https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. When it comes to global warming and greenhouse gases, methane is one of the bad guys. It's the second most important contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide. However, quantifying the exact amount being released has been a matter of guesswork. But now the first-ever global map of methane leaks from industrial sites is giving us detailed information on where this greenhouse gas is escaping, how much is escaping, and how often it occurs. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-global-fleet-satellites-methane-leaks.html Earth Sciences Tue, 16 Dec 2025 10:35:08 EST news685103536 More than 300 million years ago, during the Carboniferous Period, much of northern Illinois outside Chicago—including what is now the Mazon Creekfossil site—was alive with ancient creatures thriving in lush, tropical swamps, river deltas and shallow seas. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-million-year-ecosystem-northern-illinois.html Evolution Mon, 21 Jul 2025 15:31:15 EDT news672330671 The Chesapeake Bay is the continental United States' largest estuary, spanning approximately 320 kilometers (200 miles) between northeastern Maryland and Virginia Beach. Like many coastal ecosystems, its water chemistry is affected by agricultural runoff, chemical weathering, and increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-river-alkalinization-ocean-acidification-coastal.html Earth Sciences Wed, 21 May 2025 12:20:03 EDT news667048801 A list of the top 10 global regions where natural or anthropogenic sources emit methane on a continuous, "persistent" basis was recently published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-satellite-analysis-uncovers-persistent-methane.html Environment Mon, 03 Feb 2025 16:05:05 EST news657821101 MIT researchers have some good environmental news: Mercury emissions from human activity have been declining over the past two decades, despite global emissions inventories that indicate otherwise. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-mercury-pollution-human-declining.html Environment Wed, 09 Oct 2024 11:51:05 EDT news647693462 An international team of scientists has uncovered toxic metals in mineral phosphate fertilizers worldwide by using a new tool to identify the spread and impact of such contaminants on soil, water resources, and food supply. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-scientists-geochemical-fingerprint-contaminants-fertilizer.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 17 May 2024 14:10:08 EDT news635173801 In order to limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5°C, it is essential to drastically reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the atmosphere. This would mean not exploiting most of the existing coal, conventional gas and oil energy resources in regions around the world, according to research led by the University of Barcelona and published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-oil-resources-stay-underground-commitments.html Earth Sciences Fri, 15 Mar 2024 10:17:03 EDT news629716621 Microbial sequence databases contain a wealth of information about enzymes and other molecules that could be adapted for biotechnology. But these databases have grown so large in recent years that they've become difficult to search efficiently for enzymes of interest. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-algorithm-reveals-kinds-crispr.html Biotechnology Fri, 24 Nov 2023 10:24:05 EST news620043842 A new study investigates a novel process for lessening the negative environmental impact of coal mine drainage and extracting rare-earth elements from it, precious minerals needed to manufacture many high-tech devices. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-coal-drainage-source-rare-minerals.html Environment Tue, 03 Jan 2023 13:59:43 EST news591976778 Historically, contact electrification (CE) was humanity's first and only source of electricity up until around the 18th century, yet its true nature is still elusive. Today it is considered a core component of technologies such as laser printers, LCD production processes, electrostatic painting, and separation of plastics for recycling as well as a major industrial hazard (damage to electronic systems, explosions in coal mines, fires in chemical plants, etc.) due to electrostatic discharges (ESD) accompanying CE. In a vacuum, ESDs of a simple adhesive tape are so powerful that they generate enough X-rays to take an X-ray image of a finger. https://phys.org/news/2022-10-year-old-mystery-static-electricity.html General Physics Thu, 06 Oct 2022 11:04:03 EDT news584273041 Fracking for natural gas in parts of Pennsylvania with a legacy of energy extraction may increase the risk of groundwater contamination, according to a team led by Penn State scientists. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-links-shale-gas-legacy-energy.html Earth Sciences Wed, 21 Sep 2022 09:39:59 EDT news582971995 New research published in PNAS today showed that, out of 26 countries, Indonesia accounted for 58.2% of the tropical deforestation directly caused by industrial mining activities. Brazil, Ghana and Suriname also stood out in the study, which underscored the need for stronger measures to protect tropical forests from destructive economic activities like mining. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-tropical-deforestation-attributable-industrial-indonesia.html Earth Sciences Mon, 12 Sep 2022 15:00:04 EDT news582196604 Methane is almost thirty times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than CO2. Researchers from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research therefore scan the entire globe for large methane leaks. A landfill in Buenos Aires turns out to emit tens of tons of methane per hour, comparable to the climate impact of one and a half million cars. They also detect large emissions from landfills in India and Pakistan, identifying new low-hanging fruit in the battle against climate change. The work was published on August 10 in Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-methane-satellites-landfills-climate-impact.html Earth Sciences Wed, 10 Aug 2022 14:20:01 EDT news579167520 A byproduct of landfilling, livestock farming, coal mining and other human activities, methane emissions are one of the key drivers of climate change. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-nanoshell-catalysts-greenhouse-gases-chemicals.html Materials Science Wed, 03 Aug 2022 10:47:34 EDT news578742448 A new paper published in Science Advances synthesizes the impact of metal and coal mines on salmon and trout in northwestern North America, and highlights the need for more complete and transparent science to inform mining policy. https://phys.org/news/2022-07-effect-fish-warrants-science-based-policies.html Ecology Fri, 01 Jul 2022 14:00:03 EDT news575872600 Decisions made now will determine whether economies win or lose money as the coal industry changes over the next couple of decades. