Contrary to conventional geological thinking, the Hawaiian mantle plume has gotten hotter by about 250°C (480°F) over the past 47 million years. This discovery, led by Earth scientists at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, reverses the long-held idea that hotspots start out very hot and progressively cool with time. The study also found that heat surges produced the two largest volcanoes along the Northwestern and Main Hawaiian Island chain. 

Arsenic contamination in paddy soils threatens food safety because flooded conditions can mobilize the toxic element and make it available for uptake by rice. A new study suggests that biochar coated with chitosan, a natural material derived from chitin, could help trap arsenic in soil and prevent it from reaching the edible grain.

Biochar is widely promoted as a tool for improving soil health and storing carbon, but its effectiveness can vary greatly from one field to another. A new global study reveals that the amount of nitrogen already present in soil is a key factor controlling both how much carbon biochar stores and how that carbon becomes stabilized.

Biochar is widely promoted as a tool for improving soil health and storing carbon. Yet its effects on soil carbon are not always consistent. New research published in Biochar shows that part of the explanation may lie in highly reactive molecules produced by persistent free radicals within biochar.

Virginia Tech researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model designed to help policymakers manage growing competition between agriculture and semiconductor manufacturing, as drough strains water supplies across the United States.