Earth

New research on West Antarctic seabed life reveals that the remote region of the South Orkney Islands is a carbon sink hotspot. The findings suggest that this recently designated (and world's first) entirely high seas marine protected area may be a powerful natural ally in combating rising CO2 as sea ice melts.

First Nations fisheries' catch could decline by nearly 50 per cent by 2050, according to a new study examining the threat of climate change to the food and economic security of indigenous communities along coastal British Columbia, Canada.

Humanity has become a geological force that is able to suppress the beginning of the next ice age, a study now published in the renowned scientific journal Nature shows. Cracking the code of glacial inception, scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research found the relation of insolation and CO2 concentration in the atmosphere to be the key criterion to explain the last eight glacial cycles in Earth history.

A new method for labeling molecules with radioactive elements could let chemists more easily track how drugs under development are metabolized in the body.

Tropical storm Pali intensified late on Jan. 11 to become the earliest hurricane ever recorded in the Central Pacific Ocean. Warm ocean waters from El Nino supplied the extra energy needed for Pali to develop and prosper so early in the year. NASA's GPM core observatory got an inside look at the record-breaking hurricane while the Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible-light look at the storm from above.

NOAA's GOES-West satellite and NASA's RapidScat instrument provided a look at Tropical Cyclone Ula after it became extra-tropical north of New Zealand.

On Jan. 12, RapidScat, instrument that flies aboard the International Space Station, saw Extra-tropical Storm Ula's strongest winds (red) east to south of the center at 32 meters per second (71.5 mph/ 115.2 kph). Maximum sustained winds are not always equally distributed in a tropical cyclone and the RapidScat instrument helps forecasters find the strongest quadrants of a storm.

Developing novel materials from the atoms up goes faster when some of the trial and error is eliminated. A new Rice University and Montreal Polytechnic study aims to do that for graphene and boron nitride hybrids.

Rice materials scientist Rouzbeh Shahsavari and Farzaneh Shayeganfar, a postdoctoral researcher at Montreal Polytechnic, designed computer simulations that combine graphene, the atom-thick form of carbon, with either carbon or boron nitride nanotubes.

The study indicates that under the frigid weight of Barents Sea Ice sheet, which covered northern Eurasia some 22 000 years ago, significant amounts of methane may have been stored as hydrates in the ground. As the ice sheet retreated, the methane rich hydrates melted, releasing the climate gas into the ocean and atmosphere for millennia.

This finding was published last week in Nature Communications in the paper "Ice-sheet-driven methane storage and release in the Arctic".

Engine is the heart of every car, where the energy of chemical reaction of petroleum combustion is transformed to mechanical energy, which makes the car move. Unfortunately, none of engines are environmentally friendly. Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and other dangerous compounds are contained in the exhaustive gas mixture. In order to protect the environment from these toxic gases, every modern car is equipped with autocatalyst, which converts exhaustive gases to non-toxic water, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

As decision makers from around the world congregated in Paris to prepare a global climate agreement at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), many discussions focused on how to reduce greenhouse gases, including ozone.

MADISON, Wis. -- The Greenland Ice Sheet is the second largest ice sheet in the world and it's melting rapidly, likely driving almost a third of global sea level rise.

A new study shows clouds are playing a larger role in that process than scientists previously believed.

MIAMI - A new study found that a major ocean current in the Gulf of Mexico plays an important role in sustaining Florida red tide blooms. The University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science research team suggest that the position of the Loop Current can serve as an indicator of whether the algal bloom will be sustained, and provide warning of possible hazardous red tide conditions in coastal areas.

NASA and NOAA satellites continue to monitor the North Atlantic Ocean's non-tropical low pressure system for hints of development into a subtropical storm. NASA's Aqua satellite provided cloud top temperatures that show where strongest storms are within the larger system, and the storm appeared more consolidated on NOAA's GOES-East satellite imagery.

NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted the development of the extra-tropical low pressure area on Sunday, January 10 at 1:50 p.m. EST.

WASHINGTON, DC -- New data for frequent large tsunamis at a remote island near Dutch Harbor, Alaska provides geological evidence to aid tsunami hazard preparedness efforts around the Pacific Rim. Recent fieldwork in Alaska's Aleutian Islands suggests that a presently "creeping" section of the Aleutian Subduction Zone fault could potentially generate an earthquake great enough to send a large tsunami across the Pacific to Hawaii.

Honey is great. It's perfect for drizzling over your toast or stirring into your tea, it's also the special ingredient in your favorite lip balm. What most people don't know is that during the trip from the flower in the field to the jar on your table, honey spends an awful lot of time in a bee's gut. This week, Reactions goes into the beehive and explores how honey is made: https://youtu.be/Hq0SBwkLvUo.