More research needed to make good on biofuel promise, experts say

Tweet

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - While cellulosic biofuels derived from grasses, crop residues and inedible plant parts have real potential to be more efficient and environmentally friendly than grain-based biofuels like corn ethanol, more research and science-based policies are needed to reap these benefits, says an international group of experts.

Discovery of a type of aerosols from Sahara which will be useful to study climate change

Tweet

and Spanish.

Scientists of the Soil Science and Geopharmacy Research Group of the University of Granada (Spain), directed by Rafael Delgado, have discivered and characterized a new type of atmospheric aerosols named 'iberulites', which could be useful for the study of relevant atmospheric reactions from Earth.

Arctic sea ice annual freeze-up underway

Tweet

After reaching the second-lowest extent ever recorded last month, sea ice in the Arctic has begun to refreeze in the face of autumn temperatures, closing both the Northern Sea Route and the direct route through the Northwest Passage.

NASA study finds rising Arctic storm activity sways sea ice, climate

Tweet

A new NASA study shows that the rising frequency and intensity of arctic storms over the last half century, attributed to progressively warmer waters, directly provoked acceleration of the rate of arctic sea ice drift, long considered by scientists as a bellwether of climate change.

Lichens function as indicators of nitrogen pollution in forests

Tweet

Scientists have found lichens can give insight into nitrogen air pollution effects on Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino mountain ecosystems, and protecting them provides safeguards for less sensitive species.

Brookhaven scientists take off for southeastern Pacific climate study

Tweet

Gas from the past gives scientists new insights into climate and the oceans

Tweet

In recent years, public discussion of climate change has included concerns that increased levels of carbon dioxide will contribute to global warming, which in turn may change the circulation in the earth's oceans, with potentially disastrous consequences.

The geology of the Civil War

Tweet

Alexandria, VA – Historians have spent decades analyzing the military actions of the Civil War. Now geologists are having their say.

Geologists are investigating how geological forces millions of years ago sculpted the terrain of Civil War battlefields — bringing a new perspective to the war's events. Read November's EARTH magazine and learn how igneous rock foiled the Confederates at Gettysburg, how powdery glacial sediments sealed Vicksburg's fate and why limestone was the soldiers' real enemy at Antietam.

Shift in bald eagle diet linked to sea otter decline

Tweet

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A newly published study has found that the decline of sea otters along Alaska's Aleutian Islands has forced a change in the diet of a terrestrial predator – the bald eagle. The study demonstrates the extraordinary complexity of marine ecosystems and how far-ranging the impacts can be when there is a population shift in a keystone species like the sea otter.

The research was published in the October issue of Ecology, the journal of the Ecological Society of America.

Decline in Alaskan sea otters affects bald eagles' diet

Tweet

Sea otters are known as a keystone species, filling such an important niche in ocean communities that without them, entire ecosystems can collapse. Scientists are finding, however, that sea otters can have even farther-reaching effects that extend to terrestrial communities and alter the behavior of another top predator: the bald eagle.