Articles
Is wood ash a silent killer in sub-Saharan Africa?
Traditional cookstoves fuelled by locally sourced wood are found in homes across sub-Saharan Africa. Some 70% of the population use traditional cookstoves to burn wood, and as a result produce 19 megatonnes of ash every year across the region. The ash is generally dumped nearby or scattered on farmland, but what exactly is in the ash? Quantifying the amounts of heavy […]
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Crystal engineering for solid-state molecular recognition
Host-guest interactions in crystalline frameworks can be exploited to selectively and reversibly adsorb molecular species within a crystalline lattice. This process is important in a variety of technological fields, including gas separation, catalysis, trapping of pollutants and carbon capture. Professor Akiko Hori (Shibaura Institute of Technology) is developing chemical approaches for optimising the building blocks of these solid-state systems. Perfluorination […]
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Using drones to map marine litter on Portugal’s coastline
Portugal’s famous coastline consists of hundreds of miles of sandy beaches. It’s no surprise that urbanisation in the region – a result of tourism and fishing activities – has led to the accumulation of marine litter in these areas. But while local organisations focus their efforts on beach cleaning to keep tourist spots looking pristine, nearby sand dunes accumulate plastics, […]
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You are your most important teacher (and what to do about it)
Dr Robert Hahn, Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Emory University, Atlanta, describes how learning is an internal dialogue, as we continuously build on the knowledge we already possess in our minds. His synthesis of research shows that your most important teacher is actually yourself. He argues that the classroom that recognises that we can learn how […]
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How to make a CRISPR cow
Genome editing offers an opportunity to introduce useful genetic traits into livestock breeding programmes. However, it has proven difficult to insert large DNA fragments into livestock embryos using the CRISPR-Cas9 system. Dr Alison Van Eenennaam and Dr Joseph Owen, of the University of California, Davis, employed their knowledge of bovine embryogenesis and DNA repair pathways, and the help of a […]
Frailty screening: Doing good and avoiding harm
Ageing populations bring both opportunities and challenges for the economy, services and society. Screening for frailty aims to match the healthcare offered with a person’s needs, circumstances and capacity to benefit. Professors Mary McNally, Lynette Reid and William Lahey from Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada, explore the legal and ethical implications of frailty screening to ensure concerns with both doing […]
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The Lattice, the Clock, and the Microscope: A Next-Generation Quantum Simulator
Understanding systems of many interacting quantum particles remains one of the grand challenges in physics. Simulating such systems on supercomputers is impossible for more than a few particles, but promising approaches based on quantum simulators are on the horizon. Dr Sebastian Blatt’s team at the Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics, and their collaborators, have made significant strides to extend the capabilities […]
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Debt narratives to break free
For over-indebted individuals in Sweden, getting out of poverty can be tricky because of the country’s debt-reconstruction rules. A new study by Professors Pernilla Liedgren and Christian Kullberg at Mälardalen University, Sweden, finds how debtors tell their story could have a profound effect on whether their application is successful. Heavily indebted individuals living in Sweden may turn to the country’s […]
When control is lost: Studying the interactions of ATP and acetylcholine in the urinary bladder
The inner lining of the bladder, known as the urothelium, not only serves as a passive barrier but also triggers the reflex controlling urination (the micturition reflex). The neurotransmitter ATP released from the stretched urothelium activates the bladder afferent nerves and evokes the release of acetylcholine that substantially contributes to the contractile response. Prof Gunnar Tobin from the University of […]
Planetary Protection Policy: For sustainable space exploration and to safeguard our biosphere
The search for the origin of life amongst the planetary bodies in our solar system is a driving factor in space research. However, the simple act of sending a spacecraft to explore in situ solar system objects can potentially compromise their environments and cause harmful contamination when returning to Earth. Avoiding such biological contamination of planetary bodies (forward contamination) is […]