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New way to make biomedical devices from silk yields better products with tunable qualities

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Researchers led by engineers at Tufts University have developed a novel, significantly more efficient fabrication method for silk that allows them to heat and mold the material into solid forms for a wide range of applications, including medical devices. The end products have superior strength compared to other materials, have physical properties that can be … Read more

Linked environmental problems amplify human impact on the Earth System

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The bushfires raging across Australia are a distressing example of connections between global environmental problems that amplify human impacts on the Earth System, says ANU scientist Dr Steven Lade. He and other authors, including ANU Emeritus Professor Will Steffen, write about this concerning phenomenon in Nature Sustainability, using the ‘planetary boundaries’ framework to analyse these … Read more

Scientists find brain mechanism which could underpin confirmation bias

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Many of us are familiar with the phenomenon of ‘confirmation bias’, where humans tend to discount information that undermines our past choices and judgments. Published in the Journal Nature Neuroscience, findings from a new study from City, University of London, University College London, and others, investigated a brain area which tracks decision-making information and signals … Read more

UBC declares climate emergency and moves forward on two key divestment initiatives

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The University of British Columbia has joined communities and organizations around the world in declaring a climate emergency. “UBC acknowledges the urgency of the climate crisis and we must directly face the coming challenges. At this pivotal moment, the decisions and actions we take will reverberate beyond our own borders and lifetimes,” said UBC President … Read more

Fossil shells reveal both global mercury contamination and warming when dinosaurs perished

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The impact of an asteroid or comet is acknowledged as the principal cause of the mass extinction that killed off most dinosaurs and about three-quarters of the planet’s plant and animal species 66 million years ago. But massive volcanic eruptions in India may also have contributed to the extinctions. Scientists have long debated the significance … Read more

Uranium chemistry and geological disposal of radioactive waste

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A new paper to be published on 16 December provides a significant new insight into our understanding of uranium biogeochemistry and could help with the UK’s nuclear legacy. Conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Manchester, Diamond Light Source and Radioactive Waste Management, their work shows for the first time how uranium … Read more

A million reasons to visit the world’s coral reefs

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More than one million high-resolution images from 860 of the world’s coral reefs have been made available to scientists by The University of Queensland and ocean conservation non-profit, Underwater Earth. Project leader UQ’s Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg said the research and images were integral to better protecting the world’s reefs. “Coral reefs provide food and livelihoods … Read more

Marine parks face an uncertain fate in changing oceans

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Climate change is not being taken into account in the design and management of marine parks, according to research featuring University of Queensland scientists. UQ School of Earth and Environmental Sciences’ Dr Daniel Dunn said there was no repository of information showing which of the world’s marine protection plans have been adapted for climate change. “Simply – we … Read more

Newly identified jet-stream pattern could imperil global food supplies

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Scientists have identified systematic meanders in the globe-circling northern jet stream that have caused simultaneous crop-damaging heat waves in widely separated breadbasket regions—a previously unquantified threat to global food production that, they say, could worsen with global warming. The research shows that certain kinds of waves in the atmospheric circulation can become amplified and then lock in place for extended periods, … Read more

Lung images of twins with asthma add to understanding of the disease

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Two lung imaging studies from Western University, including one performed in non-identical twin patients with life-long asthma, have shown that airway defects in the lungs of asthmatic patients are like thumbprints – they have a unique pattern and maintain that pattern over time. These studies deepen our understanding of asthma and also open up opportunities for … Read more