Bushfires and storms threaten water supply and much more

Most of the drinking water for our cities and towns comes from densely forested catchments in nearby mountains. These catchments act like large, and very cost effective water treatment plants, slowly filtering rainfall through ...

Where there's waste there's fertilizer

We all know plants need nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus. To give crops a boost, they are often put on fields as fertilizer. But we never talk about where the nutrients themselves come from.

Novel insights into soil biodiversity, Earth's global engine

A Virginia Tech professor was part of an international team of researchers that discovered new advances about the major ecological patterns driving the changes in soil biodiversity that occur over millions of years.

Washing hands despite lack of water

Even though the water we've used for washing hands is barely contaminated, it usually goes down the drain. A newly developed system allows handwashing water to be recycled, thus not only saving water, but also helping to ...

Origami inspires highly efficient solar steam generator

Water covers most of the globe, yet many regions still suffer from a lack of clean drinking water. If scientists could efficiently and sustainably turn seawater into clean water, a looming global water crisis might be averted. ...

An atom-thick graphene membrane for industrial gas separation

Chemical engineers at EPFL have demonstrated for the first time that an atom-thick graphene membrane can separate gas mixtures with a high-efficiency. The "ultimate" membrane is scalable, making it a breakthrough for industrial ...

Protecting plants intelligently

We must reduce the environmental and health risks of pesticides. However, rather than banning them completely, Robert Finger advocates an intelligent approach to crop protection.

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