On a tranquil stretch of Cornell’s experimental vineyard in Portland, New York, the hum of sensors and whirring of drones overhead signal a new era of agriculture.
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Robot Matches Humans in Scouting for Vineyard Diseases
The latest version of an autonomous robot that can scout for grape diseases in vineyards in near-real time, with an accuracy that matches highly trained human scouts, will one day help track crop-killing pathogens with minimal labor.
How orangutans thrive in feast and famine without gaining weight
Orangutans, humans’ close evolutionary relatives, have developed remarkable strategies to survive in the unpredictable rainforests of Borneo. A Rutgers-led study reveals that these apes balance protein intake and adjust their activity to match food availability, avoiding obesity and metabolic disease. Unlike humans, who often overeat processed foods without adjusting energy...
Salmon’s secret superfood is smaller than a grain of salt
Tiny diatoms and their bacterial partners act as nature’s nutrient factories, fueling insects and salmon in California’s Eel River. Their pollution-free process could inspire breakthroughs in sustainable farming and energy.
AI and Climate Change: How to Reliably Record Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Large companies in the EU are legally required to report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet pulling this information manually from long PDF sustainability reports is slow and error-prone.
Scientists Transform Plastic Waste into Efficient CO2 Capture Materials
As CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere keep rising regardless of years of political intentions to limit emissions, the world’s oceans are drowning in plastics, which threatens marine environments and ecosystems.
Suite of Models Shows Some Positive Effects of Climate-Smart Ag Practices
A study using multiple agronomic models to examine two long-term agricultural research stations in North America shows that so-called climate-smart agricultural practices – like no-till treatments, cover-crop utilization and residue retention – can help promote carbon sequestration in soil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Scientists finally crack the mystery of rogue waves
Once thought to be sailors’ myths, rogue waves gained credibility after a towering 80-foot wall of water struck the Draupner oil platform in 1995. New research shows that these extreme waves don’t need mysterious forces to form—they emerge when ordinary ocean behaviors like wave alignment and nonlinear stretching converge at...
Dinosaur teeth reveal secrets of Jurassic life 150 million years ago
Sauropod tooth scratches reveal that some dinosaurs migrated seasonally, others ate a wide variety of plants, and climate strongly shaped their diets. Tanzania’s sand-blasted vegetation left especially heavy wear, offering rare insights into ancient ecosystems.
Flamingos reveal their secret to staying young
Some animals don’t age at the same pace, and flamingos may hold the key to why. A decades-long study in France reveals that resident flamingos, which stay put, enjoy early-life advantages but pay later with accelerated aging, while migratory flamingos endure early hardships yet age more slowly. This surprising link...