ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News

La Niña-like conditions associated with 2,500-year-long shutdown of coral reef growth Posted: 23 Feb 2015 09:23 AM PST La Niña-like conditions in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Panamá were closely associated with an abrupt shutdown in coral reef growth that lasted 2,500 years, scientists have found. The study suggests that future changes in climate similar to those in the study could cause coral reefs to collapse in the future.

Time when Southwest was wet and Northwest was dry aids efforts to predict future rainfall patterns Posted: 23 Feb 2015 09:23 AM PST The first comprehensive map of the topsy-turvy climate in the western U.S, 21,000 years ago has been developed by researchers. They focus on when the Southwest was wet and the Northwest was dry, testing it to improve the global climate models that have been developed to predict how precipitation patterns will change in the future.

Scientists bring oxygen back to dead fjord Posted: 23 Feb 2015 07:42 AM PST More and more of the world's waters are seriously lacking oxygen. Could we use pumps to bring oxygen and thus higher life back into these waters? A Danish/Swedish research team says yes. They installed pumps in a Swedish fjord that showed a strong oxygen deficit and now they report that all the right oxygen-loving organisms have come back to the fjord.

New catalyst to create chemical building blocks from biomass Posted: 23 Feb 2015 05:43 AM PST Researchers have developed a novel selective catalyst that allows the creation of several basic chemicals from biomass instead of petroleum. This discovery may lead to the use of plant biomass as a basic feedstock for the chemical industry.

Baby formula poses higher arsenic risk to newborns than breast milk, study shows Posted: 23 Feb 2015 05:43 AM PST In the first US study of urinary arsenic in babies, researchers found that formula-fed infants had higher arsenic levels than breast-fed infants, and that breast milk itself contained very low arsenic concentrations.

Community-led marine reserve produces benefits for fisheries, conservation Posted: 23 Feb 2015 05:41 AM PST The first and only fully protected marine reserve in Scotland is continuing to provide benefits for fisheries and conservation, according to new research. Backing from the local community has been crucial to the success of Lamlash Bay marine reserve after its creation off the Isle of Arran in 2008, following a decade-long campaign by the local Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST).

Recycling of nutrients may be the key to saving Earth Posted: 23 Feb 2015 05:40 AM PST Leakages of nutrients necessary for food production – especially nitrogen and phosphorus – cause severe eutrophication to the Earth's aquatic ecosystems and promote climate change. However, this threat also hides an opportunity. An enhancement of the nutrient economy creates new business models and enables developing recycling technology into an export.

New products from bark to replace fossil compounds: Adhesives and insulating foams from softwood bark tannins Posted: 23 Feb 2015 05:40 AM PST Scientists have developed tannin extraction from softwood bark. At least 130 kg of crude tannin powder can be produced from one ton of dry wood bark, still leaving 87% of the original bark mass available for incineration. In Finland, tannin could replace, in particular, fossil-based phenols in adhesives used in the wood products industry.

Who cares? Why evolution suggests parenting responsibility is seldom equally shared Posted: 17 Feb 2015 05:29 PM PST New research explores why caring for young is shared unequally between the sexes in so many animal species. Parental care involves one of the fundamental conflicts of interest between the sexes. Care by either partner is beneficial to both partners as it increases the health and survival prospects of the common young; providing care is costly only to the caring individual. As a result, each partner does best in a situation where most of the care is provided by the other partner--an outcome that is clearly impossible.