Blog

Nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant released by cars and fossil fuel burning power plants, can irritate the lungs, contribute to smog formation, and lead to premature deaths in cities around the world. A recent study, conducted at Kings College, London, UK, for example, found that more than 5,000 premature deaths in London annually could be attributed to nitrogen dioxide pollution

A University of York conservationist who put out a call for schools to name a new species of tropical tree has found a winner. Following competitive fundraising totalling nearly £4000, Askham Bryan College, UK pipped the Iringa International School, Tanzania to the post.

In a positive sign for efforts to boost U.S. competitiveness in science and technology, a new study finds that courses that engage college students in conducting scientific research early on can dramatically increase students’ odds of completing a science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) degree.

Using an “intuitive” approach, a SISSA study confirms a recent hypothesis on the formation of galaxies, according to which the larger elliptical galaxies formed in very ancient times through a process of local (in situ) star formation. This contradicts the current paradigm that they formed through the merging of spiral galaxies, a view which, despite being generally accepted by most of the scientific community, has been a source of theoretical inconsistencies.

(Phys.org)—A trio of researchers with Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand has found that juvenile kaka (forest cousins of the well known kea mountain parrots) are better at solving problems than are older birds in the same area. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Julia Loepelt, Rachael Shaw and Kevin Burns describe three types of experiments they conducted with wild kaka living in Zealandia Sanctuary, which is located on the North Island’s Wellington peninsula, and what they learned by doing so.

With an investment of 25 million euros the Colombian coffee sector should become climate proof to ensure more than half a million coffee farmers to cope with or fight the impact of lack or excess of water in 25 Colombian river basins. The programme ‘Manos al Agua’ (‘hands on water’) generates solutions to avoid annual losses of up to 30% of crops, affecting farmers’ income and livelihood

A new study led by Canadian astronomers provides unprecedented insights into the birth of stars. Using observations from the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Hawaii-based James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in the United States, astronomers from the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) have discovered that star formation is more regulated by pressure from their surroundings than previously thought.

In an important new study with implications for the treatment of dozens of incurable diseases, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have for the first time created a drug candidate that attacks and neutralizes the RNA structure that causes an incurable progressive, inherited disease involving a gradual loss of control over body movement.

Researchers from the University of Washington are using supercomputers at Department of Energy’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) and data from X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) experiments to gain new insights into warm dense matter (WDM), one of the most challenging aspects of contemporary plasma physics.

Scientists working in the Gulf of Mexico have found that contaminants from the massive 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill lingered in the subsurface water for months after oil on the surface had been swept up or dispersed. In a new study, they also detailed how remnants of the oil, black carbon from burning oil slicks and contaminants from drilling mud combined with microscopic algae and other marine debris to descend in a “dirty blizzard” to the seafloor.