Scientists noted that the slope on Barry Arm fjord on Prince William Sound in southeastern Alaska slid some 120 meters from 2010 to 2017, a slow-moving landslide caused by glacial melt that could trigger a devastating tsunami. These are some of the first measurements to quantify how the slope is falling there; the study also…

Male mosquitoes beat their wings faster when swarming at sunset to better detect females and increase their chance of reproducing, finds a novel study. Published in Science Advances, the findings provide a vital new insight into how mosquitoes, driven by their internal circadian clock, combine changes in wing beats with their acute auditory senses to…

When winds loft fine desert dust high into the atmosphere, iodine in that dust can trigger chemical reactions that destroy some air pollution, but also let greenhouse gases stick around longer. The finding may force researchers to re-evaluate how particles from land can impact the chemistry of the atmosphere. «Iodine, the same chemical added as…

As climate change continues to do more damage to our planet, scientists are working to find more efficient and cleaner ways to power the earth. One appealing alternative to common petrochemical processes that generate significant greenhouse gases and other waste products could come from biological systems. Recent work has led to advances in understanding of…

Solar-power developers need to explore using lower-quality agricultural land for solar energy, incentivize dual-use (combined agriculture and solar) options, avoid concentrated solar development and engage communities early to achieve New York’s green energy goals, according to recent research. «As farmland is generally flat and cleared, agricultural land will be the prime target for future solar…

Wearable devices could soon be entirely made of recycled waste materials — and powered by human movement, thanks to a new energy-harvesting device. Scientists have unveiled a wrist device made from discarded paper wipes and plastic cups that runs on energy harvested by the wearer’s movements. The prototype device can transmit Morse code, and the…

Tackling pollution from the emission of nitrogen compounds, particularly ammonia, could reduce many of the 23.3 million years of life that were lost prematurely across the world in 2013 due to nitrogen-related air pollution, an international study has discovered using a modeling framework. A research team led by scientists from Zhejiang University in China used…

According to a new study, thawing of permafrost due to climate change could expose the Arctic population to much greater concentrations of the invisible, lung cancer-causing gas Radon. Professor Paul Glover from the University of Leeds and his co-author suggest that permafrost has historically acted as a protective barrier, blocking radon from travelling to the…

Researchers have developed a tree-ring chronology from the Amazon River basin that established a link between climate patterns in the Amazon and the Americas. The discovery helps researchers better understand large-scale climate extremes and the impact of the El Nino phenomenon. Tree growth is a well-established climate proxy. By comparing growth rings in Cedrela odorata…

When a species diverges into two separate species, the closely resembling but non-identical copies of the ancestral gene present in the new species are called ‘orthologous’ genes. Orthologous genes provide important clues to the genetic evolution of species. Recently, by analyzing certain protein-coding genes that were earlier considered orthologous among frogs and mammals, a team…