News by Subject Earth Science

A new system devised by researchers at MIT can monitor the behavior of all electric devices within a building, ship, or factory, determining which ones are in use at any given time and whether any are showing signs of an imminent failure. When tested on a Coast Guard cutter, the system pinpointed a motor with burnt-out wiring that could have led to a serious onboard fire.

In a perspective essay published this week in Nature Communications, scientists argue for more 'synthesis' research looking at the big picture of volcanology to complement myriad research efforts looking at single volcanoes.

An OU-led project is showing how citizen science programs provide valuable data on rivers in southwestern United States. The ecological and hydrological data obtained from intermittent rivers (rivers that dry at some point in space or time) in Arizona are input into a nationwide network. Trained citizen scientists are mapping three rivers in Arizona: the San Pedro River, Cienega Creek and Agua Fria River.

Researchers have found warmer average water temperatures in Ontario lakes over the past decade have forced fish to forage in deeper water.

In October 2015, England introduced a charge for single-use plastic bags in supermarkets. An international research team, including Elena Sautkina from the Higher School of Economics, has conducted a mixed-methods longitudinal study and determined the extent to which British people approved of this policy initiative, and whether they were ready to support other environmental charges. The results were published in Frontiers in Psychology journal.