Scienceblog

The Western wildfire smoke plumes have gotten higher in recent years, with more smoke and aerosols lofted up where they may travel further and have an influence on air quality over a larger area. Climate change is most likely to blame, since the Western United States has more aridity and less precipitation, which exacerbates wildfire activity. According to Kai Wilmot, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Utah, "should these trends persist into the future," increased Western U.S. wildfire activity will probably coincide with more frequent air quality degradation on a local to continental scale. The iNterdisciplinary EXchange for Utah Science, or NEXUS, at the University of Utah provided funding for the study, which was published in Scientific Reports. Smoke volume Wilmot and U colleagues Derek Mallia, Gannet Haller, and John Lin modelled plume activity for about 4.6 million smoke plumes in the Western U.S. and Canada between ...

There is perhaps more to the largest shark in our waters than we previously understood to its reputation as a gentle monster. Filter feeders, whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are supposed to methodically scour the seas for microscopic creatures like krill. Greens made up of algae and other photosynthesizing organisms are among the myriad of small swimmers they scoop up. This cannot be avoided, however scientists have questioned whether this flora serves as more than just a garnish for the carnivore or if it acts as the side salad that keeps it afloat. Researchers have discovered what these 10-meter-long (32-foot) ocean hoovers are actually using from the enormous pools of water they suction through their systems by analyzing excrement and skin samples. According to Patti Virtue, a biological oceanographer at the University of Tasmania, "the faeces did suggest that they were consuming krill." But not much of it is being metabolized by them. Whale sharks, which are actual sharks ...