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Environment - Life Sciences - 09:03

Solar-powered microbes to feed the world?
International research team shows that protein from microbes uses a fraction of the resources of conventional farming Microbes have played a key role in our food and drinks - from cheese to beer - for millennia but their impact on our nutrition may soon become even more important. The world is facing growing food challenges as the human population continues to increase alongside its demand for resource intensive animal products.

Astronomy / Space Science - Environment - 29.07.2021

Small force, big effect: How the planets could influence the sun
A new theory supports the controversial hypothesis that the planets affect solar activity. It puts forward a mechanism by which the very small influence of the planets could exert its rhythm on such a large system as the Sun. If the theory is confirmed, it could possibly be used to predict solar activity more accurately.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 29.07.2021

Aerosols add a new wrinkle to climate change in the tropical Pacific Ocean
A new Yale study suggests that aerosols in the atmosphere may be temporarily holding down ocean temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The findings, published Climate Change, are an indication that the surprisingly modest warming observed in the tropical Pacific in recent decades may be short-lived, with more dramatic changes yet to come.

Environment - Health - 28.07.2021

Exploring how air pollution in indoor spaces affects human health
University of Birmingham experts are part of a new research programme investigating how air pollutants in indoor spaces such as homes, schools and workplaces can adversely affect human health. Researchers have received a share of £9 million funding from UK Research and Innovation across three separate four-year projects, each aimed at better understanding the composition, concentration and exposures of air pollutants and how these affect different health conditions.

Environment - Innovation - 28.07.2021

Towards a more affordable analysis of air pollution
Scientists have developed a new method for chemical analysis of fine particles that they plan to extend on a large scale - including in developing countries - through an Innosuisse innovation grant award and a new startup. Satoshi Takahama and Nikunj Dudani, two scientists at EPFL's Laboratory of Atmospheric Processes and their Impacts (LAPI), have developed an innovative system that could replace the array of instruments typically used to measure air quality by a single device small enough to fit in a carry-on bag.

Environment - Life Sciences - 27.07.2021

Size doesn’t matter in ecosystem resilience, study in PNAS shows
Mangrove forests were once dominant in the tropics, but they have disappeared at alarming rates around the world. Little is known, however, about the impact of this deforestation on the functional diversity and resilience of resident fauna. A team including Farid Dahdouh-Guebas of VUB's Ecology & Biodiversity Research Unit Researchers addressed this question and found that mangroves have among the lowest faunal diversity of any of the planet's ecosystems, making them especially vulnerable to environmental change.

Chemistry - Environment - 27.07.2021

Turning diapers into sticky notes: Using chemical recycling to prevent millions of tons of waste
Every year, 3.5 million metric tons of sodden diapers end up in landfills. The superabsorbent material inside these diapers is made up of a matrix of polymers that expand once dampness hits them. Polymers are a long chain of repeating units, and in this case, the absorbent material in diapers is based on the polymer polyacrylic acid.

Earth Sciences - Environment - 26.07.2021

Earth’s interior is swallowing up more carbon than thought
Scientists from Cambridge University and NTU Singapore have found that slow-motion collisions of tectonic plates drag more carbon into Earth's interior than previously thought.

Environment - Politics - 23.07.2021

Water resources: defusing conflict, promoting cooperation
The EU funded project DAFNE has developed a methodology for avoiding conflicts of use in transboundary rivers. The model-based procedure allows for participatory planning and cooperative management of water resources. The aim is now for the DAFNE methodology to be implemented in other regions of the world.

Environment - Chemistry - 22.07.2021

Eco-friendly plastic from cellulose and water
Göttingen researchers create new kind of environmentally friendly bioplastic with hydroplastic polymers Plastics offer many benefits to society and are widely used in our daily life: they are lightweight, cheap and adaptable. However, the production, processing and disposal of plastics are simply not sustainable, and pose a major global threat to the environment and human health.

