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ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News |
| Origins of the Avars elucidated with ancient DNA Posted: 01 Apr 2022 09:21 AM PDT Less known than Attila's Huns, the Avars were their more successful successors. They ruled much of Central and Eastern Europe for almost 250 years. We know that they came from Central Asia in the sixth century CE, but ancient authors and modern historians debated their provenance. Now, a multidisciplinary research team of geneticists, archaeologists and historians has obtained and studied the first ancient genomes from the most important Avar elite sites discovered in contemporary Hungary. This study traces the genetic origin of the Avar elite to a faraway region of East Central Asia. It provides direct genetic evidence for one of the largest and most rapid long-distance migrations in ancient human history. |
| Lost bioscapes window into Polynesian settlement circa 12th century Posted: 01 Apr 2022 06:48 AM PDT Polynesian explorers discovered a treasure trove of unique plants and animals when they arrived in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, according to new research. |
| Periodic volcanism triggered multiple Jurassic extinctions Posted: 01 Apr 2022 06:48 AM PDT Geologists have provided critical new evidence for the timing of volcanic activity in the Karoo province, the largest of the Jurassic magma systems. The remnants of the province are widespread in southern Africa and Antarctica. |
| Wildfire smoke exposure in early pregnancy affects infant monkey behavior Posted: 01 Apr 2022 06:48 AM PDT Infant monkeys conceived while their mothers were naturally exposed to wildfire smoke show behavioral changes compared to animals conceived days later, according to a new study. |
| Warmer autumns could spell bad news for butterflies, suggests study Posted: 01 Apr 2022 06:47 AM PDT New research finds that longer and warmer autumns make it less likely that green-veined white butterflies will survive winter to emerge in spring. |
| Polynesian Island yields 'treasure trove' of fungal biodiversity Posted: 31 Mar 2022 02:08 PM PDT Researchers have provided a detailed description of the stunning array of fungi that make their home on the Polynesian island of Mo'orea. The collection includes more than 200 species of macrofungi -- that is, fungi producing visible, fruiting bodies -- many of which may be new to science. |
| A single gene controls species diversity in an ecosystem Posted: 31 Mar 2022 12:14 PM PDT To test if a single gene could affect an entire ecosystem, a research team conducted a lab experiment with a plant and its associated ecosystem of insects. They found that plants with a mutation at a specific gene foster ecosystems with more insect species. The discovery of such a 'keystone gene' could change current biodiversity conservation strategies. |
| Light pollution increasing year round for some migrating birds Posted: 31 Mar 2022 12:12 PM PDT Nighttime light pollution levels are increasing the most in the southeastern United States, Mexico, and Central America--findings based on year-round data collected over the last two decades in the Western Hemisphere. |
| Fruit flies adapt activity to 'white nights' Posted: 31 Mar 2022 10:42 AM PDT Fruit flies with a new variant of a 'clock gene' are spreading northwards. Neurobiologists have now found an explanation for this phenomenon. |
| Increased heat and drought stunt tropical trees, a major carbon sink Posted: 31 Mar 2022 10:42 AM PDT For a long time, ecologists assumed tree rings to be absent in tropical trees because of a lack of temperature and rain fluctuations in the trees' environment. But in recent decades, the formation of growth rings has been proven for hundreds of tropical tree species, which are sensitive to drought and usually experience at least a month or two of slightly reduced rainfall every year. |
| Volcano monitoring at Mount Etna using fiber optic cables Posted: 31 Mar 2022 09:12 AM PDT In order to understand and predict volcanic events even better, a better understanding of the diverse underground processes involved is required. A new way to detect such processes, even if they are very subtle, is to use fiber optic cables as sensors. The analysis of light that is backscattered in them when the cables are deformed by vibrations, for example, has now made it possible for the first time to determine the volcanic signature of the Sicilian volcano Etna very precisely. |
| Meltwater drainage, break-away icebergs linked at shrinking Helheim Glacier Posted: 31 Mar 2022 09:12 AM PDT Dark patches of open sea that appear in the ice-choked water around Helheim Glacier may reveal new clues about how a rapidly changing Greenland glacier loses ice, according to scientists. |
| Ozone may be heating the planet more than we realize Posted: 31 Mar 2022 09:12 AM PDT New research reveals ozone in the lower atmosphere in particular contributed to warming in the Southern Ocean - which absorbs much of the planet's excess heat - more than previously realized. The study shows that ozone is more than just a pollutant, but also may be playing a significant role in climate change. |
| Posted: 31 Mar 2022 09:12 AM PDT Haze is formed when a cocktail of various gaseous pollutants is oxidized and forms particulate matter diffusing sunlight. This process is mainly mediated by hydroxyl radicals (OH), and researchers have now discovered a new route to their formation. This newly discovered radical-building mechanism could also offer new perspectives for air purification and the energy industry, as the study shows. |
| Million-year-old Arctic sedimentary record sheds light on climate mystery Posted: 31 Mar 2022 07:16 AM PDT New research provides a continuous look at a shift in climate, called the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, that has puzzled scientists. |
