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A new study has uncovered when and why the native vegetation that today dominates much of Australia first expanded across the continent. The research should help researchers better predict the likely impact of climate change and rising carbon dioxide levels on such plants here and elsewhere. The dominant vegetation, so-called C4 plants, includes a wide variety of tropical, subtropical and arid-land grasses. , C4 plants also include important worldwide crops such as sugarcane, corn, sorghum and millet. The research has just been published online in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Sandia National Laboratories will receive $10.5 million from the Department of Energy to research and design a cheaper and more efficient solar energy system.

In the soils of the world’s cereal fields, a family tussle between related species of fungi is underway for control of the crops’ roots, with food security threatened if the wrong side wins. Beneficial fungi can help plants to protect themselves from cousins eager to overwhelm the roots, but it’s a closely fought battle.

For close to two weeks the combination of a nearly stationary front and tropical moisture caused almost continuous precipitation over much of the Mid-Atlantic. Using data from a constellation of satellites, NASA calculated the extreme rainfall that occurred in parts of the U.S.

Fossil fuels have long been the precursor to plastic, but new research from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and European collaborators could help send that era up in smoke — carbon dioxide, to be exact.