Cattle graze on a ranch in Lufkin, Texas, April 18, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/David Goldman, File For cattle fattened in fields instead of feedlots, the grass may be greener, but the carbon emissions are not. A study out Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that …
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Earthquake rupture patterns reveal Mamara fault directs considerable seismic energy towards Istanbul
Overview of the Marmara region, with the urban area of the Istanbul metropolis (red contour) and the Main Marmara Fault (red line). The orange circles represent the earthquakes for which directivity was estimated, with CL 1-4 indicating clusters of earthquakes. The black arrows represent the preferred rupture orientation. Closer analysis …
Smoke from wildland-urban interface fires deadlier than remote wildfires, study finds
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The smoke from fires that blaze through the wildland-urban interface (WUI) has far greater health impacts than smoke from wildfires in remote areas, new research finds. The study, published in Science Advances, estimates that emissions from WUI fires are proportionately about three times more likely to …
No countries on track to meet all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, analysis finds
Parallel plot of the 17 SDG. Comparison among all the yearly average SDG scores, from 2000 to 2022. Scale color goes from dark red (2000) to light blue (2022). Credit: García-Rodríguez et al., 2025, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) A new analysis reveals complex linkages among the United Nations’ (UN’s) …
Two years of gold mining devastates Peruvian peatlands, outpacing damage of the last 30 years
Gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon has done more damage to peatlands in the last two years than in the previous three decades. Credit: IOP Publishing New research published in the journal Environmental Research Letters reveals that artisan gold mining in the southern Peruvian Amazon has caused more destruction to …
New research highlights flaws in cyclone risk evaluation
Credit: CC0 Public Domain A new systematic review has revealed serious shortcomings in the evaluation of cyclone risk in Australia and worldwide. The research, which analyzed 94 studies on cyclone risk, warns that existing approaches may be failing to provide a full picture of the dangers communities face. The study, …
Sulfur bacteria team up to break down organic substances in the seabed
To determine which molecular tools the sulfate-reducing bacteria use, the researchers analyzed the entire set of proteins present, known as the proteome. In total, they looked at the results of 80 different test conditions. Each time, they seperated the protein mixture in several steps, until each individual compound could be …
Quantifying the way rivers bend opens up possibility for identifying origins of channels on other planets
Credit: Leigh Patrick from Pexels Whether it’s rivers cutting through earth, lava melting through rock, or water slicing through ice, channels all twist and bend in a seemingly similar back-and-forth manner. But a new study led by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin has discovered that channels carved …
Environmental scientists highlight role of paint in microplastic pollution
Example sources of paint microplastics to the environment. Microplastics are generated from (A and B) murals and architectural/building paints, (C) household and craft paints, (D) automobile and road paints, (E) boats and marine coatings/paints, and (F) sewage, gas, and other infrastructure paints. The ship pictured in panel (E) is the …
Melting Antarctic ice sheets are slowing Earth’s strongest ocean current, research reveals
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Melting ice sheets are slowing the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), the world’s strongest ocean current, researchers have found. This melting has implications for global climate indicators, including sea level rise, ocean warming and viability of marine ecosystems. Researchers from the University of Melbourne and NORCE Norway …
New findings date Los Chocoyos supereruption to 79,500 years ago, and show Earth bounced back within decades
Major oxide geochemical analysis of ice and marine sediment core tephra shards analyzed that correlate with LCY ash. Credit: Communications Earth & Environment (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-025-02095-6 An international team of Earth and life scientists, hydrologists, chemists, and physicists, has found evidence showing that the Los Chocoyos supereruption occurred approximately 79,500 …
New insights on cyclone wake recovery can help to advance predictive models for extreme weather events
(a) SST from AMSR-2 on 16 June 2023. The green dots indicate the path of the cyclone Biparjoy (as obtained from IMD, 2023). (b) Time series of mean SSTs from AMSR-2 between 1 June and 5 July 2023. The ship surveyed the wake between 17-20 June and is indicated by cyan marker. Solid …
Properties of rocks in fault zones contribute to earthquake generation, study shows
Schematic figure of the subduction zone underneath the Kanto region (left) in Japan and the spatial distribution of magnitude 2 to 6 earthquakes on the subduction zone at 60 to 70 kilometers below Earth’s surface (right). The inset of the left figure demonstrates the foliated shear zone that causes the …
Tree ring records reveal climate-driven drought shifts across Europe and Asia
Rising global temperatures are likely contributing to drought conditions in the 21st century, including the 2017 drought in Lago della Duchessa in Italy, pictured here. Credit: Pamela Trisolino, EGU, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Determining the degree to which shifting drought conditions around the world are attributable to natural hydroclimatic variability and …
Arabia’s rainfall was five times more extreme 400 years ago
Brine pools are one of the most extreme environments on Earth, yet despite their high salinity, exotic chemistry, and complete lack of oxygen, these pools are teeming with life and offer a unique record of Earth’s rainfall patterns. Credit: OceanXplorer A new study reconstructing extreme rainfall in Arabia has uncovered …
Researchers 3D print high-performance, sustainable thermoelectric materials
Printing of pillars for the thermoelectric cooler. (Video still, Video available on request). Credit: Shengduo Xu | ISTA Rapid, localized heat management is essential for electronic devices and could have applications ranging from wearable materials to burn treatment. While so-called thermoelectric materials convert temperature differences to electrical voltage and vice …
A growing threat to marine life
Sand Mining Barge on Kuala Langat River, Selangor, Malaysia. Credit: Khairil Yusof, Creative Commons In the delicate balancing act between human development and protecting the fragile natural world, sand is weighing down the scales on the human side. In One Earth, a group of international scientists are calling for balancing …
Simulations show complex rainfall patterns over tropical mountains with dual peaks
The idealized ocean-plain-mountain terrain configuration for VVM large-eddy simulations. Credit: National Taiwan University A high-density rain gauge observational network in Taiwan reveals that multiple precipitation peaks exist over the mountainous island during summer afternoon convection. This contrasts with previous studies that identified only a single peak, suggesting that more complex …
Kahramanmaraş earthquake study showcases potential slip rate errors
The Kahramanmaraş earthquakes. Credit: Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56466-w Accurate assessment of the land surface damage (such as small-scale fracturing and inelastic deformation) from two major earthquakes in 2023 can help scientists assess future earthquake hazards and therefore minimize risk to people and infrastructure. However, attaining precise extensive measurements in …
Gap between water supply and demand will increase as climate shifts, analysis finds
Water gaps in major hydrological basins of the world. Credit: Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56517-2 Robust water-management strategies will be necessary to overcome discrepancies between water supply and demand in a warming world, according to a new analysis by Carnegie Science’s Lorenzo Rosa and Matteo Sangiorgio of the Polytechnic University …
