Synonymous with the Australian landscape, the paperbark tree is most recognised for its distinctive bark, but it is the leaves that have found themselves at the centre of research which could provide crucial insights into climate change.
The research, completed by a consortium of researchers including Griffith University School of Engineering Professor Margaret Greenway, found Melaleuca leaves preserved in ancient wetlands could be used to reconstruct past rainfall activity.
In a proof-of-principle experiment, researchers at UNSW Australia have demonstrated that a small group of individual atoms placed very precisely in silicon can act as a quantum simulator, mimicking nature - in this case, the weird quantum interactions of electrons in materials.
The publication of this latest advance towards the development of a silicon-based quantum computer at UNSW coincided with the opening of the university's new quantum computing laboratories by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Flight-capable adult birds have many morphological features that are presumably adaptations or exaptations for meeting aerial challenges. Large wings with stiff, asymmetrical primary feathers (A) are thought to stabilize feathers against oncoming airflow [48], prevent excessive deformation [23], and reduce feather permeability [49]. Credit: PLOS ONE Heers AM et al. e0153446
source: PLOS
Innovative multidisciplinary research in nuclear and particle physics and cosmology has led to the development of a new, more accurate computer code to study the early universe. The code simulates conditions during the first few minutes of cosmological evolution to model the role of neutrinos, nuclei and other particles in shaping the early universe.
By combining two century-old techniques in organic chemistry, Syuzanna Harutyunyan is able to make organic compounds with greater ease and precision. Such compounds are important for drug discovery and development. Harutyunyan's method is described in a paper that will be published by the journal Science on 22 April.
The microscopic world is governed by the rules of quantum mechanics, where the properties of a particle can be completely undetermined and yet strongly correlated with those of other particles. Physicists from the University of Basel have observed these so-called Bell correlations for the first time between hundreds of atoms. Their findings are published in the scientific journal Science.
New research based on high-resolution x-ray movies reveals that despite having extremely underdeveloped muscles and wings, young birds acquire a mature flight stroke early in their development, initially relying heavily on their legs and wings to work in tandem to power the strenuous movement. The new study, published today in the journal PLOS ONE, is important for understanding the development of flight in modern birds and reconstructing its origins in extinct dinosaurs.
A new study in the April 22 edition of Science reveals that volcanic activity associated with the plate-tectonic movement of continents may be responsible for climatic shifts from hot to cold over tens and hundreds of millions of years throughout much of Earth's history.
The study, led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences, addresses why the Earth has fluctuated from periods when the planet was covered in ice to times when even the polar regions were ice-free.
A group of scientists led by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden and involving the University of Colorado Boulder has developed a new, eco-friendly method to produce ammonia, the main ingredient of fertilizer, using light.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., April 21, 2016-- Innovative multidisciplinary research in nuclear and particle physics and cosmology has led to the development of a new, more accurate computer code to study the early universe. The code simulates conditions during the first few minutes of cosmological evolution to model the role of neutrinos, nuclei and other particles in shaping the early universe.
EPFL scientists have elucidated for the first time how a notoriously elusive serotonin receptor functions with atom-level detail. The receptor transmits electrical signals in neurons and is involved in various disorders, meaning that the discovery opens the way for new treatments.
Tropical Cyclone 20P, now named Amos, has continued to organize and strengthen in the Southern Pacific and is now threatening Pago Pago. NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured an image of the storm on April 21 as a Flash Flood Watch continued for all islands in American Samoa.
After the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and devastating tsunami in Japan, states such as California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska are looking to both the past and the future to prepare for a tsunami on the U.S. Pacific coastline.
WASHINGTON, DC -- If emission rates continue unchecked, regions of the United States could experience between three and nine additional days per year of unhealthy ozone levels by 2050, according to a new study.
If emission rates continue unchecked, regions of the United States could experience between three and nine additional days per year of unhealthy ozone levels by 2050, according to a new study from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) published in Geophysical Research Letters.
"In the coming decades, global climate change will likely cause more heat waves during the summer, which in turn could cause a 70 to 100 percent increase in ozone episodes, depending on the region," said Lu Shen, first author and graduate student at SEAS.