Altitude Training for Cancer-Fighting Cells

Mountain climbers and endurance athletes are not the only ones to benefit from altitude training – that is, learning to perform well under low-oxygen conditions. It turns out that cancer-fighting cells of the immune system can also improve their performance through a cellular version of such a regimen. In a study published in Cell Reports, Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have shown that immune system’s killer T cells destroy cancerous tumors much more effectively after being starved for oxygen.

Sheep Gene Study May Help Breed Healthier Animals

Fresh insights into the genetic code of sheep could aid breeding programmes to improve their health and productivity.

Developing Roads That Can Generate Power From Passing Traffic

Researchers are looking at advanced materials for roads and pavements that could generate electricity from passing traffic.

Report Suggests Love of the Seas Could be the Key for Plastic Pollution Solution

Tapping into the public’s passion for the ocean environment could be the key to reducing the threats posed to it by plastic pollution, a new report suggests.

Changes in Earth's Crust Caused Oxygen to Fill the Atmosphere

Scientists have long wondered how Earth’s atmosphere filled with oxygen. UBC geologist Matthijs Smit and research partner Klaus Mezger may have found the answer in continental rocks that are billions of years old.

Urgent Emission Reductions Needed to Achieve 1.5°C Warming Limit

Significant emission reductions are required if we are to achieve one of the key goals of the Paris Agreement, and limit the increase in global average temperatures to 1.5°C; a new Oxford University partnership warns.

NASA Sees Talim Now Extra-Tropical

Tropical Storm Talim made landfall on Kyushu, the large island of southwestern Japan, where it weakened to an extra-tropical storm. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured an image of the storm after its transition.

Changes in Nonextreme Precipitation May Have Not-So-Subtle Consequences

Major floods and droughts receive a lot of attention in the context of climate change, but University of Illinois researchers analyzed over five decades of precipitation data from North America to find that changes in nonextreme precipitation are more significant than previously realized and larger than those in extreme precipitation. These changes can have a strong effect on ecosystems, agriculture, infrastructure design and resource management, and point to a need to examine precipitation in a more nuanced, multifaceted way.

In a Stunning Turnaround, Britain Moves to End the Burning of Coal

Bigger than any medieval castle, with its 12 giant white cooling towers gleaming in the sun, the Drax Power Station dominates the horizon for tens of miles across the flat lands of eastern England. For four decades, it has been one of the world’s largest coal power plants, often generating a tenth of the U.K.’s electricity. It has been the lodestar for the final phase of Britain’s 250-year-long love affair with coal – the fuel that built the country’s empire and industrialized the world.

NOAA teams with Paul G. Allen Philanthropies to expand deep ocean observations

In a groundbreaking public-private partnership, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen and NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory will deploy a large array of new deep ocean floats to expand ocean observations in a key area of the western South Atlantic Ocean.

These instruments, called Deep Argo floats, can collect data down to nearly four miles deep, and promise to lead scientists to a better understanding of how the bottom half of the ocean may influence long term weather, climate, and sea level rise.