Tech
In a paper published in NANO, researchers from National Taiwan University examined the photocatalytic performances of titanate nanotubes (TNTs) against commonly-used titanium dioxide (TiO2) and discovered superior performance of TNTs.
In 1995, the severe drought that devastated Spain left some farms using irrigation agriculture without water supplies. Though it has not happened again since, climate change increases the chance of this threat. For farmers growing annual crops, an occurrence such as this one would mean losing a year's work but those who have groves of trees risk losing not only their year's production, but their long-term investment as well.
For the first time, researchers have implemented a cloud-based, highly efficient control system to aid first responders in disaster-area management.
When disaster strikes, nothing is certain. From hazardous chemical leaks to destroyed communications infrastructure, the terrain encountered by first responders can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and lethal. These conditions often hinder efforts to adequately assess the damage to infrastructure, identify hazards, and to locate and rescue victims of the disaster.
Research at the University of Guam has shown that the decomposition of leaf litter from three threatened tree species releases nitrogen and carbon into the soil for use by other plants. The results illuminate the importance of biodiversity and the role certain organisms play in extracting nitrogen and carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering these elements in the biosphere. The findings were published in the September issue of the MDPI journal Nitrogen (doi:10.3390/nitrogen1020010).
A critically important nitrogen source
A new study by researchers at UC Santa Cruz shows how a genetic mutation throws off the timing of the biological clock, causing a common sleep syndrome called delayed sleep phase disorder.
Researchers from Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) proposed a new approach to describe the interaction of metals with electromagnetic fluctuations (i.e., with random bursts of electric and magnetic fields). The obtained results have great potential for application in both fundamental physics and for creating nanodevices for various purposes.
Between 57 and 55 million years ago, the geological epoch known as the Paleocene ended and gave way to the Eocene. At that time, the atmosphere was essentially flooded by the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, with concentration levels reaching 1,400 ppm to 4,000 ppm. So it's not hard to imagine that temperatures on Earth must have resembled those of a sauna. It was hot and humid, and the ice on the polar caps had completely disappeared.
Butterflies have long captured our attention due to their amazing color diversity. But why are they so colorful? A new publication led by researchers from Sweden and Germany suggests that female influence butterfly color diversity by mating with colorful males.
The energy sector is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions and therefore the main responsible of the observed human-caused changes in the climate system, but it is also vulnerable to the changing climate.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a dramatic reduction in travel, especially to other countries. Figures show that in the second quarter of this year, airlines suffered an 80% fall in income compared to 2019, as the passenger fleet was brought to a virtual standstill, according to data from the International Air Transport Association.
Motorists with smartphones could help highway chiefs maintain road quality by sending 'crowdsourced' data from their mobiles that would allow engineers to assess when carriageway repairs are needed, according to a new study.
Road roughness is an important measure of condition and ride quality, but many agencies around the world with large road networks lack the resources to regularly check the state of their highways and make informed maintenance decisions.
Insight into energy losses that affect the conversion of light into electricity could help enhance organic solar cell efficiencies. A KAUST-led team of organic chemists, materials engineers, spectroscopists and theoretical physicists from six research groups has extensively evaluated efficiency-limiting processes in organic photovoltaic systems.
This is the first report for the syntheses of water-soluble polyimides which are Interestingly derived from bio-based resources, showing high transparency, tunable mechanical strength and the highest thermoresistance in water-soluble polymers reported ever.
SINGAPORE, 27 October 2020 - Bats act as reservoirs of numerous zoonotic viruses, including SARS-CoV, MERS CoV, Ebola virus, and--most likely--SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen behind the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. However, the molecular mechanisms bats deploy to tolerate pathogenic viruses has remained unclear.
The ocean plays a key role in the current climate change, as it absorbs a considerable part of the atmospheric carbon dioxide emitted by mankind. On the one hand, this slows down the heating of the climate, and on the other hand, the dissolution of CO2 in seawater leads to acidification of the oceans. This has far-reaching consequences for many marine organisms and thus also for the oceanic carbon cycle. One of the most important mechanisms in this cycle, is called the biological carbon pump.