Liquefied natural gas leaves a greenhouse gas footprint that is 33% worse than coal, when processing and shipping are taken into account, according to a new study.
Blog
The Rate of Climate Change Threatens to Exceed the Adaptive Capacity of Species
A recent study from the University of Helsinki focusing on the Arctic Siberian primrose underscores the critical need to curb climate change to allow species time to adapt through evolution.
Smoke From Megafires Puts Orchard Trees at Risk
Long-term smoke exposure from massive wildfires lowers the energy reserves of orchard trees and can cut their nut production by half, researchers at the University of California, Davis, found.
Most Tropical Lightning Storms Are Radioactive
New observations from a retrofitted U2 spy plane reveal a surprising amount and variety of gamma radiation is produced in large tropical thunderstorms.
Green subsidies may have hidden costs, experts warn
Government subsidies for business practices and processes should be approached with caution, even when they seem to be environmentally friendly, writes a group of scientists and economists. They argue that subsidies can alter market pressures, leading to unintended consequences that not only perpetuate harmful subsidies over time but also diminish...
How doxycycline for STI prevention affects the gut microbiome
Taking a dose of the oral antibiotic doxycycline after a high-risk sexual encounter has dramatically reduced the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in places where the strategy is being tried.
Ant agriculture began 66 million years ago in the aftermath of the asteroid that doomed the dinosaurs
According to a new study, colonies of ants began farming fungi when an asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago. This asteroid impact caused a global mass extinction but also created ideal conditions for fungi to thrive. Innovative ants began cultivating the fungi, creating an evolutionary partnership that became even...
Wastewater bacteria can breakdown plastic for food
Comamonadacae is a family of bacteria often found growing on plastics in water. New study finds a bacterium in this family can break down the plastic for food. Researchers also identified the enzyme the bacterium use to degrade plastic. The discovery opens new possibilities for developing bacteria-based engineering solutions to...
Engineers create a chip-based tractor beam for biological particles
A chip-based 'tractor beam' can trap and manipulate biological particles using a tightly focused beam of light emitted from a silicon-photonics chip. The device could help biologists and clinicians study DNA, classify cells, and investigate the mechanisms of disease.
New findings supply corrective to evolutionary hypothesis
The study blends math, statistics and biology to show that this long-held hyperbolic pattern is an anomaly because it doesn't account for the fact that all species on earth are defined as much by their unique traits as the variation that exists in those traits.