http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/earth_climate/environmental_science/ Environmental science news. Learn about current research into rainforest deforestation, sustainable development, energy use, air quality monitoring, mining processes and hazardous waste disposal. Updated daily. en-us Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:05:01 EST Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:05:01 EST 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/earth_climate/environmental_science/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091122161751.htm Scientists have found for the first time that high pressure can be used to make a unique hydrogen-storage material. The discovery paves the way for a new approach to the hydrogen-storage problem. The researchers found that the normally nonreactive, noble gas xenon combines with molecular hydrogen under pressure to form a previously unknown solid with unusual bonding chemistry. The discovery debuts a new family of materials, which could boost hydrogen technologies. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091122161751.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124204329.htm A journey that started with a box of bird feet carried three graduate students into the gruesome world of raptors. Normally focused on dinosaurs, the students compared the claws and killing methods of four types of raptors and published a new paper on their research. The birds of prey that were studied live in North America and Europe and include eagles and hawks, owls, osprey and falcons. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124204329.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091115134132.htm Rising water temperatures are kicking up more powerful winds on Lake Superior, with consequences for currents, biological cycles, pollution and more on the world's largest lake and its smaller brethren. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091115134132.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117094835.htm Finding alternative feed sources for chickens, pigs and other farm animals will significantly reduce pressure on the world's dwindling fisheries while contributing positively to climate change, according to researchers. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117094835.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123083704.htm In a provocative new study, a scientist argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions -- the major cause of global warming -- cannot be stabilized unless the world's economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123083704.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123114632.htm Information field theory enables astronomers, medical practitioners and geologists to look into places where their measuring instruments are blind. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123114632.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123125201.htm A new study concluded that 50 million US acres of cropland, idle cropland, and cropland pasture could be converted from current uses to the production of perennial grasses, such as switchgrass, from which biomass could be harvested for use as a biofuel feedstock. Economically viable production of a perennial grass monoculture from which substantial quantities of biomass are removed annually is expected to require nitrogen fertilizer. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123125201.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123114648.htm A new species of chameleon has been discovered in a threatened forest in Tanzania. Researchers first spotted the animal while surveying monkeys in the Magombera Forest when they disturbed a twig snake eating one. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123114648.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091120094745.htm Surplus biomass from the production of flax sheaves, and generated from Brassica carinata, a yellow-flowered plant related to those which engulf fields in spring, can be used to produce bioethanol. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091120094745.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124204314.htm Food waste contributes to excess consumption of freshwater and fossil fuels which, along with methane and carbon dioxide emissions from decomposing food, impacts global climate change. Scientists have calculated the energy content of nationwide food waste from the difference between the US food supply and the food eaten by the population. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124204314.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124174622.htm The annual rate of increase in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels has more than tripled in this decade, compared to the 1990s, reports an international consortium of scientists, who paint a bleak picture of the Earth's future unless "CO2 emissions [are] drastically reduced." Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124174622.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124152803.htm Popular thinking about how to improve food systems often misses the point, according to the results of a three-year global study of salmon production systems. Rather than pushing for organic or land-based production, or worrying about simple metrics such as "food miles," the study finds that the world can achieve greater environmental benefits by focusing on improvements production and distribution. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124152803.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124140957.htm The world's oceans are absorbing less carbon dioxide, a geophysicist has found after pooling data taken over the past 50 years. With the oceans currently absorbing over 40 percent of the CO2 emitted by human activity, this could quicken the pace of climate change, according to the study. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124140957.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124082753.htm New research presents strong evidence that the "synergistic" effect of early-life exposure to both outdoor traffic-related pollution and indoor endotoxin causes more harm to developing lungs than one or the other exposure alone. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124082753.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091122095413.htm Biogeochemistry and geology and geophysics scientists have returned from Arctic expedition exploring methane hydrate deposits in the Beaufort Sea and spatial variation of sediment contribution to Arctic climate change. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091122095413.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117161127.htm A new study finds that a species of sea star stays cool using a strategy never before seen in the animal kingdom. The sea stars soak up cold sea water into their bodies during high tide as buffer against potentially damaging temperatures brought about by direct sunlight at low tide. