/ en-us Â鶹ÒùÔº internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Haozhe "Harry" Wang, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE) at Duke University and an expert in developing new methods for manufacturing materials, continues to push the boundaries in MXene research. /news/2025-07-mxenes-gain-flexibility-precise-plasma.html Nanomaterials Wed, 09 Jul 2025 04:29:14 EDT news671254146 A joint project which saw two boreholes drilled in northern Singapore has revealed subsurface temperatures reaching up to 122°C at a depth of 1.76 km in Sembawang, significantly higher than earlier findings recorded in Admiralty, where 70°C was measured at a depth of 1.12 km. /news/2025-07-strong-geothermal-potential-northern-singapore.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 07 Jul 2025 17:00:03 EDT news671125483 On the drought-stricken plains of Morocco's Chtouka region, cherry tomato farms stretch as far as the eye can see, clinging to life through a single, environmentally contentious lifeline: desalination. /news/2025-07-drought-morocco-desalination-vegetable-bounty.html Environment Thu, 03 Jul 2025 04:50:01 EDT news670736262 The economic costs of drought could rise by more than one-third in the next 10 years without urgent reforms to water policies and irrigation systems, especially in resource-limited countries, according to new analysis. /news/2025-06-drought-investments.html Environment Tue, 24 Jun 2025 17:10:04 EDT news670000620 Swathes of South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia are in the grip of drought as they experience some of the lowest rainfall totals on record. /news/2025-05-southern-australia-drought.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 19 May 2025 12:17:37 EDT news666875847 Natural and engineered systems have a whole world of chemistry inside their tiny pores—known as nanopores—that changes depending on the chemical functional groups inside. /news/2025-05-contaminants-nanopores-desalination-carbon-dioxide.html Nanomaterials Mon, 12 May 2025 11:13:04 EDT news666267182 A team from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya—BarcelonaTech (UPC) and the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia has developed polymeric resins derived from plant-based materials aimed at reducing 3D printing's reliance on fossil fuel-based resins. The research findings have been published in RSC Applied Polymers. /news/2025-05-sustainable-3d-resins-based-materials.html Polymers Mon, 05 May 2025 16:30:02 EDT news665681401 Increasing the natural uptake of carbon dioxide by the ocean or storing captured COâ‚‚ under the seabed are currently being discussed in Germany as potential ways to offset unavoidable residual emissions and achieve the country's goal of greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045. /news/2025-04-hard-emissions-limited-potential-marine.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 29 Apr 2025 15:13:04 EDT news665158381 Condensation is critical for applications like power generation, water harvesting, and cooling systems. However, traditional surfaces suffer from a drop in performance under high subcooling, when the surface temperature is much lower than the surrounding vapor. This leads to water flooding and reduced heat transfer. /news/2025-04-hybrid-surface-combines-hydrophobic-nanowires.html Nanomaterials Mon, 21 Apr 2025 15:29:35 EDT news664468172 In nature and technology, crystallization plays a pivotal role, from forming snowflakes and pharmaceuticals to creating advanced batteries and desalination membranes. Despite its importance, crystallization at the nanoscale is poorly understood, mainly because observing the process directly at this scale is exceptionally challenging. My research overcame this hurdle by employing state-of-the-art computational methods, allowing them to visualize atomic interactions in unprecedented detail. /news/2025-04-secrets-salt-crystal-formation-nanoscale.html Nanomaterials Thu, 17 Apr 2025 10:50:02 EDT news664103722 Technology for converting solar energy into thermal energy is ever evolving and has numerous applications. A breakthrough in the laboratory of Professor My Ali El Khakani at Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has made a significant contribution to the field. /news/2025-04-plasma-photothermal-material-enable-efficient.html Nanomaterials Fri, 11 Apr 2025 10:27:48 EDT news663586064 Water levels in the Caspian Sea—the world's largest landlocked water body—are getting lower, as hotter temperatures cause more water to evaporate than is flowing in. Even if global warming is limited to below 2°C, it is likely that the level of the Caspian Sea will decline by 5 to 10 m, but if temperatures rise further, water levels could drop by as much as 21 m by 2100. /news/2025-04-caspian-sea-rapid-decline-threatens.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 10 Apr 2025 10:08:06 EDT news663498481 Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, King's College London and the University of Fribourg have developed polymer water channels, similar to commonly used plastics, that can draw salt out of water, inspired by the body's own water filtering system. /news/2025-04-cell-membrane-biology-saltwater-filters.html Polymers Analytical Chemistry Wed, 09 Apr 2025 11:12:03 EDT news663415921 Morocco is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on tapping northern rivers to supply water to parched cities farther south but experts question the sustainability of the project in the face of climate change. /news/2025-03-morocco-highway-averts-crisis-big.html Environment Sun, 30 Mar 2025 07:42:38 EDT news662539353 A collaboration between chemical engineers and animal scientists has created a system for recovering