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Categories: Geoscience: Geochemistry, Paleontology: Dinosaurs
Published Cleaning up the atmosphere with quantum computing
(via sciencedaily.com) Practical carbon capture technologies are still in the early stages of development, with the most promising involving a class of compounds called amines that can chemically bind with carbon dioxide. Researchers now deploy an algorithm to study amine reactions through quantum computing. An existing quantum computer cab run the algorithm to find useful amine compounds for carbon capture more quickly, analyzing larger molecules and more complex reactions than a traditional computer can.
Published Microneedle-based drug delivery technique for plants
(via sciencedaily.com) The agriculture industry is under pressure to adopt sustainable and precise agricultural practices that enable more efficient use of resources due to worsening environmental conditions resulting from climate change, an ever-expanding human population, limited resources, and a shortage of arable land. As a result, developing delivery systems that efficiently distribute micronutrients, pesticides, and antibiotics in crops is crucial to ensuring high productivity and high-quality produce while minimising resource waste. However, current and standard practices for agrochemical application in plants are inefficient. These practices cause significant detrimental environmental side effects, such as water and soil contamination, biodiversity loss and degraded ecosystems; and public health concerns, such as respiratory problems, chemical exposure and food contamination.
Published Switching to hydrogen fuel could prolong the methane problem
(via sciencedaily.com) Hydrogen is often heralded as the clean fuel of the future, but new research suggests that leaky hydrogen infrastructure could end up increasing atmospheric methane levels, which would cause decades-long climate consequences.
Published Researchers find decaying biomass in Arctic rivers fuels more carbon export than previously thought
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study found that plants and small organisms in Arctic rivers could be responsible for more than half the particulate organic matter flowing to the Arctic Ocean. That's a significantly greater proportion than previously estimated, and it has implications for how much carbon gets sequestered in the ocean and how much moves into the atmosphere.
Published Changing landscapes alter disease-scapes
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study has?highlighted?how and when?changes to the environment result in?animal-borne disease?thresholds?being breeched, allowing for?a?better understanding and?increased?capacity to?predict?the?risk of?transmissions.
Published Scientists identify substance that may have sparked life on Earth
(via sciencedaily.com) A team of scientists dedicated to pinpointing the primordial origins of metabolism -- a set of core chemical reactions that first powered life on Earth -- has identified part of a protein that could provide scientists clues to detecting planets on the verge of producing life.
Published Existential threats to the iconic Nile River Delta
(via sciencedaily.com) Decades of poor environmental and water management turned the Nile River Delta from a unique ecological habitat in the Sahara to one of the largest polluted areas on the planet, with tens of millions of people and migrating birds at risk of exposure to water-borne contaminants.
Published Ozone pollution is linked with increased hospitalizations for cardiovascular disease
(via sciencedaily.com) New evidence shows that exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) ozone limit is associated with substantial increases in hospital admissions for heart attack, heart failure and stroke. Even ozone levels below the WHO maximum were linked with worsened health.
Published Assessing the potential risks of ocean-based climate intervention technologies on deep-sea ecosystems
(via sciencedaily.com) An international team of experts convened remotely as part of the Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative's Climate Working Group to consider the deep-sea impacts of ocean-based climate intervention (OBCI). A research team has analyzed the proposed approaches to assess their potential impacts on deep-sea ecosystems and biodiversity. Their findings raise substantial concern on the potential impacts of these technologies on deep-sea ecosystems and call for the need for an integrated research effort to carefully assess the cost and benefits of each intervention.
Published Deconstructing tough, woody lignin
(via sciencedaily.com) It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. In this case, the 'job' is the breakdown of lignin, the structural biopolymer that gives stems, bark and branches their signature woodiness. One of the most abundant terrestrial polymers on Earth, lignin surrounds valuable plant fibers and other molecules that could be converted into biofuels and other commodity chemicals -- if we could only get past that rigid plant cell wall.
Published Diverse approach key to carbon removal
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers find that 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide may need to be pulled from Earth's atmosphere and oceans annually to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. A diverse suite of carbon dioxide removal methods will be key.
Published The world's atmospheric rivers now have an intensity ranking like hurricanes
(via sciencedaily.com) Atmospheric rivers, which are long, narrow bands of water vapor, are becoming more intense and frequent with climate change. A new study demonstrates that a recently developed scale for atmospheric river intensity (akin to the hurricane scale) can be used to rank atmospheric rivers and identify hotspots of the most intense atmospheric rivers not only along the U.S. West Coast but also worldwide.
Published Life in the smoke of underwater volcanoes
(via sciencedaily.com) Disconnected from the energy of the sun, the permanently ice-covered Arctic deep sea receives miniscule amounts of organic matter that sustains life. Bacteria which can harvest the energy released from submarine hydrothermal sources could thus have an advantage. Scientists found bacteria uniquely adapted to this geo-energy floating in deep-sea waters. They describe the role of these bacteria for biogeochemical cycling in the ocean.
Published Long-term exposure to nitrate in drinking water may be a risk factor for prostate cancer
(via sciencedaily.com) The nitrate ingested over the course of a person's adult lifetime through the consumption of tap water and bottled water could be a risk factor for prostate cancer, particularly in the case of aggressive tumors and in younger men.
Published Smoke particles from wildfires can erode the ozone layer
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study finds that smoke particles in the stratosphere can trigger chemical reactions that erode the ozone layer -- and that smoke particles from Australian wildfires widened the ozone hole by 10 percent in 2020.
Published Study examines potential use of machine learning for sustainable development of biomass
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Machine learning can be valuable in supporting sustainable development of biomass if it is applied across the entire lifecyle of biomass and biomass-derived products, according to a new study.
Published Gas monitoring at volcanic fields outside Naples, Italy, exposes multiple sources of carbon dioxide emissions
(via sciencedaily.com) The Phlegraean volcanic fields just west of Naples, Italy, are among the top eight emitters of volcanic carbon dioxide in the world. Since 2005, the Solfatara crater -- one of many circular depressions in the landscape left by a long history of eruptions --has been emitting increased volumes of gas. Today it emits 4,000-5,000 tons of carbon dioxide each day, equivalent to the emissions from burning ~500,000 gallons of gasoline. Researchers estimate that as much as 20%--40% of the current carbon dioxide emissions are from the dissolution of calcite in the rocks, while 60%--80% is from underground magma.
Published Elegantly modeling Earth's abrupt glacial transitions
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Milutin Milankovitch hypothesized that the timing of glacial transitions has been controlled by the orbital parameters of the Earth, which suggests that there may be some predictability in the climate, a notoriously complex system. Now researchers propose a new paradigm to simplify the verification of the Milankovitch hypothesis. The new 'deterministic excitation paradigm' combines the physics concepts of relaxation oscillation and excitability to link Earth's orbital parameters and the glacial cycles in a more generic way.
Published Dinosaur claws used for digging and display
(via sciencedaily.com) Dinosaur claws had many functions, but now a team has shown some predatory dinosaurs used their claws for digging or even for display.
Published Evolution of dinosaur body size through different developmental mechanisms
(via sciencedaily.com) The meat-eating dinosaurs known as theropods that roamed the ancient Earth ranged in size from the bus-sized T. rex to the smaller, dog-sized Velociraptor. Scientists puzzling over how such wildly different dinosaur sizes evolved recently found -- to their surprise -- that smaller and larger theropod dinosaurs like these didn't necessarily get that way merely by growing slower or faster.