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Categories: Geoscience: Geochemistry, Geoscience: Geology

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Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Multitasking microbes: Scientists engineer bacteria to make two valuable products from plant fiber      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have engineered bacteria that can produce two chemical products at the same time from underutilized plant fiber. And unlike humans, these multitasking microbes can do both things equally well. The discovery could help make biofuels more sustainable and commercially viable.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography
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Reduced air pollution during pandemic points to way to preserve Himalayan glaciers      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Reducing air pollution to levels similar to those during the coronavirus pandemic could protect the glaciers in the Himalayas and prevent them from disappearing by the end of the century. This is the conclusion reached by an international research team analyzing the situation during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Scientists provide recipe to halve pollution from food production      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A major report has put forward solutions to halve nitrogen pollution from agriculture and the food system in Europe, including reducing meat and dairy consumption, fertilizer use and food waste. Inefficiencies in farms, retail and wastewater practices mean that the nitrogen use efficiency of the food system in Europe is only 18%, leaving most of the remainder leaking into air, water and soils. The new report, Appetite for Change, has been produced by a group of researchers coordinated by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), the European Commission, Copenhagen Business School and the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) of The Netherlands.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Scientists tackle difficult-to-recycle thermoset polymers      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team of scientists has got a step closer to making several different types of plastic much easier to recycle, using a method that could be applied to a whole range of difficult-to-recycle polymers, including rubbers, gels and adhesives.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Microbiology Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Severe Weather
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Genetic sequencing uncovers unexpected source of pathogens in floodwaters      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers report that local rivers and streams were the source of the Salmonella enterica contamination along coastal North Carolina after Hurricane Florence in 2018 -- not the previously suspected high number of pig farms in the region.

Anthropology: Cultures Archaeology: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geology Paleontology: Fossils
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Mesopotamian bricks unveil the strength of Earth's ancient magnetic field      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Ancient bricks inscribed with the names of Mesopotamian kings have yielded important insights into a mysterious anomaly in Earth's magnetic field 3,000 years ago, according to a new study.

Biology: Biochemistry Ecology: Nature Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Researchers invent 'methane cleaner': Could become a permanent fixture in cattle and pig barns      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In a spectacular new study, researchers have used light and chlorine to eradicate low-concentration methane from air. The result gets us closer to being able to remove greenhouse gases from livestock housing, biogas production plants and wastewater treatment plants to benefit the climate.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geology Space: Astrophysics Space: General Space: The Solar System
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Exoplanets' climate -- it takes nothing to switch from habitable to hell      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The Earth is a wonderful blue and green dot covered with oceans and life, while Venus is a yellowish sterile sphere that is not only inhospitable but also sterile. However, the difference between the two bears to only a few degrees in temperature. A team of astronomers has achieved a world's first by managing to simulate the entirety of the runaway greenhouse process which can transform the climate of a planet from idyllic and perfect for life, to a place more than harsh and hostile. The scientists have also demonstrated that from initial stages of the process, the atmospheric structure and cloud coverage undergo significant changes, leading to an almost-unstoppable and very complicated to reverse runaway greenhouse effect. On Earth, a global average temperature rise of just a few tens of degrees, subsequent to a slight rise of the Sun's luminosity, would be sufficient to initiate this phenomenon and to make our planet inhabitable.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
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15 most pressing issues for conservation, including invertebrate decline and changing marine ecosystems      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Since 2009, the Cambridge Conservation Initiative has coordinated an annual horizon scan, a well-established method for predicting which threats, changes, and technologies will have the biggest impact on biological conservation in the following year. This year, the 15th horizon scan included 31 scientists, practitioners, and policymakers who developed a list of 96 issues, which they eventually narrowed down to the fifteen most novel and impactful. Their findings include topics related to sustainable energy, declining invertebrate populations, and changing marine ecosystems.

Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology
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Drones capture new clues about how water shapes mountain ranges over time      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Drones flying along miles of rivers in the steep, mountainous terrain of central Taiwan and mapping the rock properties have revealed new clues about how water helps shape mountains over geological time.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Upcycling leftover cardboard to make a new type of foam packaging      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

With the holiday season in full swing, gifts of all shapes and sizes are being shipped around the world. But all that packaging generates lots of waste, including cardboard boxes and plastic-based foam cushioning. Rather than discard those boxes, researchers have developed a cushioning foam from cardboard waste. Their upcycled material was stronger and more insulating than traditional, plastic foam-based cushioning.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Beef farming that keeps cattle on lifelong grass diets may have higher carbon footprint      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Beef operations that keep cattle on lifelong grass-based diets may have an overall higher carbon footprint than those that switch cattle to grain-based diets partway through their lives, according to new findings.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Environmental: Wildfires Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Wildfires also impact aquatic ecosystems      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have shown that the effects of wildfires are not limited to terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems are also undergoing rapid changes. The study found that fire debris transforms lakes and other aquatic ecosystems, with implications for fisheries and water quality.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Severe Weather
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Pacific Northwest snowpack endangered by increasing spring heatwaves      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Even in the precipitation-heavy Pacific Northwest, more frequent heatwaves are threatening a key source of water supply. A Washington State University study that intended to look at snow melting under a single, extreme event, the 2021 'heat dome,' instead revealed an alarming, longer-term rising trend of successive heatwaves melting snowpack earlier in the year. From temperature records spanning from 1940 to 2021, springtime heatwaves in the region have doubled in frequency, intensity or both since the mid-1990s. The findings have implications for many areas worldwide that are dependent on snow-capped mountains to provide summer water since heatwaves have been on the rise globally.

Chemistry: General Energy: Batteries Energy: Technology Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Resource-efficient and climate-friendly with sodium-ion batteries      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The transition to a society without fossil fuels means that the need for batteries is increasing at a rapid pace. At the same time, the increase will mean a shortage of the metals lithium and cobalt, which are key components in the most common battery types. One option is a sodium-ion battery, where table salt and biomass from the forest industry make up the main raw materials. Now, researchers show that these sodium-ion batteries have an equivalent climate impact as their lithium-ion counterparts -- without the risk of running out of raw materials. 

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: General Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Nature Ecology: Trees Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
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How forests smell -- a risk for the climate?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Plants emit odors for a variety of reasons, such as to communicate with each other, to deter herbivores or to respond to changing environmental conditions. An interdisciplinary team of researchers carried out a study to investigate how biodiversity influences the emission of these substances. For the first time, they were able to show that species-rich forests emit less of these gases into the atmosphere than monocultures. It was previously assumed that species-rich forests release more emissions. The Leipzig team has now been able to disprove this assumption experimentally.