Taste, Not Appearance, Drives Corals to Eat Plastics

Scientists have long known that marine animals mistakenly eat plastic debris because the tiny bits of floating plastic might look like prey.

Researchers Introduce New Method for Monitoring Indian Summer Monsoon

Researchers from Florida State University have created a tool for objectively defining the onset and demise of the Indian Summer Monsoon — a colossal weather system that affects billions of people annually.

Nitrous oxide emissions may get worse as climate warms

New research from the University of Minnesota, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  shows nitrous oxide emissions, a greenhouse gas, may get worse as the climate warms.

A fresh look at fresh water: Researchers create a 50,000-lake database

Provides information on lakes in 17 U.S. Northeastern and upper Midwestern states

Ice Sheets May Melt Rapidly in Response to Distant Volcanoes

Volcanic eruptions have been known to cool the global climate, but they can also exacerbate the melting of ice sheets, according to a paper published today in Nature Communications.

Researchers who analyzed ice cores and meltwater deposits found that ancient eruptions caused immediate and significant melting of the ice sheet that covered much of northern Europe at the end of the last ice age, some 12,000 to 13,000 years ago.

Exposure to Glyphosate, Chemical Found in Weed Killers, Increased Over 23 Years

Analyzing samples from a prospective study, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers found that human exposure to glyphosate, a chemical widely found in weed killers, has increased approximately 500 percent since the introduction of genetically modified crops.

Expanding Brazilian sugarcane could dent global CO2 emissions

Vastly expanding sugarcane production in Brazil for conversion to ethanol could reduce current global carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 5.6 percent, researchers report in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Sea Level Rise Could Flood 1.9 Million U.S. Homes by 2100

An estimated 1.9 million U.S. homes could be flooded by 2100 if seas rise 6 feet in response to climate change, according to a new analysis by the real estate company Zillow. The affected properties are valued at $916 billion dollars and represent 1.8 percent of the country’s housing stock.

Zebra chip pathogen found in Western Canada for the first time

For the first time, evidence of the zebra chip pathogen has been found in potato fields in southern Alberta, but the University of Lethbridge’s Dr. Dan Johnson cautions against panic.

“So far, the zebra chip pathogen has appeared in only small numbers of potato psyllids,” says Johnson, a biogeography professor and coordinator of the Canadian Potato Psyllid and Zebra Chip Monitoring Network. “The number of potato psyllids in all Alberta sites is very low and many sample cards have found no evidence of the potato psyllid insect. Zebra chip does not normally become a problem unless the potato psyllids are found in much higher numbers than are currently being found in Canada.”

When stars collide

Wrap your mind around this: Neutron stars, the collapsed cores of once-large stars, are thought to be so dense that a teaspoon of one would weigh more than Mount Everest.

These are the kind of amazing astrophysical features that help fuel the research interests of Professor John Bally of the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, who studies the formation of stars and planets (including luminous, transient objects in space).