New Phase of Globalisation Could Undermine Emissions Reduction

New research reveals the growth of carbon production from Chinese exports has slowed or reversed, reflecting a “new phase of globalisation” between developing countries that could undermine international efforts to reduce emissions.

In-Womb Air Pollution Exposure Associated with Higher Blood Pressure in Childhood

Children who were exposed to higher levels of air pollution during the third trimester of their mother’s pregnancy had a higher risk of elevated blood pressure in childhood, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension.

How Seeds from War-Torn Syria Could Help Save American Wheat

When a team of researchers set loose a buzzing horde of Hessian flies on 20,000 seedlings in a Kansas greenhouse, they made a discovery that continues to ripple from Midwestern wheat fields to the rolling hills that surround the battered Syrian city of Aleppo. The seeds once stored in a seed bank outside of that now largely destroyed city could end up saving United States wheat from the disruptions triggered by climate change — and look likely to, soon enough, make their way into the foods that Americans eat.  

WSU Tri-Cities Team Researching Use of Fungi to Restore Native Plant Populations

Transplanting fungi to restore native plant populations in the Midwest and Northwest is the focus of efforts by a team of WSU Tri-Cities researchers.

What Financial Markets, Cancer Cells, and Global Warming Have in Common

A team of biophysicists from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) presents a mathematically concise method for comparing different pricing models in their latest publication in Nature Communications. This enables researchers to predict more accurately how parameters such as the volatility of stock prices change over time.*

Enhancing human resistance to radiation for life in space

With more space exploration and possible colonization on the horizon, a group of international researchers, including the University of Lethbridge’s Dr. Olga Kovalchuk, combined forces to produce a roadmap to enhancing human radioresistance, or the level of radiation an organism is able to withstand. The group recently published a paper exploring the subject in the peer-reviewed journal Oncotarget.

Whales in ice-free Arctic face emerging threat from vessels

In the Arctic, marine mammals such as belugas and bowhead whales rely on a quiet environment to communicate and forage. But as Arctic sea ice shrinks and shipping traffic increases, vessel disturbance could very likely impact their social behaviours, distribution and long-term survival, warns a new study led by University of Victoria marine biologist Lauren McWhinnie.

Record-Breaking Ocean Heat Fueled Hurricane Harvey

In the weeks before Hurricane Harvey tore across the Gulf of Mexico and plowed into the Texas coast in August 2017, the Gulf's waters were warmer than any time on record, according to a new analysis led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

These hotter-than-normal conditions supercharged the storm, fueling it with vast stores of moisture, the authors found. When it stalled near the Houston area, the resulting rains broke precipitation records and caused devastating flooding.

NASA Completes Survey Flights to Map Arctic Ice

Operation IceBridge, NASA’s longest-running airborne mission to monitor polar ice change, concluded this year’s springtime survey of Arctic sea and land ice on May 2. The flights, which began on March 22, covered the western basin of the Arctic Ocean and Greenland’s fastest-changing glaciers.

Oral Drug Treatment Helps Protect Cancer Patients from Potentially Deadly DVT and Pulmonary Embolism

• Cancer patients are at high risk of developing blood clots

• Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) collectively known as venous thromboembolism (VTE), can cause death and disability