The team of the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung investigates a new route to produce green steel through hydrogen plasma. Germany, Europe and almost all countries in the world are heading towards climate neutral economies in the future. This aspect means to minimize as much CO2 emissions as possible plus compensating for the remaining emissions. However, this target is not yet met by current technology. One of the biggest industrial CO2 emitters, the iron- and steelmaking industry, still lacks the possibility of…

The aurora borealis, or northern lights, that fill the sky in high-latitude regions have fascinated people for thousands of years. But how they’re created, while theorized, had not been conclusively proven. In a new study, a team of physicists led by University of Iowa reports definitive evidence that the most brilliant auroras are produced by powerful electromagnetic waves during geomagnetic storms. The phenomena, known as Alfven waves, accelerate electrons toward Earth, causing the particles to produce the familiar atmospheric light…

The South Pole and the rest of East Antarctica is cold now and was even more frigid during the most recent ice age around 20,000 years ago — but not quite as cold as previously believed. University of Washington glaciologists are co-authors on two papers that analyzed Antarctic ice cores to understand the continent’s air temperatures during the most recent glacial period. The results help understand how the region behaves during a major climate transition. In one paper, an international…

Geostationary Earth Orbit Hyperspectral Infrared Radiance data improve local severe storm forecasts proofed by using a new Hybrid OSSE method. Since the era of meteorological satellites began in the 1950s, continuous remote sensing instrument improvements have elevated Earth science and have significantly increased available atmospheric observations. Likewise, scientists have made considerable advancements in understanding Earth’s atmosphere, climate, and environment. Furthering growth of atmospheric science within the last 20 years, satellite-based infrared (IR) sounders onboard low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites have…

Plant ecologists at the University of Tübingen compare temporal rhythms of early-flowering plants in different environments. One of the most striking features of global warming is that the life rhythms of plants are changing all over the world. A study at the University of Tübingen has found that human land use can also significantly influence the pace of plant life cycles. In a comparative study, a research team from the Plant Evolutionary Ecology group surveyed one hundred forest sites of…

The number of data-transmitting microdevices, for instance in packaging and transport logistics, will increase sharply in the coming years. All these devices need energy, but the amount of batteries would have a major impact on the environment. Empa researchers have developed a biodegradable mini-capacitor that can solve the problem. It consists of carbon, cellulose, glycerin and table salt. And it works reliably. The fabrication device for the battery revolution looks quite unconspicuous: It is a modified, commercially available 3D printer,…

What is happening deep beneath the surface of ice planets? Is there liquid water, and if so, how does it interact with the planetary rocky “seafloor”? New experiments show that on water-ice planets between the size of our Earth and up to six times this size, water selectively leaches magnesium from typical rock minerals. The conditions with pressures of hundred thousand atmospheres and temperatures above one thousand degrees Celsius were recreated in a lab and mimicked planets similar, but smaller…

Expedition to long-term observatory between Greenland and Svalbard. On Whit Monday, 24 May 2021, the Polarstern will set sail for the Arctic. In Fram Strait, between Greenland and Svalbard, more than 50 participating scientists will resume the long-term observations that began at the AWI HAUSGARTEN more than 20 years ago. Here they will investigate the effects of environmental changes on the Arctic’s deep-sea ecosystem. The Arctic is changing: rising water temperatures and retreating sea ice are producing ecosystem shifts in…

Researchers analyzed current conservation strategies and recommended changes to how and where declining milkweed (an essential food source for butterfly larvae) can be restored. Simon Fraser University researchers are playing a key role in guiding conservation efforts to protect a declining butterfly population. The eastern monarch butterfly, an important pollinating species known for its distinct yellow-orange and black colour, is diminishing due to the loss of the milkweed plant–its primary food source. Researchers analyzed current conservation strategies and recommended changes…

In many parts of Southeast Asia, rainforest is being replaced by palm oil plantations. This is causing far-reaching problems for the natural world, for example for southern pig-tailed macaques, a species from Southeast Asia that is native to the rainforests of Malaysia. Due to the extensive clearing of their habitat, these primates sometimes turn to palm oil monocultures while foraging. This often leads to conflicts with farmers. The macaques do not damage the palm oil fruits to any great extent….

URI Professor Stéphan Grilli is keeping a close eye on volcanoes closer to the US. An article recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications, written by University of Rhode Island College of Engineering Professor Stéphan Grilli and his colleagues, reveals new data on the Anak Krakatau volcano flank collapse, which was triggered by an eruption on December 22, 2018. The tsunami created by the flank collapse hit the coast of Indonesia with waves as tall as 5 meters, leaving…

A Rutgers study finds that symbiotic bacteria that colonize root cells may be managed to produce hardier crops that need less fertilizer. The study appears in the journal Microorganisms. Bacteria stimulate root hair growth in all plants that form root hairs, so the researchers examined the chemical interactions between bacteria inside root cells and the root cell. They found that bacteria are carried in seeds and absorbed from soils, then taken into root cells where the bacteria produce ethylene, a…

GEOMAR scientists publish unique data set on the northern Chilean subduction zone. Northern Chile is an ideal natural laboratory to study the origin of earthquakes. Here, the Pacific Nazca plate slides underneath the South American continental plate with a speed of about 65 millimetres per year. This process, known as subduction, creates strain between the two plates and scientists thus expected a mega-earthquake here sooner or later, like the last one in 1877. But although northern Chile is one of…

Researchers have developed a global earthquake monitoring system that uses the Global Navigational Satellite System (GNSS) to measure crustal deformation. The monitoring system within seconds can rapidly assess earthquake magnitude and fault slip distribution for earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 and larger, making it a potentially valuable tool in earthquake and tsunami early warning for these damaging events, Central Washington University geophysicist Timothy Melbourne and colleagues report in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. GNSS can potentially characterize a…

Researchers have traced the remaining last steps of the biological pathway that gives oats resistance to the deadly crop disease take-all. The discovery creates opportunities for new ways of defending wheat and other cereals against the soil-borne root disease. The research team have already taken the first step in this aim by successfully reconstituting the self-defence system in the model plant Nicotiana benthamiana. Further experiments to establish the avenacin biosynthetic pathway in wheat’s more complex genome, to test if it…

UK landowners and conservationists welcome wider-spread use of Gene Conservation Units (GCUs) to help protect some of the rarest plants and insects, research at the University of York has shown. In particular the Great Yellow Bumblebee and the Mountain Ringlet Butterfly, which are at risk of further population decline, would benefit from Gene Conservation Units, currently only employed for forest trees and agricultural species or their relatives. Genetic diversity in these species is essential if they are to adapt to…