EurekAlert! News by Subject: Earth Science - Home

Earth Science

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 19-Apr-2026 06:15 ET (19-Apr-2026 10:15 GMT/UTC)

Tailored biochar strategies boost alfalfa growth and resilience in saline soils

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Soil salinization is a growing global threat that reduces crop yields and limits sustainable agriculture, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. A new study shows that carefully designed biochar amendments can significantly improve plant growth and soil health in these challenging environments by reshaping both plant metabolism and soil microbial communities.

Journal: Biochar

Biochar reshapes climate-driven soil emissions, but effects depend on soil type

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study reveals that biochar, a carbon-rich material increasingly used in agriculture, can significantly influence how soils respond to warming when releasing nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. The findings highlight that biochar does not act uniformly across environments, but instead produces sharply different outcomes depending on soil type and conditions.

Journal: Biochar

Green tea and biochar combine to create smarter fertilizers that boost crops and cut emissions

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study reveals an innovative fertilizer technology that could make agriculture more efficient, sustainable, and climate-friendly by combining biochar, natural polymers, and green-synthesized iron nanoparticles.

Journal: Biochar

Biochar boosts soil carbon storage through microbial pathways, but effects vary with soil depth

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new long-term field study reveals that biochar, a carbon-rich material derived from biomass, can significantly enhance soil carbon storage by stimulating microbial processes. However, the benefits are not uniform throughout the soil profile, highlighting the importance of looking deeper beneath the surface.

Journal: Biochar

Spring cold snaps harm nesting tree swallows, but some show resilience

Cornell University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Warming temperatures from climate change cause tree swallows to nest up to two weeks earlier than they did in the 1970s, but early spring cold snaps can hinder nestlings’ growth and survival, according to a new study that incorporates a four-decade Cornell University dataset on the birds.

Journal: Current Biology

Can unpaved roads and watersheds co-exist? Researchers wade into the question

University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Finding the amount of storm-washed sediment entering Brush Creek, a tributary of Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas, was one of the goals of a recent study, “Watershed-scale controls outweigh local crossing effects on sediment loss from unpaved roads,” published in the Journal of Environmental Quality. Data did not cleanly support the hypothesis that direct crossings would be a major driver of downstream sediment yields. The bigger story, the lead researcher said, turned out to be what is happening across the whole watershed.

Journal: Journal of Environmental Quality
Funder: U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

The depths of Neptune and Uranus may be “superionic”

Carnegie Institution for Science
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Sophisticated models predict that a quasi-one-dimensional superionic state of carbon hydride exists under the extreme pressures and temperatures found deep inside Neptune and Uranus.

Journal: Nature Communications

8
9
10
11
12