From Feed to Fever: Kansas State University Researcher Studies Risk of African Swine Fever in Feed

If African swine fever virus reaches the U.S., it could cause more than $16.5 billion in economic losses to swine and other industries. It would devastate trade and international markets, researchers say.

Salvage Logging is Often a Pretext for Harvesting Wood

Białowieża Forest in Eastern Poland is one of the last remaining primeval forests in Europe. For the time being. In 2017, the Polish government had 100,000 more trees logged than previously, despite the fact that large areas of the Natural World Heritage site are under strict protection. They did this under the pretense of preventing the bark beetle from spreading further. The motor saws are quiet now after protests from environmental activists, Europe-wide criticism in the media and concerns by the European Commission. The case has been handed to the European Court and the minister of the environment was sacked.

Air Pollution Impact on Childhood Asthma

New research suggests that up to 38% of all annual childhood asthma cases in Bradford may be caused by air pollution.

New Report Recommends a Nationwide Effort to Better Estimate Methane Emissions

The U.S. should take bold steps to improve measurement, monitoring, and inventories of methane emissions caused by human activities, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.  Better data on methane—a greenhouse gas that contributes to air pollution and threatens public and worker safety—would help inform decisions related to climate, economics, and human health.

OU Study Reveals Trends of U.S. Surface Water Body Area Over Three Decades

A University of Oklahoma research study, led by Professor Xiangming Xiao, reveals the divergent trends of open surface water bodies in the contiguous United States from 1984 to 2016, specifically, a decreasing trend in the water-poor states and an increasing trend in the water-rich states.  Surface water resources are critical for public water supply, industry, agriculture, biodiversity and ecosystem services.

NASA Measures Tropical Cyclone Nora's Flooding Rains in Queensland

NASA used satellite data to calculate the heavy rainfall created by Tropical Cyclone Nora as it came ashore in northwestern Queensland on March 24, 2018. 

Nora reached peak intensity of 95 knots (109 mph) was reached when it was moving through the central northern Gulf of Carpentaria. Winds had decreased slightly to 90 knots (104 mph) by landfall. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) reported that Nora produced over 110 mm (4.3 inches) of rain in 24 hours.

Honeybees May Unlock the Secrets of How the Human Brain Works

Researchers from the University of Sheffield have discovered that looking at honeybees in a colony in the same way as neurons in a brain could help us better understand the basic mechanisms of human behaviour.

Study describes earliest evidence of ancient Maya dog trade

Police detectives analyze isotopes in human hair to find out where a murder victim was born and grew up. Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, the University of Florida and the University of Arizona combined clues from carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium isotope analysis discovering the earliest evidence that the Maya raised and traded dogs and other animals, probably for ceremonial use.

Alberta’s boreal forest could be dramatically altered by 2100 due to climate change

Half of Alberta’s upland boreal forest is likely to disappear over the next century due to climate change, a new study shows.

Study links climate policy, carbon emissions from permafrost

Controlling greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades could substantially reduce the consequences of carbon releases from thawing permafrost during the next 300 years, according to a new paper published this week in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.