Collaborative research led by UMass Amherst discovers that each microscopic animal alone can create up to 366,000 nanoplastic particles per day. A collaborative research team lead by the University of Massachusetts Amherst has recently revealed that rotifers, a kind of microscopic zooplankton common in both fresh and ocean water around the world, are able to chew apart microplastics, breaking them down into even smaller, and potentially more dangerous, nanoplastics—or particles smaller than one micron. Each rotifer can create between 348,000…

KU research boat on its first mission… On land, in the air – and now also by water: Geographers of Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) are broadening the scope of their research. Their equipment now includes a research boat with a high-precision depth sounder. It allows researchers to survey the bottom of lakes, rivers, and the sea. This technology has now been used for the first time in a research project in Kaunertal, Austria, where KU scientists have been studying…

At low temperatures, the nutritional value and taste of kale change – in different ways depending on the variety. In a recently published study, a team of researchers from Oldenburg and Bremen report that the concentration of glucosinolates, which are responsible for the typical taste of kale, increases in some varieties when it gets cold, but decreases in others. Kale is considered particularly healthy due, among other things, to its high secondary plant compound content, including the glucosinolates that give…

Up to now, the results of climate simulations have sometimes contradicted the analysis of climate traces from the past. A team led by the physicist Thomas Laepple from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Potsdam and the climatologist Kira Rehfeld from the University of Tübingen has therefore brought together experts in climate models and climate tracks to clarify how the discrepancies come about. The surprising result has now been published in the journal Nature Geoscience: in a way, both sides are…

… from the surface to the depths. University of Pittsburgh and NETL among 11 projects to receive combined $36 million from US DOE ARPA-E initiative. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, in collaboration with the National Energy Technology Laboratory, are among 11 projects in eight states selected to receive a combined $36 million to accelerate the development of marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) capture and storage technologies. The funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research…

International team of researchers reveals for the first time a mechanism to explain pronounced climate variability during the last ice age. Although humankind is responsible for the current global climate warming, our planet has constantly been undergoing natural climate fluctuations throughout the past. Possible forcing mechanisms for this variability would have been changes in the brightness of the sun or explosive volcanic eruptions, but also interactions within the atmosphere/ocean/sea-ice system. Experts refer here to external and internal factors influencing the…

Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz are investigating the jet stream to assess how its decadal variations could affect the occurrence of weather extremes in Europe. Heavy precipitation, wind storms, heat waves – when severe weather events such as these occur they are frequently attributed to a wavy jet stream. The jet stream is a powerful air current in the upper troposphere that balances the pressure gradient and Coriolis forces. It is still uncertain whether the jet stream is really…

Examining how plates move in Earth’s mantle and how mountains form is no easy feat. Certain rocks that have sunk deep into Earth’s interior and then returned from there can deliver answers. Led by the Department of Geosciences at Goethe University Frankfurt, an international team of geologists has now succeeded in analyzing whiteschist from the Alps so precisely by means of computer modeling that it calls a previous theory about plate movement into question. Geoscientists analyze rocks in mountain belts…

What are the global impacts of an ice-free Arctic? How will the Arctic develop with increasing climate warming? What does an ice-free Arctic mean for our environment and our society? Researchers want to answer these questions with the “i2B – Into the Blue” project, looking back to the past and forward to the future. This project has now been funded with 12.5 million euros by a Synergy Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for six years. The project’s proposers…

Meltwater that runs along the east coast of Greenland, hardly enters the open ocean before reaching the western side of the island.  That is one of the conclusions NIOZ PhD-candidate Elodie Duyck draws in the thesis she is defending today at Utrecht University. In the changing climate, fresh water from Greenland and the Arctic could disrupt the circulation in the Atlantic Ocean. “Understanding where, and how much, of that fresh and light water enters the Atlantic Ocean is critical to…

Field test finds carbon stored in soils even in dry climates. Adding crushed volcanic rock to cropland could play a key role in removing carbon from the air. In a field study, scientists at the University of California, Davis, and Cornell University found the technology stored carbon in the soil even during an extreme drought in California. The study was published in the journal Environmental Research Communications. Rain captures carbon dioxide from the air as it falls and reacts with volcanic rock…

Innovative atlas reveals perilous realities of permafrost thaw. The European funded Horizon 2020 “NUNATARYUK”-project, led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, has carried out a comprehensive six-year investigation into the rapidly changing permafrost regions in the northern hemisphere. The project seeks to answer pressing questions about the role of permafrost thaw in the global climate system, and the consequences for ecosystems, the economy, and the people living in these regions. The culmination of this ambitious endeavour is the “Arctic Permafrost Atlas,”…

Scientists have discovered the deepest known evidence of coral reef bleaching, more than 90 metres below the surface of the Indian Ocean. The damage – attributed to a 30% rise in sea temperatures caused by the Indian Ocean dipole – harmed up to 80% of the reefs in certain parts of the seabed, at depths previously thought to be resilient to ocean warming. However, scientists say it serves as a stark warning of the harm caused in our ocean by…

A replacement for cobalt in batteries avoids its environmental and social impacts. High-capacity and reliable rechargeable batteries are a critical component of many devices and even modes of transport. They play a key role in the shift to a greener world. A wide variety of elements are used in their production, including cobalt, the production of which contributes to some environmental, economic, and social issues. For the first time, a team including researchers from the University of Tokyo presents a…

A University of Oklahoma-led article published in Geophysical Research Letters highlights newly measured extremes recorded during the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Dynamics and Chemistry of the Summer Stratosphere field project. “Extreme Altitudes of Stratospheric Hydration by Midlatitude Convection Observed During the DCOTSS Field Campaign,” led by OU School of Meteorology Interim Director and Associate Professor Cameron Homeyer, summarizes the extremes in measured stratospheric depth of hydration by convection recorded during the DCOTSS project as a whole, and then highlights a specific…

Spacecraft metals left in the wake of humanity’s path to the stars. Airplane-based research by Purdue scientists detects unprecedented levels of alloy aerosols in the atmosphere. The Space Age is leaving fingerprints on one of the most remote parts of the planet — the stratosphere — which has potential implications for climate, the ozone layer and the continued habitability of Earth. Using tools hitched to the nose cone of their research planes and sampling more than 11 miles above the…