By Shawn Kreloff, Sustainable Brands The role of waste-management practices in our journey towards a more sustainable future cannot be overstated. Anaerobic digestion’s multitude of benefits demonstrate its potential to turn ‘waste’ into valuable resources. Each week, more than 1 million tons of food waste are incinerated or sent to landfills in …
China Expands Climate Change Surveillance on Himalayan Peak
By Reuters Mount Everest, the world highest peak, and other peaks of the Himalayan range are seen through an aircraft window during a mountain flight from Kathmandu, Nepal January 15, 2020. REUTERS/Monika Deupala/File Photo BEIJING, Oct 6 (Reuters) – China has set up weather stations on Cho Oyu, the sixth …
The Big Idea: Can we Predict the Climate of the Future?
By David Stainforth, The Guardian We’re pouring money into computer models – but could they lead us astray? Predicting the future lies at the heart of responding to climate change. We want to know what things will look like if we take certain actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – …
Largest U.S. Offshore Wind Project Could Produce Power This Year
By Benjamin Storrow, Scientific American Construction has begun on the Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts. It could provide enough clean energy to power 400,000 homes per year. A view of stacked GE Haliade-X turbine blades at the New Bedford Marine Terminal, to be used on the Vineyard …
App-based Tool Quantifies Pesticide Toxicity in Watersheds, Identifies Mitigation Opportunities
By Phys.Org Watershed applied toxicity. The heat map and legend values represent applied toxicity as the Net Toxicity Index (NTI), the total applied toxicity of pesticide applications to all aquatic taxa investigated over the simulation period, fish, invertebrates, nonvascular aquatic plants, and vascular aquatic plants. Results are displayed for each …
Biosurfactants Might Offer an Environmentally Friendly Solution for Tackling Oil Spills
By Sara Kleindienst, University of Stuttgart Can biosurfactants increase microbiological oil degradation in North Sea seawater? An international research team from the universities of Stuttgart und Tübingen, together with the China West Normal University and the University of Georgia, have been exploring this question and the results have revealed the …
Gene Tech Spares Male Chicks from Cull by Preventing them from Hatching
By Hannah Confino, Reuters REHOVOT, Israel, July 17 – Every year, egg farmers kill 7 billion day-old male chicks because they cannot grow up to lay eggs and are the wrong breed for meat. A laboratory in Israel has a solution: what if the male eggs don’t hatch? All the …
How air pollution sensors can track wildlife
By Isabelle Gerretsen, BBC A new study finds that air pollution sensors are inadvertently capturing environmental DNA. Could this be a gamechanger for protecting biodiversity worldwide? (Image credit: Sven-Erik Arndt / Getty Images) Tracking biodiversity worldwide is incredibly challenging; national monitoring programmes differ widely, the majority of collected data is erratic …
Microbes key to sequestering carbon in soil
By Krishna Ramanujan, Cornell Chronicle Microbes are by far the most important factor in determining how much carbon is stored in the soil, according to a new study with implications for mitigating climate change and improving soil health for agriculture and food production. The research is the first to measure …
In Australia, scientists begin vaccinating koalas against chlamydia
By The Associated Press, from NPR The aim of Australian scientists vaccinating koalas for chlamydia is to test a method for protecting the beloved marsupials against a widespread disease that causes blindness, infertility and death. Mark Baker/AP Australian scientists have begun vaccinating wild koalas against chlamydia in an ambitious field …