Articles
Do bees farm microbes? Rethinking what it is to be a bee
Bees have not been eating what we thought they were. The work of Dr Prarthana Dharampal and Dr Shawn Steffan, University of Wisconsin, USA, shows bees are not strict vegetarians requiring just pollen and nectar for food. Larval bee health is also reliant on eating the microbes that are feeding on the pollen supplies. The bee larvae are further up […]
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Misunderstanding translanguaging in preschoolers
Preschool children have a remarkable ability to embrace and express the dimensions of different languages beyond their socially and politically defined boundaries – this is called translanguaging. It’s especially encouraging for immigrant children in a foreign country and at a time when Europe’s racial and ethnic profile is shifting. Dr Gabrijela Aleksić at the University of Luxembourg and her colleagues […]
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Phytoremediation: Using native vegetation to stabilise heavy metal contaminants at polluted sites
Elevated concentrations of heavy metals at polluted sites represent serious human health hazards and environmental threats. Persistent metal pollution is hard to remedy but one possible and effective method is phytoremediation, using plants to stabilise the metal pollution and ameliorate the contaminated soil properties. Across 20 years of research, Drs Madeleine Günthardt-Goerg and Pierre Vollenweider of the Swiss Federal Institute […]
Botulinum neurotoxin type A resistance: An emerging problem
Botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT-A), often referred to as ‘Botox’, is commonly used to treat medical conditions and increasingly in cosmetic procedures. However, long-term use and high doses of BoNT-A may lead to immunoresistance, limiting its future therapeutic benefit. A panel of experts including Dr Mary Dingley, Cosmetic Medicine Centre, Australia, is addressing this emerging issue. Its published recommendations offer a […]
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Fieldlogy Science: A new transdisciplinary science for Earth’s regeneration
Fieldlogy, a new transdisciplinary science for the biosphere and geosphere, draws on ecological, environmental, and economic fields. The approach incorporates mutual interactions, cause-and-effect sequences, feedback systems, self-organising, fusion systems, and multiplicity. It aims to enhance natural capital through the application of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) rather than Industrial Technology-based Solutions (ITbS). ITbS cannot regenerate Earth’s systems due their huge cost and […]
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A divide-and-conquer strategy for the vehicle routing problem
Solving the vehicle routing problem is vital for distribution and transportation businesses needing to ensure timely distribution and minimise costs. The multivehicle routing problem is a complex variation involving multiple vehicles and numerous destinations for goods. Jiaqi Li, a graduate student at The University of Hong Kong, Yun Wang at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, China, and Professor Ke-Lin Du at Concordia […]
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The impact of body lotions on the skin microbiome and ceramides
Moisturising products can help improve the look and feel of dry skin, but little is known about how these products may impact the bacterial ecosystem of the skin, the skin microbiome. Researchers Dr Barry Murphy and Dr Andrew Mayes from Unilever R&D explored the changes in skin health and the associated microbiome after using a body lotion for five weeks. […]
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Manufacturing on the nanoscale: Optomechanical sensors with multiphoton polymerization
Sensors are the eyes, ears, and noses of autonomous devices. Whether it’s designed to operate on land, in the air or on ground, any autonomous device needs a huge array of sensors to provide real-time information to maneuver or perform more complex tasks. The challenge is making sensors small and light enough that they do not add bulk to the […]
Sustainability asymmetries in buyer–supplier relationships
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. This is easy to say, but the reality is more complex. New research into sustainability and Strategic Supply Chain Management (SSCM) shows that buyer–supplier relationships are far from straightforward, and differences between buyers’ and suppliers’ approaches to sustainability can both positively and negatively affect buyers’ financial and market performance. Led […]
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How Spiritual Fitness prevents Alzheimer’s disease
Spiritual Fitness (SF) is a new concept in medicine that combines multiple aspects of religious involvement, psychological wellbeing, and spiritual evolution. Research now reveals that development of SF helps prevent Alzheimer’s disease (AD). As shown by Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD, President and Medical Director of the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation, Kirtan Kriya, a safe, 12-minute-a-day meditation practice, facilitates that […]
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