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. Wildfire causes most living things to flee or die, but some fungi thrive afterward, even feasting on charred remains. New University of California, Riverside research finds the secret to post-fire flourishing hidden in their genes. The study is among the first to investigate how fungi that are barely detectable in the soil before a fire are able to proliferate wildly once an area has burned. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-fungi-charcoal.html Ecology Thu, 29 Jan 2026 16:33:32 EST news688926781 Wildfires on Alaska's North Slope were more active this past century than at any time in the past 3,000 years, according to a study published in the journal Biogeosciences. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-tundra-exceed-years.html Earth Sciences Thu, 18 Dec 2025 10:42:43 EST news685276861 People dedicated to the art of grilling often choose lump charcoal—actual pieces of wood that have been turned into charcoal—over briquettes, which are compressed charcoal dust with other ingredients to keep the dust together and help it burn better. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-grilling-lump-charcoal-grown-hardwood.html Ecology Thu, 26 Jun 2025 13:10:01 EDT news670160569 Scientists in Scotland have developed a new method to understand the heat and intensity of fires that burned out millions of years ago, which could unlock our understanding of wildfires during past and present periods of climate change. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-scientists-scotland-method-wildfires.html Earth Sciences Mon, 10 Feb 2025 12:30:25 EST news658413014 With wildfires growing more frequent and more intense in many parts of the world, scientists are looking to the past to better understand where and when fires have burned. Lakes and wetlands, which capture airborne charcoal particles when they fall from the atmosphere, have provided most records of ancient fires, or paleofires. Now, researchers have found a new tool to help reconstruct fire history: bat poop. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-charcoal-guano-reconstruct-regional-histories.html Earth Sciences Thu, 31 Oct 2024 13:07:02 EDT news649598821 The 2022 report "The State of the World's Mangroves" estimates that since 1996, 5,245 square kilometers of mangroves have been lost due to human activities such as agriculture, logging, tourism development, coastal aquaculture and climate change, and that only 147,000 km2 remain. It is a well-known fact that mangrove forests are among the most productive marine ecosystems in the world, located at the very start of the marine food web (the productivity of biomass by plants is called primary productivity). They serve as a natural nursery for fish and also provide protection against coastal erosion. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-ocean-forests-mangroves-broad-range.html Environment Tue, 02 Apr 2024 13:39:04 EDT news631283942 Sand dunes are not an obvious place to find high-quality fire records. For a start, anyone who walks on the forested sand dunes of South-East Queensland will be impressed by the intensity of ant activity at their feet. The ant nests extend at least 2 meters below the surface. As the ants move materials around their nests, any charcoal from past fires that's preserved in the sand would be severely disturbed. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-source-bigger-picture.html Environment Sun, 28 May 2023 09:20:01 EDT news604239528 Eclipsed by energy sources such as gas and electricity, charcoal is often left out of contemporary discussions about the global energy transition. It's a resource that some manufacturing processes, such as steel and silicon production, are switching to, and one that people worldwide continue to use by choice. Charcoal production grew from 36 million tons in 1995 to 54 million tons in 2019. https://phys.org/news/2022-11-policy-charcoal-sustainable.html Environment Thu, 17 Nov 2022 10:09:04 EST news587902142 Researchers from Tel Aviv University collected samples of charcoal used as fuel for metallurgical furnaces in the Timna Valley, located in Israel's southern desert region, during the 11th to 9th centuries BCE and examined them under a microscope. They found that the charcoal fuels used changed over time. The earlier samples contained mainly local white broom and acacia thorn trees, excellent fuel available nearby, but the quality of the firewood had deteriorated over time, with later samples consisting of low-quality wood fuel and timber imported from afar. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-years-human-vegetation-irreparably-timna.html Archaeology Thu, 22 Sep 2022 09:05:53 EDT news583056349 Tens of tons of extraterrestrial solid material collide with Earth daily. Most of this material is small enough that it burns up in the atmosphere, but some fragments are large enough to cause quite a predicament. In 2013, a 20-meter-diameter body exploded over Chelyabinsk, seriously injuring more than 1,500 people. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-crime-scene-technique-asteroid-sites.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 01 Sep 2022 13:01:25 EDT news581256082 The hooded capuchin monkey has been identified as being at a higher risk of extinction than scientists previously realized following University of Aberdeen and Fundación Para La Tierra research in Paraguay. https://phys.org/news/2022-07-hooded-capuchin-monkey-higher-extinction.html Plants & Animals Mon, 18 Jul 2022 11:57:50 EDT news577364267 Tropical regions of the world lost 11.1 million hectares of forest cover in 2021, new data shows, calling into question global pledges to end deforestation by 2030. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-tree-loss-tropics-climate-goals.html Environment Mon, 02 May 2022 13:50:01 EDT news570714660 Africa's forests are some of the natural wonders of the world. As someone who has spent decades studying the ecology and management of tropical forests, I'm constantly amazed by the unique forest ecosystems on the continent. https://phys.org/news/2022-03-forest-africa-threats.html Ecology Mon, 21 Mar 2022 11:10:01 EDT news567078158 Since its first recorded sighting by European explorers in the 1600s, scientists and historians have believed that Europeans were the first people to ever set foot on the Falkland Islands. Findings from a new University of Maine-led study, however, suggests otherwise; that human activity on the islands predates European arrival by centuries. https://phys.org/news/2021-10-team-evidence-prehistoric-human-falkland.html Archaeology Wed, 27 Oct 2021 14:00:06 EDT news554547222 Wildfire is an important part of the terrestrial ecosystem. It plays a significant role in many environmental and evolutionary innovations in geological history. https://phys.org/news/2021-07-wildfires-permian-triassic-transition-vegetation-ecosystem.html Earth Sciences Mon, 05 Jul 2021 09:28:55 EDT news544696133 Three earthquakes in the Monterey Bay Area, occurring in 1838, 1890 and 1906, happened without a doubt on the San Andreas Fault, according to a new paper by a Portland State University researcher. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-accurately-date-historic-earthquakes.html Earth Sciences Thu, 14 May 2020 14:58:32 EDT news508687051 When ANSTO environmental scientist Dr. Craig Woodward noticed large pieces of charcoal on his balcony in the Sutherland Shire at the height of summer bushfires, it piqued his curiosity. https://phys.org/news/2020-03-charcoal-particles-bushfires-kilometers.html Earth Sciences Mon, 09 Mar 2020 10:00:02 EDT news502966276 In Africa, charcoal is ubiquitous as an energy source for cooking, even in urban areas where electricity and gas are available. Yet when Catherine Nabukalu was taking courses on energy as part of her degree in the Master of Environmental Studies program at Penn, she noticed charcoal was often left out of the conversation about energy sources and their contribution to global carbon emissions. https://phys.org/news/2020-02-charcoal.html Environment Mon, 10 Feb 2020 09:30:01 EST news500547939 It's no secret that the forests of the world are under severe pressure from human activities. We tend to think of tropical forests, and in particular the Amazon, as bearing the brunt of the impacts of deforestation and other drivers of forest clearance. While tropical forests are faring badly, there is another forest type that has been subject to more degradation and destruction than any forest type on Earth over the last 50 years: mangrove forests. https://phys.org/news/2019-10-earth-natural-defenders.html Environment Tue, 22 Oct 2019 09:59:38 EDT news490957159 A team of international scientists, including CABI's Dr. Urs Schaffner, have recommended ways to manage the devastating spread of the woody weed Prosopis juliflora, where in Baringo County, Kenya, its coverage rapidly increased by 2,031 percent in just 28 years. https://phys.org/news/2019-05-scientists-rapid-woody-weed-baringo.html Ecology Thu, 23 May 2019 13:20:02 EDT news477834746 Waterpipe tobacco smoking, otherwise known as "hookah" or "shisha," is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, especially among youth. Traditional hookahs burn charcoal as a heat source, but recently, electrical heating elements (EHEs) have been introduced to the market. Reinforced by product advertising and package labeling, many hookah smokers believe that EHEs are less harmful than charcoal. Now, researchers report in ACS' Chemical Research in Toxicology that although EHEs reduce some toxicants, they increase others. https://phys.org/news/2019-05-electric-hookahs-safer-traditional-charcoal-based.html Biochemistry Wed, 22 May 2019 11:57:24 EDT news477745036 Wild harvested crops are a vital source of food in much of the world. Some common wild edible plants in southern Africa include wild mushrooms, such as Termitomyces titanicus, orchids from the genera Disa, Habenaria and Satyrium, and various wild vegetables such as wild spinach (an amaranth), and Cleome species. https://phys.org/news/2019-01-revealed-zambia-wild-yam.html Ecology Wed, 30 Jan 2019 10:20:02 EST news468063344 Whether they call it a "barbecue" or a "cookout," Americans love backyard cooking. Grilling steaks, hamburgers—even veggie burgers—on a warm summer evening has become such a part of our culture that nearly three out of four adults own at least one grill or smoker. https://phys.org/news/2018-05-charcoal-lighter-fluid-summer-grilling.html Environment Thu, 24 May 2018 06:50:20 EDT news446363388 Charcoal remains after a forest fire help decompose fine roots in the soil, potentially accelerating CO2 emissions in boreal forests. https://phys.org/news/2017-12-charcoal-co2-emissions-forest.html Environment Thu, 28 Dec 2017 06:50:01 EST news433665602 When a forest fire decimated more than 3,000 acres of Rice University-owned timberland in 2011, biogeochemist Carrie Masiello saw a silver lining in the blackened trees. https://phys.org/news/2017-12-charcoal-grain.html Earth Sciences Mon, 11 Dec 2017 13:04:35 EST news432219866 "I'm addicted to cutting trees," says Taban Ceasor. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-war-torn-south-sudan-grave-climate.html Environment Tue, 18 Jul 2017 11:00:01 EDT news419593505 One of the main types of fossil used to understand the first flowering plants (angiosperms) are charred flowers. These charcoals were produced in ancient wildfires, and they provide some evidence for the types of plants that grew millions of years ago. However, when fires burn they not only produce charcoal, but they also destroy it. https://phys.org/news/2017-06-charred-fossil.html Plants & Animals Tue, 13 Jun 2017 12:30:02 EDT news416575437 For years, residents of central Israel have been complaining about air pollution from Palestinian factories in the nearby West Bank. Now that authorities have finally cracked down, shutting a group of the worst offending charcoal plants in one notorious town, Palestinians complain that hundreds were thrown out of work by their military occupiers. https://phys.org/news/2016-12-air-pollution-israel-palestinian-wedge-issue.html Environment Fri, 02 Dec 2016 03:17:03 EST news399871016 A new analysis of global data related to wildfire, published by the Royal Society, reveals major misconceptions about wildfire and its social and economic impacts. https://phys.org/news/2016-05-wildfire-.html Environment Tue, 24 May 2016 13:14:42 EDT news383314467 The American chestnut was once a mainstay in hardwood forests as far north as Maine and as far south as Georgia and Mississippi. A massive chestnut blight in the early part of the 20th century ended the mighty chestnut's domination, wiping out billions of mature trees. Scientists are now working to restore the American chestnut's place in U.S. forests. A study published in the February issue of HortScience provides new recommendations that can help increase the stock of blight-resistant trees. https://phys.org/news/2016-03-american-chestnut.html Biotechnology Mon, 28 Mar 2016 11:30:40 EDT news378383430