People typically spend 90 percent of their lives inside, at home, at work, or in transport. Within these enclosed spaces, occupants are exposed to a multitude of chemicals from various sources, including outdoor pollutants penetrating indoors, gaseous emissions from building materials and furnishings, and products of our own activities such as cooking and cleaning. In … Read more
Forests are engaged in a delicate, deadly dance with climate change, sucking carbon dioxide out of the air with billions of leafy straws and hosting abundant biodiversity, as long as climate change, with its droughts, wildfires and ecosystem shifts, doesn’t kill them first. In a study published in Science William Anderegg, inaugural director of the … Read more
Australian researchers have explored the impact of bushfires on estuaries in New South Wales, Australia’s largest state, finding fires can increase the load of fire-derived pollutants with potentially profound environmental effects. Estuaries (where the river meets the sea) are some of the most valuable habitats on earth. As well as being biologically diverse and productive … Read more
Scientists studying mice from the Andes Mountains in Patagonia noticed something they couldn’t explain: the mice from the western side of the mountains were bigger than the ones from the east, but DNA said that they were all from the same species. The researchers examined the skulls of 450 mice from the southern tip of … Read more
Wherever the production of harmful greenhouse gases cannot be prevented, they should be converted into something useful: this approach is called “carbon capture and utilisation.” Special catalysts are needed for this. Until now, however, the problem has been that a layer of carbon quickly forms on these catalysts — this is called “coking” — and … Read more
Metal oxides are compounds that play a crucial role in processes that reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. These processes include carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), purifying and recycling inert gases in solar panel manufacturing, thermochemical energy storage, and producing hydrogen for energy. These processes are based on reactions where metal oxides gain and lose … Read more
Much of the world’s efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change hinge on the success of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. A new Nature Climate Change study is the first to provide scientific evidence assessing how effective governments will be at implementing their commitments to the agreement that will reduce CO2 emissions causing climate … Read more