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Environment

E20 fuel would double the amount of ethanol in petrol and could reduce the EU's emissions from gasoline by 8.2%. Image credit - Piqsels, licenced under CCO
transport | environment | energy
09 March 2020

Why raising the alcohol content of Europe’s fuels could reduce carbon emissions

By 2030, a fifth of the fuel that motorists put into the petrol tanks of their cars could be alcohol, according to research concluding that new petrol and ethanol blends can reduce carbon emissions from Europe’s transport sector with little additional cost to consumers.

Speleothems, such as stalactites and stalagmites, may hold the secrets of why ancient civilisations collapsed. Image credit - Sebastian Breitenbach
environment
05 March 2020

Cave rock studies provide window into ancient civilisations

There is a certain romance to speleology, the study of caves, if you can see past the cold and the damp and the dark. Caves are ancient and often beautiful places. And they can be useful. Rock formations in caves, it turns out, hold within them chemical secrets that provide a window on both ancient civilisations and the climate of the future.

Dr. Roth studies the evolution of male pregnancy in syngnathids. Image credit - Sabrina Koehler
interview | environment | frontier research
24 February 2020

Q&A: The curious case of male pregnancy in seahorses and pipefishes

Male seahorses not only become pregnant and give birth, but do so in ways that take different forms, which make them unique research subjects to understand the evolution of pregnancy, according to Dr Olivia Roth from the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) in Germany.

Caterpillar saliva causes maize to release a fragrant chemical that prepares other parts of the plant for attack. Image credit - Pxhere, licensed under CC0
environment | frontier research
20 February 2020

Plants can detect insect attacks by 'sniffing' each other's aromas

Fragrant aromas from plants can actually be a response to attacks by insects, and can alert neighbours to an attack or summon the insects’ predators. Now, scientists are deciphering these secret codes to develop better, greener chemicals to defend crops against herbivorous insects.

The number of fish parasites is rising with climate change and as fish farming becomes more common, say researchers. Image credit - Flickr/Artur Rydzewski, licensed under CC BY 2.0
environment
18 February 2020

Fish farmers seek new weapons to fight thriving parasites

Salmon farmers battling large numbers of parasites that flourish on fish farms are seeking – and finding – new ways to cut their losses and protect marine wildlife.

Delivering online purchases to people’s homes and offices is a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions. Image credit -Piqsels, licenced under CC0 1.0
transport | environment
17 February 2020

The carbon cost of home delivery and how to avoid it

Delivering online shopping to people’s homes is a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly when deliveries fail and the journey needs to be repeated. Researchers are now re-thinking home deliveries to see if there is a better way of doing things, with ideas including robot couriers, jointly owned parcel lockers and an ‘Uber’ for parcels.

Brown bears show individuality in the distance they travel each day, their preference for daytime or night-time movement and other behaviours, according to research. Image credit - Rufus46, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
environment
13 February 2020

Understanding different brown bear personalities may help reduce clashes with people

The brown bear is one of Europe’s five large carnivores and can sometimes cross paths with people, with potentially fatal consequences. But bears have different personalities and behaviours, say researchers, and understanding this is the key to reducing conflict and protecting both them and humans.

Monsoons occur throughout the tropics and sub-tropics but scientists are still uncertain about how climate change will affect them. Image credit - Jean-Marie Hullot/Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 3.0
environment | frontier research
11 February 2020

A 40-million-year-old layer of dust can help predict how monsoons will change

A fine layer of dust thought to have been left by the first winter monsoon ever to cross northeastern Tibet has been uncovered by scientists, revealing the moment when the great weather phenomenon that waters much of Asia’s summers and dries its winters may have begun.

Urban goods deliveries add to traffic congestion, noise and pollution. Image credit - Andrew Kambel/ Unsplash
transport | environment
10 February 2020

Electric bikes and silent trucks to green goods deliveries

Across Europe’s cities, the demand for delivery services is increasing. But these deliveries affect urban life as they add to traffic congestion, noise and pollution and many cities are now trying out alternative modes of transport that could help.

Assessing the health of an entire ocean is an 'extraordinarily ambitious agenda', says Prof. J Murray Roberts. Image credit - Hannah Roberts
interview | environment
06 February 2020

Q&A: To protect the Atlantic, we first need to understand it

The Atlantic Ocean is under threat from fishing, fossil fuel extraction and deep-sea mining, and the onus should be on these industries to prove that their exploitation is sustainable rather than requiring scientists to come up with reasons to protect it, says Professor J Murray Roberts, a marine biologist at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

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