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117161127.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123114636.htm A new calculation of Europe's greenhouse gas balance shows that emissions of methane and nitrous oxide tip the balance and eliminate Europe's terrestrial sink of greenhouse gases. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123114636.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091106102954.htm In foods, soil samples or customs checks, plant fragments sometimes need to be quickly identified. The use of DNA "barcodes" to itemize plant biodiversity was proposed during the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Summit. Researchers have now tested this method in the tropical forest. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091106102954.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091120084617.htm With the introduction of a single bacterial gene into yeast, researchers have achieved three improvements in bioethanol production from agricultural waste material: 'More ethanol, less acetate and elimination of the major by-product glycerol' Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091120084617.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123125157.htm Exposure shortly after birth to ambient metals from residential heating oil combustion and particles from diesel emissions are associated with respiratory symptoms in young inner city children, according to a new study. The study is the first to analyze the effects of exposure to airborne metals in this very young population and the findings could have important public health implications. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123125157.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123114815.htm The time of day matters to forest trees dealing with drought, according to a new article. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123114815.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123083656.htm Seventy percent of U.K. households always separate their rubbish for recycling, but only 2 percent buy their energy on a green tariff, according to the early findings of a major new annual household survey. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123083656.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091120000437.htm Food production of modern human societies is mostly based on large-scale monoculture crops, but it now appears that advanced insect societies have the same practice. Our societies took just ten thousand years of (mainly cultural) evolution to adopt this habit and we are far from convinced that it is sustainable. Farming ants and termites had tens of millions of years to evolve their fungus farming systems and here monocultures are apparently evolutionary stable. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091120000437.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104122522.htm New scientific discoveries are moving society toward the era of "personalized solar energy," in which the focus of electricity production shifts from huge central generating stations to individuals in their own homes and communities. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104122522.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091119141039.htm A new study of Antarctica's past climate reveals that temperatures during the warm periods between ice ages (interglacials) may have been higher than previously thought. The latest analysis of ice core records suggests that Antarctic temperatures may have been up to 6°C warmer than the present day. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091119141039.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111114910.htm Fossil carbon dioxide emissions increased by 40 percent from 1990 to 2008, according to new findings. Coal has bypassed oil as the largest source of CO2 emissions. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111114910.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123083702.htm Scientists have succeeded in producing the polymers used for everyday plastics through bioengineering, rather than through the use of fossil fuel based chemicals, heralding the creation of environmentally conscious plastics. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123083702.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118112423.htm Scientists are reporting evidence that air pollution -- a well-recognized problem at major airports -- may pose an important but largely overlooked health concern for people living near smaller regional airports. Those airports are becoming an increasingly important component of global air transport systems. The study, one of only a handful to examine airborne pollutants near regional airports, suggests that officials should pay closer attention to these overlooked emissions, which could cause health problems for local residents. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118112423.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116103447.htm In a new study, measurements were made during three Austral summers to study the optical properties of the Antarctic system and to produce radiation information for additional modeling studies. The system has an important part in the global climate due to its size, its high latitude location and the negative radiation balance of its large ice sheets. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116103447.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091119193644.htm Real-life particles released by car brake pads can harm lung cells in vitro. Researchers found that heavy braking, as in an emergency stop, caused the most damage, but normal breaking and even close proximity to a disengaged brake resulted in potentially dangerous cellular stress. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091119193644.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091119111329.htm The ocean is a potentially vast source of electric power, yet as engineers test new technologies for capturing it, the devices are plagued by battering storms, limited efficiency and the need to be tethered to the seafloor. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091119111329.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091119193816.htm Sustainable farming, initially adopted to preserve soil quality for future generations, may also play a role in maintaining a healthy climate, according to researchers. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091119193816.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091121093521.htm In order to avoid dangerous consequences for the earth’s ecosystems, global emissions must peak around 2015, and they need to be cut by half between the peak and 2030, according to new findings. