Environment
Robotic instruments provide real-time data on Maine red tide
May 8, 2013 12:36 pm | News | Comments
A robotic sensor that won an R&D 100 Award in 2009 has been put to use by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Gulf of Maine coastal waters to monitor the way red tides behave. These harmful algal blooms, which generate a potentially fatal toxin, can be a challenge to track or predict. The Environmental Sample Processors have been remotely deployed and should simplify and enhance this effort.
Research shows how cosmic impact sparked devastating climate change
May 21, 2013 3:03 pm | by Tom Robinette, University of Cincinnati | News | Comments
An international team of researchers may have found what cause a dramatic cooling near...
Amazon River exhales virtually all carbon taken up by rain forest
May 21, 2013 2:58 pm | by Hannah Hickey, University of Washington | News | Comments
Until recently people believed much of the rain...
Topography of Eastern Seaboard muddles ancient sea level changes
May 17, 2013 12:31 pm | by Ann Stark, LLNL | News | Comments
According to research taking place at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the...
Ultraresponsive magnetic nanoscavengers could usher next-generation water purification
May 15, 2013 3:43 pm | by Andrew Myers, Stanford University | News | CommentsAmong its many talents, silver is an antibiotic. Titanium dioxide is known to glom on to certain heavy metals and pollutants. Other materials do the same for salt. In recent years, environmental engineers have sought to disinfect, depollute, and desalinate contaminated water using nanoscale particles of these active materials. Engineers call them nanoscavengers.
Groundwater unaffected by shale gas production in Arkansas
May 15, 2013 11:46 am | News | CommentsScientists sampling 127 shallow drinking water wells in areas overlying Fayetteville Shale gas production in north-central Arkansas found no evidence of groundwater contamination. The team of scientists at Duke University and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) analyzed the samples for major and trace elements and hydrocarbons, and used isotopic tracers to identify the sources of possible contaminants.
Innovation in spectroscopy could improve greenhouse gas detection
May 15, 2013 8:37 am | News | CommentsDetecting greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could soon become far easier with the help of an innovative technique developed by a team at NIST, where scientists have overcome an issue preventing the effective use of lasers to rapidly scan samples. The team says the technique also could work for other jobs that require gas detection, including the search for hidden explosives and monitoring chemical processes in industry and the environment.
Study traces origin of cirrus clouds
May 9, 2013 2:48 pm | News | CommentsResearchers studying the origin of cirrus clouds have found that these thin, wispy trails of ice crystals are formed primarily on dust particles and some unusual combinations of metal particles—both of which may be influenced by human activities. The findings are important, scientists say, because cirrus clouds cover as much as one-third of the Earth and play an important role in global climate.
Bacteria adapt, evade nanosilver's sting
May 8, 2013 8:22 am | News | CommentsResearchers have cautioned that more work is needed to understand how microorganisms respond to the disinfecting properties of silver nanoparticles, increasingly used in consumer goods and for medical and environmental applications. Although nanosilver has effective antimicrobial properties against certain pathogens, overexposure to silver nanoparticles can cause other potentially harmful organisms to rapidly adapt and flourish.
Discovered: Unexpected cooling effect on climate
May 7, 2013 8:11 am | News | CommentsUniversity of Manchester scientists, writing in Nature Geoscience, have shown that natural emissions and manmade pollutants can both have an unexpected cooling effect on the world’s climate by making clouds brighter. Clouds are made of water droplets, condensed on to tiny particles suspended in the air. When the air is humid enough, the particles swell into cloud droplets.
Cleaner energy, warmer climate?
May 7, 2013 7:17 am | by Vicki Ekstrom, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change | News | CommentsThe growing global demand for energy, combined with a need to reduce emissions and lessen the effects of climate change, has increased focus on cleaner energy sources. But what unintended consequences could these cleaner sources have on the changing climate? Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology now have some answers to that question, using biofuels as a test case.
Nanomaterial toxicity study sets stage for policies to address health risks
May 6, 2013 7:41 am | News | CommentsFor the first time, researchers from institutions around the country have conducted an identical series of toxicology tests evaluating lung-related health impacts associated with widely used engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). The study provides comparable health risk data from multiple laboratories, which should help regulators develop policies to protect workers and consumers who come into contact with ENMs.
Meteorite study may reveal Mars’ secrets of life
May 2, 2013 8:57 am | News | CommentsIn an effort to determine if conditions were ever right on Mars to sustain life, a team of scientists has examined a meteorite that formed on the red planet more than a billion years ago. And although this team’s work is not specifically solving the mystery, it is laying the groundwork for future researchers to answer this age-old question.
Air pollution linked to hardening of arteries
April 25, 2013 11:03 am | News | CommentsLong-term exposure to air pollution may be linked to heart attacks and strokes by speeding up atherosclerosis, or "hardening of the arteries," according to a University of Michigan public health researcher and colleagues from across the U.S.
A Close Eye on Nanotechnology
April 24, 2013 12:30 pm | by Lindsay Hock | Articles | CommentsNanotechnology typically describes any material, device, or technology where feature sizes are smaller than 100 nanometers in dimension. However, this new and uncharted direction in research provides a large spark for new product and drug delivery development. To achieve these discoveries, scientists must rely on specialized instruments and materials to drive their experiments and analysis.