| African network protects key turtle sites Posted: 31 Mar 2022 07:15 AM PDT A network of West African Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) covers key sites used by green turtles, new research shows. |
| New study solves mystery of how soft liquid droplets erode hard surfaces Posted: 31 Mar 2022 07:15 AM PDT A new study shows why liquid droplets have the ability to erode hard surfaces, a discovery that could help engineers design more erosion-resistant materials. |
| Critical signature sound when rocks crack Posted: 30 Mar 2022 01:45 PM PDT Finding the specific sound a rock makes when it cracks and breaks seems impossible when surrounded by other subsurface noises. But researchers have now discovered a way to hear and validate that sound. |
| How would a nuclear winter impact food production? Posted: 30 Mar 2022 01:45 PM PDT Research focuses on how meeting food security and nutrition in the face of potential risks is one of humanity's major challenges over the next decades. |
| The 25 happiest U.S. city park systems, ranked by scientists Posted: 30 Mar 2022 11:14 AM PDT Feeling unhappy? Go find a city park -- the bigger the better -- and try taking a walk outdoors. So says a major new study measuring the happiness effects of city parks in the 25 largest U.S. cities. The happiness benefit of urban nature on users was akin to the mood spike people experience on holidays like Thanksgiving or New Year's Day. The research is the largest study of its kind -- using massive amounts of data from social media -- to quantify the mood boosting benefits on urban nature. The happiest place on Twitter? The great outdoors. |
| Researchers’ novel tool to help develop safer pesticides Posted: 30 Mar 2022 11:14 AM PDT Researchers have developed a new computational approach to rapidly screen pesticides for safety, performance and how long they will endure in the environment. Moreover, and most importantly, the new approach will aid in the design of next-generation molecules to develop safer pesticides. |
| Battery-free MakeCode empowers kids to code sustainably Posted: 30 Mar 2022 10:05 AM PDT New sustainable coding platform automatically and invisibly transforms Microsoft MakeCode into a version that supports programming electronic devices that harvest energy from ambient sources, such as vibrations, movement, radio frequency transmissions and the sun. |
| Deserts 'breathe' water vapor, study shows Posted: 30 Mar 2022 09:14 AM PDT Deserts may seem lifeless and inert, but they are very much alive. Sand dunes, in particular, grow and move -- and according to a decades long research project, they also 'breathe' humid air. |
| Where we grow up influences our sense of direction Posted: 30 Mar 2022 08:13 AM PDT New researcher has demonstrated that people's spatial navigation ability is influenced by their geographical origin. Growing up in rural or urban areas, or in cities of varying complexity, influences our sense of direction in adulthood. These results were obtained using data collected from the video game Sea Hero Quest. |
| Molecular 'blueprint' illuminates how plants perceive light Posted: 30 Mar 2022 08:13 AM PDT Plants rely on their ability to sense light for survival. But unlike animals, plants don't have eyes full of photoreceptors to capture and convey messages from visual stimuli. Instead, plants are coated with a network of light-sensing photoreceptors that detect different wavelengths of light, allowing them to regulate their lifecycles and adjust to environmental conditions. Now, scientists have determined the molecular structure of one of these vital photoreceptors -- a protein known as PhyB -- revealing a wholly different structure than previously known. The findings may have implications for agricultural and 'green' bioengineering practices. |
| Flowers' unseen colors can help ensure pollination, survival Posted: 30 Mar 2022 07:33 AM PDT You can't see it, but different substances in the petals of flowers create a 'bulls-eye' for pollinating insects, according to a scientist whose research sheds light on chemical changes in flowers which helps them respond to environmental changes, including climate change, that might threaten their survival. |
| Argon found in air of ancient atmosphere Posted: 30 Mar 2022 07:33 AM PDT Researchers have discovered argon trapped in air-hydrate crystals in ice cores, which can be used to reconstruct past temperature changes and climate shifts. |
| The worrying arrival of the invasive Asian needle ant in Europe Posted: 30 Mar 2022 07:32 AM PDT A research team has, for the first time in Europe, identified a specimen of Asian needle ant (Brachyponera chinensis), a highly invasive species. |
| The Rule of Two helps make spaces sound better Posted: 30 Mar 2022 07:32 AM PDT Researchers developed a new acoustic measurement technique in a room with more acoustic combinations than there are ants on Earth. |
| From lab to slab: Rubber concrete flexes into the residential market Posted: 29 Mar 2022 04:27 PM PDT A novel approach to rubber recycling could see end-of-life tyres repurposed into concrete for residential constructions as new research shows that it can provide an economically viable and sustainable alternative to conventional concrete. |
| European earthworms reduce insect populations in North American forests Posted: 29 Mar 2022 04:17 PM PDT Earthworms introduced into northern North America have a negative impact on the insect fauna above ground. Soil ecologists found this impact for abundance as well as for biomass and species richness of insects. Their results indicate that changes in insect communities can have causes that have previously received little attention. |
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