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‘Game-changing’ findings for sustainable hydrogen production

The study has shown promising results for the use of edge-decorated nano carbons as metal-free catalysts for the direct conversion of methane, which is also a powerful greenhouse gas, into hydrogen. Among the nano carbons investigated, nitrogen-doped nano carbons presented the highest level of performance for hydrogen production at high temperatures. Crucially, the researchers also …

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A fossil fruit from California shows ancestors of coffee and potatoes survived cataclysm that killed the dinosaurs

Brian Atkinson, assistant professor of ecology & evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas and curator of paleobotany at the KU Biodiversity Institute, recently published a study of the fossil plant, named Palaeophytocrene chicoensis, in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Plants. “This fossil tells us a really diverse group of flowering plants evolved prior to our …

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Antarctica’s ocean brightens clouds

The study helps us better understand the natural processes of cloud formation, says Gerald “Jay” Mace, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah and the study’s lead author. “We can use that knowledge to improve our understanding of how clouds reflect sunlight globally,” Mace says. “That, in turn, is key to predicting how …

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Prehistoric human migration in Southeast Asia driven by sea-level rise

The Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra, Borneo, and Java were originally part of a large landmass of rainforests and coastal mangroves in the South Asia continental shelf known as ‘The Sundaland’ some 26,000 years ago. But during the last major period of global warming in Earth’s history, from the Last Glacial Maximum period …

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New sodium, aluminum battery aims to integrate renewables for grid resiliency

“We showed that this new molten salt battery design has the potential to charge and discharge much faster than other conventional high-temperature sodium batteries, operate at a lower temperature, and maintain an excellent energy storage capacity,” said Guosheng Li, a materials scientist at PNNL and the principal investigator of the research. “We are getting similar …

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More frequent atmospheric rivers hinder seasonal recovery of Arctic sea ice

“Arctic sea ice decline is among the most obvious evidence of global warming from the past several decades,” said Pengfei Zhang, assistant research professor of meteorology and atmospheric science at Penn State and lead author of the study. “Despite temperatures in the Arctic being well below freezing, sea ice decline in winter is still very …

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Ice cores show even dormant volcanoes leak abundant sulfur into the atmosphere

The study, led by the University of Washington and published Jan. 2 in Geophysical Research Letters, has implications for better understanding Earth’s atmosphere and its relationship with climate and air quality. “We found that on longer timescales the amount of sulfate aerosols released during passive degassing is much higher than during eruptions,” said first author …

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