Environment

Seeing through trees: Transparent wood as a next-generation glass

Biology, Chemistry, Environment / /

Glass is an integral part of modern buildings, appreciated for its uniquely transparent nature that provides a literal window to the outside world. Made mostly of sand, sodium carbonate, and limestone, glass resists intense weather patterns and precipitation and is recyclable and relatively inexpensive to produce. However, glass has several weaknesses — it is thermally […]

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The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation: dynamics, measurements, and implications for climate change

Environment / /

Carbon dioxide levels, sea levels, and temperature are rising – all indicators commonly associated with climate change. However, an indicator more complex and less well known is the movement of ocean water in the Atlantic, specifically the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).  The AMOC is the large-scale process of the movement of warm water on

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From rock to water: Studying the origins of water on Earth

Chemistry, Environment / /

Imagine water seeping up from the solid ground beneath our feet. Then imagine water falling from the sky — not as rain, but as a giant rock crashing into Earth. Both seem like ridiculous scenarios, but they closely relate to real theories about what may have happened billions of years ago. The origins of water

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How we can avoid polarization in conversations around climate solutions

Environment, Psychology / /

In the scientific community, the consensus on human-caused global warming is almost universal — a recent study from Environmental Research Letters found that more than 99 percent of peer-reviewed papers agreed that humans are causing global warming and climate change. However, among Americans, the belief in anthropogenic climate change is not nearly as strong, with

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Nanoplastics officially cover every part of the Earth

Environment / /

Resting in our polar ice, nanoplastics are a small force about the size of a virus silently contaminating our environment and creating potentially devastating consequences. A team of international scientists set out to measure the precise concentration of nanoplastics in polar ice cores. For the first time, there are figures on the extent to which

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Ice, ice maybe: Impacts of declining sea ice on Arctic predator-prey dynamics

Biology, Environment / /

If current climate trends persist, the Arctic Ocean is predicted to become seasonally ice-free by the 2030s. Sea ice follows a cyclic pattern, partially melting in the summer and re-forming with the cooler temperatures of autumn and winter. However, rising global temperatures have increased the melting rate and decreased the formation rate. During future summers,

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International travel on the ocean floor: How species move between global poles

Environment / /

Since early expeditions to the farthest regions of the planet, scientists have been intrigued by the presence of visually similar creatures residing in both the Arctic and Antarctic. Hundreds of nearly identical worms, insects, and other small sea creatures have been discovered in both locations. These seemingly bipolar species, living at both the North and

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