At the beginning of November, The New York Times ran the headline, “America is using up its groundwater like there’s no tomorrow.” The journalists from the renowned media outlet had published an investigation into the state of groundwater reserves in the United States. They came to the conclusion that the United States is pumping out too much groundwater. But the US isn’t an isolated case. “The rest of the world is also squandering groundwater like there’s no tomorrow,” says Hansjörg…

Fault roughness and stress heterogeneity control induced seismicity. This is important for hydraulic stimulation in reservoirs. Man-made earthquakes, so called induced seismicity, have become an increasing concern. These events can occur during fluid injection or extraction such as in oil or gas reservoirs, wastewater disposal, or geothermal reservoirs. In few cases larger co-called ‘runaway induced earthquakes’ were strong enough to cause public concern and stopping projects (e.g. 2006 Basel/Switzerland) or even substantial damage (2017 Pohang/South Korea). Intense research, however, has…

Improved mapping gives decision makers a new tool for protecting infrastructure as Arctic warms. New insights from artificial intelligence about permafrost coverage in the Arctic may soon give policy makers and land managers the high-resolution view they need to predict climate-change-driven threats to infrastructure such as oil pipelines, roads and national security facilities. “The Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the globe, and permafrost is a component of the Arctic that’s changing really rapidly,” said Evan…

Clustering and Predictive Artificial Intelligence Predicts Characterization of Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater. Expected to be used in water treatment facilities by shortening difficult analytical procedures. The global consumption of pharmaceuticals is growing rapidly every year, reaching 4 billion doses in 2020. As more and more pharmaceuticals are metabolized by the human body and enter sewage and wastewater treatment plants, the amount and types of trace substances found in them are also increasing. When these trace substances enter rivers and oceans…

Tiny particles such as ice crystals or ash particles tend to oscillate as they settle through the atmosphere. In their experiments, the scientists were able to track non-spherical particles of size smaller than 1 millimeter with unprecedented accuracy. Their observations gave rise to a model which can help to refine prediction on air pollutants or weather forecasts. The atmosphere contains many tiny solid particles. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) and the University of Göttingen…

Worcester Polytechnic Institute researchers unlock secret to upcycling organic compound. WPI Researchers have developed a material to remove urea from water and potentially convert it into hydrogen gas. By building these materials of nickel and cobalt atoms with carefully tailored electronic structures, the group has unlocked the potential to enable these transition metal oxides and hydroxides to selectively oxidize urea in an electrochemical reaction. The study, led by Xiaowei Teng, the James H. Manning professor of Chemical Engineering at WPI, was recently published in…

A research team from the University of Münster has for the first time discovered anomalous meter-sized rocks on the lunar surface that are covered in dust and presumably exhibit unique properties – such as magnetic anomalies. These findings help to understand the processes that form and change the lunar crust. The study has been published in the “Journal of Geophysical Research – Planets”. Our Earth’s Moon is almost completely covered in dust. Unlike on Earth, this dust is not smoothed…

Protecting the world’s oceans against accelerating damage from human activities could be cheaper and take up less space than previously thought, new research has found. The University of Queensland’s Professor Anthony Richardson collaborated on the study, which looks to halt the rapid decline of marine biodiversity from expanding industrial activities in marine areas beyond national jurisdictions (ABNJ). “This ‘blue acceleration’ as we call it, has seen a greater diversity of stakeholders interested in ABNJs, such as the high seas and the international…

Solving major puzzle in Lunar Geology New research has cracked a vital process in the creation of a unique rock type from the Moon. The discovery explains its signature composition and very presence on the lunar surface at all, unravelling a mystery which has long eluded scientists. The study, published today in Nature Geoscience, reveals a key step in the genesis of these distinctive magmas.  A combination of high temperature laboratory experiments using molten rocks, together with sophisticated isotopic analyses of lunar…

International research team measures isotopic composition of lunar rocks. An international team of geoscientists from the Universities of Münster and Bristol in England have explained why a large part of the moon is made up of unique rocks that do not occur on Earth. The results have now been published in the scientific journal “Nature Geoscience”. Their high Ti contents are ultimately believed to be derived from a distinct mineralogical layer formed as part of the unstable crystal pile that…

Geophysicists from Freie Universität Berlin among the researchers investigating human-induced earthquakes. It is common knowledge that humans have a big effect on the world and their natural environment. However, what may be less well-known is that humans can also induce earthquakes. Industrial activities such as geothermal energy production, fracking for oil and natural gas, and wastewater disposal can all lead to increased seismic activity that commonly takes the form of earthquakes. In extreme cases, these earthquakes can lead to casualties…

DBFZ publishes database on available resources in Germany and the EU. Biogenic waste and residues hold growing potential for a sustainable and bio-based economy. Until now, freely available and systematically processed data was not fully available. In the revised DBFZ resource database, scientists from the DBFZ present comprehensive data on biomass potentials for Germany and the EU. The database provides detailed information on the availability of various biomasses, including biowaste from private households, cereal straw and industrial residues. The web…

An international research team including a Bayreuth scientist and her research group has investigated the links between extreme drought, biodiversity and production losses on a global scale. With the help of a worldwide experiment at 100 locations on six continents, they have identified Biodiversity in grassland is an effective protection against crop failure during droughts. The study has now been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Grassland and open land cover more than 40% of the Earth’s…

…through an uncrewed surface vehicle. In a recent tragic incident, approximately 100 elephants in Africa perished due to inadequate access to water. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) issues a warning that around 2.5 billion people worldwide could face water scarcity by 2025. In the face of water shortages affecting not only human society but also the entire ecological community due to the climate crisis, it becomes crucial to adopt comprehensive measures for managing water quality and quantity to avert…

The recent cold spell has plunged the nation into a deep freeze, resulting in the closure of 247 national parks, the cancellation of 14 domestic flights, and the scrapping of 107 cruise ship voyages. While the cold snap brought relief by significantly reducing the prevalence of particulate matter obscuring our surroundings, a recent study indicates that, besides diminishing particulate matter, it is significantly contributing to the heightened uptake of carbon dioxide by the East Sea. According to research conducted by…

Coastal forests in Japan had predominantly been afforested with black pine (Pinus thunbergii), a shade-tolerant tree species that can withstand dry land ecosystems and harsh coastal environments. This afforestation initiative, dating back to the Edo period (1603~1867), aimed to mitigate the deleterious effects of robust winds and sand blowing. Subsequent to the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, interest shifted to the potential protective effects of coastal forests in reducing the destructive power of tsunamis. The Great East Japan Earthquake…