Earth Sciences

City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) researchers have made a remarkable scientific breakthrough in developing next-generation passive radiative cooling technology. Their pioneering work on cooling ceramics, pavements and textiles helps mitigate heat impacts without additional energy consumption. This innovation has promising application potential in buildings, roads and clothing, addressing issues such as urban heat islands and greenhouse gas emissions to combat the challenges of climate change.

The equatorial Pacific plays a crucial role in regulating tropical cloud formation and regional weather extremes, earning it the nickname “the pacemaker of global warming.” Though its impact may seem subtle, this oceanic region has been a silent hero, slowing the pace of global warming. Now, climate scientists are on a quest to discover whether this protective mechanism will continue to pulsate in our favor.

An unprecedented rapid increase in anthropogenic fingerprints around 1952 in the global strata reflects the point in time when humanity began to overwhelm the Earth system

Study shows that ancient reef-building stromatoporoids survived the Late Devonian extinction and continued to thrive during the Carboniferous Period

Analyzing fossils can be difficult – especially when they're so small that they can only be seen with a microscope. Researchers at Tohoku University have come up with a solution.

Dr. Chung-Che Wu, a Ph.D. graduate from the Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University (NTU), along with Prof. Chuan-Chou Shen, the National Chair Professor, collaborating with an international research team from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Switzerland, published a cutting-edge laser-ablation uranium-thorium dating (LA U-Th dating) technology in the prestigious journal "Analytical Chemistry" on August 6th (1) and was selected as one of the cover articles (Figure 1). This breakthrough technology improved LA U-Th dating limits to within tens of thousands of years, with the youngest geological samples dated to only a thousand years, making it the most advanced analytical technique internationally.

Over millions of years, Earth has experienced cycles of ice ages and warm periods. Today, we find ourselves in a warm period heavily influenced by human activities. As greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere rise, global warming intensifies, causing ice sheets to melt rapidly, sea levels to rise, and posing severe threats to global ecosystems and human societies. Understanding the mechanisms behind these warming periods by studying past extreme warm periods is a crucial task for modern scientists.

Velocities of aluminum enriched superhydrous phase B suggest the presence of hydrated mantle regions beneath subduction zones

Commercially important marine fish and invertebrate species will likely shift northwards under a warmer climate.

Applied Microbiology International has announced that it has recruited 11 new Global Ambassadors from around the world.

Mechanics and thermodynamics of (Mg,Fe)O grain boundaries under extreme pressure

In this study, the crystal structure of serpentine (antigorite) was investigated using first-principles calculations under pressure. The results showed that the structure and chemical composition of antigorite changed gradually under high pressure, and it is highly likely that water was released by these structural changes during the subduction process. It was shown that the changes in the modulated structure (polysome) reported in this study may explain the distribution of intermediate-depth earthquakes reported by observations.

Sound velocities in lunar mantle aggregates at simultaneous high pressures and temperatures suggests the presence of garnet in the deep lunar interior

We performed in situ X-ray observations of the unit-cell volume of SiO2 stishovite in a water-saturated system using a multi-anvil apparatus. The results revealed that the unit-cell volume expanded excessively at temperatures lower than 600°C, but it decreased with increasing temperature and time. Therefore, water dissolution into SiO2 stishovite is likely a metastable phenomenon and stishovite is unlikely to be a major water carrier, at least up to uppermost lower mantle conditions.

・In situ deformation experiments on olivine were performed using a high-flux synchrotron X-ray and a “mobile” multianvil apparatus at BL05XU, SPring-8. ・Transient creep of olivine aggregates follows the Burgers creep function at upper mantle pressures and temperatures. ・Time-dependent rheology of the shallow mantle observed in the late post-seismic deformation is explained by the Burgers model.

Researchers have proposed using the levels of caffeine, a common household pollutant that isn’t otherwise found in the environment, to find likely sources of leaks in wastewater systems.

In the same way that the number of rings in a tree can tell us its age, the characteristics of rocks such as breccia can tell us about the history of a region. The breccia around Ichinokawa Mine (located in Ehime prefecture) are of particular interest, as the mine is located south of the Median Tectonic Line. Researchers at Tohoku University uncovered how breccia can provide valuable evidence to estimate the energy of past earthquakes in the area.

Experimental investigations on partition coefficients of first-transition row elements between olivine and silicate melt

On the occasion of World Environment Day today (5 June), the Science Unit of Lingnan University and Friends of the Earth (HK) (FoE (HK)) have signed a partnership agreement to launch the first Executive Certificate in Sustainable Finance & ESG Analytics for executives of higher education institutions in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), and aligned with the CESGA global certification. Acting in response to our era of digital transformation, this executive certificate training programme not only explores the concepts of Sustainable Finance, but also incorporates Lingnan’s expertise in Artificial Intelligence (AI) analytics, reflecting the global shift towards Sustainable Finance and the increasing integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors in financial decision-making.

As wildfires in Siberia become more common, global climate modeling estimates significant impacts on climate, air quality, health, and economies in East Asia and across the northern hemisphere.

Meandering ocean currents play an important role in the melting of Antarctic ice shelves, threatening a significant rise in sea levels.

A case study on the effects of open waste burning on air quality in Northwestern Greenland calls attention to the importance of no-one-left-behind sustainable air quality monitoring in the Arctic region.

Scientists successfully addressed mathematical challenges in conventional Spectral Matrix analysis, used to analyze three-component seismic signals, by introducing time-delay components. The new technique enables the characterization of various polarized waves and the detection of seismic events that have previously gone unnoticed by conventional methods. These findings pave the way for improving a variety of applications, including earthquake detection.

Gas hydrates are great alternative energy sources but they could also harm us and the environment, note geologists from the University of the Philippines.

- DGIST, HNIBR, and PKNU partner in the Island Wildlife Material Advancement Research Group to create big data on and develop practical resources from natural island wildlife products

Yokohama National University scientists are working towards creating a better tomorrow by addressing diverse challenges, from snow algae and tropical cyclones to AI cyberthreats, and much more.

Asteroids offer valuable windows into the early solar system, given that they are remnants of planetary embryos that failed to form into planets. A recent analysis of samples from Ryugu offered insights into the composition of water- and carbon-rich small bodies in the solar system.

Aids local governments in adapting to the threats of climate change

A significant breakthrough in developing a passive radiative cooling (PRC) material has been announced by researchers at City University of Hong Kong (CityU). The findings have just been published in the prestigious scientific journal Science titled “Hierarchically structured passive radiative cooling ceramic with high solar reflectivity.”

Hunting for supermassive black holes, Coastal survival at risk, Calcium and dead cell clean-up, Two naps are better than one & Pineapple leaf prosthetics. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.