Finding microbial pillars of the bioenergy community
Stems, leaves, flowers and fruits make up the biggest chunk of potential living space for microbes in the environment, but ecologists still don’t know a … Read more
Earth, Energy & Environment
One scientist’s quest to map the trillions of microbes in the Great Lakes
If you swallow a drop of water from Lake Michigan, it will contain roughly a million bacterial cells and 10 million bacteriophages—tiny viruses that infect … Read more
Deepwater Horizon oil buried in Gulf Coast beaches could take more than 30 years to biodegrade
Golf ball-size clods of weathered crude oil originating from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe could remain buried in sandy Gulf Coast beaches for decades, according … Read more
Tides don’t always flush water out to sea
By area, tidal flats make up more than 50 percent of Willapa Bay in southwest Washington state, making this more than 142-square-mile estuary an ideal … Read more
How friction leads to static electricity
Most people have experienced the hair-raising effect of rubbing a balloon on their head or the subtle spark caused by dragging socked feet across the … Read more
Rocks at Asteroid Impact Site Record First Day of Dinosaur Extinction
When the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs slammed into the planet, the impact set wildfires, triggered tsunamis and blasted so much sulfur into the … Read more
Lightning ‘superbolts’ form over oceans from November to February
The lightning season in the Southeastern U.S. is almost finished for this year, but the peak season for the most powerful strokes of lightning won’t … Read more
Native foods are key to preserving rodent gut bacteria in captivity
As Rodolfo Martinez-Mota well knows, from the cactus spines in his clothes and skin, white-throated woodrats love to eat prickly pear cactus (from the Opuntia genus). They … Read more
Kīlauea lava fuels phytoplankton bloom off Hawai’i Island
When Kīlauea Volcano erupted in 2018, it injected millions of cubic feet of molten lava into the nutrient-poor waters off the Big Island of Hawai’i. … Read more
A decade of renewable energy investment, led by solar, tops US $2.5 trillion
Global investment in new renewable energy capacity this decade – 2010 to 2019 inclusive – is on course to hit USD 2.6 trillion, with more … Read more
Solutions to urban heat differ between tropical and drier climes
In summer heat, cities may swelter more than nearby suburbs and rural areas. And while the size of this urban heat island effect varies widely … Read more
