Tech
Excessive CO2 discharge derived from the continuous burning of fossil fuels has caused global warming and environmental issues. Artificial conversion of excess CO2 into serviceable energy product is an important pathway to achieve sustainable development. Solar-driven photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to carbon-neutral fuels (CO, CH4) and/or value-added chemicals (HCOOH, CH3OH) affords a feasible strategy for the aforesaid conversion. The implementation of this reaction can mitigate the greenhouse effect and energy crisis simultaneously.
Tracking the magnitude of several catastrophic natural events and drawing a graphic of how many episodes of each have occurred throughout history yields a result which cannot be ignored. Quite on the contrary, what the graphic reveals is a highly defined curve which luckily shows that the stronger the capacity to devastate, the less frequently the episode occurs. For example, very few earthquakes are devastating, but small earthquakes occur frequently, most of them so weak that people do not perceive them and are only detected by highly sensitive sensors.
Imagine standing in a lumberyard and being asked to build a house -- without blueprints or instructions of any kind. The materials are all in front of you, but that doesn't mean you have the first idea how to get from point A to point B.
That was the situation facing the Princeton biologists who are building microtubules, the skeleton of the cell, from scratch.
Researchers from North Carolina State University and Elon University have developed a technique that allows them to remotely control the movement of soft robots, lock them into position for as long as needed and later reconfigure the robots into new shapes. The technique relies on light and magnetic fields.
CHICAGO --- Sesame allergy affects more than 1 million children and adults in the U.S., more than previously known, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.
But sesame labeling is currently not required by law as are the other top eight allergens like peanut and milk, and is often labeled in a potentially confusing manner, such as tahini. This increases the risk of accidental ingestion.
The new study provides the first up-to-date estimates on the current prevalence of sesame allergy among U.S. children and adults in all 50 states.
Machine learning-guided virtual reality simulators can help neurosurgeons develop the skills they need before they step in the operating room, according to a new study.
Infrared imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite revealed Tropical Storm Erick is being battered by wind shear, and that its strongest storms were south of the Big Island of Hawaii. NOAA forecasters used other NASA satellites to find Erick's center.
A new U of T Scarborough study finds male black widow spiders will hijack silk trails left by rival males in their search for a potential mate.
Male black widows will follow chemical cues (pheromones) released by potential female mates, but it was always assumed they would avoid rival males because competition is so fierce.
"We expect males to use female cues to find a potential mate, and use those left by their rivals to avoid them," says Catherine Scott, a PhD candidate in Professor Maydianne Andrade's lab at U of T Scarborough and lead author of the study.
The concept of implicit bias has made its way into the general consciousness, most often in the context of racial bias. More broadly, however, implicit biases can affect how people think of anything -- from their thoughts about cookies to those about white men.
"All the little ways in which our everyday thinking about social stuff is unconscious or uncontrollable," wrote Calvin Lai, assistant professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, in an article in DCist. "The stuff that we don't realize is influencing us when we make decisions."
Soft robots have gained much attention in the past several years for their unique characteristics compared to traditional rigid robots. However, unlike the Baymax in the film "Big Hero 6", state-of-the-art soft robot is just a prototype in labs, usually tethered, which means it requires an electrical wire or pneumatic tubing for powering. To exploit the full potential of soft robots, untethered design is preferred.
An international collaboration led by scientists at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) , Japan, has found that hazardous chemicals were detected in plastics eaten by seabirds. This suggests that the seabird has been threatened by these chemicals once they eat plastics.
The research findings were published in Marine Pollution Bulletin in May 2019.
Thunderstorms are common all over the world in summer. As well as spoiling afternoons in the park, lightning, rain and strong winds can damage power grids and cause electricity blackouts. It's easy to tell when a storm is coming, but electricity companies want to be able to predict which ones have the potential to damage their infrastructure.
There’s a species of poison frog called the “strawberry poison frog” or the “blue jeans frog,” depending on who you ask. These frogs are smaller than a quarter, with bright red bodies and navy blue limbs, and they live in shady Costa Rican forests. Or, they did, until humans began cutting the forests to create farmland. These sunny fields and pastures are hotter and drier than the forests, and scientists wanted to know how the strawberry frogs were adapting to their new environment.
A combination of waste materials supplemented with a product of biomass could help in the search for high quality soils, a new study suggests.
Soil degradation is posing a huge threat to global food security and every year, around 12 million hectares of cropland are lost to soil erosion.
Scientists from the University of Plymouth have demonstrated that adding biochar - a solid, carbon-rich material derived from biomass - to soil constructed from waste materials, reduces the loss of essential nutrients such as nitrogen and carbon.
Scientists worldwide work tirelessly to advance human knowledge and discoveries. One estimate suggests that about three million research articles are published each year, spread across some 30,000 journals.
Despite the quantity, however, many think that improvements can be made to the research culture to bring forth even more significant impact on the world.