Using alum and a polymer, researchers improve water quality by ninety percent
UC Riverside scientists are able to improve water quality by 90 percent in the rivers flowing into the Salton Sea, the largest lake in California, by using two kinds of water-treatment chemicals that remove phosphorus and silt from the river water.
The researchers investigated the use of alum, a type of salt that has been used to treat phosphorus-rich lakes for decades. They also cleaned wa
The deepest, darkest, most inhospitable place on Earth is the focus of a new £2 million research project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
The ECOMAR project will explore the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a mountain range about the size of the Alps, located deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean. The research will be mainly concentrated around the Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone, a giant canyon hundreds of miles long and about 20 miles wide, that cuts through the mountain ra
Flight simulator technology is to be applied to the precast concrete manufacturing industry in a bid to promote resource efficiency, reduce waste and encourage recycling.
The move, led by the Centre for Construction Innovation and Research at the University of Teesside and Nottingham Centre for Infrastructure at the University of Nottingham involves partners at British Precast Federation, Tarmac, Aggregate Industries, Buckan and a host of precast companies.
The two-year
Researchers at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering have developed a new way to measure microbes’ exposure to ultraviolet light. The tool could bolster efforts to use UV light to improve the quality and safety of tap water in the U.S.
The novel “microsphere dosimeter” technique is the first direct test of how much UV light microorganisms in fluids have been exposed to, said the researchers — a critical step in validating the use of UV light treatment for preventing
The economic benefits of protecting a rainforest reserve outweigh the costs of preserving it, says University of Alberta research–the first of its kind to have conducted a cost-benefit analysis on the conservation of species diversity.
“The traditional moral and aesthetic arguments have been made about why we should conserve the biodiversity in rainforests, but little has been done that looks at whether it makes pure economic sense to do so,” said Dr. Robin Naidoo, who did hi
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved a new partnership with Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources to improve the way the Clean Water Act is implemented in Virginia.
The stated purpose of the Clean Water Act is “to protect the biological integrity of the Nation’s waters,” said Nathaniel “Than” Hitt, a doctoral student in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences. “However, the law does not define what biological integrity is. That
A new study released today in the journal Science shows that areas buffered by coastal forests, like mangroves, were strikingly less damaged by the 2004 tsunami than areas without tree vegetation. This is believed to be the first peer-reviewed empirical and field-based study to document a clear link between coastal vegetation and protection from the tsunami. The study was undertaken by a large research team, comprising ecologists, a botanist, geographers, a forester, and a tsunami wave enginee
Scientists at the University of Manchester will set off for Australia this week to undertake an in-depth study of tropical clouds and the particles sucked up into them to gain further insight into climate change and the depletion of the ozone layer.
The research will take place in Darwin, Australia as part of a major international field experiment to study transport by tropical thunderstorms and the type of high-altitude clouds they produce.
Manchester’s research will
One of the worst disasters to hit Europe in the last decade has served as a case study to investigate how satellite images can improve insurance risk modelling. Following the project’s end, reinsurance giant Swiss Re has added Earth Observation products to its comprehensive catastrophe database for the first time.
The three-week flooding of the Elbe River in August 2002 saw water levels reach 150-year highs across parts of Central and Eastern Europe. Numerous urban centres in
Conservationists begin tracking Mom’s fourth litter
Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and their Russian colleagues from the Russian Far East recently fitted three wild 40-day-old Siberian tiger cubs with tiny radio-collars, marking the youngest wild tigers to be tracked by scientists. The elastic collars, which eventually fall off as the tigers grow, weigh just over five ounces and would fit on a large house cat. They give researchers crucial insights i
For the first time, researchers have detected high concentrations of a popular insecticide in suburban stream sediments, raising concerns about its effects on aquatic life.
Pyrethroids, the active ingredient used in most home and garden insecticides, have been on the market for years. Although the compounds are considered potentially less harmful to humans than other insecticides, surprisingly little information is available about their long-term impact on the environment, acc
With a quarter of the Earth’s land surface affected, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification regards desertification as a worldwide problem. Delegates from the 170-plus signatories to the Convention currently gathered in Nairobi have been briefed by ESA representatives and national partners on how satellites are being used to track desertification in Europe.
The Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 7) of the United Nations Convention to Comb
Across the animal kingdom, individuals face choices between patience and impulsivity. A classic case, confronted by all animals–humans included–is that between a small, immediate food reward and a delayed, but larger, reward. In such cases, impulsivity typically trumps patience as individuals fail to delay gratification. But what factors influence these decisions? Researchers have gained new insight into this question by showing that the particular ways in which animals exhibit patience and im
Parents whose grown children have not yet flown the nest can only sympathize with the Western bluebird.
While female fledglings fly off on their own in late summer, their brothers typically hang around through the winter and into the next breeding season, living off the bounty of their parents’ larder.
As with humans, though, as the money runs low, the kids split, according to a new study by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley.
Janis Dick
With the antennae to the ground, the female shore crab hunts for prince charming. The olfactory organs are contained within the antennae of crabs. To the shore crab, odours and tastes form the letters of the language of love. The role of chemical communication in the love life of shore crabs has been charted in a new dissertation from Lund University in Sweden.
Mattias Ekerholm at the department of Cell and Organism Biology, Lund University in Sweden has studied the role of odou
Joint press release: Natural Environment Research Council and Queen’s University Belfast
Research from Queen’s University Belfast, published today in the journal Science, has given new meaning to the ‘north-south divide’. It has shown that one breed of European songbird is bucking the trend to travel south for the winter and is opting to migrate to the chillier climes of Britain and Ireland instead. The research also indicates that birds over-wintering in the British Isl
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