Leipzig. Fungi are found throughout the soil with giant braiding of fine threads. However, these networks have surprising functions. Only a few years ago researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) discovered that bacteria travel over the fungal threads through the labyrinth of soil pores, much the same as on a highway. Now, together with British colleagues from the University of Lancaster, the UFZ researchers have come upon another phenomenon. Accordingly, the fungal networks also transports contaminants which are otherwise largely immobile in the ground.
Tech
Researchers from the University of Southampton have devised a novel method for forming virtual power plants to provide renewable energy production in the UK.
In the last decade, small and distributed energy resources (DERs), like wind farms and solar panels, have begun to appear in greater numbers in the electricity supply network (Grid).
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers could have a new method to rebuild wetlands of the Louisiana delta, thanks to a chance finding while monitoring severe flooding of the Mississippi River.
A team of civil engineers and geologists from the University of Illinois, in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, published their findings in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Programmed cell death (PCD) is a highly regulated process that occurs in all animals and plants as part of normal development and in response to the environment. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Plant Biology is the first to document the physiological events in the lace plant (Aponogeton madagascariensis) which occur via PCD to produce the characteristic holes in its leaves.
Do you have what it takes to be an ethical hacker? Can you step into the shoes of a professional paid to outsmart supposedly locked-down systems? Now you can at least try, no matter what your background, with a new card game developed by University of Washington computer scientists.
"Control-Alt-Hack" gives teenage and young-adult players a taste of what it means to be a computer-security professional defending against an ever-expanding range of digital threats. The game's creators will present it this week in Las Vegas at Black Hat 2012, an annual information-security meeting.
A Cleveland Clinic research team is developing virtual models of human knee joints to better understand how tissues and their individual cells react to heavy loads – virtual models that someday can be used to understand damage mechanisms caused by the aging process or by debilitating diseases, such as osteoarthritis.
Papers on how best to identify trending stories on Twitter and on just how cool computers in data centers need to be kept has won accolades for faculty and students from UTSC's Department of Computer & Mathematical Sciences.
Nick Koudas, UTSC computer science professor, and his graduate students Albert Angel and Nikos Sarkas, won the Best Paper award for the Very Large Databases Conference, which they will present at the meeting in Istanbul in August.
Population-wide levels of HIV virus dropped substantially between 2011 and May 2012 in a rural part of southwestern Uganda, the site of two community health campaigns led by doctors at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH) and Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.
Researchers at NPL have demonstrated for the first time a monolithic 3D ion microtrap array which could be scaled up to handle several tens of ion-based quantum bits (qubits). The research, published in Nature Nanotechnology, shows how it is possible to realise this device embedded in a semiconductor chip, and demonstrates the device's ability to confine individual ions at the nanoscale.
Alexandria, VA – December 21, 2012 – the purported last day of a 5,125-year cycle in the Mesoamerican calendar – has been added to an endless list of days when the world has been expected to end. But what are our real chances of being wiped out by a catastrophic event – the kind that has happened in the past and will inevitably occur again someday? In the August issue of EARTH, we explore four of the most probable global events that could change life on Earth forever.
For Immediate Release – July 24, 2012 – (Toronto) – An ongoing survey of Ontario students in grades 7 to 12 conducted for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) shows that while the majority of students have healthy relationships and report overall good mental and physical health, some negative trends, especially among girls, have raised concerns.
The 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS) Mental Health and Well-Being Report released today reveals important trends in mental and physical health and risk behaviours among Ontario students.
The first study of a procedure to make three-dimensional "maps" of electrical signals in children's hearts could help cardiologists correct rapid heart rhythms in young patients, according to new research presented at the American Heart Association's Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2012 Scientific Sessions.
- U.S. college students typically drink more than their non-college peers and are slow to 'mature out' of their harmful drinking patterns.
- A new study examines a combined community-level and campus-level approach to reducing high-risk drinking.
- Findings indicate this approach can decrease both severe and interpersonal consequences of drinking.
CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson University plant breeders announced a new high-yielding variety of oats.
Named Graham, the new variety grows to medium height, withstands falling over (lodging), matures earlier and produces more seed than comparable varieties.
"Graham has excellent seed yield potential, exceeding the Rodgers variety by 20 bushels per acre at some locations and produces a 32.2-pound bushel compared to 31.9-pound bushel for Rodgers," said Chris Ray, director of the S.C. Crop Improvement Association, which grows certified seed for sale to the public.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - In a new study that has implications for distracted drivers, researchers found that people are better at juggling some types of multitasking than they are at others.
Trying to do two visual tasks at once hurt performance in both tasks significantly more than combining a visual and an audio task, the research found.
Alarmingly, though, people who tried to do two visual tasks at the same time rated their performance as better than did those who combined a visual and an audio task - even though their actual performance was worse.