ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News

New tool aids US conservation, management of whales, dolphins and porpoises Posted: 06 Mar 2015 10:27 AM PST Researchers have identified more than 100 areas within US waters that should be considered biologically important when making management and regulatory decisions about human activities that could affect whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Urine power to light camps in disaster zones Posted: 06 Mar 2015 08:19 AM PST A toilet, conveniently situated near the Student Union Bar at the University of the West of England, is proving that urine can generate electricity.

Stuck-in-the-mud plankton reveal ancient temperatures Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:27 AM PST New research showing how tiny creatures drifted across the ocean before falling to the seafloor and being fossilized has the potential to improve our understanding of past climates, scientists say.

Ancient Mongol metallurgy an extreme polluter Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:27 AM PST The ancient Mongols have a reputation for having been fierce warriors. A new study shows them to have been unmatched polluters. Researchers found that lead pollution in Lake Erhai peaked at 119 micrograms per gram of sediment in 1300 AD before then declining to around 30 micrograms per gram in 1420 AD. Peak pollution levels are three to four times higher than those generated by modern metallurgical methods, authors say.

How rain is dependent on soil moisture Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:27 AM PST It rains in summer most frequently when the ground holds a lot of moisture. However, precipitation is most likely to fall in regions where the soil is comparatively dry. This is the conclusion reached by researchers following an analysis of worldwide data. Their study contributes to a better understanding of soil moisture, a little explored climatic factor.

Novel mechanism to explain high elevation of Denver area Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:27 AM PST Researchers have proposed a new way to explain how the High Plains got so high. Water trapped deep below Earth's crust may have flooded the lower crust, creating buoyancy and lift.

Melting glaciers create noisiest places in ocean, study says Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:26 AM PST Researchers measure underwater noise in Alaskan and Antarctic fjords and find them to be the noisiest places in the ocean. This leads researchers to ask how animals such as whales and seals use the noise and what will happen to fjord ecosystems once the glaciers recede and the noise disappears.

Evolving to cope with climate change Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:26 AM PST Researchers have successfully measured the potential of the Atlantic Silverside to adapt to ocean acidification. This is the first such measurement for a vertebrate animal.

Researchers create artificial methane hydrates, open an innovative pathway for use of new fuels Posted: 06 Mar 2015 04:38 AM PST A technology that allows the preparation of artificial methane hydrates has been developed by researchers. These researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to prepare methane hydrates in a laboratory by imitating, and even enhancing, natural processes through the use of activated carbon materials as nano-reactors. One of the keys of this research was that scientists were able to reduce the process to form methane hydrates, which takes a long time in nature, to just a few minutes, thus making its technological applicability much easier.

Researchers connect climate change to food safety Posted: 06 Mar 2015 04:38 AM PST Climate change can affect our food safety in a number of ways. In a European study, researchers state that there is often a relationship between long-term changes in temperature and rainfall and vegetable and fruit contamination. For example, flooding may result in increased concentrations of harmful bacteria that can be quickly broken down again by UV light. Similarly, in one region fungi that produce toxins may increase due to global warming, while they decrease in other regions.

Moves to automate identification of Saimaa ringed seals Posted: 06 Mar 2015 04:37 AM PST Moves are being made to automate the identification of Saimaa ringed seals. This would bring new kinds of real-time information on how the extremely endangered species behaves, the movements of individual seals, and what happens to them. The final aim of an ongoing study on machine vision is to get a biometric passport for each individual Saimaa ringed seal. This happens on the basis of the unique fur patterns of each individual seal, using computer-based smart calculation and digital image processing. The aim is to store the information in a so-called Saimaa ringed seal database.

Green lungs of our planet are changing Posted: 06 Mar 2015 04:37 AM PST Are leaves and buds developing earlier in the spring? And do leaves stay on the trees longer in autumn? Do steppe ecosystems remain green longer and are the savannas becoming drier and drier? In fact, over recent decades, the growing seasons have changed everywhere around the world, according to research based on satellite data. The results are expected to have consequences for agriculture, interactions between species, the functioning of ecosystems, and the exchange of carbon dioxide and energy between the land surface and the atmosphere.

Infant growth affected by exposure to environmental pollutants Posted: 06 Mar 2015 04:37 AM PST Even though the levels of two environmental pollutants have declined over the last 20 years, they may still have adverse effects on children's development, according to a new study. The researchers found that maternal levels of DDE (indicating the levels to which the fetuses were exposed to in utero) were significantly associated with rapid growth in early life. They also found that levels of PCB153 in milk and the amount transferred through breastfeeding were associated with decreased infant growth and falling below expected growth curves.

The tides they are a changin' Posted: 05 Mar 2015 05:13 AM PST Scientists have found that ocean tides have changed significantly over the last century at many coastal locations around the world. Increases in high tide levels and the tidal range were found to have been similar to increases in average sea level at several locations.

How drowsy microbes in Arctic tundra change to methane-makers as permafrost thaws Posted: 04 Mar 2015 04:02 PM PST As the Arctic warms, tons of carbon locked away in Arctic tundra will be transformed into the powerful greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane, but scientists know little about how that transition takes place. Scientists looking at microbes in different types of Arctic soil now have a new picture of life in permafrost that reveals entirely new species and hints that subzero microbes might be active.

Carotid artery stenosis: Air pollution connected with narrowing of the arteries Posted: 04 Mar 2015 04:01 PM PST People living in areas with more air pollution face a greater risk of carotid artery stenosis, a narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the brain, according to new research. Carotid artery stenosis, which results when fatty substances build up in the arteries in the neck, is associated with more than half of the strokes that occur in the United States each year.