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Researchers reveal that homes in floodplains are overvalued by nearly $44 billion
Analysis of sales data and flood risk data over two decades indicates that housing markets fail to fully account for information about flood risk. The findings suggest that policies to improve risk communication could influence market outcomes. «The overvaluation we find is really concerning, especially given the increases in climate risk that are coming our…
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Tiny plants crucial for sustaining dwindling water supplies: Global analysis
Miniscule plants growing on desert soils can help drylands retain water and reduce erosion, researchers have found. Biocrusts are a rich assortment of mosses, lichens, cyanobacteria, and microscopic organisms such as bacteria and fungi that live on the surface of dryland soils. Drylands, collectively, are the world’s largest biome. «Biocrusts are critically important because they…
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Tasmanian tiger pups found to be extraordinary similar to wolf pups
Researchers find more similarities between the thylacine and wolf. «Remarkably, the Tasmanian tiger pups were more similar to wolf pups than to other closely related marsupials,» Professor Andrew Pask from the University of Melbourne said. The collaborative study with Flinders University and Museums Victoria complement earlier findings that thylacine and wolf have evolved similar instructions…
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Hydride superionic conductor developed, implications for sustainable energy
An international research team developed a superionic conductor that negatively charged hydrogen, called hydride ions, diffuses fast. To better expedite hydrogen conductivity in the intermediate range, an international research team developed the first superionic conductor based on a negatively charged hydrogen atom, called a hydride ion. The team published their results, which produced superior conductivity…
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Transforming amber waves of grain: New genome assembly for ‘Fielder’ wheat cultivar
Researchers have established an accurate genome assembly of ‘Fielder’ wheat, which — unlike other wheat cultivars — is very amenable to genetic editing through bacterial transformation. This genome sequence was generated using a technique that is easier than previous sequencing methods. The development has important implications for wheat genome-editing research and agriculture. The wheat cultivar…
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Microplastic pollution linger in rivers for years before entering oceans
Because rivers are in near-constant motion, researchers previously assumed lightweight microplastics quickly flowed through rivers, rarely interacting with riverbed sediments. With new simulations, researchers now have discovered hyporheic exchange — a process in which surface water mixes with water in the riverbed — can trap lightweight microplastics that otherwise might be expected to float. Because…
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Ocean temperatures impact Central American climate more than once thought
Researchers examined the rainfall history of Central America over the last 11,000 years. The results provide context for the development of tropical rainforest ecosystems in the region, and long-sought answers to what has been controlling rainfall in Central America for several millennia. It’s hard to believe the landscape ever looked any different. But according to…
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Policy decisions will affect coastal communities’ risk more than climate change
Coastal communities face increasing danger from rising water and storms, but the level of risk will be more closely tied to policy decisions regarding development than the varying conditions associated with climate change. The findings, published in the journal Water, provide an important framework for managing the interactions between human-made and natural systems in cities…
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Nitrogen pollution’s path to streams weaves through more forests (and faster) than suspected
Scientists have completed one of the largest and longest examinations to trace unprocessed nitrate movement in forests. The team found that some nitrate occasionally moves too fast for biological uptake, resulting in ‘unprocessed’ nitrate bypassing the otherwise effective filter of forest biology. Scientists found that some nitrate, which is a form of nitrogen that plants…
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Camera trap study captures Sumatran tigers, clouded leopards, other rare beasts
Scientists deployed motion-sensitive camera traps across a 50-square-mile swath of Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in southern Sumatra and, over the course of eight years, recorded the haunts and habits of dozens of species, including the Sumatran tiger and other rare and endangered wildlife. Their observations offer insight into how abundant these species are and…