A new mapping analysis estimates the amounts of nitrogen and pathogens released into coastal ecosystems from human wastewater sources around the world.
Global temperatures over last 24,000 years show today’s warming ‘unprecedented’
An effort to reconstruct Earth's climate since the last ice age, about 24,000 years ago, highlights the main drivers of climate change and how far out of bounds human activity has pushed the climate system.
Spread of Transeurasian languages was due to agriculture
By triangulating data from linguistics, archaeology and genetics, a new study by an international team of researchers proposes a 'Farming Hypothesis' for the spread of Transeurasian languages, tracing the origins of Japonic, Koreanic, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic to the movements of Neolithic millet farmers from the region of the West...
Student’s research upends understanding of upper atmospheric wind
A doctoral student has confirmed that the cross-polar jet, a well-known wind in the upper atmosphere, sometimes inexplicably stops or is deflected or reversed when it reaches the region above Alaska. The finding upends previous understanding.
Rapidly evolving species more likely to go extinct, study suggests
Researchers have found that fast evolution can lead to nowhere.
Major cities could be close to self-sustaining through fully integrated solar
Net zero carbon is within reach for a major Australian city through comprehensive adoption of photovoltaics in built environment, new modelling has shown.
Identifying individual proteins using nanopores and supercomputers
The amount and types of proteins our cells produce tell us important details about our health. Researchers have shown that it is possible to identify individual proteins with single-amino acid resolution and nearly 100% accuracy. Their method uses nanopores -- engineered openings that generate an electrical signal when molecules are...
Research finds key advances towards reducing the cost of plant improvement
Crop improvement often involves the transfer of genetic material from one organism to another to produce a valuable trait. Some major examples of crops with these so-called 'transgenes' include disease-resistant cotton and beta-carotene-enhanced golden rice. However, when foreign DNA is introduced into a host organism, a natural defensive response in...
Global river database documents 40 years of change
A new database compiling movement of the largest rivers in the world over time could become a crucial tool for urban planners to better understand the deltas that are home to these rivers and a large portion of Earth's population.
Can’t find your keys? You need a chickadee brain
Researchers have shown that there is a genetic component underlying the amazing spatial memories of Mountain Chickadees. Although the genetic basis for spatial memory has been shown for humans and other mammals, direct evidence of that connection has never before been identified in birds.