news 2012

They may have looked more like a green carpet than a forest but the first land plants really did change the world. New research led by scientists from Oxford University and Exeter University has shown that the invasion of the land by plants in the Ordovician Period (488-443 million years ago) cooled the climate and triggered a series of ice ages.

Research has taken us a step closer to breeding hardier crops that can better adapt to different environmental conditions and fight off attack from parasites. In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), the researchers have shown that they can alter root growth in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, or thale cress, by controlling an important regulatory protein.

A new study shows that countries with high incomes and high carbon emissions do not achieve higher life expectancies than those with moderate incomes and lower carbon emissions. This finding challenges the assumption that human wellbeing requires growth in both economic activity and carbon emissions.

Scientists have shown that a new molecule in the earth's atmosphere has the potential to play a significant role in off-setting global warming by cooling the planet. In a breakthrough paper published in Science, researchers from the University of Manchester , the University of Bristol and Sandia National Laboratories report the potentially revolutionary effects of Criegee biradicals.

A new study by an international team of researchers, including scientists from King's, shows that implementing 14 key air pollution control measures could slow the pace of global warming, save millions of lives and boost agricultural production. The research identifies 14 measures targeting methane and black carbon emissions that could slow global mean warming by approximately 0.5ºC by 2050.

Scientists have shown that a new molecule in the earth's atmosphere has the potential to play a significant role in off-setting global warming by cooling the planet. In a breakthrough paper published in Science , researchers from The University of Manchester , The University of Bristol and Sandia National Laboratories report the potentially revolutionary effects of Criegee biradicals.

Urban Biodiversity and the feel-good factor Urban Biodiversity and the feel-good factor Visitors to urban green spaces in Sheffield feel better in areas they perceive to have greater biodiversity. A recent study, carried out as part of the University of Sheffield´s Urban River Corridors and Sustainable Living Agenda (URSULA) project, examines how people´s feelings of well-being are related to both the numbers of species they think are present at a site, and to the actual number present.

Research shows that a new ice age could well have been upon us in the next millennium were it not for increases in CO2 due to humans, despite the advantageous trend in solar radiation of our current age. Our work suggests that natural insolation will not be cancelling the impacts of man-made global warming." —Dr Luke Skinner In terms of the ebb and flow of the Earth's climate over the course of its history, the next ice age is starting to look overdue.