Articles
Conveyor belts of the Atlantic Ocean: Moving particles, organisms and litter around the globe
Ocean currents are a conveyor belt spanning the entire globe; they are transporting minerals, nutrients, organisms and other particles across vast distances. However, the full extent of the roles played by these flows is still poorly understood. Dr Rui Caldeira, Director of the Oceanic Observatory of Madeira in Portugal, and his collaborators Dr Iria Sala, Cláudio Cardoso and Maria João […]
Intergenerational mobility and school inequality in the US
Children of different income groups attend schools of different quality. To understand how unequal school opportunity contributes to differences in social mobility and human capital, Professor Jean Hindriks, Head of the Economics School of Louvain at UCLouvain, Belgium, and Dr Andreu Arenas, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Barcelona, have extended the classical Becker-Tomes-Solon parent-child transmission model to […]
Lateral flow test detects SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies
Novodiax Inc., under the guidance of Dr Jianfu Wang, has produced a novel lateral flow device called CoNAb. The device detects neutralising antibodies (NAbs) against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus responsible for COVID-19). Measuring NAbs is important to help us determine whether vaccination programmes are effective by measuring the level of immunity of vaccine recipients. They are also a vital tool for […]
Self-efficacy in non-routine problem solving in STEM education
Dr Tanya Evans and Emeritus Prof Mike Thomas from the University of Auckland, led by Associate Prof Sergiy Klymchuk from Auckland University of Technology, have developed an intervention that examines whether the employability prospects of students in STEM education could be improved. Their findings suggest that the attitude profiles of students with high and low lateral thinking self-efficacy differ significantly. […]
Housekeeping rules: Why reference genes matter in jute plants
Jute is a commercially grown fibre plant that provides a natural resource for modern day fibre usage. With the lack of diversity in jute plants, the recent sequencing of the jute genome offers a wide range of gene targets for crop breeding. In parallel, the use of quantitative approaches to study the expression pattern of jute genes has taken precedent. […]
Tools to not rot jute: Solving a fungal problem
Jute is grown in Bangladesh for its fibres to manufacture various goods for everyday use. Along with environmental challenges, jute faces a devastating threat from the fungal pathogen Macrophomina phaseolina, which causes stem rot. Jute yields can be reduced by 30% with this disease. The long life of the fungus in the soil and seeds prevents the efficient control of […]
A new practice for ameliorating dense clay subsoils
Certain types of subsoil make it particularly difficult for farmers to grow high-yielding crops. Peter Sale and his team at La Trobe University, Melbourne, have developed a new practice known as ‘subsoil manuring’ that could be able to change this. Sale is an agronomist who is interested in plant-soil interactions. He has spent the last 30 years in research and […]
Autism research: Pointing in the right direction
Professor Mila Vulchanova at the Norwegian University of Science & Technology, in collaboration with Sara Ramos-Cabo and Valentin Vulchanov, has been investigating the deficits in language and communication of individuals with Autism spectrum disorder. The group have made important insights into the specific features of communication deficits in autism which might assist with future diagnoses and subsequent treatment of individuals […]
‘Oumuamua: Unpacking the mystery of our interstellar visitor
For the time being, the idea of building a spacecraft which can carry us to other stars is a goal reserved for the future – but that doesn’t stop interstellar visitors from coming to us. In 2017, a small, mysterious object named ‘Oumuamua became the first body in the Solar System ever confirmed to originate from a star system beyond […]
Dealing with diminishing returns in quantum perturbations
Perturbations to quantum field theory are valuable tools for physicists as they approximate the properties of complex systems. However, limits in available computing power mean that the capabilities of their calculations are inherently limited. Recently, in a U.S. American-French-Italian collaboration, novel mathematical techniques have been used to circumvent this problem. The team’s approach could soon lead to long-awaited solutions to […]