Uncertain climate future could disrupt energy systems

(DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) An international team of scientists has published a new study proposing an optimization methodology for designing climate-resilient energy systems and to help ensure that communities will be able to meet future energy needs given weather and climate variability. Their findings were recently published in Nature Energy.

From Italy to Seattle, Reports Find Social Restrictions Are Working to Curb New COVID-19 Cases

Numerous datasets from around the world are illustrating how self-isolation and lockdowns have been helping to curb novel coronavirus cases.

The post From Italy to Seattle, Reports Find Social Restrictions Are Working to Curb New COVID-19 Cases appeared first on Good News Network.

Using fiber optics to advance safe and renewable energy

(DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) Fiber optic cables, it turns out, can be incredibly useful scientific sensors. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have studied them for use in carbon sequestration, groundwater mapping, earthquake detection, and monitoring of Arctic permafrost thaw. Now they have been awarded new grants to develop fiber optics for two novel uses: monitoring offshore wind operations and underground natural gas storage.

In Earth’s largest extinction, land animal die-offs began long before marine extinction

Because of poor dates for land fossils laid down before and after the mass extinction at the end of the Permian, paleontologists assumed that the terrestrial extinctions from Gondwana occurred at the same time as the better-documented marine extinctions. But a new study provides more precise dates for South African fossils and points to a long, perhaps 400,000-year period of extinction on land before the rapid marine extinction 252 million years ago.

In Earth’s largest extinction, land animal die-offs began long before marine extinction

(University of California – Berkeley) Because of poor dates for land fossils laid down before and after the mass extinction at the end of the Permian, paleontologists assumed that the terrestrial extinctions from Gondwana occurred at the same time as the better-documented marine extinctions. But a new study provides more precise dates for South African fossils and points to a long, perhaps 400,000-year period of extinction on land before the rapid marine extinction 252 million years ago.

Wildfire perceptions largely positive after hiking in a burned landscape

(University of California – Davis) Results from pre- and post-hike surveys of a burned landscape indicate that people understand and appreciate the role of fire in natural landscapes more than is perceived.

Coral tells own tale about El Niño’s past

(Rice University) Rice University and Georgia Tech scientists use data from ancient coral to build a record of temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean over the last millennium. The data question previous links between volcanic eruptions and El Niño events.

Producing solar power at night

Scientists have developed a new prototype of nighttime solar cells that can produce electricity at night through a radiative cooling mechanism.

Pablo Escobar’s hippos may help counteract a legacy of extinctions

When cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar was shot dead in 1993, the four hippos in his private zoo in Colombia were left behind. Since then, their numbers have grown to an estimated 80-100 in the country’s rivers. Scientists and the public alike have viewed the hippos as invasive pests that should not run wild in South America. Now a new study by an international group of researchers challenges this view.

New genetic editing powers discovered in squid

Revealing yet another super-power in the skillful squid, scientists have discovered that squid massively edit their own genetic instructions not only within the nucleus of their neurons, but also within the axon — the long, slender neural projections that transmit electrical impulses to other neurons. This is the first time that edits to genetic information have been observed outside of the nucleus of an animal cell.