By converting plastic waste into a microbe-friendly food source, scientists have built an upcycling pipeline that turns the waste into a variety of useful products.

University of Utah engineering researchers develop a steam-powered fix for ‘sulfur poisoning’ in fuel cells, devices that both generate and store electricity. The team’s rhodium-infused anodes could be a solution to unlock fuel-flexible clean energy.

A 13-year study led by Anne Bernhard, professor of biology at Connecticut College, found that prolonged drought in southeastern Connecticut was associated with reduced stability in key nitrogen-cycling microbes in a coastal salt marsh. The research, published in Estuaries and Coasts, examined microbial communities from 2006 to 2019, including a severe drought from 2013 to 2018.

While most microbial groups declined during dry periods, ammonia-oxidizing archaea and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria showed the largest fluctuations in abundance. Archaeal amoA gene abundances were nearly 35 times higher in wet conditions than in dry conditions. After drought conditions eased, abundances returned to levels more similar to those observed before the dry period.

The findings provide long-term field evidence that extended drought can alter the stability of microbes central to nitrogen cycling in coastal marshes.