The European Union has introduced a directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The directive makes producers responsible for the recycling of the electrical and electronic equipment that they put on the market. The results from a study of refrigerators made by CIT Elektronik, Chalmers Industriteknik in Sweden, indicate that the targets of the WEEE directive can not be achieved with the ordinary shredders used today. The study is based on the situation in Sweden, but it will be muc

Despite tremendous technological advances in earthquake seismology, many fundamental mysteries remain. The critical question of whether earthquakes will ever be predictable continues to plague seismologists – in part because there is no way to directly observe what goes on miles below the surface where earthquakes occur.

All of that is about to change, however, as a team of scientists led by Stanford University and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) finally begins construction of the long-a

Dotted across varied regions of our planet are the waterlogged landscapes known as wetlands. Often inaccessible, these muddy areas are actually treasure houses of ecological diversity – their overall value measured in trillions of Euros.

For much of the last century wetlands have been drained or otherwise degraded, but scientific understanding of their important roles in terms of biology and the water cycle has grown, spurring international efforts to preserve them. On 20 November ESA forma

Genetic test of ivory source could help thwart elephant poachers

Despite the international ban on selling African elephant ivory, poaching is still widespread. Law enforcers may soon have a new tool for cracking down on elephant poachers: a genetic analysis of ivory can help show which part of Africa it came from.

“[This method] enables determination of where stronger antipoaching efforts are needed and provides the basis for monitoring the extent of the trade,” say Kenine

Keeping predators at bay with flashing lights and loud noises instead of bullets

When wolves and other large carnivores threaten people and livestock, wildlife managers often resort to killing them. But now there’s hope for a non-lethal solution to controlling carnivores. New research shows that movement-activated guards with strobe lights and sound recordings can help keep wolves and bears away.

“High-technology devices are much more expensive, complicated and limited

Labeled “bird-friendly” but may accelerate tropical forest clearing

While shade coffee is promoted as protecting tropical forests and birds, conservationists are split on whether it actually works. The December issue of Conservation Biology has the latest on the debate: one side says shade coffee can give farmers a reason to preserve tropical biodiversity while the other side fears it can actually encourage farmers to clear more forest.

Shade coffee is a traditional farming

Recent studies have shown the importance of links between soil organisms and those feeding above-ground. However, to date these have involved two or three trophic levels, because it has been assumed that the effects weaken as one progresses up or down a food chain. In a forthcoming paper in Ecology Letters, Gange, Brown & Aplin show that strong interactions occur between four trophic levels.

They found that symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi in the soil affect plant growth, which determined the a

Enormous quantities of sediment are deposited in the flood-plains traversed by the Amazon and its tributaries in times of flooding. Scientists have hitherto considered the sedimentation rate to be generally constant with time.

Research conducted jointly by the IRD, the Universities of Washington1 and California2 and the Bolivian National Meteorology and Hydrology Service (SENAMHI) of La Paz, on two Bolivian rivers shows on the contrary that such events are irregular and less frequent than h

Leeds researchers are aiming to unlock the secrets of the British weather, bringing forecasters one step closer to that elusive holy grail: the ability to predict exactly where, when and how much rain is going to fall.

Dr Alan Blyth from the school of the environment explains: “There’s still a lot we don’t know about exactly how rain is formed, so it’s no surprise that the forecasting models don’t always get it right, particularly in relation to the quantity of rain that’s going to fall.”

Chicago has one of the highest rates of lead poisoning in the United States, an extremely persistent health problem that particularly plagues urban areas. Now a new study by Northwestern University researchers shows that edible plants grown in urban gardens could contain potentially hazardous amounts of lead.

Kimberly A. Gray, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University, and her team tested a variety of plants cultivated in Chicago residential garde

Argonne research published in Science

A new study, published today in Science, indicates that the potential for soils to soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide is strongly affected by how long roots live. Large differences in root replacement rates between forest types might alter current predictions of how carbon absorption by soil will act to ameliorate global warming from excess human-caused carbon dioxide.

The study, by researchers at Argonne National Laboratory, Duke Univer

In a special Soil Measurement & Methods section of Vadose Zone Journal, scientists review the state-of-the-art tools for measuring water content in soil

Growing grapes for wine is tightly linked to soil moisture: too little, and the crop can be lost, but an oversupply of water tends to favor leaf development at the expense of fruit quality. It is often difficult to determine which portions of the vineyards require more or less irrigation due to California wine country’s natural g

Tropical regions could enjoy secure food supplies over the next fifty years if local smallholder farmers are helped to help themselves, says a University of East Anglia development expert writing in this week’s international journal Science.

Professor Michael Stocking acknowledges that soil degradation is rife in some areas and that around a billion people currently lack food security, but he questions the bleak picture of the future of tropical soils and food security often painted by

Guided by Japanese writings from an era of shoguns, an international team of scientists today reported new evidence that an earthquake of magnitude 9 struck the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada three centuries ago. Their findings are likely to affect the region’s precautions against future earthquakes and tsunamis.

Writing in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth, published by the American Geophysical Union, scientists from Japan, Canada and the United State

Long before the dinosaurs ever lived, the planet experienced a mass extinction so severe it killed 90 percent of life on Earth, and researchers at the University of Rochester think they’ve identified the unlikely culprit.

“An ancient meteorite body, one from the days when the solar system was still forming, struck the Earth 251 million years ago,” says Asish Basu, professor of earth sciences in today’s issue of Science. The research is the latest volley in a decades-long debate ove

Enzymes, microbes and fungi are being brought into service to help clean up industrial and urban pollution, minesites, pesticide residues and chemically degraded agricultural areas.

CSIRO’s Dr John Oakeshott says that bioremediation of pesticides and other toxins has the potential to earn significant export dollars, as the work of Australian researchers finds overseas markets. It can also mean huge savings for Australian industry.

CSIRO is hosting an international Bioremediati