News 2019

Scientists have revealed how certain wild plants with naturally doubled 'supergenomes' can stay ahead of the game when it comes to adapting to climate volatility and hostile environments. This world-first study could have significant implications for plant and crop sustainability in the face of climate change.

Researchers from the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, have discovered a new biochemical pathway in plants which they have named CHLORAD. By manipulating the CHLORAD pathway, scientists can modify how plants respond to their environment. For example, the plant's ability to tolerate stresses such as high salinity can be improved.

They're neither white and gold or black and blue. But in an optical puzzle akin to The Dress, colourful snails are causing scientists at the University of Nottingham to turn to technology to definitively decide whether some snails' shells are pink or brown. The beautifully-hued Cepaea nemoralis - commonly known as grove snails - are found all over Europe in a range of colours, from yellow to pink to brown, with some also having 'humbug' style banding patterns.

Understanding the global carbon cycle provides scientists with vital clues about the planet's habitability. It's the reason why the Earth has a clement stable climate and a low carbon dioxide atmosphere compared to that of Venus, for instance, which is in a runaway greenhouse state with high surface temperatures and a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere.

A new Centre at the University of Cambridge will develop AI techniques to help address some of the biggest threats facing the planet. These datasets represent a transformation in the way we can study and understand the Earth and environment, as we assess and find solutions to environmental risk Simon Redfern Funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Centre for Doctoral Training in Application of Artificial Intelligence to the study of Environmental Risks (AI4ER) is one of 16 new Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) announced today.

Growing meat in the laboratory may do more damage to the climate in the long run than meat from cattle, according to new research. In a first-of-its-kind study from the LEAP (Livestock, Environment and People) programme at the Oxford Martin School, the climate-change impact of several production methods for lab-grown and farmed beef was assessed accounting for the differing greenhouse gases produced.

More than half of the carbon sink in the world's forests is in areas where the trees are relatively young - under 140 years old - rather than in tropical rainforests, research at the University of Birmingham shows. These trees have typically 'regrown' on land previously used for agriculture, or cleared by fire or harvest and it is their young age that is one of the main drivers of this carbon uptake.

Scientists from across five countries, including those from University of Glasgow, will collaborate on ambitious research to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between humans and their environment in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The University of Glasgow project "River basins as 'living laboratories' for achieving sustainable development goals across national and sub-national scales" has been funded through the new Natural Environment Research Council-TaSE (Towards a Sustainable Earth) research programme.

The filling and draining of meltwater lakes has been found to cause a floating Antarctic ice shelf to flex, potentially threatening its stability. Filling and draining of lakes causes the ice shelf to flex, and if the stresses are large enough, fractures might also develop Alison Banwell A team of British and American researchers, co-led by the University of Cambridge, has measured how much the McMurdo ice shelf in Antarctica flexes in response to the filling and draining of meltwater lakes on its surface.

It is a thin strip of land whose creation kick-started one of the most significant geological events in the past 60 million years. Yet for scientists the exact process by which the Isthmus of Panama came into being still remains largely contentious. In a new study published today in the journal Scientific Reports , scientists from Cardiff University have proposed that the Isthmus was born not solely from tectonic process, but could have also largely benefited from the growth of volcanoes.

New research reveals that biodiversity 'hotspots' in the tropics produced new species at faster rates over the last 25 million years, but those in temperate regions are instead full of migrant species that likely sought refuge from shifting and cooling climates. Many of these hotspot regions have species found nowhere else on Earth, yet face devastating levels of habitat loss Andrew Tanentzap Some corners of the world teem with an extraordinary variety of life.

Remote recording devices have been used for the first time to track the reintroduction of a rare species back into its native habitat. The New Zealand hihi bird is classed as locally extinct across much of its natural habitat, but conservation efforts have reintroduced populations of the bird back into these areas.

The observed population crash in a colony of sooty terns, tropical seabirds in one of the UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs), is partly due to poor diet, research led by the University of Birmingham has found. The findings provide fresh evidence of the fragility of marine ecosystems and lend weight to the scientific case for creating the Ascension Island Ocean Sanctuary (AIOS), set to be one of the largest fully protected reserves in the Atlantic Ocean.

An analysis of satellite data has revealed global patterns of extreme rainfall, which could lead to better forecasts and more accurate climate models. Extreme rainfall - defined as the top five percent of rainy days - often forms a pattern at the local level, for example tracking across Europe. But new research reveals that there are also larger-scale global patterns to extreme rainfall events.

Over 60s residents of an East Yorkshire town are being offered the chance to play an important role in the future development of personalised treatments for age-related eye disease. The Bridlington Eye Assessment Project (BEAP), led by The University of Nottingham, is appealing for people to take part in research that aims to more accurately predict how many patients are likely to be affected by age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and those who are at a greater risk due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Using natural gas fuel with other methods could help road freight and shipping industries meet targets, says new Imperial College London white paper. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) - the United Nations' organisation for shipping - seeks to at least halve greenhouse gas emissions from ships by 2050 compared to 2008 levels.

As parents of identical twins will tell you, they are never actually identical, even though they have the same genes. This is also true in the plant world. Now, new research by the University of Cambridge is helping to explain why 'twin' plants, with identical genes, grown in identical environments continue to display unique characteristics all of their own.

Future generations could be faced with an environmental 'time bomb' if climate change is to have a significant effect on the world's essential groundwater reserves. This is according to a researcher from Cardiff University and a team of international collaborators who have for the first time provided a global insight in to what will happen should our groundwater systems start to see changes in their replenishment.

University of Birmingham experts have worked with one of China's biggest railway rolling stock companies to develop the world's first shipping container using materials that store and release cold energy. Using phase change material (PCM), Birmingham scientists and their counterparts at CRRC Shijiazhuang have developed a 'refrigerated' truck-to-train container that is easier and more efficient to operate than conventional equipment.

A city's ability to safeguard the public in the event of a flood could be greatly improved by using scientific practices for emergency plans and involving decision-makers in the process. This is the key finding from a new study that is the first to look at the impact of flood preparedness from multiple perspectives, including pedestrian safety, accessibility to hospitals and fire stations, and the hazards posed by travel routes and parked vehicles.