Have you ever thought about soil? Thought about this vast limited resource where your food grows? This finite, non-renewable resource is under threat worldwide. Intensive agricultural practices, pollution and climate change threaten its health and the life-sustaining support it offers people and the planet. But soil has an ally: nuclear science. Read more.
When outbreaks of disease happen, locating the origin and pattern and its transmission are of critical importance — and isotope techniques can help.
In cases of zoonotic diseases, (which are those transmitted from animals to humans), this involves a detailed understanding of the migration of animal carriers. Migratory birds can pose a special challenge, given the vastness of their geographical ranges and the sheer numbers of individual birds to track. Read more.
In Costa Rica, using isotopic techniques, scientists have found that applying fertilizer on the leaves of pineapple plants is much more efficient than spreading it on the soil. Read more.
The Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and biosphere are huge reservoirs of carbon, and all play a critical role in global carbon cycling. Soil is one of the largest carbon pools on the planet, storing more carbon than the atmosphere and biosphere combined, yet scientists aren’t sure what regulates carbon persistence — the amount of carbon that remains in the soil. Read more.
Researchers at Yale University and Portland State University have found that residential, suburban land use is altering the dynamics of the food chain, as well as where nutrients originate and how they move through pond ecosystems. Read more.