ENVIRO AONE

Ancient crocodilian ancestors that abandoned land for water nearly 200 million years ago supposedly got larger because they were released from the constraints of gravity, territory and diet. But a new study suggests that the upper bounds of size in aquatic vs. landlocked crocs were similar — and that smaller aquatic species got larger mostly…

Substantial cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions could be achieved by raising water levels in agricultural peatlands, according to a new study in the journal Nature. A team of researchers led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology estimates halving drainage depths in these areas could cut emissions by around 500 million tonnes of…

Genetic information from an 800,000-year-old human fossil has been retrieved for the first time. The results shed light on one of the branching points in the human family tree, reaching much further back in time than previously possible. An important advancement in human evolution studies has been achieved after scientists retrieved the oldest human genetic…

Researchers describe a real-time method for potentially helping turbine farms realize additional power from the clustering of their turbines. Their method requires no new sensors to identify which turbines at any given time could increase power production if yaw control is applied, and validation studies showed an increase of 1%-3% in overall power gain. In…

The renewable proportion of petrol is set to increase to 20 per cent over the coming years, meaning the discovery of a new production pathway for these additives could help in the fight to cut carbon dioxide emissions and tackle climate change. Engineers propose a process to generate one such additive, solketal, using waste from…

There is enough water on our planet, but by far the largest part is salt water that is unsuitable as drinking water. Therefore, especially in dry regions of the earth, the search for new freshwater resources is very active. An international team of researchers has now discovered strong evidence of a groundwater deposit off the…

London’s house sparrows (Passer domesticus) have plummeted by 71% since 1995, with new research suggesting avian malaria could be to blame. Once ubiquitous across the capital city, the sudden, and unexplained decline of the iconic birds led a team from ZSL (Zoological Society of London), the RSPB, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the…

A new study finds pollination reduced by almost a third when diesel fumes and ozone were present — the negative impact of these common air pollutants on pollination were observed in the natural environment. Scientists from the University of Reading, the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, and the University of Birmingham found that there…

A new study suggests that future reductions in seasonal snowpack as a result of climate change may negatively influence forest growth in semi-arid climates, but less so in wetter climates. Researchers from Portland State University, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Forest Service and the universities of Vermont and Maine found that forest density and snowpack can…