Is there snow in that tree? Citizen science helps unpack snow"s effect on summer water supplies
The snow that falls in the mountains is good for more than just skiing, snowshoeing and breathtaking vistas. The snowpack it creates will eventually melt, and that water can be used for hydropower, irrigation and drinking water......»»
Key negotiator Norway sees "positive signals" ahead of plastic talks
In the single week that world leaders convened for high-level UN talks in New York, nearly 100,000 water bottles' worth of microplastics swirled through the city's air, posing known and still unknown risks to human health......»»
NASA analysis shows irreversible sea level rise for Pacific islands
In the next 30 years, Pacific Island nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Fiji will experience at least 8 inches (15 centimeters) of sea level rise, according to an analysis by NASA's sea level change science team. This amount of rise will occur reg.....»»
Deep learning framework improves snow cover fraction estimation
Accurate snow cover information is crucial for studying global climate and hydrology. However, deep learning approaches for retrieving snow cover fraction (SCF) often suffer from limitations in training data dependence and interpretability......»»
Researchers explore novel approach to map forest dieback in satellite images
Forests and woodlands cover one third of Earth's surface and play a critical role in carbon sequestration, water regulation, timber production, soil protection, and biodiversity conservation. Accelerated by climate change, the decline of these and ot.....»»
Frozen in time: Rock fossils hint at Mars"s ancient climate
Long ago, flowing wind and water shaped Mars's malleable sand and sediment into dunes, ripples and other landscape patterns, called bedforms. Over billions of years, some of these landforms hardened into rock—scientists then call them paleo-bedform.....»»
Climate-smart grazing: Study shows how weather mitigates nitrogen runoff
Livestock production is an important component of U.S. agriculture, with global demand for meat and dairy expected to double in the coming decades. This increase will lead to intensified grazing on U.S. grasslands, potentially exacerbating water qual.....»»
Climate change is easier to study when it"s presented as a game, says researcher
Climate change is among the more difficult but important topics to teach to young people. It involves complicated science and data, and it can be really depressing, given the bleak picture it paints of Earth's future......»»
Gender equity paradox: Study finds sex differences in reading and science are largest in gender-equal countries
A new study reveals that sex differences in academic strengths are found throughout the world and girls' relative advantage in reading and boys' in science is largest in gender-equal countries......»»
Citizen scientists help discover microplastics along the entire German coastline
The global production of plastics and the resulting plastic waste has increased to such an extent that plastics have become ubiquitous in our environment. Plastics of various sizes are also found along the German North Sea and Baltic coasts......»»
Rising waters, waning forests: Scientists are using tree rings to study how rising sea levels affect coastal forests
Sunlight filters through the canopy of pines, holly, sweet gum, and red maple while bird calls echo in the distance. These coastal forests may seem like others in the Mid-Atlantic, but a hidden challenge looms. Standing tall next to their salt marsh.....»»
Study shows Mars" early thick atmosphere could be locked up in the planet"s clay surface
Mars wasn't always the cold desert we see today. There's increasing evidence that water once flowed on the red planet's surface, billions of years ago. And if there was water, there must also have been a thick atmosphere to keep that water from freez.....»»
How coral and sediments helped to reconstruct 2.6 million years of climate history
Today's climate change is man-made. The consensus in the climate science community is unequivocal, but in order to determine just how exceptional current climate change is, we have had to contextualize the present on a much longer time scale. To do t.....»»
Arctic sea ice near historic low; Antarctic ice continues decline
Arctic sea ice retreated to near-historic lows in the Northern Hemisphere this summer, likely melting to its minimum extent for the year on Sept.11, 2024, according to researchers at NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The decline.....»»
Current economic system fails examination by sustainability experts
Our current economic system is based on poor science and should not be used to guide government decision-making when faced with threats to existence like climate change. That's the conclusion of a new paper led by UNSW Sydney sustainability scientist.....»»
Manganese cathodes could boost lithium-ion batteries
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are growing in adoption, used in devices like smartphones and laptops, electric vehicles, and energy storage systems. But supplies of nickel and cobalt commonly used in the cathodes of these batteries are limited......»»
Thousands of abandoned mines in Colorado are leaking toxic water, but Congress finally has a solution in sight
Polluted water leaking from thousands of abandoned mines in Colorado's mountains is turning wetlands orange and dumping toxic dissolved metals in the headwaters of many of the state's rivers......»»
Medicinal tree successfully grown from 1,000-year-old seed found in cave
An international team of botanists, agriculturists and historians has successfully grown a mature tree from an ancient seed found in a cave in Israel. In their paper, published in the journal Communications Biology, the group describes where the seed.....»»
Cryo-ET study provides viral close-up of HTLV-1, the "overlooked cousin of HIV"
In collaboration with the University of Minnesota and Cornell University, Martin Obr and Florian Schur from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) provide new details into the architecture of HTLV-1 (Human T-cell Leukemia Virus Type 1.....»»
New nanoparticle prevents mineral buildup in equipment handling water-oil mixtures
In the process of oil extraction, hard mineral buildup inside the pipes and equipment can cause serious operational damage, safety issues such as pipe explosion and significant economic losses. The current methods for descaling mineral buildup, howev.....»»
Nanostructures in the deep ocean floor hint at life"s origin
Researchers led by Ryuhei Nakamura at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan and The Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) of Tokyo Institute of Technology have discovered inorganic nanostructures surrounding deep-ocean hydro.....»»