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New type of El Nino could mean more hurricanes make landfall

The 2008 hurricane season was one of the most active on record. In this image, taken on August 28, 2008, three storms can be seen in various stages: Fay, Gustav and Hannah.

Evolution: Crabs go deep to avoid hot water

Researchers from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, have drawn together 200 years' worth of oceanographic knowledge to investigate the distribution of a notorious deep-sea giant – the king crab. ...

Desert rhubarb -- a self-irrigating plant

Researchers from the University of Haifa-Oranim have managed to decipher the unique self-watering mechanism of this plant in the Negev desert, which harvests 16 times more water than other plants in the region. The plant's surface resembles the topographic structure of the surrounding hills.Researchers from the Department of Science Education-Biology at the University of Haifa-Oranim have managed to make out the "self-irrigating" mechanism of the desert rhubarb, which enables it to harvest 16...

Plants put limit on ice ages

When glaciers advanced over much of the Earth's surface during the last ice age, what kept the planet from freezing over entirely? This has been a puzzle to climate scientists...

Loss of coastal seagrass habitat accelerating globally

An international team of scientists warns that accelerating losses of seagrasses across the globe threaten the immediate health and long-term sustainability of coastal ecosystems. The team has compiled and analyzed...

Seasonal hunger devastating and under-recognized

Most of the world's acute hunger and undernutrition occurs not in conflicts and natural disasters but in the annual "hunger season," according to an article published this week in open...

Sulfate lens enhances climate warming properties of atmospheric soot

Particulate pollution thought to be holding climate change in check by reflecting sunlight instead enhances warming when combined with airborne soot, a new study has found.

New research shows a global trend in nature-based tourism

A new study out today found that many nations throughout the world, including the United Kingdom, are seeing an annual increase in visitors to their conservation areas.

Water webs: Connecting spiders, residents in the Southwest

During a dry season in riparian areas, thirsty wolf spiders hunt crickets more aggressively.If you are a cricket and it is a dry season on the San Pedro River in Arizona, on your nighttime ramblings to eat leaves, you are more likely to...

Iowa State researchers contribute climate model to study that finds some winds decreasing

Iowa State University researchers contributed their regional climate modeling expertise to a study that found surface wind speeds are decreasing across the country. That could have implications for the wind power industry, agriculture and city air pollution.Declining wind speeds in parts of the United States could impact more than the wind power industry, say Iowa State University climate researchers.

Cellulose-hydrogen production from corn stalk biomass by anaerobic fermentation

Department of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, China-Research, has shown the enhanced cellulose-hydrogen production from bio-pretreated corn stalk by mixed culture in batch tests and a 5 L bioreactor, respectively. The study...

Pacific Northwest forests could store more carbon, help address greenhouse issues

The forests of the Pacific Northwest hold significant potential to increase carbon storage and help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in coming years, a recent study concludes, if they are managed primarily for that purpose through timber harvest reductions and increased...

Earth's most prominent rainfall feature creeping northward

The band of heavy precipitation indicates the intertropical convergence zone. The new findings are based on sediment cores from lakes and lagoons on Palau, Washington, Christmas and Galapagos islands.The rain band near the equator that determines the supply of freshwater to nearly a billion people throughout the tropics and subtropics has been creeping north for more than 300...

Plants save the earth from an icy doom

Mark Pagani is a researcher at Yale University.Fifty million years ago, the North and South Poles were ice-free and crocodiles roamed the Arctic. Since then, a long-term decrease in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has...

The least sea ice in 800 years

There has never been so little sea ice in the area between Svalbard and Greenland in the last 800 years.New research, which reconstructs the extent of ice in the sea between Greenland and Svalbard from the 13th century to the present indicates that there has never been so little...

Super-size deposits of frozen carbon threat to climate change

The vast amount of carbon stored in the arctic and boreal regions of the world is more than double that previously estimated, according to a study published this week.

Desert dust alters ecology of Colorado alpine meadows

Accelerated snowmelt--precipitated by desert dust blowing into the mountains--changes how alpine plants respond to seasonal climate cues that regulate their life cycles, according to results of a new study reported...

UB geologists to help communicate the dangers of Colombian volcano

During the past decade, residents of Pasto, Colombia, and neighboring villages near Galeras, Colombia's most dangerous volcano, have been threatened with evacuation, but compliance varies. With each new eruption --...

World's largest aerosol sensing network has leafy origins

Twenty years ago, Brent Holben was part of a NASA team studying vegetation from space. In an unlikely career twist, his research morphed into the study of a critical, if...

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New crops needed for new climate

Global food security in a changing climate depends on the nutritional value and yield of staple food crops. Researchers at Monash University in Victoria, Australia have found an increase in...

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In the warming West, climate most significant factor in fanning wildfires' flames

The recent increase in area burned by wildfires in the Western United States is a product not of higher temperatures or longer fire seasons alone, but a complex relationship between...

Climate phenomenon influences England's chances in the Australian leg of the Ashes

The El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon has been shown to have a significant effect on the results of the Ashes cricket series. When the series is held in Australia,...

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