The percent of land area experiencing exceptional drought reached record levels in August in three U.S. states – Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas – amid new concerns about how long the conditions may persist, an official with the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln said.
Recent heavy rain and flooding has increased the danger of landslides on moderate to steep slopes, according to scientists in the Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey in the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).
Each year, more than 170 million people visit national forests for recreation. And the physical activity associated with these visits burns 290 billion food calories. That equals enough french fries laid end to end to reach the Moon and back -- twice -- according to a recent study in the Journal of Forestry.
A recent study from a duo in Kansas State University's department of apparel, textiles and interior design found that when it comes to consumers' rationale for not purchasing sustainable clothing, perception and reality aren't always cut from the same cloth.
A new report offers insight into public opinion about the environment, including the need to conserve and safeguard the health of our ocean.
The far-reaching field project, known as HIPPO, is enabling researchers to generate the first detailed mapping of the global distribution of gases and particles that affect Earth’s climate.
Chemists at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences have developed the world's first single molecule electric motor, a development that may potentially create a new class of devices that could be used in applications ranging from medicine to engineering.
The USGS has released an online, interactive decision support system that provides easy access to six newly-developed regional models describing how rivers receive and transport nutrients from natural and human sources to sensitive waters, such as the Gulf of Mexico.
Clouds only amplify climate change, says a Texas A&M University professor in a study that rebuts recent claims that clouds are actually the root cause of climate change.
At Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham), a team led by Malene Hansen, Ph.D., uses a type of worm called Caenorhabditis elegans to work out the molecular underpinnings of the aging process. In a study appearing online Sept. 8 in Current Biology, they found that two cellular processes—lipid metabolism and autophagy -- work together to influence worms' lifespan.
This is the conclusion of a study in which data from the four largest rivers in northern Germany – the Elbe, Weser, Aller and Ems – were analyzed over ten years.
A new form of resistance to fungal disease has been discovered in oilseed rape, one of the world’s most important crops, which could hold the key to developing disease resistant crops.
Scientists have successfully created synthetic crystals whose structures and properties mimic those of naturally occurring biominerals such as seashells. The findings, published in the journal Nature Materials, could be an important step in the development of high-performance materials, which could be manufactured under environmentally-friendly conditions
In a detailed assessment of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, researchers led by a team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have determined that the blown-out Macondo well spewed oil at a rate of about 57,000 barrels a day, totaling nearly 5 million barrels of oil released from the well between April 20 and July 15, 2010, when the leak was capped. In addition, the well released some 100 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas
About 20 percent of untreated water samples from public, private, and monitoring wells across the nation contain concentrations of at least one trace element, such as arsenic, manganese and uranium, at levels of potential health concern, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Measuring the emission of greenhouse gases from croplands should take into account the crops themselves, according to new research.
An earthquake and a hurricane, all in the same week, on the same coast. Are they related?
The earth is warming up due to rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. NWO-funded researchers have discovered that the increase in carbon dioxide can reduce the nuisance caused by toxic blue algae, a bacterium commonly found in swimming water throughout the Netherlands in the summer
With citizens’ groups seeking government regulation of foul-smelling ammonia emissions from large dairy farms, scientists reported that adding natural plant extracts to cow feed can reduce levels of the gas by one-third while reducing the need to fortify cow feed with expensive protein supplements.
When many people think of industrial chemicals, they think of those scary-looking yellow drums, containing unknown but almost certainly hazardous goo. A new industry initiative, though hopes to change that by giving consumers more information on the chemicals they use every day.