Life Sciences - Environment - 21.07.2021

Root exudation and biological nitrification potential in pearl millet can boost sustainable agriculture
Agriculture is the main source for the majority of the input of reactive N to terrestrial systems; large amounts of fertilizer N are lost from the root zone as nitrate through leaching and denitrification. Avoiding the combination of high external inputs with low resource use efficiency remains a major concern for the sustainability of N in agroecosystems.

Environment - Life Sciences - 20.07.2021

The climate impact of wild pigs greater than a million cars
By uprooting carbon trapped in soil, wild pigs are releasing around 4.9 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide annually across the globe, the equivalent of 1.1 million cars. An international team led by researchers from The University of Queensland and The University of Canterbury have used predictive population models, coupled with advanced mapping techniques to pinpoint the climate damage wild pigs are causing across five continents.

Earth Sciences - Environment - 19.07.2021

1,200 new glacial lakes discovered
A comprehensive inventory of Swiss glacial lakes shows how the lake landscape in the high mountains has changed since the end of the Little Ice Age. Due to climate change, the glaciers of the Alps are melting. When the sometimes huge ice fields retreat, they often leave behind depressions and natural dams in the exposed landscape.

Social Sciences - Environment - 19.07.2021

Living near woodlands is good for children and young people’s mental health
Children and young people's proximity to woodlands has been linked with better cognitive development and a lower risk of emotional and behavioural problems, in a study led by UCL and Imperial College London scientists that could influence planning decisions in urban areas. In what is believed to be one of the largest studies of its kind, researchers used longitudinal data relating to 3,568 children and teenagers, aged nine to 15 years, from 31 schools across London.

Health - Environment - 15.07.2021

You can help identify what’s killing lorikeets
Lorikeets in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland are becoming paralysed, often resulting in death. Scientists are beginning to discover why - but need your help. A new study  brings us one step closer to ensuring the health and wellbeing of wild rainbow lorikeets. Researchers from the University of Sydney identified the prevalence, distribution, and manifestation of lorikeet paralysis syndrome - a seasonal disease (October to June) that affects thousands of rainbow lorikeets each year in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.

Environment - Research Management - 15.07.2021

Open access to Eawag’s research results
Open Science is an important development in science - open access to the results of research. Eawag supports these and makes a growing part of its research data, including descriptions, images and even software, available publicly and free of charge on the Eawag platform ERIC or, in special cases, on discipline-specific, international databases.

Life Sciences - Environment - 14.07.2021

Rapid evolution in waterfleas yields new conservation insights
The extraordinary ability of animals to rapidly evolve in response to predators has been demonstrated via genetic sequencing of a waterflea population across nearly two decades. In a new study , published , scientists at the Universities of Birmingham in the UK, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, and the Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, were able to identify more than 300 genes that vary in the genome of the waterflea.

Environment - 14.07.2021

Planting oats to study the effects of air pollution
A team of scientists turned Bois-Chamblard park in Buchillon, on Lake Geneva, into a temporary research station for collecting experimental data. Their goal is to better understand how anthropogenic air pollution affects plant growth. What role does air pollution play in plant growth? That's the question a cross-disciplinary team of scientists has set out to answer.

Environment - Psychology - 14.07.2021

Autistic people experience barriers to ’going green’
Autistic people can "face barriers" to taking positive environmental action - and need greater support to help them do so, according to a new study. Researchers from Cardiff University, along with the universities of Bath, Essex, and King's College London, explored the links between autistic personality traits and environmental attitudes in a study of 2,000 people in the US and UK.

Psychology - Environment - 14.07.2021

’Greta Thunberg Effect’ belies challenges for autistic community in going green
A new psychology study from researchers at the University of Bath focuses on the relationship between autism and green behaviours. Last updated on Wednesday 14 July 2021 Autistic people need extra help in going green say researchers behind a new study which argues for a more inclusive environmental agenda.