Small isolated wetlands that are full for only part of the year are often the first to be removed for development or agriculture, but a new study shows that they can be twice as effective in protecting downstream lake or river ecosystems than if they were connected to them. Using a new method involving satellite … Read more
Residents fetch water from a well contaminated by oil pollution at Ogale Town, Eleme in southeast Nigeria, on June 13, 2015. Afp Contributor | Afp | Getty Images Over 13,000 residents from two Nigerian communities are seeking damages from Shell in the High Court in London, calling for the energy giant to clean up residual … Read more
The early pandemic years overlapped with some of California’s worst wildfires on record, creating haunting, orange-tinted skies and wide swathes of burned landscape. Some of the impacts of these fires are well known, including drastic declines in air quality, and now a new study shows how these wildfires combined with midwinter drought conditions to accelerate … Read more
Energy-efficient ways of cooling buildings and vehicles will be required in a changing climate. Researchers at Linköping University have now shown that electrical tuning of passive radiative cooling can be used to control temperatures of a material at ambient temperatures and air pressure. “To cool buildings, for example, traditional air conditioning is mainly used today, … Read more
New UC Riverside research suggests nitrogen released by gas-powered machines causes dry soil to let go of carbon and release it back into the atmosphere, where it can contribute to climate change. Industrial manufacturing, agricultural practices, and significantly, vehicles, all burn fossil fuels that release nitrogen into the air. As a result, levels of nitrogen … Read more
China’s stricter clean heating policies have improved air quality in northern China, particularly in Beijing and surrounding cities- potentially reducing 23,000 premature deaths due to air pollution in 2021 than in 2015, a new study reveals. From 2015 to 2021, the impact of winter heating on China’s capital and 27 other cities saw concentrations of … Read more
When nature designed lignin — the fibrous, woody material that gives plants their rigid structure — it didn’t cut any corners. Incredibly slow to break down, lignin is so sturdy and long lasting that it is resistant to bacteria and rot. So, what happens to all the lignin waste from farmlands, breweries and paper mills? … Read more
Popular fireworks should be replaced with cleaner drone and laser light shows to avoid the “highly damaging” impact on wildlife, domestic pets and the broader environment, new Curtin-led research has found. The new research, published in Pacific Conservation Biology, examined the environmental toll of firework displays by reviewing the ecological effects of Diwali festivities in … Read more
A new look at the history of water quality in the Chesapeake Bay sheds light on how the estuary has responded to nutrient reduction efforts and why improvements have remained a major challenge. University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science researchers looked at the Bay’s historic response to efforts to reduce nutrients to minimize dead … Read more
The precious metals, such as platinum, palladium and rhodium, in catalytic converters make the vehicle devices attractive to thieves, but University of Central Florida researchers are working to reduce the amount of precious metals needed in them — down to single atoms — while still maximizing their effectiveness. Catalytic converters, which were widely introduced in … Read more