A solar technology breakthrough by UK scientists means portable electronic devices such as phones, cameras, and e-book readers could soon have credit card-sized solar cells built-in, allowing them to be recharged on the move. The researchers, from the University of Warwick, say they have created an organic solar cell that generates a sufficiently high voltage […]
An innovative wireless system that charges electric cars while they are on the road could also be used to control driverless electric vehicles, say the Stanford University team who designed the system. While the new technology has the potential to dramatically increase the driving range of electric vehicles, the researchers concede that large-scale deployment of […]
University of Miami scientist Shimon Wdowinski (pictured) says that earthquakes – including the recent seismic events in Haiti and Taiwan – may be triggered by severe tropical storms (cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons). Wdowinski is presenting his, er, groundbreaking study at the 2011 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, in San Francisco. “Very wet rain events are […]
Climatologists say that aerosols (fine-particle air pollution) in the atmosphere dramatically affect cloud development to reduce precipitation in dry regions while increasing the severity of storms. Aerosols come from the combustion of fossil fuels, industrial and agricultural processes, and the accidental or deliberate burning of fields and forests. The University of Maryland-led team of researchers […]
Low levels of the gas carbon monoxide have a narcotic effect on city dwellers, say Tel Aviv University researchers, leading them to suggest that the pollutant is, in small doses, a boon to the well-being of urbanites. Their study examining urban stress and pollutants has been published in the journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. Carbon […]
Scientists from The University of Nottingham and the University of California, Riverside, have identified the molecular mechanism plants use to sense low oxygen levels, a discovery that could lead to the production of high-yielding, flood-tolerant crops. With recent catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Australia, Thailand, the UK and America, engineering crop tolerance to partial […]
Microbiologists from the University of Colorado Boulder were surprised to find that the dominant airborne bacterial communities of several American cities most closely resembled the microbial communities found in dog poop. The study showed that of the four Midwestern cities sampled in the experiment, Cleveland and Detroit had significant quantities of fecal bacteria in the […]
Mathematical formulae that describe the population dynamics of prey animals such as gazelles and their predators have been used to model the relationship between cloud systems and rain. Documented in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the novel approach may help address the paucity of knowledge concerning cloud formation and the role that […]
The increase in the size and frequency of jellyfish blooms in coastal and estuarine waters around the world is altering marine food webs by shunting food energy away from fish and toward bacteria, say researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS). Details of the new study, led by Rob Condon, appear in the […]
Bioprecipitation researchers say that most precipitation events could depend on a type of bacterium whose outer membrane binds water molecules in an ordered arrangement, thus providing a very efficient nucleating template which greatly enhances ice crystal formation. The new evidence for airborne microorganisms influencing weather events was presented yesterday at the 111th General Meeting of […]
