news

« BACK

Environment



Results 41 - 60 of 1731.


Environment - Economics - 11.06.2024
EU climate policy: French manufacturers cut emissions by 43 million tonnes
The carbon emissions of French manufacturers fell by an estimated 15% during the first eight years of the EU Emissions Trading System policy. This is the key finding of a new study by experts at Imperial College Business School, in collaboration with the University of Virginia and University of Mannheim.

Environment - 10.06.2024
Textured tiles help endangered eels overcome human-made river obstacles
A new way of helping a critically endangered species of eel swim upstream during their migration has been tested by Cardiff researchers. The cheap and easy to retrofit method helps the fish overcome human-made obstacles such as culverts, weirs and flumes routinely used in UK waterways to enable river crossings via bridges and to regulate river flow.

Environment - Life Sciences - 06.06.2024
Analysis: A new AI tool to help monitor coral reef health
Analysis: A new AI tool to help monitor coral reef health
PhD candidate Ben Williams (UCL Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research and ZSL's Institute of Zoology) writes with a colleague about why they built SurfPerch, an AI led system to make it faster and easier for marine scientists to answer ecological questions. Coral reefs cover only 0.1% of the ocean's surface - yet they host 25% of all known marine species.

Environment - 05.06.2024
Electrified charcoal 'sponge' can soak up CO2 directly from the air
Electrified charcoal ’sponge’ can soak up CO2 directly from the air
Researchers have developed a low-cost, energy-efficient method for making materials that can capture carbon dioxide directly from the air. The first and most urgent thing we've got to do is reduce carbon emissions worldwide, but greenhouse gas removal is also thought to be necessary to achieve net zero emissions and limit the worst effects of climate change.

Environment - Life Sciences - 03.06.2024
Rainforest wildlife under threat as below-canopy temperatures rise
Rainforest wildlife under threat as below-canopy temperatures rise
Assumptions that tropical forest canopies protect from the effects of climate change are unfounded, say researchers. A severe risk is that species are no longer able to survive within tropical forests as climate change intensifies, further exacerbating the global extinction crisis and degrading rainforest carbon stocks.

History / Archeology - Environment - 03.06.2024
Crucial shift in River Nile's evolution during ancient Egypt discovered
Crucial shift in River Nile’s evolution during ancient Egypt discovered
Researchers have explored how the River Nile evolved over the past 11,500 years and how changes in its geography could have helped shape the fortunes of ancient Egyptian civilisation. Research published in Nature Geoscience reveals a major shift in the Nile around four thousand years ago, after which the floodplain in the Nile Valley around Luxor greatly expanded.

Environment - 31.05.2024
Focus on cities will boost benefits of air pollution action for most vulnerable
Meeting UK air pollution targets by focussing on urban areas will maximise health benefits for the most deprived communities. A study led by Imperial College London researchers shows that reducing typically urban sources of fine-particle air pollution like roads, wood burners, and machinery would also reduce inequalities in how different communities suffer the health impacts.

Life Sciences - Environment - 30.05.2024
Cuckoos evolve to look like their hosts - and form new species in the process
Cuckoos evolve to look like their hosts - and form new species in the process
Two decades of cuckoo research have helped scientists to explain how battles between species can cause new species to arise This exciting new finding could potentially apply to any pairs of species that are in battle with each other..the coevolutionary arms race could cause new species to emerge - and increase biodiversity on our planet Rebecca Kilner The theory of coevolution says that when closely interacting species drive evolutionary changes in each other this can lead to speciation - the evolution of new species.

Environment - Chemistry - 30.05.2024
'biodegradable' teabags don't readily degrade in the environment and can harm earthworms
’biodegradable’ teabags don’t readily degrade in the environment and can harm earthworms
Study says 'biodegradable' teabags don't readily degrade in the environment and can harm earthworms Researchers say labelling should be improved to make clear teabags shouldn't be thrown away in domestic compost heaps. Some teabags manufactured using plastic alternatives do not degrade in soil and have the potential to harm terrestrial species, a new study has shown.

Environment - Health - 29.05.2024
Health risk from global warming predictor of city climate action during COVID-19
Health risk from global warming predictor of city climate action during COVID-19
City officials were more likely to maintain climate action during the pandemic in places with more climate-related health issues affecting residents. Cities around the world were more likely to maintain climate action and enact 'green recovery' long-term plans after the pandemic if local decision-makers were more alert to the health risks of climate change, a new global study has shown.

