https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. What do Venice, Jakarta, Manilla and Bangkok have in common? They are or were sinking cities. Wageningen researcher Philip Minderhoud studies the causes of subsidence in these cities. Groundwater extraction plays an important part in all cases. The good news is that this can be avoided. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-city.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 16:26:04 EDT news646586761 An increasingly powerful hurricane threatening "catastrophic," dangerous storm surges and flooding was forecast to smash into Florida's Gulf coast on Thursday, as thousands of residents evacuated towns along the US state's shoreline. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-florida-girds-catastrophic-hurricane-helene.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 03:42:07 EDT news646540922 Immediate action is needed at all levels to protect communities in the Asia Pacific from sea levels that are rising significantly faster than the global average, say climate scientists ahead of the next key UN climate summit. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-climate-scientists-alarm-asia-seas.html Environment Wed, 25 Sep 2024 14:57:04 EDT news646495021 Physics-informed virtual reality could be key to reducing the exposure of pedestrians and cyclists to harmful, non-exhaust vehicle emissions, according to a study published 25 Sep in the Royal Society Open Science journal. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-virtual-reality-pedestrians-cyclists-pollutants.html Environment Wed, 25 Sep 2024 00:10:01 EDT news646386361 Turning her faucet on one day in 2014, Chanel McGee watched in disgust as a brownish trickle poured out. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-city-flint-reeling-crisis-years.html Environment Sat, 21 Sep 2024 11:00:01 EDT news646135088 New research exploring the effects of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) in Glasgow has found that while traffic flow has remained largely unchanged since the Zone was enforced, air quality has improved. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-glasgow-emission-zone-air-quality.html Environment Thu, 19 Sep 2024 14:30:02 EDT news645974432 An ambitious housing project in the northwestern French city of Caen has run aground over worries that rising waters driven by climate change could make the area unlivable within the century. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-vast-france-sunk-sea.html Environment Thu, 19 Sep 2024 04:50:01 EDT news645939910 Researchers have just published their findings on the analysis of economic activities over a century of urban growth in the city of Paris. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-economic-city-insights-19th-century.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Tue, 17 Sep 2024 14:49:37 EDT news645803371 Urban sustainable development (USD) plans and policies cover a wide range of issues, such as biodiversity protection, transportation, or poverty reduction. Yet, it is unclear what the USD policy preferences of residents are. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-urban-sustainable-basic-human.html Environment Tue, 17 Sep 2024 12:20:06 EDT news645794400 Kamala Harris is at the top of a major party ticket running for president. Some people have celebrated her candidacy, hoping that it will excite voters enough to elect the first woman president. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-women-underrepresented-local-woman.html Social Sciences Political science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 13:25:11 EDT news645711906 As anyone who has looked for a job can tell you, finding one isn't the easiest process. This experience can be even more challenging if you're new to a country and speak with what is perceived to be a "foreign" accent. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-accent-bias-impact-person-job.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Mon, 16 Sep 2024 12:50:08 EDT news645709801 A recent University of Melbourne study published in Architecture has found secondary students at some of Brisbane and Melbourne's new inner-city "vertical schools" craved outdoor green spaces to help them feel connected to their environment while also supporting their development. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-high-schools-green-spaces-students.html Social Sciences Education Mon, 16 Sep 2024 12:22:47 EDT news645708162 As urban areas continue to expand, they often experience the urban heat island effect, where cities become significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas. Urban trees have long been proposed as a solution to mitigate this effect, thanks to their ability to provide shade and cool the air through evaporation. However, the effectiveness of these cooling mechanisms, particularly under rising temperatures, has remained uncertain—until now. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-urban-trees-cooling-hotter-days.html Environment Mon, 16 Sep 2024 12:16:03 EDT news645707761 The 15-minute city, a concept where essential services are accessible within a 15-minute walk or bike ride, has become increasingly popular in urban planning in recent years. This is because it offers solutions to several pressing challenges in urban areas, such as traffic, pollution, social isolation, and quality of life. With more than half of the world's population now living in cities—and this figure steadily increasing—these issues are becoming ever more critical. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-minute-city-shouldnt-factor-future.html Environment Mon, 16 Sep 2024 12:05:19 EDT news645707107 You're a hotshot working to contain a wildfire. The conflagration jumps the fire line, forcing your crew to flee using pre-determined escape routes. At the start of the day, the crew boss estimated how long it should take to get to the safety zone. With the flames at your back, you check your watch and hope they were right. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-comprehensive-airborne-lidar-unprecedented-accuracy.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 16 Sep 2024 10:08:02 EDT news645700076 The Dutch city of The Hague has become the first in the world to pass local laws banning advertisements for fossil fuels, petrol cars and long-distance air travel, officials said Friday. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-hague-fossil-fuel-ads.html Environment Fri, 13 Sep 2024 12:35:21 EDT news645449718 Urban green spaces are disappearing from New Zealand cities, at a time when denser housing is being planned in many areas. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-vital-green-spaces-nz-cities.html Environment Thu, 12 Sep 2024 11:45:04 EDT news645360301 Warm water in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico can fuel powerful hurricanes, but how destructive a storm becomes isn't just about the climate and weather—it also depends on the people and property in harm's way. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-coastal-cities-hurricane-vulnerability-fed.html Environment Wed, 11 Sep 2024 12:31:14 EDT news645276664 Summer storms are generally more frequent, intense and concentrated over cities than over rural areas, according to new, detailed observations of eight cities and their surroundings. The results could change how city planners prepare for floods in their cities, especially as urban areas expand and as climate change alters global weather patterns. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-summer-storms-stronger-frequent-urban.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 10 Sep 2024 16:41:04 EDT news645205261 Urban flooding is increasingly concerning in Canada, where water drainage systems are at risk of being overwhelmed. Natural watersheds have been greatly altered by construction disturbing the natural ways that water flows from rainfall, across the land and into water bodies. The result is that drainage infrastructure must cope with increased water volumes at both higher speeds and flow rates, as well as deteriorated water quality due to pollutants such as oil and organic waste. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-stormwater-infrastructure-canadian-cities-urban.html Environment Tue, 10 Sep 2024 12:04:03 EDT news645188641 Along the streets of Paris, more than 40,000 tall, leafy plane trees provide picturesque backdrops, offer shade to city dwellers, and improve air quality, among numerous other benefits. Since 2016, some of these trees have also served as low-cost, passive biological sensors for Ecorc'Air, a crowdsourced science initiative that monitors levels of fine-particle pollutants associated with road traffic. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-volunteers-track-parisian-pollution-tree.html Environment Mon, 09 Sep 2024 12:28:08 EDT news645103682 One of the big ideas of the 21st century, "smart cities" promised a new world of connected, data-driven and sustainable urbanism. Pervasive digital infrastructures would monitor flows from sewage to traffic to criminal activities, providing information in real time and anticipating and preventing risks. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-opinion-smart-sustainable-cities-result.html Environment Mon, 09 Sep 2024 11:23:03 EDT news645099781 Old graveyards are a forgotten land asset that can find new life as urban parks in crowded cities. As the density of our cities increases, efficient use of urban land becomes paramount. In particular, land for urban parks becomes more important and harder to find. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-plot-graveyards-life-cities.html Social Sciences Mon, 09 Sep 2024 09:40:01 EDT news645093113 As climate change continues to intensify, the world is seeing an increase in the number and intensity of climate- and weather-related disasters. The UN member states need to develop urgent mitigation and adaptation actions based on reliable climate change projections. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-harnessing-power-ai-climate-impact.html Environment Fri, 06 Sep 2024 13:03:05 EDT news644846581 Severe drought in the American Southwest and Mexico and more severe wet years in the Northeast are the modern norm in North America, according to new research—and the analysis suggests these seasonal patterns will be more extreme in the future. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-droughts-rainy-extremes-severe.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 06 Sep 2024 11:11:39 EDT news644839894 A small team of zoologists and ecologists with members from Instituto de Ecología and Soluciones Ambientales en Sustentabilidad Ambiental, both in Mexico, and the University of Texas at Austin, has found that a certain species of bat living in Mexico has photoluminescent bristles on their feet. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-mexican-photoluminescent-feet.html Plants & Animals Tue, 03 Sep 2024 10:40:01 EDT news644577916 Modern buildings tend to take electricity and air conditioning for granted. They often have glass facades and windows that can't be opened. And when the power goes out for days in the middle of a heat wave, as the Houston area experienced in July 2024 after Hurricane Beryl, these buildings can become unbearable. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-lessons-ancient-civilizations-homes-cool.html Archaeology Mon, 02 Sep 2024 13:10:01 EDT news644500801 Cities in the Global South are more exposed to extreme heat because they lack cooling green spaces, new research shows. The study found that Global South cities have just 70% of the "cooling capacity" provided by urban greenery in the Global North. The paper, published in the journal Nature Communications, is titled "Green infrastructure provides substantial but unequal urban cooling globally." https://phys.org/news/2024-08-global-south-cities-lack-cooling.html Environment Mon, 02 Sep 2024 05:00:01 EDT news644242817 In a revealing piece of research coauthored by a Singapore Management University academic, public policies to ease urban heat in one of the largest first world cities have seen price gaps emerge between homes in cooler and hotter areas, with lower-income residents choosing to live in the latter, cheaper neighborhoods. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-income-nyc-residents-comfort.html Environment Fri, 30 Aug 2024 14:50:02 EDT news644242596 Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow Kerice Doten-Snitker studies how government-sanctioned violence in medieval Germany diffused from one community to another. More specifically, she wants to know what sometimes prevented the spread of targeted ethnic or racial policies. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-violent-policies.html Political science Thu, 29 Aug 2024 13:29:17 EDT news644156937