Energy and Environment
Researchers have developed a new type of small-scale electric power generator able to produce alternating current through the cyclical stretching and releasing of zinc oxide wires encapsulated in a flexible plastic substrate with two ends bonded.
In submitted testimony to the British Parliament, climate scientist Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution said that while steep cuts in carbon emissions are essential to stabilizing global climate, there also needs to be a backup plan.
A fix for the economy must address ecological threats, a top international scientific meeting here has urged. Human society is moving dangerously beyond the planet's natural limits in a striking parallel to the financial debt crisis.
Scientists say that a type of rock found at or near the surface in the Mideast nation of Oman and other areas around the world could be harnessed to soak up huge quantities of globe-warming carbon dioxide.
The birthplaces of different varieties of tuna can be identified by variations in the stones in their ears. This is similar to the technique of identifying where humans come from by the different varieties of rocks in their heads.
Move over, oil, gasoline, and coal. Researchers are describing key advances in developing new fuels to help supply an energy-hungry world in the 21st Century in the eighth and ninth episodes in the American Chemical Society's Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions series. Those fuels include "green gasoline," "designer hydrocarbons," "the ice that burns," and other sources that can help power an energy-hungry world into the future.
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered and demonstrated a new method for overcoming two major hurdles facing solar energy.
The fight against climate warming has an unexpected ally in mushrooms growing in dry spruce forests covering Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and other northern regions, a new UC Irvine study finds.
A "living fossil" tree species is helping a University of Michigan researcher understand how tropical forests responded to past climate change and how they may react to global warming in the future.
Palin takes on basic science research as an example of government waste.
Global warming calculations have been too optimistic and global sea levels are likely to rise a full meter this century, senior German scientists have warned. They say UN-backed data on climate change is out of date.
"We should prepare for a rise of sea levels of one meter this century," said Joachim Schellnhuber, head of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), which advises the German government on environmental policy.
Arktis 2013 ohne Eis, CO2-Anstieg übertrifft alle Prognosen des Weltklimaberichts, Meeresanstieg doppelt so hoch wie bisher angenommen - die Folgen werden verheerend sein.
Seit den dramatischen Prognosen des Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) von 2007 untersuchten Forscher in aller Welt in ihren Fachgebieten den Klimawandel. Eine WWF-Studie fasst nun die Ergebnisse der jüngsten Untersuchungen zusammen.
Join the Science Blog crew this Friday, October 24 at noon in Los Angeles to discuss Obama, McCain and the sciences, courtesy of Farmlab.
Research that has provided a deeper understanding into the centre of planets could also provide the way forward in the world's quest for cleaner energy.
A powerful greenhouse gas is at least four times more prevalent in the atmosphere than previously estimated, according to a team of researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.
