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Crop yields in Africa will nosedive ten years from now unless we can develop varieties that can better deal with climate change. Unfortunately, we’re not breeding those hardier varieties fast enough.

That’s the sobering conclusion of a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change by researchers from the University of Leeds. As temperatures rise, crop yields fall. This is particularly true for staple crops like corn, bananas and beans raised in hot tropical areas.

 

Bumble bees have discriminating palettes when it comes to their pollen meals, according to researchers at Penn State. The researchers found that bumble bees can detect the nutritional quality of pollen, and that this ability helps them selectively forage among plant species to optimize their diets.

"Populations of many bee species are in decline across the world, and poor nutrition is thought to be a major factor causing these declines," said Christina Grozinger, director of the Center for Pollinator Research, Penn State. "Our studies can help identify plant species and stocks that provide high-quality nutrition for bumble bees and potentially other bee species, which will help in the development of pollinator-friendly gardens and planting strips."

El calentamiento global futuro no sólo dependerá de la cantidad de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero de origen humano, sino que dependerá también de la sensibilidad del sistema climático y la respuesta a los mecanismos de retroalimentación. Al reconstruir el calentamiento global pasado y el ciclo del carbono en la Tierra hace 56 millones de años, los investigadores del Instituto Niels Bohr, entre otros, han utilizado modelos de computadora para calcular la perspectiva potencial de calentamiento global futuro, que podría ser aún más caliente de lo que se pensaba anteriormente. Los resultados se publican en la revista científica Geophysical Research Letters.

Beijing and surrounding areas of China often suffer from choking smog. The Chinese government has made commitments to improving air quality and has achieved notable results in reducing emissions from the power and transportation sectors. However, new research indicates that the government could achieve dramatic air quality improvements with more attention on an overlooked source of outdoor pollution -- residential cooking and heating.

"Coal and other dirty solid fuels are frequently used in homes for cooking and heating," said Denise Mauzerall, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and public and international affairs at Princeton University. "Because these emissions are essentially uncontrolled they emit a disproportionately large amount of air pollutants which contribute substantially to smog in Beijing and surrounding regions."

Cuando los volcanes inactivos están a punto de entrar en erupción, muestran algunas características predictivas: La actividad sísmica dentro del volcán comienza a aumentar, el gas escapa a través de la rejilla de ventilación, o el suelo que le rodea comienza a deformarse. Sin embargo, hasta ahora, no ha habido una manera de predecir las erupciones de los volcanes inquietos debido a la constante actividad sísmica y las emisiones de gas y vapor. Diana Roman, vulcanóloga de Carnegie, trabajando con un equipo de científicos de Penn State, la Universidad de Oxford, la Universidad de Islandia e INETER*...