JJ Nitro

19 May 2008, for New Scientist

Darwin once puzzled over how ivy sticks to walls so effortlessly. Now researchers have begun to unravel the mystery.

A new study reveals that the plant's stem exudes nano-sized globules that let it cling tightly to sheer surfaces.

16 May 2008, for New Scientist

Contrary to the widespread view that a warming world will bring more hurricanes, a controversial new study suggests the number of cyclones could actually drop in the North Atlantic.

Hurricanes have become a lightning rod for arguments over what global warming might have in store.

15 May 2008, for New Scientist

Climbing stairs can be a slog for us humans, but for smaller primates scampering up trees requires no more energy than strolling along the ground, researchers say.

The new findings suggest a way that small, early primates could have invaded unexploited food niches without using more energy, giving them an advantage over other tree-dwellers.

15 May 2008, for New Scientist

Tropical rainforests pack animals into every nook and cranny but even so, they may host an even more diverse menagerie than meets the eye.

A new DNA analysis showed that one group of tropical flies, which all look basically the same, actually comprise at least 52 different species.

14 May 2008, for New Scientist's Environment blog

A couple of headlines on Tuesday (here and here) reported that world carbon dioxide levels have set a new record, reaching the highest levels in 650,000 years.

This is a good reminder of what people are doing to the planet, but hardly news.

14 May 2008, for New Scientist

Grasses have a secret weapon against grazing that packs a surprisingly powerful punch.

12 May 2008, for New Scientist

Rural families can slash their energy costs, improve their health and help preserve local forests by harvesting natural gas from rotting manure, researchers argue.

They say the use of biogas plants, which store the decomposing manure and capture the natural gas it releases, could improve rural farmers' livelihoods, while protecting the environment.

9 May 2008, for New Scientist

In the movie The Day After Tomorrow, the world froze pretty quickly when a major ocean current, dubbed the "ocean conveyor belt", turned off.

While that was a work of fiction, slowdowns of the conveyor are possible and researchers have now found a way of giving us a few years' advance notice.

8 May 2008, for New Scientist

As climate change forces animals to shift their breeding schedules, one group of British birds has been able to quickly adapt to the warmer weather without having to rely on slower evolution.

There are limits to their flexibility however, and when those limits are reached, global warming could hit the population hard, researchers say.

7 May 2008, for New Scientist

We have all heard how a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon may cause storms in far off places.

But it seems that environmental effects can go in the other direction too – reductions in air pollution in North America have led to severe droughts in the Amazon rainforest, according to a new study.