news from the lab

Environmental Sciences - 15.05
Helping forests gain ground on climate change
UAlberta researchers look into future of climate change to develop forestry maps aimed at keeping trees in their ideal habitat. - University of Alberta researchers have developed guidelines that are being used by the timber industry and government foresters to get a jump on climate change when planting trees.

Earth Sciences - Environmental Sciences - 9.05
Dust in the clouds
Cirrus clouds form around mineral dust and metallic particles, study finds. - At any given time, cirrus clouds - the thin wisps of vapor that trail across the sky - cover nearly one-third of the globe.

Environmental Sciences - 24.04
Speeding the Search for Better Methane Capture
Like the Roman god Janus, methane presents Earth's atmosphere with two situational faces. As the main component of natural gas, methane when burned as a fuel produces less carbon dioxide than the burning of oil or coal, which makes it a plus for global climate change.

Environmental Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 17.04
A quarter of Angelenos breathe noxious freeway pollutants every morning
Although air quality has improved dramatically in Los Angeles in recent decades, a joint study by UCLA and the California Air Resources Board suggests that roughly a quarter of Angelenos are exposed to noxious plumes of freeway fumes almost every morning — far more people than previously believed.

Environmental Sciences - Earth Sciences - 14.04
Recent Antarctic climate, glacier changes at the ‘upper bound’ of normal
n the last few decades, glaciers at the edge of the icy continent of Antarctica have been thinning, and research has shown the rate of thinning has accelerated and contributed significantly to sea level rise.

Earth Sciences - Environmental Sciences - 5.04
A ’green’ Sahara was far less dusty than today
Research points to an abrupt and widespread climate shift in the Sahara 5,000 years ago. - As recently as 5,000 years ago, the Sahara - today a vast desert in northern Africa, spanning more than 3.5 million square miles - was a verdant landscape, with sprawling vegetation and numerous lakes.

Environmental Sciences - 4.04
Living in a material world
Report finds materials manufacturers will likely be unable to meet targets for carbon-emissions reductions by 2050. - A new report by researchers at MIT and elsewhere finds that the global manufacturing sector has made great strides in energy efficiency: The manufacturing of materials such as steel, cement, paper and aluminum has become increasingly streamlined, requiring far less energy than when these processes were first invented.

Life Sciences - Environmental Sciences - 3.04
Autism linked to increased genetic change in regions of genome instability
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Children with autism have increased levels of genetic change in regions of the genome prone to DNA rearrangements, so-called "hotspots," according to a research discovery to be published in the print edition of the journal Human Molecular Genetics.

Earth Sciences - Environmental Sciences - 18.03
How to store CO2 without causing an earthquake
Storing carbon dioxide underground can be done in a way that minimizes and perhaps eliminates related earthquake risk, according to new research by Yale University scientists. - One way of reducing high levels of atmospheric CO2, a major cause of global warming, involves storing it underground by a process called carbon sequestration.

Environmental Sciences - Agronomy/Food Science - 13.03
U of M researchers seek to safeguard Minnesota's oak population by raising awareness of potential invasive species
News Release - MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (03/13/2013) —University of Minnesota researchers are working to protect Minnesota's oak population by alerting private landowners about the next wave of potential invasive species.

Environmental Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 12.03
Fluorescent Light Revealed as Gauge of Coral Health
Reef-building corals create an oasis of life and diversity in a sparse ocean. Because branching Acropora corals such as those pictured here in the Central Pacific are in peril from climate change, the whole ecosystem is in danger of collapse.

Life Sciences - Environmental Sciences - 8.03
Genetic study of house dust mites demonstrates reversible evolution
ANN ARBOR-In evolutionary biology, there is a deeply rooted supposition that you can't go home again: Once an organism has evolved specialized traits, it can't return to the lifestyle of its ancestors.

Environmental Sciences - 28.02
Changes in cloud distribution explain some weather patterns
Regional cloud changes, such as those that result in less rain during monsoons in India and those that indicate a widening of the tropics, may be as important to watch as the overall amount of cloud cover, new University of Washington research indicates.

Environmental Sciences - 26.02
Great Backyard Bird Count goes global, shatters records
From Antarctica to Afghanistan, bird watchers from 101 countries made history in the first global Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), Feb. 15-18. - In the largest worldwide bird count ever, bird-watchers set new records, counting more than 25 million birds on 116,000 checklists in four days - and recording 3,138 species, nearly one-third of the world's total bird species.

Environmental Sciences - Life Sciences - 25.02
Large herbivores may buffer effect of climate change on plant communities
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Whether existing ecological communities can persist intact as temperatures rise may depend as much on biological interactions that shape communities themselves as on the effects of climate change, according to a Penn State researcher.