Researchers from the Universities of Tübingen and Bristol show that iron minerals fail to trap the organic carbon; vast source of CO2 and methane not included in global warming forecasts. Around a quarter of the ground in the northern hemisphere is permanently frozen. These areas are estimated to contain about twice as much carbon as the world’s current atmosphere. However, these permafrost soils are increasingly thawing out as the Earth becomes warmer. A University of Tübingen research team led by…

Drought stress has been a major roadblock in crop success, and this obstacle will not disappear anytime soon. Luckily, a dynamic duo like Batman and Robin, certain root-associated microbes and the plants they inhabit, are here to help. Plants and animals have a close connection to the microbes like bacteria living on them. The microbes, the creatures they inhabit, and the environment they create all play a critical role for life on Earth. “We know that microbiomes, which are the…

Large amounts of new particles can form in the valleys of the Himalayas from naturally emitted gases and can be transported to high altitudes by the mountain winds and injected into the upper atmosphere. The emitted particles may eventually affect climate by acting as nuclei for cloud condensation. These new findings about particles formation and sources will contribute to a better understanding of past and future climate. “To understand how the climate has changed over the last century we need…

New clues lead to a better understanding of the evolution of the solar system and the origin of Earth as a habitable planet. In a new paper published in the journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment, researchers at the University of Rochester were able to use magnetism to determine, for the first time, when carbonaceous chondrite asteroids–asteroids that are rich in water and amino acids–first arrived in the inner solar system. The research provides data that helps inform scientists about…

Food engineers in Brazil and France developed gels based on modified starch for use as “ink” to make foods and novel materials by additive manufacturing. It is already possible to produce food with a 3D printer, potentially delivering products that suit consumer preferences regarding taste, texture, cost, convenience, and nutrition. In the near future, it will be possible to produce food with personalized shapes, textures, flavors, and colors considered attractive and healthy for children and the elderly, for example. A…

World Soil Day Soil is a sensitive and as a result of intensive agriculture often strained resource. Scientists at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy are therefore developing digital solutions for a resource-saving and environmentally sound soil management. With the World Soil Day on 5 December, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the United Nations (UN) are reminding us to stand up for a sustainable management of soil resources. Sometimes a glance from the edge of the…

Publication in Science: International team researches the limits of life At what depth beneath the seabed does it become so hot that microbial life is no longer possible? This question is the focus of a close scientific cooperative effort between the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen. An expedition by the drilling program IODP (International Ocean Discovery Program) in 2016 has provided new insights into…

The frozen permafrost in the Arctic is thawing on an alarming scale. The frozen permafrost in the Arctic is thawing on an alarming scale. By analysing an annual record of satellite images, researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute have now confirmed these findings: thermokarst lakes in Alaska are draining one by one because warmer and wetter conditions cause deeper thaw, effectively weakening frozen ground as a barrier around lakes. In the season 2017/2018, lake drainage was observed on a scale…

Scientists from Heidelberg University investigate which factors determine the stability of ice masses in East Antarctica. As temperatures rise due to climate change, the melting of polar ice sheets is accelerating. An international team of researchers led by geoscientist Dr Kim Jakob from Heidelberg University has now examined the dynamics of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet more closely. This is by far the largest ice mass on Earth and is assumed to be less sensitive to climate change than other…

Due to its antibacterial properties, nanosilver is used in a wide range of products from textiles to cosmetics; but nanosilver if present at high concentrations also disrupts the metabolism of algae that are essential for the aquatic food web dynamics. Products derived from nanotechnology are efficient and highly sought-after, yet their effects on the environment are still poorly understood. A research team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), working in collaboration with the University of California at Santa Barbara, have…

Wheat researchers at the John Innes Centre are pioneering a new technique that promises to improve gene discovery for the globally important crop. Crop breeding involves assembling desired combinations of traits that are defined by underlying genetic variation. Part of this genetic variation often stays the same between generations, with certain genes being inherited together. These blocks of genes – very rarely broken up in genetic recombination – are called haplotype blocks. These haplotypes are the units that breeders switch…

Over the last 40,000 years, ice sheets thousands of miles apart have been influencing each other through changes in sea level. An international team of researchers with the participation of the University of Bonn compared models of ice sheet changes during the latest ice age cycle with newly available geological records. The study, led by Natalya Gomez of McGill University in Montreal (Canada), shows for the first time that changes in the Antarctic ice sheet in the south during this…

A better understanding of iceberg melting and lake ice formation could provide new indicators of climate change. Eric Hester has spent the last three years chasing icebergs. A mathematics graduate student at the University of Sydney in Australia, Hester and researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts are studying how the shape of an iceberg shapes the way it melts. “Ice deforms as it melts,” said physical oceanographer Claudia Cenedese, who has worked with Hester on the project. “It…

Looking for clues with the Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis method. Portuguese scientists have analyzed lichens from areas with traditional charcoal production for the first time with the help of the Research Neutron Source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II) of the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Lichens located near areas of charcoal production contained more than twice the concentration of phosphorus, which is generated during the combustion process. In the region around Ponte de Sor (Portalegre County, Portugal), coal has been produced…

Using NASA satellite imagery and software processing approaches, a group of geoscientists has discovered a landslide-generated tsunami threat in Barry Arm, Alaska, that will likely affect tourists and locals in the surrounding area in the next 20 years. The Barry Arm Glacier has diminished rapidly in the last decade due to climate change, causing the surrounding terrain to become unstable. The researchers found that the mountainside near the Barry Arm Glacier has moved 394 feet (120 meters) over the seven-year…

Tübingen University researchers uncover mechanism by which bacteria dissolve arsenic-bearing minerals – leading to groundwater contamination in Vietnam Arsenic is a toxin now widely present in rivers and groundwater in countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam. It is released by the activity of microorganisms. Yet for a long time it was unclear what the microorganisms ate to release the arsenic. A team of geomicrobiologists led by Professor Andreas Kappler from the University of Tübingen has shown that the microbes break…