Enough water will come from the ground as a byproduct of oil production from unconventional reservoirs during the coming decades to theoretically counter the need to use fresh water for hydraulic fracturing operations in many of the nation’s large oil-producing areas. While other industries might want to recycle some of that water for their own…

The San Nicolas Island fox, a subspecies of the Channel Island Fox only found on the most remote of California’s eight Channel Islands, is at a low risk of extinction, new research shows. In the past decade, the population of San Nicolas Island fox has decreased by nearly half, with just 332 foxes remaining in…

The summer of 2021 in Western Canada was one of the hottest on record. In the Canadian province of British Columbia alone, 59 weather stations registered their hottest temperatures ever on June 27. For those lucky enough to have air conditioners, keeping their homes cool during the heat dome was relatively easy. However, the comfort…

A new study has shown that ozone in the lower layers of the atmosphere decreases crop yields in maize and changes the types of chemicals that are found inside the leaves. Ozone is formed when nitrous oxide, released from industries and tail pipes of cars, is broken down by sunlight and chemically reacts to form…

The findings of a recent analysis suggest that ecosystems suitable for harboring ticks that carry debilitating Lyme disease could be more widespread than previously thought in California, Oregon and Washington. Bolstering the research were the efforts of an army of «citizen scientists» who collected and submitted 18,881 ticks over nearly three years through the Free…

Major landslides triggered by the 1964 magnitude 9.2 Great Alaska earthquake responded to, but were not reactivated by, the magnitude 7.1 Anchorage earthquake that took place 30 November 2018, researchers concluded in a new study. The shaking that accompanied the 2018 earthquake was of a higher frequency and a shorter duration than shaking during the…

A growing threat to corn around the world, tar spot has had a significant impact on United States corn production. To combat this growing threat, plant pathologists have compiled a recovery plan that reviews the current knowledge and the future needs of tar spot, with the intention of mitigating the disease’s impact. Tar spot of…

Breast cancer patients who endured Hurricane Katrina in 2005 have a 15% higher mortality rate than those patients not exposed to the storm, according to a researcher. This increase was likely caused by disaster-related health care disruptions, said Sue Anne Bell, an assistant professor at the U-M School of Nursing and a member of the…

A highly sensitive, wearable gas sensor for environmental and human health monitoring may soon become commercially available. The sensor device is an improvement on existing wearable sensors because it uses a self-heating mechanism that enhances sensitivity. It allows for quick recovery and reuse of the device. Other devises of this type require an external heater.…

Australian beef cattle researchers trial the use of insect-infecting bacterium Wolbachia to tackle buffalo fly, a major blood-sucking pest that costs the industry $100 million a year in treatments and lost production. Buffalo fly is a serious animal health and production challenge, costing the northern Australian cattle industry almost $100 million a year in treatments…