nitrogen

You Shouldn’t Let Your Dog Do Its Business Wherever It Wants in Nature. Here’s Why

by

Domestic dogs are fertilizing the green spaces where they regularly poop and pee, and not in a good way. Even in nature reserves where dogs are supposed to be kept on leash, a new study in Belgium shows our pets’ droppings are a major disturbance to wildlife.   Each year, researchers estimate the paths that run … Read more

How Gut Microbe Symbiosis Helps Squirrels Keep Their Muscles During Hibernation

by

Ground squirrels spend the end of summer gorging on food, preparing for hibernation. They need to store a lot of energy as fat, which becomes their primary fuel source underground in their hibernation burrows all winter long.   While hibernating, ground squirrels enter a state called torpor. Their metabolism drops to as low as just … Read more

Hibernation: Dormant ground squirrels recycle urine to maintain their muscles

by

Hibernating animals find it hard to get the nitrogen they need to maintain muscles – but ground squirrels have gut microbes that can break down urea to free up the nitrogen it contains Life 27 January 2022 By Alex Wilkins Hibernating thirteen-lined ground squirrel Robert Streiffer Hibernating ground squirrels stay in shape by recycling urea, … Read more

Microbes in The Ocean Depths Can Make Oxygen Without Sun. This Discovery Could Be Huge

by

For most of life on Earth, oxygen is essential, and sunlight is usually needed to produce that oxygen. But in an exciting twist, researchers have caught a common, ocean-dwelling microbe breaking all the rules.   Scientists have found that a microbe called Nitrosopumilus maritimus and several of its cousins, called ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA), are able to … Read more

Air pollution: One in 12 child asthma cases linked to nitrogen dioxide exposure

by

Researchers estimate that 1.85 million new childhood asthma cases in 2019 were linked with exposure to nitrogen dioxide, a toxic gas released by diesel vehicles Health 5 January 2022 By Adam Vaughan Heavy traffic on a street in New Delhi, India Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times/Getty Images About one in 12 new child asthma cases worldwide … Read more

Scientists Find a New Source of a Greenhouse Gas Emissions in The Siberian Permafrost

by

A major part of tackling the climate crisis is in understanding what’s happening in Earth’s atmosphere in terms of heating, cooling, and the factors playing into that. Now scientists have discovered a massive new source of nitrous oxide (N2O), one of the greenhouse gases causing our planet to warm up.   This nitrous oxide source … Read more