https://phys.org/earth-news/ en-us Earth science research, climate change, and global warming. The latest news and updates from Phys.org Plastic water bottles are ubiquitous due to their convenience, yet they harbor potential risks. Sunlight exposure can lead these containers to degrade and emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are potentially detrimental to human health. The booming bottled water market underscores the urgency for safer alternatives. In response to these concerns, there is a pressing need for in-depth research into more secure materials and production methods for water containers. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-sunlight-plastic-risky-combination-bottled.html Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 16:44:03 EDT news638120641 The impacts of climate change are being felt all over the world, but how will it impact how your hometown feels? An interactive web application from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science allows users to search 40,581 places and 5,323 metro areas around the globe to match the expected future climate in each city with the current climate of another location, providing a relatable picture of what is likely in store. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-interactive-future-climate-city-based.html Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 15:15:03 EDT news638115301 More than 1,000 people have died at this year's hajj pilgrimage in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia, an AFP tally showed on Thursday. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-saudi-hajj-pilgrims-deaths-highlight.html Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 14:40:01 EDT news638113079 The carbon stored globally by plants is shorter-lived and more vulnerable to climate change than previously thought, according to a new study. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-carbon-shorter-periods-thought.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 14:00:02 EDT news638092682 We're facing rising food insecurity, the cost-of-living squeeze, and ever-changing climate events. It's no wonder our food systems are in urgent need of a reboot. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-insights-food-sector.html Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:23:38 EDT news638105015 Microfossil analysis allows us to map the subsurface and understand past geological times. In research labs all over the world, geologists spend countless hours looking through the microscope identifying and counting microfossils extracted from sedimentary rock below the seabed. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-ai-algorithm-microfossils.html Earth Sciences Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:17:02 EDT news638104620 A new report from Monash University's Fire to Flourish program has identified how a community-led approach to disaster resilience is delivering positive impacts for affected communities. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-community-disaster-resilience-benefiting.html Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:16:35 EDT news638104592 A team of Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists plan to use artificial intelligence modeling to forecast, and better understand, a growing threat to water caused by toxic algal blooms. Fueled by climate change and rising water temperatures, these harmful algal blooms, or HABs, have grown in intensity and frequency. They have now been reported in all 50 U.S. states. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-ai-toxic-blue-green-tides.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:15:48 EDT news638104544 Communications companies such as Starlink plan to launch tens of thousands of satellites into orbit around Earth over the next decade or so. The growing swarm is already causing problems for astronomers, but recent research has raised another question: What happens when they start to come down? https://phys.org/news/2024-06-defunct-satellites-atmosphere-ozone-layer.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 11:21:04 EDT news638101261 Tropical Storm Alberto, the season's first named storm, weakened Thursday as it moved inland over northeast Mexico after bringing heavy rains to parts of the parched region and leaving at least four dead. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-tropical-storm-alberto-inland-northeast.html Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 11:10:06 EDT news638099795 When the nursing home in southern Mexico began to bake in the country's ongoing heat wave, staff cycled their elderly residents through the few cooling options they had. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-mexico-year-country-vulnerable.html Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 10:58:39 EDT news638099914 Each year, millions of Muslims from across the world embark on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The mass migration is unparalleled in scale, and pilgrims face numerous health hazards. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-people-died-saudi-arabia-climate.html Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 10:52:46 EDT news638099561 Faced with the uncertainties surrounding climate change, policymakers and investors need to know what can happen and how likely these outcomes may be. Unfortunately, current scenarios answer only the first question—and at that, only partially. Research carried out at the EDHEC Risk Climate Institute tries to provide approximate but "actionable" answers to the second. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-problems-climate-scenarios.html Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 10:50:04 EDT news638099394 Our planet was born around 4.5 billion years ago. To understand this mind-bendingly long history, we need to study rocks and the minerals they are made of. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-groundbreaking-discovery-remnants-earth-primordial.html Earth Sciences Thu, 20 Jun 2024 10:47:55 EDT news638099270 In a warming climate, cloud patterns are changing in ways that amplify global warming. A team of researchers led by Professor Johannes Quaas from Leipzig University and Hao Luo and Professor Yong Han from Sun Yat-sen University in China have discovered increasingly asymmetric changes in cloud cover—cloud cover decreases more during the day than at night. