news 2018

Nature is on the move as plants and animals react to the threat of extinction from climate change by changing their location or behaviour - a critical review reveals. Scientists at the University of Birmingham are working with archives of living fossils to help understand how current species will react to an ever-warming planet.

The database brings together plans from around the world, enabling researchers to improve future plans and save species from extinction. The number of protected areas for conservation is rising rapidly, and this trend is set to continue as international policy targets are set in the face of a 'biodiversity crisis': the rapid loss of species and degradation of ecosystems.

A new study by scientists at the University of Bristol has shown that ancient global warming was associated with intense rainfall events that had a profound impact on the land and coastal seas. The Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which occurred about 56 Million years ago, is of great interest to climate scientists because it represents a relatively rapid global warming event, with some similarities to the human-induced warming of today.

Leading academics have for the first time, measured Great Britain's hourly local demand for natural gas, providing insights into the gas consumption that helps keep the country warm 1 . Research published today by the UK Energy Research Centre 2 sheds new light on the scale and variability of local gas demand, highlighting the particular challenge of providing energy for heating and hot water throughout the winter.

The quest to find new ways to harness solar power has taken a step forward after researchers successfully split water into hydrogen and oxygen by altering the photosynthetic machinery in plants. This could be a great platform for developing solar technologies. Katarzyna Sokó? Photosynthesis is the process plants use to convert sunlight into energy.

Dramatic changes in the Earth's vegetation at the end of the last ice age could be a sign of future climate driven changes if greenhouse gas emissions are not cut. New research by an international team of scientists, including researchers at Durham University's Department of Biosciences , found that the Earth's vegetation underwent major changes as the last ice age came to an end 14,000 years ago and the planet warmed.

Even low doses of toxic chemicals in the environment pose a significant risk to cardiovascular health, according to a report in today's edition of The BMJ , led by researchers at the University of Cambridge. The researchers have also challenged the omission of environmental risk factors such as toxic metal contaminants in water and foods from the recent World Health Organization report on non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

If governments don't act decisively by 2035 to fight climate change, humanity could cross a point of no return after which limiting global warming below 2°C in 2100 will be unlikely, according to a new study by scientists in the UK and the Netherlands. The research also shows the deadline to limit warming to 1.5°C has already passed, unless radical climate action is taken.

Turning up the thermostat may help manage hypertension, finds a new UCL study into the link between indoor temperatures and high blood pressure. Comparing blood pressure readings of people in their own homes with temperature readings, the researchers found that lower indoor temperatures were associated with higher blood pressure, according to the new study in the Journal of Hypertension .

Researchers have found that seawater can replace freshwater to produce the sustainable fuel Bioethanol, reducing the need to drain precious resources. The study - ' The establishment of a marine focused biorefinery for bioethanol production using seawater and a novel marine yeast strain ' - has been published in Scientific Reports and was carried out by researchers at the University of Nottingham.

20 August 2018 Scientists from the University of Bristol have uncovered the age-old mystery of why marimo algae balls sink at night and float during the day. The balls are a rare form of algae found naturally in lakes in the northern hemisphere, particularly Japan and Iceland. In Japan they have such important cultural significance, they are a protected species.

Coral bleaching across Australia's Great Barrier Reef has been occurring since the late 18 th century, new research shows. Coral bleaching Using cores taken from long-lived corals, scientists show that bleaching events have steadily affected more and more corals, and are happening more frequently than in the past, adding to existing concerns about the future of coral reefs.

Wasps might not be the nation's favourite insects but are some of the most important so UCL and University of Gloucestershire scientists are again asking for the public's help to find out more about these misunderstood creatures. "Wasps are predators, pest controllers and pollinators - they are absolutely vital for a healthy ecosystem and they deserve our respect.

13 August 2018 Research led by the University of Bristol has uncovered evidence that early farmers were adapting to climate change 8,200 years ago. The study, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) , centred on the Neolithic and Chalcolithic city settlement of Çatalhöyük in southern Anatolia, Turkey which existed from approximately 7500 BC to 5700 BC.

The location of road accidents is not random and they tend to be highly concentrated in urban areas, according to a new UCL study. The study, published in the open-access journal Plos One , found that nearly 50% of the serious and fatal accidents in London take place in 5% of road junctions. PhD candidate Rafael Prieto Curiel, lead researcher (UCL Mathematics), said: "Despite being a rare event, road accidents are among the top ten causes of death worldwide.

Vaccinating livestock against foot-and-mouth disease could help to reduce poverty in eastern Africa, according to new research. The study found that a vaccination programme targeting the circulating strains of foot-and-mouth disease in livestock, could help to alleviate poverty in eastern Africa. The research, led by the University's Boyd Orr Centre for Population and Ecosystem Health, looked at the causes and effects of foot-and-mouth disease in Tanzania, surveying farming households in the area and examining how the disease passed to livestock.

The severity of drought conditions during the demise of the Maya civilisation about one thousand years ago has been quantified, representing another piece of evidence that could be used to solve the longstanding mystery of what caused the downfall of one of the ancient world's great civilisations. The role of climate change in the collapse of Classic Maya civilisation is somewhat controversial, partly because previous records are limited to qualitative reconstructions.

An international team of scientists has shown how much sea level would rise if Larsen C and George VI, two Antarctic ice shelves at risk of collapse, were to break up. While Larsen C has received much attention due to the break-away of a trillion-tonne iceberg from it last summer, its collapse would contribute only a few millimetres to sea-level rise.

Warming streams and rivers could be disproportionately contributing to the amount of planet-warming greenhouse gases, according to a new study. Many such watercourses with high levels of fine sediment and organic materials building up in their streambeds could be increasing greenhouse gas emissions from rivers, as well as increasing the risk of communicable disease and putting wildlife at risk.

A new study led by scientists at the University of Bristol has warned that unless we mitigate current levels of carbon dioxide emissions, Western Europe and New Zealand could revert to the hot tropical climate of the early Paleogene period - 56-48 million years ago. As seen from the ongoing heat wave, the knock-on effects of such extreme warmth include arid land and fires as well as impacts on health and infrastructure.