Author: Ranveer Kumar

UC study sheds light on greenhouse gas emissions from Texas oil wells Uncapped, idle oil wells could be leaking millions of kilograms of methane each year into the atmosphere and surface water, according to a study by the University of Cincinnati. Amy Townsend-Small, an associate professor of geology and geography in UC’s College of Arts and Sciences, studied 37 wells on private property in the Permian Basin of Texas, the largest oil production region on Earth. She found that seven had methane emissions of as much as 132 grams per hour. The average rate was 6.2 grams per hour. “Some…

A new study found that perfectionist thinking patterns contributed to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms, over and above several known control variables. The findings were published in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Perfectionism involves a desire to perform to the highest standards without allowing room for failure. People with perfectionist beliefs tend to be overly self-critical and put pressure on themselves to perform flawlessly at all times. While perfectionism is often seen as a favorable trait, the attribute has been linked to numerous anxiety disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD). Researchers have…

Museum collections reveal the history of mic FIELD MUSEUM Forget diamonds–plastic is forever. It takes decades, or even centuries, for plastic to break down, and nearly every piece of plastic ever made still exists in some form today. We’ve known for a while that big pieces of plastic can harm wildlife–think of seabirds stuck in plastic six-pack rings–but in more recent years, scientists have discovered microscopic bits of plastic in the water, soil, and even the atmosphere. To learn how these microplastics have built up over the past century, researchers examined the guts of freshwater fish preserved in museum collections;…

A survey recently mapped over 27,000 barrels of industrial waste and DDT. The sea bottom near southern California has been hiding a very dirty secret: decades of discarded chemicals in thousands of barrels. And the toxic debris field is even bigger than anyone expected, containing at least 27,000 drums of DDT and industrial waste, scientists recently discovered. High concentrations of DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, an insecticide that was widely used for pest control during the 1940s and 1950s) were previously detected in ocean sediments between the Los Angeles coast and Catalina Island, in 2011 and 2013. At the time, scientists who searched…

Scientists develop new type of artificial muscle for use in miniature robots University of Wollongong (UOW) researchers have mimicked the supercoiling properties of DNA to develop a new type of artificial muscles for use in miniature robot applications. Their research is published today (Thursday 29 April AEST) in Science Robotics. One of the challenges to the miniaturisation of robotics technology – such as developing micro-tools for remote robotic surgery – is that conventional mechanical drive systems (or “actuators”) are difficult to downsize without loss of performance. Artificial muscles that generate large and reversible movement, high mechanical work output, respond quickly and…

Perhaps because there are no chimney stacks belching smoke, the contribution of the world’s farms to climate change seems somehow remote. But agriculture accounts for a staggering 26% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Tractors running on diesel release carbon dioxide (CO₂) from their exhausts. Fertilisers spread on fields produce nitrous oxide. And cattle generate methane from microbes in their guts. Even tilling the soil – breaking it up with ploughs and other machinery – exposes carbon buried in the soil to oxygen in the air, allowing microbes to convert it to CO₂. Farmers usually do this before sowing crops, but what…

A new study has found that people who experience bullying in late adolescence and early adulthood are significantly more likely to have violent daydreams or fantasies that involve hurting even killing people. The study, led by University of Cambridge criminology professor Manuel Eisner, appeared on April 27 in the journal Aggressive Behavior. Tracking violent thoughts Eisner and his team tracked the self-reported thoughts and experiences of 1,465 young people from schools across the Swiss city of Zurich. They were studied at the ages of 15, 17, and 20. The researchers recorded whether the participants had had violent thoughts in the past 30 days, and…

The tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis), a river dolphin endemic to the Amazon, has been declared endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning all the world’s freshwater dolphins are now at threat of extinction. The species faces the same threats as another Amazonian cetacean, the pink river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), ranging from hydropower dams, to bycatch, to mercury poisoning. Researchers warn that if these threats intensify, the Amazon’s dolphins could go the way of the baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) in China, which is now considered extinct following a dam-building spree along the Yangtze. Researchers across South America are collaborating through the River Dolphins…

Researchers from North Carolina State University and Virginia Commonwealth University say they found that having a high level of national nostalgia predicted both positive attitudes toward former President Donald Trump and racial prejudice.  In previous studies, nostalgia, or feeling a fondness and longing for the past, has been shown to increase feelings of social connectedness, personal meaning, and self-continuity. However, in this recent study published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology, researchers say these same feelings of sentimentality may have negative consequences on the perception and acceptance of others.  While results showed national nostalgia to be a significant predictor for positive…

A new study by Simon Fraser University historical ecologists finds that Indigenous-managed forests—cared for as “forest gardens”—contain more biologically and functionally diverse species than surrounding conifer-dominated forests and create important habitat for animals and pollinators. The findings are published today in Ecology and Society. According to researchers, ancient forests were once tended by Ts’msyen and Coast Salish peoples living along the north and south Pacific coast. These forest gardens continue to grow at remote archaeological villages on Canada’s northwest coast and are composed of native fruit and nut trees and shrubs such as crabapple, hazelnut, cranberry, wild plum, and wild cherries.…