Physical sciences, Earth sciences

Identifying regions of self-amplifying forest loss can help maintain biodiversity, supporting climate change mitigation, according to research carried out with support from two EU-funded projects.

Known as the richest and most important Mesolithic site in Great Britain, Star Carr is still holding many secrets that archaeologists are eager to reveal before it’s too late. Indeed, peat desiccation, fluctuating water tables and unprecedented levels of acidity are deteriorating the site at a worrying pace.

An innovative dry etching method developed by EU-funded researchers could reduce the cost of manufacturing solar cells by up to 25 %.

The EU-funded XF-ACTORS project recently reported on its disease modelling work, key to its integrated management strategy to control the spread of the Xylella fastidi-osa (XF) pathogen, which is putting olive groves at serious risk in Southern Italy.

To this day, the true potential of the ‘all-connected’ world has been hindered by the very thing that is supposed to power it: battery technology. A material capable of turning sunlight, heat and movement into energy could soon shake things up.

Launched by Shell at Cobham services on the M25 motorway, the new station was supplied by ATM as part of the EU funded HYFIVE project. It’s the first of three hydrogen stations to be opened by Shell in the UK in 2017.

A new machine called the Watly offers solutions to three of society’s most important challenges – ensuring access to clean water, sustainable energy generation and reaping the benefits of the evolving digital revolution. Supported by funds from the Horizon 2020 project, the innovative SME behind the project is now nearly ready to unveil its first full-scale Watly machine.

First we began 2017 with the knowledge that we have an entirely new organ in our bodies. Now we’ve learnt that Earth has been (probably) graced with a new, eighth continent. In a new paper published in the journal of the Geological Society of America, a team of scientists have argued that a vast, continuous expanse of continental crust, centred on New Zealand, is distinct enough to be classed as a separate continent.

With low-oxygen seafloor areas around the world on the rise, the EU-funded HYPOX project points to warning signs for marine ecosystems.

Results from a large study of volunteer blood donors in Martinique during the 2016 Zika virus outbreak - which according to state health authorities affected 568 pregnant women - are now in. They provide a precise follow-up of incident cases and seroprevalence but also important insights into the management of blood donations and the natural history of ZIKV infection in adults.

It is one thing to know that Earth has already faced abrupt climate changes — also known as Dansgaard–Oeschger (DO) events — in the past. But finding out the reasons for these dramatic and rather short term changes is another story, one that Dr Rachael Rhodes from the University of Cambridge is reconstructing using chemistry records from ice cores taken from Greenland.

Ice-albedo feedback as a result of sea-ice melting, notably in the Arctic, is known to reinforce global warming. What is less known, however, is the impact of a no-summer ice scenario on the world’s ambition to maintain global warming below 2°C by 2100. A study conducted under the TRANSRISK project paints a rather dark picture, highlighting the need to better understand the impact of rapid climate change in the region.

Coping with climate change will already be difficult enough without worrying about Dansgaard-Oescheger (DO) events that could come on top of it. However, their possible occurrence cannot be dismissed: We need to know more about these events, how they impacted our planet in the past, and how they could continue to do so in the future. The world’s most well-preserved ice cores could provide all this information while allowing for improved climate models.

Organic photovoltaics (OPV) may cost less than their silicon counterparts, but their performance remains off-putting to this day. A consortium of European research groups and industries recently demonstrated free-form organic solar modules for three specific, indoor and outdoor applications that should help put such concerns to bed.

Supported through the EU-funded T-FORCES project, scientists have found that biodiverse forests did not boost carbon storage beyond a certain point.

Recently paleoclimatologist William Ruddiman suggested that humans may have had a significant impact on the Earth’s climate already thousands of years ago — through carbon and methane emissions originating from biomass burning and deforestation associated with early agriculture. The EARLYHUMANIMPACT project set out to verify this hypothesis.

By integrating energy management systems the EU funded BESOS project contributes to the efficiency and sustainability of ‘smart cities’, while further empowering citizens to make informed choices.

In the last Trending Science of 2016 (your writer will be ho ho home for the holidays by the time you read this), we’re reporting on three science-related Christmas stories that have hit the headlines this festive season.

Marmok-5, a new device using wave-powered turbines to generate up to 30kW of electricity, has recently been deployed at the BiMEP site, on the northern coast of Spain. The device produces enough energy to run a medium-sized business.

A dinosaur fragment trapped in amber for over 99 million years and complete with fossilised feathers has been found and, for the first time, linked to a non-avian dinosaur.

Astronomers have compiled 3 000 years of celestial records and discovered that with each passing century, the length of the Earth’s day lengthens by two whole milliseconds. This is because the planet’s rotation is gradually winding down.

An EU-funded Scottish-led team is using virtual coral larvae to test how well marine reserves can withstand climate change.

Researchers have discovered a strong association between El Niño-Southern Oscillation conditions in the Pacific to observed weather and dengue epidemics in Sri Lanka.

New research published by the EU-funded HURRICANE project has highlighted how the north eastern coast of the USA could be struck by more frequent and more powerful hurricanes in the future due to shifting weather patterns.

New research has shown that the West Antarctic Glacier, one of the largest potential sources of water that will contribute to rising sea levels, began thinning and retreat as long ago as the 1940s.