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Categories: Geoscience: Geochemistry, Paleontology: Climate

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Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate
Published

Ice age could help predict oceans' response to global warming      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new way to measure the ocean oxygen level and its connections with carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere during the last ice age could help explain the role oceans played in past glacial melting cycles and improve predictions of how ocean carbon cycles will respond to global warming.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Batteries Energy: Technology Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Next-generation batteries could go organic, cobalt-free for long-lasting power      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In the switch to 'greener' energy sources, the demand for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries is surging. However, their cathodes typically contain cobalt -- a metal whose extraction has high environmental and societal costs. Now, researchers in report evaluating an earth-abundant, carbon-based cathode material that could replace cobalt and other scarce and toxic metals without sacrificing lithium-ion battery performance.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Energy: Alternative Fuels Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Efficiently moving urea out of polluted water is coming to reality      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a material to remove urea from water and potentially convert it into hydrogen gas. By building these materials of nickel and cobalt atoms with carefully tailored electronic structures, the group has unlocked the potential to enable these transition metal oxides and hydroxides to selectively oxidize urea in an electrochemical reaction. The team's findings could help use urea in waste streams to efficiently produce hydrogen fuel through the electrolysis process, and could be used to sequester urea from water, maintaining the long-term sustainability of ecological systems, and revolutionizing the water-energy nexus.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Batteries Energy: Technology Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Cobalt-free batteries could power cars of the future      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new battery material could offer a more sustainable way to power electric cars. The lithium-ion battery includes a cathode based on organic materials, instead of cobalt or nickel.

Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Paleontology: Climate
Published

The heat is on: Scientists discover southern Africa's temps will rise past the rhinos' tolerance      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Southern Africa contains the vast majority of the world's remaining populations of both black and white rhinoceroses (80% and 92%, respectively). The region's climate is changing rapidly as a result global warming. Traditional conservation efforts aimed at protecting rhinos have focused on poaching, but until now, there has been no analysis of the impact that climate change may have on the animals. A research team has recently reported that, though the area will be affected by both higher temperatures and changing precipitation, the rhinos are more sensitive to rising temperatures, which will quickly increase above the animals' acceptable maximum threshold.

Biology: Zoology Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Rain can spoil a wolf spider's day, too      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers found that wolf spiders can't signal others or perceive danger from predators as easily on rain-soaked leaves compared to dry ones. Even communicating with would-be mates is harder after it rains.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

US air pollution rates on the decline but pockets of inequities remain      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Our latest study shows there are racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in air pollution emissions reductions, particularly in the industry and energy generation sectors. The findings provide a national investigation of air pollution emission changes in the 40 years following the enactment of the Clean Air Act (CAA). Until now, studies have primarily focused on evaluating air pollution disparities at a single time point, focusing on pollutant concentrations instead of emissions. A focus on emissions, however, has more direct implications for regulations and policies. In this study, the researchers used county-level data to evaluate racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in air pollution emissions changes in the contiguous U.S. from 1970 to 2010.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Mathematics: Modeling
Published

New AI makes better permafrost maps      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New insights from artificial intelligence about permafrost coverage in the Arctic may soon give policy makers and land managers the high-resolution view they need to predict climate-change-driven threats to infrastructure such as oil pipelines, roads and national security facilities.

Archaeology: General Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Paleontology: Climate
Published

Stalagmites as climate archive      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When combined with data from tree-ring records, stalagmites can open up a unique archive to study natural climate fluctuations, a research team has demonstrated. The researchers analyzed the isotopic composition of oxygen in a stalagmite formed from calcareous water in a cave in southern Germany. In conjunction with the data acquired from tree rings, they were able to reconstruct short-term climate fluctuations over centuries and correlate them with historically documented environmental events.

Biology: Botany Chemistry: General Ecology: Endangered Species Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Technology Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Artificial 'power plants' harness energy from wind and rain      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Fake plants are moving into the 21st century! Researchers developed literal 'power plants' -- tiny, leaf-shaped generators that create electricity from a blowing breeze or falling raindrops. The team tested the energy harvesters by incorporating them into artificial plants.

Archaeology: General Biology: Biochemistry Biology: General Biology: Marine Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Key moment in the evolution of life on Earth captured in fossils      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research has precisely dated some of the oldest fossils of complex multicellular life in the world, helping to track a pivotal moment in the history of Earth when the seas began teeming with new lifeforms -- after four billion years of containing only single-celled microbes.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

More aerosol particles than thought are forming over Siberia, study finds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study finds that, contrary to previous beliefs, large amounts of aerosol particles can form over vast areas of the West Siberian taiga in the spring. When temperatures rise, this can have a significant impact on the climate.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Physics: Optics
Published

Capturing greenhouse gases with the help of light      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers use light-reactive molecules to influence the acidity of a liquid and thereby capture of carbon dioxide. They have developed a special mixture of different solvents to ensure that the light-reactive molecules remain stable over a long period of time. Conventional carbon capture technologies are driven by temperature or pressure differences and require a lot of energy. This is no longer necessary with the new light-based process.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Genetics Biology: Molecular Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geology
Published

Study uncovers potential origins of life in ancient hot springs      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A research team investigated how the emergence of the first living systems from inert geological materials happened on the Earth, more than 3.5 billion years ago. Scientists found that by mixing hydrogen, bicarbonate, and iron-rich magnetite under conditions mimicking relatively mild hydrothermal vent results in the formation of a spectrum of organic molecules, most notably including fatty acids stretching up to 18 carbon atoms in length.

Anthropology: General Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Paleontology: Climate
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The first assessment of toxic heavy metal pollution in the Southern Hemisphere over the last 2,000 years      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Human activity, from burning fossil fuels and fireplaces to the contaminated dust produced by mining, alters Earth's atmosphere in countless ways. Records of these impacts over time are preserved in everlasting polar ice that serves as a sort of time capsule, allowing scientists and historians to link Earth's history with that of human societies. In a new study, ice cores from Antartica show that lead and other toxic heavy metals linked to mining activities polluted the Southern Hemisphere as early as the 13th century.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Energy: Alternative Fuels Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Bulky additives could make cheaper solar cells last longer      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An insight into preventing perovskite semiconductors from degrading quickly could help enable solar cells estimated to be two to four times cheaper than today's thin-film solar panels.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Engineering: Nanotechnology Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Catalytic combo converts CO2 to solid carbon nanofibers      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have developed a way to convert carbon dioxide (CO2), a potent greenhouse gas, into carbon nanofibers, materials with a wide range of unique properties and many potential long-term uses. Their strategy uses tandem electrochemical and thermochemical reactions run at relatively low temperatures and ambient pressure and could successfully lock carbon away to offset or even achieve negative carbon emissions.