Environment

Complex algorithms can be taught to predict steel corrosion rates in coastal regions, helping engineers choose the best materials for each location.

Deep sea animals face greater risks compared to those nearer the surface as they become less able to maintain their preferred thermal habitats with climate change.

Biodiversity is of crucial importance to the marine ecosystem. The prohibition of trawling activities in the Hong Kong marine environment for two and a half years has significantly improved biodiversity, an inter-university study led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has found. Research results showed that the trawl ban could restore and conserve biodiversity in tropical coastal waters.

“The earth is suffering from several ‘diseases’: global warming, ocean acidification, habitat loss, etc. If any of these diseases remains uncured, other diseases will accelerate and cause new ones to appear, hence putting humanity’s well-being in danger,” said Associate Professor Masahiko Fujii. For this reason, the research staff of the Faculty of Environmental Earth Science keeps on assessing the current global environmental issues and promoting renewable energy sources as a possible solution.

Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo calculate sources of uncertainty in flood risks to improve global flood predictions

The younger generations are willing to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to sustainable living. In a study questioning both commitment to sustainable behaviors and willingness to trade better pay to work for a more sustainable-minded company, the surveyed young adults in Japan made their preferences clear.

To promote sustainable development and the use of eco-coffins, Lingnan University in Hong Kong (LU)’s Lingnan Entrepreneurship Initiative (LEI) has taken the lead in developing dual-use coffins as furniture for environmental purposes. The Lingnan University team is collaborating with Forget Thee Not, a social enterprise promoting green burial and funerals, to design furniture that can be conveniently reassembled into coffins. They aim to add a personal and heartfelt touch to honour the deceased, and the coffins are also more ecologically sustainable and cost-effective than the traditional funeral and burial process.

For the first time, scientists have succeeded in continuous monitoring of a subglacial discharge plume, providing a deeper understanding of the glacier-fjord environment.

The University of Tokyo researchers use information theory to show that the accepted biochemical model of bacterial chemical sensing is mathematically equivalent to the optimal solution, with implications for microbiology and robotics

A design concept changes how materials separate gaseous mixtures.

A 2020 explosion in Lebanon’s port city of Beirut led to a southward-bound, high-velocity atmospheric wave that rivaled ones generated by volcanic eruptions.

A team of scientists has, for the first time, identified landfalls of tropical cyclones (TCs) in Japan for the period from 1877 to 2019; this knowledge will help prepare for future TC disasters.

Expeditions planned this year will help scientists learn more about the species.

Springer Nature and the University of Tokyo to hold SDGs Symposium 2021, “Interdisciplinary science solutions for food, water, climate and ecosystems Sustainable Development Goals”

ARN's February newsletter features research about catalyzing plastic recycling, the mental health toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, antiperovskites and oolong tea. In honor of International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we also have tips for addressing gender bias in STEM communications, and inspirational stories about pioneering female scientists from our Giants in History series. Read on...

This article is an excerpt from the Hokkaido University research magazine “Tackling Global Issues vol.3 Fighting the menace of zoonosis" (link below).

Hokkaido University scientists show that under laboratory conditions, ultraviolet light reacts with nitrophenol to produce smog-generating nitrous acid.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the major greenhouse gases causing global warming. If the carbon dioxide could be converted into energy, it would be killing two birds with one stone in addressing the environmental issues. A joint research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed a new photocatalyst which can produce methane fuel (CH4) selectively and effectively from carbon dioxide using sunlight. According to their research, the quantity of methane produced was almost doubled in the first 8 hours of the reaction process.

It’s not only climate change impacting bird reproduction.

Researchers from The University of Tokyo have designed a new type of system using listening devices to detect and track deer positions in the wild

Lingnan University in Hong Kong (LU) has recently established a publicly accessible Natural History Collection (the Collection) of specimens of local amphibians and reptiles to document Hong Kong’s biodiversity, and for research, conservation and education purposes.

For the first time, researchers have used a novel catalyst process to recycle a type of plastic found in everything from grocery bags and food packaging to toys and electronics into liquid fuels and wax.

Reproduction of native and invasive bitterling fishes and their hybridisation was studied in Japan. We collected mussels in which these bitterlings lay their eggs, kept them in aquaria, collected eggs/larvae ejected from mussels, and genotyped them. We found that hybrids occurred when local mussel density was low. The rapid decline of the host mussels and artificial introduction of an invasive congener interacted to cause the rapid decline of a native fish.

Researchers of Ehime University and the University of Helsinki measured hepatic organohalogen (OHC) concentrations and gene expression profiles in Atlantic salmon collected from three areas in the Baltic Sea. The results showed that OHCs and gene expression profiles were individually grouped in three areas and the covariation of the two datasets provided by a multivariate method was significantly similar. This suggests that the gene expression profiles in salmon are affected by OHC contamination.

High quality biofertilizer can be generated from food waste mixed with microbial super strains.

Local development issues are often complex and involve multiple stakeholders, making them difficult to solve. IIUM transdisciplinary expert Irina Safitri Zen of the Sustainability Leadership for Community (SL4C) program says academics need to develop core competencies in order to translate local sustainability policies into actions.

A team of scientists from Hokkaido University has suggested that marimo maintain their characteristic spherical shape due to the rarity of the formation of reproductive cells.

A chance discovery leads to a simple process that can introduce ‘oxygen-missing layers’ into perovskite oxynitrides, changing their properties.

Far too little is known about the long-term dynamics of the abundance of most macro-organism species. We used sedimentary DNA technology to quantify marine fish DNA abundance in sediment sequences spanning the last 300 years. This study first shows the existence of fish DNA in the sequences and proves that fish abundance can be tracked using sedimentary DNA, highlighting the utility of sedimentary DNA for researchers to acquire lengthy records of macro-organism species abundance.

A joint-study led by a team of marine ecologists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has found that the eco-engineered tiles can increase habitat complexity on seawalls in Hong Kong, thereby effectively enhancing the marine biodiversity. The Hong Kong study is part of a global research project on the relationship between habitat complexity and marine biodiversity on human-built marine structures.