UC Irvine-led study connects exposure to air pollution and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy
University of California, Irvine
Ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOMs) use ammonia as an energy source while converting it to nitrite and play a pivotal role in the global nitrogen cycle. This study explored whether different AOM species preferred to use urea over ammonia. It found that some AOMs preferred urea while others used ammonia and urea simultaneously.
A research team composed of faculty from UWF, the Florida Institute of Technology, Florida Gulf Coast University and New College of Florida was recently awarded $200,000 from the Gulf of Mexico Alliance for their project, “An AI-Directed Tool Development for Pathogenic ‘Flesh-eating’ Vibrio Bacteria Prediction and Control.”
Researchers have unveiled a pioneering breeze wake-up anemometer (B-WA), employing a rolling-bearing triboelectric nanogenerator (RB-TENG) that provides a new strategy for low-energy consumption environmental monitoring. The ability of the B-WA to operate autonomously and efficiently in varying wind conditions marks a substantial advancement in the field of sustainable environmental monitoring.
Farmland is often a battleground in the fight against climate change.Solar panels and energy crops are pitted against food production, while well-intended policy choices can create incentives for farmers to till up new lands, releasing even more heat-trapping gas into the atmosphere.That’s why strategies for sustainable plant-based fuels focus on marginal lands — fields that are too hard to cultivate or don’t produce good enough yields to be considered profitable.
Habitat change, fragmentation, and reduction caused by human activity are significant threats to the natural environment, leading to a decline in biodiversity and increased species extinction. Among the most vulnerable are social animals, whose intricate social structures and cooperative breeding behaviors are closely linked to their habitats. A new study led by Prof. Lee Koren, from the Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University, explores the profound effects of habitat disturbance on the Arabian babbler, a social bird species known for its cooperative breeding.
New method will provide accurate counts and breeding success of the threatened species in the light of climate change
Ammonia is the starting point for the fertilizers that have secured the world’s food supply for the last century. It’s also a main component of cleaning products, and is even considered as a future carbon-free replacement for fossil fuels in vehicles.
Orhun Aydin, Ph.D., assistant professor in Earth and Atmospheric Science at SLU’s School for Science and Engineering, received a $149,791 planning grant from the National Science Foundation for a program to put sensors in garbage and recycling bins around the City of St. Louis.
The push for carbon neutrality in the transportation sector is driving significant research and development (R&D) across the globe. A new study provides a comprehensive analysis of the distinct national strategies and R&D organizational paradigms aimed at achieving carbon neutrality in road transport.
A collaborative study has identified key policy tools and challenges in improving energy efficiency (EEI) for public buildings in China. The research, published in the City and Built Environment journal, offers a comprehensive analysis of the current state of EEI policy tools and proposes innovative solutions to overcome existing obstacles.
Using a 26-year-old common garden forest, a multi-institutional team of researchers collected fine root samples from four temperate tree species (three deciduous and one coniferous) that varied in their morphology.
For the third year in a row, the city of La Paz, Bolivia topped the list of participants in the City Nature Challenge, a friendly citizen science competition among cities from around the global that measures the highest number of wildlife observations, species diversity, and participant engagement.
It’s visually striking. When fully grown, open wings display showy hind wings with bright red near the abdomen, black spots, and black-and-white bars. But the spotted lanternfly, an invasive insect that came to the United States from its native habitat of Southeast Asia in 2014, is destructive. Despite its name, though, the spotted lanternfly is not a fly.
The International Association for Great Lakes Research today announced its new board of directors and has named Donna Kashian, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences and director of environmental sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University, as president. Kashian previously served as vice president of the board.
A new study that investigated the presence of the smallest particles of microplastics (MPs) in ocean waters from the Caribbean to the Arctic found that the most abundant (and tiny) MPs in the ocean are not being detected by net tow surveys.
Off the southeastern tip of Greenland in mid-June, Hayley DeHart, a genomics and marine scientist at APL, disembarked Lindblad Expedition’s National Geographic Endurance — a 407-foot (124-meter) ice-cutting cruise ship — and stepped into a small Zodiac inflatable motorboat.
The Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona and northern Mexico has long been largely immune to fires, despite its intense heat. There simply wasn't enough fuel to feed severe fires. In the last two decades, wetter winters and the increase of invasive species have caused a rapid shift to the desert environment.
Homes and public places where people smoke may have high levels of harmful trace metals from cigarettes, even after smoking stops, Berkeley Lab researchers have found. These metals include cadmium, arsenic, and chromium, and the levels may be above safety limits set by California.
A costly step in the process of taking carbon dioxide emissions and converting them into useful products such as biofuels and pharmaceuticals may not be necessary, according to University of Michigan researchers.
A team of geologists led by the University of Utah analyzed 3,500 samples taken in and around coal mines in Utah and Colorado. Their findings open the possibility that these mines could see a secondary resource stream in the form of rare earth metals used in renewable energy and numerous other high-tech applications.
Digitizing decades worth of pre-computer files held in storage at the Narragansett Bay campus let oceanographers at the University of Rhode Island get a better picture of Narragansett Bay over time. URI operates the longest-running time series in Rhode Island, which now reveals that the level of phytoplankton in the bay has dropped by half in the last half century.
