News by Subject Earth Science

A new study led by a University of Maryland biologist discovered two unexpected drivers for migration timing that dispute long-held assumptions and provide insight into potential future effects of climate change on caribou. First, the start of migration is synchronized across North America and tied to large-scale, ocean-driven climate cycles. Second, warm, windless summers that favored insect pests lead to poorer maternal health and delayed arrivals at the calving grounds the following spring.

Scientists at Berkeley Lab have converted diamonds' atomic flaws into atomic sensors that could lead to a new generation of smart materials.

Scientists from Duke University have developed a model that can predict the amount of mercury being released into a local ecosystem from deforestation. The research could point toward ways to mitigate the worst effects of mercury poisoning in regions already experiencing elevated mercury levels caused by small-scale gold mining practices, such as those in the Peruvian Amazon.

A single drop of seawater can contain a wide representation of ocean microbes from around the world -- revealing novel insights into the ecology, evolution and biotechnology potential of the global microbiome. A new publication in Cell reports a staggering degree of biological diversity that defies contemporary definitions of microbial species, illuminates reasons behind challenges in metagenomic studies, and may even further understanding of how marine microbes respond to climate change.

Much about the aerodynamic effects of larger wind farms remains poorly understood. New work in this week's Journal of Renewable and Sustainably Energy looks to provide more insight in how the structures necessary for wind farms affect air flow. Using a two-scale coupled momentum balance method, researchers theoretically and computationally reconstructed conditions that large wind farms might face in the future, including the dampening effect that comes with spacing turbines close to one another.

A study from Universidad de Sevilla describes the role of latitude and urges the European Commission to rethink its policy on summertime arrangements