FARGO, ND - Petroleum-based spills on turfgrass can occur during lawn care and maintenance, primarily as a result of equipment failure or improper refueling. When these spills happen, hazardous hydrocarbons can contaminate soil and compromise the chemical balance of the grass and soil. The authors of a study in the June 2016 issue of HortTechnology found that application of mulching materials after soil remediation and reseeding was effective in reestablishing perennial ryegrass in 6 weeks after diesel and hydraulic fluid spills.
Tech
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Like a whirlpool, a new light-based communication tool carries data in a swift, circular motion.
Described in a study published today (July 28, 2016) by the journal Science, the optics advancement could become a central component of next generation computers designed to handle society's growing demand for information sharing.
It may also be a salve to those fretting over the predicted end of Moore's Law, the idea that researchers will find new ways to continue making computers smaller, faster and cheaper.
Thermoelectric effects are a fundamental building block for the conception and development of new processes for information processing. They enable to re-use waste heat obtained in different processes for the operation of respective devices and thus contribute to the establishment of more energy-efficient, ecofriendly processes. A promising representative of this effect category is the so-called spin Seebeck effect, which became prominent within recent years.
Communities around the world are familiar with the devastation brought on by floods and droughts. Scientists are concerned that, in light of global climate change, these events will only become more frequent and intense. Water variability, at its worst, can threaten the lives and well-beings of countless people. Sadly, humans cannot control the weather to protect themselves. But according to Silja Hund, a researcher at the University of British Columbia, communities can build resilience to water resource stress.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- At a time when the video game industry has come under scrutiny for its low level of female employment and how women are depicted in its products, a new Indiana University study finds that sexualization of female primary game characters actually may be less than before.
Video surveillance is the most effective method for detecting animals flying around solar power towers, according to a study of various techniques by the U.S. Geological Survey and its partners at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System facility in southeastern California.
DURHAM, N.C. -- As palm oil production expands from Southeast Asia into tropical regions of the Americas and Africa, vulnerable forests and species on four continents face increased risk of loss, a new Duke University-led study finds.
The largest areas of vulnerable forest are in Africa and South America, where more than 30 percent of forests within land suitable for oil palm plantations remain unprotected, the study shows.
Drexel University researchers, led by MinJun Kim, PhD, a professor in the College of Engineering, have successfully pulled off a feat that both sci-fi fans and Michael Phelps could appreciate. Using a rotating magnetic field they show how multiple chains of microscopic magnetic bead-based robots can link up to reach impressive speeds swimming through in a microfluidic environment. Their finding is the latest step toward using the so-called "microswimmers" to deliver medicine and perform surgery inside the body.
Rice University scientists who analyze the properties of materials as small as a single molecule have encountered a challenge that appears at very low temperatures.
In trying to measure the plasmonic properties of gold nanowires, the Rice lab of condensed matter physicist Douglas Natelson determined that at room temperature, the wire heated up a bit when illuminated by a laser; but confoundingly, at ultracold temperatures and under the same light, its temperature rose by far more.
A new wrinkle on an old technology - solid-state thermophotovoltaics (TPV) - could provide a high-efficiency alternative for directly converting high-temperature heat from concentrated solar thermal to utility-scale electricity.
Gold had long been considered a non-magnetic metal. But researchers at Tohoku University recently discovered that gold can in fact be magnetized by applying heat.
They discovered that an electron spin - the origin of magnetism - plays an important role in a material's functionality at a non-constant temperature, where the magnetization and the heat flow interact. A subsequent experiment confirmed, for the first time, that magnetization in gold can be induced by the heat flow driven by a temperature change.
A team of researchers in Italy has used the location of confirmed debris from MH370 to determine where the airliner might have crashed, and where further debris could be found. The study is published today (27 July) in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).
While previous studies have found that electronic cigarettes emit toxic compounds, a new study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has pinpointed the source of these emissions and shown how factors such as the temperature, type, and age of the device play a role in emission levels, information that could be valuable to both manufacturers and regulators seeking to minimize the health impacts of these increasingly popular devices.
Montreal homes are the most sustainable in the country, and Edmonton's the least, according to a new University of British Columbia study that compares average household greenhouse gas emissions in major cities across Canada.
Using census data over a 12-year span, researchers ranked cities on how much carbon dioxide the average Canadian family (two to three people) with an annual income of $81,000 in each city produced in a year from the combined use of electricity, gasoline and natural gas.
The "Industry 4.0" concept, first introduced by the German government, has recently extended the scope of compact high-power laser applications to, for instance, laser manufacturing, vehicle engine development, or thruster systems for space exploration.
However, integration of a controllable Q-switch into compact solid-state lasers has been challenging because of the mechanisms of EO and AO effects. In addition, previous Q-switches needed a large-sized power supply, which prevented downscaling of the entire system.