With 350 million years of evolution culminating in almost two centuries of scientific discourse, a new hypothesis emerges. Researchers propose a new explanation for why ammonoids evolved a highly elaborate, fractal-like geometry within their shells. Their analysis shows that the increasing complexity of shell structures provided a distinct advantage by...
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It’s Not Just Earthquakes — Fracking Also Linked to Small Tremors, Study Finds
While past studies have linked fracking to earthquakes, scientists now say the drilling method is also a source of even small seismic tremors.
Mosquito hearing could be targeted by insecticides
Specific receptors in the ears of mosquitoes have been revealed to modulate their hearing, finds a new study. Scientists say, this discovery could help develop new insecticides and control the spread of harmful diseases, such as malaria.
Chemicals from maize roots influence wheat yield
Maize roots secrete certain chemicals that affect the quality of soil. In some fields, this effect increases yields of wheat planted subsequent to maize in the same soil by more than 4%. While the findings from several field experiments show that these effects are highly variable, in the long term...
Could artificially dimming the sun prevent ice melt?
With methods of so-called geoengineering, the climate could theoretically be artificially influenced and cooled. Researchers have now investigated whether it would be possible to prevent the melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet by artificially 'dimming the sun'. The results show that artificial influence does not work without decarbonization and...
New Recycling Process Could Find Markets for ‘Junk’ Plastic Waste
Although many Americans dutifully deposit their plastic trash into the appropriate bins each week, many of those materials, including flexible films, multilayer materials and a lot of colored plastics, are not recyclable using conventional mechanical recycling methods.
Warming Is Shifting Napa’s Wine Growing Season
The start of wine grape growing season in California’s Napa Valley now comes nearly a month earlier than it used to because of the region’s warming climate, according to a new study from a team led by UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher Dan Cayan.
NASA Study Reveals Compounding Climate Risks at Two Degrees of Warming
If global temperatures keep rising and reach 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, people worldwide could face multiple impacts of climate change simultaneously.
Microplastics found embedded in tissues of whales and dolphins
Microscopic plastic particles have been found in the fats and lungs of two-thirds of the marine mammals in a graduate student's study of ocean microplastics. The presence of polymer particles and fibers in these animals suggests that microplastics can travel out of the digestive tract and lodge in the tissues.
Chloride ions from seawater eyed as possible lithium replacement in batteries of the future
Sodium, Potassium and zinc have all been promising contenders for lithium's place in rechargeable batteries of the future, but researchers have added an unusual and more abundant competitor to the mix: chloride, the richest negatively charged ions in seawater. Xiaowei Teng, the James H. Manning professor of Chemical Engineering at...