Earth Science

Night time clock helps plants know when to growCredit: Getty A University of Melbourne led study has established how plants use their metabolism to tell time and know when to grow - a discovery that could help leverage growing crops…

Heidelberg geoinformation scientists develop new computer-based method to analyse topographic changes The Earth's surface is subject to continual changes that dynamically shape natural landscapes. Global phenomena like climate change play…

Scientists have identified that the COVID-19 virus could be transmitted through faecal contaminated river water. A team of researchers, including water quality, epidemiology, remote sensing and modelling experts, led by Dr Jamie…

Well over half of Europe's forests are potentially at risk from windthrow, forest fire and insect attacks In recent years, European forests have suffered greatly from extreme climate conditions and their impacts. More than half of Europe's…

A lot of us recycle our old textiles, but few of us know that they are very difficult to re-use, and often end up in landfills anyway. Now, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed a method that converts cotton into sugar,…

Credit: Photos: Julia Kemppinen and Peter C. le Roux. Researchers are in the search for generalisable rules and patterns in nature. Biogeographer Julia Kemppinen together with her colleagues tested if plant functional traits show…

Establishing the true cost of the planet's energy and transport systemsCredit: University of Sussex The hidden social, environmental and health costs of the world's energy and transport sectors is equal to more than a quarter of the…

Northumbria University is to play a leading role in a major study to assess the long-term impact of global warming on Siberia's thawing permafrostCredit: Sebastian Breitenbach Northumbria University is to play a leading role in a major…

Credit: David Roon, OSU CORVALLIS, Ore. - Selectively cutting trees in riparian zones to aid forest restoration can be done without adversely affecting streams' water temperature as long as the thinning isn't too intensive, new…

Researchers from Tel Aviv University propose a new explanation for human evolution:Credit: Dana Ackerfeld A new paper by Dr. Miki Ben-Dor and Prof. Ran Barkai from the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv…

The ocean floor is vast and varied, making up more than 70% of the Earth's surface. Scientists have long used information from sediments at the bottom of the ocean -- layers of rock and microbial muck -- to reconstruct the conditions in…

Paleontologists from the Universities of Bonn and Liverpool examined 14 skulls of Plateosaurus trossingensisCredit: © Volker Lannert/Uni Bonn "Everyone's unique" is a popular maxim. All people are equal, but there are of…

Credit: Artwork by Fabio Pastori, pixel-shack.com; © University of Bristol A new study using leading edge technology has shed surprising light on the ancient habitat where some of the first dinosaurs roamed in the UK around…

Research highlights importance of social resilience in Bronze Age China Climate alone is not a driver for human behavior. The choices that people make in the face of changing conditions take place in a larger human context. And studies…

Results have implications for life on MarsCredit: Photo courtesy Justine Sauvage NARRAGANSETT, R.I. - February 26, 2021 - A team of researchers from the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography and their…

Credit: Bruce Houghton The unprecedented cost of the 2018 Kilauea eruption in Hawai'i reflects the intersection of distinct physical and social phenomena: infrequent, highly destructive eruptions, and atypically high population growth,…

The pandemic has made clear the threat that some viruses pose to people. But viruses can also infect life-sustaining bacteria and a Johns Hopkins University-led team has developed a test to determine if bacteria are sick, similar to the…

A Skoltech researcher has developed a theoretical model of wave formation in straits and channels that accounts for nonlinear effects in the presence of a coastline. This research can improve wave prediction, making maritime travel safer…

Credit: Yin Zhao The water cycle over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), as known as "Asian Water Tower", is vital to the regional and downstream climate and ecosystem. A new study found that the interannual variability of the summer…

Rainforest degradation, wildfire reducing speciesCredit: James Dorey Photography A widespread field search for a rare Australian native bee not recorded for almost a century has found it's been there all along - but is probably…