What impacts have climate change mitigation strategies had on the ozone layer? This is what a recent study published in Nature hopes to address as a team of researchers led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) investigated the rate of Antarctic ozone recovery due to a reduction in human-caused ozone-depleting substances (ODSs). This study has the potential to help researchers, climate scientists, legislators, and the public better understand the benefits of climate change mitigation strategies on healing the environment for both the short and long term.

For the study, the researchers used a combination of satellite imagery data and a series of computer models to ascertain the extent of the Antarctic ozone recovery based on seasons and altitude between 2005 and now. The team conducted various models to identify a pattern in Antarctic ozone recovery, which they call a “fingerprint”. After comparing this to the satellite data, the team ascertained that the Antarctic ozone has been healing due to decreased levels of ODSs.

“After 15 years of observational records, we see this signal to noise with 95 percent confidence, suggesting there’s only a very small chance that the observed pattern similarity can be explained by variability noise,” said Peidong Wang, who is a PhD student in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and lead author of the study. “This gives us confidence in the fingerprint. It also gives us confidence that we can solve environmental problems. What we can learn from ozone studies is how different countries can swiftly follow these treaties to decrease emissions.”

“A good ratio of oxygen to methane is key to combustion,” said Justin Long.

Can methane flare burners be advanced to produce less methane? This is what a recent study published in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research hopes to address as a team of researchers from the University of Michigan (U-M) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) developed a methane flare burner with increased combustion stability and efficiency compared to traditional methane flare burners. This study has the potential to develop more environmentally friendly burners to combat human-caused climate change, specifically since methane is a far larger contributor to climate change than carbon dioxide.

For the study, the researchers used a combination of machine learning and novel manufacturing methods to test several designs of a methane flare burner that incorporates crosswinds to simulate real-world environments. The burner design includes splitting the methane flow in three directions while enabling oxygen flow from crosswinds to mix with the methane, enabling a much cleaner combustion. In the end, the researchers found that their design achieves 98 percent combustion efficiency, meaning it produces 98 percent less methane than traditional burners.

“A good ratio of oxygen to methane is key to combustion,” said Justin Long, who is a Senior Research Engineer at SwRI. “The surrounding air needs to be captured and incorporated to mix with the methane, but too much can dilute it. U-M researchers conducted a lot of computational fluid dynamics work to find a design with an optimal air-methane balance, even when subjected to high-crosswind conditions.”

“The pattern we found is so reproducible that we were able to make an accurate prediction of when each interglacial period of the past million years or so would occur and how long each would last,” said Dr. Stephen Barker.

Earth has experienced several climate cycles throughout its long history, including several ice ages that caused the planet to freeze over. The last ice age occurred approximately 11,700 years ago, but when could the next one occur? This is what a recent study published in Science hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated specific characteristics that could help predict Earth’s next ice age. This study has the potential to help researchers, climate scientists, and the public better understand Earth’s climate history and how climate change could alter this history.

For the study, the researchers analyzed Earth’s climate history over the last one million years and compared this data to changes in Earth’s axial tilt, the axial tilt’s wobble (also called precession), and changes in Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The goal of the study was to connect these planetary parameters to past ice ages, also called glacial periods, while also attempting to predict future ice ages without human-caused climate change.

In the end, the researchers not only discovered when every ice age occurred over the past 900,000 years, but they predict the Earth will have approximately 10,000 years until the next ice age, noting we are currently in an interglacial period known as the Holocene.

This study helps to close the gap involving cannabis and weight loss.

Can cannabidiol (CBD) or other cannabis-related products help with weight loss? This is what a recent study published in the journal Cannabis hopes to address as a researcher from NeX Therapeutics investigated how two phytocannabinoids, tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) and cannabidiol (CBD), could be used to manage weight loss. This study has the potential to help researchers, legislators, and the public better understand the benefits of cannabis for weight loss compared to prescription drugs currently on the market.

