Making Headlines

Daily Mail, Jan. 27, 2020

Current nuclear waste storage methods are less stable than previously thought and could be leaking harmful radioactive material, scientists have warned. ...

Yahoo News, Jan. 26, 2020

What could be better than a solar cell that captures most of the visible light spectrum to generate energy? A cell that can capture the whole visible light spectrum and turn the energy into hydrogen. The cell is actually a molecule, and it is a busy molecule: it not only harnesses 50 percent more solar energy than existing solar cells, but it also turns this energy into hydrogen. ...

Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 25, 2020

A new Trump administration revision to a federal water law will take effect in April and will relieve industries from seeking permits when it comes to isolated wetlands and ephemeral streams. While that may help businesses move projects forward with less hassle, researchers say it will be devastating for water quality. In Ohio, a majority of stream miles will be affected. ...

Columbus Underground, Jan. 24, 2020

The first rentable electric scooters in Columbus arrived in the summer of 2018, and the first two companies to operate here – Bird and Lime – saw significant ridership as people flocked to try out the new devices. ...

Weather Channel, Jan. 24, 2020

Scientists sampling ice cores from a glacier in China discovered 28 viruses that had been frozen in time for as long as 15,000 years, and were not previously known to mankind. The find was detailed in a paper posted earlier this month on the website bioRxiv by researchers from Ohio State University, the University of Nebraska and the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute. ...

Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 24, 2020

Excessive rain in 2018 into 2019 has led to a hay shortage across Ohio and much of the Midwest. Farmers and charities such as the Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are paying more for hay to feed their animals. ...

ABC 6, Jan. 23, 2020

Scientists said 2019 was the second warmest year on record. Central Ohio is more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than average since 1951 according to AccuWeather. The effects of climate change may be devastating to coastal areas prone to hurricanes or drier climates ravaged by wildfires, but the effects are also being seen in Central Ohio. ...

Business First, Jan. 23, 2020

A distinguished climate research scientist at Ohio State University whose decades-long observations of glacier retreat has informed the public's understanding of global warming is being honored by the Columbus Foundation through its True Originals program. Lonnie G. Thompson, a paleoclimatologist, joins poet and author Hanif Abdurraqib, art and music producers Jack and Zoe Johnstone, and artists Jackie Calderone and Robert Post in the organization's second class of honorees. ...

The Center for Public Integrity , Jan. 23, 2020

It was sunny and 82 degrees, a perfect August day for a trip to the public beach just outside Toledo. But hardly anyone was here. And no one was swimming. “DANGER,” warned a red sign posted in the sand near the edge of Lake Erie. “Avoid all contact with the water.”   ...

Sci Dev Net, January 17, 2020

New estimates of land subsidence and water-level rise in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) delta, that straddles Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, portend a grim future for an area that has one of the highest population densities in the world.  ...