A global research team led by Texas Engineers has developed a way to blast the molecules in plastics and other materials with a laser to break them down into their smallest parts for future reuse. The discovery, which involves laying these materials on top of two-dimensional materials called transition metal dichalcogenides and then lighting them up, has the potential to improve how we dispose of plastics that are nearly impossible to break down with today’s technologies. “By harnessing these unique…

A new way to store carbon captured from the atmosphere developed by researchers from The University of Texas at Austin works much faster than current methods without the harmful chemical accelerants they require. In new research published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, the team developed a technique for ultrafast formation of carbon dioxide hydrates. These unique ice-like materials can bury carbon dioxide in the ocean, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere. ​ “We’re staring at a huge challenge —…

The “eternal” ice in Antarctica is melting faster than previously assumed, particularly in West Antarctica more than East Antarctica. The root for this could lie in its formation. Sediment samples from drill cores combined with modelling work show that glaciation of Antarctica began around 34 million years ago – but did not encompass the entire continent as previously assumed, but rather was confined to the eastern region of the continent (East Antarctica). It was not until at least 7 million…

Norway’s long, rugged coastline – more than 28,953 kilometers long, including the fjords – suffers from plastic pollution even though it is so remote. It’s a problem plaguing all nations of the world. Plastic items from around the world are continuously washing ashore on Norwegian coastlines. This reflects a much larger systemic issue facing the nations of the world. Scientists have long reported the consequences of plastic pollution and the urgent need for intervention, but global plastic production and consumption…

Ship expedition for the first time investigates “new” pollutants in the Indian Ocean. On July 16, 2024, the German research vessel SONNE starts a three-week expedition to previously little-studied regions of the Indian Ocean between Singapore and Mauritius under the lead of the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW). The aim is to determine the extent of human-induced environmental stress and, for the first time, to enable a risk assessment for this region. Newly emerging pollutants such as…

Urban agriculture has the potential to improve food security through local, efficient, and sustainable food production. Examples of urban food systems include hydroponics, where plants grow in a nutrient solution without soil, and aquaponics, which combines hydroponics with raising fish in tanks. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examines the use of aquaponics wastewater as a growth medium for lettuce in a hydroponic system. This practice can potentially create a circular ecosystem for organic waste recycling and…

DFKI researchers are in the finals of XPRIZE Rainforest. Researchers from DFKI Niedersachsen, together with doctoral students from the Applied Artificial Intelligence department at the University of Oldenburg, have reached the finals of XPRIZE Rainforest, a global competition that promotes innovative technologies for researching and conserving biodiversity in tropical rainforests. As part of the Brazilian Team, they are developing an AI-system that filters out the acoustic signals that ecologists need to determine species diversity from a large number of audio…

… at depths of 3,000 meters off Svalbard. Study of the Jøtul hydrothermal field, discovered in 2022, has now been published. Hydrothermal vents can be found around the world at the junctions of drifting tectonic plates. But there are many hydrothermal fields still to be discovered. During a 2022 expedition of the MARIA S. MERIAN, the first field of hydrothermal vents on the 500-kilometer-long Knipovich Ridge off the coast of Svalbard was discovered. An international team of researchers from Bremen…

METEOR expedition M201 investigates the volcanic history of unusual volcanoes in Iceland’s Vesturdjúp Basin. With around 130 volcanoes, Iceland is the largest volcanic island in the world. Until now, researchers assumed that most volcanic activity on Iceland was limited to the flank zones and the seabed along the Kolbeinsey and Reykjanes ridges. New seabed maps indicate further underwater volcanoes to the west of Iceland, in the so-called Vesterdjúp Basin, whose conical shape seems geologically suspicious. Expedition M201 with the research…

With MoonIndex, researchers from Constructor University and the National Institute of Astrophysics in Italy have developed an open-source software that for the first time gives scientists access to a free tool that creates science-ready products from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) to study the composition of the lunar surface. At the same time, it enables a wide range of applications. An article now published in the specialist journal ‘Earth and Space Science’ describes the research success. ‘Spectral indices are a…

UC Santa Cruz team led research using computer simulations based on Earth’s seafloor ecosystems. We’ve all seen the surreal footage in nature documentaries showing hydrothermal vents on the frigid ocean floor—bellowing black plumes of super-hot water—and the life forms that cling to them. Now, a new study by UC Santa Cruz researchers suggests that lower-temperature vents, which are common across Earth’s seafloor, may help to create life-supporting conditions on “ocean worlds” in our solar system. Ocean worlds are planets and…

New device measures greenhouse gas captured in building material quickly and easily. A new device can measure carbon dioxide captured in concrete more simply and in a third of the time of current methods. Researchers at the University of Tokyo worked with engineers in industry to create the boxlike device called the concrete thermal gravimetry and gas analyzer. The device heats concrete samples to almost 1,000 degrees Celsius, causing the CO2 within to be released so it can be measured….

Mobile measuring devices enable the research of atmospheric processes in higher air layers that have not yet been recorded by conventional measuring stations on the ground. The airborne flight systems therefore make an important contribution to research into the causes of climate change in the Arctic. A team of German researchers has combined two of these methods over Spitsbergen in recent weeks: Simultaneous measurements of meteorological parameters and minute aerosol particles were carried out using a tethered balloon system and…

Tool developed at the University of Bonn should enable yield forecasts, among other things, in the future. Researchers at the University of Bonn have developed software that can simulate the growth of field crops. To do this, they fed thousands of photos from field experiments into a learning algorithm. This enabled the algorithm to learn how to visualize the future development of cultivated plants based on a single initial image. Using the images created during this process, parameters such as…

KIT researchers are investigating climate change’s impact on groundwater resources and its follow-on effects. Earth’s climate system is heating up due to the atmosphere’s increased concentration of greenhouse gases, which limits the amount of heat that can be radiated away. The oceans absorb a substantial fraction of this heat, but soil and groundwater also act as heat sinks. However, little is known thus far about the effects Earth’s surface warming has on groundwater over space and time. “To close this…

Knowing how much snow there is at a location in winter is important for project planners of photovoltaic systems in mountain regions. This helps them to avoid planning errors that lead to damage to the modules and substructure. SLF experts provide detailed data, which they collect from the air. Text: Jochen Bettzieche-Keber This text was automatically translated. At the end of January 2024 on the Bernina Pass: the orange drone rises vertically into the air, then lies flat and begins…