Gorgonians are replacing scleractinian corals that are disappearing from marine ecosystems due to human impact and global climate change. This is the result of a study carried out by researcher of the Institute of Science and Environmental Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) Sergio Rossi, which analyzes the reason why the gorgonians (or octocorals) are proving to be one of the "winning" species in this transition process triggered by the spiraling death rates and degradation of corals in the deep sea and reefs.
articles
Putting Underused Smart Devices to Work
There are currently millions of heavily underutilized devices in the World. The storage, networking, sensing and computational power of laptops, smartphones, routers or base stations grows with each new version and product release. Why not put all those extra gigabytes of memory and those powerful processing units to work collaboratively and expand the services available to all of us?
Glacial Engineering Could Limit Sea-Level Rise, If We Get Our Emissions Under Control
Targeted engineering projects to hold off glacier melting could slow down the collapse of ice sheets and limit sea-level rise, according to a new study published in the European Geosciences Union journal The Cryosphere. While an intervention similar in size to existing large civil engineering projects could only have a 30% chance of success, a larger project would have better odds of holding off ice-sheet collapse. But study authors Michael Wolovick and John Moore caution that reducing emissions still remains key to stopping climate change and its dramatic effects.
Physicists Train Robotic Gliders to Soar like Birds
The words “fly like an eagle” are famously part of a song, but they may also be words that make some scientists scratch their heads. Especially when it comes to soaring birds like eagles, falcons and hawks, who seem to ascend to great heights over hills, canyons and mountain tops with ease. Scientists realize that upward currents of warm air assist the birds in their flight, but they don’t know how the birds find and navigate these thermal plumes.
Researcher using bird’s eye view to reduce building strikes
Brandon Samuels plans to set up cameras this January in hopes of catching footage of birds crashing into windows across campus. Honestly, he really is a nice guy – it’s for science.
From south to north, young lobsters find cool refuge in deep water
Maine fishermen hauled in 110.8 million pounds of lobsters in 2017 with a value of more than $400 million. While still incredibly large, this volume represented a 16 percent decline and $100 million loss compared to previous years of record-setting landings.