New Atlas

Environment Audio available

Forests that live fast and die young may help speed up climate change

Michael Irving May 15, 2019

New research led by the University of Cambridge has found that forests may not be as useful a carbon sink as we thought. The team found that a warming climate makes trees grow faster and die younger, releasing their captured carbon back into the air sooner.

Researchers examined samples taken from trees in the Spanish Pyrenees and found that faster-growing trees tend ...

Environment Audio available

Study claims meal kits produce less emissions than grocery shopping, despite more packaging

Rich Haridy April 23, 2019

Do meal kits have a larger carbon footprint than regular grocery store shopping? A team of environmental researchers set out to crunch the numbers discovering that despite the extra plastic waste meal kits may produce less environmental emissions than conventional grocery shopping.

A new study contrasts the excessive packaging found in meal kits against increased transportation and food ...

Space Audio available

Antarctic meteorite tells the tale of an asteroid that ate a comet

Michael Irving April 15, 2019

Scientists have discovered a tiny fragment of a comet in a meteorite. The bulk of the rock itself was once an asteroid, but when the team cracked it open and analyzed the inside, they found that the growing asteroid must have swept up the seed of a comet billions of years ago.

Scientists have discovered the seeds of a comet inside a meteorite from an asteroid

Environment Audio available

Scientists use liquid metals to turn carbon dioxide gas back into coal

Michael Irving February 26, 2019

Capturing carbon from the air and sequestering it is emerging as a viable strategy, and now scientists have developed a new method to turn CO2 gas back into solid coal, that can then be buried, or even used for electronic components.

Researchers have developed a new way to turn captured carbon dioxide gas into solid "coal"

Environment Audio available

Carbon reservoirs in the ocean floor may have ended the last ice age – and could bubble up again

Michael Irving February 14, 2019

A study has found a huge new potential source of carbon emissions: reservoirs of gases trapped at the seafloor, which could be released as the oceans warm up. And the team suggests that these gases belched up from the deep thousands of years ago and put an end to the last ice age.

Researchers have found that deep sea gas reservoirs could be a huge source of carbon dioxide ...

Environment Audio available

Clingy carbon capture substance can be reused indefinitely

Michael Irving January 31, 2019

Fossil fuel-fired power plants will be pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere for a long time to come. Now researchers at ORNL have developed a new substance that could effectively soak up carbon from coal-fired power plant emissions, using much less energy than existing methods.

A new substance can scrub carbon dioxide from power plant emissions more efficiently than existing technology

Materials Audio available

Superfast laser pulses convert carbon nanofibers to diamond at room temperature

Michael Irving January 24, 2019

Diamond is a useful material, but its relative rarity on Earth makes it difficult to get. Now, researchers at NCSU have demonstrated a new way to convert carbon nanofibers and nanotubes into diamond fibers that can be performed in a lab more easily than existing techniques.

A new technique for converting carbon nanofibers and nanotubes into diamond fibers can be done at ...

Energy Audio available

Carbon capture system turns CO2 into electricity and hydrogen fuel

Michael Irving January 21, 2019

Inspired by the ocean’s role as a natural carbon sink, researchers at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and Georgia Tech have developed a new system that absorbs CO2 and produces electricity and useable hydrogen fuel.

Scientists have developed a new device that can absorb CO2 and produce electricity and hydrogen fuel

Environment Audio available

10-year study documents massive, mysterious ecosystem deep beneath our feet

Michael Irving December 10, 2018

A study has taken a census of life in the “deep biosphere” beneath the Earth's surface. Among the finds are bizarre creatures that can survive at record depths, pressures and temperatures, and even “zombie” bacteria that may live (in a loose sense of the word) for millions of years at a time.

Researchers have cataloged the extensive biosphere of life deep beneath the surface of the Earth

Environment Audio available

UN report reveals global carbon emissions have reached a record high

Nick Lavars November 27, 2018

A new UN report that takes stock of climate action with respect to the targets outlined in the Paris Agreement has shone new light on how we continue to come up short. Among the key points are that, after stabilizing for three years, global carbon emissions are again on the rise.

Global carbon emissions reached a record high in 2017