ENN
Environmental News Network -- Know Your Environment
An international research team co-led by a Monash biologist has shown that methane-oxidising bacteria – key organisms responsible for greenhouse gas mitigation – are more flexible and resilient than previously thought.
Soil bacteria that oxidise methane (methanotrophs) are globally important in capturing methane before it enters the atmosphere, and we now know that they can consume hydrogen gas to enhance their growth and survival.
Preventing injuries may not be the only reason children shouldn’t use off-road vehicles (ORVs).
In a new study, public health scientists raise concerns that people who use ORVs in many regions of the country may face exposure to hazardous mineral fibers. These include naturally occurring asbestos and erionite – an asbestos-like material that occurs in sedimentary rocks of the western United States.
Most of the deposits are located along the Appalachian Mountains and ranges in the West and Southwest, especially California.
A University of Alberta forestry professor has cracked a key mystery surrounding the mountain pine beetle.
After studying lodgepole pine trees in the Grande Prairie area that survived a pine beetle attack, U of A professor Nadir Erbilgin and his team discovered certain chemicals in the trees that produce high levels of resin—sticky sap—that overwhelms the insect.
NASA analyzed the soil moisture in southeastern Texas before and after Harvey made landfall and found the ground was already somewhat saturated. NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP Satellite provided a night-time look at Harvey after it moved into the Gulf of Mexico, and NOAA’s GOES East satellite provided a look at the storm after it made its final landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border on Aug. 30.
Immunotherapy is an emerging field in the global fight against cancer, even though scientists and clinicians have been working for decades to find ways to help the body’s immune system detect and attack cancerous cells. Doug Mahoney’s lab at the University of Calgary recently discovered an immunotherapy that uses existing cancer drugs in a whole new way.
An herb widely used in traditional Chinese medicine might hold the key to a new osteoporosis therapy that could prevent bone loss without causing side effects.
Using a compound derived from red sage, UBC researchers have found a way to selectively block an enzyme called Cathepsin K (CatK), which plays a major role in the breakdown of collagen in bones during osteoporosis. The findings were published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.
