news 2024

Unlike oceans, lakes are major emitters of CO2. Why is this so, and what mechanisms are at work? Scientists at the University of Lausanne have succeeded in explaining the complete carbon cycle in Lake Geneva for the first time, generating a model that can be applied to several of the world's great lakes.

Research network investigates how future potato varieties can be adapted to climate change Heat, drought and flooding - nature is under stress, and so is the potato. As a staple food, there is a particular interest in making potatoes climate-ready. An international team led by the University of Vienna and with the participation of the University of Bonn has now investigated how this can be achieved in the four-year EU project ADAPT.

International research team finds that islands are home to around one in three of world's plant species From Tasmania to Madagascar to New Guinea, islands make up just over five per cent of Earth's land. Yet, a study led by Macquarie University, Australia, and Göttingen University, Germany, reveals that islands are home to over 31 per cent of the world's plant species.

The changes scientists expect in the climate could cause the toxic metals naturally occurring in soils to become more mobile, destabilize ecosystems and increasingly enter the human food chain via agriculture. Such scenarios are particularly likely to occur in slightly acidic soils, which make up around two thirds of all soils.

Retrofitting a portion of the US shipping fleet from internal combustion engines to battery-electric systems could significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and be largely cost effective by 2035, according to a new study from Berkeley Lab researchers recently published in Nature Energy . Shipping represents 3% of total US greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, making it an important target for decarbonization.

Manchester scientists unveil advanced materials that capture benzene in our atmosphere, tackling major health risk Scientists have developed a new material capable of capturing the harmful chemical benzene from the polluted air, offering a potential solution for tackling a major health and environment risk.

A study undertaken by a student at The University of Manchester has revealed a severe level of microplastic pollution within the Medina Estuary on the Isle of Wight. An alarming level of microplastic fragments were found to be present throughout the intertidal mudflat sediments within the Medina Estuary, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Observe almost any animal or plant, in any weather, day or night. This has been made possible thanks to the work of an international team, led by researchers from Westlake University, China in collaboration with INRAE, who have designed an embedded vision camera capable of analysing images in real time.

Researchers from Switzerland and Kenya have investigated how climate change, urbanization and malaria control measures affect the risk of malaria in Kenya. The results show that despite a general decline, the risk of malaria has increased significantly in some regions. Malaria, spread by Anopheles mosquitoes, is one of the deadliest diseases in the world.

The global economy is in transition: New energy systems are disrupting reliance on fossil fuels; the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped consumer behavior, labor markets and business practices; and geopolitics and war have disrupted longstanding trade networks. Each of these forces affects energy sources and consumption, as well as greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution.

A new study published in Nature unveils a surprising discovery: a substantial amount of meltwater is temporarily stored within the Greenland Ice Sheet during summer months. For the first time, an international group of researchers was able to quantify meltwater with positioning data. The finding challenges current models of how ice sheets contribute to global sea level rise.

A new study by researchers at the UT sheds light on historical changes in the amount of water humanity consumes to grow the world's main crops.

For the first time, scientists have used data from weather radar not to track storms, but to count birds as they travel across Australian skies. The study, led by University of Queensland PhD candidate Xu Shi , used 16 years of radar weather data from the Bureau of Meteorology to monitor bird migration patterns from Tasmania to northern Queensland.

A research project led by the Desertification Research Centre (CIDE, UV-CSIC-GVA) has successfully predicted the ecological interactions that occur in little-analysed plant communities based on coexistence patterns from a well-studied ecosystem in Alicante. The study employed transfer learning, a machine learning technique that introduces a new approach to biodiversity research and conservation.

What is the "most Canadian" animal' Spoiler: it's not the beaver, or the moose. Published today in the journal The Canadian Field-Naturalist , the study from a team of Simon Fraser researchers ranks, for the first time ever, species of terrestrial vertebrates in Canada by their level of Canadian evolutionary distinctness: the amount of time animals have evolved independently from other Canadian species.

Large parts of the potential habitats of freshwater fish in Switzerland are negatively affected by human activities. Researchers at the University of Bern have shown this in a new study using explainable artificial intelligence methods. Measures to protect biodiversity and potential fish habitats will be developed based on the study.

Citizen scientists enable Göttingen researchers to analyse effectiveness of protected areas   Member states of the European Union are obliged to designate Special Protection Areas (SPAs) as part of the Natura 2000 network. These areas are designed to guarantee the preservation and restoration of bird populations.

A new study shows that increasing plant diversity in agriculture can be used to improve the carbon sequestration potential of agricultural soils. As the agricultural sector strives to reduce its carbon footprint, promoting biodiversity in agricultural practices could be the key to more sustainable and climate-friendly food production systems.

A nationwide citizen science project has found high levels of chemical pollutants in freshwater bodies across the UK. Thousands of volunteers have helped to provide a snapshot of the health of the nation's rivers and waterways, highlighting high levels of nitrates and phosphates, as well as a cocktail of chemical compounds that pose a risk to ecosystems.