Category: Sustainability

In an extraordinary discovery decades in the making, a new species of crustacean boasting panda-like black-and-white coloring has been confirmed on the Japanese coast. The species, named Melita panda, was initially found in the 1990s but has now been officially classified as new to science. Credit: Ko Tomikawa/Hiroshima University Melita panda is a member of…

Climate change is intensifying the frequency and severity of storms, leading to rising sea levels and more severe coastal erosion. In the United States, coastal storms caused approximately $165 billion in damages in 2022 alone. However, new research from MIT suggests a potential solution that harnesses the power of nature. A recent study, published in…

In a significant breakthrough that could dramatically enhance our ability to combat climate change, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have unveiled a revolutionary material capable of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from ambient air. This innovative material, known as a covalent organic framework (COF), could help meet the ambitious global targets for reducing…

Facing an increasingly unpredictable climate, a team of researchers led by Nagoya University’s Institute of Transformative Biomolecules (WPI-ITbM) have identified a chemical compound, named Stomidazolone, that effectively reduces stomatal density in plants. Their findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, present a potent solution to help crops conserve water during droughts. Stomata are tiny pores…

A team of researchers at the University of Córdoba has successfully demonstrated that massive biodiversity databases — comprising citizen-recorded observations of flora — can significantly enhance the accuracy of joint species distribution models, even when individual observations are used. This breakthrough in ecological modeling has major implications for predicting future changes in ecosystems under the…

In a new study published in the journal of Hazardous Materials, researchers from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have discovered that combining woodchip bioreactors with a specialized form of biochar can significantly reduce both nutrient pollutants and common pharmaceuticals like ibuprofen in wastewater. “Even at low concentrations, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) can degrade water…

The full moon has often been mythologized as a catalyst for strange behavior, but new research suggests such lunar influences may have a basis in reality — at least among tropical mammals. A groundbreaking study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals that half of the mammal species in tropical forests adjust…

Georgia’s forestry industry, a colossal contributor to the state’s economy generating $40 billion annually and providing 140,000 jobs, is renowned for its timber, fiber, paper pulp and other wood-derived products, which are exported worldwide. At the heart of advancements in this industry stands Ulrika Egertsdotter, a principal research scientist at Georgia Tech’s Renewable Bioproducts Institute.…