The study was conducted by Dr. Gregory Smith, who is the Founder, CEO, and Scientific Advisor of NeX Therapeutics, and involved 44 participants (31 women and 13 men) with an average age of 51.75. For the study, the participants used consumed mucoadhesive oral strips, which are drug delivery strips that adhere to the inside of the mouth, over 90 days. They were split into Group A, Group B, and Group P which involved single dose, double dose, and placebo, respectively, with one dose equaling 8 mg THCV/10 mg CBD. In the end, Dr. Smith made some interesting findings regarding how the strips helped manage weight loss.

According to the study, “The 16mg/20mg daily dose was superior for weight loss compared to the 8mg/10mg daily dose; both sets of results differed from placebo in a way that was statistically significant. The results of this study were congruent with the prior unpublished studies of a hemp extract containing significant percentages of THCV, CBDV and CBD.”

Dr. Rumi Chunara: “Our system learns to recognize more subtle patterns that distinguish trees from grass, even in challenging urban environments.”

How can artificial intelligence (AI) help improve city planning to account for more green spaces? This is what a recent study published in the ACM Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies hopes to address as a team of researchers proposed a novel concept using AI with the goal of both monitoring and improving urban green spaces, which are natural public spaces like parks and gardens, and provide a myriad of benefits, including physical and mental health, combating climate change, wildlife habitats, and increased social interaction.

For the study, the researchers developed a method they refer to as “green augmentation”, which uses an AI algorithm to analyze Google Earth satellite images with the goal of improving current AI methods by more accurately identifying green vegetation like grass and trees under various weather and seasonal conditions. For example, current AI methods identify green vegetation with an accuracy and reliability of 63.3 percent and 64 percent, respectively. Using this new method, the researchers successfully identified green vegetation with an accuracy and reliability of 89.4 percent and 90.6 percent, respectively.

“Previous methods relied on simple light wavelength measurements,” said Dr. Rumi Chunara, who is an associate professor of biostatistics at New York University and a co-author on the study. “Our system learns to recognize more subtle patterns that distinguish trees from grass, even in challenging urban environments. This type of data is necessary for urban planners to identify neighborhoods that lack vegetation so they can develop new green spaces that will deliver the most benefits possible. Without accurate mapping, cities cannot address disparities effectively.”

Dr. Benjamin Cardenas: “We tend to think about Mars as just a static snapshot of a planet, but it was evolving. Rivers were flowing, sediment was moving, and land was being built and eroded.”

Did an ocean exist on ancient Mars that might have been suitable for life as we know it? This is what a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences hopes to address as an international team of researchers led by Guangzhou University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences investigated the possibility of an ancient shoreline in the northern hemisphere of Mars that could have been home to an ancient ocean. This study has the potential to help researchers better understand the environmental conditions on ancient Mars and whether they were suitable for life as we know it.

For the study, the researchers analyzed radar data obtained from China’s Zhurong rover, which landed in a northern region on Mars called Utopia Planitia in May 2021. However, Zhurong stopped functioning after researchers put it in hibernation mode in May 2022 and the rover never woke up, likely due to dust covering its solar panels. Despite this, the researchers of this study presented evidence of an ancient shoreline in Utopia Planitia that mirrors coastal sediments observed on the Earth called “foreshore deposits”

“We’re seeing that the shoreline of this body of water evolved over time,” said Dr. Benjamin Cardenas, who is an assistant professor of geology at Penn State and a co-author on the study. “We tend to think about Mars as just a static snapshot of a planet, but it was evolving. Rivers were flowing, sediment was moving, and land was being built and eroded. This type of sedimentary geology can tell us what the landscape looked like, how they evolved, and, importantly, help us identify where we would want to look for past life.”

What tests can be performed on Earth to help us find signs of ancient life on Mars? This is what a recent study published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how scientific methods used on Earth to identify fossilized microbial life could be used on a future mission to Mars to identify similar microfossils on the Red Planet. This study has the potential to help researchers develop more efficient methods in finding ancient life on Mars, which has long been the driving force behind exploring the Red Planet.

