Showing 20 articles starting at article 1401

< Previous 20 articles        Next 20 articles >

Categories: Archaeology: General, Environmental: Ecosystems

Return to the site home page

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

At the beginning of the year, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the Middle East ranks among the regions with the worst air quality. There is a common misconception that desert dust is the most significant cause of air pollution from particulate matter in this region, but a new study has shown that more than 90 percent of the particulate matter that is detrimental to health originates from anthropogenic sources. This human-made fine particulate matter differs from the less harmful desert dust particles. Scientists determined this through ship borne measurements and verified it in elaborate modeling calculations. The anthropogenic particles are primarily caused by the production and use of fossil fuels such as oil and gas. They are generally smaller than desert dust and can penetrate deep into the lungs.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Coral reefs can adapt to climate change if given the chance to evolve, according to a study.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have identified climate-driven changes to food availability as a factor behind dramatic historical events that led the oasis city of Palmyra in Syria to its ultimate demise.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Archaeologists hope to settle one of modern archaeology's longstanding disputes: the date of a volcanic eruption on the Greek island of Santorini, traditionally known as Thera.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Feeding honey to hibernating bears helped researchers find the potential genetic keys to the bears' insulin control, an advance that could ultimately lead to a treatment for human diabetes. Every year, bears gain an enormous amount of weight, then barely move for months, behavior that would spell diabetes in humans, but not for bears whose bodies can turn insulin resistance on and off almost like a switch. In the hunt for the bears' secret, scientists observed thousands of changes in gene expression during hibernation, but now a research team has narrowed that down to eight proteins.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

In the largest early-medieval population study to date, an interdisciplinary team consisting of geneticists and archaeologists analyzed over 400 individuals from ancient Britain, Ireland, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. The results show in detail one of the largest population transformations in the post-Roman world.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Archaeologists and primatologists have shown that stone tool using chimpanzees in West Africa have distinct and recognizable material cultures.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have studied the emergence of hypoxia -- low oxygen levels -- in the Gulf over three decades, a stressor on the health of marine life in the region and the larger ecosystem.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Refreezing the poles by reducing incoming sunlight would be both feasible and remarkably cheap, according to new research.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new method has been developed for identifying and prioritizing research activities related to maritime safety and security issues for the Arctic and the North-Atlantic (ANA) region.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Tiny crystals in ancient animal dung serve as key evidence in a new analysis suggesting the possibility that hunter-gatherers at Abu Hureyra, Syria, may have tended small numbers of animals just outside their dwellings between 12,800 and 12,300 years ago.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Coral reef islands and their reefs -- found across in the Indo-Pacific -- naturally grow and shrink due to complex biological and physical processes that have yet to be fully understood. Now, climate change is disrupting them further, leading to new uncertainties for legal maritime zones and small island states. Rising sea levels, coupled with the natural variability of atoll islands and coral reefs, is creating new uncertainty in international law, with geopolitical implications.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study finds that climate models are unreliable when it comes to predicting the damage that tropical cyclones will do to sensitive coral reefs.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Eight ice caves in four Austrian federal states: A team of geologists has comprehensively documented the loss and gain of ice in Alpine ice caves over the last 2000 years for the first time. The geologists warn: The ice of smaller caves especially is in danger of disappearing in the near future and with it a valuable climate archive.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers using advanced satellite imagery have discovered an ancient reef-like landform 'hidden' in plain view on the Nullarbor Plain, which has been preserved for millions of years since it first formed when the Plain was underwater.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research has mapped the DNA from more than 150 species of native rodents from across Australia, New Guinea and Melanesian islands, painting a clearer picture of how they're related and how they ended up spreading across the Pacific.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have documented that corals can pass mutations acquired during their lifetimes to their offspring, providing increased genetic diversity for potential evolutionary adaptation.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Inspired by a trip to the dentist, a researcher presents a new method for monitoring coral size and growth that reduces surveying time by 99%.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

Investigators have produced an assessment of the abundance of the viruses in the Milne Fiord Epishelf Lake near the North Pole.

     (via sciencedaily.com) 

A study shows a widespread patterns of loss, upending scientists' previous projections.