Earth

PHILADELPHIA — Wear is a fact of life. As surfaces rub against one another, they break down and lose their original shape. With less material to start with and functionality that often depends critically on shape and surface structure, wear affects nanoscale objects more strongly than it does their macroscale counterparts.

Mention mobile applications, or mobile apps, and people think of games, email, news, weather, productivity and other software for Apple, Android and other smart phones and tablet computers. But an app with broader impact — the first mobile application to foster wider use of the environmentally friendly and sustainable principles of green chemistry — is the topic of a report in the American Chemical Society's new journal, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

Comet explosions did not end the prehistoric human culture, known as Clovis, in North America 13,000 years ago, according to research published in the journal Geophysical Monograph Series.

Forestry and nature conservation can benefit from promoting more different varieties of trees, according to a new study in which researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, were involved.

Modern forestry is based largely on monocultures – usually pine or spruce trees in Sweden – mainly because this is seen to be more rational. However, a forest also contributes ecosystem services other than just wood production, such as biological diversity, carbon sequestration and berries.

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The researchers have carried out a social network simulation: each individual is represented by a node, while links, connecting the nodes, represent social interactions. Each individual has the tendency to enhance their social importance, and to do so they necessarily have to connect with the "most central nodes", that is, to the people who count. However, to advance socially an individual has to break with the past: technically speaking, abandon old nodes and connect with the most central ones. But how many have an inclination to break up with old connections to aim high?

The lipid molecules of membranes, also known as phospholipids, are composed of two elements: A hydrophilic head and two long-chain fatty acids. The molecules form a bilayer in the membrane, with all of the heads pointing outwards and the fatty acid chains hanging in a zip-like interlay position.

Schemes that aim to regulate greenhouse gas emissions can limit consumers' attempts to reduce their carbon footprints, according to an economist at the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Dr Grischa Perino suggests that some recommendations made by government agencies and environmental NGOs about how individuals can reduce GHG emissions are inappropriate in the European Union because of its Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), which caps emissions from certain industries, such as electricity production and aviation, and allows regulated sources to trade emission allowances.

Trees in the continental U.S. could send out new spring leaves up to 17 days earlier in the coming century than they did before global temperatures started to rise, according to a new study by Princeton University researchers. These climate-driven changes could lead to changes in the composition of northeastern forests and give a boost to their ability to take up carbon dioxide.

The Earth's forests perform a well-known service to the planet, absorbing a great deal of the carbon dioxide pollution emitted into the atmosphere from human activities. But when trees are killed by natural disturbances, such as fire, drought or wind, their decay also releases carbon back into the atmosphere, making it critical to quantify tree mortality in order to understand the role of forests in the global climate system. Tropical old-growth forests may play a large role in this absorption service, yet tree mortality patterns for these forests are not well understood.

According to a new technical report, the effects of climate change will continue to threaten the health and vitality of U.S. coastal communities' social, economic and natural systems.

The report, Coastal Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerabilities: a technical input to the 2013 National Climate Assessment, authored by leading scientists and experts, emphasizes the need for increased coordination and planning to ensure U.S. coastal communities are resilient against the effects of climate change.

Alexandria, VA – Would you drink water from a toilet? What if that water, once treated, was cleaner than what comes out of the faucet?

Although the imagery isn't appealing, as climate change and population growth strain freshwater resources, such strategies are becoming more common around the world — and in the United States.

Over the last several decades, local and regional water shortages have become increasingly common. These shortages have led to increased friction over water resources.

The American public can expect to add earlier and more severe flu seasons to the fallout from climate change, according to a research study published online Jan. 28 in PLOS Currents: Influenza.

A team of scientists led by Sherry Towers, research professor in the Mathematical, Computational and Modeling Sciences Center at Arizona State University, studied waves of influenza and climate patterns in the U.S. from the 1997-1998 season to the present.

Irvine, Calif., Jan. 28, 2013 – Agricultural irrigation in California's Central Valley doubles the amount of water vapor pumped into the atmosphere, ratcheting up rainfall and powerful monsoons across the interior Southwest, according to a new study by UC Irvine scientists.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. &#9135 The heat generated by everyday energy consumption in metropolitan areas is significant enough to influence the character of major atmospheric circulation systems, including the jet stream during winter months, and cause continental-scale surface warming in high latitudes, according to a trio of climate researchers that includes Ming Cai, a professor in Florida State University's Department of Meteorology.