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091121093521.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118143211.htm The oceans play a key role in regulating climate, absorbing more than a quarter of the carbon dioxide that humans put into the air. Now, the first year-by-year accounting of this mechanism during the industrial era suggests the oceans are struggling to keep up with rising emissions -- a finding with potentially wide implications for future climate. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118143211.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091120000709.htm The MIRAS instrument on ESA's SMOS satellite, launched earlier this month, has been switched on and is operating normally. MIRAS will map soil moisture and ocean salinity to improve our understanding of the role these two key variables play in regulating Earth’s water cycle. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091120000709.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116165633.htm Scientists have shown how plants can protect themselves against genetic damage caused by environmental stresses. The growing tips of plant roots and shoots have an in-built mechanism that, if it detects damage to the DNA, causes the cell to "commit suicide" rather than pass on its defective DNA. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116165633.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116103451.htm Researchers have launched a new community-based approach to electric vehicle design, conversion and operations. The new research project, ChargeCar, will explore how electric vehicles can be customized for an individual's commuting needs and how an electric vehicle's efficiency can be boosted and its battery life extended by using artificial intelligence to manage power. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116103451.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029151621.htm Some 500 years ago there was a change in the circulation in the atmosphere over Scandinavia. This probably led to increased amounts of winter precipitation in northern Sweden for a period. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029151621.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117102036.htm A new study indicates that major chemicals most often cited as leading causes of climate change, such as carbon dioxide and methane, are outclassed in their warming potential by compounds receiving less attention. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117102036.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029152301.htm A self-amplifying effect presently sustains monsoon winds, but it could also disrupt the circulation over land and sea. The periodical rainfall could stop from one season to another or for months within seasons. High air pollution could lead to the disruption. Global warming increases the risk of abrupt monsoon transitions from high-precipitation to dry periods. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029152301.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118143301.htm India may rank only a distant fourth in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, behind China, the United States and Russia, but its rapid economic growth rate coupled with aging and inefficient energy infrastructure suggest dire environmental consequences if "business as usual" continues. That's why experts have bee working to improve India's energy efficiency. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118143301.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118112419.htm Nine research challenges and four research initiatives that are poised to advance the study of how Earth's landscapes change were unveiled by the National Research Council. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118112419.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117133504.htm The strongest evidence yet that the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions continues to outstrip the ability of the world's natural "sinks" to absorb carbon has just been published. Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117133504.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091112113421.htm Continued improvement of climate forecasts is resulting in better information about what rainfall may look like months in advance. A researcher has now developed an innovative water management framework that would take advantage of these forecasts to plan for droughts or excess rain in order to make the most efficient use of an area's water resources. Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091112113421.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116143619.htm It's the year 2060, and 75 percent of drivers in the Greater Los Angeles area have hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that emit only water vapor. Look into Shane Stephens-Romero's crystal ball -- a computer model called STREET -- and find that air quality has significantly improved. Greenhouse gas emissions are more than 60 percent lower than in 2009, and levels of microscopic soot and ozone are about 15 percent and 10 percent lower, respectively. Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116143619.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116204229.htm An upgrade to a Cray XT5 high-performance computing system deployed by the Department of Energy has made the "Jaguar" supercomputer the world's fastest. Located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Jaguar is the scientific research community's most powerful computational tool for exploring solutions to some of today's most difficult problems. The upgrade, funded with $19.9 million under the Recovery Act, will enable scientific simulations for exploring solutions to climate change and the development of new energy technologies. Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116204229.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116131820.htm A dangerous level of carbon dioxide and methane gas haunts Lake Kivu, the freshwater lake bordering Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The volatile mixture at the bottom of the lake could remain still for another 1,000 years or explode without warning. In a region prone to volcanic and seismic activity, the fragility of the lake is a serious matter. Scientists will meet in January in Gisenyi, Rwanda, to grapple with the problem. Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116131820.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116131822.htm A group of researchers has found that any future increases in precipitation would be unlikely to compensate for the declines in forage quality that accompany projected temperature increases. Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116131822.htm