For the study, the researchers used a laser-powered mass spectrometer to identify microfossils in gypsum deposits in Algeria with the goal of using similar instruments on future missions to Mars. Mass spectrometers are used for classifying the chemical characteristics and structures of molecules while gypsum is a widely used mineral on Earth that is formed when water evaporates. On Mars, hydrated sulfate deposits, which contain water molecules, have been identified across the Martian surface, so using gypsum is an appropriate analog to study in preparation for future missions to Mars. In the end, the researchers successfully identified microfossils within the gypsum deposits using their laser-powered mass spectrometer.

“Our findings provide a methodological framework for detecting biosignatures in Martian sulfate minerals, potentially guiding future Mars exploration missions,” said Youcef Sellam, who is a PhD student at the University of Bern and first author of the study. “Our laser ablation ionization mass spectrometer, a spaceflight-prototype instrument, can effectively detect biosignatures in sulfate minerals. This technology could be integrated into future Mars rovers or landers for in-situ analysis.”

Dr. Adomas Valantina: “Mars is still the Red Planet. It’s just that our understanding of why Mars is red has been transformed.”

What can Mars’ red hue that’s been observed for thousands of years teach us about when water existed on its surface potentially millions, or even billions, of years ago? This is what a recent study published in Nature Communications hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated the connection between Mars’ red color and water interactions in the Red Planet’s ancient past. This study has the potential to help researchers better understand the formation and evolution of Mars and whether life could have existed at some point in its history.

For the study, the researchers used a combination of data obtained from Mars orbiters and laboratory experiments to ascertain the iron oxide mineral that is responsible for Mars’ red color and what relation this has to past liquid water that might have existed on the planet’s surface. This study builds upon past research that concluded the mineral hematite was responsible for Mars’ red color, which is a mineral that forms in water-free environments. However, the researchers for this study discovered that ferrihydrite is responsible for Mars’ red color, which is a mineral that forms in cold, watery environments.

“Mars is still the Red Planet,” said Dr. Adomas Valantina, who is a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University and lead author of the study. “It’s just that our understanding of why Mars is red has been transformed. The major implication is that because ferrihydrite could only have formed when water was still present on the surface, Mars rusted earlier than we previously thought. Moreover, the ferrihydrite remains stable under present-day conditions on Mars.”

What can an extremely hot Neptune-sized exoplanet teach scientists about exoplanetary weather? This is what a recent study published Nature Astronomy hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated the extreme weather patterns on the “ultra-hot Neptune” exoplanet, LTT 9,779 b, which is tidally locked to its star and orbits so close to its star that it’s causing unique cloud and weather patterns. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of ultra-hot exoplanets and how these worlds remain intact.

“This planet provides a unique laboratory to understand how clouds and the transport of heat interact in the atmospheres of highly irradiated worlds,” said Louis-Philippe Coulombe, who is a PhD student at the University of Montreal’s (UdeM) Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx) and lead author of the study.

Located approximately 262 light-years from Earth, LTT 9,779 b orbits its star in only 0.8 days, or just over 19 hours, meaning its tidally locked orbit results in dayside temperatures of just below 2,000 degrees Celsius (3,600 degrees Fahrenheit) while its nightside temperatures are just over 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800 degrees Fahrenheit).

Dr. Ashley Martin: “Our study reveals high nitrogen isotope values in 2.75-billion-year-old shallow water stromatolites, and lower nitrogen values in deeper marine sediments.”

What can volcanism on the early Earth teach us about the formation of life on our planet? This is what a recent study published in Nature Communications hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated how volcanic activity billions of years ago could have influenced the Earth’s nitrogen cycle, thus influencing the development of marine life. This study has the potential to help researchers better understand the processes responsible for the development of life on early Earth, specifically in Earth’s oceans.

For the study, the researchers analyzed 2.5-billion-year-old samples of stromatolites, which are fossilized rock formations created by microorganisms, in southern Zimbabwe. The goal of the study was to ascertain a connection between nitrogen isotope patterns and an event known as the Great Oxidation Event that occurred approximately 2.5 billion years ago and is often hailed as a major turning point in the development of life on the Earth. During that time, most of the Earth’s land mass was underwater with volcanic activity occurring in the oceans. Therefore, the researchers found an interesting connection between volcanic activity and nitrogen levels that occurred simultaneously.