• World’s great rivers running on empty

    Four of the world’s great rivers are all suffering from drastically reduced flows as a direct result of water extraction, according to new research; the researchers found that in all four river basins, over a long period of time, outflows have greatly reduced as a direct result of increased water extractions, and that urgent changes in governance of water are needed to ensure the systems remain healthy and viable

  • Israel successfully tests David’s Sling mid-range missile defense system

    During the just-ended Operation Pillar of Defense, Israel made military history by successfully employing a missile defense system to protect the country’s population: during the 8-day war, Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched 1,506 rockets and missiles at Israeli towns and cities; of those, 1,057 fell harmlessly in empty fields, but 449 were headed toward populated centers; of the 449, Israel’s Iron Dome system intercepted 421, and 28 hit buildings, killing five; yesterday Israel announced the successful test of David’s Sling, a mid-range missile defensive system; the system is designed to protect against missile with a range of up to 180 miles, like the missiles in the hands of Syria and Hezbollah

  • Tetrapod robot developed for investigative, recovery work inside post-accident nuclear plants

    Toshiba has developed a tetrapod robot able to carry out investigative and recovery work in locations which are too risky for people to enter; the multiple joints of its legs are controlled by a dedicated movement algorithm which enables the robot to walk on uneven surfaces, avoid obstacles, and climb stairs, securing access into areas which are challenging to be reached by wheeled robots or crawlers

  • Improved technology to detect hazardous chemicals

    Scientists have developed a system quickly to detect trace amounts of illegal drugs, explosives, pollutants in rivers, or nerve gases released into the air; the new system can pick out a single target molecule from 10,000 trillion water molecules within milliseconds, by trapping it on a self-assembling single layer of gold nanoparticles

  • Humble microbes fighting harmful greenhouse gas

    The environment has a more formidable opponent than carbon dioxide; another greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, is 300 times more potent and also destroys the ozone layer each time it is released into the atmosphere through agricultural practices, sewage treatment, and fossil fuel combustion; luckily, nature has a larger army than previously thought combating this greenhouse gas

  • Warming to shift heavy rainfall patterns across U.K.

    Researchers investigating the potential changes in extreme rainfall patterns across the United Kingdom as a result of global warming have found that in some regions of the country, the time of year when we see the heaviest rainfall is set to shift

  • Classroom of the future: next generation of school desks boost math skills

    Researchers designing and testing the classroom of the future have found that multi-touch, multi-user desks can boost skills in mathematics; new results from a 3-year project working with over 400 pupils, mostly 8-10 year olds, show that collaborative learning increases both fluency and flexibility in math; it also shows that using an interactive ‘smart’ desk can have benefits over doing mathematics on paper

  • Nanotech detection device emulates dog's nose to detect explosives

    Inspired by the biology of canine scent receptors, scientists develop a chip capable of quickly identifying trace amounts of vapor molecules; the chip is part of a device which is both highly sensitive to trace amounts of certain vapor molecules, and able to tell a specific substance apart from similar molecules

  • Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere reach new record

    The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2011, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO); between 1990 and 2011 there was a 30 percent increase in radiative forcing — the warming effect on our climate — because of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other heat-trapping long-lived gases; a new WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin highlights pivotal role of carbon sinks

  • Learning the lessons of the BP oil spill

    In an attempt to limit the harm of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, three million liters of dispersant were used to dissipate the oil; on the surface the damage seems limited, but the seabed is covered with a thick layer of gunk; scientist from around the world are now working on models that can be consulted by decision makers when there is another oil spill disaster

  • The challenge of securing food and water supplies in the twenty-first century

    Participants in the Food Security in Dry Lands (FSDL) conference, held last week in Qatar, agreed that the task of managing food and water resources more efficiently and improving the security of supply are set to become one of the biggest challenges for policy makers in the twenty-first century

  • Combining CO2 storage with enhanced oil recovery can aid U.K. economy

    Combining carbon storage with enhanced oil recovery techniques in key fields could generate up to 2.7 billion pounds in extra economic output; if a combination of carbon storage and enhanced recovery techniques is fully exploited, it is estimated that nineteen potentially suitable oil fields on the U.K. Continental Shelf (UKCS) could contribute 15 percent of all UKCS oil production by 2030

  • “Soft infrastructure” as storm surge defense alternatives

    The flooding in New York and New Jersey caused by Superstorm Sandy prompted calls from Governor Andrew Cuomo and other officials to consider building storm surge barriers to protect Lower Manhattan from future catastrophes. Such a strategy, however, could make things even worse for outlying areas that were hit hard by the hurricane, such as Staten Island, the New Jersey Shore, and Long Island’s South Shore, a City College of New York landscape architecture professor warns; landscapers and engineers say that environmentally friendly “soft infrastructure” would mitigate flood damage without sending harm elsewhere

  • Chemists convert greenhouse gas to fuel

    What if you could take greenhouse gas and convert it to fuel for an energy-hungry world? Scientists, using modern genetics, accomplished exactly this; the researchers’ findings are just a first step toward converting carbon dioxide, one of the most abundant emissions from fossil fuel use, into usable hydrocarbons

  • The world’s 300 000 glaciers are melting, causing sea level to rise

    Anthropogenic climate change leads to melting glaciers and rising sea level; between 1902 and 2009, melting glaciers contributed eleven centimeters to sea level rise; they were therefore the most important cause of sea level rise; the scientists numerically modeled the changes of each of the world’s 300 000 glaciers