news 2021

Using satellite data to 'see in the dark', researchers have shown for the first time that lakes on the Greenland Ice Sheet drain during winter, a finding with implications for the speed at which the world's second-largest ice sheet flows to the ocean.

Many wildlife species are threatened by shrinking habitat. But according to new research published today, the potential range of African elephants could be more than five times larger than its current extent. Because of human pressure over the last two millenia, African elephants have suffered dramatic population declines, and their range has shrunk to just 17 percent of what it could be, say researchers - including members of Oxford University's Department of Zoology - behind the new study in Current Biology .

The permanent rise of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere, which fundamentally changed the subsequent nature of Earth's habitability, occurred much later than thought, according to new research. And the study, from an international team led by the University of Leeds and including researchers from the University of California-Riverside, Harvard University, the University of Southern Denmark and the University of St Andrews, also provides an explanation for some of the most extreme climate episodes to have affected the Earth, when the planet was repeatedly covered with ice.

Giant trees in tropical forests, witnesses to centuries of civilization, may be trapped in a dangerous feedback loop, according to a new report. The biggest trees store half of the carbon in mature tropical forests, but they could be at risk of death as a result of climate change—releasing massive amounts of carbon back into the atmosphere.

A new research project is setting out to investigate how to make an industrial process which helps feed nearly half the world's population more sustainable. The Haber-Bosch process, developed in the early 20th Century, was the first economically-viable large-scale ammonia production process. It works by combining nitrogen and hydrogen under high pressures, with the addition of an iron-based catalyst which helps the process work at a moderate temperature.

Lyme disease has the potential to emerge in a wider range of habitats than previously thought, suggests University of Liverpool and University of Glasgow research. A new study, published in Emerging Infectious Diseases found that open, treeless habitats can support similar densities of infected ticks as woodland in the UK, challenging established knowledge of which habitats present the most disease risk.

Researchers have uncovered evidence suggesting that volcanic carbon emissions were not a major driver in Earth's most recent extinction event. Even though volcanic carbon emissions alone couldn't have triggered the mass extinction, our data highlights their influence on our planet's climate and habitability Sally Gibson Earth has experienced five major extinction events over the last 500 million years, the fifth and most recent responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

New research led by the University of Bristol has revealed that crocodiles once flourished on land and in the oceans as a result of fast evolution. Modern crocodiles are predators living in rivers, lakes and wetlands, grabbing fish, reptiles, birds and mammals with their conspicuous snouts and powerful jaws.

Top UK and Chinese scientists studying air pollution in the megacity of Beijing and how it affects human health have published their. A team of over 150 scientists have spent five years conducting one of the largest air pollution field campaigns in Beijing - generating new insight into air pollution and human health using novel observational and modelling tools.

Eroded seabed rocks are providing an essential source of nutrition for drifting marine organisms at the base of the food chain, according to new research. The findings, led by the University, show that iron – an essential nutrient for microscopic marine algae known as phytoplankton – is being released from sediments on the deep ocean floor.

Wikipedia page views could be used to monitor global awareness of biodiversity, proposes a research team from UCL, ZSL, and the RSPB. Using their new metric, the research team found that awareness of biodiversity is marginally increasing, but the rate of change varies greatly between different groups of animals, as they report in paper included in a special edition of Conversation Biology .

New research from the 's Department of Zoology has used innovative technology to study causes of declines in puffin populations in the northeast Atlantic, and found that a lack of prey near some major breeding colonies is driving puffin chicks to starve, ultimately leading to population declines. Puffin populations, especially in the northeast Atlantic, have been in decline for decades.

Large areas of forests regrowing in the Amazon to help reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, are being limited by climate and human activity. Large areas of forests regrowing in the Amazon to help reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, are being limited by climate and human activity. The forests, which naturally regrow on land previously deforested for agriculture and now abandoned, are developing at different speeds.

Over the course of Earth's history, several mass extinction events have destroyed ecosystems, including one that famously wiped out the dinosaurs. But none were as devastating as "The Great Dying," which took place 252 million years ago during the end of the Permian period. A new study , published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, shows in detail how life recovered in comparison to two smaller extinction events.

Melting glaciers could be triggering a 'feedback process' that causes further climate change, according to new research. An international research team led by the University has for the first time linked glacier-fed mountain rivers with higher rates of plant material decomposition, a major process in the global carbon cycle.

Lightning strikes were just as important as meteorites in creating the perfect conditions for life to emerge on Earth, geologists say. Minerals delivered to Earth in meteorites more than 4 billion years ago have long been advocated as key ingredients for the development of life on our planet. Scientists believed minimal amounts of these minerals were also brought to early Earth through billions of lightning strikes.

PhD candidate Quentin Changeat and Dr Billy Edwards (both UCL Physics & Astronomy) explain how we examine the atmospheres of exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) as well as what the benefits of understanding these distant planets could be. Until the early 2000s, the only known planets were located in our own neighbourhood, the Solar System.

A team led by scientists from Cardiff University has, for the first time, been able to track the development of the largest and least understood habitat on Earth. The ocean's twilight zone extends from 200 to 1000 metres below the surface. In a new study , the team has shown how life there became established and diversified, driven by the cooling of the ocean over the last 15 million years.

Life populating the shadowy ocean flourished thanks to the cooling of the Earth's climate over millions of years, according to a new study involving UCL. The research team tracked the development of the largest and least understood habitat on Earth, home to a wide range of mysterious creatures, including plankton, jellies, krill, squid and fish.

The first test method that can reliably measure the amount of small plastic particles released from textiles during domestic laundering has been developed by scientists. The particles – smaller than 5mm – are known as microplastics and are of particular concern to environmentalists because of their potential for accumulation and causing pollution in oceans.