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Category: climatology – Page 36

A team of researchers has now been able to show that there is an incredibly high biodiversity of environmentally relevant microorganisms in nature. This diversity is at least 4.5 times greater than previously known. The researchers recently published their findings in the journals Nature Communications and FEMS Microbiology Reviews.

The hidden world of microorganisms is often overlooked, even though many climate-relevant processes are influenced by microorganisms, often associated with an incredible diversity of species within the groups of bacteria and archaea (“primitive bacteria”).

For example, sulfate-reducing microorganisms convert a third of the organic carbon in marine sediments into . This produces toxic hydrogen sulfide. On the positive side, sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms quickly use this as an energy source and render it harmless.

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While European nations are ahead on dimensions like equality, social progress, and climate change redressal, they lack technological advancements in comparison to the United States. The European region, including the UK, still lacks the investment and culture necessary for a startup ecosystem prevalent in California’s Silicon Valley.

The Valley is a globally recognized hub for technology and innovation. Many of the world’s leading technology companies, like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon, are based there. However, Europe also has notable… More.

Silicon Valley overshadows the EU in tech, but with the advent of new-age artificial intelligence, Europe’s leading entrepreneurs think it could offer the Euro startup ecosystem to be a key player in the race.

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ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — First came the devastation, then people’s desperation.

Hurricane Otis blasted the Mexican tourist port of Acapulco like no other storm before in the Eastern Pacific. As a monstrous Category 5 meteor, with its 165 mph (266 kph) winds, it destroyed what it found in its path: large residential buildings, houses, hotels, roads and stores.

Fallen trees and power line poles covered practically all the streets in this city of more than 1 million people. The walls and the roofs of buildings and houses were left partially or totally ripped off, while some cars were buried under debris.

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An ancient landscape that has remained hidden beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) for at least 14 million years has been revealed by a new satellite data and radar imaging study. According to the researchers, the preservation of this primordial scenery attests to the fact that the EAIS has remained relatively unchanged for eons, yet this stability could soon be threatened by an unprecedented rise in global temperatures.

The study authors used satellite data to identify undulations in the ice sheet’s surface that provided clues as to the nature of the terrain beneath. Using radio-echo sounding techniques, they were then able to image the landscape covered by the ice over an area of 32,000 square kilometers (12,355 square miles).

“The land underneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is less well known than the surface of Mars,” explained study author Professor Stewart Jamieson in a statement. “And that’s a problem because that landscape controls the way that ice in Antarctica flows, and it controls the way it might respond to past, present and future climate change.”

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In the early hours of October 24, 2023, the southern peak of Sakurajima roared, dramatically punctuating the Kagoshima City skyline. The volcanic eruption, Japan’s second-largest this year, sent a plume of smoke spiraling 3,400 meters above the crater. This follows another eruption on October 19, which reached an even greater height of 3,600 meters. A Spectacle of Fire and Lightning The eruption was not just a spectacle of fire and smoke…

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NOAA scientists investigating the stratosphere have found that in addition to meteoric ‘space dust,’ the atmosphere more than seven miles above the surface is peppered with particles containing a variety of metals from satellites and spent rocket boosters vaporized by the intense heat of re-entry.

The discovery is one of the initial findings from analysis of data collected by a high-altitude research plane over the Arctic during a NOAA Chemical Science Laboratory mission called SABRE, short for Stratospheric Aerosol processes, Budget and Radiative Effects. It’s the agency’s most ambitious and intensive effort to date to investigate aerosol particles in the stratosphere, a layer of the atmosphere that moderates Earth’s climate and is home to the protective ozone layer.

Using an extraordinarily sensitive instrument custom-built at NOAA in Boulder, Colorado, and mounted in the nose of a NASA WB-57 research aircraft, scientists found aluminum and exotic metals embedded in about 10 percent of sulfuric acid particles, which comprise the large majority of particles in the stratosphere. They were also able to match the ratio of rare elements they measured to special alloys used in rockets and satellites, confirming their source as metal vaporized from spacecraft reentering Earth’s atmosphere.

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A new Tesla Megapack has been installed at a water treatment plant in San Luis Obispo, California, according to a new report.

The City of San Luis Obispo installed a Tesla Megapack energy storage unit at its water treatment facility, as reported by Paso Robles Daily on Monday. The battery is part of the city’s commitment to “leading by example in climate action work” and its initiative to reach carbon neutrality on city operations by 2030.

“The installation of the Tesla battery system at our water treatment plant is a testament to our city’s commitment to sustainability, innovation, and resilience. I’m proud of the work our team has done to make this vision a reality,” said City Utilities Director Aaron Floyd.

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There is an urgent need to address climate change, making the development of sustainable energy alternatives more important than ever. While proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have shown great promise for energy production, particularly in the transportation industry, there is a long-standing problem with their durability and cost.

A Western research team has addressed the issue with a new cobalt-modified nanomaterial making PEMFCs more robust, readily sourced and environmentally sustainable demonstrating just a two percent loss in efficiency rate following 20,000 cycles in a durability test.

The new nanomaterial is used to enhance oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), the process that forms water in the allowing a higher current for more efficient power generation. The cobalt-modified nanomaterial also reduces the reliance on platinum to construct these fuel cells. A costly precious metal, and mined primarily in South Africa, only a few hundred tons of platinum are produced annually.

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That’s one idea for how the brain organizes itself to support our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. But if the brain’s information processing dynamics are like waves, what happens when there’s turbulence?

In fact, the brain does experience the equivalent of neural “hurricanes.” They bump into one another, and when they do, the resulting computations correlate with cognition.

These findings come from a unique study in Nature Human Behavior that bridges neuroscience and fluid dynamics to unpack the inner workings of the human mind.

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