Researchers find natural gene variant that allows barley to flower earlier. A tiny mutation in the genetic material of barley ensures that those plants develop faster and thus flower earlier than established barley varieties. At the same time, plant yields remain the same, a team from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) reports in the “Journal of Experimental Botany”. According to the researchers, this is advantageous as the plants could potentially adapt better to the effects of climate change and continue…

In a new study, marine biologist Carolin Müller of the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) demonstrates the ingestion of microplastic particles by juvenile sea bream. She also investigated which environmental factors determine whether the young stages of the fish ingest the plastic. Nearshore ecosystems, such as lagoons and river estuaries, are important nurseries for a variety of commercially important fish species. In the seagrass beds of the lagoons, the fish find shelter and food and thus ideal conditions…

Syracuse University and Texas A&M researchers use computer modeling to find out the sources of salinization and alkalinization in U.S. watersheds. From protecting biodiversity to ensuring the safety of drinking water, the biochemical makeup of rivers and streams around the United States is critical for human and environmental welfare. Studies have found that human activity and urbanization are driving salinization (increased salt content) of freshwater sources across the country. In excess, salinity can make water undrinkable, increase the cost of…

Discovering the link between climate change and sea sponge loss. Sea sponges are essential to marine ecosystems. They play critical roles in the ocean, as they provide shelter and food to a plethora of marine creatures, recycle nutrients by filtering thousands of litres of sea water daily, and are hosts to microbes that may be the key to some of the most pressing medical challenges we face today. Now, scientists from UNSW have discovered that when a tropical sea sponge…

On Germany’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze, the air is thin and contains very few pollutants. Ultrafine particles only exist there when they are transported through the atmosphere over long distances. A research team from the University of Bayreuth led by Prof. Dr. Anke Nölscher has now installed a new module for collecting ultrafine particles at the summit of the Zugspitze. The sampling at the Schneefernerhaus Environmental Research Station and the subsequent laboratory analyses are part of the Bavarian project network…

Subsoils are the largest storehouses for carbon, as well as one of the most important sources of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Global warming is accelerating the decomposition of soil humus. It is also affecting the waxy and woody compounds which help plants store carbon in their leaves and roots and were previously thought to be stable. These are the findings of a study conducted by researchers from the University of Zurich’s Department of Geography in the Sierra Nevada National…

Fluid dynamics simulations show how harmful plastic particles collect inside the nose and at the back of the throat. Research shows humans might inhale about 16.2 bits of microplastic every hour, which is equivalent to a credit card over an entire week. And these microplastics – tiny debris in the environment generated from the degradation of plastic products – usually contain toxic pollutants and chemicals. Inhaled microplastics can pose serious health risks, so understanding how they travel in the respiratory…

The ground beneath Antarctica’s most vulnerable glacier has been mapped for the first time, by a team that includes a Swansea expert, helping scientists to better understand how it is being affected by climate change. Analysis of the geology below the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica shows there is less sedimentary rock than expected – a finding that could affect how the ice slides into the ocean in the coming decades. The glacier, which is the size of Great Britain…

The skies aircraft fly through are bumpier today than four decades ago, scientists have found, after producing a new analysis showing that turbulence has increased as the climate changed.  New research from the University of Reading shows that clear-air turbulence, which is invisible and hazardous to aircraft, has increased in various regions around the world. At a typical point over the North Atlantic – one of the world’s busiest flight routes – the total annual duration of severe turbulence increased by 55% from  17.7 hours in 1979 to 27.4 hours in 2020, the research found. Moderate turbulence increased by 37% from 70.0 to…

The movement between continental and oceanic plates at the bottom of the sea, so-called megathrust earthquakes, generates the strongest earth tremors and the most dangerous tsunamis. How and when they occur, however, has been poorly understood so far, since the ocean floor is difficult to access for measurements. Thanks to new technologies, an international research team, in which Prof. James Foster from the Institute of Geodesy at the University of Stuttgart was also involved, was able to take measurements to…

USU geoscientists probe geochemistry, microbial diversity of Peruvian hot springs. Heather Upin, Dennis Newell report microbial community composition is distinctly different in two tectonic settings. South America’s Andes Mountains, the world’s longest mountain range and home to some of the planet’s highest peaks, feature thousands of hot springs. Driven by plate tectonics and fueled by hot rock and fluids, these thermal discharges vary widely in geochemistry and microbial diversity. Utah State University geoscientists, along with colleagues from Montana State University,…

The dispersal pathways of plastic waste in the southern North Sea have been investigated by an interdisciplinary research team led by the University of Oldenburg. A key part of the “Macroplastics” project was the participation of citizens. The volunteers could use a special website to report the discovery of wooden plates that the team had released in the open sea and along the coast. Two key findings are that there are no areas in the North Sea or the Skagerrak…

A team at Sandia National Laboratories is developing materials to tackle what has become one of the biggest problems in the world: human exposure to a group of chemicals known as PFAS through contaminated water and other products. Sandia is now investing more money to take their research to the next level. “It’s in the news constantly. It seems every day we hear of another product that is contaminated. We saw sparkling water with PFAS, toilet paper with PFAS, so…

How do they influence the development of coral islands? Coral islands are in danger of slowly sinking in the face of rising sea levels. In a new study, researchers from the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) found that sea level may not be the only factor playing a role in the fate of threatened islands. In recent years, alarming reports have accumulated about the slow sinking of coral islands, especially in the Pacific. Tropical coral islands are formed…

Billions of tons of electronic waste are produced in the EU every year. With a novel approach, the new EU project “CircEl-Paper” could sustainably improve the recycling process for electronics in the future. Electronics that can be disposed of and even recycled using conventional paper recycling process? That is the goal of the EU project CircEl-Paper. For this purpose, the project is looking at the development of functional printed circuit boards based on paper technology. Such an approach, which enables…

Seismologists use supercomputer to reveal complex dynamics of multi-fault earthquake systems. On the morning of July 4, 2019, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck the Searles Valley in California’s Mojave Desert, with impacts felt across Southern California. About 34 hours later on July 5, the nearby city of Ridgecrest was struck by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake, a jolt felt by millions across the state of California and throughout neighboring communities in Arizona, Nevada, and even Baja California, Mexico. Known as the…