Scientists Reveal Trends in Carbon Storage and Sequestration Across Chinese Ecosystems

Climate change is a one of the biggest challenges facing humanity. The Paris Agreement, adopted in December 2015, became the second legally binding climate agreement after the Kyoto Protocol, and coordinates global efforts to combat climate change.

Alpine Grassland Productivity Not Sensitive to Climate Warming on Third Pole

The Tibetan Plateau has experienced more rapid climate warming than the global average, coupled with greater interannual variation in precipitation over the past 50 years. How will such dramatic climate change influence the structure and function of alpine grasslands? Interest in this topic is high because of its importance to the sustainable development of animal husbandry and the livelihood of Tibetan inhabitants.

What Extremely Warm Winters Mean for the Future of the Arctic

While the eastern United States and large parts of Europe suffered through a long, cold winter, temperatures were nothing short of balmy over much of the Arctic. The North Pole experienced above-freezing weather in February, temperatures over the Arctic Ocean were as much as 13 degrees Fahrenheit above average from December into early March, and sea ice melted back to its second-lowest annual maximum extent since the satellite record began in 1979.

Mayo Clinic Study Finds No Evidence that Anesthesia in Young Children Lowers Intelligence

A Mayo Clinic study finds no evidence that children given anesthesia before their third birthdays have lower IQs than those who did not have it. A more complex picture emerges among people who had anesthesia several times as small children: Although their intelligence is comparable, they score modestly lower on tests measuring fine motor skills, and their parents are more likely to report behavioral and learning problems. The findings are published in Anesthesiology.

Root Exudates Affect Soil Stability, Water Repellency

As the growing season progresses, you might not notice much about what’s happening to plants under the soil. Most of us pay attention to new shoots, stems, leaves, and eventually the flowers and crop we intend to grow. We might think of roots as necessary, but uninteresting, parts of the crop production process.

Poor planning by railways leading to losses for farmers

Western Canadian grain farmers may reap financial losses in the billions in years to come, unless the country’s railroads ramp up their capacity to get crops to market, says a University of Alberta expert.

Equipping Engineers to Discover the Future of Wood Buildings

The federal government is investing nearly $800,000 to pay for new equipment at the University of Northern British Columbia’s Wood Innovation Research Laboratory (WIRL) in downtown Prince George.

Warming climate could speed forest regrowth in eastern U.S.

Climate change could speed the natural regrowth of forests on undeveloped or abandoned land in the eastern U.S., according to a new study.

If left to nature’s own devices, a field of weeds and grasses over time will be replaced by saplings, young trees and eventually mature forest. Earlier research has shown that this succession from field to forest can happen decades sooner in the southeastern U.S. than in the Northeast. But it wasn’t obvious why, especially since northern and southern fields are first colonized by many of the same tree species.

Full of Hot Air and Proud of It

Of the four states of matter, gases are the hardest to pin down.  Gas molecules move quickly and wildly and don’t like to be confined. When confined, heat and pressure build in the container, and it doesn’t take long before the gas blows the lid off the place, literally. Luckily, gases are superficial. Provide them with an attractive internal surface area, and they’ll pin themselves down in no time. No, it’s not love at first sight, it’s adsorption.

NASA's GPM Catches Line of Strong Storms Responsible for Tornadoes in Eastern U.S.

On Sunday April 15th, a line of strong storms at one point stretched from the Florida Straits below the Florida Keys all the way up the East Coast and into Ohio. The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite analyzed the severe storms as it passed overhead. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA.