Climate science, earth systems and environmental research.
Laboratory tests found that plastic particles carrying pyrene or methyl chlorpyrifos increased the acute immobilization of water fleas. During chronic exposure, the contaminants affected survival and reproduction, with stronger effects when they were attached to polystyrene particles.
A life cycle assessment found protein from Côte d'Ivoire's Lagenaria siceraria, or bottle gourd, had lower environmental impacts than imported soy in 11 of 18 categories under economic allocation. The comparison changed under mass allocation, showing how accounting choices affect the result.
An analysis of natural-hydrogen documents finds that promotional language is linked to peripheral positions in the research field and reliance on established authorities. A separate review of institutional documents suggests that some texts amplify expectations, while others temper them; hybrid documents can write those expectations into rules and research priorities.
Hospital wastewater can provide a pooled view of antimicrobial resistance, but its results did not consistently match traditional hospital surveillance. A review of 36 studies found that differing sampling and testing methods, along with poor timing alignment, make comparisons difficult.
Dutch-backed circular-economy projects in Kenya are reshaping who controls waste and whose knowledge counts, according to a qualitative study. The changes can marginalize informal workers who have long collected, sorted and recovered materials through community-based systems.
A study of aerosol plumes over northeast Pacific clouds found that natural differences in plume-spreading speed did not materially change the sunlight-reflecting effect of brighter clouds. But idealized simulations suggest models that assume aerosols spread instantly could overestimate cooling by 10–200%.
A 10-month test on Alaska’s North Slope produced gas steadily from a gas-hydrate-bearing sand reservoir during its longest continuous operating period. The gas-to-water ratio averaged about 600 cubic meters per cubic meter, far above results from earlier short tests and computer simulations.
Researchers developed a graphene-aerogel material that holds a light-activated catalyst and uses both reduction and oxidation reactions to defluorinate several PFAS. After 12 hours of ultraviolet irradiation, it removed 90.2% of the fluorine from PFOA, 65.3% from PFHxA and 51.8% from PFBA.
A lake-sediment record from southeastern Australia shows that colonial land-use change disrupted Indigenous burning practices and transformed open woodland into denser eucalypt forest. The changes occurred before anthropogenic warming and may have increased the landscape’s vulnerability to intense wildfires.
Researchers have built a forest monitoring system that measures more than 90 environmental parameters, fluxes and processes from below ground to above the tree canopy. The infrastructure produces more than 4,500 time series and is designed to support continuous research using low-cost, commercially available components.
A review of observations, computer models and climate records finds strong evidence that Antarctic sea ice affects ocean and atmospheric circulation, ice sheets, marine productivity and the carbon cycle. Records from the past glacial cycle show that sea-ice changes occurred alongside shifts in ocean circulation, ocean productivity and carbon, although their individual effects are difficult to separate.
In a rural California study, children exposed to higher levels of airborne particles over the previous week had a greater risk of elevated or high systolic blood pressure. Longer-term exposure was also associated with small increases in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
A computer-based analysis of sauropod thigh bones suggests that the largest dinosaurs did not all use the same mechanical design to support their weight. Differences in bone shape, internal architecture and joint cartilage were linked to how the bones handled stress and stiffness.
Researchers used changes in the upper atmosphere recorded by distant ground stations to estimate vertical movements caused by the magnitude 7.7 Myanmar earthquake. Three distinct signal peaks helped identify the locations and relative strengths of acoustic waves linked to uplift along the fault.
Native verge gardens were more common over time near other verge gardens in two Perth-area communities, a study found. Adoption rates were 11% in Claremont and 18% in Daglish, and many conversions took place without government support.
