researchers use large language models to help robots navigate
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A technique can plan a trajectory for a robot using only language-based inputs. While it can't outperform vision-based approaches, it could be useful in settings that lack visual data to use for training.