Earth Sciences - Environment - 28.05.2024
Volcanic ash reveals chaos-causing seaweed's journey
Volcanic ash reveals chaos-causing seaweed’s journey
Scientists have used volcanic ash and ocean models to track the journey of huge mats of seaweed floating across the Atlantic and causing chaos in the Caribbean. They found chemical traces of volcanic ash from the eruption of a volcano on St Vincent, in St Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean, on sargassum seaweed that washed up four months later in Jamaica - 1,700 kilometres away.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 28.05.2024
Global activity of seafloor biodiversity mapped for the first time
Global activity of seafloor biodiversity mapped for the first time
A team of scientists from the USA and UK has used artificial intelligence (AI) to map the activities of seafloor invertebrate animals, such as worms, clams and shrimps, across all the oceans of the world. The research, led by Texas A&M University (USA) with investigators from the University of Southampton (UK) and Yale University (USA), combined large datasets, with machine learning techniques, to reveal the critical factors that support and maintain the health of marine ecosystems.

Environment - Health - 28.05.2024
Food swaps could cut greenhouse gas emissions from groceries by a quarter
Food swaps could cut greenhouse gas emissions from groceries by a quarter
A new study in Australia has shown that shoppers making simple food and drink switches could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from groceries by 26%. Researchers from The George Institute for Global Health and Imperial College London's School of Public Health conducted the most detailed analysis ever on the environmental impacts of a country's food buying behaviour.

Environment - 24.05.2024
Ambitious targets are needed to end ocean plastic pollution by 2100
Research suggests that plastic pollution must be reduced by at least 5% every year to make progress towards UN targets by the end of the century. The study, a collaboration between researchers at Imperial College London and GNS Science, suggests that reducing plastic pollution by 5% per year would stabilize the level of microplastics - plastics less than 5 mm in length - in the surface oceans.

History / Archeology - Environment - 23.05.2024
A rare find in Timorese mud may rewrite the history of human settlement in Australasia
A rare find in Timorese mud may rewrite the history of human settlement in Australasia
In The Conversation, Dr Ceri Shipton (UCL Institute of Archaeology) explores his new research that has found a large wave of migration reached the island of Timor not long after 50,000 years ago. Humans arrived in Australia at least  65,000 years ago , according to archaeological evidence. These pioneers were part of an early wave of people travelling eastwards from Africa, through Eurasia, and ultimately into Australia and New Guinea.

Environment - 22.05.2024
Researchers propose use of electrical blackouts to determine impact of artificial light on wildlife
Researchers propose use of electrical blackouts to determine impact of artificial light on wildlife
New research proposes the use of electrical blackouts, such as those experienced during loadshedding in South Africa, to enhance our understanding of how artificial light in urban areas may be affecting wildlife behaviours. Artificial light at night, known as ALAN among urban ecologists, has become ubiquitous worldwide, with a notable increase in recent years.

Life Sciences - Environment - 17.05.2024
Earth's earliest sea creatures drove evolution by stirring the water
Earth’s earliest sea creatures drove evolution by stirring the water
3D reconstructions suggest that simple marine animals living over 560 million years ago drove the emergence of more complex life by mixing the seawater around them It's exciting to learn that the very first animals from 580 million years ago had a significant impact on their environment, despite not being able to move or swim.

Environment - Life Sciences - 15.05.2024
Most dangerous areas for whale shark-shipping vessel collisions revealed
Most dangerous areas for whale shark-shipping vessel collisions revealed
Researchers have found that heavily used shipping lanes pass through crucial whale shark feeding grounds, posing a threat to this endangered species. Research published in Science of the Total Environment has revealed areas where the sharks are at the highest risk of colliding with large shipping vessels by mapping the locations of whale shark aggregations and overlaying them with information on shipping traffic.

Paleontology - Environment - 15.05.2024
First ’warm-blooded’ dinosaurs may have emerged 180 million years ago
The ability to regulate body temperature, a trait all mammals and birds have today, may have evolved among some dinosaurs early in the Jurassic period about 180 million years ago, suggests a new study led by UCL and University of Vigo researchers. In the early 20 century, dinosaurs were considered slow-moving, "cold-blooded" animals like modern-day reptiles, relying on heat from the sun to regulate their temperature.

Environment - History / Archeology - 14.05.2024
2023 was the hottest summer in two thousand years
Researchers have found that 2023 was the hottest summer in the Northern Hemisphere in the past two thousand years, almost four degrees warmer than the coldest summer during the same period. When you look at the long sweep of history, you can see just how dramatic recent global warming is Ulf Büntgen Although 2023 has been reported as the hottest year on record, the instrumental evidence only reaches back as far as 1850 at best, and most records are limited to certain regions.