Water pollution: Nanorobots powered by magnets clean up contamination

Nanorobots propelled by magnets can be used repeatedly without fuel, offering a sustainable and cost-effective way to clean up industrial wastewater Technology 1 March 2022 By Chen Ly Polluted water sam barnhart/Getty Images Chemists have created nanorobots propelled by magnets that remove pollutants from water. The invention could be scaled up to provide a sustainable … Read more

Australia floods: Record rainfall in Queensland driven by La Niña and climate change

A slow-moving low-pressure system has dropped 790 millimetres of rain on Brisbane in one week, causing floods that have claimed eight lives Environment 28 February 2022 By Alice Klein A flooded street in Milton, a suburb of Brisbane PATRICK HAMILTON/AFP/AFP via Getty Images Record-breaking rain on the east coast of Australia over the past week … Read more

The Key Actions From The UN’s Major New Climate Report

Rising global temperatures bring dire threats, such as floods, heat-related injuries, water scarcity, and hunger, making up to 3.6 billion people – nearly half of the world’s population – highly vulnerable to climate change.   That’s according to a major report, released Monday, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – a UN body that … Read more

This Extremely Extreme Exoplanet Has Metal Vapor Clouds And Rains Liquid Jewels

A giant exoplanet 855 light-years away is so extreme, it has clouds of vaporized metals and rains liquid rubies and sapphires. That’s the conclusion astronomers have reached after probing its atmosphere – the most detailed such analysis to date, revealing for the first time the conditions and dynamics of the exoplanet’s permanent night side.   … Read more

In One Part of Europe, Soil Is Rapidly Degrading. It’s a Warning to Us All

In the Mediterranean region, the soil is degrading, and land is turning to desert faster than anywhere else in the European Union, according to a new analysis. Experts warn that the combined effects of unsustainable land practices and climate change have depleted a finite resource to a critical point.   A recent publication by a … Read more

Ancient ‘Megafloods’ Tilted The Very Direction of Earth’s Crust, Scientists Find

Earth’s last major ice age locked up gargantuan amounts of water in vast glaciers. Once they melted, it was a spectacle to behold as tremendous floods gouged channels into the face of the planet.   The remnants of one of the largest of these ancient deluges are still visible in eastern Washington, in an area … Read more

Detecting water pollution: DNA computer could tell you if your drinking water is contaminated

A simple test for water pollution involving engineered strands of DNA can report levels of contamination, and this biological system can carry out logical operations like those done by computers Technology 17 February 2022 By Matthew Sparkes The DNA computer – although not set up for a formal analysis Julius Lucks/Northwestern University A biological computer … Read more

The True Source of Earth’s Water Could Be Wildly Different to What You Think

Nothing on Earth can live without water. The origin of water on Earth, therefore, is the origin of life in the Solar System (and the Universe) as we know it. Figuring out where and how our world obtained its water might be key to finding life on other worlds, but the truth is we don’t … Read more