Articles Archives

Health & Medicine

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 […]

Education & Training

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. […]

Biology

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. […]

Biology

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 […]

Biology

Selecting for feed efficiency to improve milk yield in dairy cows

Breeding programmes in dairy cattle have been successful in the past by selecting for high milk yield, effectively doubling productivity over the past 50 years. However, this approach is reaching a plateau, with minimal improvements expected in the future. For Pekka Huhtanen and his colleagues at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Aarhus University, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute and Natural […]

Physical Sciences

Keplerian nest of polyhedral structures in different symmetry groups

Research being carried out by Professor Di Sun, from Shandong University, and Professor Stan Schein, from UCLA, unites two research streams. In the first, they synthesized Ag90, a Keplerian nest with one icosahedral and two octahedral shells. In the second, they realized that the nesting maximized the number of shared axes of rotation, just how the late mathematician John Conway […]

Health & Medicine

Asbestos and bile duct cancer

Professor Giovanni Brandi and Dr Simona Tavolari, from the University of Bologna, study the association between asbestos exposure and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). Case-control analyses in Italy and four Nordic countries found strong associations between occupational exposure to asbestos and ICC. Therefore, asbestos is suggested as a risk factor for ICC development. This could be due to asbestos fibres becoming trapped […]

Biology

Promising results with a new treatment for Foot-and-Mouth disease

Foot-and-Mouth disease (FMD) is a viral disease that affects many farm animals, including cattle, buffalo and small ruminants. In many developing countries, farmers often don’t have access to preventative treatments, and outbreaks are common. Professor Emeritus Peter Windsor and his team at the University of Sydney, Australia, believes a new product called Tri-Solfen may be an inexpensive and effective solution […]

Earth & Environment

Engineering nature: Innovative streambed restoration in Seattle

River degradation is a widespread consequence of human development. In Seattle, Paul Bakke, founder of The Science of Rivers, along with a leading channel-design engineer and an aquatic ecologist, have implemented an innovative urban stream restoration project. A traditional stream restoration approach was transformed by adding an engineered streambed designed to restore and enhance the hyporheic zone. The project has […]

Earth & Environment

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 […]