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-years-crucial-future-coal.html Environment Tue, 08 Jun 2021 11:00:05 EDT news542343743 The Powering Past Coal Alliance, or PPCA, is a coalition of 30 countries and 22 cities and states, that aims to phase out unabated coal power. But analysis led by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, published in Nature Climate Change, shows that members mainly pledge to close older plants near the end of their lifetimes, resulting in limited emissions reductions. The research also shows that expansion of the PPCA to major coal consuming countries would face economic and political difficulties. https://phys.org/news/2019-07-current-pledges-phase-coal-power.html Environment Mon, 01 Jul 2019 11:00:28 EDT news481190682 While methane pollution caused by natural gas production in Pennsylvania is underestimated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, natural gas still has half the carbon footprint of underground coal mining, according to an international team of researchers. https://phys.org/news/2019-05-methane-coal-gas-pennsylvania.html Environment Thu, 23 May 2019 12:37:31 EDT news477833841 A trio of researchers from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, the University of the Witwatersrand and Geosyntec has published a Perspectives piece in the journal Science. Carlos Santamarina, Luis Torres-Cruz and Robert Bachus note in the article that many lives are lost each year when coal ash or tailings dams fail, causing mudslides. Many such failures are preventable. https://phys.org/news/2019-05-coal-ash-tailings-disasters.html Environment Fri, 10 May 2019 09:35:45 EDT news476699667 China, already the world's leading emitter of human-caused greenhouse gases, continues to pump increasing amounts of climate-changing methane into the atmosphere despite tough new regulations on gas releases from its coal mines, a new Johns Hopkins study shows. https://phys.org/news/2019-01-china-methane-emissions.html Environment Tue, 29 Jan 2019 11:00:06 EST news467966672 The coal industry may have declined in the last decade because of the rise of cheap natural gas, but a coal mining method called mountaintop removal is still taking place, particularly in central Appalachia. https://phys.org/news/2018-07-mountaintop-coal-yearly-appalachia.html Environment Wed, 25 Jul 2018 14:00:06 EDT news451717473 Coal mining, under current US regulations, has significantly reduced the abundance and variety of fish, invertebrates, salamanders, and other aquatic life in streams, according to a new study from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. https://phys.org/news/2018-04-coal-abundance-richness-aquatic-life.html Environment Wed, 18 Apr 2018 13:19:08 EDT news443276339 Mountaintop-removal coal mining causes many streams and rivers in Appalachia to run consistently saltier for up to 80 percent of the year, a new study by researchers at the University of Wyoming and Duke University finds. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-mountaintop-coal-appalachian-rivers-saltier.html Environment Thu, 13 Jul 2017 16:25:34 EDT news419181921 (Phys.org) —A trio of researchers from Chang'an University in China has published a Comment piece in the journal Nature, pleading for planners in China to consider more carefully the repercussions of cutting the tops off mountains to fill valleys to allow cities to grow larger. https://phys.org/news/2014-06-chinese-scientists-mountain.html Environment Thu, 05 Jun 2014 10:40:01 EDT news321180391 To meet current U.S. coal demand through surface mining, an area of the Central Appalachians the size of Washington, D.C., would need to be mined every 81 days. https://phys.org/news/2013-09-true-ton-mountaintop-coal.html Environment Wed, 11 Sep 2013 17:00:08 EDT news298132011 Analysis of fossilized remains of the two meter tall terror bird (Gastornis) indicate that was unlikely to have been a carnivore. https://phys.org/news/2013-08-terror-bird-beak-worse.html Archaeology Thu, 29 Aug 2013 18:00:01 EDT news297006742 Cutting the amount of short-lived, climate-warming emissions such as soot and methane in our skies won't limit global warming as much as previous studies have suggested, a new analysis shows. The study also found a comprehensive climate policy would produce more climate benefits by 2050 than if soot and methane were reduced alone. https://phys.org/news/2013-08-climate-benefit-soot-methane-smaller.html Environment Mon, 12 Aug 2013 15:00:01 EDT news295537903 (Phys.org) —Flying low and slow above the wild, pristine terrain of Alaska's North Slope in a specially instrumented NASA plane, research scientist Charles Miller of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., surveys the endless whiteness of tundra and frozen permafrost below. On the horizon, a long, dark line appears. The plane draws nearer, and the mysterious object reveals itself to be a massive herd of migrating caribou, stretching for miles. It's a sight Miller won't soon forget. https://phys.org/news/2013-06-climate-giant-arctic.html Earth Sciences Tue, 11 Jun 2013 08:35:49 EDT news290158540 (Phys.org) —Reports given by experts in the space-health field suggest it might take longer for humans to build a colony on Mars than has been expected. Such experts speaking to attendees at the recent "Humans 2 Mars Summit" in Washington D.C. expressed concern about the dangers of Martian dust. They believe the health hazards posed by the Martian regolith could prevent humans from colonizing the planet anytime soon. https://phys.org/news/2013-05-humans-mars-summit-human-settlement.html Space Exploration Fri, 10 May 2013 09:10:02 EDT news287394874 (Phys.org) —Like the Roman god Janus, methane presents Earth's atmosphere with two situational faces. As the main component of natural gas, methane when burned as a fuel produces less carbon dioxide than the burning of oil or coal, which makes it a plus for global climate change. However, pure methane released into the atmosphere via leaks from unconventional oil and gas extraction, coal mining or from the melting of Arctic ice is an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, contributing an estimated 30-percent of current net climate warming. To exploit the good and blunt the bad, effective ways of separating and capturing methane must be found. This presents a huge challenge, however, as methane, unlike carbon, interacts poorly with most other materials, making it difficult to physically capture. https://phys.org/news/2013-04-methane-capture.html Materials Science Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:08:45 EDT news286034825