news 2021

Global targets to improve the welfare of people across the planet will have mixed impacts on the world's forests, according to new research. The United Nations’ 17 key areas for global development – known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – range from tackling poverty, hunger and sanitation to promoting clean energy, economic growth and reducing inequality.

Joint project with Birmingham's Tyseley Energy Park and the University of Birmingham. Demonstrates the potential of cost-effective decarbonisation through more effective utilisation and coordination of current and planned generation assets. A more coordinated net zero system could supply up to 50,000 users with CO2-neutral electricity or supply Birmingham airport with green electricity, heat and cooling.

Spectacular fossil plants preserved within a volcanic ash fall in China have shed light on an evolutionary race 300 million years ago, which was eventually won by the seed-bearing plants that dominate so much of the Earth today. New research into fossils found at the 'Pompeii of prehistoric plants', in Wuda, Inner Mongolia, reveals that the plants, called Noeggerathiales, were highly-evolved members of the lineage from which came seed plants.

Negative perceptions of fracking in the UK have had an impact on the public's opinion of new technologies which are vital to tackling climate change, a study by Cardiff University has suggested. In 2019 the UK government suspended the technique of hydraulic fracturing, which is used to extract oil and gas, over safety concerns.

A wildlife series narrated by Sir David Attenborough is beaming research by several University of Bristol academics into living rooms around the world. Attenborough's Life in Colour is airing on the BBC and was produced by Bristol-based TV production company Humble Bee Films. Over the series, Sir David unearths how colour, and how creatures perceive that colour, dictates the undulations of the animal kingdom.

A team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Cardiff University say they have found the strongest evidence yet of a "migration gene? in birds. The team identified a single gene associated with migration in peregrine falcons by tracking them via satellite technology and combining this with genome sequencing.

A new study using leading edge technology has shed surprising light on the ancient habitat where some of the first dinosaurs roamed in the UK around 200 million years ago. The research, led by the University of Bristol, examined hundreds of pieces of old and new data including historic literature vividly describing the landscape as a "landscape of limestone islands like the Florida Everglades?

Researchers have analysed decades' worth of data on the impact of repeated fires on ecosystems across the world. Their results, published today in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution , show that repeated fires are driving long-term changes to tree communities and reducing their population sizes.

A new study involving researchers from UCL has found consistent evidence of a decline in ocean currents, with the Gulf Stream System, also known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), at its weakest in over 1,000 years. Published today in Nature Geoscience, the team found that the Gulf Stream's slowdown in the 20th century is unprecedented and is likely linked to human-induced climate change.

Glaciers in West Antarctica are moving more quickly from land into the ocean, contributing to rising global sea levels. A 25-year record of satellite observations has been used to show widespread increases in ice speed across the Getz sector for the first time, with some ice accelerating into the ocean by nearly 50%.

A blanket ban on the trade of wild meat could create risks for nature and for human health, according to a new study. Governments and the World Health Organization (WHO) are under pressure from wildlife protection and animal welfare campaigners to ban hunting of all wild animals for food, and end trade in wildlife.

Home gardens are by far the biggest source of food for pollinating insects, including bees and wasps, in cities and towns, according to new research. The study, led by the University of Bristol and published today in the Journal of Ecology , measured for the first time how much nectar is produced in urban areas and discovered residential gardens accounted for the vast majority - some 85 per cent on average.

Reserves of groundwater in much of the populated parts of Africa are being replenished at rates that could help to protect communities against the damaging effects of climate change, finds a new study co-authored by UCL. Published in the journal Environmental Research Letters , the study has revealed that the long-term groundwater recharge (the rate at which groundwater is replenished) in Africa is approximately 15,000 cubic km per decade - enough to sustain widespread groundwater pumping for drinking water and irrigatation for farming.

What's in a word? 'Smart', 'eco' or 'future' cities? Around the world, numerous city initiatives have sprung up in recent years to signal their engagement with sustainable development and global climate change action.

Fatal attraction: Research finds common pipistrelle bats are attracted to wind turbines One of the most abundant bats in Europe may be attracted to wind turbines, according to a new study from the University of Sussex and the University of Exeter. The activity of common pipistrelle bats was monitored at 23 British wind farms and similar "control" locations close by without turbines.

The emissions of a banned ozone-depleting gas have dropped rapidly following a previously unexpected spike. A team of international researchers analysed global air measurements of the ozone-depleting chemical chlorofluorocarbon CFC-11. The analysis involved the use of detailed atmospheric models to remove the effects of natural meteorological variations.

Global emissions of a potent substance notorious for depleting the Earth's ozone layer - the protective barrier which absorbs the Sun's harmful UV rays - have fallen rapidly and are now back on the decline, according to new research. Two international studies show emissions of CFC-11, one of the many chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) chemicals once widely used in refrigerators and insulating foams, are back on the decline less than two years after the exposure of their shock resurgence in the wake of suspected rogue production.

A team of researchers, led by chemists from the University of Bristol, has received significant funding from the UKRI to revolutionise the fabrication and application of photovoltaic devices, used to produce solar energy. Imagine a city in the near future where buildings have solar panels integrated into windows, cladding and rooftops - allowing urban areas to generate their own clean and renewable energy.

An estimated 1 in 5 deaths (18 to 21.5%) every year can be attributed to fossil fuel pollution, a figure much higher than previously thought, according to research co-authored by UCL. The study shows that more than 8 million people around the globe die each year as a result of breathing in air containing particles from burning fuels like coal, petrol and diesel, which aggravate respiratory conditions like asthma and can lead to lung cancer, coronary heart disease, strokes and early death.

Scientists studying forest dwelling butterflies in Central and South America have discovered that changes in the way animals perceive and process information from their environment can support the emergence of new species. The study led by the University of Bristol, and published today [9 February] in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), has implications for how new species might evolve and the underappreciated role of changes in the brain.