UK researchers develop low tech method for environmental sampling of campylobacter

A team of researchers from the United Kingdom has developed a novel method for assessing human/pathogen interactions in the natural environment, using citizen scientists wearing boot socks over their shoes during walks in the countryside. In the process, they found that slightly less than half of the socks were positive for the gastrointestinal pathogen, Campylobacter. The research is published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

In Measuring Gas Exchange Between Water and Air, Size Matters

Ponds and lakes play a significant role in the global carbon cycle, and are often net emitters of carbon gases to the atmosphere.  However, the rate at which gases move across the air-water boundary is not well quantified, particularly for small ponds.

UN agricultural agency links food security and climate change in new guidelines

The United Nations agricultural agency today unveiled guidelines to help Governments balance the needs of farming and climate change when making decisions, such as whether to refill a dried up lake or focus instead on sustainably using the forest on its shore.

Hubble Catches a Galaxy Duo by the "Hare"

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the unusual galaxy IRAS 06076-2139, found in the constellation Lepus (The Hare). Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instruments observed the galaxy from a distance of 500 million light-years.

Different places warm at different paces

One of the robust features of global warming under increasing greenhouse gas concentrations is that different places warm at different paces.

Dingo fence study shows dingo extermination leads to poorer soil

A comparison of conditions in the outback on either side of Australia’s dingo fence has revealed that extermination of these apex predators affects not only the abundance of other animals and plants, but also reduces the quality of the soil.

The UNSW study indicates greater control of kangaroo numbers is needed across a third of the Australian continent where dingoes are rare, to reduce damage on ecosystems.

“We have shown for the first time that the presence of dingoes is linked to healthier soils, because they suppress the numbers of kangaroos that graze on the vegetation,” says study senior author UNSW Associate Professor Mike Letnic.

Migratory Seabird Deaths Linked to Hurricanes

Stronger and more frequent hurricanes may pose a new threat to the sooty tern, an iconic species of migratory seabird found throughout the Caribbean and Mid-Atlantic, a new Duke University-led study reveals.

The study, published this week in the peer-reviewed open-access journal PeerJ, is the first to map the birds’ annual migratory path and demonstrate how its timing and trajectory place them in the direct path of hurricanes moving into the Caribbean after forming over the Atlantic.

“The route the birds take and that most Atlantic-forming hurricanes take is basically the same – only in reverse,” said Ryan Huang, a doctoral student at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, who led the study. “That means these birds, who are usually very tired from traveling long distances over water without rest, are flying head-on into some of the strongest winds on the planet.”

Study analyses foods for radioactive substances

"Even though radiation emitting radioactive elements like uranium are only contained in small quantities in food, their chemical properties and radioactivity could pose a risk if they are ingested over a longer period in higher concentrations. The actual risk is now being assessed within the scope of the cooperation with the BfS," explains BfR President Professor Dr. Dr. Andreas Hensel. "In this way, the BfS and BfR will jointly obtain more data for risk assessment," Hensel adds.

Portable mass spectrometer allows on-site gas analysis

Analyses of environmental gases which previously required months of laboratory work can now be carried out rapidly in the field. A group of Eawag scientists have developed a portable mass spectrometer allowing on-site measurements – and a spin-off has been created to commercialize the new system.

What are the effects of volcanic gases accumulating in Lake Kivu in central Africa? How does the Rhine’s groundwater system function near Pratteln? What is the best way of controlling greenhouse gas emissions from a landfill in northeastern Switzerland? Answers to questions like these can be provided by a newly developed portable mass spectrometer – by the researchers named “miniRuedi” – which allows gas and water samples to be analysed on site and in real time. For example, the concentrations of different gases were determined at a landfill during a one-day measurement campaign. This study supports the optimisation measures to aerate the landfill in order to reduce the formation of methane, a strong greenhouse gas.

France Moves Forward with 17 GW of Clean Energy Investments

France is moving forward on renewables, as the European Commission has approved a plan for Europe’s second-largest economy to contribute another 17 gigawatts (GW) of clean power to its infrastructure. If this plan comes to fruition, France could almost double its combined current wind and solar power capacity.

And that decision dwarfs the Commission’s approval earlier this year of a request from France to add about 2.6 GW of renewables, mostly from solar and hydropower. Known during the postwar era for De Gaulle and nuclear, France is embarking on the path of Macron and renewables.