news 2017

In its first in-depth look at charter high schools, the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research looked beyond test scores to examine the differences between charter and non-charter high schools in Chicago Public Schools. The study, released Nov. 14, found that, on average, charter high schools in Chicago look similar to non-charter schools on some dimensions of organizational capacity and some measures of student performance.

The largest global study to date on the effects of climate change on temperature-related mortality shows that more deaths due to hot weather may not be balanced by fewer deaths in colder world regions should global temperatures continue to rise. Swiss TPH, working for improved health of the people around the globe, prepared the data set for Switzerland.

!- Start of DoubleClick Floodlight Tag: Please do not remove Activity name of this tag: UCB001CP Retargeting URL of the webpage where the tag is expected to be placed: http://unknown This tag must be placed between the A new study suggests that many of the state's birds are adapting to rising temperatures by breeding earlier than they did a century ago.

Research news Trees in metropolitan areas have been growing faster than trees in rural areas worldwide since the 1960s. This has been confirmed for the first time by a study on the impact of the urban heat island effect on tree growth headed by the Technical University of Munich (TUM). The analysis conducted by the international research team also shows that the growth of urban trees has already been exposed to changing climatic conditions for a long period of time, which is only just beginning to happen for trees in rural areas.

The first country-wide map of relative land motion has been created by a team at the University of Nottingham. Using hundreds of satellite radar images the team, working with Geomatic Ventures Limited (GVL), an innovative University spin-out company, created a complete map of mainland Scotland. The map covers a two-year period from 2015 to 2017 and was created using Intermittent Small Baseline (ISBAS) analysis, a novel satellite remote sensing technique.

!- Start of DoubleClick Floodlight Tag: Please do not remove Activity name of this tag: UCB001CP Retargeting URL of the webpage where the tag is expected to be placed: http://unknown This tag must be placed between the California leads the way in finding sustainable energy supplies to combat climate change, but Dan Kammen's experience in the developing world makes it clear that energy solutions, like politics, must be local.

Moving bus stops away from intersections would substantially reduce the amount of pollution bus riders are exposed to, UCLA scientists report today in the journal Environmental Pollution. Research has shown that in many cities in the United States and internationally, bus riders frequently spend 15 to 25 minutes or more each way waiting for a bus.

A two-in-one solar bio-battery and solar panel has been created by researchers who printed living cyanobacteria and circuitry onto paper. Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic micro-organisms that have been on Earth for billions of years. They are thought to be the primary reason why the Earth's atmosphere is oxygen rich.

What are the effects of LED lighting and the climate on different types of sports turf? At the greenhouse laboratory center Dürnast, this question is addressed by TUM researchers. Their findings serve as a basis for the development of new lighting systems for professional football. If, in the Bundesliga, a football match doesn't go too well, it is common to blame the lawn: "Der Rasen ist schuld!" - which shows how much importance the professionals attach to the turf.

Early flowering, early fruiting: Anecdotal evidence of climate change is popping up as quickly as spring crocuses, but is it coincidence or confirmation that plants' timing is shifting in response to warming temperatures? Scientists have had few tools to piece together disparate, anecdotal data into a collective, bigger picture.

The global effect and impact of atmospheric rivers on rainfall, flooding and droughts has been estimated for the first time - revealing that in some regions the risks can be enhanced by up to 80 percent. The work, of which Oxford University is a key partner, also considers the number of people affected by these atmospheric phenomena across the globe.

In the Earth Microbiome Project , an extensive global team led by researchers at the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, University of California San Diego and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory collected more than 27,000 samples from diverse environments. They analyzed the collections of microbes, or microbiomes, in each sample to generate the first reference database of bacteria colonizing the planet.

An international team, including researchers from Cardiff University, has discovered a new orangutan species within Indonesia. Pongo Tapanuliensis , otherwise known as the Tapanuli Orangutan, was found in the three Tapanuli districts of North Sumatra after close analysis of the ape inhabitants of the Batang Toru Ecosystem.

Many species, such as vine snakes in the Amazon, favour the darker and more humid forest interiors. Photo: Professor Jos Barlow Breaking up the rainforest into small, isolated patches is forcing more species to live at the forest edge and putting those that are dependent on the forest core at risk. Research published today in the academic journal Nature highlights how biodiversity is changing as a result of deforestation - forcing some species to the brink of extinction while others flourish in the changing environment.

Implications of livestock farming on climate change should not be drawn from aggregate statistics, reveals a study based on a new method of carbon footprinting for pasture-based cattle production systems that can assess the impacts of individual animals. The new method, developed by a team from the University of Bristol and Rothamsted Research, records the environmental impact of each animal separately before calculating the overall burden of a farm.

EPFL scientists working with a team of researchers from across Europe have found that peat bogs, despite their low biodiversity, can effectively withstand both moderate and glacial climates. That finding stands to change the way we look at biodiversity.

Totten Glacier is the largest glacier in East Antarctica. Scientists are concerned that if Totten loses enough mass it could destabilize the rest of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. UT Austin/University of Texas Institute for Geophysics. AUSTIN, Texas - Totten Glacier, the largest glacier in East Antarctica, is being melted from below by warm water that reaches the ice when winds over the ocean are strong - a cause for concern because the glacier holds more than 11 feet of sea level rise and acts as a plug that helps lock in the ice of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Habitat loss is a major threat to the world's mammal species - over 1,000 mammal species are already threatened. A new study led by ANU has mapped priority areas around the world to protect thousands of mammal species, with a focus on species with few close relatives including echidnas in Australia and PNG and lemurs in Madagascar.

A team of EPFL and European researchers has discovered a flaw in the way past ocean temperatures have been estimated up to now. Their findings could mean that the current period of climate change is unparalleled over the last 100 million years. According to the methodology widely used by the scientific community, the temperature of the ocean depths and that of the surface of the polar ocean 100 million years ago were around 15 degrees higher than current readings.

New analysis reveals that billions of dollars spent on habitat and species conservation have resulted in substantial reductions in biodiversity loss. Government spending on conservation efforts, such as management of national parks, has been patchy across the world, in part due to a lack of solid evidence of success.