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Environment - Life Sciences - 20.10.2021

Savannah chimpanzees, a model for the understanding of human evolution
To prosper, most great apes need lush forests in Africa (bonobos, chimpanzees, and gorillas) or Southeast Asia (orangutans), except for some groups of chimpanzees that live in savannahs, habitats characterised by high temperatures and very low seasonal rainfall. Adriana Hernández, Serra Hunter professor at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Barcelona, co-led the study conducted by an international team of primatologists who reviewed the existing research on the behaviour and ecology of savannah chimpanzees to understand how these apes adapt to extreme conditions.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 20.10.2021

Ocean acidity data affirm predictions of changes to El Niño conditions
Score one for a key climate change prediction. A multi-institutional research team led by Yale and the University of St. Andrews has confirmed a major finding of climate models regarding changes that may occur to Pacific Ocean currents - including those that drive El Niño events - with just a few degrees of global warming.

Environment - 20.10.2021

Scientific support for link between human activity and climate change strengthens
There is almost universal agreement for the link between human activity and climate change among top climate scientists, an international team of researchers has found. A paper published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters , by researchers from Monash University and US colleges Louisiana State University and George Mason University, revealed how scientific consensus on anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming has evolved over the last decade.

Environment - 19.10.2021

Curbing spread of waterborne diseases through new water monitoring method
An innovative way of identifying contaminated drinking water could reduce the spread of deadly diarrhoeal diseases by enabling communities to take action more quickly to limit exposure, a new study co-led by UCL academics has found. The paper, published in Water Research , shows how a technique exploiting the fluorescent properties of microbiological materials in water can instantly detect faecal contamination and is a more reliable indicator of the risk of impurities than previous testing methods.

Environment - Life Sciences - 15.10.2021

Plankton head polewards
Ocean warming caused by anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions will prompt many species of marine plankton to seek out new habitats, in some cases as a matter of sur-vival. researchers expect many organisms to head to the poles and form new communities - with unforeseeable consequences for marine food webs.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 15.10.2021

Social media and AI can measure the aesthetic quality of landscapes
To measure an ecosystem's beauty and the well-being it produces for people can help inform public environmental policy. Scientists at EPFL and Wageningen University in the Netherlands have developed a novel modeling approach for ecosystem assessments based on deep learning and millions of Flickr photos.

Life Sciences - Environment - 14.10.2021

Tree-dwelling mammals survived after asteroid strike destroyed forests | University of Cambridge
An asteroid strike 66 million years ago wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs and devastated the Earth's forests, but tree-dwelling ancestors of primates may have survived it, according to a new study published in the journal Ecology and Evolution . The recovery of terrestrial vertebrate life following the end-Cretaceous asteroid impact was one of the most important events in the history of life on Earth Daniel Field Overall, the study supports the h

Health - Environment - 14.10.2021

Pesticide linked to chronic kidney disease
A commonly available pesticide has been associated with an increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in a University of Queensland study. Researchers analysed links between pesticide exposure and the risk of kidney dysfunction in 41,847 people, using data from the USA National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 14.10.2021

Sustainable farming: There’s no one solution
Sustainable agriculture will not be achieved by one universal solution. A meta-analysis by the University of Basel shows that the current focus on no-till farming does not achieve the desired results. A sustainable system of agriculture must be designed for local needs and in dialog with local farmers.

Astronomy / Space Science - Environment - 13.10.2021

Did Venus, Earth’s twin sister, ever have oceans?
Astrophysicists led by the UNIGE and the NCCR PlanetS have investigated the past of Venus to find out whether Earth's sister planet once had oceans. The planet Venus can be seen as the Earth's evil twin. At first sight, it is of comparable mass and size as our home planet, similarly consists mostly of rocky material, holds some water and has an atmosphere.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 13.10.2021

Climate model shows that Venus could never have had oceans
Whether Venus, one of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets, ever had oceans remains an unsolved puzzle. Although an American study hypothesized involving in particular scientists from the CNRS and University of Versailles-Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines 1 (UVSQ). Using a state-of-the-art climate model, the research team has come up with an alternative scenario to the American study.

Environment - 13.10.2021

Air conditioning in a changing climate: a growing rich-poor divide
On a scorching summer day in India, a man sought relief in the waters of a public fountain. New research from the Climate Impact Lab, co-authored at UC Berkeley, says that as temperatures rise, emerging countries such as India will experience dramatic increases in demand for air conditioning - and for electricity.

Environment - Life Sciences - 12.10.2021

Insects in the Light of Land Use and Climate
Urbanisation appears to be another key factor for insect decline. This is shown by a study in which the impact of climate and land use on insects was disentangled for the first time. Worldwide, the quantity and diversity of insects are declining: scientists have reported more and more evidence for this in recent years.

Environment - 12.10.2021

The underground as a haven for biodiversity
Europe has relatively low biodiversity compared to most other continents because many species became extinct during the ice ages. In subterranean ecosystems, however, which were shielded from climatic turbulences, a great diversity of ancient species were able to survive. This is the conclusion of a study on the amphipod genus Niphargus.

Transport - Environment - 11.10.2021

Cut European short-haul flights to dramatically reduce emissions according to new research
New data curated by scientists at The University of Manchester has found that the main culprit for aviation emissions across the connected continent of Europe is countless short journey flights. The research, recently published in journal Transportation Research , identified that a large number of flights over distances of less than 300 miles between city pairs with existing public transport connections are a key contributor of harmful emissions.

Life Sciences - Environment - 11.10.2021

Study suggests ground-dwelling mammals survived mass extinction 66 million years ago
The miles-wide asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago wiped out nearly all the dinosaurs and roughly three-quarters of the planet's plant and animal species. But some creatures survived, including certain rat-sized mammals that would later diversify into the more than 6,000 mammal species that exist today, including humans.

Life Sciences - Environment - 11.10.2021

Tree-dwelling mammals endured after asteroid strike destroyed forests
An asteroid strike 66 million years ago wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs and devastated the Earth's forests, but tree-dwelling ancestors of primates may have survived it, according to a new study published in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

Health - Environment - 07.10.2021

First Link between Stillbirths, Birth Complications and Excessive Heat in Lower-income Countries
Researchers call for improvements in early-warning systems Scientists at UC San Diego and colleagues have found links between extreme heat and a heightened incidence of stillbirths and preterm births in relatively poor countries. The study , published Oct. 6 in the journal Environment International , is believed to be the first to link the two phenomena in a global context.

Environment - History / Archeology - 07.10.2021

Antarctic ice reveals 700 years of environmental impact
A new study from an international team of scientists including researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) has linked an increase in black carbon levels found in Antarctic ice to 700-year-old Maori land burning practices in New Zealand. The findings, which are published in  Nature , challenge past assumptions by demonstrating humans were responsible for environmental changes earlier, and on a much larger scale, than previously thought.

Environment - Chemistry - 07.10.2021

The path to achieving net-zero liquid fuel
Researchers from Monash University and Hokkaido University have developed a method that converts carbon dioxide into a diesel-range fuel and has the potential to produce a net-zero liquid fuel alternative to power cars more sustainably. When carbon dioxide (CO2) is added to the manufacturing process of fuel production, it has the capability to produce fuels that reduce or reverse the net CO2 emissions.