Analysis of 2,000 years of climate records reveals end of global cooling trend
April 24, 2013 8:58 am | News | CommentsThe most comprehensive evaluation of temperature change on Earth’s continents over the past 1,000 to 2,000 years indicates that a long-term cooling trend—caused by factors including fluctuations in the amount and distribution of heat from the sun, and increases in volcanic activity—ended late in the 19th century.
Fossil shells, new geochemical technique provide clues to ancient climate cooling
April 23, 2013 9:41 am | News | CommentsUsing a new laboratory geochemical technique to analyze heavy isotopes of carbon and oxygen in fossil snail shells, scientists have gained insights into an abrupt climate shift that transformed the planet nearly 34 million years ago. At that time, the Earth switched from a warm and high-carbon dioxide "greenhouse" state to the lower-carbon dioxide, variable climate of the modern "icehouse" world.
Superstorm Sandy literally shook the United States
April 19, 2013 12:57 pm | News | CommentsWhen superstorm Sandy turned and took aim at New York City and Long Island last October, ocean waves hitting each other and the shore rattled the seafloor and much of the United States—shaking detected by seismometers across the country, University of Utah researchers have recently found. These “microseisms” generated by Sandy were detected by Earthscope, a network of 500 portable seismometers.
Experts unclear how China bird flu infects humans
April 18, 2013 11:38 am | by GILLIAN WONG - Associated Press - Associated Press | News | CommentsAlmost three weeks after China reported finding a new strain of bird flu in humans, experts are still stumped by how people are becoming infected when many appear to have had no recent contact with live fowl and the virus isn't supposed to pass from person to person.
Scientists discover new materials to capture methane
April 16, 2013 12:52 pm | News | CommentsScientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley have discovered new materials to capture methane, the second highest concentration greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere. The research team performed systematic computer simulation studies on the effectiveness of methane capture using two different materials—liquid solvents and nanoporous zeolites.
Sunlit snow triggers atmospheric cleaning, ozone depletion in the Arctic
April 15, 2013 4:23 pm | News | CommentsA Purdue University-led team of researchers discovered sunlit snow to be the major source of atmospheric bromine in the Arctic, the key to unique chemical reactions that purge pollutants and destroy ozone. The team's findings suggest the rapidly changing Arctic climate—where surface temperatures are rising three times faster than the global average—could dramatically change its atmospheric chemistry.
Report: Cutting specific atmospheric pollutants would slow sea level rise
April 15, 2013 12:56 pm | News | CommentsNew research indicates that cutting emissions of certain pollutants can greatly slow sea level rise this century. Scientists focussing on emissions of four heat-trapping pollutants—methane, tropospheric ozone, hydrofluorocarbons, and black carbon—found that reductions these pollutants that cycle comparatively quickly through the atmosphere could temporarily forestall the rate of sea level rise by roughly 25 to 50%.
FDA finds safety issues at specialty pharmacies
April 12, 2013 11:29 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsThe Food and Drug Administration says it has uncovered potential safety problems at 30 specialty pharmacies that were inspected in the wake of a recent outbreak of meningitis caused by contaminated drugs. The agency said its inspectors targeted 31 compounding pharmacies that produce sterile drugs, which must be prepared under highly sanitary conditions.
Researchers measure reaction rates of second key atmospheric component
April 12, 2013 8:14 am | News | CommentsResearchers have successfully measured reaction rates of a second Criegee intermediate, CH3CHOO, and proven that the reactivity of the atmospheric chemical depends strongly on which way the molecule is twisted. The measurements will provide further insight into hydrocarbon combustion and atmospheric chemistry.
Hidden dangers in the air we breathe
April 12, 2013 7:40 am | News | CommentsFor decades, no one worried much about the air quality inside people’s homes. Then scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory made the discovery that the aggregate health consequences of poor indoor air quality are as significant as those from all traffic accidents or infectious diseases in the United States. They are now working on turning those research findings into science-based solutions.
Researchers call for marine observation network
April 11, 2013 3:31 am | News | CommentsA comprehensive marine biodiversity observation network could be established with modest funding within five years, according to a recently published assessment from a team led by J. Emmett Duffy of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Such a network, they say, would fill major gaps in scientists' understanding of the global distribution of marine organisms.
Ocean nutrients a key component of future change. say scientists
April 11, 2013 2:18 am | News | CommentsVariations in nutrient availability in the world's oceans could be a vital component of future environmental change, according a research team. Their research reviews what we know about ocean nutrient patterns and interactions, and how they might be influenced by future climate change and other man-made factors. The authors also highlight how nutrient cycles influence climate by fuelling biological production.
Widely used index may have overestimated drought
April 8, 2013 6:26 pm | News | CommentsFor decades, scientists have used sophisticated instruments and computer models to predict the nature of droughts. The majority of these models have steadily predicted an increasingly frequent and severe global drought cycle. But a recent study from a team of researchers in the United State and Australia suggests that one of these widely used tools—the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI)—may be incorrect.
A ‘green’ Sahara was far less dusty than today
April 6, 2013 3:07 pm | News | CommentsAs recently as 5,000 years ago, the Sahara was a verdant landscape, with sprawling vegetation and numerous lakes. The Sahara’s “green” era likely lasted from 11,000 to 5,000 years ago, and is thought to have ended abruptly. Now researchers have found that this abrupt climate change occurred nearly simultaneously across North Africa.
