Earth | Page 1132 | Science Codex

Bedrock nitrogen may help forests buffer climate change, study finds

For the first time, researchers at the University of California, Davis, have demonstrated that forest trees have the ability to tap into nitrogen found in rocks, boosting the trees' growth and their ability to pull more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Given that carbon dioxide is the most important climate-change gas, the nitrogen in rocks could significantly affect how rapidly the earth will warm in the future, the researchers say. They report their findings in the Sept. 1 issue of the scientific journal Nature.

Federal investment in electronic health records likely to reap returns in quality of care

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Russian fires and Pakistan floods of 2010 linked by meteorological impact of Rossby waves

GREENBELT, Md. -- Two of the most destructive natural disasters of 2010 were closely linked by a single meteorological event, a Rossby wave, even though they occurred 1,500 miles apart and the results were completely different, according to a new NASA study.

The research finds that the same abnormal Rossby wave sparked extreme heat and persistent wildfires in Russia as well as unusual downstream wind patterns that shifted rainfall in the Indian monsoon region and fueled heavy flooding in Pakistan.

Ion armageddon: Measuring the impact energy of highly charged ions

Much like a meteor impacting a planet, highly charged ions hit really hard and can do a lot of damage, albeit on a much smaller scale. And much like geologists determine the size and speed of the meteor by looking at the hole it left, physicists can learn a lot about a highly charged ion's energy by looking at the divots it makes in thin films.

Rare Siamese crocodiles hatch in Laos

Working with the government of Lao PDR (Laos, Greater Mekong Subregion of Southeast Asia), the Wildlife Conservation Society has helped to successfully hatch a clutch of 20 Siamese crocodiles, a species threatened across its range by hunting, habitat fragmentation and loss, and other factors.

Hatched from eggs taken from the wild and incubated at the Laos Zoo, the baby crocodiles represent a success for a new program that works to save the Siamese crocodile and the wetlands and associated biodiversity of Laos' Savannakhet Province.

Want the Canada lynx to prosper? Let loose the wolves

As wolf populations grow in parts of the West, most of the focus has been on the desire of ranchers and home owners to shoot them versus their value in aiding broader ecosystem recovery. A new study points out that they could play an important role in helping to save other threatened species.

Testing the water for bioenergy crops

Energy researchers and environmental advocates are excited about the prospect of gaining more efficient large-scale biofuel production by using large grasses like miscanthus or switchgrass rather than corn.

They have investigated yields, land use, economics and more, but one key factor of agriculture has been overlooked: water.

Graphene's shining light could lead to super-fast Internet

Writing in the journal Nature Communications, a collaboration between the Universities of Manchester and Cambridge, which includes Nobel Prize winning scientists Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov, has discovered a crucial recipe for improving characteristics of graphene devices for use as photodetectors in future high-speed optical communications.

By combining graphene with metallic nanostructures, they show a twentyfold enhancement in harvesting light by graphene, which paves the way for advances in high-speed internet and other communications.

Climate change linked to increase of asthma attacks in children

Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have found that climate change may lead to more asthma-related health problems in children, and more emergency room (ER) visits in the next decade.

The data, published in the current issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that changing levels of ozone could lead to a 7.3 percent increase in asthma-related emergency room visits by children, ages 0-17.

Scientist creates new hypothesis on ocean acidification

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been rising due to the burning of fossil fuels. Increased absorption of this carbon by the oceans is lowering the seawater pH (the scale which measures how acidic or basic a substance is) and aragonite saturation state in a process known as ocean acidification. Aragonite is the mineral form of calcium carbonate that is laid down by corals to build their hard skeleton.

Why is ozone still disappearing in the Antarctic?

After decades of studying ozone and its loss from our atmosphere miles above the Earth, plenty of mysteries and surprises remain, including an unexpected loss of ozone over the Arctic this past winter.

Testing the water for bioenergy crops

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Many energy researchers and environmental advocates are excited about the prospect of gaining more efficient large-scale biofuel production by using large grasses like miscanthus or switchgrass rather than corn. They have investigated yields, land use, economics and more, but one key factor of agriculture has been overlooked: water.

Ozone levels may cost $1 billion in lost soybean production just in the US

Satellite views of the mid-western United States are being used as evidence that ozone levels above 50 parts per billion (ppb) along the ground could reduce soybean yields by at least 10 percent, costing more than $1 billion in lost crop production.

Panda poop may be a treasure trove of microbes for making biofuels

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Tiny wires change their behavior at nanoscales

Thin gold wires often used in high-end electronic applications are wonderfully flexible as well as conductive. But those qualities don't necessarily apply to the same wires at the nanoscale.

A new study finds gold wires less than 20 nanometers wide can become "brittle-like" under stress. It appears in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. The paper by Rice materials scientist Jun Lou and his lab shows in microscopic detail what happens to nanowires under the kinds of strain they would reasonably undergo in, for instance, flexible electronics.