Showing 20 articles starting at article 1
Categories: Environmental: General, Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published Two epicenters led to Japan's violent Noto earthquake on New Year's Day
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The 7.5- magnitude earthquake beneath Japan's Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1, 2024, occurred when a 'dual-initiation mechanism' applied enough energy from two different locations to break through a fault barrier -- an area that locks two sides of a fault in place and absorbs the energy of fault movement, slowing it down or stopping it altogether.
Published A leaky sink: Carbon emissions from forest soil will likely grow with rising temperatures
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The soils of northern forests are key reservoirs that help keep the carbon dioxide that trees inhale and use for photosynthesis from making it back into the atmosphere.
Published Scientists propose guidelines for solar geoengineering research
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source To guide future research into solar geoengineering, an international group of scientists is making specific recommendations for evaluating proposals in order to identify the most feasible and legitimate scenarios for stratospheric aerosol intervention.
Published Innovative field experiments shed light on biological clocks in nature
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study has used a series of innovative field experiments to show how plants combine circadian clock signals with environmental cues under naturally fluctuating conditions.
Published New images reveal global air quality trends
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The global concentrations of one of the main air pollutants known to affect human health have been graphically illustrated for the first time by a team of scientists.
Published Scientists call for an update in environmental decision making that takes human rights into account
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers argue that to protect human wellbeing global decisions with the potential to impact the environment must be guided by our understanding of the inseparable connection between humans and nature. The article's authors are aiming to support fair and inclusive decision-making for a healthy ocean for people and planet.
Published Colorful traits in primates ease tensions between groups
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Primate ornamentation plays a crucial role in communication not only within social groups but also between them, according to a new study. The research reveals that the males of species with overlapping home ranges often display vibrant colors or elaborate features, traits that may help reduce intergroup aggression by enabling quick assessments of potential rivals.
Published Life after (feigned) death
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study has revealed what animals do after they have feigned death in order to avoid being killed by a predator and what the context of this behavior is.
Published Creature the size of a dust grain found hiding in California's Mono Lake
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Mono Lake is a beautiful but harsh environment, its salty and arsenic-laced water home to brine shrimp, alkali flies and little else. Scientists recently discovered an unsuspected resident, however, a microscopic creature -- a choanoflagelatte -- that forms colonies that harbor their own unique bacterial microbiomes. The creature, part of the sister group to all animals, could shed light on the evolution of animals' intimate interactions with bacteria and the rise of multicellular life.
Published What works: Groundbreaking evaluation of climate policy measures over two decades
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have unveiled the first comprehensive global evaluation of 1,500 climate policy measures from 41 countries across six continents. The study provides a detailed impact analysis of the wide range of climate policy measures implemented over the last two decades. The findings reveal a sobering reality: many policy measures have failed to achieve the necessary scale of emissions reductions. Only 63 cases of successful climate policies, each leading to average emission reductions of 19 percent, were identified. The key characteristic of these successful cases is the inclusion of tax and price incentives in well-designed policy mixes.
Published Air pollution harms mental health worse in New York's historically redlined neighborhoods
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The statewide study found that the link between pollutants and ER visits is more pronounced in communities that were once denied mortgages due to race.
Published Fighting coastal erosion with electricity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research has systematically demonstrated that a mild zap of electricity can strengthen a marine coastline for generations -- greatly reducing the threat of erosion in the face of climate change and rising sea levels. The new process forms natural cement between grains of sand, transforming it into solid, immoveable rock. Mollusks use a similar process to turn naturally occurring minerals into shells.
Published Tarantulas have surprising partnerships with other species and their hairiness may be a defense mechanism
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study reveals that tarantulas are often on friendly terms with amphibians, reptiles, and even army ants, which are known to feed on spiders. The researchers suggest that the dense hair covering tarantulas may have in fact evolved as a defense mechanism against these predatory ants.
Published Pollution drives families to relocate -- but only the rich can afford to live in healthier areas
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Pollution levels factor in households' decision to relocate within the United States, but only richer households can afford areas with improved air quality, a new study finds. Researchers analyse detailed origin and destination information of relocating households, rather than just aggregate migration flows, and uncover a direct link between a household's income and their new chosen county of residence. They find inequalities exist when it comes to who is exposed to the worst areas of pollution -- with poorer families hit hardest. Richer households opt to move into cleaner, healthier areas that tend to be more expensive. However poorer families are priced out of these counties and are the ones who move into areas with higher levels of toxic releases.
Published Antarctica vulnerable to invasive species hitching rides on plastic and organic debris
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study reveals how ocean biology and marine pollution can end up on Antarctica's shoreline.
Published Life from a drop of rain: New research suggests rainwater helped form the first protocell walls
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research shows that rainwater could have helped create a meshy wall around protocells 3.8 billion years ago, a critical step in the transition from tiny beads of RNA to every bacterium, plant, animal, and human that ever lived.
Published A deep dive for environmental data on coastal oceans
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study addresses the lack of data on how much human-generated carbon dioxide is present in coastal oceans -- the saltwater ecosystems that link the land and sea. Capturing this data is crucial to calculating how much emissions must be cut in the future.
Published Human-wildlife overlap expected to increase across more than half of land on Earth by 2070
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Human-wildlife overlap could increase across about 57% of the global lands by 2070 and could lead to more conflict between people and animals. Understanding where the overlap is likely to occur -- and which animals are likely to interact with humans in specific areas -- will be crucial information for urban planners, conservationists and countries that have pledged international conservation commitments.
Published To kill mammoths in the Ice Age, people used planted pikes, not throwing spears, researchers say
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Archeologists say new findings might help resolve the debate about Clovis points and reshape how we think about what life was like roughly 13,000 years ago. After an extensive review of writings and artwork -- and an experiment with replica Clovis point spears -- a team of archaeologists says humans may have braced the butt of their weapons against the ground in a way that would impale a charging animal. The force would have driven the spear deeper into the predator's body, unleashing a more damaging blow than even the strongest prehistoric hunters would have been capable of by throwing or jabbing megafauna.
Published Using AI to link heat waves to global warming
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers used machine learning to determine how much global warming has influenced extreme weather events in the U.S. and elsewhere in recent years. Their approach could change how scientists study and predict the impact of climate change on extreme weather.