Topic description and stories

Driftwood in Siberia

The testimony of trees: how volcanic eruptions shaped 2000 years of world history

28 Sep 2020

Researchers have shown that over the past two thousand years, volcanoes have played a larger role in natural temperature variability than previously...

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Tree rings show scale of Arctic pollution is worse than previously thought

25 Sep 2020

The largest-ever study of tree rings from Norilsk in the Russian Arctic has shown that the direct and indirect effects of industrial pollution in the...

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Hydrogen turbofan aircraft

Whittle Lab research key for accelerating the development of zero-carbon flight, says Prince of Wales

22 Sep 2020

Yesterday HRH The Prince of Wales gave the opening address to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Turbo Expo conference, the largest annual...

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Call of the wild collector

28 Aug 2020

Walking at ‘botanist pace’ on Mount Terror in South Africa, Dr Ángela Cano likes to stop and smell the succulents. She then measures, photographs...

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Dr Qian Wang

Wireless device makes clean fuel from sunlight, CO2 and water

24 Aug 2020

Researchers have developed a standalone device that converts sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into a carbon-neutral fuel, without requiring any...

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New insights into lithium-ion battery failure mechanism

24 Aug 2020

Researchers have identified a potential new degradation mechanism for electric vehicle batteries – a key step to designing effective methods to...

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Concordia research station in Antarctica

Carbon dioxide ‘pulses’ are a common feature of the carbon cycle

20 Aug 2020

Researchers have found that pulse-like releases of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere are a pervasive feature of the carbon cycle and that they are...

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Speleothems in the Corchia Cave, Central Italy

Abrupt changes in Earth’s past climate occurred synchronously

20 Aug 2020

A study from the Universities of Cambridge and Melbourne has found that the onset of past climate changes was synchronous over an area extending from...

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Perovskite solar cell with oxide coating

Printed coatings enable more efficient solar cells

09 Jul 2020

Researchers at Cambridge, Imperial and Singapore have developed a method to print ultrathin coatings on next-generation solar cells, allowing them to...

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US National Guard working to extinguish wildfires in Alaska

Learn from the pandemic to prevent environmental catastrophe, scientists argue

02 Jul 2020

COVID-19 is comparable to climate and extinction emergencies, say scientists from the UK and US – all share features such as lagged impacts, feedback...

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View from Agulhas II

Antarctic ice sheets capable of retreating up to 50 metres per day

28 May 2020

The ice shelves surrounding the Antarctic coastline retreated at speeds of up to 50 metres per day at the end of the last Ice Age, far more rapid...

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Electric car charging in Birmingham city centre

Green COVID-19 recovery packages can boost economic growth and tackle climate change, researchers say

05 May 2020

Researchers find long-term, climate-friendly stimulus policies are often superior in overall economic impact – not just in slowing global warming.

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