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-shifting-cloud-patterns-exacerbating-climate.html Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 09:50:01 EDT news638095267 At approximately 4:10 p.m. on January 1, 2024, the Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan was hit by a large earthquake with a moment magnitude (Mw) of 7.5. This earthquake, known as the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, registered a maximum seismic intensity of 7 on the Japanese scale and caused widespread damage, including numerous casualties. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-noto-peninsula-earthquake-quiet-rupture.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 09:41:00 EDT news638095259 Four in every five people want their country to strengthen its commitments to addressing climate change, according to a global poll of 75,000 participants published on Thursday. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-people-climate-action-survey.html Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 04:05:58 EDT news638075124 Deadly heat that blanketed the United States, Mexico and Central America recently was made 35 times more likely due to global warming, an international network of climate scientists said on Thursday. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-climate-deadly-35x-mexico-america.html Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 03:56:40 EDT news638074592 In developed countries such as Japan, wastewater systems designed to keep harmful pollutants out of storm drainage are aging and deteriorating, sending contaminants into local bodies of water. Finding the source of a leak in wastewater systems that are often buried far underground can be challenging. The conventional method can miss leaks, and it cannot detect leaks found downstream. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-caffeine-marker-wastewater-leaks-storm.html Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 13:33:21 EDT news638022798 Innovative solutions and emergency funding are critical to help the more than 30 million people in Southern Africa affected by drought who now face severe food insecurity and humanitarian challenges, UN agencies and governments warn. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-southern-africa-drought-crisis-demands.html Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 13:11:03 EDT news638021461 From rolling vineyards to stunning beaches, there's no shortage of beauty to discover in our own backyards. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-urged-local-sustainable-tourism.html Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 12:29:49 EDT news638018986 As spring phases into summer across the U.S., kids are spending more time outdoors. Playing outside is healthy in all kinds of ways, but it also poses some risks. One that many families may not be aware of is exposure to lead in soil, which is still a serious problem, mainly in cities. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-epa-lowered-screening-soil-households.html Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 11:53:05 EDT news638016781 In the late 2000s, Scott Saleska noticed something strange going on in the Amazon rainforest. In 2005, a massive drought struck the region. Two years later, Saleska—a University of Arizona professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology—published surprising research that used satellite images to find that the drought resulted in more green growth in large swaths of the Amazon. On the other hand, field researchers saw plants turn brown and some die in response to the drought. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-drought-amazon-vulnerable-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 11:00:01 EDT news637947509 Researchers at the University of Southampton have conducted the most detailed spatial analysis to date of storm surges along the coast of the UK and Ireland. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-scientists-storm-surges-future.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 10:41:07 EDT news638012463 Farmer Bao Mingchen gestured to a dry pipe where water typically irrigates a patch of crops, the soil now cracked under a drought hitting China's vast agricultural hinterland. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-central-china-farmers-crop-failures.html Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 10:31:46 EDT news638011902 Nearly 2,000 children die every day from health problems linked to air pollution, which is now the second biggest risk factor for early death worldwide, a report said Wednesday. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-air-pollution-linked-child-deaths.html Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 10:30:04 EDT news638011799 Young people today are living with the existential threat of climate change. They are witnessing and experiencing record-breaking heat waves, devastating storms, and rising seas. Moreover, youth are watching the actions of governments and industries fall well short of what is needed to address the climate crisis, leaving many young people feeling powerless and hopeless about the future. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-young-people-climate-anxiety-action.html Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 09:30:02 EDT news638006575 The Sun Corridor in Arizona in the semi-arid Southwestern U.S. is a land of seeming unlimited growth that is constantly colliding with physical constraints. It is mountainous but also home to a large valley that includes one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the U.S. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-arizona-winter-precipitation.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 09:00:01 EDT news638005155 Crews battling wildfires across California on June 18, including the Post fire in Los Angeles County, face another day of gusty winds and low humidity that will push flames into tinder-dry fuel, weather forecasters warned. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-critical-conditions-hamper-firefighting-blazes.html Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 08:49:48 EDT news638005782 Much of the methane released into the southern Baltic Sea from the Nord Stream gas pipeline has remained in the water. This is shown by measurements taken by researchers from the University of Gothenburg. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-nord-stream-gas-sea-explosion.html Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 05:00:01 EDT news637939201