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Remote sensing technology reduces urban air pollution
Implementing roadside technology to detect high-emitting vehicles improves urban air quality. Vehicle emissions are the most significant source of air pollution in the urban environment worldwide, impacting the climate and the health of millions of people. Reducing air pollution is a key target of the United Nations sustainable development goals. «Car exhaust fumes contain poisonous…
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Why rats would win Australian survivor
Australian rodents skulls all correspond to one simple, size-dependent shape that is more than ten million years old but it turns out this lack of change is the secret behind their survivor reputation. A new study, co-led by scientists from Flinders University and The University of Queensland, has revealed that the skulls of rodents resemble…
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Past fires may hold key to reducing severity of future wildfires in western US
Previous fires may hold the key to predicting and reducing the severity of future wildfires in the western United States as fire activity continues to increase, according to researchers. «We have a good understanding of how fire used to interact with dry, forested landscapes before we implemented the policy of fire suppression, and how fire…
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Researchers track how microbiome bacteria adapt to humans via transmission
New research has shed light on how transmission of gut bacteria influences its evolution and functions. This novel research, by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, used genetic sequencing to shed new light on the evolution, colonisation and transmission of gut bacteria, which play a large role in human health. The study, published today (5…
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Researchers develop molecular traps to target SARS-CoV-2
A research team has engineered novel nanoparticles to serve as ‘molecular traps’ to target SARS-CoV-2, the virus that spreads COVID-19. The traps bind to SARS-CoV-2 and prevent it from attacking macrophages. «These nanoparticles can help maintain white blood cells’ regular function to combat virus infection,» said Changcheng Zhou, a professor of biomedical sciences in the…
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Low-cost, continuous seismic monitoring system to support emission reduction efforts
Researchers have developed a continuous seismic monitoring system that could monitor multiple geothermal or carbon storage reservoirs over a relatively large area in real time. A small seismic source generates repeated ‘chirps,’ which can be detected by fiber-optic cables within a radius of 80 km from the source. Field experiments showed that temporal changes in…
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Ancient meteorite site on Earth could reveal new clues about Mars’ past
Scientists have devised new analytical tools to break down the enigmatic history of Mars’ atmosphere — and whether life was once possible there. It could help astrobiologists understand the alkalinity, pH and nitrogen content of ancient waters on Mars, and by extension, the carbon dioxide composition of the planet’s ancient atmosphere. A paper detailing the…
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‘Workhorse’ of photovoltaics in tandem with perovskite
So-called PERC cells are used in mass production of silicon solar cells, they are considered the workhorses of photovoltaics, dominating the market. Now two teams have shown that such standard silicon cells are also suitable as a basis for tandem cells with perovskite top cells. Currently, the efficiency of the tandem cell is still below…
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Food mechanics recipe to serve up healthy food that lasts
Researchers are investigating the science of food drying to design faster, cheaper and better ways to store food. Published in journal PLOS ONE, researchers used QUT’s supercomputing facilities to examine the micromechanical behaviour of plant tissues and how biological cells behave while dehydrated or dried. Lead investigator Dr Charith Rathnayaka is a computational scientist from…
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The formation of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet was very different than previously believed
Roughly 35 million years ago, Earth cooled rapidly. At roughly the same time, the Drake Passage formed between South America and the Antarctic, paving the way for the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Thanks to these two factors, Antarctica was soon completely covered in ice. This massive glaciation was delayed in at least one region. For climate…