Tag Archives: North America

North American Waterways are Becoming Saltier and More Alkaline

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Across North America, streams and rivers are becoming saltier, thanks to road deicers, fertilizers and other salty compounds that humans indirectly release into waterways. At the same time, freshwater supplies are also becoming more alkaline. (more…)

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Findings Show How AIDS Spread Across North America

A new technique that allowed researchers to analyze genetic material from serum samples of HIV patients taken before AIDS was known provides a glimpse into the beginnings of the epidemic.

Researchers at the University of Arizona and the University of Cambridge in the U.K. have reconstructed the origins of the AIDS pandemic in unprecedented detail. (more…)

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Fossil Shows Ostrich Relatives Lived in North America 50 Million Years Ago

AUSTIN, Texas — Exceedingly well-preserved bird fossil specimens dating back 50 million years represent a species of a previously unknown relative of the modern-day ostrich, according to new research from Virginia Tech and The University of Texas at Austin published June 30 in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. (more…)

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Tracking the impact of climate change on bumblebees

A new study links climate change to the decline of bumblebee species in North America and Europe.

The study, published in the journal Science, found that bumblebee ranges are shrinking in the south and the insects are not moving north. In addition, some species are moving to higher elevations on both continents. (more…)

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New method for methanol processing could reduce carbon dioxide emissions

This new process developed by UCLA researchers could also lower production costs

Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed a more efficient way to turn methanol into useful chemicals, such as liquid fuels, and that would also reduce carbon dioxide emissions. (more…)

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New study uses DNA sequences to look back in time at key events in plant evolution

ANN ARBOR — A new paper from scientists in North America, Europe and China reveals important details about key transitions in the evolution of plant life on our planet.

From strange and exotic algae, mosses, ferns, trees and flowers growing deep in steamy rain forests to the grains and vegetables we eat and the ornamental plants adorning our homes, all plant life on Earth shares more than a billion years of history. (more…)

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Changes in Coastal Upwelling Linked to Variability in Marine Ecosystem Off California

AUSTIN, Texas — In findings of relevance to conservationists and the fishing industry, new research links short-term reductions in growth and reproduction of marine animals off the California coast to increasing variability in the strength of coastal upwelling currents — currents that supply nutrients to the region’s diverse ecosystem. (more…)

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Evolution and venomous snakes: Diet distinguishes look-alikes on two continents

ANN ARBOR — On opposite sides of the globe over millions of years, the snakes of North America and Australia independently evolved similar body types that helped them move and capture prey more efficiently.

Snakes on both continents include stout-bodied, highly camouflaged ambush predators, such as rattlesnakes in North America and death adders in Australia. There are slender, fast-moving foragers on both continents, as well as small burrowing snakes. (more…)

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