Better understanding of light harvesting may benefit agriculture
Research at ANSTO has helped to reveal insights into a molecular mechanism for harvesting light in extreme conditions. These insights may ultimately lead to previously inaccessible regions of the...
View ArticleDrought and fire activity—what's climate change got to do with it?
It's mid-August and east of Los Angeles, the Blue Cut fire is burning through the mountains of San Bernardino, California. So far it's blackened 30,000 acres and forced more than 80,000 people to...
View ArticleHow does the ocean drive weather and climate extremes?
There's been a change in the weather. Across the globe, extreme weather events—severe heat waves, heavy precipitation, lengthy droughts and deadly wildfires—appear to be on the rise. December 2015 was...
View ArticleAncient eggshell protein breaks through the DNA time barrier
Scientists from the Universities of Sheffield, York and Copenhagen have identified fossil proteins in a 3.8 million year-old ostrich eggshell, suggesting that proteins could provide valuable new...
View ArticleFrench-Japanese laboratory to study materials under extreme conditions
To strengthen their collaboration in materials science and engineering, the CNRS, Université de Lyon, and Tohoku University are launching an international joint unit (UMI) based in Sendai, Japan, on...
View ArticleGeologists explore minerals below Earth's surface
A Florida State University geology researcher is going deep below the Earth's surface to understand how some of the most abundant minerals that comprise the Earth's crust change under pressure.
View ArticleSafe navigation through the Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage is becoming navigable for longer periods of the year. Ship traffic, however, still bears hazardous risks. A German-Canadian research team co-initiated by Fraunhofer wants to...
View ArticleScientists probe underground depths of Earth's carbon cycle
Understanding how carbon dissolves in water at the molecular level under extreme conditions is critical to understanding the Earth's deep carbon cycle—a process that ultimately influences global...
View ArticleWave energy device successfully deployed at BiMEP site
The final section of a sophisticated wave energy device has been successfully installed by a collaborative research team in the Bay of Biscay, on the northern coast of Spain.
View ArticleNew arrivals at remotest base on Earth – will you be next?
The next medical doctor to spend a year at the Concordia research base in Antarctica arrived this week by aircraft. Carole Dangoisse from Belgium will live and work at the station conducting space...
View ArticleRecreating conditions inside stars with compact lasers
The energy density contained in the center of a star is higher than we can imagine - many billions of atmospheres, compared with the 1 atmosphere of pressure we live with here on Earth's surface.
View ArticleAre we ready for another massive volcanic eruption?
An enormous volcanic eruption would not necessarily plunge the world into a new societal crisis, according to a new study of the biggest eruption of the last millennium published in Nature Geoscience.
View ArticleAlgae survive heat, cold and cosmic radiation
In a long-term experiment on the International Space Station, Fraunhofer researchers studied how the extreme conditions in space affect algae. Fraunhofer conducted this experiment in close cooperation...
View ArticlePersistent drought leads to major food security crisis in Somalia
A failed 2016 rainy season linked to the climate phenomenon La Niña, combined with exceptionally warm sea surface temperatures in the western Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans, have led to extreme...
View ArticleTransport systems face disruption by extreme weather—better risk management...
Extreme weather conditions due to climate change pose a new threat to ageing infrastructure. We need to be better prepared, according to a publication by the OECD's International Transport Forum. The...
View ArticleResearch shows some viruses can infect even after major mutations
Portland State University researchers have found that only about half the genes in a specific virus affecting single cell organisms is needed to infect a host. This means the virus can undergo major...
View ArticleFirst on the Martian menu: spuds
If human beings finally reach Mars, they may find themselves depending on the humble, if hardy potato.
View ArticleNorthern NSW is no stranger to floods, but this one was different
The devastating flood damage wreaked by Tropical Cyclone Debbie has left many residents in northern New South Wales facing an enormous cleanup that could take months.
View ArticleIn experiments on Earth, testing possible building blocks of alien life
Scientists are attempting to identify the amino acids—building blocks that make proteins and support all life on Earth—that might feasibly form the basis of extraterrestrial life. The researchers have...
View ArticleNewly discovered Siberian soda lake microorganisms convert organic material...
Researchers from Delft and Moscow have discovered a new class of micro-organisms in Siberian soda lakes. These organisms grow in sodium carbonate brines with a pH 10 and convert methyl group organic...
View ArticleScientists create 'diamond rain' that forms in the interior of icy giant planets
In an experiment designed to mimic the conditions deep inside the icy giant planets of our solar system, scientists were able to observe "diamond rain" for the first time as it formed in high-pressure...
View ArticleHurricanes may be getting more severe – do we need a whole new category to...
There's been a devastating trail of destruction and flooding along the east Atlantic coast in the last few weeks following Hurricane Harvey and now Hurricane Irma. The latter, currently moving across...
View ArticleA theoretical study explains the 'natural selection' of proteins
Researchers from the Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of the University of Barcelona (IN2UB) have presented the first computational study that mimics the natural selection of proteins in...
View ArticleElectron behaviour under extreme conditions described for the first time
Researchers have modelled the actions of electrons under extreme temperatures and densities, such as those found within planets and stars.
View ArticleMine craft for Mars
If there are habitable conditions on Mars, they may be underground. Scientists from around the world are now testing how to live on other planets by venturing a kilometre beneath the surface in a UK...
View ArticleDeformation experiments reveal insight into material changes during shock...
For the first time, scientists have reported in-situ diffraction experiments measuring deformation twinning at the lattice level during shock compression. The results were recently published in Nature...
View ArticleCan models predict grid tolerance to environmental extremes?
Understanding the environmental conditions associated with stress on the electric grid has important practical considerations, but also represents a complex scientific and modeling challenge. A...
View ArticleFirst forms of life on Earth unveiled in hot spring
Terrestrial geothermal systems are like buried treasure when it comes to finding out the origins of life on Earth.
View ArticleIs Arctic warming influencing the UK's extreme weather?
Severe snowy weather in winter or extreme rains in summer in the U.K. might be influenced by warming trends in the Arctic, according to new findings.
View ArticleEarth's core and mantle separated in a disorderly fashion
Plumes of hot rock surging upward from the Earth's mantle at volcanic hotspots contain evidence that the Earth's formative years may have been even more chaotic than previously thought, according to...
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