valuable industrial chemicals from animal waste, representing a major step towards circularity and environmental sustainability. /news/2025-03-nanofiltration-valuable-industrial-chemicals-cattle.html Biochemistry Materials Science Fri, 28 Mar 2025 10:11:20 EDT news662375476 When you drink a nice refreshing glass of water, do you ever think, "Gee, I'm glad that polymeric desalination membrane did its job!" Probably not, but maybe you should. /news/2025-02-accessible-membrane-filter-desalination-effectiveness.html Polymers Materials Science Wed, 26 Feb 2025 12:50:49 EST news659796643 In the marbled halls of a luxury hotel, leading experts are discussing a new approach to an age-old problem: how to make it rain in the UAE, the wealthy Gulf state that lies in one of the world's biggest deserts. /news/2025-02-stuck-eternal-drought-uae-ai.html Environment Tue, 25 Feb 2025 04:21:58 EST news659679711 Robust water-management strategies will be necessary to overcome discrepancies between water supply and demand in a warming world, according to a new analysis by Carnegie Science's Lorenzo Rosa and Matteo Sangiorgio of the Polytechnic University of Milan. /news/2025-02-gap-demand-climate-shifts-analysis.html Environment Mon, 17 Feb 2025 14:10:07 EST news659023801 Researchers at the University of Waterloo have unlocked the potential of graphene in areas as diverse as vehicles, consumer electronics and environmental cleanup with an eco-friendly ink for 3D-printing. /news/2025-02-eco-friendly-ink-graphene-potential.html Nanomaterials Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:29:04 EST news658664942 Water scarcity is often viewed as an issue for the arid American West, but the U.S. Northeast's experience in 2024 shows how severe droughts can occur in just about any part of the country. /news/2025-02-drought-cities-ran-dry.html Environment Mon, 03 Feb 2025 12:47:56 EST news657809269 An abandoned lifeguard cabin, a rusty pier and mangled umbrellas are all that is left of Ein Gedi, once Israel's flagship beach drawing international tourists to float in the world-famous waters of the Dead Sea. /news/2025-01-dead-sea-ecological-disaster.html Environment Wed, 29 Jan 2025 04:27:58 EST news657347266 Most of us are fortunate that, when we turn on the tap, clean, safe and high-quality water comes out. /news/2025-01-catchment-safe.html Environment Sun, 26 Jan 2025 13:00:01 EST news656938838 Würzburg chemists have succeeded in controlling the passage of halide ions by deliberately introducing defects into a two-layer nanographene system. Their results have been published in Nature. The paper shows new perspectives for applications in water filtration or sensor technology. /news/2025-01-graphene-ion-permeability-filtration-sensors.html Nanomaterials Wed, 15 Jan 2025 11:00:05 EST news656067181 Travelers have always faced health hazards when far from home. Medieval people were no exception. Pilgrims, crusaders and others were warned by preachers such as 13th century Jacques de Vitry of "dangers on land, dangers at sea, the dangers of thieves, the dangers of predators, the dangers of battles." /news/2025-01-fruit-veg-frequent-bloodletting-staying.html Archaeology Tue, 14 Jan 2025 12:35:36 EST news656080533 A research team led by Prof. Wan Yinhua from the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a dual-functional reverse osmosis (RO) membrane with enhanced antibacterial and antiadhesion properties. The membrane demonstrates broad-spectrum, sustained antibacterial activity, as well as resistance to various foulants. These properties make it suitable for water purification, seawater desalination, and high-salinity wastewater treatment, among other applications. /news/2025-01-reverse-osmosis-membrane-biofouling.html Biochemistry Analytical Chemistry Mon, 13 Jan 2025 17:00:03 EST news656010001 Sea level rise is an ever-pressing concern as climate change melts ice sheets. Coastal flooding is an unfortunate consequence, which can have a devastating impact on the local environment, including an unexpected toll on coastal tourism in North Carolina. /news/2025-01-north-carolina-coastal-tourism-decline.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 02 Jan 2025 11:00:01 EST news655037237 A team of researchers from Jilin University, NYU Abu Dhabi's Smart Materials Lab, and the Center for Smart Engineering Materials, led by Professor of Chemistry Pance Naumov, has developed a new crystalline material that can harvest water from fog without any energy input. /news/2024-11-crystals-harvest-air-energy.html Materials Science Tue, 19 Nov 2024 13:17:24 EST news651244641 Seawater electrolysis has long been seen as a promising pathway for sustainable hydrogen production but has faced significant limitations due to chloride ion (Cl-) corrosion, which can degrade a catalyst's performance. /news/2024-11-scientists-advanced-catalyst-driven-seawater.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Tue, 12 Nov 2024 11:00:02 EST news650623321 A University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study is the first to describe an electrochemical strategy to capture, concentrate and destroy mixtures of diverse chemicals known as PFAS—including the increasingly prevalent ultra-short-chain PFAS—from water in a single process. /news/2024-11-pfas-aims-pollution-semiconductor-industry.html Polymers Materials Science Thu, 07 Nov 2024 12:12:03 EST news650203921 European scientists have teamed up with two startups in a pioneering experiment to tackle one of the major problems facing sea life—the depletion of oxygen in the ocean, causing the disappearance of fish and marine biodiversity. /news/2024-10-reoxygenating-oceans-startups-baltic-sea.html Environment Tue, 15 Oct 2024 04:30:01 EDT news648184909