EurekAlert! News by Subject: Earth Science - News by Subject: Earth Science

Earth Science

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 11-Sep-2025 22:11 ET (12-Sep-2025 02:11 GMT/UTC)

10-Jun-2025

First Ohio State professor named CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar

Ohio State University
Grant and Award Announcement

Melisa Diaz, an associate professor in earth sciences and the principal investigator of the Polar and Environmental Geochemistry Lab at The Ohio State University, has been named a 2025–2027 CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar.

10-Jun-2025

Isobaric enzymatic assays reveal depth-dependent variation in microbial ectoenzyme activities in the deepest ocean on Earth

Science China Press

In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a team of researchers performed comparative analyses of the microbial ectoenzyme activities under atmospheric and in situ pressure conditions in the water column of the Mariana Trench, by conducting pressure-retaining sampling, isobaric transfer, and enzymatic assays in the Challenger Deep. It highlights the importance of pressure-retaining sampling and isobaric enzymatic assays and provides valuable insights into microbial ectoenzymatic activities in the deep ocean.

Journal: Science China Earth Sciences

9-Jun-2025

Fossilized dinosaur gut shows that sauropods barely chewed

Cell Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Plant fossils found in the abdomen of a sauropod support the long-standing hypothesis that these dinosaurs were herbivores, finds a study publishing June 9 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology. The dinosaur, which was alive an estimated 94 to 101 million years ago, ate a variety of plants and relied almost entirely on its gut microbes for digestion.

Journal: Current Biology
Funder: Australian Research Council

9-Jun-2025

Can AI accurately detect live oysters?

University of Delaware
Peer-Reviewed Publication

With oyster populations down 85%, researchers are racing to monitor reef health more efficiently. A new study tests ODYSSEE, an AI trained to detect live oysters from underwater images. Research found that ODYSSEE was far faster than humans but not as accurate.

Journal: Frontiers in Robotics and AI

9-Jun-2025

Protected Antarctic oceanic life threatened by ships anchoring, first underwater videos show

Frontiers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

As decreasing sea ice allows ships to enter previously inaccessible regions, cruise ships and other vessels are now advancing into the most remote waters. When anchors are dropped, seafloor marine life is impacted. In the Antarctic Peninsula, ocean scientists have recorded crushed sponge colonies, disturbed soft sediment, and striations caused by anchor chain movement for the first time. Recognizing anchor damage as a pressing conservation issue is critically important to protect ocean life and develop mitigation strategies, the team said.

Journal: Frontiers in Conservation Science

6-Jun-2025

Hurricanes create powerful changes deep in the ocean, study reveals

University of California - Merced
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A group of researchers on an oceanic research expedition ran into a hurricane and turned it to their advantage, studying the water in the storm's wake. Professor Michael Beman and his team discovered that powerful storms draw deep-water low-oxygen zones closer to the ocean's surface, along with the organisms that inhabit them, creating smorgasbords for some sea creatures but potentially endangering those that depend on higher oxygen concentrations for survival.

Journal: Science Advances

6-Jun-2025

Under the Pacific Ocean, ancient sediment reveals Earth’s history

Ohio State University
Reports and Proceedings

Deep sea sediments contain treasure troves of information about marine ecosystems and past climate scenarios, yet remain understudied clues into Earth’s environmental future, according to researchers.

Journal: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology