Could AI help recover energy and fresh water from municipal wastewater?
As city populations boom and the need grows for sustainable energy and water, scientists and engineers with the University of Chicago and partners are looking towards artificial intelligence to build new systems to deal with wastewater. Two new projects will test out ways to make "intelligent" water systems to recover nutrients and clean water.
Discovery of new geologic process calls for changes to plate tectonic cycle
Geoscientists at the University of Toronto (U of T) and Istanbul Technical University have discovered a new process in plate tectonics which shows that tremendous damage occurs to areas of Earth's crust long before it should be geologically altered by known plate-boundary processes, highlighting the need to amend current understandings of the planet's tectonic cycle.
Understanding SARS-COV-2 proteins is key to improve therapeutic options for COVID-19
COVID-19 has had a significant impact since the pandemic was declared by WHO in 2020, with over 3 million deaths and counting, Researchers and medical teams have been hard at work at developing strategies to control the spread of the infection, caused by SARS-COV-2 virus and treat affected patients. Of special interest to the global population is the developments of vaccines to boost human...
Low-temperature crystallization of phase-pure α-formamidinium lead iodide enabled by study
Though different fabrication approaches exist, two-step deposition is one of the main experimental techniques now used to make efficient, stable PSCs, especially on the industrial scale. The process involves first depositing lead iodide (PbI2) and then adding halide salts of monovalent cations such as methylammonium iodide (MAI) and formamidinium iodide (FAI) to convert it to perovskite.
World's fastest information-fueled engine designed by university researchers
Simon Fraser University researchers have designed a remarkably fast engine that taps into a new kind of fuel—information.
Best practices to prevent the federal government from blowing its technology budget
With the U.S. federal government investing billions of taxpayer dollars in executing technology programs, wouldn't you like to know where this money is going? A new study has identified ways to reduce federal spending in the execution of these taxpayer-funded technology programs.
Rules of the road: The navigational 'strategies' of bacteria in motion
Bacteria that move around live on the edge. All the time. Their success, be it in finding nutrients, fending off predators or multiplying, depends on how efficiently they navigate through their confining microscopic habitats. Whether these habitats are in animal or plant tissues, in waste, or in other materials. In a recent paper published in PNAS, a team of researchers led by McGill University...
Sustaining technology-enhanced learning innovations in teachers' classroom practices
In the recent years Tallinn University has paid a lot of attention to becoming agile in business collaboration, including both local and international EdTech companies. Their collaboration with the company TTS Group started last year, and the common interest is to develop and implement novel STEAM and educational robotics-related teaching practices for kindergartens and primary schools. The...
Space telescope's golden mirror wings open one last time on Earth
For the last time while it is on Earth, the world's largest and most powerful space science telescope opened its iconic primary mirror. This event marked a key milestone in preparing the observatory for launch later this year.
Space-based system can provide seismic monitoring for large earthquakes and tsunamis
Researchers have developed a global earthquake monitoring system that uses the Global Navigational Satellite System (GNSS) to measure crustal deformation.
Researchers find target to fight antibiotic resistance
Gram-negative bacteria are the bane of health care workers' existence.
On the heels of one rare gray wolf's epic journey into California, another arrives
A young male gray wolf crossed into far Northern California early this month—joining another wolf that trekked into the state in late January and made an epic journey south.
Newly described horned dinosaur from New Mexico was the earliest of its kind
A newly described horned dinosaur that lived in New Mexico 82 million years ago is one of the earliest known ceratopsid species, a group known as horned or frilled dinosaurs. Researchers reported their find in a publication in the journal PalZ (Paläontologische Zeitschrift).
Extreme weather affecting UK agriculture—but adapting to changing climate a challenge for many farmers
Extreme weather is harming UK agriculture—but many farmers have not yet made adapting to the effects of the climate emergency a priority, a new study shows.
Now is the time to think about reintroducing jaguars into the US
A group of scientists say now is the time to talk about reintroducing jaguars (Panthera onca) into the U.S.
Students with disabilities show resilience that could guide post-pandemic education
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a new world of challenges for education. But a new study from the University of Kansas shows the voices and experiences of students who are already among the most marginalized can help lead the way in making young people's strengths the focus of education.
Novel ancient shark discovered
This rare fossil find comes from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation in England, a series of sedimentary rocks that was formed in a shallow, tropical-subtropical sea during the Upper Jurassic, about 150 million years ago. The fossil shark skeleton was found more than 20 years ago on the southern coast of England and is now held in the Etches Collection. Additional fossil shark specimens from it will be...
Roads pose significant threat to bee movement and flower pollination
Roads can be barriers to wildlife of all sorts, and scientists have studied road impacts on animals ranging from Florida panthers and grizzly bears to box turtles, mice, rattlesnakes and salamanders.
Using phages to discover new antifreeze proteins
Controlling, and mitigating the effects of ice growth is crucial to protect infrastructure, help preserve frozen cells and to enhance texture of frozen foods. An international collaboration of Warwick scientists working with researchers from Switzerland have used a phage display platform to discover new, small, peptides which function like larger antifreeze proteins. This presents a route to new,...
Lasers, levitation and machine learning make better heat-resistant materials
Argonne scientists across several disciplines have combined forces to create a new process for testing and predicting the effects of high temperatures on refractory oxides.
Successful DNA replication in cyanobacteria depends on the circadian clock
A new study from the University of Chicago has found that the photosynthetic bacterium Synechococcus elongatus uses a circadian clock to precisely time DNA replication, and that interrupting this circadian rhythm prevents replication from completing and leaves chromosomes unfinished overnight. The results, published online on May 10 in Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, have...
New research will make bean crops hardier, help improve global food security
Tepary beans—a high protein legume common to the southwest United States and Mexico—may hold the key to adapting bean crops for the increasingly harsh conditions brought on by a changing climate, according to research led by University of Saskatchewan (USask) and Michigan State University.
When conservation work pays off: After 20 years, the Saker Falcon breeds again in Bulgaria
The Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) is a bird of prey living in plains and forest-steppes in the West and semi-desert montane plateaus and cliffs in the East. The majority of its Central and Eastern European population is migratory and spends winters in the Mediterranean, the Near East and East Africa. With its global population estimated at 6,100-14,900 breeding pairs, the species is considered...
When conservation work pays off: After 20 years, the Saker Falcon breeds again in Bulgaria
The Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) is a bird of prey living in plains and forest-steppes in the West and semi-desert montane plateaus and cliffs in the East. The majority of its Central and Eastern European population is migratory and spends winters in the Mediterranean, the Near East and East Africa. With its global population estimated at 6,100-14,900 breeding pairs, the species is considered...
Researchers reveal how PIF proteins regulate cytokinesis
To protect their newly formed fragile organs, dark-grown dicotyledonous plants form an apical hook when penetrating through the soil. The apical hook of pifq (pif1 pif3 pif4 pif5) mutant was fully opened, even in complete darkness, suggesting that PIF proteins are required for maintaining the apical hook in the darkness and are involved in regulation of the apical hook opening. But the underlying...