A team of glaciologists led by researchers at the University of California, Irvine used high-resolution satellite radar data to find evidence of the intrusion of warm, high-pressure seawater many kilometers beneath the grounded ice of West Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier.
Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) announces the publication of the scientific paper Global Mercury Concentrations in Biota: Their Use as a Basis for a Global Biomonitoring Framework in the journal Ecotoxicology. The paper describes for the first time currently available mercury data for fish and wildlife on a global scale.
A cutting-edge study has shed light on the TOMATO MADS-BOX 6 (TM6) gene's critical influence on the elaborate development of tomato flowers. This research pierces the veil on the genetic underpinnings of floral formation, providing fresh insights into the realm of plant biology.
Using citizen science, photographs, on-water observations and the combination of morphological and genetic data, researchers are the first to provide evidence that the Atlantic cownose ray has recently made a new home in Bermuda. Results show that after hundreds of years of natural history records, this is a novel migration of Atlantic cownose rays to Bermuda. Findings suggest that cownose rays have been in Bermuda for more than a decade since 2012 and observations of the species continue to be sustained today.
Variations in water quality can impact the development of the visual system of one species of African fish, suggests a new study.
Matt and Brandon traveled to Ecuador's rainforests to map the Coca River with drones. The river is experiencing massive erosion and sedimentation problems after the San Rafael waterfall collapsed in 2020. Their work could help the country save a hydroelectric power plant that provides 30% of the country's electricity as well as roads and pipelines the area's people depend on for commerce and transportation.
A research team has identified key metabolic composition differences between annual bluegrass and creeping bentgrass under heat stress, revealing specific metabolites linked to heat tolerance.
A research team has reviewed the role of MicroRNA156 (miR156) in horticultural plants, uncovering its significant influence on a variety of biological processes such as vegetative growth, floral induction, and stress response.
A research team has meticulously analyzed the transcriptional response of Impatiens walleriana to Plasmopara obducens infection, revealing between 3,000 and 4,500 differentially expressed transcripts at various stages of the disease.
In a significant stride toward justice in environmental sciences, a recent study has unveiled the urgent necessity of embedding equity throughout all phases of environmental data science and machine learning research and application.
From lemur poop to good old human poop, our waste has a story to tell. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory’s Environmental Sample Preparation and Sequencing Facility (ESPSF) has the tools and technology to get to the bottom of genetic mysteries from the natural world. Facility Manager Sarah Owens can help shed light on the quirkier side of genetics.
A recent article outlines a novel approach to understanding and reducing personal carbon emissions. By comparing daily energy use to food consumption and transportations, researchers provide clear strategies for individuals to reduce their carbon footprint effectively.
.Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing battery technologies to fight climate change in two ways, by expanding the use of renewable energy and capturing airborne carbon dioxide. This type of battery stores the renewable energy generated by solar panels or wind turbines. Utilizing this energy when wind and sunlight are unavailable requires an electrochemical reaction that, in ORNL’s new battery formulations, captures carbon dioxide from industrial emissions and converts it to value-added products.
Scientists at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis will explore stratospheric aerosol injection with a $1.5 million grant from the Simons Foundation International.
As the world presses forward with urgency towards reaching global biodiversity and climate targets by 2030, there must be increased attention to center equity in dialogue and practice when designing ocean conservation, adaptation and development interventions.
FAU’s latest “Florida Climate Resilience Survey” found that 90% of Floridians believe that climate change is happening. Belief in human-caused climate change has surged among Florida Independents while slipping among Republicans. Despite these changes, the survey found enduring support among Floridians for increased government action to address the consequences of a warming planet.
Led by the University of Delaware, a team of researchers assessed forest extent in Mexico using satellite data and ground inventories with the goal of improving accuracy in forest monitoring. The research will improve future data collection efforts and enhance decision-making for forest management.
A University of Rhode Island oceanographer leading her first research cruise in the southern Pacific uncovered a surprise when her vessel looked below the waters in the Polynesian nation of Tonga.
In a first-of-its kind study, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have investigated how the prehistoric weakening of a major ocean current led to a decline in ocean nutrients and negative impacts on North Atlantic ocean life. The results support predictions about how our oceans might react to a changing climate — and what that means for ocean life.
A recent review has unveiled revolutionary methods to recycle and transform everyday polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic into valuable materials. By harnessing cutting-edge enzymes and catalysts, the review dramatically improves how we break down and reuse PET, slashing energy use and emissions.
After a century of functional extinction on the Australian mainland, a Flat oyster reef has been successfully restored along a metropolitan Adelaide coastline.
Argonne National Laboratory will be receiving $3 million over three years to lead a project on developing a technology for ironmaking with zero carbon emissions and lower required energy.
Researchers used advanced computing techniques to engineer the bacteria Pseudomonas putida to optimize its production of isoprenol using carbon from plant material. Isoprenol has a potential role in the production of jet biofuel blendstocks.
For many people, fireflies lighting up backyards is a sign of summertime. The thrill of catching them in a jar and releasing them back into the wild is a childhood pastime. But if you have noticed a decline in fireflies over the years, you’re not alone. Virginia Tech entomologist Eric Day explains why climate and urban development are playing a big role in the decreasing numbers.