Researchers from Michigan State University’s top-ranked School of Packaging have developed a way to make a promising, sustainable alternative to petroleum-based plastics more biodegradable. A team led by Rafael Auras has made a bio-based polymer blend that’s compostable in both…
Chemical structures called cyclopropanes can increase the potency and fine-tune the properties of many drugs, but traditional methods to create this structure only work with certain molecules and require highly reactive — potentially explosive — ingredients. Now, a team of…
Two of humanity’s most ubiquitous historical materials, cement and carbon black (which resembles very fine charcoal), may form the basis for a novel, low-cost energy storage system, according to a new study. The technology could facilitate the use of renewable…
Scientists have pinpointed a genetic cause for virgin birth for the first time, and once switched on the ability is passed down through generations of females. For the first time, scientists have managed to induce virgin birth in an animal…
Important ocean currents that redistribute heat, cold and precipitation between the tropics and the northernmost parts of the Atlantic region will shut down around the year 2060 if current greenhouse gas emissions persist. This is the conclusion based on new…
Changes in ocean wave and storm conditions have not caused long-term impacts on sandy coastlines in the past 30 years, a new study has found. Published today in Scientific Reports, the study draws on data from 30 years of global…
An international team of astronomers used the state-of-the-art capability of VERA, a Japanese network of radio telescopes operated by NAOJ, to uncover valuable clues about how rapidly growing “young” supermassive black holes form, grow, and possibly evolve into more powerful…
People who contract COVID-19 but never develop symptoms — the so-called super dodgers — may have a genetic ace up their sleeve. They’re more than twice as likely as those who become symptomatic to carry a specific gene variation that…
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have found the possible ‘sibling’ of a planet orbiting a distant star. The team has detected a cloud of debris that might be sharing this planet’s orbit and which, they believe, could…
An international team led by astronomers from the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) has discovered a new type of stellar object that challenges our understanding of the physics of neutron stars. The object…