news 2017

New research suggests that geographical mismatches between conservation needs and expertise may hinder global conservation goals. Experts from the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus and other institutions have examined geographical patterns within the leadership of the conservation science publishing system focusing on the affiliation of journal editors, who serve as gatekeepers and leaders in the scientific process.

A new study, led by the University of Bristol, has shed new light on the origin, timing and habitat in which the chloroplast first evolved. The Earth's biosphere is fuelled by photosynthesis. During this fundamental process algae and plants capture sunlight and transform carbon dioxide into carbohydrates, splitting water and releasing oxygen.

New research using DNA from the fish bone remains of Viking-era meals reveals that north Norwegians have been transporting - and possibly trading - Arctic cod into mainland Europe for a millennium. Our findings suggest that distant requirements for this Arctic protein had already begun to influence the economy and ecology of Europe in the Viking age James Barrett Norway is famed for its cod.

In the first study of its kind, an international team of scientists - including the University of Bristol - has concluded, on a global scale, that the economic and long-term benefits of building dikes to reduce flood damage far outweigh their initial cost. They found that in many parts of the world, it is even possible to reduce the economic damage from river floods in the future to below today's levels, even when climate change, growing populations, and urbanisation are taken into account.

Urban food demand in the Amazon could be hitting wildlife up to 1,000 km away from the city, according to new research. Rapid urbanization in the Brazilian Amazon means over 18 million people are now living in rainforest towns and cities but the impact of this demographic change on wildlife harvested for food, is largely unknown.

Pangolins at 'huge risk' as study reveals dramatic increases in hunting across Central Africa The hunting of pangolins, the world's most illegally traded mammal, has increased by 150 percent in Central African forests from 1970s to 2014, according to a new study led by the University of Sussex. The first-ever study of its kind , published in Conservation Letters , shows the true scale of local pangolin exploitation across the continent.

Researchers have demonstrated how a non-toxic alternative to lead could form the basis of next-generation solar cells. We're just scratching the surface of what these compounds can do. Robert Hoye The team of researchers, from the University of Cambridge and the United States, have used theoretical and experimental methods to show how bismuth - the so-called 'green element' which sits next to lead on the periodic table, could be used in low-cost solar cells.

Research by an international team, led by the University of Bristol, has shed new light on the fate of the ancient people of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). It had been proposed that vast forests of giant palm trees were cut down by the people of Rapa Nui leaving them among other things without canoes. With no canoes, they could no longer fish so they ate chickens, rats and agricultural crops.

Many animal species suffer reduced reproductive success in urban habitats, despite wide-spread supplementation of breeding and feeding opportunities. In some years, the breeding success of city birds is devastatingly low. Biologists have now shown conclusively that in urban blue tits, reduced breeding success is linked to poor nestling diet and in particular to scarcity of caterpillars, their preferred nestling food.

A new study has found a previously undetected potential health risk from the high concentration of small particles found in a boomerang-like return of a volcanic plume. A team of scientists from the Universities of Birmingham, Leeds, Oxford, Cambridge, King's College London, Met Office, Environment Agency of Iceland, and Icelandic Meteorological Office worked in collaboration in the study of the Icelandic Holuhraun lava field eruption.

Amazonians living in remote cities are more vulnerable to flooding and droughts than more accessible centres, researchers at Lancaster University have discovered. Roadless cities have been found to be more vulnerable to the effects of flooding, because they tend to be less-developed and have inadequate sanitation, exposing inhabitants to environmental pollution and contaminated water.

Understanding modern biodiversity and extinction threats is important. It is commonly assumed that being large contributes to vulnerability during extinction crises. However, researchers from the University of Bristol and the Chengdu Center of the China Geological Survey, have found that size played no role in the extinction of fish during the largest mass extinction of all time.

An international group of researchers has dated a large volcanic eruption in Iceland to within a few months. The eruption, which is the oldest volcanic eruption to be precisely dated at high northern latitudes, occurred shortly before the first permanent human settlements were established, when parts of the now mostly treeless island were still covered with forest.

A team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol, has discovered that a marked decrease in summer cloud cover during the last 20 years has significantly accelerated melt from the Greenland ice sheet. The new findings show that less cloud cover and more summer sunshine allows increased solar radiation to reach the surface providing more energy for melting.

A new study by scientists at the University of Birmingham has revealed a group of cells that function as a 'brain' for plant embryos capable of assessing environmental conditions and dictating when seeds will germinate. A plant's decision about when to germinate is one of the most important it will make during its life.

Scientists believe they have discovered the reason behind mysterious changes to the climate that saw temperatures fluctuate by up to 15°C within just a few decades during the ice age periods. In a new study published today, the researchers show that rising levels of CO2 could have reached a tipping point during these glacial periods, triggering a series of chain events that caused temperatures to rise abruptly.

High-strength, lightweight steels can finally be processed on an industrial scale, thanks to a breakthrough in controlling brittle stages - new research from WMG, University of Warwick New processing route discovered - allows low density steel-based alloys to be produced with maximum strength, whilst remaining durable and flexible - largely impossible until now In certain steels, brittle phases occur during production - kappa-carbide (k-carbide)

Expanding access to primary healthcare has helped to reduce health inequalities between racial groups in Brazil. Researchers from Imperial College London and Fiocruz in Brazil have highlighted the importance of expanding universal health coverage to reduce "avoidable" deaths among Brazil's black and mixed race populations.

A new study has shown that air pollution levels across Europe have been higher than previously thought for the last 2000 years, with the exception of a four-year period during a catastrophic pandemic. The findings in this latest study will have significant implications for current public health and environmental policy which have so far deemed pre-industrial lead pollution levels to be 'natural' and so presumably 'safe'.

New study reveals the importance of African groundwater in kick-starting the evolutionary history of humans An international team led by a researcher at Cardiff University believe that the movement of our ancestors across East Africa was shaped by the locations of groundwater springs. In a new study, the team argue that the springs acted as pit stops to allow early humans to survive as they moved across the African landscape.